that any Man may easily judge whether he is in Enthusiasm or not if in his Zeal he errs wilfully 't is fatal but if ignorantly like St. Paul and Abraham he need not fear but that GOD will rather by a Miracle save our Son and Convert us than let us suffer damage but then if with the Jewish Exorcists and Simon Magus with the love of the World in our hearts we seek to hold the Truth in unrighteousness methinks we have no reason to complain that our desires have succeeded against us and we are lost in Enthusiasm And yet not but that there are extreams on the other side too there are Men that lye dead in Forms as well as such as are mad in Superstition and that have not Patience for their Tryals nor are they less to be reproved for burying their Talents than the others for making every whimsey that crosses their Thoughts to come from GOD I must confess the latter is chiefly proper to my Subject here and yet the former also stands justly in my way of Reproof To return therefore how easie a Test have we against any man's pretence for feeling Truth Alas GOD's Holy Suggestions and right Reason are never discernable asunder we are only to know Trees by their Fruits and not to believe even an Angel from Heaven if he Preach other Doctrine than Truth what hazard are we at then whether a Man be an Enthusiast or not if we follow him with a blind implicit Submission indeed we are but we ought to be always on our Guard and to have such a Respect for no man's Person And thus though 't were the Devil that perswaded or convinced me of my Duty as 't is said of Luther I would not neglect it not but that I would perish too before that I would seek to him for it And on the contrary were I sure he were an Angel or a Prophet that perswaded me to what I knew or but thought in my Conscience to be evil I would certainly disobey him What danger have we then left of falling into Delusions Or what good will even the confidence of a Mountebank do our feeling Enthusiasts Alas nothing but betray them GOD's Spirit is meek and lowly he tells us that he resists the Proud And hence St. Paul says modestly in one place of his Epistles that he believes only that he has the Spirit of GOD 1 Cor. 7.40 And had not our new Spirit Men that I am perswaded have not his Warrant better say ingenuously then that their Silence and Meditation leaves room for that Holy Spirit whose Assistance they hope they may have at least in some degree rather than by an haughty and proud Arrogance thus burst the growth of those Holy Seeds that ought only to be cherished through Humility Nay and do not they as good as grant this when they not only say they do but even we see that they err grosly in their best Exercises If you will be free therefore of Enthusiasm beware of this Pride and beware of a proud and needless Separation from others on the too common but groundless pretences that we are more Holy than you 'T was prophesied of old that we should not be able to endure sound Doctrine but heap up to our selves Teachers having itching Ears 2 Tim. 2.4 But remember 't is no slight Offence to forsake a Publick Church too easily 't was what all the Corruptions of the Jews could not make Christ do who always Taught in their Synagogues and Temples John 18.20 Publick Communion is so Sacred a Bond Heb 10.26 that nothing I know but flat Idolatry with Elijah Shadrack Meshack and Abednego is able to excuse thee from it Besides consider how many GOD has laid his Judgments on for this separating Pride and how he has often let the Devil inspire them instead of the Holy Ghost nay and remember too that Christ made it his business to converse with Sinners and thou for all thy Pride art but a Man and much meaner sure than he and if so as all Mankind are thy Brethren at worst they require thy Advice and Reproof and fear not like Lot thou wilt not be the sooner destroy'd for living amongst them if thou continuest pure thy self but if having but a seeming Holiness thou glory in a proud and uncharitable Singularity know that Delusion will ruine thee The Soul that has not a Love Faith and Purity as large as GOD's at least in good will has not his Spirit By what has been wrote therefore I think it is plain that our discerning of Spirits is no such Work to be despair'd at as is suppos'd if we keep our selves but pure Our Wickedness indeed may forfeit God's Protection of us or else we may be sure he will not let us be fool'd out of the Glory that he has prepared for us And thus as GOD ordinarily has appeared to his Prophets both by Dreams and Visions and as he did to Adam in Paradice so he requires our Obedience to them also as he has done with them and as well he may where he has done but the same to others and I say it is justly also even at our Peril to discern Faith from Presumption in them since we cannot be deceiv'd but thro' our own fault and neglect As I have said before Certainty and Perfection belong only to Translation and Fruition not I mean that if we trust wholly in God we are at any hazard neither as GOD has promis'd us not to let us be tempted beyond our Strength 1 Cor. 10.13 And surely we may let GOD be true tho' every Man be a Lyar But we