and Apostolical Tradition and there found our actings from whence their order and origation began 8. IT is true Bellarmine reproches this discourse as erroneous but whatever it might be in the inference which Saint Cyprian drew from it in it self it was not so For Saint Austin tho sufficiently engag'd against Saint Cyprian's conclusion allows the position as most Orthodox saying in the fourth Book of Baptism c. 35. Whereas he admonishes to go back to the fountain that is the Tradition of the Apostles and thence bring the stream down to our times 't is most excellent and without doubt to be don 9. THUS Eusebius expresses himself in his second Book against Sabellius As it is a point of sloth not to seek into those things whereof one may enquire so 't is insolence to be inquisitive in others But what are those things which we ought to enquire into Even those which are to be found in the Scriptures those things which are not there to be found let us not seek after For if they ought to be known the holy Ghost had not omitted them in the Scripture 10. ATHANASIUS in his Tract of the Incarnation saies It is fit for us to adhere to the word of God and not relinquish it thinking by syllogisms to evade what is there clearly deliver'd Again in his Tract to Serap of the holy Ghost Ask not saies he concerning the Trinity but learn only from the Scriptures For the instructions which you will find there are sufficient And in his Oration against the Gentiles declares That the Scriptures are sufficient to the manifestation of the truth 11. AGREEABLE to these is Optatus in his 5. Book against Parmen who reasons thus You say 't is lawful to rebaptize we say 't is not lawful betwixt your saying and our gain-saying the peoples minds are amus'd Let no man believe either you or us All men are apt to be contentious Therefore Judges are to be call'd in Christians they cannot be for they will be parties and thereby partial Therefore a Judg is to be lookt out from abroad If a Pagan he knows not the mysteries of our Religion If a Jew he is an enemy to our baptism There is therefore no earthly Judg but one is to be sought from heaven Yet there is no need of a resort to heaven when we have in the Gospel a Testament and in this case celestial things may be compar'd to earthly So it is as with a Father who has many children while he is present he orders them all and there is no need of a written Will Accordingly Christ when he was present upon earth from time to time commanded the Apostles whatsoever was necessary But as the earthly father finding himself to be at the point of death and fearing that after his departure his children should quarrel among themselves he calls witnesses and puts his mind in writing and if any difference arise among the brethren they go not to their Fathers Sepulcher but repair to his Will and Testament and he who rests in his grave speaks still in his writing as if he were alive Our Lord who left his Will among us is now in heaven therefore let us seek his commands in the Gospel as in his Will 12. THUS Cyril of Ierus Cat. 4. Nothing no not the least concernment of the divine and holy Sacraments of our Faith is to be deliver'd without the holy Scripture believe not me unless I give you a demonstration of what I say from the Scripture 13. SAINT Basil in his Book of the true Faith saies If God be faithful in all his sayings his words and works they remaining for ever and being don in truth and equity it must be an evident sign of infidelity and pride if any one shall reject what is written and introduce what is not written In which Books he generally declares that he will write nothing but what he receives from the holy Scripture and that he abhors from taking it elsewhere In his 29. Homily against the Antitrinit Believe saies he those which are written seek not those which are not written And in his Eth. reg 26. Every word and action ought to be confirm'd by the testimony of the divineâ—y inspir'd Scriptures to the establishment of the Faith of the good and reproof of the wicked 14. SAINT Ambrose in the first Book of his Offic. saies How can we make use of any thing which is not to be found in Scripture And in his Instit. of Virgins I read he is the first but read not he is the second let them who say he is second shew it from the reading 15. GREG. Nyssen in his Dial. of the soul and resurrect saies 'T is undeniable that truth is there only to be plac'd where there is the seal of Scripture Testimony 16. SAINT Jerom against Helvidius declares As we deny not that which is written so we refuse those which are not written And in his Comment on the 98. Ps. Every thing that we assert we must shew from the holy Scripture The word of him that speaks has not that autority as Gods precept And on the 87. Ps. Whatever is said after the Apostles let it be cut off nor have afterwards autority The one be holy after the Apostles the one be eloquent yet has he not autority 17. SAINT Austin in his Tract of the unity of the Church c. 12. acknowledges that he could not be convinc'd but by the Scriptures of what he was to believe and adds they are read with such manifestation that he who believes them must confess the doctrin to be most true In the second Book of Christian doctrin c. 9. he saies that in the plain places of Scripture are found all those things that concern Faith and Manners And in Epist. 42. All things which have bin exhibited heretofore as don to mankind and what we now see and deliver to our posterity the Scripture has not past them in silence so far forth as they concern the search or defence of our Religion In his â—ract of the good of Widowhood he saies to â—ulian the person to whom he addresses What shall I teach you more then that we read in the Apostle for the holy Scripture settlos the rule of our doctrin that we think not any thing more then we ought to think but to think soâ—erly as God has dealt to every man the mesure of Faith Therefore my teaching is only to exâ—ound the words of this Doctor Ep. 157. Where â—ny subject is obscure and passes our compreâ—ension and the Scripture do's not plainly afford its help there human conjecture is presumâ—â—ous in defining 18. THEOPHILUS of Alex. in his second Paschal homily tells us that 't is the suggestion of a diabolical spirit to think that any thing besides the Scripture has divine autority And in his third he adds that the Doctors of the Church having the Testimony of the Scripture lay firm foundation of their doctrin 19. CHRYSOSTOM in his third Homily
Bible which having bin writ so many Ages since past thro infinit variety of hands and which is above all having bin the object of the Devils and wicked mens malice lies under greater disadvantages then any human composure And doubtless men would be as equitable to that as they are to others were it not that they more wish to have that false or irrational then any other Book The plain parts of it the precepts and threatnings speak clearer then they desire gall and fret them and therefore they will revenge themselves upon the obscurer and seem angry that there are som things they understand not when indeed their real displesure is at those they do 16. A second qualification preparatory to reading the Scripture is reverence When we take the Bible in our hands we should do it with other sentiments and apprehensions then when we take a common Book considering that it is the word of God the instrument of our salvation or upon our abuse of it a promoter of our ruin 17. AND sure this if duly apprehended cannot but strike us with a reverential awe make us to say with Jacob Gen. 28. 17. surely God is in this place controle all trifling phancies and make us read not for custom or divertisement but with those solemn and holy intentions which become the dignity of its Author Accordingly we find holy men have in all Ages bin affected with it and som to the inward reverence of the mind have join'd the outward of the body also and never read it but upon their knees an example that may both instruct and reproach our profaness who commonly read by chance and at aventure If a Bible happen in our way we take it up as we would do a Romance or Play-book only herein we differ that we dismiss it much sooner and retain less of its impressions 18 IT was a Law of Numa that no man should meddle with divine things or worship the Gods in passing or by accident but make it a set and solemn business And every one knows with how great ceremony and solemnity the heathen Oracles were consulted How great a shame is it then for Christians to defalk that reverence from the true God which heathens allow'd their false ones 19. NOW this proceeds somtimes from the want of that habitual reverence we should alwaies have to it as Gods word and somtimes from want of actual exciting it when we go to read for if the habit lie only dormant in us and be not awak'd by actual consideration it avails us as little in our reading as the habitual strength of a man do's towards labor when he will not exert it for that end 20. WE ought therefore as to make it our deliberat choice to read Gods word so when we do it to stir up our selves to those solemn apprehensions of its dignity and autority as may render us malleable and apt to receive its impressions for where there is no reverence 't is not to be expected there should be any genuine or lasting obedience 21. SAINT Austin in his Tract to Honoratus of the advantage of believing makes the first requisit to the knowledg of the Scriptures to be the love of them Believe me saies he every thing in the Scripture is sublime and divine its truth and doctrin are most accommodate to the refreshment and building up of our minds and in all respects so order'd that every one may draw thence what is sufficient for him provided he approach it with devotion piety and religion The proof of this may require much reasoning and discourse But this I am first to perswade that you do not hate the Authors and then that you love them Had we an ill opinion of Virgil nay if upon the account of the reputation he has gain'd with our Predecessors we did not greatly love before we understood him we should never patiently go thro all the difficult questions Grammarians raise about him Many employ themselves in commenting upon him we esteem him most whose exposition most commends the Book and shews that the Author not only was free from error but did excellently well where he is not understood And if such an account happen not to be given we impute it rather to the Interpreter then the Poet. 22. THUS the good Father whose words I have transcrib'd at large as being remarkable to the present purpose he also shews that the mind of no Author is to be learnt from one averse to his doctrin as that 't is vain to enquire of Aristotles Books from one of a different Sect Or of Archimedes from Epicurus the discourse will be as displeasing as the speaker and that shall be esteem'd absurd which comes from one that is envi'd or despis'd 23. A third preparative to our reading should be praier The Scripture as it was dictated at first by the holy Spirit so must still owe its effects and influence to its cooperation The things of God the Apostle tells us are spiritually discern'd 1 Cor. 2. 