ON HOSEA XIV.-VERSE 9. 289 measure them there, that so they may not be seduced by the craftiness of deceivers, and may be the more confirmed and comforted by the doctrine of sincere teachers ; for though the judgment of interpretation belong principally to the ministers of the word, yet God hath given unto all believers a judgment of dis- cretion, to try the spirits, and to search the scriptures, whether the things which they hear be so or not, 1 John iv. 1. Acts xvii. 11. 1 Thess. v. 21. for no man is to pin his own soul and salvation by a blind obedience upon the words of a man who may mislead him ; nay, not upon the words of an angel, if it were possible for an angel to deceive, Gal, i. 8. 1 Kings xiii. 18. 21. but only and immediately upon the scrip- ture, except when the blind lead the blind, the leader only should fall into the ditch, and the other go to heaven for his blind obedience in following his guides towards hell ; whereas our Saviour tells us both shall fall, though but one be the leader, Matt. xv. 14. xxiii. 15. (2.) Having proved all things, to hold fast that which is good, with all readiness to receive the righteous ways of God, and submit unto them, how mean soever the instruments be in our eyes, how contrary soever his message be to our wills and lusts. When God Both manifest his spirit and word in the mouths of his ministers, we are not to consider the vessel, but the treasure, and to receive it as from Christ, who to the end of the world, in the dispensa- tion of his ordinances, speaketh from heaven unto the church, 1 Thess. ii. 13. 2 Cor. v. 20. Heb. xii. 25. Matt. xxviii. 20. Further : in that it is said, that the just will walk in them, we may observe two things. 1. That obedience, and walking in the right ways of the Lord, is the end of the ministry, that the 2B
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