Dæmonologia Sacra; or, A Treatise of Satan's Temptations: In Three PartsGilpin, Richard
Religion
Dæmonologia Sacra; or, A Treatise of Satan's Temptations: In Three Parts
Gilpin, Richard
Devil -- Early works to 1800; Temptation -- Early works to 1800
that and his own wisdom, acquirements, and subtilty, leaning to his
own spirit and understanding, I must decline that way and trust in the
Spirit of Christ, the divine Author of the Holy Scriptures. And as
this caution was presented in the life and virtue of truth, I rested
satisfied therein, and searched no further on that occasion. When I
went to his house, he entered into a discourse on those subjects; and
had such passages of Scripture folded down as he purposed to use. And
when I observed it, I was confirmed that my sight of him in my own
chamber at Carlisle, and of his work some days before, was right, [as
if, to intercalate a remark, it needed prescience to foretell that the
Doctor’s appeal would be ‘to the Law and to the Testimony’!!] and
my mind was strengthened thereby. But before he began to move upon
the subject, he dismissed every other person out of the room, so that
himself and I remained alone. The first thing he said was, in a calm
manner, to admonish me to be very cautious how I espoused the errors
of the Quakers; for he had heard of late and with concern that I had
been among them, or seemed to incline that way. I answered that I had
not been much among them, nor seen any of their books but those I had
sent him, and knew not of any errors they held. Yes, said he, they
deny the ordinances of Christ, the two sacraments—Baptism and the Lord
s Supper; and then opened his book [his!] at one of his down-folded
leaves, where he read thus, 1 Cor. i. 2, xi. 23, 26....’ Now follows
the usual delusive appeals beyond the ‘letter,’ as ‘carnal,’ and all
the unconsciously-blaspheming, ‘_setting-aside_,’ of plain words that
reveal ‘the mind of the Spirit,’ commingled with a simple-minded
self-superiority which need not be illustrated. Very patient and
wonderingly-silent must have been the Doctor with his undoubtedly pious
and acute, but most perverse, visitor. He thus closes, ‘The Doctor
did not oppose this, [about prayer,] but only said I had given him
better satisfaction on that point than he had found in the book; and
afterwards he was much more free and familiar with me than before, or
than I expected: and so we parted in friendship, and I returned in
peace and gladness,’[73] (pp. 41-45.)
But by far the most important, as it is the most elaborate, ‘estimate’
of our Worthy, is that of Calamy, who, usually marked by judicial calm,
and chary of praise, glows and burns in the fulness of his admiration.
The fervour of his eulogy of Gilpin contrasts with his usual
matter-of-fact statements, and surprises by its suddenness and passion.
With this I shall close those personal tributes by contemporaries. Thus
the ‘Account’ under ‘Grastoke’ runs:—
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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