and blind whether is greater the gold or the Temple that sanctifieth the gold But the word sanctifies the Church so saith our Saviour Sanctifie them with thy truth thy word is (b) Joh. 17.17 truth And again Now are ye clean through the word which I have spoken unto (c) Joh. 15.3 you And saith S. Faul Christ gave himself for his Church that he might sanctifie and cleanse it by the washing of water through the (d) Ephes 5.20 word The word therefore communicating sanctity and so therewith authority unto the Church must needs precede and excel it in both If any ask against whom I take up this weapon seeing the Church of Rome seems to disclaim and disavow this Tenet For the Rhemists in their Annotations on Gal. 2.2 affirm the disputation of this question to be superfluous and the comparison to be altogether unfit to be made I answer in the words of the Apostle So fight I not as one that beateth the (e) 1 Cor. 9.26 air I do not with the foolish Affricans called Psylli as Gellius reports take up Arms against the wind For besides divers others hereafter mentioned the said Doctors who would seem to decline this opinion and this unseemly comparison do in the very same place depresse the Scriptures and make them inferiour to the Church in four respects 1. In respect of Antiquity in that the Church was before them 2. In excellence of nature in that the Church is the Spouse of Christ the Temple of God and the proper subject of God and his graces for which Church the Scriptures were and not the Church for the Scriptures 3. In power of judging the Church having judicial power to determine of doubtful questions touching the sense of the Scriptures and other controversies of Religion of which judicial power the Scriptures are not capable 4. In evidence the definitions of the Church being more clear and evident then those of the Scriptures Now if by the Church they understood the whole Catholique Church and so included all the Patriarks Prophets and Apostles by whom the Scriptures were penned the contestation between us and them would not be so irreconcileable But their drift is to entitle the present Church Militant which is but one small part of the whole Catholique Church to those glorious prerogatives which belong not unto it And that it 's this Church which they so strive to advance above the Scriptures it 's more then manifest outof the writings of many of their Authors of special note amongst them as namely out of Pighius Melchior Canus and Stapleton All which in their writings quoted in the margent (a) Pig de Hierar eccle lib. 2. cap. 2. Can. loc com theolog lib. 2. cap. 8. Stapl. Doctr. princip lib. 9. cap. 12. here attribute authority to the present Church Militant above the Scriptures And Cardinall Bellarmine writes after their Copy affirming That the strength of all ancient Councels and of all opinions in doctrine doth depend upon the authority of the present (b) Bellar de effectu Sacram lib. 2. cap. 25. in fine Church Whereas therefore the fore-named Doctors of Rhemes did one while affirm all comparison between the preheminence and authority of the Church and Scriptures to be unfit to be made and anotherwhile spin out a tedious comparison between them about the very same particular they bewrayed both their personal weaknesse and the weaknesse of the cause which they intended to strengthen by stating and discussing that question which with their tongues or pens they had before disallowed to be disputed of Hitherto of the Theological conclusions inferred from this principle That Scripture is demonstratively divine Now it follows to speak of some duties for practice that may be raised and urged upon all sorts of persons from it and namely both upon Magistrates Ministers and People First This challengeth from all Christian Kings and Princes who are God's Vice-roys upon Earth all honourable respect patronage and possble protection of this holy word of God against all religions and opinions in Religion which are repugnant unto it and against all persons that either in word or deed doctrine or life slight or dishonour it For they sustaining the person of God here on earth for which they are dignified with the title of gods themselves in this (a) Psal 82.6 word do owe this reciprocal respect to him whose Vicegerents and Ministers they are to see as much as in them lies all due observance honour and obedience to be exhibited to this his sacred Word Thus did the good King Josiah for when the Book of the Law which was known to be God's Book was found in the house of the Lord and shewed unto him he presently summoned all the Elders of Judah and Jerusalem to appear before him and then himself rehearsed in their ears all the words of God's Book and made a Covenant both for himself and all the people that they should keep the Commandements and accomplish the Covenant written in it and suppressed all religions which did impunge it and removed all occasions and instruments of Idolatry and whatsoever else was adverse to the contents of (b) 2 Kin. 23. it Yea further it 's said that he caused all that were present in Jerusalem and Beniamin to stand to (c) 2 Chro. 34.32 it And thus have all good and godly Princes ever done both under the Law and the Gospel And it 's great reason they should for the Scepter of Christ's Kingdom which is this word of his is a Scepter of (a) Psal 45.6 righteousnesse And a rod of (b) Psal 110.2 strength And when Kings Scepters uphold it then it defends them like the roof of a building either of wood or stone and the walls or pillars thereof which afford a reciprocal and mutual aid and benefit each to other the pillars or walls support and uphold the roof and the roof doth protect consolidate and corroborate them Thus the Scepter was never taken away from the Kings of Israel and Judah so long as they swayed it for the defence of God's word but while they were observant of it God was propitious to them Nor doth this duty lie solely upon the highest powers but upon all secondary and subordinate Magistrates both Counsellors of State Nobles Judges and Justices whom god hath advanced to such high places of honour and put into their hands the sword of justice for this very end primarily that they might weild it according to his word and for it according to the directions and rules that he hath inscribed in it and for the support of the honour and authority of it by punishing and suppressing all impious scorners prophaners and transgressors thereof And verily when they do thus execute justice by the word of God and for it and without connivence or partiality then are they the very nerves and sinews of the body of the Commonwealth and bring both strength and glory unto it When
THE FORT-ROYAL OF CHRISTIANITY DEFENDED OR A demonstration of the Divinity of Scripture by way of excellency called the Bible WITH A Discussion of some of the great Controversies in Religion about universal Redemption Free-will Original Sin c. For the establishing of Christians in truth in these Atheistical trying times By THOMAS GERY B.D. and Rector of Barwell in Leicestershire All Scripture is given by Inspiration of God c 2 Tim. 3.16 17. Beloved believe not every spirit but try the spirits whether they are of God because many false prophets are gone out into the world 1 John 4.1 London Printed by T.C. for Nathanael Web and William Grantham at the sign of the black Bear in Paul's Church-yard neer the little North-door of Paul's 1657. THE AVTHOR's Preface TO THE READER THis plain and course Treatise that was penned above 30. years since at the motion of a great Earl of this * Francis Earl of Rutland Land who asked of me this question and desired a resolution of it in writing namely which way a mans conscience might acquire best assurance that the Bible is God's own Word is now at last exposed to open view through the encouragement of some persons that are fast friends both to the truth of Religion and the Church of England Who taking the pains to read it and knowing that the very life power of Religion consisteth in the firm belief of that point of Religion which is here demonstrated did entertain some hope that the publishing of it might conduce to the conviction and satisfaction of some mens consciences about this particular Article of Christian belief and thereupon have prevailed with me to adventure this publication of it though there be no worth in it more then this that it 's rational and Orthodoxal If this apology will not excuse my temerity herein the world being now so glutted and ready to nauseate and surfeit with the superfluity of Printed papers I humbly beg that my good intention herein may excuse the rashnesse of the fact who endanger to blemish my self in hope to do others good TO THE REVEREND and his worthy Friend Mr. GERY RECTOR of Barwell in Leicestershire SIR as I am rejoyced to see the late works of your reverend brother in law my honoured Friend Doctor Sanderson So for our mother Cambridge sake I count it among my felicities to find our Country-man Dr. Hall and by much our elder brother in that Arcademy a modern right Reverend Father of the Church still increasing his voluminous sweet and pious writings and like a true celestial plant bringing forth more fruit in his age And that comfort is increased by beholding you also though constantly employed upon a Cure so enabled to afford the world such a testimony as these papers present of solid Theology amongst which after my perusal of the great pains and methodical clearing of that subject concerning our last resolution of faith divine into Divine Scripture and your collection to that end of so many and so convincing arguments I could not refrain my Pen from gratulating to you this work so highly conducible to the glory of God in the exaltation of his holy Word and to the edification of millions of souls who shall enjoy the happinesse of being much confirmed and comforted in their most precious faith by those assistances in your Book for the speedy Edition whereof I do not only hereby solicite but charge you on the behalf of our only Lord and Master Christ Jesus and of his Spouse the Church of God our dear Mother assuring my self that as thereby you shall distribute blessings so many blessings from others shall redound unto your self both in reputation and in their prayers and thanksgivings to God for you We deny not what they of the Romane perswasion say That the tradition of the Church is a great testimony yea take the universal Church in all ages including that of Christ and his Apostles and plain reason and experiment will enforce all men to acknowledge that a Divine testimony To which when that key hath let us in to the Scripture it self we find a light which manifests both it self and other things and so we have a second testimony internal and both Divine The fallacy then is found in making the Churches inducing testimony to be the only or the principal and then in affirming this attestation to the present Church of Rome from whom we must if they may prevail receive these two things on trust That first theirs is the Catholick Church as meer a Bull as that Tiber is all Rivers or a whole Palace is in one room And secondly that he who must be the head of the Church though sometime confessed to be no true member is absolutely infallible Concerning which pretended infallibility so long time contended for though doubtlesse their learned men hold and know it a point ridiculous for in time of three Antipopes at once chairing themselves at Rimini at Bologne and Abignon about 1429. to which head was then this biggen of Infallibility bound it hath now pleased God in this last age to produce amongst us such worthies as have beaten down this Babel of papal pride and levell'd it with the ground I mean this chiefly by that monumental piece The conference of Bishop Laud with Fisher and Mr. Chillingworth's Book against Knot another of the Jesuits On both which one made this Epigram Two little Wills Both understandings great Did fond Infallibility defeat That Supreme Sconce call'd Fisher 's folly won Next Knot their gordian knot was quite undon And for a further manifest of this I refer you to a book of Hugh Paulin de Cressie once a Dean in Ireland and Prebend of Windfor who is gone over to Rome and published the motives of his conversion I read his book newly extant in Essex from the hand of a very worthy Matron Ms. B. a zealous Papist and shewed her therein where he openly confesses That infallibility is a word unfortunate That Mr. Chillingworth hath combated against it with too too great successe He wishes the Word were forgotten or at least laid by That we Prorestants have in very deed very much to say for our selves when we are prest unnecessarily with it and advises his Romists that we may never be invited to combate the authority of their Church under that notion And professes no such word as Infallibility is to be found in any Council c. Magna est veritas c. We and they must of force yield to that of St. Paul Eph. 5.8 We were darknesse in the abstract and all our light in Dom. are now light in the Lord. But how Certainly that Oriens ab Alto that great Bishop of all our souls doth baptize all true believers with the holy Ghost and with the celestial fires of his Grace But since this Arch-prelate and universal Superintendent for properly all cure of souls all Baptism and confirmation is from that our Lord and Saviour Christ
word by the Churches enunciation and report but afterwards they believe much more firmly and undoubtedly when they come to enjoy the sight and knowledge of the Scriptures themselves So that the most that can be gathered from that speech of S. Augustines is but this That the testimony and tradition of the Church is usually the first inducement to men to give credit to the truth and so consequently to the divinity of the Gospel which is not denied But then this credulity is afterwards corroborated and more fully setled and confirmed by more evident certain and infallible groundsout of Scripture it self discovered especially by the help of divine grace from the spirit of God which of all other saith Amen to this truth and sets the surest seal thereof upon the soul and conscience as our Saviour gives us to understand when he saith If any man will do God's will he shall know of the Doctrine whether it be of (a) Joh. 7.17 God That is he shall know best and most assuredly as having information and attestation thereof from the Spirit of God Yet always God's spirit tells the conscience this out of Scripture for as it suggested and dictated the Scripture at the first so it whispers in the ear of the soul the same note still and hath no discrepant voice or suggestion from it but whatsoever it testifieth it suggests the same not by any secret instinct and spiritual insusurration different from the written word according to the vertiginous fancy and dotage of the Enthusiasts the family of Love as they are phrased and some other of the Anabaptistical sect but by a still voice out of and according to the Scripture Whence is that saying of St. Chrysostome Frustra jactat se Spiritum sanctum habere qui non loquitur ex (b) Chrysost de Popu Antioche Homil 50. Evangelio In vain doth he boast to have the holy Ghost that speaketh not out of the Gospel And therefore we read that when our Saviour enlightened his Apostles understandings it was That they might understand the (a) Luke 24.45 Scriptures And that when he promised to send the Comforter unto them to teach them all things he addeth Whatsoever I have said unto (b) John 14.26 you which intimates that he should teach them no new doctrine So that we are not to believe an Angel from Heaven if he preach any other Gospel then that which the Apostles have (c) Gal. 1.8 preached which we have written in the New Testament And so it was said always of old To the Law and to the Testimony If they speak not according to this word it is because there is no light in (d) Isa 8.20 them Thus then I conclude That the conscience may be verily resolved and a rational man compelled to acknowledge and believe with an acquired historical faith that the Scriptures of the Old and New Testament are divine by convincing arguments and evidences apparent even to reason and that from Scripture it self especially Nor am I single in this opinion for I find in S. Augustine the like conclusion who speaking of the Penmen of Scripture delivers this sentence Verè illos magnos divinos fuisse legem illam Dei jussu voluntate promulgatam esse credo id quamvis perpauca illorum librorum sciam facilè persuadere possum si mihi adhibeatur aequus non pertinax (a) Aug. de Vtilita tecredendi cap. 5. animus Verily saith he I believe that they the penmen of Scripture were great and divine men and that that Law was promulgated by the commandent and will of God and this though I knew but a few of those books I am able easily to perswade if I meet but with an equal-minded man that is not pertinacious But to believe this with a divine faith without which it 's never soundly and perfectly embraced must be a work of God's Spirit only from whom alone all such faith proceedeth And so I end the first part of this Treatise The second part of this Treatise which is an application of the Doctrine proved to certaine special uses HAving now laid a sure foundation of this truth that Scripture is God's own word which cannot be shaken it behoves me to superstruct upon it lest that aspersion be cast upon me which the improvident builder is blemished withal in the Gospel This man began to build but was not able to make an (a) Luke 14.30 end This doctrine then is useful both for theory and practice both for information and for exhortation First For information of the understanding two inferences or conclusions are deducible from it First That no man may presume to dispense with this word because it 's God's for being his none but he hath authority and power to exempt any man from obligation to it or any part of it This is a conclusion undeniable and therefore speaks the practice of some late Popes of Rome to be very culpable and inexcusable who have presumed to grant dispensations for marriages within the degrees forbidden in this word of God and to exempt subjects from obedience to their lawful Soveraign strictly commanded in this word This hath been practised by the Papal power of late years here in this Nation And it 's the more inexcusable in that they undertake to justifie it This I find in Cardinal Bellarmine's works who to prove the Popes Supremacy draws an argument from his power to grant dispensations and then doth instance in a dispensation which Pope Gregory granted to the English about marriages within the degrees (a) Bellar de Romano Pontif. lib. 2. cap. 19. forbidden And I can here produce a credible Author who affirms that divers of the Church of Rome have not blushed to defend openly and that under their hands that the Pope hath power to dispence Contra ius divinum contra Apostolum contra Novum Testamentum against the law of God against an Apostle and against the New (b) Favor Antiquit cap. 6. paulo post medium Testament But I am perswaded that now since the reformation hath detected many of their grosse hallucinations the wise and learned among them do distaft and disclaim all such blaspemous and unsavoury assertions A second consequent or conclusion that I deduce from this truth That Scripture is God's own word is this That therefore it 's of superior and greater authority then the present Church militant And this I prove from hence by two reasons First Because the present Church Militant is holy and divine but only in part and after a sort and in this regard is subject unto error whereas the Scripture is simply and totally divine for All Scripture is given by inspiration of God saith (a) 2 Tim. 3.16 S. Paul and therefore must needs be most authentical A second reason is this That which sanctifieth is greater then that which is sanctified by it so our Saviour himself argued against the Scribes and Pharisees Ye fools
