A soveraign antidote against sinful errors, the epidemical plague of these latter dayes. Extracted out of divine records, the dispensatory of Christianity: for the prevention and cure of our spiritual distempers. By Claudius Gilbert, B.D. and minister of the Gospel at Limrick in Ireland.

PREFACE.

Christian READER.

ERROR is the Epidemical disease of this Age,* 1.1 exactly considerable in its Nature and Descent, in its Species and Degrees, in its Cause and Effects, in its Symptoms and Cure. We shall but touch those things which others have elaborately handled, to usher in the Scope and Substance of the fol∣lowing discourse.

1. The Nature and Idea thereof consists much in a sinfull straying of mans Judgement from the Truth of God into falshood. 1. Mans Judgement is the pro∣per Subject and Seat thereof: (we meddle not now the Angels Failures) from whence it casts a malign Influ∣ence upon all other Powers and Parts.

2. Its Genus is straying or wandring.* 1.2 So the Greek properly imports, a slipping and sliding from Truth into falshood and by-ways.

3. Its difference lies in both the terms. First, From which it swerves; i. e. The Terminus à quo, from the Truth of God. Secondly, To which it leads, the Terminus ad quem, into falshood. So its distinguished from bare Ig∣norance,

both negative and privative; Error being a soul-sickness, an 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, a disorderly Distemper, disposing to evil positively, both habitual and actual, as it deprives of and indisposes to that good, r••specting the Souls health; It differs also from Scruples and doubts, which are but un∣certain motives from Truth, and weaker Inclinations to falshood, as the grudgings and Rudiments of spiritual diseases. Its likewise differenced thereby from Heart-Hypocrisie and verbal lies.

Secondly, Errors Descent fetches its Extract from the Prince and Father of Lies,* 1.3 who abode not in the Truth, but drew thousands of glorious Angels,* 1.4 who kept not their first state, into Error and Apostacy. His Serpentine spawn by dub••ous Queries was soon cast into our first Parents, where it quickly bred Error and all sin. That unhappy Breath so strongly infected them, that this sinfull disease is become hereditary to all their natural Posterity. This wofull Leprosie hath been thus propagated from our Head Adam to all his Issue, through the loins of sinfull parents. It cleavs to mans Nature, and hath been in all ages suc∣cessively communicated by a wofull Series in all sorts, more or less.* 1.5 As the Leprosie cleaving to the Wall, could never be totally removed, till the Wall it self was quite pulled down: So doth this Plague cleave to mans soul, till mans dissolution. Adam received at once the seed of corporal and spiritual Diseases and death, in the same moment that he began to sin, he began to die, according to Gods Word; from whence the progress of a dying life in him, and all his, till Grace begin that spiritual Life below that Glory compleats above. Israel had contracted their wofull Leprosie from that Aegypt that enslaved them;* 1.6 so is our spiritual Leprosie contracted from that my∣stical Aegyt which hath poisoned us so desperately, and

infests still the Canaan-State of Christs militant Church.* 1.7 As Truth is a most diffusive Good, so is Error a most diffusive Evil. Error like a stone thrown into the water, rises in Circles, each Circle begetting another and growing still wider till they all quite lose themselves in the end. Like Cadmus Brood they start up suddenly, and as soon fall foul each on other.

3. The Species and Sorts of Error are multiplicious, like the diseases that trouble the body. As there are va∣rious sorts and denominations of divine Truths, so are there as many distinctions of Errors. The specifical difference of each Error is measurable still by the dimension of that Truth it opposes and strayes from, and of that falshood in∣to which it slides.* 1.8 The Truth of God is the confor∣ty of his Thoughts, Words and Works, to his own glorious Essence. The Truth of man is the due conformity of man to that Truth of God, whether mental, verbal or practi∣cal. Error is accordingly diversified in its general ac∣ceptation; but properly to our purpose it is restrained to the Iudgement, and distingushed from other sins which are verbal or practical Errors, flowing from mans Will and affections more directly. That Truth of God is espe∣cially considerable in matters of Religion, either funda∣mental or juxta-fundamental,* 1.9 or more superficial and circumstantial. Error is accordingly discernable in its several wandrings from that Truth. The Scripture of Truth declares the same in all their specifical variations. Tue Fundamentals of Religion are summed up in the Ar∣ticles of our Faith, called the Apostles Creed, because ex∣tracted out of their writtings; which Symbol hath been successively explained by the several Confessions of the primitive Churches, as the Nicene and Athanasian Creed, as also of the Reformed in Germany and France,

