throughout for the Apostle in that Chapter treating of the diversity of Gifts and Members of the Body sheweth how by the working of the same Spirit in different manifestations or measures in the several Members of the whole Body is edified saying v. 13. That we are all baptized by the One Spirit into one Body and then v. 28. he numbers out the several dispensations thereof which by God are set in the Church through the various working of his Spirit for the edification of the whole Then if there be no true member of the body which is not thus baptized by this Spirit neither any thing that worketh to the edifying of it but according to a measure of Grace received from the Spirit surely without Grace none ought to be admitted to work or labour in the body because their labour and work without this Grace and Spirit would not be ineffectual § XVI Thirdly that this Grace and Gift is a necessary qualification to a Minister is clear from that of the Apostle Peter 1 Peter 4.10 11. As every man hath received the Gift even so minister the same one to another as good Stewards of the manifold Grace of God If any man speak let him speak as the Oracles of God if any man minister let him do it as of the ability which God giveth that God in all things may be glorified through Jesus Christ to whom be praise and dominion for ever and ever Amen From which it appears That these that minister must minister according to the Gift and Grace received but they that have not such a Gift cannot minister according thereunto Secondly As good Stewards of the manifold Grace of God But how can a man be a good Steward of that which he hath not Can ungodly men that are not gracious themselves be good Stewards of the manifold Grace of God and therefore in the following Verses he makes an exclusive limitation of such as are not thus furnished saying If any man speak let him speak as the Oracles of God and if any man minister let him do it as of the ability that God giveth which is as much as if he had said They that cannot thus speak and thus minister ought not to do it For this If denotes a necessary condition Now what this ability is is manifest by the former words to wit the Gift received and the Grace whereof they are Stewards as by the immediate context and dependency of the words doth appear neither can it be understood of a meer natural ability because man in this condition is said not to know the things of God and so he cannot minister them to others And the following words shew this also in that he immediately subjoyneth That God in all things may be glorified but surely God is not glorified but greatly dishonoured when natural men from their meer natural ability meddle in Spiritual things which they neither know nor understand Fourthly that Grace is a most necessary qualification for a Minister appears by these qualifications which the Apostle expressly requires 1 Tim. 3.2 Tit. 1. c. where he saith A Bishop must be blameless vigilant sober of good behaviour apt to teach patient a lover of good men just holy temperate as the Steward of God holding fast the faithful Word as he hath been taught Upon the other hand He must neither be given to Wine nor a Striker nor covetous nor proud nor self-willed nor soon angry Now I ask If it be not impossible that a man can have all these above-named Vertues and be free of all these Evils without the Grace of God if then these Vertues for the producing of which in a man Grace is absolutely necessary be necessary to make a true Minister of the Church of Christ according to the Apostles judgment surely Grace must be necessary also Concerning this thing a learned man and well skilled in Antiquity about the time of the Reformation writeth thus Whatsoever is done in the Church either for Ornament or Edification of Religion whether in chusing Magistrates or instituting Ministers of the Church except it be done by the ministry of Gods Spirit which is as it were the Soul of the Church it is vain and wicked For whoever hath not been called by the Spirit of God to the great office of God and dignity of Apostleship as Aaron was and hath not entred in by the door which is Christ but hath otherways risen in the Church by the window by the favours of men c. truly such a one is not the Vicar of Christ and the Apostles but a thief and a Robber and the Vicar of Judas Iscariot and Simon the Samaritan Hence it was so strictly appointed concerning the election of Prelates which holy Dionisius calls Sacrament of Nomination that the Bishops and Apostles who should oversee the Service of the Church should be men of most intire manners and life powerful in sound Doctrine to give a reason for all things So also another about the same time writeth thus Therefore it can never be that by the Tongues or Learning any can give a sound judgment concerning the Holy Scriptures and the Truth of God Lastly saith he the Sheep of Christ seeketh nothing but the Voice of Christ which he knoweth by the Holy Spirit wherewith he is filled he regards not learning Tongues or any outward thing so as therefore to believe this or that to be the voice of Christ his true Shepherd he knoweth that there is need of no other thing but the testimony of the Spirit of God § XVII Against this absolute necessity of grace they object That if all Ministers had the saving Grace of God Obj. then all ministers should be saved seeing none can fall away from or lose Saving Grace But this Objection is built upon a false Hypothesis Answ. purely denyed by us and we have in the former Proposition concerning Perseverance already refuted it Obj. Secondly it may be objected to us That since we affirm that every Man hath a measure of true and Saving Grace there needs no singular qualifications neither to a Christian nor Minister for seeing every man hath this Grace then no man needs forbear to be a Minister for want of Grace Answ. I answer We have above shewn that there is necessary to the making a Minister a special and particular call from the Spirit of God which is something besides the universal dispensation of Grace to all according to that of the Apostle No man taketh this honour unto himself but he that is called of God as was Aaron Moreover we understand by Grace as a qualification to a Minister not the meer measure of Light as it is given to reprove and call him to righteousness but we understand Grace as it hath converted the Soul and operateth powerfully in it as hereafter concerning the work of Ministers will further appear So we understand not men simply as having Grace in them as a Seed which we indeed affirm