Jesus and he is in heaven and his spirit must descend to and into us which is the Aquaeduct the ventiduct the Luciduct which way doth Christ in his spirit and graces convey this holy water this gentle air this blessed light to our spirits Why look back to the Creation How came light at first First the spirit moves and broods o're that which was a depth and darknesse and then his mighty Word Fiat Lux. He spake and it was Light then when all was dark he made material light and Christ Jesus is the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for as speech is the image of the mind so he the brightnesse of his Father's glory and the expresse image of his person Heb. 1.3 The immaterial and eternal light of light that was never made And the Divine spirit goes that way still by the Word His word is and makes light This world is God's great book wherein as in a glasse of wonders we discern him But his word is the true myrror of his mind And as God engrav'd his form on his Son before all worlds so what that Son is and what the father is to us in him the spirit proceeding from both delivers in the book of his word The Sun guilds and enamels clouds and streams and hill tops with his rays but thrusts his own pure light his own living fires through the bodies of the stars so other authors can but yield a faint reflexion of that beam which here is native and direct The very Law God styles a flaming light the Prophesies a more sure word to which we do well to attend as to a light shining in a dark place till the day dawn and the day-star arise in our hearts But the Gospel is called his marvellous light He brought life and immortality to light through the Gospel 2 Tim. 1.10 And in Acts 26.16 I have appeared to thee saith our Saviour to that choice vessel of his grace and name to make thee a Minister and a witnesse c. And now I will send thee to the Gentiles To what end for a glorious end To open their eyes and to turn them from darknesse to light from the power of Satan unto God And acordingly speaks that Apostle If our Gospel be hid 2 Cor. 4.3 4. verses 't is hid in them that perish in whom the god of this world hath blinded their unfaithful minds that the light of the Gospel of the glory of Christ who is the image of God should not shine unto them And in the 6. verse he shews the walk and circuit of this light God who commanded light to shine out of darknesse hath shined in our hearts there first and then the casting of the beam to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ Jesus Doth not S. Paul say It is both the wisedome and power of God to salvation to every one that believeth and is not that enough to give all men full satisfaction and acquiescense what a large field lies open for the further clearing this truth in those assertions in the fathers Saint Chrysostome calls the holy Scriptures Lamps of Verity before our eyes Hom. 23. in mad Serm de Temp. 237. And S. Austin ad Lucernam Scripturae ambulaing Gregorie of Valentia a Jesuit consesseth as much and diverse Pontificians in plain terms as Holcoth and Bellarmine himself cries up the Scripture with a nihil notius nihil certius Bell. de verbo dei lib. 1. c. 2. and cries him down for the veriest fool who believes not their testimony and in the 2 cap of the same book is in his superlatives with Scriptura certissima Tutissima Regula credendi He trouble you but with one more but one instar omnium 'T is he that in a traiterous itch of wit took on him purposely the wresting and prophaning of Scripture that so he might lewdly abuse our Princes and our Church Yet mark as God compelled the Divel to testifie of Christ what he is forced to say and sure 't is worth our observation The book is Latine called the Queries If I diminish him not in my English There is in Scripture saith he an Invisible Majesty an hidden splendor a glory unperishable a wisedome inexhaustible the solace of humane and the beginning of a divine life made by the holy spirit and making our spirits holy compared with which the Egyptian Sages will look pale and poor the Chaldee impure the Grecians blockish Plato no body and Philosophy it self a fool 't is the print of Heaven on Earth and if any where the joy of Paradise or at least a brave resemblance of divine light be shewed it is in Scripture containing all that is severed from the actual vision of God himself Again The paper burns me not yet am I all enflamed in reading it 't is no composure no artificial tread the Scripture uses yet am I drawn and wrapt to follow her and she lifts me up beyond my nature so that I am no more mine own but with a sacred violence and new fire I am consumed and compelled to acknowledge the voice of God that speaks therein Thus far that Papist and finally both Fathers Schoolmen and later Pontificitians freely confesse a double means to know the authors of divine Scripture one ecclesiastick i.e. perpetual Church story Hal. 3.978 m. 2. which introduces Faith saith all Hales as the Seta doth the thrid and the other totally divine which * lib. 2. d. pt divine leg Junilius and * Institu l. 1. c. 16. Cassiodor reckon ipsius Scripturae veritas ordo rerum consonantia preceptorum modus locutionis c. And Scotus of 10. arguments takes divers from the internal matter and majesty of the Books But Sir I intended but a letter and I find my style wandred into a little Homile It is time to end with my apprecation for a blessing on your labours and to let you find it under my hand That I am Your Obliged Friend and fellow-Servant in the Gospel of Christ THO. PESTEL From Leicester Nov. 1. 1656. Errata PAge 24. Line 20. for inseparable read insuperable p. 94. l. 7. for bluts r. blunts p. 102. l. 1. for of r. and p. 104. l. 4. for and r. But p. 113. l. 13. for religionis r. religioni p. 126 l. 2. for quod r. quam p. 129. in the margent for these r. Jesus In the Title of the second Treatise for decission r. decision In the Preface to the Reader before the same Treatise a little after the middle of it for falcyes r. fallacies An Index or Table representing the Contents of this Treatise the parts whereof are two 1. A doctrine propounded and proved which is this That Scripture is God's own Word 2. The application of it to certain special Uses 1. Part. Scripture is proved Gods Word by arguments drawn 1 From without it selfe which are 4. 1 By testimony out of the Church page
3. 2 By miracles in the Church page 18. 3 By the death of the Martyrs of the Church page 24. 4 By the wonderful preservation of it against all adverse power that did rise up to abolish it page 27. 2 From within it self which are 8. 1 By the majesty of it page 30. 2 By the purity of it page 33. 3 By the profundity of it p. 37. 4 By the harmony of it p. 46. 5 By the prophesie of it p. 48. 6 By the repugnancy of it with man's nature page 56. 7 By the impartiality of the Pen-men of it page 58. 8 By the power of it which is manifested by four effects p. 60. 1 By revealing thoughts p. 60. 2 By terrifying consciences p. 62. 3 By converting souls p. 63 4 By comforting souls and consciences in deepest misery p. 65 2 Part The application consists of 2 parts 1 of consequents deducted for information which are two p. 76 1 That therfore no man may dare to dispence with any of the precepts of Scripture because it 's God's Word page 76. 2 Therefore it s of supreme authority to the present Church-militant p. 78 2 of practicall inferences which are applied to 3 sorts of persons p. 82 1 To all in place of Magistracy to enduce them to defend Scripture p. 82 2 To all in the office of the ministery to induce them to dispense it p. 88 3 To all of all sorts to enduce them to these four duties 1 To learn it p. 94 2 To believe it p. 105 3 To embrace that religion which holds best correspondence with it 110 4 To obey it p 131 THE FORT ROYALL OF CHRISTIANITY DEFENDED IT s a confessed maxim a known and received truth in Theology that the seeds of all sins are transmitted and propagated into the nature of every son and child of Adam who descends from him by the common way of generation amongst which the seeds of Atheism are not the least predominant whence it comes to passe that the heart of man is oft sollicited to doubt whether the books of Scripture be the very Oracles of God or a humane invention to keep in awe such protervious refractory and unruly spirits as without these would no more be awed by the laws of man then Job's Leviathan by the hook and line To affront and discountenance this suggestion and silence these whisperings of incredulity about this particular that all doubting spirits may gain plenary satisfaction in it that will not wilfully shut the eye of their own reason nor damp the light of their own understanding against the Sun-shine of this heavenly truth I have selected or collected partly out of the writings of Orthodox Divines but principally out of Scripture it self these ensuing arguments Some whereof are not only most probable but to a clear apprehension demonstrative and so undeniable reasons to prove the Bible to be Gods own book And the structure of this discourse is framed and fashioned like to Jacob's ladder to lift up the imagination of man from-Earth to Heaven and to this end I have placed in it twelve arguments as so many rounds or stairs whereby the minds of rational men may be raised up by each step and gradation to a clearer speculation and view of that celestial splendour which is diffused throughout the whole region of Scripture till at the length namely by such time as they have ascended to the top of this scale they may be able to discry and discern here in open view such radiant beams of divine light as will readily dispell and drive away all foggy mists of ambiguity and hesitation that ecclipsed and shadowed this light formerly from their sight These twelve staves of this scale or twelve arguments are digested into this order The four lowest which are first sâ—t down are drawn from without the Scripture and the eight highest from within it Those from without the Scripture are of two sorts either from without the Church or from within it First Argu ∣ ment 1 From without the Church I find but one and that is an argument inartificial as Logitians call it but very energetical and valid which is the suffrage and testimony that many of the Heathen who were out of the visible Church have afforded of the divinity of our Scriptures and that both of the Old and New Testament And first for the divinity of the Old Testament I find a notable testification thereof out of Josephus his History of the Antiquities of the Jews and that from divers of the Heathen with which therefore I shall content my self and I hope the Reader also This Author saith (a) Joseph Antiq said lib. 12. cap. 2. in fine cap. That after the translation of the Books of Moses Law into the Greek Tongue by the seventy two Elders of the Jews was finished by the means and at the cost and charges of Ptolomy Philadelph King of Egypt the said King was highly contented therewith and took pleasure in reading the said Law admiring at the deep conceit and wisedom of the Law-maker And thereupon began to question with one Demetrius the Master of his Library and the chief instrument by him used to obtain of the Jews this translation of their Law what might be the reason that neither Poet nor Historiographer had made any mention thereof considering that in it self it was so admirable To whom Demetrius returned this answer That no man was so hardy to touch that work by reason that it was divine and every way venerable assuring him also that certain men who had attempted to set their hands thereto had been punished by God And thereupon acquainted him how one Theopompus an Historian intending to reduce certain contents of that Law into his History had been distracted in mind for more then thirty days and that having some intermission of his fit he appeased God by prayer as having perceived this attempt to be the cause of his malady and thereupon desisted from his foresaid intention He likewise certified him further That one Theodectes a Tragick Poet intending to make mention in some of his Poems of a certain History written in the sacred Scriptures was stricken blind acknowledging the cause thereof to proceed from his audacious presumption in that intent was restored to his sight after that he had appeased Gods displeasure meaning by his repentance and desistence from his said purpose He alledgeth there also to the King in the former part of the forementioned Chapter a saying out of Haecateus Abderita who was a Philosopher brought up with great King Alexander and writ a Book of the Jewish Nation who affirmed these Scriptures to be pure and not to be uttered by impure lips Hence we have clear testimony that the Scriptures of the Old Testament were at this time had in great reverence by the very Heathen as sacred and divine as there also Demetrius is said to have told the King several times Secondly For the Divinity of the Gospel it may be
how they were gathered from all parts of the world where they were heard of by the Romans with great care and diligence and were laid up in their Capitol as writings most precious and momental Secondly the famous Orator Cicero who lived in the time of Marcus Antonius which was above forty years before Christ mentioneth these Sibylls writings in divers places of his works (a) Cicero lib. 2. de divina lib. 1. Epist ad Lent Epist 7. Yea Constantine affirmeth that the former Acrostick verses were by Cicero translated into the Roman Dialect and at that time to be seen in his works when he made this Oration Thirdly the renowned Poet Virgil who lived immediately after Cicero in the beginning of the reign of Augustus Caesar rehearseth divers verses out of Sibylla Cumaea and records her very name (a) Virgil Eglog 4. To these I will add but one record more which is out of the learned Aristotle who lived many years before any of these yet named namely under the great Alexander of Macedony who writes thus of one of the Sibylls Cumae in Italia ostenditur quoddam ut videtur conclave subterraneum Sibyllae vatis quam diutissimè vixisse virginem permansisse perhibent quae esset Erythraea sed a quibusdam Melanchraena vocaretur (a) Aristot de mirabil Narrat At Cuma saith he in Italy is shewed a certain subterraneous conclave or cave in the earth as it should seem of a Sibyll Prophetesse which men say lived very long and continued a Virgin which should be Erythraea but of some she was called Melanchraena Plato also who was Aristotle's Master makes mention of this Sibyll (b) Plato in Phaedro And Justin Martyr that ancient father before mentioned reports that he was at this Cuma and saw the Temple where this Sibyll uttered her predictions arithmetical and therein as a special monument of her a brazen vessel wherein were kept certain of her reliques (a) Justin Martyr in Admonitor Gentium libro in fine So that hence it s cleared from all doubt that the Sibylls verses at least some of them which spake of Christ which is sufficient for the present purpose were no forgeries but prophetical Poems for certain written long before the Gospell if any humane testimonies may be credited and so are potent proofs of Christ and consequently of the Divinity of the Gospell It follows now to speak something of the Oracles likewise which were nothing else but deluding Divels speaking out of Heathen Images and these also gave many attestations of Christ especially that notorious one of Apollo at Delphos in Greece And for proof hereof I will alledge only one speech of Porphyrius a great worshipper of these Oracles and an arch enemy of Christians Constantine called him The sworn adversary and deadly foe of divine service (b) Socrat Histor Eccle. lib. 1. cap. 6. who upon meditation of divers speeches uttered by the Oracles concerning Christ Jesus breaketh forth into this confession It is exceeding wonderful what testimony the gods so he styl'd the Oracles do give of the singular piety and sanctity of Jesus for which they avouch him to be honoured with immortality (a) Porphyr in Libr. de Laud Philosoph So that the Scripture we see hath implicite testimony and by consequence to be divine from the most livid and professed enemies of it according as we read also in the Gospell where the divels themselves were oft enforced to confesse Christ to be the holy