author of these Scriptures and by extraordinary endowments was the Author of those Miracles which were wrought for its Confirmation N. When or by whom was this done or any Miracles wrought for the Scriptures confirmation A. The Scripture reports the Miracles can the Miracles reported by Scripture confirm that report The Scripture rather confirms the Miracles it reports if any confirmation at all be between these two I shall here for a Conclusion onely note one passage more of his and that is in his Saints Rest part 4. page 149. being as followeth God doth not regenerate thy soul that it may be able to know him and not know him or that it may be able to believe and yet not believe c. By which is implyed That none but regenerate persons are able to believe and that regeneration is wrought onely by God Whence I may quere of him 1. How then comes unbelief to be any sin in the Unregenerate 2. Or is it a sin in the Regenerate onely and if so then regenerate Persons onely must be damned for not believing it being inconsistent with the Goodness Mercy and Justice of God especially by his Gospel of Grace to require impossibilities of men and that upon pain of Damnation FINIS An EPISTLE to Mr. BAXTER Collected for the most part out of his Prologue to Mr. KENDAL Sir BE pleased to minde what Solomon adviseth Not to strive with a man without cause if he hath done thee no harm Prov. 3. 30. and Not to go forth hastily to strive lest thou know not what to do in the end thereof when thy nâ—ighbouâ— hath put thee to shame Pr. 25. 8 It seemeth a stâ—ange thing to me that you could finde no Man among all your learned Opponents to contest withal but that you must make to your self an Adversary of one so unlearned as my self unless it be because you are likely with such a one to have the easiest conflict but then you should have remembred that the victory will be as small I pretend not to such a piercing Knowledge or Acquaintance with the invisible Regions of humane Arts and Sciences as infallibly to determine of what Province or Degree that Spirit in you was that raised this Contention or to know exactly the Name or Sir-name of that fury that animated these your practises or lines against me Have you already levelled all those high Mountains that lay in your way and fel'd to the ground all those Cedars with whom you formerly contended that you seek now to stock up all Shrubs likewise that bear not your Impress and Mark upon them Doubtless this proceeds rather from your Presumption and Pride then from any just Authority you have either from God or Man but seeing you are pleased to chuse me for your Adversary I must desire you to bear with me if I have spoken something less pleasingly and to use what patience you have yet left as knowing you have drawn this trouble upon your self by your causeless Provocations and Assaults made upon me which I hope will excuse me in the eyes of all impartial and ingenuous Men. I confess my self destitute of School-Learning and humane Arts and Sciences so much applauded in the world herein I freely give you the day to weare those Titles and Robes of Honour appurtenant thereunto contenting my self to have right to that far better Title of being an honest Man which in respect of your self you have much hazarded the loss of by your dis-ingenuous carriage towards me I contend not to have the Reputation of learning or being a rare and excellent Scholar but freely allow you the due praise thereof scarcely thinking it worthy my labour till I have higher thoughts of the Prize mens applause being but an airy nourishment meerly feeding vainglory in men empty of all true worth Onely I must crave this of the Reader that my confess'd weakness be no prejudice to the Truth here vindicated by me and that he will not judge of the cause by the person nor take the name or person nor yet the rarity of the thing for a fault which is the thing that the ancient Christians did much deprecate of the Pagans and therefore I hope every ingenuous and impartial man will grant it me in the present case And I must also desire that the want of Eloquence Rhetorick or smooth and pleasing Words may not be judged the want of truth Enim vero dissoluti est pectoris in rebus seriis quaerere voluptatem c. inquit Arnobius Li. 1 adv Gent. p. 49. viz. It is the condition of a dissolute heart to seek pleasures in serious matters and when thou hast to do with those that are ill at ease and sick to fill their ears with pleasing sounds and not apply medicine to their wounds I confess I deeply compassionate the generality of Professors to think how unpossible it is for them to discern the truth among the multitudes of smooth Words plausible Arguments fallacious School-distinctions and reasonings of the learned Contenders on each side usually they think each Mans Tale good till they hear the other and then they think it bad and at last when they see what fair glosses a learned Sophister can put upon the worst cause they are justly occasioned to believe or regard little or nothing they say The Reader that I expect should profit by this discourse must neither be the careless vulgar utterly unlearned nor any so learned as your self for the former are scarcely capable of it and the learned think themselves beyond it and will hardly learn any thing from