because they are not able but could they get force would be as ready to lead those the same way that lead them Where is the faith and patience of the Saints For indeed it is but a small glory to make a vertue of necessity and suffer because I cannot help it Every thief and murderer is a Martyr at that rate experience hath abundantly proved this in these last centuries For however each party talk of passively obeying the Magistrates in such cases and that the power resides in him yet it is apparent that from this Principle it naturally followes that any party supposing themselves right should so soon as they are able endeavour at any rate to get uppermost that they might bring under those of another opinion and force the Magistrate to uphold their way to the ruin of all others What Engine the Pope of Rome used to make of his pretended power in this thing upon any pretence of dislike to any Prince or State even for very small heresies in their own account to depose Princes and set up their subjects against them and give their dominions to other Princes to serve his interest they cannot be ignorant that have read the life of Hildebrand and how Protestants have vindicated the liberty of their consciences after this same manner is apparent They suffered much in France to the great increase and advantage of their party but how soon they found themselves considerable and had gotten some Princes upon their side they began to let the King know that they must either have the liberty of their Consciences or else they would purchase it not by suffering but by fighting And the experience of other Protestant States shews that if Henry the Fourth to please the Papists had not quitted his Religion to get the Crown the more peaceably and so the Protestants had prevailed with the Sword they would as well have taught the Papists with the Faggot and led them to the Stake so that this Principle of Persecution on all hands is the ground of all those miseries and contentions for so long as any party is perswaded that it is both lawful for them and their duty if in power to destroy those that differ from them it naturally follows they ought to use all means possible to get that power whereby they may secure themselves in the ruin of their adversaries And that neither Papists nor Protestants judg it unlawful to compell the Magistrate if they be strong enough to do it to effect this Experience shews it to be a known Popish Principle that the Pope may depose an Heretick Prince and absolve the People from the Oath of fidelity and the Pope as is above-said hath done so to divers Princes and this Doctrine is defended by Bellarmin against Barclay The French refused Henry the Fourth till he quitted his Religion And as for Protestants many of them scruple not to affirm that wicked Kings and Magistrates may be deposed and killed yea our Scotch Presbyters are as positive in it as any Jesuits who would not admit this present Charles the Second though otherwise a Protestant Prince unless he would swear to renounce Episcopacy a matter of no great difference though contrary to his Conscience Now how little proportion these things bear with the primitive Christians and the Religion propagated by Christ and his Apostles needs no great demonstration and it is observable that notwithstanding many other superstitions crept into the Church very early yet this of Persecution was so inconsistent with the nature of the Gospel and liberty of Conscience as we have asserted it such an innate and natural part of the Christian Religion that almost all the Christian Writers for the first three hundred years earnestly contend for it condemning the contrary opinion § V. Thus Athanasius It is the property of Piety not to force but to perswade in imitation of our Lord who forced no body but left it to the will of every one to follow him c. But the Devil because he hath nothing of Truth uses knocks and axes to break up the doors of such as receive him But our Saviour is meek teaching the truth whosoever will come after me and whosoever will be my Disciple c. but constraining none coming to us and knocking rather and saying My Sister my Spouse open to me c. and entreth when he is opened to and retires if they delay and will not open unto him because it is not with swords nor darts nor souldiers nor armour that Truth is to be declared but with perswasion and counsel And it is observable that it was the impious Arians who first of all brought in this doctrine to persecute others among Christians whose successors both Papists and Protestants are in this matter whom Athanasius thus reproveth further Where saith he have they learned to persecute Certainly they cannot say they have learned it from the Saints but this has been given them and taught them of the devil The Lord commanded indeed sometimes to flee and the Saints sometimes fled but to persecute is the invention and argument of the devil which he seeks against all And after he saith in so far as the Arians banish those that will not subscribe their decrees they shew that they are contrary to Christians and friends of the devil But now O lamentable saith Hilarius it is the suffrages of the earth that recommend the religion of God and Christ is found naked of his vertue while ambition must give credit to his name The Church reproves and fights by banishments and prisons and forceth herself to be believed which once was believed because of the imprisonments and banishments her self suffered She that once was consecrated by the terrors of her persecutors depends now upon the dignity of those that are in her communion She that once was propagated by her banished Priests now banisheth the Priests And she boasts now that she is loved of the world who could not have been Christs if she had not been hated of the world The Church saith Hierom was founded by shedding of blood and by suffering and not in doing of hurt The Church increased by persecutions and was crowned by Martyrdom Ambrose speaking of Auxentius saith thus whom he viz. Auxentius could not deceive by discourse he thinks ought to be killed by the sword making bloody laws with his mouth writing them with his own hands and imagining that an Edict can command Faith And the same Ambrose saith that going into France he would not communicate with those Bishops that required that Hereticks should be put to death The Emperor Marcio who assembled the Council of Chalcedon protests that he would not force nor constrain any one to subscribe the Council of Chalcedon against his will Hosius Bishop of Cordua testifies that the Emperor Constance would not constrain any to be Orthodox Hilarius saith further that God teacheth rather than exacteth the knowledg of himself
when he would teach us to know what the Divine Goodness is calls not for speculation but sensation Taste and see how good the Lord is That is not the best and truest knowledg of God which is wrought out by the labour and sweat of the Brain but that which is kindled within us by an heavenly warmth in our Hearts And again there is a knowledg of the Truth as it is in Jesus as it is in a Christ-like nature as it is in that sweet mild humble and loving Spirits of Jesus which spreads it self like a Morning-star upon the spirits of good men full of Light and Life It profits little to know Christ himself after the flesh but he gives his Spirit to good men that searcheth the deep things of God And again it is but thin airy knowledg that is got by meer speculation which is usher'd in by Syllogisms and demonstrations but that which springs forth from true goodness is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Origen speaketh it brings such a Divine Light to the Soul as is more clear and convincing than any demonstration § III. That this certain and undoubted method of the true knowledg of God hath been brought out of use hath been none of the least devices of the Devil to secure mankind to his kingdom For after the light and glory of the Christian Religion had prevailed over a good part of the World and dispelled the thick mists of the heathenish Doctrine of the plurality of Gods he that knew there was no probability of deluding the World any longer that way did then puff man up with a false knowledg of the true God setting him on work to seek God the wrong way and perswading him to be content with such a knowledg as was of his own acquiring and not of God's teaching And this device hath proved the more successful because accommodated to the natural and corrupt spirit and temper of man who above all things affects to exalt himself in which exaltation as God is most greatly dishonoured so therein the Devil hath his end who is not anxious how much God be acknowledged in words provided himself be but always served he matters not how great and high speculations the natural man entertains of God so long as he serves his lusts and passions and is obedient to his evil suggestions and temptations Thus Christianity is become an art acquired by humane science and industry as any other art and science is and men have not only assumed unto themselves the name of Christians but even have procured to be esteemed as masters of Christianity by certain artificial tricks though altogether strangers to the Spirit and Life of Jesus But if we shall make a right definition of a Christian according to the Scripture videlicer that he is one that hath the Spirit and is led by it How many Christians yea and of these great Masters and Doctors of Christianity so accounted shall we justly divest of that noble title If then such as have all the other means of knowledg and are sufficiently learned therein whether it be the letter of the Scripture the traditions of Churches the works of Creation and Providence whence they are able to deduce strong and undeniable arguments which may be true in themselves are not yet to be esteemed Christians according to the certain and infallible definition above-mentioned And if the inward and immediate Revelation of Gods Spirit in the Heart in such as have been altogether ignorant of some and but very little skilled in others of these means of attaining knowledg hath brought them to Salvation Then it will necessarily and evidently follow that inward and immediate Revelation is the only sure and certain way to attain the true and saving knowledge of God But the first is true Therefore the last Now as this Argument doth very strongly conclude for this way of knowledge and against such as deny it so herein it is the more considerable because the Propositions from which it is deduced are so clear that our very Adversaries cannot deny them For as to the first it is acknowledged that many learned men may be and have been damned And as to the second who will deny but many illeterate men may be and are saved Nor dare any affirm that none come to the knowledge of God and Salvation by the inward Revelation of the Spirit without these outward means unless they be also so bold as to exclude Abel Seth Noah Abraham Job and all the Holy Patriarchs from true Knowledge and Salvation § IV. I would however not be understood as if hereby I