suited the dulness, and ignorance of the times in which they were wrote; but they will not go down in this enlightened age. esteem. D. So then while you have been increasing in knowledge, and refining your language, you have suited your divinity to the taste of the times, and very dexterously perverted the doctrine you profess, putting darkness for light, and light for darkness,1 and very fairly made a jest of what you solemnly subscribed. You are pleased to say, the learned have little veneration for the homilies; but you mistake: I could produce late, as well as former instances, of many wise and eminent men, both for learning and piety who have had the homilies in great Who more learned than archbishop Usher, bishop Beveridge, Jewel? &c. and these both experienced and preached this doctrine, as you may see by their writings. Thus bishop Reynolds, a true son of the church, in his sermon on the sinfulness of sin: "Look into your heart, and you shall find a very hell of uncleanness, full of deep and unsearchable wickedness, full of hardness; no sins, no judgments, no mercies, no allurements, no hope, fear, promises, instructions, able to startle, awaken, melt, or shape it to a better image, without the immediate omnipotency of that God, who melts the mountains, and turns stones into the sons of Abraham." Also bishop Wilkins, another true son, heartily agrees with the former, saying, "All the pravity and baseness which fills up 1 Isaiah, v. 20. every part and power about us, are but effusions of our original corruption. What a world of mischief is there in our several parts, our wills and affections, our tongues and eyes! yet these are but as little rivulets; the fountain, or rather the sea, that feeds them, is our corrupt nature.” "I believe, (saith Beveridge) that I was conceived in sin and brought forth in iniquity, and that ever since I have been conceiving mischief, and bringing forth vanity." But why so much stress on human learning? If you please, turn to the homily on reading the scripture: man's human wisdom," saith St. Chrysostom, "is not needful to the understanding of scripture, but the revelation of the Holy Ghost; who inspireth the true meaning unto them, who, with humility and diligence, search for it." Also in the homily on Whitsuntide, a memorable passage is inserted, of "a certain wise philosopher, who being an extreme adversary to Christ and his doctrine, could not be converted to the faith, but was able to withstand all the arguments that could be brought against him: At length there started up a poor simple man, one that was reputed an ideot. The bishops and learned men standing by, were marvellously abashed, thinking that they should all be put to open shame. But he brought the philosopher to such a point in the end, contrary to all men's expectation, that he could not but acknowledge the power of God in his word, and gave place to the truth:" And farther "Was the homily, not this a miraculous work, that a silly soul, of no learning, should do that which many bishops says of great understanding were never able to bring to pass?" P. I must have more than human_authority. Can you prove your homilies, &c. from scrip ture? 1 D. I commend you for receiving nothing without divine testimony; but I fear you require farther evidence with no better design than to evade the truth, and trifle with the subject. First then, St. John saith, The whole world lieth in wickedness, and St. Paul beareth the like testimony, there is none righteous, no, not one. All have sinned, and come short of the glory of God; And again, by one man's disobedience many were made sinners. And the Psalmist asserts, that he was shapen in iniquity, and in sin did his mother conceive him. Again, the imagination of man's heart is evil from his youth. The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked. Also, they hated knowledge, and did not choose the fear of the Lord. They would none of my counsel. They despised all my reproof. They refused to hearken, and pulled away the shoulder, and stopped their ears that they should not hear: Yea they made their hearts as an adamant-stone, lest they should hear the law, and the words which the Lord of hosts hath sent in his spirit.s And what is more dreadful, their soul abhorred 1 1 John v. 19. 2 Rom. iii. 10. 12. 23. 6 Jer. xvii. 9. 8 Zech. vii. 11, 12. God. They rejoice to do evil, and delight in the forwardness of the wicked. And the God of this world hath blinded their minds. Dead in trespasses and sins,-children of wrath.* Captives of the devil,-children of the devil: for he that committeth sin is of the devil." P. But will you undertake to bring scripture proof that human literature is not needful for the attainment of divine knowledge, and for teaching the truths of religion? D. If I prove it from a thousand scriptures I am persuaded you will not believe. I read that the prophet Elisha was called to the ministry when following the plough." That Amos was a herdsman, and the Lord took him as he followed the flock, and said, go, prophecy unto my people Israel. David though taken from the sheepfolds, became the great composer of the book of Psalms. And when Christ called twelve to be his Apostles, he did not go to the seminaries of learning, but chose ignorant fishermen, that the pride of man might be mortified. For not many wise, not many mighty, not many noble are called: But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise, and things which are despised, and things which are not, to bring to nought things that are.10 Our holy Lord glorifies his Father, that he had hid these things from those the world esteemed wise and prudent, and had revealed them to babes;1 persons that were accounted as nothing. Yet we allow that learning is useful in its place, if attended with divine grace, if subservient to the truth of God, and if made to submit to the faith of the gospel. P. Some have, indeed, great veneration for the fathers; but for my part, I have not. I prefer the authority of later times, and depend most on the judgment of modern authors; as there must have been opportunity, since the first ages of christianity for revising the sentiments of the ancients. If you could produce great and good men, near to our own times, who have espoused your opinions, and have suffered for what they maintained, to cut the matter short, I would then give up every objection. D. So now you desert the authority of scripture, and require further evidence. I thought you fled to revelation only to escape conviction. As for great and holy men, since the primitive fathers, that have borne their testimony to my doctrine, what were all the reformers in this and other countries? Bishop Cranmer, Latimer, Ridley, Hooper, Ferrars, Philpot, Saunders, and divers others of our own clergy, as well as laity, sealed the truth of it with their blood. book of homilies was compiled by several of these venerable martyrs, and the same was established by law, with the liturgy, church catechism, &c. which every one admitted to holy orders was to subscribe, and both preach Math. ii. 25. The |