others ought to believe They might still justly ask how those men came by their faith what was the cause and grounâ— of it If they said the Spirit perswaded them How could they tell there was such a Spirit or that a divine power wrought in them unless they saw it by its effects which were the Demonstration to Unbelievers If you say it was known by the change of mens lives the exception against that as no sufficient proof of Christianity is because many who believed were not throughly changed but still lived ungodlily even iâ— the Corinthian Church There was some change also wrought in several men by mere Philosophers and among the Jews before the Preaching of Christ there were many very good men and women If by Spirit you will at last say is meant the ancient Prophesies without the extraordinary Interpretation by the Holy Ghost which appeared many ways to be in the Apostles that will not do neither as you have heard unless you will imagine the Apostles preached to the Jews only for that would have been to alledg one unknown thing for the proof of another and as if we should offer those for Sureties for whose credit we need Certificates and Pledges The Question I say would still have remained How do you demonstrate those Prophesies to be Divine Revelations on which we ought to rely N. C. No more words I am satisfied C. And you are satisfied I hope that this is a man not worthy to be credited and that instead of Philagathus a name borrowed I think from Mr. Dents plain mans pathway to Heaven he deserves to be called Antilegon * The name of another person in that Dialogae a meer Caviller and Contradicter that loves to wrangle and scold and gainsay right or wrong The very Spirit of the ancient Sophisters whom Plato cals by that name of Contradicters and opposers e In sophista 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he seems to me to be such a master in the Faculty that he can shut his eies when he pleases and fall a quarrelling with any thing that comes in his way But I hope after this Discovery of his tolly he will cease to prate and outface and labour to prove what he saith otherwise I have some hope that none who read this will give him any credit unless it be perhaps some goslings of his own brooâ—ng f They are Bp. Whites words to a nameless pamphleter p. 118. Be not ang y for I assure you I have not the leaâ— spark ofâ—r nor was he able with all his scurrility to provoke me to kindle against him all the time I read his Book N. C. You boast a little too much C. I must say it that he and you may know how much I contemn such opposers who may provoke one to laughter but not to anger No not though they should be so unmannerly and clownishly despightful as this rude scholar of that Cynick Philosopher I named is who professes to have vomited his gall or as he calls it delivered his stomach in my face N. C. It sticks in your stomach sure you mention it so oft C. He loves repetitions which makes me lay it in his dish again But as I was going to tell you it immediately 〈◊〉 be to my mind these words of Mr. Burrough g Vindication againsâ— Mr. Edwards p. 3. and that was all the hurt it old me There is an odious disease in Nature casting up the excrements at the Mouth which is no lesse noisome than dangerous and therefore the Physicians call it Miserere mei Deus Thus exulcerated minds affected with the like malady in Morality being surcharged with superfluity of choler and malice and not able to contain break forth into distemper of words and pour it out in unsavory language such we must leave to a miscrere and if they will not pray of themselves we must do it for them and say Lord have mercy on them That 's all I have to say about this to your cholerick Antilegon And if you have a desire since they say some hold him for a wit that he should continue to discharge himself in this manner for the service of the cause I am so little concerned about it that you may put forth another Petition and never trouble me in the language which some of you used against another Gentleman that he may have free leave and liberty to run at the Mouth though it be not natural that excrements should come up stairs as long as he pleases to scrible still without check or controul because as it is humbly conceived all the danger of him is want of vent and the more he is prohibited the more perhaps he will do that which he is forbiddâ— by Lawful Authority and the more 〈◊〉 will think himself considerable if opposes by them whom he rails at h To the Supream Authority of the Nation the humble Petition of certain peaceable people against c. 1659. N. C. Why do you then meddle with him C. You forced me to it by your continual talking and urging of me otherwise I assure you I should have despised him and let him alone N. C. I confess I had a mind to her what you could say about this Demâ— stration of the Spirit and of Power because it was commonly said you forsooâ— the General current of Divines in yoâ—â— exposition C. Just so Heshusius dealt with gooâ— Melancthon whom he boldly accused of Blasphemy and said he treacherously and prophanely plaid or made sport with the Scriptures because he preferred the most antient writers of the Church before his Authority i So Paulus Ebetus tels us in his preface before his Comments on this Epistle to the Corinth And you have not forgot I suppose what some said of Mr. Baxter because he left the modern opinion concerning the sin against the Holy Ghest though he endeavoured to establish a better in the room of it But if it will do them any pleasure still to bawl and make a noise