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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
B10083	Tracts theological. I. Asceticks, or, the heroick piety and vertue of the ancient Christian anchorets and coenobites. II. The life of St. Antony out of the Greek of Sr. Athanasius. III. The antiquity and tradition of mystical divinity among the Gentiles. IV. Of the guidance of the spirit of God, upon a discourse of Sir Matthew Hale's concerning it. V. An invitation to the Quakers, to rectifie some errors, which through the scandals given they have fallen into.	Stephens, Edward, d. 1706.; Stephens, Edward, d. 1706. Asceticks, or, the heroick piety and virtue of the ancient Christian anchorets and coenobites.; Stephens, Edward, d. 1706. Life of St. Antony.; Stephens, Edward, d. 1706. Antiquity, tradition, and succession of mystical divinity among the Gentiles.; Stephens, Edward, d. 1706. Enthusiasmus divinus: the guidance of the spirit of God.; Stephens, Edward, d. 1706. Apology for, and an invitation to, the people call'd Quakers, to rectifie some errors, which through the scandals given they have fallen into.	1697 (1697)	Wing S5444E; Wing S5444E; ESTC R184630	221,170	486

concluded they were Devils and being afraid they call'd to St. Antony but he heeded the Devils more than them and whereas they expected to have seen him dead they heard him saying Let God arise and his Enemies be scattered Let them vanish as the Smoak vanisheth As the Wax melteth before the Fire so Sinners shall perish from the Presence of God And again All Nations compassed me round about but in the Name of the Lord I stav'd them off 13. Thus did he lead Twenty Years in private Exercise never stirring out or seen by any one But at last many others desiring to imitate his Ascetick Life and other Acquaintance coming to him and breaking open the Door by force Antony came out of the Castle as out of an inaccessible Sanctuary being matriculated a Member of the Heavenly Jerusalem and become full of God The Spectators when he came out were in an Amaze to see his Body that had been so belabour'd by Devils in the same shape in which it was before his Retirement The Temper of his Soul was very pure neither clouded by Sadness nor shattered by Voluptuousness Neither Laughter nor Melancholy held him in their Chains The sight of the Multitude did not disturb him nor their Praises make him vain But he was intirely smooth and regular steered by Reason and Revelation and fixed in the primitive State of Nature Our Lord healed many Sick Persons by him He also cleansed many that were possessed comforted many that were grieved and reconciled many that were fallen out charging them all to prefer none of the Things of this World before the Love of Christ discoursing and exhorting them to be mindful of future Goods and of the great Philanthropy of God who spared not his own Son but gave Him up for us all He perswaded many to chuse a solitary Life and by this means there came to be many Monasteries in the Mountains So that now the Desarts were turned into a City by Monks that left their Estates and Houses and entred themselves Members of the Heavenly City 14. Once he had an Occasion to pass over the Trench of the Arsenoites to see some of his Brethren Monks which Trench was very full of Crocodiles but St. Antony and all that were with him by the pure Vertue of Prayer went over unhurt When he returned to his Monastery he obliged himself to very severe and youth-like Enterprizes By his Conferences he would be continually encreasing the Fervour of other Monks and exciting many others to the Love of Exercise and by the magnetism of his Discourses many more Monasteries were erected all looking upon him as their Father 15. One Day among the rest as he was walking out he told the other of his Brethren Monks who came to him with a desire to hear him in the Egyptian Language that the Holy Scriptures are sufficient for Instruction But nevertheless 't is decent for us to confirm one another in the Faith by Exhortation and to chear and anoint each other's Spirits by mutual Discourses Wherefore do ye my Sons bring your Father what ye know and I who am your Elder will communicate to you what I know by Experience But besure in a peculiar manner to take care to be communicative and unanimous and that now ye have begun ye don't grow slack nor faint in your Warsare nor say with your selves We have laid out so much item so much Time upon Exercise But rather as beginning every day let us inlarge our Resolution for the Life of Man altogether is very short if we compare it with future Ages All our Time is nothing to Eternal Life Every thing else is Sold for its Value and like is Exchanged for like But the Promise we have of Eternal Life is a cheap Purchase For 't is writ The Days of our Life are Seventy Years and if by great Strength we reach Fourscore