Part 8
Shall we then dare to ascribe unto Christ, in the ordering of his Church and Servants, that which in Man might justly be accounted Disorder and Confusion? [Sidenote: _Diversities of Gifts._] The Apostle sheweth this Distinction well, Rom. xii. 6, 7, 8. _Having then Gifts differing according to the Grace that is given to us; whether Prophecy, let us prophesy according to the Proportion of Faith; or Ministry, let us wait on our Ministring; or he that teacheth, on Teaching; or he that exhorteth, on Exhortation._ Now what Scripture-rule sheweth me that I ought to exhort, rather than prophesy? or to minister, rather than teach? Surely none at all. Many more Difficulties of this Kind occur in the Life of a Christian.
[Sidenote: _Of Faith and Salvation can the Scripture assure thee?_] Moreover, that which of all Things is most needful for him to know, to wit, whether he really be in the Faith, and an Heir of Salvation, or not, the Scripture can give him no Certainty in, neither can it be a Rule to him. That this Knowledge is exceeding desirable and comfortable all do unanimously acknowledge; besides that it is especially commanded, 2 _Cor._ xiii. 5. _Examine yourselves whether ye be in the Faith, prove yourselves; know ye not your own selves, how that Jesus Christ is in you, except ye be Reprobates?_ And 2 _Pet._ i. 10. _Wherefore the rather, Brethren, give all Diligence to make your Calling and Election sure._ Now I say, What Scripture-rule can assure me that I have true Faith? That my Calling and Election is sure?
If it be said, _By comparing the Scripture-marks of true Faith with mine_:
I demand, Wherewith shall I make this Observation? What shall ascertain me that I am not mistaken? It cannot be the Scripture: That is the Matter under Debate.
If it be said, _My own Heart_:
How unfit a Judge is it in its own Case? And how like to be partial, especially if it be yet unrenewed? Doth not the Scripture say, that _it is deceitful above all Things_? [Sidenote: _The Heart of Man deceitful._] I find the Promises, I find the Threatenings in the Scripture; but who telleth me that the one belongs to me more than the other? The Scripture gives me a mere Declaration of these Things, but makes no Application; so that the Assumption must be of my own making, thus; as for Example: I find this Proposition in Scripture;
_He that believes, shall be saved_: Thence I draw the Assumption.
But I, _Robert, believe_:
Therefore, _I shall be saved_.
The _Minor_ is of my own making, not expressed in the Scripture; and so a human Conclusion, not a divine Position; so that my Faith and Assurance here is not built upon a Scripture Proposition, but upon an human Principle; which, unless I be sure of elsewhere, the Scripture gives me no Certainty in the Matter.
Again, If I should pursue the Argument further, and seek a new _Medium_ out of the Scripture, the same Difficulty would occur: Thus,
He that hath the true and certain Marks of true Faith, hath true Faith:
But I have those Marks:
_Therefore_ I have true Faith.
For the Assumption is still here of my own making, and is not found in the Scriptures; and by Consequence the Conclusion can be no better, since it still followeth the weaker Proposition. [Sidenote: _The inward Testimony of the Spirit the Seal of Scripture-Promises._] This is indeed so pungent, that the best of _Protestants_, who plead for this Assurance, ascribe it to the inward Testimony of the Spirit, as _Calvin_, in that large Citation, quoted in the Former Proposition. So that, not to seek farther into the Writings of the primitive _Protestants_, which are full of such Expressions, even the _Westminster_ Confession of Faith affirmeth, _Chap._ 18. _Sect._ 12. “This Certainty is not a bare Conjecture and probable Persuasion, grounded upon fallible Hope, but an infallible Assurance of Faith, founded upon the Divine Truth of the Promise of Salvation; the inward Evidences of these Graces, unto which these Promises are made; the Testimony of the Spirit of Adoption, witnessing to our Spirits that we are the Children of God; which Spirit is the _Earnest_ of our _Inheritance, whereby we are sealed to the Day of Redemption_.”
