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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
B10083	Tracts theological. I. Asceticks, or, the heroick piety and vertue of the ancient Christian anchorets and coenobites. II. The life of St. Antony out of the Greek of Sr. Athanasius. III. The antiquity and tradition of mystical divinity among the Gentiles. IV. Of the guidance of the spirit of God, upon a discourse of Sir Matthew Hale's concerning it. V. An invitation to the Quakers, to rectifie some errors, which through the scandals given they have fallen into.	Stephens, Edward, d. 1706.; Stephens, Edward, d. 1706. Asceticks, or, the heroick piety and virtue of the ancient Christian anchorets and coenobites.; Stephens, Edward, d. 1706. Life of St. Antony.; Stephens, Edward, d. 1706. Antiquity, tradition, and succession of mystical divinity among the Gentiles.; Stephens, Edward, d. 1706. Enthusiasmus divinus: the guidance of the spirit of God.; Stephens, Edward, d. 1706. Apology for, and an invitation to, the people call'd Quakers, to rectifie some errors, which through the scandals given they have fallen into.	1697 (1697)	Wing S5444E; Wing S5444E; ESTC R184630	221,170	486

the first and continued their way of living afterward for none could be more disposed to receive the Gospel nor can any other account be with any probability given of them And Monasteries there were in Egypt before St. Antony as appears plainly by the expression of St. Athanasius in his Life c. 3. p. 6. and more fully by Socrates lib. 4. c. 23. who saith That Monasteries in Egypt had their Original from very great Antiquity but they were inlarged and much increased by a pious Man whose Name was Ammon of whom Athanasius makes mention in the Life of Antony c. 32. which Socrates also takes notice of So that the Question mentioned by St. Hierom in his Life of Paul is plainly to be understood not who were the first Monks nor who were the first Anchorets but who were the first Eremites who retired so far as into the Desart for Athanasius mentions an old Man when St. Antony began who had obliged himself to a Solitary Life from his Youth and doubtless many such there were from the beginning of Christianity but such Societies there were also of Women before St. Antony's time to one of which he commited his Sister as appears in his Life and of whom St. Athanasius gives us a noble Testimony Apolog. p. 698. to 1. But there being none of whom we have any such particular and authentick account of their Lives and Actions more ancient than St. Antony none could be more proper to begin with for Example of the Heroick Piety and Virtue of those Ancient Christians than his being written by so Eminent and Excellent a Person as St. Athanasius whose deserved Character the English Reader may peruse in Dr. Cave collected out of the Ancients And for the LIFE it self that it was written by Athanasius in Greek and soon after Translated by Evagrius into Latin is so attested by the Ancients as is beyond all question and the Agreement and Disagreement too by reason of the Liberty which Evagrius saith he took in Translating of it which is between the Greek and the Latin Copies now extant is so remarkable and all so agreeable with what is said of it or out of it by the Ancients as renders all little Cavils and pretended Doubtfulness greater Blemishes to their Writings Candor and Integrity who abuse People with such Pretences than it can be to either the Greek or Latin Copies which so mutually confirm the Truth of each other and with the concurrence of other Testimonies make such a triple cord as nothing but greater regard to Factions and Parties than to Truth and Honesty would ever attempt to break Why are not some others reckoned doubtful for which there is more colour but that one serves their turn but the other not But undoubtedly there is a certain Secret Cause of some Peoples Prejudice against this Holy Life His Heroick Virtue and Devotion is a tacit Reproach to their Laziness and Tepidity His Miracles to their Want of Grace which makes that seem incredible to them which they see nothing of among themselves and hence they catch at any thing to bring all into question as his Combats with Devils c. 7. though certainly written by St. Athanasius and cited out of him by Ruffinus Socrates and Nicephorus and the like related by others and even in our own times the Smell of Spirits c. 35. as if it was not common for foul Spirits to leave a Stink behind them or that we must deny Credit to all Relations of that kind even amongst our selves because not agreeing with our fine-spun imaginary Notions of Spirits and the use of the Sign of the Cross both recommended to others and practised by himself as if that was not the Common Practice of Christians long before his time and the triumphant Erecting of Crosses ever since Constantine's time at the least See Eusebius 's Life of Constantine l. 1. c. 28 31 40. and l. 2. c. 7. and we had bravely mended the matter by setting up instead of it the Effigies of the Dragon upon our highest Spire without and the Ensigns of the Beast over our Altars within in many of our Churches as real Emblems or Representations of our Estate and Condition as if there was indeed some Magical Enchantment in them We may argue and cavil at such things as these but where is the Virtue and Divine Power which accompanied that Holy Man If we judge by our Saviour's Rule we shall find little but empty Talkers among those who exclaim most against these things and magnifie the Active Life above the Contemplative What does their Activity produce Antony we see converted great numbers to forsake their Estates and embrace the State recommended by our Saviour to all who could receive it But how many do we see by these Orators converted from their Covetousness Vanities and Superfluities to Obedience to the positive Commands of Christ In Antony the Power and Spirit of Christianity shined gloriously even in the sight of Heathens and Infidels but our Little Morality makes our selves suspected first and then our Religion too for our sakes and gives great occasion to such as have more Wit than solid Virtue to turn Atheists and Deists and such as have some sense of Religion to turn Separatists or Dissenters Nay the very Reading of this Life hath produced more noble Convertions than all their Preachings and Writings put all together who cavil at it whereof we have particular instances in St. Augustin's Confessions l. 8. c. 6. And indeed how can they expect the Blessing of God upon their Labours who so unadvisedly oppose so considerable a part of the Doctrine of our Saviour in general and resist his Inspirations in such as consult them in their own particular cases Is this the way to prepare a People for the Lord They may do well to consider what they shall answer when they are called to account for it and be more wary in such cases that they do not obstruct the Work of God but as they ought promote it An ABSTRACT of the LIFE of St. ANTONY out of SOZOMON l. 1. c. 13. WHETHER they were Egyptians or any others who were the first Beginners of that Monastick Philosophy this is confessed of all That that Great ANTONY the Monk did excellently practice that kind of Life with proper Exercises and Actions of Diligence and Perfection whom at that time growing famous in the Desarts of Egypt the Emperour Constantine in Honour of his Vertue received into his Favour and Friendship honoured him with his Letters and desired him to write to him for what he had occasion He was an Egyptian Born of a Noble Family at a place call'd Coma which is a Village near Heraclea When he was a well-grown Youth the Lands descended to him from his Father he gave to the People of the place and selling the rest of his Estate he distributed the Price amongst the Poor For he considered that it was the part of a Student of Philosophy not only to deprive himself