excluded those other means of Knowledge from any use or service to Man it is far from me to judge as in the next Proposition concerning the Scriptures shall more plainly appear The question is not what may be profitable or helpful but what is absolutely necessary Many things may contribute to further a work which yet are not that main thing that makes the work go on The sum then of what is said amounts to this that where the true inward Knowledge of God is through the Revelation of his Spirit there is all neither is there any absolute necessity of any other But where the best highest and most profound Knowledge is without this there is nothing as to the obtaining the great End of Salvation This Truth is very effectually confirmed by the first part of the Proposition it self which in few words comprehendeth divers unquestionable Arguments which I shall in brief subsume First That there is no knowledge of the Father but by the Son Secondly That there is no knowledge of the Son but by the Spirit Thirdly That by the Spirit God hath alwayes revealed himself to his Chilldren Fourthly That these Revelations were the formal Object of the Saints Faith And Lastly That the same continueth to be the Object of the Saints Faith to this day Of each of these I shall speak a little particularly and then proceed to the latter part § V. As to the first viz. That there is no Knowledge of the Father but by the Son it will not need much probation being founded upon the plain words of Scripture and is therefore a fit medium to draw the rest of our Assertions from For the infinite and most wise God who is the Foundation Root and Spring of all Operation hath wrought all things by his Eternal Word and Son This is that WORD that was in the beginning with God and was God by whom all things were made and without whom was not any thing made that was made This is that Jesus Christ by whom God created all things by whom and for whom all were created that are in Heaven and in Earth visible and invisible whether they be Thrones or Dominions or Principalities or Powers Col. 1.16 Who therefore is called the first born of every Creature Col. 1.15 As then that infinite and incomprehensible Fountain of Life and Motion operateth in the Creatures by his
matter § VII Their first Objection is usually drawn from Isaiah 8.20 To the Law and to the Testimony if they speak not according to this Word it is because there is no Light in them Now this Law Testimony and Word they plead to be the Scriptures To which I answer that That is to beg the thing in question and remains yet unproved Nor do I know for what reason we may not safely affirm this Law and Word to be inward But suppose it was outward it proves not the case at all for them neither makes it against us for it may be confessed without any prejudice to our cause that the outward Law was more particularly to the Jews a Rule and more principally than to us seeing their Law was outward and literal but ours under the New Covenant as hath been already said is expresly affirmed to be inward and Spiritual So that this Scripture is so far from making against us that it makes for us for if the Jews were directed to try all things by their Law which was without them written in tables of stone then if we will have this advice of the Prophet to reach us we must make it hold parallel to that dispensation of the Gospel which we are under So that we are to try all things in the first place by that Word of Faith which is preached unto us which the Apostle saith is in the heart and by that Law which God hath given us which the Apostle saith also expresly is written and placed in the mind Lastly If we look to this place according to the Greek interpretation of the Septuagint our adversaries shall have nothing from thence to carp yea it will favour as much for there it is said that the Law is given us for a help which very well agrees with what is above asserted Their second objection is from Joh. 5.39 Search the Scriptures c. Here say they we are commanded by Christ himself to search the Scriptures I answer First That the Scriptures ought to be searched we do not at all deny but are very willing to be tryed by them as hath been above declared But the question is Whether they be the only and principal Rule which this is so far from proving that it proveth the contrary for Christ checks them here for too high an esteem of the Scriptures and neglecting of him that was to be preferr'd before them and to whom they bore witness as the following words declare For in them ye think ye have eternal life and they are they which testify of me and ye will not come unto me that ye may have life This shewes that while they thought they had eternal life in the Scriptures they neglected to come unto Christ to have Life of which the Scriptures bore witness This answers well to our purpose since our adversaries now do also exalt the Scriptures and think to have life in them which is no more than to look upon them as the only principal rule and way to Life and yet refuse to come unto the Spirit of which they testifie even the inward Spiritual Law which could give them Life So that the cause of this Peoples ignorance and unbelief was not their want of respect to the Scriptures which though they knew and had a high esteem of yet Christ testifies in the former verses that they had neither seen the Eather nor heard his voice at any time neither had his word abiding in them which had they then had then they had believed in the Son Moreover that place may be taken in the Indicative mood Ye search the Scriptures which interpretation the Greek word will bear and so Pasor translateth it which by the reproof following seemeth also to be the more genuine interpretation as Cyrillus long ago hath observed § VIII Their third objection is from these words Acts 17.11 These were more noble than those in Thessalonica in that they received the