The Way of Congregational Churches Cleared, Treatise 1 · Chapter 3 · Section 12
SECT. XII. Of Cottons pretended Montaniſm.
3. The next Error which Mr. Baylie is pleaſed to threape upon me is my old Montaniſm, which he ſaith, he hath heard from ſome gracious Miniſters; and wherein ſome think I remain to this day.
Who thoſe gracious Miniſters are from whom he heard this, he doth not mention; nor what this old Montaniſm of mine ſhould be, he doth not expreſſe. But thus I muſt ſtand guilty in Mr. Baylie's judgment, and by his relation, in the judgment of all men that give credit to his teſtimony, of an horrible Hereſie, but I muſt not know what; and by the accuſation of gracious Miniſters, but I muſt not know whom.
Auguſtine recordeth (in his Catalogue of Hereſies) Chap. 26. the Hereſies of Montanus to be: 1. That Montanus and his two harlot-Propheteſſes, Priſca and Maximilla, had received the Holy-Ghoſt not in part, as the Apoſtles, but without meaſure. 2 Second-mariages they condemn as whoredome. 3 The Bread in the Lords-Supper, they mingle with the blood of a yearling Infant.
Daneus in his Comment upon that Book of Auguſtine, addeth other Hereſies, out of other Authors: as for a 4. That Montanus himſelf was the Comforter promiſed to the Apoſtles. 5 That inceſtuous copulations were not to be diſallowed. 6 That Enthuſiaſms and Revelations were rather to be followed then the Word of God. 7 That they confounded the Perſons in Trinity, as did the Sabellians and Patropaſſiani.
Now amongſt all theſe Montaniſtick Tenents, I would intreat Mr. Baylie to tell me (in faithfulneſs) which of them it is he chargeth upon me, and which he calleth, my old Montaniſm, wherein ſome think I do remain to this day.
Or if he ſay, (as he doth) that he hath heard of my old Montaniſm, by ſome gracious Miniſters, let him be pleaſed to intreat them to declare to me thoſe Points of Montaniſm, which they know by me, or ſuſpect in me. Otherwiſe I ſhall conceive, though they may be gracious Miniſters that ſo told him, yet it was no part of their graciouſneſſe ſo to ſpeak; a ſpeech that neither ſavored of Truth, nor love, nor wiſdom, nor faithfulneſſe.
But in peruſing the ſe…uel of this Diſcourſe, I finde a paſſage, which maketh me ſuſpect, what Tenent of Montaniſm it is which he aimeth at, in Page 61. ſpeaking of the vileneſſe of the errors of the members of our Churches; They did (ſaith he) avow openly, The perſonall inhabitation of the Spirit in all the godly; his immediate Revelations without the Word; and theſe as infallible as the Scripture it ſelf. And this (ſaith he) is the vileſt Montaniſm.
Theſe two latter Tenents, immediate Revelations without the Word, and them as infallible as the Scripture it ſelf, I willingly confeſſe they are vile Montaniſm; though I would not ſay (as he doth) the vileſt. For the vileſt is, to hold Montanus himſelf to be the Holy-Ghoſt, or to have received the Holy-Ghoſt in a more full meaſure then the Apoſtles themſelves.
But for the firſt of theſe Tenents, touching the Perſonall Inhabitation of the Holy-Ghoſt in the godly, it may further be conſidered before it be condemned. Perſonall Inhabitation may be taken in a double ſenſe: For, 1 It may hold forth no more but this, the indwelling not onelyonly of the Gifts of the Holy-Ghoſt, but of his Perſon alſo in the Regenerate. Or 2. it may hold forth further, the indwelling of the Perſon of the Holy-Ghoſt in the Regenerate, ſo farre forth as to make us one Perſon with himſelf, or to communicate with us ſome Perſonall propriety of his own.
In this latter ſenſe Mr. Baylie may well be allowed to call it, vile Montaniſm: for the Errors are vile, and alſo wrapt up in Montanus his Tenents: But for the former, the indwelling not onelyonly of the Gifts, but of the Perſon alſo of the Holy-Ghoſt in the Regenerate, I muſt profeſſe, I neither beleeve the Tenent to be vile nor Montaniſm. Not Montaniſm, for amongſt all the Errors of Montanus or his followers, I never read this imputed to them, by ſuch as have been the moſt diligent Recorders and Refuters of ancient Hereſies. Neither Auguſtine, nor Epiphanius before him, nor Daneus after him, did ever father this Tenent upon the Montaniſts. Nor is the Tenent vile or erroneous, but an holy Truth of God delivered to us from the Word of Truth. As may appear,
1. From the teſtimony of the Lord Jeſus, Joh. 14.16, 17, 26. with Joh. 15.26. The argument ſtandeth thus, The Comforter which proceedeth from the Father and the Sonne; even the Spirit of Truth, he dwelleth in the Diſciples of Chriſt Jeſus.