their Prophets are Testimonies of this all along from first to last and of this height of the Disease to be most offended and inraged against their best Friends such as most earnestly desire and most faithfully seek and endeavour their Good and Recovery They reckon them their Enemies who tell them the Truth Isa 29.21 make a Man an Offender for a Word and lay a Snare for him who Reproveth in the Gate that is publickly for National Sins and those of the Great Ones Act. 7.52 Which of the Prophets have not your Fathers Persecuted saith Saint Stephen Besides this common Infirmity it is very obseravble in the unhappy Divisions which are now among Christians that generally in all there is a greater Zeal and concern for their own Church or Party than for the common Interest of Christianity and the real Service of God and Salvation of Souls And this being so What Entertainment is such a Discourse as this like to meet with in the World But if it be considered for what End and for whose Service it is written that may be sufficient for Encouragement to the Author and for Caution to the Reader how he treats it And that with the Lesson now to be read Decemb. 18. may serve for sufficient Advertisement Isa 50.7 8 9. The Lord God will help me therefore shall I not be confounded therefore have I set my Face like a Flint and I know that I shall not be ashamed He is near that justifieth me Who will contend with me let us stand together Who is mine Adversary let him come near to me Behold the Lord God will help me Who is he that shall condemn me lo they all shall wax old as a Garment the Moth shall eat them up Some things but briefly mentioned here upon this occasion which may seem doubtful or obscure are intended upon another more proper to be more fully explained and cleared An Apology for And an Invitation to The PEOPLE call'd QUAKERS To rectifie some ERRORS which through the Scandals given they have fallen into c. ALmighty God doth in many things govern the greater Collective Bodies of Men as he doth the lesser of Families and single Persons and therefore what is the Duty of single Persons or of the Heads of Families under several occurrences of the Providence of God the very same is the Duty of the Governors of those greater Bodies whether they be Civil or Ecclesiastical And therefore again as when any Cross or Affliction befalls a Person if he have any Sense of God and Religion in him he ought not to neglect it as an insensible Creature or a brute Beast nor to look upon it as a meer Accident and Misfortune like an Atheist or Infidel but to acknowledge the Hand and Providence of God in it examin himself and consider well for what intent or purpose it may have been ordered or permitted by the Righteous Wise and Gracious Over-ruling Providence of God and without delay apply himself to do and perform what that Dispensation doth appear to him to call for When Divisions Schisms and Separations of Parties do fall out in a Church these are such Afflictions as ought to be looked upon as the Loss of one in a Family or of a Member in a particular Person and therefore not to be made light of or passed over as Misfortunes and Accidents but to be well considered as ordered or permitted by the Special Providence of God with great Justice and Wisdom and therefore for some special End to be inquired into taken notice of and observed by his Church that they may thereupon apply themselves to what he requireth of them for his Service and their own Good When this is neglected all other Means usually prove not only ineffectual but productive of more or greater Evils What was written afore-time was written for our Admonition and Instruction and as we are plainly told that in the Division and Separation of the Ten Tribes from the House of David the Cause was from the Lord 1 Ki. 12.15 So in that great Division of the Eastern and Western Churches and breach of Communion between them and in the Western Church that great Division and Separation of all those Churches call'd Reform'd and in the great Division again amongst them into Lutheran and Calvanist and the several Sub-divisions of several Parties and Sects amongst them and lastly to come nearer home in all the Divisions Sub-divisions Sects and Parties which have separated from the Church of England and afterward one from another there is as certainly the Hand of God and did we consider it well we might plainly see that the Cause is from the Lord. This we can all see in the Great Division and Separation of all these Churches call'd Reformed from that of Rome but she her self either cannot or will not see it And this to say no more of the Foreigners here our Dissenters at home think they see and do see but we of the Church of England do not see or will not see to any purpose as we ought But as they of the Church of Rome lay all upon the Hereticks and will acknowledge nothing amiss among themselves so we of the Church of England lay all upon the Separatists and Dissenters but will acknowledge nothing amiss among our selves And that which dazzles the Eyes and blinds the Minds of People in both is chiefly the Pomps and Vanities of the World which are renounced at Baptism without and the God of this World who blinds their Minds within The things of this World to Earthly-minded People are like Sugar-Plumbs to Children which stop their Mouths and satisfie them that all is well with them But if things were more narrowly looked into it might be perceived That there is scarce any Party of Separatists or Dissenters that hath not something of Truth peculiar to them and that there is something in particular amiss in the Church which gave Occasion to that Separation and whereof something peculiar in that Sect may serve for Admonition And therefore that in all there is a secret Providence of God ordering or permitting them for Judgment Correction Reproof and Admonition to reform unto the Church and unto those very Parties in which any such Division and Separation hath been made But generally all they who should have taken the Admonition have had their Mouths so stopp'd and been so bribed and enchanted with the Devil's Sugar-Plumbs and Baits of Preferments that while all was so well with them as they thought they could see nothing amiss in the Church but magnified it as a most glorious Church and layed all the Fault upon the Dissenters and Separatists who they thought only wanted what they were possessed of and the Scandal of their Ambition Pride and Covetousness and Neglect of a due Care of Souls hath by their Preaching I doubt betrayed more Souls into the Snares of the Devil than all their Preaching hath rescued out of them and throughly converted unto God It is a

