they were Sinners above all that have succeeded them I tell you Nay but except ye Repent ye shall all likewise perish God is able to restore them again The Vineyard shall be taken from you and given to other Husband-men who shall render him their Fruits in their Seasons I Thought I had done here For though I know many have written very bitterly against Monks and Monkery I thought them not worth the looking into because I believed the Truth which I have asserted will stand as an impregnable Rock against all their Blasts Yet at last it coming into my mind that an excellent Person of great Learning Judgment Piety and Candor of this Church of England had written something to like purpose I thought fit to look into him and finding to my Sorrow for him but great Satisfaction in this Case how unworthy of himself and of how little weight it is which he hath said against them I intended to have spared his Name and to have passed it over with a short Note that it needed not nor deserved an Answer But considering that that is only the way of the World that we ought to sacrifice all Esteem of Men whether our selves or others to the Truth and to the Service of God and of Men too for their Admonition and that the Holy Scriptures spare not to record the Failings of Holy Men I resolved to do the like To be plain therefore that Excellent Person Mr. Joseph Meed having concluded the Apostacy of the latter times fore-told 1 Tim. 4.1 to be the Worship of Saints introduced into the Christian Church through the Hypocrisie of Lyars forbidding to Marry and commanding to abstain from Meats to make good his Interpretation of that first part of the Prediction and make it compleat concludes the latter part to be understood of Monks that they were the chief Advancers of Saints Worship And to prove this he produceth the Testimony of Chemnitius a known Adversary to them who lived about 1200 Years after the time he speaks of and Eunapius a known Enemy not only to them but to all Christians whom he calls wretched Catiffe and damned Dog And why so Why because he blasphemes the Saints and Servants of Christ who loved not their Lives unto Death the Dust of whose Feet he was not worthy to lick up Competent Witnesses indeed and a special Testimony this but he adds Yet may we make a shift to gather hence c. But without Shifts we may see plainly to what Shifts his unadvised and preposterous Zeal had reduced him thus to expose the Weakness of the Cause he had undertaken when all his Learning Diligence and Inquiry and all Antiquity could afford him no better Evidence and to expose himself to the same Censure he had deservedly given to his own Witness Had they been Monks and only Monks who had been guilty of this had it been fair to cast an Aspersion upon all and Was it fair within a dozen Lines after to print Bishops and Monks in different Characters while both were under the same Circumstances At this rate What Calumnies might not be raised against the People of God in all Ages the Israelites the Christians the very Apostles themselves and such as pretend most of all to Reformation The Devil hath always sowed his Tares and most industriously amongst the best But upon this Evidence there is no question but the Accused will be acquitted by all impartial Judges As to what St. Austin saith of some Hypocrites rambling about in the Habit of Monks it is very disingeniously not to say dishonestly alledged concerning Monks in general But St Austin's Mind concerning the Monks of his time is so plain in what follows that I need say no more of it in this place And for further answer to this Abuse of his Testimony they who please may peruse it in his own Words upon Ps 99. 132. and Ep. 137. And the same may be said concerning Gregory of Towers v. Cassian Coll. 18. c. 16. He had unhappily concluded before that those Words of St. Paul are a Description of Monkery and when that Conceit was once fixed in his Mind it presently set all his Parts and all his Learning to work to prove it to others and gave easie admittance to all that might seem to favour it Hence it was that he imagins Abstaining from Meats may comprehend Renouncing of Possessions Nor could he otherwise have thought that the Monks did any more * It was Conc. Chalced. did that c. 15. to them not to all forbid Marriage than St. Paul himself did nay than our Saviour himself did Nor have set himself Disc 28. to derogate from that Obedience of the Recabites to the Institutions of their Progenitor which God himself had so highly approved and testified his Approbation of by so gracious a Promise Nor have imagined that the Law of Nazarism was ever imposed upon any much less that it is one of the things expressly named which the Apostles decreed at the Council of Jerusalem should not be imposed upon the Gentiles who believed in Christ or that Act. 21.25 did prove any Prohibition of that whereby the Apostles decreed the Gentiles should observe no such thing There is a great difference between a Prohibition of Impositions and a Prohibition of a free and voluntary Act. But how doth Prejudice blind Mens Minds That a Man of his Parts of his Learning of his Judgment Candor and Generosity in asserting the Truth in other matters should be so affected with a meer Imagination of his own as to maintain that to do such an Indignity to so glorious a part of the Christian Church which St. Gregory Nazianzen calls the most Choice and Wisest part of the Church and St. Hierom the Flower of the Church which produced so many Glorious Saints of so great Virtue and adorned with such various and illustrious Graces produced so many Bishops innumerable and amongst them the most illustrious Lights of the Church both for Virtue and Learning was so much respected not only by the People but by the best of the Christian Emperours and approved and favoured by the most Eminent Bishops of the Church and hath so many Testimonies of their Excellence by Persons of the greatest Credit and Reputation and deserved so well in many respects that such a Man for the sake of a Phansie of his own should set up a Chemnitius a prejudiced Adversary to them and Eunapius a Pagan Adversary to the Christians against such a Cloud of Witnesses and so wrest strain the Holy Scriptures and thereby so expose himself to just Censure is one of the most remarkable Instances of the Mischief of Prejudice that I can think of an Edifying instance to make all Men good Men learned Men and wise Men jealous of themselves and cautious that they do not impose upon themselves not to do God Service for he needs no such Shifts nor is at any time pleased with them OF THE ESSEANS OUT OF JOSEPHUS
10. c. 6. This is the Design of a Solitary this ought to be all his Intention that he may come to possess in this Body an Image of future Beatitude and begin in this Vessel to fore-tast the Earnest of Heavenly Conversation and Glory This I say is the End of all Perfection that the Mind so extenuated or refined from all Carnal Dust may be daily elevated to Spiritual things till all its Conversation all its volutation of Heart may become one continual Prayer And as I said a little before All our Love all our Desire all our Study all our Endeavour all our Cogitation all that we see all that we speak all that we hope may be God and that Unity which now is of the Father with the Son and of the Son with the Father may be transfused into our Sense and Minds that is that as he loves us with a pure and indissoluble Charity we also may be joyned to Him in a perpetual and inseparable Charity cap. 7. For the Attaining and Practice of this he recommends from Experience of the Seniors the continual or frequent mental repetion of that verse Psal 70. Deus in adjutorium meum intende Domine ad adjuvandum me festina in our Liturgy O God make speed to save us O Lord make hast to help us and largely shews the use of it at all times and upon all special occasions Abbot Theodore concerning the right Knowledge of the Scriptures Cassian lib. 5. HE was indowed with very great Sanctity and compleat Science not only in the Active Life but also in the Knowledge of the Scriptures which he acquired not so much by Study of Reading or Humane Learning as by Purity of Heart for he could hardly either understand or pronounce so much as a few Greek Words When he sought the Explanation of a certain obscure Question he persisted indefatigably in Prayer seven Days and Nights until he knew the Solution of the Question proposed by the Revelation of the Lord. cap. 33. When certain of the Brethren admiring his eminent Light of Knowledge inquired of him the Sense of certain Scriptures he said A Monk desiring to attain to the Knowledge of the Scriptures ought by no means to imploy his Pains upon Books of Commentators but rather restrain and keep all the Industry of his Mind and beat of his Heart to the purifying of his Carnal Affections which being expell'd presently the Eyes of his Mind the Veil of his Passions being once removed will begin as it were naturally to contemplate the Mysteries of the Scriptures For they are not published to us by the Grace of the Holy Spirit that they should be unintelligible and obscure but they become obscure by our Fault the veil of Sins over-clouding the Eyes of our Mind which being again restored to their Natural Sanity the Reading of the Holy Scriptures will even alone abundantly suffice to the Contemplation of true Knowledge nor will they need the Instructions of Commentaries as these Eyes of Flesh need the Doctrin of none to see if they be free from Suffusion and Dimness of Sight For therefore is there so great Variety and Errors arisen amongst Interpreters themselves because the most running to Interpret them without using any Diligence toward the Purgation of the Mind by reason of the Grossness or Uncleanness of their Heart thinking things divers or contrary either to Faith or to themselves they could not comprehend the Light of Truth cap. 34. For this see in Smith 's Select Discourses The true Way and Method of attaining to Divine Knowledge Abbot Serapion of Discretion Cass Coll. 2. cap. 11. WHEN I was a Child and lived with Abbot Theon this brutish Custom was imposed upon me by the Enemy that after I had eaten with him at the ninth hour I did every day secretly convey one Bisket into my Bosom which I did after without his knowledge eat in secret Which Theft though I did constantly through my accustomed Incontinence commit yet when I had gratified my Appetite coming to my self I was more tormented with the Guilt of my Theft than satisfied with what I had eaten And when I was every day compelled to the grief of my Heart to perform that most troublesome work imposed as it were by Pharaoh's Task-Masters instead of Bricks upon me nor could extricate my self from this their most cruel Tyranny and was ashamed and confounded to discover the secret Theft to my Senior it came to pass by the Hand of God who