14. Chapter I.

Chapter I.

Usurpation by Rome of the Interpretation of Scripture

Usurpation of the church of Rome with reference to the interpretation of the Scripture, or the right understanding of the mind of God in this — The right and ability of all believers as to their own duty in this is asserted — Importance of the truth proposed — The main question stated — The principal efficient cause of the understanding which believers have in the mind and will of God as revealed in the Scriptures, the Spirit of God himself — General assertions to be proved — Declared in various particulars — Inferences from them. Our belief that the Scriptures are the word of God, or a divine revelation, and our understanding of the mind and will of God as revealed in them, are the two springs of all our interest in Christian religion. From them are derived all those streams of light and truth by which our souls are watered, refreshed, and made fruitful to God. It therefore concerns us greatly to look well to those springs, that they are neither stopped nor defiled, and so rendered useless to us. Though a man may have pleasant streams running by his habitation, and watering his inheritance, if their springs are in the power of others who can either divert their course or poison their waters, then he must always depend on their pleasure for the benefit of them.

Thus has it fallen out in the world in this matter — so the church of Rome has endeavored to deal with all Christians. Their main endeavor is to seize those springs of religion into their own power. The Scripture itself, they tell us, cannot be believed to be the word of God with divine faith except on the proposal and testimony of their church; thereby one spring is secured. And when it is believed to be so, it ought not to be interpreted, it cannot be understood, except according to the mind, judgment, and exposition of that same church; which in like manner secures the other spring. Having possessed these springs of Christian religion from of old, they have dealt with them as might be expected from unjust invaders of other men’s rights, and bad faith possessors.207 So when the Philistines contended for the wells which Abraham and Isaac had dug, when they had gotten possession of them they stopped them up; and when the scribes and Pharisees had gotten the key of knowledge, they would neither enter into the kingdom of God themselves, nor allow those who would, to do so, as our Savior tells us.208 For one of these springs, which is the letter of the Scripture itself, when it ought to have poured out like the waters of the sanctuary to refresh the church and make it fruitful unto God, they partly stopped it up and partly diverted its course, by shutting it up in an unknown tongue and barring the people using it. And in the exercise of their pretended right to the other spring, or the sole interpretation of the Scripture, they have poisoned the streams with all manner of errors and delusions, so that they became not only useless, but noxious and pernicious to the souls of men. For under this pretense — namely, that their church has the sole power to interpret the Scriptures, and cannot err in this — they have obtruded all their errors, with all their abominations in worship and practice, on the minds and consciences of men. In the former discourse on this subject, I have taken the first of these springs out of their hand, so far as we ourselves are concerned in this — or I have vindicated the just right of all Christians to this spring, and have given them possession of it. I did this by declaring the true grounds and reasons on which we do (and on which anyone can) truly believe that the Scripture is the word of God with divine and supernatural faith. For besides other advantages with which the knowledge of that truth is accompanied, it dispossesses the Romanists of their claim to this fountain of religion by evidencing that we do and ought to thus believe the divine origin of the Scripture, without any regard to the testimony or authority of their church.

What now lies before us is the vindication of the right of all believers to the other spring also, or a right understanding of the mind and will of God as revealed in the Scripture, suitable to the duty that God requires of them in their several capacities and conditions.

What will be spoken to afterward, among other things, is:

(1) What is necessary to interpret difficult places and passages in the Scripture; and

(2) What measure of understanding of the mind and will of God as revealed in it, is required of persons in their various conditions — as they are teachers of others, or as they are among the number of those who are to be taught. My principal design is to manifest that every believer may, in the due use of the means appointed by God for that end, attain such a full assurance of understanding in the truth, or in all that knowledge of the mind and will of God revealed in the Scripture, which is sufficient to direct him in the life of God, to deliver him from the dangers of ignorance, darkness, and error, and to conduct him to blessedness.

Therefore, as it is to believing the Scripture itself, so it is as to understanding, knowing, and having faith in the things contained in it: we do not depend on the authoritative interpretation of any church or person whatsoever. Although ordinary believers are obliged to make diligent and conscientious use of the ministry of the church, among other things, as a means appointed by God to lead, guide, and instruct them in the knowledge of his mind and will revealed in the Scripture — which is the principal end of that ordinance — yet their understanding of the truth, their apprehension of it and faith in it, is not to rest on or to be resolved into the authority of those who are not appointed by God to be lords of their faith, but helpers of their joy. And on that depends all our interest in that great promise, that we will "all be taught by God." John 6:45 For we are not so taught, unless we learn from Him and by Him, the things which he has revealed in his word.

