A Fruitful Exhortation to the Reading and Knowledge of Holy Scripture
Part One
For a Christian there can be nothing more necessary or more profitable than the knowledge of holy Scripture, because in it is contained God's true word, setting forth his glory and also our duty. And there is no truth or doctrine necessary for our justification and everlasting salvation that is not, or may not be, drawn out of that fountain and well of truth. Therefore all who desire to enter the right and perfect way to God must apply their minds to know holy Scripture, without which they can neither sufficiently know God and his will, nor their own calling and duty. And as drink is pleasant to those who are thirsty, and food to those who are hungry, so is the reading, hearing, searching, and studying of holy Scripture to those who desire to know God or themselves, and to do his will. Only those loathe and abhor the heavenly knowledge and food of God's word whose appetites are so drowned in worldly vanities that they have no taste for God or for any godliness; and that is why they desire such vanities rather than the true knowledge of God.
Just as those who are sick with a fever find that whatever they eat or drink, however pleasant, is as bitter to them as wormwood — not because the food is bitter, but because of the corrupt and bitter humour in their own tongue and mouth — so the sweetness of God's word is bitter, not in itself, but only to those whose minds are corrupted by long habit of sin and love of this world.
Therefore, forsaking the corrupt judgment of carnal men, who care for nothing but the body, let us reverently hear and read the holy Scriptures, which are the food of the soul. Let us diligently search for the well of life in the books of the New and Old Testament, and not run to the stinking puddles of human tradition, devised by human imagination, for our justification and salvation. For in holy Scripture is fully contained what we ought to do and what to avoid, what to believe, what to love, and what to look for at God's hands in the end. In those books we shall find the Father, from whom, the Son, through whom, and the Holy Spirit, in whom, all things have their being and their sustaining; and these three Persons to be but one God and one substance. In these books we may learn to know ourselves, how vile and miserable we are; and also to know God, how good he is in himself, and how he makes us and all creatures partakers of his goodness. We may also learn in these books to know God's will and pleasure, as much as is fitting for us to know at this present time.
And, as the great scholar and godly preacher St. John Chrysostom says:
Whatever is required for a person's salvation is fully contained in the Scripture of God. Whoever is ignorant may there learn and gain knowledge. Whoever is hardhearted and an obstinate sinner shall there find the everlasting torments prepared by God's justice, to make him afraid and to soften him. Whoever is oppressed with misery in this world shall there find relief in the promises of everlasting life, to his great consolation and comfort. Whoever is wounded to death by the devil shall find there the medicine by which he may be restored again to health.
And again: "If we must teach any truth or refute false doctrine, rebuke any vice, commend any virtue, give good counsel, comfort, or exhort, or do anything else needful for our salvation, all these things we may learn abundantly from the Scripture." "There is," says Fulgentius, "abundantly enough both for grown men to eat and for children to suck. There is whatever is fitting for all ages and for all ranks and sorts of people."
These books, therefore, ought to be much in our hands, in our eyes, in our ears, in our mouths, but most of all in our hearts. For the Scripture of God is the heavenly food of our souls. The hearing and keeping of it makes us blessed, sanctifies us, and makes us holy. It converts our souls; it is a lantern to our feet; it is a sure, steadfast, and everlasting instrument of salvation. It gives wisdom to the humble and lowly in heart; it comforts, gladdens, cheers, and cherishes our consciences. It is a more excellent jewel or treasure than any gold or precious stone; it is sweeter than honey or the honeycomb. It is called the best part, which Mary chose, for it has in it everlasting comfort.
The words of holy Scripture are called words of everlasting life, for they are God's instrument, ordained for that very purpose. They have power to convert, through God's promise, and they are effectual through God's help; and, received into a faithful heart, they always have a heavenly, spiritual working in them. They are living and active and mighty in their working, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing apart of soul and spirit, of joints and marrow. Christ calls him a wise builder who builds upon his word, upon that sure and substantial foundation. By this word of God we shall be judged; for "the word that I have spoken," says Christ, "is what shall judge in the last day." Whoever keeps the word of Christ is promised the love and favour of God, and that he shall be the dwelling place or temple of the blessed Trinity.
Whoever is diligent to read this word, and to print on his heart what he reads, will find his great attachment to the passing things of this world diminished, and his great desire for the heavenly things that God promises in it increased. And there is nothing that so strengthens our faith and trust in God, nothing that so preserves the innocence and purity of the heart and also of an outward godly life and conversation, as the continual reading and recording of God's word. For whatever, by continual reading of holy Scripture and diligent searching of it, is deeply printed and engraved in the heart, in time becomes almost second nature.
