Resurrection of the same numerical Body proved against the Exercitator to be asserted in Scripture THE Exercitators next Work is to answer the great Argument which he says some urge against his opinion viz. Philosophy and consequently Humane Reason asserts many things that are repugnant to Divinity and the Scriptures and therefore they cannot be allow'd for the Rule of Interpreting Scripture He denies the Antecedent and so do I. What Authors they be in the Reformed Churches that thus argue I know not But this I know that it is no uncommon thing for pugnacious Wits to draw the Sword upon the shadow of a Dream and make Hector-like declamations against Utopian Adversaries Set aside those Authors who are engaged by some Atheological Hypothesis which they have espoused as the Papists and the Lutherans in the Doctrine of the Eâ—charist I know not any Man of Learning and Understanding who hath such a thought that there is any thing in Scripture derogatory or contradictory to true Philosophy or Sound Reason or that believes any thing true in Philosophy to be false in Divinity Whatsoever is true any where is true every where Here therefore our Author may put up his Dagger But there is one thing which I cannot well pass over That the Exercitator pretending to confute those who assert a contrariety between the Principles of Philosophy and Divinity and instancing in these two Ex nihilo nihil fit and Idem non potest numericè reproduci Instead of solving the knot he cuts it and plainly affirms both these Principles to be true absolutely and without limitation both in Philosophy and Divinity confidently asserting that the Scripture doth no where teach us That the World was made of nothing or that the same numerical Body shall rise at the last day And here Wolzogen unworthily deserts the Christian Cause not vouchsafing to write one word in vindication of these grand Truths against this bold Adversary but tells us he is content the Man should enjoy his own opinion though he says he could easily have refuted him Which makes his silence the more inexcusable and brings him under greater suspition of Heterodoxy notwithstanding all his Rhetorical Flourishes But it is time I should return to our Author who if he had not been too much in love with Novelty might without the least prejudice to his Cause unless it have some other Monster in the Belly of it that is not yet come to the birth have answered that these Axioms are true in a limited Sense both in Philosophy and Divinity viz. That by a finite created Power nothing can be made of nothing and that by the like limited power the same numerical Body that perisheth cannot be reproduced But that nevertheless to an infinite Power all things that imply not contradiction are possible But it seems by this Authors words that he disowns the received Doctrine of the worlds Creation out of Nothing and the Reproduction of the same individual Body 1. By denying the former he must necessarily maintain the Eternity of Preexistent Matter whereas if God be the Maker of all Beings besides himself as the Scripture sufficiently assures us then nothing besides himself could be Eternal but he must in making the World make the Matter whereof the World consists which Matter therefore must be made of nothing The first Article in the most ancient Creeds as the Reverend Bishop of Chester hath observed had instead of these words Maker of Heaven and Earth or together with them this Clause The Maker of all things visible and invisible agreeably to that of the Apostle Coloss. 1. 16. which distribution is so comprehensive that it will not admit of any Exception all things whatsoever being either visible or invisible and whatsoever can be supposed necessary to the making of the World it must of necessity come under one of these two Members of the distribution and consequenly be of Gods making And indeed if it were otherwise then something else besides God must have a necessary uncreated independent Being which carries with it so broad a Contradiction as Mans Reason left fair to it self cannot allow Again 2. By disclaiming the latter this Author evidently denies the Resurrection for that imports the rising again of the same Body that fell according to that known Speech of Damascen so oft cited by our Divines 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And if the same numerical Body rise not but another is made de novo for the Soul to animate this is not a Resurrection but a new Creation and then the first Creation of the World may as aptly be called a Resurrection as that which is so stiled by the Holy Ghost in Scripture But I think the Scripture speaks plain enough in this Case though this Author will not own it when it says that at the last day This corruptible must put on incorruption and this mortal must put on immortality And that our Lord Jesus Christ shall then change our vile Body that it may be made like unto his glorious Body And that If the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in us he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken our mortal bodies by his spirit that dwelleth in us Add to this that Argument from the description of the place whence the Resurrection shall begin which I cannot better represent to the Reader than in the words of the learned Bishop of Chester They which sleep in the dust of the Earth Dan. 12. 2. and they which are in the Graves Joh. 5. 28. shall hear the Voice and Rise And Rev. 20. 13. The Sea shall give up the dead which are in it and Death and the Grave deliver up the dead which are in them But if the same Bodies did not Rise they which are in the dust should not revive If God should give us any other Bodies than our own neither the Sea nor the Grave should give up their dead That shall Rise again which the Grave gives up the Grave hath nothing to give up but that Body which was laid into it therefore the same Body which is Buried shall at the last day be revived And whereas the Socinians who are our Adversaries in this as well as in many other Articles of our Faith to evade this Argument will have the Graves spoken of in Joh 5. 28. to be the Graves of ignorance and impiety there meant and the Rising to be Mens coming to the knowledge of Christ c. the aforesaid learned Person answers them That Christ expresly speaks of bringing Men to Judgement vers 27. and divides those that are to come out of their Graves into two Ranks vers 29. neither of which can be so understood The first are those which have done good before they come out of their Graves these therefore could not be the Graves of Ignorance and Impiety from which no good can come The second are such who have done evil
never so inconsistent with or opposite to the Doctrine of the Holy Scriptures or the Dictates of sound and sober Reason And being by this means laid open to Satanical Delusions they were easily drawn to believe the grossest absurdities and some of them to practice the vilest wickednesses contrary to common Honesty and the Publick Peace justifying all by their pretended Revelations This is the Character we have of Enthusiasts both Antient and Modern from Authors of unquestionable credit And if there be any where in this World any of the remainders of that Sect as it 's probable enough there are that entertain such wild and frantick Conceptions let them bear their sin and shame But of this I am sure that the Persons thus charged by Wolzogen and his Complices can safely appeal to all unprejudiced Persons that know them and to the most Wise and Holy God who is greater than all that they are as clear from any compliance with that Infatuated Generation as the best of their Accusers For 1. They heartily own and submit to the Holy Scriptures as the only sure and sufficient Rule of Faith and Life Accordingly whatsoever Conceptions may rise within them or be suggested to them in matters of Religion they bring them to the Bar of Scripture to stand or fall according to its Judgment not imposing their Sentiments upon the Scripture but receiving the sense of Scripture from the Scripture it self according to what hath been asserted in the precedent Discourse 2. In matters difficult and obscure that are more darkly laid down in Scripture especially in the Prophetick parts of it they forbear to determine peremptorily chusing rather to satisfie themselves with a modest hesitancy and abhorring to make their Judgments the measure of anothers Faith or superciliously