Holy Ghost is come upon you And here we may note two things 1. What he promises them and that is Power you shall receive power 2. How they should be made partakers of that power and that was by the Holy Spirits coming upon them The point we will insist on from both is this That the receiving of the Spirit is the receiving of power till we receive the Spirit we are altogether without power and when we receive the Spirit then first of all do we receive power power from on high By nature we are all without strength weak impotent creatures utterly unable to any thing that is truly and spiritually righteous and good For by nature we are nothing but flesh for that which is born of flesh is flesh and all flesh is grass a fading withering and decaying thing together with all the flowers of it that is the perfections and excellencies of it So that by nature we are all without power because we are nothing but flesh of which weakness is an inseparable adjunct But when we receive the Spirit we receive power for power is an inseparable adjunct of the Spirit as weakness is of flesh yea the Spirit it self which is given us is power and that both essentially and operatively in it self and in us 1. The Spirit is power essentially in it self for it is one God with the Father and the Son co-essential co-equal co-eternal and so as Christ is the power of God so also is the spirit the power of God yea the spirit is the God of power aswel as the power of God So that the Spirit is power in himself essentially and he that partakes of the power of the spirit partakes of that power which is God and no creature 2. The Spirit is power operatively in us by being in us 1. A Spirit of Knowledge for the Holy Spirit teaches us to know the things that are freely given to us of God yea he teaches us to know what sin is and what righteousness what death is and what life what Heaven is and what hell what our selves are and what God is and these things he teaches us to know otherwise then other men know them In a word the spirit teaches a Christian to know all things that is to know God and the Kingdom of God and all the things of both all other things being nothing in comparison of these Thus the Holy Spirit is a Spirit of knowledge in us and so of power for knowledge is the strength of a man Whereas an ignorant man is a weak man you may carry him whither you will but knowledge renders a man strong and unmoveable And in all things wherein the Holy Spirit is a spirit of knowledge in us he is also a spirit of strength The Holy Spirit is a spirit of Power in us by being in us a spirit of Truth And so the spirit is because it doth not onely lead us unto the truth that is unto the word which is the onely truth as it is written Sanctifie them through the truth thy Word is truth but also the Spirit leads us into the Truth it leads us into the truth and the truth into us till we and it become one by an inseparable union The Holy Spirit takes a beleever and leads him into one truth after another till at last it lead him into all truth Now wherein the Spirit is a Spirit of truth to us it is a Spirit of Power for through the truth we learn from the Spirit of truth we are altogether stedfast and unmovable among variety of different and contrary winds of Doctrine And this is the very cause that among so many divisions and factions and errours and heresies which wofully prevail in these present times of ours the people of God are not seduced and overcome to wit because they are all taught of God of God and not of men and have the Spirit of truth to lead them into the truth the Spirit I say and not men and so it is impossible that they should fully and finally be deceived For wherein we are taught by the Spirit of God it is unpossible we should be perverted by men Whereas on the contrary the true ground why so many are seduced and overcom by the errors and heresies of this age is because they have taken up their religion onely from mans teaching and have received their opinions or doctrine from men and so what one man hath taught us another man can unteach yea if we be led to the truth it self onely by man man can again lead us from it For all the world cannot lead any man into the truth till the Spirit lead him into it and when the Spirit doth lead us into the truth all the men in the world cannot lead us out of it but we are so sure of those things wherein the Spirit hath been a teacher to us that if all the Councels and Churches in the world yea all the Angels of Heaven should teach us contrary we would hold them accursed But a man that hath not been taught of the Spirit every day you may win him into new opinions by the power and authority of men together with the strength of other advantages But he that hath been led into the truth by the Spirit of truth is unmoveable and invincible among all doctrines And thus also the Holy Spirit by being a Spirit of truth is also a Spirit of Power in us 3. The Holy Spirit is a Spirit of Power in us by being in us a Spirit of Wisdom and so it is because it makes us wise with the wisdom of God wise upon earth after the rate of heaven wise to salvation There is no man wise without the Spirit of God for the wisdom of carnal men is but foolishness before God yea before Angels and Saints but the wisdom of the Spirit is most gracious and heavenly wisdom And this wisdom of the Spirit is the strength of a Christian the more he hath of it the more mighty he is both in all his doings and indurings It is said Eccles 9. 15. That there was a poor wise man delivered a small city from the power of a mighty King and therefore Solomon concludes that wisdom is better then strength for it can do greater things then strength can When David carried himself wisely Saul a great King was afraid of him he thought himself too weak to deal with David and David too mighty to deal with him because of his wisdom and Solomon asked Wisdom of God above all things for the strength of his Government all Government without this being but weak and brittle Thus wisdom contributes strength to us whereas we say of a man that wants wisdom he is a weak man And so the Holy Spirit being a Spirit of wisdom in us is also a Spirit of Power 4. The Holy Spirit is a Spirit of Power in us by being in us a Spirit of Faith For
Christ speaking in me which to you wards is not weak but mighty who ever is the instrument Christ is the only Preacher of the New Testament and that which is the true Gospel is the ministration of the Spirit for holy men spake as they were moved by the holy Spirit and were first anointed with the Spirit before they preached Judas who preached the word and was not anointed with the Spirit proved a traitor to Christ and who ever preach the word without the Spirit are the successors of Judas and also traitors to Christ 11. The Churches of men have the government of them laid on mens shoulders whether single persons as Pope or Archbishop or combined as the General Councel or a National Assembly but the true Church hath its government laid only on Christs shoulders as the Prophet fore-told Isa 9. Vnto us a child is born a Son is given and the government shall lie on his shoulders and Zech. 6. 12. He shall build the temple of the Lord c. and he shall sit and rule upon his throne for none can rule the true Church but he that built it For if the Church be gathered together in Christ as the true Church is Christ is alwaies in the midst of them and if Christ is ever present with them his own self how cometh it to pass that Christ may not reign immediately over them Wherefore the true Church reckons it sufficient authority that they have Christ and his Word for the ground of their practice and what ever they finde in the word they presently set upon the practice of it and never ask leave either of civil or ecclesiastical powers but the Churches of men will do nothing without the authority of the Magistrate or Assembly though it be never so clear in the word of God For in their Religion they regard the authority of men more then the authority of God 12. The Churches of men are still setting themselves one above another but the assemblies of the true Church are all equal having Christ and the Spirit equally present with them and in them and therefore the believers of one congregation cannot say they have power over the believers of another congregation seeing all congregations have Christ and his Spirit alike among them and Christ hath not anywhere promised that he will be more with one then with another And so Christ and the Spirit in one congregation do not subjected neither are subject to Christ and the Spirit in another congregation as if Christ and the Spirit in several places should be above and under themselves But Christ in each assembly of the faithful is their head and this head they dare not leave and set up a fleshly head to themselves whether it consist of one or many men seeing Antichrist doth as strongly invade Christs headship in many as in one man in a Councel as in a Pope Lastly The churches of men the gates of hell which are sin and death shall certainly prevail against but the true church of Christ though the gates of hell do always fight against it yet they shall never prevail against it as Christ hath promised Mat. 16. 18. Vpon this rock I will build My church and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it In these things among other the true Church of Christ differs from the churches of men By which we may clearly see that the true Church is not an outward and visible society or corporation neither can it be pointed out by the finger loe here or loe there seeing it is not confined to any certain place time or person but it is wholly a spiritual and invisible society as I have said that is assembled in the Son and in the Father who are the true pale and circumference of this Church and out of whom no part of it is to be found Now hereupon it will presently be said if the true Church be invisible as you have affirmed then 1. How shall we know it 2. How can we joyn our selves to it To both which I hope I shall return a clear answer And first to this Question How shall we know the true Church seeing it is invisible I answer Just so as Christ the head is known is the church his body known and no other way now Christ is known 1. By the revelation of the Father when Peter confessed Christ to be the Son of the living God Christ told him that flesh and blood had not revealed it to him but his Father now the members of Christ can no more be known without this revelation of the Father then Christ the head of these members seeing the Apostle hath said that as he is so are we in this world so that he had need of other eyes then the world sees withal that would discern the true Church and of another Revelation then any that flesh and blood can make 2. Christ was known by the Spirits resting on him Joh. 1. 