I will give my self no further trouble about this matter in which I have been too long already And therefore I will not give my self the like liberty in ripping up every one of his gross errors and vain braggs which if I should carefully spread before your face so that you might plainly discern them it would make a volumn five times as big as his Which is such a fardel of Ignorance and impudence of disingenuity spight and evill surmisings of such false dealing downright lying pervertings of my meaning wrangling without cause vanity presumption abuse of holy Scripture idle shifts and excuses for faults that I never yet saw the like in so great abundance in any book in my life nor I think ever shall N.C. A very high charge proceeding it will be thought from your vain-confidence and the height of your pride for which he hath given you so many buffets C. I feel them not nor have any thing the
justifie him For so all Instruments do help the principal cause And yet by a self contradiction this opinion makes Faith to be of no moral worth and so no vertue or grace yea I think it lays the blame of mans infidelity on God For the assertors of it have a device to make it a passive Instrument from whence follow these absurdities N. C. I will not trouble my brains about it but I see I may omit a Question which he asks you viz. Do you not think that good works are the Instrumental cause of our Justification as well as Faith C. I must tell you in brief that all the Questions he propounds to me in that place are such as he would never have askt if he had but attain'd a smattering knowledg in Mr. Baxter's writings whom he commends just as he discommends me without understanding him For he would have taught him That neither Faith nor any work of ours are causes of our Justification either Principal or Instrumental u Confess of Faith pag. 31. and other places Disput of Justific pag. 75. N. C. But there is one Question he asks wherein he prays you to speak out for it is suspected there is a Snake in your Grass C. A Maggot in his Brain N. C. And that is are not Faith and Obedience both one and the same thing C. He hath a resolution in Mr. Baxter Our first Faith is not the same with Obedience to Christ how should it yet it essentially contains are solution and Covenant to obey him x Confess of Faith p. 38 39. But there is no end of these impertinent Questions You will ask me next how I prove my self not to be a Papist N. C. No I 'le let the rest alone because I see what you will say and this indeed was not the main thing that you and I first intended to debate Yet there are some Questions about this matter in another place to which I would gladly have though it be but a brief Answer C. Where shall we find them N. C. There where he comes to your description of Faith pag. 63. C. I remember the place Where I find him in the same posture that the Bishop of Galloway did his Reprover vexing himself with his own anger tumbling and weltring in the puddle of his tumultuous thoughts whereof he cannot rid himself bragging most vainly but producing nothing that may be accounted worthy of an answer y Defence pag. 169. For I having told you that the Faith our Saviour speaks of in those words Joh. 6.29 This is the work of God that you beleive on him whom he hath sent viz. justifying and saving Faith is an effectual perswasion that Jesus is sent of God He very gravely tells me that I deny Faith to consist in assent or perswasion which are the same thing and so contradict the men of my way Was there ever such a giddy-braind man as this set a cock-horse who posts away without his Errand and tells the world I deny Faith to be an assent or perswasion when I tell him it is Doth he no◠deserve to have his fingers rapt or to be soundly scourged that takes Pen in hand to confute a Book and never minds or else understands not what he writes against N. C. But you say Faith consists not in a bare perswasion c. C. True That saving Faith which I speak of doth not consist in a bare assent to the Truth of the Gospel but yet it is an assent though it be something more Assent is the General nature of Faith but there is a difference between Faith that is saving and Faith that is not saving which I there expressed by the word effectual And here again he blunders and keeps a pudder to make a plain ching obscure N. C. You will not say it was plain sure C. Yes but I will though nothing can be so plain and clear which th◠mans confused thoughts shall not trouble The difference I made between this Faith which our Saviour speaks of and a bare perswasion that he came from God was this that it is a perswasion of that Truth with its fruits and effects Which I expessed in these words becoming his Disciples sincere Profession of his Religion and living according to it For unless our minds being convinced of the Truth it have this effect upon our wills to make us consent to obey it and sincerely purpose to do according to our perswasion and unless also if we live we make good this purpose and both profess and perform obedience to the Gospel we do not the work of God which our Saviour speaks of nor have that faith which will bring us to everlasting life This he might have found affirm'd by Mr. Baxter in as round words as mine if he had spent that time in reading and meditating which he spends in scribling It 's all one saith he z Appendix to Disput of Right to the Sacraments p. 509. in my account to believe in Christ and to become a Christian c. To be a believer a Disput of Justif p. 77 78. and to be a Disciple of Christ in Scripture sense is all one