Evil. For Evidences of their Love of Vertue which was their Second general Canon they prescrib'd Freedom from Love of Money Freedom from Love of Glory and Freedom from Love of Pleasure Continence and Patience also Needing but little Simplicity cheap and spare Diet Freedom from Swellings of the Mind regular Obedience and Stability and all other Habits of the like Nature For Indications of their Love of Man which was their third general Canon they taught Benevolence Equality which is better than the highest Pretences in Words and having all things Common of which it may not be unseasonable to speak briefly In the first place then you must know no one has a House of his own but what does as equally belong to all for because of their cohabiting together in Multitudes their Houses are open to all Comers from other Parts in case they are those that like the same way of Living They have all one Refectory common Banks and Expences and common Cloaths common Victuals and common Lodgings One common united Roof and one and the same common Diet and Table is what you can't find amongst any others of them and perhaps no where else at all In the Evening when they have received their Hire they don't keep it to themselves but bring it and cast it in in the midst before all for the common Benefit of those who want to make use of it Those also that are Sick are not neglected because they are not able to help themselves having common Banks laid up in readiness for the Healing the Sick so that they may be at extraordinary Expence on such extraordinary Occasions without fear They revere honour and take great Care of their Elders maintaining and cherishing them in their Old Age by their Manual Labour and many other means in all Plenty and Security OF THE THERAPEUTS OUT OF PHILO HAving spoken concerning the Esseans who were zealous of and studiously exercis'd in an Active Life more exactly than all or to speak indeed more tolerably than very many others I come now keeping close to the thread of my Design to speak as much as is true and pertinent concerning those who have embrac'd a Contemplative way of Living And here I shall add nothing of my own to set off my Narrative as Poets and Oratours whose ends of Writing are mean and who are at a loss for good and excellent Matter 'T is Truth and that only which I unfeignedly love and salute how unwelcome soever this Method may be to the Artificial Speaker But in my Entrance on this Subject I find a great Contest with my self however the Greatness of the Vertue of those Men ought not to be the Cause of Silence in those who don't think it fair that what is admirable should be conceal'd What the Purpose of these Philosophers was their very Name discovers for they are called Therapeuts and Therapentesses from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 either from Healing and more truly than other Physicians since they profess a nobler Medicinal Art than that profess'd in the City for that only heals Bedies but this cures Souls of Diseases very severe and hard to be cur'd Souls beleagur'd and oppress'd with Pleasures and Lusts Griefs and Fears irregular Desires and Follies and Iniquities and an infinite Multitude of other Passions and Vices Or from Worshipping because they have been taught by Nature and Holy Laws to worship the Being which is Better than Good and Smpler than One and Ancienter than Vnity Those that enter upon the way of Living which the Therapeuts use don't do it out of Custom or at the Instigation of any Persons but because they are ravish'd with an Heavenly Love and struck powerfully by the Deity and feel Spiritual Exultations of Joy in their Souls and will not be at rest till they see the Object they long for Wherefore because through their desire of an Immortal and Blessed Life they reckon themselves Dead to this Mortal Life they leave their Estates to their Sons or Daughters or any other Relations making them their Heirs cheerfully and with a free Mind Those of them which have not Relations leave them to their Friends and Acquaintance The Greeks celebrate Anaxagoras and Democritus because they being smote with the Love of Philosophy let their Estates be devour'd by Sheep I admire those Men because they themselves were above Riches But How much better were those who not suffering their Estates to be devour'd by Cattle apply'd a Remedy to the Needs of Men and made the Indigent Rich for that was an inconsiderable not to say Mad Act for which Greece admir'd those Men But this is a sober Custom which shews much Consideration Prudence Humanity and Sweetness of Disposition What can Enemies do more than devour and make the Countries of their Enemies bare of Corn Fodder and Trees that being brought into the straits of Necessity they may yield Just thus did Democritus serve his Kindred contriving as it were with his own Hands Streights and Poverty for them not designedly perhaps but by not fore-casting and having in his Eye the Benefit of others How much better are these though the Efforts of their Affections for Philosophy were not less than his These preferr'd an extensive Concern and Generorosity of Mind before Contempt of their Friends benefitting others with their Estates and not making a corrupt use of them that they might benefit both themselves and others others by ample Estates themselves by Philosophizing because the Cares of Money and Lands devour much Time But 't is an excellent thing to be frugal of Time since as the Physician Hippocrates said Life is short but Art long But to proceed in our Narration When they quit their Estates and are no longer caught by any Baits they depart without ever turning back and leave their Brethren Children Wives Parents numerous Relations friendly Intimacies and Engagements and the Countries in which they were bred and born because Custom and Familiarity are very attracting and have the greatest Power to ensnare And when they do thus they do not remove into another City like miserable unfortunate Servants who instead of Exchanging Slavery for Liberty only exchange their Masters for indeed such are they who part with one Estate to purchase another in some other City for every City much inhabited though it be govern'd by Good Laws is full of unspeakable Tumults and Hurries which any one that is once led by Wisdom can't away with But they live and exercise themselves without Walls in Gardens and By-Fields seeking after Solitude not out of a morose affected Disgust against Men but because they are sensible Mixtures are unprofitable and hurtful by reason of the Dis-agreeableness of their Manners This sort of Men are in all parts of the habitable World and indeed 't was but fitting that both Greece and the Barbarous World should partake of this perfectly good Sect. They abound in Egypt in every one of their Provinces and especially about Alexandria But the principal of

was earned by them who distribute it For they do by no means endeavour that these things should abound with them but by all means are diligent that what doth abound may not remain with them insomuch that they send even Ships laden to those places where indigent People dwell There 's no need to say more of a thing so well known This is also the Life of the WOMEN who serve God with Carefulness and Chastity who are separated and removed from Men as far as is decent joyned to them only in pious Charity and Imitation of Virtue to whom Young Men have no access at all nor the Ancient neither although most Grave and Approved further than to the threshold for the supplying them with the Necessaries which they need They do both exercise and sustain the Body by making Cloth and deliver the Garments themselves to the Brethren receiving of them again what is necessary for their Maintenance These Manners this Life this Order this Institution if I would praise it I am not able to do it as it deserves And I fear lest I should seem to think that of it self barely related it would not please if I should think fit to add to the Simplicity of a Reporter the Flourishes of an Orator lib. 1. de Moribus Ecclesiae Catholicae cap. 30 31. The Direction of Piammon to some Foreiners who came to his Monastery WHo-ever desires to obtain the Skill of any Art unless with all Care and Vigilance he oblige himself to the Studies and Labors of that Discipline which he desires to learn and observes the Precepts and Institutions of the most compleat Masters of that Art or Science