the habit of their mind because these are rules of righteousness but it is manifest their minds are unrighteous note where then are these rules writ where he who is unjust knoweth what is just where he understandeth that he ought to have that which he hath not Where are they therefore writ but in the Book of that Light which is called the Truth whence every just Law is described and is transferred into the Heart of Man who worketh Righteousness not by motion as from one place to another but by impression as the Image passeth from the Seal into the Wax and yet leaveth not the Seal Thus Augustine Again In this same Paragraph he blameth R.B. for saying That the General Revelation doth suffice unto Salvation although the Special doth not come nor be adjoyned thereunto But granting that he who hath faithfully obeyed and followed the General Revelation be in a safe state as to the present and hath a firm and sure hope of future happiness yet this doth not hinder but in order to obtain a more perfect state through Christ of Eternal Life the Special Revelation is necessary as is plain in the example of Cornelius to whom the Apostle Peter behoved to be sent who was to Preach unto him words concerning Christ by which as the Angel said Acts 11.14 He and his House were to be saved CHAP. IV. IN his Seventh and Eighth Paragraphs he saith little or nothing more than what he had formerly delivered concerning the state of the Controversie to wit whether Immediate Divine Revelations be the Principle of knowing God and Divine Things in respect of all men and for all times But divers other things remain as necessary to be opened for the more clear stating the Controversie First as to the Principle of Knowledg which is either Primary or Secundary or which is to the same effect Principal or Subordinate Now as concerning the Subordinate and Secundary Principle we deny not but that the Scriptures are a subordinate and secundary Principle of knowing Divine Doctrines and Truths as concerning God and Christ but still we contend for the Holy Spirit Inlightning Inspiring and by its Life giving Vigour and Vertue effectually working in the souls of men as the Principal or Primary And let the Adversary tell me seeing he doth acknowledge that the inward illumination and operation of the Holy Spirit is absolutely necessary to the obtaining any Saving Knowledge of God whether he doth not believe that the Holy Spirit inwardly operating and inlightning the Minds of Believers is the Primary Principle of Divine Knowledge Or will he say that the Scriptures are the Primary Principle and that the Holy Spirit is but the secundary and subordinate which last as being too absurd and offensive to Christian ears I hope he will abhor to affirm Secondly As concerning the term of inward Revelation the strife or controversie is to be removed for why should we contend in meer words if we be agreed in the same sence as to the verity of the thing First he doth acknowledge that the inward Illuminations of the Holy Spirit are absolutely necessary to beget the saving knowledge of God and Divine Things in Mens minds Secondly He granteth that these inward Illuminations of the Holy Spirit are not only effective but also that they are objective as being real objects proposed to the Mind and moving it to the assent of Truth For so he doth in his Thirty Second Paragraph expresly affirm That God or the Spirit revealing doth not only work efficiently on the Intellectual Faculty to bring forth or produce the Act of Believing but doth also move the Mind objectively or by a formal representation of an object determine the Vnderstanding to assent Thus He. Wherein so far as I can understand or reach he doth acknowledge that the inward Illumination of the Holy Spirit is Revelation properly so called For by inward Revelation we do not understand any other thing than that the Holy Spirit works not only efficiently or as an Efficient Cause upon our Understanding to beget in us True Divine Knowledge and Faith but that he also moves objectively or by a formal representation of the Object determines our Understanding to Assent For what is it in general to Reveal but to propose the Object revealed to our perceptive Faculty and so in particular he who doth propose the outward visible Objects to my sight he is properly enough said to reveal unto me these Visibles and the same is to be understood of the Objects of the other outward Senses And surely according to Scripture phrase the inward illustrations and illuminations of the Holy Spirit produced in the hearts of the faithful are called Revelations in respect of which the Holy Spirit in Scripture is called The Spirit of Wisdom and Revelation Eph. 1.17 as he doth illustrate and illuminate the hearts of the Faithful And Paul writing of the state of his Conversion affirmeth that God had revealed his Son in him the which in some manner and degree may be said of every converted man As yet therefore we agree well enough as I suppose in forming the state of the Controversie It remaineth then Thirdly that we discuss or consider this term Immediate a little more fully wherein alone almost the strife of the Controversie seemeth to be placed the which although at first view it may seem great yet afterwards laying aside prejudice it may appear to be little if any That it may therefore be more clearly understood what is signified by this term Immediate I desire the Reader to take notice that Immediate doth signifie two very different things One is the absence of all means or medium's in the producing any effect Hence God the Great Creator is rightly said to have produced or created his creatures immediately because there was no medium or mean existing save only his Word and Spirit whereby to create them But this signification of the word or term Immediate is too strait and narrow and perhaps agreeth to no other operation than to the Creation and Conservation of the World by God that infinite and supreme Cause unless we add those Divine Miracles and other marvellous things which God did of old and yet doth without the use or concurrence of means The second or other signification of the word Immediate doth not import the absence of the mean or medium but the intimate application or concurrence of the principal and primary Cause unto the secundary together with the mean or means in the operation Again the medium or mean is either continued or discontinued The continued mean I call that mean which is continued or continually and closely is conjoyned in working with the Cause both principal and subordinate But the discontinued mean is that which is not continued or conjoyned in the working with the primary and principal Cause but either works nothing at all or worketh only with the secundary Cause while as the principal and primary Cause worketh nothing with the
or evil Spirit and undertake to Exorcise it before the face of the University of Oxford where Common Prayer is so frequently read and that without any distinction But possibly he may say he is not against divine inspiration as it is a common saving gift of the Spirit necessary to all the Church and every member of it but as it is some peculiar and extraordinary thing as the gift of tongues power of working Miracles signs and wonders the Spirit of prophecy c. To this I answer 1. He ought then in the first place to have told so much what sort or kind of Enthusiasm or divine inspiration for both these words are of one signification he was for and what sort he was against and not have promiscuously condemned Inspiration or Enthusiasm altogether in the Lump 2. The people called in derision Quakers do not plead for those extraordinary Enthusiasms or Inspirations which the Apostles and some others had in the primitive times as the gift of tongues the power of working Miracles c. and as the Spirit of Prophecy is restructed to signifie a peculiar gift of forfeiting future events we do not plead for its absolute necessity in the Church far less do we Judge it necessary to every true Christian And this I did sufficiently declare in my Book of Immediate Revelaion cited by the Author the which Book if he had taken a little pains to read and consider might have saved him the labour of saying so much against the Quakers without any just ground or provocation It is like that we and our Books are esteemed so meanly of by such as this Author as that they think it not worth their time or labour to read our Books But in case it be so that we are so mean in their eyes yet they ought not to judge or condemn us until they have good knowledge or information of what we hold which they are not likely to have without taking some time and pains to read or hear what we say for to condemn any principle we hold before they do well know it is as unjust as to condemn a man before he be heard CHAP. II. BUt there are other two or three things which I suppose this Author or some other may answer in the Case The first is that the Inspirations which the Church of England doth hold pray for and expect are subordinate to Scripture and do acknowledge the Scripture as superiour and more noble and that they are to be tryed by the Scripture as the greater and more principal rule and not the Scripture by them whereas some of the Quakers have writ and particularly R. B. in his Theses that this Spirit of Immediate Revelation is not to be tryed by the Scriptures and reason but that both of them are to be tryed by it for so doth the Author cite R. B. his Theses as so affirming pag. 38. To this I answer the Author doth manifestly wrong R. B. in his Citation for R. B. no where saith in his Theses or Apology that the Spirit or its Inspiration is not to be tryed by the Scripture or Reason simply Only he saith that those inward divine Revelations are not to be examined and tryed by the Scriptures as the more noble and certain rule Yea in the 3 Thesis R. B. doth plainly acknowledge that the Scriptures are and may be esteemed a secondary rule subordinate to the Spirit from whom they derive the excellency and certainty they have it is not therefore affirmed by R. B. as this Author upon his own mistake as seemeth doth alledge nor yet by any Quaker so called that I know of that the Scripture or right reason in no respect are a rule and may not be profitably and safely used as a rule whereby to try inward Divine Revelations as the Scripture or right reason is used or applyed for a rule by the help of the Spirit and in subordination unto the Spirit But the state of the question lyeth here whither the external testimony of the Scripture used and applyed as a rule without the Spirit as too many do be a more noble and greater rule and more certain or giving to the mind of man more assurance of truth than the inward Immediate Testimony of the Spirit of God in the soul or mind which as a ray of the Sun shineth with its own Light and hath a self evidencing power and vertue in it as every other true light hath This is one branch of the state of the question Another branch is this whither when both the Spirits inward testimony and the Scriptures outward testimony do acknowledge co-operate and concur to produce or work a persuasion or essent to some Gospel doctrine or principle of Christian Religion in the soul or heart of a true Believer I say whither in this case the inward testimony or witness of the Spirit is not the greater the stronger and more clear and certain as to us and the more effectual and as having the greatest stroak and share in the begetting or producing the said assent to truth or persuasion of it in the mind of man Now the pople called in derision Quakers are not ashamed but bold in the Lord to say that the Inward Testimony Operation and Revelation or Inspiration of the Spirit of God is the greater and hath the greatest stroak and efficiency in this work and that the holy Spirit is not the subordinate instrument or rule of the Scripture but the Scripture is the subordinate rule and instrument of the Spirit And this I prove first from the express words of the Apostle Iohn 1 Iohn 5.9 10. If we receive the witness of men the witness of God is greater for this is the witness of God which he hath testified of his Son he that believeth on the Son of God hath the witness in himself Now it is clear that Iohn by the witness of men doth mean the Scripture as being the witness of the holy Prophets and Apostles who were men and by the witness of God the inward witness of the Spirit which he who believeth hath in himself not as if the Scripture were not also the witness of God and a divine witness far above all bare humane Testimony but yet the Scripture being compared with the inward Immediate witness of Gods Spirit in the soul may be without any derogation called the witness of men to wit of the Prophets and Apostles who were holy men for what other men Iohn doth mean I do not understand but faithful and holy men who did bear a true record to Divine Truth as they had it inwardly revealed unto them And to this same effect the Apostle Paul declared that his Gospel came unto the Thessalonians not in words or speech or discourse only but in power and in the Holy Ghost and in much Assurance where he annexeth the much assurance to the Power and at the Holy Ghost and not simply nor principally to the words and elsewhere he said The
