A SEASONABLE CAVEAT Against the Dangers of CREDULITY IN OUR Trusting the SPIRITS Before we Try them; Delivered in a SERMON BEFORE THE KING AT WHITEHALL On the First Sunday in February, 1678/9.  
By THOMAS PIERCE D.D. Domestic Chaplain to His Majesty, and Dean of Sarum.  
Published by His majesty's especial Command.  
LONDON, Printed by E. F. for R. Davis, Bookseller in Oxford. MDCLXXIX.   

A SERMON PREACHED before the KING.  1 JOHN 4.1. 
But try the Spirits whether they be of God.  
§ 1. THERE are Multitudes of Deceivers in these our last and worst Times, by way of Antidote unto whose Venom These words of S. john are a good Provision. And however they are numerous, I think they may fall under two general Heads. Some are so credulous as to believe every Spirit; 
Vide Haeresin jenxuanam apud Massaeium, l. 16.  and some so Atheistical, as to believe none at all. Both are Enemies to Religion, though not Both alike. For though the first are bad enough, the last are very much worse. The first are Meteors in Religion, expressed to us in Scripture by Clouds without water, and wand'ring Stars; such as are carried to and fro with every Wind of false Doctrine; men so unlearned and so unstable, so in love with New Light, and so given to change, that not contented with one or two, (though the best and soundest,) they heap up Teachers unto themselves; and by the Novelty of the Doctrine putting an estimate or value on him that brings it, they are easily made Proselytes to every New Prophet who next bespeaks them; little considering with S. john, (in the next words after my Text,) that there are many false Prophets (many even in His Time, and many more sure in ours,) gone out into the World. The second sort of Enemies (which are the worst too) are the Disciples of the Book which is called Leviathan; the greatest Monster in all the World, excepting only the Author of it. For if the perfectest Definition of Man as Man, is to be Animal Religiosum, which still includes Rationale, and therefore makes the most exact Definition, (as many great and good Writers have very rationally esteemed it;) then He must certainly be a 
* Vid. Arrian. Epict. l. 3. c. 29. & l. 4. c. 5. Plotin. Enn. 3. l. 2.  Monster, more properly than a Man, who is so destitute of Reason, as wholly to be void of Religion too. And for any one to Teach, (as the Monster of Malmesbury has been permitted to do in Print,) that there is no Spirit at all, or that there is no incorporeal Substance, (two Expressions of the same Thing,) what is it but to pluck up all Religion by the Root? 'Tis publicly to set up a School of Atheism. For God (if any thing) is a Spirit; not for This reason only, 
Joh. 4.24.  because our Apostle S. john affirms it, (whom the Hobbists will not believe;) but for this other reason also, (which even our Hobbists cannot but yield to,) that, supposing a God there is, (or that 'tis but possible for him to be,) He must be Infinite, and Indivisible; and yet, we know, He can be neither, if He is any way Corporeal. For All Corporeal things have Parts, and so by consequence are divisible, and so by consequence are finite. And for God to be finite, or divisible, is for God not to be God; the worst and grossest of Contradictions. From whence it follows avoidable, that for any one to teach, and to teach in public, (not publicly from the Pulpit, but much more publicly from the Press,) that an Incorporeal Substance is in itself a Contradiction, (the Positive Doctrine of the 
* p. 214.  Leviathan,) is publicly to open a School of Atheism: It being publicly to teach There is no Spirit, and (by a Consequence unavoidable) There is no God. For every thing that is, is either an Accident, or a Substance. (What is neither, is not.) And every Substance (a nobler sort of Being then any Accident can be) is either Corporeal, or Incorporeal. That denominates a Body, and This a Spirit. To say that God is the former, implies the horridest Contradiction; (as hath been shown;) and so He must be the latter, by undeniable Consecution. To say, He is not a Spirit, or not an Immaterial Substance, is neither better nor worse then to say, He is not. It is to say, There is no such Thing.  
§ 2. Against the dangerous Contagion of the premised two Extremes, S. john in this Text has timely given us Two Caveats; one expressed, and another employed. First, 'tis expressed in plain terms, that, seeing many false Prophets (or false Pretenders to the Spirit) are gone out into the World, we are bound, for that Reason, not to believe Every Spirit. Next, 'tis as evidently employed, (as if it were expressed in words at length,) that though Many Prophets are False, we must not thence reckon that None are True: as though many Lines are crooked, we must not thence argue that none are straight; seeing every crooked Line must needs presuppose and imply a straight one. Nor may we sottishly disbelieve the Spirit of Holiness and Truth, for fear of believing with too much ease a Spirit of Error and Uncleanness. But as my Text is in the middle between an important Dehortation, [Believe not every Spirit,] and as important a Reason of it, [for many false Prophets are gone out into the World:] so our Course is to be steered in a middle way, betwixt the Scylla of Credulity, and the Charybdis of Unbelief. We must examine all Pretenders, and try of what sort they are. We must get a Lapis Lydius, whereby to learn the true difference betwixt the two sorts of Spirits in the sixth Verse of this Chapter, the Spirit of Truth, and the Spirit of Error: or, (to express it without the Metonymy which our Apostle here useth,) betwixt a True, and False Prophet; betwixt 
* 1 King. 13.1.  a man of God, and a 
* Deut. 13.1, 3.  Dreamer of Dreams; betwixt a Theopneust, and a Daemoniack; betwixt a real Possessor of Divine Revelations, and a fantastic Pretender to them. For as there were Prophets in the Old Testament, both True and False, so are there also in the 
* 2 Pet. 1.21. & ch. 2. ver. 1.  New. As there were Spirits under the Law, too many to be good, so there are also under the Gospel. There was in That a familiar Spirit, (Leu. 20.27.) a lying Spirit, (1 King. 22.22.) and a Spirit of Perverseness, (Isa. 19.14.) There is in This a foul Spirit, a deaf and dumb Spirit, (Mar. 9.25.) a Spirit of Error and of Delusion, (2 Thess. 2.11. 1 joh. 4.6.) a Spirit of Slumber, (Rom. 11.8.) Still the more and the worse the unclean Spirits are, the greater need we have to Try them. And though there are also as many Good Spirits, as there are Angels who never fell; yet all their Goodness is but derivative, from the one Spirit of God, who is God the Spirit. To Him are ascribed the famous Gifts, 1 Cor. 12.4. And amongst all the several Gifts wrought by one and the same Spirit, the Discerning of Spirits is worthily reckoned to be a chief, (v. 10.) Which Gift of Discerning 'twixt good and bad Spirits, (as all the rest,) The Spirit of God divides to every man severally as He will, (v. 11.) to some in a greater, and to some in a lesser measure. And in this Gift S. Peter did very mnch excel S. Philip. (For so 'tis obvious to collect from the 8th. of the Acts, by comparing the 13th. with the 23th. verse.)  
