The True Treasury — John Trapp

The True Treasury · John Trapp

CHAP. III.

THe Doctrine of the Scripture hath as many uſes at the Scripture it ſelfe hath offices,2 Tim. 3.16. and thoſe, according to S. Paul, are foure. 1. To teach or informe our judgements. 2. To reprove and refute errours. 3. To correct ill manners.foreign, omnibus numeris abſolidus. 4. To inſtruct in righteouſneſſe, that the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furniſhed, or every way accompliſhed unto all good workes.

Firſt then by way of Inference and Information, this Doctrine ſets before us divers irrefragable truths touching 1. the Antiquity and Authority of the holy Scriptures: 2. their dignity and excellency: 3. their power and purity: 4. their perfection and ſufficiency: 5. their verity and integrity: 6. their perpetuity and perennity.

Sect. 1.

FOr the Antiquity, firſt, of the ſacred Scriptures, they are the words of the Eternall God, the conceptions and expreſſions that were, before all beginnings, in the minde of the Moſt High,Verbum Patris id…ò dictum eſt, quia per ipſum innoteſcit Pater. Aug. de fide. c. 3. Prov. 1.23. Jeſus Chriſt that came out of the boſome of his Father, and is both the Eſſentiall and Enunciative Word,Dan. 8.13. hee alone is that Palmoni hammedabber, that excellent ſpeaker in Daniel, that knowes all the ſecrets of his Father as perfectly, and uttors them as readily as if they were numbred before him (as the word there imports.) Hee it was that went of old and preached by Noah unto the ſpirits now in priſon: 1 Pet. 3.19.that ſpake in times paſt to the Fathers by the Prophets, or otherwiſe, and afterwards, in the dayes of his fleſh, revealed to the world thoſe things that he had heard of the Father, Joh. 8 26. This was his office, as Mediatour and Archprophet, and this hee faithfully fulfilled from the beginning of the world. The Father never ſpake or appeared immediately, but in the baptiſme and transfiguration of the Sonne. For this is a rule in Divinity,foreign Theolog. Rules, out of I…s and Tertull…. that where the Old Teſtament brings in God appearing and ſpeaking to the Patriarchs and Prophets, we are to underſtand it alway of the ſecond Perſon;Rev. 1.14. whoſe head and whoſe haire (when he delivered the Revelation to his ſervant John) are ſaid to be white like wooll, yea as white as ſnow, denoting his venerable Antiquity or rather Eternity.Mark 16.5. The Cherubims were framed and the Angels ever appeared in the forme of young men: not ſo the Ancient of Dayes, Dan. 7.9. He it was that had no ſooner made man upon the earth (and is then firſt ſtiled Jehovah Elohim) but he rejoyced in the habitable part of Gods earth, Geneſ. 1.that Microcoſme Man, that miracle of daring Nature, as the Heathen called him:foreign Triſmegiſt. in P… nuvidio. his delights were with the ſonnes of men, (Prov. 8.31.) to whom he appeared, & with whom he parled in Paradiſe. After the fall hee gently called them to account, and reaſoned it out with them: which he would not deigne to doe for the Serpent, but preſently doomed him, not once asking, What haſt thou done? Hee preached the firſt Goſpel to them, and there delivered them that grand Charter of their and our ſalvation,Gen. 3.15. 1 Iohn 3.8. The ſeed of the woman ſhall breake the Serpents head, diſſolve the devils worke, as S. John expounds it. By immediate revelation from him it was that Adam taught his ſonnes to ſacrifice,Gen. 4.3. & 26. and his nephewes to call publikely on the name of the Lord. Yea out of the mouth of Adam (divinely-directed) as out of a fountaine, iſſued all the profitable doctrine, diſcipline, knowledge, and skill that is in the world. Joſephus tells us, that by Adam and Seth two tables or pillars were made and erected,Antiq. l. 1. the one of braſſe, the other of ſtone, and that therein was written the word of God, and certaine prophecies, whereby that word was preſerved for the uſe of the old world.De civ. Dei lib 15. cap. 24. Auſtin thinkes it may be proved out of the Epiſtle of Saint Jude, that Enoch wrote ſomething. To mee truly, ſaith that divine Chronologer, it ſeemes probable,Bucholcer. Chron. that Moſes in his Geneſis collected and contrived into an entire and juſt body of a continuate Hiſtory, ſuch things as had beene occaſionally noted, and here and there obſerved by the Fathers, and left to poſterity. For Moſes himſelf (ſaith he) makes mention of the Booke of the warres of the Lord.Numb. 22. Ioſh. 10.13. And Joſhua his diſciple cites the booke of Jaſher, Hieron. in Ezek. 18. Parcus proleg…m. in Geneſ.which Hierome will have to be Geneſis, but others of good note diſſent and doubt of it. It is not unlikely that even afore Moſes his time there were extant ſome remaines of ancient Records and Annotations: the diligent peruſall, and carefull collection whereof, (together with a moſt profitable addition of other as yet unwritten verities (to the knowledge whereof he came either by Revelation or Tradition) was committed by God to his ſervant and Secretary Moſes, for the ſupport and comfort of his poore people (then groning under the Egyptian bondage, or wandring in the wilderneſſe) and of ſucceeding ages. The late Jewes make ſuch reckoning of Geneſis, that they have numbred the very letters of it, which amount to 4395. Thoſe three firſt Chapters thereof are the fountaine of all the following Scriptures, and the common Catechiſme of the Churches of both Teſtaments; in explaining and applying whereof, are ſpent all the Sermons and other labours of the Prophets & Apoſtles. The time betweene the Creation and the Flood, Varro (that great Antiquary, and the moſt learned of the Romanes, as Saint Auſtin holds him) calls it foreign,Degor. Whear. Method p. 25. or obſcure and uncertaine, which to us out of Moſes is foreign, clear and well known. A very ancient Prieſt of Egypt (that had read Moſes, likely) told Solon the Athenian Law-giver,foreign Plato in Timaeo. You Grecians are all boyes and babies in matter of Antiquity, neither is there one old man amongſt you. The Athenians bragge of Cecrops the founder of their City, and the Thebanes of their King Ogyges: and of them they terme all ancient things Cecropian and Ogygian. Eraſ. Chiliad.And peradventure they will tell us that at that time folke bred out of the earth in the country about Athens, as though they ſpake of Muſh-romes and Graſhoppers. Long time after this came their gods, and Oracles; inſomuch that all the Greeke Hiſtory is, as you would ſay, tongue-tyed for many hundred yeares after; like a brooke that loſeth it ſelfe within thirty paces of its firſt ſpring. There is not any notable thing in that ſtory of the Greekes afore the captivity of Babylon. Ezra is the lateſt, one of them, in the canon of the Hebrew writers; and yet he lived afore the time that Socrates taught in Athens, about three thouſand and ſix hundred yeares after the Creation, and afore any Chronicles of the world now extant in the world. Diod…rus Siculus confeſſeth that all Heathen Antiquities before the Theban and Troian warres, are either fabulous narrations, or little better. Euſebius and Clemens Alexandrinus ſhew, that whatſoever in Plato ſavours of Divinity, hee borrowed it from Moſes; whom hee meanes alwayes, as ſome gueſſe, by this phraſe, foreign,Clem. Alex, Strom, …. 1. as the old ſaying hath it. Hence alſo he was called by Num…nius the Pythagoriſt, Moſes Atti…us. Pythagoras bade his Schollers ſearch till they came to Unity in every thing,foreign. &c. Pythag. Deut 6.4. Iliad 4. foreign. Proleg, in Geneſin. pointing thereby (as is thought) to the one God; according to that of Moſes, Jehovah thy God, Jehovah is one. Homer ſaith, parents muſt be honoured, that wee may be long-lived. Socrates in his Apology, I love and embrace you, ſaith he, O ye Athenians, but yet I will obey God rather than man. David Chytraus affirmeth the morall writings of Philoſophers to bee nothing elſe but a commentary on the Decalogue. Which of the Poets or Philoſophers, ſaith Tertullian, hath not drunk at the Well of Moſes and the Prophets? Whereupon Theodoret rightly calls Moſes the great Ocean of Divinity,foreign. Serm. 2 de prm. out of which, all the Prophets and Apoſtles, to the laſt of them, have watered their ſeverall gardens. What peece ſoever of holy Scripture followeth this, is but a commentary upon this, ſaith Pareus in the percloſe of his commentary upon Geneſ…. After Moſes comes Joſhua, and gives record to Moſes. The Judges ſucceed Joſhua: Samuel, the Judges: Kings and Chronicles, Samuel: and the Prophets ſucceeded them all. Among that goodly fellowſhip of Prophets, Samuel is reckoned the firſt after Moſes, Act. 13.20. God indeed is ſaid to have come to Balaam, Abimelech, Laban, and ſome other profane perſons before and after, but he never concredited his Word to theſe, as he did to the holy Prophets, which have beene ſince the world beganne; of whom it is ſaid, that the Word of the Lord came unto them, like as it did to Moſes the man of God. None of them ('tis true) converſed ſo familiarly with God as hee did, whom God ſpake with face to face, Exod. 33.11.as a man doth with his friend. Yet ought not the Prophets writings to be rejected, as they were by the brain-ſicke Sadducees, whom therefore our Saviour refutes out of Moſes onelyonly.Math. 21.31. Neither yet to be ſleighted (in compariſon) as they are by the Jewes at this day, who in then Church Liturgy reade one leſſon out of the Law by ſome chiefe perſon,Sands his Relation of the Weſt. Relig. and another out of the Prophets by ſome boy or meane companion. For they will in no ſort (ſaith mine Authour) doe honour, neither attribute that authority to any part of the Bible that they doe to their Law. But this is to have the glorious faith of our Lord Jeſus Chriſt in reſpect of perſons.Iam 2.1. For was it not one God, that ſpake by the mouth (as of one) of his holy Prophets, foreign. Luke 1.70.which have beene ſince the world beganne? In other caſes I grant, that antiquiſſimum quódque eſt veriſſimum, adulterinum quod poſterius, truth is more ancient than falſhood: that claſſicke Authours are to be preferred before moderne; and that of Ariſtotle holds true of humane witneſſes,foreign. Rhet. l. 1. Vinum quò magis tran funditur, evaneſi it magis, tandem que fit vappa. Degor. Whear. The ancienteſt are moſt to be credited, as leſſe corrupted. For as wine the oftner it is poured from veſſell to veſſell, the more it loſeth of its ſpirits and ſparkineſſe: and as a picture that is taken at the lively image loſeth ſomewhat of its nature: that which is taken at the patterne, ſomewhat more: and ſo from one to another, they vary, in the end, ſo far from the originall, that there is ſcarce left any reſemblance.foreign. Nihil mihi antiquiùs, i. potius. This may be true in humane teſtimonies, and tranſactions. But for the ſeverall parts and peeces of holy Scripture, may we not aske of them, as the Prophet in another caſe, Who is their Father? 1 Sam 10.12. Malach. 2.10. Eſay 9.6.Have they not all one Father? even the Father of eternity, to whom a thouſand yeares (by reaſon of the vaſtneſſe of his being) are but as yeſterday,Pſal. 40.4. when it is paſt? Were they not all dictated and indited by the ſame Spirit, and are therefore of equall antiquity and authority? Come they not all from ſo authenticall an Authour, as is the Authour and finiſher of our faith, the Alpha and Omega, the firſt and the laſt?

I ſpeake not here of Apocryphall books, which were neither penned by the Prophets or Apoſtles,Omnes literae quibus Chriſtus prophetatus eſt, apud Iudaeos ſunt. Auguſt in Pſal. 56. nor written in Hebrew, and kept among the Jewes, neither yet have they in them the print of the Spirit, which the ſpirituall man diſcerneth, but containe ſome things frivolous, and ſome things falſe, not diſſonant onelyonly, but repugnant to the holy Scriptures. Reade them fruitfully we may for morall inſtruction, and for the better underſtanding of the ſtory of the Church, but reade wee muſt with judgement and choice, and where wee finde them contradicting the Scriptures, we muſt kill the Egyptian, and ſave the Iſraelite. But for the holy Prophets, take that of our Saviour,Math 10 41. Hee that receives a Prophet in the name of a Prophet, ſhall receive a Prophets reward. We cannot now receive them into our houſes, into our hearts we may and muſt, as the Church of God hath ever done before us. Who the penmen were of thoſe bookes that are called by the Hebrewes Nebim Reſ…onim, the former Prophets, that is, Joſhua, Judges, Samuel, Kings, and Chronicles, and of thoſe other among the Hagiographa,foreign whoſe Authors are not expreſſed, there needs no great enquiry. When Letters come from the King, ſaith Gregory, Regiis epiſtolis acceptis, quo calamo ſcriptae ſint, ridiculum eſt, quaerere. Greg.it were an odde thing to bee much inquiſitive with what penne they were written. It is not altogether improbable, that Ezra, that perfect Scribe, either himſelfe, or with the helpe of other his holy colleagues, did, by the immediate motion and inſpiration of the holy Ghoſt, compile thoſe bookes of Joſhua, Judges, Samuel, Kings, and Chronicles, out of diverſe ancient and honourable Records, charily kept by the Church, as written by the Prophets of thoſe ſeverall ages: (Davids acts are expreſly ſaid to have beene ſet downe by Gad and Nathan) and that he or they digeſted and diſpoſed them in that order that now, of a long time, the Church hath had and read them. For it is not likely that Samuel himſelfe, when hee ſhould relate the words of Saul, ſeeking to him for advice about the Aſſes, that he, I ſay, ſhould preface thus, He that is now-adayes called a Prophet, was anciently called a Seer. No,Scultet. Annal. Epiſt. dedic. but they ſound rather in any mans eares, like the words of another, that reports things done long before.

As for the later Prophets, as they call them, Iſay, Jeremy, and the reſt, Calvin tells us (and he gathers it out of Habac. 2. and Eſay 8.) that after the Prophets had preached to the people, their manner was to ſet down a briefe ſumme of their Sermon, and to faſten it to the doores of the Temple, that all men might know and take more notice of the Prophecie.Calvin. in Iſai. praefat. Which when it had hung there for a certaine number of dayes, as long as was thought fit, the Prieſts office was to take it downe, and lay it up ſafe in the Treaſury, that it might there remain for a perpetuall monument. And hence hee conceives the bookes of the Prophets to have beene made up, and notes it for a ſingular providence of God,Iunius in orat. de Teſt. Vet. that the Prieſts (which yet were often ill-minded men, and profeſt enemies to the Prophets) ſhould bee uſed as Gods inſtruments to conſerve and convey the prophecies entire, as wee have them, to poſterity.