14. And tho the natural man may well enough apprehend the letter and grammatical sense of the Word yet its power and energy that insinuative perswasive force whereby it works on hearts is peculiar to the spirit and therefore without his aids the Scripture whilst it lies open before our eies may still be as a Book that is seal'd Esai 29. 11. be as ineffective as if the characters were illegible 24. BESIDES our Savior tells us the devil is still busy to steal away the seed as soon as it is sown Mat. 13. 17. And unless we have som better guard then our own vigilance he is sure enough to prosper in his attemt Let it therefore be our care to invoke the divine Aid and when ever we take the Bible into our hands to dart up at least a hearty ejaculation that we may find its effects in our hearts Let us say with holy David open thou mine eies O Lord that I may see the wondrous things of thy Law Blessed art thou O Lord O teach me thy statutes Ps. 119. Nay indeed 't wil be fit matter of a daily solemn devotion as our Church has made it an annual in the Collect on the second Sunday in Advent a praier so apt and fully expressive of what we should desire in this particular that if we transcribe not only the example but the very words I know not how we can form that part of our devotion more advantageously 25. IN the second place we are to consider what is requir'd of us at the time of reading the Scripture which consists principally in two things The first of these is attention which is so indispensably requisit that without it all Books are alike and all equally insignificant for he that adverts not to the sense of what he reads the wisest discourses signify no more to him then the most exquisit music do's to a man perfectly deaf The letters and syllables of the Bible are no more sacred then those
vain for man to address nay 't were insolence to expect that human Oratory should succeed where the divine fails yet the spreading infection of these renders it necessary to administer antidotes to others And besides tho God be blest all are not of this form yet there are many who tho not arriv'd to this contempt yet want som degrees of that just reverence they owe the sacred Scriptures who give a confus'd general assent to them as the word of God but afford them not a consideration and respect answerable to such an acknowledgment To such as these I shall hope it may not be utterly vain to attemt the exciting of those drowsy notions that lie unactive in them by presenting to them som considerations concerning the excellence and use of the Scripture which being all but necessary consequences of that principle they are supposed to own viz. that they are Gods word I cannot much question their assent to the speculative part I wish I could as probably assure my self of the practic 10. INDEED were there nothing else to be said in behalf of holy Writ but that it is Gods word that were enough to command the most awful regard to it And therefore it is but just we make that the first and principal consideration in our present discourse But then 't is impossible that that can want others to attend it since whatsoever God saies is in all respects completely good I shall therefore to that of its divine original add secondly the consideration of its subject Matter thirdly of its excellent and no less diffusive end and design and fourthly of its exact propriety and fitness to that design which are all such qualifications that where they concur nothing more can be requir'd to commend a writing to the esteem of rational men And upon all these tests notwithstanding the cavil of the Romanists and others whose force we shall examin with the unhappy issue of contrary counsels this law of God will be found to answer the Psalmists character of it Ps. 19. 7. The Law of God is perfect and 't will appear that the custody and use thereof is the Birth-right and Duty of every Christian. All which severals being faithfully deduced it will only remain that I add such cautions as will be necessary to the due performance of the aforesaid duty and our being in som degree render'd perfect as this Law of God and the Author thereof himself is perfect Mat. 5. 48. SECT II. The divine Original Endearments and Authority of the Holy Scripture MENS judgments are so apt to be biast by their affection that we often find them readier to consider who speaks then what is spoken a temper very unsafe and the principle of great injustice in our inferior transactions with men yet here there are very few of us that can wholly divest our selves of it whereas when we deal with God in whom alone an implicit faith may securely be reposed we are nice and wary bring our scales and mesures will take nothing upon his word which holds not weight in our own balance 'T is true he needs not our partiality to be justified in his sayings Psal. 51. 4. His words are pure even as the silver tried seven times in the fire Psal. 12. 6. able to pass the strictest test that right reason truly so called can put them to Yet it shews a great perverseness in our nature that we who so easily resign our understandings to fallible men stand thus upon our guard against God make him dispute for every inch he gains on us nor will afford him what we daily grant to any credible man to receive an affirmation upon trust of his veracity 2. I am far from contradicting our Saviors Precept of Search the Scriptures Jo. 7. or Saint Pauls of proving all things 1 Thes. 5. 21. we cannot be too industrious in our inquest after truth provided we still reserve to God the decisive vote and humbly acquiesce in his sense how distant soever from our own so that when we consult Scripture I may add reason either 't is not to resolve us whether God be to be believed or no in what he has said but whether he hath said such and such things for if we are convinc'd he have reason as well as Religion commands our assert 3. WHATEVER therefore God has said we are to pay it a reverence merely upon the account of its Author over and above what the excellence of the matter exacts and to this we have all inducements as well as obligation there being no motives to render the words of men estimable to us which are not eminently and transcendently appliable to those of God 4. THOSE motives we may reduce to four first the Autority of the Speaker secondly his Kindness thirdly his Wisdom and fourthly his Truth First for that of Autority that may be either native or acquired the native is that of a parent which is such a charm of observance that we see Saâ—omon when he would impress his counsels assumes the person of a Father Hear O my children the instructions of a Father Prov. 4. 1. And generally thro that whole Book he uses the compellation of my Son as the greatest endearment to engage attention and reverence Nay so indispensible was the obligation of children in this respect that we see the contumacious child that would not hearken to the advice of his Parents was by God himself adjudged to death Deut. 21. 20. 5. NOR have only Gods but mens Laws exacted that filial reverence to the dictats of Parents But certainly no Parent can pretend such a title to it as God who is not only the immediat Father of our persons but the original Father of our very nature not only of our flesh but of our spirits also Heb. 12. 9. So that the Apostles Antithesis in that place is as properly applied to counsels as corrections and we may as rightly infer that if we give reverence to the advices of our earthly Parents much more ought we subject our selves to this Father of our spirits And we have the very same reason wherewith to enforce it for the Fathers of our flesh do as often dictate as correct according to their own plesures prescribe to their children not according to the exact mesures of right and wrong but after that humor which most predominates in themselves But God alwaies directs his admonitions to our profit that we may be partakers of his holiness Heb. 12. 11. So that we are as unkind to our selves as irreverent towards him whenever we let any of his words fall to the ground whose claim to this part of our reverence is much more irrefragable then that of our natural Parents 6. BUT besides this native Autority there is also an acquired and that we may distinguish into two sorts the one of dominion the other of reputation To the first kind belongs that of Princes Magistrates Masters or any that have coercive power over us And our
nay made it the test by which to try true inspirations from false To the Law and to the Testimony if they speak not according to it there is no light in them Esay 8. 20. So that the veneration which they had before acquir'd was still anew excited by fresh inspirations which both attested the old and became new parts of their Canon 27. NOR could it be esteem'd a small confirmation to the Scriptures to find in succeeding Ages the signal accomplishments of those prophecies which were long before registred in those Books for nothing less then divine Power and Wisdom could foretell and also verify them Upon these grounds the Jews universally thro all successions receiv'd the Books of the Old Testament as divine Oracles and lookt upon them as the greatest trust that could be committed to them and accordingly were so scrupulously vigilant in conserving them that their Masorits numbred not only the sections but the very words nay letters that no fraud or inadvertency might corrupt or defalk the least iota of what they esteem'd so sacred A farther testimony and sepiment to which were the Samaritan Chaldee and Greek versions which being made use of in the Synagogs oâ— Jews in their dispersions and the Samaritanâ— at Sichem could not at those distances receive a uniform alteration and any other would be of no effect Add to this that the Original exemplar of the Law was laid up in the Sanctuary that the Prince was to have a Copy of it alwaies by him and transcribe it with his own hand that every Jew was to make it his constant discourse and meditation teach it his children and wear part of it upon his hands and forehead And now sure 't is impossible to imagin any matter of fact to be more carefully deduced or irrefragably testified nor any thing believ'd upon stronger evidence 28. THAT all this is true in reference to the Jews that they did thus own these Writings as divine appears not only by the Records of past Ages but by the Jews of the present who still own them and cannot be suspected of combination with the Christians And if these were reasonable grounds of conviction to the Jews as he must be most abâ—urdly sceptical that shall deny they must be so to Christians also who derive them â—â—om them and that with this farther adâ—antage to our Faith that we see the clear â—ompletion of those Evangelical prophecies â—hich remain'd dark to them and conseâ—uently have a farther Argument to confirm â—s that the Scriptures of the Old Testament â—re certainly divine 29. THE New has also the like means of â—robation which as it is a collection of the â—octrin taught by Christ and his Apostles must if truly related be acknowledged no less divine then what they orally deliver'd So that they who doubt its being divine must either deny what Christ and his Apostles preacht to be so or else distrust the fidelity of the relation The former strikes at the whole Christian Faith which if only of men must not only be fallible but is actually a deceit whilst it pretends to be of God and is not To such Objectors we have to oppose those stupendious miracles with which the Gospel was attested such as demonstrated a more then human efficacy And that God should lend his omnipotence to abet the false pretensions of men is a conceit too unworthy even for the worst of men to entertain 30. 