33. And I knew him not said John Baptist but he that sent me to baptize with water the same said unto me Vpon whom thou shalt see the Spirit descending and remaining on him the same is he which baptizeth with the Holy Spirit and I saw and bare record that this is the Son of God After the same manner the Church of Christ is known to wit by the Spirits comming and remaining on it So that whatever people have received the Spirit of Christ of what sort or condition soever they be they are the Church of Christ and they that are destitute of this Spirit are not of the Church 3. Christ was known by the works he did Joh. 10. 37. If I do not the works of my Father believe me not but if I do though you believe not me believe the works that ye may know that the Father is in me and I in him And thus also is the true Church known by doing the works of Christ seeing Christ hath said He that believes in me the works that I do shall he do c. And thus the body of Christ is known by its living the life of the head which is the life of faith and love and the members of Christ are known by their doing the works of the head Thus then you see that though the true Church be spiritual and cannot be known by our outward senses yet we have certain tokens of her spiritual presence whereby we may reckon that in this or that place there be certain of her members As by a natural example though the soul of man in it self be spiritual and invisible and cannot be discerned by any of our senses yet may we have sure tokens of its presence by the effects and operations of the soul in that body wherein it dwels as the exercise of reason understanding discourse c. so likewise the true Church which is invisible in it self may yet be known by some certain signs as by the word of faith which sounds no where but in
several manner and among all these families there is no external uniformity and yet they all agree well enough in the unity of a City Nay further to bring but one man to an uniformity of life and practice by an outward Law would be the most absolute tyranny in the world and make his life worse then death To compel every man by a Law every day in the week or every Munday Tuseday c. in the week to an uniformity of life that he shall rise at the same time use the same postures speak the same words eat the same food receive the same physick sit and stand and walk and lie down at the same set times who ever heard of such a cruel bondage What an absurd and intolerable thing then is uniformity in the life of a man taking away all freedom of the soul But how much more evil and intolerable is uniformity in the life of a Christian or of the true Churches of Christ taking away all freedom of the Spirit of God who being one with God works in the freedom of God and is not to be bound with any authoritative or coercive power of poor dark ignorant vain foolish proud and sinful men What now then do the Presbyters mean by uniformity Would they have the word preached and the Sacraments administred and the name of God called on and all this done in Spirit and truth in the Churches of Christ this truly is unity and not uniformity and such an unity as no man can compel But would they have the Word preached the name of God called on Sacraments administred the spiritual Discipline of the spiritual Church mannaged the vertues of Christ and graces of the Spirit in the Saints exercised and all this in one and the same outward form or uniformity This is the burthen of the Saints the bondage of the Church the straitning of the Spirit the limiting of Christ and the eclipsing the glory of the Father And how wise so ever these men may be in natural and carnal things yet their wisdom is but foolishness in spiritual things in which there is no more uniformity then in the workings of the Spirit who works severally in several Saints and severally in the same Saints at several times And therefore they that would tye the Church to an uniformity which works not of it self but as the Spirit works in it let them first tye the Spirit to an uniformity and we are contented But these men seem to run a sad hazard who would thus reduce the workings of the Spirit in Christians and Churches to an outward uniformity according to their own mind and fancy and so would rule and order and enlarge and straiten the Spirit of God by the spirit of man seeing it is worse to sin against Christ in the Spirit then against Christ in the flesh And therefore till I be otherwise taught by the word I cannot conceive that there ought to be or is possible to be any such external uniformity in the Churches of Christ as these men strive wrastle sweat contend for I will not say are ready to fight for but that several Churches of Christ having unity of doctrine faith the Spirit ordinances c. may have divers forms of outward administrations as God and Christ by the Spirit shall lead them and that every Church is in these things to be left free and no Church forced by any outward power to follow or imitate another Church against its Will not being freely led unto it by the Spirit of God Neither do I think that God hath set up any company of men or Synod in the world to shine to a whole Nation so that all People shall be constrained to follow their judgement and to walk by their light seeing other Ministers and Christians may have more light and spirit then they Neither hath Christ promised his presence and spirit to Ministers more then to believers nor more to an hundred then two or three And if two or three Christians in the Country being met together in the name of Christ have Christ himself with his word and Spirit among them they need not ride many miles to the Assembly at London to know what to do or how to carry and behave themselves in the things of God And therefore for any company of men of what repute soever to set up their own judgement in a Kingdom for a peremptory rule from which no man must vary and to compel all the faithful people of God who are the very members of Jesus Christ himself to fall down before it upon pain of being cast into the burning fiery furnace of their indignation heated seven times more hot then ordinary through the desired access of secular power to their power is a far worse work in my eyes then that of King Nebuchadnezzars setting up a golden Image and forcing all to fall down before it seeing spiritual Idolatry is so much worse then corporal as the spirit is better then the flesh And therefore I do think let them teach me better by the word that can that uniformity the great Diana of the Presbyterians and the Image that falls down from the brain and fancy of man hath no footing in the Scriptures or in the practise of the Churches of Christ And that the Presbyterian uniformity is neer a kin to Prelatical conformity and is no other then the same thing under another word after the manner of Prelacy and Presbytery and do conclude that unity is Christian uniformity Antichristian And this I have only hinted and that briefly among many occasions to discover to the faithfull that some of the very dregs of Antichristianisme still prevail and domineer under the very name of Reformation And also to give occasion to men of more spirit and abilities and leisure to discourse more fully to this point that the Serpents head of Formality which is so carefully nourished by humane reason may be crushed in pieces by the power of the word 1 JOHN 2. 27. The annointing which ye have received of him abideth in you and ye need not that any man should teach you but as the same anointing teacheth you all things and is truth and is no lye and even as it hath taught you you shall abide in him The spiritual Church is taught by the anointing the carnal Church by Councels FINIS The Building Beauty Teaching and Establishment of the truly Christian and Spiritual CHURCH Represented in an EXPOSITION On Isai 54 from Vers 11. to the 17. PREACHED To His Excellency Sir Tho. Fairfax and the general Officers of the Army with divers other Officers and Souldiers and People At Marston being the Head-quarter at the Leaguer before Oxford June 7. 1646. By WILLIAM DELL Minister of the Gospel attending on His Excellency Sir Thomas Fairfax in the Army Together with a faithful Testimony touching that valiant and victorious Army in the Epistle to the Reader Matth. 5. 11. Blessed are ye when men shall revile you
Christ Joh 16. The world shall hate you and persecute you and shall put you out of their synagogues and shall kill you and in doing all this shall think they do God good service But saith he I will send you the comforter Christ knew well enough that among all these evils they should have no Comforter on earth and therefore promises to send them one from heaven And therefore when thy soul is placed in affliction never look after any earthly or sensual or creature comforts for they will prove poison to thy soul but only look for heavenly comforts such as the Spirit brings such as flow immediately from God for these are pure and sweet and unmixed and refreshing and supporting and satisfying and enduring comforts comforts that are able to make thee rejoyce not only in fulness but in wants not only among friends but in the midst of enemies not only in good report but in evil report not only in prosperity but in tribulations not only in life but in death they will make thee go singing to prison to the Cross to the grave they are mighty comforts infinitely stronger then all the sorrows of the flesh and hence it is that many Saints and Martyrs have gone cheerfully to the stake and sung in the very flames the comforts of God in their souls have strengthned them to this Thou that art a beleever and in union with Christ never doubt of this comfort in thy greatest sorrows When Christ had none to stand by him and comfort him God sent an Angel from heaven to do it And so when we are left alone in the world rather then we shall want comfort God will send us an Angel from heaven to comfort us yea the Spirit it self which is greater then all the Angels in heaven and we shall certainly be comforted by God when