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A56691
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Search the Scriptures a treatise shewing that all Christians ought to read the Holy Books : with directions to them therein : in three parts.
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Patrick, Simon, 1626-1707.
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1685
(1685)
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Wing P835; ESTC R23033
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72,298
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205
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Lord and is highly offensive upon many accounts to Almighty God Who hath appointed Him to take care of our affairs who loves us better than any Saint or Angel can do because he dyed for us and therefore is more inclined to have compassion upon us because he hath that feeling of our infirmities which no Angel was ever touched withal nor any Saint in such a degree as he was Who can also do more for us than all the Angels in Heaven put together being the Lord of Glory Ninthly Which is another thing here clearly revealed the Power and Glory of the Lord Jesus at the right Hand of God We all with open face without any Veil drawn before our Eyes behold as in a Glass the Glory of the Lord as St. Paul speaks 2 Cor. III. ult The Gospel that is which he preached and which we read represents his transcendent Majesty so evidently that our own Face doth not appear more clearly to us in a Glass than Christ is set before us there as advanced far above all Principality and Power to use his words in another place I. Ephes 21. and Might and Dominion and every name that is named not only in this World but also in that which is to come God having put all things under his Feet and given him to be Head over all things to the Church What may we not expect from so great a Prince who hath all things at his command and that for the good of his Church if we faithfully address our selves to God by Him alone Tenthly I might say the like of the rest of the Articles of the Christian Faith which are here plainly taught But I shall only add that as the way and means whereby Christ procured and doth dispense the Divine Grace to us is evidently declared in the Holy Scriptures so is the means whereby we may hope to obtain the Benefit of his Sacrifice Satisfaction and Intercession with God for us Repent and be converted and your sins shall be blotted out III. Acts 19. are words plain enough to be understood And so are these Come unto me all ye that are weary and heavy laden and I will refresh you Take my Yoke upon you and learn of me for I am meek and lowly in heart and ye shall find rest unto your Souls XI Matth. 28 29. And these In Christ Jesus neither Circumcision availeth any thing nor Vncircumcision but Faith working by Love a new Creature or keeping the Commandments of God For in all these terms for the greater clearness sake and that no man may be mistaken is this matter declared by St Paul 1 Cor. VII 19. V. Gal. 6. VI. Gal. 15. And therefore that the Grace of the Gospel teaches us that denying Vngodliness and Worldly Lusts we should live soberly righteously and godly in this present World 2 Tit. II. 12. is as clear as the Sun Nor are the particular duties which belong to every ones place and state less clear and conspicuous than these general lines of our Duty which the Apostle hath drawn in those comprehensive words For when the same Apostle St. Paul directs his Speech as he doth commonly in the latter part of his Epistles unto Masters of Families and Servants unto Husbands and Wives Fathers and Children his Rules are as plain and easie to be understood by us now as they were to those persons who first received them So plain and easie they are unto all Ages so familiar especially to men of meaner rank that I much doubt saith a great Champion of our Church in his Comments on the Creed * Dr. Jackson Lib. 2. Cap. 12. whether the Pope himself and the whole Conclave of Cardinals would be able in this present Age to speak so plainly unto the capacity or so familiarly to the experience of men of their Quality unto whom the Apostle wrote For setting aside the absolute Truth and Infallibility of his Doctrines the manner of delivering them is so familiar so lowly so heartily humble so natural and so well-befitting such mens disposition in their sober thoughts as were impossible for the Pope to attain unto or imitate unless he would lay aside his Court-State and for seven years addict himself unto familiarity with such men in a Pastoral Charge The same may be said concerning his way of speaking when he sets down any other Christian Duties whether private or publick No man could ever pretend any difficulty in this part of the Holy Writings which treat of a Holy Life All the difficulty is in mens wills to be perswaded to consent to be governed by these Laws which they cannot chuse but well enough understand And that they may be perswaded Christ hath left us exceeding great and precious Promises which contain the greatest part of the Gospel-Grace the very end of which is to move us to live soberly righteously and godly Having therefore these promises dearly beloved let us cleanse our selves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit perfecting holiness in the fear of God 2 Cor. VII 1. What words can be more perspicuous than these And with the same clearness these Books pronounce the indispensable necessity of a holy life without which the riches of God's Grace cannot save us Follow peace and holiness without which no man shall see the Lord XII Heb. 14. Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the Kingdom of God Be not deceived neither fornicators nor idolaters nor adulterers c nor thieves nor covetous nor drunkards nor revilers nor extortioners shall inherit the Kingdom of God 1 Cor. VI. 9 10. Now the works of the flesh are manifest mark that word adultery fornication uncleanness lasciviousness Idolatry witchcraft hatred variance emulation wrath strife seditions heresies envyings murders drunkenness revellings and such like of which I have told you before in times past that they which do such things shall not inherit the Kingdom of God But the fruit of the Spirit is love joy peace long-suffering gentleness goodness faith meekness temperance against such there is no law And they that are Christ's have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts If we live in the Spirit let us also walk in the Spirit V. Gal. 19 20 c. What shall I say more All the Promises of God which put us in hope and all his Threatnings which are designed to put us in fear upon which two Hinges all Religion turns are you see already declared so expresly and clearly that there can be no dispute about them For this is the promise which he hath promised even Eternal life 1 Joh. II. 25. and the wrath of God is revealed from Heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who hold the truth in unrighteousness I. Rom. 18. For He will render to every man according to his deeds to them who by patient continuance in well doing seek for honour glory and immortality eternal life But to them that are contentious and do not obey the truth but
