Seven treatises containing such direction as is gathered out of the Holy Scriptures, leading…Seuen treatises containing such direction as is gathered out of the Holie Scriptures, leading…

And that we may not doubt, but that all Gods will is revealed in them, we are taught,¹ that they are all-sufficient, that is, contain whatsoever is able to make one either an inheritor of salvation, or a true Christian, in which two consisteth true felicity. Now for the plainness and evidence of the heavenly §Gmatter,² that is contained in them, by the means which God hath used, and the order that he hath taken, for laying out the sweetness & beauty of them, they are in the most necessary points, easy to be understood and conceived even of the simple and ignorant. For besides that, he hath commanded them to be reverently and distinctly read in the assembly,³ he hath given unto his Church most excellent gifts (I mean pastors and teachers) to interpret and teach his whole counsel out of them; and to show the people how to profit by the doctrine of them: and to make the right use thereof, in such wise applying the same to them, as if they had been particularly, and only appointed for them. And in like manner, he hath provided to have these his holy §HScriptures turned into those tongues and languages, which are understood of the divers and sundry nations of the world, that thereby they may, as the good people of Thessalonica and Berea did,⁴ confer the Sermons which they hear, in their own tongue, with the Scriptures; and so find more clear light and comfort by them. All which being considered, it may not hardly be gathered, what a singular help, a sound ordinary ministry of the word is,⁵ to build up more strongly a weak Christian in a godly life. For we must consider that God hath appointed this preaching of his words to perfect the faith of his elect, and therefore S. Peter chargeth the shepherds to feed the flock of Christ which dependeth on them: and our Saviour (Peters §ISchoolmaster) requireth,