God freely taught the Youth who came willingly to them to learn especially in the corrupt times of Israel and Judah I say they taught them only the Knowledge of the Books of Moses and of the other Prophets then extant and no Heathenish Knowledge or Disciplines of the Gentiles at all And these kinde of Schools began early in the Church For the Fathers before the Flood and the Patriarchs after all taught their Children and Families the Word of God And so each of their Families was such a School And that we may not be at uncertainties in this matter it is manifest what Doctrine they taught by that which God himself saith of Abraham Gen. 18. 19. I know Abraham saith God that he will command his Children and Houshold after him that they keep the Way of the Lord and to do Justice and Judgement This was the sum of Abrahams Doctrine to his Family And this is farther confirmed by that of Asaph Psal. 78. 2 3 4. where he saith I will open my mouth in a Parable I will utter dark sayings of old which we have heard and known and our Fathers have told us We will not hide them from their Children shewing to the Generation to come the praises of the Lord and his strength and the wonderfull works that he hath done Where we plainly see what Doctrine the Children received from their Parents and the Parents taught their children from one Generation to another to wit not Vain Philosophy and the Disciplines of the Heathens but the Praises of the Lord and his Strength and Wonderful Works This also is manifest by the practice of Jehosaphat King of Judah who sent his Princes with the Levites up and down throughout Judah and they only took the Book of the Law of the Lord with them and no Heathenish Authors and taught the People 2 Chron. 17. And Ezra after the Peoples return from Babylon took only the Book of the Law of Moses and read it to them and the Levites also read in the Book of the Law of God distinctly to the People and gave them the Sense and caused them to Understand it Nehem. 8. And this also James the Apostle witnesseth Acts 15. 21. saying Moses of old time hath in every City them that Preach Him being read in the Synagogues every Sabbath day So that the faithfull Prophets of the Lord during all the Old-Testament had the chief care in their Schools to keep the Word of the Lord among them in a Right Sense according to the minde of the Spirit For seeing the Lords People are his Portion they knew they were to be carefully Educated and Instructed in the Right Knowledge of the Scriptures to prepare them for the Lord and to make them meet for his Kingdom And the keeping of the Word and Doctrine of God pure is one of the Greatest Matters of all in the Church of God For as the Word is such is the Worship such is the Faith such is the Conscience such is All. Wherefore the Holy Men of God would by no means bring in the Philosophy or Doctrine of the Heathens into their Schools to teach that to their Sons or Scholars but only the true faithfull and unmixed Word of God ` And if against this it be Objected That Moses was learned in all the Learning of the Egyptians To this I Reply But did Moses ever teach any of that Learning in the Church or publish any of the Doctrines of it Or did he command or encourage any of the People of God to learn it Or did any other of the Prophets of the Lord in any Age teach their Sons or Scholars any of the Egyptian Philosophy which was the Antientest or the Smaragdine Table of Hermes Trismegistus the pretended Scholar of Moses so much boasted of or any Heathenish Author whatsoever of which there were many then extant I say let them prove that but one Heathenish Author was read by any of the Prophets to their Scholars and then they will have some colour for the present Universities and their Practice But this they can never do during all the Old Testament And now for the New-Testament it is well known that Christ himself who was the Son of God made of a woman was the first and chief Teacher of this Doctrine Even the Son out of the bosom of the Father full of Grace and Truth and He set up the first Christian School and taught his twelve Apostles whom at his own pleasure He chose to Himself And what the Doctrine was which He taught them is manifest in the Gospel in all which there is not One Word of Heathenish Philosophy or of the Doctrine and Traditions of Men but He only taught them the Words of Eternal life which no Man nor Angel could teach He teaches that Word which is the Power Wisdom and Righteousness of God through which Sin is forgiven and Righteousness is given Death is destroyed and Life is brought in Hell is put out and Heaven is planted in all them that do believe He teaches a Word through which the World is renewed and Men are made like Angels and are made meet to partake of the Inheritance of Saints He teaches a Word wherein is contained all the Treasures of Wisdom and Knowledge that are in God Himself And so Christ taught in his School no vain Philosophy or Heathenish Doctrine and yet he came from God and went to God and is a pattern for Doctrine to all true Christians that are his Disciples indeed To whom he commanded when he left the world and went to his Father that they should teach all Nations and gather one Christian School out of them all by teaching them to observe and do Whatsoever he had commanded them to wit in the Gospel and nothing else or more He commanded them to teach all that and only that and promised himself to be with them to the end of the World in all such Doctrine And the Apostles accordingly not by any help of Humane Learning but when they had received the Spirit went forth to teach the Nations and to set up Christian Schools everywhere by their Doctrine and They all only taught Jesus and the Resurrection from the dead Thus Peter first taught the Men of Judea and Inhabitants of Jerusalem That God had made Jesus whom they had crucified both Lord and Christ having raised Him from the dead because it was not possible for Him to be holden of Death who was the Lord and Author of Life And Steven disputing with the Libertines Cirenians and Alexandrians and divers Philosophers of Cilicia and Asia did hold forth to them nothing but Christ and that He should put an end to the Temple and Law and should change all the Customs of Moses And They were not able to resist the Wisdom and Spirit by which He spake Acts 6. And Paul at the University of Athens reproved there Heathenism and taught Nothing among the Epicureans and
that He who alone comprehends the fulness of all things and in whom are hid all the Infinite Treasures of Divine and Heavenly Wisdom and Knowledge that He alone should not be counted sufficeent and enough no not by Those who pretend his Name to make us Wise to Salvation which is the only True Excellent and necessary Wisdom in the World and to make the man of God Perfect and the whole Church of God Compleat but to the great Dishonor of Christ yea to the very Rejection of Christ the children of Christians must be led from the Doctrine of Christ the Son of the Living God to the Doctrine and Disciplines of the Wretched Filthy Abominable Wicked and Damned Heathen and to spend the prime and flower of their Youth in these things Who but Antichrist Himself could have brought in and set up such an Abomination of Desolation in the Church of God And yet for the better credit of all things must These corrupt Heathenish Schools be called the Schools of the Prophets though Nothing but the Ignorance of the Law and Gospel be taught in Them and the Highest Enmity to Christ in all the World lives and flourishes in them And thus as the Christian Schools at first brought men from Heathenism to the Gospel so These Schools carry men from the Gospel to Heathenism as to their great Perfection And the Fruit of this Education of Youth is manifest For where hath the Gospel found less Favour and more Enmity at any time then from the Universities Ridly the Martyr with Cranmer and others being in Prison in Oxford for the Testimony of the Gospel writes thus to Bradford As yet saith he there was never Learned Man nor any Scholar or other that visited us since we came into Bocardo And in another Letter to him he saith And yet as we hear the Scholars bear us more heavily then the Townsmen A wonderfull thing among so Many never yet Scholar offered any of Us so far as I know any manner of favour either for or in Christs Cause Fox vol. 3. p. 442 443. Yea farther where shall you see Youth again in all the Nation so vain proud fantastical bold impudent Where shall you meet with such Mockers and Scoffers at God and his Gospel as here How many Hopefull Youths have here been sacrificed to the Heathen and their carefull Parents after much cost have received them home as full of Heathenish Manners as Doctrine And if some are lately become more civil and seemingly Religious yet is their Enmity to the Gospel in its true Spirituall Sense as it is the Word of Faith nothing abated For such as is the Doctrine among them such also of necessity must their Consciences and Lives be Wherefore the Universities according to their Statutes and usual Practice are not the Schools of the Prophets or of Christians but of Heathen Men and Plato and Aristotle have more credit in the University then Moses or Christ Himself And if after their course or running their Circle in Philosophy they betake themselves to Divinity yet do they so mingle spoil and corrupt it with Philosophy according to which they both understand the Scriptures and speak of them that their Divinity cannot be called the Doctrine of Christ but of Antichrist being wholly contrary to the Word of Faith And therefore Mr. Simpson was the more to blame to flatter them in their Evils and to deceive the World in appropriating to Them the glorious Title of the Schools of the Prophets Who are in all things so Contrary and Contradictory to Them Now the Sum and Certainty of this Matter is this That the Congregations of Believers where only the Word of the Gospel is truly taught according to the Ministration of the Spirit whether to Youth or Men They under the New Testament are answerable to the Schools of the Prophets under the Old who only taught Moses and the Prophets And the Universities wherein Philosophy is first taught the Youth and after Divinity and then both are mingled together to the utter perverting and corrupting the Gospel of Christ I say these Universities in the time of the Gospel are answerable to the High-Places in the time of the Law where a Doctrine and Worship prevailed which was not according to Gods Word but mans Will and where Judaism and Heathenism were mingled together into one