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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A74986	An antidote against heresy: or a preservative for Protestants against the poyson of Papists, Anabaptists, Arrians, Arminians, &c. and their pestilent errours. Shewing the authors of those errours, their grounds and reasons, the time when and occasion how they did arise; with general answers to their arguments taken out of holy scripture and the ancient fathers. Written to stay the wandering and stablish the weak in these dangerous times of Apostasy. / By Richard Allen, M.A. sometime Fellow of Penbrooke [sic] Colledge in Oxford.	Allen, Richard, b. 1604 or 5.	1648 (1648)	Wing A1045A; Thomason E1168_2; ESTC R208803	57,457	159

divine authority of credit sufficient in and of themselves to be beleeved without the testimony or approbation of any man or men If the Scriptures be the Word of God then who dares deny their authority refuse what they command or do what they forbid But the Scriptures are the Word of God For First The pen-men that wrote them were called and sent of God they were assisted of God confirming their doctrine with mighty signs and wonders beyond any humane power or skill and they were inspired of God teaching and writing though themselves simple and unlearned most high and divine mysteries above the reach of any natural wit and such as the very Angels of Heaven desired to look into Secondly The doctrine or matter that is written is 1. Heavenly and divine about heavenly and divine things 2. It is most certain and true all things that were foretold most certainly came to pass and though they were written in several places ages and times by several persons of several arguments yet all the books of holy Scripture from the beginning to the end do most sweetly accord or agree together as the dictates of one and the same Spirit of truth Thirdly The effects of this heavenly doctrine are divine and wonderful as never any writings in the world did produce the like For though it be contrary to humane reason and most cross to our natural lusts and affections yet it works and wins so upon men both powerfully and sweetly that it wooes and weans men not only from the world but also from themselves It discerns the thoughts comforts the heart enlightens the mind convinceth the conscience and makes such a change in the whole man that it makes him a new man transforming and conforming him to the image of God in true holiness all most sure arguments of a divine Spirit Fourthly It hath made a thorough conquest of the whole world by the endeavors of very weak and silly men bringing mighty Nations in obedience unto Christ maugre all opposition that could be made against it a plain demonstration that it is the Word of God and not of man and it hath continued and been preserved even to admiration though a world of counsels have been taken and attempts made to destroy it Fifthly The testimony of the Church in its due place is to be esteemed as not a little moving the consent and confession of Christians in all ages but especially the sufferings of holy Martyrs in defence of the same Sixthly The testimony of the Holy Ghost to our hearts and consciences puts all out of doubt this doth not only perswade but most certainly assure us that the Scriptures are the Word of God it imprints a firm belief of it in our hearts called the sealing of the Spirit Eph. 1.13 Lastly The holy Scriptures give testimony of themselves 2 Tim. 3.16 All the Scripture is given by inspiration of God 2 Pet. 1.21 Holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost And the Prophets always delivered their message with Thus saith the Lord The Mouth of the Lord hath spoken it The Scriptures then are of supream and soveraign authority above the Church and greater then the Church by so much as the authority of God is greater then the authority of men The Scriptures for the matter or substance were before the Church even that immortal seed whereof the Chu●ch sprang and grew and is still the ground whereon it stands the pillar whereby it is supported Ephes 2.20 The pillar and ground of the Church is the Scripture Irenaeus l. 3. cont Haer. c. 11. The authority of him that spake it is sufficient to confirm it Theodor. in Ezek. c. 34. The Scripture is to be judg in all matters of concroversie Isa 8.20 To the Law and to the Testimony Joh. 5.39 Search the Scriptures for they testifie of me Acts 17.11 The men of Berea searched dayly the Scriptures whether those things were so as Paul spake Secondly The Old Testament is not abrogated or grown unprofitable but together with the New is still necessary for our instruction 2 Tim. 3.16 All Scripture the Old Testament as well as the New is profitable for instruction Joh. 5.39 Search the Scriptures saith our Saviour i. the Old Testament for then there was no other Our Saviour spake many things out of the Old Testament to confirm the doctrine of the New therefore it is of as great authority Object But the Law and the Prophets were until John since that time the Kingdom of God is preached Luk. 16.16 Sol. They were until John and then