but only a new Birth and true faith in Jesus Christ whereby we are made the Children of God without which Men are still of the World notwithstanding all their other Improvements And this very thing manifests that Universities cannot be the fountains of the true Ministery of the Gospel seeing all the Education in it Philosophical Moral and Theological cannot change mens Natures or deliver them from their Corruptions or translate them one hairs breadth out of this present evil World yea generally we see that by University-Education as things have hitherto been managed Youth is made more of the World than they were by Nature through the High Improvement of their corruptions by their daily converse with the Heathens their vain Philosophers and filthy and obscene Poets and by these Heathenish abominable Accomplishments are they made the more fit Teachers for the World and Worldly People and become the more suitable to them and obtain the greater Aptness and Ability to please them Wherefore it may be most truly said of that Ministery that flows meerly from the fountain of the Universities that it is Of the World And now when the Teachers are of one Nature and Principle of one Heart Minde and Consent with the Hearers there must needs be a Great Agreement between them for each one approves and loves that which is like himself and so the Worldly people must needs cleave to the Teachers that are of the World Yea farther and which is very considerable the World can indure and like any Doctrine though in the Letter never so Holy and Spiritual from such Teachers are of one Nature and Spirit with it self And He that speaks of the things of Christ without the Spirit of Christ and by the Spirit of the World can never by any such Doctrine be grievous to the World but rather acceptable Seeing there is more in the Nature of those Teachers to reconcile the World to them than in their Doctrine to set the World against them For the World cannot but agree with those Teachers that are of the World let their Doctrine in the Letter be what it will Whereas on the contrary the faithfull are not of the World but of another Seed Nature and Principle which is in direct Enmity to the World and so they speaking the things of Christ in the Spirit of Christ must needs be grievous and troublesom to them who have the Spirit of the World and the Friends of Christ crucified cannot but be grievous to the Friends of this World And this for the first Ground 2. The second Ground Why the Worldly People hear the Worldly Teachers is this Because they speak of the World For as they are so they speak out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh and so They that are of the World speak of the World and this we may conceive of in three particulars 1. The Worldly Teachers speak of the World that is they speak the Spiritual Word of God in a Carnal and Worldly Sense they speak of Divine things as of Humane things according to their Natural and Humane Minde Reason Knowledge Learning and Understanding of them And so they give forth Christ himself and his Kingdom and all his Things his Redemption Reconciliation Salvation as also Faith Hope Love and all the Graces of the Spirit and Riches of Christ they give forth all these things in a Carnal Understanding and Notion to the People And the World can like well enough of Christ his Kingdom and Things in a Worldly Sense they can bear or endure Faith and Repentance and the New Creature and the New Jerusalem in a Carnal Sense while in the true Spiritual Sense of them and as they are in Themselves and according to the Minde of Christ they are the greatest Enemies to them that can be Now Believers must know in this Matter That whoever speaks the Things of Gods Spirit by the spirit of a Man or Spiritual Things in a Humane Carnal and Worldly Sense is a false Prophet and Teacher of Antichrist Whoever reading or hearing the Gospel of God our Saviour doth understand and frame it after his own Humane Sense and doth not so understand it as the Lord hath spoken it He is a false Prophet understanding and speaking the Gospel after his own minde but contrary to Christs and these open their own Hearts to the People and not Gods Now when the People that are of the World hear the Teachers that are of the World speaking Spiritual Things in a Carnal and Worldly sense and according to such an Apprehension as they have already in their own Hearts they do exceedingly cleave to and embrace such Teachers and their Doctrine For such Doctrine man in his Natural Condition can well like of seeing it leads men only to a change of Outward Works and to a performance of Outward Worship which any man by his own natural abilities can perform aad the World can well endure to put on the fairest form of Godliness and the strictest so their Nature inwardly may remain the Same And thus the Worldly People comply readily with the Worldly Doctrine of the Worldly Teachers seeing it is