when they have they neither know it nor are content with it They would have some body sail beyond the Sea to fetch that which is on this side already They are not pleased with what they have on earth till some body go to Heaven to fetch it Alas Such need not much trouble themselves for a Revelation as long as a private impulse will serve But let us hearken onely to these faithfull directions sealed by God for our security these cannot deceive us in things necessary for they are plain nor can obscurer places hurt us unlesse we be either rash and resolve that shall be the true sence which we fancy or else sordid and suffer others to put their sence upon us for so indeed we may build ill things not upon the most holy word of God but upon our own careless mistakes 3. To prevent this and because the Scriptures are not so much the words as the sence let us endevour to get the meaning of Gods word which to do is both our great Duty and our true Right For none will be condemned for us if we believe wrong It was a noble ingenuity in the Bereans that they would not believe Paul but upon search of the Scriptures and as it would have been a strange thing in Paul to have offered at the command of their faith denying them liberty to search so it is an ignoble pride in the Papists or any that follow so unworthy an example to require our faith upon their search of the Scriptures and not our own unlesse that we should be saved by the faith of others or that those which make us believe wrong would be punished for us or be content to have that which they are to believe imposed upon them by others Ambrose speaks pertinently to this point Coeli mysterium doceat me Deus ipse qui condidit non homo qui seipsum ignoravit cui magis de Deo quà m Deo credam i. e. let God himself teach me the mysteries of heaven who made it not man who does not know himself whose report concerning God should we credit so much as his own Now we must endeavour to obtain the true meaning of the Holy Scriptures by daily reading serious meditation and the fervent prayers of an humble spirit We should read with a desire of that heavenly knowledge and meditate so as that we discover not a negligence which is contradictory to true desire and pray that the divine spirit which indited them may teach us so to understand them that by the assistance of his excellent illuminations the wisdom of Gods word may dwell plentifully in us It is requisite also that we should abandon all prejudice and preconceived opinions and bring candid and disingaged spirits to the reading of this Holy Book Hilary speaks excellently to this point Optimus est lector qui dictorum intelligentiam expectet à dictis potius quam imponat retulerit magìs quà m attulerit neque cogat id videri dictis contineri quod ante lectionem praesumpserit intelligendum i e. he is the best Reader that expects the understanding of the words from the words themselves rather then puts it upon them takes it of them rather then brings it to them nor compells the words to seem to contain that which before reading he resolved to have understood by them Those which contradict this method may well go away without Gods meaning for they came not for it There is another thing also that does extremely facilitate our proficiency in the knowledge of divine mysteries and that is sincere obedience and humble entertainment of the heavenly light It is a sure rule that will never be antiquated If any man will do his will he shall know of the doctrine whether it be of God Whilst eager disputers lose the sence of the Scriptures and their soules withall the humble practiser of Gods will secures the sence and his salvation too He will teach the humble his ways The secret of the Lord is with those that fear him Whilest we shew our selves faithfully obsequious to this true guidance we shall not onely be led into all necessary Truths but as we do improve in goodnesse our knowledge will be enlarged The humble and obedient have advantage of all other men in this point for though they may stand upon the lower ground in regard of natural or acquired abilities God doth so love good souls that they shall not miscarry for want of such helps It were an extreme vanity to think that none shall be saved except such as can make Syllogismes or that the Bible was given only for great Scholars to dispute on How deep a sympathy the meek Lamb of God had with the fair equity of this dispensation is excellently signified by the affectionate Apostrophe which he made to his Father upon the consideration of it I thank thee O Father Lord of heaven and earth because thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent and hast revealed them unto babes Even so Father for so it seemed good in thy sight How passionately doth the dear Son of God please himself in the embraces of the Divine will in this matter and with greatest reason for that will pleaseth it self only in such a way as is fully correspondent to the divine wisdom and goodnesse And all true followers of Christ are likewise possessed with vast satisfactions and full complacence ever accompanied with joyful thanksgiving when they are admitted to behold the rare proportions of Gods works the most admirable reasonablenesse of his proceedings Whilst men vainly puffed up with conceits of their knowledge neglect this most necessary and greatest wisdom God slights their presumption and passeth them by with disregard giveth such grace to the Humble as maketh them wise to Salvation so that This Temper is not only secured by Gods promise but is indeed in it self the most disposed qualified for divine illuminations A good and honest heart is like a soile fit prepared for the immortal seed as our Saviour hath taught us And this is so known a Truth that all wise men have propounded purification of heart as a rare method of attaining true knowledg and pronounced that the light of God shines brightest in those soules that are purified with the flames of divine love Blessed are the pure in spirit for they shall see God Fogges of lust darken the Intellect a soule possessed with sin is low and uncapable Dishonourable affections cherisht by a wicked life bring on a sottishnesse of mind and dulnesse of fancy But I have spoken of this Temper of soule not only because it doth highly capacitate us to the knowledge of God but because the perfection of it is the true improvement of the Scriptures words and sence and in the happy product of it all excellent knowledge ought to terminate All speculation separate from this is contemptible and leaves a man miserable in the midst of his