Moreover, the Scripture itself, wherein we are so earnestly pressed to seek after this Assurance, doth not at all affirm itself a Rule sufficient to give it, but wholly ascribeth it to the Spirit, as _Rom._ viii. 16. _The Spirit itself beareth Witness with our Spirit, that we are the Children of God._ 1 John iv. 13. _Hereby know we that we dwell in him, and he in us, because he hath given us of his Spirit_; and Chap. v. 6. _And it is the Spirit that beareth Witness, because the Spirit is Truth._
§. IV. [Sidenote: _That the Scriptures are not the chief Rule._] _Lastly_, That cannot be the only, principal, nor chief Rule, which doth not universally reach every Individual that needeth it to produce the necessary Effect; and from the Use of which, either by some innocent and sinless Defect, or natural, yet harmless and blameless Imperfection, many who are within the Compass of the visible Church, and may, without Absurdity, yea, with great Probability, be accounted of the Elect, are necessarily excluded, and that either wholly, or at least from the immediate Use thereof. [Sidenote: _1. Deaf People Children, and Idiots instanced._] But it so falls out frequently concerning the Scriptures, in the Case of deaf People, Children, and Idiots, who can by no Means have the Benefit of the Scriptures. Shall we then affirm, that they are without any Rule to God-ward, or that they are all damned? As such an Opinion is in itself very absurd, and inconsistent both with the Justice and Mercy of God, so I know no sound Reason can be alledged for it. Now if we may suppose any such to be under the _New Covenant Dispensation_, as I know none will deny but that we may suppose it without any Absurdity, we cannot suppose them without some Rule and Means of Knowledge; seeing it is expresly affirmed, _They shall all be taught of God_, John vi. 45. _And they shall all know me from the least to the greatest_, Heb. viii. 11.
But Secondly, Though we were rid of this Difficulty, how many illiterate and yet good Men are there in the Church of God, who cannot read a Letter in their own Mother Tongue? Which Imperfection, though it be inconvenient, I cannot tell whether we may safely affirm it to be sinful. These can have no immediate Knowledge of the Rule of their Faith; so their Faith must needs depend upon the Credit of other Men’s Reading or Relating it unto them; where either the altering, adding, or omitting of a little Word may be a Foundation in the poor Hearer of a very dangerous Mistake, whereby he may either continue in some Iniquity ignorantly, or believe a Lie confidently. [Sidenote: 2. Papists _conceal the Second Commandment from the People._] As for Example, The _Papists_ in all their Catechisms, and publick Exercises of Examinations towards the People, have boldly cut away the Second Command, because it seems so expresly to strike against their Adoration and Use of Images; whereas many of these People, in whom by this Omission this false Opinion is fostered, are under a simple Impossibility, or at least a very great Difficulty, to be outwardly informed of this Abuse. But further; suppose all could read the Scriptures in their own Language; where is there one of a Thousand that hath that thorough Knowledge of the Original Languages, in which they are written, so as in that Respect immediately to receive the Benefit of them? [Sidenote: 3. _The Uncertainty of the _Interpreters_ of the Scripture, and their Adulterating it._] Must not all these here depend upon the Honesty and Faithfulness of the Interpreter? Which how uncertain it is for a Man to build his Faith upon, the many Corrections, Amendments, and various Essays, which even among _Protestants_ have been used (whereof the latter have constantly blamed and corrected the former, as Guilty of Defects and Errors) doth sufficiently declare. And that even the last Translators in the vulgar Languages need to be corrected (as I could prove at large, were it proper in this Place) learned Men do confess.
But last of all, there is no less Difficulty occurs even to those skilled in the Original Languages, who cannot so immediately receive the Mind of the Authors in these Writings, as that their Faith doth not at least obliquely depend upon the Honesty and Credit of the Transcribers, since the Original Copies are granted by all not to be now extant. [Sidenote: Jerome _Epist. 28. ad_ Lucin. _p. 247._] Of which Transcribers _Jerome_ in his Time complained, saying, _That they wrote not what they found, but what they understood._ [Sidenote: _Epiph. in Anachor. Tom. Oper._] And _Epiphanius_ saith, _That in the good and correct Copies of _Luke_ it was written, that _Christ Wept_, and that _Irenæus_ doth cite it; but that the _Catholicks_ blotted it out, fearing lest Hereticks should have abused it._ Other Fathers also declare, _That whole Verses were taken out of _Mark_, because of the_ Manichees.