we are afflicted and tossed with tempest and not comforted by men Behold I will lay thy stones with fair colours c. The Lord seeth the Church in its affliction without all comfort in the world and then the Lord comes and comforts it himself and this he doth by a promise They are the sweetest comforts that are brought to us in the promises The promises are the swadling-clothes of Christ they carry Christ wrapt up in them and Christ represented to the Church hath been the comfort of it in all its evils outward or inward And therefore whatever affliction takes hold on thee have recourse to the promises to draw thy comforts from Christ through them Oh how sweet is that life that is led in the promises a life led in the promises is the best life in the world Men that have estates in money or land depend on those things for their maintenance but a Christian may have little or nothing of these in the world but he hath a promise which is a thousand times better and makes his life more comfortable I am God All-sufficient and I will not fail thee nor forsake thee whereupon he comes to this resolution The Lord is my portion saith my soul I will trust in him Oh how sweet a life is this life that knows no cares nor fears nor troubles nor disquietments here saith a believer lies my estate and living and the lot of mine inheritance and this is a thousand times better and more certain estate then all the Mannors and Lordships in the Kingdom for my bread shall be given me my waters shall be sure The Lord is my shepheard and I shall not want no not then when the Lions the great men of the Kingdom to whom every poor man is a prey shall lack and sufferâ—hunger He that hath given me his own Nature and Spirit will not leave me destitute of food and clothing Take another instance A man feeling the bitterness of affliction to flesh and blood is ready to think Oh how shall I ever be able to suffer this or that or to part with my relations with my estate with my life and all that is near and dear unto me Why when a Christian lays hold on the promise God is faithful and will not suffer us to be tempted above that which we are able O saith a Christian God will never bring me to any temptation or trial but he will give me strength proportionable to it or above it and so lives satisfied with the truth and goodness and power of God And thus you see in these instances that a life led in the promises is the sweetest and best life when a man can draw all from God himself through a promise And this in general That God comforts his Church by a promise But to come more particularly to the words Behold I will lay thy stones with fair colours and lay thy foundations with Saphires Vers 12. And I will make thy windows of Agates and thy gates of Carbuncles and all thy borders of pleasant stones The promise relates to the Spiritual Church of the New Testament and this you shall observe is oft in Scripture compared to a building and that to a most stately sumptuous magnificent and glorious building as being all built of precious stones and so more glorious then the first Temple which was built up of common stones and it was prophesied that the glory of the second Temple should far exceed the glory of the first The first Temple was Solomons which was indeed filled with the outward presence of God but the second Temple is the humanity of Jesus Christ or the flesh of Christ both head and members this is the living Temple of the living God the Temple that God hath built by his Spirit for his own habitation wherein God dwels truly really spiritually and most neerly by the way of the most neer union whereby God and the creature are knit together and this spiritual Temple is more glorious then the first material one either according to the first edition of it by Solomon or the second edition of it by the Fathers in the dayes of Cyrus Darius and Artaxerxes Here then you see that the Lord promiseth to build up the Church of the New Testament with stones of fair colours with precious stones I will not stand to enquire particularly into the natures of the several stones here named for the Jews themselves do not fully agree about them It shall be sufficient for us to attain to the meaning of the Spirit in this place and that is this That the Spiritual Church of the New Testament is not to be built with common but with pretious stones Now the full sense of these words I shall give you forth in several particulars 1. You see here the matter of which the Church of the New Testament is made and that is not of common but of precious stones elect and precious stones and such are the faithful For 1. They have a more excellent nature then other men have for they are born of God and so partake of the nature of God and so in
alterations it makes there And thus you see that one means that Christ useth for the Reformation of his Church is the Word But here I must further declare to you that this Word by which Christ reforms the Church is not the Word of the Law for the Law made nothing perfect but the Word of the Gospel This this is the onely Word that works Reformation For first 1. This Word works faith and therefore it is called the word of faith because faith comes by hearing of this Word Rom. 10. ver 8. and ver 17. Now as the Word workes faith so faith apprehends the Word even that Word that was with God and was God this living and eternal Word dwels in our hearts by faith as the Apostle saith That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith And this Word dwelling in us by faith changeth us into it is own likeness as fire changeth the Iron into its own likeness and takes us up into all its own vertues And so the word dwelling in the flesh reforms the flesh and it dwels in us through faith and faith is wrought by the Gospel So that the Word whereby Christ reforms is not the Word without us as the Word of the Law is but the Word within us as it is written The Word is nigh thee even in thy mouth and in thy heart and this is the word of Faith If thou live under the Word many years and if it come not into thy Heart it will never change thee nor reform thee And therefore the reforming Word is the Word within us and the Word within us is the Word of faith 2. The Gospel reformes because it doth not only reveal Christs righteousness as it is written The righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith but also it communicates it to us And therefore it is called the Word of righteousness because it works righteousness So that Christ the righteousness of God is conveyed to us through this Word of righteousness And when the righteousness of God revealed in the Gospel comes and dwels in us what Reformation of sin doth this work all sin perisheth at the rebuke of his countenance for the righteousness of God will endure no sin in us And so the Gospel reforms by working righteousness in us 3. The Gospel reforms because it shews us Christ and by shewing us him it changeth us into his Image the more we see Christ in the Gospel the more are we made like unto him that as we have born the Image of the earthly so we may bear the Image of the Heavenly Adam 2. Yea the Gospel shews us God in Christ in all his glory and changeth us into that glory of God which is shewen us we all saith Paul with open face beholding as in a glass and this glass is the Gospel the glory of the Lord are changed into the same Image from glory to glory even as by the Spirit of the Lord so that the Gospel by shewing us God changeth us into the Image of God and God through the Gospel ariseth on us till his glory be seen upon us And thus you see the grounds of the Gospels Reformation So that now the Word of the Gospel is the only Reforming Word and if there be never so much preaching if it be but Legal it will reform no body aright because there can be no working Faith nor communicating righteousness nor changing men into Gods Image and so there can be no true Reformation And thus much for the first Means of Reformation which Christ useth which is the Word and this Word the Gospel 2. Means the Spirit For the Spirit accompanies the Word in the Ministery of the Gospel and therefore the Gospel is called the Ministration of the Spirit that is the Word and Spirit in union and operation In the Law there was the Letter without the Spirit and so that could do nothing but in the Gospel the Word and the Spirit are alwayes joyned and therefore saith Christ The words that I speak are spirit and Life that is they come from the spirit and carry spirit with them And this Spirit that is present in the word of the Gospel and works in it and is given by it reforms mightily and therefore it is called the spirit of judgement and burning And the Lord looking to this time of reformation promised long before to pour out his Spirit upon all flesh and so to reform all flesh Now the Spirit poured forth upon the flesh reforms it two wayes 1. By taking away all evils out of the flesh 2. By changing the flesh into its own likeness 1. The Spirit poured forth upon the flesh reforms it all by taking all evil out of the flesh As first all Sin and Corruption saith Paul If you mortifie the deeds of the flesh by the Spirit yee shall live the deeds of the flesh are not to be mortified by any power but by the Spirit all pride and envy and lust and covetousness and carnal mindedness and all other evils of the flesh are reformed by the presence of the Spirit in it and no other way 2. The Spirit reforms not only all Sins in the Church but all Errors and Heresies and false doctrines as is evident by that of Paul 1 Cor. 3. 12. If any man build upon this foundation gold silver precious stones wood hay stubble every mans work shall be made manifest for the day shall declare it because it shall be revealed by fire and the fire shall try every mans work of what sort it is c. So that a man may lay Christ for a foundation and yet build wood hay and stubble upon him that is humane doctrines and the inventions of men and false and wicked opinions 2. The destruction of this hay wood and stubble that is error heresie and humane doctrines in the Church of God that is the people built on Christ shall not be by Laws of States or Constitutions of Councels but by the Holy Spirit which is as fire The Spirit shall come into the Saints and burn up all that corrupt and false doctrine that will not indure the Spirit and error shall never be destroyed but by the Spirit of truth So that the Spirit reforms all error as well as all corruptions in the faithful 2. The Spirit doth not only reform the flesh by taking away all evil out of it whether corruptions or errors but also it changeth the flesh into its own likeness For the Spirit is as fire that changeth every thing into its self and so doth the Spirit in the flesh make the flesh spiritual like heavenly fire it changeth men into its own likeness and makes them spiritual heavenly holy meek good loving c. And thus the Spirit reforms indeed When the Spirit is poured forth upon a man how wonderfully doth it reform him this works a change in him in good earnest and no man is ever truly reformed till he