may hear it and do it Neither is it beyond the Sea that thou shouldest say who shall go over the Sea for us and bring it unto us that we may hear it and do it But the word is very nigh unto thee in thy mouth and in thy heart that thou mayst do it These words Saint Paul applies to the New Testament Rom. 10. 6,7,8 it may well be so applyed in regard of the perspicuity of the Gospell For as he sayes in his Epistle to the Corinthians we all with open face behold as in a glass the glory of the Lord i.e. the doctrine of the Gospel and are changed into the same Image c. With open face for the veile that was upon Moses is pulled off The New Testament is a Counterpart of the Old written in fairer letters To this Truth the rest of the Disciples bear witness When our Saviour preached he made such plain revelations of Truth that they saw with their eyes and looked upon the word of life And that which was spoken is as easily understood being written which any body will grant unlesse he be so absurd as to say that we know not what our friend means when he writes to us that which we could have understood if he had delivered it by word of mouth Of those many Arguments to prove this Truth which are necessary consequents from divers places of Scripture I shall content my self with these three The first is taken from the Reality of that love and regard which God professeth to mans happinesse in the bestowing of his Gospel upon the world and that is expressed thus He would have all men to be saved come to the knowledge of the Truth The Apostle in the beginning of the Chapter exhorts to a great Charity which he would have expressed in prayers for the good of all men and sayes this is acceptable to God who himself hath a Love to their salvation and to that end would have them come to the knowledge of the truth so that in these words God gives us to understand that he doth not envie us eternal happinesse but doth extremely desire it and hath appointed means for the attainment of it Therefore left we should accuse the divine Love for want of sincerity we must conclude that these means are revealed understandably Would God have us saved by the knowledg or acknowledgment of his Truth and will he not make the Truth knowable but how shall we know it if it be muffled up in dark expressions The Truth which is here meant is the Gospell and that he hath written in such great Capital Letters that he which runs may read the way to salvation Why should God speak to us in an unknown tongue that which Paul sayes concerning the use of intelligible speech {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} in discoursing of heavenly things is very applicable here And even things without life giving sound whether pipe or harp except they give a distinction in the sounds how shall it be known what is piped or harped for if the trumpet give an uncertain sound who shall prepare himself to the battel so likewise you except you utter by the tongue words easy to be understood how shall it be known what is spoken for ye shall speak into the ayre therefore if I know not the meaning of the voyce I shall be unto him that speaketh a Barbarian and he that speaketh shall be a Barbarian unto me Doth not God know this and doth he not speak accordingly But how shall God please this vain world some are not satisfied because the Scripture is so plain they would have had it composed in more artificiall guise There is not art enough used and is there too much too Lactantius in his sixth book de Vero Cultu whilst he reproves their impertinent folly who are not pleased with the decent plainnesse of the Scripture gives the summe of this argument for a reason of that plainnesse Num igitur Deus mentis vocis linguae artifex disertè loqui non potest imò verò summa providentia carere fuco voluit ea quae divina sunt ut omnes intelligerent quae ipse omnibus loquebatur i.e. What cannot God speak elegantly who made the mind and all instruments of speech Yes but wisdom took care that those divine things which he spake to all should not be covered with such paint and art as might make them lesse understandable to all especially being such things as concerne Eternall Happinesse The second argument is taken from the pocesse of divine Iustice which is expressed after this manner the Lord Iesus shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty Angels in flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God and that obey not the Gospel of our Lord Iesus Christ We must take heed how we reason with God about his judgements but he hath given leave long since to one to aske this question Shall not the Iudge of all the earth do right If God set a law by which he will condemn us to unsufferable torments if we be disobedient doth not righteousnesse require that the law should be made known to us or knowable by us How shall a man be condemned for ignorance if wilfulnesse be not added to make it affected will not that ignorance excuse which was invincible without his fault what justice can punish a man for not doing that which he could not know The condemnation must needs be hard when the offendour could not understand that the Law was given or what it meant He which doth not the will of God shall be beaten saith our Saviour The sinner replies I could not know it what saith our Saviour against that Thou child of darknesse thou hatedst the light He which would not obey will not know that truth which God hath graciously revealed he doth detain in an unrighteous will The plain notice of Gods law will cut off all excuses from those which shall be condemned for disobedience Men may dispute but when they are upon their knees to deprecate the punishment of sin dare they object to God that they could not know his will So men sometimes cavill at God for not giving them grace and pretend to leave the matter so but in prayer do they make this plea Forgive me O Lord though I did sin I could not help it It is one thing what people may talk carelesly or upon design it is another what is whisper'd by a still voyce from an awakened conscience Vpon the plainnesse of Gods revelation depends the certainty of Christian Religion This Pillar had need be firm for the best thing in the world rests upon it What is acceptable to Christ and what he will do for us is to be known by the revelation which he hath made of his mind to us but if that revelation conceal his sence it doth not deserve its name nor benefit us For notwithstanding