was pleased to rescue me out of the Yoak of this Captivity that certain Brothers desired to come to the Cell of the Senior for Edification sake And when they were refreshed and a Spiritual Conference was begun the Senior answering to their Questions discoursed of the Vice of Gastrimargy or Gluttony and of the Domination and Slavery of Thoughts kept secret and did explain their Nature and most dismal Power so long as they were concealed I by the power of this Conference being prick'd and terrified with an accusing Conscience as believing that these things were spoken for that Cause that the Lord had revealed the Secrets of my Heart to the Senior I began first secretly to sigh then the Compunction of my Heart increasing breaking out into Sighs and Tears I pull'd the Bisket which by that evil Custom I had secretly stolen to eat out of my Bosom where it was conceal'd and proferring it to them I did prostrate upon the ground with Supplication for Pardon confess how I did every day eat in secret and with abundance of Tears did implore them to beg my Absolution from this hard Bondage of the Lord. Then said the Senior Be of good Comfort Child Thy Confession hath obtained thy Absolution though I hold my Tongue For thou hast this day gotten the Victory of thine Enemy more powerfully beating him down by thy Confession than thou thy self wert cast down by him through thy Concealment Whom not at all checking either by thy own or any others Reprehension thou didst suffer to domineer over thee till now But now after this thy Confession that wicked Spirit shall not be able to disquiet thee nor shall the filthy Serpent any longer hold a hiding place in thee being drawn-out into the Light out of the Darkness of thy Heart by a salutary Confession The Senior had not finished these Words and behold a Burning Lamp proceeding from my side so filled the Cell with the smell of Brimstone that the Stink of it would not suffer us to remain in it And the Senior resuming his Admonition Behold saith he our Lord hath visibly proved to thee the Truth of my Words that thou shouldest see with thy Eyes the Instigator of thy Affection driven out of thy Heart by a salubrious Confession and shouldst know that the detected Enemy should no longer at all have place in thee by his manifest Expulsion And so it is according to the Sentence of the Senior the Domination of that diabolical Tyranny in me is
up in Judgment against such as will be found to have given occasion to Tepidity Carelessness and Neglect of the most Spiritual Exercises of Religion NOTES and OBSERVATIONS to discern Illusions from Divine Inspirations THERE is another part of the Quarrel which our Author hath to this Mystical Divinity besides that that it is unintelligible as he says viz. That it leads Persons into strange Illusions of Fancy which he takes to be a great Injury not only to those Melancholy Souls that are led through this Valley of Shades and Darkness but to the Christian Religion it self Which if true is a just Cause of Quarrel indeed But if well consider'd no greater Cause than others have against the Holy Scriptures because some wrest them to their own Destruction 2 Pet. 3.16 It is true many Persons have been impos'd upon by their own Fancies and many more by Satan transformed into an Angel of Light but must we therefore deny that there are any true Divine Illuminations Inspirations Motions or Communications It is therefore very necessary to be well considered How they may be distinguished And because O. N. in the Book which our Author answers hath a Discourse on that Subject which hath passed his Examination without any hard censure which is an implicit Approbation that may not improperly here be added FOR the discerning of such Illusions proceeding from Satan from the true Inspirations of God's Holy Spirit we affirm That many Notes and Observations there be whereby they may be known if not certainly whether Divine as to their Original where no Spirit of Prophecy or Miracles yet whether containing Truth and advancing Vertue as to the Matter and whether any way noxious and hurtful either to the Person that receives them or others And this is abundantly sufficient Now for these Notes of discerning them I need referr the Reader to no other Book then to the Doctor 's Martyr Sancta Sophia though he was pleased to take no notice of them there in the Preface from § 29. to § 35. Again in the third Treatise p. 268. from § 9. to § 22. where after directing a strict Observation to be made concerning the Person whether 1. viciously inclin'd 2. arrogant and proud or 3. curious 4. or much addicted to melancholy there are particularly cast off and marked out for Satanical Illusions among others these All such pretended Inspirations or Revelations as do invite the Person to say or do any thing contrary to the Catholick Faith Obedience Humility Peace and Unity Honesty Purity and any other Divine Vertue but especially contrary to the Catholick Faith or Obedience for instance as the attempting to make any new and seditious Reformations as likewise when the Persons obstinately believe these Revelations to be of God after they have been condemned by experienced Superiors and Directors All such I say are condemned for Satanical Illusions which cuts all the nerves of all such pretended Revelations as can any way disturb the Church's Faith or Peace and most of all of those Enthusiasms and Fanatick Frenzies which have been so common among Protestants § 14. Lastly in all these Pretensions where there is any greater difficulty of discerning the Good and Divine from the Bad and Satanical Spirit we have a judge to repair to the Governours of the Church The Spirits of the Prophets saith St. Paul are subject to the Prophets § 15. But there are other Influences and Inspirations of the same Spirit directing us also in Actions in their own nature Indifferent or of Counsel and on either side lawful and free from Sin some of which Inspirations cannot be tried or distinguished from Enthusiasm by any such way as the former which because they are much spoken of by the Mysticks and are very necessary for advancing Christians in the way of Perfection it seems requisite for the freeing these also from Mistakes to give the Reader here some account of them § 18. 1. We must know then as Sancta Sophia Tr. 1. p. 57. and others have discoursed more at large that there are two Spirits within us that is all the Regenerate the Holy Spirit and that of Corrupt Nature assisted with the Suggestions of the Devil who took a kind of Possession of us upon Adam's Fall Eph. 2.2 That this last Spirit is never totally expell'd or silenc'd in us during this Life but tempts us still Gal. 5.17 And that its Suggestions may appear many times like the Motions of God's Spirit pretending Good Ends the performing some Duty to our selves or our Neighbour our advancement in Vertue and the like That the Effect of the first of these Spirits Sanctifying Grace received in our Regeneration or justification is in its infusion ordinarily but as a small Sâ—ed 1 John 3.9 1 Pet. 1.23 Mat. 13.31 33. or spark capable of a daily growth and increase and which with the co-operation of our Free will and further Aids that are from time to time received from God works in us at length a total Reformation and Christian Perfection which so many among the Regenerate as do attain are said in a more special mannner to be Spiritual Persons and to have the Spirit of God And iâ— this sense the Apostle writes to the Corinthians 〈◊〉 Brethren could not speak unto you as to Spiritual but as 〈◊〉 Carnal and as to Babes in Christ 1 Cor. 3.1 anâ— so ver 3. For ye are yet Carnal and Walk according to Man that is ye are Babes only in Christ and iâ— in some degree Carnal and walking according to the natural Man still and not as yet entirely Spiritual And frequent mention we find in the Scriptures 〈◊〉 these several Degrees and Growths in a Regeneral Condition It being God's Pleasure that the Neâ— Man as the Old should grow by degrees and not bâ— made compleat in us all at once Mention I say of some Babes and little ones and to be fed as yet only with Milk Of strong Meat and Wisdom and higher Mysteries only to be delivered to and spoken amongst the Perfect See Heb. 5.12 13. 1 Pet. 2. 〈◊〉 1 Cor. 3.1 1.2 6. Of growing in Grace and receiving Increase from God 2 Pet. 3.18 Col. 2.19 Of the new Man being renewed day by day 2 Cor. 〈◊〉 .16 Of arriving to a perfect Man unto the measure 〈◊〉 the Stature or Age of the Fulness of Christ Eph. 4.13 Of the Apostles labouring to present every 〈◊〉 perfect in Christ Jesus and that they might stand perfect and full in all the Will of God Col. 1.28 4.12 and of this Perfection still containing in it higher and higher degrees Not as if I had already attained saith the Apostle Phil. 3.12 Though therefore by this Principle of a New Life and the infusion of the habitual Grace of Charity we are already translated from the former being of corrupt Nature to a Divine being of Supernatural Grace freed at the first from the former state of Mortal Sin and from the Slavery and Captivity we suffered under its
Arch-Bishop says Receive the Holy Ghost for the Office and Work of a Bishop c. and at each is sung the Hymn Come Holy Ghost c. And in the Exhortation in the Commination this is mentioned as one of the Conditions of our Pardon viz. If we will be ordered by the Governance of his Holy Spirit And in the Articles of Religion Art 17. are mentioned together Godly Persons and such as feel in themselves the Working of the Spirit of Christ mortifying c. To this Authority of the Church I will subjoyn the Judgment of one of her Sons who though at first it seems he was carried away with the common Prejudice of the Age yet afterward upon better consideration extricated himself and recover'd a better Judgment and has in few words said what is much to the purpose That God himself affords his Intimacies and Converses to the better Souls which are prepar'd for it I confess the proud and phantastick Pretences of many of the conceited Melancholists in this Age to Divine Communion have prejudiced divers intelligent Persons against the Belief of any such happy Vouchsafement so that they conclude the Doctrine of Immediate Communion with the Deity in this Life to be but an high-flown Notion of warm Imagination and over-luscious Self-Flattery and I acknowledge I have my self had Thoughts of this nature supposing Communion with God to be nothing else but the Exercise of Vertue and that Peace and those Comforts which naturally result from it But I have considered since That God's more near and immediate imparting himself to the Soul that is prepar'd for that Happiness by Divine Love Humility and Resignation in the way of a Vital Touch and Sense is a thing possible in it self and will be a great part of our Heaven That Glory is begun in Grace and God is pleased to give some excellent