demonstrate to sober minds And though some of your Doctors may speak Hebrew far better and be more ready than he at Sçeva Hiphil Phiel and at finding of your Roots as wisely established for such as the Holy Ghost taken away from Christ's Church yet without Lexicon Grammar Talmud and Targum he went so far beyond them that none of the best of them have ever so much as once dreamed of one word of the most sublime and divine sence which he hath discovered in almost every word of the Book of Genesis And if you had been pleased but to consult him a little about the meaning of some Hebrew words as for instance what means the Scripture by the word Meroz Judg. 5.23 you had never written nor suffer'd to be printed so much Non-sence about it Curse Meroz who can that be in the true sence of Scripture which is every where Figurative and besides in this place Prophetical but the Bishops and all such Shepherds whom God is against Ezek. 34.10 for that being like Meroz some of the men set apart among the Christian Churches to help the Spirit of God to fight against the Nations and the powers of darkness which War against him in man Gal. 5.17 19. and oppress the people of God and lead him away captive as Judg. 5.12 is said for Meroz was a Town of Galilee and belonging to the Tribe of Naphtali which with that of Zebâ—lon was by the Prophetess appointed in Israel to fight against Jabin the King of the Canaanites Judg. 4.6 5.18 and so typifies a part of those which are chosen from the body of the Church to set upon the Prince of this World and his Host in us they instead of thus helping the Lord against these mighty not only go not about either for their own private or publick good of their people to oppose their invasion but freely become their Slaves and betray into the hands of those Enemies of God Rom. 8.7 their Flocks by suffering them to walk and to run with them in the will of the Gentiles to wit Pride and Drunkenness excess in Clothes Patching Plays Revellings c. 1 Pet. 4.4 which Lusts go uncontrolled nay instead of exhorting the Magistrate to suppress the Schools of Vice in this Land viz. all lewd and Play-houses these dumb Dogs that cannot bark but for praise honour and gain Isa 56.10 11. discourage by barking at those that find fault with them as by applying to them on a Temporal account the curse of Meroz appears those few that would go and fight the said Enemies of God Besides as Meroz is not mentioned in the portions divided to the twelve Tribes Josh 19.32 to 40. among the Cities named throughout the inheritance of the people of Israel and yet was a Town of one of the Tribes of Israel so it ought to be applied to those that are in the Church and yet are not of the true Church of Christ have neither part nor lot in the Holy Ghost Act. 8.21 the true inheritance of Saints and Land of promise Rom. 14.17 and whose names are not set down or written among the true Israel in Heaven And who should these be but those who have not the Holy Ghost and deny the gift of it and yet like Simon Magus would gladly make sale of it as from their Ordination for money is manifest These four were Protestants viz. of the Lutherans and Valdenses Profession That the other Protestant parties have also seen some of the same wonders and signs done by the power of Faith upon some among themselves it is no hard thing to give several instances of and even out of some of their own Martyrologies But because they that read them may observe the same themselves and to avoid as much as I can prolixity out of many instances which are come to my knowledge in many parts of Europe I will give only two which occur and have been seen in England not so long time ago but that several sufficient eye witnesses of the one are still living and ready to attest it as the other is likewise by the testimony of great many judicious and learned spectators of the same now deceased The first instance is of a blind man that received his sight who being a Labourer by name Robert Lancaster of Castleacre a Town in the County of Norfolk had lost one eye by a Thorne and the other by a Stubble in binding sheaves in Harvest He was at least five years without the least sight and all that time earned his living with bunching of Flax and Hemp being led by his Son or an Apprentice he had from one Town to another He was a constant hearer of the Word and one Sunday about 30 years ago being at Church where hearing that part of the Gospel read or expounded which we find in the 9 th of John v. 6 7. viz. that Christ spat on the ground made clay and spread it upon the eyes of the man born blind and sent him to wash his eyes in the Pool of Siloam which done he came thence seeing God it seems who opens mens ears in adversity by dreams visions of the night or by an interpreter and one among a thousand to shew man his uprightness that is the way which he may become righteous and just by Job 