The Blind Guide, Title page – To the reader
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THE Blinde Guide, or the Doting Doctor.
Compoſed by way of Reply to a late tediouſly trifling Pamphlet, Entituled, The Youngling Elder, &c. written by John Goodwin, and containing little or nothing in it, but what plainly ſpeaketh the Author thereof to lie under the double unhappineſſe of Seducers, To be Deceiving And Deceived.
This reply indifferently ſerving for the future direction of the Seducer himſelfe, and alſo of thoſe his miſ-led followers, who with him are turned enemies to the Word and grace of God.
The authority of which Word, and the efficacie of which grace are in this following Treatiſe, ſuccinctly, yet ſatisfactorily vindicated from the deplorably weake, and erroneous Cavills of the ſaid John Goodwin in his late Pamphlet.
By William Jenkyn, Miniſter of the Word of God at Chriſt-Church in LONDON.
2 Tim. 3.13.
Evill men and ſeducers ſhall wax worſe and worſe, deceiving, and being deceived.
Prov. 14.16.
The foole rageth and is confident.
Jude 13.
Raging waves of the ſea foming out their owne ſhame.
Niſſen. de Trinitat. p. 8.
foreign.
Cal. Ep. 354.
Contra Mennonem. Hoc ſane video, nihil hoc aſino poſſe fingi ſuperbius.
Printed at London by M. B. for Chriſtopher Meridith, and are to be ſold at his Shop at the ſigne of the Crane in Pauls Church-yard.
To the Chriſtian READER.
READER:
WEre not my deſire to ſerve thy Soul, greater than my hope to recover my Adverſary, and were I not more apprehenſive of the greatneſſe of thy danger, than the goodneſſe of his diſpoſition, I ſhould not ſpend my precious houres in a ſecond engagement againſt his Errours; my contention is greater that thou ſhouldeſt not fall to be like him, than that he ſhould riſe to be unlike himſelfe. He who wrote his laſt Pamphlet only to repreſent me unworthy to contend with him, will hardly write his next to confeſſe that truth by me hath conquered him. It's not conſiſtent with his honour, who in his laſt boaſted, that he had laid the attempts of all his adverſaries in the duſt, Ep. to the Reader, To. Eld. p. 3.and that Presbytery lay bleeding at the feet of his Writings, in his next to lay himſelfe in the duſt, and to acknowledge that his Hereſies lye bleeding at the foot of a Yongling; ſo that ſhould he be convinced of the duty, (as poſſibly he may) he would be afraid of the ſhame of a recantation. Its more his ſin than my unhappineſſe (though both) that by confuting his errours I occaſion him ſtill to vent them; but never did I meet with wretched opinions ſo wrathfully aſſerted, and ſo weakly maintained. His Writings have more of Tongue than matter, foreign Niſſen de Tri.and yet more of Teeth than either; with the weapon of the Tooth (like the Hereticks of old) he conquers, even after he is overcome with Arguments.
Certainly while Maſter Goodwin wrote his late Booke he was under a quotidian fit of Frenzie, and all that time was an interregnum of his reaſon, his Pen being onelyonly dipt in paſſion. His Pamphlet conſiſts of ſuch unmanlike ſcoldings, that he hath rendred himſelfe the ſhame of his, Party, and the ſcorne of his Oppoſites; the only product of his reproaches, being a confirmation of the report of his being badly nurtur'd formerly, and worſe natur'd ſtill; Ʋnhappy man! who ſtumbleth in the darke, and ſtormeth againſt the light, and who alwaies endureth that leaſt which he wanteth moſt. The weakneſſe of Flatterers hath ſo abus'd him into love of himſelfe, and the ſtrength of intereſt into the love of Errour, that he cannot abide either plaine-dealing, or ſound doctrine. The palpable weakneſſe of his late performance in his Youngl. Eld. Ep. to Reader, P. ult.extorted from him this acknowledgement, that he wrote not his Booke to refute me, and had not his Lordſhip ſilenced his Conſcience, it would have added, but to revile me; Yo. Eld. p. 1.I confeſſe he words it more gently, telling me, that the taske to which he was confin'd in his Writing, was to ſhew me more of my ſelfe (nothing of him ſelfe) and in purſuance of this mercifull deſigne, he puts his whole Booke under a quaternion of topicks, 1. My defect of Conſcience. 2. Of Clerkſhip. 3. Of apprehenſion. 4. Of ingenuity (forgetting in the meane time one little defect which runs through the veines of all his foure parts, viz. while he ſo rudely handles my name, ſcarce to touch the matter of my Booke) unto which foure defects he reduceth whatſoever malice or falſhood can invent. againſt me; though the proſecution of them all be a continued tranſgreſſion of the Lawes of Art and honeſty, nay, not only of method, but even at once of common modeſty; ſo that I know not in this world, the thins that are ſo contemptible, as Maſter Goodwins ſcurrilities;foreign. Baſil. De ira. for my part, I much more regard that excellent advice of Baſil, Neither be proud of thy praiſes, nor impatient at thy reproaches, when neither are due unto thee.
I confeſſe, I delight not to ſee him in thoſe diſtempers, for which I pitty him; I never intended to drive him into a Frenzie, and yet neither am I willing that he ſhould drive me into a Palſie; idle ſilence is a ſinne as well as idle ſpeaking: his Contumelies can be no plea for my Cowardiſe; where ſinne is impudent, reproofe muſt not be baſhfull. If errours ſeeke no corners, ſhould truth doe ſo? How happy were we if we could leave all our ſtings in the ſides of Errour and Prophaneſſe! if in their blood all our hatreds might be dround! I have ever thought, that peace with that with which we ſhould contend, is the grand cauſe of contention with them with whom we ſhould be at peace. Its juſt that they who will not knwon Errour ſo as to hate it, ſhould not know Truth ſo as to find it, How incongruous is it to ſhun that man, upon whom (as thou thinkeſt) thou eſpyeſt a Wart, and to take him into thy boſome upon whom thou knoweſt there is a Plague-ſore? Errours in Diſcipline doe but ſcratch the face of Religion; theſe in Doctrine ſtab it to the heart. To. Eld. p. 20. p. 47. p. 66When the whole written Word is at once ſtruck off from being the ground of faith, and whatever is in and about the Scriptures denyed to be the foundation of Religion, unleſſe the Counſels contained in them. When it ſhall be aſſerted, that naturall men want no power of making themſelves able to beleeve, and that notwithſtanding all the power of converting grace, there's a liberty in the will to defeat and fruſtrate converſion; In a word, when Sectaries ſtrike at the faith, both which and with which we beleeve,Jude ver. 3. its our duty (if ever) to contend for this faith once delivered to the Saints; In my preſent endeavours about which worke, if thou embraceſt what thou findeſt of God, I ſhall not only be willing that thou ſhouldſt reject, and deſirous that thou wouldſt remit whatever thou findeſt of man, but ſhall alſo ever remaine thankfull to God, and Reader,
From my Study at Chriſt-Church, London, Nov. 23. 1648. A friend to thy-Soule. William Jenkyn.