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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A47136	Divine immediate revelation and inspiration, continued in the true church second part. In two treatises: the first being an answer to Jo. W. Bajer Doctor and Professor of Divinity, so called, at Jena in Germany, published first in Latine, and now in English. The second being an answer to George Hicks, stiled Doctor of Divinity, his sermon preached at Oxford, 1681. and printed with the title of, The spirit of enthusiasm exorcised; where this pretended exorcist is detected. Together, with some testimonies of truth, collected out of diverse ancient writers and fathers, so called. By G.K.; Divine immediate revelation and inspiration, continued in the true church. Part 2.	Keith, George, 1639?-1716.	1685 (1685)	Wing K158; ESTC R218958	105,601	220

Book called Foxes and Fire-brands pag. 15. c. printed 1680. What ground of Proof can such a bare citation be without naming the Author or giving a sufficient Evidence of his Fidelity How many Lyes are to be found in printed Books If bearly to name the Title of a Book without regarding or giving sufficient Evidence of the Authors Fidelity be proof enough against a Doctrine or Person who shall or can escape Innocent It were easie to show how the Jesuits are as great enemies to Immediate Revelation and Inspiration as necessary to every true Christian for the foundation of their Faith as any people in the World or as this Author as doth clearly enough appear out of Bellarmin a great Jesuit who disputeth against this way of resolving or building our Faith and pleadeth for the Tradition of the Church in opposition to all inward Inspiration and calleth them mad men who lean to any Spirit within them which he saith is often fallacious and ever uncertain Nor were it a hard thing to prove that the Doctrine of Inspiration hath been preached and believed both in England and elsewhere before either the Name or Order of Jesuits was in the World And as to his Insinuation concerning R. Barclay unless he can prove that he remained a Papist when he did publish among many others that Doctrine he saith nothing to the matter It can easily be showed that divers Bishops and Teachers in the Protestant Church have had their Education at Popish Schools yea Luther himself was a Popish Monk and bred at a Popish University and some of the present Bishops and Teachers in Britain have had a Popish Education which yet will not argue they are still Papists How many are quite of other Perswasions than what they had by Education And as for R. B. what Education he had among Papists was but when a Child or Boy where he learned only some Latin and Grammar and what he received of their Leaven even in his young and tender years while yet but a youth he renounced and the Lord opened his Eyes to see and acknowledge the Truth whereof I can give better Testimony having well known him from that very time than this Author can against him And I ask the Author Was it any prejudice or derogation to the Christian Religion that Paul a zealous Preacher of it was bred among the Pharisees if not the Authors Argument being of the same sort evanisheth As for Labbade as he was no Quaker so called so whatever formerly he was to be sure he was then no Jesuit but hated and persecuted by them In pag. 40. he falls on with a fresh assault to accuse the Doctrine of the Quakers so called concerning a Spiritual Ministry and Spiritual Worship for being blasphemous but if this be blasphemy to own a spiritual Ministry and Worship at this rate he may accuse the Apostles yea Christ himself as blasphemous which is most absurd and blasphemous so to affirm who were for a Spiritual Ministry Iohn 4. and Spiritual Worship but it seemeth by this that the Author himself is only for a carnal or literal Ministry and Worship And he saith they viz. the people called in derision Quakers pretend that the Holy Ghost now cometh down upon their Assemblies as it did in the Apostles time and moves them to Preach and Pray by Inspiration without any regard to Condition or Sex But here he doth not fairly nor truly represent our Doctrine for we distinguish betwixt the ordinary and miraculous Inspirations with both which the Apostles were indued and we say Although the miraculous and extraordinary be ceased yet the ordinary remain as being necessary to all right effectual Preaching and Praying Again it is false that he alledgeth we say the Spirit inspireth us to Preach or Pray without any regard to Condition for a regard there is had unto the Condition of persons so that the Spirit inspireth none to Preach or Pray but such as are first brought into some measure of a sanctified State and Condition As to other things he mentions here and especially that about calling for Signs and Miracles I have already answered him above and here I would have him to consider how Christ called them an evil and adulterous Generation that sought after Signs And what if we could show Signs and perform all the other Conditions he requireth of us that he may believe us to be truly inspired would he then in good