Right Thoughts, Part 2 · Section 1
Sect. I.
IN thinking of SCRIPTURE, that it is foreign, All divinely inſpired, and a ſufficient Rule in all things pertaining to God and our Souls, Able to make the man of God perfect, throughly furniſhed to every good work, able to make wiſe to Salvation, and therefore to be ſearched by every one that deſires to be Saved; Search the Scriptures (ſaith our Saviour) for in them ye think to have Eternal Life, and they are They that teſtifie of Me. Now to think otherwiſe of Scripture then we are taught by it, is to think ſtrangely of it, which is a thing the great God takes ſtrangely at their hands that do it, (a diſhonour done to our Spiritual MAGNA CHARTA, the great Charrer of our Salvation.) I have WRITTEN to Him (ſaith God) the GREAT THINGS of my Law, Hoſea 8.12.but they counted them as a ſtrange thing. Great things, indeed muſt we needs think them, being ſent from the Great God, Exod. 8.19. John 11.74.confirmed by Great Works and Miracles, Many in Number, Mighty in Nature, uncontrolable and infallible in their Evidence, witneſſed by Friends, confeſſed by Enemies, admired by All, in ſucceſſion of Ages attending the Holy Pen-Men, and the Doctrine thereof.
And yet alas …how ſtrangely have theſe things of HOLY WRIT been thought of (even as the Holy men themſelves) as Troublers of States,Acts 24.5. and Movers of Sedition throughout all the World, and as Ring-leaders of all Sects and Schiſmes. And therefore 'tis the wiſdom and the piety of Popery to take away this dangerous Key of Knowledge from the Common People,Luke 11.52. and to perſwade that ignorance is the Mother of Devotion, (they mean ſure their own Devotion,) but God calls Ignorance the Mother of Deſtruction, when he ſaith,Hoſea 4.6. My People are deſtroyed for lack of knowledge.
But thanks be to God, We have not ſo learned Chriſt, Scriptures muſt be ſearched by All. Pſal. 119.7. Magiſtrates. Deut. 17.1…. Pſal. 119.24. Miniſters.as to dare to think that Book unfit for the ſtudy and reading of the meaneſt, which God hath ordained for making wiſe the ſimple, that cryes to the ſimple, turn in hither, and declaredly puts it ſelf (as I may ſay) into the Hands of all ſorts and ſizes, conditions, ages, and ſexes, The Prince muſt read in it all the days of his Life, and think it his ſafety to take the Teſtimonies thereof to be the Men of his Councel. And the Officers in Gods Houſe muſt be ready Scribes in the Law of God, (as was ſaid of Ezrah,) Yea,Ezra 7.6. People. Rom. 10.8. this is the Comfort of all the People of God, to have this Word nigh them, even in their mouths, and in th…ir Hearts, for ſaith the Apoſtle to Community of the People,Col. 3.16. Let the word of Chriſt dwell in you richly, that they through patience and comfort of the SCRIPTURES might have hope; Rom. 15.4. Deut. 3.6. Old.Yea, this is their wiſdom (ſaith Moſes) in the ſight of all Nations. Here none may think themſelves too old to learn, for David by this ſtudy came to underſtand more then the Ancients; Pſal. 11.10. Young. Pſal. 119.9. Women. Children. 2 Tim. 3.15.Nor too young neither, for wherewithall ſhall a young man cleanſe his way? by taking beed thereto according to thy Word. Yea, and Women and Children are commended in Scripture, for their ſtudy and knowledge of it; Thus Timothy is commended for this, that from a Child he had known the Holy Scriptures, continue in the things that thou haſt learned and been aſſured of (ſaith S. Paul) knowing of whom thou haſt learned them,Chap. 1.5. (viz. of Lois his Grandmother, Acts 16.1.and his Mother Eunice, which was a Jeweſs, and believed, but his Father was a Greek.
And the truth is, for any one to think that the Scripture is not to be read by any but thoſe that underſtand it perfectly, is to think that it is to be read by none, till there will be no more need of Reading it, for here the Ableſt and moſt knowing do know but in part, 2 Cor. 13.9.and do Propheſy but in part; And therefore it is that We have this ſure word of Propheſy, 2 Peter 1.19.whereunto (we are to think that) We do well to take heed as unto a light ſhining in a dark place, until the day of Glory dawn, and the Day-Star ariſe in our Hearts, the Interpretation and Explication of which word of Prophecy we are taught,Verſe 20. True meaning how to be ſought. 1 Cor. 2.15. in the next Verſes, not to ſeek as ſome do) from our own private Phanſies, but by comparing the New Teſtament, with the Prophecies of the Old, Scripture with Scripture, Spiritual things with Spiritual, and in all our ſtudy and reading moſt humbly to implore, and believingly to wait for the guidance of that Spirit that indited and gave it forth, for as was the Geneſis, 1 Peter 1.20.ſo muſt be the Analyſis, for it came not in old time by the will of Man, therefore may, by no means, be expounded by mans will, but Holy men of God ſpake as they were moved by the Holy Ghoſt. And therefore the Bereans are highly commended in that they received the Word preached with all readineſs of mind, Acts 17.11.and ſearched the Scriptures whether thoſe things were ſo.
He therefore that thinks rightly of SCRIPTURE, eſteems it his Darling, to be laid in his Boſom, to be bid in his Heart (as the Pſalmiſt ſpeaks) the incorruptible ſeed, Pſal. 119.11.whereby he was born again from the miſerable ſtate of Corrupt Nature;1 Pet. 1.23. for the Law of the Lord, and the Teſtimonies of the Lord are they that convert the ſoul, and make wiſe the ſimple; Pſal. 1.7.the ſincere milk, whereby he was nouriſhed as ſoon as new born, and his ſtrong meat when he is grown up to be a ſtrong man, for man lives not by Bread only, Heb. 5.13, 14. Math. 4.4. Jer. 15.16. Job 23.12.but by every word that proceedeth from the mouth of God. Therefore when he finds theſe words, he eats them, as Jeremy; Yea eſteems them, as Job, more then his neceſſary food; And as his food when he is well, ſo his Phyſick when he is ſick, he holds faſt the form of ſound words, 2 Tim. 1.13.foreign, of healing words, ſo the Greek; for God ſends his Word and heals, and delivereth from deſtructions; his Antidote againſt Infection,Pſal. 17.4. for concerning the works of men (ſaith David) by the word of thy lips I have kept me from the paths of the Deſtroyer; his weapon, when he warreth, for the Sword of the Spirit is the Word of God, Epheſ. 6.17.and this was it that our Saviour foiled Satan with, and kept him off at the points end of,Mat. 4.4, 7, 10, 11. It is WRITTEN (ſaith Chriſt) thus and thus, then the Devil leaveth Him; his light when he walks or works by day and his Lamp or Lantern to his feet by night, his beſt friends Will and Teſtament, confirmed by the Death of the Teſtator; Heb. 9.16. Pſal, 119.111.He takes Gods Teſtimonies as an Heritage for ever, and thinks it leſs pernitious to the World to have the Sun plucked out of the Firmament, then the Bible taken away from the ſight of the Sons of Men.