Now for the writings of the Apoſtles,Nulli ne ipſis quidem Prophetis tam ampliter contigit, inſallibilitatis privilegium, ac Apoſtolis: quippe cum hiſ…e perpetuum illud fuerit, illis verò ſaepiùs intervallatum, & f…rè non extra ipſos prophetandi paroxyſmos durans. Tayler & B…o…ius contra Maximum, ex Gatake…o. beſides that priviledge of Infallibility wherewith they were endued even above the Prophets, as ſome are of opinion: no wiſe man doubteth (ſaith Scultetus) but that the Diſciples of our Saviour recorded and regiſtred his daily Oracles and miracles in their day-books and private annalls; out of which afterwards the Evangelicall hiſtory was extracted, compoſed, and compiled.

Saint Luke is reputed the firſt of the foure that wrote the Goſpel; what others attempted onelyonly,foreign. Luke 1.1. foreign. hee effected, Luke 1.1. The Fathers held (many of them) that he received his Goſpel from Saint Paul: but himſelfe tells us he had it from thoſe that were eye-witneſſes, which Paul was none. Saint Ambroſe rightly preferres him for ſetting downe things more diſtinctly and orderly than the reſt, according to his promiſe to his moſt excellent Theophilus, Chap. 1 verſ. 3. And as he doth it orderly,foreign. cohaerenter. Bez. foreign. and coherently, as the word ſignifies ſo originally, and from the very firſt verſe, or from a high, as himſelfe ſpeakes. For he begins his hiſtory, not at the workes of our Saviour, as Saint Marke, nor at his birth onelyonly, as Saint Mathew, but at his conception. Yea, at the conception and parentage of his forerunner. Saint John indeed ſoareth higher, even to our Saviours Divinity, and is therefore called the Divine,foreign. Hieron. in Ezech. 1.10. Greg Mag. Hom. 4. in Ezech. Gloſ. ordin. & interl…n. and hath the Eagle for his enſigne aſſigned him by the Ancients. But of him more in his place.

Mathew of a publican, by a gracious call from Chriſt, became an Apoſtle and Evangeliſt. Publicans were officers for the Romanes, to take toll and tribute of the Jewes, and were therefore extreamly hated among them, and not altogether undeſervedly. For they were (moſt of them) notoriouſly unconſtionable griping fellowes, as we ſee in Z…ch…us. A faithfull Publican was ſo rare at Rome it ſelfe (how much more in the remoter Provinces?) that one Sabinus, for his honeſt managing of that office, in an honourable remembrance thereof, had certaine images erected with this ſuperſcription, The honeſt Publican. foreign. Suet. in V…ſpaſiano.But that the hatred born them by the Jewes (ever impatient of foraine exactions, and bragging of their freedome,Iohn 8. when moſt in bondage) was greater than there was cauſe, is apparent in the Goſpel.Iudaei, quibus olim publicani tantopere exoſi fucrunt, hodie ſunt Turcarum publicani, admrabili quodam Dei judicio. Beza in Math. 5.46. Now ſee the juſt judgement of God upon them. They that ſo much hated Publicans of old, are now turn'd Publicans to the Turkes, whoſe revenues of the ſea they rent at this day, as thoſe of old did of the Romanes. But this by the way onelyonly.Luke 5.29. foreign. Ad verbum, acceptionem magnā; quod paſſim in co omnes accipiantur. Annot. Er…nus ex Athenaeo ſplendidum epulum foreign vocari. It is more to our preſent purpoſe, that, as much was forgiven this bleſſed Apoſtle, ſo he loved much, and ſealed up his love by a liberall feaſt, for joy of his converſion: which while the other Evangeliſts relate, they conceal… the name of Mathew, whereby he was beſt knowne, and call him Levi … but hee, by a gracious ſimplicity, freely and plainly reports his owne more common name,Omnipotenti medico nullus inſanabilis occurrit morbus. Iſidor. and the nature of his offence, that the greater the cure was, the more honour might accrue to Chriſt that cured him; and as a confirmation of the cure called him to ſo high an office in his Church.

After him comes Saint Marke, and abridgeth him, yet ever with uſury, and ſome ſingular addition, for the moſt part. Whether hee wrote his Goſpel at Peters mouth, which is the common opinion, or otherwiſe, I have not to ſay. But if he did, who can beleeve that either Peter himſelfe, or Marke his Notary, would ever have paſt over in ſilence that famous Tues Petrus, thou art Peter, Math. 16.&c. that the Papiſts ſo bragge of, and build on, if hee had held it (as they doe) to have beene the foundation of the Catholike Church. Peters deniall this Evangeliſt ſets downe more expreſly and amply than any other.

Laſtly, for Saint John, there is an Eccleſiaſticall tradition, and Euſebius records it,Hiſt Eccleſ. lib. 3 cap. 21. that the three former Evangeliſts being preſented to him by the Saints at Epheſus, that he might peruſe them, and by his teſtimony recommend them to the Churches reading, he well approved and ratified what they had written. OnelyOnly he thought meet that ſomething more ſhould be added concerning ſuch of our Saviours words and workes as did clearly evince and evidence his Deity; which, even in thoſe purer times, began to be oppugned by Ebion, Cerinthus, and other odious heretikes and apoſtates. Wherefore at the inſtant requeſt of the Church, but chiefly by the inſtinct and motion of the holy Ghoſt, who ſet him a worke, he undertooke in his old age the writing of this fourth Goſpel, that now beares his name. That lofty and lively beginning thereof, I doubt not, ſaith Mercer, Mercer. in Prov. Amelius Platonicus apud Cyrill. Alex. lib. 8. contra Iulian. Apoſtat.but he tooke out of Prov. 8.22. A certaine Philoſopher lighting upon it by accident, cryed out, Hic barbarus, &c. This barbarian hath heaped up more matter in three words, than all wee have done in ſo many volumes. The learned and judicious Junius confeſſeth,In vita ſua. that he was converted from Atheiſme by the ſerious reading of this firſt Chapter. Never could any man ſay better than this beloved Diſciple, both of his Goſpel, and of his Revelation,1 Iohn 1.1, 3. That which we have heard and ſeene with our eyes, &c. of the word of life, declare we unto you. The Alogians recited all Saint Johns writings, the Valerians all the Goſpels but Saint Johns. Some other peeces of the New Teſtament have beene queſtioned by ſome, but cauſleſly; as likewiſe in the Old Teſtament, the Anabaptiſts reject the booke of Job as a tragicomicall fiction, Canticles as a love-ſong, Eccleſiaſtes as a doctrine of liberty, and doore to Atheiſme. But this nothing elevateth or diminiſheth their worth and authority with the ſound and ſober-minded.Ob. If here it bee objected, that counterfeit writings might bee publiſhed and put upon the Word under the name of the Apoſtles. I anſwer with M. Perkins, Sol. In ep. ad Galdt.If they were in the dayes of the Apoſtles, they by their authority cut them off. And therefore Paul ſaith, If any teach otherwiſe,Evangelium, quod tum praeconiaverunt, poſlea in Scripturis nobis tradi lerunt. Iren. Cum credimus, hoc primum credimus, nihil eſſe quod ultrà credere debeamus. Tertul. Rev. 22.18. foreign. G…d. 3. let him bee accurſt. And as they faithfully committed to writing what they had preached for a pillar and foundation of our faith, ſo they provided that no coūterfeits ſhould be foiſted under their names after their departure. And hereupon John the laſt of the Apoſtles, concludes the New Teſtament with this clauſe, If any man ſhall adde unto theſe things, God ſhall adde unto him the plagues that are written in this booke. The Scripture foreſaw (as Saint Paul hath it) there would bee forgers and fa…furies, and that Antichriſt would uſurpe authority to chop and change, to foiſt in and force upon the Church, for doctrines the devices of men: to coine and obtrude new articles of faith, as they have lately done in their Trent-conventicle. God therefore hath ſpoken it with his mouth, and made it good with his hand upon them,2 Chron. 6. 15 (as Salomon phraſeth it in his prayer) by adding to them the plagues written in this booke: that one above the reſt, the noyſome and grievous ulcer, falling upon the men that have the marke of the beaſt, after the firſt and fift Angel had poured out his viall, Revel. 16.1, 2, 10. Theſe Angels are (according to moſt Interpreters) the Preachers of the Goſpel, and thoſe renowned Reformers: that ſore and grievous ulcer is, as ſome will have it, the French diſeaſe,Bullingerus, Are us, alti: but, as others better, the devils diſeaſe of envy and evill will to the Goſpel,Pareus. 2 …heſſ. 3.1. which (maugre their malice) runnes, as the Apoſtle ſpeaketh, and is glorified. This theſe wicked Popelings ſee and are grieved, Pſal. 112.10.they gnaſh with their teeth, and melt away: yea they gnaw their tongues for paine and torment of their ſores,Rev. 16.9, 10. they blaſpheme the Name (that is,Invidiâ Siculi non invenere tyranni Majus tormentum. the Word) of God which hath power over theſe plagues, and repent not to give him the glory. Sed in hoc ulcere non ero unguis: it ſhall ſuffice to have pointed at it.

Section 2.

