The Schools Guarded, To the reader 1
To the Candid and Courteous Reader.
OBserving that dangerous Tenent of the Anabaptists to spread like a Gangrene, over most parts of the land,Samuel How, the preaching Cobler, or the cobling preacher, is full of such tatchings, viz. that the seven liberal Sciences are but profane, vaine bablings. How's sufficiency of the spirits teaching. viz. That Arts, Sciences, Languages, &c. are Idols, Antichristian, the smoak of the bottomlesse Pit, filth, froth, dung, needlesse and uselesse for the right understanding of the Scripture: the spirit alone (say they) is sufficient without these humane helpes,Some ignorant people would have all men as ignorant as themselves, that so their owne ignorance might not be discovered. Like those whom St Ierom taxeth, who accounted rusticity and lack of learning, to be sanctity. Crassam illi rusticitatem solum pro sanctitate habent. Hieron. Epist. 84. & 102. ad Marcellum. To the understanding of the formale externum, or letter of Scripturo, Arts and Tongues are necessary, as the assistance of the holy Ghost is to the formale internum, or genuine sence of it. Waterhouse Apol. page 7. and therefore the Taylor-King of Leyden, burnt all books save the Bible. I shall therefore take some pains to discover the vanity of this erroneous Tenent, that I may prevent (if possible) the sad consequences of it; to this end I shall shew, 1. What we grant them, & how far we go. 2. Where we part.
1. We willingly grant that the assistance and direction of Gods holy spirit, is absolutely necessary for the sound and saving understanding of the Scripture. 'Tis it that must inlighten, enliven, sanctify, and fit us for the work, for without him we can do nothing, Iohn 15.5.
2. As we acknowledge that this guift comes from the spirit of God, so we likewise acknowledge, that he bestows it now in the use of meanes; by Prayer, Reading, Study, skill in Arts, Sciences, Languages, &c. True, in the Apostolicall times, God poured out an extraordinary measure of his spirit on many, who had Learning and Languages by immediate infusion, wee now by acquisition; they had it Given, we Gotten; they by Revelation and Inspiration, we now by Industry and Study: and yet even then we read that Paul had his Books and Parchments,Libros vocat vetustiores ab aliis scriptos; membranas recentiores à se conscriptas▪ à Lap. Apparet Apostolum jam morti vicinum non tamen à lectione destitisse; hinc r…f…llitur fanaticorum …uror, qui libris contemptis damnataque omni lectione selos suos foreign joctant. Calvin Noverat Timothy diligent-…am, & tamen illi commendat assi duam lectionem. Idem. 2 Tim. 4.13, 15. which some conceive to be Note books of his own making; and in the person of Timothy he commands all Ministers to give attendance to Reading, Meditation, &c. and to give up themselves wholly to them, foreign, be in them. (1) Be intent and industrious in studying, sis totus in illis 1. He must read, and then exhort, that like a good scribe he may bring out of his treasury, things both new and old. 2. Hee must meditate on these things, and so digest them, turning them in succum & sanguinem, that so he may be able to speak non ex ore, sed è pectore, experimentally, powerfully. God hath ordained meanes for the attaining of every thing, and he that contemns the meanes, contemns the blessing; 'tis Gods blessing on the diligent hand, which as in all other things, so in this, doth make men rich; as nemo casu fit bonus, so nemo casu fit doctus, virtus discenda est, Divina summ… indigent diligentia… ▪ thesaurus no… in superficie, sed profundo reconditur. Chrysost.saith Seneca: We must therefore, so Read, Study, Search, &c. as if we were to doe all our selves, and yet when we have done all, so rest upon God for aid, as if we had done nothing. Truth like Treasure, lies deep and hidden, and cannot be found without search, and study; we must therefore serve providence in the use of meanes, else we tempt God, Pro. 2.3, 4, 5. Admotâ manu invocand… est Minerva. We come now to understand Scripture by ordinary meanes of study, learning, prayer, &c. not by extraordinary revelation. See Doctor Hammond in his Preface to his Annotat. on the New Test.If thou criest after knowledge, there is Prayer, and seekest her as silver, there is indeavour in the diligent use of meanes; then shalt thou understand the feare of the Lord, there is successe; and therefore it was a good Prayer of Sir Thomas Moor, Domine Deus fac me in iis consequēdis operam collocare pro quibus obtinendis soleo ad te orare. 3. Wee grant that the abuse of Philosophy, when it is preferred before Divinity, or puffs men up with pride, or is used to adulterate and corrupt the truth and simplicity of the Gospell, that then it is odious and abominable. But this is not our question, whether the abuse of Philosophy be unlawfull, this is granted on all hands: But the question between us and the Anabaptists, is, whether the right and sober use of Philosophy,See the necessity and excellency of humane learning Dr Reynolds Preface to the Passions. and other humane Learning be requisite for a Divine. This we affirm, the Anabaptists, &c. deny. I shall therefore set down this Antithesis to their Thesis, and will confirme it by Arguments, viz. That the knowledge of Arts, Sciences, History, Languages, &c. are very usefull and needfull qualifications for a Minister of the Gospell.