the time of the Law where a Doctrine and Worship prevailed which was not according to Gods word but mans will and where Judaism and Heathenism were mingled together into one mungrel Religion most odious and abominable to God and his People And so the Vniversities in the time of the Gospel are only answerable to the High Places in the time of the Law but not at all to the Schools of the Prophets as Mr. Simpson pretends And now for the Conclusion of this matter which I reckon to be of great concernment for the true Church to be thorowly instructed in I shall bring forth the Testimony of some Godly men of whom some shew how the Schools and Vniversities of Christians came first to be corrupted to wit by departing from the plain word of the Gospel and bringing in Philosophy And another foretels the Reformation of the Schools of Christians to wit by rejecting Philosophy again and bringing in the word of faith all which will serve as a Confirmation of what hath been already spoken Matthias Parisiensis a Bohemian by Nation who lived about the year 1380. wrote a large book against Antichrist whrein he affirms That Antichrist had seduced all Vniversities and Colledges of learned men so that now they teach no sincere Doctrine neither give any true light to Christians through their teaching to wit they being all corrupted through Philosophy and having through that corrupted all Divinity And John Hus that humble and faithfull servant of Jesus Christ and blessed Martyr saith That Antichrist hath seduced all carnal Christians from Divine wisdom which is full of Salvation and the Holy Spirit to the wisdom and Science of men and of the Princes of this world which wisdom and Science he hath exceedingly inlarged and increased and made Authentical and very gainfull of Riches and Honors in this world that so by this means Divine wisdom and science might be neglected of Christians and grow old and be covered over and be accounted as vile and unprofitable by them And that only that which is high with men to wit Humane Learning might be reckoned glorious and excellent and of great Authority with Christian people The same Hus saith That this Humane Learning Wisdom and Knowledge Antichrist doth perfectly subject to himself and his Service he being more mighty and subtil through the Operation of Satan then all worldly men whom with all their Learning Disciplines and Abilities he strongly subâ—ugates to himself and doth especially serve himself of these wherefore saith Job chap. 41. sub ipso erunt radii solis the heams of the Sun shall be under him that is the holy Scripture and the chief Doctors and Teachers of it and he shall prepare gold as dirt that is he shall have all the wisdom and learning of men at his pleasure and in great readiness and with much ease shall gain it to himself And Antichrist by such men saith I. Hus doth make his body or Church strong against the Saints of God and welfavoured and glorious that it may appear very taking to the world and may win in all men to it that are not taught of God and renewed by his Spirit And thus Antichrist serves himself of all Learning and Learned men whereas Divine Learning and the Teaching of God he could never in any measure subject to himself but is alwaies rejected discovered and overcome by it Martin Luther saith That whosoever it was whether Alexander of Hales or Thomas of Aquine who first instituted Vniversities he was a Star fallen from heaven to earth who received the key of the bottomless pit and opened it and brought forth into the Church Philosophy long ago dead and damned by the Doctrine of the Apostles and from the smoak of the bottomless pit that is Philosophy came forth Locusts on the earth that is saith he populus Vniversitatum è Philosophia natus the people of the Vniversities born and bred of Philosophy c. thus Luther Abbas Joachim Calaber who was long before these and flourished about the year 1230 in his Commentary on Jeremy the Prophet speaks to this purpose That the sixt Angel mentioned Revel. opens the bottomless pit and brings out Philosophy into the Church and out of the smoak of this Doctrine Locusts proceeded and are spread over all the Church into every fruitfull place and these Locusts he saith are Scholastici Magistri qui nunc facietenus blandiuntur ut decipiant nunc caudetenus feriunt unsubvertant simplices incautos that is the Locusts are Scholars and Masters according to the Academical degrees who sometimes flatter with their countenances to deceive and sometimes strike with their tails that they may subvert the simple and unadvised And to these Scholars and Masters the ignorant and common people resort and they open to them the old Cisterns of heathenish Learning and Disciplines long ago stopt up by the Doctrine of the Apostles and these Cisterns they open by teaching Philosophy to the people But they shut up the living fountain of saving water that is the word of faith But the spirit of the Lord saith he in the following Prophets