Logia p. 170. l. 16. r. and yet I love p. 206. l. 2. r. Antoninus OF DIVINE Immediate Revelation AND INSPIRATION CHAP. I. MY Friend and Brother in the Truth and Country Man R. B. being much taken up with another affair when the dissertation of Io. W. Bajer against his Apology came to his hand did earnestly desire me to answer it as God should give me freedom and assistance so to do unto which I found great Liberty and clearness of Mind given me of God in defence of the truth of God and while as I was reading and weighing the things I had read in the said dissertation many things did occurr unto me one after another wherewith to answer And here I give the Reader to Understand that I delayed my answer for some small time until I should see if any other dissertations of the same Author should be made Publick and come out against us as the title of this his first dissertation gave us occasion enough to expect more shortly to follow For I thought it would be best to see his other dissertations that so either I or R. B. might answer them altogether then to spend the more time and Labour in answering now one and then another but as yet I have heard of no other dissertations of his Published against us As to the matter it self I propose this Method in answering so as to observe whatever is said by the Adversary whether well or ill that toucheth the main thing and hinge of the controversie passing by other things Superfluous or less Necessary and to every one of those to answer distinctly In the first place this Writer is to be Commended above many of our Adversaries for his greater Moderation of stile and Mind and because he writeth soberly and fairly of those things which he imputeth to us as false and Erroneous I shall in Charity impute these his mistakes not to flow from Hatred or Malice of Mind which is but too frequent in many others but from some defect of right reason and judgment and an Errour of humane weakness That in his first Paragraph and title of his dissertation he calleth us Enthusiasts I would know whether this Name or term Enthusiasts be in all respects rejected by him and these of his profession or what Crime or Vice or thing unworthy of a Christian Name is contained therein For having searched both Greek and Latine Dictionaries and Vocabularies I can find nothing to make me or any other true Christians justly ashamed of the same For Enthusiast if we consider aright the Etymology or English Signification of the word is one divinely Inspired or Breathed upon moved and acted Or one in whom God is in whom God speaketh whom God teacheth enlightneth instructeth leadeth moveth and acteth and what I pray is unworthy of a Christian Man in all these things yea what can befall to a Christian that is more worthy or desireable for I am greatly Mistaken if our Adversary will not allow all those things to belong to a true Christian in a sound and sober sense agreable to Scripture And although some Heathens abused this term in their false Inspirations received from unclean Spirits as they did also abuse the name of God this ought not to hinder but that it may be at last turned to a right use We know how the Papists did throw this same term upon Luther and other well minded Men for preaching up the necessity of the Spirits teachings and leadings in those days by way of derision and made it a crime I have also observed that the Socinians and such as they call all others in derision Enthusiasts who in any wise plead for the grace and Illumination of the holy Spirit its being necessary to the begetting in Men true Faith Hope and Charity And I have both read and oft heard the teachers of the Episcopal Church here in Britain brand the Presbyterians and Calvinists with the same Let any sober Man therefore be ashamed to impute that as a crime to another which is no crime if taken in a right sense in which only we take it and which may be as well imputed to him as unto us according to his own Concessions laid down by him in his dissertation as may be afterwards seen in its due place But because this term Enthusiast is not contained in the Scripture although I find it used by Clemens Alexandrinus and Origen in a right sense viz. for true divine inspiration we shall not contend for it nor affect to have it given to us yet we would not have it in derision cast upon us for affirming that all true and sound Christians are inspired and indued with the holy Spirit according to their several Measures and degrees Moreover that he saith in his first Paragraph the chief controversie betwixt us and our Adversaries lyeth in that of inward and immediate Revelations is very true for this most noble Principle of inward and Immediate Revelation being once received and acknowledged many other excellent Doctrines and Principles of Christian Religion are by necessary consequence deduced there from and all things belonging to the Christian Religion whither of Theory or Practise by the Light and vertue of the said Principle of inward and Immediate divine Revelation do shine and become clear and receive their native and lively beauty and lustre But the said Principle being denyed many other excellent Principles are denyed also and all things belonging to the Christian Religion and Church of God and Christ are obscured and clouded and as it were involved in most thick night darkness And hence it is that we confidently affirm that the one only true Foundation of the Christian Church is God and Christ by the Holy Spirit speaking and shining in the hearts of the Faithful and inspiring them and communicating unto them his inward and Immediate divine Revelations and by the same opening the Scriptures and Mysteries of the Christian Religion and sanctifying all the means both outward and inward as of Reading Hearing Meditation and Prayer and of our whole obedience unto God in all our services whether inward or outward Upon this Rock which flesh and blood hath not revealed but the Heavenly Father hath made Manifest in the hearts of the faithful the true Church is built And whatsoever Society or Congregation of People is not built upon the same is not the true Church of Christ but false and Anti-Christian because it is not built upon Christ as well inwardly revealing himself in their hearts as appearing in Heaven before the Father and interceeding for them What he addeth in the same Paragraph needeth much Correction Although saith he they have many and diverse errours yet it is manifest by experience if that one errour of Immediate Revelation be admitted it is to no purpose to dispute against their other errours for men being once perswaded that they have within them a divine and Immediate Light of Revelation they will most pertinaciously adhere to all
things which they think to be immediatly revealed unto them by God whatever can be objected to the contrary For first that we have many and diverse errours he saith it but doth not prove it but secondly suppose that any of us did err in some one thing or another which is possible if we be not duely watchful for we are Men and do not judge our selves above the reach or possibility of tentation yet it is not manifest by experience that a Brother who erreth may not be reclaimed from his errour unto truth yea the Contrary is manifest by experience For we have at diverse times seen our weaker brethren if at any time they have through humane frailty been tempted and overcome by the spiritual adversary and have fallen into Errour happily reclaimed and restored by the pains and labours of others more perfect and more enlightned the grace of God assisting and concurring with the same And supposing that any one should Imagine his errour to be the Truth and under the Notion of Truth should impute it to inward divine Revelation for no man who hath the least degree of a sober and sound mind will impute errour as such to the holy Spirit yet very good and seasonable means and arguments shall not be wanting to reclaim him unto Truth For we can readily suggest unto him that it is not always divine inward Revelation which hath an appearance so to be for Satan doth oft transform himself into a false likeness of an Angel of Light Therefore he who so erreth is to be admonished that neither lightly nor carelesly but weightily and with great diligence he prove and examine that which is presented unto him under a shew of truth and that he use all means both inward and outward and especially apply his mind to the true divine Illumination of the spirit of God which never errs that is in him to discover the said errour For no Man hath any errour if he hath the least grain of Piety but frequently an inward divine Illumination or Revelation contrary unto the said errour doth present it self unto his understanding revealing it and expelling it if duely attended even as the Light expelleth or driveth away the Darkness or as the day doth the Night Nor are Men at this day exposed to greater danger who profess to follow inward divine Revelation then those of Old in the days of the Prophets and Apostles Now we read in Scripture of a certain Young Prophet who was deceived by an Elder I ask our Adversary could he not be undeceived Again let him tell me why are they more in hazard to be deceived who profess to follow inward divine Revelation then others are who profess to follow the outward divine Revelation of the Scripture for he will not deny that many do fouly err who confidently boast that they follow the outward Revelation of the Scripture Many also embrace error for Truth in natural things professing to follow the guidance of sound natural reason can they not therefore be convinced of their errour and yet no man will confess that he hath erred in that wherein he believeth that he hath followed the conduct of right reason What the Adversary writeth in his second and third Paragraph concerning the things in the controversie agreed on by both sides I have little to answer or which seem to need any answer This only I take notice of that our a dversary doth grant that that divine Revelation whereby God and the things of his worship are sufficiently and savingly known doth come unto men not by the natural power of humane understanding but by the supernatural operation of God for so saith he our Men do profess on Luthers lesser Catechism on the third Article of the Creed I believe say they that I cannot confide or trust in the Lord Iesus Christ my Lord or approach or come unto him any away by the power of my own reason but the Holy Ghost by his Gospel hath called me with his gifts hath enlightned me c. The which words if some Socinians or Pelagians did read it is a wonder if they should not put on them the brand of Enthusiasm yea of Quakerism For the foresaid words seem to differ little or nothing from our Faith who in scorn are called Quakers which may be more clearly made apparent afterwards CHAP. II. IN his fourth Paragraph he propounds the state of the question thus Whether inward and Immediate Revelation be the common and ordinary way which God used not only to some men of old but which he doth always use even to our very times unto all men Manifesting unto them the things which are necessary for them to know in order to their Salvation And a little after he mentions a twofold divine Revelation the one inward and Immediate for which we contend the other outward and mediate viz. the Scripture by which he saith men attain to the knowledge of things Necessary to Salvation the holy spirit working in them by that very Doctrine But yet he seems not to me to state the matter of the controversie clearly enough for in the former Paragraph as it seemeth he called the supernatural operation of God and the holy Spirit which is necessary unto all believers and that absolutely Divine Revelation the which because it is distinct from the outward and mediate as he calls it of the Scripture although not contrary unto it I know not how he can refuse to acknowledge that the Revelation Illumination and Operation of the Holy Spirit in the hearts of the faithful is both inward and Immediate For first that it is inward he will not deny secondly nor will he as I judge deny that it is Immediate in that sense wherein both he and all sound and right thinking Christians contend against the Socinians and Pelagians or any other adversaries of Gods grace that the holy Spirit doth Immediately most nearly and identically by a Supernatural Operation concurr in every holy man as well to the forming of every good thought or conception within mans heart as to the bringing forth every good work outwardly or without Yea and all the most sound teachers in the Schools do affirm against Durandus that not only in supernaturals but even in all natural Productions of effects God Almighty doth concurr with all his Creatures Immediately most nearly and as many say identically or in the sameness of operation Nor doth this Immediate concourse of God the first Cause hinder or stop the influence operation and use of second Causes or of the means but doth rather establish Corroborate and confirm them For Example When a Man is cured and restored to health out of a Fevour or any other Sickness by the application of certain outward means God hath wrought Immediatly with those means but if the immediate operation of God had been wanting the man had not been cured it is therefore piously believed by all pious men both according to Scripture and Right reason that
but mediately beside that such a distinction cannot be proved from scripture being altogether a mere invention and fiction of mans brain they who had the Spirit immediately did oftentimes obtain it by means of the preaching of others unto them And the gift of Prophecying or speaking immediately by the Spirit was continued in the Church in the times of Iustin Martyr and Tertullian as they themselves do testifie the which continuation of so excellent a gift was by means of preaching so long as the Preachers did preach purely by the Spirit and also did purely and chastly live and walk in the Spirit But when the Preachers left off or ceased to preach by the Spirit and to live in the Spirit and to put their own spirit in the room and place of the Spirit of God and of Christ that Spirit and gift of Prophesie the which is greatly to be lamented did cease in great part What the Adversary disputeth against R. B. in his following Paragraphs to the end of his dissertation and answereth to R. B. his solid and firm arguments taken from scripture doth altogether lean upon that false foundation sufficiently refuted by me to wit that because the faithful both under the new and old covenant received the Holy Spirit by means of outward Preaching ordinarily and commonly that therefore they were not immediately endued and inspired with the same the which consequence I have already over and over again showed to be most false although it were granted that all the faithful had always received the Spirit by means of outward Preaching or using of the scriptures the which I will never grant unto him And if I shall grant unto him that the faithful received the Spirit of Christ in some degree by means of the doctrine outwardly preached while as yet they were as children and Infants he can never prove from this that when they were more advanced into a spiritual and holy life and come unto the state of men that they did always receive the further measures and degrees of the Spirit by means of outward Preaching For it doth not follow that because at sometime they received the Spirit by means thereof that they always did so receive it in the fuller and larger measures and degrees thereof even as it doth not follow that because a Child or Infant needeth the ministry or means of a Nurse or Servant to feed it in that weak state that therefore it always needeth the help of that Nurse or Servant when it is come to a mans Age and growth I shall not therefore stay to answer to every thing of his Dissertation by giving still new answers seeing one answer doth suffice to them all and if I should still repeat that one Answer I should both lose my time and labour and also should weary the Reader and beget a loathing in him and therefore with this one Answer I reply unto all he hath objected against R. B. That he departeth from the state of the question and still beggeth the thing in controversie and so falleth into that error commonly called in the Schools Petitio principii i. e. a taking for granted the thing in controversie while he doth continually oppose and set at variance the immediate communication of the Holy Spirit and the means of outward Preaching and other the like helps which are not to be opposed but do well agree And it is so far otherwise that the Spirits immediate communication doth not only not hinder or make void the use of any means appointed of God as of Preaching Reading and Hearing the scriptures and meditating upon them that on the contrary it