Demonology and Theology, Chapter 2
CHAP. II.
Shewing in GENERAL, That theſe preſent times in which we now live, are thoſe evill times that precede next before that firſt appearance of Chriſt, which is yet to come.
THIS wil appeare by an exact weighing the agreement that is between our times, and the general expreſſions of our three Apoſtles, of the laſt dayes. Jude ſaith, Verſ. 18. Men ſhould walke after their owne luſts. Peter ſaith, 2 Epiſt. Chap. 3. Verſ. 3. the ſelfe ſame words. And in Epiſt. 2. Chap. 2. Verſ. 1. There ſhall be falſe Teachers, that ſhall bring in damnable hereſies. Paul ſaith, 2 Tim. 3.1. They ſhal be perilous times: And in 1 Epiſt. Chap. 4. Verſ. 1. Men ſhall depart from the faith. The ſumm of all, is, That men ſhal depart from their Principles; they ſhal depart in opinion and practiſe, from their once received Principles of truth, and mor all enlightened conſciences. Juſt as tis ſayd of the fooliſh Virgins, Matth. 25. they had no Oyle in their Veſſels, to maintaine their Lamps of former profeſſion. Principia eſſendi, Principles of the being of Godlineſſe, they never had; namely, True ſanctifying grace: for that could never have gone out, or been utterly loſt. But Principia cognoſcendi, Principles of knowledge, what as Chriſtians they ought to think and doe, namely, The knowledge of the Word, to ſome conviction on the conſcience, that they had. Now from theſe Principles, immediately afore Chriſts comming, they were departed: And ſo tis now, in theſe our dayes. Men once called Profeſſors, are turned topſy turve (as wee Proverbially ſay) from what they were, both in opinion and practice. They are moſt perilous times, above all times afore them, for wicked opinions and practiſes. The wickedeſt times afore, as the Jewes in the worſt of times, held the Old Teſtament; and the Papiſts, both Old and New, though with many falſe gloſſes; but theſe times with open mouth caſt away all the Scriptures, the ground of all divine truth: And what doe they walke after or according to then? Even after their owne luſts: both corporall luſts, namely thoſe Principles that pleaſe the fleſh; and alſo intellectual luſts, and mentall wantonneſſes, phantaſies of their owne ſpirits. What ever pleaſant dreames they dreame, or new deviſes they imagine to ſooth up themſelves, and put away all true feare of God, and the thoughts of judgement to come, of locall Hell and Heaven, and the immortality of the ſoule; ſuch dreames and imaginations, I ſay, as theſe that put away all fundamental truths, and the thoughts of them, are their Principles of truth: And like Principles, like concluſions. Upon ſuch premiſes muſt needs follow damnable hereſies. That the Creature cannot ſin, becauſe God acts in him: That the Creature hath done nothing that he ſhould torment himſelfe by denying himſelfe any contentment: That all things are common, and to be enjoyed in common. And thus they depart from the Faith: As in that 1 Tim. 4.1. of the evil times the Apoſtle ſpeaks of, he ſaith, Some ſhall depart from the Faith. Eſt fides quâm, & fides qua: There is either the Faith which we beleeve, that is, the object and ground of Faith, namely, the Doctrine of Faith, the holy Scriptures; or the Faith with which we beleeve, namely, the quality of Faith. The parallel of our times to this, is, that there is in this Nation, ſuch an apoſtaſie of Men and Women, called formerly Profeſſors, from the Faith as I never heard or read of in any Eccleſiaſtical Story, of any Nation. We have them that deny the Scriptures, and with thoſe blaſphemous reproaches caſt upon them, and with ſuch audacious equalizing, yea preferring of their owne dreames above them; as it wil be ſafer to be ſilent touching the particulars, then to carry the ſound of them to your eares: And if they depart from the object of Faith, the Doctrine of the Word of God; they muſt neceſſitatedly depart from the quality of ſo much Faith as may be in an Apoſtate before his faling away: As, from a fundament all Faith, to wit, That there is a God; and from an hiſtorical Faith, whereby hee once did beleeve that the Scriptures were the truth of God, and ſo becomes worſe then the Devill, James 2. And worſe then the generality of Heathens. * For the Devill cannot be an Atheiſt, but his ſinne is properly the ſin againſt the holy Ghoſt, maliciouſly to hate and perſecute that truth of which he is fully convinced. And the generality of Heathens could not be Atheiſts, becauſe of the Common Law of nature, Rom. 2.15. whoever of them (as generally they all did) ſet up any thing to be their God, did withal acknowledge ſome Oracle, ſecret conference, or tradition, &c. whereby they knew the minde of that God. And laſtly, theſe Apoſtates are worſe then the Jewes or Papiſts whom they pretend to deteſt; for they both in all their Hereſies and Errors in opinion and practice, ſtil in the maine keep to thoſe Scriptures they firſt imbraced. Nor is it a ſufficient excuſe for them to pretend they have all things dictated to them by the ſpirit, becauſe we are commanded to try the spirits by the Doctrine of the Scriptures, 1 John 4.1. And if this place of Scripture is not of weight with theſe Anti-ſcripturians, let them heare reaſon. How were they two both ledd by the good Spirit, when at the ſame time the one of them preteuded to Preach by the Spirit ſtrange high Hyperphyſicall tranſcendencies, and the other in the auditory at the ſame time breakes out into lowd expreſſions of ſublime spirituall raptures, pretended to be upon the parties ſpirit, to the occaſioning of the Preacher to hold his peace a while, til by and by he cryes out to the other, Be ſilent O fleſh. Sure the ſpirit of God is not contrary to it ſelfe, nor the author of confuſion: And if there be a lying spirit, as wel as a ſpirit of truth, how ſhal we know to diſtinguiſh the good from the lyer, but by the old good way ever ſince there was a written Word on Earth; namely, by the written Word, Iſa. 20.8.