Answer to Book by Romish Priests, Doctrine 3
III. His next Charge is, that we affirm, The Scriptures are eaſy to be underſtood, and that therefore none ought to be reſtrained from reading of them.
Anſwer.
THIS is neither our Poſition, nor is the contrary theirs. For no Proteſtant will ſay, That all Scriptures are eaſy to be underſtood. Nor will any Papiſt ſay, They are all hard to be underſtood. Some are eaſy; as much, that is, as is neceſſary to our Salvation. Which is the expreſs affirmation of St. Chryſoſtome in many places, foreign. All things neceſſary are manifeſt, Hom. 3. in 2 Theſſ.
Now let us ſee what there is expreſly contrary to this in our Bible. Firſt, St. Peter doth not ſay,2 Pet. III. 16. That the Scriptures are hard to be underſtood; but that there are ſome things therein hard to be underſtood; and thoſe things in St. Paul's Epiſtles. The reſt of the Scripture, notwithſtanding this, may be eaſy; and the hard places, he doth not ſay are wreſted by every body, but only by ſuch as are unlearned and unſtable. Let us but learn, and be ſtedfaſtly fixed in the Principles of Religion, and practice accordingly; then we ſhall not be in that danger, but may read the Revelation it ſelf without hazarding our Salvation. Nothing will be in danger of Deſtruction by reading the Scriptures humbly and piouſly (as they themſelves teach us to do) but only Men's Vices, and the Roman Church; which it is eaſy to ſee, in that hard Book The Revelation, is doomed in due time unto Deſtruction. For without underſtanding every particular Paſſage, one may eaſily ſee in general, with a little help, that Rome is there intended; and not Pagan Rome, but Chriſtian; which is degenerated into an Idolatrous and Tyrannical State.
The following Text is like to this, which doth not ſay,VIII. Acts 30. That the Eunuch could underſtand nothing in the Scriptures (for then he would not have troubled himſelf to read them) but that he could not underſtand that place of the Prophet, which he was reading when Philip met with him. Which was obſcure to him only in part, not in the whole, before he was converted to Chriſtianity; but is not ſo to us, who enjoy the glorious Light of the Goſpel. In which there are ſome things we cannot underſtand; neither with a Guide, nor without: But other things, as I ſaid, are ſo plain, that we cannot miſtake them, unleſs we do it wilfully. Againſt which there in no help, tho we had the moſt Infallible Guide that ever was.
The next place ſpeaks not one word of the difficulty of the Scriptures, but rather ſuppoſes them to be eaſy enough, even in thoſe matters of which Chriſt was ſpeaking,XXIV. Luke 25. (XXIV. Luke 25.) if the Apoſtles had not been then fools, and ſlow of heart. Which Names they had not deſerved, if the Scriptures had been ſo hard, that it was not their fault they could not underſtand them before he expounded them. The things they read there, were not in themſelves difficult, but the Diſciples did not at that time ſufficiently attend to what was written. For if they could not (as this Man affirms) have underſtood them, I do not ſee how they could be juſtly blamed by our Saviour; much leſs ſo ſeverely reprehended. Beſides, it is to be obſerved, both of this place and the former, that they ſpeak of the Prophetical Writings, in which there are greater Obſcurities than in other Parts of Scriptures; and yet even theſe, if they had not been Fools, might have been underſtood without putting our Saviour to the pains of expounding them.
One would be tempted to think the Man diſtracted, when he ſet down the next place,V. Rev. 1. V. Revel. 1. to prove his Poſition. For the ſealed Book, which the Angel ſaid no man could read, was not the Bible, but the enſuing Prophecy; which our Saviour preſently after opened, and hath in ſome meaſure let us into its meaning. I beſeech the Reader to mark what a dolt this Man is, who makes the Book of Scripture to be ſhut with ſo many Seals, that even in St. John's, and the Apoſtles times, none could be found either in Heaven or Earth, able to open the ſame, or look therein. For what is the conſequence of this, if it be true, but that the Bible muſt be quite thrown away, and neither Prieſt, nor Biſhop, nor Pope, nor Council look therein? For they cannot be more able than St. John, and the reſt of the Apoſtles. O that all People would ſee by what ſottiſh Guides they are led on in darkneſs!
If he had thought that heap of Texts which follow, would have done him any Service, we ſhould have had their words no doubt, and not merely the Chapter and Verſe; but they are ſet down only for ſhow, and the V. Revelat. is reckoned again, to make up the Tale. The Holy Fathers are mentioned for no other end, their words being ſo full and ſo numerous on our ſide, that it would fill a bigger Book than this, if I ſhould muſter them up. Particularly, thoſe very Fathers whom he quotes, and in the very Books he mentions, are of our minds. But it is ſufficient for the ordinary Reader to obſerve, that at this Man's rate of proving, no Body muſt read the Scriptures, no, not ſuch as St. Ambroſe, if the Scriptures be ſuch a Sea as he ſpeaks of, a depth of Prophetical Riddles. But the truth is, St. Ambroſe doth not ſay what this Man makes him ſpeak; Not that it is a depth, &c. but that it hath in it profound Senſes, and a depth of Prophetical Riddles. It hath ſo, and it hath alſo plain places in it, which are not ſo deep, but they may be fathomed by ordinary, even by ſhallow Capacities. St. Auſtin ſaith nothing contrary to this; but muſt be ſuppoſed to know enough, tho much leſs than what he did not know. And ſo muſt the reſt of the Fathers be underſtood, or elſe the Scripture is good for nothing, if even ſuch Men as Dionyſius, Gregory the Great, &c. could underſtand little or nothing of it. If what they ſay be to his purpoſe, it is concerning themſelves, and not others; and therefore they ought to have refrained from reading the Scripture, as well as the Vulgar. What then will become of the Common People, if their greateſt Guides could know ſo little of the Mind of God?
His laſt Author he took upon truſt, or elſe is an egregious Falſifier. For there is nothing to that purpoſe in the Chapter he quotes, L. VII. cap. 20. There are words to that effect in the 25th Chapter, where Irenaeus writing againſt thoſe who denied the Revelation of St. John to be a Divine Book, ſaith, Tho I do not underſtand it, yet I ſuppoſe there is a deeper ſenſe in the Words; and not meaſuring thoſe things, nor judging of them by my reaſonings, but giving more to Faith, I eſteem them to be higher than to be comprehended by me; but I do not reject that which I cannot underſtand, but admire it the more, becauſe I am not able to underſtand it. Now, with what face could this Man apply that to the whole Scripture, which is ſpoken only of the Book of the Revelation? Let the Reader judg by this, what honeſtly he is to expect in other Quotations.