after the sense and mind of Man But on the contrary Christ and his Seed as they are not of the World so neither do they speak of the World but being of God they speak the Things of God according to God they speak of the Things of God by the Spirit of God and so according to the Minde of God they speak of the Things of God in the Wisdom Righteousness Truth Light and Life of God and thus the World cannot endure the VVord nor Those that teach it 2. The Prophets of Antichrist speak of the World that is they turn the Word of God into Worldly and Carnal doctrine for Worldly Advantage sake they preach the spiritual Word of God carnally that they may make it serve their own Turns and Ends. That Word of the Gospel which God hath given only to serve the spiritual and eternal Welfare of his Church the Worldly Teachers frame and use this only thereby to serve their own Worldly Credit and Reputation their Worldly Profit and Preferment and their Worldly Authority and Dominion And thus that Word of Faith which in its own proper Nature and Working calls off all Men from this World and the Things of it to the Kingdom and Glory of God they make this very Word to sound carnally that by it they may seek Themselves and the Things of this present Life But Christ and his Seed who are of God they speak of God and not of the World seeking no Worldly thing at all by the Word of God which They teach and hold forth as is manifest in the Life of Christ and his Christians 3. The Ministers of Antichrist or worldly Teachers speak of the World that is they turn the Word of God into Worldly Doctrine that thereby they may avoid
preach no more in that Name they answered Whether it be right in the sight of God to hearken unto you more than unto God judge ye For we cannot but speak the things which we have seen and heard Acts 4. vers 19. And so Wickliffe John Hus and Luther who were sent of God did take all their Authority from God alone and so were bold and confident each of them in their time against the whole World But now the false Prophets who come of Themselves and by the sending of Men they do all by the Authority and Warrant of Man and accordingly do joyn themselves together by secular Power to bring about their Doctrines and Designs in the Church and from the Civill Authority they procure Leave and Power to publish their Doctrine and set up their Discipline in the Church and to suppress what ever is contrary thereto and without this worldly License and Authority they neither can nor dare do any thing and are never bold but when the Authority of Man is for them But the true Prophets as hath been said do only take their Authority from Christ for what they teach and are bold in his Name only to hold it forth and so after they have published the Word in faith in the same faith they leave the maintenance and defending of it to Him alone whose Word it is and they neither publish it for Mans commanding nor smother it for Mans forbidding Wherefore those Teachers who have not their Warrant from Christ for their Doctrine and are not bold in his Name alone but do derive all their Authority and Encouragement from Men to speak and act in the things of God they are all false Prophets and Ministers of Antichrist The Third Sign The true and faithful Teachers as they are sent of God and take their Authority from God so in all their Doctrine they only hold forth Jesus Christ. And this they have learned from God Himself For the Father speaking immediatly from Heaven preached nothing but Christ saying This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased hear him And this he spake thrice from the excellent Glory manifesting that He Himsef had no Higher Thing nor no Other Thing to declare to the World than his Son Jesus Christ in whom alone are hid all the Treasures of all true and spiritual Wisdom and Knowledge The Son also in all his Ministry only declared who Himself was whom the Father had given to the Elect Church saying Psal. 2. I will publish the Decree whereof the Lord hath said unto me Thou art my Son this day have I begotten thee And in all his Ministry only declared Who he was and to what End his Father had given him saying I am the bread of life which cometh down from Heaven he that cometh to me shall never hunger and he that believeth in me shall never thirst And I am the Way the Truth and the Life no man cometh to the Father but by me And all his Doctrine and Works were to this end that we might believe that Jesus is the Son of God and that believing in him we might have Eternal Life The Apostles also of the Lord after they had received the Spirit did go up and down the World only preaching Jesus and Repentance and Remission of sins in his Name And Paul a laborious Preacher through the Grace of God did renounce and reject all his Worldly Learning and all his Humane Accomplishments and Excellencies in the Ministry of the Gospel and preached nothing but the right Knowledge of Christ and right Faith in Him as He himself testifies Phil. 3. 