Day is coming when Iniquity shall have an End And thus have I done with these Things There were many Other things in that Sermon as contrary to the Gospel which for brevities sake I have omitted Now what a sad Thing is it that such poysonful Doctrine should be poured forth into an University Congregation and that by the Ministry of such a Man And if the Ceremonies of the Law were in use under the Gospel how ought we to rendour Garments at the Hearing of these Things And now O blessed Lord Jesus who wast Crucified Dead and Buried but yet art risen from the Dead by the Eternal Spirit and art ascended on High to fill all things have Mercy on thy poor Church which is so grievously rent and torn this day by Wolves in Sheeps Cloathing and is thus hurt and consumed by poysonful Doctrines of Men who seek Themselves and their own Things to the Harm and Ruine of thy poor People O thou Son of the Living God who art the Way the Truth and the Life how shall the Kingdom of Antichrist be brought down when the Hands of such Men who seem Pillars in the Church are stretched forth so strongly to hold it up And how shall the Days of Antichrist be shortned when his Kingdom is coming forth again in the Greatest Deceiveableness of Unrighteousness that hath ever yet appeared in the World to delude the Nations O Lord remember all thy Promises and make haste to destroy Babylon the Great with all its mysteries of Righteousness and Unrighteousness and let it sink as a Milstone in the Sea without any hope or possibility of a Resurrection And seeing there is no hand of Man stretched out for this Work but all Hands are against it do thou destroy it O Lord without hand even with the Spirit of thy mouth and brightness of thy Coming according to the Truth of thy Promises and the unutterable Sighs and Groans of thy Spirit occasioned thereby in the Hearts of all thy faithful and Elect. Even so Lord And let thy Kingdom come and make no long tarrying AMEN A TESTIMONY From the WORD Against DIVINITY-DEGREES IN THE Vniversity OR Any Academical Degrees made use of for the Ministry of the Gospel THE Universities whose very Soul and Life do lie in Humane Learning and School-Divinity that they might gain the greater Profit to themselves and Glory to their Children have after the example of the Heathen given their children Degrees in Divinity as They in Arts and the Glorious Titles of Batchelors Masters and Doctors in Divinity as so many Crowns of Gold upon their Heads to win them Honour and Reputation with all People who have been under the Delusion of Antichrist And in the confirming of these Graduations or Degrees which also is done for a sum of Money they give the Graduates License and Power to Preach and to Expound the Scriptures and that by the sole Authority of the University For the Vice-Chancelor admitting a Bachelour in Divinity to his Degree useth these Words in the Name of the University We admit you to declare all the Apostolical Epistles in the name of the Father Son and Holy Ghost And so the Batchelour in Divinity hath Power according to his Degree only to deal with the Apostolical Epistles but must go no farther And admitting a Doctor to his Degree the Vice-Chancelour saith thus We admit you to Interpret and Profess all the Holy Scriptures both of the Old and New Testament in the name of the Father Son and Holy Ghost And thus doth the University through power received from Antichrist give men chiefly for Money Divinity-Degrees and through those Degrees it gives Authority and priviledge to Batchelors in Divinity to expound part of the Scriptures and to Doctors to expound and profess all the Scriptures and they that gain these Degrees to Themselves are as there is good reason the Great Men in account with the University and also with the Carnal People of Antichrist how destitute soever they be of the Faith and Spirit of the Gospel Wherefore I cannot choose but give in my Testimony against this Glorious and Gainful Priviledge of the Universities to wit their conferring upon their Children Degrees in Divinity and creating them Masters in that Mysterie which none can teach but God Himself and which none can learn but true Believers who are born of God and are his true Disciples And so I do openly affirm that Degrees in Divinity for I meddle with none else given by the Universities to their Children are plainly and grosly Antichristian being most manifestly contrary to the Word of the Gospel and the Light that shines in the New Testament For first In the Gospel of God our Saviour we learn That only a New and Heavenly Birth makes Men to be of the true Church and that the pouring forth of the Spirit on these Children of God according to the measure of the Gift of God makes Christians of several Degrees in this Church and not Academical Graduations Secondly In this Gospel also we are taught that all the true Ministers of Christ are Equal and not One Superior to Another as these Degrees make them Thirdly In this Gospel also we are taught that the true Greatness amongst Christs true Disciples doth not stand in Academical Degrees or Worldly Honour and Dignities but in the Faithfuls near and exact following of Christ in Word and Conversation and that the sons of Zebedee in desiring Superiority and Pre-eminence above the other Disciples contrary to the Life and Doctrine of Christ did grievously offend and were therefore sharply rebuked of Christ. Fourthly Yea here we hear Christ himself forbidding this very Thing to his Disciples that Antichrist and his Prophets might have no cloak for doing the contrary where his Gospel is truely taught and published For Matth. 23. Christ doth forbid his Disciples before all the Multitude to be as the Jewish Rabbies or Doctors who saith Christ do their works to be seen of Men and disguise themselves with different Garments or Habits from others that they might be the more taken notice of and have the more respect and do love the uppermost Rooms at Feasts and the chief Seats in the Synagogues and greetings in the Markets and to be called of men Doctor Doctor but saith Christ to his Disciples Be not ye called Doctors for one is your Master even Christ and Ye all are Brethren and so equal Whence it is evident that this Practice of Universities and Colledges in giving men Degrees in Divinity as they call it and Titles Habits and Dignities accordingly is contrary to the express Command of Jesus Christ and so is a meer Invention of Antichrist to put Honour and Reputation on his Ministers It is also manifest that this practice of the Universities hath all along made many Doctors in the Church which yet never were Christs true Disciples It is also manifest that these Degrees and Titles do cause men