or more they are but Labour and Sorrow Now if we spend Eighty Years in Exercise we shall not reign an Hundred Years for it but instead of an Hundred we shall reign for ever and ever Again After we have contended on Earth our Inheritance will not be upon Earth but we hold Promises of Heaven Again After we have laid aside a Mortal Body we are cloathed with an Immortal One Wherefore Children let us not faint neither let us think we lay out much Time for God or do any great Matters for the Sufferings of this present Life are not worthy to be compared with the Glory that shall be revealed Neither let us think that we have parted with great Possessions for the whole Earth is very small with respect to Heaven For just as one who parts with a Mite for an Hundred Broad Pieces So were any one Lord of all the Earth and parted with it for Heaven he parts with a Mite and receives an Hundred-fold But if all the Earth is not worth Heaven then certainly he who leaves a few Acres for it does in a manner leave nothing at all If therefore any of us parts with a Mansion or with Gold he should neither vaunt nor despond But we should rather consider that if we don't leave them for the Sake of Vertue yet afterwards when we Die we often leave them to whom we would not as the Preacher has minded us Shall we not therefore leave it for the sake of Vertue to inherit a Kingdom Let us have a Thirst after true Possessions for What does it signifie to possess those things which we cannot carry away with us Let us rather acquire those Goods which will follow us into the other World such as are Wisdom Justice Sobriety Fortitude Spiritual Prudence Charity Love of Wordly Poverty Faith in Christ Freedom from Anger Delight in Hospitality if we possess these we shall find they will procure us a Mansion in the Land of the Meek These things duly considered no Person can be Negligent especially if he consider that he is the Lord's Servant and ought to serve Him Since therefore every one is his Servant no one should dare to say I do not work to day for I wrought yesterday or by measuring the time past to be idle for the time to come But every day a true Disciple of Christ will shew the same Readiness of Mind that as 't is written he may please his Lord and not run a risque in the Concerns of his Soul So also let us every day persevere in Exercise knowing that if we are Negligent one day we shall not be pardoned for it because we did well the day before No God is offended with such Negligence as we read in Ezekiel So also Judas by one Night's Impiety lost the Fruits of his time past Let us therefore Children adhere to Exercise and not suffer our Spirits to be bejaded for herein the Lord is our Fellow-Labourer as 't is written The Lord co-operates for Good with every one that wills and works Good Now in order to our not being Negligent there is a

offered to the natural Motion of the Water which in all those Motions is kept entirely suitable to its Nature And with the same and much greater facility the God of Heaven can and often doth infallibly Guide the Hearts of Men yea of Kings and yet without Force or Violation of its natural Liberty There was never any Age nor People in the World that was wholly destitute of this Divine Efflux upon their Understandings and Wills it is as Vniversal and Common as the Light and Influence of the Heavens only upon some in all Ages it was more special and effectual than upon others even in the Gentile World I have always esteemed those excellent Men among the Heathen famous for Wisdom Justice Piety and Knowledge as Men illuminated and guided by this Divine Influence though possibly communicated to them in a more signal manner than to other Men Such were Socrates Plato Zeno Citticus Solon Lycurgus Pythagoras Tully Seneca Aristotle and divers other excellent Philosophers Moralists and Law-givers among the Gentiles who were by the Influence of the Divine Spirit excited illuminated and instructed for the Benefit of themselves and the rest of Mankind and to prepare the Heathen World for the Reception of greater Light When it pleased God to select unto himself and his special Government the Family of Abraham and his Descendants the Jewish Nation he sets them in the middle of the Habitable World like a Beacon upon a Hill to be a kind of Common Instruction to the rest of Mankind and for that purpose made them signal to all the World by his special Government over them by Miracles Signs and Wonders by giving them Laws from Heaven in great Majesty and Terrour by committing to them the Divine Oracles by raising up Prophets and Men specially inspired by an Extraordinary Spirit and by effusing among them a greater Measure of the Influence of his Sacred Spirit For that I may say it once for all it hath been always the Method of the Divine Wisdom and Goodness when he sends out the greater Measure of this Influx