Mungrel Religion most odious and abominable to God and his People And so the Universities in the time of the Gospel are only answerable to the High-Places in the time of the Law but not at all to the Schools of the Prophets as Mr. Simpson pretends And now for the Conclusion of this matter which I reckon to be of Great Concernment for the true Church to be thorowly instructed in I shall bring forth the Testimony of some Godly men of Whom some shew how the Schools and Universities of Christians came first to be Corrupted to wit by departing from the plain Word of the Gospel and bringing in Philosophy And another foretels the Reformation of the Schools of Christians again to wit by rejecting Philosophy again and bringing in the Word of Faith All which will serve as a Confirmation of what hath been already spoken Matthias Parisiensis a Bohemian by Nation who lived about the year 1380. wrote a large book against Antichrist wherein he affirms That Antichrist had seduced all Universities and Colledges of Learned men so that now they teach no sincere Doctrine neither give any true Light to Christians through their teaching to wit they being all corrupted through Philosophy and having through that corrupted all Divinity And John Hus that humble and faithful servant of Jesus Christ and blessed Martyr saith That Antichrist hath seduced all carnal Christians from Divine Wisdom which is full of Salvation and the Holy Spirit to the Wisdom and Science of Men and of the Princes of this World which Wisdom and Science he hath exceedingly inlarged and increased and made Authentical and very gainfull of Riches and Honors in this World that so by this means Divine Wisdom and Science might be neglected of Christians and grow old and be covered over and be accounted as Vile and Unprofitable by them And that only That which is High with Men to wit Humane Learning might be reckoned Glorious and Excellent and of great Authority with Christian People The same Hus saith That this Humane Learning Wisdom and Knowledge Antichrist doth perfectly subject to Himself and his Service He being more Mighty and Subtil through the Operation of Satan then all Worldly Men whom with all their Learning Disciplines and Abilities he strongly subjugates to Himself and doth especially serve Himself of These wherefore saith Job chap. 41. sub ipso erunt radii solis the Beams of the Sun shall be under Him that is the Holy Scripture and the chief Doctors and Teachers of it and He shall prepare Gold as dirt that is he shall have all the Wisdom and Learning
and Temporal Power which they had gotten have stricken great fear into the whole World and have miserably vexed innumerable Consciences with a grievous and lasting bondage and have even driven them to Despair whilst none durst approve or own any Spirit or Doctrine though never so manifestly of Christ and his Gospel without their Allowance and Approbation so mightily hath the power of Antichrist prevailed in the World and that against the express Word of Christ. Now the ground of this their Antichristian Pride and Usurpation is This that they arrogate to Themselves that They are the Guides and Shepherds of all Christian men and are to teach them the Gospel which they are only to receive from their lips whereas Christ hath promised his true Church that they shall be all taught of God and shall hear and learn Themselves from the Father and hath also promised to send to them the Spirit to lead them in all Truth and to give them an Annointing to teach them All Things Now they by robbing the Faithful of this Power and arrogating it to Themselves have made themselves contrary to Christs Command Lords and Masters in the Church of God and have usurped to themselves Superiority and Authority over other Believers and have subjected all the World to their Opinion and Judgement in the things of God by which means they have set wide open the flood-gates to Antichrist and his Kingdom to break in upon the World and to overflow it whilst they had robbed all Christian People of their own Judgement in all the Things of God and had made them to depend wholly on the Judgement of the Clergy And had not Christian People thus unchristianly delivered up their Judgements to the Clergy and that in the very Highest Points of Religion Christianity had not been so miserably blinded and corrupted as it is and the Mysterie of Iniquity had not so much prevailed in the World as now it hath For when Christians would not try the Spirits whether They were of God and the Doctrines whether they were the Word of God or no but thought this a matter too High for them and would refer and submit all to the Judgement of their Ministers then Antichrist the Apostle of the Devill came forth boldly and proudly exalted Himself above all that is called God and his Kingdom above all the Kingdoms of the World having first put out both the Eyes of Christians by taking away from them their Right and Power of trying Spirits and judging Doctrines But when true Christians shall search the Scriptures as God I trust hath now fully put into their hearts to do and shall justly and lawfully take to themselves the Power which God hath given them to try Spirits and Doctrines then Antichrist and his Agents the carnal Clergy must soon be brought down for the Faithfull by that Word shall soon perceive that They are not of God nor their Doctrine of that right Gospel which is after the Mind of Christ. Well then by what hath been said You who are of Christs true Sheep may perceive that it is evident by the Word that faithful Christians have Right and Power to try Spirits and Doctrines though Antichrist for many Ages hath robbed them of this Priviledge For that I may speak a little more to this matter the Tryall of Spirits doth unquestionably belong to all Men who have received the Spirit of God for to this Spirit of God which dwells in the faithfull the Gift of Discerning Spirits is inseparably annexed and the Spirit of Christ which truly dwells in all true Christians cannot deceive nor be deceived in the Tryall of Spirits So that this now is a Common Grace that in some measure belongs to all true Christians who have received the Unction that teacheth them all things and is true and is no lie And though there be in the Church Diversities of Gifts from the same Spirit which are given to some and not to others as Tongues and Interpretation of Tongues and Miracles and Gifts of healing c. mentioned by Paul 1 Cor. 12. yet this gift of Trying Spirits is given to All in some measure that have received the Spirit For as in the Natural Body there are several Gifts given to several Members which are not given to all the members as Seeing to the Eye Hearing to the Ear Walking to the foot c. but Feeling is given to all the Members so also in the Body of Christ that is the spiritual Church several Gifts are given to several Saints but the Tryall of Spirits and Doctrines to all Saints who have received the Spirit and if any have not Christs Spirit he is none of His and if any have Christs Spirit he can in some measure discern and judge of all Spirits in the World and the more any man receives Christs Spirit the more able is he to judge of all Other Spirits Wherefore they who are true Believers and have received Christs Spirit their Judgement is to be preferred in the Tryall of Spirits before the Judgement of a whole Council of Clergy men And they only who can try Spirits by the Spirit of God and Doctrines by the Word of God written in their hearts by the Spirit are fit to commend Ministers to the Work of God that is the Congregations of the faithful and not Universities and Assemblies of Divines And thus you may perceive that seeing many false Prophets are gone out into the World it concerns the faithful as they tender their own everlasting Salvation not to believe every Spirit that speaks of Christ and his Kingdom and his Things but to Try the Spirits whether they be of God Object But now it may be some will be ready to say We ought indeed to try the Spirits seeing there are many falfe Prophets in the world but we hope there are no such Persons among us but only some upstart Men with their new Light who with their Novelties and Fancies trouble the Nation and would fain turn all things upside down and we know these well enough already and do sufficiently despise them Answ. It is very like you do but yet let me say to you Men Brethren and Fathers understand Your selves and know what you do in this matter For at the beginning of the Reformation by the Ministry of Luther Zuinglius Calvin and divers others pretious servants of Jesus Christ the Popish Clergy applyed all these Scriptures Try the Spirits whether they be of God for many false Prophets are gone out into the world and beware of false Prophets which come to you in sheeps clothing but inwardly are ravening wolves I say these and the like places of Scriptures they applied to these Godly Men and yet they Themselves were the false Prophets indeed and the Other whom they termed such were true Ones Wherefore it is possible for You to be mistaken as well as They and no doubt but you will be mistaken except the Lord be gracious