The Devil was the Devil before and did dwell and work in Evil Men but from the beginning of the Christian Church he is called Antichrist and that not every where but in the Church or Kingdom of Christ For Antichrist is a Spirit that dissolves Jesus and that not openly but subtilly and cunningly yea under the name and pretence of Jesus he is wholy contrary to Him Wherefore the discerning of Spirits as it hath been necessary from the beginning of the World so also is it especially necessary in the daies of the Gospel wherein the Mysterie of Iniquity is become most Mysterious through the operation of Antichrist in those Many false Prophets which are gone forth into the world And so we proceed to the second Point 2. Point And that is That Sufficient Remedy which the Apostle prescribes to the true Church against that great Evil of many false Prophets being gone out into the world Now the Remedy the Apostle prescribes to the faithfull against these false Prophets is not that they should stir up the Secular Power to imprison banish or burn Them that so they might be rid of Them for this is Antichrists proper Remedy against those that oppose Him but the Apostle shews a more Christian Remedy which is this Believe not every Spirit but try the Spirits whether they be of God and this Remedy alone is sufficient for the true spiritual Church of the faithful in every Age to preserve it safe and sound against all false Teachers whatsoever and their false Doctrines neither doth it desire or need any other Wherefore in this Case the Apostle contents himself to give only this Caution to the Faithfull Believe not every Spirit but try the Spirits whether they be of God Believe not euery Spirit c. that is every one that speaketh of Spiritual Things Whence it is plain that we neither ought rashly and hastily to believe every mans Doctrine nor yet rashly and unadvisedly to censure and condemn it till it be heard and known what it is but it is a Christians duty to prove All Things and to hold fast that which is Good upon Proof as Paul adviseth wherefore John also adds here But try the Spirits whether they be of God Whence we note That Christians have Right and Power to try and judge the Spirits and Doctrines of their Teachers and this is evident by many plain Scriptures as Matth. 7. 15. Beware of false Prophets saith Christ to the faithful which come unto you in Sheeps cloathing but inwardly they are ravening Wolves ye shall know them by their fruits Matth. 16. 6. Jesus said to them Take heed and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees which is hypocrisie Matth. 24. 4. Jesus said take heed that no man deceive you for many shall come in my Name saying I am Christ and shall deceive many John 10. My Sheep hear my voice and know my voice and a stranger will they not hear but flee from him for they know not that is own not the voice of strangers And all that came before me are Thieves and Robbers but the Sheep did not hear them By all which Scriptures and many more that might be added it is manifest that the faithful the true Sheep of Christ have Right and Power to judge of the Spirits and Doctrines of the Teachers Let Fathers Schoolmen Doctors Councels Assemblies of Divines Universities Ministers propound and publish what Doctrine they please the Sheep of Christ the faithful Flock have Power and Authority from Christ Himself to try and judge whether the Things they speak be of Christ or of Themselves and of Antichrist And this Power the faithful People ought not to part with neither for any fear nor for any favour Yea it most nearly concerns the faithful to try the Spirits and judge the Doctrines of the Teachers for these two Considerations among others First Because we must each one give an account for Our selves before the Judgement seat of Christ wherefore it concerns every one of us to look to our own Eternal Condition and not to leave this care to Others for us In Death and Judgement Each one must answer for Himself and therefore we ought to be as certain of the Word of God on which we build our immortal Souls as we are sure we live and are Creatures we ought I say to be sure Our selves and not to trust any body for us in this great Matter whereon depends either eternal Life or eternal Death Secondly It concerns us to try the Spirits and Doctrines because otherwise we may easily mistake and instead of Antichrist and his Disciples dash against Christ himself and his precious Saints Yea we have seen how the World and worldly Church not being able to try the Spirits and Doctrines have contradicted and crucified the Son of God himself and have reproached and persecuted all his People who are baptized into one Spirit with him and doing this they have thought they have done God good service too and all because they were not able to judge of the Spirit and Truth of Christ in Himself and his Members but have followed the Judgment and Councel of the chief Guides in the outward Church who have caused them to erre and to mistake Truth for Error and Error for Truth Christ for Antichrist and Antichrist for Christ. Wherefore it concerns every one to be wise to salvation for Himself and to try the Spirits for himself and not to content himself to say thus said Augustine Ambrose Hierom c. or this was the Judgement of the Fathers or thus have the Councels and Universities determined or thus do our Ministers teach us but if thou art one of Christs flock thou must have skill to know and judge for Thy self which is Christs Spirit and Doctrine and which is Antichrists otherwise thou wilt certainly miscarry in this great Matter and be undone for ever If thou build on Men in these things and canst not judge for Thy self thou wilt be sure to be undone But now this Power of Trying Spirits and Judging Doctrines which Christ hath given his true Flock and which they ought to have upon so good Grounds the Teachers of the false and Antichristian Church that is the Common Clergy distinguished by several Names Titles and Degrees have robbed them of and have falsely and treacherously arrogated to themselves the Power of trying Spirits and Judging Doctrines and have said that it belongs to the Clergy or National Ministry and their Councils and Assemblies of Divines to Judge of Spirits whether they be right or false and to Judge of Doctrines whether they be agreeable to Gods Word or no and that all Christians ought to expect their Judgement and Determination and to submit to it and to depend on it as on an Oracle from Heaven yea though it be not only without but also against their own particular Judgement And these men I mean the Clergy through the Ecclesiastical