whom the Lord shall raise up idola studiorum carnalium visitabit shall visit the Idols of carnal studies maintained and kept up by secular Stipends Further he saith that as Antichrist brings forth his mark which is Philosopical Doctrine in the Church of Christ and by this mark all his Teachers and People are known so there shall rise up against these such as have the mark of Christ or the sign of Thau in their foreheads that is the open and manifest Doctrine of Christ crucified And as the signs of Moses destroyed the signs of the Magicians so shall the word or preaching of the Cross destroy all Philosophical Doctrine and Humane and secular Learning out of the Church And then the children and youth and men of all ages sorts and conditions shall be taught no other Doctrine in the Church of Christ then that which is found in the Scriptures even in the writings of the Prophets and Apostles and that not according to any humane and Philosophical understanding but according to the teaching and mind of the Spirit And God by all his true servants shall destroy the studies of carnal Doctors and Masters in Divinity and shall dissipate all secular and Philosophical Learning by the word of Truth in their mouths And so shall the Church be reformed aright when the Doctrine of Christ only shall be received and esteemed of and shall live and flourish among Christians And thus as Antichrist hath laid aside the Scriptures and all true spiritual and divine Learning out of his Schools and Vniversities and hath brought into them instead thereof Philosophy and Humane Learning and so these Schools are most unlike to the Schools of the Prophets so in due time when God shall undertake to reform his Church all this sort of Learning shall be cast out again
Again if any shall Object in reading this Reply that I my self make use of Humane Learning whilst I speak against it I Answer what part of Philosophy is here made use of or who of the Heathens are here quoted I have chiefly made use of the Testimony of some faithfull Christians who have lived in several ages and yet have all witnessed by the same Spirit the same Truth And it is no more Humane Learning to quote Believers in the Church since Christ then to quote the Patriarks and Prophets before Christ or the Apostles and Evangelists which immediatly followed him 5. And last of all If any say I my self relate to the University why then do I speak against it thus I answer that I neither do nor will relate to the University as it is polluted with any of the Abominations herein mentioned But as by the Providence of God alone I have been brought to that Relation in which I now stand and continue in it against the wills and workings of many so through his good pleasure I will remain till he shall otherwise dispose of me and during my sojurning with them I will not fail to testifie against their evil and to endeavor to win all those whom God shall perswade to receive his Truth from Heathenism to the Gospel and from Antichrist to Christ Wherefore let none be offended that I am made willing to hazard and part with my worldly accommodations for Christs Names sake but let them rather praise the Grace of God which hath enabled me to witness a good confession what ever worldly disadvantage I might run into thereby Wherefore welcome the Kingdom Righteousness Power Wisdom Word of Christ though they swallow up all my earthly accommodations For such love hath the Lord put into my heart that I would not willingly conceal any thing of his most precious Truth either to gain or to preserve to my self the whole World And so righteous Father not my will be done nor theirs but Thy will be done in Earth as it is in Heaven FINIS Isa. 62.1 For Sions sake I will not hold my peace and for Jerusalems sake I will not rest until the Righteousness thereof go forth as brightness and the Salvation thereof as a Lamp that burns MAster Sydrach Simpson the last Commencement preaching to the Vniversity Congregation in Cambridge and to many others especially Ministers there gathered together at that time from several parts of the Nation among other things he let fall in that discourse of his these gross and Antichristian Errors The Rehearsal of the Errors 1. He brought in that Scripture 2 Kings 6. v. 1 2. which was his Text the words whereof are these And the Sons of the Prophets said unto Elisha Behold now the place where we dwel with thee is too strait for us let us go we pray thee unto Jordan and take thence every man a beam and let us make us a place where we may dwel and he answered Go yee This Scripture he used to prove the Lawfulness and Religiousness of the present Vniversities and the usefulness and necessity of humane Learning to the Church and Ministery of the New Testament And what the Scripture speaks of those Schools he brought to countenance encourage and justifie these adding that if it were objected That that was the Old Testament He did answer That the old and the new were not distinct Testaments