§ 3. Now whatever can be meant by the Subjects of Trial we are to make, whether Churches or Churchmen, whether Prophecies or Prophets, whether Doctrines or Doctors, whether Inspirations or men Inspired, or every one of these equally; however different they may be, or inconsistent with one another; 'tis plain they All pretend alike unto the same Spirit of God. And therefore 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, Try and prove them, (says our Apostle,) whether they are what they pretend: whether really they are Gold, or do but eminently glister: whether they speak by Commission, and as the Oracles of God, or only run ere they are sent, inspired by Avarice, and Ambition, and by the Impulse of the Devil: whether they teach the sound Doctrines of Christ's Apostles and of his Church, whose Faith and Doctrines we are to follow; or are but some of the foolish Prophets (in the 13th. of Ezekiel) who follow their own Spirit, 
Ezek. 13.2, 3, 4, 6, 8, etc.  and prophesy out of their own Hearts; are like the Foxes in the Deserts, have spoken Vanity, and seen Lies, saying, The Lord saith, and the Lord hath not sent them. In any case we must try them, of what sort they are.  
§ 4. Nor must we only try Them; but we must also try the Rule by which they All are to be tried. For several Tests and Rules of Trial (who are true or false Teachers, and which Doctrines are right or wrong,) have been lately set up to the hurt of Souls, by the Two sorts of Enemies whereof I spoke in the beginning; to wit, the Pretenders to Enthusiasm, and the Disciples of the Leviathan. The first of these will allow of no other Test, than the Sturdiness and Strength of their own Persuasion, which it is their will and pleasure to call The Testimony within them. And by running in a Circle they grow so giddy, that the longer we Catechise, the more we lose them. And 'tis worthy to be observed, how they wrest and misapply the Word of Life to their Destruction. For, If we ask how they know they have a Testimony within them from God the Holy Ghost; We know it (say they) by This, that 
* 1 Joh. 4.13.  God hath given us of his Spirit. If we ask how they know that He hath given them of his Spirit; We know it (they say) by This, that 
* 1 Joh. 3.9.  we cannot sin. If we ask how they know that they cannot sin; their Answer is, 
* Ibid.  We are born of God. If we ask how they know This; We know it, (they will answer) because we have 
* Rev. 2.17.  a new Name given us, which no man knows but He that hath it. If we ask how they know of a new Name given them; they will answer, We know it by that 
* Rom. 8.11.  Spirit which dwelleth in us. If we ask how they know the Spirit of Truth from the Spirit of Error; their Answer is still at hand, (and still out of the Scriptures,) He that knoweth God heareth us, 
1 Joh. 4.6.  and he that is not of God heareth not us. If we ask them for a Witness whereby to prove it; 
* Rom. 8.16.  The Spirit (their Answer is) beareth witness with our Spirits. If we bid them produce their Witness; He that believeth (they will say) hath the witness in himself. 
1 Joh. 5.10.  If we call for any Witness of men; 
ver. 9  they tell us, The Witness of God is greater. Thus they argue by their Circular and Identical way of discourse, [They have the Holy Spirit of God, because they are (forsooth) assured; and assured of it they are, because of the Spirit which dwelleth in them.] So strongly does the Spirit of Perverseness show itself in such as are delivered up to believe a Lie. (For that is sometimes the case, 2 Thess. 2.11.)  
The other Enemies of Religion, (who are withal by much the worst,) in a derision and contempt of supernatural Revelation, 
Leviath. p. 36. & 169.  will have no better Test of true and false Prophets, or of right and wrong Doctrines, than the Warranty and Allowance of the Sovereign Powers, 
Ibid. p. 232.  in every Kingdom and Commonwealth, of whatsoever Denomination throughout the world. Which Position of the Leviathan, (fetched as 'tis from japonia, and there from the Sect of the jenxuani) is so prodigiously absurd, that it either makes no difference 'twixt Right and Wrong, and infers True and False to be a couple of empty words, (which signify nothing, or the same thing, the Will and Pleasure of the Prince;) or else infers this Contradiction, that the same Things and Persons are in several Times and Places both True and False. So that according to This Position, the Christian Religion was a false one under all the Heathen Emperors, who did publicly prohibit the Teaching of it; yet a most true one under Constantine surnamed the Great, and under all the following Emperors, who strictly commanded it to be Taught. jesus Christ (with Mr. Hobbs) must have been a false Prophet, as not approved of by Herod and the Then-Emperour of Rome; whilst Mahomed must be a true one, because allowed by the great Sultan, supreme Governor of the Turks. The Will and Pleasure of the Prince being set up by That Monster, as the sole Touchstone, or Criterion, whereby a Prophet, or a Doctrine, or a Religion is to be tried. 