earnest believe us to be divinely inspired hath he not called the very principle a blasphemous Doctrine And whereas he saith pag. 38. he denyeth not but that God is free to send Prophets when he pleases and that he may do so when the exigence of the Church doth require it Is not this a manifest contradiction to his calling the Doctrine of Inspiration and Immediate Revelation blasphemous Or is God free to send when he pleaseth any blasphemous Doctrine or Principle into the World as this Author termeth Immediate Revelatiation and Inspiration And suppose that God did send Prophets or men immediately inspired which this Author supposeth he may Can God send any thing that would overthrow the Authority of the Scriptures and annul the Ministerial Orders would not this be inconsistent with his Divine infinite Wisdom But thus we see what inconsistences this Author falleth into while he is carried with such a preposterous zeal against this so excellent a principle In pag. 40. he scoffingly taunts the people called Quakers with their Groanings in their Meetings saying that they groan sufficiently we grant for sometimes in their Meetings they do nothing else But if their Groaning or vocal Devotion be from the Spirit how comes it to pass that the Spirit never moves them as it did in the Apostles days to Pray and Prophesie in unknown Tongues To this I answer Many have both Groaned and Prayed by the Spirit who never spoke with unknown Tongues as I think the Author will confess for the Prophets prayed by the Spirit before Christ came in the flesh and yet all had not the Gift of Tongues But by this it plainly seemeth he disowneth all Groaning and Praying by the Spirit as applicable to him or any of his Brethren this I say again is far contrary to the Liturgy of the Church of England And how knoweth he that sometimes in their Meetings the people called in scorn Quakers do nothing else I must tell him they do more in every Meeting although to groan from the Spirit is of more value than all that the Author or any else can do without the Spirit viz. they meditate they wait they watch they sing and make a melody in their hearts unto the Lord. But here he seemeth to scoff at our silent Meetings where we wait to hear what God will speak unto us though perhaps no man at that time doth speak which is well enough consistent with our Principle of Divine Inspiration for if God inspire his people now as formerly they are well

he is not a dead Vessel or Machine but is a living sensible rational Vessel and is quickned strengthened and beautifyed yea and perfected thereby as the Body is by the Soul that is lodged in it So that however others who are declared Enemies to Divine Inspiration may judge we have cause to conclude That men indeed Divinely inspired are the most truly Rational Men in the World and have the truest and noblest use of all their Rational and Intellectual faculties if duly improved Several Testimonies of Ancient Fathers so called and other Ancient Writers to the Spirits Inward and Immediate Teachings and the preference of the Spirit of God in his Divine Illuminations and Operations and Inspirations to the Letter of the Scripture also the Vniversality of Divine Illumination and of the benefit of Silence and other things of Truth of the like Nature as owned by the People called in Derision Quakers IGnatius who lived in the first Century or within a hundred years after Christ and is thought that he might have seen Christ in the flesh who died a valiant Martyr for the truth of Christ in his 9th Epistle writing to the Church of Philadelphia saith expressly thus 1. I have heard some saying unless I find the Gospel in Archeis publick Records or Writings I believe not Unto such I say Jesus is unto me for publick Records or Writings again he saith the publick Records or Writings ought not to be preferred unto the Spirit Observe It 's plain that by the Archea or Publick Records he meaneth the Scriptures in which sense Tertullian useth the word Archia lib. 3. against Marcion II. And in his 14th Epistle writing to the Ephesians he saith unto them expresly these words using the Holy Spirit the Rule in Greek thus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Greek word signifieth a measuring Line Rule or perpendicular III. Athenagoras who lived in the 2d Century legatione pro Christianis pleading for the Christians that they lived a pure life he saith expresly of them whose life is directed unto God as the Rule the Greek words are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 most properly signifieth a Rule Amussis Regula IV. Clemens Alexandrinus who lived in the beginning of the 3d Century admonitione ad Gentes saith But that holy man Moses speaketh truly Deut. 25.13 14 15. Thou shalt not have in thy bag a weight and a weight a great and a small but thou shalt have a true and a just weight judging the weight and the measure and the number of all things to be God for the unjust and unrighteous at home and in the bag are the Idols that are hid in the unclean soul but there is one just measure who is the only true God ever equal and ever the same measuring and