33.15 16 23. opened his heart to attend to the things that were spoken Act. 16.14 and to believe that God being as able and ready as ever to help all those who trusting to his goodness call earnestly upon him the same thing might then be done by him as well as before and in this confidence as soon as he came from Church he caused his Wife to get some clay from the wall of his Cottage and tempering it with his own spittle anointed his eyes and then desired to be led to a Spring which is in a place not far from thence called Broad Meadow where washing his eyes he did presently receive some sight and washing a second time he had a very good sight for all his life afterwards which was about eight years and used for a great part of that time Threshing in his and other Towns round about All this is certainly affirmed by several yet living in the same Town who knew Lancaster before and since his recovery by the Son of him that was then Minister of that Town who lives now in Snedsham not far from Castleacre his name is William Turner by Philip Pagraff of Little Appleton in Norfolk likewise Thomas Boot a Silk-weaver who dwells now in Goat-Alley by the Artillery-Ground Mrs. Mary Gold dwelling in the Haberdashers-Hall and by Lancaster's own Son who lives within five miles of the said Castleacre and Daughter who is married within three miles of London And this Relation comes from the present Minister of the said Castleacre Mr. William Briggs who though a sound Episcopal man hath sent it in writing to one of my acquaintance The other instance is of one Briggs a North-Country
THE ETERNAL GOSPEL Once more Testified unto and Vindicated Against the Ignorance or Malice of the Bishops and Teachers of the now Church of England This Book proving against their Doctrine That the Holy Ghost is not ceased but is still given to all the Faithful and to some in the same measure as the Apostles and Disciples of Christ had it Also at the occasion of a late Sermon preached at the Visitation of the Bishop of London by the Vicar of West-ham that Miracles and other gifts and works of the Holy Ghost are not ceased in the Church and that the School-Learning helps no man to understand Scripture and the Mysteries of the Kingdom of Heaven nor the knowledge of Nature where by the way the true cause of the so much perplexed and famous Phoenomenon taken for a Weather-glass is by Experiments cleared and demonstrated against the Hypothesis of the New Virtuosi John 5.44 12.43 Luk. 7.35 How can they believe who seek for the honour of one another and love the praise of men more than that which comes from God But wisdom is justified or known of all her Children LONDON Printed for Allen Banks and are to be sold by most Booksellers in London 1681. HAving received this Book from the Author in order to its Printing I do hereby appoint Allen Banks to print the same Witness my Hand HENRY SCARLOT TO HIS ROYAL HIGHNESS JAMES Duke of YORK Patroni valeant Ecquis proteggere Verum Luci aut optatae fautor adesse potest Qui Lux qui Verum est qui Verum in saecula servat I liber ille tuus nempe Patronus erit THis is not therefore Great Sir to beg your Patronage for this Book nor for my self but rather to direct you to the Light of salvation Luk. 1.17 and to make it shine to you 2 Cor. 4.4 lest you lose here your Earthly and after your Heavenly Kingdom for lack of knowledge Hos 4.6 for though I seem angry with some men for Religion I am so far from hating a man for his Religion that I look upon him as he whom the Son of man came to save Mat. 18.11 a fit object of my love and charity and as a wounded man who needs me that am neither Priest Minister nor Levite for his Friend Luk. 10.30 37. and Physician Mat. 9.12 And therefore I am so much farther from being concern'd against Your Highness for yours with the Epidemical distemper though it wants not a President in Scripture 2 Kings 3.13 14. that Your Highness is one of the powers of this Land whom I am bound to honour and that for the Oath of God Rom. 13.1 2. Eccl. 8.2 and that looking upon you not only as a wounded but as such wounded man who though fallen unhappily into the hands of those Thieves John 10.1 20.21 22. that are stripping Your Highness both of the Triple Earthly Crown you might else enjoy one day and of your chiefest Kingly Heavenly Prerogative the Holy Unction whereby Christ makes all those Kings indeed Prov. 16.32 25.28 that do obey his commands Rev. 1.6 Exod. 19.5 6. may not only recover but be a great instrument to promote Gods Spiritual Kingdom and therefore as such Dan. 12.3 deserve one the first Thrones and Crowns among the twelve Tribes of Israel in Heaven Luk. 13.30 7.43 47. I tender your safety more than that of any man wishing with all my heart that like the Samaritan I might pour Oyl and Wine into your Highness's wounds set you on my Beast bring you to an Inn your Throne and thence to an everlasting