7 c. saying What things were gain to me those I counted loss for Christ yea doubtless and I count all things but loss for the Excellency of the Knowledge of Jesus Christ my Lord for whom I have suffered the loss of all things and do count them but dung that I may win Christ and be found in Him not having mine own Righteousness which is of the Law but that which is through the faith of Christ the Righteousness which is of God by faith That I may know Him and the power of His Resurrection and the fellowship of His Sufferings and be made conformable to Him in his Death if by any means I might attain to the Resurrection from the Dead And he also tells the Corinthians that he desired to know nothing amongst them but Jesus Christ and him crucified And thus the true Teachers preach nothing but Christ and Him they preach not according to their own Humane Conceptions and Apprehensions but according to the Revelation they have received from the Father by the Spirit But on the contrary the false Teachers preach nothing less than Christ and faith in him but they chiefly teach the Law and Morall Doctrine and Works or else Philosophy and Philosophical Subtilties and Speculations which yet the Apostle hath expresly forbidden Col. 2. 8. saying to the faithful Beware lest any man spoil you through Philosophy and Vain Deceit after the Tradition of Men after the Elements of the World and not after Christ for in Him dwells the fulness of the Godhead bodily and ye are compleat in Him who is the Head of all Principality and Power And so we need not turn from Christ to Philosophy that vain Deceit Wherefore they who preach not the Mysterie of Christ through the Revelation of the Father and the Spirit but Moral Vertues and Vain Philosophy instead of Christ are all of them false Prophets and Ministers of Antichrist The Fourth Sign The true Ministers and Prophets of Christ as they only hold forth Christ so they hold him forth only for the Love of God and their Brother and not for any worldly Profit or Gain Thus Christ taught his Disciples out of the Love of God as he saith I delight to do thy will O my God yea thy Law is within my Heart that is his Love to God And also out of Love to his Brother for having Loved his own he Loved them to the end and out of this Love taught Them as he saith I have called you Friends for whatsoever I have heard from my Father I have declared unto You. And as he taught out of love Himself so he hath commanded all His Seed to teach one another out of the same Love and hath given them his Spirit which is Love that thereby they might love both Him and their Brethren and therefore Christ knowing how difficult a Work it was to feed his Sheep with the right and found Doctrine of the Gospel and that none could or would perform this except they loved Christ from their very Heart root said thrice to Peter Peter dost thou Love me dost thou Love me dost thou Love me then feed my sheep my lambs my sheep and Paul saith The Love of Christ constrained him to teach the Gospel and the fruit of the Spirit in all Believers being Love in this Brotherly Love
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
they serve one another in the Gospel And as Christ himself did not sell his Spiritual Travel to his Church for worldly Profit or Gain no more do his true Seed and Servants for saith Paul Acts 20. 33. I have coveted no mans Silver or Gold or Apparel ye your selves know that These Hands have ministred to my Necessity and to Them who were with me And 2 Cor. 12. 14. Behold the third time I am ready to come to you I will not be burdensome to you for I seek not Yours but You. And v. 17. Did I make a Gain of you by any of them whom I sent unto you or did Titus make a Gain of you walked we not Both in the same Spirit And thus the true Teachers do not seek any Temporal Gain or Commodity from the hands of men by their preaching but do truly and chearfully teach out of the Love of Christ and their Brother But on the contrary the false Teachers though they do not teach the Gospel being destitute of the Spirit but vain Philosophy and Humane Doctrines instead of it yet will they live by the Gospel and not by the Labour of their Hands in a lawfull Calling they will have the temporal Goods of the Church and yet not minister the Spiritual Treasure of it and what they do minister they do it for Reward as it is written Micah 3. 