weighing all things in the ballance which is righteousness V. The same Clemens 1 b. 1. Stromatum towards the end saith expresly thus It is evident that Moses calleth the Lord the Testament greek 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saying behold I my Testament with thee for before he said the Testament or Covenant was not to be sought in the Scripture again he saith in the preaching of Peter thou shalt find the Lord called the Law and the Word or Reason VI. The same Clemens in his forecited admonition to the Gentiles expresly declareth that in all men simply or universally and especially in them who are exercised in Doctrines there is instilled a certain divine influx or influence gr 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by the grace or gift of which they acknowledge even they also who are unwilling that God is one incorruptible and unbegotten or uncreated VII Again in the same he saith for as that divine Apostle of the Lord saith The grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared unto all men c. this is the New Song the appearance of the word which hath shined in us which was in the beginning and was first of all VIII And in his Poedagagus lib. 1. cap. 3. he saith there is a lovely or amiable thing in man which is called the inspiration of God gr 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 IX And writing to the unbelieving Gentiles he speaketh expresly of the inward witness which was in them calling it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 innatum testem fide dignum the innate witness worthy of faith and what is that but the same which Iames called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e. the innate word born or inbred in us X. The same Clemens in his Stromata citeth testimonies for the truth out of Matthias Barnabas Clement the Apostle and out of Hermes the Pastor yea he is so far from thinking that only the Prophets and Apostles writ by Divine Inspiration that he plainly declareth that not only Plato but also many others preached and declared the only true God by his inspiration gr 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 admon ad Gentes and in the same speaking of the followers of Pythagoras he saith and these things suffice unto the acknowledging of God which are written by them by the inspiration of God This Clemens Alexandrinus was the Scholar of Pantaenus the Martyr the which Pantaenus taught School at Alexandria in Aegypt and is said to have been the first Christian School-Master in that famous School of Alexandria to whom did succeed Clemens Alexandrinus and to him Origine and others successively XI The forecited Ignatius writing to the Ephesians ep 14. saith expresly thus Let Christ speak in you as in Paul let the Holy Ghost teach you to speak the things of Christ like unto him and in his 13th Epistle writing to Heron Deacon of Antioch he saith Thou art the Temple of Christ the Instrument of the Spirit XII Tertullian who lived about the beginning of the third Century lib. 2. carminum advers Marrion saith Atque adeo non verba libri sed missus in orbem Ipse Christus Evangelium est si cernere vultis In English thus Not the words of the Book but Christ who is Into the world sent the Gospel is If ye will understand this he wrote against the Marcionists a gross sort of Hereticks XIII The same Tertullian a very approv'd Author in what he writ before he was leavened with the Doctrines of Novatus and Montanus and famous among the Christians for his Writings a great defender of the Christian faith against the Infidels In his Book of the Testimony of the Soul against the Gentiles proveth that there is in the souls of all men a testimony concerning God the judgement to come the immortality of the soul the punishment of the wicked after death the resurrection of the body c. he saith moreover thus I bring forth a new Testimony more known than all literature or letter-knowledge and cap. 5. he saith thus These testimonies of the soul how much true so much simple how much simple so much vulgar how much vulgar so much common how much common so much natural how much natural so much

or evil Spirit and undertake to Exorcise it before the face of the University of Oxford where Common Prayer is so frequently read and that without any distinction But possibly he may say he is not against divine inspiration as it is a common saving gift of the Spirit necessary to all the Church and every member of it but as it is some peculiar and extraordinary thing as the gift of tongues power of working Miracles signs and wonders the Spirit of prophecy c. To this I answer 1. He ought then in the first place to have told so much what sort or kind of Enthusiasm or divine inspiration for both these words are of one signification he was for and what sort he was against and not have promiscuously condemned Inspiration or Enthusiasm altogether in the Lump 2. The people called in derision Quakers do not plead for those extraordinary Enthusiasms or Inspirations which the Apostles and some others had in the primitive times as the gift of tongues the power of working Miracles c. and as