to obtain their Revelations Or did God use no means when he did communicate unto them those Revelations and Inspirations Did he not always use their Souls and Minds at least as means and instruments when he did inspire them as he did use their Tongues and Lips to speak forth and their Hands to bring forth in writing their Prophecies Vissons and Revelations For that the Souls and Minds of the Prophets and their Intellectual Faculties or Powers were not altogether passive and suppose they had been passive altogether yet they might be accounted passive means but were partly active is clearly enough manifest from the diversity of style and phrase of speaking and writing that doth occur both in the Prophets and Apostles For Isaias doth after another manner of style express his Visions and Revelations than Amos And among the Apostles Paul and Matthew and Iohn do differ in their style and manner of expression The which diversity of style and manner of speech did proceed from the different qualifications and endowments of their minds for as the spirit of God findeth any man furnished or endued with gifts whether natural or acquired so he worketh upon him accordingly sanctifying those gifts and making use of them as means in his work and service Again that the Souls and Minds of the Prophets might be rendred apt and fit to be used by God as his instruments and means both to receive and convey the Revelations of his Will how many and how great preparations and purifications did they require all which might be called means Yea with what watchings fastings prayers and wrestlings against all inward impurities and evil and unclean suggestions and temptations of the Devil did they labour both day and night How soberly how holily how chastly how purely how obediently behoved they to walk and have their conversation in all Gods commandments both in respect of the inward and outward Man that they might be approved Ministers and Prophets of God And therefore never any Prophet of God who was true and faithful whom God inspired immediately but used divers sorts of means And did not some of the Prophets under the Law make use of Minstrels as means to fit or dispose them to prophecy in that legal and shadowy dispensation And David at sundry times when he considered the Heavens and the Stars and other excellent works of God did fall into most excellent and noble Visions and Prophesies as may be seen Psal. 8.104 107 c. And therefore the right and lawful use of means whether of Scripture in reading or hearing preaching or praying meditating or waiting singing or thanksgiving or any other appointed of God doth not in the least hinder that the illumination and revelation of God in the hearts and souls of his people be immediate and properly so to be accounted For the Sun shineth as immediately while the Husbandman doth labour in his Field using many sorts of means as when he doth nothing and oft-times the Divine Sun of Righteousness which is in Christ doth as immediately shine in the hearts of the faithful and inspire and inlighten them when they are exercised according to the Will and moving of God in the use of means as reading hearing meditating and the like as when they are not so employed but only silently waiting upon God which also may be called a mean CHAP. V. WHat doth now remain of Controversie or Debate betwixt our Adversary and us in the matter of inward and Immediate Revelation and Inspiration Perhaps he will say in this That we affirm that God doth in many things inlighten and inspire us without making use of the Scripture Means But he pleadeth that none of the Faithful is inlightened or inspired in any particular without the concurrence of Scripture To this I answer First the Controversie of Immediate Revelation is more large and general than to be restricted to that without Scripture For it is one question whether Divine Revelation be received without all means and another question whether without the means of Scripture But secondly If it were granted which yet I do not grant that no man hath any inward illumination or Inspiration or Revelation in our days without the conveyance and concurrence of Scripture used either in reading and hearing or meditation all this should not hinder the said Illumination or Inspiration to be immediate because the Scripture in that case is a continued mean or medium most closely and nearly conjoyned with that Illumination as doth sufficiently appear from what is above said Moreover it may be affirmed that as to those who from their Infancy and Childhood or from their first Conversion have been instructed and exercised in reading and hearing the Scriptures and meditating upon them that they have been a remote means at least and continue so to be in respect of their knowledge of Divine Things to wit by disposing and fitting or preparing their Minds and Hearts through the secret operation of the Holy Spirit unto true Piety Purity and Holiness and to the begetting those Divine Vertues in them whereby at length the Soul and Mind may be raised up to behold Divine Things and God and Christ himself far beyond and above the reach and measure of words which as is already said are not the Divine Things themselves but the signs and shadows as it were of them and so to see God in Christ without these veils and coverings of words We do therefore greatly esteem and value the use of the holy Scripture when it is joyned with the inward operation and illumination of God but if the use of the Scripture be separate from the said inward illumination and operation as it happeneth most frequently among the most of these called Christians it doth nothing profit but is only a killing Letter And seeing the Adversary doth acknowledge that the Gentiles know many things of God and some things that are Divine by General Revelation and these inward notices of Truth planted in them by God without Scripture whereby that which may be known of God is