Kingdom where may your Highness reign for evermore Amen But how can I do this except you own and believe that you are wounded and sick and how can you believe it except you come to know it and how shall you come to know except one doth shew it you and except you attend to the things that shall be shewed Act. 16.14 Rom. 10.14 15 17. If you will be pleased therefore to peruse this Book it shews you and you may easily gather from it that all men generally Christians as well as Gentiles are by birth bruised and sick Gen. 3.15 Rom. 3.23 1. Cor. 11.7 that the way to recover from the said sickness and bruise and to become whole again as to the Kingdom of God which is in the Holy Ghost Rom. 14.17 being by the said new birth of the Holy Ghost who is then renewed within them Tit. 3.5 all men must to be saved be thus regenerated and receive the Holy Ghost therefore as well and as much as the Primitive Christians and that the said renewing or new birth of the Spirit being a reformation to the same Image of God Adam was created to which doth consist in knowledge Coloss 3.10 as well as in righteousness Ephes 4.24 the Spirit of the Father that doth create us anew to his Image and likeness teaching all things John 14.26 16.13 1 John 2.20 27. 1 Cor. 2.10 as well as he is the power of Christ Luk. 24.49 Act. 1.8 Gods arm revealed to us and the bloud of the Lamb whereby sin is overcome and righteousness fulfilled Rev. 12.11 is inconsistent therefore with a despondent relying on other men for what we are to know to believe and to practise and is not attained to by a change or conversion from Popery for instance to another Religion which knows Christ as much after the flesh 2 Cor. 5.16 worships the Father as little in spirit and truth John 4.24 aâ—â— grieves the Holy Spirit no less than the Popish Church and which under the pretence of Reforming makes a Schism which is a far greater sin than to bear with some few erroneous opinions but by a true conversion from sin to righteousness by knocking and by waiting at the posts of Wisdoms doors Prov. 8.34 Jam. 1.5 by perusing daily and keeping diligently the precepts of that wisdom contained in the Scriptures in vitam lucem assurgendo our selves For such conversion is to know me saith the Lord Jer. 22.16 9.3 and such knowledge of God is saith Christ John 17.3 life Eternal Verily such knowledge and not an implicite Faith is both Salvation it self and the cause of Temporal and Worldly felicity for when a man meditates daily in the Law of God and observeth to do according to all the words that are written therein he makes his way prosperous and successful in all things Josh 1.8 Deut. 28.1 to 14. and when his ways please the Lord even the worst Enemies he hath are at peace with him Prov. 16.7 But Sir as such knowledge is our summum bonum both in this and the next World so extremum malum est non recognoscere Deum in the said manner for though God for a great while winketh at this ignorance Act. 17.30 yet he will be known at last and felt specially of those that either forget to know or having the means offer'd to know him do neglect them see Judg. 2.10 11 14. And the Egyptians
it I believe and honour their name and make no question but that many such are now living up and down the World which as unworthy of them knows little or nothing of it And if I can but die the death of those righteous men to live as they have lived I shall no way envy Master Vicars nor any of his Bishops Paradise So much for the Roman Church Now as for the Protestant they being as good Christians and as true Believers at least as the Papists are I know no reason why they should not see and have seen as well as the Papists since their departing from them which is near 200 years somâ— of the same gifts of the Holy Ghost among themselves if they are not yet ceased except for want of the same degree of Spiriâ— and Faith as those had which have wroughâ— wonders among the Papists for though iâ— be confessed that their Doctrine is betteâ— than that of the Roman Church and thaâ— their Notion therefore or Opinion is better yet neither a Notional or an Historicaâ— Faith nor crying with our mouth and lips Lord Lord we know thee Hos 8.2 Mat. 7.21 15.8 for the Devils know the same as those and believe and tremble but doing the will of God making men true Believers it doth not follow from thence that they have more or even so much Faith as some of those Holy men who have wrought wonders among the Papiste Alas how can they believe though they cry Lord or sing it with Organs never so long whose heart is set upon all vanities under the Sun and how can they work Miracles that deny those works of Faith which make men true Believers such as dying wholly to all the lusts of the flesh and all worldly-mindedness and that believe and assert that all Miracles are ceased But when the Protestant Church hath yielded such Believers as some