any man that is less learned then themselves it is the middle sort and plain-hearted people who are sincere Lovers of truth whose instruction I intend who are neither quite above nor below information nor so ingaged to any party or Opinion but that their minds lye open to the evidence of Truth by what hand soever it be made known to them And although I come extreamly short of you in humane Arts and Philosophical Notions yet let not the Reader thence conclude That you are therefore right in your Divinity or more right then another man that comes short of you in humane Learning for if he doth let him be assured to be miserably deceived in the end And I could wish that you had so mean thoughts of your Philosophy and other your humane Arts as that you would not build your Divinity so much upon it as you do nor think much the better either of your Writings or your self for doubtless when the Canon of a Councel forbad the reading of Heathen or humane Authors this kind of Learning was not so highly valued as now it is which may likewise evidently appear by Socrates L. 1. C. 5. cited P. 33. of the foregoing Treatise Farewel C. W. Lond Aug. 10. 1658. An Appendix and Supplement to the foregoing Discourse by the same Author IF it were lawful further to dive into this mysterious fraud we should finde That the
and principally to the Eleven Apostles and to their Successors in the Apostolical Office Whence will follow That if this promise be absolute as R. B. would have it then it will prove the Apostolical Office to continue alway even to the end of the world but this promise though it should be absolute yet it will neither prove the continuance of the Church nor of any inferior Officer any otherwise then by a Consequence and that from the continuance of the Apostolical Office which together with the prophetical and the rest of the powerful gifts of the Spirit R. B. grants is ceased long since and by consequence both Church and inferiour Ministry likewise for the inferiour Ministry was by gift as well as the superiour and the superiour as well as the inferiour and both were of equal continuance and for many reasons were both of them useful and necessary to continue with the true Church the one as well as the other and the superiour office most necessary of any Eph. 4. 8 11. 12. 13. 1 Cor. 12. 28. Wherefore it is the less to be marvelled at That R. B. being so learned and so wise yet makes no learneder nor wiser a Reply to Clem. Writers foolish or no wiser an Answer And now I hope a man may without any blasphemy or forgery either say to this great Clerk That he erreth not knowing the Scripture nor the power of God As for the Scripture see how grossly he hath wilfully or ignorantly perverted it And as for the power of God which always did accompany the true Ministry of the Gospel and Church for the Conviction and Conversion of unbelievers to the Faith this he denies rendring it now useless and unnecessary as if now there were no unbelievers in the world nor any Children born unbelievers to be converted and as if Christs sending of that his powerful gifts of the Spirit to accompany and abide with his true Ministry and Church for that purpose for ever had been for the most part useless and unnecessary John 14. 16. John 16. 7 8 9. whereby he casts a foul aspersion on the Wisdom of Christ himself in his doing that by much which he might have done by little a sault seldome or never committed by a wise man But the task here undertaken by me was onely to make some necessary defence for my self against his open assault made upon me by his fourfold Charge which having done I shall not follow him in the rest of his fallacious Arguments to discover the vanity and falshood of them but shall leave that to be done by some abler pen who can throughly anatomize and lay the faults of them open particularly and in their Colours which I am as unable to do as that plain and unlearned man was who assembled at the first Nicene Councel of whom Socrates Lib 1. Chap. 5. relates this Story viz. Before the Bishops met together in one place the Logicians busied themselves propounding against divers others certain Preambles of Disputation and when divers were thus drawn to Disputation and allured as it were by bayts a Lay-man one of the number of Confessors of a simple and sincere mind set himself against the Logicians and told them this in plain words That neither Christ neither his Apostles had delivered unto us the Art of Logick neither vain fallacies but an open and plain minde to be preserved of us with faith and good works The which when he had spoken all that were present had him in admiration and held with his sentence then the Logicians after they had heard the pure words of plain truth quieted and setled themselves aright so that at length by that means the stir raised by reason of Logick was wholly suppressed From which we may observe how great the bashfulness of humane learning was in former times as so to be repulsed from medling or intermixing it self in matters of Divinity by the check of one plain man and how impudent it is now become even to bear all the sway therein getting admission no doubt at first under the colour of being but a Servant or Hand-maid to Divinity but now this Hand-maid maid hath gotten into the Chair and Room of her