manifest in them therefore many things are also revealed unto Christians of God and Divine Things by General Revelation For the said General Revelation is as large or indeed more large and full in true Christians who have the Scriptures as in those Gentiles which have them not because the General Revelation commune to us with the Gentiles by virtue of Special Revelation and the doctrine of the Scriptures is much improved and perfected in true Christians yet retaining its Nature of General Revelation Even as Natural Reason and other Natural Gifts of the Soul are much improved and perfected by the operation of the Holy Spirit and yet retain their Nature as such And if we except these Doctrines and Heads of General Religion common to us with the Gentiles which are revealed both to them and us without Scripture of all which notwithstanding the Scripture doth abundantly testifie all other Doctrines and Heads of the Christian
things which they think to be immediatly revealed unto them by God whatever can be objected to the contrary For first that we have many and diverse errours he saith it but doth not prove it but secondly suppose that any of us did err in some one thing or another which is possible if we be not duely watchful for we are Men and do not judge our selves above the reach or possibility of tentation yet it is not manifest by experience that a Brother who erreth may not be reclaimed from his errour unto truth yea the Contrary is manifest by experience For we have at diverse times seen our weaker brethren if at any time they have through humane frailty been tempted and overcome by the spiritual adversary and have fallen into Errour happily reclaimed and restored by the pains and labours of others more perfect and more enlightned the grace of God assisting and concurring with the same And supposing that any one should Imagine his errour to be the Truth and under the Notion of Truth should impute it to inward divine Revelation for no man who hath the least degree of a sober and sound mind will impute errour as such to the holy Spirit yet very good and seasonable means and arguments shall not be wanting to reclaim him unto Truth For we can readily suggest unto him that it is not always divine inward Revelation which hath an appearance so to be for Satan doth oft transform himself into a false likeness of an Angel of Light Therefore he who so erreth is to be admonished that neither lightly nor carelesly but weightily and with great diligence he prove and examine that which is presented unto him under a shew of truth and that he use all means both inward and outward and especially apply his mind to the true divine Illumination of the spirit of God which never errs that is in him to discover the said errour For no Man hath any errour if he hath the least grain of Piety but frequently an inward divine Illumination or Revelation contrary unto the said errour doth present it self unto his understanding revealing it and expelling it if duely attended even as the Light expelleth or driveth away the Darkness or as the day doth the Night Nor are Men at this day exposed to greater danger who profess to follow inward divine Revelation then those of Old in the days of the Prophets and Apostles Now we read in Scripture of a certain Young Prophet who was deceived by an Elder I ask our Adversary could he not be undeceived Again let him tell me why are they more in hazard to be deceived who profess to follow inward divine Revelation then others are who profess to follow the outward divine Revelation of the Scripture for he will not deny that many do fouly err who confidently boast that they follow the outward Revelation of the Scripture Many also embrace error for Truth in natural things professing to follow the guidance of sound natural reason can they not therefore be convinced of their errour and yet no man will confess that he hath erred in that wherein he believeth that he hath followed the conduct of right reason What the Adversary writeth in his second and third Paragraph concerning the things in the controversie agreed on by both sides I have little to answer or which seem to need any answer This only I take notice of that our a dversary doth grant that that divine Revelation whereby God and the things of his worship are sufficiently and savingly known doth come unto men not by the natural power of humane understanding but by the supernatural operation of God for so saith he our Men do profess on Luthers lesser Catechism on the third Article of the Creed I believe say they that I cannot confide or trust in the Lord Iesus Christ my Lord or approach or come unto him any away by the power of my own reason but the Holy Ghost by his Gospel hath called me with his gifts hath enlightned me c. The which words if some Socinians or Pelagians did read it is a wonder if they should not put on them the brand of Enthusiasm yea of Quakerism For the foresaid words seem to differ little or nothing from our Faith who in scorn are called Quakers which may be more clearly made apparent afterwards CHAP. II. IN his fourth Paragraph he propounds the state of the question thus Whether inward and Immediate Revelation be the common and ordinary way which God used not only to some men of old but which he doth always use even to our very times unto all men Manifesting unto them the things which are necessary for them to know in order to their Salvation And a little after he mentions a twofold divine Revelation the one inward and Immediate for which we contend the other outward and mediate viz. the Scripture by which he saith men attain to the knowledge of things Necessary to Salvation the holy spirit working in them by that very Doctrine But yet he seems not to me to state the matter of the controversie clearly enough for in the former Paragraph as it seemeth he called the supernatural operation of God and the holy Spirit which is necessary unto all believers and that absolutely