the rod of his mouth and with the breath of his lips he shall slay the wicked And Antichrist himself his greatest Enemy he destroys by the Spirit of his mouth and the brightness of his coming 2. Neither did Christ command his Apostles to use any such outward power but he sent his Disciples to preach and bid them say into what house soever they entered Peace be to this house and if men would not receive peace and the doctrine of peace not to force them but to depart thence and to shake off the dust of their feet as a witness against them that they had been there according to the will of Christ and the Father and offered them mercy and salvation which they refused And this is all that the Ministers of the Gospel can do to any that refuse their doctrine and not to go presently to the secular Magistrate to ask power to punish them or imprison them or sell their goods as is now practised in some parts of the Kingdom even upon the Saints and if men be wicked is it not misery enough for them to refuse eternal life except also they inflict on them Temporal death Is it not misery enough for men to refuse the good things of heaven except they also deprive them of the good things of this present life and yet as Luther said of the Clergy Quando non invocat brachium seculare morte utraque terret mundum When doth it not call upon the secular power and terrifie the world with both deaths Surely Christ and the Word approve not these ways For Math. 18. Christ imposeth no other punishment on them that would not hear the Church then that he should be reckoned as a heathen and Paul Titus 3. Teacheth us after once and twice admonition to avyd an Heretick but not to imprison him or kill him or banish him and again they that do these things shall not inherite the Kingdom of God and again he that beleeves not shall be damned but not one word of outward or corporal punishment in all the Gospel 3. Yea Christ reproveth his Disciples for discovering such a spirit of tyranny as to punish men for not receiving him Luk. 9. when the Apostles of a Prelatical and Antichristian Spirit in that particular desired fire to come down from Heaven upon them that would not receive him Christ did severely rebuke them saving Ye know not of what spirit ye are not of Christs Spirit which is meek but of Sathans who was a murderer from the beginning and of Antichrists his first begotten in the world and he adds the Son of man came not to destroy mens lives but to save them and therefore to go about to turn the Gospel not to save mens lives but to destroy them and so to change Christ himself from a Saviour into a Destroyer this is Antichrist Triumphant All these things shew that worldly power hath no place at all in the Reformation of the Gospel Now I should have proceeded here to answer some Objections as namely 1. That of Luke 14. compel them to come in this I forgetting named not May a Christian then live as he list No by no means for he hath the Word and Spirit in him to keep him from living as he list and he knows that no man in Gods Kingdom may live as he wils but as God wils But would you have no Law No Laws in Gods Kingdom but Gods Laws and these are a thousands times better then all the Laws of men and they are these three The Law of a new nature The Law of the spirits of life that is in Christ The Law of love But would you have no Government Yes but the government of Christ the Head and the Holy Ghost the Spirit in and over the Church the body They that would govern the faithful the Members of Christs own body make themselves the head of those Members and so Antichrist may as well be found in a combination of men as in one single person But would you have no Order Yes the best thas is even such an Order as is in the body of Christ where every Member is placed by Christ and none by it self The Order of the spiritual Church is a spiritual Order and not a carnal But would you have sin suffered No but more truly and throughly destroyed then any power of the world can destroy it even by the Spirit of judgement and burning But would you have sinners suffered No but punished more severely then any powers of the world can punish them For he shall smite the earth with the rod of his mouth and with the breath of lips he shall slay the wicked And as for those that are outwardly wicked the Magistrate is to keep them in order for the quiet of the State he having power over their persons estates and lives I should also have proceeded to the next thing The advantages of such a Gospel Reformation where it is wrought together with the Vses but because I would not be everlong I pass by these things and so proceed no farther in this Discourse But now being brought hither by an unexpected providence I shall crave liberty to speak a few words to you in the behalf of two Kingdoms that is this Kingdom and Gods 1. That which I have to request of you for this Kingdom is that you would regard the oppression of the poor and the sighing of the needy Never was there more injustice and oppression in the Nation then now I have seen many oppressed and crushed and none to help them I beseech you consider this with all your hearts for many who derive power from you are great oppressors And therefore I require you in the name of God to discharge the trust that God hath put into your hands and so to defend the poor and fatherless to do justice to the afflicted and needy to deliver the poor and needy and to rid them out of the hands of the wicked This is your business discharge your duty if you will not then hear what the Lord saith Psal 12. 5. for the oppression of the poor for the sighing of the needy now will I arise saith the Lord and Gods rising in this case would prove your ruine If you will not do Gods work in the Kingdom which he hath cal'd you too he will do it himself without you as it is written He shall deliver the needy when he cryeth the poor also and him that hath no helper he shall save their souls from deceit and violence the common evils of the times And this is all that I have to say for this Kingdom 2. I have a few more things to say touching Gods Kingdom and the first is this 1. That as Christ Kingdom and the Kingdoms of the world are distinct So you would be pleased to keep them so and not mingle them together your selves nor suffer others
to do it to the great prejudice and disturbance of both 2. That you would be pleased to think that Christ Kingdom which is not of this world hath sufficient power in it self to mannage all the affairs of it without standing in need of any ayd or help from the world Seeing the power of man is of no place or use in the Kingdom of God which is not a Temporal or an Ecclesiastical Dominion but a Spiritual 3. That you would suffer the little stone of Christs Kingdom to be hewen out of the Mountain of the Roman Monarchy whereof this Kingdom is a part without hands even by the power and efficacy of the word and spirit seeing the hands of men cannot help but hinder this work which is to be done without hands And that your might and your power would please to let God do this work of his without might and without power and by his Spirit only 4. That you would be pleased to suffer the assemblings of the Saints both publikely and privately as occasion serves seeing this can be no prejudice to the State but a great advantage in as much as they meet peaceably and make no tumulâ—s and in their assembling pray for the peace and welfare of this divided and distracted Kingdom And also that you take heed of scattering those Churches that meet in the Name and Spirit of Jesus Christ which are Christs own gatherings together least Christ so scatter you abroad that you never be gathered together again 5. That you take heed you do nothing to the prejudice of the faithful Gods own people as he hath warned you by the Spirit saying Touch not mine anoynted and do my Prophets no harm This place hath been miserably mistaken for the Kings of the Earth and the Clergy have shared it between themselves whereas indeed it belongs to neither for Gods anoynted are the faithful that are anoynted with the Spirit the oyl of God and so are anoynted as Christ was anoynted And these anoynted ones are the Lords Prophets and the Lord hath no Prophets but such as are anoynted with the Spirit Thus Christ was made the Lords Prophet The Spirit of the Lord is upon me for he hath anoynted me to preach the Gospel and thus are all his Brethren made Prophets being fellows with him in his Unction And therefore take heed how you meddle with the Lords anoynted ones and with the Lords Prophets for as it is said He suffered no man to do them wrong yea he even reproved Kings for their sakes saying Touch not c. So the Lord hath still the same care of the same people and will suffer no man to do them wrong but will reprove Kings and Parliaments and Kingdoms and Cities and Counties and Committees he will reprove them all for their sakes and say Touch not mine anoynted and do my Prophets no harm for they that are anoynted with the Spirit are the flesh of Christ and the Prophets of God therefore touch them and harm at them your own peril It grieves me to see the rest of the Kingdom touching these anoynted ones of God and doing harm to these his Prophets abusing and spoyling and imprisoning them It would grieve me much more if I should see you doing the same for this would bring you as well as the Kingdom under Gods own reproof and the reproof of God who can indure Sixthly and lastly Take heed you do not hinder the free passage of the Gospel When God hath put his Spirit into the hearts of men take heed how you resist the Word in those mens mouths for the Word of God in the meanest instrument can never be resisted but will carry all before it The Honour Power Dignity Authority Nobility Magistracy of the Kingdom if they should once stand up to hinder