'T IS true there have bin by God permitted lying miracles as well as true ones have bin don by him Such as were those of the Magicians in Egypt in opposition to the other of Moses but then the difference between both was so conspicuous that he must be more partial and disingenuous then even those Magicians were who would not acknowledg the disparity and confess in those which were truly supernatural the finger of God Exod. 8. 19. Therefore both in the Old and New Testament it is predicted that false Prophets should arise and do signs and wonders Deut. 13. 1. Mat. 24. 11. 24. as a trial of their fidelity who made profession of Religion whether they would prefer the few and trivial sleights which recommended a deceiver before those great and numberless miracles which attested the sacred Oracles deliver'd to the sons of men by the God of truth Whether the trick of a Barchochebas to hold fire in his mouth that of Marcus the heretic to make the Wine of the Holy Sacrament appear bloud or that of Mahomet to bring a Pidgeon to his ear ought to be put in balance against all the miracles wrought by Moses our Savior or his Apostles And in a word whether the silly stories which Iamblichus solemnly relates of Pythagoras or those Philostratus tells of Apollonius Tyaneus deserve to rival those of the Evangelists It is a most just judgment and accordingly threatned by Almighty God that they who would not obey the truth should believe a lie 2 Thes. 2. 11. But still the Almighty where any man or devil do's proudly is evidently above him Exod. 18. 11. will be justified in his sayings and be clear when he is judged Rom. 3. 4. 31. BUT if men will be Sceptics and doubt every thing they are to know that the matter call'd into question is of a nature that admits but two waies of solution probability and testimony First for probability let it be consider'd who were the first promulgers of Christs miracles In his life time they were either the patients on whom his miracles were wrought or the common people that were spectators the former as they could not be deceiv'd themselves but must needs know whether they were cur'd or no so what imaginable design could they have to deceive others Many indeed have pretended impotency as a motive of compassion but what could they gain by owning a cure they had not As for the Spectators as their multitude adds to their credibility it being morally impossible that so many should at once be deluded in a matter so obvious to their senses so do's it also acquit them from fraud and combination Cheats and forgeries are alwaies hatcht in the dark in close Cabals and privat Juncto's That five thousand men at one time and four thousand at another should conspire to say that they were miraculously fed when they were not and all prove true to the fiction and not betray it is a thing as irrational to be suppos'd as impossible to be parallel'd 32. BESIDES admit it possible that so many could have join'd in the deceit yet what imaginable end could they have in it Had their lie bin subservient to the designs of som potent Prince that might have rewarded it there had bin som temtation but what could they expect from the reputed son of a Carpenter who had not himself where to lay his head Nay who disclaim'd all secular power convei'd himself away from their importunities when they would have forc'd him to be a King And consequently could not be
manking with the particulars wherein that obedience was to be exercis'd This sure were so disagreeable to his wisdom and goodness that it cannot be charg'd upon his will and consequently they who own not that he has made any such revelation must tacitly tax him of impotence that he could not do it But if any man will say he has and yet reject all this which both Jews and Christians receive as such let him produce his testimonies for the others or rather to retort his own mesure his demonstrations And then let it appear whether his Scheme of doctrin or ours will need the greater aid of that easy credulity he reproches us with 64. I have now gon thro the method I proposed for evincing the Divine Original of the Scriptures and shall not descend to examin those more minute and particular Cavils which profane men make against them the proof of this virtually superseding all those For if it be reasonable to believe it the Word of God it must be reasonable also to believe it of perfection proportionable to the Author and then certainly it must be advanc'd beyond all our objections For to those who except to the stile the incoherence the contradictions or whatever else in Scripture I shall only ask this one question whether it be not much more possible that they who can pretend to be nothing above fallible men may misjudg then that the infallible God should dictate any thing justly liable to those charges I am sure they must depart as much from Reason as Religion to affirm the contrary But alas instead of this implicit submission to Gods Word men take up explicit prejudices against it condemn it without ever examining the truth of the Allegation 'T is certain that in a writing of such Antiquity whose original Language has Idioms and Phrases so peculiar whose Country had customs so differing from the rest of the world 't is impossible to judg of it without reference to all those circumstances Add to this that the Hebrew has bin a dead Language for well nigh two thousand years nowhere in common use nor is there any other ancient Book now extant in it besides those yet not all neither of the Old Testament 65. Now of those many who defame Holy Writ how few are there that have the industry to inquire into those particulars And when for want of knowledg som passages seem improper or perhaps contradictory the Scripture must bear the blame of their ignorance and be accus'd as absurd and unintelligible because themselves are stupid and negligent It were therefore methinks but a reasonable proposal that no man should arraign it till they have used all honest diligence taken in all probable helps for the understanding it and if this might be obtain'd I believe most of its Accusers would like those of the woman in the Gospel Jo. 8. 9. drop away as conscious of their own incompetency the loudest out-cries that are made against it being commonly of those who fall upon it only as a fashionable theme of discourse and hope to acquire themselves the reputation of wits by thus charging God foolishly But he that would candidly and uprightly endeavor to comprehend before he judges and to that end industriously use those means which the providence of God by the labors of pious men hath afforded him will certainly find cause to acquit the Scripture of those imputations which our bold Critics have cast upon it I do not say that he shall have all the obscurities of it perfectly clear 〈◊〉 to him but he shall have so many of them as is for his real advantage and shall discern such reasons why the rest remain unfathomable as may make him not only justify but celebrate the wisdom of the Author 66. YET this is to be expected only upon the fore-mention'd condition viz. that he come with sincere and honest intentions foâ— as for him that comes to the Scripture with design and wishes to find matter of cavil and accusations there is little doubt but thaâ— spirit of impiety and profaness which senâ— him thither will meet him there as a spirit of delusion and occecation That Prince of the Air will cast such mists raise such black vapors that as the Apostle speaks the light of the glorious Gospel of Christ shall not shine unto him 2 Cor. 4. 5. Indeed were such a man left only to the natural efficacy of prejudice that is of it self so blinding so infatuating a thing as commonly fortifies against all conviction We see it in all the common instances of life mens very senses are often enslav'd by it the prepossession of a strong phancy will make the objects of sight or hearing appear quite different from what they are But in the present case when this shall be added to Satanical illusions and both left to their operations by Gods with-drawing his illuminating grace the case of such a man answers that description of the Scripture They have eies and see not ears have they and hear not Rom. 11. 8. And that God will so withdraw his grace we have all reason to believe he having promis'd it only to the meek to those who come with malleable ductile spirits to learn not to deride or cavil Saint Peter tells us that the unlearned and unstable wrest the Scripture to their own destruction 2 Pet. 3. 15. And if God permit such to do so much more will he the proud malicious 67. I say not this to deter any from the study of Holy Scripture but only to caution them to bring a due preparation of mind along with them Gods Word being like a generous soveraign medicament which if simply and regularly taken is of the greatest benefit but if mixt with poison serves only to make that more fatally operative To conclude he that would have his doubts solv'd concerning Scripture let him follow the method our blessed Lord has describ'd Let him do the will of God and then he shall know of the doctrin whether it be of God Jo. 7. 17. Let him bring with him a probity of mind a willingness to assent to all convictions he shall there meet with and then he will find grounds sufficient to assure him that it is Gods Word and consequently to be receiv'd with all the submission and reverence that its being so exacts SECT III. The subject matter treated of in the Holy Scripture is excellent as is also its end and design WE have hitherto consider'd the holy Scripture only under one notion as it is the Word of God we come now to view it in the subject matter of it the several parts whereof it consists which are so various and comprehensive as shews the whole is deriv'd from him who is all in all 1 Cor. 19 28. But that we may not speak only loosely and at â—overs we will take this excellent frame in pieces and consider its most eminent parts distinctly Now the parts of Holy Writ seem to branch themselves into these