Divine Revelation the which because it is distinct from the outward and mediate as he calls it of the Scripture although not contrary unto it I know not how he can refuse to acknowledge that the Revelation Illumination and Operation of the Holy Spirit in the hearts of the faithful is both inward and Immediate For first that it is inward he will not deny secondly nor will he as I judge deny that it is Immediate in that sense wherein both he and all sound and right thinking Christians contend against the Socinians and Pelagians or any other adversaries of Gods grace that the holy Spirit doth Immediately most nearly and identically by a Supernatural Operation concurr in every holy man as well to the forming of every good thought or conception within mans heart as to the bringing forth every good work outwardly or without Yea and all the most sound teachers in the Schools do affirm against Durandus that not only in supernaturals but even in all natural Productions of effects God Almighty doth concurr with all his Creatures Immediately most nearly and as many say identically or in the sameness of operation Nor doth this Immediate concourse of God the first Cause hinder or stop the influence operation and use of second Causes or of the means but doth rather establish Corroborate and confirm them For Example When a Man is cured and restored to health out of a Fevour or any other Sickness by the application of certain outward means God hath wrought Immediatly with those means but if the immediate operation of God had been wanting the man had not been cured it is therefore piously believed by all pious men both according to Scripture and Right reason that
to the second interpretation of the word Galilee its signifying Revelation it is to be understood of Christ not in the form of a Servant but in that wherein he is equal to the Father which he promised in John to such as loved him when he said I shall love him and show my self unto him to wit not according to what they then saw and as after his Resurrection he appeared with the prints of his wounds both to be seen and touched but according unto that ineffable light whereby he doth enlighten every man that cometh into the World according to which he shineth in darkness and the darkness doth not comprehend him Where let the Reader notice how that Augustine believed that Christ did go before the outward Preaching of the Gospel with his Divine Grace and Revelation in the hearts of the Gentiles And if God be not present to his Creature to supply the defect of outward means and yet damn the Creature is not this to render God unmerciful and a hard Master and unjust who is yet most merciful meek just and benevolent to all his Creatures I thought these called Lutherans who are so zealous against the Calvinistical decree of absolute Reprobation had been more humane and merciful towards Mankind but now so far as I can gather from the words of our Adversary they are fallen into the same pit with the Calvinists or at least as bad For if so many thousands who want the outward means be damned eternally for the want of them this so miserable a case should seem to proceed from want of Love in God towards them and because he did not love them therefore he did reprobate and reject them I know not how the Adversary can save himself from falling into the deep ditch of the Calvinistical Doctrine of Absolute Reprobation But hath not Christ died for all men If so he hath then dyed for those who want the outward means and what hath Christ gained for them by his death if nothing of his Grace either already given them or afterwards to be given hath he not then dyed for them in vain But doth not the Scripture say that God hath his Elect ones in every corner and part of the whole world whither he is to send his Angels to gather them together even the children of God every where dispers'd And yet the outward Preaching of the Gospel is not yet gone to all the parts of the earth And what shall become of these good and honest Gentiles such as Cornelius was before Peter Preached the Gospel outwardly to him For do not Peters words plainly imply that there were many such good and honest men fearing God and working righteousness who were acceptable unto God through Christ although they had not heard of Christ as yet outwardly Again what was to be done with that good ground which was good before the seed was cast into it and whence was it that the ground was good before the outward Preaching of the Gospel And what did Christ signifie by that good ground in the Parable but men of a good and honest heart Suppose then that some of these were prevented by death long before the outward Preaching did come to their ears which is to be supposed in many by reason of the shortness of humane life shall therefore all these good men together with the bad and wicked be damned eternally Let every pious and sober man be ashamed so to conclude In his Sixth Paragraph he seemeth in part to acknowledge R. B. his distinction between Divine General Revelation and Special but he differeth herein that he will not have that General Revelation made to the Gentiles to be supernatural but natural nor immediate but mediate beside the inward or ingrafted notions of truth importing also an acquired knowledge by the things created and outwardly presented and the information and teaching of others concurring But as concerning the latter it followeth not that that Revelation was not immediate because these Gentiles had also an acquired knowledge by the things created c. For these two are not contradictory to wit one Knowledge immediate and implanted in them and another acquired but they both consist very well together And concerning the first he doth indeed affirm that the said General Revelation is only natural and not supernatural but he hath not so much as essayed to prove it Now as to that Question whether that General Revelation be natural or supernatural it