he doth in vain with vain Desires wish to be like them whose Care and Industry he refuseth to emulate ...... Wherefore if the Cause of God as we believe drew you to an Emulation of our Knowledge you must abdicating the Prejudices of your Education with all Humility observe what-ever ye shall see your Seniors or Superiors do or prescribe Nor let it move you or withdraw and divert you from that Imitation although at present the Reason or Cause of any Thing or Fact which you see be not manifest to you For to those who think well and simply of all things and do more study to imitate than examin what they see prescribed or done by the Ancients by their own Experience doth the Knowledge of all things come to them But he will never enter into the Reason of the Truth who begins to learn with questioning things For the Enemy seeing him rather confiding in his own than in the Judgment of the Fathers doth easily drive him to that that even those things which are most profitable and wholsome for him shall seem to him superfluous and hurtful And so doth the crafty Enemy impose upon his Presumption that he perswades him pertinaciously adhering to his unreasonable Determinations that that only is Holy which he in the Error of his Obstinacy thinks Right and Just Cassian Coll. 18. cap. 2 3. An Excellent Exhortation of Pinuphius to a Novice upon his Admittance into his Monastery lib. 4. de Vit. Pat. cap. 31. ex Cassian SON thou knowest after how many Days waiting before the Doors thou art this Day received Of which difficulty of thy Reception thou oughtest in the first place to understand the Cause for it may advantage thee much in this Life which thou desirest to enter into if understanding the Reason of it thou dost accordingly come to the Service of Christ and as thou oughtest to do For as infinite Glory is promised hereafter to those who faithfully serve God and do adhere to Him according to the Institution of this Rule so most grievous Pains are prepared for them who shall perform the same coldly and negligently and shall neglect to produce congruous Fruits of Sanctity according to what they do profess or by Men are believed to be For it is better not to Vow than to vow and not perform and Cursed is he who doth the Work of the Lord negligently Therefore for this cause wast thou long refused by us not that we do not desire with all our Hearts to promote the Salvation of thee or of all or do not wish even afar off to meet those who desire to come to Christ but lest being too hastily received we should make both our selves guilty before God of Levity and thee of the greater Punishment if at present easily received and not understanding the weight of this Profession thou shouldest afterward prove either a total Deserter or a tepid Professor Know therefore that this Day thou art dead to this World and that according to the Apostle thou art crucified to the World and the World to thee But perhaps thou wilt say How can one that is Living be Crucified Hear briefly the Reason Our Cross is the Fear of the Lord for as one Crucified hath not the power thereafter to move or turn his Members any way at the pleasure of his own Mind so we also ought to apply our Wills and Desires not to that which pleaseth us at present but according to the Precept of the Lord as it obligeth us And as he who is fixed to the Tree of the Cross doth not then regard the things of this World nor think of his Affections is then moved with no desire of Possessions and while he is yet living in the Body reckons himself dead to all Earthly things so we also by the Fear of God ought to be crucified to all carnal Vices and there always to have the Eyes of our Minds fixed whether we ought every moment to hope to arrive We must therefore beware that we do not at any time resume any of those things which at our Renouncing the World we have forsaken For the crafty Serpent doth always watch our Steps that is he lays Snares for our going out and even to the end of our Life doth always endeavour to supplant us and therefore to have begun well profits nothing if it be not well finished Wherefore according to the Determination of the Scripture being entred into the Service of the Lord stand in the Fear of the Lord and prepare thy Soul not for Ease not for Delights but for Temptations and Streights for we must through many Tribulations enter into the Kingdom of God For narrow is the Gate and straight is the Way which leads to Life and few there are who find it The Beginning therefore of our Salvation is the Fear of the Lord For by this is both the beginning of our Conversion and the Preservation of our Virtue obtained which when it has once pierced into the Mind of Man it produceth a Contempt of all these things and begets an abhorrence of the World and by Contempt and forsaking of our Riches is true Humility obtained And Humility is proved by these Tokens 1. If the Religious person have in him all his Wills mortified 2. If he conceil not his Acts nor his Thoughts

same Eye of my Soul above my Mind the unchangeable Light of the Lord not this vulgar and visible to all Flesh Nor was it as of the same kind greater as if it grew more and more clear than it and filled all with its Greatness This was not that but another quite another from all those Nor was it so above my Mind as Oyl above Water nor as Heaven above Earth but superior because he made me and I inferior because I was made by it He who knoweth Truth knoweth it and he who knoweth it knoweth Eternity Charity knoweth it O Eternal Truth and true Charity and dear Eternity Thou art my God for Thee do I sigh day and night And when I first knew Thee thou didst assume me or take me up that I should see it to be which I did see and my self not to be who did see And thou didst beat back my weak Sight shining vehemently upon me and I trembled with Love and Horror and found my self to be far from Thee in the Region of Dissimilitude or Unlikeness as if I heard thy Voice from on high I am the Food of grown Persons grow and thou shalt feed on me Nor shalt thou change me into thee as the Food of thy Flesh but thou shalt be changed into me And I know that for Iniquity thou dost tutor Men and makest my Soul to pine away like a Spider And I said Is Truth nothing because it is diffused neither through finite nor through infinite spaces And thou cryedst from a far Yes indeed I AM THAT I AM. And I heard as it is heard in the heart and there was no cause of doubt at all left and I could easilier doubt that I was alive than that Truth was not which is seen being understood by the things which are made 7 Confess c. 10. More to this purpose might be noted out of these and others of great Authority in the Christian Church though it may be observed that anciently the Christians as well as the Jews and Heathens were very cautious not to express the Mysteries of their Religion to the Prophane or to such as were not capable according to our Saviour's Admonition Mat. 7.6 and out of that caution and a like caution to avoid all Ostentation and secure their Humility were more sparing in their Expressions of any thing of this nature in their Writings than those of after-Ages who by degrees began to write more openly and at last to compose whole Books of what was before taught more secretly to particular Persons as they were capable to receive it but this is sufficient for the present By this Tast of the Spirit of these Holy People together with the Testimonies of such Excellent Persons as were contempory with them and well acquainted with their Manners and Exercises we may judge of the Rashness and Inconsiderateness of many of later times who have made no scruple to despise vilifie