SEcondly, is it the very Word of God that we reade in the Bible? and is Hee the undoubted Authour thereof? this then informes and advertiſeth us of the ſurpaſſing dignity and ſupereminent excellency of that thrice-ſacred Booke, above all humane writings whatſoever. That which David ſaid of Goliahs ſword, may be fitly applyed to the ſword of the Spirit,1 Sam. 21.9. there is none to that. And as of the river Piſon in Paradiſe, that compaſſeth the land of Havilah, it is recorded that there is gold, and with an emphaſie,Gen. 2.11, 12. the gold of that land is good: There is alſo Bdellium, and the Onyx ſtone. The other three rivers have nothing ſaid of them in compariſon of this firſt, though they doubtleſſe had their ſeverall commendations: So ſtands the caſe betweene this and all other Bookes, though ſuo genere never ſo praiſe-worthy.Prov. 31. Many daughters (ſo Authours) have done vertuouſly, but this excells them all. There was not ſuch a man as Job, Iob 1.nor can there bee ſuch a Booke as this in all the earth. Hence it is called the Bible that is, the Booke, by an excellency, as the onelyonly Booke,Auferantur de medio chartae noſtrae, procedat in mediū codex Dei. In Pſal 57. Ego odi meos libvos, & ſaepè opto e…s in crire, &c. Luther. in Geneſ. 1 4. Evangeſ…i libri ſunt & Apoſtolici, an iqu…il que Prophetarum oracula, quae nos manifeſtò …ſiruunt, &c. ſuſcipiamus igit… ex ſermonibus divinitùs inſpiratis quaeſtionum ſolutionem. Chemnit ex Theodo…et. And the Word is that which ſhould bee ever ſounding in our eares; and the Scriptures as being to all other writings, as Joſephs ſhea…e was to his brethrens, or as the Sunne to the leſſer Starres. Hence that of Saint Auſtin, Away with our writings, that roome may be made for the Booke of God. And that of Luther, I heartily hate mine owne bookes, and could wiſh them out of the world, becauſe I feare they keepe men from ſpending ſo much time in reading Gods Booke, the only fountain of al true wiſdom. And that of Conſtantine the Great, wherewith he opened the Councell of Nice; Yee have the New Teſtament and the Old, which plainly inſtruct us what to judge in divine matters. Out of theſe therefore let us fetch anſwers to al queſtions that ſhall be moved amongſt us; as the High-prieſt did, of old, at the Oracle; for they have God for their authour, and are the platforme of that wiſedome that is in God himſelfe, 1 Cor. 2.6, 7. Excellent things are in Scripture-phraſe ſaid to be things of God, as tall trees, high mountains, famous cities, I have wraſtled with my ſiſter, with wraſtlings of God, Gen. 30 ….ſaid Rachel, that is, with great wraſtlings, and have prevailed. How much more may the Bible bee ſaid to be of God (which ſets forth its precious and peerleſſe worth) ſith he uttered ſome of it with his own mouth, and ſo might ſay as Joſeph did once to his brethren, Behold you ſee that mine owne mouth ſpeakes: and wrote other ſome with his owne finger, as the Decalogue, Deut. 5.22. and ſo might ſay as Paul to Philemon, I Paul have written it with mine owne hand, verſ. 19. That one ſhort Epiſtle to Philemon (ſith we are fallen into the mention of it) though about ſo low and abject an object, ſo poore and petty a matter, as the receiving againe of a fugitive bondſlave, yet with what admirable pithineſſe and powerfulneſſe of ſpeech is it ſet forth. Plena lacertorum & roboris epiſtola, Scultet. obſervat.ſingulis ferè verbis ſingula argumenta, ſaith one. Not a word but hath its waight, not a ſyllable but hath its ſubſtance. Thoſe Epiſtles written, as is pretended, by Paul to Seneca, they have his name indeed, but not the leaſt dram or drop of his ſpirit, they ſavour not of his Apoſtolicall majeſty and gravity, which ſhineth even in this the leaſt of all his Epiſtles.Paulum quatieſcunque lego, videor mihi n n verba audire, ſed tonitrna. In brevitate verborum est luxuries rerum. Origen. As often as I reade Saint Paul, ſaith Hierom, me thinkes I heare not words but thunders. In fewneſſe of words he hath all fulneſſe of matter, ſaith Origen, and ſets a grace and a gloſſe upon meane matters, in his manner of handling them. How much more when he treats of Predeſtination, or any ſuch profound myſtery; as in that lofty and lively Epiſtle to the Romanes, which Melancthon was wont to call the confeſſion of our Churches, and thought it time well ſpent to goe over it a matter of ten ſeverall times in his ordinary Lectures. The truth is, it is ſuch as never could any man think ſpeake or write ſufficiently of its worth and excellency. M. Perkins adviſeth in reading the Scriptures, firſt to beginne with the Goſpel of Saint John, and this Epiſtle to the Romanes: after, with the Prophet Eſay; becauſe theſe three bookes bee as the keyes to open the right underſtanding of the reſt. Saint Jerome doubts not to affirme of that prophecie of Eſay, Quicquid eſt ſanctarum ſcripturarum, quicquid poteſt humana lingua proferre, aut ſenſus concipere, in e… volumine continetur.that whatſoever other peece there is of holy Scripture, whatſoever mans minde can conceive, or tongue expreſſe, is contained in this one booke. Eſay himſelfe calls it a great Booke, wherein but little was written, chap. 8.1. We may ſafely call it a little book, wherin great things are written: even thoſe mirabilia of the Law,Hoſ. 8.12. and magnalia of the Teſtimony or Goſpel, for ſo that Prophet in the ſame chapter divides the holy Scriptures into the Law and Teſtimony,Eſay 8.20. as into its integrall parts. To the Law, ſaith he, and to the Teſtimony. Now the Goſpel is often called the Teſtimony (by Saint John eſpecially) becauſe it teſtifies of Chriſt,foreign. whoſe very name, Jeſus, is a ſhort Goſpel, the very ſumme and ſubſtance of all the good newes in the world. The nativity, preaching, perſecution, apprehenſion, death, reſurrection, aſcenſion of our Saviour, yea and latter comming to judgement, is lively ſet forth by this one Prophet Eſay: whence hee was called by a Father the Evangelicall Prophet. The Babe of Bethlehem is wrapt up, as it were, in the ſwathing-bands of both Teſtaments. Chriſt is both the ſubject and object, the Authour and matter of the Scriptures. This makes much to the ſetting forth of their worth and excellency: for he is the chiefe of ten thouſand, Cant. 5.10.and we (if ever we will profit by hearing, teaching, reading) muſt have our eye turned toward Chriſt, as the faces of the Cherubims were toward the Mercy-ſeat. For this hee is called the Word, foreign Propter articulum ad filium Dei refero.not onelyonly by Saint John often, but by Saint Luke alſo, Chap. 1.2. becauſe hee is the matter and marke of the Word; ſcarce a leafe or line in the Bible, but ſome way leads to Chriſt, as the Starre did the Wiſe-men, and even point him out, as John Baptiſt did, with an Ecce Agnus Dei, Behold the Lambe of God which taketh away the ſinnes of the world. In the Old Teſtament we have bookes Prieſtly, Princely, and Propheticall. As in the New, the Goſpels are regall, ſhewing that Chriſt was King of the Jewes: the Epiſtles more Sacerdoticall, beginning and ending with praiſes and prayer, (thoſe ſacrifices of the Goſpel) and the Revelation is meerly propheticall. Hence that of our Saviour, Search the Scriptures, Iohn 5.for they are thoſe that teſtifie of mee. Now Chriſt is the moſt excellent and praiſe-worthy perſon in the world, the faireſt among men, 2 Sam. 18.3.worth tenne thouſand of us, as the people ſaid of David. Looke upon him as he ſtands deſcribed in the Text. For his nobility, he is Gods owne Sonne; for his riches, he is heyre of all things; for his wiſdome, he made the worlds; for his eminency, hee is the brightneſſe of his Fathers glory, and the expreſſe image of his perſon; for his might, he upholdeth all things by the word of his power; for his merits, he hath by himſelfe purged our ſinnes; for his preferment, he ſate downe at the right hand of the Majeſty on high. Loe this is He whom the Scripture treats of, yea this is he who treats with us in the Scriptures; and hath therein made us a pithy and perfect draught and deſcription of himſelfe. Saint Chryſoſtome falling occaſionally into the commendation of S. Paul, Ne tanti viri laudes oratione ſua elevaret magis quam exornaret.feared much, leſt with the ſlenderneſſe of his ſtile he ſhould rather leſſen, than to the life ſet forth the worthy praiſes of ſo praiſe-worthy a perſon. And Gregory Nazianzen ſpeaking of Baſil the Great, There wants but his owne tongue, ſaith hee, to commend him with. An exact face, ſaith the Oratour,Picto es pulchra abſolutam que faciem rarò niſi in pejus effingunt. is ſeldome drawne but with diſadvantage: and therefore great Alexander forbade his portraiture to bee painted by any other than Apelles, or carved by any but Lyſippus, men famous in thoſe faculties. But here there is no ſuch thing to bee feared, becauſe Chriſt the Matter is alſo Authour of the holy Scripture: whence it is cal d the word of Chriſt, Coloſſ. 3.16.Let the word of Chriſt dwell richly in you in all wiſedome. Any the leaſt relation to the Lord Chriſt, is that which innobleth and raiſeth the worth of any thing. Bethlehem, where he was borne, is therefore, though the leaſt, yet not the leaſt among all the cities of Judah, Mat. 2.6. with Micah 5.2. And Rev. 7. of thoſe that were ſealed, as among the ſons of Leah, Judah hath the preheminence, for alliance to Chriſt according to the fleſh; ſo among thoſe of Rachels ſide, Nephthali is firſt reckoned for his dwelling in that tribe at Capernaum; which is therefore alſo ſaid to bee lifted up to heaven, Math. 11.becauſe there he dwelt, and there hee preached this word of the kingdome, Math. 9.yea of Chriſt the King: which ſhould therefore familiarly dwell in us, foreign. Coloſſ. 3.16.as a houſhold gueſt; yea it ſhould in-dwell in us, as the word there ſignifies, and as Paul bids Timothy, 1 Tim. 4 15. foreign.Be thou in theſe things, give thy ſelfe wholly to them, that thy profiting may appeare to all. foreign.Yea it ſhould in-dwell in us richly in the beſt roome, as a welcome and well-knowne gueſt. Entertaine it not in the eare only,foreign. 1 Theſſ. 2.12. as in the porch or out-roomes, but let it lodge, yea dwell worthy of Chriſt (whoſe Word it is) in your mindes, memories, affections, converſations. Get a Bible ſtampt in your heads, and the counterpane thereof engraven in your hearts, Heb. 8.10. that yee may be manifeſtly declared to be the epiſtle of Chriſt, (which is the crowne of all commendation, and that which actuates, with acceptation and life, all other good parts and practices) written not with inke, 2 Cor. 3.3.but with the Spirit of the living God, not in tables of ſtone, but in fleſhly tables of the heart. Rom. 6.17. foreign.This is to be delivered up to the forme of doctrine delivered unto us in the holy Scriptures: this is to bee caſt into the mould of the Word (as the beleeving Romanes were) and were therefore famous for their faith throughout all the world.Rom. 1.8. This is to let the Word of Chriſt dwell richly in us, in our very hearts, (as the two tables were laid up in the Arke of the Covenant) and that in all knowledge, which the Scripture counts and calls the onelyonly riches wherewith the heart ſhould bee ſtored, as a rich mans houſe is fraught with ſtuffe in every corner. I counſell thee, ſaith Chriſt,Rev 3.18. Prov. 23.23. to buy of me gold tried in the fire, that thou maiſt be rich: buy this truth, but ſell it not, ſaith Salomon: and the Queene of Sheba took his counſell. She prized his wiſedome above gold, and therefore preſented him with abundance of gold: ſweeter it was to her than the ſweeteſt odours,2 Chron. 9 1. and therefore ſhee came to him with Camels laden with the beſt ſpices. Dearer it was to her than the deareſt gems and jewels, therefore ſhe found in her heart to part with the moſt precious ſtones and ingots, in exchange for it. She had learned, belike, out of Salomons workes, ere ſhe ſaw him, that wiſedome is more precious than rubies. But ſay there may be ſomething named that is better than rubies:Tanti vitreum? quanti verum margaritum? Tertull. why all the things thou canſt deſire are not to be compared unto her, Prov. 3.15. But where is it to be had? and how to be atchieved? by digging in the Mine of the myſtery of Chriſt crucified: the doctrine whereof is by an excellency called wiſedome, 1 Cor. 1.24. even the wiſedome of God in a myſtery, 1 Cor. 2.7. And like as men by ſtudying the Statute-booke, become worldly-wiſe and politikes, ſo by ſearching the Scriptures, truly wiſe to ſalvation: and he is the wiſe-man indeed that makes ſure of that. As on the other ſide, the wiſe men are aſhamed, ſaith the Prophet, they are diſmaid and taken (to wit, in their owne craft.)foreign. 1 Cor. 3.19. Ier. 8.8, 9. But what may bee the reaſon? Behold they have rejected the word of the Lord, and what wiſedome is in them? Of that Queene of Sheba the Chronicles of Ethiopia report, that her name was Mackedae, that ſhee had a ſonne by Salomon, whom ſhe called David, and made him heyre of that great Empire now called Preſter Johns countrey, and that ſhe tooke backe with her twelve thouſand Jewes, of every Tribe a thouſand. And becauſe the nobleſt men of that land doe vaunt themſelves to be of the blood of Iſrael,Phil. Momaeu… de verit. rel. Christ. cap. 26. although they have received the Goſpel, yet retaine they circumciſion; not that they thinke it neceſſary to ſalvation (ſay they) but to keepe ſtill the prerogative of their blood. But what prerogative had the Jew? and what profit was there of circumciſion? Much every way: chiefly becauſe unto them were committed the Oracles of God. This is ſet forth with a foreign,Rom. 3.2. a prime priviledge, and precellency of preferment to the Jewes above all other nations,foreign. Eph. 2.12. who are therefore ſaid to be without God in the world, becauſe without the word of God; as elſewhere Iſrael is, one time, ſaid to have beene without God, 2 Chron. 15.2.becauſe without the Law, and a teaching Prieſt to expound it. Some few ſparkes ſtollen from Scripture have caſt ſuch a luſtre on the writings of Heathens, as hath made them ſeeme divine. And thoſe, among the Philoſophers, as had walked within the warmth of this Sun, and were but tanned a little therewith, have beene eſteemed moſt excellent. As Pythagoras, who is ſaid to have had conference in mount Carmel;Strabo lib. 16. Phocylides, whoſe verſes are plainly tranſlated out of Moſes; foreign. In Epinomide. foreign, &c. In The oeteto p. 176. In Timoeo.Plato, who affirmeth that the moſt divine Word made the world; that a conformity to God is the bleſſedneſſe of a man; that this conformity conſiſts in knowledge, righteouſneſſe, and holineſſe; that God made time together with the world; that hee will diſſolve the world when hee pleaſeth; that in the revolution of ſo many yeares, men ſhall be juſt in the ſame ſtate wherein they had beene, while alive. He had heard of and hammered at that foreign, the Reſurrection, ſpoken of, Math. 19.28. and called elſewhere the reſtauration of all things. foreign. Acts 3.21.As for thoſe Philoſophers that lived in theſe laſt dayes, (as the text calls them) the dayes of the Goſpel, though they renounced not their ſuperſtitions, but remained obſtinate Heathens, yet they are noted for more divine than thoſe of their ſect that went before them. This is to be ſeene in Seneca, Magnus, & magni anim…ille vir fuit, & hunc certè lectoribus ſuis infundit.of whom Lipſius writes thus: A brave man he was, ſurely, and of a brave ſpirit, and infuſeth the ſame into them that reade him. The like may be ſaid of Pliny, whoſe naturall Hiſtory is, in Eraſmus his judgement, a rich treaſury,Theſaurus, imò verè mundus rerum cognitu digniſsimarum. yea a very world of things that deſerve to be knowne of all men. And for Plutarch, hee ſo excells his fellowes, that when the queſtion was propounded to that learned Theodorus Gaza, what authour hee would chiefly chuſe to reade, if it were ſo that he muſt be confined to one; he anſwered, Plutarch. Something might here bee ſaid (though ſomewhat out of place) touching Sibylla's verſes concerning Chriſt, wherby Marcellinus and Secundianus are reported to have been converted to Chriſtianity;Satis conſtat Secundianum pictorem & Marcellinum oratorem Sibyllae verſibus conſideratis, Chriſtianos factos eſſe. Ramus in Virg. E…log. quartam. as divers were from Popery, in thoſe darke times, by the writings of Chaucer *Acts and Monum. Bifield on the Coloſſ. fol. 217 Neand. Chronicon. p. 1. Munſter Coſmog. lib. 2.. It is no abſurdity to grant, ſaith one, that ſome of the Sibyls were ſtirred up by the holy Ghoſt extraordinarily to propheſie of Chirſt among the Gentiles. And Japhet ſcattered, in his Europe (ſaith another) the doctrine of the promiſed ſeed, which when it beganne once to ſlip out of mens mindes, was collected and conſerved by the Sibyls. And hence the Heathen Sages, ſaith he, fetcht whatſoever they held aright touching God, the immortality of the ſoule, the continuance of Empires, &c. Suidas tells us that Phocylides his verſes are meerly ſtollen out of the Sibylls. And of what eſteeme they were of old among the Romanes, is knowne as well by that relation in Gellius, Gell. noct. Attic. l. 1. cap. 19.of an old woman that brought firſt nine of her bookes, which ſhe ſtiled divine oracles, to Tarquinius Superbus, and requiring an unreaſonable rate for them, was turned off with diſdaine; but after ſhe had burnt ſixe of them, received the whole price for the three that remained. As alſo by their conſulting with them upon any important affaire of ſtate, and their care to keepe them cloſe in their Archivi, Gellius ibid.appointing fifteene ſelect men to that office, as an office of honour to them in that State. How much more was it then to the Jewes above all nations, that to them were committed the Oracles of God, foreign. Act. 7.38.thoſe lively and life-giving Oracles? He ſhewed his word unto Jacob, his ſtatutes and his judgements to Iſrael. He dealt not ſo with other nations, &c. Pſal. 147.19, 20. They had other bleſſings, as gold and ſilver in abundance, but this they want, that is better than both, Pſal. 19.10. Like as Iſmael had twelve Princes to come of him,Gen. 17.20, 21 but with Jacob will I establiſh my covenant. This was a mercy worth having, this was the Temple that ſanctified the gold of the Temple, Math, 23.17.all other priviledges whatſoever. The mercy-ſeat was no larger than the Arke wherein were the two tables of the Teſtimony, to ſhew that Gods ſpeciall mercy is ordinarily confined to ſuch as have his Word and Ordinances.Exod. 25.10. 10 17. Hence thoſe holy Levites recount and reckon it for a high favour to the people of Iſrael, that God came downe alſo upon mount Sinai, and ſpake with them from heaven, giving them right judgements,Neh. 9.13. true lawes, good ſtatutes, &c. This was a worthy gift indeed, one of thoſe good gifts and perfect givings that came from above from the Father of lights, and ſhould therefore bee highly prized, as a principall favour.Prov. 22.20. Have not I written to thee excellent things, in counſell and knowledge, ſaith God? the word ſignifies precious and princely things, ſweet and ſingular, amiable and admirable,Principalia, ducalia, foreign proprie nomen dignitatis, tertius à rege, Mercer. Cant. Pſal. 219.24. Prov. foreign. Melchior Adam de vit. Ger. Theol. ſuch as might well become the greateſt States on earth to ſtudy and ſtrive after. The King himſelfe might bee held in theſe rafters. David made Gods ſtatutes the men of his counſell. Salomon bids, eſtabliſh thy thoughts by this counſell, and calleth his Proverbes Maſter-ſentences, ſuch as ſhould rule and ſway in the whole courſe of our lives. George Prince of Anhalt carried ever carefully about him Salomon and Siracides, as his Vade mecum. Andronicus the old Emperour of Conſtantinople, being in a deepe diſtreſſe, betooke himſelfe for counſell and comfort to the Pſalmes of David, which S. Baſil fitly calls a common ſtore-houſe of divine doctrines; horreum ex quo hauriatur, a treaſury of heavenly comforts, ſuch as no good can match, no evill over-match. Theodoſius the ſecond is reported to have written out the bookes of the New Teſtament with his owne hand, and out of it hee read every day, praying with his wife and ſiſters, and ſinging of Pſalmes.Deut. 17.19. The King of Iſrael was not onelyonly commanded to reade, but to write out the Law: yea the Jewes ſay, that if Printing had then beene found out, (as it was, ſay ſome, long ſince among the Chinois) yet was the King bound to write out two copies thereof with his owne hand;Weemſe his Exercit. pag. 118. one to be kept in the treaſury, and another to carry about him continually, as a companion fit for a king. The Perſians have a cuſtome at this day to preſent a rich Alchoran (which is their Bible) to the Princes,Turk. hiſt. to whom they ſend Embaſſadours. Charles the fifth, when hee was baptized at Gaunt in Flanders, had ſeven princely gifts beſtowed upon him at the Font. His father gave him the Dutchy of Lutzenburg,Bucholcerus, ex Zenocaro. another a ſilver head-peece, another a golden ſword, &c. the Abbats gave him a faire Bible with this inſcription, Scrutamini Scripturas, Search the Scriptures. Biſhop Latimer, among others of his make that gratified King Henry the eighth with a New-yeares gift, according to the cuſtome, when ſome ſent gold, ſome ſilver, ſome a purſefull of money, ſome one thing, ſome another, he preſented a New Teſtament, with a napkin, having this poſie about it,Acts and Mon. fol. 1594. Fornicatores & adulteros judicabit Dominus, Whoremongers and adulterers God will judge. The Scriptures, hee knew, would deale plainly with him, and tell him that which others durſt not.Sphinx philoſ. Alphonſus King of Spaine and Naples, was wont to bewaile the caſe of Kings for this, that they, hearing with other mens eares, could ſeldome heare truth, and therefore he held himſelfe happy in his Muti Magistri, his bookes; his Bible eſpecially, which he is reported to have read over fourteene times in courſe, together with Lyra's and other mens notes upon the Text. Averr…s the Philoſopher ſo madly admires his maſter Aristotle, that he affirmes there is no errour at all to be found in him:Alſted. Chronol. p. 460. that his tenors were the chiefe truth, and his judgement the utmoſt bound and extent of humane underſtanding: that Ariſtotle was the rule and ſample that dame Nature invented, whereby to ſet forth mans utmoſt perfection. Yet Ariſtotle denyes, Gods particular providence, teacheth the worlds eternity, permits women to make abort other whiles, to caſt out their miſſhapen babes,Iohnſtonus de Naturae conſtantia, p. 117. to keepe thoſe laſcivious pictures of the gods that had beene confirmed by cuſtome, &c. Cyprian was wont to call to Paulus Concordienſis his Notary for Tertullians works, with a Da magiſtrum, Reach mee hither my master. Strinxit calamum adverſus Orthodoxos, Alſted. Chronol. pag. 432.Yet Tertullian was a man, and had his errours: toward his later time he fell into Montanus his hereſie, and wrote ſharply againſt the better ſide. Good therefore is the counſell of our Saviour,Math. 23.10. 2 Cor. 8.5. Call no man maſter upon earth, for one is your maſter, even Christ. Give your ſelves up to God, as the Macedonians did, and unto his unerring Apoſtles and Prophets by the will of God. Justifie his Word with the Publicans, Luke 7.29. Sanctifie it by ſanctifying all by the Word and Prayer, as the Apoſtle ſpeakes of meates and marriage:foreign: 1 Tim. 4.5. foreign. Eſay 6 5.9. Nehem. 8.5. Luke 4.16. Glorifie it, as they did, Act. 13.48. or as ſome copies reade, receive it with joy and admiration, for then there is a bleſſing in it. Set your ſelves to ſhew your high eſteeme of it, when it is read: as the people ſtood up in Nehemiah, and our Saviour, for our example, at Nazareth: yea, as Eglon that Heathen, though a fat unweildy man, yet, for reverence ſake, he ſtood up to heare the Lords meſſage: and this he had learned, belike,Iudges 3.20. Numb. 23.18. from the cuſtome and practice of Gods people.