may be answered that in a different respect it is both natural and supernatural Natural in respect of the Subject of its Inherence for many things receive their denomination from the Subject of Inherence as some Vessels are called golden others silver others brass according to the diversity of their subject matter Now God hath planted or sown this General Divine Revelation or Law in the very nature of Man and it is therefore called by Iames 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the innate Word or the Word planted in our Nature which is as the Ark unto which God hath committed this Divine Law to be preserved But it is Supernatural in respect of its Original Author and Efficient Cause For from whence cometh this Law placed in all souls but from that Supreme Lord and Father of all souls and therefore it is called by Philo the Jew An infallible Law and incorruptible Printed in the immortal Mind by an immortal Nature And by Plutarch A Faith ingrasted or innate into every reasonable Creature living in the Soul and never leaving the Soul destitute of Guidance Again this Law or Revelation is deservedly to be reputed Supernatural because it is the Law of God and whoever doth transgress it he doth transgress the Will of the most High God This Law therefore is above the Soul and the Souls nature which ought to be subject unto the said Law and consequently it is Supernatural And Lastly because Mans whole Nature in the Fall is corrupted but this Law doth remain in the Soul uncorrupted therefore it proceedeth not from Mans Nature but from a more noble Original and Fountain For who can bring such a clean thing as this Law is out of that which is so unclean as Mans corrupted Nature And indeed Augustine doth well discourse on this same purpose lib. 14. de Trinit cap. 15. Man saith he is admonished to turn to the Lord as unto that Light with which he was touched when he was departed from him For hence it is that even the wicked think upon eternity and do both reprove and commend many things in the manners of men But by what rules judge they of those things but such as in which they see how every one should live although they themselves do not so live When do they see them not in their Nature seeing they see them with a mind but it is manifest their minds are changeable whereas they see that these rules are unchangeable which every one may see in them Nor yet do they see them in
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
his other Brethren to Paul and all the other Apostles as if the Apostles because of their Inspirations and Revelations knew but in part and as Children having little use of their rational Faculties whereas this Author having attained to the adult state he is become perfect in Knowledge and like Moses converseth with God face to face and that without all Revelation or Inspiration immediately from God But how did Moses converse or speak with God face to face to whom the Lord said Thou canst not see my face and live was it without all manner of immediate Revelation or Inspiration I trow not but rather after a more noble and higher sort of Divine Inspiration than was commonly given to other Prophets But how much more sutable and agreeable to truth is that exposition of Pauls words that is commonly given that Paul compareth his highest attainments in this Life even by Vision and Revelation or Inspiration with what he did expect and wait for after death so as the highest attainments of Divine Knowledge by Revelation or Inspiration belonging to this life are but as the attainments of Children in comparison with what the Saints are to expect after death in the life to come But whereas the Author thinketh that the highest Revelations given in this life are but by symbolical Representations upon the phansie as in a Glass he is much mistaken There is a Revelation of God which God pleaseth at times to give to his Children far beyond all symbolical Representations or Similitudes of things whereby God in Christ and the pure Glory of God is seen and enjoyed by the highest and noblest faculty of the Soul which is an earnest and first Fruits of Eternal Life Nor is the Author more dexstrous in expounding all that diversity of Gifts mentioned 1 Cor. 12.4 8 9 10. to have been the miraculous and extraordinary Gifts of the Spirit for why might not some of them have been the common and ordinary and others of them miraculous and extraordinary By common and ordinary I mean not here such as were given to all and every one in particular but such common ministerial Gifts as God gave in common to all ordinary Teachers and Preachers and Ministers of the Lords fitting and sending for of these ministerial Gifts the Apostle is here principally to be understood And whereas the Author here doth argue that the Gifts mentioned in this place cannot be the saving Gifts of the Spirit because these God bestoweth joyntly on those who have them or not at all whereas the Gifts mentioned here are given some to one and some to another But to this I answer although the Gifts here mentioned in the foregoing Verses be not the saving Universal Gifts mentioned by him which are given to every one of the Faithful yet it doth not follow that therefore they are all miraculous and extraordinary for some of them might be of a third and middle sort to wit given in common to all Teachers and Preachers and may be called saving in such a sense or respect as the Preaching of the Gospel and distinct Offices of the Ministry may be called saving as being instrumental to the Salvation of Souls as it is said in Scripture That it pleased God by the foolishness of Preaching to save them that believe And if according to the Author all the Gifts here mentioned be miraculous and all ceased within some few ages after the Apostles days then according to him there is no word of Wisdom nor of Knowledge in the Church which how harsh it will sound to Christian ears I leave the spiritual to