Imprimatur Sam. Parker RR mo in Christo Patri ac Domino Ex Aedibus Lambeth Decemb. 20. 1667. Domino Gilberto Divinâ Providentiâ Archiepiscopo Cantuariensi à Sacris Domesticis THE TWO LAST DIALOGUES Treating of the Kingdome of God Within us and Without us AND OF His special PROVIDENCE through CHRIST over His CHURCH from the Beginning to the End of all Things Whereunto is annexed A brief Discourse of the true Grounds of the Certainty of Faith in Points of Religion together with some few plain Songs or Divine Hymns on the Chief Holy-days of the Year LUKE 9.62 No man having put his hand to the Plough and looking back is fit for the Kingdome of God REVEL 1.17 Fear not I am the first and the last I am he that liveth and was dead and behold I am alive for evermore Amen and have the Keys of Hell and of Death LONDON Printed by I. Flesher 1668. THE PUBLISHER TO THE READER Reader I Believe thou wilt wonder at the preposterous Order of my publishing these Two Dialogues before the Three first have seen the Light and indeed it may be most of all why I publish them at all If it were a matter of ordinary intelligible Political Interest or the Solution of some Algebraicall Probleme or the Discovery of some quaint Experiment towards the perfecting of Natural Philosophy or the Decision of some notable Point in Polemicall Divinity Reason would that we should accept of your Performance and have the patience to peruse it But to draw out a long tiresome Story of the Kingdome of God and Fate of the Church through I know not how many dark Types and obscure Aenigmaticall Prophecies where we can fix no sure footing in any thing Quis leget haec The Gallio's of this Age care for no such things Well admit the case to stand so Reader as thou suggestest yet this could be no just Impediment to either the Writing or Publishing these Dialogues For every genuine Minister of the Kingdome of God has a commission to preach in season and out of season 2 Tim. 4.2 He that observes the Winde shall not sow Eccles. 11.4 and he that regardeth the Clouds shall not reap If S. John's Apocalypse had not been writ nor published before it would have been readily read and understood the date of those Visions had been at least fifteen hundred years later then it was and the Event of things had anticipated their Prediction And for the pretended Aenigmaticall Obscurity of the Types and Prophecies the endeavour of this Authour has been that they should cease to be so any longer which I believe they do to them that look upon them with an impartial eye and are duely prepared to receive the Sense of them For some Pollutions may hinder them from seeing any thing as they say it is in the looking into the Magick Crystall or Shew-stone Two looking into the same Crystall but differently prepar'd or predisposed the one sees clearly a Scene of things to come the other nothing Which though it be strange in that case yet it seems far stranger in this of the Prophecies the main things aimed at being of as clear Solution the Postulata admitted that is to say the truth of History and the Sense of the Prophetick style though no farther then the Scripture it self interprets it as any Probleme in Algebra As will certainly appear to the intelligent from M r Mede's Synchronisms and the eight last Chapters of the first Book of Synopsis Prophetica And admit but that Joint-Exposition of these two Chapters of the Apocalypse the thirteenth and seventeenth there will be little Controversie of the Solution of the rest And still the less upon the Perusall of these Dialogues which give light into the whole Apocalypse and so take away that Excuse from some that pretend they cannot safely promise themselves they understand any part unless they understand all This Reader is in return to thy false Surmize as if the whole Dialogues were stuffed with nothing but the recitall of dark Prophecies Whenas besides plain History there are many usefull moral Passages As that Method of regaining a due Divine temper of Body which consists in a more aethereal Purity of the Spirits that we may possess our Vessell in a right measure of Sanctity and Holiness that it may be more meet to receive and retain Divine Truths As also the means of arriving to that state which is the Kingdome of God within us Which though it be not a matter of Politicall or Secular Interest yet it is so palpable an Interest of every man as methinks there should no man be such a Gallio as to slight it unless he think it an indifferent thing whether he be damned or saved But believe it if any one have really attained to the Kingdome of God within him it is then impossible that he should be unconcerned for the Kingdome of God without him he being so certainly united with that Spirit the Eternall Minde that superintends the Affairs of the Vniverse and of his own peculiar Kingdome and People in a more special manner He that has lost the sense of his own carnal and personal Concerns is naturally as I may so speak seised upon and actuated by the Spirit of God and all his Affections of Love and Care and solicitous Foresight are taken up with the Interest of that Communialty of which he is a living Member under one Head Christ Jesus And therefore as it is supposed by the Poet that it was a great satisfaction to Aeneas to be instructed by Anchises concerning the Fate and Success of his Family and Posterity their glorious Atchievements and the Largeness of their Empire that they should Virgil. Aeneid lib. 6. super Garamantas Indos Proferre Imperium so likewise they that once have got into a real Cognation and Spiritual Consanguinity with the true Apostolick Church as having derived upon them or transfused into them from their Head that Divine Spirit that actuates the whole Body of Christ it cannot but be a transcendent Pleasure to them to understand the overspreading Glory and Success which the Family of God of which they are part I mean the true Apostolick Church will have in the World before the Consummation of all things Which illustrious Scene of Futurities though they neither descend with Aeneas to get a view of them amongst the Shades below nor with S. John have the Heavens open upon them from above to exhibit those Celestiall Visions yet they casting the pure eyes of their Minde upon the Scripture see all those glorious Futurities writ in Heaven plainly reflected to them from the Books of the Prophets as we see the Sky and Clouds the Moon and Stars by looking on some River or Pool to their ineffable pleasure and satisfaction Which may excuse this Authour 's so laborious a Ramble as it may seem to some through so many dark Types and Prophecies to finde out this future Glory of the