Souls the happy Antepast That holy Men in ancient times have sought and gloried in this Enjoyment and never complain so sorely as when it was with-held and interrupted That the Expressions of Scripture run infinitely this way and the best of modern good Men do from their own Experience attest it That this spiritualizeth Religion and renders its Enjoyments more comfortable and delicious That it keeps the Soul under a vivid sense of God and is a grand Security against Temptation That it holds it steddy amidst the Flatteries of a prosperous State and gives it the most grounded Anchorage and Support amidst the Waves of an adverse Condition That 't is the noblest Encouragement to Vertue and the highest Assurance of an happy Immortality I say I considered these weighty Things and wonder'd at the Carelessness and Prejudice of Thoughts that occasion'd my suspecting the Reality of so glorious a Priviledge I saw how little Reason there is in denying Matters of inward Sense because our selves do not feel them or cannot form an Apprehension of them in our Minds I am convinc'd that things of gust and relish must be judged by the sentient and vital Faculties and not by the noetical Exercises of speculative Vnderstandings And upon the whole I believe infinitely that the Divine Spirit affords its sensible Presence and immediate Beatifick Touch to some Rare Souls who are divested of carnal Self and mundane Pleasures abstracted from the Body by Prayer and Holy Meditation spiritual in their Desires and calm in their Affections devout Lovers of God and Vertue and tenderly affectionate to all the World sincere in their Aims and circumspect in their Actions inlarged in their Souls and clear in their Minds These I think are the Dispositions that are requisite to fit us for Divine Communion And God transacts not in this near way but with prepared Spirits who are thus disposed for the Manifestation of his Presence and his Influence and such I believe he never fails to bless with these happy fore tasts of Glory But for those that are Passionate and Conceited Turbulent and Notional Confident and Immodest Imperious and Malicious that doat upon Trifles and run fiercely into the ways of a Sect that are lifted up in the Apprehension of the glorious Prerogatives of themselves and their Party and scorn all the World besides for such I say be their Pretensions what they will to Divine Communion Illapses and Discoveries I believe them not their Fancies abuse them or they would us For what Communion hath Light with Darkness or the Spirit of the Holy One with those whose Genius and Ways are so unlike Him But the other Excellent Souls I described will as certainly be visited by the Divine Presence and Converse as the Chrystalline Streams are with the Beams of Light or the fitly prepared Earth whose Seed is in it self will be actuated by the Spirit of Nature There is a late Writer of no mean Learning and Parts and Authority too among those of his own Party who reckons the Despising of the Holy Spirit and his Operations now to be a Sin of the same Nature with the Apostacy of the Jews by Idolatry of old and afterwards by rejecting of our Saviour at his coming and yet in detestation of Enthusiasm utterly abandons all Impulses and Motions to Things and Actions which are not acknowledged Duties in themselves evidenced by the Word of Truth c. under the Name of Irrational Impressions and violent Inclinations and what some Men intend by Impulses he says he knows not Indeed they who reject all such things reject they know not what And did they thereby only hurt themselves it might be thought a just Punishment but such confident Assertions in Print may not only be hurtful to Men but also injurious to the Wisdom and Goodness of God which is not to be limited by Mens Conceits The Jews heretofore had the Favour to inquire of God and receive Answers and Direction in their special Exigences and if the Christians are not allowed that Favour now it may be thought that the State of Christians is inferior to that of the Jews then in a Matter of great Importance or that the Christians now are as the latter Jews were fallen from the Integrity of the true Christian State Nor can I conceive any reason why Christians should not have some such Means for this purpose as the ancient Jews had but that every Christian ought to have a Divine Oracle in his own Breast by the Residence of the Spirit of God there if we were indeed such as our Profession doth require and oblige us to be that is truly Spiritual and Heavenly-minded It doth therefore concern us to inquire whether the Fault be not in our selves if God doth not answer us as it was with Saul when God was departed from him rather than to dishonour our Profession by arguing against the Truth to cover our Shame and since the Lord's Ear is not heavy that it cannot hear whether our Sins have not interposed between our God and us that he will not hear Certainly we often need a Wisdom more than
Sentiments and this the most solemn and peculiar Worship of the Christian Church all over the World from the rising of the Sun to the going down of the same performed every day in most of the great Churches and every Lord's-Day in all from the times of the Apostles till the last Age. It is an Ordinance of so great Honour to our Saviour and Benefit to Souls duly dispos'd that there can hardly be a greater Evidence of the Prevalence of the Spirit of Antichrist and of Satan transformed than Disrespect and Neglect of it under pretence of a more spiritual Worship For nothing can be more grievous to that envious and malicious Spirit than to see that Passion which he had most maliciously procured to be so honoured all over the World and applyed to his Confusion and therefore hath he oppos'd it with all the Subtilty and Malice he could possible Besides for People to slight it under pretence of Christ being come to them in the Spirit is a manifest and dangerous piece of Spiritual Pride so to set up themselves above the Primitive Christians and St. Paul himself who had so great a Manifestation of the Spirit with them and therefore another pregnant Evidence of the Spirit of Delusion And if we do well consider what decays of Charity and Unanimity among Men and of Piety and Devotion to God hath in all parts attended the Neglect of this Holy Ordinance that may be another Evidence of what Spirit they are of who do neglect it whatever their Pretences be But for all Separatists and Sectaries in general it is matter of great Caution that the Scriptures are so full of Admonitions and Prohibitions against Schisms and Divisions and of Predictions both by our Saviour himself and by his Apostles both of the Variety of them and of the Danger in that some of them have that specious Appearance as to deceive if it were possible the very Elect. And if we look into the History of the Church in former times we shall find little or nothing of the true Spirit among any of any Party of Separatists but much of the Spirit of Error or Delusion And therefore when we find a Manifestation of the Presence or Energy of some Spirit and a Concurrence of divers of these Indications or Signs we may be assured and confident that it is an Antichristian Spirit be its appearance never so specious in other respects And in these two things especially have such as have been partakers of the true Spirit found themselves to be sometimes strangely assaulted and tempted by the subtile Adversary viz. to Spiritual Pride and undervaluation of other Persons and to neglect of the Ordinances of Christ as needless to them The Way whereby the ancient Religious Christians were generally preserved from these and such like Snares was that they were trained up as the Sons of the Prophets of old under ancient experienced Christians in all kind of Exercises of Humility Subjection both of Mind and Will and constant discovery of the Dispositions and Motions of their Hearts to their Superiors and of all Grace and Vertue But where both Doctrine and Practice hath been neglected it is not strange that amongst many Appearances and Pretences there should be found little of Solidity especially where those noble Heroick Virtues of Abstraction and Contempt of the World Heavenly-mindedness and continual Attendance to God c. are rejected as Monkery and Superstition but all their goodly Appearances and Pretences end at last in Emptiness and Scandal And therefore it concerns all who have any Care of their Souls to beware of all such as are out of the Way and Method of the Ancients But on the other side to take such Offence at the Miscarriages of such as have been led into Error by any seducing Spirit as therefore to oppose the Conduct of the Spirit of Truth or any of its Operations and elude the Holy Scriptures and undermine the Doctrine thereof is as certainly the Effect of the Operation of the Spirit of Antichrist and in truth as much Fanaticism as the other in the contrary Extream For the Good Spirit is as absolutely necessary to be had as all others to be avoided for without it we canot be genuine living Christians but meer empty formal Professors of which sort it is much to be feared are the greatest part both of Conformists and Non-Conformists amongst us if Judgment be made according to our Saviour's Rule of their Fruits and Fruitfulness But lest any well-minded Soul should be troubled with any doubts in this respect we must distinguish between Having the Spirit and the Manifestation of the Spirit and between the Operations of the Spirit the Gifts of the Spirit and the Graces of the Spirit and know that as there may be the Operations of the Spirit where there are not the Gifts of the Spirit and the Gifts of the Spirit where there are not the Graces of the Spirit so on the other side there may be the Residence of the Spirit where there is no sensible distinguishable Manifestation of the Spirit For the Operations and Communications of the Spirit are often so subtile and secret in the manner both in Illumination and Power and Inclination of the Will as are not manifest by Sense but by Faith only and we know not how they are wrought in us But as the most desirable Graces of the Spirit are Regeneration and Effectual Sanctification so the Fruits and Effects thereof are the most infallible Notes of the Presence of the Good Spirit which always leads to Mortification of all Carnal and Earthly Affections and to the Perfection of all Coelestial Angelick and Divine Dispositions in the Soul But to Souls duly prepared purged and disposed for it that Blessed Guide doth often manifest his Presence by Sensible Attractions and Restraints upon the Heart and plain Suggestions to the Mind and to such as once find that I can give no better Advice then what we have Ecclesiasticus 4. and 6. which I believe was part of the Mystick Theology of the Ancients FINIS AN APOLOGY For and an INVITATION To the PEOPLE call'd QUAKERS TO Rectifie some ERRORS which through the Scandals given they have fallen into WHEREIN The true Original Causes both Humane and Divine of all the Divisions in the Church and Mischiefs in the State and among the People are plainly and briefly opened and detected LONDON Printed for the Author 1697. ADVERTISEMENT THAT whole Bodies or Societies of Men are subject to the same Infirmities which the Individuals of which they consist are and often Sick of the same Diseases and the very worst of all those of the Mind Blindness Conceitedness Perversness Obstinacy Incorrigibleness and Impatience of Reproof or even Friendly Admonition the Experience of all Ages doth abundantly manifest but in none is it more manifest than in the People of the Jews whom God raised up to be an Example Admonition and Warning to the rest of Mankind Their whole History and all