judge But that the Author taketh this place of Scripture viz. 1 Cor. 12.4 for his Text and Foundation of his whole Discourse to prove that all the Gifts here mentioned were miraculous and consequently expired within some few Ages to the Apostles times is meerly asserted by him but not at all really proved And he might as well say that Faith Hope and Charity were miraculous Gifts of the Spirit and consequently expired with those other for of them also he discourseth a little after and compriseth them with the other sorts under the diversity of Gifts mentioned v. 4. whereas the Spirit is one So that in this whole Discourse of Pauls concerning the diversity of Gifts Chap. 12.13 14. he mentioneth no less than three several sorts one miraculous and extraordinary another sort common and ordinary to the Teachers in the Church and peculiar unto them a third sort viz. Faith Hope Charity common to all true and sincere Christians so that this diversity of Gifts extendeth it self to all the Church one way or another all having some although every one had not all even as the precious Ointment that ran down from Aarons beard unto the lowest skirts of his Garments And though when the Apostle doth treat of Faith Hope and Charity it is in the thirteen and fourteenth Chapters yet the Discourse is still one and the same as one intire piece and all the Gifts mentioned in all the three Chapters are contained under the diversity of Gifts viz. Spiritual Gifts mentioned v. 4. of Chap. 12. and all proceed from one Spirit so that it may and ought to be said of them of all Now there are diversities of Gifts but the same Spirit and the best of these Gifts are Faith Hope and Love and the greatest of these is Love or Charity And thus I have answered to every thing that seemed material in his Sermon to prove that Divine Inspirations which he calleth Enthusiasms are ceased in the Church and though I have not observed strictly the method of his Sermon so as to answer to every thing in his order because the Nature of my answer required to put several things together that lay scattered in his Sermon and sometimes to take that last which he putteth first yet I hope the diligent and impartial Reader will find that the whole substance of his Sermon against Divine Inspirations is sufficiently answered And now in the Close I shall only take notice of some Reflections of his on the people called Quakers and some few other particulars and then make an end CHAP. V. IN his page 37. Edit 3. he undertakes to show what a dangerous damnable and precarious Principle that is which asserts that Immediate Revelation or Inspiration is not ceased c. But the Instances he bringeth to prove what he saith are wholly precarious and false as 1. That it differs only from the Popes Infallibility in this That that makes only the Bishop of Rome but this makes every private Christian a Pope This I say is altogether a false charge as to us For we place not an absolute Infallibility upon any person or persons whatsoever but we say the Spirit of God in all his Leadings Teachings and Motions is infallible and men only conditionally so far as they receive and are in unity with these Leadings and Teachings are Infallible We say further That every true Christian hath
Logia p. 170. l. 16. r. and yet I love p. 206. l. 2. r. Antoninus OF DIVINE Immediate Revelation AND INSPIRATION CHAP. I. MY Friend and Brother in the Truth and Country Man R. B. being much taken up with another affair when the dissertation of Io. W. Bajer against his Apology came to his hand did earnestly desire me to answer it as God should give me freedom and assistance so to do unto which I found great Liberty and clearness of Mind given me of God in defence of the truth of God and while as I was reading and weighing the things I had read in the said dissertation many things did occurr unto me one after another wherewith to answer And here I give the Reader to Understand that I delayed my answer for some small time until I should see if any other dissertations of the same Author should be made Publick and come out against us as the title of this his first dissertation gave us occasion enough to expect more shortly to follow For I thought it would be best to see his other dissertations that so either I or R. B. might answer them altogether then to spend the more time and Labour in answering now one and then another but as yet I have heard of no other dissertations of his Published against us As to the matter it self I propose this Method in answering so as to observe whatever is said by the Adversary whether well or ill that toucheth the main thing and hinge of the controversie passing by other things Superfluous or less Necessary and to every one of those to answer distinctly In the first place this Writer is to be Commended above many of our Adversaries for his greater Moderation of stile and Mind and because he writeth soberly and fairly of those things which he imputeth to us as false and Erroneous I shall in Charity impute these his mistakes not to flow from Hatred or Malice of Mind which is but too frequent in many others but from some defect of right reason and judgment and an Errour of humane weakness That in his first Paragraph and title of his dissertation he calleth us Enthusiasts I would know whether this Name or term Enthusiasts be in all respects rejected by him and these of his profession or what Crime or Vice or thing unworthy of a Christian Name is contained therein For having searched both Greek and Latine Dictionaries and Vocabularies I can find nothing to make me or any other true Christians justly ashamed of the same For Enthusiast if we consider aright the Etymology or English Signification of the word is one divinely Inspired or Breathed upon moved and acted Or one in whom God is in whom God speaketh whom God teacheth enlightneth instructeth leadeth moveth and acteth and what I pray is unworthy of a Christian Man in all