and reproach the Monastick State in general and the Impiety and Wickedness of such as have industriously endeavoured to rake up all the Dirt and raise all the Calumnies and Slanders they could against them If the Abuses and Corruptions which in later times have increased among them were such as might provoke the Indignation of Men and Judgments of God upon them must the whole State from the beginning be condemned for them If the Serpent cast out a Flood of false and Hypocritical Pretenders such as those described by Piammon before pag. 59. and Hierom pag. 65. called Sarabites and Remoboth to drown and obscure the Excellence of those who were sincere doth it become Christians to help the Serpent in that attempt There are also saith St. Austin who are false Monks and we have known such sed non periit Fraternitas Pia propter eos qui profitentur quod non sunt But the Pious Fraternity is not therefore lost because of those who profess themselves to be what they are not in Psal 132. and in divers other places he notes such a mixture among them and the Unreasonableness of those who censure all for the Miscarriages of some Should we judge of Episcopacy by the Actions of too many of that Order which might be noted even from the time of Diotrephes but especially after they became not only secure but greatly honoured by Christian Princes and Emperours or of the Reformed Churches by what hath been acted by some amongst them or even of Christianity by the Lives and Manners of too many call'd Christians how unreasonable would that be If we look into the more ancient times we shall find them admired even by Jews and Heathens and censured and condemned by none but Infidels Hereticks and Apostates Only one SYNESIVS is set up against the concurrent Judgment of all the Great Lights of the Church Athanasius Basil Nazianzen Chrysostom Ambrose Austin and innumerable more And who is this Synesius A Bishop indeed and a Learned Philosopher but as a Learned Doctor of this Church and no Friend to Enthusiasm hath observed a better Platonist than sound Christian one who lived among them and yet very ignorant of what was most considerable in them one who passeth a harsh Censure of them and yet in it gives a remarkable Testimony for them He knew indeed what every Rustick could take notice of that they practised themselves and recommended to others Temperance and Continence and great Austerities and thereof he is an unexceptionable Witness but the reason thereof he knew not and therefore calls their Way of Living Barbarous Adamantine and contrary to Humane Nature an ample Testimony rightly understood He knew their diligent Labour and Works and what was said concerning their continual Contemplation of Divine things and thereof is an undeniable Witness but how that was consistent with twisting of Reeds and making of Baskets that he could not conceive He knew that they had great regard to Motions Impulses Transports c. and thereof he is a competent Witness but what to make of them he knew not and therefore thought that they did thereby hope for the End without the Means He knew that they were very confident of their Knowledge of Divine things and thereof he is a sufficient Witness but what they were he understood not nor how they should attain any such Knowledge without Learning and Study and therefore thought they did very arrogantly assume to themselves a greater Measure of Divine Knowledge than others had And what wonder if he who did not believe all the known Articles of the Christian Faith should be no more acquainted with such Mysteries and Secrets in Spiritual things as are by the Wisdom of God hid from the Wise and Prudent but revealed unto Babes than some of our Learned Doctors are at this time Undoubtedly had those great Men mentioned before no way inferior to this in any part of Learning understood no more of these things than he did they had been of his Mind or had he understood as much as they he had

been of theirs And so much for Synesius a very competent Witness of what he knew in this Case but a most incompetent Judge of what he understood not If we come nearer to our own times and inquire into the State of the Monasteries at the time of the Dissolution Stow the Historian writing of the Year 1536. 28. Hen. 8. says The Poor did much lament the Downfall of Monasteries for the great Hospitality which was kept there And it is certain that till after the Dissolution of Monasteries there was no Law in England to enforce any Man to pay to the Relief of the Poor by way of Temporal Coercion The Stat. of Ed. 1. call'd the Stat. de Asportatis Religiosorum recites it to be one chief End of building Monasteries that Hospitality and Almsgiving might be exercised and the Sick and Feeble maintained The Clergy then scarce pretending themselves to be Proprietors but rather Vsu-Fructuarii and as Mr. Selden saith that Parsonages and Vicarages were Elemosynae Laicorum so it seems they were used as a kind of Reserve for the Laity when they fell into Poverty again that is the Surplus was so for there was always to be deducted the Maintenance of him who waited at the Altar according to the Dignity and Quality of his Person Order and Function This was the Observation of a very good Friend to the Church of England the late Lord Chancellor Finch But as to the Monasteries certainly that was an excellent Provision for the Poor where they might be supplied with Spiritual as well as Corporal Alms and such as it seems did not fail till the last so that we needed no Law for Provision for the Poor till the Monasteries were dissolved Which is that Sin whereof the Learned and Judicious Mr. Joseph Meed saith the whole Body of the Reformation is notoriously guilty which nevertheless saith he is accounted no Sin and yet such a one as I know not whether God ever passed by without some visible and remarkable Judgment Ep. 14. p. 760. v. Ep. 58. p. 829. Disc 2. p. 15 17. Disc 27. p. 119 ... and the Judgment he thought begun upon some v. p. 17. 829. and expected more to follow And since the Righteous God is a severe Revenger of the Indignities and Injuries done to his Saints nor can he be thought to have less regard to Sacred Persons than to Sacred things I know no reason why the great Defects of pious and a compleat Christian Education which are now notorious in our Universities and that Blindness and Spirit of Sloath and Slumber which from thence seems to have seized and possessed all Ranks and Qualities of Persons and Parties amongst us may not be a special Judgment of God for that Universal Prejudice and Contempt which upon the Scandals of some the prophane Sacrilegious Impiety of others and the inconsiderate Rashness and Indiscretion of many more have raised against it FINIS THE LIFE OF St. ANTONY Originally Written in Greek by St. ATHANASIUS Bishop of Alexandria Faithfully Translated out of the Greek by D. S. TO WHICH The LIVES of some others of those Holy Men are intended to be added out of the best Approved Authors LONDON Printed for the Author for the Use and Benefit of a Religious Society 1697. THE PREFACE THE great Prejudice which in this last Age was raised against Monastick Life and Monks so greatly esteemed in the most flourishing Ages of the Church did proceed not so much from any Evil in the thing or in the persons at that time though much degenerated from the Virtue of the Ancients as from the Wickedness and Sacriledge of such as were greedy of their Revenues and Riches and Vnwillingness of others to bear the Yoak they had taken upon them This is so manifest that whoever should proceed to that degree of Disingenuity and Impudence as to deny it would justly forfeit all Credit