John chap. 4. vers. 1. Believe not every spirit but try the spirits whether they be of God it commends the practise of this duty in the Bereans Acts 17. 11. where 't is said of them that they were {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} more nobly-spirited than those of Thessalonica for that they searched the Scriptures dayly whether those things were so as the Apostles preached notwithstanding they were assisted by an infallible spirit It was not any slownesse in them to believe which made them examine but an holy prudence for so the words are They received the word with all readinesse of mind and searched the scriptures daily whether those things were so they received them readily and yet searched making no more hast then good speed But Bellarmine thinks to take off the edge of this place of Scripture by this distinction The Bereans were but beginners and had not yet entertained the faith and therefore might examine but such as are already Christians and believe the Churche's infallibility are bound to believe the doctrine it proposeth without examination I answer first by way of concession that as many as believe the Churches infallibility are bound consequently to believe whatever she propounds as farre as an errour can bind them But secondly If all be beginners but those that believe that truly for our parts We Protestants do professe our selves to be Bereans and therefore I hope he will give Us leave to examine their doctrine in the balance of the Sanctuary and so we have and found it light And thirdly is Bellarmine sure the Bereans were not believers when they searched since they received the word with all readinesse of mind and then 't is added and searched the Scriptures daily whether those things were so But fourthly If they were not I wonder how men before they beleive should be better able to judge than afterwards and how they should come to loose that power and priviledge by beleiving Besides these there are many other Scriptures which do ex consequenti not onely permit but also require to try the doctrines before we entertain them as Matth. 24. 4. where our Saviour bids See that no man seduce you and the Apostle Paul in Ephes. 5. 6. Let no man deceive you with vain words and 2 Thessal 2. 3. Let no man deceive you by any means To what purpose are all these monitory cautions if we may not try nay do they not implicitly require and command us to try and examine the doctrines whoever they be that bring them S. Paul is bold in Gal. 1. 8 9. Though we or an Angel from heaven should preach any other Gospel let him be {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} And that you may see that this expression proceeded neither from rashnesse nor passion but a most advised and well resolved deliberation he repeats the words in the verse following As we said before so say I now again If any preach any other Gospel unto you than that you have received let him be accursed Whence I observe these two things to my present purpose first that there must be an examen else how could they know it was another Gospel and so reject it and secondly that the hearers as such and not teachers were to be the judges unlesse wee 'l say they were bound to curse themselves But the truth in hand may be further evidenced to us by reason thus Because we must neither embrace all doctrines nor reject all nor take some such as come next no nor the truth it self upon slight grounds therefore we must examine 1. We must not reject all for so we shall be sure to reject the truth and besides we do ow so much reverence to the name of God as not rashly to reject without examen any doctrine that hath but an appearance of any just pretence unto it 2. Nor may we embrace all promiscuously for so we shall be sure to be in the wrong and I see not how possibly the soul can at the same time assent unto contradictions and yet such there are found among opinions 3. Nor in the third place may we take up a certain number of opinions as they come next to hand as they are offered to us by the place where we live or the next comer by for so there will be great danger of falling into errour and truth is of more concernment to us than that we should adventure it upon the hazard of such a contingency 4. Nor lastly may we entertain truth it self if we should happen on it on so slight grounds if we take no better hold of it we shall never be able to hold it fast If we build upon such a sandie foundation how do we think to stand when the winds and waves of temptation and persecution shall arise It remains therefore that we must examine that so we may both refuse the evil and also hold fast that which is good And for the further quickning of us unto this duty I shall propound onely two considerations and very briefly First Let us seriously consider what great danger there is in being deceived our souls ate at the stake no lesse than the everlasting good of our souls is concerned in it for errour in understanding begets errour in life and practise and the Scripture tells us of damnable heresies and what ever some may think of speculative errours yet surely as they proceed from that maim in the understanding which is the effect of original sinne and as they are cherished and abetted by corruption in the will they are sinns and make us guilty For the actions of the understanding as well as of the other faculties are {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} under the law of