one of God Lastly For the testimony of the Jews which were no Christians concerning Christ I will produce only two but those Classical writers and most famous of all other of them for their learning namely Josephus before mentioned who was born if not before our Saviours passion yet within a few years after and one Philo who was a Coaetan with our Saviour and was sent Embassador to Rome in behalf of the Jews the same year that our Saviour was baptised by John Both these in sundry places of their Histories make mention of our Saviour Christ in such sort as giveth proof sufficient that what is written of him in the Scripture is no feigned story but a known and confessed and undoubted truth for brevities sake I will reherse but one of their testimonies but it is so punctual and illustrious that it may stand in stead of many Thus Josephus (a) Joseph Antiq Jud. Lib. 18. cap. 4. writeth of him At that time was Jesus a wise man if it be lawful to call him a man for he was the performer of divers admirable works and the instructer of those who willingly entertain the truth And he drew unto him divers Greeks and Jews to be his followers This was Christ who being accused of the Princes of our Nation before Pilate and afterwards condemned to the Crosse by him yet did not those who followed him from the beginning forbear to love him for the ignominy of his death for he appeared unto them alive the third day after according as the divine Prophets had before testified the same and divers other wonderful things of him And from this time forward the race of the Christians who have derived their name from him hath never ceased This spontaneous perspicuous and ample confession of Christ proceeding out of the mouth of an adversary for he that is not with Christ is against him (b) Luk. 11.23 speaks so peremptorily for the truth of the History and so consequently for the divinity of the Gospel that it admits no exception Thus much for the first argument to prove the sacred authority of Scripture which is the testimony that hath been yielded by many out of the Church either explicitely or implicitely of the divinity of it which is not a contemptible argument but very prevalent to sway the conscience of any intelligent man to a credence of this truth Now follow those arguments which are drawn from within the Church but from without the Scripture which are three First Argu ∣ ment 2 This truth is proved by the miracles wrought by our Saviour Christ and the Pen-men of Scripture for the confirmation of the divinity thereof which miracles being acknowledged by the confession of adversaries is an argument of great validity to convince the most incredulous person in this point if he will but hear reason Now confessions hereof we find exceeding many from our professed adversaries in Religion And first to begin with the miracles which Moses wrought in Egypt before Pharaoh they are reported by divers Heathen Authors as namely by one Demetrius and Eupolemus two Greek Historiographers and by one Artabanus who writ a History of the Jews wherein he speaks thus of Moses as witnesseth the noble French Author in the Margent (a) Morn de Verita Christ Relig. cap. 26. This Moses saith he was occupied in continual prayer to God for the deliverance of the people and one day as he was earnest in praying there issued a
patience humility and comfort that their blood in this manner shed in the Gospels cause seals unto us their successors the infallible certainty of the Divinity of it It 's not denied but that Hereticks have dared to die for defence of their erroneous opinions but never did any of them suffer with those apparent characters and impressions of God's divine Spirit upon them that were now before mentioned nor in that infinite number that the Martyrs of the Gospel have done for they so shined throughout the world in their afflictions saith Eusebius (a) Euseb Histo Eccles lib. 8. cap. 12. in fine that the beholders wondred at their patience and noble courage and that not without cause for they expressed and shewed forth unto the world special and manifest signs of the divine and unspeakable power of our Saviour working by them I might here illustrate and amplifie this point by innumerous instances of Martyrs both out of all the forenamed Historians and out of Mr. Fox his book of our own late English Martyrs in the days of Queen Mary who by the vertue and splendency of their divine graces in suffering namely innocence alacrity courage patience and humility so blanked and amated their persecutors that they converted many of them to the Christians faith yea so far forth they prevailed with some of them that they induced them to suffer Martyrdom with them as Eusebius testifies (b) Euseb Hist Eccl. lib. 2. cap. 9. lib. 8. cap. 9. But I will spare this labour as hoping it may be an allurement unto the Reader to peruse some of the now named Authors for further satisfaction in this point I come now to the last external Argument Argu ∣ ment 4 which is the miraculous preservation of Scripture against the iniquity and enmity of all times which have been so malevolent and violent against it that it could never have been preserved hitherto but by the hand of Heaven for all the impetuous power and policy of man and the precipitant stream and strength yea and fury of the whole world hath invaded it to extinguish and suppresse it sundry times Antiochus a cruell Tyrant and successor of great Alexander getting domination over the Jews cut in pieces and burnt all the books of the Law which he could find and followed his intended mischief so malevolently and violently that all those with whom any such books were found were put to a most cruel death (a) Machab 1.59 Joseph Autiq. lib. 12. cap. 7. Dioclesian also Emperor of Rome a savage and belluine persecutor of the Christians sought by all means possible to obliterate and abolish the holy Scriptures and for that end caused his Edicts to be published everywhere throughout his Dominions in which it was commanded That all the Christian Churches should be demolished and made even with the ground yea and the very foundations thereof to be digged up and that the holy Scriptures should be all burned and so be utterly extinguished (a) Euseb Hist Eccl. lib. 8. cap. 2. 3. Which mischief hath been intended and attempted also by many other nefarious and wicked instruments of Satan often times yet hath it ever been preserved whole and entire and continued in the Church unto this day yea even in the original Tongues wherein it was first written which is verily a miracle And therefore we may fitly apply unto this miraculous preservation of it that acclamation of the people Great is the truth and prevaileth (b) 1 Esdras 4.41 And the words of the Psalmist This is the Lords doing and it is marvellous in our eyes (c) Psat 118.23 I have done with the Arguments from without the Scripture which may move any mans mind very prevalently to entertain a belief of the Divinity of this book and yet they have shewed him but as it were the out side of it Let me now lead the Reader a little higher and nearer to it as namely to open it and look within it and then he shall see as the Jew saith very truly God's own hand God's own characters yea God's own sign and seal and subscription upon the paper For as corporal light reveals to the bodily eye both other things and it self too so doth Scripture as a true spiritual and heavenly light both reveal the way to Heaven and make ostension also of it self to be a light of Heaven Particularly there be to be discerned in it these eight sparks or beams of divine authority First Argu ∣ ment 5 There is such an incomparable sublimity and majesty of style herein expressed as doth so highly advance and exalt it above all humane writings and makes it so transcendently glorious above them all that as was said of Christ That never man spake like him (a) Joh. 7.46 Nor with that authority (b) Luk. 4.32 So may be said of this Book of Christ never book spake like it that is in such a superlative and high strain of authority there is such an august majestical and venerable state in the words and such steps and prints of divine excellency displayed in it as neither man nor Angel could or durst expresse and such as never was nor will be found in any other writing for it breathes divinely in every part and page Let any man parallel this Book among humane Authors for heavenly majesty in the sayings and sentences thereof and I will sample him the Sun amongst lucid bodies for radiant lustre in the light and shine thereof for the Sun is not more gloriously lightsome above all other Stars then this Scripture is divinely majestical and glorious above all other writings To which purpose St. Augustine speaks thus (a) August de Civitat Dei lib. 11. cap. 1. Scriptura summae dispositione providentiae super omnes omnium gentium literas omnia sibi genera ingeniorum humanorum divinis excellens authoritate subjecit The Scripture saith he being by the disposition of the highest providence above all the literature of all Nations excelling in divine authority hath stooped all kinds of humane wits unto it self And as in many other Texts so in Deut. 32.39 40 41 42. verses there be such sublime and majesticall expressions as neither man nor Angel durst utter For there we have these sayings uttered from the mouth of God I even I am he and there is no god with me I kill and I make alive I wound and I heal neither is there any that can deliver cut of my hand For I lift up my hand to Heaven and say I live for ever c. Thus no man nor Angel ever did speak or dare speak There have been indeed some men in former Ages so advanced and exalted in their own thoughts and transported with vain glory having been mounted to the highest stair of honour and authority here upon Earth that they have ambitiously affected to be called gods and to be reputed to descend from more then humane race and parentage yet never durst
tells us that the Angels had a desire to look into certain things of Scripture namely the accomplishment of the predictions of Christ's sufferings and glory where the Original Greek word which he useth to expresse their introspection 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the genuine and proper sense signifies a stooping to behold some thing hid which imports that they were ignorant of the full meaning of these prophesies till they were fulfilled and revealed by the Gospel And if to Angels the depth of this divine mystery be inscrutable much more to man who therefore is commanded very oft to read study and search the Scriptures which precepts stand in force to the end of mans life yea to the end of this world and therefore necessarily imply that as there must be no end of searching so neither can there be any end of finding but that a man may find more where he hath found much before and yet leave much unfound still when he hath searched what he can And to this truth the most accomplisht Divines of former times have afforded their suffrage St. Augustine saith In ipsis sanctis Scripturis mulâ—ò nesciâ— plura quam scio (a) August Epist 119. in the holy Scriptures I am ignorant of much more then I know And again he saith Mira profunditas eloquiorum tuorum Deus meus mira profunditas horror est intendere in eam horror honoris tremor amoris (b) Aug. Confess lib. 12. cap. 14. There is a wonderful profoundnesse in thy word O my God a wonderful profoundnesse it makes a man quake to look upon it intentively to quake for reverence and to tremble for the love thereof And a greater Divine then he saith speaking to God himself thereof Thy knowledge is too wonderful for me it is so high that I cannot attain unto it (c) Psal 139.6 And therefore prayeth to God in another place to open his eyes that he might see the wonders of his Law (d) Psal 119 18. Hence then I infer that if neither man nor Angel can wade into the depth of Scripture already invented and set forth then neither man nor Angel could be the inventers and Authors of it but of necessity a superior intelligence to these which can be no other but God himself Neither let any here think that this argument any whit favours the tenet of the Church of Rome which chargeth the Scripture with obscurity for though it be replenished and thereby indeed richly imbellished and beautified with variety of mysticall difficulties so as some things be hard to be understood as St. Peter confesseth (a) 2 Pet. 3.16 yet is it apert and perspicuous also in many places where the necessary way to life eternal is delineated and described and in so many places perspicuous as are sufficient fully to instruct men in all points of absolute necessity to be known and believed unto salvation And agreeable hereto is that speech uttered by wisedome her self (b) Prov. 8.9 All the words of my mouth are plain to him that will understand and straight to them that would find knowledge So that in it is propounded both milk and strong meat that for babes which are unexpert in the word of righteousness and this for them that are at age which through long custome have their wits exercised to discern between good and evil (c) Heb. 5.13 14. And hence have sundry of the fathers compared it to a River where there is a shallow ford for the Lamb to wade in and a profound deep for the Elephant to swim in And least any should suspect our modern Divines to be coiners of this distinction hear what the ancient Orthodox Fathers have taught us about it even from primitive times S. Chrysostome thus speaks Omnia clara sunt ac plana ex Scripturis divinis quaecunque necessaria sunt manifesta sunt (a) Chrysost in 2 Tessal 2. All things are clear and plain out of the holy Scriptures whatsoever things are necessary are manifest S. Augustine thus In his quae aperte posita funt in Scriptura inveniuntur illa omnia quae continent fidem moresque vivendi spem scilicet charitatem (b) Aug. de doctr Christ lib. 2. cap. 9. Amongst those things which are apertly or apparently set down in Scripture are all those things found which contain faith and good manners as namely hope and charity Irenaeus long before them thus as Chemnitius hath it (c) Chem. exa deer Conci Trid. part 1. in loco de Epist Apost prope finem Licet multa sunt obscura parabolica Scripturae loca regula tamen ipsa veritatis in Scripturis sacris in aperto posita est Albeit there be many obscure and parabolical places of Scripture yet the rule of truth it self is clearly set down Nay the Apostle Peter himself laies down the ground of this distinction in the place before cited (a) 2 Pet. 3.16 where he saith of Paul's Epistles that in them some things are hard to be understood for this of necessity implies that some things again be easie I had now done with this Argument but that meeting with Mr. Parson the Jesuite his approbation of it as a most evident declaration that God was the Author of holy Writ I thought I might do well to give notice of it His words are these as they are expressed by one Mr. Bunny who published a Treatise of the said Jesuites about Christian Resolution (b) Parson Resol part 2. cap. 2. sect 3. in 7. proof of Scripture These Doctrines and many other contained in the Bible being things above mans capacity to devise and nothing agreeing with humane reason most evidently do declare that God was the Author and Inditer of the Scriptures for that by him only and by no other those high and secret mysteries could be revealed Where it 's to be noted that he affirms the mysteries of Scripture to declare not only evidently but most evidently that God was the Author of them Which assertion infringeth the doctrine of the present Church of Rome taught by Bellarmine formerly who affirmeth That it cannot be sufficiently known from Scripture alone that there is any divine Scripture (a) Bellar de Verbo Dei lib. 4. cap. 4. arg 4. And of late by one Mr. John Fisher a Jesuite in the frontispiece of his book against Dr. White dedicated to King James where he toils himself to prove That the highest ground and final resolution of faith about this point is the tradition and testimony of the Church which must needs be otherwise if the high and hidden doctrines of the Scripture it self do most evidently declare the same as Mr. Parsons there affirmeth very truly for the most evident declaration of a truth must needs be the highest ground thereof I thought it not impertinent to mention this sentence of Mr. Parsons as speaking for the truth in this controversie between us and the Church of Rome to be defended on our