the Spirit of Prophecy is restructed to signifie a peculiar gift of forfeiting future events we do not plead for its absolute necessity in the Church far less do we Judge it necessary to every true Christian And this I did sufficiently declare in my Book of Immediate Revelaion cited by the Author the which Book if he had taken a little pains to read and consider might have saved him the labour of saying so much against the Quakers without any just ground or provocation It is like that we and our Books are esteemed so meanly of by such as this Author as that they think it not worth their time or labour to read our Books But in case it be so that we are so mean in their eyes yet they ought not to judge or condemn us until they have good knowledge or information of what we hold which they are not likely to have without taking some time and pains to read or hear what we say for to condemn any principle we hold before they do well know it is as unjust as to condemn a man before he be heard CHAP. II. BUt there are other two or three things which I suppose this Author or some other may answer in the Case The first is that the Inspirations which the Church of England doth hold pray for and expect are subordinate to Scripture and do acknowledge the Scripture as superiour and more noble and that they are to be tryed by the Scripture as the greater and more principal rule and not the Scripture by them whereas some of the Quakers have writ and particularly R. B. in his Theses that this Spirit of Immediate Revelation is not to be tryed by the Scriptures and reason but that both of them are to be tryed by it for so doth the Author cite R. B. his Theses as so affirming pag. 38. To this I answer the Author doth manifestly wrong R. B. in his Citation for R. B. no where saith in his Theses or Apology that the Spirit or its Inspiration is not to be tryed by the Scripture or Reason simply Only he saith that those inward divine Revelations are not to be examined and tryed by the Scriptures as the more noble and certain rule Yea in the 3 Thesis R. B. doth plainly acknowledge that the Scriptures are and may be esteemed a secondary rule subordinate to the Spirit from whom they derive the excellency and certainty they have it is not therefore affirmed by R. B. as this Author upon his own mistake as seemeth doth alledge nor yet by any Quaker so called that I know of that the Scripture or right reason in no respect are a rule and may not be profitably and safely used as a rule whereby to try inward Divine Revelations as the Scripture or right reason is used or applyed for a rule by the help of the Spirit and in subordination unto the Spirit But the state of the question lyeth here whither the external testimony of the Scripture used and applyed as a rule without the Spirit as too many do be a more noble and greater rule and more certain or giving to the mind of man more assurance of truth than the inward Immediate Testimony of the Spirit of God in the soul or mind which as a ray of the Sun shineth with its own Light and hath a self evidencing power and vertue in it as every other true light hath This is one branch of the state of the question Another branch is this whither when both the Spirits inward testimony and the Scriptures outward testimony do acknowledge co-operate and concur to produce or work a persuasion or essent to some Gospel doctrine or principle of Christian Religion in the soul or heart of a true Believer I say whither in this case the inward testimony or witness of the Spirit is not the greater the stronger and more clear and certain as to us and the more effectual and as having the greatest stroak and share in the begetting or producing the said assent to truth or persuasion of it in the mind of man Now the pople called in derision Quakers are not ashamed but bold in the Lord to say that the Inward Testimony Operation and Revelation or Inspiration of the Spirit of God is the greater and hath the greatest stroak and efficiency in this work and that the holy Spirit is not the subordinate instrument or rule of the Scripture but the Scripture is the subordinate rule and instrument of the Spirit And this I prove first from the express words of the Apostle Iohn 1 Iohn 5.9 10. If we receive the witness of men the witness of God is greater for this is the witness of God which he hath testified of his Son he that believeth on the Son of God hath the witness in himself Now it is clear that Iohn by the witness of men doth mean the Scripture as being the witness of the holy Prophets and Apostles who were men and by the witness of God the inward witness of the Spirit which he who believeth hath in himself not as if the Scripture were not also the witness of God and a divine witness far above all bare humane Testimony but yet the Scripture being compared with the inward Immediate witness of Gods Spirit in the soul may be without any derogation called the witness of men to wit of the Prophets and Apostles who were holy men for what other men Iohn doth mean I do not understand but faithful and holy men who did bear a true record to Divine Truth as they had it inwardly revealed unto them And to this same effect the Apostle Paul declared that his Gospel came unto the Thessalonians not in words or speech or discourse only but in power and in the Holy Ghost and in much Assurance where he annexeth the much assurance to the Power and at the Holy Ghost and not simply nor principally to the words and elsewhere he said The