God and the will shall answer at God's tribunal for not putting the understanding to school to Scripture as well as for not bridling the passions and not governing the outward man Since then there is such danger in errour as you have heard had we not need be carefull had we not need examine especially considering What danger there is of being deceived which is the second consideration For first the best are subject to errour themselves and so may though unwittingly and unwillingly be means of seducing others who do not examine and then their godlinesse and learning which were wont to keep them from errours will become arguments to draw others into them But then secondly how many false prophets deceivers and seducers are there in the world who make it their designe and purpose to deceive MANY shall come in my name faith our Saviour Matth. 24.5 and shall deceive many and Many false prophets ARE gone out into the world 1 John 4. 1. and that which makes them the more dangerous they are indefatigably industrious in their way compassing the earth with their master and compassing sea and land to make a proselyte Which they do the more easily effect by reason of the craft and
will do tnem any good that there is no prius and posterius in the belief of the infallibilities of the Scriptures and of the Church because there is no posterius that of the Church being none at all Fifthly nor are the words and doctrine of our teachers and ministers to be looked upon as an infallible rule of divine faith A private Christian ought to be very observant of his Pastour the Scripture every-where calls for it he is to reverence him as his spirituall Father to obey him as his governour to follow him as his guide yet no farther then he ha's the Scripture for his warrant Be ye followers of me saith the Apostle as I am of Christ 1 Cor. 11.1 The words of a godly and able pastour are of great authority as of one that for his fidelity would not willingly for a world lead souls into errour and for his ability hath a greater measure of the spirit of discerning joyned with the advantages of acutenesse of parts much study and reading and long experience therefore must he be heard with reverence not rashly dÃsbelieved nor his doctrine rejected unlesse upon examination we find it to be condemned by the Scriptures Among humane authorities such an ones testimony is of very great weight but a divine faith will digge till it come to the rock of infallibility before it build which is not to be found save in that holy breath of the unchangeable Spirit which is the Scriptures Sixthly therefore the onely true adequate and infallible rule of divine faith is the holy Scripture this is that {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} this is that balance of the sanctuary wherein faith weighs and tries all mens doctrines before it entertain them That this was infallibly inspired by the Holy Ghost is granted on all sides and that it may be known to be such may sufficiently appeare by what hath been already said That it is and ought to be the rule of faith might be fully and at large demonstrated but since it hath already devoured all the other pretended rules as Aaron's rod did those of the Egyptian Sorcerers and because I would not be prevented in that which lies before me I shall content my self briefly to have pointed at an argument or two and so passe on to what remains But first give me leave to premise onely thus much that whereas some of our Divines make Scripture the judge others the rule of controversies I conceive by a little distinguishing both may be admitted and that the Scripture is both Judge and Sentence the Law Rule and Principle of faith The holy Ghost in Scripture is the Judge Every truth exprest in Scripture is a definitive Sentence when ever it se lf is called in question and in respect of truths deducible from it it is a Law and Principle in respect both of truths formally contained in it and rightly deducible from it it is and may be truly called a Rule or canon of faith and life a rule to try and examine doctrines by and this I shall prove briefly in three words thus 1. The Bereans are commended by the holy Ghost for making the Scripture the rule and trying doctrines by it and that such doctrines as were delivered by the immediate assistence of the holy Spirit as was said before 2. The Scripture is the rule according to which men ought to preach and therefore also ought their doctrine to be examined by it To the Law and to the Testimony if they speak not according to this word it is because there is no morning-light in them Isaiah 8. 20. and 1 Tim. 6. 3. These things teach and exhort and if any man teach otherwise or any other thing {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} and consent not to wholesome words even the words of our Lord Jesus Christ and to the doctrine which is according to godlinesse he is proud knowing nothing c. See also Deut. 13. v. 1 2 3. and in the 12. Rom. 6. Let us prophesie according to the analogy or proportion of faith by which is usually understood the doctrine contained in the Scriptures But that is a remarkable place Gal. 1.8 9. if we or an angel from heaven if any man preach any other Gospel than what ye have received let him be accursed 3. The Scripture is the rule by which we must be judged at the last day therefore ought it to be the rule of our faith and life here Rom. 2. 