to censure or despise any for their different apprehensions 3. They plead for no other Spirit of Revelation than what the Apostle prays for in behalf of the Ephesians Chap. 1. Vers. 17 18 19. which Revelation consists not in discovering any New Object to be received unreveal'd in Scripture but only in qualifying the Subject by curing the native and acquired blindness and carnality of our minds that we may rightly understand and embrace the Truths which the Scripture propounds 4. They solemnly profess and declare to all the World that whatsoever they are taught by the Holy Spirit as it is by and from the Scripture so it is in the regular exercise of their rational Faculties and such as they are â—eady at all times to give an account of from Scripture-grounds to any sober intelligent Person that shall demand it They therefore disown and reject the absurd Principles and arrogant Presumptions of the falsly-call'd Mystical Theology set on fooâ— antiently and revived in later years that pretends to Ecstatick Raptures and Deifications of the Soul by an utter cessation of all Intellectual Operations The Original of which Phantastick Theology Dr. Meric Casaubon derives from the Heathen Philosophers intimating withal the great Affinity between this and the New Method so much cried up of late Which those whom it concerns may consider of at their leisure In the mean time I take that for granted which hath been agreeably to plain and evident Scripture the acknowledged Doctrine of the Catholick Church however denied and derided by some late Innovators That the Holy Spirit of God is according to Christs own promise given to dwell in the Hearts of Christians to beget and preserve spiritual life in them to conduct them in their way to strengthen them with might in the Inner Man to shed abroad the love of God in their Hearts and witness their adoption to assist them in holy services and gradually to perfect the work of Sanctification in them To spend many words in proving this which is already so clear to all unbyass'd Judgments were to to light a Candle before the Sun As for that ridiculous sense that some have endeavour'd to fasten upon these or some of these Scriptures as if they were to be understood only of the Spirit as given to the Church in common and not to particular Christians it is so utterly inconsistent with the scope of those respective places and runs so contrary to the whole stream of Scripture and all Antiquity that I think it needless to waste time in refuting it He that will but considerately read over the several places and faithfully examine the Context may easily see the vanity of it That of the Learned Grotius is clear and full Not only the whole Collective Body of the Faithful but also particular Believers are rightly call'd the Temple of the Holy Ghost because the Spirit of God dwelleth in their Minds And if those who are careful according to the Apostles counsel not to quench the Spirit but to stir up the Grace of God in them have their hearts more warm'd and enlarged in holy Duties than others who either want that measure of Gifts or are defective in improving them I cannot conjecture why this should be made a matter of reproach but that some Men are angry at every thing that is not just of their own size or not suitable to their gust and therefore are resolved to revile and calumniate it though by those wounds the heart and life of Religion be found to lie a bleeding To shut up this I might here mind the Objector and those of his way how much it concerns them to acquit themselves of that Enthusiasm which they impeach others for It 's known to be one of the first Principles of that Grand Enthusiast Valentius Weigelius That he who would know the truth must forget whatsoever he hath learnt from Men and Books and lay it all aside as if he had never been acquainted with any thing and retreat into himself and fetch all his knowledge from thence Let this be referr'd to our Authors Consideration wherein this differs from the great Principle of his admired Master But let us hear what is further Objected to justifie these Mens prejudices Secondly It is said by some These heats are but the Frantick Freaks of a Crazed Brain and the product of a Religious Frenzy I answer 1. We need not be much moved with this sensless charge when we find the Pen-men of Sacred Writ to have little better measure made them by the same hand For of them we are told that they wrote many times they knew not what and gave forth Oracles when they were beside themselves his word is alienata mente which was one of the vile Positions of the Montanisis and Cataphrygians rejected and condemned both by Antient and Modern Divines And yet to justifie this Assertion our Author gravely cites Cicero de Divinatione calling the Raptures of their Pagan Vates by the Name of Furor and Virgil calling Sibylla a Mad Prophetess and Justin the Historian Lib. 24. where speaking of the much-famed Oracle at Delphos he tells us of a very
Imâ—â—â—â—atur Guil 〈…〉 nrico Episcopo 〈…〉 is Dom. Decem 〈…〉 THE SCRIPTURES Genuine Interpreter Asserted OR A DISCOURSE CONCERNING The Right Interpretation of Scripture Wherein a late Exercitation Intituled Philosophia S. Scripturae Interpres Is Examin'd and the Protestant Doctrine in that point Vindicated With some Reflections on another Discourse of L. W. Written in Answer to the said Exercitation To which is added An APPENDIX concerning Internal Illumination and other Operations of the Holy Spirit upon the Soul of Man Justifying the Doctrine of Protestants and the Practice of Serious Christians against the Charge of Enthusiasm and other unjust Criminations By JOHN WILSON M. A. Sometime of Kath. Hall in CAMBRIDGE In the Savoy Printed by T. N. for R. Boulter at the Turks Head in Cornhil over against the Royal Exchange 1678. Dignissimo Clarissimoque Viro D. Jonathani Keat Equiti Aurato Baronetto Moecenati plurimum Honorando Pagellas hasce Genuini Scripturarum Interpretis Assertorias In debitae Gratitudinis Observantiae Testimonium D. D. D. Joannes Wilson A Prefatory Address to the READER Courteous Reader IT is not any pleasure in Polemick Discourses that hath engaged me in this Contest A Work of this kind is so far from affording me any true delight in these declining years of my life that if so concerning a Truth as I have here endeavoured to defend had not call'd for a seasonable Vindication against the assaults of a Daring Adversary I could with much more ease and better satisfaction to my self have sat down with silence I cannot but think that by all who take the Holy Scripgreatest part whereof do better understand their own Language than another I accounted the Objection less valuable and so resolved to proceed But whereas I have here and there reflected upon some passages in the Discourses of Ludovicus Wolzogen as they came in my way I give my Reader to understand that this ariseth not from any prejudice against the Person of that Noble Author to whose Honourable Parentage and excellent Learning I shall ever render all due respects But finding him to have so plainly injured the cause he undertook and so unhandsomely treated our most eminent Protestant Authors that have with much Judgment and Solidity defended it I am hopefully perswaded that those few Animadversions which I have made upon his Writings will not be unacceptable to the Friends of Truth The intricacy and perplexedness of his Discourse hath put me to some pains to understand his meaning for I have not satisfied my self with a slight or transient view but have perused his Book over and over with intenseness of mind that I might be sure not to mistake or misrepresent him And I hope it will appear to the Unprejudiced upon consulting his Book and comparing mine with it that I have done him right One Advertisement more I must add viz. That my Citations out of the said Authors Book De Scripturarum Interprete relate to a second Edition of it as it stands before his Censura Censurae and threfore the numbers of the Pages cited are not those on the top of the Leaf but those in the Margin relating to the first Edition which I suppose for I have not seen it was Printed in a lesser Volume A Brief Summary of the Contents of the Discourse about the Scriptures Interpreter The Introduction WHerein the Question about the Interpretation of Scripture is propounded the Terms explained and the following Dissertation divided into two Parts The