by some citations out of them hereafter to be mentioned will appear though this Doctrine hath not since the Apostacy so far as ever I could observe been so distinctly and evidently held forth according to the Scriptures Testimony as it hath pleased God to reveal it and preach it forth in this day by the witnesses of his Truth whom he hath raised to that end Which Doctrine though it be briefly held forth and comprehended in the Thesis it self yet I shall a little more fully explain the state of the Controversie as it stands betwixt us and those that now oppose us § III. First then as by the explanation of the former Thesis appears we renounce all natural power and ability in our selves in order to bring us out of our lost and faln condition and first Nature and confess that of our selves we are able to do nothing that is good so neither can we procure remission of sins or justification by any act of our own so as to merit it or draw it as a debt from God due unto us but we acknowledg all to be of and from his Love which is the original and fundamental cause of our acceptance Secondly God manifested this love towards us in the sending of his Beloved Son the Lord Jesus Christ into the world who gave himself for us an Offering and a Sacrifice to God for a sweet smelling savour and having made peace through the blood of his Cross that he might reconcile us unto himself and by the Eternal Spirit offered himself without spot unto God and suffered for our sins the Just for the unjust that he might bring us unto God Thirdly then forasmuch as all men who have come to man's estate the Man Jesus only excepted have sinned therefore all have need of this Saviour to remove the Wrath of God from them due to their offences in this respect he is truly said to have born the Iniquities of us all in his Body on the Tree and therefore is the Only Mediator having qualified the Wrath of God towards us so that our former sins stand not in our way being by vertue of his most satisfactory Sacrifice removed and pardoned Neither do we think that remission of sins is to be expected sought or obtained any other way or by any works or Sacrifice whatsomever though as has been said formerly they may come to partake of this remission that are ignorant of the History So then Christ by his death and sufferings hath reconciled us to God even while we are Enemies that is he offers reconciliation unto us we are put into a capacity of being reconciled God is willing to forgive us our iniquities and to accept us as is well expressed by the Apostle 2 Cor. 5.19 God was in Christ reconciling the World unto himself not imputing their trespasses unto them and hath put in us the Word of Reconciliation And therefore the Apostle in the next verses treats them in Christs stead to be reconciled to God intimating that the Wrath of God being removed by the obedience of Christ Jesus he is willing to be reconciled unto them and ready to remit the sins that are past if they repent We consider then our Redemption in a two fold respect or state both which in their own Nature are perfect though in their application to us the one is not nor cannot be without respect to the other The first is the Redemption performed and accomplished by Christ for us in his Crucified Body without us The other is the Redemption wrought by Christ in us which no less properly is called and accounted a Redemption than the former The first then is that whereby man as he stands in the fall is put into a capacity of Salvation and hath conveighed unto him a measure of that Power Vertue Spirit Life and Grace that was in Christ Jesus which as the free Gift of God is able to counter-ballance overcome and root out the Evil Seed wherewith we are naturally as in the fall leavened The second is that whereby we witness and know this pure and perfect Redemption in our selves purifying cleansing and redeeming us from the power of Corruption and bringing us into unity Favour and Friendship with God By the first of these two we that are lost in Adam plunged in the bitter and corrupt Seed unable of our selves to do any good thing but naturally joyned and united to evil forward and propense to all iniquity servants and slaves to the Power and Spirit of Darkness are notwithstanding all this so far reconciled to God by the death of his Son while Enemies that we are put into a capacity of Salvation having the glad tidings of the Gospel of peace offered unto us and God is reconciled unto us in Christ calls and invites us to himself in which respect we understand these Scriptures He stew the enmity in himself He loved us first seeing us in our blood he said unto us live he who did not sin his own self bare our sins in his own Body on the Tree and he died for our sins the just for the unjust By the second we witness this capacity brought into act whereby receiving and not resisting the purchase of his death to wit the Light Spirit and Grace of Christ revealed to us we witness and possess a real true and inward Redemption from the power and prevalency of sin and so come to be truly and really redeemed justified and made righteous and to a sensible union and friendship with God Thus he died for us that he might redeem us from all iniquity and thus we know him and the Power of his Resurrection and the fellowship of his Sufferings being made conformable to us This last follows the first in order and is a consequence of it proceeding from it as an effect from its cause So as none could have enjoyed the last without the first had been such being the will of God so also can none now partake of the first but as he witnesseth the last Wherefore as to us they are both causes of our Justification The first the procuring efficient the other the formal cause Fourthly we understand not by this Justification by Christ barely the good works even as wrought by the Spirit of Christ for they as Protestants truly affirm are rather an effect of Justification than the cause of it But we understand the formation of Christ in us Christ born and brought forth in us from which good works as naturally proceed as Fruit from a Fruitful Tree It is this inward Birth in us bringing forth Righteousness and Holyness in us that doth Justâ—fie us which having removed and done away the contrary Nature and Spirit that did bear rule and bring condemnation now is in dominion over all in our hearts Those then that come to know Christ thus formed in them do enjoy him wholly and undivided who is The LORD our RIGHTEOVSNESS Jer. 23.6 This is to be cloathed with Christ and to have put
to every man to profit withal This certain Doctrine then being received to wit that there is an Evangelical and saving Light and Grace in all the universality of the Love and Mercy of God towards mankind both in the death of his beloved Son the Lord Jesus Christ and in the manifestation of the Light in the heart is established and confirmed against all the Objections of such as deny it Therefore Christ hath tasted death for every man not only for all kinds of men as some vainly talk but for every one of all kinds the benefit of whose offering is not only extended to such who have the distinct outward knowledg of his death and suffering as the same is declared in the Scriptures but even unto those who are necessarily excluded from the benefit of this knowledg by some inevitable accident which knowledg we willingly confess to be very profitable and comfortable but not absolutely needful unto such from whom God himself hath withheld it yet they may be made partakers of the mystery of his death tho ignorant of the History if they suffer his Seed and Light inlightning their hearts to take in which Light communion with the Father and the Son is enjoyned so as of wicked men to become holy and lovers of that power by whose inward and secret touches they feel themselves turned from the evil to the good and learn to do to others as they would be done by in which Christ himself affirms all to be included As they have then falsly and erreonously taught who have denyed Christ to have died for all Men so neither have they sufficiently taught the Truth who affirming him to have died for all have added the absolute necessity of the outward knowledg thereof in order to the obtaining its saving effects Among whom the Remonstrants of Holland have been chiefly wanting and many other Assertors of universal Redemption in that they have not Placed the extent of this salvation in that Divine and Evangelical Principle of Light and Life wherewith Christ hath enlightned every man that comes into the world which is excellently and evidently held forth in these Scriptures Gen. 6.3 Deut. 30.14 John 1.7 8 9. Rom. 10.8 Tit. 2.11 The Seventh Proposition Concerning Justification As many as resist not this Light but receive the same in them is produced a holy pure and spiritual birth bringing forth holiness righteousness purity and all these other blessed fruits which are acceptable to God by which holy birth to wit Jesus Christ formed within us and working his works in us as we are sanctified so are we justified in the sight of God according to the Apostles words But ye are washed but ye are sanctified but ye are justified in the Name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God Therefore it is not by our works wrought in our will nor yet by good works considered as of themselves but Christ who is both the gift and the giver and the cause producing the effects in us who as he hath reconciled us while we were enemies doth also in his wisdom save us and justifie us after this manner as saith the same Apostle elsewhere according to his mercy he hath saved us by the washing of Regeneration and the renewing of the Holy Ghost The Eighth Proposition Concerning Perfection In whom this holy and pure birth is fully brought forth the body of death and sin comes to be crucified and removed and their hearts united and subjected unto the truth so as not to obey any suggestion or temptation of the evil one but to be free from actual sinning and transgressing of the Law of God and in that respect perfect yet doth this perfection still admit of a growth there remaineth ever in some part a possibility of sinning where the mind doth not most diligently and watchfully attend unto the Lord. The Ninth Proposition Concerning Perseverence and the possibility of falling from Grace Altho this Gift and inward Grace of God be sufficient to work out Salvation yet in those in whom it is resisted it both may and doth become their Condemnation Moreover in whom it hath wrought in part to purifie and sanctifie them in order to their further Perfection by disobedience such may fall from it and turn it to wantoness making Shipwrack of Faith and after having tasted of the Heavenly Gift and been made Partakers of the Holy Ghost again fall away yet such an increase and stability in the Truth may in this Life be attained from which there can not be a total Apostacy The Tenth Proposition Concerning the Ministry As by this Gift or Light of God all true knowledge in things Spiritual is received and revealed so by the same as it is manifested and received in the heart by the strength and power thereof every true Minister of the Gospel is ordained prepared and supplied in the work of the Ministry and by the leading moving and drawing hereof ought every Evangelist and Christian Pastor to be led and ordered in his labour and work of the Gospel both as to the place where as to the Person to whom and as to the times when he is to Minister Moreover who have this Authority may and ought to Preach the Gospel tho without human Commission or Literature as on the other hand who want the Authority of this Divine Gift however Learned or Authorized by the Commissions of Men and Churches are to be esteemed but as deceivers and not true Ministers of the Gospel also who have received this holy and unspotted Gift as they have freely received so are they freely to give without hire or bargaining far less to use it as a Trade to get Money by it yet if God hath called any from their Imployments or Trades by which they acquire their livelihood it may be lawful for such according to the liberty which they feel given them in the Lord to receive such Temporals to wit what may be needful to them for Meat and Cloathing as are freely given them by those to whom they have Communicated spirituals The Eleventh Proposition Concerning Worship All true and acceptable worship to God is offered in the inward and immediate moving and drawing of his own Spirit which is neither limited to places times or Persons for tho we be to worship him always in that we are to fear before him yet as to the outward signification thereof in Prayers Praises or Preachings we ought not to do it where and when we will but where and when we are moved thereunto by the secret Inspirations of his Spirit in our hearts which God heareth and accepteth of and is never wanting to move us thereunto when need is of which he himself is the alone proper Judg all other worship then both Praises Prayers and Preachings which man sets about in his own will and at his own appointment which he can both begin and end at his pleasure do or leave undone as himself