of the Romish Saints have been the same signs also have then waited upon them and have been seen and heard of those that say they are ceased though by reason of their blindness and hardness of heart they have in seeing seen them no more than the Jews who saw and wondred were in amaze looking upon the wonders Christ and the Apostles did as a Cow upon the new and painted door of her Stall As for instance they have seen the Maid of Bohemia Kotterus Drabicius whose Prophesies are extant and the unparallel'd ever since the Apostles Jacob Behm the Apostle of this last Age of the Church who hath as the other three appeared to all Europe in Person and by his Books which are in most of the European Languages First the Maid of Bohemia by purifying her heart by Faith prophesied of what should come to pass afterwards falling into Trances like Abraham Gen. 15.12 and Balaam Numb 24.4 and gave signs several times when certain things should happen and at what time the next Trance or Fit should come upon her Kotterus was a Leather-dresser of Silesia who when he had prophesied and set down his prophesies and given them to be put in Latin to Comenius gave him this sign viz. that his Library should be burnt down if he refused or neglected to do it which upon Comenius neglecting to execute came accordingly to pass by a fire from Heaven Drabicius who lately got the Crown of Martyrdom in Hungary by the hands of the most inhumane Anti-Jesu-Jesuits prophesied which is a gift and work or operation of the Holy Ghost better and more excellent than that of Healing and of Miracles 1 Cor. 12.28 31. but because the Jesuits kept him Prisoner for it we know not what signs he did and it may be he did none because of the unbelief of all the unfaithful crew that had some access to him And as for the Teutonick Philosopher Jacob Behm who being brought up at first a Cow-keeper or Herdsman and after a Shoe-maker and Cobler in a Village shewed himself a Prodigy of all wisdom and knowledge what wonders had he not done had he met with fit objects I mean with Believers whose Faith had reached into and joyned it self with his But that some were wrought by his Faith is a plain case if his being supplied with all manner of Learning without Education and the help of any Books but of a Dutch Bible only is a Miracle according to the Vicar's assertion for what deep Mystery what great Arcanum is there in Natural and Moral and Divine Philosophy which he hath not been perfectly acquainted with without the study of Books as to the single-ey'd Readers of his admirable and inestimable Works it manifestly appears notwithstanding that it is at first sight a hard matter to apprehend his meaning and not so hard neither but to them in whom the God of this world doth blind the mind lest the light of the glorious Gospel which Jacob Behm hath of late most lively set out and cleared from the dark mist which the ignorance of men had offuscated it with should shine to them as Paul saith 2 Cor. 4.3 4. The difficulties they meet with in perusing his Works proceeding not from his stile but from the depth of the things and from the Readers themselves who as meer natural men receive not the things of the Spirit of God 1 Cor. 2.14 but as some of their first fellow disciples objected before to Christ John 6.59 say this is an hard saying and go back walk no more or have no more to do with him v. 66. Then as for new Languages if he did not speak them all he spake and understood that which like the Apostles new Language was understood among all Nations and Tongues viz. the Language of Nature for note that the Apostles gave but one voice for each word or did not utter each word they spake in the several dialects of those Nations which heard Peter's first Sermon Act. 2.9 14. yet were understood of all as if they had spoken to each in their own Language v. 11. And that he spake this Language and had really the knowledge of occult Philosophy his Explication of most of the hard names in the Bible and in other Writings of some truly learned men his Mysterium Magnum his Answer to the 40 Questions of Dr. Walter about the Soul and her state in this life and after it his Signatura Rerum or his reading at first sight when he came into a Field the most occult properties and virtues of any Plants by their outward Signature though he had never before seen or read or heard of them and in a word all his Works with King Charles the First whom you will grant I hope to have been as competent a Judge as any Divine of the Episcopal Church witness to some part of them that if the Author thereof was not brought up a Scholar the Holy Ghost was in him and his Books nil humani sonabant every where betokening and declaring the most abstruse and divine wisdom that ever he read do sufficiently