doth truly and solidly establish them sanctifie them and maketh them all effectual But that the Adversary doth continually bind up or tye the operation of the Holy Spirit to the outward letter of the Scripture either as read or heard or meditated upon is too rashly done in him and he hath not in all his Dissertation so much as once essayed to prove it And however his common and too credulous Hearers and Disciples in the School may easily receive his bare Affirmations without Proof yet they cannot find place with us nor with others we know better things and whose inward and spiritual eyes God out of his abundant Grace hath opened to discern the Truth But suppose which yet is not at all to be granted that the Illumination of the Holy Spirit is continually bound up or tyed to the outward Sign or Letter yet it doth not thence follow even upon that absurd principle that the Illumination of the Holy Spirit is not immediate or is not immediately perceived by us Even as if it were granted that the outward Illumination and Light of the outward and visible Sun is never seen by the eyes of men separated from all other visible objects but always joyned and united with them and always shining upon some one or other of the visible objects and reflecting its beams upon them though such who have Eagles eyes can look strait upon the Sun himself yet it will not from thence follow that the outward Illumination or Light of the outward Sun is not immediately received and seen or perceived by us CHAP. VIII ANd here I might well enough by right make an end of my Answering but because he doth affirm divers things in his other Paragraphs following which partly need correction and partly conduce to manifest the truth therefore I shall not be unwilling to take notice of them in a few particulars In his Twenty Second Paragraph he erreth in saying universally and without making any distinction that there is no substantial difference but only accidental and circumstantial betwixt mediate and immediate outward and inward Revelations according to the different kind of the signs under which God doth manifest himself For although this may be granted in those inward Revelations made in the Imagination yet not in these which have place in the highest faculty or power of the Soul which is the intuitive aforementioned For the Revelation which is given to this supreme or highest power of the soul that is intuitive and which is opened and awakened only in those who are sanctified and spiritually renewed doth not consist of signs but God himself and the Divine Things of his Kingdom in their own proper light and evidence discover themselves in the souls and hearts of the faithful without all signs And therefore however the outward Revelation may be called accidental because it doth but contain the signs which are accidents yet the inward Revelation which hath place in the Souls intuitive power and respecteth the Divine Things themselves without signs is to be called substantial In his Twenty Fourth Paragraph he hath these notable words When our men saith he affirm that at sometimes the outward Revelation is the formal object of the Saints Faith the meaning is not that the Faith of the Saints doth precisely lean or rely upon that which is outward in that Revelation or
owneth the words Enthusiasm Enthusiast and Enthusiastical as applicable to some Persons who were true and sincere Christians and divinely inspired And yet the Title of his Printed Sermon presumeth to Exorcise the Spirit of Enthusiasm without making any distinction as if the said Spirit were some Devil or unclean Spirit universally But if he say he meaneth not the Spirit of Enthusiasm as it was in the Primitive times but as it is now in the following ages since the true Divine Spririt of Enthusiasm did universally cease or expire To this I answer it is more than he hath proved or can prove that the true Spirit of divine Enthusiasm hath universally ceased among Christians and as for his reasons or proofs I hope with Gods assistance sufficiently to discover their weakness and invalidity and that he layeth a too weak and unsteddy foundation for so great and weighty superstructure But how this Author presumeth to Exorcise the Spirit of Enthusiasm without the least measure of the Spirit of Divine Enthusiasm I am at a loss to understand for if the Spirit of Enthusiasm be such a Devil as he supposeth it generally to be how can it be Exorcised or cast out but by a measure of the Divine Spirit of Enthusiasm for the Author will readily as I suppose acknowledge that all the Exorcists in the Apostles times who had power to Exorcise and cast out evil Spiritsâ— were Enthusiastically inspired so that by the Spirit of God and Christ inspiring them as being the stronger they did cast out evil Spirits who were the weaker But if the Author think that without some divine Enthusiasm or inspiration he can cast out or Exorcise any devil or unclean Spirit only by the strength of his parts or humane Spirit or barely naming the words of Scripture and of Jesus and Paul let him call to mind and consider what happened unto them who presumed to Exorcise a certain unclean Spirit with the names of Jesus and Paul without having that divine Spirit which was in Jesus and Paul To whom the Spirit answered Iesus we know and Paul we know but who are Ye and the Man in whom the evil Spirit was leapt on them and overcame them and prevailed against them so that they fled out of that house naked and wounded read Acts 19.13 14 15 16. I no where find in Scripture or any credible History that any ever had power to Exorcise the Devil or any unclean Spirit unless he was in indeed with the Spirit of God for the weaker must be overcome by the stronger but whither the Author thinketh himself by his meer natural parts and humane Spirit stronger then the Devil let him see to it Another thing he should greatly advert to lest he hath called the Operation of the Spirit of God and Christ in his Children the work of the Devil which to do is a great iniquity and yet is pardonable through repentance if not committed knowingly and willfully which I hope this Author hath not done therefore I can heartily pray unto God that he may be forgiven and his eyes may be opened to see and acknowledge the Truth But to pass from the name of word Enthusiasm for which being no Scripture word we shall not contend let us come to the thing it self to wit true divine inspiration Vision and Revelation and true divine inward teaching and leading and moving of the holy Spirit Immediately whither in some measure or degree it be not the common priviledge of all Gods people and of all sincere and true Christians I take notice of the Authors distinction pag. 4. of two sorts of spiritual gifts Common and Special By the common gifts of the Spirit he saith he meaneth all those that all Christians are bound to pray for and expect and that are given by God in common to all those who sincerely desire them and labour after them and that are necessary for the Salvation of the Soul and of this sort he saith are all the saving gifts and graces of the Spirit called in the Schools gratiae gratium facientes which the Spirit helps to work in mens hearts as Faith Hope Charity Purity Humility and all other gracious habits of the Mind which the Apostle calls the fruit of the Spirit and wherein the image of God the power of Godliness and the Spirit of Christianity truly do consist By special gifts he understandeth those which men are not ordinarily bound to expect and which unless it be in some few circumstances that seldom happen would be vanity and presumption to beg of God and which by consequence are not necessary for the Salvation of the Soul Of this sort he saith are all the Miraculous unctions of the Holy Ghost called by the Schoolmen gratiae gratis datae such as the gift of tongues power of working Miracles signs and wonders the Spirit of prophecy c. But these sorts of gifts saith he agree in this that they are supernatural and freely given by God to men This distinction brought by the Author I willingly own and acknowledge But the thing that remains for him to prove is that no sort of Immediate divine Revelation and Inspiration and Immediate divine teaching is any of those common and ordinary gifts given freely of God to all true and sincere Christians Now that the inspiration of the holy Spirit is one of these common gifts of the Spirit doth plainly appear from the Common Prayer of the Church of England according to this very difinition of a common saving gift of the Spirit given here by the Author to wit that it is such as all Christians are bound to pray for and expect but such is the inspiration of the Holy Spirit according to the Common Prayer of the Church of England for thus she prayeth in the Collect on the first Sunday after Easter Lord from whom all good things do come grant us thy humble Servants that by thy Holy Inspiration we may think those things that be good and by thy merciful guiding may perform the same through our Lord Iesus Christ Amen Again in the first prayer at the Communion immediately after our Father c. it saith Almighty God unto whom all hearts be open cleanse the thoughts of our hearts by the inspiration of thy holy Spirit that we may perfectly love thee and worthily magnifie thy name c. Again in the 4 Prayer which hath this Title for the whole state of Christs Church Militant here on Earth it saith thus beseeching thee to inspire continually the universal Church with the Spirit of Truth Vnity and Concord Thus we see how at three several times the Church of England prayeth for the inspiration of the Holy Spirit and if she pray for it she ought certainly to expect it and not believe it is ceased or expired which makes me think it the more strange that one of her own members and that a Doâ—tor also should deny this so excellent and precious a gift and condemn it as some Devil
new and spiritual Life in it so is that which slayeth Antichrist whom as the Scripture saith Christ shall destroy or slay with the Breath of his mouth and the brightness of his coming I need not be at pains I hope to prove that the Breathing and In-breathing of the Holy Spirit which is to say his Inspiration is all one thing for all the breathing of the Spirit on men is within in the Hearts and inward parts of men and therefore is properly Inspiration And according to Solomons words in the Song it is the Breathing or Inspiration of the Holy Spirit which like the South-wind blowing upon the Garden maketh the spices thereof to send forth a sweet and fragrant smell The which Spices are nothing else but the Christian Graces wherewith God indueth his Church which he maketh as a Garden and which Graces are made to operate and send forth-their Divine Smell as the Spirit of God doth breath or inspire upon the Souls of those in whom these Sacred and Heavenly Spices grow and according to Elihu in Iob the Inspiration of the Almighty giveth understanding And thus in brief we see the great necessity of Divine Inspiration both to the Church in general and to all the Members of it in particular though not in respect of those Miraculous and extraordinary Gifts of Tongues and Healings of bodily Diseases yet in regard of more Noble and Divine Effects as the Souls Regeneration and quickning and both for the planting and nourishing the Divine Graces of Gods Holy Spirit in the Hearts of all true Believers And notwithstanding of all this as it seemeth the Author of this Sermon hath a marvellous prejudice and antipathy at the word Inspiration as not applicable to any sort of the Spirits Operation in our days For though he granteth the necessity of the Spirits Operations yet I no where can find that he owneth the Word or Term Inspiration in any respect as applicable to any Operation of the Spirit at present in any Believer And the same prejudice he seemeth to have against divers other Phrases and Terms all which are either expresly found in Scripture or fully agreeable to the sense of Scripture which yet he hath the confidence to call invented and uncouth Terms as the Spirit of Preaching and Prayer the In-comings Out-lettings and In-dwellings of the Spirit How like is his Discourse in this particular to the Socinians and Pelagians who deny the necessity of any Supernatural and Divine aid or Assistance of the holy Spirit to perform our acceptable Service and Obedience unto God He saith further That the Spirit of Preaching or Praying ought to signifie no more than the skill or habit of Preaching or Praying But if he mean only a natural and acquired habit he joyneth with the Socinians and contradicteth his own former Concessions wherein he did acknowledg the necessity of the saving Gifts of the Spirit and that these were Supernatural such as Faith Love Humility Now every one that Preacheth and Prayeth either acceptably unto God or profitably for himself or his Neighbours he must Preach and Pray with Faith and Love and Humility so that these and other Divine Graces must be exercised in his Preaching and Praying which require more than even a spiritual habit to wit a present actual assistance of the Divine Spirit otherwise a man who hath the habit of Preaching and Praying according to this Author needeth not any dependance upon any new assistance of the Spirit and so it is in vain for him to pray for the same which yet is contrary to the common practice of most Preachers But whereas the Author taxeth some for pretending to the Spirit of Preaching and Praying and make as if their extemporary Prayers were the effect of Ispiration I acknowledge they are worthy to be blamed when in the mean time these very persons deny all Inspiration or Preaching and Praying by it in our days and are as great Opposers to the Principle of Immediate Revelation and Inspiration as any men in the World And it is indeed a great Error to imagine that all extemporary Prayers are the Effect of Divine Inspiration for some are and some are not and they who pretend to pray extempore by the Spirit and as with the same breath deny the very Principle of Inspiration fall into a great inconsistency which yet very many do for which they are justly taxable But to return to the Author he confesseth That in the Primitive Church in the days of the Apostles many Preached and Prayed and did sing by Inspiration and being Enthusiastically moved or acted and that this did continue in the Church for some time And first as concerning singing and praising God by inspired Hymns and Psalms He saith pag. 14. For inspired persons did usually spend their Enthusiasm in composing of Hymns and spiritual Songs And again concerning Preaching and Praying he saith pag. 15. In the Apostles time there was a miraculous Gift of Praying as well as Preaching when the spirit used to seize upon the souls of men in Publick and affect them in such an extraordinary way as to make them Pray for such things and in such a due manner as in those times when as yet the Church had composed no Liturgies Persons not inspired could not do And here he citeth a Testimony out of Chrysostome Ep. ad Rom. cap. 8. hom 14. which I thought worthy to translate into English and here insert Moreover together with all these Gifts there was the Gift of Prayer the which was called the Spirit and he who was endued with it he did pray for the whole multitude for seeing we are ignorant of many things which are profitable to us and that we ask things that are no wise profitable the Gift of Prayers did come unto one of them who standing for all the rest did pray for what was usually convenient to the whole Church and also did teach others Therefore he viz. Paul Rom. 8. calleth the Spirit both such a Gift and also that Soul which did receive it and which did intercede with God and sigh For he who is favoured with such a Grace standing with great compunction or Contrition of mind and with many sighs being humbled in mind before God asketh the things which are profitable unto all of which now is a Symbol the Minister offering Prayers unto God for the people Therefore Paul feeling this said The Spirit himself intercedeth for us with groans unutterable To the same purpose speaks Theoph. and Oecumenius upon the place But now the thing which the Author of this Sermon should have proved is That this Gift of Preaching and Praying and Singing by Divine Inspiration was of the same sort and nature with the Miraculous and extraordinary Gifts of the Spirit and equally Miraculous and Extraordinary with them which he not having done nor so much as once essayed to do from any Scripture Authority he had as good done nothing at all And the words of Chrisostome cited by