whereof I speak the Divine Providence accompanies that Efflux with suitable external Means to render it the more effectual and the more agreeable to the manner of the Reception of the humane Understanding But when the Messias came into the World with the Message of the Glorious Gospel the Sun was as it were in its Meridian and as the means of Illumination and Conversion of the World unto God was more effectual and universal so was also the Efflux and Irradiation of the Divine Influence upon the Souls of Men more vigorous diffusive and universal And as the miraculous Gifts of the Spirit of God appeared in the Miracles of Christ and his Apostles the Gifts of Tongues of Healing Diseases of Prophecy and the like to confirm and establish Mens Minds in the Faith Belief and Obedience of the Gospel so neither was this all but the secret and effectual Influence of the same Blessed Spirit appeared in Illumination of the Minds of Men in persuading and mightily subduing their Wills to the Belief and Obedience of the Truth in converting Mens Minds unto God and placing them in thei just and due Habitude to Almighty God And this according to the various Workings thereof is sometimes called the Spirit of Regeneration the Spirit of Renovation the Spirit of Sanctification the Spirit of Holiness the Spirit of Adoption the Spirit of Prayer and Supplication the Spirit of Life c. according to the various Energies that this great Effusion of the Influences of the Blessed Spirit had upon the Minds of Men. And this great and more diffusive and effectual Effusion of this Influence under the Gospel was no other than what was prophesied of by the ancient Prophets Isa 25.7 I will destroy in this Mountain the covering cast upon the Face of all People Isa 11.9 The Earth shall be filled with the Knowledge of the Lord as the Waters cover the Sea Isa 54.13 All thy Children shall be taught of the Lord. Isa 59.20 This is my Covenant that I will make with them my Spirit that is upon thee and the Words which I have put in thy Mouth shall not depart from thee nor from thy Seed nor from thy Seeds Seed Ezek. 36.27 I will put my Spirit within you and cause you to walk in my Statutes and keep my Judgments and do them Isa 44.3 I will pour out my Spirit upon thy Seed Joel 2.28 I will pour out my Spirit upon all Flesh And this Energy of the Divine Influence appears 1. By a secret Irradiation and Illumination of the Understanding 2. By a powerful Persuasion and Inclining of the Will both which as they were with a more vigorous and effectual Dispensation under the first breaking out of the Light of the Gospel so they do accompany the Publication of it unto this day and shall unto the end of the World though by reason of the Corruption of the Lives and Manners of Mankind not with equal Success in all Ages We have here the Judgment and Belief of this Great and Good Man of a Divine Efflux upon the Understandings and Wills of Men and that even among the Heathen those so famed for Wisdom Justice Piety and Knowledge were Illuminated and Guided by a Divine Influence And we have here also the Ground of this his Judgment 1. Observations in Nature 2. The Sentiments of Learned and Understanding Men Philosophers in all Ages 3. The Authority of the Sacred Scriptures to which he elsewhere adds his own Experience And whereas he had in some things changed his Opinion as he saw cause from what it was in his younger time this he received early as appears by some of his First Writings and retain'd constantly to the last as appears by his Treatise of Humility which he wrote upon my Motion not long before his last Sickness In his Treatise of Wisdom and the Fear of God after other particulars of the Wisdom of the Fear of God he adds in the 10th place But besides all this there is yet a Secret but a most Certain Truth that highly improveth that Wisdom which the Fear of the Lord bringeth and that is this That those that truly fear God have a Secret Guidance from a higher Wisdom than what is barely Humane namely by the Spirit of Truth and Wisdom that doth really and truly but secretly prevent and direct them And let no Man think that this is a piece of Fanaticism Any Man that sincerely and truly fears Almighty God relies upon Him calls upon Him for his Guidance and Direction hath it as really as the Son hath the Counsel and Direction of his Father and though the Voice be not audible nor the Direction always perceptible to Sense yet it is equally as real as if a Man heard the Voice saying This is the Way walk in it And this Secret Direction of Almighty God is principally seen in Matters relating to the Good of the Soul