further end rather than at the same end where it burns over it self or shew that the point A. of the Worlds circumference is higher than E. or F. And then when you have shewed this change to make your consequence flow necessarily from the premisses one of the terms of the Argument saying for and instead of the higher place as it saith the highest point in that place for if the higher place not the highest point therein be terminus ad quem of the natural motion and propension of the Air you may with as much reason inferr a motion of D. to F. as to the place A. since A. is nothing higher than F. and neither of them higher in the Sphere than E E. A. F. being all three equidistant from the Spheres center C. and equally therefore the higher place both of C. and of B. and D. whilst they are at and begin to move and to rise from C whereas if you will allow of some order in the World and that it is a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 omnium rerum ordo distributio as Aristotle defines it wherein both place and motion is distinct and orderly not uncertain and confuse you should with much more reason and to prevent two greater inconveniences than yours inferr a motion of B. to A. and of D. to E. and so of all that riseth from the center to those points of the Spheres circumference which make its Zenith that is are just vertical to it than of D. in an oblique and circular line to A. or to any other point or part of the higher place The great inconveniences of D. and so of all that which moves from the center C. not rising directly and vertically to E. or the place just over them but to some particular point A. as the higher place were first that all the vapours and refluences rising from the Earth would go thither and so reciprocally must come down again from thence in circular oblique lines and then the Rain would not fall directly but obliquely also no influences and Rain would come from about all that part of Heaven which were opposite to A. Secondly you make thereby one point highest in the World which point higher than the rest being not found in a Sphere but in a Conical Figure or a Pyramid you make a Pyramid of the World which is so great and rare a discovery that none but such famous Doctor for skill in Non-sence could ever so readily have made and thought upon it Another famous Author in the Episcopal Church who for his much Learning and making of many Books in Babylonical Divinity and knowledge deserves to be a Bishop or at least to be named with the Bishops and Vicars the incomparable Boyle among others his many vexations of Learned men which he calls Experiments hath given us to confirm our Sages opinion of a descent and countergravitation of the Air one of very large glass Bubbles sealed Hermetically hung at one end of a Beam and justly counterpoized with a Metalline counterpoize at the other which suspended at a frame shews not all the various changes of the Air saith he that were conspicuous in another Weather-glass which he had placed by it yet confirms ad oculum that the falling and rising of the Mercury depends upon the varying weight of the Atmosphere and shews that the Air hath weight since in this statical Weather-glass for so he calls these so counterpoized Bubbles it cannot be pretended that a Fuga vacui or a Funiculus is the cause of the changes which he observed therein for I had the pleasure saith he to see the Bubbles sometimes in an Aequilibrium with the counterpoize and sometimes when the Atmosphere was high he means thereby less heavy preponderate so manifestly that the Beam being gently stirred the Cock would play altogether on that side at which the Bubbles were hung and at other times when the Air was heavier that which was at the first but the counterpoize would preponderate and upon the motion of the Beam make the Cock vibrate altogether on its side with so much of pretty sport or satisfaction to so grave and honourable Author that I am very loth to go about to spoil it lest I should at one time excitare crabrones in too great a number and multitude against me However getting never the more Enemies for it I will venture to say that it appears not clearly to my dull apprehension that because Fuga vacui cannot be counted the cause of the various changes he saw in his statical Baroscope or Weather-glass the weight of the Air therefore ought to be the cause of it chiefly if the Beam must be stirred as he confesseth it was though gently adds he as though this gentle stirring were nothing to such Beam to make the Cock play on this or that side of the Ansa because I can assign another cause as likely at least as either of them to wit the condensation and the rarefaction of the Air by heat and cold For even according to one Hydrostatical Law which this Author owns and makes mention of in the same page from which I have taken the things I cite of him which Law as he calls it is if the medium wherein two Bodies of equal weight but unequal bulk are weigh'd be more dense than another such as