Sect. 3.

THirdly, are the Scriptures of God? this may further inform us of their purity and power. Every word of God is pure, ſaith Salomon, Prov. 30.5. Pſal. 12.6.yea purer than ſilver ſeven times tried in a fornace, ſaith David. And the Goſpel is the power of God to ſalvation, Roman. 1.16. Iam. 1.21.ſaith Paul: ſuch as is able to ſave your ſoules, ſaith James, maugre the malice of all the powers of darkneſſe. Yea, the Word of God, ſaith our Authour, is lively and powerfull: and it ſhall well appeare too, for it is ſharper than any two-edged ſword, Heb. 4.12, 13.piercing even to the dividing aſunder of ſoule and ſpirit, (and that cuts very neare) of the joynts and marrow, and is a diſcerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart, which mans law meddles not with, further than they are ſome way diſcovered: as in a Gentleman of Normandy, put to death by the Parliament of Paris, for an intent he had to kill king Francis the ſecond,French hiſt. which hee had revealed to his Confeſſour. Otherwiſe thought's free from the cenſure of earthly Courts and Conſiſtories. But this pure and powerfull Word of God ſearcheth the heart, riſſeth the reines (thoſe ſeats of luſt, and moſt abſtruſe remote parts in all the body) yea it rippeth up ſoule-ſecrets,Ioh. 4.29. it tells a man all that ever he did, as ſhe ſaid of our Saviour; it ferrets corruption out of its lurking-holes,2 King. 5.26. and tels falſe Gehezi of his Olive-yards, and other purchaſes, which hee had only meditated. It ſearcheth Ieruſalem with lights, it deſcends into the Ioweſt holes of the heart, and diſcryes it to bee, as Adonibezeks table was, a palace of pride, a dungeon of darkneſſe,Iudg. 1.7. a dunghill of uncleanneſſe, a world of contemplative wickedneſſe, a very peſthouſe of all ſorts of paltrement. In this ſea there is not only that Leviathan (ſome familiar Devill that plaies Rex) but creeping things innumerable, Pſal. 104.25, 26.crawling bugs and baggage vermin, vaine thoughts, which are very ſinnes, Ier. 4.14. carnall intentions, which this ſpirituall Law takes hold of, and interprets for executions. As in Balac, who is ſaid to ariſe and fight with Iſrael, Sed fieri dicitur, quod tentātur, aut intenditur, Ribera in Amos 9.5.Joſh. 24.9. which yet he did not, becauſe he durſt not, but his will was good to it, therefore he did it. And the Heathens ſaw ſomething of this by the dimme light of Nature, as appeares by him who judged that Antiochus therefore died loathſomely,Incesta eſt, & ſine ſtupro quae ſtuprum cupit, Senec: in decla. Quae quia non licuit, non ſacit, illa facit, Ovid. becauſe that hee had a good will to burne Diana's temple. But behold the Word of God goes further; for it markes and meets with a nocturnall pollution, an obſcene dreame, yea an involuntary evill motion, or ere it come to conſent, though it only paſſe thorow the ſoule, as a poſt by the doore, or as a flaſh of lightning in the ayre, or as a Dive-dapper on the water: Though it be but as a dream only, not as Pharaohs dreame, which he could remember in the morning, but as Nebuchadnezzars dreame, which he had utterly forgot. Well therefore might our Apoſtle proceed and ſay, Neither is there any creature (no not of the heart) that is not manifest in its ſight, that is, in the ſight of this divine Word; (for ſo I would read the text.) Thoughts are infinite, nimble, quick and in a ſecret place; yet are all theſe things foreign naked for the outſide, and for the inſide,foreign. diſſected, quartered, & as it were cleft thorough the backbone (as the word there ſignifies,) before the eyes of it, wherewith we have to deale. It is recorded of Moſes, that being ſent on his foſter-fathers quarrell againſt the King of Ethiopia, (whoſe daughter he afterwards married, and was therewith upbraided by his brother and ſiſter) to the end that hee might make a ſpeedy onſet, he tooke his journey through the wilderneſſe, wherein were flying Serpents very deadly; which to expell he trained certaine birds, in whoſe nature he diſcerned an antipathy with thoſe ſerpents,Huet of Conſt. ex Ioſepho. whereby he ſcoured the coaſt, and ſo ſuddenly ſurprized the City. Such cockatrice egges are hatch t in our hearts, whence iſſue a brood of deadly ſtinging luſts: which to diſpell, we have Gods holy Word to cleare the paſſage that the King of glory, with the troops of his royall graces, may enter the fort of our ſoules.Iohn 15.3. Now are yee cleane by the word that I have ſpoken unto you, ſaith our Saviour to his Diſciples; and to his Father in their behalfe, Sanctifie them by thy truth, thy Word is truth. Iohn 17.17. Pſal. 19.8.The feare, that is the Word of the Lord is cleane, and makes all cleane within and without, being as a dagger in the throat of wickedneſſe, to let out the life-bloud thereof.Pſal. 119.11. Thy Word have I hid in my heart, as an amulet, that I might not offend againſt thee. It drives out corruption, as the Eaſt wind did the locuſts of Egypt into the ſea, and diſpoſſeſſeth that uncleane ſpirit that had entrenched himſelfe in the heart, ſetting up there his ſe…nces, foreign. 2 Cor. 10.3. foreign. 1 Pet. 2.11. Luke 10.18. Math. 12.43.and billeting his ſouldiers there, to fight againſt the Soule. It makes him fall as lightning from heaven, as our Saviour ſayth, from the heaven of mens hearts, to walke ſad and ſolitary in dry places, ſeeking reſt,foreign. but finding none. All places to him are dry and deſert (though otherwiſe never ſo pleaſant and populous) where he may not be ſuffered, by this mighty Word there preacht, to reſt and rooſt in the hearts of the inhabitants: neither takes this foule feind any more content to bee there, than men do to walke in a waſt and waterleſſe wilderneſſe. The legion therefore beſought him much,Mar. 5.10. that though hee had caſt them out of the man; yet he would not caſt them out of that coaſt: for that were as bad as to command them to go into the deep, Luke 8.31.that is to confine them to hell (ſith it is their heaven to do hurt) but ſuffer them to bee thereabouts, becauſe the knowledge they had got of that countrey men, would bee a more compendious way and courſe to deſtroy them, than if they ſhould be forced to go further, where they had no ſuch intimate acquaintance.H ram denaſt… cam arae dom…scae praeferunt. Petrus Bleſenſ. Immundus di…itur. 1 Affectione, quia diligit immunda. 2 Perſuaſione, quia ſuadet immunda. 3 Habitatione, inhabitat cord… immunda, Iaco. de Vorag. Now therefore if among profane Gergeſites (that prefer a ſwineſty before a ſanctuary) they find a houſe (that is, a heart) empty, (to wit of Gods holy Word, that ſhould have been laid up therein as a ſoveraigne preſervative) and ſwept (of graces, but) garniſhed (with vice) for he is a foule ſpirit, and ſolaceth himſelfe in ſpirituall ſluttiſhneſſe) thither he reſorts, and there he reſides, holding the castle in peace, ſaving that ſometimes the Word comming in the power of it, diſquiets him, gaſhing and goring the evill conſcience, with unqueſtionable conviction and horrour: The law was given on mount Sinai that gendreth to bondage, a place full of buſhes and briars (whence alſo it hath its denomination) and not unfitly, becauſe like thornes, it pricketh and vexeth the ſpirits of evill-doers, with a ſpirit of bondage. It was alſo given in fire, and that fire is ſtill in it, and will never out. Hence thoſe terrours which it eft-ſoones flaſheth in the faces, and ſtartleth the ſoules of ſuch, as are not altogether foreign arrived at that dead and dedolent diſpoſition,Eph. 4.19. that thoſe living Oracles (Act. 7.38.) cannot poſſibly pierce them. If the conſcience be not utterly cauterized,foreign Rom. 8. foreign. 2 Tim. 1.7. the Law will convince the judgement (it is the Goſpell only that can convince the affections) and ingender in it a ſpirit of bondage and feare. See this in Herod, who heard John, and did many things, or as other coppies reade that text, he doubted much, foreignwas exceedingly amuſed, amazed, knew not what to think, or which way to look, when the word came ſo cloſe, and did eat upon his conſcience as a moth, Pſal. 39.11. This ſet him at a ſtand, and ſtickled ſorely with him. Now if after conviction men run away with the bit in their mouths; as Herod did, and will on in ſin whatever come of it; their ſin abideth, Iohn 9.41.as our Saviour ſaid to the Phariſees; and conſcience, though now ſilenced, will have a time to tell them their own. It was not long ere Herod ſaw John Baptiſts head, which he had lately cut off, in our Saviours fame, as Theodoricus that tyrant did the head of Symmachus, whom he had ſlaine, in the mouth of the fiſh that was ſet before him, Math. 14.1. At that time Herod heard of the fame of Jeſus, foreignand he ſaid to his boyes. This is John Baptiſt, hee is riſen from the dead. The Jewes of that time, (and he it ſeemes for company) had embraced that dotage of the Pythagoreans touching the tranſmigration of ſoules out of one body into another.foreign. Therefore John, ſaith he, is ſurely revived in Jeſus. This might be his opinion then, and more that he tels the trouble of his mind to his ſervants for a ſecret, hoping, belike, the world ſhould be nere the wiſer. But it fell out, wee ſee, ſomewhat otherwiſe; for that which he ſpake then in ſecret, is now preached on the houſe-top. This was but one of the Devils anodynes, and would not do the deed. He betakes him therefore to another courſe, and will be a Sadducee another while: a ſect that denied the Reſurrection of the body, and the immortality of the ſoule; that ſo he might blunt the ſting of his awakened conſcience, that haunted him like a fury, for the ſlaughter of the innocent Baptiſt. Thus much may be gathered out of Matth. 16.6. compared with Mark, 8.15. Haec eſt enin… vis Verbi Dei, ſaith Beza on that text. This is the mighty worke of the Word on an exulcerate conſcience. God ſmites the earth, that is, earthly-minded men, that are no better than earth, earth, earth, when they heare the Word of the Lord; with the rod of his month, Iſ. 11.4.and with the breath of his lips doth he ſlay the wicked. Thoſe phariſees,Math. 22.15. for inſtance, that were toties puncti & repuncti, foreign.minimè tamen ad reſipiſcentiam compuncti, as one ſpeaketh; for why? they had made voyd the counſell of God, when they heard our Saviour refuſing to be reformed, hating to be healed; whereas diverſe of the common ſort, who had by their inſtigation crucified the Lord of glory, when the Word came cloſe, and found them out in their ſins, were prickt at heart, foreign. Act 2.37. Prov. 23.32.thy felt their ſins as ſo many ſtings of an adder, pricks of a dagger, yea as ſo many bearded arrows in their fleſh, foreign;and were added to the Church. To the former,2 Cor. 12.7. Gods Word was a ſavour of death to death the axe therof laid to the root of their rotten conſciences, out them down as fuell to hel-fire. To the latter,Math. 3.10. 2 Cor. 2.16. it became a ſavour of life unto life, a ſeed of immortality, an effectuall inſtrument, not of conviction only, but of converſion alſo.Iam. 4, 5, 6. For think ye (ſaith S. James) that the Scripture ſaith in vaine, The ſpirit that is in you, &c. doth it ſhew you your naturall corruption, and no more? Not ſo: for it ſaith not only, that is, convinceth, but it giveth more grace, it converteth alſo. It brings not only to the birth, as Ephraim that fooliſh child, Hoſ.but carrieth the ſoule thorough the narrow womb of repentance into the light of eternall life. And this is the powerfull and proper effect of the good Word of Gods grace, ever good to them that are good, Mic. 2.7. or that but wiſh to be good, Pſalme 119.4, 5, 6. It is indeed like the water of jealouſie, Num. 5.27, 28. For when it is received into a good and honeſt heart, it cleares it and makes it fruitfull: as when into a corrupt heart, it rottes it and makes it worſe. Abigails ſpeech ſmote Nabal into a qualme that cauſed his death, when the ſame tongue bleſſed David and drew bleſſing from him. Rahab was melted with that meſſage wherewith the King of Jericho was hardned. Mannah to the rebels turned into putrefaction and ſtank. Moſes his rod while hee held it in his hand, budded and brought forth freſh almonds; the ſame rod when he caſt it from him, turn'd into a Serpent. The living words of dying Prophets took hold of thoſe refractaries in Zachary, Zach. 1.6.and ſlew them. Thoſe two witneſſes are by ſome interpreted to bee the two Teſtaments, the Old and the New. Gods giving power unto them, is the authorizing of them. They are cloathed in ſackcloth, that is diſguiſed and obſcured, hidden from the vulgar, they ſpet fire, as it were, and plague their enemies as the Arke did the Ekronites. But who are they? Saint Auſtin anſwers:Ad…erſarius eſt nobis quamdiu ſumus & ipſi nobis: quamdin tu tibi inin i… us et inimicum habebis ſermenem Dei, Aug. The Word of God is adverſary to none, but ſuch as are adverſaries to themſelves, and ſuch as ſhall (in that name) have him for their utter enemy at length, who ſhall come in flaming fire rendring vengeance to all that know not God, 1 Theſſ. 1.8. Math. 11.20.and obey not the Goſpel of our Lord Jeſus Christ. Then ſhall hee ſhake ſuch off, as duſt off his feet, when they come to him for ſalvation, and worthily; for they have prejudged themſelves already unworthy of eternall life, Acts 13.46.becauſe they have put away from them the Word of lift, which they ought to have pul'd to them, rather with both hands earneſtly, as David did;Pſal. 119 48. and is therefore now triumphing in heaven, as one that did not the will only, but the Willes of God: Acts 17.…2.when others choſe rather to do not the will, but willes of the fleſh, foreign Epheſ 2.2.and do therefore of the fleſh reape corruption, Gal. 6.8. Surely as the raine commeth down, and the ſnow from Heaven, and returneth not thither, but watereth the earth, and maketh it bring forth and bud, that it may give ſeed to the ſower, and bread to the eater: So ſhall my Word bee that goeth forth out of my mouth: it ſhall not returne unto mee voyd: but it ſhall accompliſh that which I pleaſe, and it ſhall prosper in the thing whereunto I ſent it, Eſay 55.10, 11ſaith the Lord.

