Our belief of the Scriptures to be the word of God, or a divine re- velation, 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 all those streams of light and truth de- rived whereby our souls are watered, refreshed, and made fruitful unto God. It therefore concerneth us greatly to look well to those springs, that they be neither stopped nor defiled, and so rendered use- less unto us. Though a man may have pleasant streams running by his habitation and watering his inheritance, yet if the springs of them be in the power of others, who can either divert their course or poison their waters, on their pleasure he must always depend for the benefit of them.
Thus hath it fallen out in the world in this matter; so hath the church of Rome endeavoured to deal with all Christians. Their main endeavour 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 faith divine but upon the proposal and testi- mony of their church ; thereby is one spring secured. And when it is believed so to be, it ought not to be interpreted, it cannot be un- derstood, but according to the mind, judgment, and exposition of the same church; which in like manner secures the other. And having of old possessed these springs of Christian religion, they have dealt with them according as might be expected from unjust in- vaders of other men's rights and malce fidei possessoribus. So when the Philistines contended for the wells which Abraham and Isaac had digged, when they had got possession of them they stopped
122 CAUSES, WAYS, AND MEANS, ETC. [BOOK VI., PART II.
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 suffer those that would, so to do, as our Saviour tells us. For the one of these springs, which is the letter of the Scrip- ture itself, when it ought to have gone forth 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 debarring the people from the use of it. And in the exercise of their pretended right unto the other spring, or the sole interpretation of the Scripture, they have poi- soned the streams with all manner of errors and delusions, so as that they became not only useless, but noxious and pernicious unto the souls of men; for under the pretence hereof, — namely, that their church hath the sole power of interpreting the Scriptures, and can- not err therein, — have they obtruded all their errors, with all their abominations in worship and practice, on the minds and consciences of men.
The first of these springs I have in a former discourse on this subject taken out of their hand, so far as we ourselves are concerned therein, or I have vindicated the just right of all Christians there- unto, and given them possession thereof. This I did by declaring the true grounds and reasons whereon we do, and whereon any can, truly believe the Scripture to be the word of God with faith divine and supernatural; for besides other advantages wherewith the know- ledge of that truth is accompanied, it dispossesseth the Romanists of their claim unto this fountain of religion, by evidencing that we do and ought thus to believe the divine original of the Scripture, with- out any regard to the testimony or authority of their church.
That which now lieth before us is, the vindication of the right of all believers unto the other spring also, or a right understanding of the mind and will of God as revealed in the Scripture, suitably unto the duty that God requireth of them in their several capacities and conditions.
What is necessary unto the interpretation of difficult places and passages in the Scripture, and what measure of understanding of the mind and will of God as revealed therein is required of persons in their various conditions, as they are teachers of others or among the number of them that are to be taught, shall, among other things, be afterward spoken unto. My principal design is, to manifest that every believer may, in the due use of the means appointed of God for that end, attain unto such a full assurance of under- standing in the truth, or 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, dark-
CHAP. I.] NECESSITY OF THE SPIRIT FOR ILLUMINATION. 123
ness, and error, and to conduct him unto blessedness. Wherefore, as unto the belief of the Scripture itself, so as unto the understand- ing, knowledge, and faith of the things contained therein, we do not depend on the authoritative interpretation of any church or person whatever. And although ordinary believers are obliged to make diligent and conscientious use of the ministry of the church, among other things, as a means appointed of God to lead, guide, and in- struct them in the knowledge of his mind and will revealed in the Scripture, which is the principal end of that ordinance; yet is not their understanding of the truth, their apprehension of it and faith in it, to rest upon or to be resolved into their authority, who are not appointed of God to be lords of their faith, but helpers of their joy. And thereon depends all our interest in that great promise, that we shall be all taught of God; for we are not so unless we do learn from him and by him the things which he hath revealed in his word.