particular or universal as infallibly inspired that is deprehended to be actually deceived in any Points she proposes to be believed as necessary Articles of Faith This is so plain that it wants no farther proof The sixteenth That the Moral and Humane Certainty of Faith is grounded upon the Certainty of Vniversal Tradition Prophecy History and the Nature of the things delivered Reason and Sense assisting the Minde in her Disquisitions touching these matters That Certainty of Faith I call Moral or Humane that is competible even to a carnal man or a man unregenerate as it is said of the Devils that they believe and tremble By Vniversal Tradition I understand such a Tradition as has been from the Apostles that is to say has been always since the completion of their Apostleships as well as in every place of the Church For since there was to be so general and so early a Degeneracy of the Church as is witnessed of in the Holy Scriptures the generality of the Votes of the Church was not alwaies a sufficient warrant of the truth of Tradition But those Truths that have been constantly held and unalterably from the Apostles times til now it is a sign that they were very Sacred unquestionable and assured Truths and so vulgarly and universally known and acknowledged that it was not in man's power to alter them By Prophecy I understand as well those Divine Predictions of the coming of Christ as those touching the Church after he had come By History I mean not onely that of the Bible and particularly the New Testament but other History as well Ecclesiastick as Prophane And what I mean by the Nature of the things delivered is best to be understood out of such Treatises as write of the Reasonableness of Christianity such as Dr. Hammond's and Mr. Baxter's late Book See also Dr. More 's Mystery of Godliness where the Reasonableness of our Christian Faith is more fully represented and plainly demonstrated * Book 7. chap. 9 10 11. that it has not been in the power of the Church to deceive us as touching the main Points of our Belief though they would The seventeenth That no Tradition is more universal and certain then the Tradition of the Authentickness of such Books of the Bible as all Churches are agreed upon to be Canonicall There can be no more certain nor universal Tradition then this in that it has the Testimony of the whole Church and all the parts thereof with one Consent though in other things they do so vehemently disagree Wherefore no Tradition can be of any comparable Autority to this And therefore we may set down for Conclusion The eighteenth That the Bible is the truest Ground of the Certainty of Faith that can be offered to our Understanding to rest in The Reason is because it is the most universal both for time and place the most unexceptionable and universally-acknowledged Tradition that is The nineteenth That the Bible or Holy Writ dictated by the Spirit of God that is written by Holy and Inspired men is sufficiently plain to an unprejudiced Capacity in all Points necessary to Salvation This must of necessity be true by Conclusion the seventh Otherwise the manner of Gods's revealing his Truth in the Holy Scriptures would be repugnant to the Divine Attributes and which were Blasphemy to utter he would seem unskilfully to have inspired the Holy Pen-men that is to say in such a way as were not at all accommodate to the end of the Scriptures which is the Salvation of mens Souls nor to have provided for the Recovering of the Church out of those gross Errours he both foresaw and foretold she would fall into The twentieth That the true and primarie Sense of Holy Scripture is Literal or Historicall unless in such Parts or Passages thereof as are intimated to be Parables or Visions writ in the Prophetick style or the literal Meaning be repugnant to rightly-circumstantiated Sense or natural Science c. For then it is a sign that the Place is to be understood Figuratively or Parabolically not Literally The truth of this appears out of the immediately-foregoing Conclusion For else the Scripture would not be sufficiently plain in all Points necessary to Salvation Indeed in no Points at all but all the Articles of our Faith that respect the History of Christ might be most frivolously and whifflingly allegorized into a mere Romance or Fable But that the History of Christ is literally to be understood is manifest both from the Text it self and from perpetuall and universal Tradition Which if it were not the right Sense it were a sign that it is writ exceedingly obscure even in the chief Points which is contrary to the foregoing Conclusion But that those Places or Passages that are repugnant to rightly-circumstantiated Sense or natural Science are to be interpreted figuratively is plain from the general Consent of all men in that they universally agree when Christ says I am the Door I am the true Vine c. That these things cannot be literally true And there is the same reason of Hoc est Corpus meum This is my Body The twenty first That no Point of Faith professed from the Apostles time to this very day and acknowledged by all Churches in Christendome but is plainly revealed in the Scripture This may be partly argued out of the nineteenth and twentieth Conclusions and also farther proved by comparing these Points of Faith with Texts of Scripture touching the same matter The twenty second That the Comprehension of these Points of Faith always and every-where held by all Christian Churches from the Apostles time till now and so plain by Testimony of Scripture is most rightfully termed the Common or Catholick and Apostolick Faith The twenty third That there is a Divine Certainty of Faith which besides the Grounds that the Moral or Humane Certainty hath is supported and corroborated by the Spirit of Life in the new Birth and by illuminated Reason This is not to be argued but to be felt In the mean time no more is asserted then this That this Divine Certainty has an higher Degree of Firmness and Assurance of the truth of the Holy Scriptures as having partaken of the same Spirit with our Saviour and the Apostles but does not vary in the Truths held in the common Faith The twenty fourth What-ever pretended Inspiration or Interpretation of the Divine Oracles is repugnant to the above-described Common or Catholick and Apostolick Faith is Imposture or Falshood be it from a private hand or publick The Reason is apparent because the Articles of this Common Faith were the Doctrines of men truely inspired from above and the Spirit of God cannot contradict it self The twenty fifth None of the Holy Writ is of it self unintelligible but accordingly as mens spirits shall be prepared and the time sutable as God has already so he may as Seasons shall require still impart farther and farther Light to the Souls of the Faithfull