History of Christs Passion unto such who living in the places of the World where the outward preaching of the Gospel is unknown have well improved the first and common Grace For as hence it well follows that some of the old Philosophers might have been saved so also may some who by Providence are cast into those remote parts of the World where the knowledg of the History is wanting be made partakers of the Divine Mystery if they receive and resist not that Grace a manifestation whereof is given to every man to profit withal This most certain Doctrine being then received that there is an Evangelical and Saving Light and Grace in all the vniversality of the Love and Mercy of God towards Mankind both in the Death of his Beloved Son the Lord Jesus Christ and in the manifestation of the Light in the heart is established and confirmed against all the Objections of such as deny it Therefore Christ hath tasted death for every man not only for all kind of men as some vainly talk but for every man of all kinds the benefit of whose Offering is not only extended to such who have the destinct outward knowledg of his death and sufferings as the same is declared in the Scriptures but even unto those who are necessarily excluded from the benefit of this knowledg by some inevitable accident Which knowledg we willingly confess to be very profitable and comfortable but not absolutely needful unto such from whom God himself hath withheld it yet they may be made partakers of the mystery of his death though ignorant of the history if they suffer his Seed and Light inlightening their hearts to take place in which Light communion with the Father and the Son is enjoyed so as of wicked men to become holy and lovers of that Power by whose inward and secret touches they feel themselves turned from the Evil to the Good and learn to do to others as they would be done by in which Christ himself affirms all to be included As They have then falsly and erroneously taught who have denyed Christ to have dyed for all men so neither have They sufficiently taught the Truth who affirming him to have died for all have added the absolute necessity of the outward knowledg thereof in order to obtain its saving effect Among whom the Remonstrants of Holland have been chiefly wanting and many other assertors of Vniversal Redemption in that they have not placed the extent of his Salvation in that Divine and Evangelical Principle of Light and Life wherewith Christ hath inlightened every man that cometh into the World which is excellently and evidently held forth in these Scriptures Gen. 6.3 Deut. 30.14 Joh. 1.7 8 9 16. Rom. 10.8 Tit. 2.11 HItherto we have considered mans fall'n lost corrupted and degenerated condition Now it is fit to inquire how and by what means he may come to be freed out of this miserable and depraved condition which in these two Propositions is declared and demonstrated which I thought meet to place together because of their affinity The one being as it were an explanation of the other As for that Doctrine which these Propositions chiefly strike at to wit absolute reprobation according to which some are not afraid to assert That God by an eternal and immutable decree hath predestinated to Eternal Damnation the far greater part of Mankind not considered as made much less as fall'n without any respect to their Disobedience or Sin but only for the demonstrating of the Glory of his Justice and that for the bringing this about he hath appointed these miserable Souls necessarily to walk in their wicked ways that so his justice may lay hold on them And that God doth therefore not only suffer them to be liable to this misery in many parts of the world by withholding from them the preaching of the Gospel and knowledg of Christ but even in those places where the Gospel is preached and Salvation by Christ is offered whom though he publickly invite them yet he justly condemns for disobedience albeit he hath with held from them all Grace by which they could have laid hold on the Gospel viz. because he hath by a secret will unknown to all men ordained and decreed without any respect had to their disobedience or sin that they shall not obey and that the offer of the Gospel shall never prove effectual for their Salvation but only serve to aggravate and occasion their greater condemnation I say as to this horrible and Blasphemous Doctrine or cause is common with many others who have both wisely and learnedly according to Scripture Reason and Antiquity refuted it Seeing then that so much and so well is said already against this Doctrine that little can be superadded except what hath been said already I shall be short in this respect Yet because it lies so in opposition to my way I cannot let it altogether pass § I. First We may safely call this Doctrine a novelty seeing the first Four Hundred Years after Christ there is no mention made of it for as it is contrary to the Scriptures Testimony and to the Tenor of the Gospel so all the Antient Writers Teachers and Doctors of the Church pass it over with a profound Silence The first Foundations of it were laid in the later writings of Augustin who in his heat against Pelagius let fall some expressions which some have unhappily gleaned up to the establishing of this error thereby contradicting the Truth and sufficiently gain-saying many others and many more and frequent expressions of the same Augustine Afterwards was this Doctrine fomented by Dominicus a Friar and the Monks of his Order and at last unhappily taken up by John Calvin otherwise a man in divers respects to be commended to the great staining of his reputation and defamation both of the Protestant and Christian Religion which though it received the Degrees of the Synod of Dort for its confirmation hath since lost ground and begins to be exploded by most men of Learning and Piety in all Protestant Churches However we should not quarrel for the silence of the Antients paucity of its assertors or for the learnedness of its Opposers if we did observe it to have any real bottom in the writings or sayings of Christ and the Apostles and that it were not highly injurious to God himself to Jesus Christ our Mediator and Redeemer and to the Power Vertue Nobility and Excellency of his Blessed Gospel and lastly unto all mankind § II. First It is highly injurious to God because it makes him the author of Sin which of all things is most contrary to his nature I confess the assertors of this Principle deny this Consequence but that is but a pure illusion seeing it so naturally follows from their Doctrin and is equally ridiculous as if a man should pertinaciously deny that one and two makes three For if God has decreed that the reprobated ones shall perish without all respect to their evil
of the glorious Dispensation of the Gospel of Christ appear all at once the work of the first Witnesses being more to restifie against and discover the abuses of the Apostasie than to establish the Truth in purity He that comes to build a new City must first remove the old Rubbish before he can see to lay a new Foundation and he that comes to a House greatly polluted and full of Dirt will first sweep away and remove the Filth before he put up his own good and new Furniture The dawning of the day dispells the Darkness and makes us see the things that are most conspicuous but the distinct discovering and discerning of things o as to make a certain and perfect observation is reserved for the arising of the Sun and its shining in full brightness And we can from a certain Experience boldly affirm that the not waiting for this but building among yea and with the old popish rubbish and setting up before a full purgation hath been to most Protestants the foundation of many a mistake and an occasion of unspeakable hurt Therefore the Lord God who as he seeth meet doth communicate and make known to man the more full evident and perfect knowledg of his everlasting Truth hath been pleased to reserve the more full discovery of this glorious and Evangelical Dispensation to this our Age albeit divers testimonies have thereunto been born by some noted men in several Ages as shall hereafter appear and for the greater augmentation of the Glory of his Grace that no man might have whereof to boast hath raised up a few despicable and illiterate men and for the most part Mechanicks to be the Dispensators of it by which Gospel all the scruples doubts hesitations and objections above mentioned are easily and evidently answered and the justice as well as mercy of God according to their Divine and Heavenly Harmony are exhibited established and confirmed according to which certain Light and Gospel as the knowledge thereof hath been manifested to us by the Revelation of Jesus Christ in us fortified by our own sensible experience and sealed by the testimony of the Spirit in our Hearts we can confidently affirm and clearly evince according to the testimony of the Holy Scriptures the following points § XI First That God who out of his infinite love sent his Son the Lord Jesus Christ into the World who tasted Death for every man hath given to every man whether Jew or Gentile Turk or Scythian Indian or Barbarian of whatsoever Nation Countrey or Place a certain day or time of visitation during which day or time it is possible for them to be saved and to partake of the Fruit of Christs Death Secondly That for this end God hath communicated and given unto every man a measure of the Light of his own Son a measure of Grace or a measure of the Spirit which the Scripture expresses by several names as sometimes of the Seed of the Kingdom Mat. 13.18.19 The Light that makes all things manifest Eph. 5.13 The Word of God Rom. 10.18 or Manifestation of the Spirit given to profite withal 1 Cor. 12.7 a Talent Mat. 25.15 a little Leaven The Gospel preached in every Creature Col. 1.23 Thirdly That God in and by this Light and Seed invites calls exhorts and strives with every man in order to save them which as it is received and not resisted works