their Office and Place are authorized and obliged to be Guide of Souls And those who have presumed to reject these Ordinary Means which God hath appointed and established in his Church have frequently fallen into Mischief There are many of the Mind of Simon Magus Act. 8.18 they are desirous to purchase it but not at the Price our Saviour set it Mat. 13.44 46. And there are many false counterfeit Spirits very officious to offer themselves where they find hopes of Reception and they always suggest and instigate to the following of their Leading which is insensibly and as they find their Followers disposed from the Holy Scriptures and from Christ and when they cannot prevail with them in that manner they endeavour to fill them with Spiritual Pride and Conceitedness make them admired by others as extraordinary and very Holy Persons that they may make them think better of themselves than they ought and so get advantage of them that way And there are generally two great Faults committed by most Pretenders to the Guidance of the Spirit 1. They do not well consider themselves and teach others the necessary Qualifications pre-acquired for the obtaining of so great a Divine Favour 2. They neither consider nor teach others the necessary Cautions and Directions for Tryal of Spirits In general the Conscientious Observation of the Holy Scriptures is a principal thing for both For as the Law was our School-Master to bring us to Christ so the Conscientious Observation of the externally revealed Will of God which is Obedience is our School-Master to prepare us for and bring us to the true Spirit of God But for more particular Cautions and Directions that is a Subject too large for this Occasion and hath been largely treated of by others The Questions concerning Baptism with Water and the Eucharist or Holy Communion are e'en such as that of Naaman 2 Kin. 5.11 22. But they who make them are not like the Servants of that Heathen who gave him this prudent Admonition If the Prophet had bid thee do some great thing wouldst thou not have done it How much rather when he saith unto thee Wash and be clean May they at least take Example from that Heathen who received the Admonition even from his Servants even with the like blessed Success And this with what I have said before is as much as I apprehend necessary to be said to the Questions for such serious considerate Persons as are willing to be satisfied and informed of the Truth and I shall be ready to give them all further Satisfaction when I understand where any real Scruple doth remain THE REVIEW WHAT I have written I have written with all Plainness and Simplicity with all Candor and Impartiality and Good Will to all without any other Design than for the Service of God and the Good of all and without any Affectation of any Ornament as becomes the Majesty of the Truths of God Yet can I not expect but I must incurr the Censures of most in one thing or other when I consider the general Corruption of Mens Minds and Judgments as well as of their Manners at this time not only of the Scandalous and Prophane or Hypocritical Professors but even of such as are sincere in many things and deservedly esteemed in the World both for Parts and Honesty and yet in others not so compleat as might be wished partly through the Byass of their own Dispositions and partly through the Common Cheat of Honourable Names such as Prudence Moderation Discretion Charity c. and their Contraries calling Good Evil and Evil Good and partly through certain False Notions undermining the Integrity of the Evangelical Doctrine of Christ as the Pharisees did the Law of Moses and rendring it of none Effect in many things which have been introduced and recommended to the World by a late Sect appearing in a very plausible Form but in truth generated by an unnatural Copulation of Church of England with some Socinian Principles setting up their own Corrupt Humane Reason in the place of the Divine Wisdom and wresting the divinely inspired Scriptures to a Compliance with it perswading themselves and others that the Noble Heroick Virtues so much studied and practised by the ancient Christians such as Humility Contempt of the World Heavenly-mindedness c. were for times of Persecution but we are under another Dispensation as I my self have been told by a Principal Author and Promoter of it and encouraging such Temporizing Compliances under the specious Pretences of Moderation and Prudence as are not only Inlets to Sin and Hindrances of Graces but inconsistent with the Practices and Sentiments of the best Christians of all Ages with the Doctrines and Instructions of the Apostles the Example and Precepts of our Saviour himself to say nothing of Evangelical Counsels in this Age our Baptismal Engagements and the Genuine Spirit of Christianity and the Interest of the Kingdom of Christ in this World What Glosses they make upon our Saviour's Sermon upon the Mount I must leave to others better acquainted with them to consider But What can be expected from persons so levened but as severe Censures of this Writing as they take this to be of others but that reasonable Expressions of just Indignation at Abuses and Corruptions in Matters of Religion or at abuse of Scriptures to patronize Vanity and by persons professing Religion should be censured for Passion but that such warm Expressions and Charges as were necessary to awaken such out of a Deadly Slumber as Experience had proved could not be moved by gentler touches should be censured as Vncharitableness and necessary plain Dealing with Mortals for the Service of God the Good of a Countrey and the Salvation of Souls be censured as Indiscretion Disrespect to Superiors and Sauciness But to leave such as are ready to wish and to talk but will do nothing but what may serve to recommend themselves to those whose Commendations are most desirable are willing to use others as the Cats foot but will not touch the Work with one of their Fingers nor intermit the complement of a Dinner to consult of what themselves profess to be matter of great Importance whose Prudence prefers to countenance Religion with Perukes and Laces and Topknots and Servants in Livery rather than to bear the Reproach of Christ in bearing Testimony against the Vanities of the Age by the tacit Reproof of them in a decent but plain and a little unfashionable Attire who preferr Charity at home in providing for the temporal concerns of themselves and their Families with some little creditable Acts of Charity as we call it before trusting to Providence in more liberal Contributions to unfashionable Good Works to leave such I say and to come close to the business to the State of the Church of which I am yet a Member and am not satisfied to separate while I live in the Nation notwithstanding all I dislike in it for this is the Root of all and
of them in the Gospel nor have we of the ESSEANS who yet are known to have been a Religious Sect among the Jews of great Antiquity though not once mentioned in all the Scriptures a People who lived a Religious Abstracted Life But of them I shall say no more in this place because I intend the full Relations both of Josephus and of Philo concerning them hereafter Nor shall I here say any thing of the THERAPEUTS another Religious Society of the Jews as Philo saith not only for that reason because I intend Philo's Relation of them hereafter but because I conceive this no proper place for it For I am well satisfied that they were some of those who were first converted to Christianity probably of the Jews and possibly of the Esseans notwithstanding all the Cavils which some disingenious and prejudiced Persons have in these last Ages strained their Wits to raise against it though they might retain some Sentiments and Practices peculiar to themselves for some time as did they at Jerusalem as may be understood from Act. 15.1 5. Gal. 2.4 12. c. For it is certain they were never heard of before that time nor any such since but Christians who from that time inhabited the same places and from thence after the Persecution ceased were the Ascetick Communities propagated to Palestin and those parts first and afterward into Europe The Precursor to our Saviour St. JOHN BAPTIST according to the Prediction of the Angel Luk. 1.15 was filled with the Holy Ghost even from his Mother's Womb and drank neither Wine nor strong Drink had his Rayment of Camels Hair and a Leathern Girdle about his Loins and his Meat was Locusts and wild Honey Mat. 3.4 and was in the Desert till the day of his Shewing unto Israel Luk. 1.80 but in the Fifteenth Year of the Reign of Tiberius Coesar Annas and Cajaphas being the High Priests the Word of God came unto him in the Wilderness Luk. 3.1 2. and being sent of God Joh. 1.6 he preached and baptized in the Wilderness Mat. 3.1 Mar. 1.3 and the People from Jerusalem and all Judea went out to him and were baptized of him Mat. 3.5 6. This was a Life not only of Retirement and Abstraction from the World such as was also that of the Coenobites who lived in Religious Communities but plainly an Eremetick or Hermetick Life And this being by one fill'd with the Holy Ghost from his Mother's Womb and therefore by one raised up by Him who had raised up the Nazarites before with good cause do the ancient Christian Writers repute Him a Prince of the Monks and Hermites raised up among the Christians and so good cause that they who oppose it may seem to oppose not only the Sentiments and Opinions of Men but out of Prejudice and misguided Zeal the very Acts of God very disingeniously and inconsiderately to serve a Party And for our SAVIOVR Himself though we have no particular Account of his Life till about the Thirtieth Year of his Age yet we cannot question but he did practice Himself what he did recommend to others and that it was a Life of the Highest Perfection The only particular of his Life before that is left upon Record is That when he was Twelve Years Old he tarried behind at Jerusalem at the Feast of the Passover and Joseph and his Mother knew not of it and after Three