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
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
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
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
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
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
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
hath received such and so great favour who hath deserted the care of the world or age and taketh care of himself and cap. 18. who is so continually delighted in the love of God frequently doth suffer excesses of mind and being ravished from all things present and earthly is presented before the Lord and while he considereth his beauty being astonished with the greatness thereof he is wholly suspended in its admiration he admireth the glory of the King the magnificence of the Kingdom the nobility of the Supernatural City and the happiness of the Citisens the sweetness of the Inward Swavity and the tranquility of the Eternal Rest he meditateth on the power of the Father the wisdom of the Son the bounty of the Holy Spirit and the happiness of the Angelical Nature he is delighted of God into God while he admireth his Piety and beholdeth his Beauty O what a sweet ravishment is felt if it were not so short he is ravished while he beholdeth only heavenly things and by beholding them he is delighted but when he endevoureth to stand there longer he suddenly slideth and returning unto himself he cannot intimate to any what he hath seen above himself and cap. 70. It is necessary therefore to ascend unto the high heart and in the excess of mind by Divine Revelation to learn what that is unto which it ought to aspire and unto what condition of sublimity he ought to compose and accustom his mind for if once a man were admitted into that luciferous glory of Angelical Sublimity and did obtain to enter into that sight of the Divine Rayes with what most inward desires what profound groans what unutterable sighs do we think that he insisteth with what assiduous remembrance what delightful admiration do we believe considereth he and remembreth the brightness that he hath beheld desiring it sighing after it contemplating it until at length sometime he be transformed into the same Image from Glory to Glory as by the Spirit of the Lord but when we return from that state of sublimity unto our selves these things which we first saw above our selves in that truth and clearness with which we first saw them we cannot at all call them to our remembrance and although from thence we hold something in our memory and as it were through a middle Vail and as in the midst of a Cloud we are not able to remember the manner of our seeing nor the quality of the Vision and after a strange manner remembring we do not remember while seeing we do not see throughly and beholding we do not throughly behold and being intent we do not pierce throughly until again by Meditation we rise up into Contemplation by Contemplation into Admiration by Admiration into Alienation or excess of mind Again in the same Treatise cap. 17. Who doth so gather the evagations or wandrings of his mind into one and fixeth all the motions of his heart in the alone desire of Eternity surely now he hath returned unto his heart and now willingly he stayeth there and is marvelously delighted and now when he cannot contain himself for joy he is led above himself and by an excess of mind he is lifted up unto the hights and so by himself above himself by the knowledge of himself he ascendeth unto the knowledge of God that he may learn to love God alone and to think on him continually and in him to rest delightfully when so the love of Christ hath swallowed up the whole affection of man that being negligent and unmindful of himself he feeleth nothing but Jesus Christ then at length as I understand is the love of God perfected in him To him who is so affected poverty is not burdensome he feeleth not injuries he laugheth at reproaches he despiseth losses he counteth death gain yea he doth not think that he dieth when rather he knoweth that he passeth from death to life whom the love of God doth so hold inwardly bound he cannot go forth in a little but inwardly burneth in his desire the more largely how much the more familiarly and the more vehemently how much the more frequently Again cap. 70. of the same Treatise The Contemplation of Truth is begun in this life but in the future it is celebrated in a continual perpetuity by the Contemplation of Truth man is instructed unto Righteousness and perfected unto Glory The grace of Contemplation doth not only cleanse the heart from all worldly love but sanctifieth it and inflameth the mind unto the love of heavenly things who by Divine Inspiration and Revelation is carried on unto the Grace of Contemplation he receiveth some earnest of that fulness that is to come where he shall be continually fixed in the everlasting Contemplation Observe 1. How this Author doth plainly hold forth Divine Revelation and Inspiration as the means by which the Grace of Contemplation is attained Observe 2. How he affirmeth that this Grace of Contemplation doth cleanse and sanctifie the heart far contrary to the National Teachers who say such an attainment as the contemplation or beholding of God by Divine Revelation in this life is not necessary unto the Saints and it were dangerous lest they should be puffed up But that the seeing of God doth of its own nature exceedingly humble the Creature is clear from the 6th Chapter of Isaiah where the Prophet declareth after he had seen the Lord how he cryed out Wo is me for I am undone Note whether the Author of the Treatise above cited de Domo Interiori by Bernard or any other if some question it it is not much matterial seeing all that I have cited out of it is fully conform unto Bernard in his other Writings Again Bernard in his Sermon of the threefold manner of Contemplation But saith he there is is a place where God is seen truly resting and quiet a place not at all of a Judge not of a Master but of a Bridegroom and which to me indeed for of others I know not is indeed a Chamber if at any time it cometh to pass that I be brought into it but alas rara hora brevis mora lat it is a rare hour and a small stay there the mercy of the Lord is clearly undestood from everlasting to everlasting upon them that fear him and happy is he who can say I am a partaker with all that fear thee and keep thy Commandments Concerning the Necessity and Benefit of inward Silence in order unto the Conversing with God and the Contemplating and Beholding of him also of silence in Meetings and how it is profitable Moreover concerning the necessity of turning in to our own minds and hearts othervise called introversion that we may find the Lord and of waiting upon the Lord as thus turned inward or inwardly retired in our minds NOW that an inward silence of mind wherein the mind is silent and ceased from its thoughts or imaginations conceived whether by the images or phantasms it hath received by