Section 4.

FOurthly, are the Scriptures of God? This may further informe us of their perfection and ſufficiency to our ſalvation, as proceeding from God Al-ſufficient, from whom comes every good gift and perfect giving. All Scripture as it is given by divine inſpiration, ſo is it profitable to all purpoſes, to teach truth, convince error, correct vice, direct to vertue, comfort under the croſſe, that the man of God (Miniſter or other) may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing. The Law of the Lord is perfect, ſaith David: 2 Tim. 3.16. Iam. 1.4. Pſal. 19.7.the whole book of God is perfect, with an eſſentiall perfectiō, & every part thereof with an integral perfectiō. This cannot be ſaid of the law of nature or book of the creature, as now ſince the fal. The heavēs indeed declare the glory of God, &c. as reall poſtilles of the Divinity, and that which may be knowne of God is manifeſt in them as in a mirror or theater,Rom. 1.19. foreign. even his eternall power and Godhead. Cuſanus could ſay, that the World was Deus explicatus, God unfolded, of the divine nature, as it were, coppied out, and exemplified at large. But the knowledge hence gotten is ſlender, and unſufficient to ſalvation. Our eyes, alaſſe, are now ſo dazeled, that the creatures are unto us as a claſped book,foreign. Acts 17.27. or as a thing written in ciphers. The Philoſophers could only grope after God by the dim light of Nature, but in the wiſdome of God, the world by wiſdome knew not God, 1 Cor. 1.21. but did ſervice to them that by nature are no gods: Gal. 4.8.Ʋtinam tam facilè veram religlonem invenire poſsim quam fulſam convincere, de nat. deor. Tullyes wiſh was, that he could as eaſily diſcern the true God, as diſprove the falſe. But that he might ſooner wiſh than attaine, without the help of holy Scriptures. For as the Sun is not ſeen but by the light of the Sun; ſo neither is God known but by the Word of God. And as the Sun cannot be ſeen in rota, (as the Schooles ſpeak) in the circle wherein it runs, but the beams of it only, nor thoſe neither but as they are made viſible by reflection: So neither can wee ſee God in his Eſſence; in his Word we may: his traine at leaſt with Eſay, his back-parts with Moſes; wee can ſee no more and live, we need ſee no more that wee may live. Now if wee knock at the creatures doore for this knowledge, the depth muſt ſay,Iob 28.14. It is not in me, and the ſea, It is not with me, &c. If they ſay otherwiſe, they lye as faſt as Rabſhakeh did for his maſter.Quia impoſsibile erat ſine Deo diſcere Deum, per verbum ſuum docet hom nes ſcire Deum. Sic Hilarius, Hoc ſolum de Deo benè credi in elligamus, ad quod deſe credédam ipſe ſibi reſtis & … hor extitit. For no creature hath ſeene God at any time but the Son, and hee to whom the Son reveales him, ſaith our Saviour. And becauſe it was impoſſible to know God without God, he therefore brings men by his Word to the knowledge of himſelfe, whom to know is life eternall, ſaith Irenaeus. Some few blind Notions, I deny not, are yet left in corrupt Nature, and to bee found ſtill in ſome few that have not already torne them out, that they may ſin without controll, or at leaſt lock them up in reſtraint; as the Philoſophers that held the truth priſoner in unrighteouſneſſe, Rom. 1.18. But theſe common principles are now, alaſſe, ſo depraved, defaced, and, as it were, covered over with cobweb, and other droſſe, (like the carved ſtones in the rubbiſh of a ruined Palace) as that they ſerve, but to render us inexcuſable. Eſpecially ſith in men of corrupt minds, Gods image is wholly wip'd out, and thoſe remnants or footſteps thereof utterly extinct. When wine is powred out of a cup, the ſides are yet moiſt, but when it is rinſed and wiped, there remaines not the leaſt taſte or tincture therof: Even ſo that glimmering of Divine light left in the naturall man is ſo put out by obſtinacy in an evill courſe, that not the leaſt ſpark thereof appeares.foreign 1 Cor. 2.14. He that is no more than a meere animal, that hath no more than pure nature in him, perceiveth not the things of God, as having neither ſight nor light, organ nor object illuminated: as the true Chriſtian, who hath his eyes in his head, Eccleſ. 2.14. and God who commanded the light to ſhine out of darkneſſe ſhining upon his heart, 2 Cor. 4.6.in the face of Jeſus Chriſt. The Chineſes uſe to ſay of themſelves,Deſcript. of the World: cap. of China and Cathaia. that all other Nations of the World ſee but with one eye, they only with two. Sure it is that naturall men have but one eye, wherewith ſome thing they may ſee, that tranſcends not the light of reaſon. But for ſpirituall things they are acutè obtuſi, Luſcioſi ſiquando oculorum aciem in…endunt minus vident, Lud. Viv.more blind than beetles. To the Law therefore and to the Teſtimonies, for if any ſpeak not according to theſe it is becauſe there is no light in them. The Law is a light,Lex, Lux. Prov. 6 23. Pſal. 119. 2 Pet. 1. ſaith Salomon, a lamp and lanthorne, ſaith David, a light ſhining in a dark place, ſaith Peter. And the Grace of God (that is, the doctrine of Gods grace the Goſpel) hath appeared, foreign. Tit. 2.11, 12.as a Beacon on an hill, or as the Sun in heaven, teaching us, the whole and ſum of a Chriſtians duty; viz. that denying ungodlineſſe and worldly luſts, ſaying peremptory nay to all ſuch importunate ſuitors, we ſhould live ſoberly, Haec tria perpetu… med tare adverbia Pauli. Haec tria ſint vitae regula ſancta tuae.righteouſly, and godly in this preſent evill world, Loe, here is our task in three words, ſuch as the Scripture only can teach, and give us to performe. Diodorus Siculus tels us, that among the Egyptians, when any good man dyed, his holineſſe, righteouſneſſe and ſoberneſſe were wont to be commemorated and commended by his ſurviving friends.foreign. But theſe, alas, were but ſeeming vertues in thoſe poore Ethnicks, or rather ſhining ſins, beautifull abhominations,Heb 9.14. dead works, as our Apoſtle cals them, becauſe they proceeded not from a principle of life,Eph. 4.18. that life of God, or godly life, to the which they were meere ſtrangers through the ignorance that was in them of Gods holy Word, the rule of righteouſneſſe. Hence it was, that all they did muſt needs be defective and inſincere, and that not onelyonly quoad fontem, (as I have ſaid) but quoad fimm too. For the utmoſt end they aimed at in al they did, was to be ſeen and to be talked of. All was theatricall, hiſtrionicall, hypocriticall. And ſo, they might excell (to ſee to) thoſe that are truly ſanctified, in morall vertues, and outward performances, as Actors upon a Stage may (for the outward reſemblance) go beyond them whom they perſonate, and whoſe acts they repreſent: witneſſe thoſe hypocrits in Eſay, the Phariſees in the Goſpel,Eſay 58. Math. 6. and that proud Patriarch that firſt affected the name of Vniverſall Biſhop, who was for his frequent faſting ſirnamed Neſteutes, Iohannes ille, qui Gregorii Magni tempore, nomen Vniverſalis Epiſcopi affectabat, à jejuniis Neſteutae nomen obtinuit, Vſſierus. Mercedem ſuam non Dei, Hiero.or the Faſter. But this was neither of God, nor for God, and therefore they have their reward; ſuch as it is, their own reward, not Gods, ſaith Hierom, they have what they look for. Egregiam vero laudem, a poore reward God knows, but 'tis that they have choſen. How much better David, In keeping thy Law, ſaith hee, there is great reward, Pſal. 19.11. After he had once well waighed this inſufficiency of that bigger book of the Creature (whereof there are three large leaves onelyonly, Heaven, Earth, Sea, as Clemens Alex. ſpeaketh, and three dark leſſons only, as Hugo hath it,Hugo de Sancto Vict. lib. 2: de arca. cap. 3. Accipe, Redde, Fuge; Receive Mercy, Returne Duty, Hy Puniſhment: but how to do any of theſe, it ſhews not) the Prophet wiſely turnes him to that leſſer, but better book of the Scripture; which after he had highly commended for perfect and right, and pure and ſure, and cleane and true, &c. hee ſubjoynes (for his own and others encouragement) that for elder people that are all for profit, Gods Word is more to be deſired than gold; and for the younger ſort that are all for pleaſure, tis ſweeter than live-hony, dropping from the comb. If any find it otherwiſe, its becauſe their mouths are either out of taſte, or fore.foreign. Alex. Aphrodyſ. Problem. Mel vulnera purgal, ulcera mordel. Honey cauſeth paine to exulcerate parts, though of it ſelfe it bee ſweet and medicinall. Hence children will not ſuffer it to come neare their cankered lips, which when they are well, they are well apaid of. So is it here: Oh, how ſweet are thy words unto my taſte! yea ſweeter than honey to my mouth. David found fatneſſe and ſweetneſſe in Gods houſe, a feaſt of fat things full of marrow, of wines on the lees well refined and purified. Antichriſt,Eſay 26. I confeſſe, hath turned, what in him lyes, theſe wines into water, and this water into wormwood. Hee hath fed Gods people with worm-wood, and given them water of gall to drink: Ier. 9.15. Rev. 8.11.ſo that not a few have dyed of the waters, becauſe they were made bitter, ever ſince the falling ſtar, (that notable Apoſtate) hath fallen upon the fountaines of Iſrael, the holy Scriptures, which they have diſparaged and corrupted; yea ever ſince that third Angel powred forth his vial on the Sea; that is, ſay ſome,Ibid. Pſal. 68.26. upon the Councell of Trent, it is become as the blood of a dead man, ſo that every living ſoule dyed in that Sea. Looke how the fiſh dyed in Nilus, Exod. 7.21.and the river ſtank when it was turned into blood, ſo that the people could not drink of it: So hath it fared with that Sea of Rome, ſince they have attempted to deprave and debaſe the Scriptures by that heathniſh decree of Trent: wherein they have every way equalled, (if not preferred) the Apocryphall books to the Canonicals, their Vulgar Tranſlation to the Originals, their unwritten Verities to the written Word, and their traditions to the Scriptures. Not content with one Tranſubſtantiation, (which yet is monſtruous) they have endeavoured to bring in another, & worſe: which is to change Articles of Faith into Fables; and again, Fables into Articles of Faith. For the Scriptures, ſaith Eckius, Hoſius, So ſaid the Lieutenant of Lions concerning S. Pauls Epiſtles, Fox fol. 826.and Hermannus Colonienſis, as touching the ſenſe of them, are no more to be regarded than the fables of Eſop, without the authority of the Church: The holy Ghoſt himſelfe, ſaith one, is not to be heard, (according to their Tenet) albeit hee produce a teſtimony out of the Scripture,D. Prideaux lect. de Testibus. unleſſe he can withal produce a teſtimoniall from the purple whore. The word written, ſay they,Coſter. Enchiri. pag. 44. is a deafe and dumb Judge, a black goſpel,Colloq. Wormac. Anno 57. inkhorne divinity, a dead letter, Lesbian rule, noſe of wax, matter of ſtrife,Hoſius, Tom. 1 op. adv. Brentii Proleg. pag. 530 Pigg. l. 1. Hier. Eccleſ. c. 2. pag. 8 ſeed-plot of controverſies, and book of hereticks. Anno Domini 1523. It was objected by Doctor Bennet Chancellor of London, againſt one Richard Butler, that diverſe times you erroneouſly and damnably read in a great book of hereſy, certaine chapters of the Evangeliſts in Engliſh,Fox Martyrolog. fol. 735. containing in them diverſe erroneous and damnable opinions, and concluſions of hereſie. Thus have the Heathens changed the truth of God into a lye: Rom. 1.Articles of Faith into fables, or worſe; and ſo they have alſo fables into Articles of Faith. Witneſſe thoſe twelve new-coyned articles, gathered by the authority of Pope Pius the fourth,Ex Sulla jurameuti de profeſſione fidei in Onuphrio. Anno 1564. out of the Councell of Trent, and added to the Nicene Creed, to bee received with oath,See theſe 12 Art. in the Ep. dedic. to B. Ievvels works. as the true Catholike faith, to be beleeved by as many as ſhall be ſaved. Tindal reaſoning with a great Doctor of thoſe times, drave him to that iſſue, that he burſt forth into theſe words; wee were better be without Gods Laws, than the Popes.Fox Martyrol. fol. 982. The Popes interpretation, ſaith Hoſius, what ever it bee, yea though it ſeeme never ſo much to oppugne the Scriptures, yet is it the very word of God. And again, That which the Church teacheth is the expreſſe word of God,Hoſius de expreſſo Dei verbo. pag. 99. ſaith he, as that which is taught againſt the ſenſe and conſent of the Church (of Rome) is the expreſſe word of the Devill. Thus for their Church, with its pretended Head: but what for every hedge prieſt? Cardinall Tolet ſaith,Tolet. caſ. conſc. lib. 4. cap. 3. The people may merit at Gods hands, in beleeving an hereſie if their teachers propound it, for their obedience is meritorious. And Stapleton, They muſt not regard Quid, but Quis, ſaith he, not what is the matter, but who is the man that delivers it. If a Prieſt therefore teach any thing,Cade of the Church p. 68. bee it true, bee it falſe, take it as Gods Oracle. Thus he. A little afore Luther ſtirred, their Sermons were ordinarily ſtuft out with Legendary lyes, and old-wives fables, as how Veſpaſian was freed from Waſpes by Veronica's napkin, Trajan fetch out of hell by P. Gregory's prayers, Sybylles conference with Auguſtus, Anno Domini. 1517.&c. Tecelius perſwaded the common people in Germany, that as ſoon as ever their ten ſhillings (that was the price of an Indulgence) ting'd in the baſon, any friend they would name, ſhould be immediately delivered out of Purgatory, etiamſi per impoſſibile, Matrem Deivitiaſſet. In a word, all places were ſo full fraught with ſuperſtition, that the Abbot of Neuhuſe in Germany doubted not to ſay, that if that unlucky Luther had not ſtarted up,Scultet Annal. Tom. 1. pag. 13 ex Chytraei Chron. we might eaſily have perſwaded the people to have eaten hay and ſtabble. And indeed they fed them with no better, as they baſely gloſſe upon that text in Job; The Oxen, that is the Prieſts, were plowing; and the Aſſes,Tu et Aſinus unum eſtote, Diſci. de temp ſer. 121. that is, the People, were feeding by them feeding hungerly upon thiſtles, and huskes, and fainting at the head of every ſtreet. The children asked bread but no man brake it unto them, Lam. 4.4. for bread, they had ſtones; for fiſhes, ſcorpions.Acts and Monuments, fol. 1109. Thyrraeus de Daemon. cap. 21. What a Devill made the to meddle with the Scriptures? ſaid Steven Gardner to Marbeck: and of another they tell us, that by reading the Bible, he became poſſeſt with a Devill. A very ſtrange buſineſſe Athanaſius ſaith, that evill ſpirits are expelled and driven away by that 68. Pſal. Exurgat Dominus, &c. But this is true of the whole book of God, one part as wel as another. Father Abraham ſends the rich mans brethren to Moſes, and the Prophets, for defence againſt the Devill: and our bleſſed Saviour when he beat the Devill on his own dunghill, as it were, made the Word his only weapon, chuſing out of that one book of Deuteronomy, and almoſt out of one chapter thereof, as out of a preciouſly purling current, all thoſe ſtones wherewith hee proſtrated the Goliah of hell. Now if there be ſo much ſufficiency in one book, in one chapter, what may we conceive of the whole?