Days was found in the Temple sitting in the midst of the Doctors both hearing them and asking them Questions and that all who heard him were astonished at his Understanding and Answers and when his Mother asked him why he had thus dealt with them and told him that they had sought him sorrowing he reply'd How is it that ye sought me Wist ye not that I must be about my Father's Business and that he went down with them and came to Nazareth and was subject to them At his Baptism we see how careful he was to fulfill all Righteousness Afterwards he declared to the Jews That he sought not his own Will but the Will of the Father who sent him and to his Disciples That it was his Food to do the Will of him who sent him and to finish his Work Joh. 5.30 4.34 That he lived a Life of Poverty from his Birth is very plain in the Evangelical History and that by his own choice certainly no ingenuous Person will deny and therefore of voluntary Poverty And that he lived also a Life of Chastity is not to be questioned Much less that it was a Life of Abstraction Recollection and continual Adherence to and Communion with the Father And all this being put together and well considered what was it other than a most perfect Ascetick Life the Great Exemplar so generously and heroickly Exemplified by those many and numerous Choires of Holy Christian Nazarites of whom the World especially this Lazy Tepid Unprofitable Sensual Generation which despiseth the Memory and reproacheth the Common Name heretofore with them and others venerable is not worthy And this Life which he lived Himself he did recommend to others as by his own Illustrious Example so also by his Doctrin though he injoyned it to none especially in that high degree For Chastity and Celebacie he doth not barely approve it but speaks of it as a special Gift of God Mat. 19.11 which all cannot receive save they to whom it is given And when he had said There be Eunuchs who have made themselves Eunuchs for the Kingdom of Heavens sake he adds He that is able to receive it let him receive it in both speaking of something more excellent than ordinary and besides in these Words There be Eunuchs who have made themselves Eunuchs c. he plainly affirms that it was a thing in Use and Practice at that time as it had been long before which he so approved and recommended to all who could receive it And concerning voluntary Poverty to the Young Man who desired to know what he should do that he might have Eternal Life and had kept the Commandments from his Youth up he replyed one thing thou lackest if thou wilt be Perfect go and sell whatsoever thou hast and give to the Poor and thou shalt have Treasure in Heaven and come take up the Cross and follow me Mat. 19.21 Mar. 10.21 Luk. 18.22 And Forsaking all he maketh an indispensible requisite to the being his Disciple Whosoever he be of you who forsaketh not all that he hath he cannot be my Disciple Luk. 14.33 As to Religious Obedience and voluntary Subjection to the Order and Determination of another well experienced in the Ways of God for an Exercise of an intire Subjection of the Creature to the Creator What else is it but a very proper and useful Mean and Expedient for the acquiring the Habit and a continual Exercise of that great Doctrin of our Saviour of Self-denyal and taking up the Cross Mat. 16.24 Mar. 8.34 warranted and approved by God in the Recabites and by
and that both these have the Nature of their different Spring and Fountain for from Falshood flow numerous and divers Idea's or kinds of Evils but from Truth a great Abundance of both Humane and Divine Goods The manner of their Feasting is thus For Seven Weeks together they assemble together which they do not only out of Respect to the Number Seven but also to the Power of it for they know it to be a chast and Virgin Number This Festival is a Preparatory to the greatest Feast viz. Pentecost so called for its belonging to the Number Fifty which is the most Holy and Natural Number because of the Power of a right-angled Triangle which is the Principle of the Production of all things When they are met together array'd in White as soon as the Ephemereuts for that is the Name they call their Beadles by give the Sign all of them before they sit down to eat standing in a very decent Order with all Gravity do with their Eyes and Hands lifted up to Heaven their Eyes because they have been taught to see things so worthy of Veneration their Hands to signifie that they are not guilty of Eating any Food before out of pretence of Necessity pray to God that their Banquetting may please Him and be according to his Mind or according to understanding The Seniors sit down according to their Admissions for they don't reckon those who have liv'd many Years and are very Ancient the Seniors there but on the contrary they look upon them as Young Children if they have but lately been enamour'd with that way of Living but they count those who began betime in the Flower of their Age to betake themselves to the Contemplative part of Philosophy which indeed is the best and Divinest part their Seniors though their Youth be not yet expir'd The Women also are at the Feast with them many of which are very Ancient and Virgins out of pure Love to Purity not out of Necessity as some of the Priestesses amongst the Greeks who live so upon that Account rather than out of free Choice No these live so because of a true Zeal for and desire of Wisdom for having a fervent desire to live by Wisdom they make no account of Bodily Pleasures neither do they desire Mortal but Immortal Off-springs which only a Soul that truly loves God is able to bring forth out of its self for 't is God who has shed into it the Intellectual Rayes of the Father by which 't will be able to contemplate the Decrees of Wisdom When they sit together the Men sit on the Right hand and the Women on the Left If any one supposes that softer Seats than ordinary though not so costly were prepared for such Noble Virtuous Exercisers of Vertue let him know that they have cheap sort of Carpets made of some Leaves and Barks of Trees that grow there on which they lean a little for they remit something of the hard way of Living that the Lacedoemonians use though in all respects they study Frugality and have a strong Antipathy against the Philtres of Pleasure They are not waited upon by Slaves for they look upon the keeping of Servants to be a Custom against Nature for she made and brought forth all Men free But the Iniquity and unreasonable Covetings of those who have affected Inequality the Ring-leader of all Mischief have brought Camps into the World and set the stronger Men on Fire to exert their Strength against the Weak Here as I said is no Servant but Free-Men give all necessary Attendance which they do heartily and with all readiness even to the Prevention of Request for the Juniors of the Company which are appointed from Meal to Meal do with all Diligence serve those who have arrived to a great pitch of Vertue just as Natural Sons do with great Pleasure and Emulation serve their Parents reckoning these their common Parents to be nearer related to them than their Parents by Blood since nothing is nearer than Integrity to those who have right Minds Those that wait come with their Garments loose about them lest there should be the least Appearance of Servility amongst them at this Feast I know some will laugh at the Hearing of this but they are such as do those things for which they ought to weep and lament At those Feasts no Wine is brought in but only very clear Water cold Water for the most and warm Water for the Tenderest of the Old Men. Their Table is pure from all Bloody Creatures Loaves are their Meat and Salt is their Sauce The most dainty of them indeed make it more palatable with Hyssop for Right Reason charges them like Priests to sacrifice Sacrifices without Wine and to live upon them for Wine is an incentive of Folly and chargable Dishes provoke Lust which is the most Insatiable of all Beasts And so much for the First part After the Guests are sat in the Orders forementioned the Waiters do stand decently in Order ready to serve There is no Drink brought but every one calls for it as he wants it and which is more than any thing already mentioned no one dares Belch or fetch his Breath indecently But some body either offers a Query upon some place of the Holy Scriptures or solves something propos'd by another without any Solicitude about the manner of the Solution for not one amongst them desires Fame by fine Speaking But every one loves to see another more exact and when they see him so not to envy him though they are not so accute themselves They have all the like Desire to learn Sometimes one of them takes more time when he teaches repeating and dwelling upon what he says that he may imprint his Notions on their Souls for many times the Mind of the Auditors being not able to keep pace with the Interpretation of one that speaks too closely or too fast falls short of comprehending what is said the rest look with their Faces upright upon him who speaks in one and the same Posture and give Notice of their Understanding and Comprehending what they hear by a Nod or a Look They discover their Commendation by the continued Cheerfulness of their Aspect but a Doubt is signify'd by a stiller Motion of the Head and their Right hand 's little Finger The Juniors also that wait give no less Attention than those that sit at Table Their Expositions of the Holy Scriptures are Allegorical Hints for the whole Constitution of their Law seems to them like an Animal in which the literal Expressions are the Body and the invisible Sense infolded in the Words the Mind wherein the Reasonable Soul begins distinctly to consider the Properties thereof as through the Perspective of the Names after it having beheld the admirable Beauties of the Notions and unveil'd the Symbols has brought to light the deeper or more recondite Sense to those who from a small hint are capable of tracing obscure Truths by the Light of those that