is good to wait for the Lord in silence 2 As touching silence in meetings that there hath been silence in the religious meetings of Gods people This I prove first from the testimony of Scripture Job 2.13 So they sat down with him upon the ground seven days and seven nights and none spake a word unto him for they saw that his grief was very great Esdras 9.3 4. Then were assembled unto me every one that trembled at the words of the God of Israel because of the transgression of those that had been carried away and I sat astonished until the evening sacrifice but the seventy Interpreters translate it thus And I sat silent until the evening Sacrifice Ezekiel 3.15 Then came I to them of the captivity at Telabid that dwelt by the river of Chebar and I sat where they sat and remained their astonished among them seven days and it came to pass at the end of seven days that the word of the Lord came unto me saying Observe It is plain from these words that the Prophet waited in silence seven days for the word of the Lord to open his mouth Oh how the mockers of the Spirit of God who mock at our silent meetings would have mocked at this holy Prophet and as these mockers use to say to us when we sit silent together perhaps for the space of one hour or two not daring to speak until it be given us by the Spirit of God The Spirit is long a coming surely such atheistical mockers would have said the same to him if they had lived in his day or he in theirs although no doubt that good man had the Spirit of God and the word of God in his heart all the time well exercising him albeit nothing was given him to speak unto others even as we who wait upon the Lord in silence do find the Spirit of the Lord present with us and in us even in our silence and the reason of our silence is not that the Spirit of the Lord is absent but that we find it our place to be silent that we may the better attend to his inward teaching in our hearts and may be guided by him when and what to speak Mat. 5.1 2. And seeing the multitudes he went up into a mountain and when he was sat his disciples came unto him and he opened his mouth and taught them saying Observe after he was sat he opened his mouth this sitting doth spiritually or mystically signifie the inward composure and silence of the mind that both speakers and hearers should be brought unto before that any thing be spoken that will edifie So Beda Acts 2.1 2. And when the day of Pentecost was fully come they were all with one accord in one place and suddenly there came a sound from Heaven c. Observe It is plain from this that while they were sitting silent the Holy Ghost was given neither did they speak before they received the Holy Ghost but after they had received him then they spoke as the Spirit gave utterance And it is clear that the very end of their assembling together at this time was to wait upon the Lord for the fulfilling of his promise who commanded them Acts 1.4 that they should not depart from Ierusalem but wait for the promise of the Father So there they waited and without all words or outward ministry of any creature the Spirit was poured forth upon them It is worth the observing that while they were neither Exhorting nor Preaching nor Praying outwardly but silent this came to pass Secondly I prove the same from antiquity Athanasius in the Life of Anthony sheweth that Anthony would often sit silent with them who came to him as it is written in Daniel 4.19 and sometimes he would walk and after the space of an hour he would speak to his brethren who were present and would declare unto them the things which had been revealed unto him And at one time he was sitting and was in an extasie or in an excess of mind and while he was in the contemplation he groaned exceedingly and after an hours space turning unto them who were present he sighed and trembled and rising up he kneeled down and prayed for some considerable space and all the brethren that were present with him trembled also and having desired him to declare unto them his Revelation he yielded unto their desire and shewed them what had been revealed unto him This is that Anthony whom Augustin mentioneth so honourably in his Confessions and so doth Eusebius in his Ecclesiastical History Moreover because I find people generally and even them who suppose they have skill in Learning and Philosophy to think so strangely of our silence in our meetings and some have not stuck to say that silent meetings are altogether a new conceit of the Quakers the like whereof was never known among wise men I judge it not amiss to let them understand how Plato in his Book de Sapientia declareth concerning his Master Socrates that his Schollars or Familiars were sharpned or quickned by him even when he was silent upon which Marsilius Ficinus a great Platonist hath these words lib. 7. cap. 5. Theologica Platonica de Animae Immortalit Moreover saith he Socrates declareth how that some who used his company and were near unto him became more quick or sharp in understanding even when he was silent and when they departed from his company and converse they became duller as if that vertue of understanding belonged unto a certain divine influence from God conveyed by the spirit and mind of Socrates unto the minds of his familiars thus Marsilius Ficinus Now this Socrates is generally esteemed by the learned to have been the best of all the Philosophers yea Iustin Martyr affirmeth plainly that he was a Christian and that he knew Christ as he is the word also Clemens Alexandrinus expresly declareth that the idea of Socrates and Plato in the comtemplation of which they placed only the true Philosophy was the word mentioned Iohn 1.1 lib. 5. Stromatum from which it is plain that Socrates had meetings with his Friends in silence and they profited by him even when he was silent Therefore let all such who reckon themselves wise men and Philosophers be ashamed any more to speak against silence in meetings as if it were an unprofitable thing lest in so doing they declare themselves to be rather Fools than true Philosophers such as Socrates Again Plutarch in his Morals Tom. 1. cap. 13. so highly commendeth silence that he calleth it a profound wisdom and full of high misteries and he saith we learn from men to speak but from the Gods to be silent for in the Sacrifices and holy Ceremonies of the service of the Gods we are commanded to be quiet and to keep silence and the saying of Cato is excellent he is next God who knoweth in reason to be silent And that you may see how suitable and agreable the things which I have already