rob them of their faith in Christ through Philosophy and deceitful Vanities and through the Traditions of Men and Ordinances after the World and not after Christ And after But now Ye drive them from Gods Word and will let no man come thereto until he have been two years Master of Art First they nuzzle them in Sophistry in bene fundatum And there corrupt they their Judgements with apparent Arguments and with alledging to them texts of Logick of Natural Philosophy of Metaphysick and Moral Philosophy and of all manner of books of Aristotle and of all manner of Doctors which yet they never saw c. Again Huldricus Zuinglius speaks thus to this matter We must needs be taught of God and not of Men to wit in the knowledge of the Gospel For this is the saying of the Eternal Truth which knows not how to lye Joh. 6. But and if you do not firmly believe that you may be taught of God Humane Doctrines being utterly rejected ye are yet destitute of true Faith Neither have I my self devised this thing For Hilarie also is of this opinion But there is no need of his Testimony when we hear that both Christ and all the Apostles were of the same minde And here the whole use of School Divinity falls to the ground and whatsoever is drawn out of the Philosophers For all these things do lean on Humane Reasons which when they have once possessed a mans Mind he then thinks that the Heavenly Doctrine is wholly to be directed and framed according to the Rule of Humane Learning which he judges to be most firm and infallible Which thing they sufficiently discover in their words saying ubi cessat Philosophus illic incipit Theologus where the Philosopher ceases there the Divine begins whereby they signifie thus much that he is able to judge most rightly in Divine Things who comes most furnished with Humane Learning As if so be the Light of our Will were more excellent and more perspicuous then the Divine Glory When yet we hear Christ saying I receive not Glory of Men but I know You that you have not the Love of God in you Joh. 5. For they who have the Love of God cleave to no Word so constantly as to the Word of God seeing This is the Light that enlightens every man that comes into the World But no man is able to prove that Philosophy is such a Light For which of the Philosophers instructed the Apostles Those simple and in the Judgement of the World those foolish Men unskilful and unlearned Fishermen were elected and instituted of God and then were sent forth to preach that they might become the Masters and Teachers of the whole World to wit that God according to the saying of Paul might make ashamed all the strength of the World and all the Wisdom of the World Thus he Luther also saith It is an Errour to say that a man cannot be a Divine but through Aristotle Nay saith he A man cannot be a Divine except he become one without Aristotle And again A man becomes a Divine by living yea by dying and by being damned to wit in his own sense not by studying reading or speculating And again In Holy Things we must not dispute or play the Philosophers but in Divinity we must only hear and believe and resolve in our heart that God is true though the Things he speaks in his Word seem never so absurd to Reason And again We shall then do well if we leaving Logick or Philosophy in their own Sphere do learn to speak with New Tongues in the Kingdom of Faith without all Sphere For the Affection of Faith is to be exercised in the Kingdom of Faith and not a Philosophical Understanding And thus have these Godly men held forth and proved from the Word that Humane Learning is rather a hindrance then a Help to the Ministery of the Gospel and doth rather unfit then fit men for it and that the Grace and teaching of God only prepares and enables men to this Divine work and no Humane Thing at all Wherefore let all true Christians be advised that Humane Learning is so far from fitting men for the Gospel and the Ministry thereof as is suggested that indeed there is nothing in Greater Enmity to Christ Crucified nor more Contrary to the Word of the Cross then that Yea nothing in all the world hath been such an Introducer Favourer Supporter and Inlarger of Antichrists Kingdom as Humane Reason Learning and Philosophy This hath brought in all the Hypocrisie Superstition false Doctrine false Worship Sects Schisms Divisions which have at any time prevailed in the Church during all the Reign of Antichrist And the Gospel of Christ and the true Belief and Practice of it hath not had at any time a greater and more subtile and plausible Enemy then This. Yea farther the Gross Ignorance and Blindeness of the rude World hath not so perverted and falsified the Word of the Gospel nor rendred it such Contradiction and Resistance nor hath brought such annoyance to the Faithful who have received and confessed it as Humane Science hath done For this hath enabled men stoutly to oppose the Truth and subtilly to defend Errour as the Truth this hath made men bold and cunning to suppress Gods Minde from the World and to hold forth their own Minde to them as if it were Gods under the pretence of the outward Letter of the Word and a multitude of other Evils have sprung from this Corrupt Fountain Wherefore the Apostle Paul is so far from encouraging Christians to betake themselves to Humane Learning to fit them for the Gospel that He by the Spirit utterly forbids Christians Heathenish Philosophy lest they should be spoiled through the Vanity of it and beled away from Christ. And thus in this matter hath Mr. Simpson manifestly departed from the Doctrine of the Scriptures and of Faithful Men who have spoken from it 5. ERROR That mens Hatred to God doth as well appear in their Hatred to Humane Learning as if they hated the Scriptures Answer I conceive Mr. Simpsons Heart was hot within him out of his great Zeal to Humane Learning the great Goddess by which the University lives when he thus spake And it appears he is very tender of the Reputation and Glory of it who thus vindicates it at as high a rate as the very Scriptures But Sir do you know no more Difference between the most precious Word of our Eternal Lord God and his Son Jesus Christ and the foolish corrupt and stinking Doctrine of Men is there no more Difference in your Divinity between the Word of Righteousness Life and Salvation which God hath spoken by Christ and Christ by his Servants and the Word and Doctrines of wretched Men full of sin death and destruction And if the Law it self given by the Ministration of Angels loseth its Glory before the Gospel as the Apostle testifies
How much more doth Heathenish Philosophy brought forth partly from the corrupt Reason of Man and partly from the Inspiration of the Devil become loathsome and abominable before it for ever And cannot we be Enemies to this say You without hating the Blessed Word of God Nay the blessed Word of God where it prevails in truth doth make men to hate This and to count it loss and dung and filth and the most loathsome Baseness in the World in comparasion of it self Wherefore through the Grace of Christ we will so love the Scriptures which are Divine Learning as to hate Humane and Heathenish Learning for thier sakes seeing it hath put a veil of Darkness in the Church over this Glorious Sun the Word of Faith 6. ERROR That if the Spirit teach without Means men may as well be without the Ordinances as without the Universities and Humane Learning Answer We do not say that the Spirit usually teacheth without Means in the Church of Christ But we say he teacheth by Means of his own appointing And how will Mr. Simpson prove by any Scripture that Universities and Humane Learning are Means which the Spirit of God useth to teach his Church by Where did ever the Lord speak one Word that he would use the Disciplines of the Gentiles as Means whereby to teach men to know the Mysterie of Christ Wherefore this is strange Doctrine that Arts and Sciences are the means whereby the Spirit teacheth the Church For sure I am the Lord never taught his Church either of the Old or of the New Testament by these Means Only Antichrist hath taught his Church after this manner and hath set up Humane Learning as an Ordinance of God yea as an Ordinance of the New Testament to learn Christ by that Christians might be trained up to know Christ the Wisdom of God by Humane Learning the Wisdom of the World which is in direct Enmity to God The chief Ordinances whereby God helps his Church are the Word of Faith and the Prayer of Faith And by the Ministration of the Spirit he begins and carries on the Salvation of his Spiritual People And these Ordinances the true Church cannot want neither doth God do any thing in his Church without Them But the Spiritual Church for ought that I could ever yet read in the Word may well want their Divine Ordinance of Humane Learning and yet not want any Ordinance of God that he hath appointed and sanctified for the Use of his true Church 7. ERROR That Men now are not to receive the Spirit in that immediate way to understand the Scriptures in which it was given to them who wrote the Scriptures Answer Surely Mr. Simpson will not deny that the Spirit is given to that whole Church which is the body of Christ seeing Paul saith If any man have not Christs Spirit he is None of his he is no Member of his Now the Spirit is alwayes given to whomsoever it is given by the Father and the Son as Christ taught his Disciples promising them that the Father would send the Spirit to them in his Name and also that he Himself would send it to them from the Father And was this Promise only made to Them and not to all the Faithfull also who should believe in Christ through their Word doth not Paul say Rom. 12. 13. of the Whole Church that by one Spirit we are all baptized into one Body and are all made to drink into one Spirit He saith also to the Galatians Chap. 4. because ye are Sens God hath sent the Spirit of his Son into your hearts crying Abba Father And thus it is manifest that the whole Church of Believers and every true member thereof do receive the Spirit of God And do they not receive it alike immediately from God Who can give the Spirit of God to Man but God Himself when God promised to pour out his Spirit in the last dayes upon all flesh did he name any difference in the pouring of it out saying some shall receive it immediately and some mediatly No but all that are counted worthy to receive the Spirit of God do receive it alike immediately from Him neither hath Christ left any Lieutenant or Deputy in the World to give his Spirit to men in his Absence But he Himself is alwayes Present in his true Church to the end of the World both to teach them and to give them his Spirit He is too much in the Darkness of Antichrist that denies this It is manifest then that all the true Church do alike receive the Spirit of God and that They all receive it alike immediately from God seeing no Man nor Angel can give the Spirit of God but God himself gives his own Spirit to Whom he pleases by his own Word which he Himself Ministers by his own Spirit And by this Spirit did Holy Men speak the Scripture and by this Spirit only do Holy Men of God understand the Scripture as Paul saith 1 Cor. 2. 12. Now We have received not the Spirit of the World but the Spirit which is of God that we might know the Things that are freely given to us of God among which his Word hath a Chief Place and after saith that by the Spirit They had the Mind of Christ which Others want who yet have the same Letter of the Word and are destitute of the Spirit And so as the Faithfull spake the Word by the Spirit of Faith so through the same Spirit of Faith only so given do the Faithfull understand it And though this thing be clear in it self yet I judge it convenient to add here the Testimonies of Luther and Calvin in this Matter Luther saith The Scriptures are not to be understood but by that very Spirit by which they were writ which Spirit can be nowhere found more readily and effectually then in those Holy Letters of his which He hath written And Calvin saith The same Spirit that spake by the month of the Prophets it is Necessary that That should pierce into our Hearts to perswade us that They faithfully delivered that which was committed to them of God So that We must necessarily have the same Spirit to know his Mind that They had to utter his Mind Wherefore it is evident that Mr. Simpson is not Orthodox in this Point neither 8. ERROR That men now are to get Knowledge to wit of the Scripture by Studies and Humane Learning and not by Inspiration Answer This Doctrine carries the Visible Mark of Antichrist upon it For it is only the Inspiration of God that enables a Man to know the Things of God and not a mans Study or Humane Learning It is not in this Case in Him that Wills or Runs but in God that shews Mercy Wherefore Christ hath said No Man knows the Son but the Father and He to whomsoever the Father will reveal him Wherefore Paul prays for the Ephesians that God would give