these things yea what can befall to a Christian that is more worthy or desireable for I am greatly Mistaken if our Adversary will not allow all those things to belong to a true Christian in a sound and sober sense agreable to Scripture And although some Heathens abused this term in their false Inspirations received from unclean Spirits as they did also abuse the name of God this ought not to hinder but that it may be at last turned to a right use We know how the Papists did throw this same term upon Luther and other well minded Men for preaching up the necessity of the Spirits teachings and leadings in those days by way of derision and made it a crime I have also observed that the Socinians and such as they call all others in derision Enthusiasts who in any wise plead for the grace and Illumination of the holy Spirit its being necessary to the begetting in Men true Faith Hope and Charity And I have both read and oft heard the teachers of the Episcopal Church here in Britain brand the Presbyterians and Calvinists with the same Let any sober Man therefore be ashamed to impute that as a crime to another which is no crime if taken in a right sense in which only we take it and which may be as well imputed to him as unto us according to his own Concessions laid down by him in his dissertation as may be afterwards seen in its due place But because this term Enthusiast is not contained in the Scripture although I find it used by Clemens Alexandrinus and Origen in a right sense viz. for true divine inspiration we shall not contend for it nor affect to have it given to us yet we would not have it in derision cast upon us for affirming that all true and sound Christians are inspired and indued with the holy Spirit according to their several Measures and degrees Moreover that he saith in his first Paragraph the chief controversie betwixt us and our Adversaries lyeth in that of inward and immediate Revelations is very true for this most noble Principle of inward and Immediate Revelation being once received and acknowledged many other excellent Doctrines and Principles of Christian Religion are by necessary consequence deduced there from and all things belonging to the Christian Religion whither of Theory or Practise by the Light and vertue of the said Principle of inward and Immediate divine Revelation do shine and become clear and receive their native and lively beauty and lustre But the said Principle being denyed many other excellent Principles are denyed also and all things belonging to the Christian Religion and Church of God and Christ are obscured and clouded and as it were involved in most thick night darkness And hence it is that we confidently affirm that the one only true Foundation of the Christian Church is God and Christ by the Holy Spirit speaking and shining in the hearts of the Faithful and inspiring them and communicating unto them his inward and Immediate divine Revelations and by the same opening the Scriptures and Mysteries of the Christian Religion and sanctifying all the means both outward and inward as of Reading Hearing Meditation and Prayer and of our whole obedience unto God in all our services whether inward or outward Upon this Rock which flesh and blood hath not revealed but the Heavenly Father hath made Manifest in the hearts of the faithful the true Church is built And whatsoever Society or Congregation of People is not built upon the same is not the true Church of Christ but false and Anti-Christian because it is not built upon Christ as well inwardly revealing himself in their hearts as appearing in Heaven before the Father and interceeding for them What he addeth in the same Paragraph needeth much Correction Although saith he they have many and diverse errours yet it is manifest by experience if that one errour of Immediate Revelation be admitted it is to no purpose to dispute against their other errours for men being once perswaded that they have within them a divine and Immediate Light of Revelation they will most pertinaciously adhere to all
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
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
but mediately beside that such a distinction cannot be proved from scripture being altogether a mere invention and fiction of mans brain they who had the Spirit immediately did oftentimes obtain it by means of the preaching of others unto them And the gift of Prophecying or speaking immediately by the Spirit was continued in the Church in the times of Iustin Martyr and Tertullian as they themselves do testifie the which continuation of so excellent a gift was by means of preaching so long as the Preachers did preach purely by the Spirit and also did purely and chastly live and walk in the Spirit But when the Preachers left off or ceased to preach by the Spirit and to live in the Spirit and to put their own spirit in the room and place of the Spirit of God and of Christ that Spirit and gift of Prophesie the which is greatly to be lamented did cease in great part What the Adversary disputeth against R. B. in his following Paragraphs to the end of his dissertation and answereth to R. B. his solid and firm arguments taken from scripture doth altogether lean upon that false foundation sufficiently refuted by me to wit that because the faithful both under the new and old covenant received the Holy Spirit by means of outward Preaching ordinarily and commonly that therefore they were not immediately endued and inspired with the same the which consequence I have already over and over again showed to be most false although it were granted that all the faithful had always received the Spirit by means of outward Preaching or using of the scriptures the which I will never grant unto him And if I shall grant unto him that the faithful received the Spirit of Christ in some degree by means of the doctrine outwardly preached while as yet they were as children and Infants he can never prove