this childish condition Whence the World is full of wrangling and vexation even about the pettiest Points of Religion that are Whereby mens minds must needs be exulcerated and the Government disturbed and the Safety of the Church hazarded Which would not at all be if this wholesome searching Doctrine had but place in the hearts of men For it would so ripen their growth in Christianity that all their Harshness and Sourness would soon mellow into Christian Love and Sweetness For believe it there is nothing more civil nothing more humane nothing more gentle and governable then a mature and well-grown Christian. Again in the Description of the Character of the Elias to come a main Note of him is that he is a Reconciler of the Magistrate to the People and of the People to the Magistrate that he is for Peace and Vnion in the Church of God and a declarer against Rents and Schisms And lastly that great Point of all That the Pope with his Clergie is that Antichrist and the Roman Church that City out of which God's People are bid to depart as it is most certainly true in it self and of huge Consequence to be known upon the account of a Spiritual Interest so does it most manifestly also consolidate the Secular Interest of all Protestant Princes and People against the Pretensions of the Pope and is a safe Cynosura to steer their Counsels by For I dare appeal even to the Pontificians themselves upon supposition that the Pope and his Clergie be Antichrist and the Church of Rome that Babylon out of which God's people are bid to depart whether any thing in counsell that makes towards the reduction of God's people nearer to that City and the ensnaring them again in their former Captivity can be adviseable for any Protestant Magistrate either upon point of Piety or Policy or supposing a God in Heaven can promise any prosperous Success Wherefore for any Protestant Subject so persuaded to conceal so important a Truth would be the greatest Perfidiousness even to his Terrestriall Sovereign as any man can stand guilty of These I think were sufficient Motives for the publishing these Dialogues But for the preposterous Order in publishing them the plainest account is the will of the Authour of which no worse Construction ought to be made then that as it seems he has a greater Concern for the Interest of Christianity then for the Curiosities of Philosophy For such is the Subject of the three first Dialogues Which had he had as great a propension to gratifie the Curious as to edifie the Church of Christ he would not have failed to have published at least as soon as these the matter of them being both Philosophicall as I said and that concerning the most enticing Points in Philosophy and also intermixt with much Pleasantry and Humour which by reason of the extraordinary Gravity of this present Subject it was thought fit I suppose the more strictly to abstain from But though I have no commission to publish the three first Dialogues themselves yet I thought fit for the more punctually understanding these two last to publish the Arguments of those they being sufficient for the understanding any References or Reflexions on them occurring in these And lastly Reader I have added for thy farther Entertainment by way of Appendage though not altogether so necessary I confess yet sutable enough to some Points in these Dialogues if not to the whole Design A brief Discourse of the true Grounds of the Certainty of Faith in Points of Religion as also some few plain Songs or Divine Hymns on the chiefest Holy-days in the Christian Kalendar agreeable enough with these Divine Dialogues both in Purpose and Title Wherein the Writer of them has observed always this Method to adde to the Historicall Narration an Application to the Emprovement of Life Which whether in Verse or Prose if it were diligently observed in the handling of the Historicall Articles of our Christian Faith would be of so great force for the making men good that I doubt not but Philotheus had he thought of it would have added this as a ninth Instruction tending to the Acceleration of those happy Times of the Church which he presages These Reader if thou pleasest candidly to accept for the present it will be the greater Obligation to the Authour to let what still remains in his hands in due time see the Light and be as willing to condescend to gratifie the Philosophicall Genius in those three first Dialogues as he has been in these ambitious to edifie the Religious G. C. The proper Characters of the Persons in the ensuing Dialogues with some Allusion to their Names Philotheus A zealous and sincere Lover of God and Christ and of the whole Creation Bathynous The Deeply-thoughtful or profoundly-thinking man Sophron The Sober and wary man Philopolis The pious and loyal Politician Euistor A man of Criticism Philologie and History Hylobares A young witty and well-moralized Materialist Cuphophron A zealous but Airy-minded Platonist and Cartesian or Mechanist Ocymo Cuphophron's Boy so called from his Nimbleness DIVINE DIALOGVES CONTAINING Several Disquisitions and Instructions touching the ATTRIBUTES of GOD AND HIS PROVIDENCE In the WORLD THE FOURTH DIALOGUE Philotheus Bathynous Sophron Philopolis Euistor Hylobares Cuphophron Philoth. OUr Conference hitherto I A brief Recapitulation of what has hitherto passed in their discourse O Philopolis has been spent either in proving briefly the Existence of God or in clearing of his Attributes or in defending of his Providence which was but a necessary preparation to them that doubt of these things for the due understanding of the Mysteries of his Kingdome For if there be no God nor any Divine Providence there can be no Kingdome of God upon Earth as Hylobares well noted at first And indeed if the Providence of God be not every-where it is a very suspicable business that it is in truth no-where Whence appears the necessity of admitting such Hypotheses as will make sense of all occurrences and appearances of things which we meet withall in what-ever Nations of the Earth or parts of the Universe And such I conceive were those that were suggested in our two last days Conferences With which if Hylobares who seemed to be the onely man dissettled touching these Points be fully satisfied I am now ready to serve you Philopolis according to the best of my skill touching your demands concerning the Kingdome of God Philop. I humbly thank you Philotheus and my eager desire to hear you discourse of so important a Theme and my jealousie that we shall be much streightned in time makes me beg of you that without any farther delay you would be pleased to fall upon the matter Hyl. Which Philotheus will doe the more couragiously II The great force of a firm belief of a God and his Providence for the fixing a man's Faith in the truth of Christianity O Philopolis after I have briefly acknowledged my thanks for
most delicious and Seraphick Lives that I could ever imagine any to doe upon this Earth The Prelibation of those future Joys and Glories that you in a manner make present to you by so firm a Faith and clear Prospect of things is an Anticipation of the Happiness of Heaven at least of that Heaven that is to be upon Earth when the new Ierusalem shall descend from above I am so infinitely transported with your excellent Converse that I am almost out of conceit with my own condition of Life and could wish I had never been engaged in the care of a Wife and a Family or any other Secular Occasions that I might joyn my self for ever to your blessed Society Of such unspeakable pleasure has this five days entertainment been to my minde Philoth. God forbid Philopolis that the Sweet of Contemplation should ever put your mouth out of tast with the savoury Usefulness of Secular Negotiations To doe good to men to assist the injured to relieve the necessitous to advise the ignorant in his necessary affairs to bring up a Family in the fear of God and a chearful hope of everlasting Happiness after this Life does as much transcend our manner of living if it