they wholly abstain from Wine as he has said in these express Words and eat nothing that has Blood in it Water is their only Drink and their Food is Bread with Salt and Hyssop Farther he describes the Order and Degrees of their Governours to wit those who perform the Ecclesiastical Offices then the Ministrations of the Deacons and lastly the Episcopal Presidency over all He that desires to know these things more accurately may be therein informed from the fore-mentioned History of Philo. It is therefore apparently evident to every one that Philo writing thus did mean thereby those first Preachers of the Evangelical Doctrin and Discipline at the beginning delivered by the Apostles Epiphanius Bishop of Cyprus concerning the same Har. 29. § 5. HAving said that the Christians were at first called Nazarens as Act. 24.5.2.22 and for some time Jesseans whether from the Name of Jesse or from the Name of our Lord Jesus because they were his Disciples he adds But thou may'st find this in the Writings of PHILO in the Book by him intituled Of the Jesseans who describing their Politie and Commendations and recounting their Monastries near about the Lake Maria he relates it of no other than of Christians For he when he was in that Region called Mariotis and was by them themselves conducted to the Monastries of that place got much Profit by it For being there in the Days of Easter he saw both their Lives and how some lived without Eating all the Holy Week of Easter some Two Days and some until the Evening But all these things were done by this Man for the treating of the Subject concerning the Faith and Manners of the Christians St. Hierom concerning the same in his Book de Scriptoribus Ecclesiasticis PHILO the Jew Born at Alexandria of the Race of the Priests is therefore by us placed among the Ecclesiastical Writers because writing a Book of the first Church of Mark the Evangelist at Alexandria he discourseth in Praise of our People the Christians there recounting that they were not only there but also in many other Provinces and calling their Habitations Monastries Whence it appears that such was the Church of the first Believers in Christ as now the Monks endeavour and desire to be that nothing may be any one 's own that is that none claim a Propriety in any thing that there be none amongst them Rich none Poor their Patrimonies be divided among those who need that they all attend to Prayer and Psalms also to Doctrin and to Continence such as Luke relates were the first Believers at Hierusalem It is reported that under Caius Caligula he was in some Danger at Rome whither he was sent Legate for his Nation that when he came a second time to Claudius he there in the same City spake with the Apostle Peter and held Friendship with him and for this Cause also wrote in Praise of the Followers of Mark the Disciple of Peter at Alexandria A little after recounting the Works of Philo among the rest he puts in One Book concerning the Lives of our People that is concerning Apostolick Men of which we have spoken before which he intituled 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 viz. because they did contemplate Heavenly things and prayed continually Johannes Cassianus concerning the same lib. 2. de Institut cap. 5. IN the Beginning of the Faith there were indeed but few but those most approved Persons reckoned under the Denomination of Monks who as from Mark the Evangelist of Blessed Memory who first presided Bishop in the City of Alexandria they received their Rule of Living did not only retain those Great things which we read in the Acts of the Apostles that the Church or Crowd of Believers at first made so famous viz. The Multitude of them who believed were of one Heart and of one Soul neither said any of them that ought of the things which he possessed were his own but they had all things Common Neither was there any among them that lacked for as many as were Possessors of Land or Houses sold them and brought the Prices of the thing which were sold and laid them down at the Feet of the Apostles and Distribution was made unto every Man according as he had need But they even built up more sublime thing upon them For retiring into the most secret parts of the Suburbs they lead a Life of so great Rigour of Abstinence that so severe a Profession of Life was an amazement to others For they applied themselves with so much Fervour to the Reading of the Divine Scriptures and to Prayer and to the Work of their Hands Day and Night that neither the Appetite or Memory of Meat unless after two or three Days did interrupt them by Hunger of the Body And they received Meat and Drink not as what they desired but what was necessary and not that neither before Sun-set that they might conjoyn the time of Light with the Studies of Spiritual Meditations but the Care of the Body to the Night and other things did they effect more sublime than these concerning which he who is not sufficiently informed by the People of the Countrey may satisfie himself in the Ecclesiastical History Sozomen concerning the same 1 Hist Eccl. c. 12. HAving spoken of the Glory of the Christian Religion by reason of the Virtue of its Professors and of the Confessors then living and of the Famous Bishop Spiridion he adds But most of all did they illustrate the Church with their Virtues and propagated the Christian Doctrin who exercised the Monastick Discipline For this kind of PHILOSOPHY coming from God with the greatest Benefit to Men despiseth indeed many Sciences and the Artifice of Logick as a matter of Curiosity and by which the Exercise of better things is supplanted nor is any thing of Advantage for a right kind of Life conferred by it and with a more natural Prudence void of Curiosity teacheth those things which remove wholly Vitiousness and effect better things but the Middle things between Vertue and Vice it reputes not among the Good but delights in only Good things and holds him for an ill Man who although he abstains from Evil yet doth no Good For it doth not make shew but exerciseth Vertue and makes no account of the Glory which is of Men resisting the Affections of the Mind with great Fortitude nor doth it yield to the Necessities of Nature nor stoop to the Infirmities of the Body but having obtain'd the Powers of a Divine Mind it looks perpetually at the Creator of all whom it worshippeth Day and Night and appeaseth with Prayers and Supplications But having begun a pure Religion with Purity of Mind and the Exercise of Good Deeds it makes light of Washings and such like Purifications For it judgeth Sins only to be Impurities and being Conquerour of those things which happen from without and as I may so say Mistress of all is not diverted from her purpose neither by the Confusion of
encumbred with it any longer His Moveables he also Sold and gave the Money to the Poor 3. And having reserv'd some small matter for his Sister the next time he went to Church he heard our Lord say in the Gospel Matt. 6.34 Take no thought for the Morrow And therefore without any more delay he e'en went out immediately and distributed that too among the Poor And having given her in Charge to some experienc'd and trusty Virgins to be Educated in their Cloysters he betook himself to an Ascetick Life without doors keeping a very close eye upon himself and leading a very rigid and absteinous Life for at that time there scarcely were any settled Monasteries in Egypt neither did any Monk live in a remote Wilderness But whoever had a mind to order himself very severely exercis'd himself in some solitary Place not far from his own Town At this time there was an Old Man in a neighbouring Village that had obliged himself to a solitary Life from his Youth St. Antony having observ'd him was inflam'd with Emulation and at first continu'd alone in some place or other that was hard by the Village And where-ever he heard of any studious and zealous Courter of Vertue like a provident Bee he would be sure to go and find him out never returning to his own Abode till he had seen him and could bring something back with him which might serve for part of a Viaticum to bear up his Spirit in his Progress to Heaven After he had continu'd thus some time he squar'd his Mind with such exactness as to resolve never to return again to the Place where his Ancestors Seat was nor so much as to bear the secular Concerns of his Relations in his Memory any longer that he might intirely apply his Mind and Affections to a vigorous Assiduity in Asceticks And therefore he wrought with his own Hands because 't is written 2 Thess 3.10 Let not the Idle eat Part of what he got by his Labour he subsisted on himself and part of it he gave to the Poor He Prayed continually because he had learnt that we ought to pray incessantly in private He attended so diligently to the Scriptures when read that nothing fell to the ground from him but he held it so fast that his Mind was as good as a Library to him For the sake of his Demeanour he was belov'd by all He submitted with great readiness to all virtuous Persons whom he visited He would with great diligence by himself mark every virtuous Person 's Vertue for which he was peculiarly Eminent and stamp them upon himself In one he would observe an Obligingness of Carriage in another an unwearied Fervour in Prayer in a third Calmness of Spirit in a fourth great Condescention and Charity He would very affectionately eye this Person 's great Sprightliness Vigilance and moderate use of Sleep and another Man's Affability Delight in the Scriptures and Readiness in Conferences on Spiritual Subjects Here he admir'd one for his Fortitude Magnanimity Patience and Courage there another for his Fastings hard Lyings upon the Ground and other such like Arts of subduing the Body But principally and above all he would seal on his Heart and Soul that Piety and vehement Affection for Christ and stream of mutual Love which was very obvious and legible in them all Thus he us'd constantly to go back to his own Cell always fraught with such useful Observations as these making himself the Repository of all those Excellencies he could spy in others whence he was wont to elicit and display them in a bright and exemplary Conversation All the Contest he had with those of the same Age with himself was to be second to none of them in Christian Discipline In which sort of Victories he behaved himself so modestly that no body fretted at him for Envy but rather on the contrary took delight in taking Notice of him insomuch that the whole Neighbourhood that had any regard for Vertue and all with whom he convers'd observing his Goodness us'd to call him Theophiles or God's Friend The Elder calling him Son and the Younger Brother 4. But the Devil who is envious and hates every thing that is commendable could not endure to see such a noble Purpose in so young a Person but made it his Endeavour to thwart all his Designs to his Disadvantage At first he strove to bring him off of his Ascetick Course of Life by throwing into his Mind a Remembrance of his Estate of the Nearness of his Relations and a Solicitude for them a Love of Money and Desire of Glory great Varieties of Pleasure and other such Recommendations of the Methods of the World as also Thoughts of the Ruggedness of Vertue and how much Labour it costs a Man to obtain it and to mention no more of the Weakness of his Body and the long Remainder of his Life In short the Devil rais'd a great deal of dust in his Thoughts that by bemudding and disordering his Mind he might make St. Antony let go his Design But as soon as the Enemy saw himself too weak to foyl St. Antony's Resolution and quite contrariwise that he himself was emasculated by the Holy Man's Steddiness supplanted by a mighty Faith and fall'n by reason of his