the Salvation of all even of those who are ignorant of the Death and Sufferings of Christ and of Adam's Fall both by bringing them to a sense of their own misery and to be sharers in the Sufferings of Christ inwardly and by making them partakers of his Resurrection in becoming Holy Pure and Righteous and recovered of their sins by which also are saved they that have the knowledg of Christ outwardly in that it opens their understanding rightly to use and apply the things delivered in the Scriptures and to receive the saving use of them But that this may be resisted and rejected in both in which then God is said to be resisted and pressed down and Christ to be again crucified and put to open shame in and among men and to to those as thus resist and refuse him he becomes their condemnation First then according to this Doctrine the Mercy of God is excellently well exhibited in that none are necessarily shut out from Salvation and his Justice is demonstrated in that he condemns none but such to whom he really made offer of Salvation affording them the means sufficient thereunto Secondly This Doctrin if well weighed will be found to be the Foundation of Christianity Salvation and Assurance Thirdly It agrees and answers with the whole tenor of the Gospel Promises and Threats and with the Nature of the Ministry of Christ according to which the Gospel Salvation Repentance is commanded to be preached to every Creature without respect of Nations Kindreds Families or Tongues Fourthly It magnifies and commends the merits and death of Christ in that it not only accounts them sufficient to save all but declares them to be brought so nigh unto all as thereby to be put into the nearest capacity of Salvation Fifthly It exalts above all the Grace of God to which it attributeth all good even the least and smallest actions that are so ascribing thereunto not only the first beginnings and motions of good but also the whole conversion and salvation of the Soul Sixthly It contradicts overturns and enervates the false Doctrine of the Pelagians Semi-Pelagians Socinians and others who exalt the Light of Nature the liberty of mans will in that it wholly excludes the natural man from having any place or portion in his own Salvation by any acting moving or working of his own until he be first quickned raised up and acted by God's Spirit Seventhly As it makes the whole Salvation of Man solely and alone to depend upon God so it makes his condemnation wholly and in every respect to be himself in that he refused and resisted somewhat that from God wrestled and strove in his heart and forces him to acknowledg God's just Judgment in rejecting him and forsaking of him Eighthly It takes away all ground of Despair in that it gives every one ground of hope and certain assurance that they may be saved neither doth feed any in security in that none are certain how soon their day may expire and therefore it is a constant incitement and provocation and lively incouragement to every man to forsake evil and close with that which is good Ninthly It wonderfully commends as well the certainty of the Christian Religion among Infidels as it manifests its own verity to all in that it s confirmed and established by the experiences of all men seeing there was never yet a man found in any place of the Earth however barbarous and wild but hath acknowledged that at some time or other less or more he hath found somewhat in his heart reproving him for some things evil which he hath
best of them for he has better skill of Languages and more Logick Philosophy and School Divinity than any of them and knows the Truth in the notion better than they all and talk more Eloquently than all those Preachers But what availeth all this Is it not all but as Death as a painted Sepulchre and dead Carcase without the Power Life and Spirit of Christianity which is the marrow and substance of a Christian Ministry and he that hath this and can speak from it though he be a poor Shepherd or a Fisher-man and ignorant of all that Learning and of all those questions and notions yet speaking from the Spirit his Ministry will have more influence towards the converting of a sinner unto God than all of them learned after the flesh as in that Example of the old man at the Council of Nice did appear § XXIII And if in any Age since the Apostles daies God hath purposed to shew his power by weak instruments for the battering down of that carnal and heathenish wisdom and restoring again the ancient simplicity of Truth this is it for in our day God hath raised up witnesses for himself as he did Fisher-men of old many yea most of whom are labouring and mechanick men who altogether without that learning have by the Power and Spirit of God struck at the very root and ground of Babylon and in the strength and might of this Power have gathered thousands by teaching their Consciences into the same Power and Life who as to the outward part have been far more knowing than they yet not able to resist the vertue that proceeded from them Of which I my self am a true witness and can declare from a certain experience because my heart hath been often greatly broken and tendered by that vertuous Life that proceeded from the powerful Ministry of those illeterate men so that by their very countenance as well as words I have felt the evil in me often chained down and the good reached to and raised What shall I then say to you who are lovers of learning and admirers of knowledg Was not I also a lover and admirer of it who also sought after it according to my age and capacity But it pleased God in his unutterable love early to withstand my vain endeavours while I was yet but eighteen years of age made and me seriously to consider which I wish also may befall others that without holiness and regeneration no man can see God and that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom and to depart from iniquity a good understanding And how much knowledg puffeth up and leadeth away from that inward quietness stilness and humility of mind where the Lord appears and his heavenly wisdom is revealed If ye consider these things then will ye say with me that all this learning wisdom and knowledg gathered in this faln nature is but as dross and dung in comparison of the cross of Christ especially being destitute of that Power Life and Vertue which I perceived these excellent though despised because illeterate Witnesses of God to be filled with and therefore seeing that in and among them I with many others have found the heavenly food that gives contentment let my Soul seek after this learning and wait for it for ever § XXIV Having thus spoken of the call and qualifications of a Gospel Minister that which comes next to be considered is What his proper work is how and by what rule he is to be ordered Our adversaries do all along go upon outwards and therefore have certain prescribed rules and methods contrived according to their humane and earthly wisdom We on the contrary walk still upon the same foundation and lean alwaies upon the immediate assistance and influence of that Holy Spirit which God hath given his Children to teach them all things and lead them in all things which Spirit being the Spirit of order and not of confusion leads us and as many as follow it into such a comely and decent order as becometh the Church of God But our adversaries having shut themselves out from this immediate council and influence of the Spirit have run themselves into many confusions and disorders seeking to establish an order in this matter For some will have first a chief Bishop or Pope to rule and be Prince over all and under him by degrees Cardinals Patriarchs Archbishops Priests Deacons Sub-deacons and besides these Acoluthi consotari ostiarii c. And in their Theology as they call it Professors Batchelors Doctors c. And others are to have every Nation independent of another having its own Metropolitan or Patriarch and the rest in order subject to him as before Others again are against all precedency among Pastors and constitute their subordination not of persons but of power as first the Consistory or Session then the Class or Presbytery then the Provincial and then the National Synod or Assembly Thus do they tear one another and contend among themselves concerning the ordering distinguishing and making their several orders offices concerning which there hath been no less contest not only by way of verbal diâ—pute but even by fighting tumults wars vastations and blood-shed than about the conquering overturning and establishing of Kingdoms And the Histories of late times are as full of the various Tragedies acted upon the account of this Spiritual and Ecclesiastical Monarchy and Common Wealth as the Histories of old times that gave account of the wras and contests that fell out both in Assyrian Persian Greek and Roman Empires These last upon this account though among those that are called Christians have been no less bloody and monstrous than the former among Heathens concerning their outward Empires and Governments Now all this both among Papists and Protestants proceedeth in that they seek in imitation to uphold a form and shadow of things though they want the Power Vertue and Substance though for many of their orders and forms they have not so much as the name in the Scripture But in opposition to all this mass of formality and heap of Orders Rules and Governments we say the Substance is chiefly to be sought after and the Power Vertue and Spirit is to be known and waited for which is one in all the different names and offices the Scripture makes use of as appears by 1 Cor. 12. often before mentioned There are diversities of Gifts but the same Spirit And after the Apostle throughout the whole chapter hath shewn how one and the self same Spirit worketh in and quickeneth each member then in the 28 verse he sheweth how thereby God hath set in the Church first Apostles secondly Prophets Teachers c. And likewise to the same purpose Eph. 4. he sheweth how by these Gifts he hath given some Apostles some Prophets some Evangelists some Pastors some Teachers c. Now it was never Christs purpose nor the Apostles that Christians should without this Spirit and Heavenly Gift set