[Sidenote: _The various Readings of the _Hebrew_ Character_, &c.] But further, the various Readings of the _Hebrew Character_ by Reason of the _Points_, which some plead for, as coæval with the first Writings, which others, with no less Probability, alledge to be a later Invention; the Disagreement of divers Citations of Christ and the Apostles with those Passages in the Old Testament they appeal to; the great Controversy among the Fathers, whereof some highly approve the _Greek Septuagint_, decrying and rendering very doubtful the _Hebrew Copy_, as in many Places vitiated, and altered by the _Jews_; other some, and particularly _Jerome_, exalting the Certainty of the _Hebrew_, and rejecting, yea, even deriding the History of the _Septuagint_, which the Primitive Church chiefly made use of; and some Fathers that lived Centuries before him, affirmed to be a most certain Thing; and the many various Readings in divers Copies of the _Greek_, and the great Altercations among the Fathers of the first three Centuries, who had greater Opportunity to be better informed than we can now lay claim to, concerning the Books to be admitted or rejected, as is above observed; I say, all these and much more which might be alledged, puts the Minds even of the Learned into infinite Doubts, Scruples, and inextricable Difficulties: Whence we may very safely conclude, that Jesus Christ, who promised to be _always_ with his Children, to lead them into _all Truth_, to guard them against the Devices of the Enemy, and to establish their Faith upon an _unmoveable Rock_, left them not to be principally ruled by that, which was subject in itself to many Uncertainties: And therefore he gave them his _Spirit_ as their principal Guide, which neither Moths nor Time can wear out, nor Transcribers nor Translators corrupt; which none are so young, none so illiterate, none in so remote a Place but they may come to be reached, and rightly informed by it.
Through and by the Clearness which that Spirit gives us, it is that we are only best rid of those Difficulties that occur to us concerning the Scriptures. The real and undoubted Experience whereof I myself have been a Witness of, with great Admiration of the Love of God to his Children in these latter Days: [Sidenote: _Wrong Translations of Scripture discerned in the Spirit by the Unlearned in Letters._] For I have known some of my Friends who profess the same Faith with me, faithful Servants of the Most High God, and full of Divine Knowledge of his Truth, as it was immediately and inwardly revealed to them by the Spirit, from a true and living Experience, who not only were ignorant of the _Greek_ and _Hebrew_, but even some of them could not read their own vulgar Language, who being pressed by their Adversaries with some Citations out of the _English_ Translation, and finding them to disagree with the Manifestation of Truth in their own Hearts, have boldly affirmed the Spirit of God never said so, and that it was certainly wrong; for they did not believe that any of the holy Prophets or Apostles had ever written so; which when I on this Account seriously examined, I really found to be Errors and Corruptions of the Translators; who (as in most Translations) do not so much give us the genuine Signification of the Words, as strain them to express that which comes nearest to that Opinion and Notion they have of Truth. And this seemed to me to suit very well with that Saying of _Augustine, Epist._ 19. _ad Hier. Tom._ ii. Fol. 14. after he has said, “That he gives only that Honour to those Books which are called _Canonical_, as to believe that the Authors thereof did in Writing not err,” he adds, “And if I shall meet with any Thing in these Writings that seemeth repugnant to Truth, I shall not doubt to say, that either the Volume is faulty or erroneous; that the Expounder hath not reached what was said; or that I have in no wise understood it.” So that he supposes that in the Transcription and Translation there may be Errors.