11. The Priests teach for Hire and the Prophets divine for Mony and he that putteth not into their mouths they even prepare war against him And to shew they Preach for the love of gain they are brought up to the Ministry as to a Trade to live by and they run in this way from one Place to another from a Lesser to a Greater Living and where they may Gain most of this World there will they be sure to be Yea so much are they addicted to their Worldly Advantage that they had rather Christs Kingdom should never be set up in the World nor Antichrists never be thrown down then suffer any Loss or Diminution in their Profit Power Dignity Authority or in any Worldly thing whereof they have got the Possession and Injoyment Wherefore they that teach Christ not for the love of Christ and their Brother but for Temporal Gain and Worldly Advantage only are all of Them false Teachers and Ministers of Antichrist The Fifth Sign The true Teachers teach Christ to others as they have been taught him of God only for the Glory of God and not out of Vain-glory. Wherefore Christ said of himself John 8. 50. I seek not mine own Glory And John 7. 18. He that speaketh of himself seeketh his own Glory but he that seeketh the Glory of him that sent him the same is true and no unrighteousness is in him So that whoever speaketh from God seeketh Gods Glory And so also Paul saith 1 Thess. 2. 6. Nor of Men sought we Glory neither of You nor yet of Others So that the true Teachers do not preach the Word to win to themselves Glory in the World and Praise and Applause from Men but do rather seek the Glory of God by their Doctrine though Hypocrites and Carnal people for this cause do deride and scorn them But on the contrary the false Teachers seek above all things their own Glory by their Ministry and to this end 1. They get to themselves Titles and Degrees in the University for their pretended Knowledge in Divinity above other Christians and by these Degrees they get the uppermost seats in the Synagogues and greetings in the Markets and are called of men Doctor Doctor which Christ hath expresly forbidden in his Gospel 2. Having got such Titles they go forth in their own Name as men of approved Religion Learning Reputation and Worth and for Such they make account the World should receive them 3. They especially desire to Preach to Rich men and Great men and men in Place and Authority that from Them they may have Protection Favour Preferment and a Quiet Life and care not much to Preach to the poor plain mean People by whom they can expect no Worldly Advantage 4. To this end also they speak in the Words which Mans Wisdom teacheth and so mingle Philosophy with Divinity and think to credit the Gospel with Terms of Art and do sprinkle their Sermons with Hebrew Greek Latin as with a Perfume acceptable to the Nostrils of the World In a word they Preach all things in a Pleasing Spirit to the World that they by all may get Glory to Themselves and may be accounted with Simon Magus some Great Ones And in all this they shew they speak of Themselves and not of God seeing they seek not Gods Glory but their Own for He that speaketh of Himself seeketh his own Glory Wherefore they who by their Ministry do not seek the Glory of God alone and of his Son Jesus Christ but seek their own Glory and the Praise of men as the Clergy generally do and not least of all in this Place They are all of them false Prophets and Ministers of Antichrist The Sixth Sign The true Preachers and Ministers of Christ when they are opposed resisted slandered and persecuted for the Words sake they endure it with all meekness humility and patience Thus Christ endured all the reproaches contradictions revilings and persecutions from the Jews and when he was reviled reviled not again when he suffered he threatned not but committed himself to him that Judgeth righteously 1 Pet. 2. 23. And Paul saith of himself to the Corinthians 1 Cor. 12. 12. You had the signs of my Apostleship in all Patience But on the contrary the false Teachers when any Truth is preached that they know not or that is against their Gain or Glory they snarl and bark at it and bite Them that bring it And therefore saith Paul Beware of Dogs Phil. 3. 2. not Dogs by Nature but by Practice and Condition Now a curst Dog lying on a rich Garment or soft Carpet at his ease as long as he may lye still he is very quiet but if you would remove him from his place he soon snarls and flyes at you and shews of what mettle he is made So the false Teachers who have gotten a carnall Knowledge of the Word and have thereby gotten Preferment and great Advantages in the World they lye quiet on these soft things as long as they may lye still but if any seek by the Word of God to rouze them up from these things they rise up like angry Dogs and bark at them and rend them as much as they can or dare Wherefore those Teachers who cannot patiently suffer wrongs for the Words sake but on the contrary when they are reproved by the Word and their Sheeps Cloathing pull'd off even their false vizard of Religion do presently grow impatient and furious and they that bark and foam against the late revealed Truth which toucheth them very near they all are false Teachers and