and Temporal Power which they had gotten have stricken great fear into the whole World and have miserably vexed innumerable Consciences with a grievous and lasting bondage and have even driven them to Despair whilst none durst approve or own any Spirit or Doctrine though never so manifestly of Christ and his Gospel without their Allowance and Approbation so mightily hath the power of Antichrist prevailed in the World and that against the express Word of Christ. Now the ground of this their Antichristian Pride and Usurpation is This that they arrogate to Themselves that They are the Guides and Shepherds of all Christian men and are to teach them the Gospel which they are only to receive from their lips whereas Christ hath promised his true Church that they shall be all taught of God and shall hear and learn Themselves from the Father and hath also promised to send to them the Spirit to lead them in all Truth and to give them an Annointing to teach them All Things Now they by robbing the Faithful of this Power and arrogating it to Themselves have made themselves contrary to Christs Command Lords and Masters in the Church of God and have usurped to themselves Superiority and Authority over other Believers and have subjected all the World to their Opinion and Judgement in the things of God by which means they have set wide open the flood-gates to Antichrist and his Kingdom to break in upon the World and to overflow it whilst they had robbed all Christian People of their own Judgement in all the Things of God and had made them to depend wholly on the Judgement of the Clergy And had not Christian People thus unchristianly delivered up their Judgements to the Clergy and that in the very Highest Points of Religion Christianity had not been so miserably blinded and corrupted as it is and the Mysterie of Iniquity had not so much prevailed in the World as now it hath For when Christians would not try the Spirits whether They were of God and the Doctrines whether they were the Word of God or no but thought this a matter too High for them and would refer and submit all to the Judgement of their Ministers then Antichrist the Apostle of the Devill came forth boldly and proudly exalted Himself above all that is called God and his Kingdom above all the Kingdoms of the World having first put out both the Eyes of Christians by taking away from them their Right and Power of trying Spirits and judging Doctrines But when true Christians shall search the Scriptures as God I trust hath now fully put into their hearts to do and shall justly and lawfully take to themselves the Power which God hath given them to try Spirits and Doctrines then Antichrist and his Agents the carnal Clergy must soon be brought down for the Faithfull by that Word shall soon perceive that They are not of God nor their Doctrine of that right Gospel which is after the Mind of Christ. Well then by what hath been said You who are of Christs true Sheep may perceive that it is evident by the Word that faithful Christians have Right and Power to try Spirits and Doctrines though Antichrist for many Ages hath robbed them of this Priviledge For that I may speak a little more to this matter the Tryall of Spirits doth unquestionably belong to all Men who have received the Spirit of God for to this Spirit of God which dwells in the faithfull the Gift of Discerning Spirits is inseparably annexed and the Spirit of Christ which truly dwells in all true Christians cannot deceive nor be deceived in the Tryall of Spirits So that this now is a Common Grace that in some measure belongs to all true Christians who have received the Unction that teacheth them all things and is true and is no lie And though there be in the Church Diversities of Gifts from the same Spirit which are given to some and not to others as Tongues and Interpretation of Tongues and Miracles and Gifts of healing c. mentioned by Paul 1 Cor. 12. yet this gift of Trying Spirits is given to All in some measure that have received the Spirit For as in the Natural Body there are several Gifts given to several Members which are not given to all the members as Seeing to the Eye Hearing to the Ear Walking to the foot c. but Feeling is given to all the Members so also in the Body of Christ that is the spiritual Church several Gifts are given to several Saints but the Tryall of Spirits and Doctrines to all Saints who have received the Spirit and if any have not Christs Spirit he is none of His and if any have Christs Spirit he can in some measure discern and judge of all Spirits in the World and the more any man receives Christs Spirit the more able is he to judge of all Other Spirits Wherefore they who are true Believers and have received Christs Spirit their Judgement is to be preferred in the Tryall of Spirits before the Judgement of a whole Council of Clergy men And they only who can try Spirits by the Spirit of God and Doctrines by the Word of God written in their hearts by the Spirit are fit to commend Ministers to the Work of God that is the Congregations of the faithful and not Universities and Assemblies of Divines And thus you may perceive that seeing many false Prophets are gone out into the World it concerns the faithful as they tender their own everlasting Salvation not to believe every Spirit that speaks of Christ and his Kingdom and his Things but to Try the Spirits whether they be of God Object But now it may be some will be ready to say We ought indeed to try the Spirits seeing there are many