§. V. [Sidenote: Object.] If it be then asked me, _Whether I think hereby to render the Scriptures altogether uncertain, or useless?_
[Sidenote: _Answ._] I answer; Not at all. The Proposition itself declares how much I esteem them; and provided that to the Spirit from which they came be but granted that Place the Scriptures themselves give it, I do freely concede to the Scriptures the second Place, even whatsoever they say of themselves; which the Apostle _Paul_ chiefly mentions in two Places, _Rom._ xv. 4. _Whatsoever Things were written aforetime, were written for our Learning, that we through Patience and Comfort of the Scriptures might have Hope._ 2 Tim. iii. 15, 16, 17. _The Holy Scriptures are able to make wise unto Salvation, through Faith which is in Jesus Christ. All Scripture given by Inspiration of God, is profitable for Correction, for Instruction in Righteousness, that the Man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto every good Work._
For though God doth principally and chiefly lead us by his Spirit, yet he sometimes conveys his Comfort and Consolation to us through his Children, whom he raises up and inspires to speak or write a Word in Season, [Sidenote: _The Saints mutual Comfort is the same Spirit in all._] whereby the Saints are made Instruments in the Hand of the Lord to strengthen and encourage one another, which doth also tend to perfect and make them wise unto Salvation; and such as are led by the Spirit cannot neglect, but do naturally love, and are wonderfully cherished by, that which proceedeth from the same Spirit in another; because such mutual Emanations of the heavenly Life tend to quicken the Mind, when at any Time it is overtaken with Heaviness. _Peter_ himself declares this to have been the End of his Writing, 2 _Pet._ i. 12, 13. _Wherefore I will not be negligent to put you always in Remembrance of these Things, though ye know them, and be established in the present Truth; yea, I think it meet, as long as I am in this Tabernacle, to stir you up, by putting you in Remembrance._
God is Teacher of his People himself; and there is nothing more express, than that such as are under the New Covenant, _need no Man to teach them_: Yet it was a Fruit of Christ’s Ascension to send Teachers and Pastors for perfecting of the Saints. So that the same Work is ascribed to the Scriptures as to Teachers; the one to make the Man of God perfect, the other for the Perfection of the Saints.
As then Teachers are not to go before the teaching of God himself under the New Covenant, but to follow after it; neither are they to rob us of that great Privilege which Christ hath purchased unto us by his _Blood_; so neither is the Scripture to go before the teaching of the Spirit, or to rob us of it.
[Sidenote: _Answ._ 2.] _Secondly_, God hath seen meet that herein we should, [Sidenote: _The Scriptures a Looking-Glass._] as in a Looking-Glass, see the Conditions and Experiences of the Saints of old; that finding our Experience answer to theirs, we might thereby be the more confirmed and comforted, and our Hope of obtaining the same End strengthened; that observing the Providences attending them, seeing the Snares they were liable to, and beholding their Deliverances, we may thereby be made wise unto Salvation, and seasonably reproved and instructed in Righteousness.
[Sidenote: _The Scriptures Work and Service._] This is the great Work of the Scriptures, and their Service to us, that we may witness them fulfilled _in_ us, and so discern the Stamp of God’s Spirit and Ways upon them, by the inward Acquaintance we have with the same Spirit and Work in our Hearts. The Prophecies of the Scriptures are also very comfortable and profitable unto us, as the same Spirit enlightens us to observe them fulfilled, and to be fulfilled; for in all this it is to be observed, that it is only the Spiritual Man that can make a right Use of them: They are able to make the Man of God perfect (so it is not the Natural Man) and whatsoever was written aforetime, was written for _our Comfort_, [_our_] that are the Believers, [_our_] that are the Saints; concerning such the Apostle speaks: For as for the others, the Apostle _Peter_ plainly declares, that the _Unstable and Unlearned wrest them to their own Destruction_: These were they that were unlearned in the Divine and Heavenly Learning of the Spirit, not in Human and School Literature; in which we may safely presume that _Peter_ himself, being a Fisherman, had no Skill; for it may with great Probability, yea Certainty, be affirmed, [Sidenote: _Logick._] that he had no Knowledge of _Aristotle_’s Logick, which both _Papists_ and _Protestants_ now,[47] degenerating from the Simplicity of Truth, make the Handmaid of Divinity, as they call it, and a necessary Introduction to their carnal, natural, and human Ministry. By the infinite obscure Labours of which Kind of Men, intermixing their Heathenish Stuff, the Scripture is rendered at this Day of so little Service to the simple People: Whereof if _Jerome_ complained in his Time, now twelve Hundred Years ago, _Jerome_ Epist. 134. _ad Cypr._ Tom. 3. saying, _It is wont to befal the most Part of learned Men, that it is harder to understand their Expositions, than the Things which they go about to expound_: what may we say now, considering those great Heaps of Commentaries since, in Ages yet far more corrupted?