and so to be a Disciple and to be a Christian and therefore Justifying faith comprehends all that is essential to our Discipleship or Christianity as its constitutive causes To which he adds this Proposition Those therefore who call any one act or two by the name of Justifying Faith and all the rest by the name of works and say that it is only the act of recumbency on Christ as Priest or on Christ as dying for us or only the act of apprehending or accepting his imputed righteousness by which we are justified c. do pervert the Doctrine of Faith and Justification ☞ and their Doctrine tendeth to corrupt the very nature of Christianity it self I could add a great deal more with as much ease as I can write but that I think this sufficient to be replyed to his long babble about the Nature o◠Faith and we must not suppose the world at leisure to read the same thing over perpetually If it do not satisfie him let him enjoy the vain conceit of his own skill nay let him crow over me and bear himself with the same pertness to use an expression I have somewhere met with that a Daw sits cawing an◠pecking upon a Sheeps back He will be but a Jack Daw for all that N. C. You grant then that there may be a perswalion where it is not effectual C. Who doubts of it But it is not saving Faith which was the thing 〈◊〉 were speaking of As he might have observed had he not kept such a cawing to himself that he could not hear us N. C. He makes account the Questions he asks you there are unanswerable C. He doth so And not to dissemble they seem to be no less subtil and profound than the admired Cryptick Question of Chrysippus if you ever heard
herefore it is lawful to go about that â—ork which cannot be done unless we â—â—st discover them and then shew the rottenness of them and let the people see how much they have been cheated by them I could add a great deal more out of other Papers but I think it time to make an end having sufficiently shewn that all that this man and his pertakers talk about these matters is only smoak and vapour which will not abide the touch and that they deal with the Act of Oblivion as they do with the Divine Writings If they get a word by the end they make a great noise and cannot tell when to have done with it never minding the sense At they cry Free grace and the Covenant 〈◊〉 grace the Covenant of Grace so they cry the Act of Oblivion the Act of Oblivion But look into either of them and consider them well and you will find they are no such thing as thâ—â— which they mean by them N. C. Let the world judg between you For I will meddle no further iâ— this matter C. It is the greatest favour I would desire of you all that you would iâ— down calmly and after both sides heard indifferently judg between us You would soon see I make no doubt that his Book and not that which m As he pretends p. 26 of the preface he writes against is a fiery invective But the mischief of it is that many of you will never read what we write You will only hear of one ear and believe what a man of your party saies and then all' your own For which Partiality if you judg not your selves God will Among those also who will read our writings there are so few I doubt that consider or that are able to make a tryal and discern when a cause is well maintain'd and when not as Mr. Baxter n Preface to his Confession of Faith speaks that he who will confidently pour out words how far soever he digress from the Truth or mark is as soon believed as he that gives the soundest reason But then let such a man pretend zeal for Religion which is the cause of all this stir let him bawl and cry aloud and say his Adversary is an enemy to it or hath laid a train to blow it up and that He is come forth with great hazard to himself to prevent that mischief and shall be a Martyr if he dye in the quarrel o As that man tells us p. 26 of the pref He will be sure to be admired and held in great Veneration by the Ignorant people When he hath once fill'd their ears with the sound of these things his work is done to purpose and it will be hard to get a word we have to say to enter into them Especially if the man who hath ingaged the affections of unwary Souls in this manner joyn a shew of Mortification contempt of the World dislike and hatred of all sin together with his zeal for the cause of God and Godliness When they see men go simply in the Streets saith the Bishop p Speech at Lisnegarvy I named the last time and bow down their heads like a Bulrush wringing their necks awry shaking their heads as though they were in some present grief c. when they hear them give great groans and cry out against this and that sin not in their own hearers but in others especially their Superiours and finally make long Prayers when I say the multitude hear and see such kind of men they are by and by carried away with a marvellous great conceit and opinion of them And with such shews have many Pharasaical Teachers drawn the multitude after them who have not their senses exercised to discern between good and evil but judg only by the outward appearance N. C. God send you and me a right judgment in all things C. We must not only pray but labour for it by subduing our Passions and laying aside all Prejudices so that we may with indifferent and equal minds consider and try all things and be inclined by nothing but truth N. C. It is a hard matter to keep our selves from being byassed by something or other And the goodness of any man is apt I confess not only to draw and incline my affections to him but to make me of his belief C. Are there no good men think you who