Water for instance which is more dense than the Air the greater Body being specifically lighter and finding more resistance because of its greater bulk than the lesser and more compact as the counterpoize will lose more of its own weight or be more easily born up or buoyed up therein than in the thinner medium but if the same medium be thinner than another or than it was it self before and at other times as the Air which is thinner than Water and at some times more rarefied than before then the bigger Body ceasing to be sustained by the former resistance will sink lower than before and so outweigh the lesser the condensed Air being thicker resists better than when it is more rarefied and so bears up the large Bubbles better and higher therefore than their lesser counterpoize so that this rising and fall of his Bubbles confirms rather the condensation and the rarefaction of the Air than any such weight thereof as that he ascâ—ibes to it For though as I confess the thickness of a medium is an argument it hath a greater specifick weight than hath a thinner medium yet as it is most certain that vapours have no descent and gravitation before they condense into a much closer texture than the Air hath at any time with us though they are not without their positive weight all that while so we ought not in reason for the Air being somewhat more dense than it was before and however much thinner than is vaporized Oyl Water or Mercury ascribe to it that sensible descent and gravitation which this learned Author and other Sages plead for Who should shew that the rising and
vero illuc commeantibus invicem commixtis fatalem suam sortem quodque complet Divina namque mens edocuit sua opera imitari licet quae imitantur ignorent And one of the old Divines after he had observed the ballancing of the clouds the wonderful works of him that is perfect in knowledge Psal 104.9 Job 37.16 and the proportion God's works stand in against each other Eccl. 42.25 teacheth our Reverend a more dutiful Lesson Psal 104.24 O Seigneur Dieu que tes oeuvres divers Sont merveilleux par le monde univers O que tu as tout fait par grand ' sagesse La terre en est pleine de ta largesse Which wisdom the wise Worldlings who see not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 much less 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 John 3.12 cannot see and justifie Mat. 11.19 1 Cor. 2.8 and so give glory for it like David who understood it well Psal 92.5 to the most wise God Rom. 1.21 They that regard not the works of the Lord neither consider the operation of his hands Isa 5.12 do scarce think that his wisdom which hath dispenced all things by weight number and measure and made all things to stand in order and proportion is so palpable and visible in particular effects and vulgar Phoenomena as that the rising of the Column no higher than to its ordinary station should be referred to it Having seen how far your great School-learning hath brought you on your way towards the knowledge of what is done upon Earth as it were before your eyes and it appearing also from what hath been said before that it brings you no further towards the believing and knowledge of what Christ calls 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is true Christian Divinity it were not amiss to see and examine how much good Metaphysick and Logick and the like parts of your School-breeding hath done and doth you towards the Preaching of Christ But lest this discourse should swell to a greater bulk than that I at first intended I do referr this to the consideration of all rational Teachers and all true Authors of Books appealing even to Boyle and to Wallis himself and Stillingfleet and others University-Pillars and great Princes of their Sect for the use they make of them and for the good these do them in composing their Sermons and Books of Divinity And affirm that if they had tarried to write until their skill in Metaphysicks had supplied them with method and matter enough for it and not altogether made use of Commentaries and of their own natural parts sense and reason and wit they had not yet to this hour finished one single-sheet Nay if the best Logicians when they dispute in the Schools and have emptied their Quiver of the Syllogisms they had prepared in their Study did not laying by their rules flee for help to common sence and to what their Experience and their Reason suggests them they could scarce make up the hour which they are to dispute in and much less make a whole Book that would take up two or three days time or more to read it by those their rules of Logick which among all the Scholars I have seen and asked no man was the better for towards the apprehending and the deciding of any controverted truth when from the contemplative part of his tedious Learning he passed to the practice thus being ever learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the