[47] 1675.
§. VI. [Sidenote: _The Scriptures a Secondary Rule._] In this Respect above-mentioned then we have shewn what Service and Use the Holy Scriptures, as managed in and by the Spirit, are of to the Church of God; wherefore we do account them a Secondary Rule. Moreover, because they are commonly acknowledged by all to have been written by the Dictates of the Holy Spirit, and that the Errors which may be supposed by the Injury of Times to have slipt in, are not such but that there is a sufficient clear Testimony left to all the Essentials of the Christian Faith; we do look upon them as the only fit outward judge of Controversies among Christians; and that whatsoever Doctrine is contrary unto their Testimony, may therefore justly be rejected as false. And for our Parts, we are very willing that all our Doctrines and Practices be tried by them; which we never refused, nor ever shall, in all Controversies with our Adversaries, as the judge and Test. We shall also be very willing to admit it as a positive certain Maxim, _That whatsoever any do, pretending to the Spirit, which is contrary to the Scriptures, be accounted and reckoned a Delusion of the Devil_. For as we never lay claim to the Spirit’s Leadings, that we may cover ourselves in any Thing that is evil; so we know, that as every Evil contradicts the Scriptures, so it doth also the Spirit in the first Place, from which the Scriptures came, and whose Motions can never contradict one another, though they may appear sometimes to be contradictory to the blind Eye of the natural Man, as _Paul_ and _James_ seem to contradict one another.
Thus far we have shewn both what we believe, and what we believe not, concerning the Holy Scriptures, hoping we have given them their due Place. But since they that will needs have them to be the only, certain, and principal Rule, want not some Shew of Arguments, even from the Scripture itself (though it no where calls itself so) by which they labour to prove their Doctrine; I shall briefly lay them down by Way of Objections, and answer them, before I make an End of this Matter.
§. VII. [Sidenote: Obj. 1.] Their first Objection is usually drawn from _Isaiah_ viii. 20. _To the Law and to the Testimony; if they speak not according to this Word, it is because there is no Light in them._ Now this _Law_, _Testimony_, and _Word_, they plead to be the Scriptures.
[Sidenote: _Answ._] To which I answer; That that is to beg the Thing in Question, and remains yet unproved. Nor do I know for what Reason we may not safely affirm this _Law_ and _Word_ to be _Inward_: But suppose it was _Outward_, it proves not the Case at all for them, neither makes it against us; for it may be confessed, without any Prejudice to our Cause, that the outward Law was more particularly to the _Jews_ a Rule, and more principally than to us; seeing their Law was outward and literal, but ours, under the New Covenant (as hath been already said) is expresly affirmed to be _Inward_ and _Spiritual_; so that this Scripture is so far from making against us, that it makes for us. [Sidenote: _To try all Things, by what?_] For if the _Jews_ were directed to try all Things by their Law, which was without them, written in Tables of Stone; then if we will have this Advice of the Prophet to reach us, we must make it hold parallel to that Dispensation of the Gospel which we are under: So that we are to try all Things, in the first Place, by that _Word of Faith_ which is preached unto us, which the Apostle saith is _in the Heart_; and by that Law which God hath given us, which the Apostle saith also expresly _is written and placed in the Mind_.
_Lastly_, If we look to this Place according to the _Greek_ Interpretation of the _Septuagint_, our Adversaries shall have nothing from thence to carp; yea, it will favour us much; for there it is said, that _the Law is given us for an Help_; which very well agrees with what is above asserted.
[Sidenote: Obj. 2.] Their second Objection is from _John_ v. 39. _Search the Scriptures_, &c.
_Here, _say they_, we are commanded, _by Christ himself_, to search the Scriptures._