but Administrations thereby holding forth that the Vniversities now are answerable to the Schools of the Prophets that were then and that the Vniversities are as agreeable to the New Testament as the Schools of the Prophets to the Old 2. That they who have endeavoured to pull down Schools have alwaies been men who were found enemies to Religion So Julian the Apostate shut up the doors of the Schools because he would have all Religion to go down 3. That the knowledge of heavenly things cannot come to us but by things on earth and that all Divinity is swadled in Humane Learning 4. That Paul was brought up at the feet of Gamaliel and that God took him so fitted and made him an able Minister of his Church 5. That mens hatred to God doth as well appear in their hatred to Humane Learning as if they hated the Scriptures 6. That if the spirit teach without means men may as well be without the Ordinances as without the Vniversities and Humane Learning 7. That men now are not to receive the spirit in that immediate way to understand the Scriptures in which it was given to them who wrote the Scriptures 8. That men now are to get knowledge by studies and humane Learning and not by inspiration 9. That Humane Learning is as the outworks to the Fort of the Gospel and as the outer Court to the Temple of the Gospel and so if you will keep the Fort well you must keep the outworks strong and if you will preserve the inward you must look to the outward Court 10. But what is the bottom of all this to wit of some mens appearing against Humane Learning as the unction of the Ministerie and against the Vniversities as the Fountain of the Ministerie but this that some say They are one with Christ and as Christ hath the Divine nature in him so every believer hath and he that hath God in him need not go to any man to learn whereas John 17. Christ speaketh of believers as at an infinite distance from him And if believers be so united to Christ as they say they will follow that Christ should not be the only begotten of God and that Christ and we should be equal and be not our Lord c. 11. Arts and Tongues are the Cups in which God drinks to us 12. We shall never keep up Religion if we do not keep up Learning but when Learning goes down Religion goes down too 13. Seeing Religious Foundations are so Antient then keep them up Your Destruction will never be but from your selves These Notes were take from Mr. Simpsons mouth and delivered to me by an honest hand and affirmed to be true for the substance of them and I also heard several others who were hearers of that Sermon relating the same things Now because I find that this Doctrine hath not only grieved the hearts of the faithful but also strengthened the hands of the carnal and evil People The things which he then delivered being usually the thoughts of their hearts and words of their mouths I thought it my duty being set in my place for the defence of the Gospel to give a Publike Reply to such gross Errors so publikely delivered to the danger of so many and which one would never have thought should have proceeded from such a man especially after the day of the Gospel hath so far dawned and the Antichristian shadows are so far retreated and flowen away And so I shall begin with the first of these Errors and proceed in the Order in which they are set down 1.
which the Greek should have said For the Question between them being touching Paul and Plato the Greek endeavoured to prove that Paul was rude and unlearned but the Christian through his simplicity did endeavor to prove that Paul was more learned and eluquent then Plato And so the Greek should obtain the Victory if the Christians Reasons should prevail For if Paul were more learned then Plato then might men object that he overcame not the world through Grace but through Eloquence Wherefore that which the Christian spake made for the Greek and that which the Greek spake made for the Christian Wherefore he saith when the Greeks shall say the Apostles were rude and unlearned poor mean simple obscure persons let us acknowledge it as the truth For this is not their reproach but their glory that being such they yet overcame the Learned men the Wise men the Philosophers the Rhetoricians the Orators the Princes and all the world as if they had not been men For when any thing is done above the State and power of Nature this doth exceedingly manifest and magnifie the Grace of God And so it appears that Chrysostom was of another mind in this matter touching Paul then Mr. Simpson and that Paul was of another mind touching himself Now seeing Mr. Simpson doth here insinuate that Humane Learning fits a man to the Ministry of the Gospel and seeing this also is the Opinion of all the carnal and unbelieving people I do desire them to consider what some Godly men have spoken clearly from the word of God in this matter Chrysostom who knew the Mysterie of the Gospel more clearly then any of the Ancient Writers in his Comment on the first