Leviath. p. 250.  None (says He) but a Sovereign in a Christian Commonwealth, can take notice what is, or what is not the Word of God. A greater power than is ascribed by the Jesuits themselves, either to the Bishop or Church of Rome: a power to abrogate the old, and (as often as he will) to make a new Canon of Scripture, or none at all.  
§ 5. Had such Seducers of the people appeared in public among the jews, a present Death without Mercy had been inflicted as the wages of Their Iniquity. (Deut. 13.5. and ch. 18. v. 20.) The Setters forth of new Doctrines in that Mosaical Dispensation could not escape their public Trials in the Great Parliament of Israel they called The Sanedrim; and were condemned as false Teachers, either to be strangled, or stoned to death. Yea, 
Deut. 13.1, 2.  though they had shown Signs and Wonders, and though their Signs came to pass too, yet could it not exempt them from suffering Death, in case they tended to seduce the silly Admirers of their Wonders to worship Idols, or any other way to enervate the Law of Moses: which none could be allowed to do, and yet be thought a True Prophet, unless he could do as real Miracles as Moses, and give as cogent Demonstrations as Moses had given, of his having been inspired and sent by God. Therefore None but the Messias, who outdid Moses, and that as well in point of Miracle, as in Holiness of Life, and in illustrating or completing the whole Moral Law, could lawfully abolish the Ceremonial. Yea even Those Divine Prophets or Men of God (as they were called) who still asserted the Law of Moses, and dissuaded men with vehemence from Idolatry and Schism, were fain to prove they were of God by unfeigned Miracles. By such a Real Miracle of the anonymous Prophet at Bethel, 
1 King. 13.4, 6.  Ieroboam's Hand was dried up, and restored to him. By such a Miracle of Elijah, the Fire of the Lord fell down from Heaven, 
1 King. 18.38, 40.  and consumed the Burnt-sacrifice, together with the Altar on which it lay. Whereby the People were incensed against the false Prophets of Baal, and presently slew them all as Cheats by the River Kishon. By such a Miracle of Elisha, 
2 King. 5.15.  even Naaman an Idolater was suddenly cleansed from his Leprosy, and convinced of Iehovah's being the only true God. By the like unfeigned Miracles, Moses baffled all the lying ones of the Sorcerers in Egypt. And if the Prophets Than had need of showing many and great Miracles, to prove the Truth of That Religion which the Israelites were then in Possession of; How much a greater need of Miracles should our Seducers stand in, whereby to make us leave our Old, and wherewith to draw us on to their New Beliefs? That Doctrine (for example) of jesus Christ and his Apostles, [that we must obey them who have the Rule over us, and that we must submit ourselves to every Ordinance of man for the Lord's sake,] was confirmed by greater Miracles (if any greater can be) than Moses and the Prophets confirmed theirs by. And by Consequence, if our Pretenders to supernatural lllumination will have us adhere to their New Doctrine, [that we must not submit to every Ordinance of man, but rebel against them; nor obey, but resist such as have the Rule over us; nor do any thing in Religion with any Decency or Order, but all as rudely and as confusedly as we can,] they must persuade us by greater Miracles than those of Christ and his Apostles, whom we believe. At least they must be able to convince us of Error in Life and Doctrine, (as Moses did Corah and all his Separatist-Relations, 
Num. 16. ) by commanding the Earth to open, and to swallow us up quick: or strike us dead without a blow, (just as Peter did Ananias,) for our usurping That Authority to preach God's Word, which our Schismatics and Enthusiasts of each Extreme are wont to arrogate as a Right belonging only to themselves. But (God knows) we have too many, who need no working of Signs and Wonders to deceive them: so very fond they are of Novelties in Religion itself, that they are often drawn from it without a Miracle. Yea, if the True Prophet from judah could suffer himself to be deceived by the cunning False Prophet who dwelled in Bethel, (1 King. 13.18.) for which (not the False, but) the True Prophet was slain; (v. 24.) how apt are others to be deceived who are no Prophets at all? Very great need therefore we have, to Try Pretenders to the Spirit, before we Trust them, whether or no they have indeed a Prophetic Spirit; and whether they speak the mind of God by any Immediate Revelation.  
§ 6. A general Rule whereby to try them (though 'tis particularly applied) S. john sets down in the next verse after my Text; Hereby know ye the Spirit of God. Every Spirit which confesseth that jesus Christ is come in the Flesh, is of God. A Text whose pithy Brevity makes it difficult and obscure, and so it stands in some need of an Explication. I take its meaning to be This. Every Spirit which confesseth, or every Pretender who owns our Saviour, not only by word of Mouth, but in Life and Practice, and from the Heart, both as jesus a Saviour, and as Christ a King too; Every one who does own him as well by his Faith, as his Confession, and as well by his Obedience, as by his Faith, to be the only true Shiloh that was to come; Every one who does own him to be come in the Flesh too, not only in his Divine, but in his Humane Nature also, which Cerinthus and Ebion and Simon Magus did deny; (unto whom in particular S. john alludes in this place;) last, Every one who owns him in his Exinanition, in his most despicable Condition, which made his Friends to fly from him, and Peter himself to disavow him; Every one who does own him in his tremendous Crucifixion, his Death, and Burial, and confesseth him even so to be 
* Mar. 16.16.  the Son of the living God, or God manifest in the Flesh, 'Tis plain that every such Spirit must be concluded to be of God.  
