The Spirits Touchstone, Title page – Dedication
THE SPIRITS Touchſtone: OR, The Teachings of Chriſts Spirit on the hearts of BELIEVERS.
Being a cleare diſcovery, how a man may certainly know whether he be really taught of the Spirit of God, Being very uſeful for theſe times.
1 Cor. 2.15.
But he that is ſpirituall judgeth all things, yet he himſelf is judged of no man.
By J. R. late Student of Morton Colledge in Oxford.
London, Printed for Simon Miller at the Star in St. Pauls Church yard. 1657.
Sept. 10. 1656.
Imprimatur
Edm. Calamy.
TO THE WORSHIPFUL Dr. LANGLEY, Maſter of Pembrook-College in Oxford, and one of the Canons of Chriſt-Church.
Reverend Sir,
VNderUnder God, and next to my Parents, I may righty term you the deareſt friend that I have in the World; from whom when I was at Oxford a Student in Merton-College, I received many favours, and great encouragements to the promoting of my ſtudies, being by your care and vigilance over me preferred from Pembrook-College, over which your ſelf is a worthy Maſter, thither to a Schollers place in the houſe. And ſince I left Oxford, I have been continually in your thoughts, when God ſhall open a way for my further preferment. Ʋpon this account, with many other obliging arguments, I have preſumed in this preſent Treatiſe, a… the firſt fruits of a more plentifull harveſt, to addreſs my ſelf unto you by way of thankefulneſs, to whom I owe my ſelf, and the praiſe and the glory, as to a ſecondary cauſe, of all thoſe ſervices which God ſhall ever enable me to doe for his Church and people. My portion to diſpenſe the Word of God is fallen out in a very diſheartning and in an evill time: yet let the oppoſition of the world, of fleſh, and of the devil; let the carnall reaſonings of fleſh and blood, let the malice of unreaſonable men be never ſo great, I have determined with my ſelf to be the ſervant of Jeſus Chriſt, and of his Church, ſo long as my life, health, ſtrength, liberty, or any ability by the good providence of God is preſerved unto me; and to ſpend it, and to be ſpent for the Goſpel of my Saviour. If I meet with oppoſition, as I muſt doe, I have nothing but what I looked for, and what is my lot and portion while I am in this life, and what all the faithfull ſervants of Jeſus Chriſt have formerly undergon, and what the enmity in the ſpirit of the world againſt the Spirit of God doth naturally produce; and what we muſt have if we be faithfull and conſciencious in our places, not dawbing with untempered mortar, but ſpeaking the truth in the heart; and what follows as neceſſarily whereſoever the power of godlineſs, the croſs of Chriſt, the leſſon of ſelf deniall, and the ſetting our ſelves againſt the corruptions of the times, and the breaking down of the Magazines of ſin, and the ſetting up the pure worſhip of God, and a plain, ſincere, honeſt hearted dealing for the good of their ſouls, not ſparing any, high or low, rich or poor, honourable or deſpiſed, ſo he it God may be glorified, and the Kingdom of Chriſt advanced, is fully held forth. An evil time I ſay it is, wherein, under a colour of zeale for the cauſe of God, as if theſe were the forerunners of Chriſts ſecond comming upon the earth, wherein as they ſay he ſhall reign a thouſand yeers, as John the Baptiſt was the forerunner of his firſt comming (He indeed was ſo, for he came to prepare the way of the Lord, & to make his paths ſtraight before his face: But if we grant them forerunners, they are no otherwiſe then ſad omens of the worlds deſtruction, with all the reſt of the Antichriſtian party, when Chriſt ſhall come to render vengeance upon them that know him not, and obey not the Goſpel of his Sonne) they pervert the right wayes of the Lord, and corrupt the word of God, (before the ſecond comming of Chriſt there ſhall be an Apoſtacy from the faith) when they ſeek to remove and to put out the light of the glorious Goſpel, that they may ſinne with more freedom, by turning our Bethel into a Bethaven, and the houſes of the Prophets to a den of abominable wretches. Woe be to thoſe men who are diſobedient to the heavenly viſion, who deſpiſe Prophecyings, who reject the word of his faithful Ambaſſadors, calling them Popiſh fellowes, and Prieſts of Baal, under a pretence of higher myſteries. It will be the ſaddeſt time that ever England ſaw yet, if the Sun ſhal goe down upon the Miniſters of the Goſpel, and the night ſhall come upon them. Where the viſion fails, the people periſh. My people are deſtroyed for lack of knowledge. Prov. 29.18. Hoſea 4.6. 