There is no truth of greater importance for men to be established in. For unless they have a full assurance of understanding in themselves, unless they hold their persuasion of the sense of Scripture revelations from God alone — if their spiritual judgment of truth and falsehood depend on the authority of men — they will never be able to undergo any suffering for the truth, or perform any duty to God, in a right manner. The truths of the gospel and the ways of religious worship — for which any believer may be called to suffer in this world — are such that there is great difference and controversy among men about the sense and revelation of them in the Scripture. And if there is not an assured, yes, an infallible way and means of communicating to all believers a knowledge of the mind and will of God in the Scripture, concerning those things that are so controverted, and the grounds of which are fixed in their own minds, then they cannot help but wholly depend on the expositions and interpretations of other men. Whoever they may be, they cannot suffer for them either cheerfully or honorably so as to give glory to God, nor can they obtain any solid peace and comfort in their own souls. For if a man under his sufferings for his profession can give himself no other account than this — that what he suffers for is the truth of God revealed in the Scripture, because such and such a person whom he venerates or esteems, so affirms and has so instructed him; or because it is the doctrine of this or that church which has prescribed it to him, whether the papal or reformed church — then he will have little joy from his suffering in the end. Yes, there is that which is still worse in this matter, as things are stated at this day in the world. Truth and error are promiscuously persecuted according to the judgment, interest, and inclinations of those who are in power.

Indeed, sometimes both truth and error are persecuted in the same place and at the same time, upon errors differing from both. Dissent has grown almost all that is criminal in Christian religion, all over the world. But in this state of things, unless we grant men an immediate understanding of their own in the mind and will of God — indeed, a full assurance in this — there will be nothing by which a man who suffers for the most important truths of the gospel, can distinguish in his own soul and conscience from those who suffer in giving testimony to the most pernicious errors. For all the outward means of confidence which he has, they may have also.

It therefore behoves all those who may possibly be called to suffer for the truth in any season, or on any occasion, to assure their minds in this fundamental truth: that they may have in themselves a certain undeceiving understanding of the mind and will of God as revealed in the Scripture, independent of the authority of any church or persons whatsoever — the use of whose ministry in this, we yet freely and fully allow.

Nor, indeed, without a supposition of this, can any man perform any duty to God in an acceptable manner, so that his obedience may be the obedience of faith;Romans 16:26 nor can he die in peace on good grounds, since the just will live by his own faith alone.Habakkuk 2:4 Therefore, our present inquiry is —

How believers, or any men whatever, may attain a right understanding in their own minds of the meaning and sense of the Scriptures, as to the doctrine or truths contained in them, in answer to the design of God, as to what he would have us know or believe; or —

How they may attain a right perception of the mind of God in the Scripture, and what He intends in its revelation, in opposition to ignorance, errors, mistakes, and all false apprehensions, and so, in a right manner, perform the duties which it instructs us in. In answer to the inquiry proposed concerning the knowledge and understanding of believers in the mind of God, as revealed in the Scriptures, I will consider —

First, The principal efficient cause; and, Secondly, All the means, internal and external, which are appointed by God for this. As to the first of these, or the principal efficient cause of the due knowledge and understanding of the will of God in the Scripture, it is the Holy Spirit of God himself alone; for —

There is a special work of the Spirit of God on the minds of men, communicating spiritual wisdom, light, and understanding to them, that is necessary to their right discerning and apprehending of the mind of God in his word, and their right understanding of the mysteries of heavenly truth contained in it. And I will add to this, that among all the false and foolish imaginations that Christian religion was ever attacked or disturbed with, there was never any more pernicious than this: that the mysteries of the gospel are so exposed to the common reason and understanding of men, that they may know them and comprehend them in a useful manner, and according to their duty, without the effectual aid and assistance of the Spirit of God.

It is the silliest thing in the world to imagine that the Holy Ghost in any way teaches us except in and by our own reasons and understandings. We renounce all emotionalism in this matter, and do not plead for any immediate prophetic inspirations. Those who would prohibit the use of our reason in the things of religion, would deal with us as the Philistines did with Samson — first put out our eyes, and then make us grind in their mill. Whatever we know, of whatever sort, we know it in and by the use of our reason; and what we conceive, we conceive by our own understanding. The only inquiry is whether there is not a special work of the Holy Spirit of God, enlightening our minds and enabling our understandings, to perceive and apprehend his mind and will, as revealed in the Scripture, and without which we cannot do so. The substance, therefore, of the ensuing discourse may be reduced to these heads:

I. That we do not stand in need of any new divine afflations, or immediate prophetic inspirations, to enable us to understand the Scripture, or the mind and will of God as revealed in it; nor did the prophets or holy penmen of the Scripture learn the mind of God in the revelations made to them, and by them to the church, merely from their divine inspiration. Those immediate inspirations were in the stead and in the place of the written word, and not otherwise. After they received them, they were by the same means, to inquire into the mind and will of God in them, just as we do: in and by the written word, 1Pet 1.10-11.209

II. That as to the right understanding of the mind of God in the Scripture, or our coming to the riches of the full assurance of understanding in the acknowledgment of the mystery of God,Colossians 2:2 we do not, nor do we need to depend on the authoritative instruction or interpretation of the Scripture by any church whatever, or all of them in the world, even though there is great use for the true ministry of the church to that end.