confusion therefore we are subject to persecution Yea and others who with us do witness that the use of Arms is unlawful to Christians do look asquint upon us but which of us two do most faithfully observe this testimony against Arms either they who at certain times at the Magistrates order to close up their shops and houses and meet in their assembly praying for the prosperity of their Arms or giving thanks for some victory or other whereby they make themselves like to those that approve wars and fighting Or we which cannot do these things for the same cause of Conscience lest we should destroy by our works what we establish in words we shall leave to the judgment of all prudent men Fifthly they object that Christ Luk. 22.36 speaking to his Disciples Obj. commands them that he that then had not a Sword should sell his Coat and buy a Sword Therefore say they Arms are lawful I answer Some indeed understand this of the outward Sword Answ. nevertheless regarding only that occasion otherwise judging that Christians are prohibited wars under the Gospel among which is Ambrose who upon this place speaks thus O Lord Why commandest thou me to buy a Sword who forbidest me to smite with it why commandest thou me to have it whom thou prohibitest to draw it Vnless perhaps a defence be prepared not a necessary revenge and that I may seem to have been able to revenge but that I would not For the Law forbids me to smite again and therefore perhaps he said to Peter offering two Swords it is enough as if it had been lawful until the Gospel time that in the law there might be a learning of equity but in the Gospel a perfection of goodness Others judg Christ to have spoken here mystically and not according to the letter as Origen upon Matth. 19. saying If any looking to the letter and not understanding the will of the words shall sell his bodily Garment and buy a Sword taking the words of Christ contrary to his will he shall perish But concerning which sword he speaks is not proper here to mention And truly when we consider the answer of the Disciples Master behold here are two swords understanding it of outward Swords and again Christ's answer It is enough it seems that Christ would not that the rest who had not Swords for they had only two Swords should sell their Coats and buy an outward Sword Who can think that matters standing thus he should have said two was enough But however it is sufficient that the use of Arms is unlawful under the Gospel Sixthly they object that the Scriptures and old Fathers so called Obj. did only prohibit private revenge not the use of arms for the defence of our country body wives children and goods when the Magistrate commands it seeing the Magistrates ought to be obeyed Therefore albeit it be not lawfull for private men to do it of themselves nevertheless they are bound to it by the command of the Magistrate I answer If the Magistrate be truly a Christian or desires to be so he ought himself in the first place to obey the command of his Master saying Love your Enemies c. and then he could not command us to kill them but if he be not a true Christian then ought we to obey our Lord and King Jesus Christ to whom he ought also to obey for in the Kingdom of Christ all ought to submit to his Laws from the highest to the lowest that is from the King to the Beggar and from Caesar to the Clown But alas where shall we find such an obedience O deplorable fall Concerning which Ludov. Viv. writes well lib. de con vit Christ. sub Turc by relation of Fredericus Sylvius Disc de Revol Belg. p. 85. The Prince entred into the Church not as a true and plain Christian which had indeed been most happy and desirable but he brought in with him his Nobility his Honours his ARMS his Ensigns his Triumphs his Haughtiness his Pride his Superciliousness that is He came into the House of Christ accompanied with the Devil and which could no ways be done he would have joyned two Houses and two Cities together God's and the Devils which could not more be done than Rome and Constantinople which are distant by so long a tract both of Sea and Land What communion saith Paul is there betwixt Christ and Belial Their Zeal cooled by degrees their Faith decreased their whole Piety degenerated instead whereof we make now use of shadows and images and as he saith I would we could but retain these Thus far Vives But lastly as to what relates to this thing since nothing seems more contrary to man's nature and seeing of all things the defence of ones self seems most tolerable as it is most hard to men so it is the most perfect part of the Christian Religion as that wherein the denial of self and intire confidence in God doth most appear and therefore Christ and his Apostles left us hereof a most perfect example As to what relates to the present Magistrates of the Christian World albeit we deny them not altogether the name of Christians because of the publick profession they make of Christ's Name yet we may boldly affirm that they are far from the perfection of the Christian Religion because in the state in which they are as in many places before I have largely observed they have not come to the pure dispensation of the Gospel and therefore while they are in that condition we shall not say that War undertaken upon a just occasion is altogether unlawful to them For even as Circumcision and the other ceremonies were for a season permitted to the Jews not because they were either necessary or of themselves or lawful at that time after the Resurrection of Christ but because that Spirit was not yet raised up in them whereby they could be delivered from such rudiments so the present confessors of the Christian name who are yet in the mixture and not in the patient suffering Spirit are not yet fitted for this form of Christianity and therefore cannot be undefending themselves until they attain that perfection but for such whom Christ has brought hither it is not lawful to defend themselves by arms but they ought over all to trust to the Lord. § XVI But lastly to conclude If to give and receive flattering titles which are not used because of the vertues inherent in the persons but are for most part bestowed by wicked men upon such as themselves If to bow scrape and cringe to one another If at every time to call one another humble servant and that most frequently without any design of real service if this be the honour that comes from God and not the honour that is from below then indeed our adversaries may be said to be believers and we condemned as proud and stubborn in denying all these things But if with Mordecai to refuse to bow to proud
their Doctrine 158 159. concerning the possibility of not sinning 172 173. the possibility of falling from Grace 176. many of them did not only contradict one another but themselves also 211. concerning Baptism and the sign of the Cross 301. concern-in an Oath 372. Feet concerning the washing of one anothers feet 317 318 319. Franequer 222. Freely the Gospel ought to be preached freely 180 221 222. G Games see Playes Gifted Brethren 198. GOD how he hath alwaies manifested himself 3. unless he speak within the Preacher makes a rustling to no purpose 5 6. None can know him aright unless he receive it of the Holy Ghost 5 6 7. God is to be sought within 7. he is known by sensation and not by meer speculation and syllogistic demonstrations 6 7. he is the Fountain Root and Beginning of all good works and he hath made all things by his eternal Word 10. God speaking is the object of Faith 15. among all he hath his own chosen ones 5. he delights not in the death of the wicked see Redemption He hath manifested his love in sending his Son 132 149 150. see Justification he rewards the good works of his Children 157 158. whether it be possible to keep his Commandments 159 160. he is the Lord and the Only Judge of the Conscience 331 333. he will have a free exercise 339. Gospel see Redemption the truths of it are as lies in the mouths of profane and carnal men 12 23 24. the nature of it is explained 25 26. it is distinguished from the Law and is more excellent than it 26 42. see Covenant Law whether any ought to Preach it in this or that place is not found in Scripture 42 200. its works are distinguished from the works of the Law 152. how it is to be propagated and of its propagation 334. the worship of it is inward 289 290. it is an inward Power 107 108. Grace the Grace of God can be lost through disobedeince 174 c. Saving Grace see Redemption which is required in the calling and qualifying of a Minister see Minister In some it worketh in a special and prevalent manner that they necessarily obtain Salvation 96 97. Your Grace see Titles H Hai Ebn Yokdan 126. Hands laying on of Hands 199 327. Head of uncovering the head in salutations 350 352 361 362 363 364 365 388 389. Heart the heart is deceitful and wicked 45 59 60 61. Heathens albeit they were ignorant of the history yet they were sensible of the loss by the Fall 124. some Heathens would not swear 378. heathenish Ceremonies were brought into the Christian Religion 301. Henry IV. King of France 341. Heresies whence they proceeded 244. Hereticks 336. High see Priest History of Christ see Quakers Redemption Holy of Holys the High-priest entred into it once a year 14 15. but now all of us at all times have access unto God 27. Holiness your Holiness see Titles Honor see Titles Hypocrite 336 340. I Jacob 241. James the Apostle there were of old divers Opinions concerning his Epistle 40. Idolatry 232 245. whence it proceeded 277. Jesting see Plays Games Jesuits see Sect Ignatian Jesus see Christ what it is to be saved and to be assembled in his Name 119 120 132 238. Jews among them there may be Members of the Church 182 183. their error concerning the outward succession of Abraham 190. their worship is outward 290. Illiterate see Mechanicks Indulgences 130. Infants see Sin Iniquities spiritual iniquities or wickedness 244. Inquisition 340. Inspiration where that doth not teach words without do make a noise to no purpose 5 6. John the Apostle concerning his second and third Epistles and the Revelation there were sometime divers Opinions 40. John the Baptist did not Miracles 198. John Hus is said to have Prophecyed 57. John Knox in what respect he was called the Apostle of Scotland 217. Judas fell from his Apostleship 191. who was his Vicar 293. his Ministry was not purely Evangelical 205. he was called immediately of Christ and who are inferior to him and plead for him as Patron of their Ministry 205 206. Justification the doctrin thereof is and hath been greatly vitiate among the Papists and wherein they place it 129 149 131 132. Luther and the Protestants with good reason opposed this doctrin tho many of them ran soon into another extreme and wherein they place it and that they agree in one 131 132 136. it comes from the love of God 133 149 150. to justifie signifies to make really just not to repute just which many Protestants are forc'd also to acknowledg 135 136 141 142 to 147. the revelation of Christ formed in the heart is the formal cause of justification not works to speak properly which are only an effect and so also many Protestants have said 128 130 131 132 134 135 141 146 147 148 149. We are justified in works and how 128 135 136 149 to 160. this is so far from being a Popish doctrin that Bellarmin and others oppos'd it 129 135 156 157. K Kingdom of God 256 327 334. Knowledg the height of man's happiness is plac'd in the true knowledg of God 1. error in the entrance of this knowledg is dangerous 1 2 superstition Idolatry and thence Atheism hath proceeded from the false and feigned Opinions concerning God and the knowledg of him 3. the uncertain knowledg of God is divers waies attained but the true and certain only by the inward and immediate revelation of the Holy Spirit 3 4 5. it hath been brought out of use and by what devices 8 9. there is no knowledg of the Father but by the Son nor of the Son but by the Spirit 3 9 10 11 12. the knowledg of Christ which is not by the revelation of his Spirit in the heart is no more the knowledg of Christ than the pratling of a Parret which hath been taught a few words may be said to be the voice of a man 12 13. L Laicks 214 218 219. Laity 219 321. Lake of Bethsaida 94. Law the Law is distinguished from the Gospel 26 290. the difference thereof 26 167 168. see Gospel under the Law the people were not in any doubt who should be Priests and Ministers 188. see Minister of the Law Worship Learning what true learning is 205 206. Letter the letter killeth quickeneth not 168. Light the innate Light is explained by Cicero 125 126. Light of Nature the errors of the Socinians and Pelagians who exalt this Light are rejected 57 58 Saving Light see Redemption is Universal it is in all 83 84. it is a Spiritual and heavenly Principle 86 87. it is a Substance not an accident 88 89. it is Supernatural and Sufficient 104 107. it is the Gospel Preached in every creature 107 108. it is the Word nigh in the mouth and in the heart 109 110. it is the ingrafted Word able to save the Soul 114. testimonies of Augustin and Buchanan concerning this Light 127. it is not any part of