Word with all readiness of mind and searched the Scriptures daily whether those things were so Here say they the Beroeans are commended for searching the Scriptures and making them the Rule I answer That the Scriptures either are the principal or only Rule will not at all from this follow neither will their searching the Scriptures or being commended for it infer any such thing for we recommended and approve the use of them in that respect as much as any yet will it not follow that we affirm them to be the principal and only Rule Secondly It is to be observed that these were the Jews of Beroea to whom these Scriptures which were the Law and the Prophets were more particularly a Rule and the thing under examination was whether the Birth Life Works and sufferings of Christ did answer to the Prophecies that went before of him so that it was most proper for them being Jews to examine the Apostles Doctrine by the Scriptures seeing he pleaded it to be a fulfilling of them It is said nevertheless in the first place that they received the Word with chearfulness and in the second place they searched the Scriptures not that they searched the Scriptures and then received the Word for then could not they have prevailed to convert them had they not first minded the Word abiding in them which opened their understandings no more than the Scribes and Pharisees who as in the former objection we observed searched the Scriptures and exalted them and yet remained in their unbelief because they had not the Word abiding in them But lastly If this commendation of the Jewish Beroeans might infer that the Scriptures were the only and prsncipal Rule to try the Apostles Doctrine by what should have become of the Gentiles How should they ever have come to received the Faith of Christ who neither knew the Scriptures nor believed them We see in the end of the same Chapter how the Apostle preaching to the Athenians took another method and directed them to somewhat of God within themselves that they might feel after him He did not first go about to Prosolite them to the Jewish Religion and to the belief of the Law and the Prophets and from thence to prove the coming of Christ. Nay he took a nearer way Now certainly the principal and only Rule is not different one to the Jews and another to the Gentiles but is vniversal reaching both though secondary and subordinate Rules and means may be various and diversly suted according as the people they are used to are stated and circumstantiated Even so we see that the Apostle to the Athenians used a Testimony of one of their own Poets which he judged would have credit with them and no doubt such Testimonys whose Authors they esteemed had more weight with them than all the sayings of Moses and the Prophets whom they neither knew nor would have cared for Now because the Apostle used the Testimony of a Poet to the Athenians will it therefore follow he made that the Principal or
done threatning a certain horror if he continued in them as also promising and communicating a certain peace and sweetness as he hath given way to it and not resisted it Tenthly It wonderfully sheweth the excellent Wisdom of God by which he hath made the means of Salvation so universal and comprehensive that it is not needful to recur to those miraculous and strange ways seeing according to this most true Doctrine the Gospel reacheth all of whatsoever condition age or nation Eleventhly It is really and effectively though not in so many words yet by deeds established and confirmed by all the Preachers Promulgators and Doctors of the Christian Religion that ever were or now are even by those that otherways in their judgment oppose this Doctrine in that they all wherever they have been or are or whatsoever people place or Country they come to do preach to the people and to every individual among them that they may be saved intreating and desiring them to believe in Christ who hath died for them so that what they deny in the general they acknowledg of every particular there being no man to whom they do not preach in order to Salvation telling him Jesus Christ calls and wills him to believe and be Saved and that if he refuse he shall therfore be condemned and that his condemnation is of himself such is the Evidence and Virtue of Truth that it constrains its Adversaries even against their wills to plead for it Lastly According to this Doctrine the former argument used by the Armenians and evited by the Calvinists concerning every mans being bound to believe that Christ died for him is by altering the assumption rendred invincible thus That which every man is bound to believe is true But every man is bound to believe that God is merciful unto him Therefore c. This assumption no man can deny seeing his mercys are said to be over all his works And herein the Scripture every way declares the mercy of God to be in that he invites and calls Sinners to Repenance and hath opened a way of Salvation for them so that though those men be not bound to believe the History of Christ's Death and Passion who never came to know of it yet they are bound to believe that God will be merciful to them if they follow his ways and that he is merciful unto them in that he reproves them for evil and incourages them to good Neither ought any man to believe that God is unmerciful to him or that he hath from the beginning ordained him to come into the World that he might be left to his own evil inclinations and so do wickedly as a means appointed by God to bring him to eternal Damnation which were it true as our Adversaries affirm it to be of many thousands I see no reason why a man might not believe for certainly a man may believe the Truth As it manifestly appears from the thing itself that these good and excellent consequences follow from the belief of this Doctrine so from the probation of them it will yet more evidently appear To which before