Doctrinal Treatises and Introductions to the Holy Scriptures

HERE hast thou, most dear reader, the new Testament, or covenant made with us of God in Christfs blood, which I have looked over again, now at the last, with all diligence, and compared it unto the Greek, and have weeded out of it many faults, which lack of help at the beginning, and oversight, did sow therein. If aught seem changed, or not altogether agreeing with the Greek, let the finder of the fault consider the Hebrew phrase or manner of speech, left in the Greek words; whose preterperfect tense and present tense are oft both one, and the future tense is the optative mood also, and the future tense oft the imperative mood in the active voice, and in the passive ever. Likewise person for person, number for number, and interrogation for a conditional, and such like, is with the Hebrews a common usage. I have also in many places set light in the margin to understand the text by. If any man find faults either with the translation, or aught beside, (which is easier for many to do than so well to have translated it themselves of their own pregnant wits at the beginning, without an ensample,) to the same it shall be lawful to translate it themselves, and to put what they lust thereto. If I shall perceive, either by myself or by infor mation of other, that aught be escaped me, or might more plainly be translated, I will shortly after cause it to be amended. Howbeit, in many places methinketh it better to put a declaration in the margin, than to run too far from the text. And in many places, where the text seemeth at the first chop1 hard to be understood, yet the circumstances be fore and after, and often reading together, make it plain enough.

Moreover, because the kingdom of heaven, which is the scripture and word of God, may be so locked up that he which readeth or heareth it cannot understand it, as Christ testifieth how that the scribes and Pharisees had so shut it up (Matt, xxiii.), and had taken away the key of knowledge Matt. xxm. (Luke xi.), that the Jews, which thought2 themselves within, Lukexi. were yet so locked out, and are to this day, that they can The Jews to understand no sentence of the scripture unto their salvation, locked^ut0 though they can rehearse the texts every where, and dispute demanding thereof as subtilly as the popish3 doctors of Duns's dark learn- JJ1™8^ ing, which with their sophistry served us as the Pharisees did the Jews: therefore, that I might be found faithful to my Father and Lord, in distributing unto my brethren and fellows of one faith their due and necessary food, so dressing it and seasoning it, that the weak stomachs may receive it also, and be the better for it; I thought it my duty, most dear reader, to warn thee before, and to shew thee the right way in, and to give thee the true key to open it withal, and to arm thee against false prophets and malicious hypocrites; whose per petual study is to blind4 the scripture with glosses, and there to lock it up where it should save the soul, and to make us shoot at a wrong mark, to put our trust in those things that profit their bellies only, and slay our souls.

The right way, yea, and the only way, to understand the The ng scripture unto salvation, is that we earnestly and above all ^ things search for the profession of our baptism, or covenants made between God and us. As, for an example, Christ saith, (Matt, v.), " Happy are the merciful, for they shall obtain Matt v. mercy." Lo, here God hath made a covenant with us, to be merciful unto us, if we will be merciful one to another; so that the man which sheweth mercy unto his neighbour may be bold to trust in God for mercy at all needs: and con trariwise, judgment without mercy shall be to him that sheweth not mercy. So now, if he that sheweth no mercy trust in God for mercy, his faith is carnal and worldly, and but vain presumption: for God hath promised mercy only to the merciful. And therefore the merciless have not God's word that they shall have God's mercy, but, contrariwise,

Matt. vi. that they shall have judgment without mercy. And, (Matt. vi.) " If ye shall forgive men their faults, your heavenly Father shall forgive you; but and if ye shall not forgive men their faults, no more shall your Father forgive you your faults." Here also, by the virtue and strength of this covenant, wherewith God of his mercy hath bound himself to us un worthy, he that forgiveth his neighbour, when he returneth and amendeth, may be bold to believe and trust in God for remission of whatsoever he hath done amiss. And contra riwise, he that will not forgive, cannot but despair of forgive ness in the end, and fear judgment without mercy. The general The general covenant, wherein all other are comprehended