First Part That Reason and Philosophy are not the Scriptures Interpreter Chap. 1. THe Terms explained and the Controversie stated 2. The first Argument from the condition of depraved Reason 3. Exceptions against the former Argument removed 4. A second Argument from the Disproportion between Humane Reason and matiers of Divine Revelation An Exception against it answered 5. A third Argument from an absurdity following thereupon 6. A fourth Argument from another great absurdity 7. A fifth Argument from the inconvenience of opening a gap to the worst of Errors 8. A sixth Argument from one great end of Scripture-Revelation 9. The contrary Arguments examined the first from the multiplicity of senses in the Scripture 10. A second from God's being the Author of Philosophy 11. A third from the supposed sufficiency of Philosophy 12. A fourth from the nature of a clear and distinct perception 13. A fifth from the supposed practice of former Divines 14. A sixth from instances in some considerable Scripture-Assertions supposed not Interpretable without Philosophy 15. A seventh from the Reasonableness of Religion 16. Scriptures alledged by our Divines vindicated 17. No contrariety between Scripture and sound Philosophy The Second Part That Scripture is its own Interpreter Chap. 1. THe Doctrine of the Reformed Churches in this point clear'd 2. The first Argument from the Scriptures sufficiency the first branch the Scriptures perfection 3. A second branch of the Argument the Scriptures perspicuity 4. An Exception against the Scriptures perspicuity from the ambiguity of words removed 5. A second Exception removed 6. A third Exception removed 7. A fourth from the supposed difference between the simple sense of the words of scripture and the true sense of the Author removed 8. A fifth and sixth Exception removed 9. A third branch of the first Argument the Scriptures Authentickness urged and an Exception removed 10. A second Argument from the Scriptures being the Rule of Faith 11. An Exception against this Argument from Reason being part of the Rule of Faith disproved 12. An Exception from the Scripture taken materially and formally removed 13. Several Objections against the Scripture being its own Interpreter answer'd The Conclusion REflecting upon some passages in the Exercitators Epilogue The Introduction 1. AN Entrance made into the Discourse The Question about the Interpretation of Scripture propounded and the Terms briefly explained 2. The Rule of Interpretation distinguished from the Means which are many and various 3. The Doctrine of the Romanists concerning the judgment of the present Church and that other about the consent of the Antients lightly touch'd and passed by 4. The Protestant Doctrine in this point what it is and the contrary Novel opinion of a late Exercitator The following Discourse divided into two parts THE Holy Scriptures being designed of God to be the Revelation of his Will to the Children of Men for their conduct in the pursuit of their chief end we cannot but judge it consentaneous to his unsearchable Wisdom to order the Writing of them in such a manner as that his Mind in them might in the due use of his appointed means be understood by those for whose use and benefit they were intended And though the subject matter they treat of be often very deep and misterious yet the way of proposal is very condescending and what ever is of necessity to our duty and happiness is obvious to the diligent and humble Inquirer Nevertheless many passages in these Sacred Records have those difficulties
foolishness before he know them this is all one as if he had said a true Philosopher is a Chimaera for it seems he is one who never determines of any thing till he clearly perceives what it is and then what he determines is undoubtedly true whence it will follow that every true Philosopher is infallible And where was such an one ever yet to be found Certain it is that the most eminent Philosophers not inferior in their Natural Learning to this Exercitator or any of his Companions did in the first breaking out of the Gospel make a mock of the whole Doctrine of Christianity Thus did the Philosophers at Athens when they heard St. Paul and thus did Porphyrie Celsus and others after the Apostles dayes Thirdly When this Author will have no more meant here by things Spiritual but things belonging to the Rational Soul which is a Spirit he is grosly over-seen to speak no worse For the Apostles words are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the things of the Spirit of God which certainly is not the Soul of Man but the Holy Ghost And when the Apostle Jude describes the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 sensual or natural by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 having not the Spirit surely he did not mean they had no Rational Soul but that they were destitute of the Regenerating Spirit of Grace And that of this Spirit the Apostle Paul is to be understood in the place under present consideration the whole tenour of his Discourse from vers 9 to 15. doth undeniably manifest If at least by this Gentlemans good leave the Scripture might be allowed to interpret it self The wofull ignorance and perversness concerning the things of God that discovered it self in the wisest and best civilized part of the World and such as had improved their natural light to as high a pitch as any other we can read of is an abundant evidence of what I assert concerning the darkness and pravity of Mans Reason They became as the Apostle says vain in their imaginations and their foolish heart was darkned professing themselves to be wise they became fools Rom. 1. 21 22. They acknowledged a Deity and that God was to be worshipped but in the manner and way of worship how wofully were they mistaken yea those times and places that were best cultivated and that flourished most in all Humane Learning were of all other the most sottish in their Idolatrous Worships giving religious adoration to Brute Creatures to Dumb Pictures to Diseases and Humane Passions yea to Hellish Furies And whereas some that were more sagacious than the rest as Socrates Cicero and such like saw enough to condemn that way of Religion that was then in use observing the Rites in fashion tanquam legibus jussa non tanquam diis grata as St. Aug. observes out of Seneca yet when they came to enquire and determine of the true Religion they were confessedly at a loss and acknowledged that they could better cry down the wrong than find out the right They had what is indelibly planted in all men a desire of happiness but they were miserably bewilder'd in their search after it And whereas they were some of them sensible of a dreadfull blow that Man's Nature had received discerning a Combat in themselves between their Reason and their Sensual Appetite and saw the World generally over-run with wickedness and consequently vexed with a continual succession of calamities yet as they could never by natures light find out the source and spring of all this and what it was that first brought sin and sorrow upon Mankind so in vain did they weary themselves in inventing ways of reconciling themselves to God and procuring his Favour whom they saw to be displeased and of curing the Maladies of their disordered and discomposed Natures in both which they took such strange and horrid courses as did but increase the evil they lay under and exceedingly multiply their own guilts Now it being thus how can the Principles of Reason and Philosophy be a safe Rule whereby to interpret the Holy Scriptures CHAP. III. 1. Several Exceptions against the foregoing Argument removed viz. That this holds onely where the Scripture is unknown 2. That it strikes not at Right Reason and Sound Principles 3. That Reason is of God And that Truth is not contrary to Truth TO this Argument all the reply that I can conceive will be made may be reduced to a few particulars which I shall briefly dispatch It will be said That this Argument holds of Man's Reason while he is destitute of the Written Word but reacheth not them who have the Scriptures to enlighten them To pass by other Answers that may be gathered from what hath been already said This Exception yields the Cause For it supposeth Man's Reason unable to discover the Mind of God without Scripture Light And if so then whatsoever Revealed Truth is more darkly delivered in any one part of Scripture must receive light from the Scripture it self somewhere else where it speaks more plainly without which Man's Reason notwithstanding the best Natural Principles to assist it would leave him at a loss consequently it is not the principles of Reason and Philosophy that must be the Rule of Interpretation but the Scripture it self as shall be shewn hereafter But say some when we say Reason by its Principles is to Interpret Scripture we mean it of right Reason proceeding upon sound Principles and not of Reason depraved and Principles corrupted I answer these are smooth Words but what do they signifie There were some colour for this reply if uncorrupt Reason either in the Faculty or the Principles were infallibly to be found The Exception speaks of Reason abstractly and in the Idea supposing it freed from all those depravations and entanglements that have captived and debased it Whereas we are speaking of Reason as it is in Men who are to make use of it And we know what is said of Man Gen. 6. 