Religion which is a special Religion more perfect and excellent than the General and perfiting the said General Religion in true Christians are made known unto us by the Scripture means the Holy Spirit inwardly inlightning and inspiring us that we may understand the Doctrines declared in the Scripture and may savingly apply them with true and sincere Faith to the salvation of our souls And what more any can require of us to establish the due use of the Scripture or of any other means I do not understand And as concerning the aforesaid experimental and sensible knowledge of God that is only manifest or obvious to the inward and supreme sences and powers of the Soul as they are opened and awakened in us by the work of Regeneration and Renewing of the Holy Ghost although the Scripture words do not immediately concur in the formal act of such a Divine and Intuitive Knowledge as the words of a mans name do not make me see the man yet the Scriptures do witness abundantly concerning such an experimental and spiritually sensible knowledge of God which is perceived in a most inward union and communion of the Soul with God and in a certain Intellectual or spiritual contact or touch of which not only Plato and Plotin and others among those called Philosophers but the Apostles among the Christians have largely made mention And after the Apostles Athanasius Gregory Nazianzen Clemens Alexandrinus Origen and many others among the Grecians and Augustine and Ierome with many others many Ages ago among the Latines and in latter Ages Bernard Thauler and Thomas a Kempis and the Author of the German Theology unto whose Book Luther did write a Preface and did much commend it All these and generally these called Mysticks and Writers upon Mystick Divinity so called do Preach and hold forth a certain Knowledge of God which is received without all words by a certain inward gust taste and touch and inward feeling of God and Divine Things in the souls and hearts of those who have attained unto that due state and degree of purity and holiness requisite in order to such a knowledge and enjoyment And hence it is that they distinguish Theology or the knowledge of God into discursive on the one hand and mystick or intuitive and contemplative on the other and they say the former is had or received by words and verbal discourses syllogisms propositions premisses and conclusions gathered and collected from Scripture which yet without the Spirits inward illumination and operation is not effectual to the salvation of those who have it but that this latter is obtained by a naked and simple perception and intuition of God and Divine Things as the mind is purified and cleansed and denuded as it were from all images and similitudes or signs of words or outward things whatsoever That we may therefore put a conclusion to the forming the state of the controversie aright which is the most principal thing if the question be made concerning doctrinal and discursive Theology or knowledge which require words propositions definitions reasons arguments and conclusions we shall readily grant that the Scriptures are a General Principle of the same but Secundary the Holy Spirit inwardly inlightning and inspiring mens souls and hearts being still the Primary and Principal and that by means of the Scriptures in reading and hearing and meditating upon them and as they are preached and opened and used by men spiritually gifted and fitted of God we attain to the knowledge of the said discursive and doctrinal Theology and most especially the Scriptures are of service unto us when we turn or convert the words of them that do most nearly respect Holiness of Life and Manners such as the precepts and examples of Christian Vertues into good works and deeds and into a good and Christian Life But in the experimental and mystick or intuitive and contemplative Theology not the Scripture words but the things themselves signified by the words to wit God Christ the Holy Spirit the Life Light and Power of God the Love Peace and Joy of God and the Kingdom of God which Christ did testifie to be within us reveal and demonstrate themselves to the souls and hearts of the faithful by themselves nakedly in their own proper and native light glory and evidence without words even as the outward things and riches of this visible world and the beauty glory and vertue of them reveal and discover themselves unto our outward senses without words and far beyond the force or reach of words And if outward things without words are continually presented to our outward senses it followeth that inward things to wit the things of the Divine and Heavenly Kingdom which is in us are presented to our inward and spiritual senses without words seeing these inward and spiritual things are as near to