ended in a mere pleasing our selves in the delicacy of select Notions as solid Goodness does empty Phantastry or sincere Charity the most childish Sophistry that is The exercise of Love and Goodness of Humanity and Brotherly-kindness of Prudence and Discretion of Faithfulness and Neighbourliness of unfeigned Devotion and Religion in the plain and undoubted Duties thereof is to the truly regenerate Soul a far greater pleasure then all the fine Speculations imaginable Philop. You 'll pardon this sudden surprise Philotheus for your wholesome Instruction has reduced me again to the right sense of things I am fully convinced that all Speculation is vain that tends not to the Duty of Practice nor inables a man the better to perform what he owes to God to his Prince and Countrey to his Family Neighbours and Friends Which is the onely consideration that makes my parting with this excellent Society any thing tolerable to me at this time being so fully instructed by you that I am not to live to please my self but to be serviceable to others And therefore I shall endeavour not so to leave you as not to carry away the better part of you along with me Cuph. XLIII His Complement to Cuphophron and his Friends with Cuphophron 's return thereof upon Philopolis You mean Euistor and Hylobares do you not Philopolis Philop. I mean not Persons but Things the endearing memorie of the sincere Zeal and sound Knowledge of Philotheus the free and profound Judgement of Bathynous the Prudence and Sobriety of Sophron and the Gaiety of Temper and singular Urbanity of my noble friend Cuphophron to whom I return many thanks for his repeated favours and civilities since my arrival hither as I do to Philotheus also and the rest of this excellent Companie for their great Obligations and shall impatiently expect an opportunity of making some requitall In the mean time I leave my thanks with you all and bid you farewell Cuph. Not the Memory O Philopolis but the Reality of all those Accomplishments you reckon up of right you carry away with you because you brought them along with you hither Nor will we take leave of so accomplished a person till needs must We will wait upon you to morrow morning to see you take horse and then wish you a good Journey In the mean time we onely bid you Good-night Philop. That will be too great a favour Philoth. That 's a Civility very well mentioned Cuphophron We will at least doe that if not carry them part on their way Hyl. And I will defer my manifold Acknowledgements to Philotheus till then THE END A brief DISCOURSE Of the true Grounds of The Certainty of FAITH IN Points of Religion FAith and Belief though they be usually appropriated to matters of Religion yet those words in themselves signifie nothing else but a Persuasion touching the Truth of a thing arising from some Ground or other Which Persuasion may be undoubted or certain to us that is to say We may be certainly persuaded without any staggering though the Grounds be false and the Thing it self false that we are thus firmly persuaded of So that the being firmly persuaded is no sure sign to others nor ought to be to ourselves that either the Grounds or the Belief it self is true 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 may very well arise from an 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Peculiarity of Complexion or the Besottedness of Education may be so prevalent as very forcibly to urge Falshood upon our belief as well in things Natural as Religious either upon very weak and false Grounds or no other Grounds at all but that of Complexion and Education Passion or Interest or the like But the true Grounds of the Certainty of Faith are such as do not onely beget a certain and firm Faith but a true one and this in virtue of their own Truth and Solidity as being such as will appear true and solid to all impartial and unprejudiced Examiners that is to say to all such as neither Complexion nor Education nor Passion nor Interest does pervert their Judgement but have their 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 clear as the Eye to discriminate Colours Whence it is plain that the first and most necessarie Preparation to the Discovery of the true Grounds of the Certainty of Faith is Moral Prudence in such a sense as the nature of it is described in a late Moral Discourse entitled Enchiridion Ethicum lib. 2. cap. 2. This ought to be antecedaneous to our judgement touching either Autority or Reason But for a man of a polluted spirit to take upon him to dissent from the Constitutions of the Church he is born under is a very rash and insolent Attempt As if God were more bound to assist a single Wicked man for the finding out of Truth then a multitude or as if a man could more safely or more creditably err alone then with a company that has the stamp of Autority upon them But if thy endeavour be to perfect Holiness in the fear of God and to walk in all Humility before him and before men thou mayest by such rational Grounds as these examine the Fidelity of thy Teachers and the truth of their Doctrines of Religion First then It is plain that Certainty of Faith presupposeth Certainty of both Reason and Sense rightly circumstantiated For forasmuch as Faith properly so called is nothing but an unwavering Assent to some Doctrine proposed upon the ground of infallible Testimonie there must be some Reason to persuade us that that Testimony is infallible that is to say that they that testifie are neither obnoxious to Errour in the things they witness of nor have a mind to make others to erre or
for a fuller and a more general understanding the obscurest Passages in the Divine Oracles The truth of this Assertion is so clear that it seems little better then Blasphemie to contradict it For to say the Holy Writ is in it self unintelligible is equivalent to the pronouncing it Non-sense or to averre that such and such Books or Passages of it were never to be understood by men is to insinuate as if the Wisedome of God did not onely play with the children of men but even fool with them This is but a Subterfuge of that conscious Church that is afraid of the fulgour of that Light that shines against her out of such places of Scripture as have for a long time seemed obscure The twenty sixth That there are innumerable Passages of Scripture as well Preceptive as Historicall that are as plainly to be understood as the very Articles of the common Faith and which therefore may be very usefull for the clearing those that may seem more obscure This wants no proof but Appeal to Experience and the twentieth Conclusion The twenty seventh That no Miracle though done by such as may seem of an unexceptionable Life and of more singular Sanctity can in reason ratifie any Doctrine or Practice that is repugnant to rightly-circumstantiated Sense or Natural Truths or Science or the common Christian Faith or any plain Doctrine or Assertion in Scripture The Truth of this is manifest from hence That no man can be so certain that such a man is not a crafty and cautious Hypocrite and his Miracle either a Juggle or Delusion of the Devil or if he was not an eye-witness of it a false report of a Miracle