falfe Prophets in the world but we hope there are no such Persons among us but only some upstart Men with their new Light who with their Novelties and Fancies trouble the Nation and would fain turn all things upside down and we know these well enough already and do sufficiently despise them Answ. It is very like you do but yet let me say to you Men Brethren and Fathers understand Your selves and know what you do in this matter For at the beginning of the Reformation by the Ministry of Luther Zuinglius Calvin and divers others pretious servants of Jesus Christ the Popish Clergy applyed all these Scriptures Try the Spirits whether they be of God for many false Prophets are gone out into the world and beware of false Prophets which come to you in sheeps clothing but inwardly are ravening wolves I say these and the like places of Scriptures they applied to these Godly Men and yet they Themselves were the false Prophets indeed and the Other whom they termed such were true Ones Wherefore it is possible for You to be mistaken as well as They and no doubt but you will be mistaken except the Lord be gracious
sent to the children of Israel and bid him tell them that I AM even the God of Abraham Isaac and Jacob hath sent him to them and he gave him a proportionable measure of his Presence to cause them to believe it And Christ a greater Prophet then Moses even the Head of all the children of God said by Isaiah chap. 48. 16. Come ye near unto me heare ye this I have not spoken in secret from the beginning and now the Lord and his Spirit hath sent me And everywhere in the Gospel He still declares how he came not of Himself but his Father sent him And as the Father sent Christ so Christ sends all his Seed the true Ministers of the Gospel as is manifest John 20. 21. where Christ said to his Disciples As my Father sent Me so send I You which he spake not only touching Them but touching All that should believe in his Name through their Word And Paul also saith Rom. 10. 15. How shall they teach except they be sent So that true Preaching comes from true Sending and this comes from the Grace of God Now I desire you farther to take notice that God hath reckoned the Choise of his Ministers one of the weightiest things that belong unto his Kingdom wherefore he would never commit the trust of this to any Sort of Men whatsoever Yea Christ himself did not choose his Disciples at his own Humane Will but only at the Will of God and therefore was much in Prayer before he chose them And the Apostles themselves durst not of Themselves when they were all met together choose any one into the room of Judas but they betook themselves to Prayer and desired the Lord to shew whom He had chosen And Acts 13. The Spirit said Separate me Barnabas and Saul for the work whereunto I have called them And Paul tells the Galatians that he was an Apostle not of Men nor by Men but by Jesus Christ and God the Father By all which Scriptures we may perceive what care the Lord hath alwaies had to send his own Ministers Himself into his own Church and would have his true Church receive no Ministers but such as He sends them And the great and chief sending into the Church is from God Himself as we see in Moses and all the Prophets and in Christ Himself the Head of them and in all the Apostles and in all Believers Now the proof of a mans sending from God is this to be annointed with the Spirit as John 20. 22. When Christ said to his Disciples as my Father sent me so send I you He breathed upon them and said Receive the holy Spirit For his Father sent him only by pouring out his Spirit on him and he sends them so only and he that saith The Unction of the Spirit alone is not sufficient for the Ministry of the New Testament he denies Christ and his Apostles to have been sufficient Ministers and he perverts the Scripture and seduces the People Now the true Teachers through the pouring forth of the Spirit on them they do truly know Christ Himself and the great Mysterie of the Gospel and all the things that are freely given us of God and they are also filled with love to their Brethren and are enabled to confess the Truth and to do thereafter and to contemn the World and patiently to suffer rebukes c. all which is a sufficient Proof of any ones Sending from God And thus the true Prophets are all sent of God which is their great comfort and support in all trouble and difficulties because he that sends them is still with them Lo saith Christ I am with you alwaies to the end of the world But now on the contrary the false Prophets and Ministers of Antichrist are not sent of God but are sent and appointed by Men and that through their own desire and seeking And of such the Lord complains Jer. 23. 21. I have not sent these Prophets yet they ran I have not spoken to them yet they prophesied but because I sent them not neither commanded them they shall not profit this people at all saith the Lord v. 32. And Christ saith Many false Christs and false Prophets shall arise i. e. are not sent of God but shall arise of Themselves And Paul saith to the Elders of the Church of Ephesus Acts 20. Out of your selves shall men arise speaking perverse things to draw Disciples after them They arise of Themselves they are not sent of God Now such Teachers as these do usually spring up in the Church through Academical Degrees and Ecclesiastical Ordination which two things have poured forth into the Church whole swarms of false Prophets and Antichristian Ministers never sent of God nor annointed of his Spirit to the irreparable damage prejudice and ruine of the People and Nations who have received them with their false and poysonfull Doctrine Wherefore all those Teachers who are not sent of the Lord and his Spirit but arise of Themselves and come into the Church in the strength and might of their Degrees and Orders they are all false Prophets The Second Sign The true Prophets who are sent of God take all their Warrant and Authority from God for what they teach and do not at all regard Men or build on Them And this hath all along made the true Teachers so bold and so confident in the Name of God against the World and worldly Church So Isaiah 50. 