Day is coming when Iniquity shall have an End And thus have I done with these Things There were many Other things in that Sermon as contrary to the Gospel which for brevities sake I have omitted Now what a sad Thing is it that such poysonful Doctrine should be poured forth into an University Congregation and that by the Ministry of such a Man And if the Ceremonies of the Law were in use under the Gospel how ought we to rendour Garments at the Hearing of these Things And now O blessed Lord Jesus who wast Crucified Dead and Buried but yet art risen from the Dead by the Eternal Spirit and art ascended on High to fill all things have Mercy on thy poor Church which is so grievously rent and torn this day by Wolves in Sheeps Cloathing and is thus hurt and consumed by poysonful Doctrines of Men who seek Themselves and their own Things to the Harm and Ruine of thy poor People O thou Son of the Living God who art the Way the Truth and the Life how shall the Kingdom of Antichrist be brought down when the Hands of such Men who seem Pillars in the Church are stretched forth so strongly to hold it up And how shall the Days of Antichrist be shortned when his Kingdom is coming forth again in the Greatest Deceiveableness of Unrighteousness that hath ever yet appeared in the World to delude the Nations O Lord remember all thy Promises and make haste to destroy Babylon the Great with all its mysteries of Righteousness and Unrighteousness and let it sink as a Milstone in the Sea without any hope or possibility of a Resurrection And seeing there is no hand of Man stretched out for this Work but all Hands are against it do thou destroy it O Lord without hand even with the Spirit of thy mouth and brightness of thy Coming according to the Truth of thy Promises and the unutterable Sighs and Groans of thy Spirit occasioned thereby in the Hearts of all thy faithful and Elect. Even so Lord And let thy Kingdom come and make no long tarrying AMEN A TESTIMONY From the WORD Against DIVINITY-DEGREES IN THE Vniversity OR Any Academical Degrees made use of for the Ministry of the Gospel THE Universities whose very Soul and Life do lie in Humane Learning and School-Divinity that they might gain the greater Profit to themselves and Glory to their Children have after the example of the Heathen given their children Degrees in Divinity as They in Arts and the Glorious Titles of Batchelors Masters and Doctors in Divinity as so many Crowns of Gold upon their Heads to win them Honour and Reputation with all People who have been under the Delusion of Antichrist And in the confirming of these Graduations or Degrees which also is done for a sum of Money they give the Graduates License and Power to Preach and to Expound the Scriptures and that by the sole Authority of the University For the Vice-Chancelor admitting a Bachelour in Divinity to his Degree useth these Words in the Name of the University We admit you to declare all the Apostolical Epistles in the name of the Father Son and Holy Ghost And so the Batchelour in Divinity hath Power according to his Degree only to deal with the Apostolical Epistles but must go no farther And admitting a Doctor to his Degree the Vice-Chancelour saith thus We admit you to Interpret and Profess all the Holy Scriptures both of the Old and New Testament in the name of the Father Son and Holy Ghost And thus doth the University through power received from Antichrist give men chiefly for Money Divinity-Degrees and through those Degrees it gives Authority and priviledge to Batchelors in Divinity to expound part of the Scriptures and to Doctors to expound and profess all the Scriptures and they that gain these Degrees to Themselves are as there is good reason the Great Men in account with the University and also with the Carnal People of Antichrist how destitute soever they be of the Faith and Spirit of the Gospel Wherefore I cannot choose but give in my Testimony against this Glorious and Gainful Priviledge of the Universities to wit their conferring upon their Children Degrees in Divinity and creating them Masters in that Mysterie which none can teach but God Himself and which none can learn but true Believers who are born of God and are his true Disciples And so I do openly affirm that Degrees in Divinity for I meddle with none else given by the Universities to their Children are plainly and grosly Antichristian being most manifestly contrary to the Word of the Gospel and the Light that shines in the New Testament For first In the Gospel of God our Saviour we learn That only a New and Heavenly Birth makes Men to be of the true Church and that the pouring forth of the Spirit on these Children of God according to the measure of the Gift of God makes Christians of several Degrees in this Church and not Academical Graduations Secondly In this Gospel also we are taught that all the true Ministers of Christ are Equal and not One Superior to Another as these Degrees make them Thirdly In this Gospel also we are taught that the true Greatness amongst Christs true Disciples doth not stand in Academical Degrees or Worldly Honour and Dignities but in the Faithfuls near and exact following of Christ in Word and Conversation and that the sons of Zebedee in desiring Superiority and Pre-eminence above the other Disciples contrary to the Life and Doctrine of Christ did grievously offend and were therefore sharply rebuked of Christ. Fourthly Yea here we hear Christ himself forbidding this very Thing to his Disciples that Antichrist and his Prophets might have no cloak for doing the contrary where his Gospel is truely taught and published For Matth. 23. Christ doth forbid his Disciples before all the Multitude to be as the Jewish Rabbies or Doctors who saith Christ do their works to be seen of Men and disguise themselves with different Garments or Habits from others that they might be the more taken notice of and have the more respect and do love the uppermost Rooms at Feasts and the chief Seats in the Synagogues and greetings in the Markets and to be called of men Doctor Doctor but saith Christ to his Disciples Be not ye called Doctors for one is your Master even Christ and Ye all are Brethren and so equal Whence it is evident that this Practice of Universities and Colledges in giving men Degrees in Divinity as they call it and Titles Habits and Dignities accordingly is contrary to the express Command of Jesus Christ and so is a meer Invention of Antichrist to put Honour and Reputation on his Ministers It is also manifest that this practice of the Universities hath all along made many Doctors in the Church which yet never were Christs true Disciples It is also manifest that these Degrees and Titles do cause men
that believes and acknowledges that the Son of the living God is come not only into that Humanity of Christ that was born of the Virgin but also that he is come into Us and dwells in Us according to these Scriptures That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith And Christ in you the hope of Glory And know ye not that Christ is in you except you be reprobates c. Wherefore the true Prophets do not only acknowledge that Jesus Christ is come into his own flesh but also into theirs which by this means is made His and that Christ is in them of a truth and dwells in them For Antichrist himself and his Ministers do all acknowledge that Jesus Christ is come into that flesh which he did assume of the Virgin but they will not confess that this is true in Him and in Us They will acknowledge the mysterie of God manifested in the flesh as to Christ the Head but they will deny it as to the Church his Body and so whilst they separate the Head from the Body and the Body from the Head in this Mysterie they do solvere Jesum they dissolve Jesus I say some hold that the Eternal Word or Divine Nature came indeed into that flesh which was born of the blessed Virgin but they will by no means allow it to come into Ours through our Union with him by Faith only they say some created Habits or Gifts of Grace come into us or in our flesh but not Christ himself or the Divine Nature or Son of the living God And so these men set up these Created Gifts and Graces in the Members instead of Christ Himself the Head And yet these Teachers make a Glorious Shew in the flesh and this is Antichrist to wit when men think that these Created Habits of Grace which they fancy will renew comfort sanctifie and save them and so do make to themselves of Them a Glorious but yet a false Christ. Wherefore let us know that he that denies Jesus Christ in the Members is though not so great yet as true Antichrist as he that denies Jesus Christ in the Head and he that denies Christ dwelling in our hearts by Faith to be and to be alone Wisdom Righteousness Sanctification and Redemption to Us as he that denies Him to be the Power Wisdom and Righteousness of God in Himself The sum of this matter is this that the true Spirits or Prophets do acknowledge not only that Christ the Son of the Living God is come into that Son of Man which was born of the blessed Virgin but also that Christ is come into Them and dwels in Them as in his own true and proper Members And so He that hath Jesus Christ dwelling in his heart is a true Prophet and he that hath not Christ dwelling in his heart is a false Prophet though his Knowledge and Religion be never so high and glorious and holy also in the opinion of the World And this is the chief Sign and Mark whereby we may know the true Prophets and true Christians from the false Prophets and false Christians Object Now if any shall say But how shall we know whether a man hath Christ dwelling in his Heart or no and so consequently whether he be a true or false Prophet Answ. I Answer You shall certainly know it by the truth of the Word of Christ in him and by the truth of the Life of Christ in reference to his Office in the Word 1. First then the true Prophets are to be discerned from the false By the truth of the Word of God in them From the true Prophets speak the true Word of God even the Word of Wisdom the Word of Righteousness the Word of Life the Word of Power the Word that is able to save which is the true Gospel Word For this is the Covenant that God hath made with Christ and his seed saying Isai. 59. 