with Men of Judgment and Impartiality afterward It is true there was too much occasion given for such as had a mind to rake up all the dirt they could against them yet even in that scarce any who have set themselves to that work have contained themselves within the bounds of Truth and Modesty much less of Charity but their Malice and Prejudice may be perceived upon a very small inspection into their Writings In this wicked Work besides all those who were directly concerned in it many others ingaged partly as Advocates in hope of some Preferment or Advantage from such as were possessed of the Prey partly to ingratiate themselves with the Party and partly through an indiscreet ignorant Zeal easily carried with an overflowing Stream The mischievous Consequences of this were many and great of which to pass by others one is no less than want of sound Education in true Christian Piety and Virtue even in our Vniversities ever since but too manifest in the Effects and another no less than that even the making the Word of God of none effect by discommending and disparaging and eluding even what our Saviour recommended to all though injoyned to none undermining the very Principles of the most Heroick Virtue and Piety of the most Holy Christians by an abominable Antichristian Presumption requiring no less than a Publick Humiliation of all the Protestant Churches For these and others of this nature it is that the Blessing of God hath not been upon the Reformation but only a Protection nor is it probable ever will till the Reformation it self be reformed but that they will either dwindle away as they have hitherto till they come to nothing or fill up the measure of their Iniquities till they bring some great Judgment of God upon them Such inconsiderate factious Zealotes as call this Popery know not what they say but do Honour to Popery Injury to Christianity and Prejudice to their own Cause But so mad and heady have they been that sober Men who understood better things have been forced to apologize for barely mentioning the Monasteries as Mr. Tanner hath truly observed in his Preface to his Notitia Monastica who notwithstanding hath very worthily dared to say That Monasteries were in those dark Ages the only Preservers of Learning and Maintainers of Hospitality That Orders and Statutes for the Relief of the Poor were never known till after their Dissolution and That their Founders were Men of the greatest Honour and Virtue in their respective Ages In his Epistle Dedicatory The Antiquity of Monasteries among Christians is not certainly known It is very probable which Mr. Tanner saith after Sir George Mackensy that the Original of Monks in Britain may be dated from the first Plantation of Christianity therein and that some of the Druids having been converted from the Pagan Religion whereof they were the Priests became our first Monks being thereunto much inclined by the Severity of their former Discipline And the same is certainly more than probable concerning Egypt that the Therapeuts whatever they were before were converted some of

that after he came to maturity of Thinking and Judging he became as he found reason in many things of a different Judgment from the Notions and Sentiments he had first received by which it appeared that his Religion was the Religion of his Judgment and not of his Education And being no Ecclesiastick but a Man of a Civil Employment he stood fair to be looked upon as an Indifferent Judge and not as an Advocate or Party as Clergy-men generally are reputed by some and by consequence his Writings upon such Subjects besides the weight of his Reason would have a double Weight of Authority if we take in his Example too above others to make them successful upon such as have received prejudice from the Scandalous Practices of too many Professors and Preachers of the Christian Religion which hath been a principal Cause of Atheism heretofore and of Deism at present and of the Contempt of the Clergy and more effectual and prevalent than any of those which have been assigned in Print though by Scandalous I intend here nothing but Zeal for Preferments and a cold Indifferency in Matters of Religion For as it hath been rightly observed When Vertue fails in the Priests Faith will fail in the People be their Preaching what it will Now by how much greater was the Advantage that the Writings of this Man had above others to have done Service in this Cause so much the greater was the Gratification which these Wicked Spirits received in the Suppression of them I know nothing so sordid that ever appeared in his Life But that this hath been ordered by the Malice and Subtilty of those Wicked Spirits who had gotten Advantage against Him or his Family however some particular Dispositions in Persons might make it more feasible as I verily believe so I am well satisfied he would not at all have doubted had he been living and to have spoken his Judgment in a like Case He and I both before he died had had Experience enough to satisfie us concerning such matters And I wish his and all other Families who are fallen into any such Snare may consider well of it and be well advised how to recover themselves out of it if it may be Many such have I known and though the Burden be sealed upon some and the Decree fixed yet in others there seemed to be a Door open if Opportunity was not neglected Mens Belief or Disbelief will not alter the Truth of things But Disbelief of things that are true is often the Cause of great Vnhappiness and they who disbelieve such things as these are not the less obnoxious to their Malice but more secure in their Power So much as this is not impertinent to be said concerning the Malice and Subtlety of the Evil Spirits before a Discourse of the Gracious Conduct of the Good And I think my self specially obliged to declare my Sentiments of both upon any just Occasion And indeed I confess the Preface was not written so much for the sake of the Book as the Book Published for the sake of the Preface as an Occasion to write on that Subject which I thought my self obliged to do as an Act of Penitence for an Vnhappy Miscarriage whereby my Enemy got that Advantage against me which I mentioned before and shall here repeat in the Words then Printed as followeth I must not here forbear upon this Occasion to add not my Opinion but my own certain Knowledge upon great and long and in some respects in a great measure woful Experience in an Humble Confession of my Fault to give Glory to God Testimony to his Truth and Warning to Men. I have had Experience of this Divine Conduct and of the Blessings and Curses attending Obedience and Disobedience to it so that I have plainly perceived that the Conduct of the Children of Israel out of Egypt through the Wilderness into the Promised Land was a visible Manifestation or Representation of the Secret Spiritual Conduct of Souls out of Slavery under the Powers of Darkness through the Wilderness of this World into the Land of Rest and the very same thing in Action and Representation which is delivered by way of Doctrine and Admonition in the Book of Ecclesiasticus iv 11 20. and vi 18 31. The Crosses Disappointments and Afflictions which I have gone through have been very grievous and many of them known to the World though nothing hath appeared in my Life to which they could be imputed by others as a Cause in any respect I must therefore declare that while I did act in a ready Compliance with that Conduct I not only had great Peace and Serenity of Mind but all things went strangely prosperous and successful with me and I had extraordinary Answers to my Prayers not only for my self but for others also But whenever I