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Monday, August 08, 2022

The fittest interpreter

That the Scripture is the only Authentick Record of the Mind and Will of God. For it is certain and undoubted Voice of God himself; and what that speaks, He speaks. And who so fit to Interpret the meaning of the words as himself? Ejus est Interpretari, cujus est condere, is an approved Rule in Civil Law; He that made the Law, is fittest to Interpret it. And in the present case the Reason is evident; God best knows his own Mind; and he hath no where so plainly and fully revealed his Mind as in Scripture. Certainly there can be none so sure and infallible Interpreter of these sacred Records, as the Holy Spirit that endited them; and he Interprets them, not by suggesting to us anything for their understanding which is not there already, but by speaking to us more clearly from some part of Scripture, what is delivered more darkly in others. Can any Man, or sort of Men in the World, pretend to know the Mind of God better than himself? or give us better assurance what his Mind is, than the Word which himself hath appointed to be written for this very purpose? Whatsoever sense may be put upon any Scripture-Assertion, and by whomsoever framed, it cannot challenge our undoubted reception, unless we can discern the Voice of God in it.

John Wilson, The Scriptures Genuine Interpreter Asserted: or a Discourse Concerning the Right Interpretation of Scripture (In the Savoy: Printed by T. N. for R. Boulter, 1678), pages 215-216.

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