is obliged to search into them IV. And for the Commandments especially let it be further consider'd That there are some Commands laid upon Lay-men as well as others which no Man can be capable of yielding obedience to who is not conversant in the Holy Writings I shall instance in three only 1. To instruct their Children in the Scriptures 2. To try the Spirits whether they be of God. 3. To give a reason of the hope that is in them 1. To instruct their Children in the knowledge of the Scriptures This God commanded the Israelites in the place frorecited The words which I command thee this day shall be See also Deut. 4. 9. and chap. 32. 46. in thine heart and thou shalt teach them diligently to thy Children Of the like import is S. Paul's injunction to Christian Parents To bring up their Children in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. Hear what S. Chrysostom says upon these words Wouldst thou have thy Son obedient nurse him up from the beginning in the instruction and admonition of the Lord. Think it not more than needful that he hear the Divine Scriptures for there he will first hear this lesson Honour thy Father and thy Mother Say not that this belongs to Monks why dost thou fear that which is greatly gainful make him a Christian For it is most necessary for those who converse with the World to know those lessons which are to be learnt from thence especially for Children And a little after he adds Let us make them from their childhood to apply themselves to the reading of the Scriptures And can a Parent instruct his Children in the Scriptures who does not study them himself 2. To try the Spirits whether they be of God. This 1 Joh. 4. 1. S. John commands not only Bishops and Priests but all sorts of Christians to do By Spirits are meant the Teachers who pretend to divine inspiration but now because it cannot ordinarily be discerned whether the Teachers are of God but by the tryal of what they teach they are therefore first to try the Doctrines and as they find them either true or false to conclude the Teacher either a true or a false Prophet Now the Scriptures being the Rule by which Doctrines are to be tried how can a Man make this tryal who is not acquainted with them Yea should we suppose that the Scriptures are not the entire Rule as the present Church of Rome in contradiction to the antient Church and the Scriptures themselves teaches but stand in need of unwritten Traditions to supply their defects yet since the Romanists still grant them to be the Rule of all those Doctrines they extend to that whatsoever Doctrine is deliver'd in them is infallibly true whatsoever is contrary to any Doctrine deliver'd in them is certainly false It plainly follows that no Man can be qualified for the tryal of Doctrines who is a stranger to them because no Man can know what Doctrines are either contrary or agreeable to the Scriptures before he knows what are contain'd in them 3. To give a reason of the Hope that is in them Be 1 Pet. 3. 15. ready always says S. Peter to give an answer to every one that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you When your Religion is opposed and persecuted be ready not only to confess it but to give a reason to every one that requires it why you are Christians And what reason can a Man who knows not the Scriptures give why he is a Christian rather than a Mahometan unless the very same that a Turk can give why he is a Mahometan rather than a Christian viz. That he had the good fortune to be born and bred in a Nation where the Christian Religion was in fashion To conclude this argument In that God commands those things to be done by Lay-men which no Man can do without the knowledge of the Scriptures he also commands them to acquaint themselves with the Scriptures As he that requires the end he also requires the use of those means without which it cannot be obtained V. The uses and ends to which the Holy Scriptures are by God designed are a sufficient proof of Lay-mens obligation to acquaint themselves with them 'T is true some parts of Scripture were intended for the use of Teachers and others of Hearers consider'd as such on purpose to instruct them in those Duties which belong to them as so distinguished the one from the other But besides those Texts which are proper to them with respect to their different ranks and stations the uses to which the Scriptures are design'd are such which respect Men in common both Laity and Clergy of what degree or quality soever Such are in the general To teach and instruct us in those things by which we may be made wise to Salvation S. Paul tells us That whatsoever things were written Rom. 15. 4. aforetime were written for our learning And if whatsoever was written by Moses and the Prophets to those who lived before Christ came in the flesh to reveal the will of God more fully and clearly to us was written not only for their learning but for ours too how much more whatsoever is written since by the Apostles and Evangelists this being written for our learning only and not for theirs More particularly They are design'd to teach us what is necessary for us to know and believe and do that we may be saved These Joh. 20. 31. things are written says S. John that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ the Son of God and that believing ye might have life through his name And these things have I written 1 Joh. 2. 1. to you that ye sin not To this purpose they teach us not only our Duty in general but what are those sins in particular that are to be avoided and those good works which God hath ordained that we should walk in and are admirably suted to the begetting and promoting of all those heavenly virtues by which we may be disposed and enabled to deny all sorts of ungodliness and worldly lusts and to live soberly righteously and godly in this present World that having our fruit unto holiness here our end may be everlasting life In short the word of Christ is the great instrument which God hath ordained for the saving of Souls and therefore it is call'd the Grace of God which bringeth Salvation Tit. 2. 11. Ephes 1. 13. Rom. 1. 24. Jam. 1. 21. the power of God to Salvation to every one that believeth the Gospel of Salvation And certainly no Man can deny that these uses and ends of Holy Scriptures appertain to Lay-men who does not place them in the order of Beasts and deny that they have Souls capable of immortal Bliss Nor were they written to instruct the People as well as Priests in those points only of Faith and Practice which concern them all in common as they are Men and