the daily clamours of their Preachers did not only violently take up the Houses of the reformed Teachers overturn their libraries and spoil their furniture but also with reproachful words yea and with stones assaulted the Marquess of Brandeburgh the Elector's brother while he sought by smooth words to quiet the fury of the multitude they killed ten of his Guard scarcely sparing himself who at last by flight escaped out of their hands All which sufficiently declares that the concurrence of the Magistrate doth not alter their Principles but only their method of procedure So that for my own part I see no difference betwixt the actings of those of Munster and these others whereof the one pretended to be led by the Spirit the other by Tradition Scripture and Reason save this that the former were rash heady and foolish in their proceedings and therefore were the sooner brought to nothing and so into contempt and derision But the other being more Politick and wise in their Generation held it out longer and so have authorized their wickedness more with seeming Authority of Law and Reason But both their actings being equally evil the difference appears to me to be only like that which is betwixt a simple silly Thief that is easily catched and hanged without any more ado and a Company of resolute bold Robbers who being better guarded tho their offence be nothing less yet by violence do to evite the danger force their Masters to give them good terms From all which then it evidently follows that they argue very ill that despise and reject any Principle because Men pretending to be led by it do evil in case it be not the natural and consequential tendency of that principle to lead unto those things that are evil Again It doth follow from what is above asserted that if the Spirit be to be rejected upon this account all these other principles ought on the same account to be rejected And for my part as I have never a whit the lower esteem of the blessed Testimony of the Holy Scriptures nor do the less respect any solid Tradition that is answerable and according to Truth neither at all despise Reason that noble and excellent faculty of the mind because wicked men have abused the name of them to cover their wickedness and deceive the simple So would I not have any reject or diffide the certainty of that unerring Spirit which God hath given his Children as that which can alone guide them into all Truth because some have falsly pretended to it § XV. And because the Spirit of God is the Fountain of all Truth and sound Reason therefore we have well said that it cannot contradict neither the Testimony of the Scripture nor right Reason yet as the Proposition it self concludeth to whose last part I now come it will not from hence follow that these Divine Revelations are to be subjected to the examination either of the outward Testimony of Scripture or of the humane or natural reason of Man as to a more noble and certain rule and touch-stone for the Divine Revelation and inward Illumination is that which is evident by it self forcing the wel-distosed understanding and irresistibly moving it to assent by its own evidence and clearness even as the common Principles of Natural Truths do bow the mind to a natural assent He that denies this part of the Proposition must needs affirm that the Spirit of God neither can nor ever hath manifested it self to Man without the Scripture or a distinct discursion of Reason or that the Efficacy of this Supernatural Principle working upon the Souls of Men is less evident then natural principles in their common Operations both which are false For First through all the Scriptures we may observe that the manifestation and revelation of God by his Spirit to the Patriarchs Prophets and Apostles was immediate and objective as is above proved which they did not examin by any other principle but their own evidence and clearness Secondly to say that the Spirit of God has less evidence upon the mind of Man then natural principles have is to have too mean and low thoughts of it How comes David to invite us to tast and see that God is good if this cannot be felt and tasted This were enough to overturn the faith and assurance of all the Saints both now and of old How came Paul to be perswaded that nothing could separate him from the love of God but by evidence and clearness which the Spirit of God gave him The Apostle John who knew well wherein the certainty of Faith consisted judged it no ways absurd without further argument to ascribe his knowledg and assurance and that of all the Saints hereunto in these words Hereby know we that we dwell in him and he in us because he hath given us of his Spirit 1 Joh. 4.13 and again 5 6. it's the Spirit that beareth witness because the Spirit is Truth Observe the reason brought by him because the Spirit is Truth Of whose certainty and infallibility I have heretofore spoken We then trust to and confide in this Spirit because we know and certainly believe that it can only lead us a right and never mis-lead us and from this certain confidence it is that we affirm that no revelation coming from it can ever contradict the Scriptures Testimony nor right Reason not as making this a more certain rule to our selves but as condescending to such who not discerning the revelations of the Spirit as they proceed purely from God will try them by these mediums Yet those that have the Spiritual sences and can savour the things of the Spirit as it were in prima instantia i. e. at the first blush can discern them without or before they apply them either to Scripture or Reason Just as a good Astronomer can calculate an eclipse infallibly by which he can conclude if the order of Nature continue and some strange and unnatural revolution interveen not there will be an eclipse of the Sun or Moon such a day and such an hour yet can he not perswade an ignorant rustick of this until he visibly see it So also a Mathematician can infallibly know by the Rules of Art that the three sides of a right triangle are equal to two right angles yea can know them more certainly than any man by measure And some geometrical demonstrations are by all acknowledged to be infallible which can be scarcely discerned or proved by the Senses yet if a Geometer be at the pains to certify some ignorant man concerning the certainty of his Art by condescending to measure it and make it obvious to his senses it will not hence follow that that measuring is so certain as the demonstration it self or that the demonstration would be uncertain without § XVI But to make an end I shall add one argument to prove that this inward Immediate objective Revelation which we have pleaded for all along is the only sure certain and
which is only evil and that always cannot of its own Nature produce any good thing The Lord expresseth this again a little after chap. 8. v. 21. The Imagination of man's heart is evil from his youth Thus inferring how natural and proper it is unto him From which I thus argue If the thoughts of mans heart be not only evil but always evil then are they as they simply proceed from his heart neither good in part nor at any time But the first is true Therefore also the last Again If mans thoughts be always and only evil then are they altogether useless and ineffectual to him in the things of God But the First is true Therefore also the Last Secondly this appears clearly from that saying of the Prophet Jeremiah 17.9 The Heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked For who can with any colour of reason imagine that that which is so hath any power of it self or is any wise fit to lead a man to righteousness whereunto it is of its own Nature directly opposite This is as contrary to reason as it is impossible in Nature that a stone of its own nature and proper motion should flee upwards For as a stone of its own nature inclineth and is prone to move down-wards towards the Center so the Heart of man is naturally prone and inclined to evil some to one and some to another From this then I also thus argue That which is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked is not fit neither can it lead a man aright in things that are good and honest But the heart of man is such Therefore c. But the Apostle Paul describeth the condition of men in the Fall at large taking it out of the Psalmist There is none righteous no not one There is none that understandeth there is none that seeketh after God They are all gone out of the way they are altogether become unprofitable there is none that doth good no not one Their throat is an open Sepulchre with their Tongues they have used deceit the poison of Asps is under their Lips whose mouths are full of cursing and bitterness Their feet are swift to shed blood Destruction and Misery are in their ways and the way of peace have they not known There is no fear of God before their Eyes What more positive can be spoken He seemeth to be particularly careful to avoid that any good should be ascribed to the natural man he shews how he is polluted in all his ways he shews how he is void of Righteousness of Understanding of the Knowledg of God how he is out of the way and in short unprofitable than which nothing can be more fully said to confirm our judgment For if this be the condition of the natural man or of man as he stands in the fall he is unfit to make one right step to Heaven If it be said That is not spoken of the condition of man in general Obj. but only of some particulars or at the least that it comprehends not all The Text sheweth the clean contrary in the foregoing verses Answ. where the Apostle takes in himself as he stood in his natural condition What then are we better than they No in no wise for we have before proved both Jews and Gentiles that they are all under Sin as it is written And so he goes on by which it is manifest that he speaks of Mankind in general If they object that which the same Apostle saith Obj. in the foregoing chapter verse 14. to wit that the Gentiles do by nature the things contained in the Law and so consequently do by Nature that which is good and acceptable in the sight of God I answer This nature must not Answ. neither can be understood of mans own nature which is corrupt and fall'n but of the Spiritual Nature which proceedeth from the Seed of God in man as it receiveth a new visitation of God's love and is quickened by it which clearly appears by the following words where he saith These not having a Law id est outwardly are a Law unto themselves which shews the work of the Law written in their Hearts These acts of theirs then are an effect of the Law written in their hearts but the Scripture declareth that the writing of the Law in the heart is a part yea and a great part too of the New Covenant dispensation and so no consequence nor part of mans nature Secondly if this nature here spoken of could be understood of mans own nature which he hath as he is a man then would the Apostle unavoidably contradict himself since he elsewhere positively declares That the Natural man discerneth not the things of God nor can Now I hope the Law of God is among the things of God especially as it s written in the heart The Apostle in the 7 chap. of the same Epistle saith verse 12. that the Law is Holy just and good and verse 14. that the Law is Spiritual but he is carnal Now in what respect is he carnal but as he stands in the Fall unregenerate Now what