I come it is requisite to speak somewhat concerning the state of the controversie which will bring great Light to the matter For from the not right understanding of a matter under debate sometimes both arguments on the one hand and objections on the other are brought which do no way hit the case and hereby also our sense and judgment therein will be more fully understood and opened § XII First then by this day and time of Visitation which we say God gives unto all during which they may be saved we do not understand the whole time of every mans Life though to some it may be extended even to the very Hour of Death as we see in the example of the Thief converted upon the Cross but such a season at lest as sufficiently exonereth God of every mans condemnation which to some may be sooner and to others latter according as the Lord in his Wisdom sees meet So that many men may out-live this day after which there may be no possibility of Salvation to them and God justly suffers them to be hardened as a just punishment of their unbelief and even raises them up as Instruments of Wrath and makes them a Scourge one against another Whence to men in this condition may be fitly applied those Scriptures which are abused to prove that God incites men necessarily to sin this is notably express'd by the Apostle Rom. 1. from ver 17. to the end but especially ver 28. And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledg God gave them up to a reprobate mind to do those things which are not convenient That many may out live this day of Gods gracious visitation unto them is shewn by the Example of Esau Heb. 12.16.17 who sold his Birth right so he had it once and was capable to have kept it but afterwards when he would have inherited the Blessing he was rejected This appears also by Christs weeping over Jerusalem Luke 19.42 saying If thou hadst known in this thy day the things that belong unto thy peace but now they are hid from thine Eyes Which plainly imports a time when they might have known them which now was removed from them though they were yet alive but of this more shall be said hereafter § XIII Secondly By this Seed Grace and Word of God and Light wherewith we say every man is enlightened and hath a measure of it which strives with them in order to save them and which may by the stubbornness and wickedness of mans will be quenched bruised wounded pressed down slain and crucified We understand not the proper Essence and Nature of God precisely taken which is not devisible into parts and measures as being a most pure simple Being void of all composition or division and therefore can neither be resisted hurt wounded crucified or slain by all the efforts and strength of men But we understand a Spiritual Heavenly and invisible Principle in which God as Father Son and Spirit dwells a measure of which Divine and Glorious Life is in all men as a Seed which of its own nature draws invites and inclines to God and this we call Vehiculum Dei or the Spiritual Body of Christ the Flesh and Blood of Christ which came down from Heaven of which all the Saints do feed and are thereby nourished unto Eternal Life And as every unrighteous Action is witnessed against and reproved by this Light and Seed so by such actions it is hurt wounded and slain and resiles or flees from them even as the Flesh of Men flees from that which is of a contrary nature to it Now because it is never separated from God nor Christ but where ever it is God and Christ are as wrapped up therein Therefore and in that respect as it is resisted God is said to be resisted and where it is born down God is said
another retaining nothing but the name and that also unjustly Secondly from this distinction of Laity and Clergy this abuse also follows that good honest mechanick men and others who have not learned the art and trade of Preaching and so are not licentiated according to these rules they prescribe unto themselves such I say being possessed with a false opinion that it is not lawful for them to meddle with the Ministry nor that they are any ways fit for it because of the defect of that Literature do thereby neglect the Gift in themselves and quench many times the pure breathings of the Spirit of God in their hearts which if given way to might have proved much more for the edification of the Church than many of the conned Sermons of the learned And so by this means the Apostles command and advice is slighted who exhorteth 1 Thess. 5.19 20. Not to quench the Spirit nor despise Prophecying And all this is done by men pretending to be Christians who glory that the first Preachers and Propagators of their Religion were such kind of plain mechanick men and illiterate And even Protestants do no less than Papists exclude such kind of men from being Ministers among them and thus limit the Spirit and Gift of God though their Fathers in opposition to Papists asserted the contrary and also their own Histories declare how that kind of illiterate men did without learning by the Spirit of God greatly contribute in divers places to the Reformation By this it may appear that as in calling and qualifying so in preaching and praying and the other particular steps of the Ministry every true Minister is to know the Spirit of God by its vertue and life to accompany and assist him But because this relates to worship I shall speak of it more largely in the next Proposition which is concerning Worship The last thing to be considered and inquired into is concerning the maintainance of a Gospel Minister But before I proceed I judg it fit to speak something in short concerning the preaching of Women and so declare what we hold in that matter Seeing Male and Female are one in Christ Jesus and that he hath given his Spirit no less to one than to the other when God moveth by his Spirit in a Woman we judg it no waies unlawful for her to preach in the Assemblies of Gods People Neither