DIVINE Immediate Revelation AND INSPIRATION Continued in the True CHURCH Second Part. In Two TREATISES The First being an Answer to Io. W. Bajer Doctor and Professor of Divinity so called at Iena in Germany Published first in Latine and now in English The Second being an Answer to George Hicks stiled Doctor of Divinity his Sermon Preached at Oxford 1681. and Printed with the Title of The Spirit of Enthusiasm Exorcised where this pretended Exorcist is Detected Together with some Testimonies of Truth Collected out of diverse Ancient Writers and Fathers so called By G. K. The Second EDITION London Printed in the Year 1685. A PREFACE To the Friendly and Well-wishing READER THE thing which I principally treat of in this my Answer to John W. Bajer c. is of Divine Immediate Revelation and Inspiration its continuance in the Church of God in all Ages and of the good Consistency and Harmony of it with the frequent and diligent use of the Holy Scriptures and all other true means The which is a Theme or Subject very necessary and profitable to be handled And therefore I have somewhat more largely treated of many things belonging to my intended purpose than a particular Answer to the foresaid Writer did require regarding herein a more general profiting of the people into whose hands by Divine Providence this Treatise may come Although nothing I hope is omitted which shall seem needful to a particular Answer But the common Advantage and Benefit of many to whom I might be serviceable by this kind of Writing was more before myeyes than a striek Method of answering to every particular For to overcome an Adversary in particulars doth little contribute to the Victory or gaining the Cause that is in Controversie if at any time he be overcome it will be said that he hath badly defended his Cause and nevertheless of his fall or overthrow the Cause is still judged to stand and remain untouched I have therefore more regarded the Cause or thing in Controversie than the Adversary And therein by the Grace of God assisting me I have laboured to show and demonstrate the good and excellent consistency and Harmony of Divine Immediate Revelation and Inspiration with the frequent and diligent use of the Holy Scriptures and of all other true means For I did observe that this was the greatest and almost the only prejudice and impediment that did prevail in the minds of many against Divine inward and Immediate Revelation and Inspiration that this principle being once granted and believed the use of the holy Scripture and other means shall be abandoned and laid aside and so by this stratagem or device the people under the pretence of Spiritual Illumination and Revelation shall be led into gross and extream ignorance This is that therefore for which I chiefly labour in this Treatise that I may remove and lay aside and quite take off that great prejudice of mind that is in many people and that both Divine Immediate Revelation and Inspiration may be established and the frequent and diligent use of the Holy Scripture whether in Reading or Hearing or Preaching or Meditating or Praying or Thangksiving and of all other true means truly appointed of God may be Confirmed And indeed true Divine Immediate Revelation and Inspiration of the Holy Spirit is so far from making void or rendring useless and unprofitable the use and exercise of the Holy Scriptures or of any other true means that on the contrary it is the only thing that makes the use of them effectual and profitable For why is it that so much Reading Preaching Hearing Praying c. in the use and exercise of the Holy Scripture is so altogether unprofitable unto the greatest part of men but because they have departed from that Divine and Holy Spirit of God that where it is received doth inwardly and immediately Inlighten and Inspire them and have rejected it as unnecessary and unprofitable And hence it is that such gross ignorance of God and Divine things even in the daily use and exercise of the Holy Scriptures doth almost every where reign and prevail among those called Christians But on the other hand they who imbrace this principle of Divine Inspiration and inward Immediate Revelation with true and sincere faith and according unto their faith duly and carefully attend and watch unto or wait for the Holy Spirit to inlighten and inspire them and sincerely do study in all things chastly and purely to obey his holy Precepts and Admonitions and Divine Motions they do abundantly witness the said Holy Spirit to open and inlighten their understanding to understand the Holy Scriptures when they hear them or read them or meditate upon them and exercise their reason or rational faculties in a sober and moderate way under a due subjection to the Spirit of God in these or any other profitable things and also they feel and perceive their hearts and affections led and drawn by the Holy Spirit yea kindled and inflamed thereby to love the Testimonies and Oracles of the Holy Scriptures and to value or esteem them above all the Riches Delights and Honours of the World whereby it comes to pass that in reading or hearing them and meditating on them when they are not reading nor hearing they find great delight and profit themselves very much in the frequent and diligent use of the Scripture the Holy Spirit leading them unto the same and inlightning them in order to the increasing and promoting holiness of life Now many fall into dangerous and damnable extreams some on the right and some on the left hand On this hand these fall who seem to imbrace the letter of the Scripture but reject and cast off the Spirit of God which only and alone maketh it effectual and profitable and on this side most of these called Christians at present do miserably transgress and deceive themselves and are miserably deceived by their blind Teachers and Guides who depreciate and cry down this most holy and most profitable gift of the Divine Spirit and Light and labour to render it among the People as a vile and hurtful thing But wo wo to these blind Guides and Teachers whosoever in the day of the Lord unless they timely and seriously repent And on the other hand too many although fewer in number then the former under a pretence of following the Spirit inwardly do either altogether or at least too much neglect and lay aside and cast off the use and exercise of the Holy Scriptures and of other good and true means appointed them of God And this neglect doth not at all proceed from the Holy Spirit as if that could or did in the least move them unto the same but cometh from their ignorance and want of knowledge and also from loftiness of mind and Spiritual Pride of all which they must also repent that they may be saved and come to walk in the way of Salvation but they who under the specious pretext of the Spirit
Doctrine declared by the external words or signs is the formal object of the Saints Faith To which seeing the Adversary doth plainly consent I know not how he doth affect to show himself here opposite unto us when in the thing it self I see no difference betwixt both unless he meaneth that the outward words or signs doth also pertain to the formal object of Faith as he seemeth to explain himself Parag. 22. The which also R. B. hath granted after a sort having brought a distinction of the formal object into quod i. e. which and quo i. e. by or for which or betwixt that which is believed and the formal principal cause or reason of believing the which distinction the Adversary ought to grant as applicable to the present matter if he will firmly stand to his first concessions For he doth acknowledge that the outward Revelation as he calleth it of words and signs is not simply believed by the faithful for it self but because of God inwardly inlightning and moving and therefore God thus inwardly inlightning and moving is the formal object Quo i. e. by or for which they principally believe And yet we deny not but that the words are the formal object Quod i. e. which is believed or as some perhaps would rather say the material object But if any controversie doth here remain it doth consist rather in a logical subtlety or ambiguous signification of words and terms than in the truth of the thing or matter it self which ought to have no place among sober men professing the simple and plain Truth of Christ. There remaineth only one difficulty with the Adversary whether these inward Illuminations are to be called Immediate which I judge R. B. hath sufficiently proved in his Apology and I also in this my answer We grant indeed that this term or expression of Immediate Revelation is no where to be found in Scripture and therefore it would be hard to prove against a froward and wilful Adversary that any of the Prophets or Apostles had Immediate Revelation For it did suffice unto the Prophets and Apostles to express the word or term Revelation simply so called and that God revealed himself and his mind and will unto them that he did inlighten and inspire them that they had the Spirit of God and Christ inwardly teaching and instructing and moving them Those simple and plain Men did not think of that subtle and nice distinction of Immediate and Mediate Revelation feigned and invented by the School-men and Sophisters of this world whereby the truth of this mistery is veiled and darkned For to speak plainly and in propriety of speech following the common Phrase of Scripture all Divine Revelation is Immediate even as all Vision is immediate and all outward sensation is Immediate and doth regard and respect its immediate object and as it is immediately proposed Which yet doth not hinder but that the outward words by a metonimy or figure of the sign for the thing signified may be called Revelations or Visions But there is oft a great hurt in that when figurative Speeches are once allowed that at length it comes to that that they are thought proper Iohn his Treatise is called his Revelation when yet it is most certain that that Book or Treatise was not the Revelation it self which he had in his Mind and Spirit but only a sign and outward declaration of it Also the Prophets at times called the words which they published by voice or writing their Vision when yet they were not the Vision it self but a sign and declaration of it as any man of a sound Judgment as I believe will easily grant Moreover as to the outward Apparitions made by God at times to the Fathers and Prophets if they be granted to be Revelations they were also in their kind and manner Immediate either to the outward Senses or Imagination But that is most properly the Revelation of God which is presented to the Mind Spirit and Understanding of Man For seeing God is a Spirit he is not to be seen by the outward eyes nor is he perceptible by any outward or mortal senses but is only seen and known in Spirit and therefore only by the Spirit is he properly revealed to the alone Spirit and spiritual Eye and Sense of Man But it is not to great purpose to dispute much of those outward Apparitions made unto some of old seeing they do not touch the thing that is mainly in controversie which is of Gods inward appearances for which only we contend as necessary for the begetting true and saving Faith and Knowledge in mens hearts We do not plead for outward Apparitions And it is plain enough they did not properly reveal God himself but rather were a Veil wherewith God covered himself because of humane weakness For if any had judged the outward Apparition to have been God himself certainly he should have fallen into grievous Idolatry But that R. B. did affirm that there were divers Administrations under which the Spirit of God revealed himself doth not prove what the Adversary would that God only did mediately reveal himself unto some men for the divers Administrations are well enough to be considered as well in the Inward and Immediate Revelations as in those which are outward And also that God spoke unto the Fathers by the Prophets of old proveth not that God revealed himself only to them outwardly and mediately for this doth contradict our Adversary his own belief who doth equally contend with us that all the believing Fathers were inwardly Inlightned by the Holy Spirit and that Inward Illumination is Immediate where ever it is found as I have above sufficiently made appear Again That in his Fourteenth Paragraph citing R. B. his words Parag. 13. he saith he denyeth and not without cause That which R. B. thought no man would deny viz. That God all along from Adam to Moses had revealed himself to his Children inwardly by his Spirit I think strange the Adversary should deny this for by so doing he doth openly contradict his former concessions For did he not grant that God doth always inwardly Inlighten his Children and that with an Illumination both effective and objective and that no outward Revelation or Preaching doth suffice unto Salvation without a Divine inward Operation and Illumination And therefore why he should now deny it I do not understand but that he hath forgot himself Nor doth it hinder which he laboureth much to prove in this whole Paragraph that some were outwardly instructed by Preaching but that they were also gifted and endued with inward Inspiration and Revelation for these two do not fight one with another but very well agree But it will be too hard an undertaking for him to prove that most men in all those Ages were taught by outward Preaching For although Enoch Preached the doctrine of Truth he could scarce do it to the whole world and the like is to be said of Noah who only with these