And moreover the power and effect of God's word is to enlighten the ignorant, and to give more light to those who faithfully and diligently read it, to comfort their hearts, and to encourage them to do what God has commanded. It teaches patience in all adversity, humility in prosperity; what honour is due to God, what mercy and charity[1] we owe our neighbour. It gives good counsel in all uncertain matters. It shows from whom we are to look for aid and help in all dangers, and that God is the only giver of victory in all the assaults and temptations of our enemies, both bodily and spiritual.
And in reading God's word, the one who profits most is not always the one quickest to turn the pages, or to recite it by heart; but the one who is most turned into it, most inspired by the Holy Spirit, most altered and changed in heart and life into the very thing he reads — the one who is daily less and less proud, less wrathful, less covetous, and less desirous of worldly and empty pleasures; the one who daily, forsaking his old corrupt life, increases more and more in virtue. And, in short, there is nothing that more upholds godliness of mind, and drives away ungodliness, than the continual reading or hearing of God's word, if it is joined with a godly mind and a sincere desire to know and follow God's will. For without a single eye,[2] a pure intent, and a good mind, nothing is accepted as good before God. And, on the other hand, nothing more darkens Christ and the glory of God, nor brings in more blindness and every kind of vice, than ignorance of God's word.
Part Two
In the first part of this sermon, which urges us to the knowledge of holy Scripture, it was declared why that knowledge is necessary and profitable for all people, and that by the true knowledge and understanding of Scripture the most necessary points of our duty toward God and our neighbours are also made known. Now concerning the same matter you shall hear what follows.
If we profess Christ, why are we not ashamed to be ignorant of his teaching, seeing that everyone is ashamed to be ignorant of the profession he claims? A man is ashamed to be called a philosopher if he does not read the books of philosophy, or to be called a lawyer, an astronomer, or a physician if he is ignorant of the books of law, astronomy, and medicine. How then can anyone say that he professes Christ and his religion, if he will not apply himself, as far as he conveniently can, to read and hear, and so to know, the books of Christ's Gospel and teaching? Although other branches of knowledge are good and worth learning, no one can deny that this is the chief, and surpasses all others beyond compare. What excuse, then, shall we make at the last day before Christ — we who delight to read or hear human fancies and inventions more than his most holy Gospel; who can find no time to do what, above all things, we ought chiefly to do; who would rather read anything else than the very thing for which we ought to set aside the reading of all other things? Let us therefore, as many as profess God and have faith and trust in him, apply ourselves, as far as we have time and leisure, to know God's word by diligently hearing and reading it.
But those who have no real love for God's word, to disguise this fault of theirs, commonly offer two empty and pretended excuses. Some try to excuse themselves by their own weakness and fearfulness, saying that they dare not read holy Scripture, for fear that through their ignorance they might fall into some error. Others claim that the difficulty of understanding it is so great that it is fit to be read only by clergy and learned men.
As for the first, ignorance of God's word is the cause of all error, as Christ himself declared to the Sadducees, saying that they erred because they did not know the Scripture. How then shall those avoid error who insist on remaining ignorant? And how shall those come out of ignorance who will not read or hear the very thing that would give them knowledge? The one who now has the most knowledge was at first ignorant; yet he did not refrain from reading for fear of falling into error, but read diligently, so that he would not remain in ignorance, and through ignorance in error.
And if you refuse to know the truth of God — a thing most necessary for you — for fear of falling into error, then by the same reasoning you might as well lie still and never walk, in case you should walk and fall in the mud; nor eat any good food, in case you take a surfeit; nor sow your grain, nor labour at your trade, nor carry on your business, for fear of losing your seed, your labour, your capital. And so, by that reasoning, it would be best for you to live idly and never undertake any kind of good thing, in case perhaps some evil might come of it.
And if you are afraid of falling into error by reading holy Scripture, I will show you how you may read without danger of error. Read it humbly, with a meek and lowly heart, so that you may glorify God, and not yourself, with the knowledge of it; and do not read it without daily praying to God to direct your reading to good effect; and take it upon yourself to expound it no further than you can plainly understand.
For, as St. Augustine says, the knowledge of holy Scripture is a great, vast, and lofty palace, but the door is very low; so that the proud and arrogant cannot run in, but whoever would enter must stoop low and humble himself. Presumption and arrogance are the mother of all error, and humility need fear no error. For humility seeks only to know the truth; it will search, and will compare one passage with another; and where it cannot find out the meaning, it will pray, it will ask others who know, and will not presumptuously and rashly settle anything it does not understand. Therefore the humble may search out any truth boldly in the Scripture without any danger of error. And if he is ignorant, he ought all the more to read and search holy Scripture, to bring himself out of ignorance. I do not deny that a person may profit by hearing alone; but he will profit much more by both hearing and reading.