4 c. saith The Lord God hath given me the tongue of the learned that I should know how to speak a word in due season to him that is weary he wakeneth morning by morning he wakeneth my ear to hear as the learned The Lord hath opened mine ear and I was not rebellious neither turned away back For the Lord God will help me therefore shall I not be confounded therefore have I set my face as a flint and I know I shall not be ashamed He is near that justifies me who will contend with me let us stand together who is mine adversary let him come near me Behold the Lord will help me who is he that shall condemn me Lo they all shall wax old as a garment the moth shall eat them up See here the admirable confidence of a Teacher sent from God And so also our Lord Jesus Christ in the dayes of his flesh how bold was He in his Ministry coming in the Name of the Lord and having his Authority and Doctrine from Him how boldly did he reprove the Scribes and Pharisees the chief Teachers of the Jewish Church And what a clear and glorious Confession of the Truth of God did he hold forth against all their Opposition and Contradiction And the Apostles when the Rulers Elders and Scribes and Annas the High Priest and Caiaphas and John and Alexander and all the kindred of the High Priest were gathered together and threatened them and straitly charged them to
out our Name as evil and to cast our Persons out of their Synagogues yea and also to kill us when they can get Power so if we be true Teachers must we be ready and willing to suffer all this for Christs Name sake Wherefore those Teachers who imbrace the heighth and Honour of this Life and will not own the Gospel of Christ farther than they may thereby procure to themselves credit reputation profit and preferment in the World and to this end in doubtful and difficult times carry themselves so subtilly that what ever Party shall prevail they may still stand on their leggs and injoy their present Prosperity and Preferment and so are neither hot nor cold neither truly for the Truth nor openly against the Truth but seek by all subtil means to decline the Cross of Christ. And though in Christ himself they praise his meanness plainness simplicity suffering and cross yet They themselves are delicate and cannot indure these things for Christs sake in Themselves but bend and frame the whole course of their Ministry so as they may obtain all Good things from the World and avoid and escape all Evil things from it these all are false Prophets and Ministers of Antichrist By these nine Signs for I shall name no more now may the true Prophets and Ministers of Christ be manifestly distinguished and discerned from the false ones of Antichrist by all the true people of God who have received his Spirit Now let God and his Word be true and every Man a Lyar. And now I shall make but two Uses of this Discourse briefly and so conclude for this time And the first shall be to Those of You who are spiritual Christians and the second to the carnal Clergy First You who are true believers and spiritual Christians may judge aright by what you have heard of the present Clergy or Common Ministry of the Nation and may see by the clear light of the Word that they for the Generality of them are not true but false Prophets not the Ministers of Christ but of Antichrist not sent of God nor annointed by his Spirit but ordained and appointed by Men at their own desire and seeking for Worldly Advantage sake men who stand and minister in the Church only in the strength of their Academical Degrees and Ecclesiastical Ordination but do not stand and feed the people In the strength of the Lord and in the Majesty of the Name of their God And this corrupt Ministry or carnal Clergy have deceived the People and Nations with a corrupt and carnal Understanding of Christ and of the Scriptures and of the Kingdom of Christ and of the Government of his Kingdom and of all the things of Christ Yea they have under the Name and pretence of Christ set up a Church to Antichrist every-where and do continually mislead thousands of poor souls and carry them captive to Hell and that under the colour and pretence of Religion And this I say is the great evil in these false Teachers that under the Name of Christ they fight against Christ and under the Name of the Word they fight against the Word and under the Name of the Church they fight against the Church And this is a grievous Abomination of Desolation in the Temple of God that they who should be the chief for the Truth are the chief against it and that they who should be faithfull Witnesses to the holy Truth of Christ should prove lying Witnesses against it If a prophane person or Heathen should do this it would be Wickedness and Impiety even in them but this is horrible Abomination and Antichristianism in the Church of Christ that They who are come into it as friends and have obtained the chief Places in it should yet under this vizard be indeed very Enemies and Seducers and Hinderers of the Word of Christ crucified Wherefore saith the Truth against such Psal. 55. 12. It was not an enemy that reproached me then I could have born it neither was it he that hated me that magnified himself against me for then I would have hid my self from him but it was Thou a man mine equal my guide and my acquaintance we took sweet counsel together and walked unto the house of God in company c. And so these false Teachers are these familiar Enemies who exercise all their hatred under the pretence of love all their enmity under pretence of friendship and practise all their wickedness under a form of godliness and by this subtilty have they deceived the World They will not plainly contradict the words of the Prophets Apostles and Christ in the Letter of it but will praise it and speak well of it but yet they are utter Enemies to the true and spiritual Meaning of it both in their Lives and Doctrine and the more these men make a shew of Religion and Holiness the greater Antichrists they be in the Church Wherefore to You who are true Christians and have received an Annointing from God this is the Word and charge of God Come out from among Them my People and touch not the Unclean Thing that is their carnal Doctrine have nothing to do with such Prophets and Ministers but remember what Christ saith John 10. that His Sheep hear his voyce and will not hear the voice of Strangers for they know