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A43678 The spirit of enthusiasm exorcised in a sermon preached before the University of Oxford, on Act-Sunday, July 11, 1680 / by George Hickes. Hickes, George, 1642-1715. 1680 (1680) Wing H1871; ESTC R10947 39,266 51

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READER THere is newly published a Volume of LXI Sermons Preached by the same Author Printed for Rich. Marriott and Sold by most Book-Sellers in London THE Spirit of Enthusiasm EXORCISED IN A SERMON PREACHED Before the UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD on ACT-SUNDAY July 11. 1680. By George Hickes D. D. Prebendary of Worcester and Chaplain to his Grace the Duke of Lauderdale Printed at the request of Mr. Vice-Chancellor and many others who heard it Preached Diserti sunt multi inter illos magnae linguae flumina linguarum nunquid Angelicè loquuntur omnia illa nihil iis prosunt quia conscindunt unitatem Paulus loquitur si sciam omnia sacramenta c. Nemo ergo vobis fabulas vendat Pontius fecit miraculum Donatus oravit Deus ei respondit de Coelo Crederem si non divisisset unitatem nam contra istos ut sic loquar mirabiliarios cautum me fecit Deus meus dicens in novissimis temporibus teneamus ergo unitatem fratres mei prater unitatem qui facit miracula nihil est Proinde fratres mei nemo vos fallat nemo vos seducat amate pacem Christi c. August exp in Evang. Johan tract 13. LONDON Printed for Walter Kettilby at the Bishop's Head in St. Paul's Church-Yard MDCLXXX To the Reverend Doctor TIMOTHY HALTON Provost of QVEENS-COLLEDGE and VICE-CHANCELLOR Of the UNIVERSITY of OXFORD SIR THIS Discourse which was so acceptable to You from the Pulpit comes now in all Humility from the Press to offer it self to your further Acceptance and Protection and to the Perusal of all those Learned and Orthodox men who desired me to Publish it as containing some Sober and wholsom doctrines which they judged seasonable for the age I had a mind to satisfie my self in this Subject and having by Gods blessing upon my enquiries attained to satisfaction in them I framed my Observations on purpose into a Sermon to see if happily I could satisfie other mens reasons by the same Arguments by which I had convinced my own And because the Spirits of the Prophets are subject to the Prophets I chose to Preach it in that Audience where are always so many Competent and able Judges of Truth and Error and what I said on that obscure Subject as Chrysostom calls it having been approved therein I am encouraged to hope that it will find the like Entertainment in other places especially among all ingenuous spirits who are wont to read with unprejudiced minds But lest any should think that the Scheme by which I go in this Discourse were an Hypothesis of my own inventing I have confirmed the passages in it which I thought would be most surprizing with good Authorities because how plausible soever any Notions in Divinity may be yet they may reasonably pass for suspected unless they appear to be agreeable to the Sentiments of the Writers of the Oecumenical Church To write all things consonantly to Catholick Antiquity is a safe and excellent rule and it is for adhering to it in her Doctrine and Discipline that the Church of England and Her Clergy have been always persecuted by the Papists those Pseudo-Catholicks on one hand and their Instruments the Anti-Prelatical Sects on the other and because under God the Vniversities are the support of the Church therefore have they been decryed for want of Learning by those and want of Virtue and Religion by these although they have been and are as fruitful Seminaries of both as any Schools or Vniversities that are or ever were in the world And now having occasion to speak of the Vniversities it would be real injustice to your Merits not to let the world know how happy ours is in Your Government I might justly speak great things of Your Severity in punishing of Vice of the great encouragement you give to Virtue and Learning and of your Care and Vigilance both over your own Colledge and the Vniversity particularly in giving life to the Publick Exercises in the Schools of which you are in all Arts and Faculties so great a Judge It is under such Governours as You that the Muses will flourish in Oxford and that true Learning and Sound Religion will always be taught therein And therefore that there may never want a Succession of such Vice-Chancellours as You to Govern that Famous Vniversity nor of such Learned Masters and Scholars as now adorn it is the hearty prayer of SIR Your most Obliged and Humble Servant GEORGE HICKES THE SPIRIT OF Enthusiasm EXORCISED 1 COR. xii 4. Now there are diversities of gifts but the same Spirit THE Discourse which I intend to make upon this Verse will oblige me to explain the most obscure and difficult passages of this Chapter from the misunderstanding of which and most other places of the Gospel which speak of the Spirit and Spiritual gifts Impostors on one hand and Enthusiasts on the other have raised such absurd and exorbitant doctrines as are utterly inconsistent not only with the use and Authority of the Scriptures but the Tradition of the Universal Church the Orders of the Ministery and the Study of Divinity and by consequence render the Christian Religion which consists of such Sober and Rational Doctrines the most wild uncertain and unintelligible institution that ever was in the world But how groundless and unwarrantable the Enthusiastical Interpretations of this and other like places of Scripture are will appear from the process of this Discourse in which I intend to treat so particularly of the Gifts of the Spirit as to leave out nothing which may be said in such a short Discourse to illustrate such an excellent Subject the knowledge of which is a most Soveraign Antidote against the poison of Enthusiasm which is the Spiritual drunkenness or Lunacy of this Schismatical age and so distempers the minds of men of the other Communions with extravagant phancies as to make them more or less affect the extraordinary Gifts of the Spirit and then conceit like Poets in Religion that they have them and are inspired Thus much I thought convenient to premise concerning the matter and design of this Discourse in which I shall proceed according to this familiar method First I intend to speak of the several kinds of Spiritual gifts and shew which sort is mentioned in my Text. Secondly I shall treat of the number and variety of them and explain the nature of each particular gift Thirdly I shall discourse of the true use of them and shew the reasons why they were given by God to the Primitive Church and not to the Churches of latter times And Lastly I shall make some Practical improvement of the whole discourse First then as to the kinds of these Spiritual gifts I know my Text is often misapplyed by way of accommodation to signifie the natural or acquired gifts of mans mind which in a Physical sense indeed may be called Spiritual because they transcend the Mechanical powers of matter and proceed more or less from the