must learn from thence to abate all overweening Pride and for our own Safety in pursuance of our Trials to resign our selves wholly and entirely to the Will of GOD. And thus had the Magicians exceeded Moses in Wonders as much as there were hundreds of Baalites to one Elijah yet Moses and Elijah tho' the only Prophets of GOD left must needs be discernable thro' their Sincerity And that Man or Prophet that shall unsincerely and disobediently hearken even to a true Prophet against his known Duty and Conscience shall have a Lion provided to tear him in pieces in his way as he returns and as even the Scriptures themselves have given us in Example To be short we may conclude upon the whole matter that not only if we obey not the lesser and first tendings of the Holy Spirit we are weak to expect the greater but we are presumptuous also if we seek greater certainty than others have had before us Suppose I am to obey GOD on these terms do I hazard more than others have done before me And thus could it be any thing but the Innocence of Moses in his own Conscience that could assure him that the Angel that appeared unto him in the Bush was not other than an Angel of Light And shall I expect then to trust GOD on surer grounds And even so in Natural Religion
is tedious and difficult and that the many miscarriages of others quite discourages all thy Endeavours towards it Alas thou forgettest that Gold is not Gold till 't is tryed in the Furnace and our Sovereign Maker in all the Justice of the World has reason to take us for no other than tinsâ—l and dâ—oss for all our gawdy and gilded appearance of Uprightness until we have stood a due shock of Tryals and Temptations and after all who shall say to God that Justice is not an Attribute worthy of the goodness of the Divine Majesty Besides God is more good than to leave our gain so desperate too he has reserved many lesser Measures and lesser Crowns and degrees of Glory for them who with hearty endeavours fail of attaining the highest And what then though thou art not one of those one 's of Myriads that have attained Translation or those one 's of Millions that have attained to be Prophets David could rather desire to be a Door-keeper in the House of God than a Prince in the Tents of Wickedness So further remember that if thou dost set about this great Work that thou do it not like the Sons of Zebedee Humility by seeking the chief place only leave that Ambition to GOD and if thou dost so and dost well 't is impossible but that by degrees he must give it thee Nor be grieved that GOD does not immediately appear to thee by Vision or Revelation remember 't is in Mercy that he will not lead us further than we are perfect lest we be destroyed The Offences that in the Vale of Ignorance are light and trivial against the full Glory of GOD's Revelations and Commands magnifie like Achan's Corah Dathan's and Abiram's Remember Judas and Lot's Wife and that if we there fall away we must never expect to be renewed Heb. 6.6 Take care therefore for as at best GOD will frustrate all such Superstitious Expectations of Faith so if thou hast no other Bottom than such Stubble and Straw of Curiosity to trust to thou must expect that when GOD's purifying Fire comes that though thou art raised even as high as Lucifer in thy conceit yet all will consume and fall yea and thou with it nay and that though thou raise thy Babel a Thousand times if it does not do worse and run thee into Enthusiasm and the Delusions of Satan And yet for all this thou must still work it out with Patience thou must not think now only to aim at a Tabernacle here and with the Faith of Abraham and the Patriarchs rest at a Pilgrimage in this World only for though David and others were Men in their time and Light after GOD's own Heart yet now we have a more perfect and holy Example to wit Christ Jesus a Priest after the Order of Melchizedeck that never dyes and greater than Abraham Heb. 7.3 So that now we are without Excuse if that we only seek an Earthly Canaan for to what end does Light come into the World if we still remain in Darkness But you will say the Apostles attained not hereto and yet were very Holy Men and what then Do they not all confess themselves the imperfect followers of the great Pattern Christ Jesus Object I might judge that it was their Contentions and Propriety in Conversions that kept them from their growth in this Kingdom but I forbear to censure as I am sure if I do I cannot be certain however by the effect 't is plain that there was something wanting in them as there was in their casting out some Devils that they could not but by Fasting and Prayer Luke 9.39 40. But I leave their Judgment to GOD. To proceed therefore thou must not for all this let theirs nor any others failings make thee forbear thy hopes for Purity and Happiness no as I have said let GOD be true and every Man a lyar Nor fear for if thou art exactly sincere thou must conquer nor be dismayed that thou hast hitherto lived in sin for Christ has shewn thee by his Parable that though thou come in at the latter end of the day yet 't is all one indeed 't will be thy pitch and continuance in Faith that will