the Hearers when they do not receive the Word of Truth from the Teachers of Truth but do contrarily cleave to Humane and Philosophical or Moral or Formal and National Doctrine published and held forth by the Teachers of Error Now hence it is evident That there are two Heads or chief Teachers in the World which are Christ and Antichrist and also that there are two Seeds or Generations which flow from them begotten by their Doctrine The One is Christs Seed or the Elect and Faithful the Other is Antichrists Seed or the Reprobate and Unbelievers And each Sort of these People do joyn Themselves to their several and proper Heads and by this they are certainly distinguished known and discerned Antichrist and his false Teachers who are the Head of the Malignant Church and People they come in great Pomp and Glory as to the eye of the World being beautified and dignified with Degrees Names and Titles being exalted to great Honour Authority and Power being full of fleshly Wisdom Rhetorical Eloquence and Philosophical Learning and so to Humane Judgement They are most considerable Persons in the Church and very Angels of Light in appearance And they being thus adorned and beautified to the pleasing and content of the World all the World come in and commit fornication with Them and do hear and conceive Them and are conquered by their Inchantments But Christ and his Teachers come in true Humility and Self-denial and Meekness and Lowlyness and without the Titles and Glory of the false Teachers which they utterly despise and refuse and without all Excellency of Speech and Wisdom and Learning of this World and These do contradict the Religion and Righteousness of the World and speak the Truth which is of God by the Spirit which is of God and these Teachers all the true Sheep of Christ the faithful flock do own and acknowledge and they come and hear the Words of their lips being assured that it is not They that speak but the Spirit of their Father which speaks in Them For the Body and Members of Christ do necessarily cleave to Christ their Head and the Body and Members of Antichrist do in like manner necessarily cleave to Antichrist their Head And as the Body and Members of Christ do cleave to Christ their Head and to those that are in his Spirit and will not nor cannot joyn to Antichrist and to those that are in his Spirit so also the Body and Members of Antichrist do cleave to Antichrist their Head and those that are in his Spirit and will not nor cannot joyn to Christ and to those that are in his Spirit For such as the Body it self is such a Head will it choose to it self and so a Spiritual Heavenly and Faithful People will joyn Themselves to such a Teacher or rather to Christ Himself in and through him And a carnal worldly and unbelieving People will joyn Themselves to such a Teacher and to Antichrist Himself in and through him Wherefore as they that hear the true Teachers and Christ in them and do joyn and cleave by faith to the Word and Doctrine which they hear knowing that it is of God as all Such are certainly of God even his true Children and People and the true Sheep of Christ in as much as they know his Voice and cleave to it So they that hear the false Teachers and Antichrist in them and do cleave to their Doctrine and Ministry and do like commend and applaud that all such are not of God but of their father the Devil and the true and natural Members and People of Antichrist And this very Doctrine Christ Himself hath clearly taught in his Gospel as John 5. 43. where he saith to the Jews I am come in my Fathers Name and ye receive me not another shall come in his Own Name and Him ye will receive That is the Unbelieving Jews would not come and cleave to Christ as their Head though coming in the Name of God that is in the true Power Wisdom and Righteousness of God because they were none of Christs own Sheep But Antichrist coming in his own Name that is in his own Power Wisdom and Righteousness they receive Him and joyn to Him as to their own true and Natural Head And again John 8. 47. Christ saith to the Jews He that is of God heareth Gods Word ye therefore hear it not because ye are not of God Whence it appears that to hear and cleave to the true Word of God taught and held forth by Christ and his Prophets is a manifest Token that men are of God but to turn away from it and to despise it and to embrace another Doctrine is as manifest a Sign that they are not of God but of the Devil as Christ saith to the same people ver 44. Ye are of your Father the Devil for there is no Truth in Him and he abides not in the Truth no more do Ye Again John 10. v. 4. 