part when so approved and aplauded a Doctor of their own gives his suffrage with us which I shall further and more fully manifest by other sayings of his and those more punctual and expresse to this purpose in the fift internal argument of this ensuing Treatise whereby all devout Roman Catholiques with us who have many a smooth tale told them by Priests and Jesuits of the unity and consent of all approved Doctors of the Church of Rome in all points of faith may see apparently that this it a false ostentation and a transparent untruth discovering it self also in many other points controverted between us and them and so may deservedly suspect them to be but seducers or at the best but self-seekers in their pretence of the Catholique cause I come now to a fourth evidence of the divinity of Scripture from within it self Argument 8 which is the admirable sympathy and consent the heavenly harmony and agreement between all the books and sayings thereof though penned by divers persons and those both in several places and ages and yet all conspiring together in delivering one and the same point of doctrine to wit That through the name of Christ all that believe in him shall receive remission of sins (a) Acts 10.43 And also the unanimity and concordance of all the Amanuenses and Penmen thereof being so many and yet all yielding their suffrage and approbation each to other as they succeeded one another without either detraction from one anothers persons or confutation or contradiction of one anothers writings This heavenly harmony I say suggests to the ear of an indifferent man that reads without prejudice that these holy men of God as S. Peter calls them (b) 2 Pet. 1.21 the Penmen of Scripture were God's notaries and both spake and writ as they were actuated and moved by the holy Ghost and that these their writings were the very dictates of that same spirit that searchâ—th the deep things of God (a) 1 Cor. 2.10 In which respect both Theodoret (b) In prefat in Psalm and S. Gregory (c) Grego in prefat in Psalm have fitly termed the tongues and hands of all the writers of Scripture the pens of the holy Ghost for such an agreement was never heard of amongst several Authors writing of the same subject since the beginning of the world But the contrary hath been most apparent among all sorts of humane writers every one hunting after his own praise by anothers disgrace whereof I might produce numerous instances Whereas here we have all the Canonical books of the Old Testament namely of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalmes approving each other as they follow in order and all approved of in the New Testament both by our Saviour John Baptist the Apostles and the Evangelists and all these also giving testimony and approbation each to other at all times upon just occasion as all though but slenderly versed in the reading of the Scriptures undoubtedly know Add hereunto that which wil drive this nail to the head the miraculous agreement of all these books together not only in the main point and drift of all which is the salvation of mankind by the alone incarnation death and suffering of Christ but also in all other points yea and in all circumstances as many learned Divines have sufficiently declared by clearing solving and reconciling all knotty doubts about this question and seeming contradictions whatsoever throughout the whole Scriptures that ever yet have been moved or mentioned Fifthly Argu ∣ ment 9 The certain accomplishment of those many prophesies and predictions of holy writ concerning things to come meerly causual and contingent and no way depending upon natural causes is an argument undeniable of the divinity of it if it can be demonstrated that the said prophesies were uttered before the events and were not any supposititious or counterseit writings published since the events to delude the world which I shall undertake to clear by undoubted testimony for that such prophesies must needs be truly divine no man can deny according to that in Isaiah where God himself provokes the Idols of the Gentiles to stand to their cause and to declare things to come that thereby they may be known to be gods (a) Isa 41.23 Now the precedence of these predictions both in the Old Testament and in the New before their events I thus demonstrate First For the Old Testament I will omit those many predictions which were fulfilled within the time of its own durance and continuance as not demonstrative to meer reason that they were by divine inspiration and insist onely in the prophesies about our Saviour Christ's incarnation miracles and passion and the vocation of the Gentiles to the Christian faith which were fulfilled in the time of the Gospel which being proved to have been fulfilled a long time after their prediction by the Prophets is an undeniable demonstration that they were uttered by inspiration from God himself Now that they were fulfilled a long time after their prediction and that the Books of Moses the Psalms and the Prophets where these predictions are recorded were extant before the events we have many pregnant proofs from the testimony both of Jews and Gentiles and those such as lived in the very interval of tiem between the prophesies and their accomplishment Amongst which the most remakable and famous is the Septuagints Translation of the Old Testament into the Greek Tongue still extant which was done by the means and at the charges of Ptolomy Philadelph a King of Egypt as before hath bâ—en mentioned neer upon three hundred years before our Saviour Christ and there laid up in the King's Library The History whereof is set forth by one Aristaeus a learned Gentile then living and highly in favour with the said King and the book is still to be seen Which Aristaeus together with one Demetrius Phalereus Master of the said King's Library was an especial instrument for the procuring of the said Translation to be done by 72. Elders of the Jews out of every Tribe six Which was doubtlesse purposely brought to passe by God's all seeing and all-swaying providence to take away all suspicion of contriving the prophesies of Scripture after the events Another witnesse of this Translation is Philo Judaeus (a) Philo de vita Moysis lib. 3. who lived in our Saviour Christ's time as before hath been said And a third witnesse is Josephus in his forenamed History of the Antiquity of the (b) Josep Antiq. Jud. lib. 12. cap. 2. Jews So that from these Authors testimony besides a number more that I might produce it 's most apparent that the Old Testamâ—nt and so consequently the prophesies lapped up thâ—rein were extant in their time which was long before thâ—ir evâ—nt and therefore were not forged since Now for the predictions of the New Testament I shall make it most clear and evident that they also did precede their event so many of them as are fulfilled
with this word speaks it to be his own ordinance for else God would give no such blessing to it Fourthly and lastly It ministers comfort above the power of nature to a depressed and distressed conscience in the greatest extremities and pressures of afflictions that are incident to this present life yea and in the very hour of death against the fear both of death and hell and condemnation when all humane comforts shake hands with us and forsake us And therefore extending it self beyond the power of nature also in this particular it 's apparently divine That it doth minister comfort to wounded and distressed consciences needs no proof it 's confessed of all without contradiction as having been proved by examples without number in all Ages And that nothing else can either heal or comfort a wounded and perplexed conscience is as true too Mirth and passime with such like avooations and the society of friends may allay the smart of this wound for a time but cannot possibly heal it It 's this balm of Gilead this rod and this staffe of God which comforted (a) Psal 23.4 David and but for which he had perished in his (b) Psal 119.92 affliction which alone and nothing else comforteth all that make a right use of it in their deepest misery And this is one and a principal end for which this word was written namely that it might minister comfort to us in this present life by breeding in us a stedfast hope of a better Iâ—fâ— to come This S. Paul teacheth where he saith that Whasoever things were written aforetime were written for our instruction that we through patience and comfort of the Scriptures might have (c) Rom. 15.4 hope And now that I have led up the Reader to this highest stair of this gradation whence he may contemplate the glorious beams of divine lustre bespread throughout the whole region of Scripture I shall beseech him to stay here his thoughts and to demur and pause a while upon this last reason or Argument drawn from the power of Scripture to prove the divinity of it for it 's a very valid and powerful argument indeed a most evident eviction of the point in hand making it conspicuous to the eye of reason it self for here he may see God himself bearing witnesse of this Scripture to be his by four visible seals which he affixeth unto it which are these four supernatural effects now mentioned Having therefore so many broad seals of Heaven appensed unto it it must needs hold forth from it self the highest and surest ground of credibility that it is of God and not of man I confesse this hath sealed to my own conscience both that the Scripture is God's true word and that the Church of England is God's true Church I mean one member and branch of it for in it I see and so may all that are in it if their eyes be not holden with prejudice these wonderful and divine effects now mentioned wrought ordinarily by the ministry of this Word in deed and in truth and that without number which could not possibly be so if either the Word or the Church were not God's For if the Church were his and not the Word the Church should receive a blessing from him but not by the Word And if the Word were his and not the Church the Word should be glorified but the Church should not be blessed or bettered by it If all such as now separate themselves from this Church as if it were none of God's whether Papists or Anabaptists would mindfully consider this and lay aside their prejudice I cannot see what should withhold them from a speedy and joyful return to it again And now I am in good hope the promises being well considered that the Readers who before took the Scriptures for God's word upon the credit of the Churches testimony will now looking more inquisitively into them themselves then heretofore say to the Church as the Samaritans said to the woman that told them of Christ Now we believe not because of thy saying for we have seen it our selves (a) Joh. 4.42 and know that this is indeed God's own Word Yet I would not here be mistaken as if I meant that every one that looks into Scripture might presently espy this at the first sight for I confesse that the sight and certain knowledge thereof which is to be attained by this introspection into it is not obvious to every eye that looks upon it but my meaning is that this truth is evident in Scripture in it self and to the humble intelligent and inquisitive Reader whose mind is also prepared by the knowledge of the grounds principles of the Christian faith and in some measure inlightened from above Neither do I here slight or undervalue the Churches testimony for I acknowledge it to be very important and useful for this purpose as being a prime inducer and as it were a paedagogue to usher in and conduct us to the principal teacher of this truth which next after the spirit of God himself is the heavenly light of Scripture it self but it 's neither last nor best nor highest nor surest ground and proof thereof And therefore I desire the Reader to take notice that though I have not alledged the Churches testimony by it self as a particular argument to prove this truth because the drift of this Treatise is to shew the Scripture it self best to do it yet is it involved and lapped up amongst the external and lesse principal proofs namely in the second and third arguments And whereas Papists glory much in that saying of S. Augustines which is oft set down in his works Ego verò non crederem Evangelio nisi me Catholicae Ecclesiae commoveret authoritas That is I would not believe the Gospel but that the authority of the Catholique Church moved me As if this saying of his favoured their Tenet in this controversie between us and them It appears clearly to the contrary from another saying that he hath in his Tractate upon the Gospell of S. John where he speaks thus upon those words before mentioned of the Samaritans to the woman Now we believe not because of thy saying for we have seen it our selves Primò saith he per faeminam posteà per praejentiam sic agitur hodiè cum eis qui foris sunt nondùm sunt (a) Aug. in Joh. 4. Tract 15. Christiani That is first by the woman then by his presence so fareth it now with them that are without and are not yet Christians And the words following in the same place shew plainly his meaning to be this That as the Samaritans believed in some measure that Jesus was the Christ by the report of the woman but afterwards more undoubtedly when they came to enjoy his presence to have the sight of him and conference with him So the unbelievers which are out of the Church are first induced to believe in some measure that Scripture is God's
in these times as God himself complained of by his Prophet Jeremiah who ran about this important businesse before they were (a) Jer. 23.21 sent and so going without their errand do ventilate their own fancies and dreams instead of preaching God's word To these my exhortation is not directed as who need no spur to hasten them into God's house but rather a scourge to drive them out as our Saviour did with the money-changers and such as bought and sold in the (b) John 2 14 15. Temple But my desire is hereby to quicken both my self and other my fellow labourers in the work of the Ministry about our heavenly Father's businesse To which I will add but this one needful caution which is that we be careful and watchful to preach both verbo vita both ore opere as well by the example of our lives as by the doctrine of our lips according to the charge S. Paul gave to Timothy and Titus two Bishops of his own ordination his charge to Timothy was this Let no man despise thy youth but be thou an example of the believers in word in conversation in charity in spirit in faith in (c) 1 Tim. 4.12 purity And such like was his charge to Titus In all things shew thy self a pattern of good (d) Tit. 2.7 works This if we do not we shall not only prefer and multiply new indictments against our selves by every Sermon and so give the Lord numerous evidences and testimonies from our own mouths whereby to condemn us but shall bereave others also of the fruit and benefit of this divine ordinance for who will not nauseate and despise the counsel of that man who acts contrary to the advice and counsel that he gives unto another And this our Saviour intimates where he saith How wilt thou say to thy brother Let me pull out the mote out of thine eye and behold a beam is in thine own eye Thou hypocrite first cast out the beam out of thine own eye and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mote out of thy brothers (a) Mat. 7.4 5. eye It 's out of question that the vigour and prevalence of preaching depends much upon the good life of the Preacher as which sets an edge upon that sword of God's Spirit and makes it more powerful to cut down the strong holds of sin And so on the other side it 's as true that the loose life of some Preachers so dulls and bluts this sword that it prevails little or nothing at all against our spiritual enemies sin and Satan against which it's brandished but rebounds back and hurts themselves like arrows shot at the Sun which wanting force to carry them to the mark intended fall down again upon the heads of them that shot them Thirdly This doctrine urgeth upon all people in general a fourfold duty First Seeing this Word is God's therefore all should be studious of it and careful to learn it for can we have a better teacher then God himself or can any instruct with better principles then he For The Lord giveth wisedom out of his mouth cometh knowledge and understanding saith the wise (a) Prov. 2.6 man Hence is that commendation which Moses gives of God's Law to the Israelites to induce them to the study of it and obedience unto it Behold saith he I have taught you Ordinances and Laws as the Lord my God commanded me keep them therefore and do them for that is your wisedom and your understanding in the sight of the Nations which shall hear all these statutes and say Surely this great Nation is a wise and understanding people For what Nation is so great that hath statutes and judgements so righteous as all this Law which I set before you this (b) Deut. 4.5 6 8. day Hence did David learn to be wiser then his enemies and to have more understanding then his (c) Psal 119.98 99. teachers And hence are those earnest exhortations in it to the study of it as that of our Saviour Search the (d) Joh. 5.39 Scriptures And that of the Apostle Paul Let the word of Christ dwell in you plenteously in all (e) Colos 3.16 wisedom with many such like But most ample and emphatical are the wise Solomons descriptions of the excellency of this knowledge and most plausible and powerful his reasons to allure all to the study of it and most transcendently high his commendations that he gives of it in the eight first Chapters of the Proverbs which because the Reader may easily find forth of himself I will omit to rehearse and will alledge only some reasons collected thence and out of other passages of Scripture to manifest the great necessity of learning and knowing this blessed Word of God and to excite all persons of all degrees and conditions to the serious and sedulous study of it First Because this learning is the only true wisedom for it and only it is able to make a man wise unto (a) 2 Tim. 5 15. salvation Nay it is life (b) John 17.3 eternal and there is no wisedome without it For so saith the Prophet The wise men are ashamed they are afraid and taken loe they have rejected the word of the Lord and what wisedome is in (c) Jer. 8.9 them Yea all other wisedom is but foolishnesse to this and all other learning without this doth but make men the more unhappy in the conclusion Whereas this sanctifies all other wisedom and learning teaching men a holy use of them both and how to be bettered and benefitted by them Hence is that profound saying of S. Augustine Infaelix homo qui scit alia omnia te autem nescit beatus autem qui te scit etiamsi illa nesciat qui vero te illa novit non propter illa beatior sed propter te solùm beatus (d) Aug. Confess lib. 5. est He is a miserable man saith he speaking to God Almighty that knows all other things but knows not thee But he is happy who knows thee though he know nothing else And he who knows both thee and them is not the happier for them but is only happy because he knoweth thee Secondly Here is set up the Christians staff of comfort in the time of trouble and in the hour of death and which can be met withal nowhere else This is my comfort in my affliction saith David speaking (a) Psal 119.50 hereof And again Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death I will fear no evill for thou art with me thy rod and thy staff they comfort (b) Psal 23.4 me By which is understood this written word And saith the Apostle Paul Whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning that we through patience and comfort of the Scriptures might have (c) Rom. 15.4 hope And hence is that advice of the Prophet Isaiah to the people to suck the brests