the assistance we receive from it we are left to acknowledge him with blind conceptions to worship him with uncertain expresses and depend upon him with a very infirm expectation But O blessed Saviour we have no reason to think our selves at a losse thou hast told us plainly of the Father thou hast explained the two great Commandements and in them the substance of the Law and the Prophets Thy Gospel holds forth to us all particular duties both of Faith and Love and Righteousnesse and Mercy Thou hast shewen us what kind of worship worshippers thou dost regard having commanded us to worship God in Spirit and in Truth with all true apprehensions and worthy affections to serve God in all good conscience and with purity of heart and hast rejected the vanities of superstition though they be never so gay or costly all exteriour shews which want the correspondencie of inward goodnesse so that now we may well say thou hast shewed us men what is good and what the Lord our God requires of us even to do justly to love mercy and to walk humbly with God Thou hast taught us how in all our religious addresses we may come acceptably before the Lord and what Mediatour we are to use we need no longer ask for thou hast shewed us the one Mediatour between God and man and told us for whom he will intercede even all that come to God by him and make themselves like unto him Thou hast shewen us how thou didst converse with Abraham Isaac and Iacob the Prophets and Apostles and that we also upon the same terms may become the friends of God by Christ Iesus who is the same yesterday and to day and for ever so that all good Christians may say and conclude they are certain of their way to God the Scripture having revealed it as clearly as with Sun-beames The Scripture given by inspiration is so profitable for doctrine reproofe correction and instruction in righteousnesse that the man of God teacher or learner is perfectly furnished with direction to all good works Now if any shall say the force of these arguments may be avoyed though the Scriptures be not plain if we have an infallible Interpreter to resolve their doubtfulnesse and cleare their obscurity I answer There is no question of that But where is that Interpreter it is harder to find him then the sence of the most difficult Scripture What will be answered if we aske these few questions concerning him What is his name what Countrey-man is he where doth he dwell If his Commission be not in the Scripture how came he by it if it be in what words is it set down We read but of one infallilible Interpreter of Gods mind Christ Iesus and he hath required of all his servants that they presume not to take any Mastership in this point And call no man your Father upon the earth for one is your Father which is in heaven Neither be ye called Masters for one is your Master even Christ These words are justly interpreted by most learned men as a command of Christ directed against mens usurpation of authority to impose upon others what they are to believe The chief Master in the Shoole of the Iewish Prophets had such authority that no man might contradict what he said and in this sence we are to call no man Father but God who hath taught us by him whom he appointed to be our onely Master i.e. Christ Iesus How much those are deceiveed that assume to themselves to be infallible guides and indeed Dictators to Gods Church hath been shewen abundantly by themselves and many learned men have forced them to take notice of their errours and therefore I will insist no further upon this point And now we see with what reason our Saviour closed his discourse saying If they believe not Moses and the Prophets neither will they be perswaded though one rose from the dead With which I shall also close the doctrinall part of this discourse Those which are not satisfied with Gods truth so fairly propounded in the Scriptures may pray to Abraham to send one from the dead to preach to them if their eares itch for such teachers but when he comes would they believe him No they would rather accost him thus Art thou come out of thy Grave to fright us Where is thy Certificate that thou wast in the other world Wed do not know that ever thou wast dead or if thou art a Ghost we know not whether thou camest from heaven or hell whether thy design be to teach or to disturb us They say good spirits do not walk What thou hast hid some money somewhere If thou comest to discover any murder tell us People talk of Goblins to fright children and fooles but dost thou think that we will leave our profits or pleasures for a shade That this is too true we have an instance in the Iews to whom our Saviour preached this point For they had Lazarus whether Christ alluded to his name or no raised from the grave and he discoursed with the Pharisees but as soon as he asserted a truth that crossed their humour they would have killed him and sent him to the other world again a messenger of their unbelief When men have no mind to do their duty they will quarrell with the Messenger and ask for another not that they will then obey but to gain a truce for disobedience {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} and in the mean time they will seek for that which no doubt they will find i.e. something to make themselves believe that the next will not be so sent neither but that they shall be able to except against him Application 1. Upon the consideration of the things premised first Let us be thankeful to the Grace of God and the care of his divine Providence for transmitting to us the Holy Scriptures great Testimonies may one call them or high Courtesies of that Providence High Courtesies they are being the streames of that River of Truth which refreshed the City of God i.e. his Church so long agone But they are also great Testimonies of Gods Providence when so many with busie eagernesse sought to damme them up that they might not come at all or to poyson them that they might arrive as Ministers of errour and death Gods goodnesse permitted not the mischief his care hindred it This is that Alpheus that runs under the earth dives under the Sea not mixing with its brackish waters but rises up sweet and clear in the beloved Arethusa unto which God sends it When this holy Writ seemed to be sunk in one place as Ovid speaks of Lycus Sic ubi terreno Lycus est epotus hiatu Existit procul hinc alioque renascitur ore It riseth in another and brings up and lands safe the Truths which were committed unto it as Historians report of the aforesaid river If Moses applauded the Jewes happinesse when he had finished his