think we that of Paul 1 Cor. 14.34 to reprove the inconsiderate and talkative Women among the Corinthians who ttoubled the Church of Christ with their unprofitable questions or that 1 Tim. 2.11 that all Women ought to learn in silence not usurping authority over the man any waies repugnant to this Doctrin because it 's clear that women have prophesied and preached in the Church else had the saying of Joel been badly applied by Peter Acts 2.17 And seeing Paul himself in the same Epistle to the Corinthians giveth rules how women should behave themselves in their publick preaching and praying it would be a manifest contradiction if that place were otherwaies taken in a larger sense and the same Paul speaks of a Woman that laboured with him in the work of the Gospel And it is written that Phillip had four Daughters that prophesied and lastly it hath been observed that God hath effectually in this day converted many Souls by the ministry of Women and by them also frequently comforted the Souls of his Children which manifest experience puts the thing beyond all controversie but now I shall proceed to speak of the maintainance of Ministers § XXVIII We freely acknowledg as the Proposition holds forth that there is an obligation upon such to whom God sends or among whom he raiseth up a Minister that if need be they minister to his necessities Secondly that it is lawful for him to receive what is necessary and convenient To prove this I need not insist for our adversaries will readily grant it to us for the thing we affirm is that this is all that these Scripture testimonies relating to this thing do grant Gal. 6.6 1 Cor. 9.11 12 13 14. 1 Tim. 5.16 That which we then oppose in this matter is first that it should be constrained and limited Secondly that it should be superfluous chargeable and sumptuous And thirdly the manifest abuse hereof of which I shall also briefly treat As to the first our adversaries are forced to recur to the Example of the Law a refuge they use in defending most of their errors and superstitions which are contrary to the nature and purity of the Gospel They say God appointed the Levites the tithes Obj. therefore they belong also to such as minister in holy things under the Gospel I answer all that can be gathered from this is that as the Priests had a maintainance allowed them under the Law Answ. so also the ministers and preachers under the Gospel which is not denyed but the comparison will not hold that they should have the very same since first there is no express Gospel command for it neither by Christ nor his Apostles Secondly the parity doth no waies hold betwixt the Levites under the Law and the preachers under the Gospel because the Levites were one of the tribes of Israel and so had a right to a part of the inheritance of the land as well as the rest of their brethren and having none had this alloted to them in lieu of it Next the tenth of the tithes was only allowed to the Priests that served at the Altar the rest being for the Levites and also to be put up in Store-houses for entertaining of Widows and Strangers But these Preachers notwithstanding they inherit what they have by their Parents as well as other men yet claim the whole tithes allowing nothing either to widow or stranger But as to the tithes I shall not insist because divers have clearly and learnedly treated of it apart and also divers Protestants do confess them not to be jure Divino and the parity as to the quota doth not hold but only in general as to the obligation of a maintainance Which maintainance though the hearers be obliged to give and fail of their duty if they do not yet that it ought neito be received nor yet forced I prove because Christ when he sent forth his Apostles said Freely ye have received freely give Mat. 10.8 and they had liberty to receive Meat and Drink from such as offered them to supply their need Which shews that they were not to seek or require any thing by force or to stint or make a bargain before hand as the Preachers as well among Papists as Protestants do in these daies who will not preach to any until they be sure first of so much a year but on the contrary these were to do their duty and freely to communicate as the Lord should order them what they had received without seeking or expecting a reward The answer of this given by Nicolaus Arnoldus Exercit. Theolog Sect. 42.43
the natural man from a meer conviction of his understanding doth in the forwardness of his own will and by his own natural strength without the influence and leading of God's Spirit go about either in his understanding to imagine conceive or think of the things of God or actually to perform them by preaching or praying The first is a missing both in matter and form The second is a retaining of the form without the Life and Substance of Christianity because Christian Religion consisteth not in a meer belief of true Doctrins or a meer performance of Acts good in themselves or else the bare letter of the Scripture though spoken by a Drunkard or a Devil might be said to be Spirit and Life which I judg none will be so absurd as to affirm and also it would follow that where the form of godliness is there the power is also which is contrary to the express words of the Apostle For the form of godliness cannot be said to be where either the notions and opinions believed are erroneous and ungodly or the acts performed evil and wicked for then it would be the form of ungodliness and not of godliness But of this further hereafter when we shall speak particularly of preaching and praying Now though this last be not so bad as the former yet it hath made way for it for men having first departed from the Life and Substance of true Religion and Worship to wit from the inward Power and Vertue of the Spirit so as therein to act and thereby to have all their actions enlivened have only retained the form and shew to wit the