But it will, haply, bee here objected: If Moſes his writings were ſo full, Object. 1 what needed any addition thereto of the Prophets and Apoſtles?

I anſwer: Anſwer. Not to perfect that which till then was defective and incompleate, For the five bookes of Moſes, yea that one book of Geneſis was ſufficient to the ſalvation of ſuch as then lived. The Prophets were added for explanation of the Law: the New Teſtament for clearing and applying them both. Thoſe things that were there more darkly delivered, are here more plainely and plentifully ſet forth,Hab. 2.2. ſo that a man may even runne and reade them. Now we have a more cleare and perfect direction than they had under the Law. Thence their light is compared to the light of a candle that ſhines in a dark place, ours to the day-light, 2 Pet. 1.19.2 Cor. 3.18. Now wee all with open face beholding as in a glaſſe the glory of the Lord, are changed into the ſame image from glory to glory, as by the Spirit of the Lord.

But how is it then that the Scriptures are yet ſtil ſo obſcure and difficult, Queſt. yea perplex and ambiguous?

Sublime they are, Anſwer. but not dark in themſelves; ſith they came from the Father of lights, and are lighted up to bee our candle in this world, ſaith S. Auſtin, Tract. 35. in Iohan. foreign. protreptic. p. 25. foreign, Hom. 3. de Laza.that we walk not in darkneſſe: a common light that ſhineth to all, ſaith Clemens Alexandrinus, ſo that every man of himſelfe by reading them may learn the things therein delivered, ſaith Chryſoſtome, This is to bee underſtood of the doctrinall foundation of Faith and Manners: in ſetting down whereof, the Scripture is moſt plain and eaſie. Bellarmine himſelfe is forced to ſay,De verbo Dei, lib. 1. cap. 2. Scripturis nihil notius, Nothing is more manifeſt than the Scriptures.Eſay 8.1. Inclinavit Scripturas Deus ad inſantium & tactentium capacitatem, In Pſal. 8. Write, ſaith God, in the roule with a mans pen, that is, clearely, that the ſimpleſt may conceive ſo much as concernes him to Salvation, God hath fitted the Scriptures, ſaith Auſtin, to the capacity of the meaneſt. So that if our Goſpell bee hid, it is hid to them that periſh. If men underſtand it not, the veile is not drawn over it, but over their hearts, 2 Cor. 3.15. which the Lord doth more and more remove, diſpell and diſperſe the darkneſſe of the minds of his elect by his holy Spirit. The book was open in the Angels hand, Rev. 10.8. It had been ſhut and ſealed, but S. John had got it open by his prayers and teares, and by his more diligent ſearch, and ſeeking to the Angell to inſtruct him. Gods Spirit in his ſervants is heroick, they are whetted on by difficulty to a more diligent enquiry, as Sampſon bound with new ropes, went out and ſhook himſelf.Prov. 26.13. A Lion in the way may fright a ſluggard, not a Sampſon, or an Alexander, who meeting with a hard encounter, ſaid;Iam par periculum animo Alexandri. This is an enterpriſe worthy of great Alexander. It cannot be denied, but that the Scripture in many places is dark and difficult: and the pen-men thereof as in ſome things like thoſe Angels in Jacobs viſion, they deſcend to the …plicity of the m…eſt, ſo in other things they tranſcend the ſublimity of the learnedeſt.Mare est Scriptura divina, habens inſe ſenſus profundos Ambroſ. Ep. 44. agnus peditet & elephantus natet, Ep. ad Leand. The Scripture is a great Sea, ſaith Ambroſe, the Lamb may wade, the Elephant may ſwim in it, ſaith Gregory. And there is ſuch a depth therein, ſaith Auſtin, that a man may dayly profit in the knowledge thereof,Si eas ſotas maximo otio, ſummo ſtudio, meliore ingenio conarer addiſcere, Epiſt. 3. ad Voluſian. though he ſtudied nothing elſe all the dayes of his life, yea, as long as the dayes of heaven ſhall laſt, without any intermiſſion or remiſſion of his utmoſt indeavour. And in another place; Not only, ſaith that Father, in innumerable other things am I guilty of much ignorance,Multo plura neſcio quam ſcio, Epiſt. 119. c. 21 Iob 26.14. but in the Scriptures alſo (my profeſſion and chiefe ſtudy) there are many more things that I know not than that I know. How little a thing doth man underſtand of God, ſaith he in Job, the greateſt part of our knowledge is but the leaſt part of our ignorance.Nondum hoc ſcio quod nihil ſcio. This only I know, ſaid the wiſeſt of the Philoſophers, that I know nothing. Another comes after him, and addes neither know I yet ſo much as that, that I know nothing. Natures beſt ſecretaries cannot with all their skill give us a convincing reaſon of the perennity of Rivers, of the ebbing and flowing of the Sea, of the colours of the Rayne-bow, of the heat in the ſtomack, that conſumeth all other things, and yet not the parts about it. Pythagoras aſſignes no other cauſe of earth-quakes,Conventus mortuorum, Aelian. lib. 4. ridicule. than the meeting together of thoſe that are dead. Pliny wonders at the Gnat ſo ſmall a creature, and yet making ſo great a buzze.Nat. hist. lib. 11 cap. 9. Hee alſo mentions one that ſpent threeſcore and eight yeares in ſearching out the nature of the Bee, and yet fell ſhort of his deſire.foreign: 2 Pet. 1.9. Now if in finding out Natures ſecrets, the accuteſt are ſo ſand-blind and cannot ſee far off; what marvell is it, if (further than wee are all taught of God) wee ſee no farther into the ſenſe of the Scriptures?Legumobſcuritates non aſsignemus culpae ſcribentium, ſed inſcitiae non aſſequentium, Sex: Cecil. apud Gell. If refuſing to plow with his heyfer, we underſtand not his riddles? Riddles they are, not in themſelves, but to our ſhallowneſſe. The obſcurities of the Law, ſaith that Civilian, are not to bee imputed to the fault of the writers, but to the ignorance of the Readers. How much more is this true of Gods Law? We many times unskilfully lay the blame where we ſhould not: as ſhee in the holy Hiſtory, that laid the death of her child to the preſence of the good Prophet: Or rather as ſhee in Seneca, Fatua ſubitò videre deſiit & neſcit eſſècoe cam, ait domum eſſè tenebroſā, Senec. Epiſt. 50.that bad open the windows (at noone day) when her ſelfe was ſmitten with a ſudden blindneſſe. What we cannot conceive, wee ſhould admire, and ſay of the Bible, as Socrates of a worſe book; That I underſtand is good, ſo I beleeve is that I underſtand not. Plaine places are for our nouriſhment, hard places for our exerciſe: or theſe are to be maſticated as meat for men, thoſe to be drunk as milk for babes: by the latter, out hunger is ſtaid; by the former, our loathings. Some things in Gods Word are folded up in obſcurity, to tame the pride of our natures, and to ſharpen the edge of our induſtry, in ſearching the Scriptures, and ſeeking out the ſenſe, by comparing one place with another. This thoſe holy Levites, Neh. 8.8. red and gave the meaning of the Scripture, by the Scripture; as Junius renders it. Thus alſo S. Paul is ſaid to have confuted the Jews,foreign Acts 9.22. by laying one Scripture to another. A Metaphore, ſaith Beza, from hand-crafts-men; that being to frame and fit one part of their work to another, cōpare peece with peece, that all may be brought to a ſuitablenes and uniformity. The Lapidary brightens his hard diamond with the duſt ſhaved from it ſelfe; ſo muſt we cleare hard Scriptures by parallell Texts, which, like glaſſes, ſet one againſt another, caſt a mutuall light. Thus (for a taſte,) Luk. 18.19. compared with John 3.19. Epheſ. 4.9. with Pſal. 139.15. Math. 16.19. with John 20.22, 23. 1. Pet. 4.8. with Prov. 10.12. And this is ſo cleare a truth,In Apocalipſ. Not. 4. cap. 14. and beyond all exception, that Ludovicus Alcaſar; a Spaniſh Interpreter, is forced to confeſſe, that in S. Peters Epiſtles are many difficulties, that ought to bee explained out of the Epiſtle of Saint Jude. Note this againſt other Popiſh Doctors, who deny that Scripture is to bee interpreted by Scripture, but loft to the judgement of the Church. Whereas the Lord, when he dwelt between the Cherubims, he ſet the candleſtick on his right hand, and the table with ſhew-bread on his left,Weemſes exercitat. to teach us, ſaith one, that the Scriptures are to be preferred ſtill to the Church; their excellency and authority being above all both men and Angels, Gal. 1.8. It was the Spirit of the Lord, and none other, that anoynted and appointed Jeſus, the Mediator of the new Teſtament, to preach the Goſpell, Luk. 4.18. out of Eſay 61.1. Our Saviours text at Nazareth. Now, that the preaching of the Goſpell is the immediate effect of the holy Ghoſt, doth greatly ſerve to ſet forth the incomparable excellency, authority, certainty and ſufficiency of the Goſpell. Had it proceeded from the incorrupt and unerring humane nature of Chriſt only, this had been a high commendation; how much more now that it comes from it, no otherwiſe than it was dictated thereunto by the holy Ghoſt. Had Adam continued in his integrity, yet had he beene no fit man to give divine Laws to the Church, becauſe a man. Nay, that the very Angels were not meet for ſuch a buſineſſe, appeareth, in that they ſtand amazed at the myſtery of Chriſt, and looke intently into it, wondering,1 Pet. 1.12. as the Cherubims in the Law did into the propitiatory. Chriſt the Law-giver was for wiſdom able, and for love to his people, willing to ſet them down a plaine and perfect direction. And albeit hee obſcure himſelfe in ſome paſſages, and make darkneſſe his pavilions, yet this is but among other reaſons, to make us make higher account of thoſe men of God the Miniſters, whoſe office is to expound and apply the holy Scripture,1 Tim. 3. ult. whereby they themſelves are perfected thoroughly furniſhed unto all good works: it ſelfe muſt therefore needs bee much more perfect.