not abrogated but swallowed up of a greater light the Old Testament is the same Gospel that is in the New the same Spirit same Christ Christ yesterday to day and the same for ever Heb. 13.8 Yesterday under the Law to day under the Gospel and the same still The Old and New Testament give mutual light and testimony one to another the one foretelling those things that the other testifies are really and truly come to pass Thirdly The Scriptures of the Old and New Testament are perfect and sufficient of themselves without any other help or supply to instruct us in the means of salvation We are forbidden to add to or diminish any thing from it Deut. 12.32 Rev. 22.18 19. And if a part were so perfect that it needed no addition how much more the whole Psa 19.7 The Law of the Lord is perfect converting the soul Joh. 20.31 These things were written that beleeving we might have life everlasting and what can be desired more 2 Tim. 3.15.17 The Scriptures make us wise unto salvation they make the man of God perfect This perfection of the Scripture excludes tradition For what shall be added to that which is perfect or what supply needs to that which is sufficient of it self Tradition is either written or unwritten 2 Thes 2.15 Written Tradition is the Scripture it self Unwritten Tradition if it be agreeable to the Scripture is included in the same and so to be received as the Scripture it self if it be against or contrary to the Scripture it is to be rejected as the fruit of some lying spirit and not the Spirit of God for as much as that Spirit of truth cannot contradict the written Word whereof himself was the Author Fourthly In all necessary points of faith the Scriptures are plain and easie enough to be understood so that the simple and unlearned may and ought to read them Prov. 6.23 The Commandment is a lamp or candle and the Law is light Psa 19.7 8. The testimony of the Lord is sure and giveth wisdom unto the simple the Commandment of the Lord is pure and giveth light unto the eyes Psa 119. Thy Word is a lanthorn unto my feet and a light unto my paths And if it be a light it must needs enlighten others and cannot be hid but only to them that are lost not that the Scriptures themselves are hidden dark and obscure but

Serpent through all his turnings and windings from the primitive times to this present to observe the subtile ways and methods he hath used to note by what steps and degrees he hath from time to time insinuated himself into the very bosom of the Church spreading this deadly poyson over all its Members and every point of Doctrine so that the true Religion at this day lays gasping and labouring for life is a work too great for so small a volum The first Instrument he found fit for this purpose was Simon Magus of whom we read Acts 8. how he bewitched the people of Samaria This Sorcerer is the Father of all Hereticks and his Heresie the cursed womb from whence sprang that numerous brood that now covers the face of the earth and hath raised the devil a mighty Kingdom At this day it is divided though not against it self in two main provinces the Mahumetan in the East in the West the Antichristian of the one the Turk is Viceroy of the other the Pope is Vicar Vnder these two Generalissimoes all those enemies of Christ are listed both the enemies of his Person and the enemies of his Office among whom though there be a seeming difference yet indeed there is a secret league like Sampsons Foxes their heads look contrary ways yet they are all Foxes and joyned together by the tails These are the Foxes that spoyl the Lords Vineyard and do more hurt by secret fraud then the wild Boar by open force Baalam a false Prophet did the Israelites more hurt then the Amorites with all their Armies And that Heretick Arrius did the Christian Church more hurt then the Savage Emperours did with all their Legions No marvell then we are so often warned in holy Scripture to beware of these Seducers and false teachers because they creep in unawares Jude 4. They bring in their Heresies privily and insinuate themselves with fained words 1 Pet. 2.1 3. They have a form of godliness 2 Tim. 3.5 And with their fair outsides get within us surprise and lead us captive And therefore we had need be very wary and never more need then now for Seducers wax worse and worse deceiving and being deceived 2 Tim. 4. They compass Sea and Land they fill Town and Country and not only creep into houses but up into high places so bold they are grown Now as Iannes and Iambres withstood Moses so do these resist the truth men of corrupt minds of no judgment concerning the Faith 2 Tim. 3.8 But that they proceed no further here are discovered their Errours that being seen they may be shun'd and avoided And though here be not discovered all which is almost impossible yet here are if I mistake not the principal whereunto the rest are but accessory The end of this small work is to furnish the weaker sort with general answers out of Gods own Word to the Arguments of the Adversaries and with plain Reasons if not sufficient to defeat the enemy yet enough I hope to defend themselves that they may be provided for them whensoever they be encountred by them lest being unprepared at unawares they be led away with the Errour of the wicked 2 Pet. 3.17 These are the first fruits of a larger harvest if it be accepted being but a handful taken out of a heap Imprimatur James Cranford March 28. 