inconsistency would here be to say that he is carnal and yet not so of his own Nature seeing it is from his Nature that he is so denominated We see the Apostle contra-distinguisheth the Law as Spiritual from mans Nature as carnal and sinful Wherefore as Christ saith there can no Grapes be expected from Thistles nor Figgs of Thorns so neither can the fulfilling of the Law which is Spiritual Holy and Just be expected from that Nature which is Corrupt Fall'n and Unregenerate Whence we conclude with good reason that the Nature here spoken of by which the Gentiles are said to have done the things contained in the Law is not the common Nature of men but the Spiritual Nature that ariseth from the works of the Righteous and Spiritual Law that 's written in the heart I confess they of the other extream when they are pressed with this Testimony by the Socinians and Pelagians as well as by us when we use this Scripture to shew them how some of the Heathens by the Light of Christ in their heart come to be saved are very far to seek giving this answer that there were some reliques of the Heavenly Image left in Adam by which the Heathens could do some good things Which as it is in it self without proof so it contradicts their own assertions elsewhere and gives away their cause For if these reliques were of force to enable them to fulfil the Righteous Law of God it takes away the necessity of Christs coming or at least leaves them away to be saved without him unless they will say which is worst of all that though they really fulfilled the righteous Law of God yet God damned them because of the want of that particular knowledg while he himself withheld all means of their coming to him from them but of this hereafter § III. I might also here use
shewing that the tendency of God's goodness leadeth to repentance How could it necessarily tend to lead them ro repentance How could it be called riches or goodness to them if there were not a time wherein they might repent by it and come to be sharers of the riches exhibited in it From all which I thus argue If God plead with the wicked from the possibility of their being accepted if God's Spirit strive in them for a season in order to save them who afterwards perish if he wait to be gratious unto them if he be long-suffering towards them And if this long-suffering be Salvation to them while it endureth during which time God willeth them not to Perish but exhibiteth to them the riches of his goodness and forbearance to lead them to repentance then there is a day of Visitation wherein such might have been or some such now may be saved who have perished and may if they repent not perish But the first is true Therefore also the Last § XX. Secondly this appeareth from the Prophet Isa. 5.4 What could I have done more to my Vineyard for in the 2 verse he saith he hath fenced it and gathered out the stones thereof and planted it with the choicest Vine and yet saith he when I looked it should have brought forth grapes it brought forth Wild grapes Wherefore he calleth the inhabitants of Jerusalem and men of Judea to judg betwixt him and his vineyard saying what could I have done more to my vineyard than I have done in it and yet as is said it brought forth wild grapes Which was applied to many in Israel who refused God's Mercy The same example is used by Christ Matth. 21.33 Mar. 12.1 Luk. 20.9 where Jesus shews how to some a Vineyard was planted and all things given necessary for them to get them fruit to pay or restore to their Master and how the Master many times waited to be merciful to them in sending servants after servants and passing by many offences before he determined to destroy and cast them out First then this cannot be understood of the Saints or of such as repent and are saved for it is said expresly he will destroy them Neither would the parable any wayes have answered the end for which it is alledged if these men had not been in a Capacity to have done good yea such was their capacity that Christ saith in the Prophet What could I have done more So that it is more than manifest that by this parable repeated in three sundry Evangelists Christ holds forth his long-suffering towards men and their wickedness to whom means of Salvation being afforded do nevertheless resist to their own condemnation To these also are parallel these Scriptures Prov. â—1 24 25 26. Jer. 18.9 10. Matth. 18.32 33 34. Acts 13.46 Lastly that there is a day of Visitation given to the wicked wherein they might have been saved and which being expired they are shut out from Salvation appears evidently by Christ's Lamentation over Jerusalem expressed in three sundry places Matth. 23.37 Luk. 13.34.19 v. 41 42. And when he was come near he beheld the City and wept over it saying If thou hadst known euen thou at least in this thy day the things that belong to thy peace but now they are hid from thine Eyes Than which nothing can be said more evident to prove our Doctrin For first he insinuates that there was a day wherein the inhabitants of Jerusalem might have known those things that belonged to their Peace Secondly that during that day he was willing to have gathered them even as a Hen gathereth her Chickens A familiar Example yet very significative in this case which shews that the offer of Salvation made unto them was not in vain on his part but as really and with as great chearfulness and willingness as a Hen gathereth her Chickens Such as is the love and care of the Hen towards her Brood such is the care of Christ to gather lost Men and Women to redeem them out of their corrupt and degenerate state Thirdly That because they refused the things belonging to their Peace were hid from their Eyes Why were they hid because ye would not suffer me to gather you ye would not see those things that are good for you in the season of God's Love towards you and therefore now that day being expired ye cannot see them and for a farther judgment God suffers you to be hardened in unbelief So it is after real offer of Mercy and Salvation rejected that God hardens Mens Hearts and not before Thus that saying is verified To him that hath shall be given and from him that hath not shall be taken away even that which he hath This may seem a riddle yet is according to this Doctrin easily solved He hath not because he hath lost the season of using it and so to him it is now as nothing for Christ uses this expression Matth. 25.26 upon the occasion of taking the one Talent from the sloathful Servant and giving it to him that was diligent which Talent was no wayes insufficient of it self but of the same nature with those given to the others and therefore the Lord had reason to exact the profit of it proportionably as well as from the rest So I say it is after the rejecting of the day of Visitation that the Judgment of Obduration is inflicted upon Men and Women as Christ pronounceth it upon the Jews out of Isa. 6.9 which all the four Evangelists make mention of Mat. 13.14 Mat. 4.12 Luk. 8.10 Joh. 12.40 And last of all the Apostle Paul after he had made offer of the Gospel of Salvation to the Jews at Rome pronounceth the same Acts 28.26 after that some believed not Well spake the Holy Ghost by Isaiah the Prophet unto our Fathers saying Go unto this People and say hearing ye shall hear and shall not understand and seeing ye shall see and shall not perceive For the heart of this People is waxed gross and their Ears are dull of hearing and their Eyes have they closed least they should see with their Eyes and hear with their Ears and understand with their Heart and should be converted and I should heal them So it appears that God would have them to see but they closed their Eyes and therefore they are justly hardened Of this matter Cyrillus Alexandrinus upon John lib. 6. cap. 21. speaks well answering to this objection But some may say if Christ be come into the World that those that see may be blinded their Blindness is not imputed unto them but it rather seems that Christ is the cause of their Blindness who saith he is come into the world that those that see may be blinded But saith he they speak not rationally who object these things unto God and are not afraid to call him the Author of evil For as the sensible Sun is carryed upon our Horizon that it may communicate the gift of its clearness unto all and make
natural will in its own proper motions crucified that God may both move in the act and in the will the Lord chiefly regards this profound Subjection and Self-denial For some men please themselves as much and gratifie their own sinful wills and humors in high and curious speculations of Religion affecting a name and reputation that way or because those things by Custom or otherways are become pleasant and habitual to them though not a whit more regenerated or inwardly Sanctified in their Spirits as others gratifie their Lusts in actions of Sensuality and therefore both are alike hurtful to men and sinful in the sight of God it being nothing but the meer fruit and effect of man's natural and unrenewed will and spirit Yea should one as many no doubt do from a sense of sin and fear of punishment seek to terrifie themselves from sin by multiplying Thoughts of Death Hell and Judgment and by presenting to their Imaginations the Happyness and Joys of Heaven and also by multiplying Prayer and other Religious Performances as these things could never deliver him from one Iniquity without the secret and inward Power of God's Spirit and Grace so would they signifie no more than the Fig-leaves wherewith Adam thought to cover his nakedness and seeing it is only the product of man's own natural will proceeding from a self-love and seeking to save himself and not arising purely from that Divine Seed of Righteousness which is given of God to all for Grace and Salvation it is rejected of God and no ways acceptable unto him since the natural man as natural while he stands in that state is with all his arts parts and actings reprobated by him This great duty then of waiting upon God must needs be exercised in man's denying self both inwardly and outwardly in a still and meer dependence upon God in abstracting from all the Workings Imaginations and Speculations of his own mind that being emptyed as it were of himself and so throughly crucified to the natural products thereof he may be fit to receive the Lord who will have no Co-partner nor Co-rival of his Glory and Power And man being thus stated the little Seed of Righteousness which God hath planted in his Soul and Christ hath purchased for him even the measure of Grace and Life which is burthened and crucified by man's natural Thoughts and Imaginations receives a place to arise and becometh a holy Birth and geniture in man and is that Divine Air in and by which man's Soul and Spirit comes to be leavened And by waiting therein he comes to be accepted in the sight of God to stand in his presence hear his voyce and observe the motions of his Holy Spirit And so man's place is to wait in this and as hereby there are any objects presented to his mind concerning God or things relating to Religion his Soul may be exercised in them without hurt and to the great profit both of himself and others because those things have their rise not from his own will but from God's Spirit And therefore as in the arisings and movings of this his mind is still to be exercised in thinking and meditating so also in the more obvious acts of Preaching and Praying And so it may hence appear we are not against Meditation as some have sought falsly to infer from our Doctrine but we are against the Thoughts and Imaginations