So that if any shall here object against S. John's Rule of Trial, that many Heretics and Schismatics do confess jesus Christ to be come in the Flesh, who notwithstanding are of the Devil, and not of God; Two Answers are to be given for the Objector's behoof and satisfaction; one from Estius, and another from Tirinus. (Though the Substance of them Both I have anticipated already.) Estius answers, that S. john did direct This Rule against the Heretics of his own Times, who denied jesus Christ to have come in the Flesh: and such were those Three whom I named a little before. Which Answer is indeed good, but not sufficient. Tirinus therefore adds fitly, that by our Confessing jesus Christ to have come in the Flesh, is meant our Confessing and Believing (to wit, our practical Believing) that jesus Christ is the Messias; both a Saviour and a Prince, 
Act. 5.31.  (as S. Peter calls him,) 
Ibid.  who gives Repentance unto Israel, and Forgiveness of sins. Not Forgiveness without Repentance, nor Forgiveness before Repentance; but Repentance in the first place, and Forgiveness in the second. In which very order, both of Dignity and Nature, S. Peter had exhorted to Both before, (ch. 3. v. 19) Repent, and be converted, that your Sins may be blotted out, when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord. And all sincere Repentance implies Obedience, as the same S. Peter argues, Act. 5.32. This Answer is very good and sufficient too, unless, by being too short, it may be also too obscure, or not sufficiently perspicuous to some of the slowest apprehensions; for which defect in the next place I shall endeavour to make amends.  
amends 7. And because where the Touchstone it self is False, all sorts of Trial must needs be foolish; Therefore Pretenders to the Spirit are to be tried by such a Touchstone, as needeth not itself Another Touchstone for its Trial. And such a Touchstone is to be taken out of those plainest Places of Scripture, whose sense and meaning is agreed on even by men of All judgements; Texts delivered in such clear and univocal Terms, that opposite Parties do apprehend them in the very same way; And as they never have been yet, so they never can be matter of any Cavil, or Dispute. And because I pretend not to teach my Fellow- Teachers, or such as need not to be thus taught, (though the most knowing may not disdain to be put in remembrance of what they know,) but only the Ignorant and the Unstable, who (for want of due Knowledge, or of sufficient Consideration,) are like Clouds without water, carried about of Winds, (as S. jude describes them;) I shall be careful that every Part of the Test or Criterion I am to give, may be short, and yet easy, and (I hope) without all Question. The several Parts of the Touchstone will be no fewer than 6 or 7. Nor are the Spirits to be tried by any one or two of them, but by All put together, whether or no they are of God.  

Joh. 14.17.  First, The Spirit that is of God is the Spirit of Truth. And therefore if any man, who is outwardly of a seeming good Life, is yet of very ill judgement in Fundamentals, in Points essential to Christianity, 
1 Pet. 2.13.  as in the Doctrine of Obedience to every Ordinance of Man, 
Rom. 13.1.  to the Higher Powers, to Them that have the Rule over us, 
Heb. 13.17.  and do watch for our Souls; (a Doctrine running in a Vein throughout the Body of the Gospel, and essentially belonging to All Religion;) especially if he ascribes to a sinful man (not to say, The Man of Sin,) That Incommunicable Attribute of God himself, [Infallibility,] and gives to every Priest the Privilege to do a much greater Miracle than ere was done by Christ Himself, so far forth to transubstantiate a piece of Bread, as first to make his own Saviour, and then to eat him; He must needs be misinstructed by the Spirit of Error and Fascination, 
1 Joh. 4.6.  the Spirit with which he is bewitched, 
Act. 8.9, 11.  (as S. Paul speaks to the Galatians, 
Gal. 3.1. ) let his outward Conversation be what it will, let his visible Course of life be never so plausible, or severe.  
Next, 
Rom. 1.4, 18.  The Spirit that is of God is the Spirit of Holiness and Purity, as well as Truth. And therefore if any man, who is Orthodox, is at the same time Dishonest, of some good Opinions, but evil Practice, does hold the Truth, but in unrighteousness; especially if he takes upon him (by That Viper of Morality and all Religion, the Jesuits Doctrine of 
* Vid. Les Provinciales 5.6. & Caramuel de Theologiâ Fundamentali p. 71, 72. & Escobar Theol. Moral. Tom. 1. l. 2. c. 2. p. 34. 39.4●.160 etc.  Probability) not only to allow, but to encourage and abett the grossest Villainies in the World, (without exception;) He is not seasoned by the Holy, but the 
a Mar. 5.8.  unclean Spirit, let his Orthodoxy of judgement, as to some Fundamentals, be what it can. An honest Heathen is not so bad as a Christian Knave.  
Thirdly, The Spirit that is of God is 
b Eph. 4.3, 4.  the Spirit of Unity and Love. And therefore if any sort of men shall take upon them to be Reformers by making Schism, by dissolving the Bond of Peace, wherein the Unity of the Spirit is to be kept, and shall crumble Religion into as many small Parcels, as the Caprices of Idle men shall have the liberty to suggest; especially if they shall labour to separate Subjects from their Sovereign, by absolving them from their Oaths of Christian Obedience and Fidelity, or by instructing them to swear, with a Design to be forsworn; They are miss-led by That Spirit whose Name is Legion, 
Mar. 5.9.  even the Spirit of Division, 
Rev. 12.9.  That old and cunning Serpent which deceiveth the whole World.  
Fourthly, The Spirit that is of God is the Spirit of Meekness and of Order. 
1 Cor. 4.12. 1 Cor. 14.23.  And therefore if any despise Dominion, and speak evil of Dignities, and in pretence of being the Meek ones who are by right of Promise to inherit the Earth, demurely tread upon Crowns and Crofiers, and love to be levelling with their Feet, whatsoever (according to God's special Providence) does overtop them by Head and Shoulders; especially if they presume to place the single Bishop of Rome above General Councils, invest him with a Power to excommunicate Kings, and subvert whole Kingdoms, and make the People hope to Merit by the most prodigious Murders; They must be led by That Spirit, which is called The Angel of the Bottomless Pit, 
Rev. 9.11.  Abaddon, and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, that is, Destroyer; even the Spirit which is still working in the Children of Disobedience. 