Belgium, and England, &c. As there are varie∣ties of Weeds and poisons about the earth which peculiarly offend the several parts of the Body, some being more hurtfull to the head, some to the Stomach, &c. So do va∣rious Errors offend the several parts of Truth, whence various designations are given to them.

4. The Gradations and Degrees of Error admit also of a variable Latitude, according to the variation of its aggravations. As diseases do vary in their gradual recess from health, being either simple or compound, either more or less malignant & hurtfull; Thus Errors admit of many adjuncts which render them more or less sinful and inju∣rious. In every Error there is a sinfulness, an 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 and 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, a defect of Truth privative, & a disposition to fals∣hood positive. As in every disease there is an evil de∣flection from the 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 or sound disposition of the body; so in Error from that of the mind. But this deflection is not alike in all, but is cloathed with numerical diffe∣rences and personal aggravations. Some Errors are more, and others less rooted: Some are more single, and others complicate. Some are more submissively held, and others more pertinaciously: some are kept close, & others publish∣ed; some have more of the Will and Affections attending them, others less: some are more, and others less pernicious: some are more quiet, others more turbulent. As the malig∣nity of infectious diseases admits of a great Latitude: as the variety of venomous Creatures, whether Plants, Minerals or Sensitives, is multipliciously diversified by the variations of their clime, intentions of degrees, &c. some being cold as Hemlock, others hot as Euphorbium: some in the first or second, others in the third or fourth de∣gree: some working more slowly, others more quickly: some by their Tail, as the Scorpion: some by their Teeth, as

the Viper and Rattle-snake; some by their Tongue, others by their Excrements: some more sensibly, as a mad Dog; some more insensibly, as the Asp: So do Errors appear under variety of offensive qualities and adjuncts.

5. The Cause of Error also, as of every disease, is multipliciously observable, especially in a three-fold Division of Evident, Antecedent, and Continent.

1. An Evident Cause among Physicians, is much from Externals, if not altogether, whereby a Distemper is occasioned in the body. So in mans soul this sickness of Error may be occasioned by external Causes, as by in∣fection, ill company, bad books, various Temptations, &c.

2. An Antecedent Cause of sickness bodily, is from some thing within, whether vapor, humor or Spirit, di∣stempering any part, & disabling it from its proper Acti∣on. Thus the foregoing Cause of this spiritual disease, lies in some flatuous, humorous or spiritual evil that disorders the mind from its right discerning of the Truth, causing it to deviate into the way of falshood.* 1.10 Habitual Corrupti∣on within, flowing from Adams first sin, (which is ours by Imputation,) attended with the want of original Righ∣teousness, and often called original sin, because the womb of all sin in us) is the chief cause from which all other evils flow, that breed and increase these sad distempers. This Corruption acts variously in the way of Pride and Self-seeking, Security and Worldliness, &c.

3. The Continent Cause of a corporal distemper is that immediate thing which cherishes it, being cherished from the remote cause, whether corrupt blood, wind, water, gravel, &c. So the continent Cause of Error, is that peculiar Corruption whether. Ignorance or Pride, self-conceitedness or worldliness, &c. which sticks close to the mind, to breed and cherish its several dyscrasies and

distempers. Thence such clouding of mens Iudgements and disorders in their Reasonings:* 1.11 hence perverse Di∣sputings of men that are reprobate concerning the Faith; as Ambition and Pride carried Simon and Me∣nander, Nestorius and Macedonius away; Discontent and Envy prevailed with Arrius; Covetousness carried on Demetrius and his Comrads. There is a Complication of such causes in most.