as he is certain of the truth of rightly-circumstantiated Sense of Common Notions and Natural Science of the Articles of the Apostolick Faith or of any plain Assertion in the Scripture And therefore that which is most certain in this case ought in all reason to be our Guide The twenty eighth That it is not onely the Right but the Duty of private men to converse with the Scriptures being once but precautioned not to presume to interpret any thing against rightly-circumstantiated Sense Natural Truth common Honesty the Analogie of the Catholick Faith or against other plain Testimonies of Holy Writ The truth of this appears from the Conclusion immediately preceding For why should they be kept from having recourse to so many and so profitable and powerful Instructions from an infallible Spirit when they are so well fore-armed against all Mistake and are so laid-at by so many not onely fallible but fallacious and deceitful persons to seduce them And why is there not more danger of being led into Errour by such as are not onely fallible but false and deceitfull then by those Inspired men that wrote the Scripture who were neither fallible in what they wrote nor had any design to deceive any man Wherefore there being no such safe Guide as the Scripture it self which speaks without any Passion Fraud or Interest it is not onely the Right but the Duty of every one to consult with the Scripture and observe his times of conversing with it as he tenders the Salvation of his own Soul The twenty ninth That even a private man assisted by the Spirit of Life in the new Birth and rightly-circumstantiated Reason being also sufficiently furnish'd with the knowledge of Tongues Historie and Antiquity and sound Philosophy may by the help of these and the Blessing of God upon his industry clear up some of the more obscure Places of Scripture to full satisfaction and certainty both to himself and any unprejudiced Peruser of his Interpretations That this Assertion is true may be proved by manifold Experience there having been sundry persons that have cleared such Places of Scripture as had for a time seemed obscure and intricate with abundant satisfaction and conviction But it is to be evinced also à priori viz. from the seventeenth and eighteenth Conclusions which avouch the Scripture to be the most Authentick Tradition that is as also from the twenty fifth that concludes it not unintelligible in it self nor to mankinde and lastly out of the first that asserts that Certainty of Faith presupposes Certainty of Reason For thus the Object of our Understanding being here certain and we not spending our labour upon a Fiction or Mockery and our Reason rightly-circumstantiated not blinded by Prejudice nor precipitated into Assent before due deliberation and clear comprehension of the matter if after so cautious a Disquisition she be fully satisfied she is certainly satisfied or else there is no certainty in rightly-circumstantiated Reason which yet is presupposed in the Certainty of Faith by the first Conclusion So that the Certainty of Faith it self seems ruinous if no private man have any Certainty of any Interpretation of Scripture that has once been reputed obscure Not to add that all the Scripture that has been once obscure and the Interpretation thereof not yet declared by the Church universal has been hitherto and will be God knows how long utterly useless Which is a very wilde Supposition and such as none would willingly admit unless those that would rather admit any thing then that Light of the Scripture that discovers who they are and what unworthy Impostures they use in their dealings with the children of men The thirtieth That no Tradition can be true that is repugnant to any plain Text of Scripture The Reason is because the Scripture is the most true and the most Authentick Tradition that is and such as the universal Church is agreed in The thirty first That if any one Point grounded upon the Autority of Tradition that has been held by the Church time out of minde prove false there is no Certainty that any Tradition is true unless such as it has not been in the power of the Church to forge corrupt deprave or else their Interest not at all concerned so to doe The Reason is because the Certainty of Tradition as Tradition is placed in this by those that contend so much for it that nothing can be brought into the Church as an Apostolick Practice or Doctrine but what ever was so from the Apostles Wherefore if once a Point be brought into the Church and profest and practised as Apostolicall that may be clearly proved not to be so this Ground for Tradition as Tradition is utterly ruined and considering the Falseness and Imposture that has been so long practised in Christendome can be held no Ground of Certainty at all As not Reason quà Reason nor Sense quà Sense but quatenus rightly-circumstantiated can be any Ground of Certainty of Knowledge so not Tradition quà Tradition can be the Ground of the Certainty of Faith but onely such a Tradition as it was not in the power of the degenerate Church to either forge or adulterate And such were the Records of the Holy Bible onely The thirty second That rightly-circumstantiated Sense and Reason and Holy Writ are
prospect I shall pray Thy Kingdome come with a more peculiar Emphasis for this day's Instruction Philotheus then ever I have done hitherto in all my life But that I may doe it with the greater Plerophorie I pray you proceed to the next Point and declare the Grounds of this your so glorious hope Philoth. Why XII What Grounds of hopes out of Scripture for that glorious state of the Church to come are you at a loss Philopolis for the Grounds of this hope when you have heard so many Prophecies assuring you of it Philop. But who knows Philotheus but that they may be conditional and may take effect onely according to the uncertainty of our will Philoth. That implies as if these things depended on our merit But the great Affairs of the World and such as are the chief Objects of Divine Prediction do not hang on such weak hindges There is a Fate assuredly O Philopolis there is a Divine Fate and irresistible Counsell of God Almighty that maugre all that can be done by men or Devils must take effect in its season Jer. 2.24 The wilde Asse in the wilderness snuffeth up the wind at her pleasure who can turn her away They that seek her will not weary themselves after her in her month they shall finde her And David foretells Thy people shall be willing in the day of thy power Psalm 110.3 Ezek. 37.3 Son of man can these bones live saith God to Ezekiel in the Valley of dead mens bones But he answered with reverence O Lord thou knowest insinuating that it was in his power whether he would make them live or no. But you know when once God had commissioned the Prophet to prophesie on the dead bones Ver. 4 5. and to say unto them O ye dry bones hear the word of the Lord Behold I will cause breath to enter into you and you shall live the effect did most certainly follow For there was a noise and a shaking Ver. 7 8. and the bones came together bone to his bone and they were straightway covered with sinews flesh and skin And so when he had