Eph. 2, 2.   
Fiftly, The Spirit that is of God is the Spirit of Sincerity, induing All whom He inhabits with an absolute Simplicity and Singleness of Heart. And therefore They who do hold up their Left hand to God, but their Right against their Governors; having Godliness in their Profession, but practical Atheism in their Lives; hating Idols from the Teeth outwards, but loving Sacrilege from the Heart; crying down Superstition, but preaching up the Creature-comforts flowing from Plunder, which they call Providence; declaring with zeal against the Prelates, but ever voting up the Papacy of their Superintendents; declaiming much against the Sectaries who are not of their Denomination, but breaking down the Hedge of Discipline whereby the Herds are to be kept from God's Enclosure; especially They who have invented the Art of Aequivocating and Cheating, the Art of Swearing any thing safely, by mental Exceptions and Reservations, the Art of Cozenage by the Contract they call Mohatra, and the like; must needs be acted by that Spirit whom the Scripture has expressed by the Father of Lies, 
Joh. 8.44. 2 Cor. 11.14.  even the Spirit of Hypocrisy, That black Prince of Darkness, which transforms himself with ease into an Angel of light.  
Sixtly, The Spirit that is of God is the Spirit of Knowledge, 
Isa. 11.2.  and Wisdom, and Understanding. And therefore if any man citys Scripture against the whole Tenor and Stream of Scripture, and wanders into the wrong way, even by That very Word which does direct him into the Right one; especially if he levels the Canon of Scripture with the Apocrypha, and makes the Pure Word of God to truckle humbly under Tradition, whereby it becomes 
* Matth. 15.6. Mar. 7.13.  of none effect; if men so learned, and so acute, and so sagacious as the Jesuits, after all the heinous things they have done and taught, are so far from discerning what Spirit they are of, that they utterly mistake an Evil Spirit for a Good one; a Spirit from Hell, for one from Heaven; the Spirit which reigns in the Court of Rome, for the Spirit which guides in the Church of England; if they can think it the Top of Piety, to advance the Lord jesus quite against the Lord Christ, and make the Christian Religion the greatest Transgression of Itself (which moves the jansenists to call them The Antichristian Society;) if they can take it for the Comble of Christian Merit and Perfection, to espouse and put in practice this Turkish Maxim, that Religion is to be propagated (where 'tis possible) by the Sword; They must needs be possessed by the Spirit of Slumber, 
Rom. 11.8.  the Spirit of dead Sleep, the God of this World which blindeth the mind: 
Isa. 29.10.  for so the Devil is once called, 2 Cor. 4.4.  
What I have thus drawn out at length, our Blessed Lord does wind up into This short Bottom, (Matth. 7.20.) Ye shall know them by their Fruits. But the Fruits of That Spirit that is of God are reckoned up by S. Paul to be such as These; 
Gal. 5.22, 23.  Love, joy, Peace, Long-suffering, Gentleness, Meekness, Goodness, and the like. And therefore They who, instead of loving Enemies, do persecute and oppress the mystical Members of the same Body whereof Christ is the Head; who lay the Cross of Christ jesus on Christian Shoulders, robbing one of a Living, another of a Liberty, a third of a Life; and this for no other Crime than being constantly Conscientious, (and very real Friends to All, because the Flatterers of None, though able to injure, or to oblige them;) must needs be managed by That carnal and unclean Spirit, which makes them so fruitful and so abounding in the works of the Flesh: such as Hatred, 
Gal. 5.19, 20, 21.  Variance, Wrath, Strife, Seditions, Heresies, and the like.  
§ 8. Now if All these Particulars be laid together in our minds, I suppose we have a Touchstone to Try the Spirits of Pretenders, whether or no they are of God; and such a Touchstone, as needs not itself another Touchstone to be Tried by. But because the best Touchstone is nothing worth to such as know not how to use it, we shall do well to take notice of one Rule more in the using of it. For, considering how many 
* Troppo confina la Virtu col Vitio.  Vices do too much border and confine upon several Virtues, and how many Lies are more plausible to flesh and blood than many Truths; and hardly any thing can be so false, but may have Colours and Probabilities to set it off; (being neatly laid on by men ingeniously wicked;) and that a multitude of Ignaro's do often swallow the grossest Errors, (presented to them in the Disguise of the greatest Truths,) by not distinguishing Words (as they ought) from Things, and blending one thing with another, and taking them down all at once, without any masticating or chewing; I say, for This reason, we must not pass our last judgement upon Pretenders to the Spirit, until we have made ourselves acquainted as well with their Habits, as with their Acts; as well with the main or general current of their Lives, as with the mere conduct and carrying-on of their Designs; with the Means they make use of, as well as with the End they pretend to aim at; with the Building which is erected, as well as with the Scaffold by which 'tis raised; with All their Actions in a lump, as well as with the most specious and fairest of them. And when This is done throughly, Then let the Hypocrites and Impostors be what they will, let the Forms of Godliness and the Features of Religion be never so artificially and neatly drawn, let the Colours be laid on with never so delicate a Pencil, and let that Pencil also be managed with never so exquisite Address; 'twill be most easy to find the difference between the Picture and the Life. Let Zeuxis his lively Grapes be never so apt to deceive the Birds, yet the Deadness of his Boy will unfold the Cheat.  
§ 9 The very Truth of it is, We should be utterly unexcusable, if we should fall into the Snare of The certain men among us crept in unawares, of either sort, because their Arts of deceiving are gross and obvious; fit to infatuate Understandings of the lowest size only, and such as are willing to be deluded. There were Counterfeit in the most primitive and purest Times of the Church, who were brave Cheats indeed; who, besides their Form of Godliness, besides their Praying and their Preaching, could also set forth themselves by Signs and Wonders. 