want judgment and are of a weak understanding Must you believe all they say because you know they will not deceive you They may be deceived themselves They may be ignorant and then be transported by their zeal as this man is to talk of things they understand not N. C. I will not easily believe him without strict examination whatsoever credit I give to others C. You had need be the more careful because the confidence which some men use may make you too much presume of their knowledg As I doubt this mans boldness in his Assertions and in his Rebukes will deceive many He beseeches me for instance with no small scorn to reconcile two passages in my first Book which he saith are as opposite one to the other as the East and West or to make a greater sound the Artick and Antartick Poles q P. 274. both which you must think he hath seen as he past through all the Signs of the Zodiack of their Sufferings One is in p. 95. where I say that according to the Covenant you ought to have some Form of Divine Service because you bound your selves to reform according to the best reformed Churches The other is pag. 223. where it is affirm'd that you took Scotland for the best reformed Church and therefore they must be the pattern Now I pray Sir saith Philag What Liturgy had they wont to use in Scotland or When was the Church of Scotland for the use of a Liturgy If they were always against and without a Form of Divine Service by their good will how are men bound by the Covenant to use a form of Divine Service every time they meet by being bound to reform according to their pattern And he concludes with a piece of Latine imprting that a Lyar ought to have a good memory N. C. That might have been spared But I think he hath charged you shrewdly C. I think the stroke will return with a vengeance upon himself and he will find he hath wounded his own credit and not mine But I confess the reading of this made me sigh to think that the Nation should be thus abused by every forward and daring man who hath so good an opinion of himself as to write Books and become a publick Instructer of others If wise men will not take care to remedy it they must be content to see themselves as well as us over-run with folly And what remedy is there but that no man be the judg of his own Abilities but every work pass the approbation of discreet and judicious persons This was never
which is a marvel seeing I never read them in all my life N. C. How not read them C. It is as I tell you upon my honest word N. C. And yet he is not content to mention it once but repeats it again k P. 122 195. C. And would put a jealousie into you that I have such a fire kindled in me as makes me burn with desire to ofter Sacrifice to another Idol I am a shamed to set down his words they are so lewd Nor can I imagine what should bring such things to his mind which are so far from my thoughts but his own filthy inclinations or what should make him mention some things l Batchelors prettiaess Wives c. See p. 23 122 153. so often and in such a manner as he doth but his love to smutty Discourse He is not content to make mouths at me of whom he hath so little knowledg but in effect at St. Paul himself who commends those that preserved themselves Holy in a single life m P. 153. As if he placed perfection in wedlock or was of that Gentleman's mind who taught the people this lesson in the late times n Some Flashes of Lightaing c. Sermoâ— upon 1 Cor. 11.10 11 12 1648. P. 172. God needs such a vessel as Christ to put himself in Christ needs such a vessel as you to put himself in God would run every way settle no where be bounded in nothing if he did not settle in his Son The Son would rest no where have no content if it were not in thee Men would run every way rest no where if not bounded by a wife N. C. Why do you not let such abominable stuff lie buried in oblivion C. I had rather have been ignorant of it than put to the trouble to detest it But since it is divulg'd and comes in my way I thought it a piece of very fit dirt to stop such a foul mouth as his withal N. C. I wish he had not open'd it in these matters C. Nor would he if he had been indued with a little of that virtue which St. Bernard so much commends in his last Sermon upon the Canticles Modesty I mean which he calls among other things the Praise of Nature the Sign of all Honesty the First fruits of Virtue the Sister of Continence the Preserver of Purity the Keeper of our Fame the Beauty of Life and the special Glory of the Conscience But his whole Book â—s a stranger to this excellent quality and writ in such a manner that they who can like it are in a worse condition in my judgment than those who love to feed upon coals and ashes He is come to such a pitch of boldness that he will undertake to tell you not only what Authors I read but how much I have read in my Books And that for instance I had no more wherewith to charge T.W. than what I produced o Pag. 51. Which is the greater piece of impudence because I have sufficient reason to conclude that he hath not read his Works himself and so cannot tell what absurdities I have observed Nor hath he read W. B. later Works though he commend them for the good and savoury passages that are in them His former p P. 194. indeed he thinks he hath read I say he thinks for he repeats it that he hath read more in them than I pretend to have done A Huge piece of Learning He might have safely left out his I think and spoken more confidently for if he had read but one line it would have been enough to make good his word Because whatever I have read I have pretended