our souls yea much nearer ' as those outward things are to our bodies And thus the state of the Controversie being rightly framed and brought to a period I shall have little difficulty to answer the following Paragraphs or Sections of the Adversary seeing in all things almost he goeth without or beyond the state of the Controversie and so contendeth not so much against us or R. B. as his own shadow or thoughts CHAP. VI. WHat the Adversary saith in his Ninth and Tenth Paragraphs are of the same tendency with the things he had formerly mentioned belonging to the state of the Controversie In his Eleventh Paragraph he saith the Controversie is not of any sort of Revelation but that of Immediate And in his Twelfth he affirmeth that Revelation considered in it self doth prescind or abstract from that which is Immediate and Mediate And he assenteth unto R. B. his five Propositions pag. 9. of his Apology and that Divine Revelations remain to be the formal object of the Saints Faith but he denyeth them to be Immediate To whom I answer that he granteth with us That he inward illuminations and operations of the Holy Spirit are altogether necessary to beget true and saving Faith in men and that these inward illuminations are objective or by way of Object Par. 32. and Par. 34. So that the act of Faith is occupied or exercised and doth finally stay in God himself revealing as the Object And what he subjoyneth That God revealing as the formal Object in whom the Vnderstanding stayeth or resteth and the Divine Revelation consisting of the external signs are not to be opposed Because when God the revealer by outward words Preached or Writ moveth the Vnderstanding to acknowledge them to be as a Divine Revelation it cannot be denyed that the Vnderstanding doth so rest in God revealing as the formal Object So that it doth also regard these signs depending on God by which that Revelation doth consist meaning the words All this is granted both by me and R. B. yea that is it for which R. B. pleadeth viz. that God inwardly illuminating and moving the Understanding to the assent of the

because they have departed and Apostatised from that Holy Spirit given of old unto their Fathers And therefore was it not also a great glory and honour to the ancient Christian Church to have in it the gift of prophecy or speaking by Immediate Inspiration and would it not be now a great glory and honour to the Church if that gift of prophecy which did anciently flourish in the Church for some Ages after the Apostles days should flourish and spring forth again was not this gift with many others lost by the apostacy of the professors of the Christian Religion and therefore when the apostacy goeth out and people doth return to the sincere worship and obedience of God shall not this excellent gift be restored together with many others Had not the ancient Christian Church after the Apostles days all the Books of Scripture of the Old and New Testament as well as we The Jews also had the Scriptures of the Old Testament which contained all the heads of Christian Doctrine in respect of the substance of Religion a people therefore having the Scripture but wanting the Spirit Immediately teaching leading and inspiring them which both the Jewish Church had and also the Christians after the Apostles days shall be more happy then both these because they want the said Holy Spirit Immediately inspiring teaching and leading them This is a wonderful paradox but most false for the Christians are not more happy than the Jews because out of the Scripture barely they could know the will of God for the Jews had the Scripture also containing all the heads of the Doctrine of their Religion clearly enough But for this cause true Christians are more happy than those Jews that whereas the Jews for all their having the Scripture did need to take long Journeys to consult the Priests to solicite wait for the respouses of the High Priests all true Christians because they partake more largely of the Holy Spirit they need not make these Journeys or travels to consult either Priests or High Priest because they have a most excellent Priest yea an High Priest more high then the Heavens or the Angels that dwell in them to wit Jesus Christ dwelling in their hearts who by his Spirit teacheth them all things and doth clearly and without all doubtfulness answer them i● all things needful to be known by them and who doth also clearly and infallibly expound the Scripture unto them And therefore true Christians have no need to run to these Jewish Priests and High Priests nor unto these Doctors so called and preachers at this day who do not so much as profess to have any thing of the Divine Inspiration and inward Revelation with which the Prophets and holy men of God were of old endued and do not pretend to have any infallible sense or understanding of the holy Scripture or to have received any infallible Judgment of its meaning And so true Christians may spare both their labour and their mony and not spend it nor give it away to such Doctors and Preachers but leaving them all behind as unprofitable let them go unto Jesus Christ the