'DereElions forJOUI~ Students abotlt the Choice of 1}3ooks. ~efl:. 174· What li3ooks Efpecially of Theologie fhould one choofe, who for want of money or time, can read but few ~ M[w. General. THe truth is> 1. Ir is ~or the reading of many Books "hieh is .necdfary to make oa man wife or good : But the wc:ll reading of a ftw, could he be fure to have the bell. ~.And it is not poffiblc: to read. over very many on the fame fubjeCb, without a great deal of lofs of pretious time: 3· And yet the R'ading of as many as is poffiblc tendeth much ro the increafe of knowh-dge, and were the bdl way, if greater rr.attcrs were not that way unaToidably to be omitted : Lift: therefOre being fllort, ind work great, and K11ow/edge being for Love and Pr;.~{iice, and no man having leifurc to learn all thing.., a wife man muJl be fure m lay hold on that,which is moll ttflful and mccfftJr)'• +·But fomc confiderable acquainunce withmany• Books is now become by accident necdf.uy to a Divine. I. Beclufe unhappily a fOung Sru~ ·. dent knowcrh nor whicn arc the bell, till he hath tryed them : And when he lhould take'an.e--)· rher mans word, he knoweth not whofe wmd it is that he iliould take : For among grave men, accounted great Schola.rs, its few that are truly judicious and wife, and he that is not wife himfclf cannot know who elfe are fo indeed : And l\'try man will commend the Authors that are of his own opinion. And if 1 commend to ycu f{)mC Authors above others, what do I but corn. mend my own judgement to you, even as if I commended my own Books, and perfwadcd you to rea.d them : when another man of a dif(nent judgement will commend to you Books of a ~iRi:rent fort. And how knoweth a raw Student which .of us. is in the right. 2. Bccaufe no one man is fo full and perf<d: as to fay ill\ that is faid by all others: But though one man •x· cdl in one or many refpeCh, another may excell him in fame particulars, and fay that which he ornirteth, or mlttakcth in. 3• But cfpecially becaufc many errors and adverfaries have ma.. ny Books nccdfary to fome, for to know what they fay , and to know how to confLtte them, eiprcially the PapiHs, whofc: way is upon pretence of Antiquity and Uoivcrfality, to carry eve· ry Concmverfie into a Wood of Church Hifiory, and antient Writers, that there you may firfi: be lotl 1 and then they may have the finding of you : And if you cann'Ot anfwcr every corrupted or abufcd Citation of theirs out of Councils and Father!, they triumph as if they had jufiified their Church-tynnny. 4• And the very fubjeCh that arc to be underfiood are numerous, and few men write of all. 5· And on the fame fubject men have fev(ral Modes of Writing: As one excclleth in accurate Method, and another in clear convincing argumentation, and another in an affectionate taking fiyle: .And the fame Book that doth one, cannot well do the 01her, becau(i: the lame llyle will not do ic. Object. Bttt the antirnt Fa1hers .,fie/. not fo many B11ok.} as we do, no JfOt oxe for our hundreds : And yet wt honour them above the Ntotericl{,s : They lived before theft Librarits had a being. Tea, rbey exhort Divines to be Jesrned i11 the holy Scrip1ures, and the fomrb Council ~f Canhage for– bad tht reading of the Heat/Jens Boo~s : A1td $;~ny HerttickJ are accufid . by tbe Fathr:r.s and Hi· ~ori.ms, as being ftudied in Logic~(_, and curi~M in cdmmo~ Sciences : And Paul [ililh, that the. Scripturer art &bit to make JM wife unto jalvatio1t. Anfw. I• And yet the New Tefiament was written (or moft of it) after P114Hl faid fo; which {hewcth that he meant not to exclude more waiting. 2· The Scriptures are fufficient fo[ thtir proper ufc, which is to be a Law of Faith and Life if they be underflood. Bur r. They are not fufficient for that which they were never intended for ; 2 , And we may by other Books be greatly hdpt in underfi1nding them. 3· If other Books were not needful, Teachers were not needful: For Writing is Put the moll advantagious way of Teaching, by fixed Chara.Ctus, which £\ye not f,om our m(mory as tnnfi., cnt \Vords do. And who is it that underfiandeth the Scriptures th11t never had a Teacher? And why faid the Eunuch, [ f{ow fhould I ( underfiand what I read) unlef' fome man guide me; J Acts 8. 3 t· And why did Chtifi fct Teachers in his Church 10 the end , till it be perf~cted, Eph. 4• 11, 12 1 1 3· if they mut\ not Teach the Church unto the end? Therefore they may wri1e unto the end. 4· RCverence to Antiquity mufi not make us blind or unthankJul. Abundance of the Fat!1ers were unlearned men, and of far lcfs knowledge than ordinary Divines have: now: And the chief of them wen: far Chort in knowledge of the chlefdl that God of late hath g!vcn us. And how fhould it be orhcrwife, when their helps were fo much lcfs than ours. 5· Knowledge hath abundantly cncrcafed fince Printing was invented : Therefore Boolu have becu a means to it. 6. The Fathers then wrorc voluminoufly: Therefore they were not again!l more writing. 7· Moll of the B1fhops and Councils that cryed down Common Learning, had lircle at it them• ftlv~.:s , and rhercforc knew not how to judge of it ; no more than good men now that want it, 8. They lived among Heathens thilt gloried fo in their own Learning, as to oppofc it to the Word of God, (as may b' fecn in Juli•n, and Porph)'J , and Celfus ) : Thcrdore Chri– ftians
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