Nothing at all in that matter but spoken only of his new Sermons But he will make you an amends for this diffidence for he hath a great secret to tell you with open mouth concerning the Conforming Ministers some of which he saith are known or judged to be arrant Socinians q Pag. 70. And how doth he know it think you Is it by Revelation Verily to use one of his own words for any thing that I can perceive he doth not know it but only suspect it And then how dare he or others judg them to be Socinians Mark I pray his partition They are either known or judged to be such that is they are judged to be so sometimes though they are not known to be so These are men of a very nice and tender Conscience who take upon them to sit in the Judgment Seat and pronounce sentence of Condemnation upon their Neighbours before they understand their Cause or have any assurance that they are guilty of the Crime When such men have Power proportionable to their Malice Lord have mercy upon us If judgment and knowledg be divided in this manner who is there that may not be voted to destruction They will clap their hands and cry as a man goes along thinking no harm A Socinian a Socinian and straightway the Hounds are let loose N. C. Use I beseech you more civil terms C. You have forgot I perceive your own phrase so common in the late times when you incouraged one another to go a Parson hunting But you will remember it when you have power and the people as I was saying will run like so many Dogs to tear the Innocent in pieces For my part I wish he may be questioned by those who have Authority about this matter that he may either make good his suggestion or else be branded for a malicious Scribler N. C. There is nothing of malice I am confident in his words C I crave your pardon if I do not believe you I have cause to think he knows not One. For among all my acquaintance I could never meet with a man that knows or suspects so much as one single Minister to be of that perswasion And one would think that Conformists should be known to one another better than to such triflers as he Therefore I cannot but look on this as a piece of his disingenuity and spight of which I told you I would give an instance Socinian he knows is an odious name and so he would willingly fasten it on some of us if he could the better to stir up the Peoples hatred against all those whom they please to imagine men of that strain And for the very same cause I doubt not he talks of our Idolizing Grotius It is a popular word as was said the last time we met together which he hath not yet forgot Whensoever they would have any thing hated it is but saying that such and such make an Idol of it and immediately the People will abhor both it and them Thus they said we made an Idol of the late King And you may easily know with a little recollection who it was that told a Gentleman when he said Grace and pray'd God would bless the King a little before his Death Your Idol shall not stand long But they dare
and proud Spirit and reproving their insolent and wicked speeches If they will not be perswaded to this but still continue among them countenance their cause and joyn with them as if they were a more select and holy people and so find themselves wounded by any thing I have writ all that I can say to that is only this which a very grave Author said in the like Case It may be some of you know or have heard of that Noble Moralizer's Fable of Amphialus r Mr. Rob. Abbot Tryal of Church Forsakers 1639. Enstle to the Reader who when he was in all his Military accoutrements to give Combat as he thought to Argalus Knight of the Sun this mans Wise dressed her self in her Husbands Armour and fought his Enemy Amphialus spared not his blows gave a cut in the Neck closes overthrows and gives a mortal wound in the Body But when he opened the Armour and viewed the Body he found to his great sorrow it was Parthenia to whom he meant no hurt at all Such is my case here I dare not write against any of our Communion the love of Brotherly peace is glorious even among men that other way differ in opinion But if they thrust themselves among the Enemy nay put on the Arms of those with whom I contend for truth I cannot help it if they meet with a blow though I glory not in it yea am sorry there should be any such Cause N. C. You have given too many blows to your betters For I doubt your Ministry hath hardly produced those good effects as yet so richly and plentifully I mean as theirs have done I doubt you can hardly say of so many as they can say so these are the children which God hath given me c cease to vilifie those the God hath honoured above you as to the conversion of Souls Discover not an eâ—vious Spirit C. You need not repeat any more I have his words s Sober Answer p. 54. in mind and remember withal that such men have been wont of old to vilify all preaching besides their own and to challenge to themselves if not solely yet above all others a converting Ministry So we were told long ago and I speak no more saith my Author t Sermon at Pauls Cross 1607. pag. 73. than I know by good proof Thither no doubt that speech of theirs tended which was so famous in those dayes that all the flower was of their bolting throughout the Land u Preface to their first Petition offered to King James Which conceit continued in those that succeeded as Dr. John Burges observes If saith he for shame they cannot deny Conformists to have excellent gifts yet they limit the use of them only to the breeding of knowledge 〈◊〉 reprehension of some grosser faults but that their Ministry as well as others that conform not may work Faith and Repentance to Salvation they will not easily acknowledge yeâ— some falsly deny x Preface to the Answer of Bâ— Mortords Book 15. 