Mistris the gifts of the Spirit and justled her quite out both of Doors and esteem These being now deemed both useless and unnecessary matters and Humane Learning having now gotten the sole possession of all the Glory Honour and Praise due onely to her Mistris for do not some make great boast What a g Whereas the more learned they are in humane Arts and Sciences the more able they are to delude by transforming the grossest Errors into the similitudes of the purest Truths learned Clergie is now amongst us that the whole world hath not the like Yea and how doth my Assaylant R. B. glory and boast therein and that so transcendently in his Book of Infidelity part 1. pag. 37 38. as there to express himself thus viz Let the wisdome of God be observed both in the stream of Doctrine and in the effect of the Holy-Ghost in illuminating the Church so that you may look over all the rest of the world at this day and easily see that they are all but Barbarians even in humane and common knowledge in comparison of the Christians especially in the things of God they are utterly blind He further goes on Indeed Christ did at Rome and Athens cause a Star of humane learning to arise but it was only for a time and that at that season a little before his own coming in the flesh of purpose h Note how he all along denies the powerful gifts of the Spirit to be now useful or necessary yet see how useful and necessary he here makes humane learning as to be even a Star caused by Christ to arise of purpose to direct men to the Son of righteousness and to be an Usher to prepare the way for the Gospel and after all that he makes it a gift of the Spirit and continued in the Church by Christ as if Christs being exalted at the right hand of the Father and by his receiving of him the promise of the Holy-Ghost and his shedding it forth on his Disciples Act. 2. 33. was meant humane Learning Is not be with the cloven foot filled with this gift of the Spirit as much as R. B. or the most learned in Europe to direct men to the Son of righteousness and to be an Usher to prepare the way for the Gospel and when the Gospel was come he hath now delivered even all the learning in the world that is worth the speaking of unto his Church and continued even these common gifts of the Spirit therein If this be the best Divinity he can afford us I shall send him to a Cobler Samuel How by name to learn better out of a Book extant entituled The sufficiency of the Spirits teaching being a Sermon of his upon a Text given him by Mr. John Goodwin and
they spake with Tongues before people of many Nations and that it was not one nor one hundred but multitudes of Christians that had one gift or other of this sort either miracles specially so called or healing or prophecie or tongues He might have said Not one but bad one such gift or other c. and for proof thereof he citeth 1 Cor. 12. Mar. 16. 17. both which Scriptures mention manifest gifts and outward and visible works of the Spirit only and not inward invisible workings thereof And he likewise tells us That these manifest gifts did remain in the Church at least three or four hundred yeers after the Apostles How easie by these gifts might any Heathen having but the use of reason undoubtedly know the true Church and all at once without any circumcursoes or wandrings hither and thither to finde her And since a true visible Church is here defined to be a Congregation I quere When or where this Objectors Catholick Church whereof he professeth himself a member was ever congregated I think he can hardly tell me and if it was never congregated How then can he prove it to be a congregation or Church Act. 20. 28. 1 Thes 5. 7. Col. 3. 16. Heb. 3. 13. much less any true Church of Christ the Elders whereof are to feed and take care for all the flock and the particular members thereof ought to edifie admonish and exhort one another dayly but how the Elders and members of this his Catholick Church do or can perform all these their duties he need to inform us before we can or ought to beleeve it to be any true or visible Church of Christ I have been much the larger in answering this Objection because I find the framer thereof to build many great errors upon this fabrick founded upon meerfallacy and quicksand But I now hope that upon his review a speedy way may be opened to him no more to deceive others nor longer to be deceived himself therein it being an ingenuous valiant pious and glorious thing in any man at any time upon any occasion to forsake an error and repent And that he may the rather be induced thereunto I shall minde him of one at least as wise and as learned as himself viz Mr. John Goodwin well known to be both grave and judicious against whom the like Objection is made by Mr. Pawson thus That notwithstanding such a purpose in God to save whosoever beleeves all might perish and Christ be an head without a body a King without Subject c. Hereunto Mr. Goodwin in his Triumviri pag. 38. gives this sober and solid answer following viz. These are offered under a pretence of high absurdities in case they were truths have nothing in them but what even a childe might readily vindicate from such an imputation For what absurdity or inconvenience is it that Christ should be an head actu signato i. e. a person fit or meet to make an head and not be an head actu exercito i. e. not an head actually united to a body there is the same reason of his being a King also When Solomon saith That he had seen Princes walking as servants on the earth Eccl. 11. 