21. My Spirit which is upon thee and my Word which is in thy mouth shall never depart out of thy mouth nor out of the mouth of thy seed nor out of the mouth of thy seeds seed from henceforth and for ever And this was perfectly fulfilled in Christ for that Word which in the beginning was with God and was God was made flesh in him and dwelt in him and out of that Word Jesus Christ spake all that ever he spake his whole Doctrine did flow from that Eternal Word which dwelt in him And Christ communicated to the Disciples the same Word which he had received as he saith John 17. 8. I have given to them the Words that thou gavest me that is the word of Righteousness and Life and they have received them and have known surely that I came out from thee and they have believed that thou didst send me and so that word which they Themselves received by faith they also held forth to Others as John saith 1 John 1. 1. That which was from the beginning which we have heard which we have seen with our eyes which we have looked upon and our hands have handled of the Word of Life declare we unto you And to this also John the Baptist gives Testimony John 3. 34. Where he saith He whom God hath sent speaketh the Words of God not the words of Men or Angles but of God and this is true both in Christ and in his Seed But now the false Prophets speak not the Word of God for they have it not in their hearts but what Word they have in their hearts that they speak and so they speak the words of their own Reason Wisdom and Righteousness or of other Mens but beyond Humane Things they do not go whether they pretend to high Notions on the one hand or to sound Orthodox Doctrine on the other hand Now of this true Christians are to take speciall notice because as the true Word of God is the greatest Commodity to the Church that can be and brings the presence of Christ and all the things of Christ along with it so the Words of Man is the greatest Mischief to the Church that can be for it brings Antichrist and his Kingdom and all his Things along with it And thus doth vain Philosophy and School Divinity which is an unlawfull mixing of Philosophy with the outward letter of the Word pervert all things in the Church of carnall and false Christians 2. As the true Prophets speak the true Word of God so also they speak it by the true Spirit of God and not by their own Spirit and thus did Christ who saith of himself The Spirit of the Lord is upon me for he hath annointed me to preach the Gospel and so he spake the Word of God by the Spirit of God And Christ commanded his Disciples to stay at Jerusalem till they had received the Spirit and then to go forth and preach because he knew they could not preach Gods word aright without Gods
Spirit and also Christ saith of all the faithfull that it is not they that speak but the Spirit of their Father that speaks in them yea and the whole Gospel is called the Ministration of the Spirit Now the true Prophets speaking the Word of God by and in his Spirit do also speak it in the Right Sence and after the true mind of Christ as Paul saith of himself and of other believers who had received the Spirit We have the mind of Christ. But the false Prophets though they speak the word of the letter exactly and that accordingly to the very Originall and curiosity of Criticisms yet speaking it without the Spirit they are false Prophets before God and his true Church seeing all Right Prophesie hath proceeded from the Spirit in all Ages of the World but especially it must so proceed in the dayes of the New Testament wherein God hath promised the largest effusion of his Spirit And they speaking the Word of the Letter without the Spirit do wholly mistake the Mind of Christ in all and under the outward Letter of the Word of God do only bring in the Mind of Man And this is one of the greatest Delusions and most mischievous snares that can be laid in the Church to bring in the Word of Christ without the Mind of Christ yea to bring in the Word of Christ against the Mind of Christ and according to the Mind of Antichrist this is the effectuall Operation of Error whereby all Hypocrites and false Christians are deceived and that without all hope of recovery And thus you see that the true Prophets bring the true Word and bring it also by the true Spirit and this manifests them to be of God but the false either bring not the true Word or if they bring the Word in the Letter yet they bring it without the Spirit and thus it is manifest they are not of God Object But some will object here If a man preach the Word in the Letter even good sound and orthodox Doctrine no doubt but such a man is to be heard and he may do much good in the Church though he want Christs Spirit This I have heard from very many who have thought they have said something Answ. But to this I answer That they who want Christs Spirit which is the Spirit of Prophesie though they preach the exact Letter of the Word yet are false Prophets and not to be heard by the Sheep 1. Because under the New Testament we are not to regard the Letter without the Spirit but the Spirit as well as the Letter yea the Spirit more then the Letter and therfore Paul saith that Christ shall destroy Antichrist with the Spirit of his Mouth and the Brightness of his Coming he scarce takes any notice of the Letter but calls the true preaching of the Gospel the Spirit of Christs Mouth or the Ministration of the Spirit And therefore the spiritual People cannot joyn to that Ministry where the Spirit of Christ is wanting though there be the Outward Letter of the Word in it 2. They that preach only the Outward Letter of the Word without the true Spirit they make all things Outward in the Church and so carry the people with whom they prevail only to Outward Things to an Outward Word to Outward Worship Outward Ordinances Outward Church Outward Government c. whereas in the true Kingdom of Christ all things are Inward and Spirituall and all the true Religion of Christ is written in the Soul and Spirit of man by the Spirit of God and the Believer is the only Book in which God Himself writes his New Testament 3. They who preach the Outward Letter of the Word though never so truly without the Spirit do as hath been said wholy mistake the Mind of Christ in the Word for want of the Spirit which is the only true and infallible Interpreter of his Mind and so under the Outward Letter of the Word preach their own Mind and not Christs Mind and do make all the Scriptures serve their own Turns even their own Worldly Ends and Advantages and nothing else 4. They that preach the Outward Letter of the Word without the Spirit can with such a Word both live Themselves in all the inward Evils of corrupted Nature and allow Others to do so too And thus the Gospel which in the Spirit of it is the Judgement of sin is made in the Letter of it the Covering for sin and the Encourager of it seeing such Men who have the Letter of the Word in their mouth do live in the inward Corruptions of their Hearts more securely and quietly than other Men. 5. Last of all let us know that whoever doth agree with Christ never so exactly in the Letter and yet differs from him in Spirit is very Antichrist And therefore when the Devils in him that was possessed said to Christ We know thee who thou art the holy One of God and so agreed very exactly with the Gospel in the Letter yet Christ forbad them to speak because they spake not by a right Spirit And Christ hath said Whoever is not with me that is in the Spirit is against me though he have the same outward Letter of the Word with him And so as Christ builds up his Church by his Spirit through his Word so Antichrist builds up his Church by the Word without the Spirit and Christs Church and Antichrists do often differ very little or nothing in Word or Letter yet do alwayes infinitely differ in Spirit Wherefore to conclude Let us know that that Church that hath the Word if it wants the Spirit is Antichrists Church and that that Ministry that useth the Word and wants the Spirit is Antichrists Ministry and that all works duties prayings preaching fasting thanksgiving c. without Christs Spirit are nothing but the very kingdom of Antichrist and the Abomination of Desolation And so I proceed to the second generall Rule of Tryall which I propounded whereby we may discern the true Prophets of Christ from the false Prophets of Antichrist and that is By the Truth of the Life of Christ in reference to his Office in the Word And here I shall give you many Tryals how you may certainly know and discern the false Prophets of Antichrist from the true humble and faithfull Ministers of Jesus Christ. And the Lord Jesus Christ before whom we are all present this day and before whose Tribunal we shall all be Judged He knows that I shall not purposely speak any thing at this time either to please Myself or to displease You But I shall desire to speak all out of very faithfulness to Him who hath remembred Me when I was in low condition for his Mercy endureth for ever The first sign then whereby the true Prophets may be discerned from the false is this First the true Prophets are all sent of God So was Moses whom God