1648. AN ANTIDOTE Against HERESIE CHAP. I. Of the holy Scriptures THe holy Scriptures of the Old and New Testament are the very Word of God Truth written by holy men as they were moved by the Holy Ghost and contain all things that are necessary to be known or beleeved to eternal salvation being sufficient of themselves to instruct the Church or people of God thereunto By holy Scripture we understand only those books that were anciently accounted and are now received by the Church of England for Canonical Adversaries and Errours Errours that oppose this truth are many but may all be reduced to these three heads 1. Are those that enlarge the Canon of holy Scripture adding many things to it that are not of it 2. Are those that diminish the same denying some parts and taking some books from it 3. There be those that refuse and re●ect the whole debasing and despising the Authority of the holy Scriptures and esteeming no better of them then of humane writings 1. Of this latter sort were anciently Simon Magus Montanus and such deceivers and they are followed at this day by the Anabaptists who call the written Word a dead letter and ground their new doctrines upon revelations dreams and visions whereunto they give such credit that at Sangal a Town of Switzerland one of them cut of his brothers head pretending a revelation or command from heaven so to do Sleidan Comment l. 6. By this art Mahomet brought his damnable religion in credit with the world for having the falling sickness he pretended it was a trance wherein he received revelations fr●m heaven and by the same art Muncer Becold Cnipperdolling and other false Prophets of the Anabaptists in Germany seduced a world of poor miserable people to their own destruction The Papists say the Scriptures are of no more credit and authority then meer Fables without the Testimony and approbation of the Church and take them quite away from the reading of Lay-people as dangerous and hurtful and have burnt not only the books of Scripture but bodies of men too for having them in a known tongue such bitter enemies they are to the Word of God 2. There be others that deny not the whole but diminish only the Canon of holy Scripture refusing some parts and rejecting some books 1. The whole New-Testament as the Jews do Or 2. all the Old Testament as the new Libertines do who affirm it is abrogated the Socinians who say it is unnecessary and may well be spared 3. And there be others that enlarge the Canon of holy Scripture adding many things to it that are not of it so the Papists do not only traditions or unwritten verities as they call them but fabulous legends also and written lyes upon a pretence of want and defect in the Scriptures as not containing all truths necessary to salvation nor sufficient to instruct us thereunto without a supply of Apochryphal books traditions and divers humane inventions Antidote The Scriptures are the only touchstone to try and discern Truth from Error by and are called a Testament because they are testis mentis the witness of Gods most holy will against all adversaries then and their errours we affirm First that the Scriptures of the Old and New Testament are the very Word of God of sufficient authority and credit without the Church or any humane testimony to establish any point of doctrine and decide any controversie of Religion For such as the authority of the author of any writing is such is the authority of the writing it self but God is the Author of holy Scripture therefore the Scriptures are of

God everlasting one living and true God with the Father and the Son For first he is called expresly both Lord and God 1 Cor. 12.5 and 6.28 the mighty God Isai 40.13 18. and Isai 6.9 compared with Acts 28.25 26. Psal 95. compared with Heb. 3. Levit. 26.12 13. compared with 1 Cor. 3.16 6.19 2 Cor. 6.16 where he is called the Lord our God the Lord our maker Our bodies are the temples of the living God 1 Cor. 3.16 and the temples of the Holy Ghost 1 Cor. 6.16 Now if we were commanded to build him a temple of wood and stone it were a clear proof of his Godhead because this service is only due unto God how much more seeing our selves are called his temple August lib. 1. Cont. Maxim Arian Divine attributes are given to him 1. Omniscience 1 Cor. 2.10 Omnipresence Psal 136.7 Eternity Heb. 9.14 But above all that which God takes to himself as a peculiar mark to be known from all false Gods even to foretel things to come Isai 41.23 is ascribed to the Holy Ghost 2 Sam. 23. 