Lord the eternal Priest who liveth for ever by whom they shall be well and sufficiently taught and instructed and that freely without either labour or mony And lastly as to these notable testimonies of the ancients and reformers in Luther's times cited by R. B. in his Apology because the Adversary endeavoureth to elude or evade the form of them after the same manner as he doth the testimonies of the holy Scripture therefore he is the same way refused in both and the answers given in the one will serve in the other the which if I have effectually given I leave unto the ●qual and impartial Reader for to Judge THE Pretended EXORCIST DETECTED In a Brief REPLY TO A SERMON PREACHED BEFORE The University of Oxford by George Hicks stiled Doctor of Divinity in the Month called Iuly 11. 1680. the which Sermon is called The Spirit of Enthusiasm Exorcised CHAP. I. UPon my reading of this Authors Printed Sermon which is called the Spirit of Enthusiasm exorcised I find the said Author very unskilful and unacquainted with the true notion of Enthusiasm as it is owned and received among the People called in derision Quakers with all possible moderation And though he hath been pleased to cite my Book of Immediate ●evelation and R. B. his Apology and Theses yet I can hardly believe he hath been at any pains to read and consider throughly what is said by us on that Subject for had he but read and well considered what we have said or writ in that matter he would have ●●●●e fairly and genuinely stated the controversy betwixt us and our opposers as to this particular In my answer to Io. Bajer the Lutheran Doctor in Iena so much is already said as less needs be added for a reply to what this Author hath brought against us As for the word or term Enthusiasm as I have already said in my answer to the Lutheran Doctor we do not plead for it or affect such a name or title for it being no Scripture phrase or expression we can and do very well declare our Faith in the thing we intend without it Yet we cannot altogether reject the term when thrust or cast upon us by opposers on purpose many times to render us odious because the Etimology of the word Enthusiasm according to the best and most approved Greek Lexicons signifieth Divine Inspiration And whereas it hath been used by heathenish writers to signifie the inspirations or inward suggestions of Daemons and evil Spirits yet this hath rather been an abuse and improper signification of the word then a true and genuine acceptation of it and notwithstanding of this abuse of the word among heathenish writers and Poets yet divers of the Fathers use● it in a good sense and as applicable to good and sincere Christians Yea this Author himself with respect to the Prophets and Apostles and others their successors for 3 or 4 hundreds of years owneth the term Enthusiasm and that in the Apostles times and downwards to the 4 or 5 Century there were some real and sincere Christians who had Enthusiasms and were enthusiastically acted and moved by the Spirit of God for thus he saith Pag. 12. Edit 3. of this sort of Enthusiastical confidence with which the Spirit filled the minds of men is that place to be understood Math. 21. vers 21. and Pag. 14. he saith prophecy may be taken as it is often in the Old and New Testament for praising of God by inspired Hymns and Psalms for inspired persons did usually spend their Enthusiasm in composing of Hymns and Spiritual Songs And Pag. 16. he saith the groanings wherewith some inspired persons prayed in the Apostles days according to Rom. 8. were the effect of those supernatural raptures and Enthusiasms with which the Spirit filled the souls of those inspired Orators so we see how this Author

is good to wait for the Lord in silence 2 As touching silence in meetings that there hath been silence in the religious meetings of Gods people This I prove first from the testimony of Scripture Job 2.13 So they sat down with him upon the ground seven days and seven nights and none spake a word unto him for they saw that his grief was very great Esdras 9.3 4. Then were assembled unto me every one that trembled at the words of the God of Israel because of the transgression of those that had been carried away and I sat astonished until the evening sacrifice but the seventy Interpreters translate it thus And I sat silent until the evening Sacrifice Ezekiel 3.15 Then came I to them of the captivity at Telabid that dwelt by the river of Chebar and I sat where they sat and remained their astonished among them seven days and it came to pass at the end of seven days that the word of the Lord came unto me saying Observe It is plain from these words that the Prophet waited in silence seven days for the word of the Lord to open his mouth Oh how the mockers of the Spirit of God who mock at our silent meetings would have mocked at this holy Prophet and as these mockers use to say to us when we sit silent together perhaps for the space of one hour or two not daring to speak until it be given us by the Spirit of God The Spirit is long a coming surely such atheistical mockers would have said the same to him if they had lived in his