16. God shall judge the secrets of men according to my gospel and this we may be sure of that that must needs be suitable to God's will accepting and approving which is agreable and according to the same will commanding and prescribing faith and duty to us which is revealed in his word But this truth having been so much insisted upon by our writers and being so well known as it is I forbear further inlargement on it at the present The Scripture then is the onely rule of faith And though some would admit of something else for a secondary rule for my part I see not how that can be admitted for if that same supposed secondary rule do exactly accord with the Scripture then is it not another and so not a secondary rule but if it swerve never so little from it then is it false and erroneous and not fit to be a rule at all but take it at the best it is but regula regulanda a rule that must be tried it self and who will choose to measure with a Carpenters rule when he hath the standard by him The Scripture is the rule and the standard by which all doctrines may and must be tried by arraigning them before the tribunall of the Spirit in the Scriptures but it will not be amisse to draw forth of Scripture a character or two to judge of doctrines by 1. The first shall be that of Paul but lately mentioned good doctrine must be according to the analogy and proportion of faith There is a {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} an {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} and a {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} spoken of in Scripture a body of divine truth as I may call it between the parts and members whereof there is an exact harmony symmetry and proportion as therefore in the natural body a member would become monstrous should it exceed its due proportion to the other its fellow-members so is it here We must therefore carefully compare a doctrine concerning one article with the truth concerning others and for instance so speak of the unity of God's essence as not to impair the Trinity of persons so treat of the justice of God as not to let it devoure his mercy and so to advance his mercy as not to violate his justice since he is so said to be love 1 John 4. 8. as that he is also called a consuming fire Heb. 12. 29. Let a man study a single point
To think that we must therefore be of no opinion because others are of so many is to be of the worst opinion of all for whoso adheres to a particular opinion may ineed be i th' wrong but he that is of no opinion cannot possibly be i th' right If other men do so differ in their opinions it concerns us to be well-resolved in our own judgements If the winds and waves be so boisterous without the more need is there of a good ballast within All cannot have the truth therefore make them not thy rule yet all pretend to it therefore give them an hearing Condemn not all because there 's truth among them neither approve all because some must needs be false Let us therefore neither swallow all by a blind credulitie nor reject all by a rash precipitancy but follow the advice of the Apostle in the text Prove all things but hold fast that which is good The words contain in them a double dutie which all believers are bound unto as well the people as their pastours every one in their severall orbe Although more immediately they seem to be directed to the people who in the words immediately foregoing are forbidden to despise prophesyings and here are bid to trie them all and to hold fast that which is good Of both these in their order First of the first Prove all things HEre there are two things to be spoken to by way of explication First What it is to try Secondly What it is that we are to try For the first By proving or trying here is not meant that we should experimentally be of all opinions many such seekers instead of finding truth have lost themselves in a maze of errour and an inextricable labyrinth of perplexitie 'T is {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} not {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} Nor is it meant that we should all judices agere in foro externo sit and determine controversies binding up all others to acquiesce in our decisions but as it concerns all Christians quà tales to prove or try is an act of judgement to be exercised by every one within the private court of his own conscience in order to his own particular embracing or rejecting of any doctrine offered to his faith Which act is no further obligatory to any other man than the grounds thereof being made known shall merit his assent But secondly what are we here to understand by {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} all things must we examine all things surely then we shall have work enough If we must alwayes be examining what will become of all holy living I answer a man may live by rule as well as build by rule But further Though we must try all things here meant yet is it not meant that we should be alwayes trying of them But I conceive the {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} in the text is not to be taken in the utmost extent of its possible latitude Truth fears no fair triall her face is not painted and therefore the fairer for the washing she is justified of her children yet is she sometimes condemned by strangers that know her not and her face may possibly get a scratch in the scuffle and herself prove though perhaps more fair yet in the mean while lesse fruitfull and therefore