Truth 2 Tim. 3.7 Besides what use can you make of what is so defective that it is not only slighted but quite rejected by some of the greatest Masters of your School-learning as for instance by Ramus and his Tribe by Telesius Campanella Verancius the Lord Bacon and others who do utterly condemn Aristotle's Metaphysicks tanquam farraginem quandam massam inconditam doctrinae ex Theologia Naturali Physicae parte de anima congestam sublimitate quadam Sermonis turgentem saith the Lord Bacon and that ex contrariis sententiis contexta tam obscuris tenebris obruta sit ut nec Daedalus quispiam ejus methodum reperire possit saith Verancius adding excutiamus ergo ex mentibus nostris hanc male conceptam ut quae nusquam est chimaeram The like may be said of your Logick and à Logica libera nos Domine saith Austin And for Ethicks such as they are taught by you and practiced amongst you such is the advantage and benefit got thereby that all illiterate men may rather say the Lord have mercy upon the Masters and Scholars that study them than wish for the benefit they think to receive by them Verily said an Author the doctrine of the School-men hath allayed and perverted even the desire of knowledge which God hath planted in man and the many distinctions and divisions translated from thence to Divinity hath set all Christendom on fire violated the peace of many Kingdoms and occasioned more Sects or parties in Religion than there are opinions and Sects in Philosophy Which is the good it hath done and is like to do so long as it shall be preached for and so much encouraged The erecting and founding of all Universities and Colledges for Learning is from a Heathen principle and begun in Christendom at the decay and for want of the true knowledge of God Now this and the like wisdom to that of our Sages being all the advantage that the School and Scholarship of those who are look'd upon as great Masters in Learning affords us and produceth what good are we to expect from the same for our selves And since they are forced to lay aside their Learning and to apply themselves to the use of common sence and of natural reason in debating and handling a Philosophical and Divinity matter what reason hath any man of sence though illiterate to despond of his own strength and to relye upon them because they are Scholars and have taken their Degrees in the University for the right understanding of what he is to believe and for the explication of any place of Scripture And since they who own themselves to be capacitated for Preaching with nothing else or very little more than the said Humane Learning make little or no use of it in composing their Sermons and Books of Divinity for stuffing of a Sermon with the various readings of some original word and the divers opinions of the Authors on a Text as some of their Learned do ministring rather questions scruples and controversies than a satisfactory and godly edifying 1 Tim. 1.4 which is found in the bare exposition and knowledge of the meaning of the Text is not of any use towards sound Gospel-preaching and so is not a use made of it towards true Preaching what reason have they to think that the Apostles of Christ who they grant had somewhat else than the said ordinary Spirit and Humane Learning have been necessitated to use it in their Preaching Alas it is not by much Learning and by
Doctor to the silliest Country child shew against all other Sects and against the Traditions which they do not hold themselves as not to hear Truth it self if one of a dissenting party from them shew it them being fully perswaded though without ever so much as calling into question whether it be so or not that they are in the right way and that all wander out of the right way but themselves so all that will be saved or rise again from the fall or death Adam died of above 900 years before his temporal death Gen. 2.17 5.5 must come in through this entry I mean through singleness of heart and humility For did any of the proud Pharisees believe in Christ John 7.48 whilst the more humble vulgar that pretends to no learning heard him gladly saith St. Mark 12.37 and received him readily Luk. 19.6 The poor and humble vulgar is nearer the kingdom of God than the most learned Mat. 5.3 by the mouth of Babes Gods praise is still perfected Mat. 21.16 Blessed be thy Name O Lord that thou dost reveal thy Truth to none but such as receive the same like little Babes Mat. 11.25 Certainly Pride and the School-learning which puffs up with Pride 1 Cor. 8.1 is and ever was the cause of general and private Jewish Romish and English Protestant Apostacy Out of pride Angels and man fell from Heaven into Hell which is in outer darkness whereas the inheritance of Saints in the light Coloss 1.12 within Luk. 17.21 doth begin from a single eye Mat. 6.22 and out of pride Clergy-men are the first in all Ages and among all parties that