the voice of Strangers And if any of you live in any Town or Parish where such false Prophets are though they go under the Name of Godly and Orthodox yet touch not the Unclean Thing but know that it is better for you Believers to assemble together among Your selves though you be but few than to communicate with the false Prophets in their false Ordinances seeing Christ hath promised his Presence to his Believers even where but two or three meet together in his Name yea hath said If any Two of you shall agree together to ask any thing on earth it shall be done of my Father which is in heaven And if you having these Promises shall meet together among your selves in the Name and Spirit of Christ in the use of the Word and Prayer of faith lo Christ himself will be with You and though you be but few yet are you the Church of the living God the Pillar and Ground of Truth and of that very Church against which the Gates of Hell shall not prevail And thus much to you spiritual Christians 2. And now for the carnal Clergy or false Prophets their burden is this from the Lord. You have run when You were not sent You have said thus saith the Lord when the Lord hath not spoken by You You have grieved the hearts of the faithfull and strengthened the hands of the Wicked You have been forward to advance the Form of Godliness whilest you have been bitter enemies to the Power of it You have deceived the Nations and made them drunk with the cup of the Wine of your fornications you have done
the Christian Religion and being afflicted in Mind he did withdraw Himself into a solitary Place where there met Him an old Antient Father of comely Visage and gentle behaviour who began to reason with Him and to tell him that there was no Knowledge of Truth among the Philosophers who neither knew God nor were ayded by his Holy Spirit And did farther reason with Him of the Immortality of the Soul of the Reward of the Godly and Punishment of the Wicked Then Justine being Satisfied with his Reasons yeilded to him and demanded of him How He might attain to that true Knowledge of God whereof he had spoken Who counselled Him to read the Scriptures adjoyning therewith Prayer c. And as this Justine left all other Learning and betook himself only to the Scriptures so in the understanding of the Scriptures he rejected all his Philosophy and Philosophical Apprehensions Saying that the Interpretation of the Scripture is to be accommodated to the Will of the Doctrine of the Spirit and not to Humane Reasonings And that he might be sure and safe in all things he had constant recourse to the Scriptures thus understood So that Justine Martyr being effectually Converted wholly left his Philosophy and betook himself to the Scriptures and taught them to the Church as He had been taught them of God by his Spirit Constantine the Emperor though he were the first that brought in the Mysterie of Iniquity into the Christian Church by mingling the Civil and Ecclesiastical states and Laws together there being in His time a great Increase of Christians through the Ministry of the Gospel and a great Confluence of them to his Imperial City for the Words sake he wrote to Eusebius Bishop of Nicomedia in a special Letter Wherein he desired him with all Diligence and Speed to procure fifty Volums of the Scriptures to be written in parchment Well and Legibly and in such a bignenss or Volume as might be carried with greatest ease for the further teaching and instructing of Those that came to attain the Knowledge of the Christian Religion Judging it most meet that Christian People should be Instructed in the Doctrine of Christ only and not in Heathenish Philosophy And though afterwards when the Suffering Times of the Church began to be over Christians became more carnal and secure and that in the very days of Constantine and so began to decline the Word of Faith and to seek after Philosophy yet had God in all the Ages of his Church some of his Servants who did reject it and did cleave only to the Word Among which I shall only for the present produce the Testimonies of Berno who lived above six hundred years ago and Zuinglius of latter times Berno who lived about the year 1008. and was a man furnished with all sorts of Learning saith That he had for many years rejected as dung the figments of the Poets and the Histories of the Heathens and the study of Secular Letters and had converted the whole Intention of his Mind to the Word of God and the Divine Things contained therein And accordingly he taught no other Doctrine to any Huldricus Zuinglius also Pastor of Zurich in Helvetia a man who had been educated in all kind of Learning and was after through faith and the teaching of God an eminent Instrument in his Church he saith thus of himself When saith he I being yet a Youth was exercised in all sorts of Learning I can truly say that I did not profit less then the rest of my Equals But when about seven years ago I betook my self to the study of the Holy Scriptures then the things that I had before sucked in or learned from Philosophers and Divines did procure me so much Trouble that being then moved by the Authority of the Scriptures I judged that all those things were to be cast away and counted as dung and that the true Mind of God was only to be received from his pure and simple Word And therefore I began humbly to intreat the Lord that he would vouchsafe me his own Light By which means it shortly came to pass that the reading of the Holy Scriptures did much delight and please me and they being nakedly and alone propounded did flow unto me with more ease then if I had read them divided and distracted with variety of Comments And as he rejected Philosophy wholly and entertained the Word So did he only teach this Word to faithfull Christians who are the only true School of Christ in the World Now by all this it appears that the Schools of the Prophets and Apostles and of Christ himself the Head of them and of the most faithfull Christians that followed Christ in the first and latter Ages were in no sort like the Schools in the present Universities where Humane Learning according to the Statutes of the Universities prevails for the first seven years and they think Youths cannot be made good Christians except they be first made good Heathens