desires not to live alwayes under dispute And indeed some truths seem by their own nature to be exempt from triall there must be some basis to move upon and that must be immoveable {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} some first rule and how shall that be tried some first principles and how shall they be proved He that will learn must first believe and doubtlesse there are primòcredita in Divinity as well as primò-cognita in Philosophy the mind assents to the one by a prima sides as it doth to the other by the habit called intelligentia Such there must needs be to give a solid basis to discourse and had they prius to prove them by they were not prima These have usually been acknowledged by all for that native evidence that shines in them bringing letters credentiall writ in their very faces yet I know not how of late some out of the abundance of their leisure or curiositie have been pleased to question them We lately digged for fundamentall laws till we had like to have pulled the house down about our ears and some have digged for principles in philosophy till they have quite lost them in the rubbish certainly the man was either very idle or very melancholick when he began to suspect he might be deceived in thinking he had a being which yet was impossible and came to Cogito ergò sum But that which is worse yet have we not some who call in question the very fundamentals of religion also they are but bad builders who as the Apostle speaks are alwayes laying the foundation when then shall we think that they will set on the roof and bring the building to perfection who are alwayes digging of it up I shall say no more but I had thought the truth of the scriptures had been out of gun-shot and that God might have been believed upon his own word If once it appeare to us to be the word of God we are not to call in question the truth or equity of it Let us not spend our time in calling those truths into question whereof we have already entertained a firm and well-grounded belief but presse forwards toward those things which remain and practise what we have believed The blowing of this wind makes the tree take deeper root and it is well if it doth alwayes so but yet in the mean while it oftimes blowes down the fruit But what is it then that we must try try the spirits saith S. John 1. 4. 1. and try prophesyings mentioned here in the verse before my text the sense and meaning is one and the same of both try all doctrines that are offered to you by any man whatsoever how great how learned soever he be receive them not upon his {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} but bring them first unto the beam unto the touch-stone whence arises the proposition to be spoken to That it is the duty of all Christians to examine the doctrine which they heare before they fully entertain it as a principle of faith and life a truth of very great importance but because there hath been already so much written I shall need now to speak the lesse and shall content my self with two arguments onely for confirmation of it the one from Scripture the other from Reason and be brief in both The first argument I shall take from Scripture which doth expressely both command and commend this duty to us it commands it Mark 4. 24. {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} have an eye to your hearing take heed what you heare as also in the 1. epist. of
alone with greatest accuratenesse it will scarce have its just proportion till he doth compare it with the body notwithstanding the best diligence of the artist the wheels of a watch will need some filing when they come to be put together 2. A second character is that of S. John 1.4.3 Every spirit that consesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God of old whatsoever Prophet inticed the people unto idolatry was a false Prophet for all his signes and wonders and prediction of events Deut. 13. 1 2 3. So whatsoever doctrine tends to draw us off from Christ is nought and to be rejected and thus do not onely the Jews who deny that Christ is yet come but the Socinian also who denies him to be God and so by consequence to have come in the flesh in the Apostle's sense and to have made any satisfaction for sinne which was the end of his coming and the Papists also while they undermine him in all his offices and what do the Quakers but in effect deny Christ when they make him to be nothing else but a Metaphor and the Gospel a meer Allegory 3. The third mark is our Saviours own Matth. 7.16 By their fruits ye shall know them observe what the aims and designes are of those that promote them judge not rash judgement but observe the end A meteor may sometimes seem to be in heaven under the immediate tuition of some reall starre but let us watch the parallax and we shall find it many thousand miles below Some fowls there are that will hang hovering in the aire as if it were indifferent to them whether ever they came to earth again or no and yet if you observe them it is ten to one but you shall see them alighting in some puddle or other The Eagle soares high very high when her designe is nothing but carton It will therefore be our wisdome to observe carefully the tendencies of doctrines and their fruits if these be profanenesse or confusion the doctrines themselves cannot be from God for he is an holy God and not the authour of confusion And thus much be spoken concerning the second requisite to the proving