homines,' men endued with God's Spirit, and trusted with his message; and when it was thus far proved by God, it became the immediate and sole ministry of entire salvation, and the whole repository of the Divine will: and when things were come thus far, if it be inquired whether the Scriptures were a sufficient institution to salvation, we need no other, we can have no better testimony than itself, concerning itself. And to this purpose I have already brought from it sufficient affirmation of the point in question, in the preceding answer to J. S.'s First Way, in his fourth appendix.

3. It is possible, that the Scriptures should contain in them all things necessary to salvation. God could cause such a book to be written. And he did so to the Jews; he caused his whole law to be written, he engraved in stones, he commanded the authentic copy to be kept in the ark, and this was the great security of the conveying it; and tradition was not relied upon: it was not trusted with any law of faith or manners. Now, since this was once done, and, therefore, is always possible to be done, why it should not be done now, there is no pretence of reason, but very much for it. For, 1. Why should the book of St. Matthew be called the Gospel of Jesus Christ; and this is also the very title of St. Mark's book; and St. Luke affirms the design of his book is to declare the certainty of the things then believed,' and in which his friend was instructed, which we cannot but suppose to be the whole doctrine of salvation? 2. What end could there be in writing these books, but to preserve the memory of Christ's history and doctrine? 3. Especially if we consider that many things which were not absolutely necessary to salvation, were set down; and, therefore, to omit any thing that is necessary, must needs be an unreasonable and unprofitable way of writing. 4. There yet never was any catholic father that did affirm in terms, or in full and equivalent sense, that the Scriptures are defective in the recording any thing necessary to salvation; but unanimously they taught the contrary, as I shall show by and by. 5. The enemies of Christian religion opposed themselves against the doctrine contained in the Scriptures, and supposed, by that means, to conclude against Christianity, and they knew no other repository of it, and estimated no

'other. 6. The persecutors of Christianity, intending to destroy Christianity, hoped to prevail by causing the Bibles to be burnt; which had been a foolish and unlikely design, if that had not been the ark that kept the records of the whole Christian law. 7. That the revealed will of God, the law of Christ, was not written in his lifetime, but preached only by word of mouth, is plain and reasonable; because all was not finished; and the salvation of man was not perfected till the resurrection, ascension, and descent of the Holy Ghost; nor was it done presently. But then it is to be observed, that there was a Spirit of infallible record put into the apostles, sufficient for its publication and continuance. But before the death of the apostles, that is, before this Spirit of infallibility was to depart, all was written that was intended; because nothing else could infallibly convey the doctrine. Now, this being the case of every doctrine as much as of any, and the case of the whole, rather than of any part of it; it must follow, that it was highly agreeable to the Divine wisdom, and the very end of this economy, that all should be written; and for no other reason could the evangelists and apostles write so many books.

4. But of the sufficiency of Scripture we may be convinced by the very nature of the thing. For the sermons of salvation being preached to all, to the learned and unlearned, it must be a common concern, and, therefore, fitted to all capacities, and, consequently, made easy for easy learners. Now, this design is plainly signified to us in Scripture by the abbreviatures, the symbols and catalogues of' credenda;' which are short, and plain, and easy; and to which salvation is promised. Now if "he that believes Jesus Christ to be the Son of God, hath eternal life; that is, so far as the value and acceptability of believing does extend, this faith shall prevail unto salvation; it follows, that this being the affirmation of Scripture, and declared to be a competent foundation of faith; the Scripture that contains much more, even the whole economy of salvation by Jesus Christ, cannot want any necessary thing, when the absolute necessities are so narrow. Christ, the Son of God, is the great adequate object of saving faith; "to know God, and whom he hath

1 John, v. 10. John, xvii. 3.

sent, Jesus Christ, this is eternal life "." Now this is the great design of the Gospel; and is revealed largely in the Scriptures; so that there is no adequate object of faith, but what is there. 2. As to the attributes of God, and of Christ, that is, all that is known of them, and to be known, is set down in Scripture; that God is the rewarder of them that diligently seek him ;' that he is the Fountain of wisdom, justice, holiness, power; that his providence is over all, and mercy unto all: and concerning Christ; all the attributes and qualifications, by which he is capable and fitted to do the work of redemption for us, and to become our Lord, and the great King of heaven and earth, able to destroy all his enemies eternally, and to reward his servants with a glorious and indefectible kingdom: all this is declared in Scripture. So that concerning the full object of faith manifested in the whole design of the Gospel, the Scriptures are full, and whatever is to be believed of the attributes belonging to this prime and full object, all that also is, in Scripture, fully declared. And all the acts of faith, the antecedents, the formal, and the consequent acts of faith, are there expressly commanded; viz. to know God, to believe in his name and word, to believe in his Son; and to obey his Son, by the consequent acts of faith; all this is set down in Scripture: in which not only we are commanded to keep the commandments, but we are told which they are. There we are taught to honour and fear, to love and obey God and his holy Son; to fear and reverence him, to adore and invocate him, to crave his aid, and to give him thanks; not to trust in, or call upon, any thing that hath no Divine empire over us, or Divine excellence in itself. It is so particular in recounting all the parts of duty, that it descends specially to enumerate the duties of kings and subjects, bishops and people, parents and children, masters and servants; to show love and faithfulness to our equals; to our inferiors counsel and help, favour and good will, bounty and kindness, a good word and a good deed: the Scripture hath given us commandments concerning our very thoughts; to be thankful and hospitable, to be humble and complying; whatever good thing was taught by any or all the philosophers in the world, all that, and much more, is in the Scriptures, and that in a much better manner: and PJohn, xvii, 3,