said Ver. 9 10. Come from the four winds O breath and breathe upon these slain the breath came into them and they lived and stood up upon their feet an exceeding great Armie Was there ever any case more hard and desperate then this Philop. I doubt not but God can if he will bring up such a glorious state of things as are prophesied of but that our demerits may put a stop to it Philoth. Such vast Oecumenicall favours as these Philopolis are not dispensed according to our Merits but according to the free Counsell of God Hear what the same Prophet saith to the house of Israel Ezek. 36.22 23. Thus saith the Lord I doe not this for your sakes O house of Israel but for my holy Name 's sake that I may not be blasphemed amongst the Nations I will sanctifie my great Name which is profaned among the Heathen and the Heathen shall know that I am the Lord saith the Lord God when I shall be sanctified in you before their eyes Ezek. 36.25 26 27. Then will I sprinkle clean water upon you and ye shall be clean from all your filthiness and from all your Idols will I cleanse you A new heart also will I give you and a new spirit will I put within you and I will take away the stonie heart out of your flesh and I will give you an heart of flesh And I will put my Spirit within you and cause you to walk in my Statutes and ye shall keep my Iudgements and doe them What think you of this Language Philopolis And there are many such Expressions in the Prophets Philop. I must ingenuously confess that I think that such National or Oecumenicall Mutations of things for the best do not depend on our Merits or Free-will For so far as I see here God gives both to will and to doe according to his own Counsell and the Predictions of his holy Prophets that his Providence may not be suspected nor his Name reproched amongst Unbelievers Sophr. The description of the New Covenant in Ieremie is also according to this tenour Jer. 31.33 34. After those days saith the Lord I will put my Law in their inward parts and write it in their hearts and will be their God and they shall be my people What out of any Merits of theirs No but merely out of his own good pleasure For I will forgive their iniquities saith he and I will remember their sins no more Bath The Souls of men at last for the eternal High-priest's sake return into their Sabbatism of spiritual Rest. Philoth. Besides this Philopolis see what a causeless thing this is thus to mistrust Divine Providence who has so steddily and peremptorily carried things on hitherto according to the Predictions of the Prophets touching the Affairs of his Church as you have heard all along from the beginning to this very day Not to take notice of those things before our Saviour's Ascension and his sending down the Holy Ghost according to promise Apoc. 6.12 consider how punctually the six Seals are accomplished and in the sixth the Victory of Michael over the Dragon when under Constantine the Roman Empire became Christian. An Event out of the reach or ken of any mortal eye to foresee onely our Saviour the onely-begotten of God foretold it his followers in that saying Fear not Luk. 12.32 little flock it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the Kingdome Consider also the distinct Accomplishment of the six Trumpets during the succession of which according to Divine foresight and prediction there was the Virgin-company or the Woman in the wilderness and the mournfull prophetick Witnesses as well as the two and ten-horned Beasts and the Whore of Babylon or the false Prophet And how in the last Half-time Apoc. 11.11 12. or Half-day within the blast of the sixth Trumpet there was a great Earthquake and the slain Witnesses rose and to the admiration of the beholders in despight of all the Persecutions of that Man of Sin ascended gloriously into Heaven by the late Reformation in severall Kingdoms and Principalities Are not these very great things O Philopolis Philop. They are so indeed Philotheus Philoth. And such as are plainly set down in that admirable Book of Divine Fate For it is expresly written For God has put in their hearts to fulfill his will Apoc. 17.17 and to agree and give their Kingdome unto the Beast untill the words of God shall be fulfilled that is to say till the times be accomplished foretold by the Prophet Daniel Dan. 7.25 till the seventh Semi-time be expiring Then there will be amongst the ten Horns those that will hate the Whore Apoc. 17.16 and shall make her desolate and naked and shall eat her flesh and burn her with fire that is shall abolish the Papal power and
Adultery Fornication Vncleanness Lasciviousness Idolatrie Witchcraft Hatred Variance Emulations Strife Sedition Heresies Envyings Murthers Drunkenness Revellings To which you may adde Pride Insultation Contempt of our brother Cruelty Fraud Imposture Perfidiousness Worldly-mindedness Extortion Covetousness and the like Gal. 5.22 23. But the fruit of the Spirit saith the Apostle is Love Ioy Peace Long-suffering Gentleness Goodness Faith Meekness Temperance against such there is no Law This is that Spiritual man that discerneth every man 1 Cor. 2.15 but is himself discerned by none unless he be spiritual Of this Spirit of life it is said 1 John 5.12 He that has the Son has life but he that has not the Son has not life Rom. 8.9 As also He that has not the Spirit of Christ is none of his But of him that has the Son in this true sense namely by the abode of his Spirit in him John 8.36 it is farther declared That if the Son make you free then are you free indeed It is not therefore into an Huff of Phancy which ignorant giddy men may call the Spirit but it is the Spirit of Life in the new Birth into which we would ultimately resolve our adhesion to the pure Truth of the Gospel in opposition to the false adulterate Religion of the Church of Rome And the Dictates of this Spirit in its opposition to the gross Idolatries Impostures and Barbarities of that carnal Church which true Dictates are the Privilege of that Life that is to Righteousness in the meanest regenerate Christian would I set against the popular conceit of that false Churche's Infallibillity This true ground though popular would I have retain'd to bear against that popular Imposture of pretending that the Church of Rome cannot erre For we being made free by that Spirit of true Sanctification and Holiness all their Frauds and Wickednesses are easily felt by vital Antipathy whereby their Autority falls to the Dust and all their contradictious Figments made for their own worldly Interests are easily judged by the meanest Reason back'd and emboldened by this sincere Spirit of Righteousness and Love and so they are found through the Assistence of this living Principle common to all true Christians to be Murtherers Idolaters and gross Impostours This is palpable to the Spirit of Life in the new Birth which is the Privilege as I said of every true Christian. Nor will all their subtilties of Reason or far-fetched deductions of a tedious or endless intricate Sophistry be able at all to move or entangle such as are thus perfectly freed from Superstition and so firmly establish'd in this Principle of Life and Reality