of Jerusalems (d) Isa 66.11 cousolations For these brests of Jerusalem are the two Testaments the Old Testament and the New which are called the brests of her consolation because they yield consolation to all such as suck the knowledge of them by reading and meditation And therefore as people would be comforted in poverty or persecution or in any trouble of this life especially in the hour of death when it is most needful it concerns them to be well versed in Scripture for it 's the only store-house of comfort there is no true and lasting comfort to be found but in this well for here are those wells of salvation out of which it 's said we are to draw the waters of (a) Isa 12.3 joy Great need therefore have all Christians to be well acquainted with that which must be their only comfort when they stand most in need thereof Thirdly Scripture is a Christians best piece of armour to defend him against all the assaults of his spiritual enemies sin and Satan and all his band of Hereticks and other nefarious and wicked men For the Apostle setting down the panoply or compleat armour of a Christian wherewith he had need to be at all times appointed reckons up this as one principal part thereof and calls it the sword of the (b) Ephes 6.17 spirit The wise man also in the Proverbs notably sets forth the usefulnesse of it in this respect saith he When wisedom entreth into thine heart and knowledge is pleasant unto thy soul discretion shall preserve thee understanding shall keep thee to deliver thee from the way of the evill man from the man that speaketh froward things who leaves the paths of righteousnesse to walk in the ways of (c) Prov. 2.10 11 12 13. darknesse Herewith our blessed Saviour foiled Satan sundry (d) Mat. â— 4 c. times And herewith the Prophet David fenced himself against sin so he saith himself By the word of thy lips I have kept me from the paths of the (e) Psal â— 4 destroyer And again Thy word have I hid in mine heart that I might not sin against (a) Psal 19.11 thee We therefore being in continual warfar had not need to have this our principal weapon to seek for what else makes many take the foil so oft but because they are unskilful in the word of righteousnesse Fourthly By this Book we shall all be judged at the last day and therefore it concerns us to be well acquainted with the principal contents of it That we shall be judged by it is affirmed by our Saviour He that rejecteth me and receiveth not my words hath one that judgeth him the word that I have spoken the same shall judge him in the last (b) John 12. day And by the Apostle Paul At the day when God shall judge the secrets of men according to my (c) Rom. 2.16 Gospel Lastly Without some competent knowledge hereof we can never have Christ The day-star and Sun of righteousnesse as he is (d) 2 Pet. 1.19 Mal. 4.2 called arise in our hearts for as before the Sun ariseth it first sends up its bright beams of light as the harbingers of its approach so before Christ Jesus come into our souls he first enlightens them with the glorious beams of the knowledge of his Word according to that speech of Peter We have also a more sure word of prophecy whereunto ye do well that ye take heed as unto a light that shineth in a darke place vntill the day dawn and the day-star arise in your (a) 2 Pet. 1.19 hearts And that also of S. Paul God that commanded the light to shine out of darknesse hath shined in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus (b) 2 Cor. 4.6 Christ The Scripture is full of proofs for this that Christ's Word must first be in some measure learned of us and entertained by us before he will condiscend to dwell with us It 's therefore a most opacous error of an ungodly assertion to affirm that ignorance is the mother of devotion which in Scripture is so much condemned and is made both the mother of error Ye erre saith our Saviour to the Sadduces not knowing the (c) Math. 22.29 Scriptures and the mother of many other sins For S. Paul affirmeth that his sins of blasphemy and persecution and oppression of Christ's Church before his conversion were the product and brats of his ignorance I was saith he a blasphemer a peâ—secuter and injurious But I obtained mercy because I did it (d) 1 Tim. 1.13 ignorantly And he informs the Ephesians that the Gentiles were alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that was in (e) Ephes 4.18 them And by experience it 's found to be the mother both of will-worship and superstition This Paradox some of the Church of Rome in former ages have not blushed to utter for truth and though now of late they would seem to disclaim this irrational Paradox yet covertly they adhere to it For the Rhemists in their front of their Preface prefixed before their translation of the New Testament affirm it to be an erroneous opinion to hold that the Scriptures were ordained of God to be read indifferently of all And therefore the Councel of Trent took order which was confirmed by supreme authority say the same Doctors in the same place within a few lines after that the holy Scriptures might not be read indifferently of all men nor of any other then such as have expresse license from their lawful Ordinary Whereby it appears that they seek to detain the Scriptures from the vulgar people purposely to keep them in ignorance And to put a little glosse and colour upon this their in justifiable opinion and practice the said Doctors afterwards yield this reason for it Because presumptuous Hereticks mistaking or depraving in many places the true sense of Scripture draw from thence many pernicious errours and many other that are unlearned and unstable pervert the same to their own destruction as S. Peter (a) 2 Pet. 3.16 teacheth And how weak a ground this is for them to presume from hence to restrain the common reading of Scripture I declare these two ways First This Argument takes for granted that the abuse of a good thing by some nulls and takes away the lawful common use of it from others But this is nothing so for the word preached as well as read is abused by many through their corruption and so becomes the savour of death unto death unto (a) 2 Cor. 2.16 them and an occasion of their greater sin as our Saviour saith (b) John 15.22 If I had not come and spoken unto them they had not had sin but now they have no cloak for their sin And yet this hinders not but that it must be preached unto all as our Saviour hath commanded Go ye saith he
to his Apostles into all the world and preach the Gospel to every (c) Mark 16.15 creature If indeed the Church knew who would pervert the Scriptures she might with better reason withhold them from such but this she knoweth not and therefore is tyed to hold them forth indifferently unto all Secondly As all should learn so all should believe this word yea all this word because it 's God's for therefore every tittle of it must be (d) John 17.17 truth and hence is it oft called The word of truth both in the Old Testament and in the (e) Psal 119.43 Prov. 22.21 Eph. 1.13 Col. 1.5 New So that Till Heaven and Earth perish one jot or one tittle shall in no wise passe from the law till all be (f) Mat. 5.18 fulfilled The sons of men indeed are lyers so saith the Psalmist Surely men of low degree are vanity and men of high degree are a lye to be laid in the ballance they are altogether lighter then (a) Psal 62.9 vanity So that there is neither any sure hold of their words nor any certain truth in them that we may securely rely upon But in God's word we may trust as altogether infallible for it is impossible that he should lye or (b) Heb. 6.18 deceive I will here omit the dilatation and enlargement of this point which I might enter into by the quotation of those many Texts of Scripture which yield very copious testimony to it and will only endeavour to fasten this exhortation upon all with these two reasons First we see by experience of the time past that all things are fulfilled and still come to passe dayly according to this word and agreeably to the voice and tenour of it which therefore urgeth upon us a belief of the whole contents of it concerning things yet to come for if the event hath proved it to speak truth in all things that it hath foretold should come to passe then even common reason binds us to believe it to utter the truth in all things also that it foretels are yet to come As we see experience of mans mortality by the extinction of former generations makes all undoubtedly believe the truth thereof for all succeeding ages Now that Scripture predictions have at all times come to passe in their seasons I could produce numerous attestations both out of the Old Testament and the New but because the most of them are well known of all I will rehearse but only two of special note one of Joshua and another of King Solomon Joshua in his time speaks thus to the children of Israel Behold this day I am going the way of all the Earth and ye know in all your hearts and in all your souls that not one thing hath failed of all the good things which the Lord your God spake concerning you all are come to passe unto you and not one thing hath failed (a) Josh 23.14 thereof This Joshua spake purposely to fasten upon them a stable belief of the fulfilling of such Scripture predictions as then were to come as appears from his words following in the next verse where he adds these words Therefore it shall come to passe that as all good things are come upon you which the Lord your God promised you so shall the Lord bring upon you all evill things untill be have destroyed you from off this good Land which the Lord your God hath given you The like attestation here of gave Solomon in his time afterwards Blessed be the Lord said he that hath given rest unto his people Israel according to all that he promised there hath not failed one word of all his good promise which he promised by the hand of Moses his (b) 1 Kin. 8.56 servant Another reason that should urge all men to believe this Word is this because he that believes it not makes God a lyar so much as in him lieth in that hereby he denieth in his heart the truth of that which God hath spoken So saith S. John He that believeth not God hath made him a lyar because he believeth not the record that God gave of his (a) 1 John 5.10 Son And this is a grievous sin by God's own testimony The house of Israel and the house of Judah have dealt very treacherously against me saith the Lord They have belyed the Lord and said it is not (b) Jer. â— 11 12. he Let men therefore take heed how they remain incredulous of this Word or any part of it seeing it 's a sin so dishonourable and offensive to Almighty God How weakly then do those men project for themselves who believe so much of this word as they like so much as is pleasing and plausible to their carnal desires and fleshly wisedom namely all the gracious promises of mercy and forgivenesse of sin but as for the conditions of these promises which are upon condition of repentance and faith in Christ and new obedience and the judgements threatned against impenitent sinners wherein the Scripture is very copious which arride not their fleshly palats these they reject and put out of their belief But I beseech all such to consider that hereby they do by consequence condemn themselves for their apprehension and belief of the promises of mercy are a silent confession of their credence that Scripture is God's word and this confession is a clandestine self condemnation for their incredulity of all the other parts thereof for the Scripture being God's Word must necessarily speak truth in one part as well as another Thirdly Seeing we are sure that Scripture is Gods word it 's wisedom for all persons to joyn themselves to that Society of Christian professors which most honours it and holds best correspondence and agreement with it Now because the main controversie is between the Romane and the reformed Christian professors I will as compendiouslly as I can and as truly as I have read in approved Authors of both sides open and declare which of these ascribes most honour and reverence to the Bible of God and best accordeth and conspireth with it And first For the honour done unto it of both The reformed Churches acknowledge it a most perfect and absolute rule of life both for faith and manners to which nothing may be added and from which nothing may be detracted according to the sentence of the holy Ghost in divers places of the same Book Ye shall not add to the word which I command you neither shall ye diminish ought from (a) Deut. 4.2 it And again Add thou not unto his words lest he reprove thee and thou be found a (b) Prov. 30.6 lyar And again I testifie to every man that heareth the words of the prophesie of this book if any man shall add unto these things God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book and if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophesie 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 (a) Rev. 22.18 19. book Again secondly They acknowledge it the supreme judge under the holy Ghost himself to decide and determine all doubts and questions in Religion and give it preheminence above all other sayings writings books or traditions And lastly affirm it to be absolutely necessary in the Church ever since the first writing of it by God himself as being that foundation whereon the Church is built as the Apostle teacheth the (b) Ephes 2.20 Ephesians And in these respects ascribe many glorious and magnificent yet decent and deserved titles to it which they learn and gather out of it some whereof I will mention They call it The Oracle of God the Breath of the holy Ghost the Scepter of Christ's Kingdom the Touch-stone of truth the Lanthorn of Israel the Mystery of Godlinesse and the Lamb's Book with many other such like Now by all this it appears that they give that due and condigne honour veneration and observance to the sacred Scripture which becomes the true and sincere professors and defenders of it See now on the other side what honour the Romanists exhibite to it and in what estimation they have it Sometime they celebrate it with due veneration and call it The true word of God and a most certain and safe rule of faith so Bellarmine speaks of it and affirms it to be the mind of the Catholique Church and the Councel of (a) Bell. de verbo Dei lib. 1. cap. 1. 2. Trent Sometime again they undervalue and depress it and detract from its sublimity and excellence very indignly and namely in these four particulars First They teach that the proper and principal end of Scripture was not to be the rule of faith but to be a useful monitor or remembrancer to conserve and nourish the doctrine received by preaching This is out of Bellarmine word for (b) Bell. de verbo Dei lib. 4. cap. 12. word And Pighius delivers this contumelius speech of Scripture to the same purpose Apostoli quaedam scripserunt non ut scripta illa praeessent fidei religionis nostrae sed potius ut subessent The Apostles saith he have written certain things not that their writings should be over our faith and Religion but rather that they should be under (c) Pigh Hierarch lib. 1. cap. 2. them This is strange new divinity for of old the Scripture was held to be the rule and Religion the thing ruled by it both in the old (d) Isa 8.20 Testament and in the (e) Mat. 22.29 2 Pet. 1.19 New and in the primitive times next after the Apostles as were easie to demonstrate both out of the Fathers and Church-Histories And therefore to make Religion the rule and Scripture to be ruled by it as the Romanists now of late times would have it as appears by the forementioned sayings and many other such like published by divers of them is an uncouth contumely and an indigne disparagement to it and an egregious derogation from the super-excellency and majesty of it and hath indeed been the unhappy means of the suffocation of a great part of God's truth in that Church Secondly They affirm that the whole Christian doctrine which is necessary to be known either for faith or manners is not contained in the Scriptures and that therefore there is required an unwritten word also beside the written word that is to say Divine and Apostolical traditions to be added to the written word to make it a perfect (a) Bellar de verbo Dei lib. 4. cap. 3. 4. rule And so they condemn the sacred Scripture of imperfection and insufficiency This assertion is repugnant to several assertions in Scripture for S. John saith That so much is written in Scripture as is sufficient to work faith in us and to bring us to everlasting life through the name of (b) John 20.31 Christ and then surely there needs no more for everlasting life is the highest degree of perfection that any creature can attain unto And S. Paul saith That the Scriptures are able to make a man wise unto (c) 2 Tim. 3.15 salvation and to make him perfect throughly furnished unto all good (a) 2 Tim. 3.17 works Whence it follows that seeing they make men perfect they must needs be perfect themselves for no imperfect thing can perfect another And our blessed Saviour himself hath denounced a dreadful judgement against any that shall go about to add unto it as if it were not perfect I testifie saith he to every man that heareth the words of the prophesie of this Book If any man shall add unto these things God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this (b) Rev. 22.18 Book as before was rehearsed Thirdly They equalize Traditions with the holy Scripture and dignifie them with the same authority and reverence so teacheth the Councel of (c) Concil Trid. decr 1. session 4. Trent And Melchior Canus saith That Traditions have greater force to refel Hereticks then the (d) Canus loc commun Theo. lib. 9. cap. 3. Scriptures And Eckius saith simply That they are of greater efficacy without any limitation to that particular (e) Eck. de fide justif cap. 13. effect And yet we find in Scripture that all humane traditions are to be examined and tryed by it as was declared before and are all to be disallowed and rejected which hold not correspondence with the same as is evident from our Saviour's reproof of the Scribes and Pharisees for presuming to dispense in some case with this written commandment Honour thy father and mother for thereupon saith our Saviour unto them Ye have made the commandment of God of none effect by your (a) Mat. 15.6 tradition and again he saith In vain they do worship me teaching for doctrines the commandments of (b) Mat. 15.9 men In both which sentences our Saviour gives the written word preheminence and authority above all traditions Fourthly and lastly Bellarmine denies the Scriptures to have been simply necessary or (c) Bell. de verbo Dei lib. 4. cap. 4. sufficient This if he had spoken in relation only to the time before the Law was written by God himself we should not have contested with him but by his further dispute about it he declares his meaning to extend to the written word since that time which he manifesteth by a saying that he uttereth afterwards which I have truly transcribed to a letter without either addition amputation or alteration of the least sylable thereof Sanè saith he credere historias Testamenti veteris vel evangelia Marci Lucae esse canonica scripta inno ullas esse divinas Scripturas non est omninò necessarium ad (d) Bell. de Eccles militant lib. 3. cap. 14. salutem Surely to believe the hystories of