tho but of a City or Nation have proportionably acquir'd a greater esteem But those who have aspir'd to be universal benefactors to do somthing for the common benefit of the world their fame has commonly teach'd as far as their influence men have reverenc'd nay somtimes according to the common excesses of mans nature ador'd them Many of the heathen deities especially their demi-gods having bin only those persons who by introducing som useful Art or other part of knowledg had oblig'd mankind So we see what a natural gratitude men are apt to pay to worthy and generous designs And if we will be content but to stand to this common award of our nature the Scripture will have the fairest claim imaginable to our reverence and thankfulness upon this very account of the excellency of its designs 76. NOR need we borrow the balance of the Sanctuary to weigh them in we may do it in our own scales for they exactly answer the two properties above mention'd of profit and diffusiveness which in secular concerns are the standard rules of good designs For first it is the sole scope and aim of Scripture the very end for which 't was writ to benefit and advantage men and that secondly not only som small select number som little angle or corner of the world but the whole race of mankind the entire Universe and he that can imagin a more diffusive design must imagin more worlds also 77. NOW for the first of these that it is the design of the Scripture to benefit men we need appeal but to Scripture it self which surely can give the best account to what ends 't is directed and that tells us it is to make us wise unto salvation 2 Tim. 3. 15. In which is comprehended the greatest benefit that mans nature is capable of the making us wise while we live here and the saving us eternally And this sure is the most generous the most obliging design that 't is possible even for the Creator to have upon the creature and this is it which the holy Scripture negotiates with us 78. AND first the making us wise is so inviting a proposal to humanity that we see when that was much wiser then now it is it caught at a fallacious tender of it the very sound of it tho out of the devils mouth fascinated our first Parents and hurried them to the highest disobedience and certainest ruin And therefore now God by the holy Scriptures makes us an offer as much more safe as it is more sincere when he sends his Word thus to be a lamp to our feet and a light to our paths Ps. 119. 105. to teach us all that is good for us to know our affectation of ignorance will be more culpable then theirs of knowledg if we do not admire the kindness embrace the bounty of such a tender 79. NOW the making us wise must be understood according to the Scripture notion of wisdom which is not the wisdom of this world nor of the Princes of this world which come to â—ought as the Apostle speaks 1 Cor. 2. 5. but that wisdom which descends from above Ja. 3. 17. which he there describes to be first pure then peaceable gentle and easy to be intreated full of mercy and good fruits without partiality and without hypocrisy Indeed the Scripture usually comprehends these and all other graces under Wisdom for it makes it synonymous to that which includes them all viz. the fear of the Lord. Thus we find throout the whole Book of Proverbs these us'd as terms convertible In short Wisdom is that practical knowledg of God and our selves which engages us to obedience and duty and this is agreeable to that definition the Wise man gives of it The wisdom of the prudent is to understand his way Pro. 14. 8. Without this all the most refin'd and aerial speculations are but like Thales's star-gazing which secur'd him not from falling in the water nay betrai'd him to it In this is all solid wisdom compris'd 80. THE utmost all the wise men in the world have pretended to is but to know what true happiness is and what is the means of attaining it and what they sought with so much study and so little success the Scripture presents us with in the greatest certainty and plainest characters such as he that runs may read Hab. 2. 2. It acquaints us with that supreme felicity that chief good whereof Philosophy could only give us a name and it shews us the means marks us out a path which will infallibly lead us to it Accordingly we find that Solomon after all the accurate search he had made to find what was that good for the sons of men he shuts up his inquest in this plain conclusion Fear God and keep his commandments for God shall bring every work unto judgment Eccles. 12. 13 14 The regulating our lives so by the rules of Piety as may acquit us at our final account is the most eligible thing that falls within human cognizance and that not only in relation to the superlative happiness of the next world but even to the quiet and tranquillity of this For alas we are impotent giddy creaâ—ures swai'd sometimes by one passion somâ—imes by another nay often the interfearing of our appetites makes us irresolute which we are to gratify whilst in the interim their â—trugling agitates and turmoils the mind And what can be more desirable in such a â—ase then to put our selves under a wiser conduct then our own and as opprest States â—se to defeat all lesser pretenders by becoming homagers to som more potent so for us to deliver our selves from the tyranny of our â—usts by giving up our obedience to him whose service is perfect freedom 81. WERE there no other advantage of the exchange but the bringing us under fixt and determinat Laws 't were very consideraable Every man would gladly know the terms of his subjection and have som standing â—ule to guide himself by and Gods Laws are â—o we may certainly know what he requires of us but the mandats of our passions are â—rbitrary and extemporary what pleases them to day disgusts them to morrow and we must alwaies be in readiness to do we know not what and of all the Arbitrary governments that men either feel or fear â—his is doubtless the most miserable I wish our apprehensions of it were but as sensible and then we should think the holy Scripture did us the office of a Patriot in offering us a rescue from so vile a slavery 82. AND that it do's make us this offer is manifest by the whole tenor of the Bible For first it rowzes and awakes us to a sense of our condition shews us that what we call liberty is indeed the saddest servitude that he that committeth sin is the servant of sin Jo. 8. 34. that those vices which pretend to serve and gratify us do really subdue and enslave us and fetter when they seem to embrace and
whereas the will in all other oppressions retains its liberty this tyranny brings that also into vassallage renders our spirits so mean and servile that we chuse bondage are apt to say with the Israelites Let us alone that we may serve the Egyptians Ex. 14. 12. 83. AND what greater kindness can be don for people in this forlorn abject condition then to animate them to cast off this yoke and recover their freedom And to this are most of the Scripture exhortations addrest as may be seen in a multitude of places particularly in the sixth chapter to the Romans the whole scope whereof is directly to this purpose 84. NOR do's it only sound the alarm put us upon the contest with our enemies but it assists us in it furnishes us with that whole armor of God which we find describ'd Eph. 6. 13. Nay further it excites our courage by assuring us that if we will not basely surrender our selves we can never be overpower'd if we do but stand our ground resist our enemy he will fly from us Ja. 4. 7. And to that purpose it directs us under what banner we are to list our selves even his who hath spoil'd principalities and powers Col. 2. 15. to whose conduct and discipline if we constantly adhere we cannot miss of victory 85. AND then lastly it sets before us the prize of this conquest that we shall not only recover our liberty manumit our selves from the vilest bondage to the vilest and cruellest oppressors but we shall be crown'd for it too be rewarded for being kind to our selves and be made happy eternally hereafter for being willing to be happy here 89. AND sure these are terms so apparently advantageous that he must be infinitly stupid foolish to destruction that will not be thus made wise unto salvation that despifes or cavils at this divine Book which means him so much good which designs to make him live here generously and according to the dignity of his nature and in the next world to have that nature sublimated and exalted made more capacious of those refin'd and immense felicities which there await all who will qualify themselves for them who as the Apostle speaks by patient continuance in well doing seek for glory and honor and immortality eternal life Rom. 2. 7. 87. BUT besides the greatest and principal advantages which concern our spiritual interest it takes in also the care of our secular directs us to such a managery of our selves as is naturally apt to promote a quiet and happy life It s injunction to live peaceable with all men keeps us out of the way of many misadventures which turbulent unruly spirits meet with and so secures our peace So also as to wealth it puts us into the fairest road to riches by prescribing diligence in our callings what is thus got being like sound flesh which will stick by us whereas the hasty growth of ill-gotten wealth is but a tumor and impostume which the bigger it swells the sooner it bursts and leaves us lanker then before In like manner it shews us also how to guard our reputation by providing honest things not only in the sight of God but also in the sight of men Cor. 8. 28. by abstaining even from all appearance of evil 1 Thes. 5. 22. and making our light shine before men Mat. 5. 16. It provides too for our ease and tranquillity supersedes our anxious cares and sollicitud's by directing us to cast our burden upon the Lord Psal. 55. 22. and by a reliance on his providence how to secure to our selves all we really want Finally it fixes us in all the changes supports us under all the pressures comforts us amidst all the calamities of this life by assuring us they shall all work together for good to those that love God Ro. 8. 28. 