The Schools of the Prophets and Apostles would not meddle with the Philosophy of the Heathen but led the children and youth presently to the Word of God and therein to the true Knowledge of God in Christ But these Schools first lead Youth from God and his Word several years together to the corrupt Reason Wisdom Notions Conceptions yea to the Idolatry Blasphemy Atheism Lusts Filthiness and Villanies of the cursed Heathen that thereby in a strange and Antichristian Method they may be the fitter to know and understand the Scriptures The Schools of the Prophets taught only Moses and the Prophets to the Jewish Youth and the Schools of the Apostles taught Christ only and his Gospel to the children of Christians But the Universities lead men both from Moses and from Christ both from the Law and the Gospel to the Heathen to make men hereby the more able Christians and Divines The Queen of the South neglecting the Magi or Wise men of the Heathen came from the utmost parts of the earth to hear the Wisdom of Solomon And the Universities leave Christ who is Infinitely Greater and Wiser then Solomon and go to the utmost parts of the earth for Wisdom from the Heathen So that in these Universities there hath been the greatest Apostacy and Withdrawing from Christ and the greatest Dishonor and Disparagement offered to Him and his Gospel as ever was known in all the World For Is it not a matter of greatest Wonder and Amazement that after that Word which was with God and was God and is God blessed for ever hath been manifested in the flesh and that Flesh of His hath been justified by the Spirit to have the Fulness of the Godhead dwelling in it bodily and that This so Wonderfull a Person hath come to his Church in the same Common Nature with it filled with all the Righteousness Wisdom Truth Power Life Peace and Joy and all the things of God I say is it not strange
have taught that all true Divinity is contained in God and his Word and that we can know Nothing of God aright but by his Word which Holy men have spoken by the Spirit and Believers do receive by Faith and out of this Word all the Learning in the World doth not contain in it Self neither can it reveal to Us aright â—he Least Thing of God or of his Mind and Will But I conceive he might speak thus That all Divinity is wrapped up in Humane Learning to deterr the Common People from the Study and Enquiry after it and to cause them still to expect all Divinity from the Clergy who by their Education have attained to that Humane Learning which the Plain People are destitute of For it is the Old and New Design of Antichrist to make the People depend on the Clergy for all Divinity though the People have the Scriptures as near Them and the Grace of God usually nearer to them then They seeing God resists the Proud and gives Grace to the Humble Again if all Divinity be swadled in Humane Learning then must it sadly follow that all who want Humane Learning must needs also want Divinity And then how shall poor plain People who live in lawfull Callings and have not the leisure to attain Humane Learning how shall They do to be saved Or what Help must they have to teach them Divinity who have not opportunity to gain Humane Learning And yet farther if all Divinity be swadled in Humane Learning then Christ and his Apostles had no true Divinity for they had no Humane Learning to swadle it in nor would have none Shall we say now according to Mr. Simpsons Doctrine that they had no Divinity I do with all boldness affirm that this Doctrine is contrary to the Christian Faith 4. ERROR That Paul was brought up at the feet of Gamaliel and God took him so fitted to wit with Humane Learning and made him an able Instrument in his Church Answer Not so But God took Paul not a good Scholar and so made him an able Preacher but he took Him as a Blasphemer and Persecutor and as a cruel and inraged Enemy against Christ and his Truth and People and magnified the riches of his Mercy in converting such an One and Paul having much forgiven him loved much and through his Great Love was the fitter to preach the Gospel according to that of Christ to Peter Peter dost thou love me feed my Sheep Yea Paul Himself ascribes his painfull and profitable Preaching not to his Learning and Education under Gamaliel which also was or ought to have been only in the Law and Prophets as hath been proved but to the free Grace of God bestowed on him saying I laboured more abundantly then They all yet not I but the Grace of God in me So that Paul became so excellent a Preacher not by his fitting through Humane Learning but through the Grace of God And here I shall mind Mr. Simpson of a passage which I have read in Chrysostome which comes home to this Matter in hand it is in his third Homily on the first Epistle to the Corinthians where he saith That God had no need at the beginning of the Gospel of Learned men and Sophisters to preach the Gospel and to convince the World with Syllogisms but did only use the Word of Faith in the mouths of plain Handicrafts men and Artificers Wherefore saith he when the Greeks shall accuse the Disciples of Christ as ignorant of Letters and Unlearned let Us our selves who are Christians accuse them More Neither let any one say that Paul was Wise and Learned but let us say Their Men were Wise and Learned but Ours were Rude and Ignorant For in thus doing according to the truth we shall have the Greater Advantage against them For if Paul were Unlearned and yet overcame Learned Plato his Victory was the Greater and the Grace of God the more Glorious Now this I say saith he because the other day I heard a certain Christian discoursing ridculously with a Greek each of them in their Discourse prejudicing their Own Cause For the Greek spake that which the Christian should have said and the Christian spake that 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 Eloquent 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 whith 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 spake 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 any thing by