2. Acts 1.16 1 Tim. 4.1 Such works are ascribed to him as are proper only to God As of 1. Creation Job 26.13 33.4 Of Preservation Gen. 1.2 Of Regeneration Sanctification John 3.5 Tit. 3.5 1 Cor. 6.11 Also he raiseth the dead Rom. 8.11 And therefore the second general Councel held under Theodosius the great condemned Macedonius in these words If he were created how doth he create How doth he sanctifie How doth he give life c. for these are not the works of a creature but the peculiar works of the great and mighty God Lastly The very name of Spirit sheweth his nature for as the Spirit of man is of the nature of man so the Spirit of God is of the nature of God not a part as the spirit of man is a part of him but the whole Godhead for the Divine Essence is not compounded of parts And whereas he is called the Spirit of the Son as well as of the Father and is said to be sent or come by and from them both from hence appears clearly the essential Union that is between them that all three are but one God The Catholick Faith then is this That we worship one God in Trinity and Trinity in Unity neither confounding the persons nor dividing the substance The Father is God the Son is God and the Holy Ghost is God and yet they are not three Gods but one God For the Godhead of the Father of the Son and of the Holy Ghost are all one the glory equal the Majesty co-eternal In this Trinity none is afore or after other none greater or less then other and he that will be saved must thus think of the Trinity Athanas Symb. CHAP. III. Of the Creation Truth IN the beginning God created the Heaven and the earth and all things therein both visible and invisible Man he formed of the dust of the ground not corrupt and sinful as now he is but according to his own likeness or image in true holiness and perfect happiness Errours There were anciently many Errours about the Creation that now we do not hear of the Masters whereof were Simon Magus Cerinthus Marcion Manicheus and divers others At this day first the old Anthropians or Anthropomorphites are new risen they conceived grosly because it is said man was made after the likeness of God that therefore God had a body in shape like mans body Epiphanius imputes it to their rudeness sparing to call them Haereticks but rather Schismaticks So the Messalian Haereticks of old thought that God might be seen with bodily eyes mistaking that saying of our Saviour Mat. 5. Blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God This Errour is maintained at this day by those that affirm that Adam was created after the likeness of God in personal shape and that God hath a personal shape the which he can make visible when he please Ofiander taught that man was made like unto God by influence of the divine substance an Errour borrowed of the Manichees and Priscillianists For M●●●s taught that the body of man was made of the substance of the Prince of darkness but his foul was part of the Divine substance From the same stock sprang that doctrine of one E. Avery who published in print Anno 1647. That the reasonable soul in all mankind is God himself With these rank the Familists who say That Adam was all that God was and God all that Adam was The Papists also have their Errours concerning the Image of God in Adam original righteousness the place of Paradise tree of life c. Antidote Man was made after that the heaven and earth were finisht as a creature partaking of both in his soul heavenly in his body earthly a little model of the whole Creation And it is said he was created after the likeness or Image of God not that the body of man is like God in shape and proportion for God is a Spirit and hath no body or bodily members no visible form or lineament and therefore is called the invisible God Col. 1.15 But man is like God 1. In the grace majesty and comeliness of his body excelling the other creatures and after a sort resembling the Divine Majesty 2. In his soul Because 1. It is immortal like God 2. It is endued with understanding and will like God and adorned with Divine graces as wisdom knowledg righteousness and true holiness and that these are the more special and principal parts of the Image of God in man appears Ephes 4.23 Col. 3.10.3 Man is like God in his dominion over the other creatures given him in his first Creation Gen. 1.28 being in that regard a petty God to other creatures as Magistrates are to other men Psal 82.6 Lastly The very name of Image doth clearly evince that the soul of man is not God himself nor any part of the Divine substance because nothing is the Image of it self or can be said like it self And the souls of wicked men shall perish for ever in hell Mat. 10.28 And therefore the soul of man is no part of the Divine substance but an immortal nature created of nothing by the power of God and breathed into the body CHAP. IV. Of Divine Providence GOD having made the world of nothing did not leave it to it self Truth but doth stil by his Almighty power and wisdom sustain and govern the same preserving all things that are and disposing all things that are done freely and according to his own good pleasure so that nothing is or comes to pass rashly or by chance but according to the counsel of his heavenly will Errours Adversaries to this truth are 1. Atheists and Epicures that deny all Providence holding That all things were created and are dayly acted by chance and fortune 2. Stoicks and Stoical Patrons of fate and destiny that have devised a certain chain