This I have said concerning the fear of reading that comes from the reader's own ignorance. And concerning the difficulty of Scripture: whoever is so weak that he cannot stomach strong meat[3] may yet suck the sweet and tender milk, and put off the rest until he grows stronger and comes to more knowledge. For God receives the learned and the unlearned, and casts away none, but is impartial toward all. And the Scripture is full both of low valleys and plain paths, easy for everyone to use and to walk in, and also of high hills and mountains, which few can climb. And whoever gives his mind to the holy Scriptures with diligent study and burning desire, as St. John Chrysostom says, cannot possibly be left without help:
For either God Almighty will send him some godly teacher to instruct him — as he sent one to instruct the eunuch, a nobleman of Ethiopia and treasurer to queen Candace, who had a great desire to read the Scripture but did not understand it; and because of that desire for God's word, God sent his apostle Philip to declare to him the true sense of the Scripture he read — or else, if we lack a learned man to instruct and teach us, God himself from above will give light to our minds, and teach us the things that are necessary for us, and in which we are ignorant.
And in another place Chrysostom says that human, worldly wisdom or knowledge is not what is needed for the understanding of Scripture, but the revelation of the Holy Spirit, who inspires the true meaning in those who search for it with humility and diligence. Whoever asks shall receive, whoever seeks shall find, and to whoever knocks the door shall be opened. If we read once, twice, or three times and do not understand, let us not stop there, but keep on reading, praying, and asking others; and so, by continual knocking, the door shall at last be opened, as St. Augustine says.
Although many things in the Scripture are spoken in obscure mysteries, yet there is nothing spoken in dark mystery in one place that is not spoken elsewhere more plainly and clearly, within the grasp of learned and unlearned alike. And as for those things in Scripture that are plain to understand and necessary for salvation, it is everyone's duty to learn them, to fix them in memory, and to put them effectively into practice; and as for the dark mysteries, to be content to remain ignorant of them until it pleases God to open those things to him. In the meantime, if he lacks either ability or opportunity, God will not charge it to his folly; but it is not right that those who are able should set reading aside merely because some others are unable to read. Nevertheless, the difficulty of such passages is no reason to set aside the reading of the whole. And to conclude briefly: as St. Augustine says, by the Scripture all are amended, the weak are strengthened, and the strong are comforted. So that surely none are enemies to the reading of God's word except those who are either so ignorant that they do not know how wholesome a thing it is, or so sick that they hate the most strengthening medicine that would heal them, or so ungodly that they would wish the people to continue still in blindness and ignorance of God.
Thus we have briefly touched on some part of the benefits of God's holy word, which is one of God's chief and principal gifts given and declared to mankind here on earth. Let us thank God heartily for this great and special gift, this gracious favour and fatherly providence. Let us be glad to take up again this precious gift of our heavenly Father. Let us hear, read, and know these holy rules, commands, and statutes of our Christian religion, and remember the profession we made to God at our baptism. Let us, with fear and reverence, lay up in the chest of our hearts these necessary and fruitful lessons. Let us, night and day, muse on them, meditate, and contemplate them. Let us ruminate and, as it were, chew the cud, that we may draw out their sweet juice, their spiritual power, their marrow, honey, kernel, taste, comfort, and consolation. Let us steady, calm, and assure our consciences with their most infallible certainty, truth, and perpetual assurance. Let us pray to God, the only author of these heavenly studies, that we may speak, think, believe, live, and depart this life according to their wholesome doctrine and truths. And by that means, in this world we shall have God's defence, favour, and grace, with the inexpressible solace of peace and quietness of conscience, and after this wretched life we shall enjoy the endless bliss and glory of heaven. Which may he grant us all who died for us all, Jesus Christ; to whom, with the Father and the Holy Spirit, be all honour and glory, both now and forever. Amen.
The 1859 text reads "charity," retained here for its technical sense — the Greek agapē, self-giving love toward God and neighbour.↩︎
"A single eye": an allusion to Matthew 6:22, meaning a sincere, undivided purpose.↩︎
Original "meat" (= food). Here "strong meat" and "tender milk" echo 1 Corinthians 3:2 and Hebrews 5:12–14, the mature and the beginner in the faith.↩︎