5. God saw that the wickedness of Man was great in the earth and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was onely evil continually Every Man is thus depraved from his birth so that we have all need of renewing in our highest faculties in the Spirit of our Mind Eph. 4. 23. And this original depravation is increased by a farther contracted malignity through vitious habits and deceitfulness of sinfull lusts In the most it remains wholly thus and in the best in this life it is but in part renew'd and therefore in danger to mistake and that grosly in things Spiritual when it goes to work onely by its own natural Principles And whereas it may be thought or said there is no danger so long as Reason performs it works aright I reply how shall that be known by what Rule shall we examine and find out when Reason passeth a right judgment or how shall the Principles that Reason pretends to use in matters of Revelation be tryed
Authentick Record of his Mind to conduct us in our way to Blessedness and is this all it is good for It seems by this Mans account all the Knowledge that we have any use for is in us already by Natures Light and whatsoever is delivered in Scripture must be tryed by that What could a blind Pagan have said more to the Scriptures dishonour As it is past all doubt that the Lord of Heaven and Earth in whom we live and move and are ought to be worshipp'd and served by his Rational Creatures so me thinks it should be as unquestionable that he cannot be served rightly and acceptably but by such a Worship as is according to the appointment of his own Will The meanest Man living that hath any depending on him looks they should serve him according to his Mind and not according to their own arbitrary choice And shall we think the Great Sovereign of the World will be pleased with a Worship of Mens own â—â—aming without any order or direction from him Now by which way or means could we know what that Worship is which God approves if we were in this inpsed state left to the meer conduct of Natural Light and had nor Divine Revelation to inform and guide us What piâ—…ful Work did the â—…st and learnedst of the. Heathen make about this 〈◊〉 what 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 did they admit into their Religious Worship as I have already 〈◊〉 in the first part of my Discourse Besides there are in Scripture many things Historicalâ— and many Prophetical Can these 〈◊〉 known by Natural Light or can we judge whether these be true or no by the help of Philosophy Moses gives us the Hâ—story of the Creation 〈◊〉 the general Deluge of the Destruction of Sodom of Israels Deliverance out of Egypt by strange Wonders and the bringing of them after forty years wandring into the Promised Land and their Establishment there for some years till for their Idolatry and other sins they were removed is recorded by other sacred Writers besides many other remarkable Histories of more personal concernment Now if we must not take these for truth from the testimony of Scripture which way shall we be satisfied Reason indeed may convince us that these things are not impossible But whether they were really so or so done as is reported all the Principles of Reason all the Maxims of Philosophy will never resolve us The like may be said of the many Prophesies concerning Christ and the after-state of the Church and about the four great Monarchies that were successively to arise with their progress and period If these and such like be examined by Philosophy what can it say to them Must these be all rejected So it seems by this Author's Discourse for he hath no kindness for any thing in Scripture but what may mind us of what we know naturally and may by the Principles of Reason be examin'd and determin'd And then what shall we say to the great Doctrine of Mans Salvation by Christ which is the grand Subject and principal Scope the of Scriptures Was there ever any syllable of this made known to the World otherwise than by Revelation There is indeed a Natural Theologie but I could never yet see ground to be perswaded that there is a Natural Christianity The knowledge of God as our Creator and Preserver is in some measure but very imperfectly attainable by Natural Light But the knowledge of Christ as the Redeemer of Sinners reconciling them to God and delivering them from the power of Satan had never been attained had there not been something above Nature to discover it If any think otherwise let them tell me how it comes about that in those Countries where the Doctrine of the Scriptures was never published there is not the least print or footstep of this great Mystery to be found But certainly he that talks of the Scriptures after the rate of this Author cannot be thought to apprehend himself to stand in any need of a Redeemer or to have any better esteem of the Gospel than that Triple-Crowned Gentleman at Rome is said to have manifested long since in his discourse with Cardinal Bembus For ought I see this Man owns nothing in the Scripture but what may be reduced to three Heads 1. The Being of God and his Attributes 2. The Immortality of the Soul and consequently Man 's future state in another World and 3. The Rules or Laws of Moral Duty because of these we have some notice by Natural Light But how miserably defective is that Light even in these So that here also we stand in need of a further Guide Some knowledge the Heathens had of God and of Mans future state but alas what does all that they have written hereabout come to but some faint guesses and probable conjectures And though they have in their Ethicks many excellent things and of great use yet they fall extream short in sundry particulars of very weighty concernment whereof we should have been utterly ignorant if the Holy Scriptures had not afforded us a more clear and perfect Rule of practice And it hath been observed by some that those Gentile Philosophers who flourish'd after the general promulgation of the Gospel though they continued still in their old Gentilism yet they wrote much more clearly and sublimely of the Nature of God and of Mans Duty here and his Eternal state hereafter than those who were before them Whether the cause of this were the converse they might have with Christians and their Writings or whether that plentiful effusion of the Spirit that was vouchsafed in those times might in some degree as to common enlightenings extend it self beyond the Churches Pale I will not determine But sure something there was beyond mere Natural Light that made them in their Notions of God and Religion so much 〈…〉 of their Predecessors I shall shut up all with this hearty and serious Wish That all who call upon God by Jesus Christ would highly honour and esteem the Holy Scriptures making them their study and delight in order to the bettering of their Hearts and manifesting the power and purity of this Word by a sober righteous and godly Conversation which would more effectually vindicate this Blessed Book from the Scorns and Reproaches of Atheists and Antiscripturists than all Disputes AN APPENDIX Concerning Internal Illumination And other Operations of the Spirit upon the Soul of Man Vindicating the Doctrine of the Protestants and the Practice of all Serious Christians from the Charge of Enthusiasm and other Unjust Criminations In the SAVOY Printed by Tho. Newcomb for Robert Boulter at the Turks Head in Cornhill over against the Royal Exchange 1677. A brief Account of the Contents of the following Appendix CHAP. I. THe Protestants Doctrine concerning the Spirits Illumination explained and defended CHAP. II. The Nature of Distresses of Conscience and Spiritual Joys open'd and the reality of them proved CHAP. III. True Zeal in the Exercises of Religion justified An