Sect. 5.

FIfthly, are the holy Scriptures of God? this may fitly informe us of their verity and integrity, ſith the Author of them is Amen, the faithfull, Rev 3.14. 1 …et. 2.22.and true witneſſe, as he ſtiles himſelfe, neither ever was the leaſt guile found in his mouth. Hence we may and muſt have a full aſſurance both of underſtanding, Coloſſ. 2.2. and alſo of aſſent, Luke. 1.1. upon Gods bare Word and ſole authority, without doubting or reaſoning againſt the ſame: becauſe he will not ſuffer his faithfulneſſe to faile, Pſal. 89 33.nor alter the thing that is gone out of his mouth; God is All-ſufficient, moſt perfect,As he is foreign: ſo he is foreign. abſolute, and independent, and as none can contribute to his being, ſo neither to his truth; If he have ſaid a thing, tis proofe ſufficient, tis ſurety and ſecurity enough. For this is a principle grounded upon the light of Nature: let a man but grant a God, and he muſt needs grant his authority to be authentike, and that abſolute credence is to bee yeelded unto him. Hence thoſe Heathen Law-givers would needs ſeeme to derive their lawes from ſome Deity, from ſuch a god or goddeſſe, as the ſtory reports of Numa, Lycargus, Mahomet, &c. ſo the falſe Prophets and Impoſtors, when once they could make ſhew of ſome relation to God, and entitle their fancies and fopperies to him, it went for currant that they uttered. For, God is true and every man a lyer. Rom. 3.4.VponUpon this ground, Abraham beleeved God, and it was counted to him for righteouſneſſe, Rom. 4.3. And he that thus beleeveth not God,1 Ioh. 5.10. hath made him a lyer, becauſe hee beleeveth not the record that God gave of his Son: ſith theſe things were purpoſely written, that men might beleeve, Ioh. 20.31.and that beleeving, they might have life through his Name. Hence that of S. Peter, Iohn 6.69.we beleeve and have known that thou art that Chriſt: And that of S. Paul, we beleeve & know the truth: 1 Tim. 4.3.Beleeve and know? A man would think this were a prepoſterous courſe. In other ſciences we firſt know and then beleeve, but here tis otherwiſe. We muſt firſt beleev the truth and integrity of the Scriptures, becauſe they are of God, and then we ſhall know whether theſe things are of God or not. And why ſhould this ſeeme ſo unreaſonable to any man? Mahomets dictates may not bee diſputed, on paine of death. The Pope though he draw thouſands to …ell with him, yet no man muſt dare ſay ſo much as what doeſt thou? The Fryars, though their Governors command them a voyage to China or Peru, Sands his Survey of Weſt. p. 18without diſpute or delay, they are preſently to ſet forward.Sicum Angelo iniiſſescolloqutii, avocame Superiore actutù nest obtemperandum. Si B…ata Virgo ſua praeſentia freter. ulum dignaretur, interpellante vel ſuo inſeriore, non debut manere. D. Prid. in Eudaemond Ioh. ex Epiſt. ad fratres in Luſitan. To argue or debate on their Superiours Mandats were high preſumption, to ſearch their reaſons, proud curioſity, to detract or diſobey them, breach of vow equall to ſacriledge. Such authority do theſe men uſurpe, ſuch abſolute and blind obedience doe they exact of their Vaſſals, and votaries. Oh give God the glory of beleeving and obeying him ſimply and only becauſe he ſpeakes it,Rom. 4.20. Deo agnito & collaudato, ut Luc. 17.18. and for his bare words ſake. This is to glorifie God indeed, as Abraham did being ſtrong in faith and not doubting of the promiſe. This is to ſet to our ſeale, that God is true; This is to give him a teſtimoniall, as it were, Joh. 3.33. (ſuch as is that, Deut. 32.4. A God of truth and without iniquity, juſt and righteous is he) than the which I know not what greater honour can be done the Creatour by the creature, or befall the creature from the Creator.Contrary to Iam. 3.1. Math. 23.8. Thoſe Maſters of opinions (as Magiſtri nostri Pariſienſes, for ſo they will needs bee called) are to be exploded, that ſeek to obtrude upon Gods inheritance their conceits and placits, the brood of their own braine without ſound proofe of Scripture. Wee ſhould ſooner beleeve even a lay-man, ſaith honeſt Panormitan, affirming any thing according to Gods word, than a full Councell determining beſides or againſt the word. Let us ſtand, ſaith S. Baſil, Stemus arbitratui inſpiratae à Deo Scripturae, & apud quos inveniuntur dogmata divinis oraculis conſim…, illis veritas adjudicetur ſententia. Epiſt. 8…. foreign Acts 17.11. Heb. 5.14. 1 Iohn 4.1. 1 Theſſ. 5.20. Math. 23.8.to the arbitrement of holy Scripture, and let them bee thought to have the truth on their ſide, whoſe opinions are found agreeable thereunto. The Beraans would not truſt S. Pauls doctrine till they had tried it, and are therefore commended as more generous (or better-deſcended) then thoſe of Theſſalonica that did not ſo. Thoſe dull Hebrews alſo are ſharply cenſured by our author, for not having (all that while) their ſenſes better exerciſed to diſcerne good and evill, to try the ſpirits, to prove all things, and hold faſt that which is good. Chriſt is the only Rabbin, the irrefragable Doctor,Prov. 8.8. Rev. 5.5. Math. 7.24. the Ipſe dixit, all the words of whoſe mouth are right words. He only was found worthy to open the ſeales of the book, he taught with authority, and not as the Scribes. All the confirmation he uſed againſt all their corrupt gloſſes ſet upon the Law, was, Verily, verily, I ſay unto you: It hath been thus and this ſaid of old, &c. But I ſay unto you Sometime (tis true) hee prooved his doctrine by Scripture, but this was either for the weaknes of thoſe whom he inſtructed, according to that, theſe things ſpeake I (not for any other need, but) that ye may be ſaved, John 5.34. whence hee called the Law, which he alledged, their Law; Iohn 8.17.or elſe to confirme to them the authority of the Scriptures, and leave us an example, John 13.15. For otherwiſe, if he but ſay to the righteous, It ſhall go well with him, Iſay 3.10, 11.and but ſay to the wicked, the reward of his hands ſhalbe given unto him, it is ſuerty & ſecurity enough.H. b. 6.13. As he ſweares by himſelfe, becauſe he hath none greater by whom to ſweare, ſo he affirmes of himſelf, and needs not confirme it by any other: his naked aſſertion is ſelfe-ſufficient, his authority moſt authentike, his bare word to bee taken, without any further proofe or pawne. Thus it ought to be with all; but thus, alas, it is not, with moſt men now-adayes; who deale with the faithfull God, as they would do with ſome ſlippery perſons or patching companions, truſt him no further than they ſee him, or than they can ſee cauſe or reaſon to yeeld unto him, ſuch of his precepts as croſſe their carnall humors, and corrupt diſpoſitions, they give no credit to, but are ready to riſe up againſt them, as a Horſe againſt his rider, and to reply with Pharaoh, who is the Lord, that I ſhould obey him,1 Sam. 25.11. or with Nabal to Davids ſervants, ſhall I take my bread, and my water, and my fleſh, and give it to men I know not? they will needs turne ſchollars to their owne reaſon, though they are ſure to have a foole to their Maſter: they looke upon Gods Jordan, with Syrian eyes, as Naaman, Iohn 3.and after all ask with Nicodemus, How can theſe things bee? The like we may ſay for the menaces of Gods mouth, thoſe terrible threats of the Law againſt mens looſe and lewd practices: theſe they think to put off, as thoſe miſcreants in the Goſpel,Luc. 20.16. with a God forbid. They take up bucklers ſtraight againſt the ſtrokes of the Spirits ſword, and boldly bleſſe themſelves when God curſeth:Deut. 19.19. which is that enraging ſinne that God cannot ſpeake of with any patience: but is therefore abſolute in threatning, becauſe he will be reſolute in puniſhing. And deale not many as ill with him in the matter of his promiſes? which, bee they never ſo faithfull ſayings, and therefore worthy of all acceptation, 1 Tim. 1.15.yet either they be above ordinary beleefe (as Gods plenty in Samaria was to that infidell Prince of Ahab) or,2 King. 7. 2. not preſently performed as ſoone as ever the word is out of his mouth, they diſtruſtfully cry out, where is the promiſe of his comming? 2 Pet. 3.4. 2 King. 6.33.What ſhould J waite for the Lord any longer? Surely GOD hath forſaken the earth, forgotten to bee mercifull, &c.

But is it fit to preſcribe to t…e Almightie?Pſalme 78.41. to limit the holy one of Iſrael? to ſend for God by a Poſt, and to ſet him a time, or els he comes too late, as thoſe Bethulians in Iudith did? The Chinois whip their Gods when they come not at a call, help not at a pinch. Deale not theſe men as courſely with the Lord, upon the matter? whom they eftſoons diſtruſt, and baſely withdraw from, foreign Steale from his Captaine. Heb. 10.38.by unbeliefe? which they would not doe, had they but to deale with a ſufficient man, or a creditable perſon. Let but an Aſtronomer tell them, that the Sunne will be ſuch a day in the Eclipſe, they'l beleeve him ſtraight (though they ſee no reaſon for it) becauſe hee is a learned man, and skilfull in his Art.

Now who, and where is he amongſt us that can convince God of untruth, or his word of falſehood? The promiſes are ancient, Tit. 1.2. ſo are the threats and precepts: and hitherto they never faild, or fell to the ground (any tittle of them) becauſe they are the iſſue of a moſt faithfull, and righteous will, voyd of all inſincerity or guile. God, the author of them, is eternall, and ſo one and the ſame without alteration. The Eternitie of Iſrael cannot lye. 1 Sam. 15.29.He is alſo ſimple, without compoſition, and ſo without contrariety. Beſides hee is unchangeable, and repents not. But whatſoever he ſpeakes,When God is ſaid to repent, it is not a change of his will, but of his worke: Mutatio reinon De… effectus, non affectus; facti, non conſilij. Repentance with man is the changing of his will: Repentance with God is the willing of a change. Gatak. as he ſpeakes from his heart, ſo being I am that I am, hee will not bee off and on with us; but as Pilate ſaid, What I have written, I have written: ſo doth God: what I have ſpoken, I have ſpoken, it ſhall ſurely ſtand. Heaven and earth ſhall paſſe, but a jot of the Law ſhall in no wiſe paſſe. The graſſe withereth, the flower fadeth, but the word of the LORD ſtands firme for ever. Neither may we once imagine that he can forget what hee hath ſpoken, as men many times: for he hath the Jdea of all things in himſelfe, and every thought is before his eyes long before.Pſal. 139.16. Ahaſhueroſh may forget Mordecai; the Butler, Ioſeph; the preſerved City,Eccleſ 9 15. the poore man that ſaved it.Heb. 6.10. But God is not unrighteous to forget your labour of Love, or his promiſe of retribution. Holy men (that have but a ſpark of Gods flame,Pſalm. 15.4. but a drop of his Ocean) will ſtand to their word, though it turne to their loſſe. They are children that will not lye,Eſay 63 8. Zeph. 3.13. neither is a deceitfull tongue found in their mouth: how much leſſe in his, who can as ſoone dye as lye,2 Tim. 2.13. or deny himſelfe? Certainely if he ſay us any good, we may ſafely ſeale to it, ſeeme it never ſo improbable, never ſo impoſſible: eſpecially, ſince we have for our ſecurity not his word onelyonly (which yet were ſufficient) but his hand to ſhew for it, yea his covenant, his oath,Eph. 1.13. Rom. 4.11. his ſeale, both that privie ſeale of his ſpirit, and that broad Seale of heaven in the Sacraments, not in wax white or red, but in the precious bloud of CHRIST who is white and ruddy as of a Lamb undefiled, Cant. 5.10. 1 Pet. 1.19.and without ſpot. For which cauſe alſo the book (among other things) was ſprinkled with the bloud of the ſacrifice: that by all theſe immutable things,Heb. 6.12. in the which it was impoſſible for God to lye, wee might have ſtrong confidence in him who is ſo true of his word, ſo firme in his promiſes, ſo ſure in his performances. An admirable patterne of faith in Gods faithfulneſſe wee have in that Reverend old couple Abraham and Sarah. He having once heard from heaven,foreign Rom 4.18, 19. ſo ſhall thy ſeed bee, ſtaggerd not at the promiſe through unbeleefe: cared neither for the drineſſe of his owne body, nor the deadneſſe of his Wives, but looked with the one eye on Gods promiſe, and with the other on his power, and was fully aſſured. Likewiſe alſo Sarah though at firſt ſhe faultered, and laughed at the unlikelihood; yet afterward (when ſhee had better bethought her ſelfe) ſhe judged him faithfull who had promiſed: and though paſt age, and hope, yet by the force of her faith ſhee conceived, and was delivered.Heb. 11.11. Bee not therefore unbeleeving, but beleeve: Ioh. 20. 27. 2 Chro. 20.20. Iſay 7.9.beleeve the Prophets, and yee ſhall proſper. If yee will not beleeve, ſurely yee ſhall not be eſtabliſhed. If I ſay the truth, why doe yee not beleeve me? Which of you convinceth mee of ſinne? Iohn 8.46. Pro. 8.8.Is there any thing perverſe or froward in Wiſedomes words?