have done contrary I always had trouble in my Mind and what I did was either blasted or unsuccessful and often of such evil Consequence as I did not foresee This I have found so by great and long Experience and in some of the great Businesses of my Life wherein I acted not only upon my own Reason and Judgment but also upon the Advice and Persuasions of very considerable Persons And after considerable Experience of this I was once so unhappy in my Disobedience to this Conduct upon a special Occasion having none to advise with and yielding too much to the Sentiments of our Anti-enthusiasts which was a Temptation to me that as I have special reason to believe it was like the Sin of Adam to me an Inlet unto all the Vnhappiness that hath since befallen me and my Family And I have been as it were turned back into the Wilderness ever since The Things wherein I had this Conduct were not matter of Duty in themselves or not in the particular Circumstances but either were such as were in Humane appearance so indifferent that I might have used my Liberty or the Conduct was much different from the Wisdom of the World And though I cannot say whether the Afflictions I have suffer'd were so ordered as a Punishment for my Miscarriage yet I am assur'd they were a Consequence thereof at least such as we often fall into when we neglect the Good Counsel of our Friends And they have been such as I am persuaded it is my Duty upon this Occasion to make this publick Penitential Confession whatever Prejudice I may suffer thereby from Men If I can but thereby obtain the Favour of God and benefit Men I shall accept that as part of my Punishment For the Certainty of this I can truly affirm That I had immediately upon my Miscarriage as sensible Notice of the Evils which have since befallen me as I can have of any thing by any sense I have as plain as if a Sentence had been pronounced against me And what I have suffered hath had Two several Marks as exactly agreeable to my Miscarriage as the print of a Seal upon the Wax

up in Judgment against such as will be found to have given occasion to Tepidity Carelessness and Neglect of the most Spiritual Exercises of Religion NOTES and OBSERVATIONS to discern Illusions from Divine Inspirations THERE is another part of the Quarrel which our Author hath to this Mystical Divinity besides that that it is unintelligible as he says viz. That it leads Persons into strange Illusions of Fancy which he takes to be a great Injury not only to those Melancholy Souls that are led through this Valley of Shades and Darkness but to the Christian Religion it self Which if true is a just Cause of Quarrel indeed But if well consider'd no greater Cause than others have against the Holy Scriptures because some wrest them to their own Destruction 2 Pet. 3.16 It is true many Persons have been impos'd upon by their own Fancies and many more by Satan transformed into an Angel of Light but must we therefore deny that there are any true Divine Illuminations Inspirations Motions or Communications It is therefore very necessary to be well considered How they may be distinguished And because O. N. in the Book which our Author answers hath a Discourse on that Subject which hath passed his Examination without any hard censure which is an implicit Approbation that may not improperly here be added FOR the discerning of such Illusions proceeding from Satan from the true Inspirations of God's Holy Spirit we affirm That many Notes and Observations there be whereby they may be known if not certainly whether Divine as to their Original where no Spirit of Prophecy or Miracles yet whether containing Truth and advancing Vertue as to the Matter and whether any way noxious and hurtful either to the Person that receives them or others And this is abundantly sufficient Now for these Notes of discerning them I need referr the Reader to no other Book then to the Doctor 's Martyr Sancta Sophia though he was pleased to take no notice of them there in the Preface from § 29. to § 35. Again in the third Treatise p. 268. from § 9. to § 22. where after directing a strict Observation to be made concerning the Person whether 1. viciously inclin'd 2. arrogant and proud or 3. curious 4. or much addicted to melancholy there are particularly cast off and marked out for Satanical Illusions among others these All such pretended Inspirations or Revelations as do invite the Person to say or do any thing contrary to the Catholick Faith Obedience Humility Peace and Unity Honesty Purity and any other Divine Vertue but especially contrary to the Catholick Faith or Obedience for instance as the attempting to make any new and seditious Reformations as likewise when the Persons obstinately believe these Revelations to be of God after they have been condemned by experienced Superiors and Directors All such I say are condemned for Satanical Illusions which cuts all the nerves of all such pretended Revelations as can any way disturb the Church's Faith or Peace and most of all of those Enthusiasms and Fanatick Frenzies which have been so common among Protestants § 14. Lastly in all these Pretensions where there is any greater difficulty of discerning the Good and Divine from the Bad and Satanical Spirit we have a judge to repair to the Governours of the Church The Spirits of the Prophets saith St. Paul are subject to the Prophets § 15. But there are other Influences and Inspirations of the same Spirit directing us also in Actions in their own nature Indifferent or of Counsel and on either side lawful and free from Sin some of which Inspirations cannot be tried or distinguished from Enthusiasm by any such way as the former which because they are much spoken of by the Mysticks and are very necessary for advancing Christians in the way of Perfection it seems requisite for the freeing these also from Mistakes to give the Reader here some account of them § 18. 1. We must know then as Sancta Sophia Tr. 1. p. 57. and others have discoursed more at large that there are two Spirits within us that is all the Regenerate the Holy Spirit and that of Corrupt Nature assisted with the Suggestions of the Devil who took a kind of Possession of us upon Adam's Fall Eph. 2.2 That this last Spirit is never totally expell'd or silenc'd in us during this Life but tempts us still Gal. 5.17 And that its Suggestions may appear many times like the Motions of God's Spirit pretending Good Ends the performing some Duty to our selves or our Neighbour our advancement in Vertue and the like That the Effect of the first of these Spirits Sanctifying Grace received in our Regeneration or justification is in its infusion ordinarily but as a small S●ed 1 John 3.9 1 Pet. 1.23 Mat. 13.31 33. or spark capable of a daily growth and increase and which with the co-operation of our Free will and further Aids that are from time to time received from God works in us at length a total Reformation and Christian Perfection which so many among the Regenerate as do attain are said in a more special mannner to be Spiritual Persons and to have the Spirit of God And i● this sense the Apostle writes to the Corinthians 〈◊〉 Brethren could not speak unto you as to Spiritual but as 〈◊〉 Carnal and as to Babes in Christ 1 Cor. 3.1 an● so ver 3. For ye are yet Carnal and Walk according to Man that is ye are Babes only in Christ and i● in some degree Carnal and walking according to the natural Man still and not as yet entirely Spiritual And frequent mention we find in the Scriptures 〈◊〉 these several Degrees and Growths in a Regeneral Condition It being God's Pleasure that the Ne● Man as the Old should grow by degrees and not b● made compleat in us all at once Mention I say of some Babes and little ones and to be fed as yet only with Milk Of strong Meat and Wisdom and higher Mysteries only to be delivered to and spoken amongst the Perfect See Heb. 5.12 13. 1 Pet. 2. 〈◊〉 1 Cor. 3.1 1.2 6. Of growing in Grace and receiving Increase from God 2 Pet. 3.18 Col. 2.19 Of the new Man being renewed day by day 2 Cor. 〈◊〉 .16 Of arriving to a perfect Man unto the measure 〈◊〉 the Stature or Age of the Fulness of Christ Eph. 4.13 Of the Apostles labouring to present every 〈◊〉 perfect in Christ Jesus and that they might stand perfect and full in all the Will of God Col. 1.28 4.12 and of this Perfection still containing in it higher and higher degrees Not as if I had already attained saith the Apostle Phil. 3.12 Though therefore by this Principle of a New Life and the infusion of the habitual Grace of Charity we are already translated from the former being of corrupt Nature to a Divine being of Supernatural Grace freed at the first from the former state of Mortal Sin and from the Slavery and Captivity we suffered under its