C Shthat and included, is this: If we meek ourselves to God, to keep all his laws, after the example of Christ, then God hath bound himself unto us, to keep and make good all the mercies pro mised in Christ throughout all the scripture.

in these com- All the whole law, which was given to utter our corrupt i^conufned nature, is comprehended in the ten commandments. And the ]aw.w^ ten commandments are comprehended in these two, Love God and thy neighbour. And he that loveth his neighbour, in God and Christ, fulfilleth these two; and consequently the ten; and finally all the other. Now if we love our neigh bours in God and Christ, that is to wit, if we be loving, kind, and merciful to them, because God hath created them unto his likeness, and Christ hath redeemed them and bought them with his blood, then may we be bold to trust in God, through Christ and his deserving, for all mercy. For God hath promised and bound himself to us, to shew us all mercy, and to be a Father almighty to us, so that we shall not need to fear the power of all our adversaries.

where no Now if any man, that submitteth not himself to keep the are! there the commandments, do think that he hath any faith in God, the plain presumption, as is above said, and is no faith that can justify, or be accepted before God. And that is it that

James meaneth in his epistle. For " how can a man believe,"

the scripture, and see where God sent any to preach mercy to any, save unto them only that repent, and turn to God with all their hearts, to keep his commandments. Unto the dis obedient, that will not turn, is threatened wrath, vengeance, and damnation, according to all the terrible acts1 and fearful examples of the bible.

Faith now in God the Father, through our Lord Jesus what faith

Christ, according to the covenants and appointment made *»**£• between God and us, is our salvation. Wherefore I have ever noted the covenants in the margins, and also the pro mises. Moreover, where thou findest a promise, and no covenant expressed therewith, there must thou understand a covenant; that we, when we be received to grace, know it to be our duty to keep the law. As for an example, when the scripture saith, (Matt, vii.) " Ask, and it shall be given you; Matt. vit. seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you;" it is to be understood, if that when thy neighbour asketh, seeketh, or knocketh unto thee, thou then shew him the same mercy which thou desirest of God, then hath God bound himself to help thee again, and else not.

Also you see that two things are required to be in a TWO things

Christian man. The first is a stedfast faith and trust m JJ^jJf almighty God, to obtain all the mercy that he hath promised ™n^ us through the deserving and merits of Christ's blood only, without all respect to our own works. And the other is, that we forsake evil and turn to God, to keep his laws, and to fight against ourselves and our corrupt nature perpetually, that we may do the will of God every day better and better. This have I said, most dear reader, to warn thee, lest thou shouldest be deceived, and shouldest not only read the scriptures in vain and to no profit, but also unto thy greater damnation. For the nature of God's word is, that whosoever what the read it, or hear it reasoned and disputed before him, it will god'ww'£d begin immediately to make him every day better and better, till he be grown into a perfect man in the knowledge of Christ and love of the law of God; or else make him worse and worse, till he be hardened that he openly resist the Spirit of God, and then blaspheme after the example of Pharao, Korah, Abiram, Balaam, Judas, Simon Magus, and such other. This to be even so, the words of Christ (John iii.) do well joim HI. confirm: " This is condemnation," saith he; " the light is come into the world, but the men loved darkness more than light, for their deeds were evil." Behold, when the light of God's word cometh to a man, whether he read it or hear it preached [i So Day. N. T. has curses.]