THERE are Three Sects of Philosophers amongst the Jews of long Continuance and Antiquity One is that of the Pharisees another of the Sadduces and the third of the Esseans which is the most Famous of the Three The Esseans are Jews born but live in the greatest Vnion together imaginable They consider all Pleasures as Vices that are to be avoided and esteem Continence and Victory over Passions as the greatest Virtues They reject Marriage and account other Mens Children put to them to be taught whilst young as their own Kinsmen whom they diligently instruct in their Manners and Opinions not for that they condemn Marriage and Propagation of Mankind but to avoid Womens Incontinence for they think that none of them keep themselves true to one Man Also they contemn Riches and all things with them are Common and no Man amongst them is Richer than other And they have a Law amongst themselves that whosoever will embrace their Sect he must make his Goods Common for so neither any amongst them seems abject for Poverty nor any great for Riches but they have as it were all equal Patrimonies like Brethren This is a Custom worthy Admiration and such as is not to be found amongst any other either Greeks or Barbarians that make account of Vertue which they have practised from all Antiquity They account it a Shame to anoint the Body with Oyl and if any Man though against his Will be anointed therewith they use all diligence to wipe it away And they account themselves fine enough if their Cloaths be white They have amongst them Stewards to oversee all things for their Common Benefit who are chosen from amongst themselves by a Common Consult Their Revenue is distributed according to the Need that every one hath They have not one certain City but are dispersed in many Cities and if any of their Sect though a Stranger come to them from another Place they give him any thing they have as if he were their ancient Acquaintance In like manner they go boldly to those whom they never in their Lives saw before as though they were familiarly acquainted with them And therefore when they take a Journey they only arm themselves against Thieves and carry nothing with them else In every City there is one appointed whose Office is to entertain Strangers to receive and lodge those of their Sect that come thither and to see that they neither want Cloaths nor any thing else necessary for them All Children under Government brought up by them go apparelled alike and they never change their Apparel nor Shoes except they have worn out their first Apparel Amongst themselves they neither Buy nor Sell but every Man that hath any thing which another wanteth giveth him it and taketh that of him which himself needeth yea every one of them may take any thing he hath need of from whom he pleaseth without any Change Above all towards God they are very Religious They attribute to Him the Government and Disposition of all things They say that the Souls of Men are immortal and all the uttermost of their Endeavour and Delight is to maintain Justice and Equity They send their Offerings unto the Temple yet Sacrifice they not with other Men by reason they use more sacred and different Ceremonies for which they are secluded out of the Common Temple and Sacrifice apart Otherwise they are Men of most composed Behaviour Before the Sun rise they speak of nothing but Holy things and then they make certain Vows and Prayers after the Custom of their Countrey as it were praying that God would please to make it rise upon the Earth After this every one is dismissed to work or practice the Art he knoweth And when every one hath diligently laboured till Eleven a Clock they all meet together again and being covered with Linnen Cloaths they wash their Bodies with cold Water and having thus purged themselves they go to their Cells into which no Man that is not of their Sect is admitted And then they come to the Refectory as into a Holy Temple where all sitting down with Silence there is set before every Man in order a Loaf of Bread and a little Mess of Pottage all of one sort Before they eat a Priest giveth Thanks and no Man may eat any Meat till his Prayer be made to God Likewise when Dinner is ended they pray again for both before and after they give Thanks to God the Giver of all And then putting off the Apparel as Sacred they apply themselves to their Work till Evening At Supper they do as before causing their Guests to sup with them if by fortune any come Their House is never troubled with Cries or Tumults for every one is appointed to speak in his turn so that their Silence produceth respect in Strangers The Cause of this Moderation is their continual Sobriety and that every one is limited how much to eat or drink And although that in all other Matters they are ruled by their Superiour yet in these two to wit Compassionating and Helping they may do as they think good for every one may when he pleases help those whom he thinketh deserve Help and when he pleaseth give Meat to them that are in Need. Yet may they not give any thing to their Kindred without the Leave of their Superiour They take great care