immediate communication of the Holy Spirit given commonly to the Saints it shall also exclude David himself an excellent Prophet who said these words from the immediate communication of the Spirit Then as seemeth unto me the Adversary wonderfully forgetting himself within a few lines he confesseth that David was immediately inlightned by God and gifted with the Spirit of Prophecy Lo how he hath mortally wounded and killed his own cause as it were with his own hands For because the words of David above cited do not say take not away thy holy Spirit immediately given me therefore he argueth that these words of David do not prove an immediate communication of the Spirit But I no where find it said in the whole scripture that the Holy Spirit was immediately given to David or to any of the Prophets and Apostles for the scripture hath not the term Immediate which is enough to demonstrate that when it is said the Spirit was given to any man doth sound or signifie as much as that the Spirit was given him immediately But for that distinction of the Spirits being given immediately to some and only mediately or remotely to others the scripture is wholly silent of it neither can it be gathered from scripture by any good consequence And let this answerer tell me if some stubborn and cross grain'd Adversary should deny that any of the Prophets or Apostles were immediately inspired how could he convince him of his error For whatever places of scripture he shall bring to convince him he shall be ready to answer with this our Adversary that all these places of scripture say nothing of the Holy Spirit his being immediately given to any either of the Prophets or Apostles But if he answer that the scripture-words which say that the Prophets and Apostles had the Spirit of God inwardly teaching inlightning leading moving and acting them although they do not express the term immediate yet they do sufficiently signifie and import the immediate communication of the Holy Spirit therefore it shall be equally lawful unto us to conclude because all the faithful and true children of God are said in scripture to have the Spirit of God which dwelleth in them doth inwardly teach them inspire inlighten lead move and act them and that it is one spirit which is in all the faithful whether they be Prophets or Apostles or any other true members of Christ because the phrase of the scripture is the same concerning the communication of the Holy Spirit as well to all the faithful as to the Prophets and Apostles therefore it hath the same sence in both to wit that both the Prophets and Apostles and all the faithful servants and children of God have one and the same Spirit of God immediately communicated unto them Nor is this to make all Prophets or Apostles for although the communication of the Spirit be immediate unto all yet it doth not produce in all the same gifts and functions but one sort in the Prophets and Apostles and another sort in ordinary Christians Even as the same soul or spirit of man is immediately communicated to the whole body and all its members yet it doth not follow that every member is the Head or Eye for notwithstanding that the same spirit is immediately communicated to all the members yet there remaineth a clear distinction of the members and of their offices one from another Again whereas he affirmeth Parag. 19. that the Prophets and Apostles received the Spirit immediately but all others of the faithful but only mediately He saith his without any proof and playeth on the ambiguous or various signification of the word or term immediate and mediate which I have above explained and so he departeth and goeth aside from the true state of the controversie altogether For although it be granted that many received the Holy Spirit by means of the outward preaching that doth not hinder but that they had it immediately and most nearly communicated unto them of God for beside other reasons and examples formerly brought by me cap. 4. the following example shall demonstrate the thing abundantly We see by how many various means a Husbandman or Gardiner doth ingraft a Twig or Branch upon the stock of a Tree the using of which means notwithstanding doth not hinder but on the contrary doth greatly conduce and further or help that the said branch may cleave immediately unto the stock on which it is ingrafted and may draw and derive life and a vital influence from the said stock or root immediately and most closely no less than if it had been a natural branch of the said Root Again Herbs and Trees are planted in the earth by using many means which afterwards taking root in the earth do derive from it immediately life and a vital or lively influence and vertue Granting therefore that the faithful are commonly ingrafted into Christ by means of the outward Preaching do they therefore derive nothing of the Spirit of Christ immediately Are not the Faithful as immediately joyned or united to Christ as the branches are to the Vine or the Twigs to the Stocks on which they are ingrafted Shall they not therefore immediately partake of the spirit of Christ seeing as Christ himself hath said He is the Vine and the faithful are the Branches grafted into him Moreover How can the Adversary prove that the Prophets and Apostles who as he confesseth had the Spirit immediately had it not derived and given unto them commonly by means of outward Preaching For the younger Prophets did commonly and for most part hear the elder Prophets preach unto them and by means of their Ministry and preaching they also received the same Spirit which dwelt in them immediately and moved them immediately to speak as it did the Elder Prophets Hence it is that we read of the Schools of the Prophets and of their Sons and Disciples in the scripture And did not Elisha the Disciple of Elijah by means of his Master immediately receive the Holy Spirit And the Apostles also received the Holy Spirit in some degree immediately before the day of Pentecost by means of Christs preaching outwardly unto them Nor can it be questioned but that when they received the same Spirit more abundantly on the day of Pentecost they were much helped and assisted or prepared for such an excellent dispensation by means of Christs doctrine which he preached unto them while he was yet conversant with them in the flesh upon Earth And the faithful did commonly receive the Holy Spirit and many excellent gifts of it immediately and yet by means of the Apostles preaching and laying on of their hands I spoke before of Cornelius who received the Spirit immediately and yet obtained it further by means of Peter's preaching Timothy also received that excellent gift which was in him by Prophesie with the laying on of the hands of the Eldership If therefore it be said that some of the faithful received the Spirit immediately and others only
Holy Spirit alone to the Heart and Soul of the Faithful I inquire if in this case the inward presentation of the object were not to be called an Immediate Revelation The which if he grant therefore I say it is now immediate when the outward object is adjoyned to it for that inward illumination and Revelation doth not change its Nature in the absence and presence of the outward object having all entirely in it self that belongs to an Immediate Revelation but remaineth the same whether it be joyned to the outward or separated therefrom Even as the soul of man whether joyned to the Body or separated therefrom yet it still retaineth its own Nature that it is the immediate Principle of its operations both in the Body and out of the Body And indeed by a certain Analogy as the Soul is to the Body so is the Spirit of God inwardly operating and illuminating to the outward testimony of the Letter And because the Soul doth many things by the means of the Body yet that doth not hinder but that it is the immediate principle of its operations But the Soul doth many things in respect of its most inward and intellectual operations without the means and help of the Body even when it is in the Body and therefore why may not that Divine Spirit as it doth many things in the Saints by means of the Letter of the scripture do or work some other things and not use the means of the Letter Yea how many things doth the Holy Spirit reveal and open in Men as belonging to the special and particular acts of Vertue and Vice that do far transcend and go beyond the straitness and narrow compass of words of which Seneca the Gentile and an Heathen so called doth Write well Lib. 2. De Ira. How narrow Innocency is that saith he to be good according to the Law He understandeth a Law writ or contained in words How much more doth the Rule of Duties extend than that of Law How many things doth Piety Humanity Liberality Iustice and Faithfulness require which are not in the publick Tables or Records to wit all written Laws Thus Seneca For as he who describeth some Kingdom as of Germany or England with Words or Mapps cannot describe it in as great largeness as it doth contain in it self but in much narrower bounds And although he describe all the Cities Towns and Villages of the said Kingdom yet he doth not describe all the houses of every City and Village or all the Fields and Orchards belonging to it much less all the Rooms and Chambers of each House or all the Acres and Roods of the Corn Fields or all the particular Ears of Corn that grow in those Fields or all the Trees and Fruits of these Orchards particularly one by one And even so they who describe the Kingdom of God which is within us to wit the Writers of the Holy Scripture they could not describe all the particulars contained in that Kingdom the which particulars are yet very necessary to be known unto the Saints and therefore the Holy Spirit revealeth unto them those particular things which are not contained in the Scripture And the same is to be understood of the Kingdom of Vices and of Satan that it containeth many more particular vices and sins than can be described by any words And as concerning the glory of Gods Kingdom in the Saints it may be well said in the words of the Queen of the South concerning Solomon's Glory that the same or report of the Glory was true but the half of it was not told the which cannot be told by any words And therefore the Scripture it self calleth the joy of the Lord in the Saints a joy unspeakable and that the Peace of God which is in them doth not only surpass all words but all to wit discursive understanding Moreover R. B. showeth in his Apology from pag. 39. to pag. 43. to which the Adversary hath answered nothing that there are many particular things very necessary to be known unto every one of the faithful which are no where revealed in the Scripture and are therefore immediately to be revealed unto them by the Spirit such as especially concerning the Souls inward state and those inward calls of God unto the soul to the discharging or performing of its particular services In his thirtieth parag he saith it is one thing that the Spirit is within a man and another thing that the said Spirit is given not mediately but Immediately by a meer inward operation without an outward mean surely saith he the habits of arts and sciences are within in the mind of man and yet for most the part they are given to men not Immediately but mediately or by means of the outward teaching of the Master and a few lines after he saith we not only grant but we earnestly plead for the indewlling of the Holy Spirit as altogether necessary to Christians That he doth acknowledge and plead for the indwelling and inbeing of the Holy Spirit to be altogether necessary to Christians it is well but that he doth absolutely deny the Immediate Operation and Revelation of the indwelling Spirit of God he doth badly for although that this inward teacher and Master doth frequently teach his Disciples by means of the Scripture shall he therefore teach them nothing by word of mouth or his own living voice Immediately shall he not expound open to them what they read in the Scriptures with his living voice or shall he sit and remain in them always as one dumb which God forbid that we should so imagine speaking or saying nothing nay not so much as one small sentence but what is in express words contained in the Scripture and borrowed from them surely such an assertion is too rash and without all ground from Scripture and is most unworthy of God immortal our most excellent Master and Pastor yea our Bridegroom and Husband to fain any such things of him which no Mortal or Earthly School-Master would do to his Disciples and if he did so all would judge him a Fool and unfit for such an affair if to wit he should say nothing unto them but what is contained in the Book which they became in so many words and which he takes out of the Book and should speak nothing to them Immediately by word of mouth What disciple would bear such a School-Master or rather would not turn him off and chuse another more friendly and familiar unto him or what woman would not take it very unkindly and unworthy if her Husband did not speak to her any one small sentence immediately and by word of mouth but did leave all that is to be said to letters or epistles writ by him of old or what servant would willing serve such a Master who being presently with him in the same house did not speak to him at any time not one word by word of mouth immediate whither he did well or ill please him Surely this