the Word of God the Word of God would carry them all before it And therefore it grieves me to see how the City Countrey Counties Towns Villages do all rise up for the most part against the ministration of the Spirit for this is a certain sign of the undoing of them all God will suffer and endure any sin long but onely the contempt and opposition of the Gospel but when men once rise up against the Gospel in the Spirit and Power of it they are sure to be undone by it and to be shattered all in pieces for this brings swift Vengeance And therefore when I see the generality of the people of all sorts rise up against the Ministration of the Spirit which God hath now in these dayes of ours set up even in every County for salvation to his people but for a stone of stumbling and a rock of offence to the rest I am then exceedingly distressed and pained at the very heart for thee O England and for all thy Cities and Towns and Inhabitants for thou that dashest against the Spirit in the Gospel how shalt thou be dashed in pieces thy self and there shall be no healing for thee I could hope for Peace again and good dayes suddenly in this Kingdom but for this sin of the contempt and opposing the Gospel and this makes my hopes even at an end and the day of my fear is come forth upon me But oh you honourable and beloved Christians let not your soul enter into those mens secrets neither yet walk in their open and publike wayes for ruin and destruction are in their pathes and the way of peace they shall never know seeing God is about to enter into controversie with all flesh for their rising up against the Ministration of the Spirit And therefore be Wise here I beseech you that in the shattering of the Nation if there be no remedy you may be kept together as a blessed remnant and a hopeful seed of the following generation To conclude Honourable and Worthy we will be willingly contented to do and suffer all things with you we will chearfully run through honour and dishonour with you fame and infamy gain and loss trouble and quietness War and Peace Life and Death and do desire to reserve nothing to our selves Nisi unicum verbum domini but onely the Word of God in its own purity and liberty to preach it and to publish it and to profess it and to practise it for the glory of God and his only begotten Son and for the good of his Kingdom and this Kingdom And thus much unto you from the Lord. A REPLY To Mr. LOVE'S Contradictions SIR BEcause I would not wrong you in any measure in what you said I went to one who took your Notes in short-hand and he gave me what I here set down for yours which I well remember are the things you then spake for the substance of them To which I give you this following Reply Mr. LOVE Cast your eyes upon the begun Reformation though peradventure cryed down with Confidence No such thing as the Reformation of the Church c. Reply I taught indeed That the Kingdom of Christ is
with him But I am perswaded better things of you though I thus speak and even such things as are suitable to the light of the Gospel and to the vertues and graces of Christ and his Spirit which have been hitherto and I hope will yet still be very manifest not only in You Honorable Ones who have the chief Conduct but also in very many of the Councel and Army besides And upon such a gathering together of Gods people and Saints let the world if it please still laugh at that word who can but think he hath some choice and singular work in hand for his own glory The Lord God Almighty hath already done great and wonderful works by you and is yet doing greater if you will continue to beleeve and obey and in all these things he only is to be exalted and not You. For hath not that Day of the Lord of Hosts dawned yea the morning of it is already gone forth Which is upon every one that is proud and lofty and upon every one that is lifted up and he is to be brought low and the Lord alone is and must be exalted in this day Now the Lord cause you to dwell and continue in that Church which is the body of Christ and habitation of God and give you peace with those that are reconciled to God by Christ and to one another in Christ by the Spirit in which union and communion I remain Your assured Servant W. D. TO THE READER SUCH are the noises of waters and thundrings and earthquakes among us and so great and continued are our shakings and confusious through hatred and love hopes and fears joyes and sorrows triumphs and indignations that there is no silence in heaven for so much as half an hour Wherefore though I discourse here touching so sweet and glorious a thing as PEACE and do declare from the very word or else I had said nothing wherein the true peace of the true Church consists and also how the faithful and Churches may preserve that peace in their Communion with one another which they have in the Son and in the Father yet mens heads and hearts are now so full that it is to be doubted but few will regard it Notwithstanding considering that there is among us an election of grace and a flock of Christ who both know and will hear his voyce at any time I thought good to speak this in their behalf for whose profit all the creatures of God were made in the world and all the gifts of Christ are given in the Church And though I am very conscious of my rudeness of speech in this Discourse as also of my weakness and infirmity in many things having not yet attained to a perfect man and to the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ and so dare not say that every jot and tittle here is of the pure river of water of life without any humane mixture yet they that are spiritual and able to judge will own all in it that is of the word and spirit of truth and will not reject silver tryed four or five times because it is not tryed seven times And what is weak and imperfect in it the true Church of Christ for whose dear sake and love I have spoken all this seeing it is as Luther speaks The Queen of Mercy whose very bowels are meer compassions and forgivenesses of sins will easily pass it by and forgive it And as for men haughty and high in their own spirit contemning and disdaining any thing that agrees not to their palate I do as easily despise their censure as they lightly pass it It is enough that I seek the glory of Jesus Christ the Son of the living God and the welfare of that Church that is his body and for the rest let me become as vile as the Apostles were made to the world who were counted the filth and offsouring of all things or as Mr Baily Rutherford Bastwick Pryn Love or any other of my old enemies in Parliament and City not worth the naming have sought to make me All whom unless God give them repentance to life I cite as once Hierom of Prague did his enemies in the like cause To appear within a few years before the most high and righteous Judge Jesus Christ to answer all that they have done wickedly if not maliciously against his Name Truth Gospel Spirit People and that under the form and pretence of godliness And now well knowing that the more any thing is of Christ the more enmity and opposition it will meet with from the world and from the worldly Church I commit Christs own word and cause to his own care and protection who lives and reigns for this very purpose to uphold his own despised truth against the glorious but deceitful doctrines of men and to make all his enemies his foot-stool And so waiting in this assured hope if thou love Christ I remain Thine in him VVilliam Dell. The Contents THE Introduction pag. 149 The Gospel propounded is neither 1. Between the Church and the world p. 150 2. Nor between the Spiritual and Carnal children of the Church ibid. 3. But between the faithful or true children of the true Church p. 151 The true Church described p. 152 The true Church of God differs from the Churches of men in 13. particulars from p. 153 to p. 157 How this Church may be known p. 158 How we may be joyned to it p. 159 The Church a great mystery as well as Christ p. 160 Seven bonds of this Churches Vnity viz. ibid. 1. One body p. 161 2. One Spirit p. 165 3. One Hope of our calling p. 167 4. One Lord. p. 169 5. One Faith p. 172 6. One Baptisme p. 175 7. One God and Father of all who is above all through all and in all p. 176 These seven bonds are sufficient for the Vnity and Peace of the Church without any additions of mans devising 178. How the true Church of believers thus made one by God may be preserved one in their communion among themselves p. 180 To this end 1 They must know some things otherwise then yet they do ibid. Particularly they must be instructed touching the government of the church ibid. This Government is twofold 1. Immediate And this also is twofold 1. The Government of Gods speciall Providence p. 181 2. The government of his spiritual presence p 182 These two Governments the true church never wanted in any age nor in this p. 184 2. Mediate This also is Christs Government and not mans p. 185 And it is Christs ordering all things by the faithful among the faithful in reference to the communion of Saints ibid. This is drawn forth into several particulars which are these 1. To whom Christ hath committed the power of ordering and managing all things in the true Church 186 2. What kinde of power it is which the true Church hath set down in 6. particulars 188 And here
