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rendered, and as Drufius alfo doth interpret it; which is the way of life Ifaiah fpoke of; "an highway there "fhall be, and it fhall be called the way of holiness; "the unclean fhall not pafs over it, and wayfaring "men, though fools, fhall not err therein: there "hall be no lion there, nor ravenous beast to go "thereon, but the redeemed fhall walk there:" which way, teacher, guide, rule, light, fpirit, and holy unction, that directs and keeps in fteady paths of truth, is CHRIST JESUS Our Lord.

Obj. But do you not turn the fcriptures off, for an uncertain and unferviceable writing, and as good as reject and deny them altogether?

Anfw. Some indeed, to render us odious to all Proteftants, have faid as much in our names, as the confequence of our principles; but not without great injustice to us.

The fcriptures are uncertain upon their foundation, but not upon ours. Doth our manifefting their faith concerning the fcriptures to be grounded upon their own imaginations, or human traditions, make void the fcriptures, or render them uncertain? By no means; for we would have them received upon the spirit's teftimony and evidence, which gave them forth. And though we cannot allow them to be the rule of faith and life, under the difpenfation of the gospel, which is power and life itself; yet are they to be reverently read, believed, and fulfilled, under the gospel. For notwithstanding the law written upon ftone was nót Paul's rule, after the Son of God was revealed in him; yet the Son of God taught Paul to fulfil the righteousness declared by that law. If it be to deny and reject (as fome have enviously said of us) yea, to vilify the fçripture, because we cannot allow it to be the rule, &c. Paul then may be faid to deny, reject, and vilify the written law, at what time the law of the fpirit of life in Chrift Jefus became his rule. There is a great difference between afferting that the Gg 2 fpirit

fpirit is the rule, and cafting away and vilifying of fcripture. And indeed it is but an old fetch of the devil's, to pretend honour to the letter, that he might the more unfufpectedly oppofe the bringing in of the difpenfation of the fpirit; which the letter itself teftifies of and to. They that come to be led of the fpirit, arrive at the end for which the fcripture was given forth the apostle John did as good as fay the fame thing, when he told them to whom he wrote, "that the anointing which they had received, and "abode in them, would lead them into all truth; and "that they needed not that any man fhould teach "them:" to deny this to have been the faints teacher, is to deny as plain a propofition as is in the whole fcripture and that one age of Christianity should have one rule, and another age another rule; that age the Spirit, and this but the letter, is more than any man can prove. Yet, did John's fo writing to the believers invalidate the fcripture, or vilify his own epiftle? I would think none could talk fo idly. How then doth our exalting the light and fpirit of Chrift, which fulfils the fcriptures (by bringing fuch as are led by it to enjoy the good things therein declared) reject and vilify the fcriptures? Does our living up to them, by an higher rule, make us deny and reprobate them? Erafmus and Grotius think them then to be most valued, when men are witneffes of their truth in themfelves fee them on 2 Pet. i. 19, 20. I do acknowledge they contain an account of feveral heavenly prophecies, godly reproofs, inftructions and examples, that ought to be obeyed, and followed.

Obj. If fo, then how are they not a rule of faith and life?

Anfw. A rule, and the rule, are two things. By the rule of faith and practice, I understand, the living, fpiritual, immediate, omniprefent, difcovering, ordering, Spirit of God: and by a rule, I apprehend fome inftrument, by and through which this great and univerfal

univerfal rule may convey its directions. Such a fubordinate, fecondary, and declaratory rule, we never faid feveral parts of fcripture were not yet we confess the reafon of our obedience is not merely because they are there written (for that were legal) but because they are the eternal precepts of the spirit, in mens confciences, there repeated and declared. It is the testimony of the spirit, which is the true rule for believing and understanding of the fcripture; therefore not the fcripture, but the Spirit of truth, must be the rule for our believing and understanding them. Thus held the ancients.

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Tertullian faith, Worldly wisdom the Lord calls • foolishness. He hath chofen the foolish things of the world, to the confounding of philofophy; for that is the matter of worldly wifdom. A divine interpreter of the divine nature and difpofings."' Juftin Martyr, in Expofit. Fid. The interpretation of the scriptures is to be accommodated to the will ⚫ of the doctrine of the spirit; and not to human rea<fonings.'

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Hieron faith, The fcriptures must be opened with fpiritual expofition.*'

Epiphanius faith, Only to the children of the Holy Ghost all the fcriptures are plain and clear.'