to suppress their Anger they keep their Promise and maintain Peace and People account every Word they speak of as much force as if they had bound it with an Oath And they shun Oaths worse than Perjury for they esteem him a Lyar who is not to be believed without he call God to witness They study diligently Ancient Writers chiefly gathering out of their Writings what is most convenient for the Soul and the Body Out of them they learn Remedies for Diseases and the Virtues of Herbs Stones and Metals Those who are desirous to be of their Order do not strait-way converse with them but for a Year before live out of the College and have the same Diet a little Hatchet and such a Girdle as is before spoken of and a white Garment But at the Years end if they perceive such a Person to be continent they give him a Diet more agreeing with their own and he is permitted to wash himself in cold Water to the end to purifie himself yet he is not admitted in common amongst them till for Two Years more they have observed his Life and Manners And at last when he is thought worthy he is admitted to their common Company But before he is received to the common Table first he is to protest solemnly to honour and serve God with all his Heart to observe Justice and Fidelity towards all Men never willing to hurt any Man nor injure any for another Man's Command but always to hate the Wicked and assist the Good to keep his Faith to all but especially to his Superiours because they hold their Power from God To which

same Eye of my Soul above my Mind the unchangeable Light of the Lord not this vulgar and visible to all Flesh Nor was it as of the same kind greater as if it grew more and more clear than it and filled all with its Greatness This was not that but another quite another from all those Nor was it so above my Mind as Oyl above Water nor as Heaven above Earth but superior because he made me and I inferior because I was made by it He who knoweth Truth knoweth it and he who knoweth it knoweth Eternity Charity knoweth it O Eternal Truth and true Charity and dear Eternity Thou art my God for Thee do I sigh day and night And when I first knew Thee thou didst assume me or take me up that I should see it to be which I did see and my self not to be who did see And thou didst beat back my weak Sight shining vehemently upon me and I trembled with Love and Horror and found my self to be far from Thee in the Region of Dissimilitude or Unlikeness as if I heard thy Voice from on high I am the Food of grown Persons grow and thou shalt feed on me Nor shalt thou change me into thee as the Food of thy Flesh but thou shalt be changed into me And I know that for Iniquity thou dost tutor Men and makest my Soul to pine away like a Spider And I said Is Truth nothing because it is diffused neither through finite nor through infinite spaces And thou cryedst from a far Yes indeed I AM THAT I AM. And I heard as it is heard in the heart and there was no cause of doubt at all left and I could easilier doubt that I was alive than that Truth was not which is seen being understood by the things which are made 7 Confess c. 10. More to this purpose might be noted out of these and others of great Authority in the Christian Church though it may be observed that anciently the Christians as well as the Jews and Heathens were very cautious not to express the Mysteries of their Religion to the Prophane or to such as were not capable according to our Saviour's Admonition Mat. 7.6 and out of that caution and a like caution to avoid all Ostentation and secure their Humility were more sparing in their Expressions of any thing of this nature in their Writings than those of after-Ages who by degrees began to write more openly and at last to compose whole Books of what was before taught more secretly to particular Persons as they were capable to receive it but this is sufficient for the present By this Tast of the Spirit of these Holy People together with the Testimonies of such Excellent Persons as were contempory with them and well acquainted with their Manners and Exercises we may judge of the Rashness and Inconsiderateness of many of later times who have made no scruple to despise vilifie and reproach the Monastick State in general and the Impiety and Wickedness of such as have industriously endeavoured to rake up all the Dirt and raise all the Calumnies and Slanders they could against them If the Abuses and Corruptions which in later times have increased among them were such as might provoke the Indignation of Men and Judgments of God upon them must the whole State from the beginning be condemned for them If the Serpent cast out a Flood of false and Hypocritical Pretenders such as those described by Piammon before pag. 59. and Hierom pag. 65. called Sarabites and Remoboth to drown and obscure the Excellence of those who were sincere doth it become