88. NOR do's the Scripture design to promote our interests consider'd only singly and personally but also in relation to Societies and Communities it gives us the best rules of distributive and commutative Justice teaches us to render to all their dues Ro. 13. 7. to keep our words to observe inviolably all our pacts and contracts nay tho they prove to our damage Psa. 15. 4. and to preserve exact fidelity and truth which are the sinews of human commerce It infuses into us noble and generous principles to prefer a common good before our private and that highest flight of Ethnic vertue that of dying for ones Country is no more then the Scripture prescribes even for our common brethren 1 To. 3. 16. 89. BUT besides these generals it descends to more minute directions accommodated to our several circumstances it gives us appropriate rules in reference to our distinct relations whether natural civil ecclesiastical or oeconomical And if men would but universally conform to them to what a blessed harmony would it tune the world what order and peace would it introduce There would then be no oppressive Governors nor mutinous Subjects no unnatural Parents nor contumacious Children no idle Shepherds or straying Flocks none of those domestic jars which oft disquiet and somtimes subvert families all would be calm and serene and give us in reality that golden Age whereof the Poets did but dream 90. THIS tendency of the Scripture is remarkably acknowledg'd in all our public Judicatories where before any testimony is admitted we cause the person that is to give his testimony first to lay hold of with his hands then with his mouth to kiss the holy Scriptures as if it were impossible for those hands which held the mysteries of Truth to be immediatly emploi'd in working falsehood or that those lips which had ador'd those holy Oracles should be polluted with perjuries and lies And I fear the civil Government is exceedingly shaken at this day in its firmest foundation by the little regard is generally had of the holy Scriptures and what is consequent thereto the oaths that are taken upon them 91. 'T IS true we are far remov'd from that state which Esaiah prophecied of under the Gospel tho we have the Bible among us that when the Law should go forth of Sion and the Word of the Lord from Jerusalem they should heat their swords into plow-shares and their spears into pruning hooks Es. 2. 4. but that is not from any defect in it but from our own perversness we have it but as the Apostle speaks in another sense as if we had it not 1 Cor. 7. 29. We have it that is use it to purposes widely different from what it means Som have it as a Supersedeas to all the duty it injoins and so they can but cap texts talk glibly of Scripture are not at all concern'd to practice it som have it as their Arsenal to furnish them with weapons not against their spiritual enemies but their secular applying all the damnatory sentences they there find to all those to whose persons or opinions they have prejudice And som have it as a Scene of their mirth
is against error and learn how little is got by that policy which controles the divine Wisdom 14 NOR can they take shelter in the example of the primitive Christians for they in the constant use of the holy Scriptures yielded not unto the Jews Whereas the Jews had the Scriptures read publicly to them every Sabbath day which Josephus against Appion thus expresses Moses propounded to the Jews the most excellent and necessary learning of the Law not by hearing it once or twice but every seventh day laying aside their works he commanded them to assemble for the hearing of the Law and throughly and exactly to learn it Parallel to this was the practice of the primitive Church perform'd by the Lector or Reader of which Justin Martyr in his 2. Apol. gives this account On the day call'd Sunday all that abide in towns or the countries about meet in one place and the writings of the Apostles and Prophets are read so far as there is place So Tertullian in his Apol describing the offices in the public Assemblies We feed our faith with the sacred Words we raise our hopes and establish our reliance 15. AND as the Jews thought it indecent for persons professing piety to let three daies pass without the offices thereof in the congregation and therefore met in their Synagogues upon every Tuesday and Thursday in the week and there perform'd the duties of fasting praier and hearing the holy Scriptures concerning which is the boast of the Pharisee Luk. 18. 12. in conformity hereto the Christians also their Sabbath being brought forward from the Saturday to the day following that the like number of daies might not pass them without performing the aforesaid duties in the congregation met together on the Wednesdaies and Fridaies which were the daies of Station so frequently mention'd in Tertullian and others the first writers of the Church Tertullian expresly saies that the Christians dedicated to the offices of Piety the fourth and sixth day of the week and Clemens Alex. saies of the Christians that they understood the secret reasons of their weekly fasts to wit those of the fourth day of the week and that of preparation before the Sabbath commonly call'd Wednesday and Friday Where by the way we may take notice what ground there is for the observation of the Wednesday and Friday in our Church and the Litanies then appointed so much neglected in this profligate Age. 16. BUT secondly as the Jews were diligent in the privat reading of the Scripture being taught it from their infancy which custom Saint Paul refers to 1 Tim. 3. 15. whereof Josephus against Appion saies That if a man ask any Jew concerning the Laws he will tell every thing readier then his name for learning them from the first time they have sense of any thing they retain them imprinted in their minds So were the first Christians equally industrious in improving their knowledg of divine Truth The whole life of a Christian saies Clem. Alex. Strom. l. 7. is a holy solemnity there his sacrifices are praiers and praises before every meal he has the readings of the holy Scriptures and Psalms and Hymns at the time of his meals Which Tertullian also describes in his Apol. and Saint Cyprian in the end of the Epist. to Donatus 17. AND this is farther evidenc'd by the early and numerous versions of the Scriptures into all vulgar Languages concerning which Theodoret speaks in his Book of the Cure of the Affections of the Greeks Serm. 5. We Christians sais he are enabled to shew the power of Apostolic and prophetic doctrins which hâ—ve fill'd all Countries under Heaven For that which was formerly utter'd in Hebrew is not only translated into the Language of the Grecians but also the Romans Egyptians Persians Indians Armenians Scythians Samaritans and in a word to all the Languages that are us'd by any Nation The same is said by Saint Chrysostom in his first Homily upon Saint Iohn 18. NOR was this don by the blind zeal of inconsiderable men but the most eminent Doctors of the Church were concern'd herein such as Origen who with infinit labor contriv'd the Hexapla Saint Chrysostom who translated the New Testament Psalms and som part of the Old Testament into the Armenian Tongue as witnesses Geor. Alex. in the life of Chrysost. So Vlphilas the first Bishop of the Goths translated the holy Scripture into the Gothic as Socrat. Eccl. Hist l. 4. cap. 33. and others testify Saint Jerom who translated them not only into Latin from the Hebrew the Old Italic version having bin from the Greek but also into his native vulgar Dalmatic which he saies himself in his Epistle to Sophronius 19. BUT the peoples having them for their privat and constant use appears farther by the Heathens making the extorting of them a part of their persecution and when diverse did faint in that trial and basely surrender'd them we find the Church level'd her severity only against the offending persons did not according to the Romish equity punish the innocent by depriving them of that sacred Book because the others had so unworthily prostituted it tho the prevention of such a profanation for the future had bin as fair a plea for it as the Romanists do now make but on the contrary the primitive Fathers are frequent nay indeed importunat in their exhortations to the privat study of holy Scripture which they recommend to Christians of all Ranks Ages and Sexes 20. AS an instance hereof let us hear Clemens of Alex. in his Exhort The Word saies he is not hid from any it is a common light that shineth to all men there is no obscurity in it hear it you that be far off and hear it you that are nigh 21. To this purpose St. Jerom speaks in his Epistle to Leta whom he directs in the education of her young daughter and advises thâ—t instead of gems and silk she be enamour'd with the holy Scripture wherein not gold or skins or Babylonian embroideries but a correct and beautiful variety producing faith will recommend its self Let her first learn the Psalter and be entertain'd with those songs then be instructed unto life by the Proverbs of Solomon let her learn from Ecclesiastes to despise worldly things transcribe from Job the practice of patience and vertue let her pass then to the Gospels and never let them be out of her bands and then imbibe with all the faculties of the mind the Acts of the Apostles and Epistles When she has enrich'd the store-house of her breast with these tresures let her learn the Prophets the Heptateuch or books of Moses Joshua and Judges the books of Kings and Chronicles the volumes of Ezra and Esther and lastly the Canticles And indeed this Father is so concern'd to have the unletter'd semale sex skilful in the Scriptures that tho he sharply rebukes their pride and over-wening he not only frequently resolves their doubts concerning difficult places in the said Scriptures but