1631. This Man is one of those Daubters being sowred very much with that old leaven which heaved and swel'd them up so much He is inclined indeed to hope that it is possible we may convert some but alas they are very few in compare with the Numbers that they convert Our Ministry is not so powerful and works not so much upon the heart N. C. He speaks only of you C. You forget your self Upon the mention of me who had rather learn as I told you than teach he tells y page 14. you of an Image now adored which is nothing else but the preaching of Conformists that must fall before theirs as Dagon did before the Ark. They have the Ark of the Covenant they have the presence of God among them they behold the beauty of the Lord in the Sanctuary who therefore can stand before them The word is given forth and we must all down down to the very ground For Fire you know goes out of the mouth of the two Witnesses i. e. your selves so that when they testifie as another of your Interpreters expounds it z Sermon of the two Witnesses Death and Resurrection 1648. p. 203. c. against any thing any man any Creature any way any Ordinances any Judgment saying this is Heathenism this is Gentilism this is carnal this is fleshly this is the Creature this is Man and not God or of God presently it is destroyed consumed blasted and brought to nothing This he is so confident of that he repeats it again and again Whosoever shall hurt or oppose the Witnesses the Spirit and Spiritual actings of Christ and his people be he never so great wise powerful devout and Religious he shall not be able to stand but fire proceeds from the Spirit which torments consumes and destroys him For when the two Witnesses declare that it is not of God it is not Christ it is not the holy one of God but it is Man it is flesh it is the outward Court that is excluded not the inward Temple therefore measure it not leave it out exclude it from having the dews and showers of Heaven fall upon it presently Heaven is shut and they have no rain and they wither as a Plant which God hath not planted These are your powerful men that can shut Heaven when they list with a breath of their mouths It is but speaking a word and we study and plod and beat our brains and toil and labour to no purpose that blast spoyls us all N. C. This man had too much Fire in his head which made his mouth so hot C. Too much Pride you should have said in his heart which makes so many of you despise the labours of other men as weak and unprofitable Thus an impudent Libeller told the good Bishop of Galloway That others had wrought more faithfully and fruitfully than he had done and could teach him how to behave himself though he seemed to himself these men you must understand can search the heart a great Doctor in Israel a Answer to Tripartite Apology 1614. p. 180. And thus also the Covenanters in late times upbraided the Reverend Professors of Aberdeen and they no mean persons b Dr. John Forbes Rob. Baronius c. Duplies p. 112. neither that their pains in preaching were not fruitful To which they Answered then as I do now That though it should be true yet the Parable of the seed sown in divers sort of ground and the Dolorous complaint which those most painfull and thundering Preachers Elijah Isaiah St. Paul yea and Christ himself made of their hard success in their Labours might learn you to be more benigne in your censures of us than you are To which I add that it must be left to God to judge who doth most good and makes the best men for all are not good nor all bad that such rash and ignorant men as this are wont to call by those names We
who would certainly pay them their wages because they were his Servants By this you see what men will do to serve their own cause and how easie a matter it is presently to stuff up a Book and to croud into it a number of good words and yet not write good sense Rather than fail there is a way to strain the holy Scriptures and set them upon the rack that they may reach their purpose as he doth those words of the Apostle supposing gain is Godliness Å¿ 1 Tim. 6.5 pag. 36. to reprove those who Act only out of a light of the recompence of reward As if the Apostle spoke there of gaining Heaven and these were the men from whom we must withdraw our selves N. C. No more good Sir these are the perverse disputings I doubt of men of corrupt minds which the Apostle there speaks of C. Very near of kin to them But if I should proceed to show you how he hath perverted the sense of a great number of other Scriptures which he hath meddled withal that alone would hold us half as long as we have been already They are not words I cast out at random but I speak deliberately and as I think Nor have I time to reckon up all the rest of the places in my Book where he hath left out words or abused the sense I will name only a few more when I mention Prayer communion with God and Meditation as instances of such duties as may be performed between God and our selves and not such as are expressed in life and manners p. 40. He tells you that I take these to be the things which are so airy and refined that no body can feel them no not with his most serious thoughts t P. 56. of his Book And because I affirmed that commonly well meaning people fancy themselves deserted by God when they are not which is sober and good sense and the sum of what I said he is in a rage and fancies the Devil to be entred into