5. Christ saith His own Sheep follow Him the true Shepherd because they know his Voice and a stranger will They not follow but flee from Him because they know the Voice of Strangers Wherefore they that hear the Word of Faith in the true Teachers of the Gospel They have in them the Spirit of Truth but they that dislike and disrelish that Word and joyn to the Teachers and Doctrine of Antichrist They all have in them the Spirit of Error And therefore it concerns us more than the World is aware of to take heed Whom we hear For if we cleave to the Teachers of Truth as hath been declared then have we the Spirit of Truth but if to the Teachers of Error then are we of the Spirit of Error And thus this Scripture teacheth us how to know and discern the Spirit both of Christ and of Antichrist and that both in the Teachers and in the Hearers both which are of great Use to the true Church of God in all Times but especially in these Last Times And these things I have spoken and testified freely according to the measure of grace given knowing that they will be as acceptable to the true Friends and Members of Christ crucified as they are troublesome and displeasing to the Members of Antichrist FINIS A Plain and Necessary CONFUTATION Of divers gross and Antichristian Errors DELIVERED To the University Congregation At the Publick Commencement Anno. 1653. By Mr. Sydrach Simpson Master of Pembroke HALL in CAMBRIDGE Potentior est veritas quam eloquentia potior spiritus quam ingenium major fides quam eruditio ut Paulus ait Stultum Dei sapientius est hominibus Luther Epist. ad Caspar Bornerum Profes Lipsens Non est istud temeritas sed fides neque inconsideratio sed ratio neque furor sed fiducia Hillarius lib. contr Constantium Augustum LONDON Printed for Giles Calvert and are to be sold at the Sign of the Black-spread-Eagle near the West-end of Pauls 1660. An Apologie to the
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
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
Nature to wit Aristotle who doth truly reign in the Universities as Abaddon and Apollyon that is a Waster and Destroyer of the Church For we have said that an Angel signifies a Teacher or a Doctor in the Church And certain it is that Aristotle who is Dead and Damned is at this day the great Doctor of all the Universities rather then Christ for He reigns alone being exalted by the Authority and Study of Thomas reviving Freewill and teaching Moral Vertues and natural Philosophy to wit the three-headed Cerberus or three-bodied Gerion Behold the first Wo which the Church hath from the Romish Antichrist by the Ministry of Saint Thomas and They whose duty it was chiefly to have prohibited and extinguished these things they chiefly have erected and established them Thus Luther word for word in the forenamed place He also in his book De abroganda missa privata speaking of the Idol Moloch faith thus Moses and Jeremy have described the Worship of this Idol to be after this manner That they did burn or offer to Him their Children in the fire supposing that hereby they did perform the greatest and highest Service to God inasmuch as after the example of Abraham they do not spare their own Children though they do this not only not being called as Abraham was but also without Faith and in the highest Wickedness and therefore the Psalmist testifies Psal. 78. That they offered not their Children to God but to Devils For whatsoever is not done by the Call and Command of God is not done to God but Devils who suggest this though it be done under Pretence of the Name of God Now hereby saith he I conceive the Universities to be represented in which the best and choicest Part of Christian Youth is offered as it were in Burnt Sacrifice to God that there they may be instructed and be made as it were wholy Divine For the Common People believe there is no Place under Heaven in which Youth can be better instructed so that even Religious People have recourse hither For to learn any Thing out of the University is to learn Nothing but to have studied in the University is to know all Things There all Divine and Humane Things are believed to be taught for no man sends his Son hither with any other Opinion then this that he can no where be better sent They think they perform the Highest Service to God that they offer their Sons to be formed according to the Instruction of Godliness that thereby they may become profitable and useful Ministers Preachers Governours who may wholly become Gods own Portion and be useful both to God and Men. And hereto appertains the name Moloch which signifies a King or Kingly because this kind of Study doth honour them with Degrees and Promotions and renders them fit and able to Govern Others For we see that all that are preferred to Governments are taken out of Universities and he that is not a Graduate or Member of an University is not qualified for Preferment or to be set over any People but let the Ass first be crowned to wit with a Degree and then let him reign And Parents do not see and They that do see do not regard that Youth are usually here destroyed through rude and vile Manners none commonly forbidding them Yea Fornication Luxury and other manifest sins do but mildly destroy them but that they are indued and possessed with Philosophical Heathenish Humane Wicked and Impious Opinions this is the fire of Moloch which no tears can sufficiently bewail seeing through this they especially are devoured and perish