Light for Smoke, Section 29
SECT. XXIX. The charge of miſapplication of Revel. 18.1. iuſtified againſt Mr. Saltm. his deniall. The expectation of new lights which ſome Sectaries teach, Papiſticall, fallacious, and dangerous.
Smoke. Pag. 59. YOu ſay of my Text, Revel. 18.1. that at I began, ſo I and, with miſapplication of Scripture; Miſapplication is a word ſooner writ then proved, and my reſons were rather crowded then ordered in my paper; the Scripture was this, For the Angel that came downe from heaven hath great power, and the earth is lightned with his glory.
Light.If you would cleare the Scripture from miſapplication, you muſt ſhew how it came in with a for, as a reaſon of the precedent paſſage: your next words before it are, The Gospel dares walke abroad with boldneſſe, and ſimplicity, when traditions of men like melancholy people feare every thing they meet will kill them; and then immediately (not a word betweene) you ſay, For the Angel that comes downe from heaven hath great power, and the earth is lightned with his glory.
If this be not a miſapplication of Scripture, I adde further, if it be not an abſurd one, and your defence of it ridiculouſly vaine, and your appeale to the Reader a preſumption, that you take him to be very ſtupid, or ſo fond as to follow you in all you ſay with an implicit faith, let the judicious and impartiall Reader judge.
Smoke. Pag. 59. Which Scripture there applied doth hint to any that will not rather cavill then interpret, that my reaſon for delay of Government was in this; An Angel was yet to come.
Light.You ſaid before your reaſons were rather crowded then ordered, (though I know not why you ſhould put your ſelfe into ſuch a precipitation of haſte) If ſo, it is not ſtrange they ſhould be miſplaced, and thoſe caſt behind which ſhould come before, as in a crowd it falleth out. And truly for this teſtimonie, and the reaſon of it, with what went afore it, it comes in a great deale too late to be pertinently applied; for you had ended your reaſons, (ſuch as they were) for the delay of Government a good while before, and now were at the end of your ſecond Objection, where there was roome enough, before you looſed your Pen from Paper, to have made a reference of that Text to its proper place, and to have told your Reader what you meant by it as now you doe; and then I ſhould have told you that that Text is as much miſapplied for want of truth, had it come in where it might ſeeme to be moſt certaine, as here for want of ſenſe and ſutableneſſe to the precedent words. For,
The Government of the Church is, (as you have acknowledged before) a Scripture Government; and unleſſe you waite for an Angel from heaven to bring another Goſpel, who by the doome of the Apoſtle, ſhould he come, ſhould be welcomed with a curſe, Gal. 1.8. you muſt not looke for another Goſpel Government; if you refuſe the Scripture light in expectation of Evangelicall Revelations, take heed you comply not with the Papiſts, (whom you pretend to abhorre) makingaBellarm. de notis Eccleſ. Tom. 2. l. 4. c. 15. p. 278. Propheticall light or revelation a note of the Church, and pretending Revelations frombLegend. aur. fol. 255. p. 1. col. 1. Portifer. ſeu Breviar. in uſum Eccleſ. Satisbur. part Estrval. in Festum Sri. Egid. Sept. 1. lect. 9. printed Paris pervid. Franciſc. Regnault. an. 1555. Thelmes of the Saints out of Villegas & Ribad. vol. 1. part. 1. p. 87, 88, 98. Angels. And if you ſay your Brethren the Anabaptiſts have their revelations, and many others beſides them talke of new lights. I doubt they are for the moſt part but like your Book, which offers Smoke for light, and ſome of them very deſtructive illuſions of Satan; as that of the Anabaptiſt ofcSleydan Comment. ad an. 1527. l. 6. fol. 87. b. Sangalli a Towne of Helvetia, who cut off his owne Brothers head in his parents preſence, telling them it was revealed to him, and commanded him of God, he ſhould do ſo; and none of them ſuch as may be a rule of direction to any ſocietie of pious, and prudent men, much leſſe to thoſe by whoſe Authoritie the Government is to be ſet up, and ſettled throughout the whole Kingdome.
Smoke. Pag. 59. An Angel was yet to come with power and glory.
Light.The Angel whereof John prophecie was to come after his time, but now about ſixteene hundred yeeres are paſſed ſince he had that viſion, and how can you ſay he is yet to come, in reſpect of the time wherein we have this debate? what Angel or Spirit hath ſtood by you, as by Paul, and told you that we muſt yet expect ſuch an Angel to come, and when he will come? that when he comes he will bring a revelation of Church Government with him, which hath been kept all this while in the darke? if you have any warrant, any good ground for ſuch a viſion, and revelation from heaven, ſhew it; it is a matter of too great moment to be taken upon truſt, upon your bare word, or of any mans alive; and it may be Sir you may waite for this Angel as long as the Iewes have done for another Meſſias, and at laſt faile of your expectation as they have done, and for ever muſt doe.
Smoke. Pag. 59. Or the Goſpel will fill the earth with more light.
Light.You ſent forth your Dawnings of light the laſt yeare, but in ſtead of faire day light next to follow, you preſent us with a Smoke; what Goſpel-light you meane is too darke to me, and it may be alſo to your ſelfe; If you meane the new lights that Sectaries bragge of, they are, and I bele…ve all Scripture-learned Chriſtians will take them but for the glimmerings of an ignis fatuus, ſome illuſive flaſhes from the ſhining of Satan, when he puts on his holy-day habit, and preſents himſelfe as in the apparition of an Angel of light, 2 Cor. 11.14.
To me they repreſent the juggling impoſture of a Popiſh Prieſt, of whom Eraſmus writes in one of his Epiſtles, that he got together many Crab-fiſhes, and tied pieces of Wax candles lighted at their clawes, who crawling up and downe in the Church-yard in the night, made the lights moveable to and fro; and the ſimple people ſeeing them at diſtance, (for they durſt not come neere them) the Prieſt made them beleeve they were ſoules come from Purgatorie, which needed and craved the prayers of good people for their releaſe. As many as have not their eye ſight hurt by your Smoke (for Solomon ſheweth, Prov. 10.26. and experience complaines of it as ill for the eyes,) will take many of the new lights, ſo much talked and boaſted of by divers of your partie, rather for ſuch falſe illuſions, then for true illuminations.
Smoke. Pag. 59. So as we ſhould not ſhut up our ſelves too ſoone in the darke; And now Reader judge whether it be my miſ-application or his miſ-interpretation,
Light.That we might not be ſhut up too long in the darke, I have brought all this light of truth to diſpell your vapour of errour, and ſlander; and now I may, I doubt not, the premiſes conſidered, and judiciouſly weighed, conclude, as you doe, with an addreſſe to the Reader, but with a neceſſary tranſmutation of your termes, Now Reader judge whether miſ-interpretation be not a word ſooner ſaid then proved, as well as miſ-application, and whether it be my miſ-interpretation, or his miſ-application. Here he ends his exceptions againſt me; and here I fixe my period of Apology againſt them.