III. That in the mere exercise of our own natural reason and understanding, with the help of external means, we cannot attain that knowledge of the mind and will of God in the Scripture, of the sense and meaning of the Holy Ghost in it, which is required of us in a way of duty, without the special aid and assistance of the Holy Spirit of God. Therefore, it is principally asserted —

IV. That there is a special work of the Holy Spirit, in the supernatural illumination of our minds, needful for the end proposed — namely, that we may rightly, and according to our duty, understand the mind of God in the Scripture ourselves, or interpret it for others.

V. That hereby alone is to be obtained that full assurance of understanding in the knowledge of the mystery of God, his truth and grace, by which any man may respond to the mind and will of God, or comply with his own duty in all that he may be called to do or suffer in this world in his special circumstances. Therefore —

VI. The certainty and assurance that we may and ought to have of our rightly understanding the mind of God in the Scripture, either in general or as to any special doctrine, does not depend upon, nor is it resolved into, any immediate inspiration or enthusiasm. It does not depend upon, nor is it resolved into, the authority of any church in the world. Nor is it the result of our reason and understanding merely in their natural actings, but only as they are elevated, enlightened, guided, and conducted, by an internal efficacious work of the Spirit of God upon them.

VII. That the means of the right interpretation of the Scripture, and understanding of the mind of God in this, are of two sorts — first, those which are prescribed for us in a way of duty, such as prayer, meditation on the word itself, and the like; secondly, disciplinary, in the accommodation of arts and sciences to that work, with all kinds of learning. The first sort depends entirely on a supposition of the spiritual aids mentioned, without which they are of no use; and the latter is not only consistent with it, but singularly subservient to it. Therefore, the nature and use of all these means will be declared afterward. This being the substance of what is designed in the ensuing discourse, it is evident that the positions laid down before, concerning the special work of the Spirit on the minds of men in communicating spiritual wisdom, light, and knowledge to them, is to be confirmed in the first place and principally, as that on which all the other assertions absolutely depend.

It is the Scripture itself alone from which the truth in this matter can be learned, and by which alone what is proposed concerning it must be tested. Therefore, as to this first part of this work, I will do little more than plead the express testimonies to this. When we come to consider the way and manner of the communication of these spiritual aids to us, the whole matter will be more fully stated, and any objections which may be laid against our assertion, will be removed out of the way.

There are two ends designed in this undertaking: The first end is what the evangelist Luke proposed in writing the Gospel to Theophilus — namely, "That he might know the certainty of the things in which he had been instructed," Luke 1:4. When we have been instructed in the truth of the gospel, and have given our assent to it, it is still needful to examine the grounds and reasons of what we believe, so that we may have a certainty or full assurance of them. Therefore, we will direct this: — namely, how a man may come to an undeceiving persuasion and full assurance that the things in which he has been instructed, and which he knows are true and according to the mind of God, so that upon this, he may "no longer be tossed to and fro with every wind of doctrine by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, by which they lie in wait to deceive." Ephesians 4:14 The second end we design, is to inquire what conduct to this end a man ought to resort to, as to the right understanding of the mind and will of God in the Scripture — a man who takes care of his salvation, and who is convinced that he must give an account of himself to God in this matter. I will show that there is no safety in depending on emotionalism, or immediate, pretended, infallible inspirations, nor on the pretended infallibility of any church. Rather, the Holy Spirit of God, enlightening our minds in the exercise of our own reason or understanding, and in the use of the means appointed by God to that end, is the only safe guide to bring us to the full assurance of the mind and will of God as revealed in the Scripture.

Therefore, the whole foundation of this work lies in these two things:

1. That there is such a special work of the Holy Spirit on our minds, enabling them to understand the Scriptures in a right manner, or to know the mind of God in them;

2. In showing what the special nature of this work is; what its effects are on our minds; how it differs from all enthusiastic inspirations; and what the true exercise of our minds is in compliance with it. And these things are what we will first inquire into.