of doctrines to wit the Rule and so I have done with the duty it self But here the Romanist pulls me by the sleeve with an objection or two which must be satisfied obj. 1. And first he objects that this would be pride and arrogance to examine the doctrines of our superiours as if private men knew more than they Answ. 1. It is no pride nor arrogance for us to endeavour to see that with our own eyes which our betters tell us they see with theirs especially sith God himself requires it of us 2. It is no whit unbecoming humility and Christian modesty to examine any mens doctrine while we acknowledge their superiority in gifts and reverence them accordingly They discern an hundred truths to my ten yet some of ten may possibly be none of their hundred I must not reject their doctrine without examen out of reverence unto them I may not trust to it as infallible out of reverence unto God I must therefore examine it by that golden rule the Scriptures which is no disparagement to them or to their doctrine for so ought they to preach and so ought we to believe If any man preach let him preach as the oracles of God and we must so heare and entertain the Gospel not as the word of man but as it is indeed the word of God able to save our souls see 1 Thess. 2. 13. obj. 2. O! but people are so ignorant they are not fit to judge Answ. Whose faults that you keep them from the Scriptures and the Scriptures from them and then say with the Pharisees This people who knowrth not the law are accursed John 7. 49. Well but if they must not judge of the doctrine what must they do to be resolved whether the Protestants or the Papists doctrine be to be followed de Valentia tells them they must adhere to that doctrine whose teachers have the most authority but how shall they know that why forsooth by their multitude sanctity antiquity and miracles Which is all one as if he had said Because thou art not book-learned thou art not fit to examine doctrines by Scripture therefore take onely this course travell over all the world and count how many Papists there be and then how many Protestants and by the way enquire into their lives then reade but over the histories of all ages and see which were the most ancient and lastly take notice of the number of miracles that have been done but let him believe none but those who saw them done and then thou shalt know which doctrine is the truest at least if these marks fail him not Now I think I should set the poore man an easier task if I should bid him reade or get some other to reade the Scriptures to him and there he should see what he might trust unto The necessary points of faith are cleare enough laid down there for any ordinary apprehension and such an one is as capable of the donum intellectûs without which none can savingly understand as a more learned man and I am sure the Scripture is the best collyrium which doth not onely cleare the sight but also enlighten the eyes and that of babes and simple ones obj. 3. But thirdly they object When you have done all every private Christian will be fallible in his judgement why then do ye refuse the Fathers Councels and the Church upon that account Answ. 1. I am speaking of an infallible Rule not an infallible Judge if the Faculty be fallible the Rule at least had need be infallible It is true an house that is built on a rock may fall if it be weakly built but that which is built upon the sand cannot possibly stand he that walks upon firm ground may stumble and fall and rise again but he that walks upon a quake mire must needs sink and that irrecoverably when the ground it self sinks under him 2. But thus much I say for the believer's infallibility 1. That while he keeps to the infallible rule he cannot erre 2. The spirit of God will infallibly guide every believer so as that he shall not swerve from the rule in any thing necessary to salvation 3. Nor in any point whereof it works in him a divine faith which is as good security as is needfull and a thousand times better than the Papists can give to any by believing in the Church So that these few rubs being removed out of the way we may safely proceed to the practise of what the Apostle here exhorts us to to prove all things Age verò nè semper forum But we must not be alwayes trying triall is in order to holding fast and that not of all things but of that which upon triall we find to be good So
wind of doctrine but that we may grow up unto him who is the head and so {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} we must {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} Ephes. 4. 15. Follow the truth in love not out of fansie as children do That Christ may dwell in our hearts by faith we must be rooted and grounded in love Ephes. 3. 17. and therefore where the love of truth once decayes there truth it self staies not long after it We reade of some Rom. 1. 28. who not liking to retain God in their knowledge he gave them over to a reprobate mind And it a remarkable place that of 2 Thess. 2. 