Appendix concerning Internal Illumination and other Operations of the Spirit upon the Soul of Man c. CHAP. I. 1. What our Protestant Divines mean by that Illumination of the Spirit which they assert as necessary to the understanding of the Scriptures and the Exercitators censure of it as Enthusiasm approved by Wolzogen 2. The Falshood of that Calumny discovered 3. Wolzogen ' s disingenuity and inconstancy 4. The necessity of the aforesaid Illumination proved 5. In what sense it is supernatural 6. Some of the Exercitators Cavils answered 7. In what sense this Illumination is immediate IN the foregoing Papers designed to clear and vindicate the Protestant Doctrine concerning the Supreme Bule of Interpreting Seripture I have had occasion frequently to deal with the Belgick Exercitator and to take notice of what he hath said that seems to be of any moment so far as concerns that point But whereas he is pleased in the procedure of his Discourse to step out of his way and deridingly to oppose the Doctrine of the Reformed Churches about the Spirits assistance in the Interpretation of Scripture as savouring of Enthusiasm I then waved medling with that part of his Book thinking it more expedient to say something to it in an Appendix by it self this being a Question altogether distinct from that other of the Rule of Interpretation In the Fourteenth Chapter of his oft-mentioned Exercitation he quotes several of our Protestant Authors of great Name and Worth giving in the words of some of them and referring us for others to the cited places The drift of their several Discourses about this point seems to be that there needs an effectual operation of the Holy Spirit to enlighten Mens understandings and cause them rightly to apprehend and readily to approve the Mind of God in Scripture That their meaning may be more clearly propounded we must distinguish of a twofold understanding of Scripture There is a Natural and merely Grammatical perception of the truth of Scripture-Propositions which a Man destitute of the Spirit of Grace may attain by common assistance in the use of ordinary means And there is a Spiritual apprehension of the things themselves contain'd in those Propositions which includes in it a hearty believing and embracing them that is not attain'd without the sanctifying work of the Spirit renewing the mind by enduing it with an heavenly supernatural Light This I find thus express'd and illustrated by the late Reverend Bishop of Norwich Natural Men says he have their Principles vitiated their Faculties bound that they cannot understand spiritual things till God have as it were implanted a new understanding in them framed the heart to attend and set it at liberty to see the Glory of God with open face Though the Veil do not keep out Grammatical Construction yet it blindeth the Heart against the spiritual Light and Beauty of the Word We see even in common Sciences where the Conclusions are suitable to our innate and implanted Notions yet he that can distinctly construe and make Grammar of a Principle in Euclide may be ignorant of the Mathematical sense and use of it Much more may a Man in Divine Truths be spiritually ignorant even where in some respect he may be said to know For the Scriptures pronounce Men ignorant of those things which they see and know In Divine Doctrine Obedience is the Ground of Knowledge and Holiness the best Qualification to understand the Scriptures To this Spiritual Understanding there is need of the aforesaid Supernatural Light And this is that which as far as I can understand our Divines mean when they assert the necessity of the Spirits Illumination Thus speaks the Church of England The Revelation of the Holy Ghost inspireth the true meaning of the Scripture into us In truth we cannot without it attain true saving knowledge Yea of this mind was Erasmus no Enthusiast who thus speaks He erreth vehemently who believes he can ever attain to the true understanding of the Canonical Scriptures unless he be inspired by the same Spirit that endited them And again They have the Book of Scripture but not the Scripture that want the Spirit without which the Scripture is not understood And M. Luther quoting a Speech of Aben-Ezra Sine supra infra i. e. without Points and Accents the Scripture cannot be understood adds a third sine intra without somewhat within viz. the Light of the Holy Spirit Now let us hear the Judgment of the Exercitator and his pretended Answerer Wolzogen about this As for the former If says he the meaning of these Divines were this that no sense of Scripture by what way or method soever found out can be fully certain to any unless by the Natural Light of our understanding we can clearly and distinctly perceive it and be fully perswaded of its truth and that this clear perception and the sense a Man hath of it be that inward perswasion and testimony of the Spirit which they intend this will be granted them But if they mean not the Natural Light of Mans understanding or what is built upon that but a Supernatural Light above and beyond Mans Natural Reason not included in the Mind or acquired by it but infused and inspired from above this says he we disclaim and condemn for Enthusiasm This is the sum of the censure that he passeth upon this Doctrine And Lud. Wolzogen who pretends to take up the Bucklers against him in defence of the Protestant Cause in stead of vindicating the forecited Authors and their Doctrine joins with the Exercitator in the calumny as appears undeniably by his own words for thus he speaks Because the Holy Spirit doth indeed still exert some power in the minds of Men therefore some have believed that he opens the sense of the Scriptures and interprets them to the Faithful Which opinion the Exercitator doth justly decry and determine that it contains mere Enthusiasm Where he expresly approves and applauds what the Exercitator had said against the Doctors of the Reformed Churches charging them with Enthusiasm for maintaining a necessity of a Supernatural Light for a saving perception of the Mind of God in Scripture And himself doth so frequently strike upon this string in several places of his Book that he seems to design the blemishing and defaming of our most eminent Protestant Writers and the Doctrine which they have asserted against Papists and Pelagians These Men cannot be ignorant that the Divines whom they thus impeach have all along in answer to the like imputation from Popish and Socinian Authors expresly and vehemently disclaimed all compliance with Enthusiasts and that some of them have written learnedly and smartly against that sort of Men. They utterly disavow their expecting any such Illumination as was given to the Prophets and Apostles and do plainly deliver their minds that what they assert doth not consist in discovering any new Doctrine unreveal'd in Scripture but in qualifying and
