are believers already and therefore we need not trouble our selves with constant reading of the Bible Were not they so to whom St. Peter wrote Nay the Apostles were then alive to instruct them by Word as well as by Writing and moreover daily Miracles were wrought for confirmation of the Faith yet they did well in taking diligent heed to the Scriptures And shall not we do so too who can find Apostles and Miracles no where but there We believe already but have we all of us that stedfast Faith which the Gospel requires which is not grounded merely upon education and the custome of our Country but upon the Demonstration of the Spirit and of Power Have we that Faith which will bear examination and encounter opposition If we have a very little exhortation will serve the turn to make us persevere in reading God's Book whereby we shall be yet more strongly built up in our most Holy Faith. But if not our want of Faith will not be admitted at the last day for an excuse of the badness of our Lives when we had the Scriptures laid before us the Holy Scriptures I say which if they had been diligently and honestly read by us would have furnished us with such an immoveable ground of our Christian belief as would have supported us in the Day of Temptation Nay if our Faith was grown never so strong yet the Reading of the Scriptures would be necessary for us to make the precepts and rules of the Christian Life and the Motives and Reasons of practising them daily present in our minds For the Temptations to sin are always present the snares of Hell are still round about us we are ever in some danger and therefore we ought always to be strong in the Lord by having a constant sense of those Divine Truths upon our minds which are our great defence and security And I see not how this can be if we neglect to have recourse unto that ever necessary Treasure of Divine truth the Holy Word of God. St. Chrysostom therefore doubted not to say and I wish we may all well consider that earnest saying of so Wise and Holy a Man as he was It cannot be says he It cannot possibly be that a man should attain Salvation unless he be diligently conversant in Spiritual Reading Himself was so excellent and constant a Preacher that if any one man not extraordinarily inspired could have made it needless for his hearers to Read the Scriptures at home he I should reckon was the man and yet I observe he often complains to them that the reason why most of them gained little profit by what he said either as to improvement of knowledg or good practice was because they did not read the Scriptures he explained to them either before or after his Sermons and says he it is the neglect of this reading that causeth all Heresie and Corrupt Life Now I beseech you how much time do we spend in other things of little concern to us either as to our Health or Wealth or our Worldly Callings And what a shame and a sin is it for us to find so little time as generally we do to furnish our selves with the knowledg of God's Truth and with pious affections towards the doing of his will out of God's Holy Book What a great matter were it if we borrowed some time for this purpose from our Recreations or even from our ordinary business For what is this Life to Life Everlasting What is the Wealth and Pleasure of this World to our Salvation in the World to come And therefore the forementioned excellent Person argued with his hearers in this manner Perhaps some may say That they are otherwise imployed in their worldly callings and others that they have not money to spare to buy the Scriptures but says he what a ridiculous thing would it be for a man of a Secular imployment to neglect it upon pretence that he has not time for it or that he has not wherewhithal to purchase the necessary Tools of his Calling These things are seldom or never pleaded but by Idle Persons And do you not all know that you are professed Christians and called to the hope of Eternal Life and that diligent reading and hearing the Holy Scriptures is as necessary to your Christian Calling as any thing can be to the successful management of your Secular professions I shall add this one thing That besides that improvement in knowledge and virtue which is naturally consequent upon much conversing with God's Book they that do so have a peculiar title to God's supernatural Blessing who is wont to reward a pious and reverent use of Holy things with greater measures of his grace In one word by other studies we may grow wise for this world but if we add this to the rest we shall yet grow wiser for this world by taking heed to those incomparable instructions that the Holy Bible abounds with and which is something more we shall grow wise unto Salvation The Tenth Sermon 1 Cor. XII 13. For by one spirit are we all baptized into one body whether we be Jews or Gentiles whether we be bond or free and have been all made to drink into one spirit AFTER the descent of the Holy Ghost upon the Apostles there was a continual Communication of Supernatural and Extraordinary Gifts to other believers for a long time To one was given by the Spirit the Word of Wisdom To another the Word of Knowledge by the same Spirit To another Faith by the same Spirit To another the gifts of Healing by the same Spirie To another working of Miracles To another Discerning of Spirits To another Divers kinds of Tongues To another the Interpretation of Tongues But all these worketh that one and the self-same Spirit dividing to every man severally as he will. And this manisestation of the Spirit was given to every man to profit withal i. e. to profit the whole Body whereof himself was a Member For though that one Spirit which distributed his wonderful gifts amongst the Faithful could have given them all to the same man so as that one and the same Person should have had the Word of Wisdom and the Gifts of Healing and the Working of Miracles and a Prophetick Power and Discerning of Spirits and Divers kinds of Tongues yet to maintain a mutual dependance and a Charitable serviceableness of the Members one amongst another he gave to one one gift to another another dividing severally to every man for by this means one would stand in need of another and each Member would be obliged to take care of the rest knowing that he also wanted the supply of that assistance which the rest were able to give him whereas if one man had all gifts he would not be under so sensible an obligation of consulting for the common good wanting no assistance from any others But God ordered the state of the Church like that of the Natural Body to which the Apostle elegantly