or to read therein is subjected to severe penalties 2. FOR the vindication of the truth of God and to put to shame those unhappy Innovators who amidst great pretences to antiquity and veneration to the Scriptures prevaricat from both I think it may not be amiss to shew plainly the mind of the primitive Church herein and that in as few words as the matter will admit 3. FIRST I premise that Ireneus and Tertullian having to do with Heretics who boasted themselves to be emendators of the Apostles and wiser then they despising their autority rejecting several parts of the Scripture and obtruding other writings in their steed have had recourse unto Tradition with a seeming preference of it unto Scripture Their adversaries having no common principle besides the owning the name of Christians it was impossible to convince them but by a recourse to such a medium which they would allow But these Fathers being to set down and establish their Faith are most express in resolving it into Scripture and when they recommend Tradition ever mean such as is also Apostolical 4. IRENEUS in the second Book 47. c. tells us that the Scriptures are perfect as dictated by the word of God and his spirit And the same Father begins his third Book in this manner The disposition of our salvation is no otherwise known by us then by those by whom the Gospel was brought to us which indeed they first preach'd but afterward deliver'd it to us in the Scripture to be the foundation and pillar of our Faith Nor may we imagin that they began to preach to others before they themselves had perfect knowledg as som are bold to say boasting themselves to be emendators of the Apostles For after our Lords Resurrection they were indued with the power of the holy Spirit from on high and having perfect knowledg went forth to the ends of the earth preaching the glad tidings of salvation and celestial praise unto men Each and all of whom had the Gospel of God So Saint Matthew wrote the Gospel to the Hebrews in their tongue Saint Peter and Saint Paul preach'd at Rome and there founded a Church Mark the Disciple and interpreter of Peter deliver'd in writing what he had preach'd and Luke the follower of Paul set down in his Book the Gospel he had deliver'd Afterward Saint John at Ephesus in Asia publish'd his Gospel c. In his fourth Book c. 66. he directs all the Heretics with whom he deals to read diligently the Gospel deliver'd by the Apostles and also read diligently the Prophets assuring they shall there find every action every doctrin and every suffering of our Lord declared by them 5. THUS Tertullian in his Book of Prescriptions c. 6. It is not lawful for us to introduce any thing of our own will nor make any choice upon our arbitrement We have the Apostles of our Lord for our Authors who themselves took up nothing on their own will or choice but faithfully imparted to the Nations the discipline which they had receiv'd from Christ. So that if an Angel from heaven should teach another doctrin he were to be accurst And. c. 25. 'T is madness saies he of the Heretics when they confess that the Apostles were ignorant of nothing nor taught things different to think that they did not revele all things to all which he enforces in the following chapter In his Book against Hermogenes c. 23. he discourses thus I adore the plenitude of the Scripture which discovers to me the Creator and what was created Also in the Gospel I find the Word was the Arbiter and Agent in the Creation That all things were made of preexistent matter I never read Let Hermogenes and his journy-men shew that it is written If it be not written let him fear the woe which belongs to them thad add or detract And in the 39. ch of his Prescript We feed our faith raise our hope and establish our reliance with the sacred Words 6. IN like manner Hippolytus in the Homily against Noetus declares that we acknowledg only from Scripture that there is one God And whereas secular Philosophy is not to be had but from the reading of the doctrin of the Philosophers so whosoever of us will preserve piety towards God he cannot otherwise learn it then from the holy Scripture Accordingly Origen in the fifth Homily on Leviticus saies in the Scripture every word appertaining to God is to be sought and discust and the knowledg of all things is to be receiv'd 7. WHAT Saint Cyprian's opinion was in this point we learn at large from his Epistle to Pompey For when Tradition was objected to him he answers Whence is this Tradition is it from the autority of our Lord and his Gospel or comes it from the commands of the Apostles in their Epistles Almighty God declares that what is written should be obei'd and practic'd The Book of the Law saies he in Joshua shall not depart from thy mouth but thou shalt meditate in it day and night that you may observe and keep all that is written therein So our Lord sending his Apostles commands them to baptize all Nations and teach them to observe all things that he had commanded Again what obstinacy and presumtion is it to prefer human Tradition to divine Command not considering that Gods wrath is kindled as often as his Precepts are dissolv'd and neglected by reason of human Traditions Thus God warns and speaks by Isaiah This people honors me with their lips but their heart is far from me but in vain do they worship me teaching for doctrins the commandments of men Also the Lord in the Gospel checks and reproves saying you reject the Law of God that you may establish your Tradition Of which Precept the Apostle Saint Paul being mindful admonishes and instructs saying If any man teaches otherwise and hearkens not to sound doctrin and the words of our Lord Jesus Christ he is proud knowing nothing From such we must depart And again he adds There is a compendious way for religious and sincere minds both to deposit their errors and find out the truth For if we return to the source and original of divine Tradition human error will cease and the ground of heavenly Mysteries being seen what soever was hid with clouds and darkness will be manifest by the light of truth If a pipe that brought plentiful supplies of water fail on the suddain do not men look to the fountain and thence learn the cause of the defect whether the spring it self be dry or if running freely the water is stopt in its passage that if by interrupted or broken conveiances it was hindred to pass they being repair'd it may again be brought to the City with the same plenty as it flows from the spring And this Gods Priests ought to do at this time obeying the commands of God that if truth have swerv'd or fail'd in any particular we go backward to the source of the Evangelical
on the first of the Thessal asserts that from the alone reading or hearing of the Scripture one may learn all things necessary So Hom. 34. on Act. 15. he declares A heathen comes and saies I would willingly be a Christian but I know not who to join my self to for there are many contentions among you many seditions and tumults so that I am in doubt what opinion I should chuse Each man saies what y say is true and I know not whom to believe each pretends to Scripture which I am ignorant of 'T is very well the issue is put here for if the appeal were to reason in this case there would be just occasion of being troubled but when we appeal to Scripture and they are simple and certain you may easily your self judg He that agrees with the Scripture is a Christian he that resists them is far out of the way And on Ps. 95. If any thing be said without the Scripture the mind halts between different opinions somtimes inclining as to what is probable anon rejecting as what is frivolous but when the testimony of holy Scripture is produc'd the mind both of speaker and hearer is confirm'd And Hom. 4. on Lazar Tho one should rise from the dead or an Angel come down from heaven we must believe the Scripture they being fram'd by the Lord of Angels and the quick and dead And Hom. 13. 2 Cor. 7. It is not an absurd thing that when we deal with men about mony we wil trust no body but cast up the sum and make use of our counters but in religious affairs suffer our selves to be led aside by other mens opinions even then when we have by an exact scale and touchstone the dictat of the divine Law Therefore I pray and exhort you that giving no heed to what this or that man saies you would consult the holy Scripture and thence learn the divine riches and pursue what you have learnt And Hom. 58. on Jo. 10. 1. 'T is the mark of a thief that he comes not in by the dore but another way now by the dore the testimony of the Scripture is signified And Hom. on Gal. 1. 8. The Apostle saies not if any man teach a contrary doctrin let him be accurs'd or if he subvert the whole Gospel but if he teach any thing beside the Gospel which you have receiv'd or vary any little thing let him be accurs'd 20. CYRIL of Alex. against Jul. l. 7. saies The holy Scripture is sufficient to make them who are instructed in it wise unto salvation and endued with most ample knowledg 21. THâ—ODORET Dial. 1. I am perswaded only by the holy Scripture And Dial. 2. I am not so bold to affirm any thing not spoken of in the Scripture And again qu. 45. upon Genes We ought not to enquire after what is past over in silence but acquiesce in what is written 22. IT were easy to enlarge this discourse into a Volume but having taken as they offer'd themselves the suffrages of the writers of the four first Centuries I shall not proceed to those that follow If the holy Scripture were a perfect rule of Faith and Manners to all Christians heretofore we may reasonably assure our selves it is so still and will now guide us into all necessary truth and consequently make us wise unto salvation without the aid of oral Tradition or the new mintage of a living infallible Judg of controversy And the impartial Reader will be enabled to judg whether our appeal to the holy Scripture in all occasions of controversy and recommendation of it to the study of every Christian be that heresy and innovation which it is said to be 23. IT is we know severely imputed to the Scribes and Pharisees by our Savior that they took from the people the key of knowledg Luk. 11. 52. and had made the word of God of none effect by their Traditions Matt. 15. 6. but they never attemted what has bin since practiced by their Successors in the Western Church to take away the Ark of the Testament it self and cut of not only the efficacy but very possession of the word of God by their Traditions Surely this had bin exceeding criminal from any hand but that the Bishops and Governors of the Church and the universal and infallible Pastor of it who claim the office to interpret the Scriptures exhort unto and assist in the knowledg of them should be the men who thus rob the people of them carries with it the highest aggravations both of cruelty and breach of trust If any man shall take away from the words of the Book of this prophecy saies Saint John Revel 22. 19. God shall take away his part out of the Book of Life and out of the holy City and from the things which are written in this Book What vengeance therefore awaits those who have taken away not only from one Book but at once the Books themselves even all the Scriptures the whole word of God SECT VII Historical reflections upon the events which have happen'd in the Church since the with-drawing of the holy Scripture 'T WILL in this place be no useless contemplation to observe after the Scriptures had bin ravisht from the people in the Church of Rome what pitiful pretenders were admitted to succeed And first because Lay-men were presum'd to be illiterate and easily seducible by those writings which were in themselves difficult and would be wrested by the unlearned to their own destruction pictures were recommended in their steed and complemented as the Books of the Laity which soon emprov'd into a necessity of their worship and that gross superstition which renders Christianity abominated by Turks and Jews and Heathens unto this day 2. I would not be hasty in charging Idolatry upon the Church of Rome or all in her communion but that their Image-worship is a most fatal snare in which vast numbers of unhappy souls are taken no man can doubt who hath with any regard travail'd in Popish Countries I my self and thousands of others whom the late troubles or other occasions sent abroad are and have bin witnesses thereof Charity 't is true believes all things but it do's not oblige men to disbelieve their eies 'T was the out-cry of Micah against the Danites Jud. 18. 24. ye have taken away my Gods which I have made and the Priest and are gon away and what have I more but the Laity of the Roman communion may enlarge the complaint and say you have taken away the oracles of our God and set up every where among us graven and molten Images and Teraphims and what have we more and 't was lately the loud and I doubt me is still the unanswerable complaint of the poor Americans that they were deni'd to worship their Pagod once in the year when they who forbad them worship'd theirs every day 3. THE Jews before the captivity notwithstanding the recent memory of the Miracles in Egypt and the Wilderness and the first