that we may know him that is true And this was promised of old when the Lord says by his Prophet I will put my Law into their inward parts and write it in their hearts which besides an external Revelation implies necessarily an internal Illumination Most true it is that as the light of the body is the eye so the light of the Soul is Reason but if as our Saviour says this light which is in us be darkness how great is that darkness And that it is so with this internal eye as to matters Heavenly till the Spirit of Grace enlighten it is evident by Scripture and all experience But as far as I can understand there are two things in the present point that are especially quarrell'd at viz. That the Spirits enlightening of our minds is affirm'd to be Supernatural and to be Immediate I shall say something to them both First Some are angry at our Divines for maintaining such a thing as Supernatural Illumination The Exercitator rejects all Supernatural Light as a Figment And Velthusius for whose Orthodoxy Wolzogen's credit lies at stake denies the distinction of Natural and Supernatural Light and affirms peremptorily that our knowledge of whatsoever Object whether natural or reveal'd is attained by one and the same Internal Light and that with him is no other than the natural light of reason Now if his meaning were no more but this that whatsoever Objects are presented to us Natural or Supernatural they are all perceived by the same natural faculty of Reason or Understanding I know no Man so absurd as to deny it But if he means as he must if he mean any thing that our Reason or Understanding apprehends all Objects of what kind soever by no other inward light but what is connatural to it needing no supernatural light to help it he must pardon us if we prefer the Authority of Scripture and the Judgment of the Catholick Church before his Novel Conceits Surely when David pray'd for the opening of his eyes to see the wonders of God's Law and when St. Paul pray'd that the Ephesians might have the eyes of their minds enlightened they did not conceive that by the Spirits enlightening no more was meant than the natural light of Mans Reason for they knew that themselves and those they pray'd for had that already as they were Rational Creatures and therefore there was no more need to pray for that than to pray that God would make them Men. But for the further clearing of this the word Supernatural may have respect either 1. to Mans nature as finite and so far innocently imperfect or 2. to Mans nature depraved and so sinfully defective If we consider Man in his first state though his actual knowledge was short of what by further experience he might have attain'd and at the best had its bounds from the finiteness of his being yet I doubt not but he had sufficient light connatural to his understanding for the perception of the highest Mysteries whensoever they should have been propounded to him with clear Objective evidence But it is not so with Man fallen The light of Mans natural understanding is now so weak and dim that there needs a new supervenient light raising and quickening the mind to a greater perspicacity than lapsed Nature hath or can of it self attain to for the right understanding of spiritual things how plainly soever propounded And in this sense we own and assert the saving light of the Spirit to be supernatural in that it elevates the understanding to such a power or ability of knowing heavenly Mysteries as Nature in its â—apsed state hath not of it self nor can recover by its own greatest industry without the special Grace of God It is an acknowledged truth that every thing is received according to the capacity and fitness of the Recipient To a right understanding of any thing there is required a suitableness between the Faculty and the Object The eye cannot perceive smells nor the ear hear colours Nor can any sensitive power reach to the apprehension of things purely intellectual so neither can the mind of a mere natural Man that is darken'd and depraved by sin while it so remains duly apprehend matters spiritual and heavenly It is the Observation of a late Author that the best and most effectual remedy for the thorow curing of our Intellectual diseases is that which alters the Crasis and disposition of the mind because as he very well argues 't is suitableness to that which makes the way to Mens Judgments and settles them in their perswasion there being few as he further adds that hold their Opinions by Arguments and dry reasonings but by congruity to the understanding and consequently by relish in the affections Now as sound Philosophy doth according to the aforesaid Author go far for the cure of Mens mistakes by giving their minds another tincture to wit in such things as lie within the sphere of Nature so where this comes short as in things of supernatural Revelation it certainly doth there is need of supernatural aid This Mr. Baxter hath very well exprest I think says he that in the very hearing or reading Gods Spirit often so concurreth as that the Will it self shall be touched with an internal gust or savour of the goodness contained in the Doctrine and at the same time the understanding with an internal irradiation which breeds such a sudden apprehension of the verity of it as Nature gives Men of Natural Principles And I am perswaded that this increased by more experience and love and inward gusts doth hold most Christians faster to Christ than naked reasoning could do And were it not for this unlearned ignorant persons were still in danger of Apostasie by every subtile Caviller that assaults them And I believe that all true Christians have this kind of internal knowledge from the suitableness of the truth and goodness of the Gospel to their new quickened illuminated sanctified Souls The Apostle tells us God who commanded the light to shine out of darkness hath shined in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. Where he manifestly compares the great Work of God in enlightening the dark heart of Man with spiritual knowledge to the first forming of Light which was the Act of a Creating Power when Darkness cover'd the face of the Deep Let the greatest External or Objective Light be afforded if there be not likewise in order to the reception of that a Subjective Light infused it will prove as we find in Joh. 1. 5. The Light shineth in Darkness and the Darkness comprehended it not Two passages in the Exercitator I shall here take notice of The one is where he says That the opinion of our Divines concerning this Supernatural Light seems to him to have had its Original from the received Axiom of the Aristotelick Philosophers
That nothing is in the Understanding that hath not been first in the sense Which says he the Divines receiving for an undoubted truth did never call off their minds from their senses and finding the knowledge drawn from thence to be very lame and imperfect and next to nothing they judged all rational knowledge to be no better yet happening by chance sometimes to make use of their mere understanding in the perception of some things and thereby attaining some true and solid knowledge which they found to be of a far other nature than that which they used to fetch from the senses therefore they took this latter kind of knowledge to be something Divine and Supernatural To this I answer 1. By what Power or Authority doth this confident Gentleman break Windows into the breasts of others and take upon him to know the secret thoughts and inward conceptions of their minds Did they ever tell him that this was their apprehension of things or that their Doctrine of Supernatural Light was built upon the Authority of Aristotle or deduced from any of his Axioms Or doth his New Philosophy furnish him with skill sufficient to search the hearts of Men touching their particular Sentiments as he pretends it doth to shew him the mind of God in Scripture-Revelations I think it furnisheth him for both alike But I wish it had taught him better to know himself 2. Neither were Aristotle nor his Followers such Dolts or Blockheads in maintaining the forementioned Axiom as to take it in that absurd meaning that nothing could be received into the Understanding but what is the Object of Sense For they clearly maintain the knowledge of those things that fall not under sense as of God and Angels and of Universals that are abstracted from sense But that all our knowledge of things without us comes in by the Senses especially by those two that are not unfitly called the Senses of Discipline Sight and Hearing is I think evident enough by all Experience besides what we find in Scripture concerning the knowledge we have of God which is either Natural or by Revelation Now as for the former the Apostle sure was not deceived by Aristotle's Axiom when he tells us That the invisible things of God from the Creation of the World are clearly seen being understood by the things that are made even his Eternal Power and Godhead And for the knowledge of things revealed we are taught by the same Apostle that Faith cometh by hearing And our Saviour's most usual method of Preaching by Parables may shew us how requisite it is for Man in this state to have his understanding inform'd even in things Spiritual and Heavenly by the help of sense and sensible Objects The other passage is that where he says That this Supernatural Light is a thing unintelligible he knows not what to make of it nor how to conceive of it Is it says he something ordinary or is it extraordinary To his Demand I answer It is beyond the reach of corrupted and depraved Nature and so it is extraordinary but it is the inseparable priviledge of renew'd Nature and so far it is ordinary