seems to me that our Saviour said Drink ye All of this and therefore that you of the Roman Church may as well take the Bread as the Cup from the Laity It seems to me that St. Paul calls the Communion of Christ's Body Bread The BREAD which we break is it not the Communion of the Body of Christ and your Church says 't is Bread no longer after Consecration It seems to me that the same St. Paul speaks for a whole Chapter against Praying in an Unknown Tongue and yet your Church doth it It seems also to me that the Author to the Hebrews doth absolutely say That Christ was offered once for all and that he sat down thenceforth at the right hand of God but you pretend to fetch him down from Heaven and offer him a thousand times in a day It seems to me that God has forbidden the making of Images to worship them as absolutely and universally as words could do it and yet you picture God and make Similitudes of the Blessed Trinity and Images of the Saints and worship them when you have done I demand now why I may not be certain of the true sence of these places upon as reasonable grounds as you suppose I may be of those which in your judgment conclude for the Infallibility of your Church If I may then I am sure the Scripture condemns what you say and do in these points but if I may not be reasonably assured that I understand these in my judgment plain places of Scripture because I want an Infallible Judge to interpret for me then I demand again why do you urge me with those Scriptures that as you pretend prove the Infallibility of your Church for as yet I am not perswaded of the Infallibility thereof though I would gladly be perswaded of it If you say this is the interpretation of the Church concerning them which is Infallible and therefore you are to believe it I think any body but a Child would reply that that is the very thing in question and therefore that you cannot convince any man of your Infallibility unless he will take your word for it because he cannot infallibly know the true sence of Scripture giving testimony to it before he believes it without any testimony from Scripture at all So that it is to no purpose to go about to perswade any reasonable man that your Church is Infallible till he doth already believe it that is till it is a needless thing to do it because he does believe it already And therefore when all is done we must be content to understand the plain places of Scripture without an Infallible Judge and to find out the rest as well as we can and if the Scripture plainly condemns what you say and do we have more reason from thence to conclude that you have erred than to conclude that you cannot err because you say so of your selves And indeed I look upon this Pretence to Infallibility to be an Errour of the most pernicious consequence because it seals them up under all the rest and adds incorrigibleness which is the highest degree of obstinacy to all their other Errours and it is so much the more shameless because the whole World that was in Communion with them groaned for a Reformation before the Council of Trent One of their own Popes said We confess many abominable Abuses and Grievances have been for these many years last past in the Holy See and we look upon our selves concerned to endeavour a Reformation the more because we see the whole World doth most earnestly desire it At the Council of Trent the Embassadours of several Princes desired earnestly the Cup for the People the Marriage of the Clergy Service in a known Tongue and the Reformation of divers other matters in which Christendom would have reformed it self if Italy would have suffered it Italy I say who to hinder a general Reformation filled the Council of Trent with more Bishops than came from all the parts of Christendom besides Secondly Upon this Supposition the Church of England might and ought to reform it self as it hath done for we find that the Church of Pergamos which was not over-run with so many false Doctrines and corrupt Practices as those of the Roman Church I have mentioned was required by our Lord Jesus himself to remove those Errours and Corruptions which had crept into her and if she did not presently return to her Primitive Purity she was threatned to be cut off Indeed it had been a much more desirable thing that the whole Western Church and more desirable still that the East and the West had both united in a Reformation it had been a blessed thing if by a Free and General Council of all the Bishops in the Christian World an Universal Reformation had been made but the latter perhaps was improbable by reason of the vast distances of some Christian Churches from one another and the former was made impossible by the over-ruling Power of Italy which therefore was to be done upon particular Churches by common consent and perhaps there must never be a farther Reformation till the Day of Judgment It was very reasonable and very necessary therefore that Christian Kingdoms should proceed in Provincial and National Councils to reform themselves as this Church hath done under her Kings and Bishops Parliaments and Convocations that is by all that Authority which could be desired to make a publick Reformation within the limits of this particular Church And this proceeding has been authorized by the Examples of the best Ages of the Church when it was thought fit not always to tarry for General Councils but very often for particular Churches to proceed out of hand to the rooting out of Errour and Heresie and to the reforming of whatsoever they thought amiss amongst themselves and for this we are to appeal to the Councils of Laodicea Gangra Carthage and many others which are no General Councils To conclude Such Errours as had overspread the Church before the Reformation were in their own nature and in their consequences so pernicious that every Christian Man ought to reform himself from them inasmuch as it is better to obey God than man Much more might a publick Reformation be made by due Authority But we had no regard to the Bishop of Rome in this matter who was to be considered either as Head of the whole Church or the Patriarch of the West or as the Converter of the English Nation and we were not only in Communion with him but in subjection to him when the Reformation was made so that what cause soever there might be for it the Reformation was however schismatical To all which I answer in short 1. As to the Universal Supremacy it is a point to which Antiquity is wholly a stranger Scripture and the Fathers say nothing of it Ignatius who so often requires that nothing should be done of moment in the Church without the Bishop would have found out