that it might appear that nothing could be wanting, the very degrees and order of virtues is there provided for. And if all this be not the high way to salvation, and sufficient to all intents of God and the souls of men, let any man come forth and say, as Christ said to the young man, Restat adhuc unum,' ,"" there is one thing wanting yet," and let him show it. But let us consider a little further.

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5. What is, or what can be wanting to the fulness of Scripture? Is not all that we know of the life and death of Jesus, set down in the writings of the New Testament? Is there any one miracle that ever Christ did, the notice of which is conveyed to us by tradition? Do we know any thing that Christ did or said but what is in Scripture? Some things were reported to have been said by Christ secretly to the apostles, and by the apostles secretly to some favourite disciples; but some of these things are not believed; and none of the other is known: so that either we must conclude that the Scripture contains fully all things of faith and obe dience, or else we have no Gospel at all; for, except what is in Scripture, we have not a sufficient record of almost one saying, or one miracle. St. Paul quotes one saying of Christ, which is not in any of the four Gospels, but it is in the Scriptures, "It is better to give than to receive;" and St. Jerome records another, "Be never very glad, but when you see your brother live in charity." If St. Paul had not written the first, and transmitted it in Scripture, we had not known it any more than those many other which are lost for not being written: and for the quotation of St. Jerome, it is true, it is a good saying; but whether they were Christ's words or no, we have but a single testimony. Now, then, how is it possible that the Scriptures should not contain all things necessary to salvation; when of all the words of Christ,-in which certainly all necessary things to salvation must needs be contained, or else they were never revealed,there is not any one saying, or miracle, or story of Christ, in any thing that is material, preserved in any indubitable record, but in Scripture alone?:

6. That the Scriptures do not contain in them all things necessary to salvation, is the fountain of many great and capital errors; I instance in the whole doctrine of the libertines, familists, quakers, and other enthusiasts, which issue

from this corrupted fountain. For this, that the Scriptures do need a suppletory, that they are not perfect and sufficient to salvation of themselves, is the parov dos, the great fundamental both of the Roman religion, and that of the libertines and quakers, and those whom in Germany they call spirituales; such as David George, Harry Nicholas, Swenckfeld, Sebastian Franck, and others. These are the men that call the Scriptures, "The letter of the Scripture, the dead letter, insufficient, inefficacious. This is but the sheath and the scabbard, the bark and the shadow, a carcass void of the internal light, not apt to imprint a perfect knowledge in us of what is necessary to salvation." But the Roman doctors say the same things. We know who they are that call the Scriptures, the " Outward letter, ink thus figured in a book, unsensed characters, waxed-natured words not yet sensed, apt to blunder and confound, but to clear little or nothing:" these are as bad words as the other, and some of them the same; and all draw a long tail of evil consequents behind them. 1. From this principle, as it is promoted by the fanatics, they derive a wandering, unsettled, and a dissolute religion. For they, supplying the insufficiency of Scripture by an inward word, which being only within, it is subject to no discipline, reducible into no order, not submitted to the spirits of the prophets,' and hath no rule by which it can be directed, examined, or judged: hence comes the infinite variety and contradictions of religion, commenced by men of this persuasion. A religion that wanders from day to day, from fancy to fancy, and alterable by every new illusion. A religion in which some man shall be esteemed an infallible judge to-day, and next week another: but it may happen, that any man may have his turn, and any mischief may be believed and acted, if the devil get into the chair. 2. From this very same principle, as it is promoted by the papists, they derive a religion imperious, interested, and tyrannical. For, as the fanatics supply the insufficiency of Scripture by the word internal, so do the Roman doctors. by the authority of the church: but when it comes to practice, as the fanatics give the supreme power of teaching and defining to the chief elder in the love;' so do the papists,

4 J. S. in Surefooting, and in Append. iv.