Christians to help the Serpent in that attempt There are also saith St. Austin who are false Monks and we have known such sed non periit Fraternitas Pia propter eos qui profitentur quod non sunt But the Pious Fraternity is not therefore lost because of those who profess themselves to be what they are not in Psal 132. and in divers other places he notes such a mixture among them and the Unreasonableness of those who censure all for the Miscarriages of some Should we judge of Episcopacy by the Actions of too many of that Order which might be noted even from the time of Diotrephes but especially after they became not only secure but greatly honoured by Christian Princes and Emperours or of the Reformed Churches by what hath been acted by some amongst them or even of Christianity by the Lives and Manners of too many call'd Christians how unreasonable would that be If we look into the more ancient times we shall find them admired even by Jews and Heathens and censured and condemned by none but Infidels Hereticks and Apostates Only one SYNESIVS is set up against the concurrent Judgment of all the Great Lights of the Church Athanasius Basil Nazianzen Chrysostom Ambrose Austin and innumerable more And who is this Synesius A Bishop indeed and a Learned Philosopher but as a Learned Doctor of this Church and no Friend to Enthusiasm hath observed a better Platonist than sound Christian one who lived among them and yet very ignorant of what was most considerable in them one who passeth a harsh Censure of them and yet in it gives a remarkable Testimony for them He knew indeed what every Rustick could take notice of that they practised themselves and recommended to others Temperance and Continence and great Austerities and thereof he is an unexceptionable Witness but the reason thereof he knew not and therefore calls their Way of Living Barbarous Adamantine and contrary to Humane Nature an ample Testimony rightly understood He knew their diligent Labour and Works and what was said concerning their continual Contemplation of Divine things and thereof is an undeniable Witness but how that was consistent with twisting of Reeds and making of Baskets that he could not conceive He knew that they had great regard to Motions Impulses Transports c. and thereof he is a competent Witness but what to make of them he knew not and therefore thought that they did thereby hope for the End without the Means He knew that they were very confident of their Knowledge of Divine things and thereof he is a sufficient Witness but what they were he understood not nor how they should attain any such Knowledge without Learning and Study and therefore thought they did very arrogantly assume to themselves a greater Measure of Divine Knowledge than others had And what wonder if he who did not believe all the known Articles of the Christian Faith should be no more acquainted with such Mysteries and Secrets in Spiritual things as are by the Wisdom of God hid from the Wise and Prudent but revealed unto Babes than some of our Learned Doctors are at this time Undoubtedly had those great Men mentioned before no way inferior to this in any part of Learning understood no more of these things than he did they had been of his Mind or had he understood as much as they he had

heal'd many wounded Persons and others that were wounded in their Understandings And many Greeks desir'd to touch the Old Man believing they should be benefitted thereby By this means there were as many Christians in a few Days as us'd to be made in a whole Year Some Persons thought the Crowd was too troublesome to him and therefore kept Persons from pressing upon him But he was not disturb'd with them and said to them The People are not more in Number than those Devils with which I have contended in the Mountain When he went away we went before him 43. And as we were just at the Gate as it were a Woman cry'd out O Man of God pray tarry a little for my Daughter is grievously troubled with a Devil Tarry I pray thee lest I also fall into some danger by running after thee When the Old Man heard her he willingly tarry'd at our Entreaty so the Woman drew near and the Maid fell upon the Ground and when Antony had pray'd and mention'd Christ the Maid rose up very well for the Unclean Spirit was gone out of her and the Maid bless'd God and all the Spectators gave Thanks and St. Antony himself also was very glad and return'd to his own abode in the Mount He was also very prudent and which is very strange though illiterate he was a very piercing and judicious Man 44. Once there came to him Two Greek Philosophers with a design to try him now at that time he was in the outer part of the Mountain St. Antony perceiv'd what kind of Men they were by their Looks and spoke thus to them by an Interpreter O ye Philosophers Why did you trouble your selves to come to such a simple Fellow But they