Philop. This is not onely a safe Sanctuary against all the perverse Sophisms and cunningly-devised Intricacies of the Church of Rome whereby they would illaqueate such honest Christians whose Education has not made them nimble enough at the weapon of Reason and Disputation but is also a strong engagement to make us all more closely and seriously Christianize that we may the more palpably feel our selves actuated by this Spirit of Life and thereby the more justly and securely defie all the Sophisters of the Dark Kingdome I mean this will not onely scatter and repell them but establish and edifie our selves to eternall Life Philoth. Your observation Philopolis is very true and good But now as by way of Counterpoize I have set the Spirit of Life in the new Birth against the pretense of the Infallibility of their Church so for my part I think to run counter to them in most things that are notoriously peculiar to them would prove a safe Direction in Policy As for example They are peculiarly infamous for their Doctrine and Practice upon account of Spiritual Jurisdiction of depriving men of their temporal Rights as if Dominion were founded in Grace and upon this pretense of Deposing of Kings and of raising their Subjects in Rebellion against them Wherefore my Fifth Document or Instruction should be to all the members of Christ's Kingdome The Fifth Principle That they do not suffer themselves to be stained with the least blemish or taint of Disloyalty to their lawfull Sovereign upon any account whatsoever but especially upon a Religious one there being no greater Disinterest to the true Religion then to appear to be promoted or maintained by so gross Immorality as Disloyalty nor no greater Advantage then through Faith and Patience to bear all Trialls and hardships as the old primitive Christians did Whose eyes being lift up to Heavenward and their feet directed wholly in that path by a Providence stumbled on the Imperiall Crown the Emperour at last becoming a profess'd Christian. Which was a very accumulate Completion of that Prediction of our Saviour Matt. 6.33 First seek the Kingdome of God and his righteousness and all these things shall be added unto you as has been noted before Philop. This is an excellent Principle indeed Philotheus and has annexed to it a comfortable Observation for all those that live under Princes that as yet are not converted to the pure Faith of the Gospell but are still captivated to the Religion of Rome But as for your Politicall Principle of alwaies running counter to that Church in what-ever they seem so notorious I doubt how that will alwaies hold For they do notoriously boast of and affect an universal Unity in Judgement and Practice should we therefore affect or indulge to a Disunity or Difformity in matters of Religion Philoth. Alas Philopolis my meaning was not that we should run counter to them in any good things they boast of but in those bad things they have They are divided into multitudes of Opinions amongst themselves as well as others are And in those things they seem universally united in they are rather forcibly held together by externall awe and fear of being burnt or having their throats cut then out of plain Conviction of Conscience that the Points they universally profess are true This is not Vnion of Life and Spirit but the cramming and crouding disunited dust feathers and straws and tying them up close in one bag This is all the union they have in their universal Profession But why this should be called Christian Vnion thus by a barbarous force and compulsion to make a company of men profess and practise the same things be they never so Idolatrous or wicked I understand not Nor know I what is if this be not an Vnion or Communion Antichristian Wherefore we run opposite enough to them if we set up against their Antichristian Vnion an Vnion which is truely and really Christian. Which shall be the Sixth Instruction viz. That we endeavour above all things after an Vnion of unfeigned Belief and Love The Sixth Principle That it may be said of the Church as of the living Creatures in the Cherubick Chariot of Ezekiel Whither the Spirit was to go Ezek. 1.20 they went Philop. XXX How the Church shall attain to the Unity of
state of the Church out of the Apocalypse 265 IX The Angel's Measuring the City with a golden Reed what the meaning thereof 278 X. Severall passages of the Mercavah expounded or the Vision of the Cherubim seen by Ezekiel 280 XI An Exposition of the Vision of the Throne of God in Heaven the four Beasts and twenty four Elders seen by S t. John 298 XII What Grounds of hope out of Scripture for that glorious state of the Church to come 313 XIII That the glorious Times predicted by the Prophets have not yet appeared on the face of the Earth 321 XIV What grounds in Reason for the coming of those glorious Times 326 XV. That there is no fear that either Familism or Behmenism will supplant the expected glory of the Apostolick Church 332 XVI J. Behmen's marvellous pretence to the knowledge of the Language of Nature 337 XVII Farther Indications that J. Behmen did not write from an infallible spirit 342 XVIII Bathynous his judgement touching J. Behmen with some Cautions how to avoid the being ensnared by Enthusiasts 349 XIX That there is an Elias to come and in what sense 355 XX. The Character of this Elias gathered out of Prophecy 356 XXI His Character taken out of History 362 XXII The time of Elias his coming 367 XXIII Certain Principles tending to the Acceleration of the glorious Times of the Church 370 The First Principle 371 XXIV Of Luther's Conference with the Devil touching the abrogating of the Mass together with his Night-Visions of flying Fire-brands ibid. XXV Of the Obnoxiousness of Luther and other Reformers 377 The Second Principle 384 XXVI Of the Church of Rome's being a true Church 388 XXVII That although the Church of Rome were not a true Church yet it follows not but the Reformed Churches are 392 The Third Principle 398 XXVIII Of the Vse of the Word and of the Spirit in counterdistinction to dry Reason 402 The Fourth Principle 403 XXIX How a man shall know that he has the Spirit 404 The Fifth Principle 409 The Sixth Principle 412 XXX How the Church shall attain to the Vnity of the Spirit ibid. The Seventh Principle 415 XXXI How the mind of man may arrive to a state of Vnprejudicateness 416 The Eighth and last Principle 417 XXXII The Doctrine of Faith in the Power of God's Spirit for the ridding us of Sin why not so much insisted on at the beginning of the Reformation 423 XXXIII The true means of Vnity in the Church again glanced at 426 XXXIV The marvellous Efficacy of Faith in the Power of the Spirit of Christ for the vanquishing of Sin 429 XXXV An answer to an Objection touching this Doctrine of Faith 430 XXXVI Of the Duration of the glorious Times of the Church 434 XXXVII The Character of Theomanes 435 XXXVIII Theomanes his Vision of the seven Thunders 440 XXXIX A brief Explication of Theomanes his Vision 451 XL. The important Vsefulness of Theomanes his Vision together with the Iustifiableness of his yielding to such an Impression 453 XLI Philotheus prevail'd with to play a Divine Rhapsodie to the Theorbo 456 XLII Philopolis his mistake in preferring high Contemplations before the usefull Duties of a Practicall Life 461 XLIII His Complement to Cuphophron and his Friends with Cuphophron's return thereof upon Philopolis 464 FINIS ERRATA sic corrige Page 9. line 5 reade Paradisiacall p. 118. l. 9. for But after r. But upon p. 157. l. 26. r. then this other p. 188. l. 6. r. Description p. 207. l. 21. r. Emissarie Powers p. 276. l. 21. r. Prosperitie also the. p. 309. l. 2. r. off of p. 378. l. 21. r. spirit That p. 380. l. 3. r. Postillion in