the Old Testament or the gospels of Mark and Luke to be canonical Scriptures yea that there be any divine Scriptures is not altogether necessary unto salvation How dissonant this is from the voice of Christ and his Apostle in the Gospel is to be discerned in many Texts whereof I will recite but three First our Saviour commands to search the Scriptures because in them or by them men think to have eternal (a) John 5.39 life This he spake in approbation of mens esteem of the Scriptures as the means to bring them to everlrsting life And S. John saith These are written that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ the Son of God and that believing ye might have life through his (b) John 20.31 name And S. Paul saith I am not ashamed of the Gospell of Christ for it is the power of God to salvation to every one that (c) Rom. 1.16 believeth From those Texts I reason thus against the former affirmations of Bellarmine The means ordained and designed by God to any end are altogether necessary in respect of us to the attaining of that end But the Scriptures are the means ordained and designed by God of faith and salvation as the former Texts declare and therefore are altogether necessary in respect of us unto faith and salvation and so consequently necessary so to be believed of us which refels the foresaid affirmations of Bellarmine and declares them to be very contumelious to the blessed Bible of God Now in and for all these forenamed respects divers great and esteemed Champions and propugners of the Romane faith have not refrained to blemish the Bible with sundy inglorious and ignominious titles Eckius calls it a black Gospel and an incky (a) Eck. Enchir. cap. 4. Divinity Pighius calls it a nose of (b) Pigh Hier. lib. 3. cap. 3. wax others a Lesbian or leaden rule an abbreviated word the weak and false castle of holy (c) Brislow Motive 48. Scripture with other such like indecent epithetes Theâ—e the modern writers amongst them seek to varnish over as knowing it must needs blemish the purity of their profession and verity of their Religion thus to vilifie God's most holy Word but the colour and complexion which they daub them withal is so thin and transparent that it cannot hide the indecency and unseemlinesse of them from a weak sight Now if the truth of Christian Religion may be judged by the honourable respect yielded by the professors thereof to the rule of Christian Religion which is the Scripture as the Romanists confesse after a sort as hath been already declared then doth it appear by what hath been said and proved that the Reformed Protestant Religion is the truest Religion as which ascribes most honour thereunto For as when two women claimed the motherhood of one child wise Solomon quickly sifted out the truth which was the true mother of it by the tender love and affection which the one shewed unto it more then the (a) 1 Kin. 3.27 other So in like manner may any wise man find forth by the same rule which is the true daughter of holy Scripture whether the Romane or Reformed Religion seeing both of them claim it as their mother namely by the tender respect and due observance wherewith it is followed by the one more then the other In the next place as the Reformed Religion is owned by the Scripture as the genuine daughter thereof by the due reverence and honour which it exhibiteth unto it so also and more especially because it holdeth forth such doctrine as is most consonant and agreeable thereunto For to omit the disquisition of particular controversies between the said several professors which would require vast volumes to lay open the Reformed Churches refuse not to be tryed by the splendent light of the written word in any point of Religion whatsoever And this our blessed Saviour makes a signal demonstration of the professors of the truth for saith he He that doth truth cometh to the light that his deeds might be made manifest that they are wrought in (b) John 3.21 God And that by light here our Saviour means the Scripture many other Texts make it unquestionable where this epithete is given unto it David saith of it Thy word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my (a) Psal 119.105 path Solomon saith The commandment is a lamp and the law is (b) Prov. 6.23 light S. Peter saith We have a more sure word of prophesie whereunto ye do well that ye take heed as unto a light that shineth in a dark (c) 2 Pet. 1.19 place Now on the other side the Romanists decline the decision and determination of many points of Religion that are controverted between us and them by Scripture and flie to Tradition And some of their writers in plain terms confesse that some of their Tenets are such as cannot be defended by Scripture So saith (d) Canis Catechis cap. 5. de praecept Eccles Canisius and of this sort he reckons up these the worship of Images set Fasts Lent the Masse and Prayers and Offerings for the dead with others more which yet he doth not nominate But some other of them and by name Petrus a Soto a famous Author of their party in his book against Brentius reheaseth sundry other as the invocation of Saints the primacy of the Bishop of of Rome the seven Sacraments communion under one kind indulgencies and Purgatory the beginning author and original of which he confesseth cannot be found in the sacred Scripture as witnesseth the learned Doctor (a) Whittak de Script perfect cap. 5. Whittaker Now though they alledge Scripture for some of these lest they should seem too much to slight it yet their chief ground for them is Tradition Whereas therefore they decline the tryal of some points of Religion which they hold by the written word which yet they confesse to be a most safe rule of faith as before hath been declared it proclaims to the world that they are not such fast friends to it as they preâ—end nor hold such correspondence with it as all true and right Churches ever have done and so consequently that they are neither the only true Church of God as they vainly and most untruly boast nor yet such a Church wherewith it 's safe to have communion And as it 's not safe to joyn hands with these so neither with the newly upstart Sectaries the Anabaptists for I will undertake to demonstrate if my genuis fail me not that both these sorts of Christian professors are express contradictors of Scripture affirmations in divers particulars And I le begin first with the Papists as the elder house First Our Saviour saith When ye shall have done all those things which are commanded you say We are unprofitable servants we have done that which was our duty to (b) Luke 17.10 do They say that a man may supererogate and do more then
it It will be expedient for me to premise certain Theological conclusions or principles which all Orthodox Divines unanimously and univocally have acknowledged to be undoubted Truths as Praecognita and Canons to have recourse unto for the decision and determination of any Controversie as need shall require which if they deny to assent unto they are not to be disputed with as the proverb speaks Contra negantem principia non est disputandum There 's no disputation to be held with him that will deny the principles of Art The Principles I think fit to premise are these four 1. That the Canonical Scripture is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is authentical and creditable of it self 2. That there is no contradictions in the Canonical Scripture 3. That the same makes and so by consequence alloweth to be made distinction between things that sometime in Scripture have the same denomination This appears by many instances in Scripture whereof I will name these three Fear Faith and Sorrow First About Fear the Scripture mentioneth a fear which is gracious and godly which the learned have termed Filial and a Fear which is gracelesse which the learned have termed Servile of this we have an example in 2 Kings 17.33 34. where it 's said of the Babylonians in the former verse that they feared God and then in the latter verse that they feared him not Whence it 's evident that a distinction must be made of the fear of God whereof some is a Gracious Fear and some a Gracelesse otherwise there would be a contradiction between the two verses which Scripture admits not Secondly About Faith The Scripture doth distinguish it into these two sorts namely a Faith that hath Works and a Faith that is without works which it also calleth a dead faith James 2.17 Faith if it have no Works is dead being alone Thirdly About Sorrow The Scripture speaks of a godly sorrow for sin and a worldly sorrow in 2 Cor. 7.10 Godly sorrow worketh Repentance to salvation but the sorrow of the World worketh death Hereby it 's clear that a distinction is sometimes to be made betwixt things that have the same denomination The fourth Principle which I shall premise is this That seeming contradictions in Scripture are so to be expounded by help of other Texts either speaking of the same point or otherwise that they may symphonize and accord together Which help the Scripture affords in one place or other If our Adversaries will yield to be tryed about the forementioned Controversies by these old Canons which have been universally received for undoubted truths by all Christian Churches in primitive times when the waters ran clearest from under the Threshold of the Sanctuary I shall adventure to bear the disgrace if I do not convince them of error about each Controversie that I have before named The first Controversie handled About Election THeir first Error that I shall undertake to confute is their assertion That God's election of men unto salvation is grounded upon his foresight of their Faith and Obedience or sanctification and Good Works That is that he electeth such and such men to life and salvation because he foreseeth that they will believe and walk in obedience to his Commandements This Assertion I shall prove to be an error by these four Arguments The first Argument If men shall therefore believe because they are elected and ordained to eternal life then they are not elected and ordained to eternal life because they will believe This consequence cannot be denied by any intelligent man But men shall therefore believe because they are elected and ordained to eternal life and therefore are not elected and ordained to it because they will believe The Assumption I prove out of Acts 13.48 where it 's said That as many as were ordained to eternall life believed Here Faith is made the fruit and effect of election to eternal life and therefore cannot be the cause of it for nothing can be the cause and effect too of one and the same thing My second Argument is this If men be elected or chosen that they may be holy then their election must needs be the ground and cause of their holinesse and sanctification But men are elected that they may be holy so saith the Scripture Ephes 1.4 He hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the World that we should be holy and without blame before him in love Therefore Election is the ground and cause of holinesse or sanctification and not holinesse the ground and cause of election The third Argument If the good pleasure of God's will be the ground and first cause of mens election and predestination to salvation then God's fore-sight of their Sanctification and Good Works cannot be the first cause and ground thereof This consequence is undeniable But the good pleasure of God's will is the first cause and ground of mens election and predestination to salvation Therefore God's fore-sight of their sanctification and Good Works cannot be the first cause and ground thereof The A sumption I prove from these two Texts of Scripture passing by many other to the same purpose Rom. 9.11 S. Paul there affirms That the purpose of God according to Election stands not of Works but of him that calleth Where works are denied and Gods will affirmed to be the cause of election And Ephes 1.5 and again verse 11. the good pleasure of God's will is made the ground and cause of mens election to salvation The words in the fift verse are these Having predestinated us to the adoption of children by Jesus Christ unto himself according to the good pleasure of his will And the words in the 11. verse are these In whom also we have obtained an inheritance being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the councel of his own will If the Adversaries answer that Election may be according to the good pleasure of God's will and yet the good pleasure of his will may not be the cause of Election To this I reply That the Apostle makes it plain in the 11. verse that he speaks of the good pleasure of God's will as the cause of Election by the addition of these last words in the verse Who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will For if he worketh all things after the counsel of his own will then Election is necessarily one of those things which he worketh after the councel of his own will and therefore the counsell of his own will must needs be the cause thereof The fourth Argument is this If Good Works be no causes of salvation then neither of election unto salvation this is plain because Election is the cause of Salvation But Good Works are no causes of salvation and therefore no causes of Election The minor Proposition or Assumption is proved by Ephes 2.8 9 verses where the Apostle saith By grace ye are saved through faith and that not of your selves it is the
gift of God Not of works lest any man should boast And again Tit. 3.5 Not by works of righteousnesse which we have done but according to his mercy he saved us by the washing of regeneration and renewing of the holy Ghost The Advesaries answer That these and such like Texts are spoken of works before regeneration To which I reply that in Tit. 3.5 the Apostle expresly nominates works of righteousnesse and denies them to be any causes of salvation but there be no works of righteousnesse before regeneration for then an evill tree should bring forth good fruit which our Saviour denies Matth. 7.18 And therefore even good works after regeneration are in Scripture denied to be any causes of salvation Hereof I shall have occasion to speak more largely hereafter and therefore will not insist any longer in the illustration of it Before I proceed to the next Controversie I will display the weak argumentation of Mr. Henry Haggar for defence of election from fore-seen sanctification by his straining Scripture from its proper sense and in not comparing it with other Scripture where the genuine and proper sense is clearly explained He toils himself to prove the said point because it 's said in 2 Thes 2.13 that men are chosen to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit and therefore thence collects that they are not chosen before they are sanctified by the Spirit which is a very inconsequent collection for it doth not follow that because men are choto salvation through sanctification of the Spirit that therefore sanctification of the Spirit is the cause of their election or that therefore it precedes their election but that therefore sanctification is a necessary antecedent way and means through which they must be brought to salvation whereto they are elected as the way to any place is not the cause of a man his coming thither but only a necessary requisite to be observed of him And thus this Text fitly agrees with other Texts of Scripture as that before mentioned Ephes 1.4 where it 's said That we are chosen that we should be holy which Text he hath waved and never mentioned at all but as Satan alledged the words of the Psalmist leaving out a part as knowing it would disclose his wresting and perverting the true sense of the other Text which he alledged And so he neglects the premised rule of expounding Scripture by Scripture which is of necessity to be observed to find out the true sense and meaning of any Text that is ambiguous or may be variously expounded He alledgeth also the 1 Pet. 1.2 where it 's said That men are elected according to the foreknowledge of God the Father through sanctification of the Spirit Whence he collects that God knows men first before he doth elect them To this I answer First That God's prescience or foreknowledge of men and his election of them are in him together and one and the same act for all his attributes are himself and whatsoever is said to be in him is himself as it hath ever been acknowledged by all learned Divines But in humane apprehension of them his decrees precede his prescience for he doth not decree things to come because he foresees them but foresees them because he hath decreed them as is colligible from S. Paul's speech before named Ephes 4.11 where he affirms that God worketh all things according to the Counsell of his own will whence it 's manifest that his own will is the first cause of all his works and not his prescience though his prescience do concur with his will Secondly I answer That the foreknowledge of God there mentioned is a foreknowledged with approbation