for it is communicated to all who partake in the saving Grace of Christ. But 2. Whereas this Author says He knows not what this enlightening of the Spirit is I easily believe him considering what our Saviour says of the Spirit of Truth which he promised to his Disciples That the World could not receive him because it seeth him not neither receiveth him And it is no wonder for Men to speak slightingly or contemptuously of the things they know not Upon which very account many excellent Truths plainly revealed in the Gospel are by audacious Wits exploded and derided as unintelligible Mysteries Yet 3. Me thinks Mens Reason might tell them if it were not wofully blinded by pride prejudice or passion that the unaccountableness of the nature of a thing or of the manner how it is can be no sufficient Argument against its existence The most perspicacious Inquirers into the Secrets of Nature do acknowledge themselves convinced of the certain existence of many things the nature whereof and the manner of their production they are not able to conceive much less to discover Thou knowest not says Solomon what is the way of the Spirit nor how the Bones do grow in the Womb of her that is with Child It is beyond the ken of Mans understanding infallibly to know or demonstratively to prove 1. The way of the Spirit or Soul whether it be produced by Creation or Traduction or what other way And 2. How the Body is form'd in the Womb. I know some learned Men have gone far in their Discoveries but the ablest of them have been put to a stop meeting with some knots which they could not untie I might ask these Curious Questionists How they can solve the many Doubts that may be raised about the Species of sensible Objects and about the Phantasms in the Mind or give us a satisfying account whence they come how they are framed and where it is that they are first received Or I might demand of them Which way the Soul and Body are united to each other and how they come to act one upon another with a thousand more difficulties that occur where the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is unsearchable though the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 be undeniable How much more may this be affirm'd of things purely revealed the sublimity whereof so vastly exceeds the former Secondly Another thing these Men dislike is That the Spirits enlightening of the Mind is said to be Immediate 1. Now if the word Immediate be taken as it is sometimes explain'd for such as supersedes Man's use of God's appointed means as if he were to expect some internal voice or impulse to reveal to him the Mind of God we disclaim all Immediate Actings of the Spirit in this sense But if Immediate be taken as it may very properly for such an operation of the Holy Spirit as doth Immediatè attingere mentem that by it self without the interposition of any second cause reacheth the mind of Man so we maintain that there is no effectual operation of the Spirit of God upon the Soul of Man but what is in this sense Immediate For what created Agent is there to come between the Spirit of God and the Soul of Man or that can by its own efficiency come at the Soul of Man to work upon it This nothing can do but an Infinite Spirit If any will say That there is something else comes between the Spirit of God and the Soul of Man in this business let them assign what it is Is it the Scripture it self That can act but Objectively nor can it do that further than it is understood and believed That therefore which works upon the Mind by a proper efficiency to redress the indisposition of the Faculty and to enable it to know and
make them more watchful for the future or to magnifie his own Grace in upholding them under all their Agonies and reviving them after their violent Conflicts or for what other holy ends he may have in it which we are not now concern'd to discuss This Spiritual Desertion as it hath been hitherto called by sober Divines of all Perswasions as far as I know admits of degrees being not so sharp and dreadful to some as to others some are but for a while under it others for several months or years some have a taste of it in the time of their health and strength and outward prosperity others under bodily weaknesses or outward disquiets or upon a Death-bed The case of one in this distress of spirit must needs be sad Solomon tells us The spirit of a man will sustain his infirmity but a wounded spirit who can bear So long as the spirit remains whole and untoucht it can bear up under all other pressures and troubles But when the wound reacheth the Soul when Conscience affrights the Sinner when this tells him whether truly or mistakingly that God hath forsaken him and cast him off that the Almighty reckons him his Enemy and sets him up as a mark whereon to spend the arrows of his indignation this breaks him all in pieces this proves a weight so heavy that the burden'd Soul would certainly sink under it were there not a secret support vouchsafed by God's gracious hand This makes David cry out My sin is ever before me and elsewhere Thine arrows stick fast in me and thy hand presseth me sore There is no soundness in my flesh because of thine anger neither is there any rest in my bones because of my sin For mine iniquities are gone over my head as an heavy burden they are too heavy for me Besides other instances that might be given Nor can this be a wonder to any were these few things consider'd 1. The loving kindness of God as the Psalmist speaks is better than life This is it that makes all a Christians enjoyments truly comfortable and that allays the bitterness of the most afflicting crosses that animates against the sharpest and most dreadful conflicts against all other evils Let a Christian live under the sense of Gods reconciling love and he passes cheerfully and undauntedly through whatsoever befals him Let this therefore be withdrawn and he is presently overwhelm'd with darkness the sweetest blessings are tastless the lightest afflictions are intolerable He looks upon God as an Enemy and now every thing appears to him as a messenger of death 2. As the love of God is highly valuable so who knows the power of his wrath If the sense of this when it fell upon the Innocent Son of God for the sin of Man made HIM shrink and drew from Him those doleful complaints Now is my Soul troubled and what shall I say And My Soul is exceeding sorrowful even unto death And again My God my God why hast thou forsaken me How can guilty Sinners think to grapple with these Terrors Well might Job cry out as he did in his distress O that my grief were throughly weighed and my calamity laid in the balances together For now it would be heavier than the sand of the Sea therefore my words are swallowed up For the arrows of the Almighty are within me the poison whereof drinketh up my spirit the terrors of God do set themselves in aray against me And Heman Thou hast laid me in the lowest pit in darkness in the deeps Thy wrath lieth hard upon me and thou hast afflicted me with all thy waves And again Lord why castest thou off my Soul why hidest thou thy face from me I am afflicted and ready to die from my Youth up while I suffer thy terrors I am distracted Thy fierce wrath goeth over me thy terrors have cut me off How bitterly did Francis Spira express the dolors of his woful Soul O says he that I might but feel the least sense of the love of God but for one small moment as I now feel his heavy wrath that burns like the torments of Hell within me and afflicts my Conscience with pangs unutterable 3. In this case the poor distress'd Creature is his own Tormentor He musters up discouraging Arguments against himself and catches hold of whatsoever may strengthen his fears and increase his own suspicions of himself and studiously disputes against whatsoever comforts are offer'd him Whatsoever threats he finds in the Word against Hypocrites and Apostates he is ready to apply to himself Whatsoever dreadful Examples of God's fierce wrath upon the worst of Sinners he either reads or hears of he presently puts himself into their place and conceits their condition to be his The precious promises of God and the former experience he hath had of Gods goodness to him all are now turn'd into matter of terror and torment The presence of God is a trouble to him as Job says and the remembrance of God terrifies him as the Psalmist speaks and his Soul refuseth to be comforted 