244 LIVES OF THE PURITANS. could not help frankly acknowledging they were of a very different nature from the wire-drawn proofs and strained interpretations, in which he had hitherto acquiesced. The disputation, therefore, was soon over. Mr. Gilpin had too much honesty to defend suspected opinions. He yielded to the force of truth ; and owned publicly, that he could not maintain what he undertook to defend ; and therefore deter- mined to enter no more upon controversy, till he had gained that full information which he was anxious to obtain.. Mr. Gilpin being thus staggered by his opponent's argu- ments, the first step he took, after imploring divineassistance, was to commit topaper, the substance of the dispute. Also, he resolved to enter into a strict examination of the whole, but especially those points in which he had found himself the most closely pressed. At the same time, he began with great assiduity to examine the scriptures, and the writings of the fathers, with a particular view to the controversy betwixt protestants and papists. The first result of his inquiries, cooled his zeal for popery, and gave him a more favourable opinion of the doctrines ofthe reformation. In this unsettledstate of mind, he communicated his thoughts to his friends, and particularly to Tonstal, bishop of Durham, who was his mother's uncle, and his great friend. The advice he received induced him to examine the scrip- tures and the fathers with still greater attention ; and at last he became thoroughly convinced, thatthere werenumerous sore abuses and corruptions in the church ofRome, and that a reformation was highly necessary. As an academic lite affords the greatest leisure for study, Mr. Gilpin was resolved still to continue wholly employed in the pursuit of knowledge. He had too just a sense of the ministerial work, to rush upon it hastily, or to be unacquainted with the qualifications requisite to the dis- charge of it; and too mean an opinion of himself, to think he was yet possessed of them. He thought more learning was necessary in that controversial age, than he had yet acquired. And his chief argument with his friends, who were continually urging him to leave the university, was, that he was not yet sufficiently instructed in religion himself * Peter Martyr was much concerned for Mr. Gilpin's welfare, and used to say, he cared not much for his other adversaries; but for Gilpin, who spoke and acted like a man of integrity, he was much troubled. He there- fore often prayed that God would convince him of his error, and convert Mon to the truth ; which the Lord was pleased afterwards to do:Fuller's Abet Bedivivus, p. 353.
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