6. The Effects of Error, as of every corporal disease, are likewise variously numerous, according to the variations of its numerical Idea, of its specifical nature, of its descent, gradations & causes. This spiritual sickness is a Tenden∣cy to further sin & eternal Death; as every bodily sickness is the beginning of corporal death.* 1.12 The wages of sin is death; sin deserves it, it binds ever, it leads to it, it fits for it, it begins it. As much as there is of sinfulness, so much is there of death attending it, Corporal & civil, spi∣ritual and Eternal. Grace indeed doth restrain and limit, it pardons and subdues, it purges out gradually, and at last exterminates all sin in Gods Elect; yet it changes not the Nature or desert of sin, though it chances the sinners na∣ture and relation. Providence limits and over-rules this sinfulness also in the Reprobate. As the wise Physitian corrects his Opium in a Confection; so doth God correct sin remaining in his Children. As the same Physitian ap∣points fit means against infection to all indefinitely, so doth our Soveraign Physician by shewing the dangerous effects of Error. As the effects of Poisons are very various, yet always sad: so are sin and sorrrw inseparable Twins. Er∣ror was set forth to the Life by that Leprosiy of the head, which had a peculiar mark of Ignominy,* 1.13 Infection and danger. Its like to those poisonous Minerals and Vegeta∣bles, which strike first ai the head, and thence at all other

parts. Its a spiritual Plague which cannot but be mischie∣vous still, though not in all alike. All sorts of men in all re∣lations are made to feel the sad Consequents thereof. Its a fruitfull womb, a breeding dung hill, a poisoned spring, Lerna malorum. It engages and leads insensibly to more evil, notional and practical. It disgraces God, opposes his Truth, distempers mens souls, endangers their families, blasts their Profession, stains their Repute, scandalizes many, ensnares divers, troubles Church and State, and complies with Satan in his various designes, by nursing of his brood. This Age gives sad demonstations thereof. As Cephalical diseases are on many accounts the most dan∣gerous of all in the Body: so are these heady distempers in the soul, which are easily communicated to all the vital & inferior parts. The poison of some works in a stupifying way, as Opium, Henbane, Hemlock, &c. others venom acts by an enraging quality, as Elaterium, Euphorbium, Scammony: The effect of some is more speedily mortal, as in the Touches of a Basilisk, and Asp, of the Viper and rattle Snake, if not very timely look'd to; others are more slow and less dangerous, as in the operations of va∣rious simples appears. The Parallel of spiritual Poisons therewith is easily drawn by an observing Christian.

7. The Symptoms or Signs of Error, as of Corporal desea∣ses, are of divers sorts, some more Common, others more Proper.

1. The common signs are such as attend divers distem∣pers in a general way, as enfeebling of the parts, change of complexion, Indiposition to action, &c. Thus Errors have their Common signs, wherein many of them agree, ap∣pearing much in their sad effects against Gods Honor and mans good, though often under far Colors, like that In∣dian Apple in the Western Islands, which seems beauti∣full, and yet is rank poison.

2. There are proper Tokens and characteristical 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, and notes of each bodily disease, setting out its spe∣cifical Idea by its numerical and peculiar properties, whe∣ther one or more, and usually by a 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 and Concurrence of divers, as a Frensie, a Lethargy, an Apoplexy, &c. have singular marks from the defect and disorders of the faculties animal, vital and natural.

Thus Error, the Frensie of the soul, when boiled up to its height, sets a man on a rage against Truth and her friends, rejects the Means of its cure, raves and ranges at Will, inflames the Spirits, disorders all the powers and parts, hastning to destruction, as appeared in the ranting Crue, formerly and lately in Germany and England; another error may more resemble a Lethargy, benumming the Soul, fixing the Spirits, casting the person into a fea∣vorish sleep, stopping the senses, filling them with dreams, closing their eyes, and distempering all powers and parts, rendering them incapable of sense and help, if the Lord work not extraordinarily, witness James Naylor and his quaking Rout.