Christians but more particularly yet to teach Lay-persons of both Sexes of all Ages Ranks and Relations what Graces are most becoming and how they ought to behave themselves in that age place or relation in which they are That Men and Women both Elder and Younger Husbands and Wives Parents and Children Masters and Servants Magistrates and Subjects might there find what their respective Duties are together with such motives as may be of force to engage them to the doing of them And can it reasonably be supposed when God hath so particularly prescribed in his word to all sorts of Secular persons their Duties as they stand distinguished one from another by their different ranks and relations that it is his pleasure they should not look into it to see what these Duties are Furthermore The Scriptures are design'd by God to teach Men in all variety of fortunes how to behave themselves and to improve their lot whatsoever it be to their best advantage Be a Man poor or rich high or low in honour or disgrace in sickness or in health he may learn from them how to correct those evils which are incident to that condition in which he is and to make it subservient to his greatest good Yea be a Man's condition never so calamitous though he walk in darkness and see no light he may find in the word of Christ those instructions directions examples precepts promises from which if duly applyed light will arise to him in the midst of his darkness And therefore S. Chrysostom in his Comment on my Text upon this account earnestly exhorts the Men of the World to the study of the Scriptures Hearken I beseech you says he all ye who are employ'd in the affairs of this life get ye Bibles the Medicines of your Souls If you will have no more yet get at least the New Testament the Acts of the Apostles the Gospels your continual Teachers If any grief happen to you look into them as the storehouse of Medicines from thence fetch comfort in your calamities c. And good reason had he thus to exhort them For can any Man in his wits imagine that God would have that concealed from the Laity which he in mercy design'd for the Remedy of all their spiritual Maladies For VI. Which plainly follows from what has been deliver'd Have not the Laity as much need of the Holy Scriptures as the Clergy Are they not liable to as many spiritual Infirmities and Diseases and therefore stand in as great need of Medicines to prevent or remove them Are they so well acquainted with their Duty that they cannot know it better and in case they were yet are they not as slow to good and as prone to evil as other Men and therefore need as much to be quicken'd to the practice of those Duties they already know Are they not exposed to as violent assaults of their Ghostly Enemies as their Teachers are and therefore need the Sword of the Spirit to repel them as much as they Yea are they not more exposed to Temptations from this evil World than those are who live more retir'd from it and have less to do with it Say not says Theophylact that it belongs to the Religious Theoph in Ephes 6. 4. only to read the Scriptures for it is the duty of every Christian especially of those who are conversant in the World since they stand in need of greater help as being in a storm Besides since as you have before seen the Scriptures are design'd to instruct Lay-persons of all states ages and ranks in their respective Duties unless a sort of Lay-men can be found who are neither Younger nor Elder Married nor Unmarried Superiours nor Inferiours who are neither in Sickness nor in Health in Prosperity nor Adversity that is such a sort of Lay-men who are in no state condition or order of Men none will be found who have not need of the Holy Scriptures Obj. It will perhaps be said That it is not necessary to this that they search the Scriptures themselves It is sufficient that they take them upon trust from their Teachers To which I return these things Answ 1. That our Saviour did not think this sufficient for he commanded Lay-men as well as others not to take matters upon trust but to search the Scritures Joh. 5. 39. Nor did S. Paul think it enough for as he directed his Epistles to all the Saints to all that call upon 2 Cor. 1. 13. Ephes 3. 4. the name of the Lord Jesus so he expected that all should read them And though he was guided by an infallible Spirit yet S. Luke thought it a Virtue in the Bereans and highly commends them for it That they searched the Scriptures daily whether those things which were Act. 17. 11. spoken by S. Paul were so 2. It may reasonably be presum'd that those Teachers serve no good design who forbid their People to search the Scriptures For what more likely reason can be given than that they themselves know that their Doctrines are such as will not abide the tryal Would you not shrewdly suspect that Man's Honesty who having gotten into his hands the Writings of another's Estate in which he confesses you are highly interess'd shall refuse to let you see them and confidently tell you that you ought to know no more of them than he shall think fit to acquaint you with But. 3. Supposing your Teachers deal honestly with you it is but a small portion of Scripture that they can acquaint their People with in comparison of what they may read at home Especially the Teachers in the Church of Rome where no more of the Scripture is communicated to those who do not understand the Latine Tongue than what the Preacher is pleas'd to put into his Sermon and that commonly is little enough But in case the Scriptures were read in a Language the People understood yet from the translent reading they would carry away but little and that little would soon be forgotten unless kept in mind by reading and meditation And therefore S. Chrysostom frequently and earnestly exhorted his People not to content themselves with hearing the Scriptures but to read them also privately at home out of many I shall quote a passage or two to this purpose I beseech you to come to the Church Hom. 29. in Genes continually and with diligence attend to the reading of the Divine Scriptures and not only when you come hither but also at home to take the Divine Books into your hands and carefully to receive the benefit of the things contain'd in them Much profit does come from hence first the Tongue by reading is reform'd then the Soul is wing'd and carried aloft c. Let us not I beseech you carelesly neglect so great a gain but also at home let us with diligence apply our selves to the reading of the Divine Writings And in another place he thus addresses to his Hearers Let every one when he