of the natural man in his own will from which all Errors and Heresies concerning the Christian Religion in the whole World have proceeded But if it please God at any time when one or more are waiting upon him not to present such objects as gives them occasion to exercise their minds in Thoughts and Imaginations but purely to keep them in this Holy dependence and as they persist therein to cause his secret refreshment and the pure incomes of his Holy Life to flow in upon them then they have good reason to be content because by this as we know by good and blessed experience the Soul is more strengthened renewed and confirmed in the Love of God and armed against the power of sin than any way else this being a fore-tast of that real and sensible enjoyment of God which the Saints in Heaven daily possess which God frequently affords to his Children here for their comfort and encouragement especially when they are assembled together to wait upon him § XI For there are two contrary Powers or Spirits to wit the Power and Spirit of this World in which the Prince of Darkness bears rule and over as many as are acted by it and work from it and the Power or Spirit of God in which God worketh and beareth rule and over as many as act in and from it So whatever be the things that a man thinketh of or acteth in however Spiritual or Religious as to the Notion or form of them so long as he acteth and moveth in the natural and corrupt Spirit and Will and not from in and by the Power of God he sinneth in all and is not accepted of God For hence both the ploughing and praying of the Wicked is sin as also whatever a man acts in and from the Spirit and Power of God having his understanding and will influenced and moved by it whether it be Actions Religious Civil or even Natural he is accepted in so doing in the sight of God and is blessed in them From what is said it doth appear how frivolous and impertinent their objection is that say they wait upon God in praying and preaching since waiting doth of it self imply a passive dependence rather than an acting and since it is and shall yet be more shewn that Preaching and Praying without the Spirit is an offending of God not a waiting upon him and that Praying and Preaching by the Spirit presupposes necessarily a silent waiting for to feel the motions and influence of the Spirit to lead thereunto And lastly that in several of these places where praying is commanded as Matth. 26.41 Mark 13.33 Luke 21.36 1 Pet. 4.7 watching is specially prefixed as a previous preparation thereunto So that we do well and certainly conclude that since waiting and watching is so particularly commanded and recommended and this cannot be truly performed but in this inward silence of the mind from men's own Thoughts and Imaginations this silence is and must necessarily be a special and principal part of God's Worship § XII But Secondly The excellency of this silent waiting upon God doth appear in that it is impossible for the Enemy viz. the Devil to counterfeit it so as for any Soul to be deceived or deluded by him in the exercise thereof Now in all other matters he may mix himself in with the natural mind of man and so by transforming himself he may deceive the Soul by busying it about things perhaps innocent in themselves while yet he keeps them from beholding the Pure Light of Christ and so from knowing distinctly his duty and doing of it For
and I my self with others have shared of in suffering there they have often beaten us and cast water and dirt upon us there they have danced leaped sung and spoken all manner of prophane and ungodly words offered violence and shameful behaviour to grave Woman and Virgins jeared mocked and scoffed asking us If the Spirit was not yet come and much more which were tedious here to relate and all this while we have been seriously and silently sitting together and waiting upon the Lord so that by these things our inward and spiritual Fellowship with God and one another in the pure life of Righteousness hath not been hindered But on the contrary the Lord knowing our sufferings and reproaches for his Testimonies sake hath caused his Power and Glory more to abound among us and hath mightily refreshed us by the sense of his love which hath filled our Souls and so much the rather as we found our selves gathered into the Name of the Lord which is the strong Tower of the Righteous whereby we felt our selves sheltered from receiving any inward hurt through their malice and also that he had delivered us from that vain name and profession of Christianity under which our opposers were not ashamed to bring forth these bitter and cursed Fruits yea sometimes in the midst of this tumult and opposition God would powerfully move some or other of us by his Spirit both to testifie of that joy which notwithstanding their malice we enjoyed and powerfully so declare in the evidence and demonstration of the Spirit against their folly and wickedness so as the power of Truth hath brought them to some measure of quietness and stillness and stopped the impetuous streams of their fury and madness that as ever of old Moses by his Rod divided the Waves of the Red Sea that the Israelites might pass so God hath thus by his Spirit made a way for us in the midst of this raging wickedness peaceably to enjoy and possess him and accomplish our Worship to him So that sometimes upon such occasions several of our opposers and interrupters have hereby been convinced 〈…〉 Truth and gathered from being Persecutors to be Sufferers with 〈…〉 let it not be forgotten but let it be inscribed and abide for a constant remembrance of the thing that in these beastly and bruitish pranks used to molest us in our Spiritual meetings none have been more busie than the Young Students of the Universities who were learning Philosophy and Divinity so called and many of them preparing themselves for the Ministry Should we commit to writing all the abominations committed in this respect by the young fry of the Clergy it would make no small Volumn as the Churches of Christ gathered into his Pure Worship in Oxford and Cambridge in England and Edinburgh and Aberdeen in Scotland where the Universities are can well bear witness § XIV Moreover in this we know that we are partakers of the New Covenant's Dispensation and Disciples of Christ indeed sharing with him of that Spiritual Worship which is performed in the Spirit and in Truth because as he was so are we in this world For the Old Covenant Worship had an outward Glory Temple and Ceremonies and was full of outward Splendor and Majesty having an outward Tabernacle and Altar beautified with Gold Silver and Precious Stones and their Sacrifices were tied to an outward particular place even the outward Mount Zion and those that prayed behoved to pray with their Faces towards that outward Temple and therefore all this behoved to be protected by an outward arm nor could the Jews peaceably have enjoyed it but when they were secured from the violence of their outward Enemies and therefore when at any time their Enemies prevailed over them their Glory was darkned and their Sacrifices stopped and the Face of their Worship marred hence they complain lament and bewail the destroying of the Temple as a loss irreparable But Jesus Christ the Author and Institutor of the New Covenant Worship testifies that God is neither to be worshipped in this nor that place but in the Spirit and in Truth and forasmuch as his Kingdom is not of this World neither doth his Worship consist in it or need either the Wisdom Glory Riches or Splendor of this world to beautifie or adorn it nor yet the outward power or arm of flesh to maintain uphold or protect it but it is and may be performed by those that are spiritually minded notwithstanding all opposition violence and malice of men because it being purely Spiritual it is out of the reach of natural men to interrupt or molest it even as Jesus Christ the Author thereof did enjoy and possess his Spiritual Kingdom while oppressed persecuted and rejected of men and as in despite of the malice and rage of the devil he spoiled principalities and powers triumphing over them and through death destroyed him that had the power of death that is the devil so also all his followers both can and do worship him not onely without the arm of Flesh to protect them but even when oppressed For their worship being spiritual is by the power of the Spirit defended and maintained but such worships as are carnal and consist in carnal and outward ceremonies and observations need a carnal and outward arm to protect them and defend them else they cannot stand and subsist And therefore it appears that the several worships of our opposers both Papists and Protestants are of this kind and not the true Spiritual and New Covenant worship of Christ because as hath been observed they cannot stand without the protection or countenance of the outward Magistrate neither can be performed if there be the least opposition for they are not in the patience of Jesus to serve and worship him with sufferings ignomies calumnies and reproaches And from hence have sprung all those wars fightings and bloodshed among Christians while each by the arm of Flesh endeavoured to defend and protect their own way and worship and from this also sprung up that monstrous opinion of persecution of which we shall speak more at length hereafter § XV. But Fourthly The nature of this Worship which is performed by the Operation of the Spirit the natural man being silent doth appear from these words of Christ John 4.23 24. But the hour cometh and now is when the true Worshippers shall Worship the Father in Spirit and in Truth For the Father seeketh such to Worship him God is a Spirit and they that Worship him must Worship him in Spirit and in Truth This Testimony is the more specially to be observed for that it is both the first chiefest and most ample testimony which Christ gives us of his Christian Worship as different and contradistinguished from that under the Law For First he sheweth that the season is now come wherein the Worship must be in Spirit and in Truth For the Father seeketh such to Worship him so then it is no more a Worship