4. Satan by God's permission taking advantage of such a gloomy season endeavours by his horrid suggestions to heighten the tempest that is already raised in the heart of a Christian as violent winds increase the storms in a raging Sea It is the main design of that devouring Adversary to destroy utterly In order to which as he labours to encourage careless Sinners in their security and presumption so on the contrary he endeavours with all his might to drive distressed Souls into utter desperation And though he attain not the utmost of his aims yet thus much he usually accomplisheth to exasperate the present trouble and increase the disquietment by his bold and violent injections This is sufficiently intimated to us by the Apostles discourse concerning the incestuous Corinthian who had been cast out of Church-Communion whom he perswades them to receive and comfort lest he should be swallow'd up with overmuch sorrow adding afterward how ready himself was to forgive him lest Satan should take advantage c. Whence we may gather that this is one of Satans devices to tread down such as he finds already cast down with sorrow and to lay on more load where he sees the burden'd Soul now ready to sink 5. In such a condition as this till God himself be pleased to let in some beam of light into the disconsolate Heart no succour from the Creature how excellent soever can give any relief The wound is in the Soul and Spirit which none can come at to bind up and heal but the Father of Spirits and the God of all consolation If he hide his face saith Elihu who then can behold him As it is he who had the chief hand in giving the wound so it is he alone that can work the cure Now what is there in all this that is any way inconsistent with the
grounds of Religion or principles of sober Reason Is not the guilt of sin and the wrath of God to be trembled at And is not sinful Man capable of feeling the bitterness hereof Nay doth it not stand him greatly in hand to be affected with them Are these nothing but the reeks and vapours of melancholy overwhelming the fancy and filling it full of fears and dreadful apprehensions This indeed would be very grateful to the Mad Crue who will readily gather from hence that whensoever Conscience gives them any close stinging gripes for their wickedness as I doubt not but it doth sometimes it is but making themselves believe that this is nothing else but a Melancholick Qualm and then they will soon conclude that the best way to be rid of such an unpleasing Guest is to run to a Tavern or a Play-House to drink or sport away these Fanatick Vapours and Superstitious Fears that break People of their ease and are Enemies to the peace of Mankind And such Mountebank-Medicines may possibly for a while skin over the sore and smother the checks of Conscience by casting the careless Sinner into a Frolick-Fit But whenever God comes thorowly to grapple with the guilty Soul and set his sins in order before him casting Fire-Balls of wrath and horror into his Conscience the Poor Wretch will find that these Anodynes will prove but miserable Comforters and that it is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God But what do we think of the Scripture-instances given before Job David Heman What of the lamentable state of Fr. Spira besides other Examples not a few of later years What were they nothing but Melancholick Fancies that drew from those distress'd Souls such bitter complaints and dreadful outcries When the last-mention'd Person fell into that woful Agony his Friends supposing that Melancholy overshadowing his judgment might be the cause of his trouble convey'd him to Padua a noted University in Italy and had the advice of three eminent Physitians who after due examination and mature consideration of things return'd this Verdict That they could not discern that his Body was afflicted with any dangerous Distemper originally from it self by the predominancy of any humour but that extream grief oppressing the Spirits stirred up ill humours in the Body and thereby discomposed him And when they had endeavour'd by Physick to consume those humours or at least to divert the course of them from the Brain but all without the desired success Spira nothing it thus bespeaks them Alas Poor Men how far wide are you do you think that this Disease is to be cured by Potions Believe me there must be another manner of Medicine it 's neither Plaisters nor Drugs that can help a fainting Soul cast down with the sense of sin and the wrath of God It 's only Christ that must be the Physician and the Gospel the sole Antidote The Physicians says the Relator easily believed him having understood the whole truth of the matter and therefore wisht him to seek some spiritual comfort I grant indeed that Melancholy where it is predominant gives great advantage to the increase of sadness and the multiplying of perplexing fears and when Conscience is awakened its fears and disquietments may be heighten'd by Imagination and this set on work by small accidents as the sound of a Knell or the rattling of Thunder or some frightful sight But still the first and principal cause of the distress is something really formidable to a sober and sedate Mind And if any should judge otherwise I think I may without any imputation of rashness or uncharitableness suspect them to doubt whether Vindictive Justice and the Everlasting Pains of Hell be a reality And if any should be of that mind let them if they think good solace themselves with such dreams till experience resolve the question Come we in the next place to speak something of the joys that are begotten in a Christians heart by the discovery of God's love to him Touching this thus much we find 1. That the love of God is shed abroad in the hearts of Christians by the Spirit of God And that the same Holy Spirit witnesseth with their spirits that they are the Children of God and Heirs of Glory Where the Apostle speaks of a twofold witness of our Adoption 1. The Spirit of God witnesseth this partly by begetting that Grace in the heart that is the peculiar Character of a Child of God in which respect he is said to seal Believers to the day of Redemption viz. by stamping the holy image of God upon them partly by enabling them to discern this work and see this seal stamp'd upon them 2. The regenerate Conscience enabled and assisted by Gods Spirit to see this doth thence infer a Christians Sonship 2. Where this is wrought it serves to fill the heart with exceeding joy above what the greatest earthly comfort can beget Witness that of the Psalmist There be many that say Who will shew us any good Lord lift thou up the light of thy Countenance upon us Thou hast put gladness in my heart more than in the time that their Corn and their Wine increased And that of the Apostle who speaking of Christ says Whom having not seen ye love in whom though now ye see him not yet believing ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory The testimony that Conscience gives to a Christian of his Integrity is as St. Paul tells us matter of much joy But there are who conceive that besides this there are sometimes afforded some more immediate refreshments from the Holy Spirit And of this mind is a learned Author in a Treatise published some few years ago where he thus speaks The Feast of a good Conscience is the true Christians daily diet and sure whatever the rich men of the World think he only can be said to fare deliciously Nay he hath yet more supernatural food Manna rain'd down immediately from Heaven the Holy Spirit sent on purpose to refresh and support him those Joys which differ rather in degree than kind from those which are to be his final portion 3. Hence are Christians enabled to pass cheerfully through the sharpest trials and sorest afflictions that can befal them in this their mournful pilgrimage We rejoyce saith the Apostle in hope of the glory of God And not only so but we glory in tribulation also And the Hebrews took joyfully the spoiling of their goods knowing in themselves that they had in Heaven a better and an enduring substance 4. Where these Joys are in their full tide they carry the Christian triumphantly through the bitterest pangs of death of which there are numerous examples in all Ages of the Church These comforts are not afforded to all in like measure nor to any always at the same height It seems good to the Wisdom of God so to dispense them as that those who have