2 Chro. 15 3, 4, 5, 6.When there was no viſion, nor no teaching Prieſt, then there was no peace to him that came in, or to him that went out. David ſaith,Pſal. 11.3. If the foundations be deſtroyed, what ſhall the righteous doe? And if a faithfull Miniſtry, and a conſcientious Magiſtracy be removed, and men be ſuffered to do what they liſt, without reproof and correction, and inſtruction, what can we expect but abominable prophanneſſe, but that England ſhould become a ſecond Rome, a ſecond Babylon, and another Sodom? But yet I hope better things of England yet, ſince God hath a precious ſeed to ſhew forth his praiſe, growing up in the two famous Ʋniverſities of this land, watered exceedingly with Divine ſhowers of heavenly grace, & with the influences from above, by the late prudent government in them; ſeeing by the wiſe providence of God ſuch pious, conſcientious and holy men do ſit at the ſtern and doe guide the helm, leſt the ſons of the Prophets might be infected with the errors and hereſies of the times; and the ſons of Belial might prevaile over them; though yet there is not a ſufficient purgation of pride, ſelf ſeeking and of the advancement of humane wiſdom before the everlaſting wiſdom of God, from the Midſt of them. And there is yet ſomething to be done before the bleſſing of God will deſcend upon them in ſuch a plentifull meaſure as otherwiſe it would, to wit, a joynt ſetting themſelves with one ſhoulder, and with one conſent to ſerve God in ſincerity of heart, and to beſtir themſelves more then ever for the preſerving of the truth of God, and to cleare the truth from all thoſe calumnies which have been caſt upon it in theſe latter times, and to ſtand up for the honour of God, and of his Church. Now as there is a generation of men, men of perverſe minds, reprobate concerning the faith, given over to a ſpirit of deluſions, blinded with a judiciall blindneſs, and hardned with a judiciall hardneſs, led away with the vanity of their minds, wicked and ungodly men, foreordained to deſtruction, who would pull down all Ordinances, as preaching, prayer, receiving of the Sacraments, holy conference, and all thoſe means whereby grace is wrought, cheriſhed, promoted, & confirmed in the hearts of believers: and which is far worſe, they pretend to doe all this by the light of the ſpirit within them. As Mahomet the vileſt of men did pretend that he was inſpired by the holy Ghoſt in the form of a Dove. ſo theſe miſerable creatures pretend to the teachings of the ſpirit upon their hearts, that ſo their hereticall and blaſphemous Tenents may receive the better entertainment. If they had not fathered their falſhoods, blaſphemies, hereſies upon the Spirit of God, I had ſlept in ſilence, but when they make the Spirit of God to be a lying ſpirit, a deluding ſpirit, a profane ſpirit, by their ſaying that the Spirit teacheth them to live above Ordinances, to blaſpheme, to ſcoffe at the word of his grace, that the Spirit will ſupply all their wants without the uſe of means, and that they ſtand not in need of thoſe beggarly Elements, to wit, the Word, Prayer, Sacraments, and other means of grace, as they call them, and all upon the account of the Spirits teaching: I had no reſt in my ſpirit, till what light was imparted unto me concerning the teaching of the ſpirit upon the hearts of believers, I had publiſhed for the benefit and comfort of true honeſthearted Chriſtians; expecting to undergoe the cenſure of ſome Ariſtarchus or other, though God who trieth all things knoweth the ſincerity of my heart in this matter. I wiſh the ſubject of my diſcourſe had had a better workman to have handled it; but what is defective in my endeavours ſhal be ſupplied in my prayes, that God would poure forth of his Spirit more and more upon the hearts of his people, according to the tenour of the covenant, and that Goſpel promiſe that we ſhall be all taught of God; and to rectifie thoſe horrid abuſes which are done to the bleſſed Spirit, and to ſhame thoſe impudent creatures who ſay they are taught of the ſpirit, while they fulfill the dictates and commands of the fleſh and of the Divel, and to deſtroy the ſpirit of errour & prophaneneſs, the ſpirit of Antichriſt which exalts it ſelf in the lives of many Saints eminent in the eyes of the world, and to preſerve his people, his Embaſſadors, his Sacraments, his truth, his Word in the power and purity of it; and to keep us from Popery, ſuperſtition, will-worſhips, and from the doctrnes of men; and to make his Church a glorious Church for purity of worſhip and piety of life, in this thrice bleſſed Nation, for the means of grace, and for the true knowledge of God which is in it; which is and ever ſhal be the requeſt of him at the thron of grace, who is,
Yours moſt obliged in all duty add obſervance, J. R.