continual and earnest Prayers he assum'd a new Boldness and Confidence in those Weapons which he knows every Man carries about him in his own Flesh against himself for here he mostly lies in Ambush against the Souls of the Young Accordingly he renews his Assault against the Youth Night and Day attacking him with great Turbulence insomuch that standers by could easily discern a Combat between them for the Devil threw filthy Thoughts into his Mind and the Young Man routed them out as fast by Prayers the Adversary us'd his Policies to make his Body dissolute and rebellious on the other hand St. Antony fortify'd his Soul and us'd his Body hardly and kept it under by Faith and Fastings and Tears and earnest Addresses to God But still the Devil though worsted was very hardy and appeared to him in the Shape of a Woman represented Beautiful in all respects only to impose upon St. Antony But Antony by placing the noble Extract of his Spirit and intellectual Power in a clear view before himself quench'd this Firebrand of Deceit Nevertheless the Devil would yet be hinting the Softness and Affectingness of this Pleasure on the other hand Antony like an enraged and exasperated Person by revolving in his Mind God's Menaces of Fire and the Toyl of those Furrows which the never-dying Worm ploughs in the Consciences of the Damn'd escap'd free without being hurt or so much as sing'd by his Temptations All which dash'd the Enemy mightily out of countenance for he that once thought of being equal with God himself was now slighted and baulk'd by a Young Man and he that generally vaunts and vapours so insolently over Flesh and Blood was now over-thrown by a Man
offered to the natural Motion of the Water which in all those Motions is kept entirely suitable to its Nature And with the same and much greater facility the God of Heaven can and often doth infallibly Guide the Hearts of Men yea of Kings and yet without Force or Violation of its natural Liberty There was never any Age nor People in the World that was wholly destitute of this Divine Efflux upon their Understandings and Wills it is as Vniversal and Common as the Light and Influence of the Heavens only upon some in all Ages it was more special and effectual than upon others even in the Gentile World I have always esteemed those excellent Men among the Heathen famous for Wisdom Justice Piety and Knowledge as Men illuminated and guided by this Divine Influence though possibly communicated to them in a more signal manner than to other Men Such were Socrates Plato Zeno Citticus Solon Lycurgus Pythagoras Tully Seneca Aristotle and divers other excellent Philosophers Moralists and Law-givers among the Gentiles who were by the Influence of the Divine Spirit excited illuminated and instructed for the Benefit of themselves and the rest of Mankind and to prepare the Heathen World for the Reception of greater Light When it pleased God to select unto himself and his special Government the Family of Abraham and his Descendants the Jewish Nation he sets them in the middle of the Habitable World like a Beacon upon a Hill to be a kind of Common Instruction to the rest of Mankind and for that purpose made them signal to all the World by his special Government over them by Miracles Signs and Wonders by giving them Laws from Heaven in great Majesty and Terrour by committing to them the Divine Oracles by raising up Prophets and Men specially inspired by an Extraordinary Spirit and by effusing among them a greater Measure of the Influence of his Sacred Spirit For that I may say it once for all it hath been always the Method of the Divine Wisdom and Goodness when he sends out the greater Measure of this Influx whereof I speak the Divine Providence accompanies that Efflux with suitable external Means to render it the more effectual and the more agreeable to the manner of the Reception of the humane Understanding But when the Messias came into the World with the Message of the Glorious Gospel the Sun was as it were in its Meridian and as the means of Illumination and Conversion of the World unto God was more effectual and universal so was also the Efflux and Irradiation of the Divine Influence upon the Souls of Men more vigorous diffusive and universal And as the miraculous Gifts of the Spirit of God appeared in the Miracles of Christ and his Apostles the Gifts of Tongues of Healing Diseases of Prophecy and the like to confirm and establish Mens Minds in the Faith Belief and Obedience of the Gospel so neither was this all but the secret and effectual Influence of the same Blessed Spirit appeared in Illumination of the Minds of Men in persuading and mightily subduing their Wills to the Belief and Obedience of the Truth in converting Mens Minds unto God and placing them in thei just and due Habitude to Almighty God And this according to the various Workings thereof is sometimes called the Spirit of Regeneration the Spirit of Renovation the Spirit of Sanctification the Spirit of Holiness the Spirit of Adoption the Spirit of Prayer and Supplication the Spirit of Life c. according to the various Energies that this great Effusion of the Influences of the Blessed Spirit had upon the Minds of Men. And this great and more diffusive and effectual Effusion of this Influence under the Gospel was no other than what was prophesied of by the ancient Prophets Isa 25.7 I will destroy in this Mountain the covering cast upon the Face of all People Isa 11.9 The Earth shall be filled with the Knowledge of the Lord as the Waters cover the Sea Isa 54.13 All thy Children shall be taught of the Lord. Isa 59.20 This is my Covenant that I will make with them my Spirit that is upon thee and the Words which I have put in thy Mouth shall not depart from thee nor from thy Seed nor from thy Seeds Seed Ezek. 36.27 I will put my Spirit within you and cause you to walk in my Statutes and keep my Judgments and do them Isa 44.3 I will pour out my Spirit upon thy Seed Joel 2.28 I will pour out my Spirit upon all Flesh And this Energy of the Divine Influence appears 1. By a secret Irradiation and Illumination of the Understanding 2. By a powerful Persuasion and Inclining of the Will both which as they were with a more vigorous and effectual Dispensation under the first breaking out of the Light of the Gospel so they do accompany the Publication of it unto this day and shall unto the end of the World though by reason of the Corruption of the Lives and Manners of Mankind not with equal Success in all Ages We have here the Judgment and Belief of this Great and Good Man of a Divine Efflux upon the Understandings and Wills of Men and that even among the Heathen those so famed for Wisdom Justice Piety and Knowledge were Illuminated and Guided by a Divine Influence And we have here also the Ground of this his Judgment 1. Observations in Nature 2. The Sentiments of Learned and Understanding Men Philosophers in all Ages 3. The Authority of the Sacred Scriptures to which he elsewhere adds his own Experience And whereas he had in some things changed his Opinion as he saw cause from what it was in his younger time this he received early as appears by some of his First Writings and retain'd constantly to the last as appears by his Treatise of Humility which he wrote upon my Motion not long before his last Sickness In his Treatise of Wisdom and the Fear of God after other particulars of the Wisdom of the Fear of God he adds in the 10th place But besides all this there is yet a Secret but a most Certain Truth that highly improveth that Wisdom which the Fear of the Lord bringeth and that is this That those that truly fear God have a Secret Guidance from a higher Wisdom than what is barely Humane namely by the Spirit of Truth and Wisdom that doth really and truly but secretly prevent and direct them And let no Man think that this is a piece of Fanaticism Any Man that sincerely and truly fears Almighty God relies upon Him calls upon Him for his Guidance and Direction hath it as really as the Son hath the Counsel and Direction of his Father and though the Voice be not audible nor the Direction always perceptible to Sense yet it is equally as real as if a Man heard the Voice saying This is the Way walk in it And this Secret Direction of Almighty God is principally seen in Matters relating to the Good of the Soul
Humane in many Cases wherein the General Prescripts are not sufficient For as many things are lawful which may not be expedient so many things may be expedient or necessary which may not be acknowledged Duties in themselves evidenced by the Word of Truth the written Word and to the successful Performance of acknowledged Duties certain Circumstances may be and often are so necessary that unless duly observed all Endeavours would be frustrate and all these Expediences and Circumstances may be and frequently are such as are not discernable by us Mortals without some Notice from more Intelligent Beings If therefore the All-seeing Wise and Gracious God be pleased either immediately by his own Spirit or mediately by any of the Invisible Ministers of his Providence to afford any such Divine Favours to such Mortals as are duly disposed for the same if taking notice of the Sincerity of his Servant he be pleased by any secret Impression upon his Heart or Mind or other Notices to conduct him in these things or in any thing of his Will and Pleasure though without manifesting the Reasons of it to exercise his Reasonable Creature to the Subjection of his Intellect to the Divine Wisdom as well as his Will to Obedience to his Pleasure as he who after competent Experience of this should be disobedient to any such Notice would certainly incurr Sin more or less and justly deserve Correction so it would be no less Impiety against that Holy Majesty and Mischief to Men to raise amongst them any Scandal or Prejudice against it and thereupon a great Indisposition for it by any undue Opposition of Fanaticism without sufficient Distinction and Caution than it is Impudence and Inconsiderateness in others to expose themselves and their Followers to the Delusions of Evil Spirits by high Pretences to such Divine and extraordinary Favours without any Regard to or Notice of those special Qualifications and Cautions for Tryal of Spirits which are necessary to capacitate them for such Favour and to secure them against such Delusions It requires therefore no small Caution to use this Author's Expression that under an invidious Name they reject not such Favours or calumniate such an Holy Conduct and that they especially who reproach others with limiting the Holy Spirit do not themselves in this what in other things they condemn in others with less Reason And certainly great Caution is likewise to be used on the other side that we presume not to attribute to the Holy Spirit of God what is meerly the Imaginations or Effusions of our own Spirit what is meerly Humane Invention or Artifice