me nay no less than seven Devils and cryes out the Lord rebuke you u Ib. p. 72 For was our Saviour saith he a melancholy and fanciful person c. what led him to that wild discourse I know not unless it were his love to contradict and his great wrath and passion against me Which evil Spirits to speak in his own language I hope have but a short time they rage and tear and foam and as his words are sputter so much For he tells you I carp at God and cast smiles of scorn and derision upon the words of the Holy Ghost and intimates I am approaching towards the Blasphemy against it and had almost said I am in the same condition with Simon Magus x All this stuff you may find p. 76 77. And what is all this Holy bluster about Nothing but this what I spoke of many persons now he would have you think was meant of all that ever were even of our Saviour himself and my exposing their fond talk of shinings in and Sealings to that shame which it deserves he makes account is an abuse of the language of the Holy Ghost And yet they themselves cannot but smile at the Pope when he pretends to the Holy Ghost and at his Priests who tell us of Miracles and apparitions of Christ and the Anabaptists in the beginning of the Reformation who talk of Illuminations and extasies and the wild people of the late times when they brag'd of their anointings and teachings and that they were the people of the Lord All which are Scripture phrases but by them most ridiculously used and applyed to themselves as you cannot but acknowledge what is the matter then that you are so angry with me for a smile or two would you only have the Monopoly of these phrases will you have no body to trade in them as VV. B. speaks but only your selves And must we think you are full of the Spirit when you are only full of Scripture words Shinings and Sealings and such like Is it not possible to charge you with folly but we must be thought to wound the blessed Creator too and to be offended at the Holy Ghost y Pag. 76. Away with these proud conceits Do not imagine God and your selves to be so united nor call all your own fancies by the name of Divine Mysteries N. C. Take heed how you speak against Gospel-Mysteries C. They are your Mysteries not the Gospel's which you make such a stir about and call him profane who hath not the same reverence for them which you have your selves And thus the Egyptians I remember when they worshipt Apes Storks and Dogs said those are very great Mysteries be not too bold in talking against them As if said Lucian there were any need of a Mystery or it were such a secret piece of wisdom by which we know Gods to be Gods and Dogs to be Dogs z Dialogue callâ—â— Council of the Godâ— N. C. I confess the Gospel-Mysteries are plain now being revealed by the Spirit in the Apostles as we have already discoursed C. It is very true Hold to those and we shall have no difference about such matters But let this man rave as long as he pleases and lift up his Nose to the Skies if he can he shall never perswade me that you are more extraordinarily inlightned and understand more of them than other men unless I hear you talk more wisely Nor shall I think that I offend when I say many of you take their sudden fancies for gleames of glory and irradiations of the Holy Ghost Let him babble also till his tongue be weary about experiences I shall only believe that he was in love with wrangling and hearing himself talk perpetually For I stated that Doctrine plainly enough but he takes no notice of it and would have those who will read his Book and never look into mine believe upon his word that I am an Enemy to Christian experience a Pag. 158. and perswade them to disbelieve it b Pag. 160. and in short am an Anti-experimentist N. C. You have made me out of love with hard words C. It 's his own p. 158. a compound of Greek and Latin and therefore worse than Heterodoximony N. C. What a word is that C. O it makes a dreadful noise and is very effectual to perswade the People that they hear a Pope not squeak but roar in our Belly So he would have you think that some Preachers make the Pâ—lpits Eccho to Rome ever and anon and by their Heterodoximony have inflamed the Peoples fears c Râ—bailding of London encouraged p. 184. But to let that pass he might as well have said I jeered at keeping the Lords-day commonly called the Sabbath as at laying up and communicating experiences for they are both put together in my Book p. 167. This one would think he was sensible of for mentioning this passage out of my Book afterward
Book who confutes this Exposition of the word z 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as not apposite to the place it properly signifying saith he a proof which renders a thing evident or demonstrates it from certain and necessary reasons Such were the Supernatural gifts of the Holy-ghost But the making men of our belief and perswading them to receive what we say is no certain and necessary proof that we speak nothing but the Truth No man can affirm that who considers any thing and therefore the Apostle speaks of such a sensible demonstration or proof as I mentioned without which they could not know certainly that there was a Divine Spirit in the Apostles So the word is plainly expounded Act. 2.22 Jesus of Nazareth a man approved * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 denuâ—â—â—â—ated to you to be of among you by Miracles Wonders and Signs which God did by him c. From whence I gother that the thing whereby he approved himself to them or demonstrated he was of God was the very same whereby the Apostles