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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

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divine and a little after Nature is the Mistress the Soul is the Scholar whatever the one hath learned or the other taught is delivered from God who is the Master or Teacher of the Mistress and again after surely saith he the soul was before the letter and the word was before the book note and the sense was before the stile and man himself was before Philosopher or Poet must we therefore believe that before letter-knowledge men lived dumb or without testimonies of this sort And the same Tertullian in his Apology against the Gentiles treating of this inward testimony of the souls of all men concerning the oneness truth goodness greatness and justice of God cryeth out with an exclamation O testimony of the soul naturally Christian. cap. 17. Apol. XIV The same Tertullian in his Book of the Soul cap. 7. saith Because we acknowledge spiritual gifts we are counted worthy to receive the gift of Prophesie after Iohn XV. Eusebius a greek Father and writer of the Ecclesiastick History for the first three hundred years after Christ came into the flesh in his history writeth of Iustin Martyr that in his Dialogue with Tryphon the Jew he affirmeth that the gifts of Prophesie continued in his Church unto his time The words of Iustin Martyr in the said Dialogue are these and again in another Prophesie and it shall come to pass that I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh and on my servants and handmaids and they shall exercise the office of a Prophet Among us also saith he are to be seen both women and men who have these gifts from the Spirit of God And the same Eusebius lib. 5. cap. 7. citeth Ireneus writing to the same purpose that the gift of Prophesying and Expounding Divine Mysteries yea and speaking with Tongues and revealing the secrets of men continued among the Christians to his time this Ireneus lived towards the end of the second Century about the year 180. XVI Iustin Martyr a Greek Father and greatly approved among all Christians in his first Apology for the Christians unto the Senate of Rome writeth thus that Christ was in part known unto Socrates for saith he the reason and the word was and is in all men even the same which foretold by the Prophets things that were to come to pass And in the same Apology he speaketh expresly of the Innate Word or Reason which Iames declared Iam. 1.21 greek 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 calling it both Divine Reason and Innate which was in the Philosophers Poets and Historiographers saying thus expresly every one of them when by the impulse of that measure of Divine Reason the seeds of which they had in them did contemplate that which was of the same kind they spoke some things excellently Again what things are said by all which are well and excellently said they are ours who are Christians for we reverence adore and love the word which proceeded from God which is without beginning and is unexpressible And in his second Apology to the Emperour he writeth thus We have learned that Christ is the first born of God and we have declared that he is the Reason or Word of whom all mankind is partaker and who liveth with or according to the Word are Christians although esteemed Atheists as among the Grecians Socrates and Heraclitus and many others But they who were before and followed not that divine reason the guide were evil men and enemies of Christ and killers of them who lived according thereunto Note that whereas Iustine Martyr called Socrates and others who lived in conformity to the Divine Word in them Christians it is to be understood in part even as he said before that Christ was in part known to Socrates viz. as that Divine word and Reason and according to that general Revelation which it gave although we find not that Socrates had the knowledge of Christ as he was to come in the flesh and suffer death for the sins of the world nor had he any knowledge of many other particular mysteries of the Christian Religion and therefore cannot equally and in all respects be accounted a Christian with these who have a true knowledge of and belief in Christ in respect both of his inward and outward coming and whose conversation and life answer their profession XVII Athanasius the Great so called a man reputed of great authority especially for his opposition to the Arian Heresie in what he writes of the life of Anthony whom he greatly commendeth for his piety and wisdom Among other instances of his great wisdom giveth this for one that whereas some learned men or Philosophers came unto him thinking to make sport with him being ignorant of Letters Anthony asked them which was first whether the mind or letters and whither did the mind come from letters as the cause or letters from the mind they answered that the mind was first and the Cause or Inventer of Letters Anthony replyed therefore he who hath a sound mind needeth not Letters at which saying both they and others present were astonished and went away admiring so great wisdom in an Ideot or unlearned man XVIII The forecited Iustin Martyr in his Dialogue with Triphon the Jew declareth that a certain old man commending to him the Scriptures to read them said unto him these words But first of all pray God that the gate of the Light may be opened unto thee for the Scriptures cannot be known nor understood by all but only to whom it is given by the grace and gift of God and his Christ. XIX Theodorus Abucara in Opusculis Bibliotheca Patrum a Greek Writer denyeth that the Scriptures are ogia Dei i. e. the Speeches of God or the Word of God which is but one only yet that they may be called so tropologically or figuratively Augustine lib. 15. de Trinitate cap. 11. saith the word that soundeth outwardly is a sign or signification of the word that shineth within or inwardly unto which the name of the word doth rather or more agree for that which is expressed with the fleshly mouth is the voice of the word and it is called the word because of that of which it is assumed that it might outwardly appear And whereas we are blamed and greatly accused by some because we say the Scripture viz. the letter of it is not the incorruptible living and abiding word that remaineth for ever but Christ is that living incorruptible word and seed mentioned by Peter for that evil men may not only wrest but corrupt some places and passages of Scripture and accordingly have so done not only with the translations but even with the Hebrew and Greek although we believe God by his gracicous providence hath preserved the Scriptures testimony intire and without corruption as to the main so as to be a sufficient testimony of all necessary truth let us hear what the aforesaid Iustine Martyr saith in the case In his Dialogue with Triphon the Jew he expresly
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