because they have departed and Apostatised from that Holy Spirit given of old unto their Fathers And therefore was it not also a great glory and honour to the ancient Christian Church to have in it the gift of prophecy or speaking by Immediate Inspiration and would it not be now a great glory and honour to the Church if that gift of prophecy which did anciently flourish in the Church for some Ages after the Apostles days should flourish and spring forth again was not this gift with many others lost by the apostacy of the professors of the Christian Religion and therefore when the apostacy goeth out and people doth return to the sincere worship and obedience of God shall not this excellent gift be restored together with many others Had not the ancient Christian Church after the Apostles days all the Books of Scripture of the Old and New Testament as well as we The Jews also had the Scriptures of the Old Testament which contained all the heads of Christian Doctrine in respect of the substance of Religion a people therefore having the Scripture but wanting the Spirit Immediately teaching leading and inspiring them which both the Jewish Church had and also the Christians after the Apostles days shall be more happy then both these because they want the said Holy Spirit Immediately inspiring teaching and leading them This is a wonderful paradox but most false for the Christians are not more happy than the Jews because out of the Scripture barely they could know the will of God for the Jews had the Scripture also containing all the heads of the Doctrine of their Religion clearly enough But for this cause true Christians are more happy than those Jews that whereas the Jews for all their having the Scripture did need to take long Journeys to consult the Priests to solicite wait for the respouses of the High Priests all true Christians because they partake more largely of the Holy Spirit they need not make these Journeys or travels to consult either Priests or High Priest because they have a most excellent Priest yea an High Priest more high then the Heavens or the Angels that dwell in them to wit Jesus Christ dwelling in their hearts who by his Spirit teacheth them all things and doth clearly and without all doubtfulness answer them iâ— all things needful to be known by them and who doth also clearly and infallibly expound the Scripture unto them And therefore true Christians have no need to run to these Jewish Priests and High Priests nor unto these Doctors so called and preachers at this day who do not so much as profess to have any thing of the Divine Inspiration and inward Revelation with which the Prophets and holy men of God were of old endued and do not pretend to have any infallible sense or understanding of the holy Scripture or to have received any infallible Judgment of its meaning And so true Christians may spare both their labour and their mony and not spend it nor give it away to such Doctors and Preachers but leaving them all behind as unprofitable let them go unto Jesus Christ the Lord the eternal Priest who liveth for ever by whom they shall be well and sufficiently taught and instructed and that freely without either labour or mony And lastly as to these notable testimonies of the ancients and reformers in Luther's times cited by R. B. in his Apology because the Adversary endeavoureth to elude or evade the form of them after the same manner as he doth the testimonies of the holy Scripture therefore he is the same way refused in both and the answers given in the one will serve in the other the which if I have effectually given I leave unto the â—qual and impartial Reader for to Judge THE Pretended EXORCIST DETECTED In a Brief REPLY TO A SERMON PREACHED BEFORE The University of Oxford by George Hicks stiled Doctor of Divinity in the Month called Iuly 11. 1680. the which Sermon is called The Spirit of Enthusiasm Exorcised CHAP. I. UPon my reading of this Authors Printed Sermon which is called the Spirit of Enthusiasm exorcised I find the said Author very unskilful and unacquainted with the true notion of Enthusiasm as it is owned and received among the People called in derision Quakers with all possible moderation And though he hath been pleased to cite my Book of Immediate â—evelation and R. B. his Apology and Theses yet I can hardly believe he hath been at any pains to read and consider throughly what is said by us on that Subject for had he but read and well considered what we have said or writ in that matter he would have â—â—â—â—e fairly and genuinely stated the controversy betwixt us and our opposers as to this particular In my answer to Io. Bajer the Lutheran Doctor in Iena so much is already said as less needs be added for a reply to what this Author hath brought against us As for the word or term Enthusiasm as I have already said in my answer to the Lutheran Doctor we do not plead for it or affect such a name or title for it being no Scripture phrase or expression we can and do very well declare our Faith in the thing we intend without it Yet we cannot altogether reject the term when thrust or cast upon us by opposers on purpose many times to render us odious because the Etimology of the word Enthusiasm according to the best and most approved Greek Lexicons signifieth Divine Inspiration And whereas it hath been used by heathenish writers to signifie the inspirations or inward suggestions of Daemons and evil Spirits yet this hath rather been an abuse and improper signification of the word then a true and genuine acceptation of it and notwithstanding of this abuse of the word among heathenish writers and Poets yet divers of the Fathers useâ— it in a good sense and as applicable to good and sincere Christians Yea this Author himself with respect to the Prophets and Apostles and others their successors for 3 or 4 hundreds of years owneth the term Enthusiasm and that in the Apostles times and downwards to the 4 or 5 Century there were some real and sincere Christians who had Enthusiasms and were enthusiastically acted and moved by the Spirit of God for thus he saith Pag. 12. Edit 3. of this sort of Enthusiastical confidence with which the Spirit filled the minds of men is that place to be understood Math. 21. vers 21. and Pag. 14. he saith prophecy may be taken as it is often in the Old and New Testament for praising of God by inspired Hymns and Psalms for inspired persons did usually spend their Enthusiasm in composing of Hymns and Spiritual Songs And Pag. 16. he saith the groanings wherewith some inspired persons prayed in the Apostles days according to Rom. 8. were the effect of those supernatural raptures and Enthusiasms with which the Spirit filled the souls of those inspired Orators so we see how this Author
Miracle nor do we read that he spoke any Tongue but that which was common to the Iews And it is yet more unreasonable and unequal not to believe us unless we have all the miraculous Gifts of the spirit as if some were not sufficient if so we had them Surely few Churches or Persons had all the miraculous Gifts of the spirit even when they were most common And though we pretend not to those miraculous Gifts of the spirit such as speaking with Tongues healing the sick raising the dead c. yet the absence or not having any of these miraculous Gifts cannot prove that we are not otherwise divinely inspired for there are common divine Inspirations necessary to all true Christians which are of a saving Nature where they are received in Faith and Love whose peculiar and proper quality is to sanctifie those who are inspired with them and consequently are of a moral Nature the which sort of Divine Inspirations being of a different kind from these which were Miraculous that is easie to understand how the miraculous and peculiar sort of Inspirations ceasing those other of a Moral consideration do remain the which though outwardly they are not Miraculous yet inwardly they are as performing the greater Miracles for to raise the soul from Death to Life and to heal the Diseases of the soul is a greater Miracle than to raise or heal the Body A third Condition he requireth of us before we can be believed to have the spirit is That we receive what the Apostle hath written in particular that a Woman should not speak in the Church as the Commandments of God To this I answer that we do receive what the Apostle hath written as the Commandments of God when it doth appear that what he writeth is such But some things he said he wrot by permission and not by commandment And as concerning Womens speaking in the Church he doth not deliver it as an Universal Commandment that did admit no Restriction or Limitation otherwise he had contradicted his own words elsewhere in prescribing an Order to Women that their Heads be covered when they did Pray or Prophesie which to be sure was in the Church for as to private or mental Prayer no such Order is required 1 Cor. 11.5 And whereas Paul said I permit not a Woman to speak in the Church it is easie to be understood in what case that was viz. to dispute or ask Questions in the Church which was permitted unto Men and Children both among the Jews and primitive Christians but not unto Women yet did not this restrain Women to speak either in Prayer or Prophesie when they were divinely inspired so to do for both the Scripture and Church-History informs us how Women did Prophesie and Pray in the Church But this being a digression which the Author introduceth to little purpose here I shall not insist on it CHAP. III. AND now as to his Arguments or rather one bare Argument to prove that Divine Inspiration which he calleth Enthusiasm is ceased in the true Church and among true Christians I shall first produce what he saith in his own words pag. 21 22. which is the sum of all he hath said in his whole Sermon Now this reason saith he is to be taken from the wants and necessities of the Primitive Church whose Infant-state required that God should assist her with the Miraculous Gifts of the Spirit till the Gospel was sufficiently Preached about the Empire the Scriptures of the New Testament compleated the Temple-worship abolished among the Jews Idolatry destroyed among the Gentiles and both were united together under Christ into one Communion or Catholick Church And this is the sum of all the Reasons or Reason he giveth why Divine Inspirations were given to the Church in the Apostles days and for some time after and why they are ceased since as being necessary to the Churches of former times but not to the Churches of the later Now the whole force of all this Argument if all were conceded which he layeth down in the Premisses doth not conclude as concerning the Miraculous kind of Divine Inspirations wherewith they who were so miraculously inspired did spake with strange Tongues cure Diseases and the like But nothing of all this Authors Reasons doth conclude against the other sort of Divine Inspirations which were not for working any outward Miracles but were of a Moral Nature whose direct Tendency and service was to beget the true Knowledge Faith and Love of God and other Evangelical Vertues in the hearts and souls of the Ispired and also to preserve and nourish them in order to a perfect growth And that there were such Inspirations of the Spirit of God which were of a Moral Nature is clear not only from the Scripture-Testimony in abundant places but also from the Common Prayer of the Church of England already cited And seeing the Author himself granteth the necessity of saving Gifts and Operations of the Spirit in all true Believers how can these Operations of the Spirit be understood without Inspiration for how can the Spirit be suppose to operate or work any Divine effect in the Souls of Believers but as he inspireth them with his Light and Life and other divine Vertues To Inspire signifyeth nothing else but to in-breath or to breath into the Soul any Divine Vertue whatsoever and therefore that Operation or Motion of the Divine Spirit whereby he quickens the Soul that once was dead and makes it alive unto God is very properly called Inspiration or In-breathing yea from this sort of operation it is that the Spirit hath its name whether in Latin Greek or Hebrew and signifieth a Breathing so that Spiration or Inspiration may well deserve to be the common and general name of all the various kinds of the Spirits Operations in the Souls of men and especially in Believers according to the words of Christ Iohn 3.8 The Spirit breatheth or inspireth where he willeth for so the words may be translated and so did the Fathers so call'd generally understand them And we know that the occasion of Christs speaking these words was his Discourse with Nicodemus about the Regeneration or spiritual new Birth as intimating plainly unto us that the Spirits Inspiration or in breathing into the Soul is necessary unto its Regeneration This is that breath or breathing of the Spirit which Ezekiel saw come upon the dead and dry bones which made them to live the same that made Adam a living Soul of whom it is said that God breathed into him Nismah Chaim the Breath or Inspiration of life and he became a living soul and indeed it is the Inspiration of life that maketh the Soul of any man that truly liveth unto God a living soul is as necessary to the Souls spiritual Life as the breathing of the Air is unto the Life of the Body And as the Breath or Inspiration of the Spirit of God and Christ quickneth the dead Soul and raiseth a
his Church and the contrary doth plainly appear from the words themselves for they were such Gifts as were given to the Rebellious that God might duel among them as signifying the sanctifying and renewing Gifts of the spirit most especially Again they are such as were given for the work of the Ministry the perfecting of the Saints the edifying of the body of Christ till we all come in the Unity of the Faith and of the Knowledge of the Son of God unto a perfect man unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ. And whereas this Author will have that the Church was come to her full stature in the primitive times and that consequently there was no more need of any of those Gifts mentioned in that aforecited place being all miraculous it seemeth to me wonderfully strained this his assertion And to be sure is far from the mind of many of his Brethren who from this very place of Scripture use to argue That there will be a Ministry and Office of Teachers in the Church till the Worlds end because however so perfect the Church was in those days by reason of new Converts and others in the present succeeding Ages who were to be converted Ministers and Teachers are still necessary for granting that some are come to the full stature yet many more are not so far advanced and so long as the World stands there will be Children as well as young men and Fathers in the Church But it is strange that he thinketh not only the Apostles Prophets and Evangelists but also Pastors and Teachers or Doctors to have ceased or expired with these miraculous Gifts Whence then have these who are now called Pastors and Doctors their Gifts and Authority it seemeth verily unto me that the Author hath here far out-reached and done a great disservice to his Brethren instead of thinking to do them a great service and how the University of Oxford can let this pass without a censure I do not well understand And whereas he saith From whence it is evident viz. from the afore-cited place Eph. 4.8 9 10 c. that as the Gospel increased and the Church grew up God like a wise Nurse weaned her by degrees from these miraculous Gifts till at last having arrived at her full stature in Christ he left her as Parents leave their Children when they are grown to be men to subsist without extraordinary helps and supplies But hath God left her without Pastors and Teachers and all the Gifts of Christs purchase when he ascended or are Pastors and Teachers these extraordinary helps how much better were it to say that the Gifts here mentioned are some extraordinary and miraculous and some ordinary and however that the persons of the Apostles or their bodily presence be removed from the Church of God on Earth yet their Testimony Words and Writings remain together with a measure of the same life and spirit that was in them for the spirit is one in all and therefore that very Gift of God his giving the Apostles to the Church and Evangelists and Prophets hath still its service in the Church and will to the VVorlds end and so in respect of that Service doth still remain and the Pastors and Teachers with all the common and ordinary Gifts of the Spirit necessary to Salvation do actually remain Again whereas the Author will have it that when the Church was in her more Infant-state the miraculous and extraordinary Gifts of the Spirit did most abound and when she was