A37042:370
The dying man's testament to the Church of Scotland, or, A treatise concerning scandal…
The dying man's testament to the Church of Scotland, or, A treatise concerning scandal divided into four parts ... : in each of which there are not a few choice and useful questions, very shortly and satisfyingly discussed and cleared / by ... Mr. James Durham ... who being dead (by this) yet speaketh ; and published by John Carstares ... ; to which is prefixed an excellent preface of famous Mr. Blair ... ; together with a table of the contents of the several chapters of each part.
Edinburgh: printed by Christopher Higgins, 1659
Part 3 › Chapter 6: By what means, and how Satan drives on this plague among people.
Modern spelling is a reading aid: the words are the author’s, only the spelling is modernized. Original shows the page as printed, with the transcription marks.
2. It is useful in this design, to have some that have Church-power, and beareth the name of Officers, engaged, that they may come in, not under the name of Ministers of Satan, but as it is, 2 Cor. 11. 23. as Ministers of Christ; and therefore, if no ordinary call can be alleged by them, they readily disclaim all such, and yet pretend a calling to be Preachers of Christ, of his Gospel, and such like: as we may see by these false teachers of old, who called themselves Apostles and Prophetesses, as having some extraordinary call from God, thereby making way for their delusions.
2. It is usefull in this design, to have some that have Church-power, and beareth the name of Officers, engaged, that they may come in, not under the name of Ministers of Satan, but as it is, 2 Cor. 11. 23. as Ministers of Christ; and therefore, if no ordinary call can be alleged by them, they readily disclaime all such, and yet pretend a calling to be Preachers of Christ, of his Gospel, and such like: as we may see by these false teachers of old, who called themselves Apostles and Prophetesses, as having some extraordinary call from God, thereby making way for their delusions.
3. They follow their designs under a pretext of advancing holiness and spirituality, to a higher degree, and of having a more humble way of living, and of being a further length in high attainments, than other men can win at, or are capable of: thus some are outwardly despisers of all pride, and of giving respect to men, and that as the Apostle saith, Col. 2. 18. by a sort of voluntary humility, and intruding upon things which they have not seen, casting, in the mean time, at common and plain truths.
3. They follow their designs under a pretext of advancing holinesse and spirituality, to a higher degree, and of having a more humble way of living, and of being a further length in high attainments, than other men can win at, or are capable of: thus some are outwardly despisers of all pride, and of giving respect to men, and that as the Apostle saith,