reject and make others reject the counsel of God and it is to be observed that upon this same account the Clergy is the Author and hath ever been Author of all the persecutions that have been for Religion Act. 13.8 44 45. Lam. 4.13 as it was typified by Levi slaying Hamor and Shechem with all their men on no other pretence but why should he deal with our Sister that is our Church as though she were a Harlot Gen. 34.31 Which the Protestant Levi brother in iniquity to the old Christian Levi that is the Popish Clergy is upon the same account as ready to act likewise that is to slay any man that makes so bold as to shew that their Church is a Harlot and to speak against that which ever made the Priests heart glad Judg. 18.18 20. Indeed not immediately no more than Levi their type but like the Pharisees who did not set upon Christ at first sight to destroy him whence the people thought him mad when he did because he knew the hearts of the Pharisees and foresaw what the pride thereof would drive them into John 2.25 tax them for it long before they went about to do it John 7.19 20. by degrees as by calling him first the worst of Christians the Agent of the Devil a Fool an Enthusiast and if they cannot answer what he saith a Blasphemer a Beelzebub Mat. 10.25 and at last persecute him openly which is what I look for at their hands when they know me Neither is the said knowledge of Christ and how to preach him to be learned out of Books as from the testimony of the Word of Prophecy from the relation of Paul Luke Matthew or from reasons or arguments drawn from thence by one man for another but as in the dark only they serving us but until the bright and the morning Star and the Sun of Righteousness the holy Spirit of Christ that testifieth of him John 15.26 5.32 and that teacheth men all things dawns and shines in our hearts 2 Pet. 1.19 for when that Sun is risen upon earthly-minded Souls they enter into Zoar Gen. 19.23 the turning of the Anger and the beginning of the Love of God shed in their hearts by the Spirit of knowledge Rom. 5.5 knowing Christ then not because of the words of other men but by reason that themselves have also within themselves the same teacher others had which by enlightning their minds doth perswade and convince them by the same reasons he did suggest to those other men that he is indeed the Christ and the Saviour of the World John 4.24 Otherwise unto this day when Christ or Moses is read a vail is upon their hearts which is not taken away but by a true conversion unto the Lord the Spirit by the which we are changed from glory and from knowledge to glory and to knowledge into the glorious Image of God in knowledge Coloss 3.10 2 Cor. 3.15 16 17 18. and if the Scripture be true no man comes to the knowledge of the Son but he to whom the Son will reveal himself Luk. 10.22 John 10 30. 14.9 The Revelation of Christ or the knowledge of Christ to be revealed to man is written unto the seven true Churches only that is to the only true members of the Church of Christ and sealed with seven seals Rev. 1.1 5.1 No man in heaven or earth but the Lamb who hath and sends the seven Spirits of God whereby he doth make us Priests that we need no more be taught of Priests being taught of God Isa 54.13 Jer. 31.34 can open or look therein Rev. 3.7 Surely the knowledge of Christ puzzleth the Angels themselves 1 Pet. 1.12 much more men who are born like the dull Colt of a wild Ass Job 11.12 and dwell in houses of clay ch 4.19 and who having never seen the Father at any time John 1.18 1 Tim. 6.16 for the world hath not known him John 17.25 cannot see or know the Son for he that hath seen the Son doth know the Father also ch 14.7 9. So that no natural man such as all the Sons of Adam are by nature as he never saw or knew the invisible Father of all things the Deity can see that is know the Son who is invisible also from the bare testimony of the holy men of God but the spiritual man only which is born of God and able therefore John 6.46 to search even the deep things of God knows the Father and his Son and understands this hidden wisdom the knowledge of them which is a great foolishness but indeed a great secret to the School-men and other learned Princes of this world 1 Cor. 2.14 John 14.7 flesh and bloud or all the skill and learning carnal men have cannot make known unto them the Son of the living God Mat. 16.17 but the Father witness those whom the Lord spake these words to viz. the Apostles themselves who though they were taught of him for when they were alone he expounded unto them all things which concerned the mysteries of his kingdom Mark 4.11 34. yet not only for some time after they had been with him Mark 7.18 but even when they had heard all that which he was to preach and teach them by word of mouth John 16.12 17.4 that is after that he was risen again from the dead far from understanding it they understood