Nor were the most approved Proteftants of any fort (who have been fo reputed in oppofition to Popery) of another mind. It is the fubftance of the fourth article exhibited against the Lutherans, in the council of Trent, as an erroneous doctrine they held, ‹ That to understand the fcripture, neither glofs nor comment is neceffary; but only to have the spirit of a fheep of Chrift's pasture."

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Erafmus tells us, What man fets forth by man's device, may be received by man's wit: but the

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t Bp. Rob. Sand. de Regul. Conf. Præl. 4ta. Sect. 31. tul. de Præfcrip. Herætic. p. 204. Dell. Confut. of Simpf. p. 89, 90. Hieron. tom. 4. 7. Bp. Jewel. p. 532. lano. Hiftor. Counç. Tr. p. 150.

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thing that is fet forth by the inspiration of the Holy Ghoft, requireth an interpreter infpired with the like fpirit; and without the infpiration of it, the fecrets of God cannot be known."

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Luther giveth us his mind thus: The fcriptures ⚫ are not to be understood, but by that very spirit by which they were writ."'

Peter Martyr, that famous Italian Proteftant, teacheth us, The fpirit is the abettor, by which we must affure ourselves for understanding the fcriptures, that thereby we must difcern between Chrift's words, and a ftranger's; quoting Chrift's words, " My "fheep know my voice," and feveral other places of fcripture. Again,

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The fpirit of God revealeth the truth in the fcriptures."'

H. Bullinger, decad. 4. ferm. 8. Men fetch the understanding of heavenly things, and knowledge of the Holy Ghoft, from no where else, but from the "Same Spirit.'

John Bradford answered to the archbishop of York thus: We know the fcriptures, as Chrift's fheep, by the fame Spirit that wrote and spake them; being thereby affured,' &c."

Calvin teacheth thus in his Inftitutes; It is neceffary the fame Spirit that fpake by the mouth of the prophets, fhould pierce into our hearts, to perfuade us that they faithfully delivered that which was ⚫ committed to them of God."'

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Beza faith, That the way of understanding prophecies, and referring them to the right fcope, must be fought or fetched from the fame fpirit which ⚫ dictated them to the prophets themselves; and more to that purpose.

W. Tindal, called the English apoftle by J. Fox, faith, It is impoffible to understand in the scripture a Luther, tom. 3. fol.

Erafmus on 1 Pet. i. 19. on 1 Cor. ii.

169. ↳ Peter Martyr Com. loc. p. 1. c. 6. d Book of Martyrs, 3 vol. p. 298.

c. 18.

lib. I. c. 8.

f Beza on 2 Pet, i. 19.

c Ibid. p. 2.

e Calvin. Inftit.

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more than a Turk, for any that hath not the law of God, writ in the heart, to fulfil it.'

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Bp. Jewel fays thus against Harding, The fpirit of God is bound neither to fharpnefs of wit, nor to abundance of learning: flesh and blood is not • able to understand the holy will of God, without Special revelation. Without this Special help, and prompting of God's Spirit, the fcripture is to the reader, be he never fo wife and learned, as the vifion of a fealed book."'

Dr. Ames, a great father of the Independents, faith upon occafion of Bellarmin's words, The anointing of the Holy Spirit doth teach the faithful to under• ftand those things which they received of the apof<tles; therefore to understand the fcriptures in those things which are neceffary to falvation;" with more to that purpose.

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Vatablus on Job xxxii. 8. with Drufius, Clarius, and others, speak to the fame effect.

G. Cradock, a famous Independent preacher, preached, that the fcripture is a speechless thing without the fpirit.*'

Ch. Goad, an eminent Separate, in his works ftiled B. D. of K. college, in Cambridge, and an Independent paftor thus taught, There is no knowledge of * Chrift, nor of the fcripture, but by revelation.

Dr. J. Owen, a man of greatest fame among the prefent Independents, faith, The public, authentic, and infallible interpreter of the holy fcriptures, is he who is the author of them; from the breathing of whose spirit they derive all their verity, perspicuity, and authority.""

So that we fee, upon the judgment of many confiderable perfons, the fcripture is no rule for our believing and understanding of itfelf; and therefore not

* Tindal's Works, p. 319 & 80. h Jewel against Harding, p. 532, 534. i Dr. Ames againft Bellarm. 1. 1. c. 6. Thef. 32. G. Cradock's Divine Drops, p. 217. 1 C. Goad's Refr. Drops, Exercit. 2. 7. 9. against Quak.

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