If any say I my self relate to the University why then do I speak against it thus I answer that I neither do nor will relate to the University as it is polluted with any of the Abominations herein mentioned But as by the Providence of God alone I have been brought to that Relation in which I now stand and continue in it against the Wills and Workings of many so through his Good Pleasure I will remain till He shall otherwise dispose of Me and during my sojourning with them I will not fail to testifie against their evil and to endeavour to win all those whom God shall perswade to receive his Truth from Heathenism to the Gospel and from Antichrist to Christ. Wherefore let none be offended that I am made willing to hazard and part with my Worldly Accommodations for Christs Names sake but let them rather praise the Grace of God which hath enabled me to witness a good Confession what ever Worldly Disadvantage I might run into thereby Wherefore Welcom the Righteousness Power Wisdom Truth Word and whole Kingdom of Christ though they swallow up all my Earthly Accommodations For such Fear and Love of his Name hath the Lord graciously put into my Heart that I would not willingly conceal any thing of his most precious Truth either to gain or to preserve to my self the Whole World And so righteous Father not my will be done nor theirs but Thy will be done in Earth as it is in Heaven THE CONFUTATION OF Mr. Sydrach Simpsons Errors Isaiah 62.1 For Sions sake I will not hold my peace and for Jerusalems sake I will not rest until the Righteousness thereof go forth as brightness and the Salvation thereof as a Lamp that burns MAster Sydrach Simpson at the Commencement An. 1653. preaching to the University Congregation in Cambridge and to many Others especially Ministers there gathered together at that time from several parts of the Nation among other things he let fall in that Discourse of his these gross and Antichristian Errors The Rehearsal of the Errors 1. He brought in that Scripture 2 Kin. 6. ver 1 2. which was his Text the words whereof are these And the Sons of the Prophets said unto Elisha Behold now the Place where we dwell with thee is too strait for us let us go we pray thee unto Jordan and take thence every man a beam and let us make us a Place where we may dwell and he answered Go ye This Scripture he used to prove the Lawfulness and Religiousness of the present Universities and the Usefulness and Necessity of Humane Learning to the Church and Ministery of the New Testament And what the Scripture speaks of those Schools he brought to countenance encourage and justifie These adding that if it were objected That that was the Old Testament He did answer That the Old and the New were not distinct Testaments but Administrations thereby holding forth that the Universities now are answerable to the Schools of the Prophets that were then and that the Universities are as agreeable to the New Testament as the Schools of the Prophets to the Old 2. That They who have endeavoured to pull down Schools have always been Men who were found Enemies to Religion So Julian the Apostate shut up the doors of the Schools because he would have all Religion to go down 3. That the knowledge of Heavenly things cannot come to us but by things on Earth and that all Divinity is swadled in Humane Learning 4. That Paul was brought up at the feet of Gamaliel and that God took him so fitted and made him an able Minister of his Church 5. That mens hatred to God doth as well appear in their hatred to Humane Learning as if they hated the Scriptures 6. That if the spirit teach without Means men may as well be without the Ordinances as without the Universities and Humane Learning 7. That men now are not to receive the Spirit in that immediate way to understand the Scriptures in which it was given to them who wrote the Scriptures 8. That men now are to get Knowledge by Studies and Humane Learning and not by Inspiration 9. That Humane Learning is as the Out-works to the Fort of the Gospel and as the outer Court to the Temple of the Gospel and so if you will keep the Fort well you must keep the Outworks strong and if you will preserve the Inward you must look to the Outward Court 10. But what is the bottom of all this saith he to wit of some mens appearing against Humane Learning as the Unction of the Ministery and against the Universities as the Fountain of the Ministery but this that some say They are One with Christ and as Christ hath the Divine Nature in him so every Believer hath and he that hath God in him need not go to any Man to learn whereas in John 17. Christ speaketh of Believers as at an infinite distance from Him And if Believers be so united to Christ as they say then will follow that Christ should not be the only begotten of God and that Christ and We should be Equal and He not our Lord c. 11. Arts and Tongues are the Cups in which God drinks to us 12. We shall never keep up Religion if we do not keep up Learning but when Learning goes down Religion goes down too 13. Seeing Religious Foundations are so Antient then keep them up Your Destruction will never be but from Your selves These Notes were taken from Mr. Simpsons mouth and delivered to me by an honest hand and affirmed to be true for the Substance of them and I also heard several others who were hearers of that Sermon relating the same things Now because I finde that this Doctrine hath not only grieved the hearts of the Faithful but also strengthened the hands of the Carnal and Evil People The things which he then delivered being usually the Thoughts of their hearts and Words of their mouths I thought it my duty being set in my place for the Defence of the Gospel to give a Publike Reply to such Gross Errors so publikely delivered to the danger of so many and which one would never have thought should have proceeded from such a Man especially after the day of the Gospel hath so far dawned and the Antichristian shadows are so far retreated and flown away And so I shall begin with the first of these Errors and proceed in the Order in which they are set down 1. ERROR He brought that Scripture 2 King 6. 1 2. Touching the Sons of the Prophets asking leave of Elisha to go and build at Jordan to prove the Lawfulness and Religiousness of the Universities in their present Use and Customs c. Answer To this I Reply that there is a vast Difference between those Schools and these Universities as in many Other things so chiefly in This That in those Schools of the Prophets named by Him the Holy Men of
the Christian Religion and being afflicted in Mind he did withdraw Himself into a solitary Place where there met Him an old Antient Father of comely Visage and gentle behaviour who began to reason with Him and to tell him that there was no Knowledge of Truth among the Philosophers who neither knew God nor were ayded by his Holy Spirit And did farther reason with Him of the Immortality of the Soul of the Reward of the Godly and Punishment of the Wicked Then Justine being Satisfied with his Reasons yeilded to him and demanded of him How He might attain to that true Knowledge of God whereof he had spoken Who counselled Him to read the Scriptures adjoyning therewith Prayer c. And as this Justine left all other Learning and betook himself only to the Scriptures so in the understanding of the Scriptures he rejected all his Philosophy and Philosophical Apprehensions Saying that the Interpretation of the Scripture is to be accommodated to the Will of the Doctrine of the Spirit and not to Humane Reasonings And that he might be sure and safe in all things he had constant recourse to the Scriptures thus understood So that Justine Martyr being effectually Converted wholly left his Philosophy and betook himself to the Scriptures and taught them to the Church as He had been taught them of God by his Spirit Constantine the Emperor though he were the first that brought in the Mysterie of Iniquity into the Christian Church by mingling the Civil and Ecclesiastical states and Laws together there being in His time a great Increase of Christians through the Ministry of the Gospel and a great Confluence of them to his Imperial City for the Words sake he wrote to Eusebius Bishop of Nicomedia in a special Letter Wherein he desired him with all Diligence and Speed to procure fifty Volums of the Scriptures to be written in parchment Well and Legibly and in such a bignenss or Volume as might be carried with greatest ease for the further teaching and instructing of Those that came to attain the Knowledge of the Christian Religion Judging it most meet that Christian People should be Instructed in the Doctrine of Christ only and not in Heathenish Philosophy And though afterwards when the Suffering Times of the Church began to be over Christians became more carnal and secure and that in the very days of Constantine and so began to decline the Word of Faith and to seek after Philosophy yet had God in all the Ages of his Church some of his Servants who did reject it and did cleave only to the Word Among which I shall only for the present produce the Testimonies of Berno who lived above six hundred years ago and Zuinglius of latter times Berno who lived about the year 1008. and was a man furnished with all sorts of Learning saith That he had for many years rejected as dung the figments of the Poets and the Histories of the Heathens and the study of Secular Letters and had converted the whole Intention of his Mind to the Word of God and the Divine Things contained therein And accordingly he taught no other Doctrine to any Huldricus Zuinglius also Pastor of Zurich in Helvetia a man who had been educated in all kind of Learning and was after through faith and the teaching of God an eminent Instrument in his Church he saith thus of himself When saith he I being yet a Youth was exercised in all sorts of Learning I can truly say that I did not profit less then the rest of my Equals But when about seven years ago I betook my self to the study of the Holy Scriptures then the things that I had before sucked in or learned from Philosophers and Divines did procure me so much Trouble that being then moved by the Authority of the Scriptures I judged that all those things were to be cast away and counted as dung and that the true Mind of God was only to be received from his pure and simple Word And therefore I began humbly to intreat the Lord that he would vouchsafe me his own Light By which means it shortly came to pass that the reading of the Holy Scriptures did much delight and please me and they being nakedly and alone propounded did flow unto me with more ease then if I had read them divided and distracted with variety of Comments And as he rejected Philosophy wholly and entertained the Word So did he only teach this Word to faithfull Christians who are the only true School of Christ in the World Now by all this it appears that the Schools of the Prophets and Apostles and of Christ himself the Head of them and of the most faithfull Christians that followed Christ in the first and latter Ages were in no sort like the Schools in the present Universities where Humane Learning according to the Statutes of the Universities prevails for the first seven years and they think Youths cannot be made good Christians except they be first made good Heathens The Schools of the Prophets and Apostles would not meddle with the Philosophy of the Heathen but led the children and youth presently to the Word of God and therein to the true Knowledge of God in Christ But these Schools first lead Youth from God and his Word several years together to the corrupt Reason Wisdom Notions Conceptions yea to the Idolatry Blasphemy Atheism Lusts Filthiness and Villanies of the cursed Heathen that thereby in a strange and Antichristian Method they may be the fitter to know and understand the Scriptures The Schools of the Prophets taught only Moses and the Prophets to the Jewish Youth and the Schools of the Apostles taught Christ only and his Gospel to the children of Christians But the Universities lead men both from Moses and from Christ both from the Law and the Gospel to the Heathen to make men hereby the more able Christians and Divines The Queen of the South neglecting the Magi or Wise men of the Heathen came from the utmost parts of the earth to hear the Wisdom of Solomon And the Universities leave Christ who is Infinitely Greater and Wiser then Solomon and go to the utmost parts of the earth for Wisdom from the Heathen So that in these Universities there hath been the greatest Apostacy and Withdrawing from Christ and the greatest Dishonor and Disparagement offered to Him and his Gospel as ever was known in all the World For Is it not a matter of greatest Wonder and Amazement that after that Word which was with God and was God and is God blessed for ever hath been manifested in the flesh and that Flesh of His hath been justified by the Spirit to have the Fulness of the Godhead dwelling in it bodily and that This so Wonderfull a Person hath come to his Church in the same Common Nature with it filled with all the Righteousness Wisdom Truth Power Life Peace and Joy and all the things of God I say is it not strange