conquest of the Land of Canaan with those that succeeded under the Judges and kings of Israel and Juda as also the express command of God and the menaces of Prophets ever and anon fell to downright Idolatry but after their return unto this day have kept themselves from falling into that sin tho they had no Prophets to instruct them no miracles or government to encourage or constrain them The reason of which a very learned man in his discourse of religious Assemblies takes to be the reading and teaching of the Law in their Synagogues which was perform'd with great exactness after the return from the captivity but was not so perform'd before And may we not invert the observation and impute the Image-worship now set up in the Christian Church to the forbidding the reading of the Scriptures in the Churches and interdicting the privat use and institution in them 4. FOR a farther supplement in place of the Scriptures whose History was thought not edifying enough the Legends of the Saints were introduc'd stories so stupid that one would imagin them design'd as an experiment how far credulity could be impos'd upon or else fram'd to a worse intent that Christianity by them might be made ridiculous Yet these are recommended to use and veneration while in the mean time the word of God is utterly forbidden whereby the parties to this unhappy practice that I may speak in the words of the Prophet Jerem. 2. 13. have committed two evils they have for saken the fountain of living waters aud hewed them out cisterns broken cisterns that can hold no water 5. FARTHER yet the same unreasonable tyranny which permitted not the Laity to understand Almighty God speaking to them in the Scripture hinder'd them from being suffer'd to understand the Church or themselves speaking to him in their praiers whilst the whole Roman office is so dispos'd that in defiance of the Apostles discourse 1 Cor. 14. he that occupies the room of the unlearned must say amen to those praiers and praises which he has no comprehension of and by his endless repetitions of Paters Ave's and Credo's falls into that battology reprov'd by our Savior Mat. 6. 7. and as 't was said to the woman of Samaria Jo. 4. 22. knows not what he worships Yet this unaccountable practice is so much the darling of that Church that when in France about eighteen years since the Roman Missal was translated into the vulgar Tongue and publish'd by the direction of several of their Bishops the Clergy of France rose up in great fury against the attemt anathematizing in their circular Epistles all that sold read or us'd the said Book and upon complaint unto Pope Alex. the 7. he resented the matter so deeply as to issue out his Bull against it in the following words 6. WHEREAS sons of perdition endevoring the destruction of souls have translated the Roman Missal into the French Tongue and so attemted to throw down and trample upon the majesty of the holy Rites comprehended in Latin words As we abominate and detest the novelty which will deform the beauty of the Church and produce disobedience temerity boldness sedition and schism so we condemn reprobate and forbid the said and all other such Translations and interdict the reading and keeping to all and singular the faithful of whatever sex degree order condition dignity honor or preeminence c. under pain of excommunication And we command the copies to be immediatly burnt c. So mortal a sin it seems 't was tought for the Laity to understand the praiers in which they must communicate 7. NOR is this all agreeable to the other attemts upon the holy Scripture was the bold insolence of making a new authentic Text in that unknown Tongue in which the offices of praier had bin and were to be kept disguis'd which was don by the decree of the Council of Trent in the fourth Session But when the Council had given this Prerogative to the Version which it call'd vulgar the succeeding Popes began to consider what that Version was and this work Pius the fourth and fifth set upon but prevented by death fail'd to complete it so that the honor of the performance fell to Sixtus the fifth who in the plenitude of his Apostolic power the Translation being reform'd to his mind commanded it to be that genuine ancient Edition which the Trent Fathers had before made authentic and under the pain of excommunication requir'd it to be so received which he do's in this form Of our certain knowledg and the plenitude of Apostolic power we order and declare that vulgar Edition which has hin receiv'd for authentic by the Council of Trent is without doubt or controversy to be esteem'd this very one which being amended as well as it is possible and printed at the Vatican Press we publish to be read in the whole Christian Republic and in all Churches of the Christian world Decreeing that it having bin approv'd by the consent of the holy universal Church and the holy Fathers and then by the Decree of the general Council of Trent and now by the Apostolic authority deliver'd to us by the Lord is the true legitimate authentic and undoubted which is to be received and held in all public and privat Disputations Lectures Preachings and Expositions c. But notwithstanding this certain knowledg and plenitude of Apostolic power soon after came Clement the eighth and again resumes the work of his Predecessor Sixtus discovers great and many errors in it and puts out one more reform'd yet confest by himself to be imperfect which now stands for the authentic Text and carries the title of the Bible put forth by Sixtus notwithstanding all its alterations So well do's the Roman Church deserve the honor which she pretends to of being the mistress of all Churches and so infallible is the holy Chair in its determinations and lastly so authentic a Transcript of the word of God concerning which 't is said Mat. 5. 18. one jot or one title shall not fail is that which she establisht and that has receiv'd so many and yet according to the confession of the infallible Corrector wants still more alterations 8. DEPENDENT upon this and as great a mischief as any of the former consequent to the with-drawing of the Scripture I take to be the step it made to the overthrow of the ancient and most useful disciplin of the Church in point of Penance whose rigors alwaies heretofore preceded the possibility of having absolution Now of this we know a solemn part was the state of Audience when the lapst person was receiv'd after long attendance without dores prostrations and lamentations there within the entrance of the Church and was permitted with the Catechumens or Candidats of Baptism to hear the readings of the Scripture and stay till Praier began but then depart He was oblig'd to hear the terrors of the Lord the threats of the divine Law against sin and sinners to stand
or consequence And if any Romanist among us or in any other Protestant Country enjoies any liberty herein 't is merely by connivance and owed to a fear least the Votary would be lost and take the Bible where it was without difficulty to be had if strictness should be us'd And should Popery which God forbid become paramount the Translations of the Scripture into our Mother Tongues would be no more endur'd here then they are in Spain and they who have formerly bin wary in communicating the Scriptures remembring how thereby their errors have bin detected would upon a revolution effectually provide for the future and be sure to keep their people in an Egyptian darkness that might it self be felt but that allow'd the notices of no other object They would not be content with that composition of the Ammonite to thrust out all the right eies of those that submitted to them 1 Sam. 11. 2. but would put out both as the Philistins did to Samson that they might make their miserable captives for ever grind in their Mill Jud. 16. 21. 15. BUT this heaviest of judgments will never fall upon the reform'd Churches till by their vicious practice and contemt of the divine Law they have deserted their profession and made themselves utterly unworthy of the blessings they enjoy and the light of that Gospel which with noon-day brightness has shin'd among them Upon which account I suppose it may not be impertinent in the next place to subjoin som plain directions and cautionary advices concerning the use of these sacred Books SECT VIII Necessary cautions to be us'd in the reading of the holy Scriptures IT is a common observation that the most generous and sprightly Medicins are the most unsafe if not appli'd with due care and regimen And the remark holds as well in spiritual as corporal remedies The Apostle asserts it upon his own experience that the doctrin of the Gospel which was to som the savor of life unto life was to others the savor of death 2 Cor. 2. 15. And the same effect that the oral Word had then the written Word may have now not that either the one or the other have any thing in them that is of it self mortiferous but becomes so by the ill disposition of the persons who so pervert it It is therefore well worth our inquiry what qualifications on our part are necessary to make the Word be to us what it is in it self the power of God unto salvation Rom. 1. 16. Of these som are previous before our reading som are concomitant with it and som are subsequent and follow after it 2. OF those that go before sincerity is a most essential requisit by sincerity I mean an upright intention by which we direct our reading to that proper end for which the holy Scriptures were design'd viz. the knowing Gods will in order to the practicing it This honest simplicity of heart is that which Christ represents by the good ground where alone it was that the seed could fructify Mat. 13. 