be all in all But thou art a Jew or Turk and canst not meet with Reason sufficient to Convert thee to Christianity And what then If thou followest it but in this alone and art sincere and art not wilful in thine own Ignorances 't is impossible but that thou must Conquer and rather than thou shalt fail of a necessary truth if thou persevere in this course to seek the Kingdom of GOD and conform to an exact Scrutiny of Truth even GOD himself will reveal it to thee as he did it to St. Paul and Cornelius 1 Tim. 1.13 Acts Cap. 9 10. Let us chearfully then set about this great Work and try to Rival one another in it and in who can help each other most towards it let us Pray without ceasing 1 Thess 5.16 and let us add to that a purifying Industry that we may not tempt GOD are we not Cowards to let Enoch and Elias through the Law of Nature and a Law of Ceremonies and Shadows enter this Kingdom whilst we are shut out that not only have the Example but the most particular Instructions of Christ to help us towards it You Object That the Translation of Enoch and Elias was not on this Account but rather with the Resurrection of Christ to give an Ocular Demonstration to the several Ages of the World of the Immortality of the Soul But why should you furmise thus Do the Scriptures say thus Nay do they not plainly say the contrary and make all the meer effect of Faith Heb. 11.5 If so then let us no longer lye Idle and be thus deceived with the appearance of Truth only let us embrace the Scriptures throughly or reject them wholly But alas in truth the thing is our Lusts are in our way and we resist the leading of GOD's Spirit and so it is that he is forced to perfect us as high as he can alas we are so far from moving Mountains and making Iron swim with our Faith that with St. Peter we sink the first step we take on the Water we have not the Faith even to give us a Mortal Canaan or to make the Walls of Jericho fall how shall we then expect the Spiritual Canaan and the New Jerusalem amongst us But as we can't 'tis our own fault and only ours we will not follow the Spirit of GOD I am sure that he tryes us e're he leaves us and meerly the cunning of the Devil cannot supplant us is he nigh us GOD is nearer and thou canst not fall but by thine own privity but when instead of Industriously following GOD's leading Methods to Wisdom through Meditation and Conscience thou resist them do you think you do not stop up your own way And from this wilful and perverse Spirit of Infidelity it is that GOD has been
one and easie Rule to choose the good and avoid the ill think you else that St. Peter St. Paul and Silas might not have been translated as well as Elijah a Jew had they but laid by their Animosities Acts 15.37 Gal. 2.11 and other faults for surely both as Christians they could not deserve less and Translation in its self must needs be more for the Honour both of GOD and Christianity than Martyrdom But what you are offended that I take these Liberties with the Apostles you forget that though they had the Spirit yet was it but in part they knew in part and they prophesied in part nay and their Gifts sometimes vanished away So you forget that even the very best of them were forced to work out their Salvations with fear and trembling for all their gifts nor need I say thus on presumption only for do not the Scriptures say the same thing 1 Cor. 13.8 9. And do they not shew us that they that had the Gifts of Tongues did sometimes abuse them 1 Cor. 14. God is not lavish in his Gifts though he is liberal so that though he give his Graces on occasion yet he suits them to Times and Seasons of his own nay and though by us he informs the World of their Duty yet he takes care withal by his Information never to give us such a certainty as may destroy our Tryals by Faith and from this Fallibility it was that St. Paul ordered the Spirit of the Prophets to be subject to the Prophets and that he advised Timothy to Study and Reading 1 Tim. 4.13 and prudentially to drink Water with his Wine Indeed as I have said what need had the Apostles and Prophets of a Sanhedrim and Council if that they had had all things immediately inspired from GOD In truth if we would but open our Eyes we might see these matters beyond doubt Thus nothing is plainer than that John the Baptist knew not Christ by sight though he knew of him by Revelation So nothing is more evident than that St. Paul could call the High-Priest a whited Wall in a mistake for all that he had Christ's particular Promise to be helped before Rulers In short this Argument needs no other Evidence unless it be for those whom none can convince Shall the Scriptures tell us that even the Angels are impure in the sight of GOD and shall we be afraid to charge Men with faults Indeed could Christ himself be in such doubts as to want an Angel to comfort him and to cry out My GOD my GOD why hast thou forsaken me upon the Cross And may we not charge his Disciples with weaknesses But to proceed not only single Persons but even Churches also may arrive at the state of Prophecy Of Prophetick Churches if they are but Pious accordingly Thus what were the Israelites but a Generation