Author Archives: Dr. Peter Van Kleeck, Sr.

“There are three things simply necessary into any man’s having a true religion and godliness; sound principles of divine truth, the savour of that knowledge in the heart, and the power of that savour in a man’s worship and walk. There are no sound principles of saving faith, but in God’s written word. There isContinue reading “Rev. Robert Traill, 1705, on True Religion”

As for that, which some men say, that the Church is more ancienter than the Scriptures, and therefore of greater authority, it is too trifling. For the word of God is the everlasting wisdom of God himself. Neither was the knowledge of it then manifested unto the Church, when it was committed to writing, butContinue reading “Zacharias Ursinus, 1587, on Scripture as the immortal seed of the Church”

Sect. 5. The sum of what I am pleading for, as to the particular Head to be vindicated is; that as the Scriptures of the Old and New Testament, were immediately, and entirely given out by God himself, his mind being in them represented unto us, without the least interveniency* of such wills , asContinue reading “John Owen, 1658, on the Purity, Preservation, and Integrity of the Hebrew and Greek Texts of the Old and New Testaments”

The original canonical sacred scripture is of infallible truthfulness and wholly free of error, or, what is the same thing, in the canonical sacred scripture there is no lie, no falsehood, not even the smallest error either in words or matter, but everything, together and singly, that is handed on in them is most true,Continue reading “John Andrew Quenstedt, 1617-1688, on Scripture’s infallibility”

Willet’s Cambridge classmate William Perkins reiterated his high view of Scripture in his commentary on Galatians. This was Perkins’s last book, posthumously edited by Ralph Cudworth.[1] In The Epistle Dedicatorie Cudworth writes this of the word of God: They being of such perfection that nothing may be added unto them, nor anything taken away fromContinue reading “William Perkins, 1558-1602, on Galatians and Scripture’s Preservation”

Of the word of the Lord. The circumstance of the person sending, the efficient, and author, as of other prophecies, so of this; he comes not unsent, he spoke not of himself, he came not without the Lord, but from him. So he affirmeth, and truly, to get more reverence, credit, and authority with them.Continue reading “Richard Stock, 1651, on Inspiration and the Self-Interpreting Nature of Holy Scripture Contained in his Commentary of Malachi”

To show the significance of the words “pure Originals,” the writing of a central figure in the formulation of reformation thought is enlisted. William Whitaker (or Whitacre, 1547-1595), Regius Professor of Divinity and Master of St. John’s College in the University of Cambridge wrote a treatise entitled A Disputation of Holy Scripture Against the papistsContinue reading “William Whitaker, 1547-1595, on Scripture’s Authority”

That the Scriptures are also strict injunctions of Divine Authority concerning our duties. The reason of our faith and obedience to the Scriptures, is  into their Divine Authority, which as it is the greatest of all, so upon less we may not depend…God is infallible in his understanding, faithful in his declarations, and so highlyContinue reading “Nathaniel Ingelo, 1659, on Divine Inspiration in 2 Peter 1:20-21”

In the Treatise of the government of the tongue published by me heretofore, I had occasion to take notice among the exorbitances of that unruly part, which sets on fire the whole course of nature, and itself is set on fire from hell, James 3:6, of the impious vanity prevailing in this age, whereby menContinue reading “Richard Allestree, 1678: A 17th C. assessment of a contemporary academic and ecclesiastical epidemic”

So here what a large encomium and high commendation the Holy Ghost gives of the Scriptures, even such as is given to no other book in the world besides. He commends them in respect of one special property and adjunct, viz. their Holiness. The Holy Scriptures. From their effects, they are able to make usContinue reading “Thomas Hall, 1658, on 2 Timothy 3:15: “Love the Scriptures for their purity. As God is to be loved for his purity, so is his word.””