times and one Let us ever be telling our selves that it is God who speaks unto us by his Son in these Holy Books that this is the Rule of Life whereby we must be judged that we must stand or fall before God according as we keep these Sayings that Nothing is comparable to being beloved of God Nothing so desirable as to have our Faith found to honour and praise and glory at the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ And then we shall deny our selves and our own desires commodities and interests that God's Will may be done by us the whole World will seem inconsiderable in our eyes and we shall easily forgo any thing that He will not allow us to keep according to the fundamental Rule of our Religion He that forsaketh not all that he hath cannot be my Disciple And he that taketh not his Cross and followeth after me is not worthy of me I conclude this Part of my Discourse with the words of one of the Homilies of our Church in the second Part of the Exhortation to the reading and knowledge of the Holy Scriptures As concerning the hardness of Scripture he that is so weak that he is not able to brook strong meat yet he may suck the sweet and tender milk and defer the rest till he wax stronger and come to more knowledge For God receiveth the learned and unlearned and casteth away none but is indifferent unto all And the Scripture is full as well of low valleys plain ways and easie for every man to use and to walk in as also of high hills and mountains which few men can climb unto And whosoever giveth his mind to Holy Scriptures with delight study and burning desire it cannot be saith St. Chrysostom that he should be left without help He that asketh shall have and he that seeketh shall find and he that knocketh shall have the door open If we read once twice or thrice and understand not let us not cease so but still continue reading praying asking of others and so by still knocking at the last the door shall be opened as St. Augustine saith Although many things in the Scripture be spoken in obscure Mysterics yet there is nothing spoken under dark Mysteries in one place but the self same thing in other places is spoken more familiarly and plainly to the capacity both of learned and unlearned And those things in the Scripture that be plain to understand and necessary for Salvation every mans duty is to learn them to print them in memory and effectually to exercise them And as for the dark Mysteries to be contented to be ignorant in them until such time as it shall please God to open them unto him but not lay aside the reading of the whole because of the darkness of such places And briefly to conclude as St. Augustine saith by the Scripture all men may be amended the weak be strengthened and the strong be comforted So that surely none be Enemtes to the reading of God's Word but such as either be so ignorant that they know not how wholesom a thing it is or else so sick that they hate the most comfortable Medicine that should heal them or so ungodly that they would wish the people still to continue in blindness and ignorance of God The End of the Second Part. PART III. I AM arrived now at the last of those Three things I propounded to be treated of in the beginning of this Book That all who read the Scriptures are not in danger to wrest them to their own hurt but only the unlearned and the unstable Such men will wrest them from their true meaning but so they will other Discourses as well as the Scriptures and the most clear and perspicuous things are liable to be perverted by them as well as the dissicult In this we shall soon be satisfied if we consider briedy whom the Apostle St. Peter means by Vnlearned and Vnstable which will also clearly direct us what course we are to take that we may not wrest the Scriptures as such men do Now there is no great difficulty to know who these are if we mind the proper use of words and the place where they are used I. VNLEARNED AND for the first of these the Vnlearned the Apostle cannot be thought to have respect to such as are ignorant in those parts of Knowledge which are now commonly called Learning for so the Apostles themselves were generally ignorant and unlearned IV. Acts 13. but to those who are ignorant of such things as the Holy Scriptures treat of and ought to be learnt by all Christians This I think all will allow and then they are more particularly meant who are not skilled in the first Principles of Religion Men that know not or mind not those common Natural Truths upon which all Religion is built nor are acquainted with those plain unquestionable Principles of Christianity before mentioned in the Second Part of this Discourse These I take to be the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 here spoken of who have not learnt so much as the first Elements or as the Apostle speaks VI. Heb. 1. the word of the beginning of Christ who wanting the foundation of true Knowledge will be apt to wrest every thing they read from its proper meaning Such there were even in the School of Christ as St. Paul himself teaches us who were ever learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth 2 Tim. III. 7. They frequented that is the Christian Assemblies where they received good Instructions but their nanghty affections would not suffer the known Doctrines of Christianity to find entertainment in their minds Which Doctrines are such as these That there is one God who is perfectly just and perfectly good and knows the very thoughts of the heart and changes not And that He hath sent Jesus Christ his only begotten Son the Eternal Word who was before all Worlds to take our Nature upon him to dye for our sins to rise again that he may be the Judge of all And that He hath sent the Holy Ghost from the Father to teach us those Rules of Faith and Holy life whereby we shall be judged at the last Day when he will raise up our dead bodies and give to those who have done good everlasting Life but send those who have done evil into everlasting Fire These and such like which depend on these and are coherent with them are the Christian Learning which they that did not know and believe and accordingly practise as I shewed in the foregoing Discourse must needs be very great strangers to the Holy Books and be so far from reaping any profit by them that they would rather corrupt and abuse them to the support of their own uncertain vain or absurd imaginations Nor were they secure from this danger when they had learnt them unless they were likewise so fixed in their minds that they were constantly guided by them For the Apostle here teaches us that