from this that when they were more advanced into a spiritual and holy life and come unto the state of men that they did always receive the further measures and degrees of the Spirit by means of outward Preaching For it doth not follow that because at sometime they received the Spirit by means thereof that they always did so receive it in the fuller and larger measures and degrees thereof even as it doth not follow that because a Child or Infant needeth the ministry or means of a Nurse or Servant to feed it in that weak state that therefore it always needeth the help of that Nurse or Servant when it is come to a mans Age and growth I shall not therefore stay to answer to every thing of his Dissertation by giving still new answers seeing one answer doth suffice to them all and if I should still repeat that one Answer I should both lose my time and labour and also should weary the Reader and beget a loathing in him and therefore with this one Answer I reply unto all he hath objected against R. B. That he departeth from the state of the question and still beggeth the thing in controversie and so falleth into that error commonly called in the Schools Petitio principii i. e. a taking for granted the thing in controversie while he doth continually oppose and set at variance the immediate communication of the Holy Spirit and the means of outward Preaching and other the like helps which are not to be opposed but do well agree And it is so far otherwise that the Spirits immediate communication doth not only not hinder or make void the use of any means appointed of God as of Preaching Reading and Hearing the scriptures and meditating upon them that on the contrary it doth truly and solidly establish them sanctifie them and maketh them all effectual But that the Adversary doth continually bind up or tye the operation of the Holy Spirit to the outward letter of the Scripture either as read or heard or meditated upon is too rashly done in him and he hath not in all his Dissertation so much as once essayed to prove it And however his common and too credulous Hearers and Disciples in the School may easily receive his bare Affirmations without Proof yet they cannot find place with us nor with others we know better things and whose inward and spiritual eyes God out of his abundant Grace hath opened to discern the Truth But suppose which yet is not at all to be granted that the Illumination of the Holy Spirit is continually bound up or tyed to the outward Sign or Letter yet it doth not thence follow even upon that absurd principle that the Illumination of the Holy Spirit is not immediate or is not immediately perceived by us Even as if it were granted that the outward Illumination and Light of the outward and visible Sun is never seen by the eyes of men separated from all other visible objects but always joyned and united with them and always shining upon some one or other of the visible objects and reflecting its beams upon them though such who have Eagles eyes can look strait upon the Sun himself yet it will not from thence follow that the outward Illumination or Light of the outward Sun is not immediately received and seen or perceived by us CHAP. VIII ANd here I might well enough by right make an end of my Answering but because he doth affirm divers things in his other Paragraphs following which partly need correction and partly conduce to manifest the truth therefore I shall not be unwilling to take notice of them in a few particulars In his Twenty Second Paragraph he erreth in saying universally and without making any distinction that there is no substantial difference but only accidental and circumstantial betwixt mediate and immediate outward and inward Revelations according to the different kind of the signs under which God doth manifest himself For although this may be granted in those inward Revelations made in the Imagination yet not in these which have place in the highest faculty or power of the Soul which is the intuitive aforementioned For the Revelation which is given to this supreme or highest power of the soul that is intuitive and which is opened and awakened only in those who are sanctified and spiritually renewed doth not consist of signs but God himself and the Divine Things of his Kingdom in their own proper light and evidence discover themselves in the souls and hearts of the faithful without all signs And therefore however the outward Revelation may be called accidental because it doth but contain the signs which are accidents yet the inward Revelation which hath place in the Souls intuitive power and respecteth the Divine Things themselves without signs is to be called substantial In his Twenty Fourth Paragraph he hath these notable words When our men saith he affirm that at sometimes the outward Revelation is the formal object of the Saints Faith the meaning is not that the Faith of the Saints doth precisely lean or rely upon that which is outward in that Revelation or
which reacheth to the outward Senses but that it leaneth or doth rely upon God himself inwardly exerting or showing his power in the Mind by an inseparable or undivided operation through that which is outward and determining or moving the Vnderstanding to elicit or bring forth the act of knowledg whence we deny not saith he the inward testimony in the hearts of those who have the outward Revelation Thus he But let the impartial Reader judge if he doth not here act the Enthusiast and plainly give up unto us the chief thing in controversie for which we contend For this concession of his being once granted the controversie betwixt him and us so far as concerneth Immediate Revelation as seemeth unto me is almost none at all In his Thirty Second Paragraph he doth again plainly act the Enthusiast agreeing with us and saying That God or the Spirit which revealeth note doth not only work effectively upon the intellectual Faculty to produce the act of believing but also doth