2 Thess. 2.9. 2 Cor. 11.14.  The Devil had taught them That subtle Trick of transforming themselves into Angels of light; 
Matth. ●4. 24.  and so of deceiving (if it were possible) the very Elect. Such were Barchochebas, Apollonius, and Simon Magus. Whereof the First had got a faculty even of vomiting flames of Fire; the Second could tell the men of Ephesus, what in That very Hour was done at Rome; the Third (like a Cherub) could fly abroad into the Air. So that They had some kind of Colour for their giving out themselves to be the Messengers of Heaven, some Pretences for their Broaching a New Theology to the People; because their Counterfeited Miracles, however derived from below, might seem at least to short Reasons to have been given them from Above. And to be cozened by such as These, were a more tolerable Infirmity; a Credulity more to be pitied, and very much more (rather than less) to be pardoned also. The Magicians also in Egypt were such admirable Deceivers, that They were able (as well as Aaron) to turn their Rods into Serpents, 
Exod. 7. c. 8.  and their Slime into Frogs, and their Waters into Blood. So as if Moses and Aaron (through God's Assistance) had not publicly convicted them of downright Sorcery and Enchantment, (wherein the Magicians grew eminent through the Assistance of the Devil;) If Aaron's Rod at last had not swallowed up Their Rods, and turned the Dust into Lice through all the Land, which the Magicians could not do, but confessed (to their own shame) that The finger of God was in it; Lastly, if Moses had not smitten the very Sorcerers themselves (as well as the rest of the Egyptians) with Boils and Blains, insomuch that the Magicians could not stand before Moses; They had had a shrewd Advantage in the deceiving of the People, and the People so deceived had been excusable à Tanto. Whereas our modern Enthusiasts, or Pretenders to Revelation, and to a Testimony within them from God the Holy Ghost, are not so much as good jugglers; They are woeful Impostors, and silly Cheats; such as Satan indeed has furnished with very much Industry, but with very small Wit; whereby He does not more strongly Tempt them, than he discovers them to be His. They being so far from being endowed with extraordinary Gifts, whereby to prove to us an extraordinary Commission; so far from setting out themselves by Signs and Wonders, (like those Primitive Deceivers of whom our Saviour gave all his Disciples Warning, (in the 24th. of S. Matthew,) or like Those of whom Moses forewarned His People, (in the 13th. of Deuteronomy;) that they come short of most men of the Church of England, even in Those very things wherein they would be thought eminent. The only Gifts of the Spirit which they pretend to, are but Praying and Preaching; in their Performances of which they signalise themselves by Nothing; or at least by nothing more, than Noise, and Nonsense. The Gift of Tongues, or the Gift of Healing, or the Gift of being subject to Higher. Powers, for Conscience sake, or for the Lord's, or any other such remarkable Apostolical Gift of the Holy Ghost, I never heard that our Adversaries on either side did ever yet so much as pretend unto. They seem to be as unapt to obey their Governors for Conscience sake, (which is one special Gift of the Holy Ghost,) as to speak with new Tongues, or to raise the Dead.  
§ 10. Now if those Exquisite Pretenders, in the Infancy of the Gospel, Barchochebas a jew, and Apollonius Tyanaeus an arrant Heathen, Simon Magus, Menander, Basilides, and the like, who by Profession at least were Christians, were not Then to be believed, notwithstanding their Enchantment and Magick-miracles; If a false Prophet under the Law, who led the People into New Errors, (as Vincentius Lirinensis expounds that Passage Deut. 13.1, 
Vin. Lit. c. 15.  2, 3. and applies it to a false Teacher in the Times of Christianity, in particular and by name, to Valentinus, Donatus, Photinus, Appolinaris,) was not only not to be heeded or harkened to, but also was by That Law to be put to Death; yea (one step farther,) If an Angel from Heaven, who shall preach another Doctrine than what hath hitherto been delivered, (whereby to lead us into Rebellion, or Schism, or Sacrilege, or any Conspiracy whatsoever against the Government we are under,) must be no otherwise entertained, than with an Anathema Maranatha; How much less may our Shallower and Vnskilfuller Impostors be believed to be of God upon their own single Word, and without a Witness, whilst they cannot confirm or commend their Novelties, no not so much as by seeming Miracles? no not so much as That Man of Sin, That Son of Perdition, of whose Coming S. Paul saith to his Thessalonians, 
2 Thess. 2.3, 9  that 'tis after the working of Satan, with all Power, and Signs, and (with stupendous, though) lying Wonders?  
But grant they had (what they have not) an Ability to show us some Signs and Wonders; 
Matth. 24.24.  yet Apollonius Tyanaeus would put them down.  
Suppose they preached extremely well, 
Matth. 7.22.  as 'tis plain they do not) yet Photinus and Nestorius would go beyond them.  

Matth. 23.14.  Do they make very long Prayers? So did the Pharisees for a Pretence, that they might the more slily devour Orphans and Widows houses.  
Have they a readiness and facility in citing Scripture? So had julian the Apostate when he disputed against the Gospel. So had Satan in his tempting our Blessed Saviour; 
Matth. 4.4, 6.  when he wrested God's Oracles with as much subtlety and address, as the keenest of our Recusants (of what strain soever) are wont to do.  
Do they pretend their being warranted by an immediate Revelation? So did Numa the Roman; and so did Eumenes the Greek: so did Mahomed the Saracen; and Alarichus the Goth: lastly, so did the Pretenders in the Primitive Church; which made S. john exhort Christians to Try the Spirits; alleging This for his reason, that many false Prophets are gone out into the World.  