8. And he that brings not this with him brings only the shadow of a Disciple The word of God is indeed sharper then a two-edged sword Heb. 4. 12. but what impression can a sword make on a body of air which still slips from and eludes its thrusts And as little can all the practical discourses of holy Writ make on him who brings only his speculative faculties with him and leaves his will and affections behind him which are the only proper subjects for it to work on 3. To this we may probably impute that strange inefficaciousness we see of the Word Alas men rarely apply it to the right place our most inveterat diseases lie in our morals and we suffer the Medicin to reach no farther then our intellects As if he that had an ulcer in his bowels should apply all his balsoms and sanatives only to his head 'T is true the holy Scriptures are the tresuries of divine Wisdom the Oracles to which we should resort for saving knowledg but they are also the rule and guide of holy Life and he that covets to know Gods will for any purpose but to practice it is only studious to entitle himself to the greater number of stripes Luk. 12. 47. 4. NAY farther he that affects only the bare knowledg is oft disappointed even of that The Scripture like the Pillar of fire and cloud enlightens the Israelites those who sincerely resign themselves to its guidance but it darkens and confounds the Egyptians Ex. 14. 20. And 't is frequently seen that those who read only to become knowing are toll'd on by their curiosity into the more abstruse and mysterious parts of Scripture where they entangle themselves in inextricable mazes and confusions and instead of acquiring a more superlative knowledg loose those easy and common notions which lie obvious to every plain well meaning Reader I fear this Age affords too many and too frequent instances of this in men who have lost God in the midst of his Word and studied Scripture till they have renounc'd its Author 5. AND sure this infatuation is very just and no more then God himself has warn'd us of who takes the wise in their own craftiness Job 5. 12. but appropriates his secrets only to them that fear him and has promis'd to teach the meek his way Psal. 25. 9. 14. And this was the method Christ observ'd in his preaching unveiling those truths to his Disciples which to the Scribes and Pharisees his inquisitive yet refractory hearers he wrapt up in parables not that he dislik'd their desire of knowledg but their want of sincerity which is so fatal a defect as blasts our pursuits tho of things in themselves never so excellent This we find exemplifi'd in Simon Magus Acts 8. who tho he coveted a thing in itself very desirable the power of conferring the holy Ghost yet desiring it not only upon undue conditions but for sinister ends he not only mist of that but was after all his convincement by the Apostles miracles and the engagement of his Baptism immerst in the gall of bitterness and at last advanc'd to that height of blasphemy as to set up himself for a God so becoming a lasting memento how unsafe it is to prevaricate in holy things 6. BUT as there is a sincerity of the Will in order to practice so there is also a sincerity of the understanding in order to belief and this is also no less requisit to the profitable reading of Scripture I mean by this that we come with a preparation of mind to embrace indifferently whatever God there reveles as the object of our Faith that we bring our own opinions not as the clue by which to unfold Scripture but to be tried and regulated by it The want of this has bin of very pernicious consequence in matters both of Faith and speculation Men are commonly prepossest strongly with their own notions and their errand to Scripture is not
Psal. 138. 2. cannot brook that we should make it vile and cheap play and dally with it And if it were a capital crime to convert any of the perfume of the Sanctuary to common use Ex. 30. 32. can we think God can be pleas'd to see his more sacred Word the theme of our giddy mirth and have his own words echoed to him in profane drollery 52. BUT besides 't is to be consider'd that this wanton liberty is a step to the more solemn and deliberate contemt of Gods word custom do's strangely prescribe to us and he that a while has us'd any thing irreverently will at last bring his practice into argument and conclude that there is no reverence due to it God knows we are naturally too apt to slight and easy apprehensions of sacred things and had need to use all Arts and Instruments to impress an awe upon our minds 53. IT will sure then be very unsafe for us to trifle with them and by so undue a familiarity draw on that contemt which we should make it our care to avoid The wise man saies he that contemns small things shall fall by little and little Eccl. 19. 1. And tho no degree of irreverence towards God or his Word can be call'd a small thing absolutely consider'd yet comparatively with the more exorbitant degrees it may and yet that smaller is the seed and parent of the greatest It is so in all sins the kingdom of Satan like that of God may be compard ' to a grain of mustard seed Mat. 13. 31. which tho little in it self is mighty in its increase 54. No man ever yet began at the top of villany but the advance is still gradual from one degree to another each commission smoothing and glibbing the way to the next He that accustoms in his ordinary discourse to use the sacred Name of God with as little sentiment and reverence as he do's that of his neighbor or servant that makes it his common by-word and cries Lord and God upon every the lightest occasion of exclamation or wonder this man has a very short step to the using it in oaths and upon all frivolous occasions and he that swears vainly is at no great distance from swearing falsely It is the same in this instance of the Scriptures He that indulges his wit to rally with them will soon come to think them such tame things that he may down-right scorn them And when he is arriv'd to that then he must pick quarrels to justify it till at last he arrive even to the height of enmity 55. LET every man therefore take heed of setting so much as one step in this fatal circle guard himself against the first insinuation of this guilt and when a jest offers it self as a temtation let him balance that with a sober thought and consider whether the jest can quit the cost of the profanation Let him possess his mind with an habitual awe take up the Bible with solemner thoughts and other kind of apprehensions then any human Author and if he habituate himself to this reverence every clause and phrase of it that occurs to his mind will be apter to excite him to devout ejaculations then vain laughter 56. IT is reported of our excellent Prince King Edward the sixth that when in his Council Chamber a Paper that was call'd for happen'd to lie out of reach and the Person concern'd to produce it took a Bible that lay by and standing upon it reacht down the Paper the King observing what was don ran himself to the place and taking the Bible in his hands kissed it and laid it up again Of this it were a very desirable moral that Princes and all persons in autority would take care not to permit any to raise themselves by either a hypocritical or profane trampling upon holy things But besides that a more general application offers its self that all men of what condition soever should both themselves abstain from every action that has the appearance of a contemt of the holy Scripture and also when they observe it in others discountenance the insolence and by their words and actions give Testimony of the veneration which they have for that holy Book they see others so wretchedly despise 57. BUT above all let him who reads the Scripture seriously set himself to the practice of it and daily examin how he proceeds in it he that diligently do's this will not be much at leisure to sport with it he will scarce meet with a Text which will not give him cause of reflection and provide him work within his own brest every duty injoin'd will promt him to examin how he has perform'd every sin forbid will call him to recollect how guilty he has bin every pathetic strain of devotion will kindle his zeal or at least upbraid his coldness every heroic example will excite his emulation In a word every part of Scripture will if duly appli'd contribute to som good and excellent end And when a thing is proper for such noble purposes can it be the part of a wise man to apply it only to mean and trivial Would any but an Idiot wast that Soveraign Liquor in the washing of his feet which was given him to expel poison from his heart And are not we guilty of the like folly when we apply Gods word to serve only a ludicrous humor and make our selves merry with that which was design'd for the most serious and most important purpose the salvation of our souls And indeed who ever takes any lower aim then that and the vertues preparatory to it in his study of Scripture extremely debases it 58. LET us therefore keep a steady eie upon that mark and press towards it as the Apostle did Phil. 3. 14. walk by that rule the holy Scripture proposes faithfully and diligently observe its precepts that we may finally partake its promises To this end continually pray we in the words of our holy mother the Church unto Almighty God who has caus'd all holy Scripture to be written for our learning that we may in such wise hear them read mark learn and inwardly digest them that by patience and comfort of his holy Word we may embrace and ever hold fast the blessed hope of everlasting Life which he has given in our Savior Jesus Christ. THE CONTENTS SECTION Sect. 1. The several methods of Gods communicating the knowledg of himself Pag. 1. Sect. 2. The divine Original Endearments and Autority of the Holy Scripture p. 9. Sect. 3. The Subject Matter treated of in the holy Scripture is excellent as is also its end and design p. 63. Sect. 4. The Custody of the holy Scripture is a privilege and right of the Christian Church and every member of it which cannot without impiety to God and injustice unto it and them be taken away or empeacht p. 123. Sect. 5. The Scripture has great propriety and fitness toward the attainment of its excellent end p. 145. Sect. 6. The suffrage of the primitive Christian Church concerning the propriety and fitness which the Scripture has toward the attainment of its excellent end p. 165. Sect. 7. Historical reflexions upon the events which have happen'd in the Church since the with-drawing of the holy Scripture p. 180. Sect. 8. Necessary Cautions to be us'd in the reading of the holy Scripture p. 193. FINIS