move objectively or by way of object and formal representation of the same doth determine the Vnderstanding to assent And a little after in the same Paragraph That God when he saith or revealeth any thing by the outward voice of the Preacher or by the holy Scriptures doth concur with that saying or Revelation and as the principal moving cause doth effect it that men from an inward and supernatural motion or witnessing made within their minds but which doth exert it self by the outward act of Divine Revelation and reflecteth on God the speaker as its cause may understand that it is God himself who saith it whether by the voice of the Preacher or the Scripture what that Revelation saith or manifesteth But this is it which the Teachers and Preachers in Britain and many other places among the Protestants do commonly object unto us for Enthusiasm because indeed we say that this objective Illumination or that which is by way of object no less than the effective is given to all the faithful for which principally we believe the Scriptures Now there is this only difference betwixt the Adversary and us that he doth continually tye or bind up the operation of the Holy Spirit to the outward signs but we do not so although we do affirm that the Illumination of the Holy Spirit is frequently joyned by an undivided operation with the holy scripture and that it doth exert it self in the hearts of the faithful through the same And whether the inward operation of the Spirit be continually tyed to the holy scripture or left free though we do still affirm it is not so tyed it is all one as to the state of the Controversie concerning Immediate Revelation for in both cases the Illumination and Communication of the Spirit is immediate as I have oft already made appear In his Paragraph Twenty Three he seemeth to blame R. B. that he doth render the outward Revelations to be fallacious and uncertain and more lyable to delusion than the inward But R. B. hath not affirmed that outward Revelations are fallacious for these which are true and come from the God of Truth cannot deceive but R. B. doth plead that the outward Revelations however true and certain they are in themselves yet they are not clear and evident of themselves to be Divine Revelations but that they principally derive their clearness and evidence from the inward Revelations witnessing to them and therefore these inward Revelations are more clear and evident having a self-evidence and clearness in themselves And there is this difference betwixt our outward Senses which perceive the outward Revelation and those Divine inward Senses supernaturally formed in us that our outward Senses may be deceived at sometimes and in some cases but these inward Divine Senses Divinely begot and formed in us can never be deceived For although a mans imagination and inward thought may deceive him yet that Sense which a man hath inwardly begot in his heart by the Lord can no wise deceive him In his Twenty Fifth Paragraph he alledgeth that R. B. doth contradict himself while he teacheth that the outward Revelation of the Scriptures is the formal object of the Saints faith and yet not the formal cause or reason of believing But if the Adversary had carefully considered R. B. his words following in his Apology he had not imputed unto him such a contradiction For R.B. saith that the secret testimony of the Holy Spirit is the principal object of the Saints faith and the original and consequently unto this that the Scripture is the secundary and subordinate And therefore when R. B. saith that the outward Revelation of the Scripture is not the formal cause or reason of believing he did clearly enough signifie his mind to wit that the Scripture was not the principal and original cause of believing and therefore if it be granted that the outward Revelation of the Scripture doth contain in it self some secundary reason of believing for this cause it may be called a secundary formal object of faith but the primary formal object is the inward Revelation which distinction of the formal objects is expressed by R. B. in other words into the formal object quod i. e. which to wit the secundary and the formal object quo i. e. for or by which to wit the primary But because these terms of the formal object into quod i. e. which and quo i. e. for which are borrowed from Logicians and the simple and plain truth can be easily enough explained without these terms I shall not stay any more to explain or defend them For the substance of the thing is clearly enough confessed by the Adversary to wit that Saving Faith doth not stay or rely on the meer naked outward Revelation of the Scripture but reacheth beyond that unto God himself inwardly moving and objectively or by way of object witnessing by his Spirit to the truth of the Scripture And because that inward objective testimony of the Spirit is somewhat really distinct from the outward testimony of the scripture although not contrary unto it nor separate therefrom as the Adversary saith therefore he holdeth of necessity a two-fold object to wit the one outward the other inward and whether of these he holdeth to be the primary he hath not in words expressed although it may be said consequentially enough to his Principles that the inward object is the primary and the outward secundary wherein he doth very well agree with R. B. and us Moreover Seeing he granteth a two-fold object of Divine Faith and Knowledge one outward of the Letter another inward of the Spirit joyned together and inseparate because they are really distinct I suppose he will not deny but they may be separate one from another if God so pleased Let it then be supposed only upon a possible supposition that the inward be separate from the outward so that the outward being removed the inward object may remain which is proposed by the
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
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