of these two must be omitted in such a case these are much rather to be omitted than those former for by how much the Spirit is more excellent and noble than the Body by so much are Spiritual exercises more profitable than corporal Is not that then the best of Worships which the best of men in all ages and of all sects have commended and which is most suitable to the Doctrine of Christ I say is not that Worship to be followed and performed And so much the rather as God hath raised a People to testifie for it and preach it to their great refreshment and strengthening in the very face of the World and notwithstanding much opposition who do not as these Mystiks make of it a mystery only to be attained by a few men or women in a Cloyster or as their mistake was after wearying themselves with many outward Ceremonies and Observations as if it were the consequences of such a labour But who in the free love of God who respects not Persons and was near to hear and reveal himself as well to Cornelius a Centurion and a Roman as to Simeon and Anna and who discovered his Glory to Mary a poor Hand-maid and to the poor Shepherds rather than to the High Priests and Devout Proselytes among the Jews in and according to his free love finding that God is revealing and establishing this Worship and making many poor Trades-men yea young boys and girles witnesses of it do intreat and beseech all to lay aside their own Will-worships and voluntary acts performed in their own wills and by their own meer natural strength and power without retiring out of their own vain imaginations and thoughts or feeling the pure Spirit of God to move and stir in them that they may come to practise this acceptable worship which is in Spirit and in Truth But against this worship they object § XVII First It seems to be an unprofitable exercise Obj. for a man to be doing or thinking nothing and that one might be much better imployed either in meditating upon some good subject or otherwise praying to or praising God I answer That is not unprofitable which is of absolute necessity before any other duty can be acceptably performed Answ. as we have shewn this waiting to be Moreover those have but a carnal and gross apprehension of God and of the things of his Kingdom that imagine that men please him by their own workings and actings whereas as hath been shewn the first step for a man to fear God is to cease from his own thoughts and imaginations and suffer God's Spirit to work in him for we must cease to do evil ere we learn to do well and this medling in things Spiritual by man's own natural understanding is one of the greatest and most dangerous evils that man is incident to being that which occasioned our first Parents fall to wit a forwardness to desire to know things and a medling with them both without and contrary to the Lord's command Obj. Secondly some object if your worship meerly consist in inwardly retiring to the Lord and feeling of his Spirit arise in you and then to do outward acts as ye are led by it what need ye have publick meetings at set times and places since every one may enjoy this at home or should not every one stay at home until they be particularly moved to go to such a place at such a time since to meet at set times and places seems to be an outward observation and ceremony contrary to what ye at other times assert Answ. I answer first To meet at set times and places is not any religious act or part of worship in it self but only an outward conveniency necessary for our seeing one another so long as we are cloathed with this outward Tabernacle and therefore our meeting at set times and places is not a part of our worshsp but a preparatory accommodation of our outward man in order to a publick visible worship since we set not about the visible acts of worship when we meet together until we be led thereunto Secondly God hath seen meet so long as his Children are in this world to make use of the outward senses as a means to convey Spiritual Life as by speaking praying c. which cannot be done to mutual edification but when we hear and see one another but also for to entertain an outward visible testimony for his Name in the world he causeth the inward Life which is also many times not conveyed by the outward senses the more to abound when his Children assemble themselves diligently together to wait upon him that as Iron sharpeneth Iron so the seeing of the face one of another when both are inwardly gathered unto the Life giveth occasion for the Life secretly to arise and pass from vessel to vessel and as many Candles lighted and put in one place do greatly augment the light and makes it more to shine forth so when many are gathered together into the same Life there is more of the Glory of God and his Power appears to the refreshment of each individual for that he partakes not only of the Light and Life raised in himself but in all the rest and therefore Christ hath particularly promised a blessing to such as assemble together in his Name seeing he will be in the midst of them Matth. 18.20 And the Author to the Hebrews doth precisely prohibit the neglect of this duty as being of very dangerous and dreadful consequence in these words Heb· 10.24 And let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works Not forsaking the assembling of our selves together as the manner of some is For if we sin wilfully after that we have received the knowledg of the Truth there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins And therefore the Lord hath shewn that he hath a particular respect to such as thus assemble themselves together because that thereby a publick testimony for him is upheld in the earth and his Name is thereby glorified and therefore such as are right in their Spirits are naturally drawn to keep the Meetings of God's People and never want a Spiritual influence to lead them thereunto And if any do it in a meer customary way they will no doubt suffer condemnation for it Yet cannot the appointing of places and times be accounted a ceremony and observation done in man's will in the worship of God seeing none can say it is an act of worship but only a meer presenting of our persons in order to it as is abovesaid Which that it was practised by the primitive Church and Saints all our adverlaries do acknowledg Lastly some object Obj. That this manner of Worship in silence is not to be found in all the Scripture I answer We make not silence to be the sole matter of our Worship Answ. since as I have abovesaid there are many Meetings which are seldom if ever altogether silent some or
se est Deus non denegat gratiam Servant whether it be lawful to say I am your humble Servant 358. Servetus 345. Shoe-maker he disputes with the Professor 208 Silence see Worship Simon Magus 222 Sin see Adam Justification it shall not have dominion over the Saints 42. the seed of sin is transmitted from Adam unto all men but it is imputed to none no not to Infants except they actually joyn with it by sinning 57 58 64 65 66. and this seed is often called Death Original sin Of this phrase the Scripture makes no mention 66. by vertue of the Sacrifice of Christ we have remission of sins 90 132. forgiveness of sin among the Papists 129. a freedom from actual sin is obtained both when and how and that many have attained unto it 160 to 174 every sin weakens a man in his Spiritual condition but doth not destroy him altogether 161. it is one thing not to sin another thing not to have sin 170. whatsoever is not done through the Power of God is sin 249. Singing of Psalms 275. Socinians see natural light their rashness is reproved 19. they think Reason is the chief rule and guide of Faith 19 30. albeit many have abused Reason yet they do not say that any ought not to use it and how ill they argue against the inward and Immediate Revelations of the Holy Spirit 29 30 31. yet they are forced ultimately to recur unto them 36. they exalt too much their natural power and what they think of the Saving Light 115. their worship can easily be stopped 92. Son of God see Christ Knowledge Revelation Soul the Soul hath its senses as well as the body 7. by what it is strengthened and fed 248 311. Spirit the Holy Spirit see Knowledg Communion Revelation Scriptures Unless the Spirit sit upon the heart of the hearer in vain is the Discourse of the Doctor 6 16. the Spirit of God knoweth the things of God 11. without the Spirit none can say that Jesus is the Lord 6 11 12. he rested upon the Seventy Elders and others 14. he abideth with us for ever 18 19. he teacheth and bringeth all things to remembrance and leads into all Truth 19 20 23 24 25 38. he differs from the Scriptures 19 20. he is God 19. he dwelleth in the Saints 19 20 21 22 23. without the Spirit Christianity is no Christianity 20 30 40 whatsoever is to be desired in the Christian Faith is ascribed to him 19 20. by this Spirit we are turned unto God and we triumph in the midst of Persecutions 21. he quickens c. 21 22. an observable Testimony of Calvin concerning the Spirit 22 23 39 40. it is the Fountain and Origin of all Truth and right reason 34 35. it gives the belief of the Scriptures which may satisfie our Consciences 39. his Testimony is more excellent than all reason 39. he is the chief and principal Guide 46. he reasoneth with and striveth in men 98. those that are led by the Spirit love the Scriptures 50 183 184. he is as it were the Soul of the Church and what is done without him is vain and impious 208. he is the Spirit of order and not of disorder 213. such as the Spirit sets apart to the Ministry are heard of their Brethren 214. it is the earnest of our inheritance 237. Spiritual iniquities 243 244. spiritual discerning 336. Stephen spake by the Spirit 21. Suffering How Paul filled up that which was behind of the afflictions of Christ. How any is made partaker of the Sufferings of Christ and conformable to his Death 168 169. Superstition 231 232. whence superstitions sprung 244 277 300. Supper see Communion Bread it was of old administred even to little Children and Infants 3.7 T Tables 323. Talent one Talent is not at all unsufficient of it self The Parable of the Talents 101 102 107. those that improved their Talents well are called good and faithful Servants 152. he that improved well his two Talents was nothing less accepted than he that improved his five 161. Talk see Plays Taulerus was instructed by the poor Laik 200. he tasted of the love of God 237. Testimony see Spirit Theseus his Boat 219 Thomas a Kempis 236. Tithes were assigned to the Levites but not to the Ministers of this day 220 221. Titles it is not at all lawful for Christians to use those Titles of Honour Majesty c. 352 354 to 360 388. Tongue the knowledge of tongues is laudable 200 206 207. Tradition how unsufficient it is to decide 30. it is not a sufficient ground for Faith 329. Translations see Bible Truth there is a difference betwixt what one saith of the Truth and that which the Truth it self interpreting it self saith 6. Truth is not hard to be arrived at but is most nigh 6. Turks among them there may be Members of the Church 182 183. V Vespers 236. Voices outward Voices see Faith Miracles W War that it is not lawful for Christians to resist evil nor wage War 352. 380 to 389. Washing of Feet 212 213. William Barclay 342. Woman a Woman can Preach 214 220. Luther also 303. Word the Eternal Word is the Son It was in the beginning with God and was God it is Jesus Christ by whom God created all things 10 87. what Augustin read in the writings of the Platonists concerning this Word 126. Works are either of the Law or of the Gospel 152. see Justification Worship what the true and acceptable worship to God is and how it is offered and what the superstitious and abominable is 231 c. the true worship was soon corrupted and lost 231 232. concerning the worship done in the time of the Apostasie 235 267. of what worship is here handled and of the difference of t he worship of the Old and New Covenant 232 233 252 253 254. the true Worship is neither limitted to times places nor persons and it is explained how this is to be understood 231 233 234 258 259 266 267 289 290. concerning the Lord's-day and the daies upon which Worship is performed 234 235. of the Publique and Silent Worship and its excellency 236 to 261. of Preaching 260 261 262 263 264. of Prayer 264 to 276. of singing of Psalms and Musick 275. what sort of Worship the Quakers are for and what sort their adversaries 276. FINIS John 17.3 Matth. 11.27 Joh. 16.13 Rom. 8.14 Rom. 5.12 15. Eph. 2.1 Ezek. 18.23 Esa. 49.6 John 3.16.1.19 Tit. 2.11 Eph. 5.13 Heb. 2.9 1 Cor. 15.22 1 Cor. 12.7 Heb. 2.9 Tit. 3.5 Rom. 6.14 Rom. 8.13 Rom. 6.2 18 1 John 3.6 1 Tim. 1.6 Heb. 6.4 5 6. Mat. 10. Ezek. 13. Matt. 10.20 Acts 2.4.18.5 John 3.6 4.21 Judges 19. Acts 17.23 Eph. 4.5 1 Pet 3.21 Rom. 6.4 Gal. 3.27 Col. 2.12 Joh. 3.30 1 Cor. 1.17 1 Cor. 10.16 17. Joh. 6.32 33 55. 1 Cor. 5.8 Acts 15 20 Joh. 13 14. Ja. 5.14 Luc. 9.55 56. Matt. 7.12 29. Tit. 3.10 Eph. 5.11 1 Pet 1.14