for the original word which is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 properly signifies fore knowledgement as all men of learning know which implies a concurence of his election and approbation with his foreknowledge of men and not any precedence of his knowledge before his approbation and election of them And this affords an answer also to that place which is brought by some of the adversaries for defence of election from foreseen faith and holinesse in Rom. 8.29 where it 's said that whom God did foreknow he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son where the Greek verb which is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifies properly fore-acknowledged which intimates an election either with it or before the foreknowledge and besides the words following lead to this sense in that the Apostle expresseth that the predestination which he mentioneth as a sequell of God's foreknowledge is a predestination to be conformed to the image of his Son that is to be holy as Christ is holy A predestination to holinesse cannot be a predestination for holinesse as was shewed before He alledgeth but one Text of Scripture more about this point which is in the fourth Page of his discourse and which he abuseth very sufficiently as he doth the two former and that is Ephes 1.11 and 12. verses where the Apostle speaketh of himself and others that they were predestinated that they should be to the praise of God's glory who first trusted in Christ Whence he ridiculously collecteth that they did first trust in Christ before they were predestinated Whereas the priority or precedency of their faith there mentioned by the Apostle hath no relation at all to their predestination in Grammatical construction but to the faith of the Ephesians that were Greeks or Gentiles and called to the faith of Christ after Paul and the other Apostles that were Jews as appears evidently by the next verse where the Apostle adds In whom also ye trusted after that ye heard the word of truth As if he should have said In whom we trusted first and then ye afterwards which agrees also with other Scripture as Rom. 1.16 where the Apostle saith that the Gospel is the power of God to salvation to every one that believeth to the Jew first and also to the Greek The second Controversie Of the Vniversality of Christ's Redemption TO decide and determine this controversie I must first state the question aright between us and the adversaries To speak nothing of the word All which sometimes is put for all sorts of men and sometimes for all particular men of all sorts Seeing we acknowledge that Christ died not only for all sorts of men but for all of all sorts that do repent and believe The controversie depends upon these three Quaeries 1. Whether Christ died for unbelievers at all or not 2. Whether he died for them in as full and ample sense as for believers 3. In what sense he died for them and in what sense he died not for them To the first quaery or question I answer affirmatively for my part that Christ died for unbelievers in some sense To the second I answer negatively scil that he died not for unbelievers in as full and ample sense as for believers which I prove from Scripture three ways First Because it 's said sometime in
Scripture that he died for many as well as for all as Isa 53.12 He bare the sins of many Matth. 20.28 He gave his life a ransome for many Heb. 9.28 Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many Which expressions import that he died not for all alike but for many in one sense and for all in another or else the expression of his dying for many were needlesse in that it is so oft expressed that he died for all Secondly Because it 's oft said that he died for his Church as John 10.15 I lay down my life for the sheep Eph. 5.25 Husbands love your Wives even as Christ also loved the Church and gave himself for it Which imports also that he died for all men in one sense and for his Church in another Thirdly because the Scripture hath in terminis in expresse words put a difference between his being a Saviour to all men and his being a Saviour to them that believe as in 1 Tim. 4.10 We trust in the living God who is the Saviour of all men specially of those that believe From whence I argue thus Christ died for all men as he is a Saviour of all men but he is a Saviour of all men in a different sense and sort namely generally of the universality of men and specially of his Church witnesse the distinction made by the Apostle in the fore-cited Text Therefore he died for all men in a different sense and sort namely in one sense and sort for the universality of men and in another sense and sort for the particularity of his Church To the third Quaery I answer That he died for all wicked men and unbelievers in these two senses according to Scripture 1. As suffering a satisfactory punishment for the sins of all the men in the world so as they are not left destitute of the means of remission of sins and of salvation according to the words of the Apostle 1 Tim. 2.6 There is one Mediator between God and men the man Christ Jesus who gave himself a ransome for all a testimony in due time And again Heb. 2.9 the Apostle saith that He tasted death for every man 2. He died for them upon condition of their faith and obedience according to these Scriptures John 3.16 God so loved the World that he gave his only begotten Son that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life And Heb. 5.9 He became the author of eternal salvation unto all them that obey him And so in like manner it 's the affirmation of sundry other Texts of Scripture But then he died not for them with an intention and purpose to give them grace to repent and believe and so to bring them to salvation which appears by Scripture to be a clear truth these two ways 1. Because Scripture hath revealed abundantly God's purpose to the contrary namely to save some men but not all The proofs whereof are so numerous that I need not quote any 2. Because if Christ died for all men with an intention and purpose to save all then either all shall be saved which is contradicted by a hundred places of Scripture or else Christ's purpose may be altered But his purpose cannot be altered or disappointed and therefore he died not for all with a purpose to save all That his purpose cannot be altered I prove both because he can neither alter it himself nor can any other alter it That he cannot alter it himself is oft taught in Scripture Mal. 3.6 I am the Lord I change not Jam. 1.17 With him is no variablenesse neither shadow of turning Neither can any other alter it for his purpose is immutable and his will irresistible Isa 46.10 My counsel shall stand and I will do all my pleasure And 43.13 I will work and who shall let it And Rom. 9.19 Who hath resisted his will Thus then from the premises already sufficiently proved I conclude and determine the controversie thus That Christ died for all the men in the world in these two senses First As paying by his death a sufficient ransome for the sins of them all which the Scripture calls 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a price of redemption several times Secondly That he died for them all upon condition of their faith and obedience but died not for all men with purpose to bring all actually to salvation And so the old distinction of Christ's dying for all men either sufficientur or efficaciter sufficiently or effectually as it may be understood and applied stands still upon its basis and feet and challengeth all the desertors and rejecters of it to frame a more fit and proper distinction between Christ's dying for all men and his dying for his Church Seeing a distinction between them is to be made as hath been already declared by testimony of Scripture The third Controversie which is of all other the most difficult and knotty WHether an unregenerate man hath power to repent and believe and so be saved if he will Mr. Haggar answers hereto in the affirmative in Page the 25. of his fore-mentioned discourse I answer to it in the negative denying that a natural man hath power to repent and believe by the energy or strength of his own free-will but needs the help of the special preventing grace of God ere he can be converted or he cannot convert himself For the fuller opening and enodation of this controversie and because therein I have more learned adverseries to deal with then Anabaptists I will first speak out what the will of an unregenerate man is able to do towards his conversion without the help of God's special efficacious grace or preventing grace as the learned call it And then secondly How far it cooperates with God's grace in his conversion About the first notice is to be taken of a threefold liberty of Will namely The liberty of Nature the liberty of Grace and the liberty of Glory Of which though these two last we lost by Adam's fall yet the first was not lost but remains still so as by vertue thereof the Will hath liberty to will or nill without compulsion or constraint and that not only in natural and civil actions but also in moral and ecclesiastical In moral actions to practise virtue as Justice Temperance Liberality c. And so to do some things commanded in God's Law as both experience shews and Paul testifies Rom. 2.14 where be saith That the Gentiles did by nature the things contained in the Law In Ecclesiastical actions an unregenerate man hath liberty also namely to perform the duties of God's worship and service for the outward act as to come to Church hear and read the word of God pray partake of the Sacraments do works of charity and confer about Religion and the doctrine of faith as common experience shews all which are good preparatives to and ofttimes efficacious means of regeneration and conversion Yet must this liberty of Will about all these actions either
Augustine in these words Jubet Deus quae non possumus ut noverimus quae ab illo petere debemus God commands us what we cannot do to intimate unto us what we ought to crave of him namely what we cannot do of our selves And hence are those many prayers of several sorts of persons in the Scripture as Psalm 51.10 Create in me a clean heart O Lord and renew a right spirit within me And Jer. 31.18 Convert thou me and I shall be converted And Lament 5.21 Turn thou us unto thee O Lord and we shall be turned Fourthly I answer that God commands us this though we cannot do it of our selves that we may be excited to use such means as are by God's ordinance and appointment conducible and available thereunto and which we have of our selves power to use which are Prayer the Word and the Sacraments for his calling to us to repent and return unto him is a provocation or calling to us to use such means as he hath appointed to produce the same in us Fifthly and lastly I answer That such commands aim not only at our first conversion but at our secondary and subsequent returns to God when after our first conversion we prevaricate and digress from him in which secondary return mans will cooperates with the grace of God as formerly hath beeen said And therefore God's invitation of men to these returns wherein their wills have some ability to cooperate with his grace is not vain or needlesse but very efficacious to allure and induce them thereunto Not to tire the Reader with any further dispute about this controversie I will close it up with the addition of these two reasons to the former Arguments to induce all persons to adhere to this opinion as the safest which I have here asserted First because this opinion makes a clearer reconciliation of those Texts of Scripture which hold forth a seeming contradiction about this point then the other doth for according to the other opinon they are not reconciled without some scruple Secondly because this opinion ascribes most glory to God to whom all glory belongs wherein there is no danger though men detract from themselves For to detract from nature and give to grace is no danger but to detract from grace and give to nature cannot but be dangerous This was the saying of Peter Lumbard and is of all acknowledged and owned for truth The fourth Controversie About the merit of good works THe Papists opinion about this and Mr. Haggar's in affirming good works to be causes of salvation which both they do and he also in the 9. page of his forenamed discourse hath so little appearance of truth that it deserves to be exploded rather then refuted And I have good ground for what I affirm First Because it 's so apparently repugnant to Scripture as to Ephes 2.8.9 where it 's said By grace ye are saved through faith and that not of your selves it is the gift of God not of works lest any should boast And Tit. 3.5 Not by the works of righteousnesse which we have done but according to his mercy he saved us And whereas to salve up the discord between Paul's affirmation and theirs they make a distinction of good works of which some say they go before justification and some follow after it and St. Paul they say speaks of those that go before but they speak of such as follow after and therefore they do not contradict him I have formerly declared namely in my 4th Argument about the first Controversie in page the 20. that the Apostle speaks of the same good works which they speak of namely of good works after justification and regeneration And therefore they are herein contradictors of holy Scripture Another ground for what I affirmed before is this Because I never had conference with any Papist yet and I have conferred with many in my time but they all disclaimed the merit of their own works when upon occasion of discourse I have charged them with this grosse Tenet I have yet a third ground for what I said and that is because I find Bellarmine their Arch champion after his affirmation of the merit of good works and that they are true causes of salvation and that some confidence may be placed in them in his book of Controversies namely Libr. 5. cap. 7. de Justificat to give men counsel within ten lines after to put no confidence in their merits but in the alone mercy and benignity of God as the safest way So that there is no great necessity to confute this opinion of the merit of works seeing themselves do distrust it and after a sort desert it But yet some short confutation of this palpable error I will deliver which I hope shall sufficiently convince it And the first Argument I frame thus Argument 1. IF eternal life or salvation be Gods gfit then it is not merited by man's good works so the Apostle argues Rom. 11.6 If it be of grace it is no more of works But eternal life is God's gift so saith our Saviour Luke 12.32 Fear not little flock for it is your Father's pleasure to give you a Kingdom where note that it 's said to be a gift and from no other motive but from his own good pleasure And John 10.27 My sheep hear my voice and I know them they follow me and I give unto them eternal life And saith S. Paul Rom. 6.23 The gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. Therefore eternal life is not merited by man's good works Argument 2. IF all the good works which possibly we can do be due debt to Almighty God then can they not merit Heaven at his hand for merit and debt cannot stand together a man cannot be said to merit by paying that which he oweth But they are due debts so our Saviour teacheth Luke 17. â—0 When ye shall have done all those things which are commanded you say We are unprofitable servants we have done that which was our duty to do Therefore they cannot merit Argument 3. IF our good works be not properly our own but proceed from the grace of God which worketh them in us and by us then can they not be said to merit from God though they may merit from others because we return no more to God then what we have received from him we give him but a cluster of grapes out of his own Vineyard and water out of his own Fountain If any man discern not the necessity of this consequent it 's for want of perspicacity in his own understanding and not for want of truth in the consequence And Bellarmine doth acknowledge it in Libr. 5. cap. 15. De Grat. Lib. Arb. Good works are not properly our own but proceed from the grace of God which worketh the same in us and by us so it 's said Isa 26.12 Lord thou wilt ordain peace for us for thou also hast wrought all our works in us