their being cast out of the Synagogues as part of the Persecution they were to suffer It is also certain that our Saviour did foretell that many false Prophets that is false Teachers should come in his Name and deceive many and gave great Caution not to go out or believe them and that his Apostles did the like and did with great earnestness exhort all to beware of Divisions Schisms and Separations in the Church And accordingly in all Ages for Men to take upon them the Office of Elders or Ministers of the Gospel without a Regular Ordination derived by Succession from the Apostles or to draw away people after them and engage them in Separate Parties hath been looked upon as a heinous Sin and whoever have done so have been Infamous in the Church ever since And therefore if our Dissenters did continue daily with one accord at our Temples as the primitive Christians did and did continue their Assemblies at their own Meeting-places for Instruction and Edification without any Separation from the Church provided there was nothing but true Christian Doctrine taught amongst them I do not see but they might be of very good Use and deserve not only an Indulgence but Encouragement from the Publick Authority But they who make a Trade of it to engage Separate Parties I do verily believe have much to answer for before God and those who desire to be Christians indeed had need to beware of them And this I must in justice say after all I have said concerning what is amiss amongst us that thanks be to God we have those amongst us who for good Learning for profitable Preaching and for sincere Piety Devotion and all Virtue are no way inferior to any of the Dissenters if to be equalled by any of them and yet I cannot say they are so many but there may be reason enough to receive those Labourers also into our Lord's Harvest And I heartily wish it was well considered How they may be made more serviceable in so important and needful a Work without any thing of a Separation and that they would consider Who They are who sit in Moses or rather the Apostles Seat and What our Lord doth require in that respect And now to come more particularly to the PEOPLE of that Party call'd Quakers I must first acquaint them that I have not only had several Conferences with the Principal Persons of their Party whom they call Ministers but have also sent them several Letters and Papers to their Second Days Meetings And as our Conferences have hitherto been managed in a very friendly manner so I do desire to proceed in the same manner with them also and therefore what is directed at first only to the second days Meeting I shall desire them now to receive as intended from the first for them all though I thought it most fair and decent to proceed in that order And it is as followeth To William Penn and the rest of the Friends with him at their second days Meeting in Grace-Church-Street William and the rest of the Friends with thee MY Hearts desire and Prayer to God for you all is that ye may be saved for I am perswaded that you have a Zeal of God at least many of you though not according to Knowledge in some things Nevertheless whereto ye have attained in that I desire ye may be established and that God will be graciously pleased to reveal the rest to you that ye may be perfect and intire wanting nothing For which purpose I come I trust by the Grace of God with a Message of Grace and Peace to you I am well satisfied that it is no meer Humane Project or Artifice that at first raised you up and hath conducted you hitherto but a Supernatural Power and that it is of the Lord some way or other as was the Separation of the Ten Tribes from Rehoboam 1 King 12. for Correction and Reformation of something amiss in this Church And therefore I dare not presume either upon my own head or by my own Ability to intermeddle in it But my Heart is inlarged towards you upon these Considerations 1. That ye do assert one of the Great and Chief Principles of the Christian Religion which I have observed to be very unworthily and even despitefully treated by too many who have gotten into or seek Preferments and Imployment in the Church without Check or Reproof and so unworthily deserted by most for fear of reproach or disgrace or hindrance in their Preferment that I have not known it generously asserted by above two or three in the Pulpit but those great Men indeed though it be plainly a Doctrine most authentickly and solemnly professed and declared in the Church of England 2. That ye do bear a good Testimony against other Abuses connived at or tolerated amongst us 3. I am moved with Pity towards you that you should have so great Causes of Offence or Scandal given you against the Holy and Established Institutions and Ordinances of Christ for the Ministerial Office for the Admission of Proselytes and for the great Solemnity of the Christian Worship which hath been so long abused with Controversies that I know very few Persons now amongst us who do rightly and compleatly understand it and even against the Person Satisfaction and Merits of Christ himself But when I consider your Notions and Sentiments concerning these things though I am well satisfied that you are under the Conduct and Energy of some Spiritual Power yet What that Spirit is and Whether One or Divers in my Judgment doth deserve very good Consideration Ye know what Spirit it was which God sent between Abimelech and the Shechemites Jud. 9.23 and what that was that was sent from the Lord to Saul 1 Sam. 6.14 and what that was that was commissioned by God in the case of Ahab 1 King 22.22 23. and what that was in the midst of the Princes of Noph Isa 19.14 which was from the Lord too And that such a Spirit hath been among some call'd Quakers is manifest both by their Actions Speeches and Writings nay the very Spirit of the Devil and of Antichrist is apparent and undeniable from the Indignities offered both in word and deed to Holy things But that is not the thing now to be considered what Spirits may have appeared among them For even among the Apostles Satan had power to enter into Judas and it is not improbable but those whom our Saviour told Ye know not what Spirit ye are of and even Peter himself when our Saviour said to him Get thee behind me Satan might not at the time be free from some Impressions of Evil Spirits That 't is likely was a Peculiarity of our Saviour's for the Prince of this World to have nothing in him But the thing to be considered is What Spirit that is which at first excited and hath now the Conduct of the whole Body of this People And not whether it be sent or commissioned from God but