Epistle to the Corinthians doth wholly exclude Humane Learning from contributing any thing either to the speaking or receiving the Gospel For saith he to believe in Him that was Crucified and Buried and to be fully perswaded that he rose again and sits at the right hand of God and hath all power in Heaven and Earth given to him and that he is made of God to the whole Church Wisdom Righteousness Sanctification and Redemption this Doctrine stands not in need of Humane Wisdom and Reasonings but of faith only and that both in them that speak it and in them that receive it For the Apostles did not proceed in this matter in outward wisdom but in faith and so became more wise and excellent then the worldly wise and so much the more as it is a greater matter to receive the things of God by faith then to be perswaded into them by the force of Argument He adds also That to the receiving the Doctrine of the Gospel neither is the Wise man profited thing by his Wisdom neither is the plain man hindred any thing by his Ignorance Yea if I may speak a wonderfull thing saith he Ignorance is more fit and ready to receive the Gospel then Wisdom And a Shepherd and a Plowman will sooner receive the Gospel and submit to it then a Schollar who lives in the strength of Humane wisdom and Reason He farther saith there that where the wisdom of God is as it is in the Gospel there is no need of mans wisdom as where the Sun is there is no need of a Candle And he concludes there this matter thus That the Preaching of the Gospel is a heavenly thing and that Humane VVisdom and Learning cannot help herein but rather hinder And that therefore when Christ sent forth the first Teachers of the Gospel he took not wise and learned Philosophers that the Cross of Christ might not be made void and that the faith of Christians should not stand in the wisdom of man but in the power of God But he chose plain Fishermen Tent-makers Publicans Obscure Simple Poor Contemptible Ignorant and Vnlearned men And these overcame Kings Princes People Nations Greeks Philosophers Orators Sophisters they overcame the antient Manners Customs and the very Religion of the world also their Laws Judgements divers sorts of punishments and innumerable kinds of deaths and by all this saith he it was manifest that their preaching was not in Humane wâ—sdom but in the Grace of God And thus doth Chrysostom affirm and prove that Humane Learning doth not fit men to the Ministry of the Gospel but is rather a hindrance thereunto and that the Grace of God only fits them for this heavenly work Hear also what Wickliff saith to this matter in his book entituled The Path way to perfect knowledge where he sheweth that it is not Humane Learning that helps to understand the Scriptures and to profit in the study of them but something more high and heavenly His own words as these He whose heart is full of love comprehendeth without any error the manifold abundance and largest teaching of Gods Scripture For Paul saith the fulness of the Law is Charity and in another place the end of the Law is Charity of clean heart and good conscience and of faith unfeigned And Christ saith Thou shalt love thy Lord God of all thy heart and of all thy soul and of all thy mind and thy Neighbor as thy self For in these two Commandments hangeth all the Law and the Prophets And as the root of all evil is Covetousness so the root of all good is Love Charity by which we love God and the Neighbour holdeth surely all the greatness and largness of Gods speeches Therefore if we have not leisure to search all the holy Scriptures and to pierce into all the privities of them hold thou love whereon all things hang and so shalt thou hold that which thou learnest there and also that which thou learnest not For if thou know Charity thou knowest something whereon also that hangeth which thou knowest not And in that that thou understandest in Scripture love is open and in that that thou understandest not love is hid Therefore he that holdeth love in vertues or good life holdeth both that which is open and that which is hid in Gods word And after speaking to the Clergy he saith Therefore worldly fools do ye first repent of your sins and forsake pride and covetousness and be ye meek and fear ye God in all things and love your neighbour as your self and then shall ye profit in the study of Holy Writ And this is a far other way to understand the Scriptures then Humane Learning And after he speaking of the Abominations of the Vniversity of Oxford saith thus The fourth Abomination is that it is now purposed to hinder Christian men from learning freely Gods Law till they have spent nine or ten years at Art or Philosophy which comprehendeth many strong errors of Heathen men against the Christian Belief It seemeth well that God will not cease from vengeance till it and other things be punished sore For it seemeth that worldly Clerks and feignedly Religious do this under pretence that simple men of wit and knowledge know not