who are the most studious and modest Youth in Universities So great is the Fury of God upon this Valley of Tophet and Hinnom that they perish more grievously who learn most and live modestly then they who learn nothing and are corrupted with lusts For These learn Nothing which is to be unlearned again seeing they know they do Evil whereas the other suck in Poyson which happily or never they do vomit up again holding that for Good which is Evil and instructing Those with the like Opinions whom they take to teach And to these Pits of Hell it is to be imputed that the Sun of the Gospel is obscured with the Smoak of the Pit for out of this Smoak proceed those Locusts which possess all Chairs and Pulpits and administer all Governments that Satan from the beginning of the World could devise Nothing in all the World more strong and pernicious to waste Faith and the Gospel then Universities Neither was it meet that this Evil should arise but in the End of the World when the World through the prevailing of Sin being loaden with the Wrath of God should draw near to Hell and Damnation For the miserable People must needs hear those Things taught and delivered out of the Pulpits which those Molochites have learned in the Universities And they have learned nothing but the Highest Blasphemies of God Neither is it lawful to have any where any other Pastor then These In Jeremiah that Valley is called Gehinnom from whence Christ took that word Gehenna which what it signifies I do not well know but it seems to me to come from Janah which signifies to eat up or to pill or waste as Tyrants or Usurers do pill and suck out the People so that Gehinnom is the Valley of pilling or wasting the People For These being set over the People as Shepherds ought to feed them with the Word of Life and They in stead thereof do insensibly waste and devour them in their Body Goods and Soul with the pestilent Doctrines of Universities And such Teachers do the Universities those Synagogues of Perdition give us Thus Luther These now are Luthers own Words which I have made legible to English Men. Wherein it is manifest that He condemns the Universities in the very Institution and Constitution of Them and chiefly in their Chief Studies Humane Learning and School-Divinity and also as to that gross Popish Opinion that they are the Fountain and Nurseries of the Ministry and that None are fit to Teach or so fit to Teach as Those that have been educated in Them Yea though these be Raw Foolish Ignorant Fellows yet being University Graduates must they be set over Towns and Parishes and the miserable People must not only hear Them and their doltish Doctrine brought from the Universities but also must be constrained by Secular Power and Laws to pay them well for such Pains which tends only to the ruine of their Souls for ever and no Hand is yet strongly and resolutely stretched out to deliver the People from this intolerable Bondage For the Necks of the People of the World have never endured so grievous a Yoak from any Tyrants as from the Doctrine and Domination of the Clergy For Worldly Tyrants have only afflicted mens Bodies and Temporal Estates which reacheth but to this short Life but these spiritual Tyrants the Clergy or false
Ministry when they have got Countenance Strength and Ayd from the Worldly Magistrates how have they with their Academical Philosophical Heathenish Divinity infected poysoned and destroyed the People to Eternal Death and No Body durst shun Them upon Pain of Temporal Death or Punishments But now through the great Goodness of God and his mighty Providences and Works from Heaven it is a more Happy Age and Happy shall They be who being called forth shall do the Work of God against all Discouragements and Difficulties and shall not with Ephraim being harnessed turn their Backs in the Day of Battle And now to return to our Business again touching the Universities let none object that Luther speaks against Popish Universities only for this is but a weak and simple Defence and altogether unable to ward off the Mighty Blow of Gods Word from their Heads and Hearts For the Things condemned in the foregoing Testimonies of Luther are the Self Same for the Substance of them as do live prevail and flourish in our present Universities as hath been before declared and I leave it to every faithful Christian to judge the Truth in this Matter But men would fain preserve their Titles Degrees Authority Dignity State Stipends and therefore for Defence of These Things they must needs say Something though it be to never so little Purpose but yet by such Discourse they sufficiently declare how cool and icie they are for Christs Interest and how zealous for their Own But certain it is that as the Universities were set up at first as Nurseries for Antichrists Kingdom Men being therein so educated according to the undertaking of Charles the Great in Philosophy and School-Divinity that it might be