day or he in theirs although no doubt that good man had the Spirit of God and the word of God in his heart all the time well exercising him albeit nothing was given him to speak unto others even as we who wait upon the Lord in silence do find the Spirit of the Lord present with us and in us even in our silence and the reason of our silence is not that the Spirit of the Lord is absent but that we find it our place to be silent that we may the better attend to his inward teaching in our hearts and may be guided by him when and what to speak Mat. 5.1 2. And seeing the multitudes he went up into a mountain and when he was sat his disciples came unto him and he opened his mouth and taught them saying Observe after he was sat he opened his mouth this sitting doth spiritually or mystically signifie the inward composure and silence of the mind that both speakers and hearers should be brought unto before that any thing be spoken that will edifie So Beda Acts 2.1 2. And when the day of Pentecost was fully come they were all with one accord in one place and suddenly there came a sound from Heaven c. Observe It is plain from this that while they were sitting silent the Holy Ghost was given neither did they speak before they received the Holy Ghost but after they had received him then they spoke as the Spirit gave utterance And it is clear that the very end of their assembling together at this time was to wait upon the Lord for the fulfilling of his promise who commanded them Acts 1.4 that they should not depart from Ierusalem but wait for the promise of the Father So there they waited and without all words or outward ministry of any creature the Spirit was poured forth upon them It is worth the observing that while they were neither Exhorting nor Preaching nor Praying outwardly but silent this came to pass Secondly I prove the same from antiquity Athanasius in the Life of Anthony sheweth that Anthony would often sit silent with them who came to him as it is written in Daniel 4.19 and sometimes he would walk and after the space of an hour he would speak to his brethren who were present and would declare unto them the things which had been revealed unto him And at one time he was sitting and was in an extasie or in an excess of mind and while he was in the contemplation he groaned exceedingly and after an hours space turning unto them who were present he sighed and trembled and rising up he kneeled down and prayed for some considerable space and all the brethren that were present with him trembled also and having desired him to declare unto them his Revelation he yielded unto their desire and shewed them what had been revealed unto him This is that Anthony whom Augustin mentioneth so honourably in his Confessions and so doth Eusebius in his Ecclesiastical History Moreover because I find people generally and even them who suppose they have skill in Learning and Philosophy to think so strangely of our silence in our meetings and some have not stuck to say that silent meetings are altogether a new conceit of the Quakers the like whereof was never known among wise men I judge it not amiss to let them understand how Plato in his Book de Sapientia declareth concerning his Master Socrates that his Schollars or Familiars were sharpned or quickned by him even when he was silent upon which Marsilius Ficinus a great Platonist hath these words lib. 7. cap. 5. Theologica Platonica de Animae Immortalit Moreover saith he Socrates declareth how that some who used his company and were near unto him became more quick or sharp in understanding even when he was silent and when they departed from his company and converse they became duller as if that vertue of understanding belonged unto a certain divine influence from God conveyed by the spirit and mind of Socrates unto the minds of his familiars thus Marsilius Ficinus Now this Socrates is generally esteemed by the learned to have been the best of all the Philosophers yea Iustin Martyr affirmeth plainly that he was a Christian and that he knew Christ as he is the word also Clemens Alexandrinus expresly declareth that the idea of Socrates and Plato in the comtemplation of which they placed only the true Philosophy was the word mentioned Iohn 1.1 lib. 5. Stromatum from which it is plain that Socrates had meetings with his Friends in silence and they profited by him even when he was silent Therefore let all such who reckon themselves wise men and Philosophers be ashamed any more to speak against silence in meetings as if it were an unprofitable thing lest in so doing they declare themselves to be rather Fools than true Philosophers such as Socrates Again Plutarch in his Morals Tom. 1. cap. 13. so highly commendeth silence that he calleth it a profound wisdom and full of high misteries and he saith we learn from men to speak but from the Gods to be silent for in the Sacrifices and holy Ceremonies of the service of the Gods we are commanded to be quiet and to keep silence and the saying of Cato is excellent he is next God who knoweth in reason to be silent And that you may see how suitable and agreable the things which I have already