wit that we should believe in him and love one another and he expects the same obedience from us as from them and so we are not to command one another but are all alike to be commanded by him It was the evil servant that beat his fellow servants upon hopes of the delay of his Masters coming And this is the fourth bond of the true Churches Vnity Vnity of Lord. Now they break this bond of the Churches Vnity that either make themselves or others Lords over the Church besides Christ and parcel out this one Kingdom of the Son to many Lords to the great dishonour of Christ and dis-union of the Church The Pope was the first that professed himself to be the general Master in the whole Church of God and after the Pope a general Councel took this honour to it self and by degrees this last became as hard yea a harder taskmaster to the Church then the former After when particular Kingdoms fell off from the Pope and his Antichristian Church the mystery of iniquity was not by this means wholly dissolved but only was contracted and brought into a less compass for then the Archbishop made himself general master of the Church in each particular Kingdom as the Pope before had done in all and after the Archbishop rises up a National Assembly as the General Councel after the Pope and each of these in their courses usurp Lordship over the Church of Christ to the sad dissolution of its unity Most evident then it is that during the time of the Apostasie the Church hath been most miserably Lorded even amongst us for the Priest he Lorded it over the People the Arch-deacon over the Priest the Dean over the Arch-deacon the Bishop over the Dean and the Arch-bishop over the Bishop under which woful bondage the Church cried out as Isa 26. O Lord our God other Lords besides thee have had dominion over us And is this bondage of the Church now eased by casting off those strange Lords Yea do not men rather seek to encrease it by setting yet stranger over it whose names are so full of mystery that the common people cannot understand them for now they would have the Classical Presbytery set over the Congregational and the Provincial over the Classical and the National over the Provincial for so it is Voted THAT IT IS LAWFULL AND AGREEABLE TO THE WORD OF GOD THAT THERE BE A SUBORDINATION OF CONGREGATIONAL CLASSICAL PROVINCIAL AND NATIONAL ASSEMBLIES FOR THE GOVERNMENT OF THE CHURCH Now here is mystery and nothing but a certain rising up into the old power under a new name And mark how they prove this subordination of Congregational Classical Provincial and National Assemblies to wit by that Scripture Mat. 18. where it is written If thy brother trespass against thee and will neither hear thy admonition nor councel nor the admonition and councel of other brethren TELL THE CHURCH that is the Congregation of the faithful Now from this place they prove the fore mentioned subordination of Assemblies just as the Pope once proved himself to be above the Emperour to wit because it is written Gen. 1. That God made two great lights the Sun to rule by day and the Moon by night Now if this might be brought about which they design the Church would be so far from being eased of its strange Lords that it should have them exceedingly multiplied for what is a National Assembly but an Archbishop multiplied and what a Provincial Assembly but a Bishop multiplied And a Classical but a Dean and Arch deacon multiplied And thus the former Lords being removed they would in their stead cause the Church to swarm with Classical Provincial and National Lords and would by no means suffer Christs own Kingdom to return to his own Lordship and Dominion And thus whilest they by secular power seek to enforce these Ecclesiastical Lords over the Church they absolutely break in pieces the unity of it even whilst they bear the simple people in hand that they above all other men seek to preserve it seeing the plurality of Lords is alwayes the cause of Schisms and divisions in the Church which can never be one but under one Lord the Lord Jesus Christ The fifth bond of the true Churches Vnity is ONE FAITH The true Church of God hath but one Faith wrought by one Spirit apprehending the same Christ or the same living and eternal truth of God So that Abraham and Moses and David and all the Prophets and all the Apostles and we who now believe and all that shall believe hereafter all have and do and shall live in the same mystery of faith that is Believers in all Ages do not live their own lives but all live the life of Christ in their own souls and bodies each one receiving equally from Christ the life of Christ which they all live alike in him being one with him as the branches live equally the life of the Vine and one brnch lives it not more then another Through faith then every Christian is carryed out of himself and all his own things into Christ whom he apprehends with all his fulness for his own and in this faith all Christians are equal and none hath a better or worse faith then another So that in regad of faith also there is among the true Church unity and equality For all Believers have one and the same faith of the operation of God wrought by the same Spirit which raised up Christ from the dead and that faith which the Spirit works neither sin death nor the devil can possibly prevail against and so the faith of the operation of the Spirit is altogether invincible in all the faithful Among true Christians some are not justified by faith and some by works but all are saved through faith without the works of the law Among true Christians one Believers faith doth not apprehend one word and anothers another word but the faith of each and of all apprehends one and the same word of truth and life which is Christ himself Yesterday and to day and the same for ever Among Believers one doth not live his own life and another Christs which indeed would make them very different and unequal but all live Christs life alike and none their own And thus is the whole Church knit together in Vnity of Faith Now this unity of faith is mightily able to preserve peace among Believers notwithstanding diversity either of inward gifts or outward works 1. Vnity of Faith preserves peace notwithstanding diversity of inward gifts inasmuch as we are not made members of Christs body through such and such gifts but meerly through faith and so he that hath one or a less gift is equally a member of Christ through his faith with him that hath another or a greater gift and so unity of faith which makes us all one body in Christ is to keep us one notwithstanding diversity of gifts and operations and
from the glory of God but it will make much for the sanctifying of thy name the gathering and encreasing thy Kingdom the propagating the knowledge of thy word and to be brief it is a most excellent and profitable design But God no doubt laughed at this wisdom of mine and said Go to now I know thee to be wise and learned but this was never my manner that either Peter or Martin meaning himself should teach or form or govern or lead me For I am not a passive but an active God who use always to lead govern form Now saith he it is very grievous that our wisdom should be only passive and that we are commanded to mortifie and slay it and therefore many who could not endure this mortification have fallen horribly And thus this kinde of Gods government is wholly according to his own wisdom and councel and wholly without yea contrary to ours And thus we are in some measure acquainted with the government of Gods special providence over his Church 2. The second sort of Gods immediate Government of his Church is the Grvernment of his spiritual Presence or Gods government within us For the right Church is the City of God and hath God in the midst of it being built and framed and that according to every part of it by the Spirit to be the habitation of God this is the temple of the living God as God hath said and God is in it of a truth And if any would know what this Church is called the name of it is THE LORD IS THERE And so the whole guiding and ordering of this Church depends wholly on God who dwels within it For God will not dwell in his own Church and sit still whilst others that are without it shall govern it but the government of the right Church lies on his shoulders who is Immanuel God with us and in us And so this government of the Church is one of the invisible things of God in the Church Christ who fils it governing it by a most present and powerful but invisible influence leading it into truth by the Spirit of truth into patience by the Spirit of patience into love by the Spirit of love into power by the Spirit of power into humility meekness patience heavenly mindedness and into the fulness of all Righteousness by that Spirit which contains all these graces in it self and works them in all those in whom it dwels In this government we hear the voice behind us saying This is the way walk in it when we turn either to the right hand or to the left In this government we have not outward laws to order us as the Kingdoms of the world have but an inward law written in our hearts by the Spirit of God as God hath said I will write my law in their hearts and in their inward parts and this law is the word of life for the living Church or body of Christ can only be governed by a living word which is called the law of the spirit of life And according to this Government also God guides the true Church wonderfully the soul not seeing the ways and councels of God whereby he forms and fashions the Church according to his own minde and good pleasure clean contrary to humane reason and judgement for he brings them to mourning to bring them to comfort brings them to despair to bring them to faith to death to bring them to life yea even to hell to bring them to heaven leading his chosen people after such a manner that nothing would follow but faith which looks not at the things which are seen but at the things which are not seen And thus when the soul is in the midst of many fears woes agonies temptations till it feel in good earnest the true sorrows of death and pains of hell and in this darkness sees no beam nor the least glimmering of light and wants all counsel and knows not which way to turn it self then Christ comes and manifests himself to the soul and counsels and directs and comforts it and leads it into the path of life and redeems it from all distress subduing the world and the devil and sin and death and hell under it yea and carrying it into all the fulness of God Now these two sorts of Governments to wit the one of his special providence and the other of his spiritual presence the true Church never wanted in any Age And in this present Age when the Prelatical Government hath been dissolved for several years together Can any Christian think that the right Church of Christ hath been without all Government Nay all this while it hath been governed most powerfully by his special providence and most sweetly by his spiritual presence So that neither the world nor the devil have been able to prevail neither against its grace nor comforts And for an outward formal visible enforced Government after the manner of civil Corporations or worldly Kingdoms the true Church can as well want such a Government at all times as at any time yea and it is best without it as being farthest removed from the tyranny of men and more immediately under the Government of Christ its onely King and Law-Giver And therefore they that are so violent for an outward and visible Government of the Church after the manner of the Kingdoms of the World I do heartily wish that if it be the good pleasure of God they might sometime or other be exercised with temptations of despair and with the sence of the wrath of God and everlasting burnings For by this means their idle and vain thoughts and speculations of governing the Church of God by humane power and methods would soon vanish and they would soon give over to trouble themselves and the faithful about things that have neither power in them to free from eternal death nor to procure eternal life And thus much for that two-fold Government of the Church which God himself exercises immediately in and over it whereof we must not be ignorant if we desire to preserve the peace of the Church both in our selves and others Now besides this immediate Government of God there is another sort of Government of the Church which Christ exercises mediately by the Church And this also is Christs Government and not mans and men who have not known nor understood the former Government of Christ have mistaken this also through the same unbelief wherefore they not so much as minding the former Government of Christ which is immediate and by himself have made this mediate Government of the Church by man to be all And this also I say they have understood most grossly and carnally and not according to the Word but according to their own ignorant and seduced hearts I shall not trouble the Reader with their particular mis apprehensions in this matter seeing it is far more profitable to content our selves with the plain and evident truth then