7. he judgeth it no absurdity to stile those Princes who had no Subjects nor any thing else externally comporting with the state of a Prince but ascribes unto them the honour and denomination upon the account of their truly noble and Prince-like qualities and endowments but besides the regularness and inoffensiveness of such consequences in case they were regularly deducible from their premises the clear truth is they are plain non sequiturs It doth not follow that if all men might perish that Christ should be an head without a body or a King without Subjects for might he not yea should he not have been an head to a body of Angels whether men had been any part of this body or no Are not Angels also now his Subjects If it were lawful for him that is Orthodox to learn any thing from a man that is erroneous Mr. Pawson might have informed himself of these things from pag. 438 439 c. as also from pag. 215 216. of my Book of Redemption Thus far Mr. Goodwin to whom I refer this our learned Objector for his better learning and information in these particulars It being no small cause of grief to see a man so studiously industrious as he is with so much zeal for God and so much charity towards men as he seems to have to be in so many things so extreamly mistaken The Authors last farewell to his Reader Reader Be intreated for thine own sake in thy perusal of the foregoing discourses to lay aside all prejudice which often so prepossesseth the minds of most that it quite puts out the very eye of the understanding or at least so transports the whole man that we can by no means rellish or down with any thing that is contrary or different to our education or the approbation of the time and place we live in though never so evidently made out unto us to be both sound wholsome and good for when it is presented so to be and that within our view we then usually wink with our eyes lest we should see This deadly enemy to our peace is bred and fostered in some by ignorance in some by perverse and willful obstinacy in some by malice See Act. 19. 24 to 36. and in many by self-interest and wordly emolument but never habituated or justified in any but by extream weakness or exceeding great wickedness Wherefore be intreated as before First clearly to rid thy self of this evil Spirit and then seriously and impartially to read and consider what is there said And the Lord give thee a right understanding therein and the exercise of a pure conscience in all things Farewell From my Lodging in London this fatal 3. of Sept. 1658. C. W.
Gospel preacht by this Author R. B. and the Gospel preacht by St. Paul to be different and not the same First because the Gospel preacht by St. Paul was accompanied with infallible Divine evidence to attest the truth thereof for the conversion of men and whereon infallibly to ground their faith and obedience thereunto without which he neither would nor could binde any to beleeve and obey it but the Gospel preacht by this Author hath no such evidence yet he will dare to say That all at least those that hear it are bound to beleeve and obey it Secondly Because illiterate men are uncapable of the Gospel preacht by this Author without their taking many things implicitely upon trust and upon the word of their Teachers as he himself tells us in page 238 239. of his Saints Rest where he thus expresseth himself viz. Something must be taken upon trust from man whether we will or no yet no uncertainty in our faith neither For First saith he The meer illiterate man must take it upon trust that the Book is a Bible which he hears read for else he knows not but it may be some other Book Secondly That these words are in it which the Reader pronounceth Thirdly That it is translated truly out of the Original Languages Fourthly That the Greek and Hebrew Copies out of which it was translated are true authentick Copies Fifthly That it was Originally written in these Languages These with many more as he there tells us the vulgar must take upon the word of their Teachers Behold here what use and benefit this Author makes of his having now the full use and benefit of the Holy Ghost which was formerly given and then sealed the Christian Doctrines and Scriptures and stands there still as he tells us if we could beleeve him in his Book of Infidelity Part â— pag 32. And must we needs therefore take these and all other his Doctrines which he hath raised or may raise either from Scripture or out of his own fancy for true and undoubted Christian Doctrines formerly sealed by the Holy Ghost upon the account of his bare saying That he hath now the full use and benefit of the Holy Ghost formerly given c. Sir If this be your meaning then speak it plainly out and for shame doe not impose upon the world such Gâ—olleries as these meerly by implication But the Gospel preacht by St. Paul and other the true Ministers of Jesus Christ needed none of all this it being preacht to all people in their own Languages and to the understanding of the meanest and this was all the Originals Copies and Translations that they were troubled withall or needed to bring them to the faith of the Gospel they not being necessitated to take the least tittle thereof impliâ—itely upon trust or upon the word or credit of their Teachers For When Philip went down to the City of Samaria and preached Christ unto them the vulgar people as illiterate as they were with one accord gave heed to the things which Philip spake hearing and seeing the Miracles which he did and without more ado they beleeved and were baptised both men and women Act. 8 12. All which was done before any of these beleevers had received the Spirit for after this were sent from Jerusalem Peter and John who administred the Spirit to them by laying their hands on them ver 17. Even as Peter declared their ordinary method of administring of the Spirit to be after faith and baptism Act. 2. 