said to them Vos estis Sal Terrae Lux Mundi Ye are the Salt of the Earth and the Light of the World which yet only agrees to the Faithful who are born of God so have they still remained the Same hitherto in Substance though not without some small Change of Outward Form 2. For first the Philosophy taught and studied in the University is the very Same that it was at first and this Philosophy is nothing but the Religion of the Heathen For what the Law was to the Jews and the Gospel is to the Christians Philosophy was and is to the Heathen and in this Study the poor Lads waste the flower and cream of their Lives to no purpose but to make them more Heathenish Corrupt and Bold in Evil then they were by Nature And For their Divinity which they usually learn in the Universities out of the Fathers Schoolmen and Systems and in which they are trained up to Dispute either for it or against it in the Schools it being in seriousness all one to Them what they hold and maintain in Religion seeing all is but Opinion to them and which they after teach to the People with special Regard to their own Profit and Advantage this is not the true Word and Ministry of the Gospel For the Gospel is the Word of Faith which Word is the Word in our Hearts according to the Tenor of the New Covenant wherein God saith I will write my Law in their Hearts and put it in their Inward Parts But now the University-Divines the Truth being indeed dead in their Hearts and having no Presence nor Power there they take it up out of the Books and Writings of Men wherein it hath been buryed and by this Means bring forth a dead Doctrine to the World which Other Men have spoken but Themselves have no Experience of and not the Word of Life which hath quickened them but only a Dead Letter raised up like the Living Letter which they present to them as the Witch of Endor raised up a Dead Samuel in the outward Habit and Appearance of the Living Samuel and presented him to Saul so these University-Divines bring forth the outward Garments and Appearance of the Truth to the People when they do best but the Substance Soul and Life of the Truth they cannot bring forth because they have not the Living Word of God in their Hearts but have only a Dead Word which they gather out of the Books and Writings of Men. And this is the University-Divinity And Lastly The Preachers which the Universities send forth are usually in the greatest Enmity to Christ and his Gospel of all other Men whatsoever and do bring greatest Prejudice to Christs Kingdom and greatest Advantage to Antichrists For when Men without Learning and yet without the Spirit of Christ will undertake to teach the People as many also now do their Ignorance is manifest to all and is judged of all and they through their Rudeness can never long deceive the World but now when Men are as destitute of the Spirit as They and yet have Humane Learning and the Letter of the Word in a Philosophical sense to help them this is that that exceedingly endangers and deceives the World the People supposing the Doctrine of the Gospel according to Philosophical Learning to be the Ministration of the Spirit and to be sufficiently enough to instruct the Church And so Antichrists Kingdom is set up with Credit and Renown by These whereas the Ignorant Teachers who are destitute of the Spirit are able to do Him no considerable Service But Christ will not have the Learned Men to be Teachers in his Church through their Learning and as little will he have Ignorant Men to teach in his Church because of their Ignorance but whether Men be Learned or Ignorant according to the World it is no matter in Christs Church where each Man is to speak in the Spirit of Christ which makes both the Ignorant and the Learned alike wise in Christ and so the Learned Man becomes Ignorant in the Church to be Learned in Christ and the Ignorant Man without Worldly Learning forthwith becomes Wise in Christ and the Learned and the Ignorant meet together only in the Wisdom of Christ which is the Wisdom of God and swallows up at once all the Learning and Ignorance of the World alike and will have all Wise alone in it Self Wherefore all Universities being left and forsaken as to this Matter let Learned and Ignorant Men come alike to Christ to be made Wise in Him who is made unto us of God our only Wisdom FINIS THE Right Reformation of Learning Schools and Universities according to the State of the Gospel and the True Light that shines therein THough I do not pretend to that Wisdom which might direct the World farther then the Word of God is with me yet shall I be bold as one who desires to be faithful to Christ and profitable to his true Church to offer my apprehensions and advice to the Called Chosen and Faithful Ones of Christ that either now are or hereafter may be in Authority in these Nations touching the instructing Youth and ordering Schools 1. First therefore as to this matter I do judge there neither