shall know when I stretch forth my hand that I am â—he Lord saith he Exod. 7.5 and whether men will or no they shall give glory to God 1 Sam. 6.5 and acknowledge that their breath and their ways are in his hand Dan. 5.23 that he rules in the kingdom of men v. 21. 4.25 32. and that no Evil whether against a Nation or against a man only Job 24.29 is done and sent but by him Amos 3.6 Read the Scriptures and see there how all those Kings that followed the way of Jeroboam knew God no better than he and their People for their sake were severely punished and how Manasseb having paid dear for his ignorance came to understand at last and know that the Lord was God 2 Chron. 33.11 12 13. and thereupon was restored again from Captivity to a flourishing State and a glorious Kingdom Nay the most prosperous King that ever was Solomon found true by experience that when a Prince forgets God and goes a whoring after another Worship of God than that which is agreable to that in Spirit and truth Judg. 2.17 then his anger waxeth hot and he doth deliver him into his Enemies hands and stirreth up not only Adversaries against him 1 Kings 11.8 9 10 14 23. but also his own Subjects who lift their hands against him v. 26. 12.18 whilst those whom he trusted to help him not but forsake him 2 Chron. 11.4 for this thing is done of me and neither understanding strength nor counsel against me can avail you saith the Lord Prov. 21.30 In vain is safety hoped for from the hills and from the abundance of strong holds Jer. 3.23 In vain are Garrisons kept and a new Army raised for all will work together to the destruction of those that know and believe not God Rom. 8.28 At the presence of the Ark the waters of Jordan were divided and heapt up the walls of Jericho fell down and the heart of all the Kings of the Canaanites melted before Israel whilst they believed in God Josh 5.1 Judg. 2.7 but when they had forgot him at the presence of the Ark they whose heart melted before receive vigour and courage and Israel that shouted is overcome and smitten 1 Sam. 4.5 7 9. and that when they fled to it as to their Anchora sacra or their sure refuge And because men of the World are very unwilling to acknowledge that it is the immediate hand of God the first time they are smitten and attribute the cause to some fault or accident as the men of Benhadad when they had been defeated 1 Kings 20.23 who said their Gods being Gods of the hills have given them this advantage in the hills but if we fight with them in the plain or the Valleys we shall be stronger than they therefore God to make them know that it is he that doth it brings as upon Benhadad upon them the second time an entire destruction Sir There is no greater sin laid to the charge of a Prince who is born in and pretends to the Covenant of God than that of his ignorance and ungratefulness to God which is properly the sin and way of Jeroboam who thought by establishing in his Kingdom a worship altogether repugnant to the true worship of God 1 Kings 12.28 John 4.24 to preserve it for himself and for his Posterity but lost it and destroyed his Posterity by it The same thing got Gideon by the Ephod which he made for it became saith Esdras Judg. 8.27 such snare unto his house that his threescore and ten Sons were all at once caught in it ch 9.5 and such an evil Spirit of misunderstanding as is now between your Highness and the English People was sent between his Bastard and those who had chose him King v. 23. that they carried it not far but were soon after so fast entangled in the same snare that they utterly cut off and destroyed one another By the revolts of Subjects the Princes sins against God are commonly punished and nothing makes Princes more potent and absolute than when they themselves serve God their King and Master in Truth Do so then rise from darkness to light convert your self Sir to the true God of all flesh and when you are converted set up a strong purpose to promote his Spiritual Kingdom with all your power and those very Enemies that would not have you to reign over them shall be your Friends and shall as they did before at your former return meet you with Acclamations and become your dutiful Subjects and continue such as long as you continue dutiful to your Maker God give you understanding that you may serve him and live as it was the prayer of a wise King for himself Psal 119.34 144. so it shall be mine for you and that the Earth may be full of the knowledge of the Lord Isa 11.9 under you if you outlive and succeed his Majesty The Reader is desired before he reads this Book to correct it as followeth viz. PAg. 4. l. 13. for and the old read and that the old Pag. 31. l. 18. for and I cannot pray read and I can pray Pag. 32. l. 8. for availeth read availing Pag. 38. l. 1 for impudientes read impedientes Pag. 49. l. 6. for mirarles read miracles Pag. 104. l. 20. for these read this Pag. 106. l. 9. for undestand read understand Pag 108. l. 5. for also the Column is very low read also though the Column is as low Pag 108. l. 7 8 9. for whereas the Air flowing then laterally hath no such pressure upon the Stagnum as it would in still weather if it had any at all read yet the Air flowing then laterally ought to have no pressure on the Stagnum which I prove c. Pag 108. l. 24 for the Air would likewise abate read the Air ought likewise to lose Pag. 108. l. 26. for of the descent read all the descent Pag. 117. l. 23. for disjoyns the Fluids read divides the Fluid Pag. 124. l. 8. for casc read case Pag. 126. l. 25. for in D C A read in D C E. Pag. 149. l. 18. for said an Author read saith a Modern Author Pag. 212. l. 6. for hem read him THE ETERNAL GOSPEL Once more Testified unto and Vindicated c. GOD forbid that I should revile or censure the least of the Ministers of God Mat. 18.10 as some will with the Vicar of West-ham pag. 22. be apt to say I do for then I could not but fear some such punishment as fell upon those Children who reviled Elisha 2 Kings 2.25 But God forbid also that I should look upon some men as God's Ministers because they count themselves such Job 32.21 22. for then I must needs be sitting in the same shadow of death ignorance of God John 17.3 and in danger to lye down at last in the same sorrow Isa 50.11 as they that know God only by hear-say and worship him in shews with their mouth and lips The means to avoid mistakes
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
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