Another Error may be found more like an Apoplexie; suddenly taking away sense and motion, reason and life, as that of some Circumcellions, and the bloody rabble of Germany and Switzerland from Anno 1522.* 1.14 till 1534. Another is more like a Palsey, stopping the fountain of the sinews, either totally or partially by di∣stempering the head and its Conduits, whereby sense and motion are conveyed to all inferior parts, and gradually hastning mans end. So it fares with divers Quakers now, and many monkish Pharisaical Notionists, Rose-Crucians, Eremitical Recluses and Behmenists. Thus might we instance in every disease, and draw the parallel of Error along in its various Symptoms and Characters;

the which are accompanied with malignity and infection, with Confidence and peremptoriness, with Censoriousness and self-conceitedness, more or less, according to the Na∣ture, Extent and Causes of such distempers. But as some poisonous Weeds do very nearly resemble the good plants among which they grow, as young Hemlock among Parsley; So divers Errors grow like Truth for a while, till they come up to strength (which they do much faster then good hearbs) to be better discerned by their ill qualities and wo∣full effects.

8. The Cure of Error, as of bodily sickness, is diversly to be observed in the Indications directing thereto, in the materials to be used, and in the due method of preparing and ministring of them sutably to the Rules of Art, and the Patients Case.

1.* 1.15 The Indications of Error, as of the bodily diseases, require the removing of the Cause, the rectifying of the parts, the restoring of strength, and preserving of it by all convenient means.

2.* 1.16 The Materials and Ingredients that are to be used towards that Cure for soul and body, are considerable in a regular diet, in orderly medicines, and the Chirurgions seasonable help. Thus erroneous Persons are 1. to be dieted, in shunning evil food, evil company, evil motions, &c. and in using food, company, exercise, &c. tending to spiri∣tual health. 2. They are to be well purged with due pre∣paratives and Laxatives. 3. They must have the Chirurgions help also in letting out the corrupt blood of sin, in dressing of their spiritual Sores, in applying of all fit Medicaments, and administring of all things orderly.

3. The Method of preparing and dispensing of them all for the cure of Diseases, Spiritual and Corporal, is to be guided by the skilfull Physitian of Heaven, who hath appointed Men and Means, that in observing the Pre∣scripts of his Word applyed sutably to every ones case, his promised Blessing may be waited for, and received in an Obedience of Faith and Love. The following Anti∣dote prescribed by him may be through his Grace singu∣larly helpfull thereto.

Notes

• * 1.1

  See Mr. Bol∣tons Arraign∣ment of Error; Danaeus, Epiphan. Au∣gust. Hieronym. de Heretic. &c.
• * 1.2

  〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, hence 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉.
• * 1.3

  Iohn 8. 44.
• * 1.4

  Iude 6.
• * 1.5

  Levit. 14. 44, 45.
• * 1.6

  Deut. 28. 27.
• * 1.7

  Dato uno ab∣surdo, mille sequuntur. Cadmei Pro∣les, Adag.
• * 1.8

  Veritas Radi∣cis, Indicis & Entis, apud Scholasticos.
• * 1.9

  Errores qui∣dom citra, alii circa, alii con∣tra fundu∣mentum. Pri∣mi divertunt, Secundi per∣vertunt, tertii subvertunt fi∣dem Ortho∣doxam.
• * 1.10

  Rom. 5. 12.
• * 1.11

  2 Tim. 3. 8.
• * 1.12

  Rom, 6. 23.
• * 1.13

  Levit. 13. 29, 30, &c.
• * 1.14

  See Sleidan, Cloppenburg, Hornebeck, Bu∣linger, Luther, Calvin, &c.
• * 1.15

  〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉. Galen.
• * 1.16

  Providence affords in eve∣ry Country Remedies suit∣ed to their Maladies, and Counter-poi∣sons against their Poisons; witness the Rattle-snake, and Snake∣weed of Vir∣ginia and of New England; The Italian Tora and An∣titora, &c. So hath the Lord provided a sutable proportion of divine Truths and helps to be duly applyed for effectual Relief.