and testified, and he yet have no love thereto, to fashion his life thereafter, but consenteth still unto his old deeds of ignorance; then beginneth his just damnation immediately, and he is henceforth without excuse, in that he refused mercy offered him. For God offer eth1 mercy upon the condition that he will mend his living; but he will not come under the covenant; and from that hour forward he waxeth worse and worse, God taking his Spirit of mercy and grace from him, for his unthankfulness' sake. And Paul writeth, (Romans i.) that the heathen, because when they knew God, they had no lust to honour him with godly living, therefore God poured his wrath upon them, and took his Spirit from them, and gave them up to their hearts' lusts, to serve sin, from iniquity to iniquity, till they were thoroughly hardened and past re pentance. And Pharao, because when the word of God was in his country, and God's people scattered throughout all his land, and yet he neither loved them nor it; therefore God gave him up, and in taking his Spirit of grace from him so hardened his heart with covetousness, that afterward no miracle could convert him. Hereunto pertaineth the parable of the talents. (Matt, xxv.) The Lord commandeth the talent to be taken away from the evil and slothful servant, and to bind him hand and foot, and to cast him into utter darkness, and to give the talent unto him that had ten, saying, "To all that have more shall be given; but from him that hath not, that he hath shall be taken from him." That is to say, he that hath a good heart towards the word of God, and a set purpose to fashion his deeds thereafter2, and to garnish it with godly living, and to testify it to other, the same shall increase daily more and more in the grace of Christ. But he that loveth it not, to live thereafter and to edify other, the same shall lose the grace of true knowledge, and be blinded again, and every day wax worse and worse, and blinder and blinder, till he be an utter enemy of the word of God, and his heart so hardened, that it shall be impossible to convert him. And (Luke xii.) the servant that knoweth his master's will, and prepareth not himself, shall be beaten with many stripes, that is, shall have greater damnation. And (Matt, vii.) all that hear the word of God, and do not thereafter, build on

sand; that is, as the foundation laid on sand cannot resist what it is to violence of water, but is undermined and overthrown, even so the sand. the faith of them that have no lust nor love to the law of God, builded upon the sand of their own imaginations, and not on the rock of God's word, according to his covenants, turneth to desperation in time of tribulation, and when God cometh to judge.

And the vineyard (Matt, xxi.) planted and hired out to Matt XXL the husbandmen, that would not render to the lord of the fruit in due time, and therefore was taken from them, and hired out to other, doth confirm the same. For Christ saith to the Jews, " The kingdom of heaven shall be taken from you, and given to a nation that will bring forth the fruits thereof:" as it is come to pass. For the Jews have lost the spiritual knowledge of God, and of his commandments, and also of all the scripture, so that they can understand nothing godly. And the door is so locked up, that all their knocking is in vain, though many of them take great pain for God's sake. And (Luke xiii.) the fig-tree that beareth no fruit is Luke xiii. commanded to be plucked up. And, finally, hereto pertaineth, with infinite other, the terrible parable of the unclean spirit, (Luke xi.) which, after he is cast out, when he cometh and Luke XL findeth his house swept and garnished, taketn to mm seven spirit that reworse than himself, and cometh and entereth in and dwelleth there, and so is the end of the man worse than the beginning. The Jews, they had cleansed themselves with God's word from Ant- edall outward idolatry, and worshipping of idols; but their hearts remained still faithless to God- ward, and toward his mercy and truth, and therefore without love also and lust to his law, and to their neighbours for his sake; and through false trust in their own works (to which heresy the child of perdition, the wicked bishop of Rome, with his lawyers, hath brought us Christians3) were more abominable idolaters than before, and became ten times worse in the end than at the beginning. For the first idolatry was soon spied, and easy to be rebuked of the prophets by the scripture; but the latter is more subtle to beguile withal, and a hundred times of more difficulty to be weeded out of men's hearts.

This also is a conclusion, nothing more certain, or more proved by the testimony and examples of the scripture, that [3 This parenthesis is in D. but not in N. Test, of 1536.]

God, and will if any that favoureth the word of God be so weak that he cannot chaste his flesh, him will the Lord chastise and scourge every day sharper and sharper with tribulation and misfortune, that nothing shall prosper with him, but all shall go against him, whatsoever he take in hand; and the Lord will visit him with poverty, with sicknesses, and diseases, and shall plague him with plague upon plague, each more loath some, terrible, and fearful than other, till he be at utter de fiance with his flesh. Let us, therefore, that have now at this time our eyes opened again, through the tender mercy of God, keep a mean. Let us so put our trust in the mercy of God through Christ, that we know it our duty to keep the law of God, and to love our neighbours for their Father's sake which created them, and for their Lord's sake which redeemed them, and bought them so dearly with his blood. Let us walk in the fear of God, and have our eyes open unto both parts of God's covenants, being certified that none shall be partaker of the mercy save he that will fight against ^e &e$h, to keep the law. And let us arm ourselves with this remembrance, that as Christ's works justify from sin, and set us in the favour of God, so our own deeds, through working of the Spirit of God, help us to continue in the favour and the grace into which Christ hath brought us; and that we can no longer continue in favour and grace, than our hearts are set to keep the law.