It may ſeeme ſo,Sic Doctor quidam Sorbouicus, & Grangius Jeſuita apud Sharpium in Symphonia prophet: & Apoſt. ep. dedic. Sic Rabuenabi refert ſapientes Hebraeos veteres cogitaſſe Eccleſiaſtem librum occultare, …uod repugnantia continerit, & alijs libris contraria. Pro. 8 9. Ora & Lahora. Iames 1.5. Wilſons Theolog. Rules. ſay ſome, and that one place contradicts another: and this they thinke to prove out of Ezechiel 1. To this Wiſdome anſwereth in the very next words. They are plaine to him that underſtandeth, and right to them that finde knowledge, and that they may finde, begge and digge for it, as the Wiſeman bids, Prov. 2.3, 4, 5. Begge it, I ſay, of him that gives it richly, and hits no man in the teeth. Thus did Daniel the Prophet, and John the Divine, and that Heroicall Luther. It was the ſaying of a godly Miniſter that he profited in the knowledge of the Scriptures more by Prayer in a ſhort ſpace, then by ſtudy in a longer. And we will give our ſelves (ſaid the twelve) continually to prayer, and to the miniſtery of the word, divide our whole time betwixt theſe two duties.Prov. 30.1, 2. Cathedram in coelo habet, qui corda docet. Aug. Run therefore to Ithiel and Ʋcal, as Agur did, take unto you the words, and ſay as He. Surely I am more brutiſh than any man, and have not the underſtanding of a man in me. I neither learned wiſdome, nor have the knowledge of the Holy: Pſalm. 1 19. Platonici lumen mentium eſſe, dixerunt ad diſcendum omnia eundem ipſum Deum a quo facta ſunt omnia: Aug. de civ. Dei.Teach mee good judgement and knowledge: open thou mine eyes, that I may behold the wonders of thy Law. The very Platoniſts could ſay that the light of the mind, wherby we learn all things, is that very GOD that made all things.

But then, as you muſt begge, ſo digge too, ſaith Salomon: digge for vnderſtanding as for ſilver, ſearch for her as for hid treaſure. Do herein as the Wiſe Merchant or Metallary, who finding a rich Mine of gold or ſilver, is not contented with the firſt oare that offers it ſelfe to his view, but digs deeper and deeper till he be owner of the whole Treaſure. So neither ſhould wee ever give over in this ſearch after knowledge of the Scriptures, till we have gotten all the degrees and dimenſions of it here attaineable. Never had men better means, or more incouragements hereunto then now. Good books at home, good Sermons at Church, good ſociety every where; and conference, I can tell you, hath incredible profit. But here's the miſery of it, ſome men are ſo ſhy and ſhame-fac't, others ſo ſtiff: and ſtout minded, that they'l rather continue ignorant, then reveale their ignorance, and ſeeke information: Men will at no hand be beholden this way one to another. But as in Alcibiades his army, all would bee leaders,Scholiast: in Thucydid. none learners: ſo is it here. Moſt men love to beare fruit to themſelves, with Ephraim that emptie Vine, Hoſea 10.11.and chuſe rather to remaine needy then diſcover their poverty.

As for good bookes (another ſpeciall help) never did any Age abound with them more then this, nor any Country, then ours. Thoſe Engliſh fugitives that have written on the Popes ſide, have in ſhew of wit and learning gone beyond not only all former, but all other of this age:See Cade of the Church. Preface. ſo that Bellarmine takes moſt out of them, in the points whereof they have written, as Sanders, Allen, Stapleton, &c. Theſe went out from us, becauſe they were not of us. But for thoſe that are, and have written on the holy Scriptures, how many hundreds are there extant in our our owne language, of whom it may be as truly ſaid, as he did once of Calvins inſtitutions,Praeter Apoſlolicas, poſt Chriſti tempora, Chartas, Huic p…perere libro ſaecula nulla parem. Paul Meliſsus. Buxtor fij iberiada, omnis miratur & mirabitur ſemper, quoad ſtabit hic mundus, eruditio. Dieſlius de ratione ſtud. I heol. that ſince the Apoſtles times, ſcarce any book can equall it: or as another of Buxtorfes Tiberius, all learning doth and ſhall admire it, while the world ſtands. This is certaine, that what ſhewes of uncertainty, and difference ſoever may appeare in holy writ, either in numbering of yeares, or circumſtance of Hiſtory, or in any point of doctrine, they are ſo fully and apparently reconciled by thoſe that have laboured therein, that there can bee no juſt colour of exception.

But for reall contradictions, never dreame there are any ſuch to bee found in the word of truth. In every part and parcell wherof there appeares ſuch an admirable ſutablneſſe concent and harmony of all things, though written at ſundry times, in ſundry places, by ſeverall perſons, and on ſeverall occaſions and arguments, as plainely ſpeakes it to bee the Word of God. The bookes of Scripture are not like the bookes of our Aſtrologers, that reforme one anothers calculations, and controle one anothers prognoſtications: but as they ſhoote all at one marke, ſo they agree all in one truth. There are above two hundred places of the old Teſtament cited in the New: ſo that almoſt in every needfull point, the harmony is expreſt. The Pſalmes are cited fiftie three times. Geneſis fourtie two times, Eſay 46. times, &c. This ſhewes the wonderfull agreement betwixt the books of both Teſtaments. Eſpecially ſince the teſtimonies of the old Teſtament cited in the New, are cited not only by way of Accommodation, but becauſe they are the proper meaning of the places: ſo that they all agree as if they were but one writing, yea one ſentence, yea one word, yea as if uttered by one mouth, ſo doe they ſound all one thing.Luke 1.70. Hinc Baſilius Scripturā foreign appellat. This ſhould exceedingly knit our hearts to the holy Scriptures, as the moſt delightfull Muſicke (far ſurpaſſing that which Pythagoras dream't to bee in the ayre among the ſpheres) and teach us when wee meete with doubts and objections, or ſeeming contradictions, to condemne our owne ignorance, and to reſt aſſured of this, that there is an infallibilitie in the promiſes, and a truth in the Scriptures, though we doe not yet ſee ſo much.

Section 6.

LAſtly are the holy Scriptures of God? Then can they not poſſibly bee aboliſhed, or brought to nought. If this counſell bee of God, ſaid that grave Counſellour Gamaliel, Acts 5.32.yee cannot overthrow it, leaſt haply yee bee found even to fight againſt God. There have beene a generation (of men ſhall I ſay, or monſters rather?) that have attempted to take armes againſt Heaven, thinking utterly to have razed and rooted out Gods Name and Book from under Heaven: but all in vaine. Manaſſeth and Amon, to draw the people to Idolatry, had ſuppreſſed the booke of the Law; but in the dayes of Ioſiah, it was found again, even in the ruines, and rubbiſh of the Temple.Ieremy 36.32. Iehoiachim cut in peeces and burnt Ieremies prophecies, but the Lord himſelfe ſet forth a ſecond edition hereof with an addition. Antiochus Epiphanes (alias Epimanes)that little Antichriſt, commanded that all the holy writings ſhould be burnt, 1 Machab. 1.59. Yet ſhortly after there were copies found that had beene reſcued from the fire, doubtleſſe, by good people, as young Joas was by Iehoiadah from his bloudy Grandmother. And within a while the Scriptures being by the ſeventy Seniours,Aristaeas. at the requeſt of Ptolomy King of Egypt, tranſlated into Greeke, were publiſhed a great part of the world over. Since that Diocleſian, the Emperour, commanded by proclamation the holy Scriptures to bee burnt, where ever they were found throughout the Roman Empire.Euſeb. lib. 8. c. 3. And what bonefires of Bibles the Papiſts have made in this kingdom, who knowes not? Before all this, Apocryphall Eſdras tells us (and many of the Ancient Fathers beleeved him) that when the Temple was burnt by the Babylonians in Ieremies time, all the holy Copies alſo were then burnt: and that they were reſtored againe by himſelfe, who being a perfect ſcribe, could perfectly remember, and renew them. But this narration of his is altogether unlikely to bee true. For. 1. There's no mention of any ſuch thing in the Canonicall Scripture, as neither in Ioſephus, Philo or Athanaſius, in ſynopſi de libris Moſis, duplicate page duplicate page who would not have paſſed it over. 2. Who can reaſonably imagine that thoſe good figges, Ezechiel, Daniel, and the reſt of the Religious captives at Babylon, or, that Ieremy, Gedaliah, Ebedmelech, and other holy men at home, could have been without the books of the Law for ſeventie yeares together? Its ſure that Daniel had the Bible, and therehence collected the number of the yeares of the captivity to bee now expired. Chap. 9.2. and verſe 13. he ſaith, as it is (not was) written in Moſes. 3. Beſides Ezra himſelfe chapter 6.18. teſtifies that the captives that returned to Ieruſalem had the law, and read in it. This was the Lords owne doing, and is (juſtly) marvellous in our eyes. Many a time have they afflicted me from my youth, may the Scripture now ſay.Pſa. 129.1, 3. Many a time have they afflicted me from my youth, yet have they not prevailed againſt mee. The plowers plowed upon my backe, &c. The righteous Lord hath cut aſunder the traces of the wicked. The rage of Tyrants hath overflowed it, and yet they could neither drowne, nor deface it; condemned it hath beene to the fire, yet could never be conſumed by the fire: rejected by the world, yet lives and raignes in deſpight of the world. Other books of what authority or excellency ſoever (as Tully de Republica, Origens Octapla) are utterly loſt, others that are come to our hands, are wofully maymed and mangled many of them. Not ſo the holy Bible, any part of the Canon. The booke of Iehu and the reſt that are periſhed, were not Canonicall, but (as the Chronicles of England) civile records of events of things in that kingdome of Iſrael: penned they were, ſaith Saint Auſtine, Non tam inſpiratione divina, quam humana diligentia. Aug. de civ. Dei. lib. 18. cap. 38. Non ad authoritatem religionis, ſed ad virtutem cognitienis. Jb.not by divine inſpiration, but by humane diligence, and thereupon he well inferres, that theſe Volumes did not appertaine to the proving or propagating Religion, but to the promoting, and inlarging of good literature among the Jewes. But admit that devilliſh attempt of Tyrants had beene effected, and all the Bibles in the world aboliſhed, yet the word of God could not be deſtroyed, becauſe the Archetype, the platforme, the Originall draught of it is in the eternall God. For ever, O Lord, Pſalme 119 1 Peter 1.thy word is ſtabliſht in heaven, ſaith David, and thy word of the Lord endureth for ever, ſaith Peter: it remaineth firme, as mount Sion, that can never be removed; and like the faithfull witneſſe in heaven, it ſtands faſt till time ſhall bee no more. So that if all the power on earth ſhould make warre againſt the very paper of the Scriptures, they cannot poſſibly deſtroy it: but the Word of God written will bee to bee had to the worlds end, Maugre the malice of earth, and hell. What God hath written, he hath written, and it ſhall ſtand inviolable, when heaven ſhall paſſe away with a great noiſe,1 Peter 3. and the earth with its workes ſhall bee burnt up. Man, had he never fallen from his firſt integrity, muſt have lived by the ſame law that wee doe now. His children ſhould have met, ſaith one, at the Tree of knowledge, as at an Altar or Temple,Bucholc. Chronol. p. 40. and there have ſolemnely performed, on the Sabbath day eſpecially, the great buſineſſe of Religion, repeating the Hiſtory of their Creation, worſhipping and praiſing God, their Creator, propagating his word, &c. Saint Paul alſo rapt up into the heavenly Paradiſe ceaſed not to profit in the doctrine of the Law and Prophets: though there hee had heard words unſpeakeable.2 Cor. 12 4. Paulus in tertiu uſ que coelum raptus non deſtitit tamen proficere in dectrina legis & prophetar…m Calv. He knew and ſaw that they live by no other law in Heaven then we doe. And albeit ſome ſpeciall duties of certaine commandements ſhall ceaſe, when we come to Heaven, yet the ſubſtance of every one remaineth for ever. For ſeeing the Image of God ſtandeth in righteouſneſſe and holineſſe, which are the two branches of the morall Law, it muſt needs tye us with an everlaſting bond, who were firſt made in that likenes, and whoſe perfection in heaven is to bee fully and wholly renewed thereunto. And this perpetuity and perennity of the morall Law, was not obſcurely noted by the engraving of it in ſtone, Exod. 34.27. 2 Cor. 3.7. &c.

The True Treasury, Chapter 3

p. 40CHAP. III.