his Wisdom neither is the Plain man hindered any thing by his Ignorance Yea if I may speak a wonderfull thing saith he Ignorance is more fit and ready to receive the Gospel then Wisdom And a Shepherd and a Plowman will sooner receive the Gospel and submit to it then a Scholar who lives in the strength of Humane Wisdom and Reason He farther saith there that where the Wisdom of God is as it is in the Gospel there is no need of Mans Wisdom as where the Sun is there is no need of a Candle And he concludes there this Matter thus That the Preaching of the Gospel is a Heavenly Thing and that Humane Wisdom and Learning cannot help herein but rather hinder And that therefore when Christ sent forth the first Teachers of the Gospel he took not Wise and Learned Philosophers that the Cross of Christ might not be made void and that the Faith of Christians should not stand in the Wisdom of Man but in the Power of God But he chose plain Fishermen Tent-makers Publicans Obscure Simple Poor Contemptible Ignorant and Unlearned Men And These overcame Kings Princes People Nations Greeks Philosophers Orators Sophisters they overcame the antient Manners Customs and the very Religion of the World also their Laws Judgements divers sorts of Punishments and innumerable kinds of Deaths and by all this saith he it was Manifest that their Preaching was not in Humane Wisdom but in the Grace of God And thus doth Chrysostom affirm and prove that Humane Learning doth not fit men to the Ministry of the Gospel but is rather a Hindrance thereunto and that the Grace of God only fits them for this Heavenly Work Hear also what Wickliff saith to this matter in his Book entituled The Path way to Perfect Knowledge where he sheweth that it is not Humane Learning that helps to understand the Scriptures and to profit in the study of Them but something more High and Heavenly His own words are these He whose heart is full of Love comprehendeth without any Error the manifold abundance and largest Teaching of Gods Scripture For Paul saith the fulness of the Law is Charity and in another place the End of the Law is Charity of clean Heart and good Conscience and of Faith unfeigned And Christ saith Thou shalt love thy Lord God of all thy Heart and of all thy Soul and of all thy Mind and thy Neighbour as thy self For in these two Commandments hangeth all the Law and the Prophets And as the root of all evil is Covetousness so the root of all good is Love Charity by which we love God and the Neighbour holdeth surely all the Greatness and Largeness of Gods Speeches Therefore if we have not leisure to search all the Holy Scriptures and to pierce into all the Privities of them hold thou Love whereon all things hang and so shalt thou hold that which thou learnest there and also that which thou learnest not For if thou know Charity thou knowest something whereon also that hangeth which thou knowest not And in that that thou understandest in Scripture Love is open and in that that thou understandest not Love is hid Therefore he that holdeth Love in Vertues or Good Life holdeth both that which is open and that which is hid in Gods Word And after speaking to the Clergy he saith Therefore Worldly Fools do ye first repent of your sins and forsake Pride and Covetousness and be ye meek and fear ye God in all things and love your Neighbour as your Self and then shall ye profit in the study of Holy Writ And this is a far other way to understand the Scriptures then Humane Learning And after he speaking of the Abominations of the University of Oxford saith thus The fourth Abomination is that it is now purposed to hinder Christian Men from learning freely Gods Law till they have spent nine or ten Years at Art or Philosophy which compredendeth many strong Errors of Heathen men against the Christian Belief It seemeth well that God will not cease from Vengeance till it and other things be punished sore For it seemeth that Worldly Clerks and feignedly Religious do this under pretence that simple Men of Wit and Knowledge know not Gods Law to preach it generally against sins in the Realm But wit ye Worldly Clerks and feignedly Religious that God both can and may if it liketh him speed Simple Men out of the University as much to know the Holy Scriptures as Masters in the University Wherefore he saith it is no great matter though Men of Good Will be not poysoned with Heathen mens Error nine or ten years together But let them live well and study the Holy Scriptures and preach truly and freely against open sins till death Thus He. Whereby he declares that the Scriptures are not to be understood by Humane Learning but by Faith and Love And that Humane Learning doth not prepare men to the Knowledge of the Word but rather corrupt them with Heathen mens Errors Tindal also that Apostle of England as Fox calleth him and blessed Martyr speaks thus to this matter They will say yet more shamefully meaning the Clergy That no man can understand the Scriptures without Philautia that is to say Philosophy A man must first be well seen in Aristotle ere he can understand the Scripture say they Now saith he Aristotles Doctrine is that the World was without Beginning and shall be without End and that the first Man never was and the last never shall be And that God doth all of Necessity neither careth what we do Without this Doctrine saith he Ironically how could we understand the Scripture that saith God Created the World of nought and God worketh all things of His free will and for a secret Purpose and that we shall Rise again and God will have Accounts of all that we have done in this life Aristotle saith Give a man a Law and he hath Power of Himself to do or fulfill the Law and becometh Righteous with working Righteously But Paul and the Scripture saith That the Law doth but utter sin only and helpeth not Neither hath any man power to do the Law till the Spirit of God be given him through faith in Christ. Is it not a madness then to say that we could not understand the Scripture without Aristotle Moreover Aristotles Felicity and Blessedness standeth in avoiding all Tribulations and in Riches Health Honor Worship Friends and Authority which felicity pleaseth our Spirituality well Now without these and a thousand such like points couldst thou not understand Scripture which saith that Righteousness cometh by Christ and not of Mans Will And how that Vertues are the Fruits and Gifts of Gods Spirit and that Christ blesseth us in Tribulations Persecution and Adversity How I say couldst thou understand the Scriptures without Philosophy in as much as Paul Col. 2. warned them to be ware lest any man spoil them that is to say
Ignorance of and Enmity to the Gospel of God our Saviour For is our Union with Christ the Foundation of Error or have true Believers no real Union with Christ but imaginary Do not the Saints partake of the Divine Nature doth not Peter expresly affirm it 2 Pet. 1. 4. where he saith exceeding Great and Precious Promises are made to us that We thereby should be made partakers of the Divine Nature and what is the Divine Nature but the very Nature of God See Luther on the place Again are Believers as he affirms at an infinite distance from Christ If this were true what sad news would it be to the Church of God How can this Doctrine agree with these Scriptures that Christ may dwell in your Hearts by faith and Christ in You the hope of Glory and of Him are Ye in Christ Jesus Again saith Christ I am the true Vine and ye are the Branches and so as the Vine is in the Branches and as the Branches are in the Vine so is Christ in Christians and so are Christians in Christ. Again John 14. 20. At that day ye shall know saith Christ Himself that you need not doubt of the Doctrine that I am in my Father and You in Me and I in you And again John 17. 21. saith Christ I pray not for These alone that is who now believe but also for All that shall hereafter believe in me through their Word That they all may be One as thou Father art in Me and I in Thee that They may be One as we are One I in Them and Thou in Me that They may be made perfect in One that the World may know thou hast sent me and hast loved Them as thou hast loved Me. Here now is no infinite Distance between Christ and Believers but a Wonderful and Admirable Nearness and Oneness which the learned Ignorance of Philosophy understands not nor the ignorant Knowledge of any carnal Christian. But sure this Word of God is true and the Saints receive it in faith and will not be deluded with any Philosophical Sophistical or Antichristian Glosses of False Teachers And thus doth the Holy Word of God affirm plainly enough that Christ and his Christians are most neerly United And yet doth not this Union make an Equality and rob Christ of his due Glory seeing Christ is the Head and They his Members Christ the First Born and they his Brethren And so as Christ hath the Preheminence in all things above them all as becomes the Head and First Born so They have Communion with Him in all things as becomes his Members and Brethren And whereas he jests and saith He that hath God in Him needs not go to Man to learn I do affirm this is true enough and the Scripture hath affirmed it in several places Isaiah saith to the Spiritual Church All thy Children shall be taught of the Lord And Christ saith it is written They shall be all taught of God He therefore that hath heard and learned of my Father cometh to Me. And John saith 1 John 2. 