Quomodo ob Religionem Magni, quibus Magnitudo de irreligiositate provenit? Tertull. Apolog. cap. 25. p. 56.  Is God's permitting them to be prosperous, or to sin on with great Impunity, any Argument that he approves them? No, 'tis the weakest way of reasoning which our Adversaries of Rome have delighted in. For, (besides that we find them confuted often by their Afflictions,) God permits, what he abominates, his own Dishonour. How patiently did he permit the Disobedience of the First Adam, and Crucifixion of the Second? All the Villainies in the world do come to pass by God's Permission, however contrary they are to his Rules and Precepts. And if prosperous Impiety does therefore cease to be Impiety, because 'tis prosperous and permitted, (that is) not hindered by force and violence, (inconsistent with a free and a moral Agent;) Then the great Sultan, and the great Cham, and the great Mogul, as well as the great Bishop of Rome, are by an equally-sound Consequence the greatest Favourites of Heaven. And then the Argument of 
* apud Prudentium ad Valentin. Si Romanae Religiones regna praestant, nunquam retro Iudaea regnásset, Despectrix communium istarum Divinitatum. Tertull. Apol. c. 26. p. 57  Symmachus had been unanswerably conclusive against the Primitive Christians, who for 300 years and upwards lay groaning under the Yoke of the Heathens Tyranny. Lastly, if Permission were still a Mark of Approbation; Then Dionysius (or Diagoras) had argued logically well, when, having robbed the Delphic Temple, & immediately after escaped a Shipwreck, he gave it out, that the Gods had approved his Sacrilege. Not at all that he believed, but laughed at Providence.  
§ 11. What now can be said farther, in the behalf of our Pretenders to the same Spirit's Illumination, which cleared the Heads of the Apostles, and warmed their Hearts? Can it be said they live strict and religious lives, though lives of Schism and Disobedience to humane Laws and Lawgivers, expressly said in Holy Scripture to be the Ordinances of God? But admit it were True, (which yet is so false, that it implies a Contradiction,) 'twere not prevailing. 
Hieron. ad Marcellam.  For the Heretic Montanus grew so proud of his Strictness, of his Demure Course of life in point of Abstinence and Sobriety, and suffering Hardships, as to believe himself in Time to be The Paraclete downright; 
Philostrat. l. 3.  not a Godly man only, but even The Holy Spirit of God. In which case 'tis very evident, that even his strictness was his Disease: and that the Spirit which overruled him was from his Spleen. The Heathen brahmin's also of India were so temperate, and chaste, and so addicted to Self-denials, (in 
* Maffaea Hist. Ind. l. 12. p. 319. & l. 14. p. 398. 1 Cor. 7.31.  order to their gaining upon the opinions of the People with whom they lived,) that they seemed (in all appearance) to use This World as not abusing it: (exactly so as S. Paul exhorts the followers of Christ) Such an externally-strict Person was the Papalins S. Francis; who yet discovered his Humility and passive Meekness (as I have read many years since, apud Autherem nescio Quem, as Cicero speaks in the like case,) to have partly been a Cloak, and partly an Insirument of his Pride. For, being asked why he rejoiced amidst the hardships of his Imprisonment, 
Ideo me exultare noveri●u, quia ad. huc Sanctus per totum Seculum adorator.  Because (said he) the whole world will even adore and canonize me among their Saints. Hereby we see the strict Necessity of the last Rule 1 mentioned for the right using of the Great Rule by which the Spirits are to be Tried. For,  
Lastly, by neglecting to Try the Spirits of Pretenders, whether or no they be of God, (and to try them impartially by every part of That Touchstone I lately gave,) How very many have we known of our poor Separatists in England, (acted as they have been by the late Emissaries of Rome,) so strangely shallow, and over-credulous, as readily to imagine that every Schismatic is a Saint, who is not a Sabbath-breaker, or Swearer, not a Drunkard, or an Adulterer, and is so or so qualified in point of judgement; or (to speak more exactly) in point of Party, and of Opinion? It must therefore be well considered, and carried constantly in mind by such as These, that of the two 'tis less intolerable to be a Swearer, than a Rebel; a Drunkard, than a Thief; a common Thief, than a Sacrilegious one; and a less horrid thing, to be corporally vile, than to be spiritually proud of one's own Perfections. We must beware of all the former, as we ever hope to fly from the wrath to come; but more especially of the latter, as being much the more Luciferian Sins. Sins which can never attend men to Heaven, having brought down the Angels of Heaven to Hell. Drunkenness and Whoredom (however damning) are Sins the Devil cannot commit: but Envy, and Malice, and Schism, and Sacrilege, Hypocrisy, and Rebellion, and intoxicating Pride, are peculiar to him; they are the Devil's Sins so properly, that they are properly called Devilish in Men, or Christians, wherever found. And as These of all Sins are much the most Diabolical, so they are the most damning of any other, for aught I can collect from the words of Christ, (Matth. 23.14.) and by the words of S. Peter, (2 Pet. 2.9, 10.) If they who hate our Congregations and way of Worship, because they judge the Holy Ghost to have forsaken our Meetings, and to dwell only in theirs, or because we do not easily shut the Door against Sinners, (till by Authority authorised,) though they are under the Reputation either of Drunkenness, or Whoredom, or any other the like Scandalous and Deadly Sin, but not under the Sentence of legal Excommunication, (till when we cannot lawfully shut them out from our Communion,) I say, if the Censurers of our Patience and Longanimity towards such would but turn their Eyes inwards, or duly reflect upon themselves, and compare those Sins which the Devil never commits, with those several other Sins which are proper to him; If they would not only observe, but also remember, and consider, and religiously lay to heart, 
2 Pet. 2. 9, 10.  the terrible Emphasis and force S. Peter puts on the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, saying of Them who despise Government, that they are chiefly, or most especially, reserved by the Lord unto the day of judgement to be punished; and the most formidable Importance of That Greater Damnation, 
