Much of the same spirit was Thomas Muntzer, John of Ijeyden, David George, Jacob Behemen, 4'c. whose cloudy nonsense, en- igmatical expressions, and wilful obscurity, drew many into a strange admiration of them ; they all pretend to an higher know- ledge of mysteries than what the gospel is acquainted with ; and yet give us (as i\Ir. Baxter well observes) neither reasons with Aristotle, nor miracles with Christ and his apostles, to cause us to believe any of their new revelations. Vide Baxter of the Sin against the Holy Ghost, p. 148.
Of the same bran v>cre our late Familists in England, of whom Henry Nichols was tlie chief leader, who decried the written word as a dead letter ; and set up their own fond conceits and fancies under the notion of the Spirit, against whom that heavenly and learned man, Mr. Samuel Rutherford, seasonably and successfully appeared : Hacket, Copinger, and Arthington were of the same tribe ; who lived a while wrapt up in Antinomian fancies, which at last brake forth into the highest and most horrid blasphemies.
Another art they make use of to seduce the credulous is a pre- tence unto the spirit of prophecy ; and great success they promise themselves this way among the weak, but curious vulgar. And to this end Satan hath inspired^and employed some cunninger heads to invent very pleasing predictions and prophecies, in favour of that party whom he designs to deceive. And how catching and bewitching these things are, gaining more respect among these vain spirits, than the divine unquestionable prophecies of scripture, this age hath had full and sad experience.
* Trretiti suia quibusdnm E)tthnsiastich lagveis, uvde sc exlricnri snvimnvi pvtant impiela' tern : demeniubfant mullos ?nngmjivis islis verbis, lilundnatiu, Revetatio, Deificatia, &c.
THE CAUSES ANI> CirilE OF MENTAL ERRORS. 483
Now the design of Satan in these things, is to sjain credit of those sects^ as people pecuUarly favoured and beloved of God above others ; as if they were the particular favourites of heaven, as Daniel was ; and so to draw the multitude to admire their persons, and espouse their errors.
Now the remedies in this case are such as follow.
Remedy 1. AVhatever doctrine or practice seeks credit to itself this way, falls justly thereby under suspicion, that it wants a solid scripture-foundation.
God hath not left his people to seek satisfaction in such uncer- tain ways as these ; but hath given them a surer word of prophecy, to which they do well to take heed, 2 Pet. i. 19. He hath tied us to the standing rule of the word, forbidding us to give heed to any other voice or spirit, leading us another way, Isa. viii. 19- 2 Thes. ii. 1, 2. Gal. i. 8. Scripture-light is a safe and sure light, a plea- sant and sufficient light.
The scripture (saith Luther) is so full, that as for visions and revelations. Nee euro, nee desidero, I neither regard nor desire them. And when he himself had a vision of Christ, after a day of fasting and prayer, he cried out. Avoid Satan, I know no image of Christ, but the scriptures. An hankering mind after these things, .speaks a sickly and distempered state of soul, as longing after trash in young distempered persons, doth a distempered state, or ill ha- bit of body.
Mr. William Bridges somewhere tells us of a religious lady of the Empress's bed-chamber, v*'hose name was Gregoria, who being greatly troubled about her salvation, wrote to Gregory, that she would never cease importuning him, till he had sent her word, that he had obtained a revelation from heaven, that she should be saved ; to whom he returned this answer ; Rem difficilem postulas et inutilem. Thou requirest of me that which is difficult to me, and unprofitable for thee.
Remedy 2. Consider how often the world hath been abused by the tricks and cheats of that officious spirit, the devil, in such ways as these.
What hath propagated idolatry among Heathens and Christian? more than this ? Hinc fluxerunt multce peregrinationes, mo7iasferia, delubra, diesjesti et alia, saith Lavater, on Job xxxiii. Pilgrimages, monasteries, shrines of saints, holidays, &c. have been introduced by this trick. It were endless to give instances of it in the histories of former ages *.
* Of the prophecies, visions, and pretended inspirations of Storke, PtViffer,
^S4l A BLOW AT THE ROOT ; OR,
We have a notable late account of it among ourselves, in a book entitled, [J discovery of the noioriotis Falsehood and Dissimulation, contained in a book, stiled, The gospel way confirmed by miracles,] licensed aud published 1649, wherein is laid open to the world, the free confession of Ann Wells, Matthew Hall, &c. deluding the people of Whatfield, in Suffolk, with such pretended voices, visions, prophecies, and revelations, the like have scarcely been Iieard of in England since the reformation. Multitudes cf people were deluded by them.
At length the Lord extorted from this woman a full confession of the notorious falseness of these things, by a terrible vision of hell ; her partizans laboured four days to suppress and stifle it, but to no purpose ; for the horrors of conscience prevailed with her to confess the notorious dissimulations contained in that book, before the people of Whatfield and a justice of the peace. And thus the Lord out-shot Satan in his own bow.
Remedy 3. Consider how difficult, yea, and impossible it is for a man to determine, that such a voice, vision, or revelation, is of God; and that Satan cannot feign or counterfeit it; seeing he hath left no certain marks by which we may distinguish one spirit from another : an albus ? an ater ?
Sure we are, Satan can transform himself into an angel of light ; and therefore abandoning all those unsafe and uncertain ways, whereby swarms of errors have been conveyed into the world, let us cleave inseparably to the sure word of prophecy, the rule and standard of our faith and duty.
Cause 15. Another way in which false teachers discover their subtil ty with great success is, in timing their assaults and nicking the proper season, when the minds of men are most apt and easy to be drawn away by their fair and specious pretences.
Such a season as this, they find about the time of men's first conversion, or soon after their implantation into Christ. Now it is that their affections are most lively and vigorous, though their judgments be but weak. They have now such strong and deep apprehensions of the grace and love of Christ, and such transcend- ent zeal for him, that they easily embrace any thing whereby they conceive he may be honoured and exalted. They have also such deep apprehensions, and powerful aversations as to sin, that they are in danger to fly even from truth and duty itself, when it shall be artificially rejn-esented to them as sin. For not only that which is malum per se, sin indeed ; but that which is male coloratum, paint- ed with sin's colours, is apt to scare and fright them.