10 11 12. where it is said that the man of sinne should come after the working of Satan with all power and signes and lying wonders and with all deceivablenesse of unrighteousnesse in them that perish See what becomes of those who are deceived by the man of sinne they perish and if ye ask why so the words following will give you an answer Because they received not the love of the truth that they might be saved See there how necessary the love of truth is to salvation For indeed where there is no sineere love of the truth there can be no true belief of it For as the Apostle there goes on For this cause God shall send them strong delusions that they should believe a lie that they all might be damned who believed not the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousnesse Observe the opposition A sad place it is and I wish it were well considered by all that are so coldly affected to the truth especially by such as hate it and are so much inclined in their minds and affections to the errours of that man of sinne whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth and will destroy with the brightnesse of his coming as he there threatens In the 10 verse 't is they received not the love of the truth and by the 12 verse 't is come to they believed not the truth they had lost the truth for want of love to it Would we hold truth fast we must hold it in corde as well as in capite hold it fast by loving it unfainedly Thirdly hold fast that which is good by remembring it faithfully and doubtlesse where truth is believed and beloved the mind will often be upon it quae curant meminerunt 1 Cor. 15. 1 2. Moreover brethren I declare unto you the Gospel which I preached unto you which also you have received and wherein ye stand by which also ye are saved {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} if ye hold fast keep in memory what I preached unto you unlesse ye have believed in vain Those that do truly believe the truth will be carefull to keep it in memory which is a speciall means to preserve the faith and love of it in their hearts Memory holds fast the truth while faith and love renew their acts upon it for this cause ought we to give the more earnest heed to the things that we have heard {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} lest we leak and let them slip and so we that I say not they be spilt and perish irrecoverably Heb. 2.1 The Spirit of God confirms us in the truths taught by bringing them to our remembrance The Scriptures were written that we might believe that by hearing them preached by frequent reading them and meditating upon them as David did we might have faith begotten increased in us Therefore we ought {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} to be taken up with these duties As Paul to Timothy The minister is appointed for a remembrancer to us 1 Tim. 4.6 If thou put the brethren in remembrance of these things then shalt thou be a good minister of Jesus Christ and when S. Paul himself went over again the cities where he had formerly preached the word the text tells us what the succese was And so were the Churches est ablished in the faith Acts 16. 5. And S. Peter thought it meet as long as he continued in his earthy tabernacle to put Christians in remembrance of the truths delivered that so they might have them alwayes in remembrance after his decease and that although they knew them already 2 Pet. 1. 12. Wherefore I will not be negligent to put you alwaies in remembrance of these things though you know them and be established in the present truth Though they were already established and therefore might seem not to need putting in remembrance which is the means of establishment yet the Apostle thought it meet to do it alwayes even as long as he lived for it would further confirm them and be a means to keep them from falling from their stedfastnesse and to persevere in holding fast that which is good Fourthly another way of holding fast that which is good is by practising it conscientiously To keep the commandments is to obey them Jesus Christ tells his disciples John 15.10 if ye keep my commandments ye shall abide in my love as many branches as bring forth fruit abide in the vine and are fastened in it by the sap they draw S. John 1. cpist 3.c last verse He that keepeth his commandments dwelleth in him and he in him and hereby we know that he abideth in us by the Spirit which he hath given us S. Peter 2. cpist 1. chap. exhorts to give all diligence to adde unto faith vertue temperance godlinesse charity and the rest of the graces there reckoned up for if these things be in you and abound they will make you fruit full in the knowledge of Jesus Christ they will put forth themselves into acts and what then vers. 10. if ye do these things ye shall never fall Oft times custome engages men to continue in evil practises while they are ashamed of their principles but when good practises are backt with good principles the engagement is the stronger to continue in them and defend them An honest and good heart having heard the word keeps it and brings forth fruit with patience A good heart is the fittest cabbinet to keep the good word of God in And indeed when once the word is ingraffed upon the soul by faith it over-rules the sap of the stock and sanctifies the fruit Truth being espoused to the soul by faith and bedded by love brings forth fruit unto holinesse faith working by love and proles firmat conjugium If we would be stedfast and immoveable let us be alwayes abounding in the work of the Lord 1 Cor. 15. 58. If we would but follow that which is good as we are exhorted in the 15 verse before my text we should find that one means and a good one too of holding fast that which is good Fifthly a fifth way that we must hold fast that which is good is by professing of it constantly S. Paul was not ashamed to preach the Gospel no more must we be