and sinful Parents is flesh that is is fleshly and finful for so we find in other places of Scripture as was said before that where the flesh and spirit are opposed one to another as they are in this verse there by spirit is understood the regenerate part in man and by flesh the unregenerate part as beside the former Text quoted Gal. 5.16 17. verses is to be seen in Rom. 8. several times verse the 5. They that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh but they that are after the Spirit the things of the Spirit And in the next verse To be carnally minded is death but to be spiritually minded is life and peace And in the 9. verse Ye are not in the flesh but in the spirit And again in the 13. verse If ye live after the flesh ye shall die but if ye through the Spirit do mortifie the deeds of the body ye shall live In all which places as also in most other in the New Testament where the Spirit and the flesh are set in opposition one to another there by flesh is meant the unregenerate part in man unless some circumstances in the context do necessarily require that such places should be otherwise understood Hence therefore it follows undeniably That children are conceived and born in sin namely because they stand in need of regeneration to their salvation Argument 2. THey that are subject to diseases and death in their conception and birth are in their conception and birth sinful for these namely diseases and death are affirmed to be the fruits and effects of sin in Scripture very frequently Rom. 5.12 By one man sin entred into the World and death by sin and so death passed upon all men for that all have sinned Rom. 6.23 The wages of sin is death So that where we see death or sicknesse sieze upon any young or old there we may surely conclude that sin hath gone before But Infants are subject to diseases and death in their very conception and birth Therefore they are in their conception and birth sinful To evade the force of this argument one of note amongst the Anabaptisie nâ—mely one Mr. Brown in a Treatise which he hath penned and published entituled Scriptureredeâ—ption freed from restraint and in page the 7. of the said discourse restrains the death mentioned in the forenamed Texts to a bodily death only affirming that Adam by his sin exposed himself and his posterity not to eternal or the second death to the death of soul and body both but to bodily death only Yet lest he should seem to contradict Scripture which every-where affirms all sin to provoke God's anger and to deserve death and to bring forth fruit unto death he confesseth that any sin deserves death but not every kind of death His words are these I grant saith he that the wages of sin is death but the wages of any sin is not every kind of death And so denies that Adam incurred any other death by his sin then the death of the body Touching this answer and this exposition of the foresaid Texts of Scripture I desire the Reader to take notice of these two failings and falts therein First it extenuates the hainousness of sin and minceth and diminisheth that just demerit and penalty of it which throughout the whole Scripture is denounced against it which is death both of body and soul Secondly It 's a concession and confession in effect that children are by nature sinful born with fin upon them and in them for if the wages of any be death which is truth and he ingeniously affirms it then where there is any death there must needs be some sin or else the wages and penalty of sin should be inflicted where there is no sin Whereas therefore some children suffer in their infancy some kind of death namely bodily death they must needs be guilty of some kind of sin otherwise they should be punished with bodily death undeservedly which to affirm were blasphemy But they can have no actual sin as is confessed of all men and therefore the sin which exposeth them to death must needs be some latent sin wherewith their natures are stained from the womb as the Scripture speakes which is that which we call originall And so ye may see that his answer to the argument is in effect a concession of the unaswerable force of it and of that which he would seeme to deny But I will display Mr. Brown his gross errour about this point yet a little further He confesseth in the same place of his book that actuall sins in men deserve eternall death though not origin all sin Now I would know of him whether Adam's first sin was not actuall sin This I am sure he cannot deny Nay a very hainous actuall sin it was as might be laid open by many circumstances This then being granted I demand of him why actuall sins in us should be punishable with eternall death and not this first hainous actuall sin of Adam's I dare answer for him that he cannot tel For if our actuall sins deserve eternall death much rather that of Adam's as who had greater light and more grace and less temptations then we have All which considerations are so many aggravations of his sin Lastly to trample this vile errour yet once more under foot that it may never lift up it selfe againe I demand of these Anabaptists whether Adam did not by his sin divest and disrobe himselfe of that glorious image of God after which he was made which consisted especially in righteousnesse and true holiness as the Apostle hath declared Eph. 4.22.23 and 24. verses for there he exhorts to put of the old man by which he means the vitiosity sinfulness of our natures transmitted and propagated into us by old Adam and then to be renewed in the spirit of our minds and to put on the new man which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness which implyes that Gods image after which man was first created did consist in righteousness and holiness Now if they deny that Adam by his sin deprived himselfe of God's image consisting in righteousness and holiness they must deny the 5. chapter of Pauls epistle to the Romans to be Canonicall Scripture for there the Apostle affirmes severall times in the five last verses that by Christ we regain both righteousness and life which Adam lost And againe the word renewed which the Scripture useth in speaking hereof implyes a deprivation of that which was before for nothing can properly be said to be renewed but where there hath been a precedent deprivation of that which is renewed Again on the other side if they confess that Adam by his sin deprived himselfe of God's image then they confess by conseqvence that his sin brought upon him spirituall death which is a further penalty then corporall death and so impugneth their tenet that Adam incurred by his first sin no other death then the
death of the body for as the soule gives naturall life to the body so the image of God namely righteousnesse and holinesse gives spirituall life to the soule and without which the soul is spiritually dead as Ephes 2.1 Colos 2.13 and divers other Texts of Scripture witnesse where mention is made of a death in sin You that were dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh hath he quickened c. whence by undeniable consequence it follows that where there is a deprivation of the spiritual life of righteousnesse and holinesse there must needs follow a spiritual death in sin Now if they deny grace righteousnesse and holinesse to be the life of the soul I refer them to the view of these three Texts of Scripture omitting many other where it 's expreslly asserted Prov. 3.21 22. Keep sound wisedom and discretion so shall they be life unto thy soul And Rom. 8.6 To be carnally minded is death but to be spiritually minded is life And Rom. 8.10 The spirit is life because of righteousness that is The soul is alive spiritually because of righteousnesse Argument 3. THey whom Christ came to save are sinners So saith our Saviour himself Matth. 9.13 I came not to call the righteous but sinners to repentance And S. Paul Rom. 5.6 Christ died for the ungodly And 1 Tim. 1.15 Christ Jesus came into the World to save sinners And this must needs be so in reason for where there is no sin there is no need of a Saviour But Christ came to save Infants as well as men of years Therefore they are sinners Now that Christ came to save Infants as well as men of years appears by Scripture these two ways 1. Because he died for all men as oft the Scripture affirms 1 Tim. 2.6 He gave himself a ransome for all Heb. 2.9 He tasted death for every man For whether all in these and the like Texts of Scripture be taken for all sorts of men only or for all of all sorts Infants must needs be included amongst them for they are one sort of men 2. Because he invited children to come unto him or to be brought unto him as is said Marke 10.14 which intimates that he came into the world to save them as well as men of years I will add one argument more for proof of this point to which the wit of man though prompted by the cunning suggestion of the old serpent cannot devise a satisfactory answer Argument 4. THey which are by nature children of wrath are by nature sinners But all men are by nature children of wrath so saith the Apostle Ephes 2.3 Therefore all men are by nature sinners and so consequently Infants The first proposition is all that I have to prove for the assumption is S. Paul's own affirmation And I find it the constant doctrine of holy Scripture both in the Old and New Testament which evermore teacheth sin to be the only cause of God's anger and wrath And this in reason must needs be so because all things else were his own works which were all good yea very good as we read in Gen. 1.31 And sin only was the Divel's work the enemy of God and all goodnesse and therefore sin only is said to provoke God's anger and wrath The testimonies of Scripture are so numerous for this that I will name but this one of a thomsand Rom. 1.18 The wrath of God is revealed from Heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousnesse of men And how oft God is said in Scripture to have been provoked to anger by the sins of the people of Israel none can be ignorant I will add but one thing more about this argument and so I will conclude it The forenamed Text in Eph. 2.3 with what is deducible from it where it is affirmed that we are all by nature the children of wrath puzleth the Anabaptists not a little and puts them to their shifts to frame such an exposition thereof as may not impugn their own false Tenet about original sin This may appear from that exposition which the forementioned Mr. Brown hath made of that Text in the 6. page of his book that I named before where he thus expounds it By nature saith he is understood first the matter and form of our bodies which are good and principally the light that God hath placed in man Now that this is a novel false and irrational interpretation of this Text I thus discover If by nature here be understood nothing but what is good namely the matter and form of our bodies and the light that God hath placed in us then how can it make us the children of wrath as here it 's said of it for nothing that 's good can make us children of wrath It 's sin only which was first brought forth by Satan and nothing else that provokes God's wrath as formerly was proved By nature therefore in this place of necessity must be understood something that is sinful for else it could not make us children of wrath as hath been shewed which can be nothing else but that vitiosity pravity and corrupt disposition which from our first birth and being is propagated into our bodies and souls by natural generation For though it were granted that by nature here be meant the substance of our souls and bodies yet of necessity it must be also granted as hath been now proved that it 's meant of them not as pure and free from any sin but as vitiated and depraved therewith from their first union and conjunction together into one individual It remains therefore a sure and sacred truth inviolable and infringible and not to be contradicted but by obstinacy or impudence it self That children are born in sin The sixth Controversie About Tithes THere is an obsteperous clamour raised against Tithes by the Anabaptistical teachers who yet for the most part lay as heavy a burthen upon their disciples and put them to as great cost and charges as is equivalent to Tithes And this in all probability they have broached and ventilated to get the better morsel for themselves For this they find by experience that the way to insinuate with the common people and to winde themselves into their bosomes is to preach pleasing things unto them and especially such as sound for their profit be it right or wrong To stop their mouths if it may be if not yet to justifie the practise of paying and receiving Tithes I will first make it appear that it stands with equity and justice that Ministers of the Gospel have allowance and recompence for performing their work of the Ministery and such an allowance as may afford them a competent and comfortable livelihood and subsistence Secondly I shall make it appear That it stands with equity and justice that they have Tithes for their allowance 1. The former I shall prove both by Scripture and force of reason By Scripture I shall prove it both in the Old Testament and in the New First
First Some say that Ministers should take nothing for their labour because our Saviour said to his Apostles Freely ye have received freely give Mat. 10.8 1. Answ To this I answer 1. That our Saviour spake these words to his twelve Apostles to whom he gave commission and command to go and preach the Gospel to all the world as it 's recorded Marke 16.15 So that they could have no leasure to stay in any one place so long as to gather Tithes having so great a journey to travel 2. Answ Secondly I answer That he bade them not only to preach but to heal the sick raise the dead and cast out divels and then said Freely ye have received freely give because to do such miraculous works as to heal their sick and cast out divels and raise their dead he knew that the people would be hasty to give large moneys and therefore he commanded his Apostles to do such miracles freely lest through avarice they should abuse his free grace to their own private gain And that he meant not to forbid them to take any reward for preaching though they took nothing for working miracles is apparent from the two next verses following where he subjoyns these speeches Provide neither gold nor silver nor brass in your purses nor scrip for your journey neither two coats neither shooes nor yet staves for the workman is worthy of his meat By which speeches he approves of their receiving of meat and other such needful things before named from such to whom they preached the Gospel for otherwise he would not have forbidden them the provision of such necessaries without which they could not subsist 2. Objection Some again object and say That Ministers should not preach for money 1. Answ To this I return a double answer also First I say that yet they are not bound to preach for nothing unlesse they could live like Chamelions without meat This I have sufficiently proved before 2. Answ 2. I answer That in some sense they are not to preach for money that is as the onely and cheif end of their preaching for the cheif end of preaching is the glory of God and the edification of the body of Christ and the salvation of men which every faithfull preacher especially aims at But yet in some sense againe they may preach for money that is as deserving and expecting money as a due reward of their pains and the means of their maintenance and subsistence Having now finished what I propounded to discusse and debate I will tire the Reader with no farther discourse but wind up all with an apology for my selfe in presuming to publish this plain and impolisht canvise and discussion of these old controversies now newly revived which have been so largely and learnedly disputed and discussed by many great Schollers and Divines of exquisite and profound learning in former ages All that I have to plead for my selfe besides that I premised in my Epistle to the Reader is this That by the mouth of more witnesses every truth may still be more established FINIS Books Printed and are now to be sold by Nathanael Web and William Gratham at the black Bear in St. Paul 's Church-yard neer the little North-door 1657. Books in Quarto MAster Isaac Ambrose Prima media ultima First Middle and Last things in three Treatises of Regeneration Sanctification and with Meditations on Life Death Hell and Judgement newly published with large additions in 4. Mr. Richard Vines A Treatise of the Institution Right Administration and Receiving of the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper delivered in twenty Sermons at St. Laurence Jury in 4. Newly published Mr. Nathanael Hardy Several Sermons preached upon Solemn occasions collected into one Volume in 4. The first Ep. General of St. John unfolded and applied in 22. Sermons in 4. History survey'd in a brief Epitome or a Nursery for Gentry comprised in an intermixed discourse upon Historical and Poetical Relations in 4. Mr. William Nicolson's full and plain Exposition of the Church Catechism newly published in 4. Dr. Stoughton's 13. Sermons being an introduction to the Body of Divinity in 4. Dr. John Preston A position delivered in Cambridge concerning the irresistiblenes of converting grace in 4. Mr. Thomas Cradock Gospel-Liberty in the Extention and Limitation of it in 4. Mr. John Browning concerning publique Prayer and the Fasts of the Church six Sermons or Tracts in 4. Mr. Thomas Parker The Visions and Prophesies of Daniel expounded wherein the Mistakes of former Interpreters are modestly discovered in 4. Reformatio Legum Ecclesiasticarum ex Authoritate primum Regis Henrici 8. inchoata in 4. Mr. George Strode The Anatomy of Mortality divided into eight Heads viz 1. The Certainty of Death 2. Meditations on Death 3. Preparations for Death c. in 4. Dr. Daniel Featly The Grand Sacriledge of the Church of Rome in taking away the Sacred Cup from the Laity at the Lord's Table in 4. Mr. Ric. Lewthwat Vindiciae Christi obex errori Arminiano A Plea for Christ in three Sermons in 4. Welch Common-Prayer with the Singing-Psalms in 4. Mr. John Lawson's Gleanings and Expositions of some of the more difficult places of holy Scripture in 4. Mr. John Cotton The way of the Churches of Christ in N. England in 4. Mr. Edward Thorp The New Birth or Brith from Above in 4 Sermons latly published in 4. Mr. John Vicars The Schismatick sifted c. in 4. Coleman-street Conclave visited and that grand Impostor the Schismaticks Cheater in chief truly and duly discovered in 4. Roberti Heggi Dunelmensis aliquot Sacrae Paginae Loca Lectiones in 4. Mr. John Lewes Contemplations upon these times or the Parliament explain'd to Wales in 4. The Beacon flaming with a non obstante against those that plead for Liberty of Printing and publishing Popish Books in 4. The Ranters Reasons resolved to nothing or the Fustification instead of the Justification of the mad Crew c. in 4. Mr. Nath. Stephens A precept for the Baptism of Infants out of the New Testament in 4. Mr. Josiah Ricraft A Nosegay of Rank-smelling Flowers such as grow in John Goodwin's Garden c. in 4. Dr. Sam. Anesly The first dish at the Wiltshire Feast a Sermon preached before many worthy Citizens of London born in that County in 4. Communion with God in two Sermons preached at Paul's before the Lord Major of London lately published in 4. Mr. Edmund Calamy The Monster of sinful Self-seeking Anatomized A Sermon preached at Paul's before the Lord Major of London lately published in 4. Mr. John Warren of Hatfield-Regis in Essex The Potent Potter A Sermon preached at a Fast before the Parliament in 4. The unprofitable Servant A Sermon preached at the Assize at Chelmsford in Essex lately published in 4. Man's Fury subservient to God's Glory A Sermon preached before the Parliament at Margarets Westminster Feb. 20. 1656. being a day of publique Thanksgiving newly published Dr. Robert Gell A Sermon touching God's