and even the Inspirations and Delusions of Satan transformed into an Angel of Light By this means is great Indignity commonly done to the Holy and Pure Spirit and great Sin contracted by Mens arrogating to themselves those Gifts and Graces which they have little of and recommending themselves and their Performances upon such high Pretences and great Scandal given to People to think meanly of so great a Principle of our Religion There are three Great-Means which God hath provided for us to lead us into all necessary Truth Natural Reason Supernatural Revelation communicated by Persons authorized by Divine Commission so to do and Special Illumination and Direction of the Holy Spirit And they who carefully use all these in their due Order cannot err But they who set up these one against another do usually run themselves and lead others into great Errors And hence it is that so great Disorders and Mischiefs have through the Subtilty and Energy of Satan been brought into the Church by Persons pretending to some one of these in a kind of Opposition to some other of them either of Right Reason or of the Pure Word of God or of the Spirit and Spiritual Worship I do not doubt but they who pretend most to Right Reason in opposition to Inspiration are even therein very strongly inspired but by the subtile Spirit of Opposition and are in effect as great and pernicious Fanaticks as any though they least suspect it But not only those unhappy Atheistical Pretenders to Reason who despise all Revelation and Revealed Religion but such as profess themselves Christians and not only that insolent and presumptuous Sect who assert the Divine Authority of the Scriptures and yet make no scruple to strain and wrest them to comply with their pre-conceived Notions but more Moderate Men and such as pretend highest to the Pure Word of God and to the most pure Spiritual Worship and cry out against Man-made Divinity and against Fanaticism too by indulging too much to their own Conceits have brought such Disorders and Mischiefs into the Church as are not much to be doubted were the Fruits of the Influences and Impressions of the Spirit of Delusion upon their Mind Hence are many run from Superstition into Prophaneness from Idolatry into Sacrilege from Formality into Contempt or Neglect of the most Solemn Christian Worship from beggarly Rudiments and Carnal Ordinances to make light of the Institutions of Christ from Monkish Austerity as they call it into common Indulgence and Gratifications to Sense from Popish Merit into Carlessness Worldly-mindedness Selfishness and little Concern for the Honour of God or Salvation of Souls from the Traditions of Men and Popish Pretences to deny all even of the Apostles the Authority of the Catholick Church and the Catholick Sense and Interpretation of divers of the Evangelical and Apostolical Precepts and Directions and at last to limit our Saviour's Sermon upon the Mount to the times of Persecution till at last by those means we are grown ripe for a Persecution or some other severe awakening and purging Judgment All this and more that might be noted we cannot impute meerly to the Weakness and Corruption of Men unless we can imagin that all the Powers of Darkness have been all the while meer idle Spectators But if they have been so subtle and active thus to deceive the Gentiles in these latter times and the best of Men have not been exempt from their Assaults it concerns all to beware that they be not deceived by a Spirit of Delusion under any of these Appearances either of the Good Spirit or of the Scripture or of Reason that they embrace not false Conclusions instead of Right Reason their own Conceits or the Novel Opinions of some Sect instead of the Genuine Sense of the Scriptures or Satan transformed for the Spirit of God least by any means as the Serpent beguiled Eve through his Subtilty their Minds should be corrupted from the Simplicity that is in Christ And there is no way possible to escape this but by the Aid Illumination and Conduct of the Holy Spirit of God Nor are any to be believed to be led by that Spirit when they go out of the way prescribed by Christ and by his Apostles who were Commissioned by Him for it is the Spirit of Christ and of his Fulness we all receive As the Law was our School-master
Whether it be one of the Ministring Spirits sent forth to minister for them who shall be Heirs of Salvation or One of those Seducing Spirits to whom in the latter times that some would give heed was in the times of the Apostles expressly said by the Spirit of God And great Reason there is to take this into very deep Consideration 1. Because of the many and weighty Cautions given by our Saviour and his Apostles and left upon record in the Sacred Scriptures for our warning in these latter times to beware of them and not to go out after them with Admonitions concerning their Subtilty their Energy or Power and their strong Delusions to deceive if it were possible the very Elect and that even Satan himself is transformed into an Angel of Light that is puts on the Appearance of an Angel of Light 2 Cor. 11.14 and lastly that we should try the Spirits 1 Jo. 4.1 2. Because if the Tryal be by Agreement or Disagreement with the Doctrine Institutions and Ordinances of Christ and his Apostles authorized by him they may seem to have apostatized and gone off or at least fallen short of them in matters of great Moment and special concern those before mentioned and therefore to be Seduced by some Spirit of Error For I doubt not but the Devil himself hath that Malice and Envy against the Man Christ Jesus by whom he hath been Conquered and Vanquished and against the Solemn Memorial of that Victory that could he but keep people from engaging in that Holy Covenant with Him by Baptism and from the Solemnity of that Memorial he would be willing himself to lead them into all other Truth upon that condition rather than fail Yet notwithstanding since they are a Sober People have received retained and do act upon one of the chief Principles of Christianity and have divers commendable things in them and what Errors they have fallen into have been occasioned by the Scandals and Offences given by those of the Church who will have a sad account to answer for it I do hope in the Mercy and Goodness of God that if it be a good Spirit which hath the Conduct of them he shall lead and dispose those who are Sincere amongst them to the acknowledgment of the Truth in those things whereto they have not yet attained and if it be otherwise he shall be forced to resign the Conduct of them to a more powerful and better Guide and that we shall see such a Society of Compleat Christians come out of this despised People as are at this time hardly to be found in any part of the World that I know of These are my Thoughts and Hopes concerning this People in general at present And Hopes I say grounded upon the Mercy of God and Power of God which no Good Being would oppose nor no Evil Power can stand before And in His Name I come unto you knowing assuredly that neither I nor any Humane Ability is able to prevail against the Power that is amongst you notwithstanding the Certainty of the Truths that I have mentioned already and shall endeavour by the Grace and Assistance of God Almighty through our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ more fully to explain unto you in due time But as I said if it be a good Power it will favour me and assist me in it and rejoyce in it too and if it be an Evil Power Commissioned it must cease and submit to that Victorious and All-Conquering Name Its Enchantments must be dissolved and its Sophistry and Falacies detected I therefore as an Ambassador of Christ in the Spirit and Meekness of Christ beseech you Be ye reconciled to the Truths of God and receive them with that Reverence and Gratitude that is meet without Cavelling or regard to any Temporal concern I do not invite you to return to the Abuses and Corruptions which you have forsaken but to those Truths and to the due use of those Holy things against which you have been Scandalized by those Abuses and Corruptions Nor do I invite you to dissolve your Society or to leave off your Meetings and drown your selves in a promiscuous Multitude No you have in part born a good Testimony and I would have you do so still But I invite you only to make your Testimony more Compleat Illustrious and Irrefragable by bearing your Testimony to the whole Truth and not any longer a Testimony like the Feet of Daniel's Image partly strong and partly weak by a mixture of Truth with Falshood for that cannot stand long together but to strengthen the things that remain and set in order the things that are wanting that ye may stand for otherwise ye will certainly be Broken to Pieces I invite you but to what I am doing my self with a small Company of Poor people that is bearing a Testimony for God and manifestly under his Conduct But it is neglected by them to whom it hath been offered for a sufficient Time and in a sufficient Manner considering their Learning and pretence to Knowledge And now it is offered to you a despised People that God may humble the Proud and High-minded and confound the Wisdom of the Wise by mean and despicable things in the sight of Men. Be Wise and neglect not the Opportunity and you who were last in the Worlds account shall be first What ever you do you will find there is solid Truth in the Proposal and I wish you may receive it to the Honour and Glory of God and your own Comfort and Salvation and you will then find me to have been Your Sincere and Cordial Friend E. S. 31 Aug. 1696. After this there were other Letters and Papers sent which may be taken notice of hereafter as there may be occasion but the last contained certain Questions which I think fit now to propose to the Consideration of all who are sincere and do desire not to deceive themselves nor be deceived in a matter of so great Importance as the Will and Service of God and the Salvation of their own Souls If any notwithstanding will presume to go on in any false or Erroneous Ways they must answer for it and their Blood if they miscarry must be upon their own Heads For the Design and Vse of these Questions is to examin the case What Spirit they are of the Spirit of Christ or the Spirit of Antichrist the Spirit of Truth or some subtile Spirit of Delusion Whether they be Christians indeed or counterfeit Christians that is Antichristians Whether Hypocritical Professors in Words but Renagadoes in Deeds refusing the Solemnities of his Covenant and Worship and the Orders of his Church or such sincere Christians as are ready to follow the Guidance of his Spirit out of their own Wills and out of their own Wisdom and Imaginations and Errors and Mistakes into all Truth and Whether they be in the Way of Salvation or of Delusion and Perdition The Times of this Ignorance God winked at but now commandeth