The Comforter which proceedeth from the Father & the Son, even the Spirit of Truth, is the Perſon of the Holy-Ghoſt himſelf.
Therefore the Perſon of the Holy-Ghoſt himſelf dwelleth in the Diſciples of Chriſt Jeſus.
2. From the teſtimony of the Apoſtle Paul, 2 Tim. 1.14. That Good thing (ſaith he) which is committed to thee, keep, by the Holy Ghoſt, which dwelleth in us. That Good thing is fitly underſtood by our beſt Interpreters, Calvin and Beza, to be, not onelyonly the ſound Doctrine of …he Goſpel, and his Miniſteriall Office, but alſo the excellent gifts of the Spirit of Grace furniſhing him for diſcharge of his Office, and diſpenſation of the Goſpel. Whence the Argument holdeth thus;
The Holy-Ghoſt that keepeth the good gifts of Grace in us, dwelleth in us.
The Holy-Ghoſt that keepeth the good gifts of Grace in us, is not the gifts, but the perſon of the Holy-Ghoſt diſtinguiſhed from them:
Therefore it is the Perſon of the Holy-Ghoſt, and not his gifts onelyonly that dwelleth in us.
3. From another teſtimony of Paul, Rom. 8.11. If the Spirit of him that raiſed up Jeſus from the dead, dwell in you; he that raiſed up Chriſt from the dead, ſhall alſo quicken your mortall bodies, by his Spirit that dwelleth in you. Whence the Argument ariſeth thus,
The Spirit that dwelleth in us, is the Spirit that raiſed Chriſt from the dead, and ſhall alſo quicken our mortall bodies;
But it is not the Gifts and Graces of the Spirit, but the Perſon of the Spirit himſelf that raiſed up Chriſt from the dead, and ſhall quicken our mortall bodies:
Therefore it is the Perſon of the Spirit that dwelleth in us.
It was not the Gifts and Graces of the Spirit of Chriſt himſelf, much leſſe our Gifts and Graces that did raiſe up Chriſt from the dead. Not the Gifts and Graces of Chriſt himſelf; for they were but created. And it was an act farre above all created power, to raiſe up Chriſt from the dead. Much leſſe were they our Gifts and Graces that raiſed him up; for ours, are not onelyonly created, but imperfect, and which is more, they were not then in Being, when God raiſed up Chriſt from the dead.
To theſe three Divine Teſtimonies (which are the ground of my faith in this point) let me adde one humane Teſtimony of a learned Divine, who was never tainted, nor taxed with Montaniſme, I meane Zanchius, de Tribus Elohim Parte altera, lib. 4. cap. 1. His teſtimony cometh in thus: Praeter alia argumenta, quibus confirmavimus Spiritum Sanctum verum eſſe Deum, illud etiam non fuit minimum, quod inde deduximus, quia Fideles vocantur Templum Spiritus Sancti, 1 Cor. 6.19. and 3.16.
Againſt this argument from the proof of the God-head of the Holy-Ghoſt, Ochinus gave this anſwer amongſt others: Dona Dei nobis conceſſa, hoc eodem nomine notari: ſed non tertium ſuppoſitum, hoc eſt perſonam, a Patre & Filio distinctam, &c.
To this Zanchius replyeth: Non poteſt Spiritus Ochinianus niſi impudenter inficiari, quin Spiritus Sanctus, hoc eſt, tertia haec perſona (quae etiam Spiritus Dei, & virtus Dei appellatur) habitet in Sanctis hominibus, & quin illi ſint hujus Templum, qui enim in iis habitat, judicio, & voluntate praeditus eſt, & loquitur; Spiritus Patris veſtri (inquit Chriſtus) loquitur in vobis, Matth. 10.20. Spiritus autem Sanctus appellatur ipſe Spiritus Dei, & Spiritus Chriſti. Spiritus igitur Sanctus, hoc eſt tertia Perſona, habitat in Sanctis. Quod vero ait Spiritus Ochinianus, Non poſſe tertiam Perſonam habitare in Sanctis, quin ibi etiam habitent reliquae, dictum eſt bene. Nam etiam Chriſtus dixit, Ego & Pater ad eum veniemus, & manſionem apud eum faciemus, Ioh. 14.23. Hoc vero ideo fit, quoniam omnes ſunt una & eadem eſſentia, &c.