now as the Church we speak of is that Church which is born of God and of the Spirit and so is not at all of this world so the power that is agreeable to this Church is the power of God and his Spirit and not at all of this world that is it is not any civil or secular power I may add nor any Ecclesiastical power according to the common understanding it that hath any place in the true Church but meerly a spiritual and heavenly power without any conjunction or mixture of the other seeing Christs power is perfect and every way sufficient for his own Kingdom and Christs Kingdom is Gods Kingdom as well as the Fathers and so men may as well carry worldly and secular power into the Fathers Kingdom as into the Sons seeing this is no other then the Kingdom of God though it be among men and no other then the Kingdom of Heaven though it be upon earth which hath not been understood nor considered by them who have been so busie to bring secular power into a spiritual Kingdom as if Christs own power in his own Kingdom were either weak or imperfect More particularly this true power of the true Church is as I said Christs power in the faithful which is the self-same with Christs power in himself and so 1. It is not a power of violence but a power of influence even such a power as the Head hath over the members and the soul over the body it is not a coercive but a perswasive power a power that makes men willing that are not willing and doth not force the unwilling against their wils 2. This power is humble and not proud as worldly power is for the power of the world sets men over others but the power of the Church sets men under others I saith Christ of himself am among you as one that serves and again He that will be the chief among you let him be the servant of all 3. This power is for edification and not for destruction as Paul acknowledges again and again that the power the Lord gave him was this and no other power viz. not to cast men out of their native Kingdoms but to translate them into Gods Kingdom not to take away their outward Liberties or Estates but to bring them into the Liberty and Inheritance of the Saints to bring men to eternal life and not to destroy men by temporal death 4. This power seeks the good of others more then its own yea good of others with the neglect of its own So Moses was not busie to have a most rebellious people blotted out of the Book of life but rather desired his own name might be blotted out of that book that if it had been the will of God theirs might have been written in And Paul desired that himself might be separated from Christ that his brethren and kinsmen after the flesh might have been united to him And if this power seek the good of others after this high rate even to the neglecting as it were and laying aside their own eternal good how much more to the neglecting and laying aside their temporal good their worldly profits advantages and dignities 5. This power doth not make others suffer to enlarge the Church but suffers it self to bring this about So Christ as Wickliff saith through his poverty humility and suffering injury and death got unto him the children of his Kingdom and not by force and the Martyrs enlarged the Church of Christ by dying themselves and not by causing others to die the blood of the Martyrs being the seed of the Church 6. This power only acts to a spiritual end salvation and only according to spiritual Laws but not to any temporal and worldly ends according to civil and humane laws And thus you see that this true Church power for the nature and quality of it both in general and in particular differs very much both from the apprehensions and practise of the most of our Ecclesiastical men 3. What is the extent of this true Church power I answer that this power extends it self full as far as the Church but no further For what hath the Church to do with those that are not of the Church What have we to do saith Paul with them that are without For Church power which is spiritual is no more sutable to the world then worldly power which is fleshly is sutable to the Church The power of the Church which is Christs power onely reaches so far as Christs Kingdom that is the people that are born of God and his Spirit True Church Government reaches as far as Christs and the Spirits effectual influence and operation but no further that is to all that are willing but to none that are unwilling As nothing hath more troubled the Church then to govern it and give it Laws after the manner of the world by secular force and power so nothing hath more troubled the world then to govern it and give it Laws after the manner of the Church by the aforesaid compulsion Wherefore as the Government of the world is not to be spread over the Church so neither is the Government of the Church to be spread over the world but as the world and the Church are distinct things in themselves so they are to be contented with their distinct Governments 4. What is the outward instrument of this power I answer The word only which is the only scepter and sword of Christs Kingdom to govern his people and subdue his enemies Christ himself the Head of the Church used no other instrument to govern his people by but the word or the preaching the Gospel of the Kingdom and declaring what he had heard from his Father and at his departure out of the world he told them That as his Father had sent him so did he send them and no otherwise that is to do all in the Church by the power of the word and nothing by the power of the world And so the true Church doth all in it self only by the Gospel by the Gospel it bindeth and looseth by the Gospel it remits and retains sin by the Gospel it quickens to life and wounds to death by the Gospel it receives in and casts out by the Gospel it works faith renues the life acts orders guides and governs all things and that Church that hath another scepter and sword besides the word that hath orders and constitutions of men to govern by and plurality of votes in Classical Provincial and National Assemblies to binde and loose by that have their own Laws and Orders to be their Scepter and the Authority of the Magistrate to be their Sword in their Kingdom I say if these be the ways and instruments of their Governments assuredly the Church they boast of is another Church then Christs and is no other in very deed but a Kingdom of sin and darkness and death and when its form of godliness which it
they prove evil it hath power either 1. To reform them Or 2. To depose them 1. It hath power to reform them if so be that they may be brought to repentance and amendment Yea as all the evils of the Church do commonly first flow from the Officers so the reformation of it is first to begin with them And who shall reform the Officers of the Church but the Church it self Seeing the Officers will be sure to tolerate one another in their Vn-Gospel and Vn-Christian courses against the life of Christ and true practice of the word because it is their own case Wherefore seeing the Generality of the present Clergy are arrived to this height of evil that they will not be contented to be servants but will needs make themselves Lords over Christs Flock plotting and striving to procure and maintain their Ecclesiastical state by secular power seeing they have left off to preach Christ and the Gospel and onely preach of state-affairs raging and railing against the most just and necessary proceedings of the Supream Authority of the Kingdom as not sutable to their designs seeing they are daily depraving the sayings and writings of men more righteous then themselves yea and dare cast a veil of their fals Expositions over the very Scriptures to darken them and make them as Sack-cloth to the world that the glory of the Father and the minde of Christ might if it were possible be wholly obscured yea seeing they are become so vile that they had rather Christ himself with his Gospel and true Church should all perish then that they should suffer the least diminâ—tion of their power dignity riches dominion and tyranny What remains but that the Societies of Christians should meet together to reform these evil Officers And whereas they are now met to reform the Church it is far more necessary and would be far more profitable for the Congregations of the faithful to meet together to reform them if yet they be capable of reformation which I confess is much to be doubted seeing they sin against so clear a light 2. If the Officers of the Church prove incorrigible the Church hath power to depose them seeing they have no indelible character whatever the Romish Church affirms Wherefore as the true Church hath power to chuse its Ministers and to continue them as long as they remain faithful in their work so also it hath power to remove them if they forsake the truth and power of the Gospel For as in civil Societies not subjectd to tyranny Officers that prove evil are moveable by them that made them so likewise the