27. The Annointing which Ye have received from Him abideth in you and Ye need not that any Man teach you but as the same Annointing teacheth you all things and is Truth and is no Lye And this Doctrine is so manifest from the Scriptures that He is of Antichrist that denies it For God inwardly teaches all his People by his Spirit his own Self and They so hear the Word by the Ministry of Man that it is alwaies God that teaches them and not Man 11. ERROR Arts and Tongues are the Cups in which God drinks to us Answer In what a sad condition then are the Common and Plain People that they cannot Pledge him But only the Learned Clergy keep these Cups to Themselves as heretofote they kept the Cup in the Sacrament But what strange Phrase is this Savouring of the Ranters Religion as if God was the familiar Companion of the Clergy and sometimes drank to them in a Cup of Hebrew sometimes in a Cup of Greek and sometimes in a Cup of Latine and as if sometimes he drank to them in a Cup of Logick and sometimes in a Cup of Ethicks sometimes in a Cup of Metaphysicks Is not this truly Profana vocum novitas a Prophane Newness of Speech never before heard of to my Knowledge in the Church of God and which the Apostle utterly condemns 12. ERROR We shall never keep up Religion if we do not keep up Learning but when Learning goes down Religion goes down too Answer The Church is founded on Christ and Christ and His Church it seems are both founded on Humane Learning It is no wonder now that Mr. Simpson lays so great stress on it everywhere And that Men of his Religion term the University Fundamentum Ecclesiae the Foundation of the Church And if Humane Learning do indeed uphold all Christian Religion let all Men and Magistrates come forth and uphold it in the Name of God But surely the Religion of the Gospel depends wholly on Christ as Christ on God and there is no need of Humane Learning to support this except God and Christ are insufficient We have a sure Word and Doctrine of the Gospel that remains firm for ever and inviolable and inconquerable in and through Christ and his Spirit and the Father and all the World shall shatter in pieces and Humane Learning go down to Hell and This shall stand fast for ever Heaven and Earth shall pass away and not one jot or Tittle of my Word saith Christ. Believers know that not one Point of their Religion depends on Humane Learning But all on Christ Himself who is the true and Living Word Wherefore these are the fears of Antichrist and his Prophets that their Religion will go down with Humane Learning because it was set up by it But the true Religion of the Gospel of God our Saviour was at first set up without it and hath hitherto remained without it and will abide so for ever And to this the Spirit and the Bride give witness 13. ERROR Seeing Religious Foundations are so Antient then keep them up Your Destruction will never be but from Your Selves Answer Religious Foundations What Religion founded the Universities is well known For by the Counsel of four Monks the Scholars of Bede to wit Rabanus Albinus Claudius and John Scotus the University which had been translated from Athens to Rome was translated by Charls the Great from Rome to Paris An. 791. And for our English Universities of Cambridge and Oxford Thus it is recorded That the Study of Cambridge was instituted Anno 630. By Sigisbert King of the East Angles who after changed his Purple or Kingly Robes for a Fryars Cool or Hood And the Lectures here were begun by four Monks of which Brother or Fryar Ode as they termed him read Grammar according to Priscians Doctrine Terricus an acute Sophister
read Aristotles Logick according to the Institutions of Porphyrius and Averroes Brother or Fryar William read Tullies Rhetorick and Gislebertus read Divinity to them on Sundays and Saints days And for Oxford that was founded by King Alfred Anno 895. by the perswasion of Neotus the Monk and Rewards were propounded for those that would profess Learning there Afterwards both these Schools were made Universities in Edward the firsts time by the Court of Rome as Robert Remington affirms Yea farther by the very Names of the Colledges it is manifest what Religion set them up some being founded in the Honor of one Saint some of another Saint one being founded in the Honor of Christ another in the honor of Jesus another in the Honor of Immanuel another in the Honor of the Trinity Whereby they have rent the Name of God in pieces each one seeking to honor that Name of Christ most in the Honor of which his Colledge was founded Yea some Colledges have been founded in the Honor of Christs Body as the Colledges of Corpus Christi in both Universities and one in Oxford for the Help of all Dead Souls and for their rescue out of Purgatiry And so it is well known what Religion founded them And what Religion will in due time Destroy these Foundations if they be not Reformed is as well known For Wickliff whom God raised up to be one of the most Eminent Reformers of the Christian Religion since the Apostles times speaks thus touching Universities Colledges and Students Seeing Christ saith he hath not ordained these Universities or Colledges it is manifest that both They and the Graduations in them are nothing but so much vain Heathenism introduced in Testimony whereof as well the Collegiates as other Graduates do seek the things which are their own leaving the Rules of Charity From whence do arise Envies and Comparisons between Persons and Countries and many other seed-plots of the Father of Lyes Again he having spoken of other Sects saith Our Judgement concerning Colledges is the same as touching their General Studies For through Them Persons and Countreys are accepted against the Rules of Charity and inward Envies are heaped up with other Sins Perjuries and Simonies against their own Statutes Notwithstanding it is granted that out of such Colledges many Good Things do arise as well as out of other Sects yet not so Many as by the occasion of the sin of the Devil and the sin of the fiest Man And therefore let a Faithful Man be ashamed to alledge the fruit of such Profit Again saith he If these Colledges are in their Conversation rejected of the Lord who doubts but that to nourish Them in this Way is no Alms but the foolish Presumption of a Faction and Party against Christ For all these Sects and all Newnesses which are not founded on Christ the Lord they tempt Christ with the Devil Mat. 4. seeing they despise the free Ordination of his Sect and do rather choose another servile Sect less good as if they would not ascend into the Heavenly Sion by the steps which God hath Ordained but would flie to the Pinacle of the Temple by the carrying of the Devil What Alms therefore is it to cherish such a Childe of the Devil in Cains Castles against Christ He also affirms that one Ideot through the Help of the Grace of God doth more Good in the Church then many Graduates in the Schools and Colledges and that Gods Inspiration of such doth more profit the Community of the saithful then all the Universities and all their Studies and Priviledges Thus hath Wickliff witnessed in this Matter who was also Himself Master of Baliol Colledge in Oxford And Philip Melancthon gives this Testimony of Him Equidem sapientem virum judico fuisse Wicklefum Anglum qui omnium primus quod ego sciam vidit Universitates fuisse Satanae Synagogas that is I do indeed judge Wickliff of England to have been a Wise man who for ought I know first of all saw Universities to have been the Synagogues of Satan John Hus also that excellent Instrument of Jesus Christ and blessed Martyr saith speaking on that Scripture Isa. 28. Wo to the Crown of the Pride of Ephraim and the Crown of Pride shall be troden under foot saith The Doctorships and Masterships of many who having the Word of God wholly choaked in them do now too shamelesly make broad their Phylacteries and inlarge the borders of their Garments and love the chief Chairs in the Schools and to be saluted in the Markets and to be called of men Doctor And by this They go in the Apparel and Harness of the Mystical body of Antichrist because it is written that He is the King of all the Children of Pride And the Crown of Pride of these Children of Pride shall be troden down And thus as it is manifest what Religion founded the Universities so it is as manifest what Religion will in the appointed time destroy these Foundations if they be not truly and thorowly Reformed For surely as they are if the work of Christ go forward in the World as it necessarily must do notwithstanding the present Defection in the appointed time They can no more be held up then the House built on the sand in the time of Tempest For the true Spiritual Church is built on the Foundation of the Prophets and Apostles Jesus Christ Himself being the chief Corner Stone and so it is firmly founded upon a Rock and can never fall But the Universities are built on the Philosophers and Heathens Plato and Aristotle being the chief Corner Stones and so They are built upon the Sand. And neither can their own Hands uphold them nor the Secular Arm establish them in that Day wherein the Lord alone shall be exalted But it is not Men of Moral and Civil Religion and Righteousness who will do this Work and execute this Vengeance for the Inchantments of the Universities are too strong and mighty for all Humane Spirits But the Called Chosen and Faithful Ones of Christ when He shall summon them and call them to his foot They shall not stand on Complements Formalities and Niceties nor regard Friendship or Enmity but through the Power of Faith shall break through all that can be said and objected by the Wisdom Policy Prudence and Religion of Man and shall execute the Righteous Judgements of the Lord on these Mothers of Harlots and Fornications of the Nations And whereas he saith their Destruction will never be but of Themselves I do verily believe that For seeing their Root is rottenness their Fruit must needs be Destruction Yea the Lord will raise up his Word in the midst of them to destroy them For the more the Word of the Lord shall blow upon the University the more shall this Grass wither and the Flower thereof that is Humane Learning fade away till it be at last quite dried up And this is the University whose