Furthermore, concerning the law of God, this is a general conclusion, that the whole law, whether they be ceremonies, sacrifices, yea, or sacraments either, or precepts of equity between man and man, throughout all degrees of the world, all were given for our profit and necessity only, and not for any need that God hath of our keeping them, or that his joy is increased thereby, or that the deed, for the deed itself, doth please him: that is, all that God requireth of us, when we be at one with him, and do put our trust in him, and love him, is, that we love every man his neighbour, to pity him, and to have compassion on him in all his needs, and to be merciful unto him. This to be even so, Christ testifieth in the seventh of Matthew, "This is the law and the prophets:" that is, to do as thou wouldest be done to, (according, I mean, to the doctrine of the scripture,) and not to do that thou wouldest not have done to thee, is all that the law requireth and the prophets. And Paul to the Romans (xiii.) affirm eth Rom. xiii. also, that "love is the fulfilling of the law," and that he which Love is the loveth, doth of his own accord all that the law requireth. tfhe'iaw.gof And (1 Tim. i.) Paul saith, that "the love of a pure heart, and i Tim<L good conscience, and faith unfeigned, is the end" and fulfilling of the law. For faith unfeigned in Christ's blood causeth Faith u the thee to love for Christ's sake; which love is the pure love w. T. only and the only cause of a good conscience. For then is the conscience pure, when the eye looketh to Christ in all her deeds, to do them for his sake, and not for her own singular advantage, or any other wicked purpose. And John, both in his gospel and also epistles, never speaketh of any other law, than to love one another purely, affirming that we have God himself dwelling in us, and all that God desireth, if we love one the other.

Seeing then that faith to God, and love and mercifulness to our neighbours, is all that the law requireth, therefore of necessity the law must be understood and interpreted by them: so that all inferior laws are to be kept and observed, as long as they be servants to faith and love; and then to be broken immediately, if through any occasion they hurt either the faith which we should have to God-ward in the confidence of Christ's blood, or the love which we owe to our neighbours for Christ's sake. And therefore, when the blind Pharisees murmured and grudged at him and his disciples, that they brake the sabbath-day and traditions of the elders, and that he himself did eat with publicans and sinners, he answered, (Matt, ix.) alleging Esaias the prophet, "Go rather Matt.ix and learn what this meaneth, I require mercy, and not sacrifice." And, (Matt, xii.) "O that ye wist what this meaneth, S I require mercy, and not sacrifice." For only love and mer- Mattxii. cifulness understandeth the law, and else nothing. And he Onlylovenn_ that hath not that written in his heart, shall never under- the1awdeth stand the law; no, though all the angels of heaven went w' T' about to teach him. And he that hath that graven in his heart, shall not only understand the law, but also shall do, of his own inclination, all that is required of the law, though never law had been given; as all mothers do of themselves, without law, unto their children all that can be required by any law; love overcoming all pain, grief, tediousness, or loathsomeness. And even so, no doubt, if we had continued in our first state of innocency, we should ever have fulfilled the law without compulsion of the law. And because the law (which is a doctrine that, through teaching every man his duty, doth utter our corrupt nature) is sufficiently described by Moses, therefore is little mention made thereof in the new testament, save of love only, wherein all the law is included; as seldom mention is made of the new testament in the old law, save here and there are promises made unto them, that Christ should come and bless them and deliver them, and that the gospel and new testament should be preached and pub lished unto all nations.