Church hath power to remove if it see cause this spiritual Officer yea the spiritual Officer is so much the more moveable then the civil by how much the more he is intolerable if he be unfaithful for the civil Officer can onely hurt in the things of this life but the spiritual in the things of eternal life Wherefore the Church hath the greatest necessity to remove him and chuse another seeing this salt when it hath lost its savour is good for nothing but to be cast upon the dunghil And to this worthy Mr Tindal a blessed Martyr witnesses saying If they that is the Ministers err from the word then may whosoever God moveth his heart play Paul and correct him and if he will not obey the Scripture then have his brethren â—uthority by the Scripture to put him down and send him out of Christs Church among the Hereticks which prefer their false doctrines above the true word of Christ 4. The true Church hath power to call its Councels If the Church of the faithful stand in need of a Councel it may call one if it pleaseth and it hath power so to do and the Councel is not to call and appoint the Church as is now done but the Church is to call and appoint the Councel and the Councel is to have its Authority from the Church and not the Church from it And for the world it can no more call the Councels of the Church then the Church can call the Councels of the world the Councels of the Church and the world being as distinct as the Church and the world themselves are Now I said The Church if it need a Councel may call one because the Church of Believers now seldom needs a Councel seeing all things are so clear in the word of God with which the faithful are so well acquainted There are many other causes why the right Church may very well be without Councels As 1. Because Councels as the manner was were either called or congregated by the Pope a meer Vsurper in the Church or by secular and worldly Princes who advanced themselves to the same power in the Church though upon another account And according to their ends and designs Councels for the most part have been guided and pointed 2. Because they have for the most part been made up of Bishops and Ecclesiastical men who have onely sought the interest and advantage of the Clergie to the prejudice of the body of Christianity by which means they have set up their own Kingdom and tyranny over all other Christians 3. Because being gathered and met they have especially medled with outward rites and Ceremonies and touching these have made binding and coercive laws to the overthrow of Christian liberty and the ensnaring and enslaving mens consciences 4. Because if they have medled with Doctrine they have rather perverted and obscured the clear word of the Gospel then truly explicated and unfolded it 5. Wherein they have done well yet this evil hath always gone along with it that they have made People rather look to men then unto God and that in the very things of God and to take divine things from them by a humane saith rather then from God himself and his immediate word according to the faith of Gods Elect and so have given forth themselves in their opinions and judgements as a foundation to the Church in the stead of Jesus Christ 6. Because they always determine the things of God by the plurality of Votes and do not weigh but number the suffrages and so the greater part still overcomes the better and the many that are called carry the Vote against the few that are chosen Whereby it comes to pass that the truth is subdued and error is established by a plausible Authority 7. Because such Councels commonly attribute to themselves infallibility and so set themselves up as a peremptory rule by which the whole Church must walk and none must presume to say to them curita facitis why do ye so though they do never so ill They say they cannot be judged by any other Christians because they are subject to none but all other Christians are subject to them and are to be judged by them They say they may pronounce all other Schismaticks and Hereticks but no body must pronounce them so though they be so And
after they have once drunk of this cup of abomination what hope can there be that any thing hereafter should be done right among them 8. And lastly because after so many Councels things have not been the better but the worse in the Church through their means for it is not dead laws and orders wrtten by men will do the true Church any good but the living law of God written in their hearts by the Spirit as God hath promised to do saying I will write my law in their hearts and put in it their inward parts For as the law of sin hath been written in our natures to corrupt us so the law of the Spirit of life must be written also in our natures to reform us Wherefore after all their Decrees Laws Rules Orders c. the Church commonly hath been so far from being bettered that it hath become more ignorant of the Word superstitious formal prophane then before All these things being seriously considered the Church may very well want Councels Now if any shall say Yea but had not the Church a Councel in the Apostles times as we see Act. 15 and did not they order and decree matters in the Church I answer the Church had a Councel then but far differing from the Councels now adaies for 1. That Councel was not called nor packed together by secular power but freely met together by the general consent o◠the Church of the faithful For by the Believers at Antioch it was agreed that Paul and Barnabas should go to the Apostles and Elders at Jerusalem about the matters in controversie 2. This Councel did not consist only of the Apostles and Elders but of the brethren also and whole Church and the whole Church as well as the Apostles and Elders did agree and order what was done in that matter 3. That free Councel consisting of the Apostles Elders and Brethren did not determine any thing by their meer power and authority but debated the business by the word by the word concluded it And so it was not the Authority of the Councel did any thing but the Authority of the Word that did all in that matter as you may see in the fore named place And in these regards that Councel differs from ours Now if notwithstanding all this the Church upon some occasions desire a Councel for herein as in all other outward things it is free it must minde these things 1. That it hath power it self to call one as the Primitive Church had And what men can object against this of worldly Princes calling them let them not say what they did but what they ought to have done 2. As the Church it self is to chuse its Councel so it is to chuse it out of its self For the Councels of the Church are to be chosen out of the Church and not of the world out of the faithful and not out of unbelievers For the natural man that neither knows nor savours the things that be of God can be of no use here but he must be able to know the word of God from the doctrines of men and to separate the precious from the vile that is employed in this matter And so the natural carnal and litter 〈◊〉 man must be declined here where the things are wholly spiritual and divine and the spiritual man onely who speaks spiritual things by a spiritual rule must be heard and regarded and so a man must first be of the Church ere he can be of the Councel 3. As the Church is to chuse men out of it self for its Councel so likewise it is to chuse brethren as well as Elders and Ecclesiastical men are not to meddle alone in the matters of the Church and to thrust out other Christians as if they were necessarily to be concluded in and by them 4. In chusing Elders and Brethren to this work great care is to be had that they chuse not men of worldly power or place lest wordly power and Authority and honour might seem to bear sway in the things of the Kingdom of God but they are rather to make choyce of men destitute of these things that it may appear whatever they do is done only by the clear evidence of the word and influence of the spirit and so onely by the law of love all secular power and force being excluded 5. The Church hath power to judge of all Doctrines and that both of its Officers and Councels The Clergie and Ecclesiastical men have been wont to challenge to themselves the knowledge and judgement of Doctrines and have excluded ordinary Christians from it whereas in truth the judgement of doctrine belongeth to the people and not to the Ministers And all Christs Sheep have power to judge of the doctrine the Ministers teach whether it be Christs Voyce or a Strangers John 10. and Christ commanded them to take heed of false Prophets which come to them in sheeps cloathing being inwardly ravening wolves Mat. 7. And the Apostle commands them to try the spirits whether they be of God and hath said Let one or two speak and the rest judge 1 Cor. 14. c. by which with many other Scriptures it is evident That Ministers are not to judge of doctrine for the People but the People are to judge of the doctrine of the Ministers and according as they find it to be of God or not of God to receive it or reject it For every one is to be saved by his own faith and not by another mans and so is to take heed how he hear the things of faith at his own peril and he is not if he will be wise to salvation to take up things on trust in a matter that concerns either his eternal life or eternal death 2. As the Church is to judge of the Doctrine of its Officers so also of its Councels For the Church judges of them and their doctrine also by the word and doth not take all that they determine for truth to be certain and unquestionable Yea in the first Councel of the Apostles Act. 15. Other Churches and Christians had both liberty and power to try both the doctrine and Spirit of the very Apostles in that matter and were not to swallow it down whole as they say because the Apostles had determined it and they were holy men but the faithful were to judge whether or no they had judged according to the word and if not they might have resisted them as Paul did Peter And Paul gives this liberty to Christians yea we have it from Christ himself whether Paul had allowed it or no to try the very Apostles themselves and the very Angels of Heaven whether they bring the right word or no for Christ commanded the Apostles to teach that Nations to observe and do whatsoever he had commanded them and nothing else and saith Paul If I or an Angel from heaven bring you any other doctrine let him be accursed So that the Church