the truest Grounds of the Certainty of Faith This is the common Protestant Doctrine and a great and undeniable Truth and will amount to the greatest Certainty desirable if the Spirit of Life and of God assist For that will seal all firm and close and shut out all Doubts and Waverings In the mean time even in mere Moral men but yet such as use their Sense and Reason rightly-circumstantiated in their Dijudications touching the truth of Holy Writ and Religion it is plain they are upon the truest Grounds of Faith they can goe or apply themselves to forasmuch as the Holy Writ is the truest and most certain Tradition and no Tradition to be discerned true but upon the Certainty of rightly-circumstantiated Sense and Reason as appears by the first Conclusion These Advertisements though something numerous are yet brief enough but very effectual I hope if strictly followed to make thee so wise as neither to impose upon thy self nor be imposed upon by others in matters of Religion and so Orthodox as to become neither Enthusiast nor Romanist but a true Catholick and Primitive Apostolick Christian THE END DIVINE HYMNS DIVINE HYMNS An HYMN Upon the Nativity of CHRIST THe Holy Son of God most High The Historicall Narration For love of Adam's lapsed Race Quit the sweet Pleasures of the Sky To bring us to that happy Place His Robes of Light he laid aside Which did his Majesty adorn And the frail state of Mortals tri'de In Humane Flesh and Figure born Down from above this Day-Star slid Himself in living Earth t' entomb And all his Heav'nly Glory hid In a pure lowly Virgin 's Womb. Whole Quires of Angels loudly sing The Mystery of his Sacred Birth And the blest News to Shepherds bring Filling their watchfull Souls with Mirth The Application to the Emprovement of Life The Son of God thus Man became That Men the sons of God might be And by their second Birth regain A likeness to His Deity Lord give us humble and pure mindes And fill us with thy Heav'nly Love That Christ thus in our Hearts enshrin'd We all may be born from above And being thus Regenerate Into a Life and Sense Divine We all Ungodliness may hate And to thy living Word encline That nourish'd by that Heav'nly Food To manly Stature we may grow And stedfastly pursue what 's good That all our high Descent may know Grant we thy Seed may never yield Our Souls to soil with any Blot But still stand Conquerours in the field To shew his Power who us begot That after this our Warfare's done And travails of a toilsome Stage We may in Heav'n with Christ thy Son Enjoy our promis'd Heritage Amen An HYMN Upon the Passion of CHRIST THe faithfull Shepherd from on high The Historicall Narration Came down to seek his strayed Sheep Which in this Earthly Dale did lie Of Grief and Death the Region deep Those Glories and those Ioys above 'T was much to quit for Sinners sake But yet behold far greater Love Such pains and toils to undertake An abject Life which all despise The Lord of Glory underwent And with the Wicked's worldly guize His righteous Soul for grief was rent His Innocence Contempt attends His Wisedome and his Wonders great Envy on these her poison spends And Pharisaick Rage their Threats At last their Malice boil'd so high As Witnesses false to suborn The Lord of Life to cause to die His Body first with Scourges torn With royal Robes in scorn th' him dight And with a wreath of Thorns him crown A Scepter-Reed in farther spight They adde unto his Purple Gown Then scoffingly they bend the knee And spit upon his Sacred Face And after hang him on a Tree Betwixt two Thieves for more Disgrace With Nails they pierc'd his Hands and Feet The Bloud thence trickled to the ground The Pangs of Death his Countenance sweet And lovely Eyes with Night confound Thus laden with our weight of Sin This spotless Lamb himself bemoans And while for us he Life doth win Quits his own Breath with deep-fetch'd Groans Affrighted Nature shrinketh back To see so direfull dismall sight The Earth doth quake the Mountains crack Th' abashed Sun withdraws his Light The Application to the Emprovement of Life Then can we Men so senseless be As not to melt in flowing Tears Who cause were of his Agonie Who suffer'd thus to cease our Fears To reconcile us to our God By this his precious Sacrifice And shield us from his wrathfull Rod Wherewith he Sinners doth chastise O wicked Sin to be abhorr'd That God's own Son thus forc'd to die O Love profound to be ador'd That found so potent Remedie O Love more strong then Pain and Death To be repaid by nought but Love Whereby we vow our Life and Breath Entire to serve our God above For who for shame durst now complain Of dolorous dying unto Sin While he recounts the hideous Pain His Saviour felt our Souls to win Or who can harbour Anger fell Envy revengefull Spight or Hate If he but once consider well Our Saviour lov'd at such a rate Wherefore Lord since thy Son most just His natural Life for us did spill Grant we our sinful Lives and Lusts May sacrifice unto his Will That to our selves we being dead Henceforth to him may wholly live Who us to free from Dangers dread Himself a Sacrifice did give Grant that the sense of so great Love Our Souls to him may firmly tie And forcibly us all may move To live in mutuall Amity That no pretence to Hate or Strife May rise from any Injurie Since thy dear Son the Lord of Life For love of us when Foes did die An HYMN Upon the Resurrection of CHRIST The Historicall Narration WHo 's this we see from Edom come With bloudy robes from Bosrah Town He whom false Jews to death did doom And Heav'n's fierce Anger had cast down His righteous Soul alone was fain Isa. 63.3 The Wine-press of God's Wrath to tread And all his Garments to distain And sprinkled Cloaths to die bloud-red 'Gainst Hell and Death he stoutly fought Who Captive held him for three days But straight he his own Freedome wrought And from the dead himself did raise The brazen Gates of Death he brake Triumphing over Sin and Hell And made th' Infernall Kingdomes quake With all that in those Shades do dwell His murthered Body he resum'd Maugre the Grave's close grasp and strife And all these Regions thence perfum'd With the sweet hopes of lasting Life O mighty Son of God most High The Application to the Emprovement of Life That conqueredst thus Hell Death and Sin Give us a glorious Victory Over our deadly Sins to win Go on and * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Phil. Iud. Flesh and bloud in the moral sense Edom still subdue And quite cut off his wicked Race And raise in us thine Image true Which sinfull * The old Adam Rom. 6.6 Edom doth