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Hos_8:12 I have written to him the great things of my law, [but] they were counted as a strange thing.
Ver. 12. I have written to him the great things of my law] magnalia legis; great things of the law, there are also minutula legis, small things of the law, Mat_5:22; both must be looked to: for though the civilian say of his law, De minutis non curat lex, The law takes no notice of small faults; yet it holds not true of the law of God, which is spiritual, and must be kept as the apple of the eye, Pro_7:2, and observed in every point and part, nay, in every punctilio and particle thereof. But to come to the words; Ephraim could not plead ignorance of God’s mind, for their many altars and superstitions, Deus enim iure quaerat et queratur, for God might very well say and complain, as Pro_22:20, "Have not I written for thee excellent things in counsels and knowledge?" and in the verse next before, "I have made known (my mind) this day to thee, even to thee." So here, "I have written," sc. by my penmen and secretaries, "to him" chiefly, and for his better direction in my service, that he might walk therein by rule, and not at random, {see Deu_4:8 Psa_147:19} "the great things," or excellent documents (the multiplicity or multiformity, saith the Chaldee) "of my law," or of my wise doctrine; Pro_13:14, which taketh in the gospel too, that law of Christ, Gal_6:2.
But they were counted as a strange thing] As not pertaining to them, as that wherein they were little or nothing concerned, as the narration of foreign affairs. Whereas men should read and regard the Holy Scriptures as they do the statutes of the land; holding themselves as much concerned and intended as any other; threatening themselves in every threat, binding themselves in every precept, blessing themselves in every promise, mingling the whole word with faith in their hearts, and resolving upon the obedience of faith; as knowing that these are verba vivenda non legenda, words to be lived, not read only; and that they should indwell in us familiarly, and yet richly, Col_3:16, and we should be as inwardly acquainted with them as any man is with his sister, or nearest allies, Pro_7:4. All this the rather; First, because God is the author of the Holy Scriptures, both matter and words are his, 2Pe_1:21; "he spake by the mouth of his holy prophets, which have been since the world began," Luk_1:70; and he guided their hands in writing the Bible. How dare Papists then say that they wrote it iniussi without command from God. Secondly, because God hath written his law for us, for our behoof and benefit, Rom_4:23; Rom_15:4. The Scripture is God’s Epistle to us, saith Gregory. It "is a lamp to my feet, and a light to my paths," saith David, Psa_119:105. Not a light that I see at a distance, a great way off; but a light held to my feet, that I may see my way in this land of Chabul, this dirty and dark world; and not lift up one foot, till I discover and find sure footing for another, as those, Psa_34:6. Thirdly, because he hath written for us the honorabilia legis, honourable and precious things, such as a man would fetch from China or the uttermost part of the habitable world upon his bare feet, rather than be without. David prefers it before gold and silver, Psa_19:11; Solomon, before pearls and rubies, Pro_3:15; Moses, before all the learning of other nations, Deu_4:6. The Scripture is the soul’s food, saith Athanasius; the soul’s medicine, saith Chrysostom; the invariable rule of truth, saith Irenaeus. It is, saith another, the aphorisms {short pity statements or maxims} of Christ, the library of the Holy Ghost, the divine pandects, {compendium in fifty books of Roman civil law made by the order of Justinian in the 6th century, complete body of laws} the wisdom of the cross, the cubit of the sanctuary, the firmament of faith, the touchstone of error, &c. What reason then had Darbishire (Bishop Bonner’s kinsman and chaplain) to say to Mr Hawkes the martyr, that he was too curious; for he would have nothing but his little pretty God’s book? And is it not sufficient for my salvation? said Hawkes. Yes, said he, but not for your instruction. God send me the salvation (said Hawkes) and you the instruction. That the Scripture is full and sufficient for both instruction and salvation, see 2Ti_3:16-17, and my treatise called the True Treasure. Has igitur nocturna versato manu, versate diurna, Psa_1:2. Let there not, by infrequence or disuse, grow an alienation or strangeness between us and the Holy Scriptures; but be ready in them, and have them, as Saul had his pitcher and spear at his bolster; as David had his chosen stones at hand in his scrip. Luther wishes all his own books burnt; because I fear, saith he, they hinder men from reading the Bible, that book of books; in comparison whereof all the books in the world are but waste paper. After which, I tremble, saith he, to think of the former age, wherein many divines spent so much time in reading Aristotle and Averroes, and so little in reading the Book of God. Melancthon saith that he heard some preach upon texts taken out of Aristotle’s Ethics. Carolostadius was eight years doctor when he began to read the Scriptures; and yet at the taking of his degree had been pronounced sufficientissimus most adequate (Joh. Manlius). Another doctor of divinity, being asked whether he had read the decalogue, negitabat se huiusmodi librum in Bibliotheca sua habuisse unquam; he denied that he had ever had, or heard of any book so called (Amama in Antibar. praef.); such a perfect stranger was he to the great things of God’s law. And if the learned doctors be thus bare and ignorant, what may we think of the poor misled and muzzled multitude, that lie fast locked up in the pope’s dark dungeon, and are flatly forbidden to meddle with the Scriptures, lest they should be infected with heresy, or possessed with a devil, as some (say they) have been by that means?