of Prophets And had they not been rebellious instead of their perishing in the Wilderness and their having a Ceremonial Law and an Earthly Canaan as a School-Master to bring them to the Heavenly Faith Gal. 3.24 who can doubt but that they might and would have arrived there themselves And hence methinks I dare rationally Prophecy That if ever any Government shall heartily seek to GOD and by a perpetual Reformation and Address through Prayers seek the Kingdom of GOD they shall not only be able like the Israelites to divide the Red-Sea for their Passage and to have their Cloaths not wax old and Quails sent them by GOD himself rather than fail to nourish them if occasion be but they shall even almost infinitely exceed their Type in Israel and by degrees become more Glorious than now our very Thoughts can comprehend Then as the Prophets have foretold us of old will the happy time arrive when Nation shall no longer rise against Nation nay when the Lion and the Lamb shall be able to lye down together in safety then shall our Swords be beaten into Plow-shears and our Spears into Pruning-hooks while Truth and Peace shall kiss each other and Righteousness shall even run down our Streets in that Kingdom That when e're it comes will be Christ's Glorious Day and that which Abraham rejoyced to see That will be the time the Devils dreaded so long since when they asked Christ whether he was come to torment them before their time That will be what must needs end in the Glorious Sabbath which St. John by the Revelations leads the Churches to and of which though as yet we have no demonstrable Interpretation yet the very Glympse we have of it is enough to encourage us towards it though without a precise Resolution But in short what-ever Church aims at this must do it heartily or else 't will be all in vain for until they have wholly laid by their Self-love and seek purely for the Glory of GOD they can never rationally expect so peculiar a care from GOD for surely in this the Poet is right Veniunt ad Candida tecta columbae Nor wonder at these things for if Withers prove a true Prophet as hitherto he has been there must be such a change in the Church as this e're long and that you may the better know how you are to expect it I shall add these few Verses taken out of his late Collection of Prophesies and that were Dedicated to the Convention in the Year 1689. Pag. 3. And then shall Righteousness ascend the Throne Then Truth and Love and Peace re-enter shall Then Faith and Reason shall agree in one And all the Vertues to their Council call And timely out of all these shall arise That Kingdom and that Happy Government Which is the scope of all these Prophesies That future Truths obscurely represent Pag. 20. Be patient therefore ye that are opprest This Generation shall not pass away Till some behold the Downfal of the Beast Pag. 30. But if that whereof some imperfect views Far off appears accordingly ensues There will to thwart their hopes a new Star blaze Within the West which will the World amaze And influence through the Universe So quickly and prodigiously disperse That aided by concurring Constellations It will have some effect upon most Nations And cause such Changes as will make a stand To those Attempts that they have now in hand Meaning the Papists See the Prophecy at large But not to rely on Withers only do not the Scriptures say the same thing Does not Daniel Crown all with this Kingdom of GOD at last Dan. 7.27 And does not Christ tell us that the Gospel of the Kingdom shall be Preached to all the World and then shall the End come Mat. 24.14 Mark 13.10 Nay and do not the Revelations end in the same manner with an Angel to Preach the Gospel to every Nation Rev. 14.6 and with a New Jerusalem to descend from GOD Indeed because the Scribes were so wicked as to shut up the Kingdom of GOD so as neither to go in themselves nor let others enter Mat. 23.13
Infidelity and by our false Casuism and Controversies keep out the Kingdom of GOD from amongst us Did we like the Noble Bereans search the Scriptures throughly and not like little foolish Sects take our Faith on trust and spend our time on Quarrels at Discipline that ought to be employed in purifying our Lives and Practices Did we hearken when GOD teaches us in our Consciences and step into the Spiritual Bethesda when the Spirit of GOD moves in our Meditations 't were impossible but that GOD should lead us right So did we consider also that our Sins and Impurities are as much in our Hearts and Eyes as our Hands and Actions we should be more cautious of our Adulteries against the Law of GOD but alas we walk in blindness and will not see we waste our Zeal in Controversie that should be spent in true Piety we cast Mists of Tradition and Church-Authority before us in distraction of our Brotherly Love so that if we would we can't see In truth were our Eye single we might hope for it but alas 't is double and our Lusts will not let us remove the Beam and pluck out our right Eyes that offend us we are too far enamoured with the Silver and Gold of the Whore and the Lusts and Pride of Life to be Disciples of so great Resignation And what but this