Secondly, to the more sober I answer,1 That what is drawn from the word of God by just, necessary, and immediate consequence, is the mind of God: The sense of the Scripture is God's revealed Will. And you your selves allow some things to be a duty, that are not expressly commanded in the Word of God. I could give you instances in many particulars, but because I am straitened for room, and for plainness of the case, I will instance but in this one, which is a Woman's receiving of the Lord's Supper. Is it the duty of some Women so to do? No doubt: But where is your express command? or any express example that ever they did? Look for it, and produce it: Will you say the word [Greek or Hebrew] used 1 Cor. 11.28. signifying both man and woman, shows the command for Women's eating at the Lord's Table? but what if it be sometimes in Scripture used for the man only, and the woman excluded, as it is Joh. 7.22. ye circumcise, [Greek or Hebrew], a man; being taken in one place for the man only, how will you prove it is not so in the other; but by Consequence? True but where then is your express command? ⟨p. 352⟩Consequence must be allowed in this case, and is abundantly sufficient. For validity of Scripture-consequence much may be said; but my length already commands me to forbear, seeing there is as much Scripture and firm immediate consequence for your praying in your Family, as a woman's receiving the Lord's Supper, which is an acknowledged duty.
Secondly, to the more sober I answer,1 That what is drawn from the word of God by just, necessary, and immediate consequence, is the mind of God: The sense of the Scripture is God's revealed Will. And you your selves allow some things to be a duty, that are not expresly commanded in the Word of God. I could give you instances in many particulars, but because I am straitned for room, and for plainness of the case, I will instance but in this one, which is a Woman's receiving of the Lord's Supper. Is it the duty of some Women so to do? No doubt: But where is your express command? or any express example that ever they did? Look for it, and produce it: Will you say the word 〈non-Latin alphabet〉 used 1 Cor. 11.28. signifying both man and woman, shews the command for Womens eating at the Lord's Table? but what if it be sometimes in Scripture used for the man only, and the woman excluded, as it is Joh. 7.22. ye circumcise, 〈non-Latin alphabet〉, a man; being taken in one place for the man only, how will you prove it is not so in the other; but by Consequence? True but where then is your express command? ⟨p. 352⟩Consequence must be allowed in this case, and is abundantly sufficient. For validity of Scripture-consequence much may be said; but my length already commands me to forbear, seeing there is as much Scripture and firm immediate consequence for your praying in your Family, as a woman's receiving the Lord's Supper, which is an acknowledged duty.
- 1Dumb scripturam dicimus perf ctam, non intelligimus, ac si ad literam omnia quae ad salutem sunt necessaria, continerentur; sed quod quaedam per certam consequentiam, ex illis quae clarè dicta sunt, deduci debeant. Maccov. distin. p. 9. Quicquid per bonam consequentiam ex scriptura deducitur, illud ipsum est scriptura — Quod elicitur ex Mose & Davide, dicuntur Moses & David dixisse. idem p 21. Scripturae •im consistere non in verbis sed in sensu communiter dicitur—sunt autem conclusiones in scriptura, vel totidem verbis & [Greek or Hebrew], vel habent praemissas suas in scriptura expressas, ex quibus evidenter deducuntur; vel una tantùm posita praemissa in scriptura, addita alia ex rationis principiis, aut ex evidentia sensus, conclusio etiam eruitur necessaria, quae vim eandem habet cum propositionibus, quae totidem verbis leguntur. — juxta regulam, Quaedam in Scripturis sunt, & dicuntur; quaedam in iisdem sunt, etsi non dicuntur (nempe totidem verbis.) Rivet. Isag. ad Scrip. cap. 17.Dum scripturam dicimus perf ctam, non intelligimus, ac si ad literam omnia quae ad salutem sunt necessaria, continerentur; sed quod quaedam per certam consequentiam, ex illis quae clarè dicta sunt, deduci debeant. Maccov. distin. p. 9. Quicquid per bonam consequentiam ex scriptura deducitur, illud ipsum est scriptura — Quod elicitur ex Mose & Davide, dicuntur Moses & David dixisse. idem p 21. Scripturae •im consistere non in verbis sed in sensu communiter dicitur—sunt autem conclusiones in scriptura, vel totidem verbis & 〈non-Latin alphabet〉, vel habent praemissas suas in scriptura expressas, ex quibus evidenter deducuntur; vel una tantùm posita praemissa in scriptura, addita alia ex rationis principiis, aut ex evidentia sensus, conclusio etiam eruitur necessaria, quae vim eandem habet cum propositionibus, quae totidem verbis leguntur. — juxta regulam, Quaedam in Scripturis sunt, & dicuntur; quaedam in iisdem sunt, etsi non dicuntur (nempe totidem verbis.) Rivet. Isag. ad Scrip. cap. 17.