38 39. by his bidding the Jews to repent and be baptized every one of them and that they i. e. every one of them should then receive the gift of the Spirit because the promise to wit of the Spirit was to them and their children and to all that should afterward be converted or called to the faith of the Gospel as well all afar off as those that were neer And therefore it was that Paul demanded of the Disciples at Ephesus If they had received the Holy Spirit since they beleeved and they answering That they knew not whether there were any Holy Spirit or not He presently asked them Vnto what then were they baptized He well knowing that the gifts of the Spirit was necessary to be administred to all and to every one after their beleeving and being baptised and therefore by laying his hand on them he administred the gifts of the Spirit to them for thereby the Holy Ghost came on them and they spake with tongues and prophesied Act. the 19. 1 2 3 6. compared with Ephes 1. 13. This also is contrary to the Doctrine of the Gospel now preached by this our Author and others So then it is most evident that to the true Ministery of the Gospel appertained these three special administrations as essentially necessary thereunto 1. The administration of the Word infallibly and evidently attested for the conversion of men to the beleef and obedience thereof 2. The administration of Johns baptism by water for the remission of sins 3. The administration of Christ's baptism with the Spirit by the laying on of hands whereby the gifts of the Spirit were conveyed on the baptised beleevers Moreover St. Paul tells the Corinthians That his preachâ—ng to them was not for them to take any thing from him implicitely upon trust or upon any perswasive words of his or of mans wisdome but upon the demonstration of the Spirit and power which he produced before them to attest the tâ—uth and Divine Authority of his Doctrine that so their faith should not stand upon the word credit or wisdome of men but upon the power of God 1 Cor. 2. 4 5. for if they should have taken it implicitely upon the word and credit of Paul so great an Apostle as â—e was without the aforesaid Divine infallible evidence This had not been to beleeve God but to have resolved their faith into some humane testimony even to have laid their foundation upon the sand where all would have fallen at the next assault as this Author himself hath told us in his Saints Rest pag. 20â— 3. The Gospel preach'd by St. Paul was joyful news to every creature under Heaven Col. 1. 23. But the Gospel preach'd by this Author is far short of that being sad news to most men especially to such as beleeve not his Doctrines when they often interfere thwart one another as in part is here already shewed yea and some things published by him in print hath he already in print * Next to the 160. pag. of his Saints Rest part 1. He thus writes viz Reader understand that since I wrote this I begin to doubt of the soundness of what is expressed in the four next foregoing pages which I am not ashamed to acknowledge but ashamed that I published it so rashly revoked and so may he doe as there is just cause many more before he die yea it is hoped that he will ere long publickly own this truth which he now
publickly opposeth for he hath so closely pursued it and so neerly approached it that he cannot but see some glimpses of its glory For why else would he or needed he to have so perverted Joh. 15. 24. as he hath often done to obscure its lustre to prevent its shining forth to the view of all men and that so purposely and â—â—advisedly if the truth opposed by him had not glanced its light fully and directly into his face and he cannot but know how unsafe and dangerous it is in any man to persist in opposing a truth after it is once discerned by him Fourthly The Gospel which St. Paul preached was the same which Christ preached but the Gospel preach'd by this Author is not the same which Christ preached because the Doctrine of the Gospel which Christ preached would be proved and upheld by Joh. 15. 24. being truly and in its genuine sence cited but the Doctrine of the Gospel preach'd by this Author would be disproved and overthrown by its being truly and in its genuine sence cited for why else would he or needed he so much and so often as he in his writings hath done to have perverted it to a contrary sence or to any other then its true and genuine sence to prove his Doctrine He being no Baby not to know what he did nor why he did it when he did it Whence will necessarily result these conclusions First That the Gospel preached by this Author not being the same which Christ and St. Paul preach'd must be some other and being any other cannot be the true nor he any true Minister of the Gospel Secondly That none can be blest by beleeving or obeying the Gospel which he preacheth because St. Paul positively asserts Gal. 1. 