A complete body of divinity in two hundred and fifty expository lectures on the…A compleat body of divinity in two hundred and fifty expository lectures on the…

THAT whatsoever is requisite in a Rule to make it perfect, is to be found in the Scripture, in respect of that whereof it is a Rule. All Arts and Sciences have their Rules, under which the Doctrine of them is comprehended; and that system of Rules which is adequately suited to the Art, is a sufficient Rule, & perfect, tho' it teach nothing of another Art: and if the Scripture be every way suited to guide men right to happiness, it must be so, tho' it doth not teach other inferior Arts: Here then, let us consider what are the properties of a perfect Rule, and see how they agree to the Scripture, with respect to felicity. Now there are Three essential Properties of a Rule, without all of which, it will not deserve so to be called, viz. 1. It must be true. 2. It must be full. 3. It must be plain. The necessity of each of these, and how truly they belong to the written word of God, will be worth our while distinctly to take notice of.

THAT whatsoever is requisite in a Rule to make it perfect, is to be found in the Scripture, in respect of that whereof it is a Rule. All Arts and Sciences have their Rules, under which the Doctrine of them is comprehended; and that system of Rules which is adequately suted to the Art, is a sufficient Rule, & perfect, tho' it teach nothing of another Art: and if the Scripture be every way suted to guide men right to happiness, it must be so, tho' it doth not teach other inferiour Arts: Here then, let us consider what are the properties of a perfect Rule, and see how they agree to the Scripture, with respect to felicity. Now there are Three essential Properties of a Rule, without all of which, it will not deserve so to be called, viz. 1. It must be true. 2. It must be full. 3. It must be plain. The necessity of each of these, and how truly they belong to the written word of God, will be worth our while distinctly to take notice of.

I. IT belongs to a Rule that it be true. This is firstly and most essentially necessary to it, as will appear from the very nature and end of a Rule, the use of a Rule is to guide a man right to the end he aims at: All art is practical; but all practice is not artificial. There are right, and there are false strokes which man may take, and it is of great concernment which of the two they do. Hence knowledge is prerequisite to practice: the understanding must be informed, what is to be done, how else can the actions be orderly? the eye must guide the hand, otherwise it will make miserable work; and it cannot guide, except it have a rule to guide by: Now the very proper object of the understanding is truth: If then the rule be not true, it is falsely called a rule; it is indeed none: the end of a rule is to tell a man what is right, & what is wrong; which it cannot do, except itself be true; it is to keep a man from erring and mistaking, but if that be false, it is so far from this, that it is the very parent of error, and a mistake built upon a supposed rule, is the most dangerous mistake of all: a rule is to inform men, and give them knowledge, but unless it be true, it leads men into ignorance, and is so far from informing, that it deceives them: and is so far from bringing them to their end, that it leads them quite away from it, and leaves them wide of it: every rule therefore must be of an eternal and unchangeable verity: and from hence arises one great vanity of humane sciences, that men being short sighted, have laid down conjectures instead of rules, and so settled their systems with uncertain canons: But if we apply this to the Scriptures, we shall find it fully agreeing to them; they are all of them true, and there is no falsehood, error, or mistake in them; all that is left upon record in the book of God, is of unquestionable verity: this is one of the excellencies which David ascribes to the law or word of God,