us more careful to avoid all occasions and to repress the very first motions toward evil This use the Apostle teaches us for having shew'd how shamefully the Israelites sinn'd and how remarkably they were punish'd he concludes Wherefore let him that thinketh 1 Corinth 10. 12. he standeth take heed lest he fall 4. As they teach us to lift up our eyes and our hearts unto God from whom alone cometh our help to implore continually the assistance of his Holy Spirit to inable us to subdue our evil inclinations to withstand all the Temptations of the World the Flesh and the Devil and by patient continuance in well doing to seek for glory and honour and immortality 5. As they teach us Thankfulness to God for his preventing and assisting Grace in case we have withstood those Temptations which other good Men have been overcome by and preserv'd from those sins into which they have fallen since it is not by any strength originally in our selves but by the Grace of God that we stand And by how much the more thankful any Man is for the Grace he hath already received by so much the more he may expect 6. As they teach us to be charitable in our Censures of others and not presently to conclude a Man lost though he fall into some great sin but endeavour to restore him again with the spirit of meekness But 7. If through our neglect and carelesness we fall into any great sin we are by these examples encouraged to rise again What greater encouragement to Repentance than the hope of a pardon in case we repent And this we can have no reason to despair of when we find that others who fell into as foul sins were actually pardon'd and received into God's favour upon their Repentance Thus we see how those evil examples we meet with in the holy Scripture may be highly advantagious to our spiritual Good. THE APPLICATION 1. FRom what hath been said it plainly follows That those Teachers who withhold the Scriptures from the Vulgar have not that regard they ought to have either to the Commandments of God or to the good of their People How careful those of the Church of Rome are to keep the People from being acquainted with them either by hearing them in publick or by reading them in private is well known It is true that Lessons out of the Scriptures and Epistles and Gospels are read in their publick Service but how are they read In a language that the Vulgar do not understand that is so as that they know as little of them after they are read as they did before As the darkness is as great when a Candle is in the house as when there is none if that Candle be hid under a Bushel But if they give the People so little of the Bible in publick do they not make some amends for this by allowing them the free use of it in private I answer No. No Man is allow'd to read or so much as to have Rule 4th of the Index Expurg made by order of the Council of Trent the Bible in the Vulgar tongue though translated by those of their own Church without a Licence from the Bishop of the Diocess or the Inquisitor with the advice of the Parish Priest or Confessor which Licence they must have in writing And if any Man shall presume without such Licence either to read or have it he may not receive Absolution of his sins unless he first deliver up his Bible to his Ordinary This is the standing Law of the Church of Rome establish'd by the authority of the Council of Trent and confirm'd not only by Pope Pius IV. but by many succeeding Popes which because I have heard confidently denyed by some of their ignorant Proselytes I will therefore refer them to a late Author in their own language to whom I presume they will give credit who in his Chapter of reading the Holy Scriptures gives this Character of a Papist It is A Papist Misrepresented and Represented c. c. 10. true he does not think it viz. the Holy Scripture fit to be read generally by all without a Licence or in the vulgar Tongue And having told you why he does not think so he adds For these reasons he is taught that it is not convenient for the Scripture to be read indifferntly by all Men but only by such as have express Licence and good testimony from their Curates c. And is not this course as effectual to keep the generality of the Laity from reading the Scripture as the absolute forbidding it would have been For how few will be at the trouble and charge of procuring a Faculty when it cannot be had but from the Bishop or Inquisitor Or if many were willing to be at the pains and cost yet few of those many will be able to obtain it For how few will be able to satisfie the Bishop or Curate that they are such as will receive no hurt by reading when they cannot so much as ask it without being suspected of Heresie So that all things consider'd it may reasonably be presumed that the effect of such Licences will amount to little or nothing And yet how little soever it be it was thought too much to be granted For by the Order of Pope Clement VIII this observation is added to the Rule That hitherto by the Command and practice of the holy Roman and universal Inquisition the Faculty of granting such Licences for reading or keeping Bibles in the vulgar Tongue or any summaries or historieal compendiums of the said Bibles is taken away which is to be inviolably observed And if no such Licence can be legally granted then no Man of what quality soever can read the Scripture in the vulgar Tongue without transgressing the Laws of the Roman Church I am not ignorant that in this Kingdom and I suppose in some others where the Reformation hath got considerable footing some Lay-persons of that Communion are permitted to have the Bible in their own Tongue But this permission is directly contrary to their Laws and extorted from them in these Countries to prevent a greater mischief which they see would otherwise ensue If you make enquiry in Spain or Italy you will find no such indulgence there I shall add only this That in the Index of prohibited Books published by Pope Alexander VII not only those Bibles that are translated and printed by Hereticks but all Bibles in any vulgar Tongue are absolutely prohibited 2. Let us then be thankful to God and bless and praise and speak good of his name for that we have been born and brought up in a Church which allows free liberty of searching the Holy Scriptures and not only so but lays it as a Duty upon all Men and endeavours to quicken them thereunto by the most powerful motives How earnest our Church is in pressing this Duty upon her Children you may see in her exhortation to the reading of the holy