come to her most adult and perfect state they did wholly cease This also may be called in question viz. VVhether the Church in the Apostles days when those miraculous Gifts did most abound was not in a more perfect state than in the succeeding ages and whether the Author thinketh in his conscience that the Church in these latter ages since these miraculous Gifts have generally ceased viz. from about the beginning of the fifth Century till this time hath been in the most perfect state or rather have we not good ground to believe that the Church that was in the Apostles days and the ages immediately succeeding for the first three hundred years was in the purest and most perfect state of all and that the Churches of the succeeding ages have not arrived at her perfection Is not the Apostolical Church worthily reckoned the Patron of all other Churches hath not a great Apostacy come upon the far greatest part of that called the Church which began about that very time when these miraculous Gifts did cease in great part and though the Lord knoweth best why these miraculous and extraordinary Gifts did cease yet may it not be judged a better reason than any given here by the Author that these so excellent Gifts were taken away because of the Apostacy that was coming on apace upon the visible face of the Church and that the Unfaithfulness of Professors who did abuse both the ordinary and extraordinary Gifts of God provoked the Lord to take both sorts away from the greatest number in a great part if not altogether But whether when the Church shall Universally recover her former purity and sincerity it may please God to restore unto her those very extraordinary Gifts I leave to his infinite counsel and good pleasure to determine Again as to the other Scripture alledged and applied by him for the ceasing of these extraordinary Gifts he seemeth to have as far missed the mark as in the former as if forsooth Paul did reckon not only all those miraculous and extraordinary Gifts of the Spirit wherewith he was so richly endued but also all his Visions and Enjoyments he had of God by Inspiration and Immediate Revelation but as childish things and as belonging to a Childs state in comparison of more perfect attainments of Believers in the succeeding ages when all Divine Inspiration and Immediate Revelation should cease as this Author supposeth and if so then the Author may think himself and such as he as men in respect of Paul and the other Apostles who were but as Children to him and his Brethren for thus he expoundeth Pauls words 1 Cor. 13.9 10 11 12. Even as when I was a Child I spake as Child I understood as a Child I thought and conceived things as a Child but when I become a man and to the full use of my Reason I put away childish conceptions and things for now we see Divine Revelations thus he glosseth upon Pauls words as the Prophets did of old in a dark Enigmetical manner and by symbolical Representations of things upon the phansie as in a Glass but in the adult state of the Church we shall see them after the Mosaical manner in a more rational way and more accommodate to human Nature as it were face to face Now I know them imperfectly but then I shall know them clearly even as I am known Now I appeal to the Impartial Reader if he doth not prefer himself and
Book called Foxes and Fire-brands pag. 15. c. printed 1680. What ground of Proof can such a bare citation be without naming the Author or giving a sufficient Evidence of his Fidelity How many Lyes are to be found in printed Books If bearly to name the Title of a Book without regarding or giving sufficient Evidence of the Authors Fidelity be proof enough against a Doctrine or Person who shall or can escape Innocent It were easie to show how the Jesuits are as great enemies to Immediate Revelation and Inspiration as necessary to every true Christian for the foundation of their Faith as any people in the World or as this Author as doth clearly enough appear out of Bellarmin a great Jesuit who disputeth against this way of resolving or building our Faith and pleadeth for the Tradition of the Church in opposition to all inward Inspiration and calleth them mad men who lean to any Spirit within them which he saith is often fallacious and ever uncertain Nor were it a hard thing to prove that the Doctrine of Inspiration hath been preached and believed both in England and elsewhere before either the Name or Order of Jesuits was in the World And as to his Insinuation concerning R. Barclay unless he can prove that he remained a Papist when he did publish among many others that Doctrine he saith nothing to the matter It can easily be showed that divers Bishops and Teachers in the Protestant Church have had their Education at Popish Schools yea Luther himself was a Popish Monk and bred at a Popish University and some of the present Bishops and Teachers in Britain have had a Popish Education which yet will not argue they are still Papists How many are quite of other Perswasions than what they had by Education And as for R. B. what Education he had among Papists was but when a Child or Boy where he learned only some Latin and Grammar and what he received of their Leaven even in his young and tender years while yet but a youth he renounced and the Lord opened his Eyes to see and acknowledge the Truth whereof I can give better Testimony having well known him from that very time than this Author can against him And I ask the Author Was it any prejudice or derogation to the Christian Religion that Paul a zealous Preacher of it was bred among the Pharisees if not the Authors Argument being of the same sort evanisheth As for Labbade as he was no Quaker so called so whatever formerly he was to be sure he was then no Jesuit but hated and persecuted by them In pag. 40. he falls on with a fresh assault to accuse the Doctrine of the Quakers so called concerning a Spiritual Ministry and Spiritual Worship for being blasphemous but if this be blasphemy to own a spiritual Ministry and Worship at this rate he may accuse the Apostles yea Christ himself as blasphemous which is most absurd and blasphemous so to affirm who were for a Spiritual Ministry Iohn 4. and Spiritual Worship but it seemeth by this that the Author himself is only for a carnal or literal Ministry and Worship And he saith they viz. the people called in derision Quakers pretend that the Holy Ghost now cometh down upon their Assemblies as it did in the Apostles time and moves them to Preach and Pray by Inspiration without any regard to Condition or Sex But here he doth not fairly nor truly represent our Doctrine for we distinguish betwixt the ordinary and miraculous Inspirations with both which the Apostles were indued and we say Although the miraculous and extraordinary be ceased yet the ordinary remain as being necessary to all right effectual Preaching and Praying Again it is false that he alledgeth we say the Spirit inspireth us to Preach or Pray without any regard to Condition for a regard there is had unto the Condition of persons so that the Spirit inspireth none to Preach or Pray but such as are first brought into some measure of a sanctified State and Condition As to other things he mentions here and especially that about calling for Signs and Miracles I have already answered him above and here I would have him to consider how Christ called them an evil and adulterous Generation that sought after Signs And what if we could show Signs and perform all the other Conditions he requireth of us that he may believe us to be truly inspired would he then in good earnest believe us to be divinely inspired hath he not called the very principle a blasphemous Doctrine And whereas he saith pag. 38. he denyeth not but that God is free to send Prophets when he pleases and that he may do so when the exigence of the Church doth require it Is not this a manifest contradiction to his calling the Doctrine of Inspiration and Immediate Revelation blasphemous Or is God free to send when he pleaseth any blasphemous Doctrine or Principle into the World as this Author termeth Immediate Revelatiation and Inspiration And suppose that God did send Prophets or men immediately inspired which this Author supposeth he may Can God send any thing that would overthrow the Authority of the Scriptures and annul the Ministerial Orders would not this be inconsistent with his Divine infinite Wisdom But thus we see what inconsistences this Author falleth into while he is carried with such a preposterous zeal against this so excellent a principle In pag. 40. he scoffingly taunts the people called Quakers with their Groanings in their Meetings saying that they groan sufficiently we grant for sometimes in their Meetings they do nothing else But if their Groaning or vocal Devotion be from the Spirit how comes it to pass that the Spirit never moves them as it did in the Apostles days to Pray and Prophesie in unknown Tongues To this I answer Many have both Groaned and Prayed by the Spirit who never spoke with unknown Tongues as I think the Author will confess for the Prophets prayed by the Spirit before Christ came in the flesh and yet all had not the Gift of Tongues But by this it plainly seemeth he disowneth all Groaning and Praying by the Spirit as applicable to him or any of his Brethren this I say again is far contrary to the Liturgy of the Church of England And how knoweth he that sometimes in their Meetings the people called in scorn Quakers do nothing else I must tell him they do more in every Meeting although to groan from the Spirit is of more value than all that the Author or any else can do without the Spirit viz. they meditate they wait they watch they sing and make a melody in their hearts unto the Lord. But here he seemeth to scoff at our silent Meetings where we wait to hear what God will speak unto us though perhaps no man at that time doth speak which is well enough consistent with our Principle of Divine Inspiration for if God inspire his people now as formerly they are well
imployed and exercised who attend to his inspirings and find advantage in so doing much more than by all the much pratling of men who presume to Preach or Teach without the Spirit In pag. 37. he saith The Popes Infallibility must be resolved into this Enthusiastical Principle of immediate Inspiration I answer not but a most into a false pretence thereunto which yet argueth nothing against the true Principle itself And though some of the Popish Schoolmen resolve it into a pretence of Immediate Revelation yet many more do otherwise and particularly the University of Paris as I have showed at more length in my Book called Quakerism no Popery They resolve it only into a blind insensible assistance of the Spirit which they call subjective or effective illumination but not objective the which Popish distinction many Protestants and as it seemeth this Author apply to their Faith with this difference that these Protestants make the assistance of the Spirit fallible but the Papists make it as in the Pope and his Council infallible Pag. 29. he saith The Churches Hieroms Augustines Chrysostoms like us were not inspired but studied Divines I answer why might not Hierom Augustine and Chrysostome and such as they be both to wit parly inspired and partly studied as he termeth it seeing there is no inconsistency as he supposeth betwixt the Inspiration of the Holy Spirit and the frequent and diligent use of all right and lawful means such as reading the Scriptures Meditation and Prayer with other Religious Exercises which this Author calleth studying But studying without all Divine Inspiration makes but poor Divines or rather dead and dry Vines And here I give the Reader to understand that in the very beginning of his Sermon this Author for all his prejudice at Enthusiasts distinguisheth betwixt them and Impostors saying Impostors on one hand and Enthusiasts on the other c. What then are the Enthusiasts no Impostors One thing I like well in the Author as to what he saith and do therein cordially-agree with him pag. 39. The first Apostolical Ages of Wonder were utterly ignorant of killing impulse and zeal which I could not but observe to the utter detestation of Christians Assassines c. I could here cite divers Testimonies of the Ancients for the verity of Divine Inspiration as still remaining among and in the true Christians but to avoid prolixity I shall only cite two Testimonies one of Augustine another of Origene Augustine saith Tract Epist. Ioh. 3. There is an inward Master who teacheth Christ teacheth his Inspiration teacheth where his Inspiration and Anointing is not the words outwardly make but an empty sound Origines contra Celsum lib. 7. circa med 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 viz. Mat. 11. Verbum autem Dei divina quadam gratia non athea existente anima sed cum quodam Enthusiasmo demonstrat cognosci Deum The word of God citing Mat. 11. No man knoweth the Father but the Son and he to whom the Son reveals him demonstrateth that God is known by a certain divine Grace the Soul not being Atheistical but indued with a certain Enthusiasm Where note that he setteth in opposition Atheism and Enthusiasm or the Atheist and Enthusiast as if whosoever is not Enthusiast or indued with a Divine Enthusiasm were a downright Atheist which is very agreeable to a Title of a Friends Book called Enthusiasm above Atheism writ some years ago by G. W. There is one passage more in this Authors Sermon which I cannot well let pass pag. 32 33. Suppose saith he thou knowest the Gospel like the Apostles by Inspiration what then another Minister who knows it by reading and study is as capable to edifie the Church as thee And besides if thou art like a vain Corinthian ambitious of Inspiration know that it will add nothing to the Reputation of thy parts for an inspired man is but the Vessel to the Treasure the very Instrument and Machine of the Holy Ghost who can ordain strength out of the mouths of Babes and Sucklings and make a Child or an Ideot preach as well as thee To the first I answer according to this Authors assertion the bare Minister of the Letter is as good a Preacher and as useful in the Church as Paul or any of the Apostles which is so gross as nothing needs to be said unto the spiritually minded for its Refutation Did then the Scribes preach with the same Authority that Christ did is it not said expressly that Christ preached as one having Authority and not as the Scribes and what was the Reason of this so great a difference was not a main Reason of it that the Scribes preached barely from the Letter without Divine Inspiration but Christ preached by Divine Inspiration wherewith he was exceeding richly endued above all other men And if it should please God to send Preachers who should preach with Divine Inspiration should they not better open and expound the Scriptures and the Mysteries of the Christian Religion being inspired divinely so to do than those who presume to expound them meerly by the strength of their natural parts and human Learning Or why is it that great Schollars so accounted give so contrary Expositions to the same places of Scripture so frequently but that they want the Inspiration of the Spirit that gave them forth For as Hierome saith Epist. Paulin. 103. The Law is Spiritual and needeth Revelation that it may be understood To the second I answer 't is not Pride nor Vanity to desire the saving Inspirations of the Holy Spirit for Christ hath encouraged us to ask the Holy Spirit which is the same to our Souls as bread is unto the Body or the most nourishing Food And whereas he saith that Inspiration will add nothing to the Reputation of a mans parts who hath it I answer yea the Divine Inspiration that we plead for which is of a moral and saving Nature doth add exceedingly to a mans parts whether acquired or natural and consequently to their true and just Reputation for Grace which is a Divine Principle inspired and infused into the Soul doth sanctifie both the Soul of man and all its faculties and parts and healeth all the Souls Diseases and Disorders and consequently doth greatly improve assist and enlarge the mans parts and rational faculties who is so inspired as abundant Experience can be given both of latter and former Ages And tho' Inspiration of the Spirit of God may make Children and Ideots such as some of the Apostles were to preach or speak well yet it leaveth them not still to be Children and Ideots but by degrees doth largely replenish them both with spiritual and sometimes with a great natural understanding And doth not the Author think that Paul had a greater and nobler enlargedness of his rational faculties and the use of them in Preaching Disputing and Writing on the account of his being divinely inspired and although the inspired Man is but the Vessel to the Treasure yet