8. Though we or an Angel from Heaven preach any other Gospel unto you then that which we have preached unto you let him be accursed This he duplicates in the next verse thus As we said â—efore so say I again If any man preach any other Gospel unto you then that ye have heard let him be accursed And who now can secure this our Author from the reach of these Comminations or reasonably imagine how any man can be blest in beleeving or obeying that Gospel for the preaching whereof the preacher is accursed Thirdly That this Authors Sermons and Books are liable to the same destiny unto which he himself hath doomed almost all other mens In his Saints Rest Part 1. pag. 132. where he makes these pathetical demands viz. How many Sermons zealously preached How many Books studiously compiled will then to wit in the world come by the Authors be all disclaimed These interrogations implying negations are as if he should have said That the Sermons and Books which will in the world to come be disclaimed by the Authors are so many as they can hardly be numbred And why may we not put into this numerous company the Sermons and Books also of the rest of the Presbyterians of whom one both learned and Mr. John Goodwin in his fresh discovery of the high Presbyterian Spirit pag. 38 56. judicious thus writes viz. That day after day they preach broad-faced contradictions and make the Scripture to say and unsay which being interpreted is to make them say just nothing Nor are many of their writings any whit more excusable upon the same account And that he had thorowly tryed many of their Doctrines and tenents and found them lyars yea and had opportunity to stigmatize them for such publickly and alarm the world concerning the hatefulness and danger of them Wherefore I could wish that our Author in his future undertakings would please to look round about him and to grasp and duly weigh the whole matter of which he intends to treat and to lay aside whatsoever he findes vain or sinewless and no more to obtrude upon the world such empty humane traditions for necessary Divine Doctrines as he hath done and that with such unwarrantable and groundless confidence as thereby he hath given many great advantages more then I finde hath been yet taken against him by any Alas poor mortals silly wretches dust and ashes meer baggs of warm dung as we are can we command back the Sun when it is set or instead thereof place in the Firmament some equivalent light to prevent the darkness which necessarily will follow its setting No more can we though furnished with all the acquired Arts of humane learning our natures are capable of call back the light of the glorious Gospel of Christ when it is withdrawn by God as now apparently it is the times and seasons for these things being solely in his own power and dispose For doth not the Scripture plainly fore-tel of these times of general Apostasie was not the woman Rev. 12. expounded by the learned to typifie the true Church to be driven into the wilderness from the converse and sight of men to be fed there by God and therefore not by Popedoms Bishopticks Masterships of Colledges or Hospitals Parsonages Tythes Augmentation or any other forced maintenance from men And was not her Man-child the Masculine Divine and powerful gifts he firâ—tborn fruits of the Spirit to be taken up unto God and to his throne from whom and whence they were at first received by Christ and given unto men Eph. 4. 8 11. compared with Act. 2. 33. and are not these in more abundance to be powred out on the sons of men Before the great and terrible day of the Lord Joel 2. Act. 2. compared with Esa 44. 3. even when he shall send his Angel to preach and make known his everlasting Gospel unto them that dwell upon the earth Rev. 14. 6. and when he shall call his ancient people the Jews until which time this Babylonish darkness which hath overspread the world is like to continue even that darkness which the Prophet tells us shall cover the earth and gross darkness the people or Gentiles until they shall come and partake of the Jews light when the Lord shall arise to them and his glory be seen upon them Isa 60. 1 2 3. And therefore the duty most incumbent upon us now in these Aporetick times is not to hate persecute judge or condemn one another in matters of Religion but to joyn in prayer for and with the Jewes That God would be merciful unto them and bless them and cause his face to shine upon them that his way may be known upon the earth and his saving health among all Nations then shall the earth yeeld her increase and God even their own God shall bless them God shall bless them and all the ends of the earth shall fear him Psal 67. For then many people shall goe and say Come let us goe up unto the mountain of the Lord to the house of the God of Jacob and he will teach us his ways and we will walk in his paths for out of Zion shall goe forth the Law and the word of the Lord from