sed ut humilem Christianum because he hoped he should rise to Judgement not as a Doctor but as an humble Christian. Now methinks the clear and precious Word of Christ alone should take off the Universities and Clergie from giving and receiving these Degrees and Titles if they do in good earnest profess themselves to be his Disciples but how much ought They to be ashamed and confounded when they see Other Believers for the love of Christ and his Word utterly renouncing these Things before their faces that They if they persist may be left wholly without excuse before Christ and his Church And now for the Conclusion of this matter I shall hold forth to the Universities the true Degrees which Christ the Son of God did Himself take in the Church of God and which all his Saints are to take after his Example Jesus Christ the Son of the living God the first and chief Teacher of the New Testament did neither commence Batchelour nor Doctor in Divinity but he took five other Degrees wherein the University Graduates are usually wanting Christs first Degree in the Church was this that He was the Son of God as the Lord said to him Thou art my Son this day have I begotten thee and again This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased And this is the first Degree that Christ himself took in the Church his Divine Sonship according to his Humane Nature And this Degree all the Faithful take with Him for They all are begotten of God and born of the immortal Seed of his Word and their being the Children of God through Faith is the first Degree also that They take in the Church 2. Christs second Degree in the Church was His Unction with the Spirit for being the Son of God the Spirit of God came and sate upon him in the form of a Dove which was his New-Testament Baptism and his First Degree was confirmed to him by the Father when he took this Second for whilest the Spirit rested on him a Voyce from Heaven said Thou art my beloved Son in whom I am well pleassd And this second Degree also all the Faithful take with Christ for They all as his Fellows are anointed together with Him the Chief among them they as Members are anointed together with Him the Head with the same Oyl of Gladness and being Sons God sends the Spirit of his Son into their Hearts and the Spirit of the Son in their hearts is a sure Testimony they are Sons and their second Degree also confirms their first to wit the Gift of the Spirit their Sonship 3. Christs third Degree was this that after He was anointed by the Spirit and declared to be the Son of God then for the Proof of both He was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the Devil fourty dayes and nights together and in all these Temptations through his Sonship and Unction he overcame the Devil and came away Conqueror And this was his third Degree in the Church of God that the annointed Son of God overcame the Devil in all the greatest and most grievous Temptations he could assault him withall And this third Degree also all the Faithfull take with Christ for when they are the annointed Sons of God Satan sets upon them with all sorts of Temptations and they are led by the Spirit of God to wrestle with Principalities and Powers and Spiritual Wickedness set in high Places and the Rulers of the Darkness of this World and yet They in the strength of their Sonship and Unction with Christ do also with Him tread Satan under their feet and go away Conquerors through the Grace of God in them and this also is their third Degree in the true Church 4. Christs fourth Degree in the Church was this that after his Sonship Unction and Victory over the Devil in all Temptations He then went forth as a fit and able Minister to teach the Gospel of the Kingdom against all the Enmity and Opposition of the World Devil and false Church as it is taught us Matth. 4. v. 11. 17. And this fourth Degree also all the truly Faithfull take with Christ. For after they through Faith are the Sons of God and through their Sonship are Annointed and through their Unction overcome the Devil in all his Temptations then also they preach the Gospel of the Kingdom being all of them a chosen Generation and royal Priesthood to shew forth the Vertues of Him that hath called them out of Darkness into his marvellous Light as Peter testifies and they all speake as they do Believe and have Experience and there Sonship Unction and Victory over Temptation is as sufficient a Ground for them to teach as it was for Christ to teach and so they without any Regard of the Laws of Antichrist or Orders of the Clergy go forth to teach the Everlasting Gospel as Christ did before them and this is the fourth Degree of Christ and the Faithful in the Church 5. Christs fifth and last Degree which he took in the Church was this that he having both preached and lived the Word whereat the World and Worldly Church were wholly offended and inraged did at the last willingly confirm his Doctrine with his Death and did seal to the Truth of it with his Blood exposing Himself to the most shamefull and ignominious Death of the Cross to confirm his Gospel to his Church and this was the highest and most glorious Degree that Christ took in his Church as Christ testifies when speaking of his sufferings he saith Now is the Hour come that the Son of Man should be glorified And this fifth Degree also all the truely Faithful do take with Christ either in Deed if need require or in Preparation and Readiness of mind and that whilst they live in outward Peace All the blessed Martyrs have taken this highest Degree in the Church with Christ and all the rest of his Seed have been and are ready to take it also when it is the good Will of their Heavenly Father seeing They can say in the same Faith and Spirit with Christ even in this matter Father if it be possible let this Cup pass from me yet not My Will but Thine be done for they also are come to do the Will of Him that sent them even to the laying down their Lives Now these are the only Degrees that Christ Himself took in the Church and which all the Saints take with Him and the true Spiritual Church of Believers allows and approves no other Degrees but These And what now are the University-Degrees in Divinity to these they are Degrees in Antichrists Church only and every Heathen or Humane Creature Turk or Infidel may take them aswell as They with a little Time and Pains and Money Wherefore that I may turn my speech a little to the University Do thou University if thy Day and Time of Visitation be not