he is not a dead Vessel or Machine but is a living sensible rational Vessel and is quickned strengthened and beautifyed yea and perfected thereby as the Body is by the Soul that is lodged in it So that however others who are declared Enemies to Divine Inspiration may judge we have cause to conclude That men indeed Divinely inspired are the most truly Rational Men in the World and have the truest and noblest use of all their Rational and Intellectual faculties if duly improved Several Testimonies of Ancient Fathers so called and other Ancient Writers to the Spirits Inward and Immediate Teachings and the preference of the Spirit of God in his Divine Illuminations and Operations and Inspirations to the Letter of the Scripture also the Vniversality of Divine Illumination and of the benefit of Silence and other things of Truth of the like Nature as owned by the People called in Derision Quakers IGnatius who lived in the first Century or within a hundred years after Christ and is thought that he might have seen Christ in the flesh who died a valiant Martyr for the truth of Christ in his 9th Epistle writing to the Church of Philadelphia saith expressly thus 1. I have heard some saying unless I find the Gospel in Archeis publick Records or Writings I believe not Unto such I say Jesus is unto me for publick Records or Writings again he saith the publick Records or Writings ought not to be preferred unto the Spirit Observe It 's plain that by the Archea or Publick Records he meaneth the Scriptures in which sense Tertullian useth the word Archia lib. 3. against Marcion II. And in his 14th Epistle writing to the Ephesians he saith unto them expresly these words using the Holy Spirit the Rule in Greek thus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Greek word signifieth a measuring Line Rule or perpendicular III. Athenagoras who lived in the 2d Century legatione pro Christianis pleading for the Christians that they lived a pure life he saith expresly of them whose life is directed unto God as the Rule the Greek words are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 most properly signifieth a Rule Amussis Regula IV. Clemens Alexandrinus who lived in the beginning of the 3d Century admonitione ad Gentes saith But that holy man Moses speaketh truly Deut. 25.13 14 15. Thou shalt not have in thy bag a weight and a weight a great and a small but thou shalt have a true and a just weight judging the weight and the measure and the number of all things to be God for the unjust and unrighteous at home and in the bag are the Idols that are hid in the unclean soul but there is one just measure who is the only true God ever equal and ever the same measuring and weighing all things in the ballance which is righteousness V. The same Clemens 1 b. 1. Stromatum towards the end saith expresly thus It is evident that Moses calleth the Lord the Testament greek 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saying behold I my Testament with thee for before he said the Testament or Covenant was not to be sought in the Scripture again he saith in the preaching of Peter thou shalt find the Lord called the Law and the Word or Reason VI. The same Clemens in his forecited admonition to the Gentiles expresly declareth that in all men simply or universally and especially in them who are exercised in Doctrines there is instilled a certain divine influx or influence gr 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by the grace or gift of which they acknowledge even they also who are unwilling that God is one incorruptible and unbegotten or uncreated VII Again in the same he saith for as that divine Apostle of the Lord saith The grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared unto all men c. this is the New Song the appearance of the word which hath shined in us which was in the beginning and was first of all VIII And in his Poedagagus lib. 1. cap. 3. he saith there is a lovely or amiable thing in man which is called the inspiration of God gr 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 IX And writing to the unbelieving Gentiles he speaketh expresly of the inward witness which was in them calling it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 innatum testem fide dignum the innate witness worthy of faith and what is that but the same which Iames called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e. the innate word born or inbred in us X. The same Clemens in his Stromata citeth testimonies for the truth out of Matthias Barnabas Clement the Apostle and out of Hermes the Pastor yea he is so far from thinking that only the Prophets and Apostles writ by Divine Inspiration that he plainly declareth that not only Plato but also many others preached and declared the only true God by his inspiration gr 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 admon ad Gentes and in the same speaking of the followers of Pythagoras he saith and these things suffice unto the acknowledging of God which are written by them by the inspiration of God This Clemens Alexandrinus was the Scholar of Pantaenus the Martyr the which Pantaenus taught School at Alexandria in Aegypt and is said to have been the first Christian School-Master in that famous School of Alexandria to whom did succeed Clemens Alexandrinus and to him Origine and others successively XI The forecited Ignatius writing to the Ephesians ep 14. saith expresly thus Let Christ speak in you as in Paul let the Holy Ghost teach you to speak the things of Christ like unto him and in his 13th Epistle writing to Heron Deacon of Antioch he saith Thou art the Temple of Christ the Instrument of the Spirit XII Tertullian who lived about the beginning of the third Century lib. 2. carminum advers Marrion saith Atque adeo non verba libri sed missus in orbem Ipse Christus Evangelium est si cernere vultis In English thus Not the words of the Book but Christ who is Into the world sent the Gospel is If ye will understand this he wrote against the Marcionists a gross sort of Hereticks XIII The same Tertullian a very approv'd Author in what he writ before he was leavened with the Doctrines of Novatus and Montanus and famous among the Christians for his Writings a great defender of the Christian faith against the Infidels In his Book of the Testimony of the Soul against the Gentiles proveth that there is in the souls of all men a testimony concerning God the judgement to come the immortality of the soul the punishment of the wicked after death the resurrection of the body c. he saith moreover thus I bring forth a new Testimony more known than all literature or letter-knowledge and cap. 5. he saith thus These testimonies of the soul how much true so much simple how much simple so much vulgar how much vulgar so much common how much common so much natural how much natural so much
the ministry of the outward senses or those of its own making is necessary unto the attaining the fruitive or intuitive knowledge of God as aforesaid and the conversing with him nearly and intimately This I prove first from the testimony of Scripture Psalm 46.10 Be still and know that I am God and as the Septuagint hath it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 otiamini vacate vake ye Psalm 4.4 Speak in your heart upon your Bed and be silent so the Hebrew doth carry it Observe here by the Bed is signified the inward rest of the mind which when it attaineth it is fittest to speak unto God and vers 8. I will both lay me down in peace and sleep c. Psalm 23.2 He maketh me to lye down in green pastures he leadeth me beside the still waters Eccles. 5.1 2. Keep thy foot when thou goest to the house of God and be more ready to hear then to offer the sacrifice of fools for they consider not that they do evil Be not rash with thy mouth and let not thy heart be hasty to utter any thing before God Observe in that he saith let not thy heart be hasty to utter any thing before the face of the Lord so the Hebrew he layeth a restraint not only upon rash words of the mouth but upon rash thoughts also of the heart which it may utter before the face of the Lord which face of the Lord is the Light of the Lord that shineth in mans heart according to the words of the fourth Psalm called the light of his Face or Countenance Now which thoughts may be called rash or hasty thoughts Surely all such as are its own as proceeding simply from the heart it self without the Divine Instinct and Inspiration of the Spirit of God for saith the Apostle not that we are sufficient to think any thing as of our selves 2 Cor. 3.5 Canticles of Solomon 5.2 I sleep but by heart waketh how Bernard undestandeth this place I shall shew afterwards and Cant. 2.3 Cant. 2.3 I sat down under his shadow with great delight and his fruit was sweet to my tast Observe this whole speech being allegorical the sitting down must needs signifie the quiet and still condition of the mind and then to wit in this inward quietness of mind the fruit of her beloved is sweet to her tast Again Cant. 1.7 Tell me O thou whom my soul loveth where thou feedest where thou makest thy flocks to rest at noon Isaiah 26.23 Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on thee and as the Hebrew hath it the thought being stayed Isaiah 66.2 And on whom will I look but upon the humble and the silent and who tremble at my words So do the Septuagint translate the place And Isaiah 41.1 Keep silence before me O Islands and let the people renew their strength And Isaiah 30.15 In returning and rest shall ye be saved in silence and expectation shall be your strength Lamentations 3.26 He shall wait and be silent for the salvation of the Lord. Observe here the Scripture expresly mentioneth silent waiting or waiting in silence let the Opposers and Adversaries of Truth consider this who speak so much against silent waiting or waiting in silence and who say they read not of such a thing in Scripture and they acknowledge no waiting upon God but as they are exercised in somewhat as reading or hearing or speaking which they call waiting in Ordinances but here is a waiting in silence which is as real an Ordinance or appointment of God as any other which they utterly deny and are ignorant off Again Lamentations 3.28 He sitteth alone and keepeth silence Hosea 2.14 I will perswade her and bring her into a solitary place remote from all speech and I will speak unto her heart Zechariah 2.13 Be silent O all flesh before the Lord for he is raised up out of his holy habitation Moreover notwithstanding all the disdainful language which the opposers of Truth use against silence yet see what the Prophet saith of it in the Psalm Psalm 65.1 Unto thee silence praise O God in Zion so doth the Hebrew bear it and so doth Arias Montanus translate it Tibi silentium laus Deus in Sion which may be understood either 1. That silence is praise as well as words unto God or 2. That silence is due or belonging unto God as where he said Psalm 62.1 My soul is silent verily unto God or 3. That silence is necessary as a preparation unto praise all which are true Now that silence mentioned so frequently in Scripture is not a bare outward silence but a silence of the mind or soul from its own thoughts whether arising from corrupt and inferiour nature or from the active part of it self as it can act so much as in thought without the Divine Inspiration of the Spirit of God for without this all thoughts of mans heart touching Divine and Spiritual things are but barren and hurtful but such as are conceived in the mind by vertue of a Divine Instinct and Inspiration of God are profitable and fruitful and sweet unto the soul above hony or the hony comb even as David said how sweet are thy thoughts unto me O God For as I have already showed out of Bernard such thoughts are the words or speech of God as he speaketh in us by the Spirit Now when we speak of being silent from thoughts we do not understand these thoughts which are conceived or formed in us by Divine Inspiration for they are not inconsistent with the true silence but arise out of it and remain or spring up therein Secondly I prove the same from Antiquity I. Clemens Alexandrinus lib. 5. Stromatum he who neither maketh use of his sight nor any other of his senses in his thinking or contemplating but by the pure mind it self applieth to things obtaineth the true Philosophie Also Pythagoras his five years silence had this signification that he commanded his disciples that they should turn away from sensible things and behold and Contemplate God with the pure mind observe by the pure mind he understandeth the mind not only cleansed from its lusts but separated from the sensible Images of sensible things II. Augustin lib. 9. cap. 10. of his Confessions If to any the tumults of the flesh were silent and the phantasies of the Earth Water and Air were silent and the Poles of Heaven were silent and if the soul were silent unto it self and should pass beyond it self not thinking on it self and if Dreams and Imaginary Revelations were silent and every Tongue and Sign and whatever is made passing from one to another if to any it can be silent for if any hear all these things speak we have not made our selves but he hath made us who remaineth for ever Having said this if now they be silent because they have roused or awakened up the ear to him who made them let him speak alone not by them but by himself that we may