come to pass afterwards is fit for them only to believe that can believe that the World was made by a casual hit of Atoms To name these things is enough to confute them 2. All that can be farther desired is to be well assured that these Prophecies were not forged by the followers of Jesus but that they were indeed contained in the Ancient Writings that had been delivered down to the Jews of our Saviour's time by their Ancestors and the constant testimony of the Jews themselves who were most bitter enemies to Jesus and to his Doctrine were enough to satisfie us in this point 4ly And Lastly Whereas these Predictions are said to be a more sure word of Prophecy the meaning is this that they are a more convincing Testimony to Jesus than any other taken by its self they are indeed a more permanent Testimony and withal less liable to Cavil and Objection I cannot stand to shew this by making particular comparisons but shall only observe That Prophecy includes all other Testimonies and adds strength to every one of them It comprehends the Miracles of Jesus and of his Apostles his resurrection and ascension the descent of the Holy Ghost and the excellency of his Doctrine because these were all foretold It includes all other proofs as well as the thing proved and those proofs are the more convincing because they also had been foretold by the Prophets From all this it follows That allowing the Scripture that Tradition which other good Histories have and which they have more of than any other Ancient Writings in the world then the Prophecies of the Old Testament and the accomplishment of them in the New do prove the Divine Authority of the Scriptures and this without the help of the Churches Authority and well is it for the Christian Religion that the Scriptures may be proved without the Authority of the Church for otherwise Christianity must never look an Infidel in the face since the Church hath no Authority at all till we are assured of the truth of the Scriptures themselves And I will make bold to add That when all those objections against the Authority of the Old Testament from the time wherein it was put into this form of Books from the light oversights of Transcribers from various readings and all the cavils upon any part of it are put together the word of Prophecy which runs through it all will bear all this reckoning and still remain an invincible argument that the first Authors were inspired that the Prophecy came not in Old time by the will of man but that holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost Well therefore might St. Peter commend the Jewish Converts for taking heed to the Word of Prophecy since this was the way to come to a well-grounded Faith indeed and to grow every day to greater assurance and stedfastness therein and for the same reason let us I beseech you be exhorted to like diligence in conversing with the Holy Scriptures that our minds may be more enlightned with the knowledge of Divine truth and that every doubt if any there be that shakes our Faith may be removed And this Exhortation is so needful that I shall shew that there is no good reason in their objection against it who have taken a great deal of pains to exclude all but the Clergy and those that have special license from reading the Scriptures the sum of what they say is this That the promiscuous Liberty of reading the Scriptures leads the People into pride and self-conceit makes them insolent and ungovernable and ready to throw off all Respect to their lawful Guides That almost all Heresies have proceeded from Misinterpretation of Scripture and that there are so many obscure and difficult places in the Old and New Testament that to translate the Bible into Vulgar Tongues and to encourage the People to read it is to betray them into the danger of infinite errors which they are likely enough to fall into by mistaking the sence of the holy Text which therefore is to be kept out of the hands of the Laity as we would keep Children from medling with edged Tools and lay Swords out of mad-men's way Now if this charge be true the Bible is a very dangerous Book if it be not true there is some other reason doubtless why they that pretend this have no kindness for the Bible I shall omit several advantages that may be taken against this flourish because I think it may be shown very briefly that it pretends things that do by no means hang well together that it takes things for granted that are not true and that it concludes as strongly against the Scriptures being read by the Clergy as by the Laity It pretends some things that do not hang well together On the one side they tell us that the liberty of reading the Bible is apt to make the People throw off all dependance upon the Priest as to instruction on the other side that there are obscure and difficult passages in it by mistaking the true sense of which they will be led into Heresie and consequently into the way of Damnation Now indeed the Scriptures say this of themselves that there are diverse things hard to be understood in them which ignorant and unstable men have wrested to their own destruction But if this be true the best way to keep the People in modest dependance upon the instruction of their Spiritual Guides is to lay the Bible before them and not to keep it from them since there cannot be a more convincing Argument of the necessity of attending to their Pastors in order to farther Instruction than the several difficulties that occur in the Scriptures and the warnings that the Scriptures themselves have given of the danger that unlearned and unstable men are in of wresting them to their own destruction If it be said that experience shews the contrary and that neither this nor any other argument can make People modest if they are geneally permitted to have the Scriptures I add 2. That this arguing takes things for granted which are not true in point of fact all the Faithful anciently had the Scriptures but we find little complaint by the Bishops and Clergy then of the Wantonness and Insolence of the People so little in comparison of the frequent and earnest exhortations that all would diligently Read the Scriptures that it may be said to be none at all Christian People that had been trained up in the first Rudiments of the Faith were not only allowed then but required to Read the Bible and yet they modestly attended upon their Spiritual Guides for farther Instruction out of the Bible And therefore if some men in later Ages have grosly Misinterpreted the Scriptures and would not be set right by those that had more skill to Interpret them this doth not prove that the reading of the Scriptures makes the People ungovernable for then it must always have