Matth. 23.14.  which our Saviour has denounced against those Hypocrites, who for a Pretence do make long Prayers; I say again, if our dissenting & separating Brethren (in love and pity to whose Souls we pray & preach for their Conformity) would have the Patience and the Humility to chew enough on these things, They would think with more Charity of our Communion, and with less Arrogance of their own. They would not separate from us Then, unless for contrary Inducements than now do move them. They would separate from us Then, in an humble opinion of their own Vileness; saying from the heart with the meek Centurion, 
Luk. 7.6.  Lord, we are not worthy that Thou shouldst enter under our Roof, and are by consequence unworthy to have admittance under Thine. They would not separate from us Then, unless in the Spirit of S. Peter, afraid to approach unto Christ himself, with a Depart from me, O Lord, for I am a Sinful man. They would not separate from us Then, like those Idolaters in Isaiah, 
Isa. 65.2, 5.  with a Stand farther off, come not near to us, for we are holier than you; But rather, like the Lepers under the Law of Leprosy, would cover their faces with Confusion, and stand aloof from God's House, 
Leu. 13.45, 46.  accusing themselves of their Uncleanness: or, like the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 & 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the Primitive Times of Discipline, falling down flat upon their faces, (not in the Church, but the Churchyard, at an humble Distance,) would beg the Charity of Their Prayers whom they saw entering into God's House at the Times of Prayer. Were they such Separatists as These, and from such a Principle as This, from the excesses only of Meekness, and not of Pride, we should receive them with the Embraces of Arms and Hearts; we should readily afford them even the Right hand of Fellowship; we should conclude the Holy Ghost had so descended upon their Souls, as once he did upon the Heads of the 12 Apostles, 
Act. 2. 41.  or rather upon the Hearts of th●se 3000 who at S. Peter's one Sermon were added to them: Though not in the Edifying Gifts which were bestowed upon the former, yet in the Sanctifying Graces which were infused into the latter.  
§ 12. But having spoken enough already of Trying the Spirits in other men, I think it fit to say something of Trying them also in ourselves. For considering the words of the Prophet jeremy, The Heart of man is deceitful above all things; and that 'tis given to very few, (few, I mean, in comparison,) to know what Spirits they are of; I guess it concerns us all in general, and every one of us in particular, to resume the whole Text, and bring it home unto ourselves; to search and try our own Hearts, and to examine our own Spirits, whether or no they are of God. 'Twas the Precept of Pythagoras to every man of his Sect, that he should bring himself to the Test, or call himself to an Account, every Evening of his whole Life, with a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉; what he had done in That Day which he ought to have omitted, and what good thing he had omitted which 'twas his Duty to have done: 
〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Cor. 13.5.  Nor was he to suffer himself to sleep, till he had made up this Reckoning three several Times. So 'twas the Precept of S. Paul, in his ad Epistle to the Corinthians, Examine yourselves whether ye be in the Faith: (meaning That Faith which does work by Love all manner of Obedience to the Law of Christ's Gospel:) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, prove or try your own selves, whether ye have not yet received the True Faith of Christ; or whether, having once received, ye still retain it. Know ye not your own selves how that jesus Christ is in you, except ye be Reprobates? So S. Paul reasoned with his Corinthians; and so must we with or within ourselves. Know we not that Christ is in us, by the Presence of his Spirit? and by the Power of his Word? and by the evident effects of His Operation? Such as our Sorrow for our sins past, our hatred of ourselves in Remembrance of them, and our steadfast Resolutions of better life? Know we not that Christ is in us by such Evidences as These? If we do, Then let us treat him in such a manner, as may become so Divine a Guest. But if we do not, we have some reason to fear, lest we have sinn'd-away our Saviour, as arrant Reprobates and Castaways; as men unworthy to be called Christians; as men who either are not at all Regenerate, or else are fallen from That State of Regeneration which we were in; or (to express it with S. Paul) as men who have received the Grace of God in vain. And as it concerns us on all occasions to try the Spirit which is in us, whether 'tis a good, or an evil Spirit; so most especially does it concern us at such a Time as This is, when we Tread in God's Courts, to offer up the Gospel-sacrifice of Supplication and Thanksgiving; to hear His Word, & to partake of his Sacraments (Duties equally belonging to the first Sunday of the month.) For the Bread of God's Children must not be cast unto the Dogs; and the Food which is Spiritual belongs to Them only who can spiritually discern it, and who live not after the Flesh, but after the Spirit. I do not mean after every Spirit, (for there are many more than good, as I showed before,) but after The Spirit that is of God; The Spirit of Holiness, and Truth; The Spirit of Unity, and Love; The Spirit of Meekness, and of Order; The Spirit of Singleness, and Sincerity; The Spirit of Wisdom, and Understanding; The Spirit of Counsel, and Ghostly Strength; The Spirit of Knowledge, and true Godliness; 
Isa. 11.2.  and lastly, The Spirit of God's Holy Fear; (as the divine Prophet Isaiah expresseth him resting upon Christ, of whom the good King Hezekiah was but a Type in That place.) Unto all which if I should add, The Spirit of Promise, 
Eph. 1.13. Rev. 19.10. Zech. 12.10. 1 Pet. 4.14.  (with S. Paul,) and The Spirit of Prophecy (with S. john,) The Spirit of Grace, (with holy Zachary,) and The Spirit of Glory, (with S. Peter,) I should but say, The same Spirit, in the vindicating of whom from the many False Spirits, which (in this last Age especially) have been debauching the Christian World, I have employed the little Time which is allowed for this Part of our Morning Service.  
To Him therefore with The Father in their Unity with The Son, Sing we hosannah's, and Hallelujahs, Blessing, Glory, Honour, and Power, To Him that liveth for evermore.