demonstrated his Religion viz. Miracles Wonders and Signs all the gifts of the Holy Ghost N. C. But do not the Dutch Annotators expound it otherwise C. They seem to understand by Spirit the secret operation of the Spirit in mens hearts though by Power the same that I do In which they follow Erasmus in his Paraphrase and Theophylact hath something to the same effect though he presently betake himself to the Interpretation of St. Chrysostom before named But how an inclination to believe a thing or a perswasion wrought in me of it should be a Demonstration i. e. a proof that the thing is true which I am perswaded of or inclined unto is as I told you past my understanding And therefore having such good company I shall believe notwithstanding all his barking that they were the extraordinary visible effects of the Spirit either in our Saviour or his Apostles or others who believed which were the Demonstration by the means of which the Holy Ghost convinced the understandings and bowed the wills of unbelievers to become Christians N. C. I thought Grotius only had beâ—â— on your side and Philagathus tells us he perceives if Grotius be for you as 〈◊〉 it were God himself you are ready to say who shall be against you a Pag. 10. As if yâ—â— were bound to swear whatsoever Grotius b Ib. saith C. I remember his words and they are another notable Demonstration of the Hypocritical modesty that is the shameless boldness of this man who will venture to say any thing merely out of his own head which he thinks may disgrace me and indeavour without any proof to make the world believe that I pin my Faith on Grotius his sleeve and make him in stead of a God This he repeats I cannot tell how often as he shall hear anon with a witness and I will repeat it too only out of that great forge where the rest of his Book was wrought his own imagination For I protest sincerely it is more than I know if that be his Interpretation which I gave you nor did I in all my life to my best remembrance consult with him about it Though I must tell you if I had I should in Mr. Baxter's judgment have consulted one of the five most judicious Commentators that ever wrote on the Scriptures c Beza Grotius Pilcator Musculus Deodat Five of the most judicious Commentators I think that ever wrote on the sacred Scriptures Second Postscript afâ—er his Disput about Right to the Sacraments p. 539. But as judicious as he is in his opinion I would have you know that I would never have followed him without more reason than his bare affirmation The naked truth is that the very propriety of the words and the drift of the Apostles discourse carried me without any help to this Exposition Spirit every body knows who hath studied signifies commonly extraordinary gifts If he will not be at the pains to examine it I will quore him an Autority for it which he often vaunts of and that is Master Baxter who tells you that he who will observe carefully the language of the Holy Ghost shall find this word Spirit or Holy Ghost is most usually in the New Testament taken for the extraordinary gifts of that Age d Vnreasonableness of Infidelity p. 12. As for the word Power you heard what Musculus said But beside I have noted in my small Observation that when our Saviour was sent into the World he was anointed with the Holy Ghost and with Power Acts 10.38 and that he told his Apostles as the Father sent him so he would send them Joh. 20.21 From whence I concluded that they were to be anointed also with the Holy Ghost or the Spirit and with Power as he had been And so they were for as at his Baptism the Spirit of God descended on him like a Dove Mat. 3.16 so on the day of Pentecost which was the day of their Baptism Acts 1.5 they were all filled with the Holy Ghost prophesying and speaking with tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance and presently working a great Miracle upon the Creeple and with great power giving witness of his Resurrection e See Act. 2. v. 4.17.25 Act 3. v 2 c. Act. 4. v. 33. This I thought was the Demonstration of the Spirit and of Power whereby our Lord was approved and demonstrated in his life time to be the Son of God and by which afterward they proved his Resurrection from the dead and so the Truth of his Religion Spirit I take to comprehend the gift of Tongues Prophesie Interpretation of Tongues and all the rest except doing Miracles which in Scripture is called by the name of Power Thus I observe they are distinguished Gal. 3.5 He that ministreth the Spirit and worketh Miracles among you doth he it by the works of the Law c. where all gifts besides Miracles are called the Spirit And the Author to the Hebrews saith that God did bear witness to the Apostles Preaching both with Signs Wonders and divers Miracles and also with Gifts or Distributions of the Holy-Ghost according to his own will These and such like considerations were sufficient to perswade me to incline to that sense of the words which I gave you But when I attended to the scope of the Apostles discourse I had no doubt left in me nothing so well agreeing with it whatsoever this man prates as that Interpretation For the Spirit and Power is that which proved the Truth of the Apostles Preaching better than any Syllogisms or artificial Orations could do which he therefore calls a Demonstration in opposition to those ways of perswasion which deserved not that name Now what should that be which was the Reason and Cause of Belief Since it is certain the Spirit did not inwardly perswade men to believe without any reason Could some meâ—â— belief of the Doctrine prove that