is it that forces God to afflict us to see And what but this is it that makes us reform and reform again Because our Corruptions fling us into our unaccountable Divisions and will not let us see the guilt of them Alas how can we as St. John tells us pretend to love our Heavenly Father that we have not seen when our Discords are so unreasonable with our Brethren that we have seen Surely if we ever intend to approach to God we must learn to lay a deeper Foundation in our mutual Love and Charity towards it Further in seeking this Kingdom also we must learn to avoid Idleness as bane and seek heartily for Wisdom Spare not therefore to rise early and to be up late for it Nor must you admit the least prejudice in your Wisdom wilful Error and Piety can never subsist together and yet remember withal that 't is not your large Bodies of Divinity so much as 't is GOD must lead you not I mean that you should tempt GOD neither for that Knowledge which Industry ought to attain but that you ought to Pray and Meditate as well as Study and hearken as well to the sincere checks of thy Conscience as Notions of Books nor slight this Advice for know GOD thus first illuminates those Souls that he intends to inhabit And yet let not this diligent Sincerity run thee into Care neither but trust wholly on GOD without Anxiety after thy best Endeavours and yet be still on thy Guard and ever aiming at the highest pitch of Sincerity and Purity indeed forfeit not thine Integrity though but even in a Trifle for how dost thou know O Man but that that may be thy fatal Tryal And to crown all this add the Charity of a courageable Advice to Mankind fear not the face of Man but rebuke him throughly and rescue the Honour of GOD from his Errors and yet not that I would have thee disturb Men by thy Advice or cast Pearls before Swine or go about to Preach as Christ did till sent but I would have thee to seek all Prudent Occasions to Advise thy Brother to rescue the Honour of GOD advance his Kingdom and save the Soul of thy Brother if it offers And if thou dost thus thou needest not fear thy Success for if Christ could tell the Scribe for his discreet Answer Luke 12.34 that he was not far from the Kingdom of GOD thou if thou hazardest thus all for his Glory needest not doubt it surely but else if thou forsake not all thou canst not be his Disciple Luke 14.33 As our Saviour says The Children of this World are wiser than the Children of Light Luke 16.8 Or else they could never be mistaken so much in their Methods to Salvation as they are 'T is true GOD requires a Self-denyal in this beyond a little passionate spurt I mean a real and continual one but what then dare we not trust him And has he not assured us of Protection and that we shall not lose by it even in this World and that though we fail in the Attempt And what remains then but that we believe either that he can't help us or is not Faithful Now to say he can't help us is manifestly a Lye for even the Coelestial Orbs bigger than the Earth move at this instant by his Providence much more then can be move a little Mountain or do any less Act to save us And wilt thou charge him with being unfaithful Pray tell me then whom it is that he has deceived if thou canst not dost not thou calumniate him What then remains but that you think 't is not possible for a Man to purifie himself to that degree that I prescribe But as to that I say 't is false he may no Man I believe can purifie himself from Frailties for they are Humane but from wilful Guilts of all kinds they may or else GOD is unjust to require it and which I am sure he is not if so therefore provided we are wary against all wilful Omissions or Commissions we need not fear the injury of Frailties St. James tells us Cap. 5. Ver. 17 18. That Elias was a man subject to like Passions as we are and he prayed earnestly that it might not rain and it rained not on the Earth for the space of three Years and six Months And he prayed again and the Heavens gave rain and the Earth brought forth her fruit And indeed it was the same Elias that was afterwards translated If this Power were given to Elias therefore who had not the advantages of Christianity to help him where lyes any just grounds for our doubt of it You will say sometimes in doubts you are forced to dissatisfie your Conscience where you know not how to resolve it But as to that as I have before directed thee when with thy sincerest Judgment thou hast chosen the good resolve and sink not into scruple but rather rejoyce in thy Resolution and that thou art sure that if after thine hearty Industry thou errest that even GOD himself will reveal it to thee rather than thine Error should injure thee Phil. 3.15 or else indeed as the Apostle hath said 't is damnable To be short therefore learn to be even obstinately constant in thy Devotions and remember to do all things for the Glory and Honour of GOD even to eat drink and be merry without Faith is Sin For who gives us these Blessings Is not that worth our care Much more therefore when we seek our own Glory GOD may justly Sacrifice us in our best Actions So never act in doubt to stifle Doubts is to quench GOD's Spirit