reply'd That he was not so but very prudent If ye come to a silly Fellow said Antony your Labour is lost and to no purpose But if ye think otherwise become such as I am for we should imitate all things that are fair and commendable Had I come to you I would have imitated you Since therefore ye come to me become such Men as I am for I am a Christian But they admiring withdrew for they saw the Devils dreading Antony 45. Others also met him there thinking to scoff at him because he had not learnt to read Said Antony pray answer me one Question Which think ye is first the Mind or the Alphabet Whether of the two is the Authour and cause of the other the Mind of Letters or Letters of the Mind They answered The Mind is first and the Inventer of Letters Well then saith Antony Whoso has a sound Mind stands in no need of Letters Which Answer astonish'd them and all that were with them so they went away admiring to see so much Understanding in a private Man for though he grew Old in the Desart yet he was not Savage in his Carriage like a Mountaineer but he was Courteous and Civil His Mind and Discourse was season'd with Divine Salt so that none envy'd him but all that visited him took delight in him 46. After this some Pretenders to Wisdom among the Greeks came to him and demanded of him an account of his Christian Belief and made offers to dispute subtilly with him about the Divine Cross in order to mock him St. Antony having paus'd a while and pity'd their Ignorance spoke very well to them by an Interpreter to this Effect Which of the Two is more laudable to confess a Cross or to charge those whom ye call Gods with Adulteries and Sodomies For our Confession is a sign of Manliness and Contempt of Death but yours are the Passions of Lasciviousness Which is better to say That the Wisdom of God was not chang'd but for the sake of Salvation and Beneficence to Men assum'd an Humane Body that by Communion with the Humane Race he might make Men partake of a Divine and Intellectual Nature or To liken the Deity to Irrational Beings and so worship four-footed Creatures and creeping things and Statues of Men For these are the Adorations of your Wise Men. Moreover How dare ye deride us who say That Christ did appear a Man when ye deriving the Soul from the Divine Mind say That it wandred and lapsed from Heaven into the Body and I wish it did not pass not only into an Humane Body but into four-footed and creeping Creatures Our Faith saith That Christ came for the Salvation of Men but ye erring say The Soul is not generated We consider the Power and Philanthropy of God because this was not impossible with God But ye saying That the Soul is the Image of the Mind yet attribute Lapses to it and fable it to be changeable and by consequence introduce the Mind as changeable by the Soul for such as was the Image such must that of which 't is the Image necessarily be But when ye have such Thoughts as these concerning the Mind pray consider that ye blaspheme the Father of the Mind himself And as for the Cross What can ye say of it When ye see wicked Men ensnare us ye see we are ready to endure the Cross and to contemn Death whensoever or wheresoever forc'd upon us Alas the Fables of the Rovings of Osiris and Isis and the Treachery of Typho and the Flight of Saturn and Gormandizings of Children and of Paracide What are these Yet these are your wise Contrivances and mighty Foundations But moreover How comes it to pass that when ye despise the Cross ye don't admire the Resurrection since those who speak of one have also writ of the other or Why are ye when ye remember the Cross silent of the Dead rais'd the Blind who had their Sight restor'd the Sick of the Palsie who were heal'd and the Lepers that were cleans'd and the walking a Foot on the Sea and other Signs and Wonders which shew Christ not to be meer Man but God also Truly to my mind ye do your selves wrong and have not read our Writings with Sincerity But pray read and see that the things which Jesus did shew Him to be God pilgrimaging upon Earth for the Souls of Men But pray tell us of your great Signs 47. What can ye plead for Irrational Gods and their Savageness Ye may if ye please fly to shelter by Allegorising Let Proserpine be the Earth Vulcan's Lameness the Fire Juno the Air Apollo the Sun Diana the Moon and Neptune the Sea But nevertheless this does not make it any more the Worship of God This is to serve the Creatures more than the Creatour for ye have compacted these Stories out of the Consideration of the Creation's being Beautiful These Works should be admir'd but they should not have been made Gods for by this means ye have given the Architect's Honour to the things that he Built which is just like paying that Honour to the House which is due to the Builder or the mis-placing the General 's Honour on the Common Souldiers Come answer me these Questions that