true words and appearance and so acting in their own natural and unrenewed wills in this form the form could not but quickly decay and be vitiated for the working and active spirit of man could not contain it self within the simplicity and plainness of Truth but giving way to his own numerous inventions and imaginations began to vary in the form and adapt it to his own inventions until by degrees the form of godliness for the most part came to be lost as well as the power For this kind of Idolatry whereby man loveth idolizeth and huggeth his own conceptions inventions and product of his own brain is so incident unto him and seated in his faln nature that so long as his natural Spirit is the first author and actor of him and is that by which he only is guided and moved in his worship towards God so as not first to wait for another Guide to direct him he can never perform the pure Spiritual Worship nor bring forth any thing but the Fruit of the first faln natural and corrupt root Wherefore the time appointed of God being come wherein by Jesus Christ he hath been pleased to restore the true Spiritual Worship and the outward form of Worship which was appointed by God to the Jews and whereof the manner and time of its performance was particularly determined by God himself being come to an end we find that Jesus Christ the Author of the Christian Religion prescribes no set form of Worship to his Children under the more pure administration of the New Covenant save that he only tells them that the Worship now to be performed is Spiritual and in the Spirit and it 's especially to be observed that in the whole New Testament there is no order nor command given in this thing but to follow the Revelation of the Spirit save only that general of meeting together a thing dearly owned and diligently practised by us as shall hereafter more appear True it is mention is made of the duties of Praying Preaching and Singing but what order or method should be kept in so doing or that presently they should be set about so soon as the Saints are gathered there is not one word to be found yea these duties as shall afterwards be made appear are always annexed to the assistance leadings and motions of God's Spirit Since then man in his natural state is thus excluded from acting or moving in things Spiritual how or what way shall he exercise this first and previous duty of waiting upon God but by silence and by bringing that natural part to silence Which is no otherwaies but by abstaining from his own Thoughts and Imaginations and from all the self-workings and motions of his own mind as well in things materially good as evil that he being silent God may speak in him and the Good Seed may arise This though hard to the natural man is so answerable to Reason and even natural experience in other things that it cannot be denyed He that cometh to learn of a master if he expect to hear his master and be instructed by him must not continually be speaking of the matter to be taught and never be quiet otherwise how shall his master have time to instruct him yea though the schollar were never so earnest to learn the science yet would the master have reason to reprove him as untoward and indocile if he would always be meddling of himself and still speaking and not wait in silence patiently to hear his master instructing and teaching him who ought not to open a mouth until by his master he were commanded and allowed so to do So also if one were about to attend a great Prince he would be thought an impertinent and imprudent servant who while he ought patiently and readily to wait that he might answer the King when he speaks and have his Eye upon him to observe the least motions and inclinations of his will and to do accordingly would be still deafening him with discourse though it were in praises of him and running to and fro without any particular and immediate order to do things that perhaps might be good in themselves or might have been commanded at other times to others Would the Kings of the Earth accept of such servants or service Since then we are commanded to wait upon God diligently and in so doing it is promised that our strength shall be renewed this waiting cannot be performed but by silence or cessation of the natural part on our side since God manifests himself not to the outward man or senses so much as to the inward to wit to the Soul and Spirit if the Soul be still thinking and working in her own will and busily exercised in her own imaginations though the matters as in themselves may be good concerning God yet thereby she incapacitates her self from discerning the still and small voyce of the Spirit and so hurts her self greatly in that she neglects her chief business of waiting upon the Lord nothing less than if I should busie my self crying out and speaking of a business while in the mean time I neglect to hear one who is quietly whispering into my ear and informing me in these things which are most needful for me to hear and know concerning that business And since it is the chief work of a Christian to know the
but seeing that is denied and proved to be false nothing from thence can be gathered he speaking of the Baptism of the Spirit which we freely confess doth remain to the end of the world yea so long as Christ's presence abideth with his Children Obj. § IX Thirdly they object the constant practice of the Apostles in the primitive Church who they say did alwaies administer Water-baptism to such as they Converted to the Faith of Christ and hence also they further urge that of Matth. 28. to have been meant of Water or else the Apostles did not understand it in that in baptizing they used water or that in so doing they walked without a commission I answer that it was the constant practice of the Apostles is denied for we have shewn in the example of Paul that it was not so since it were most absurd to judg that he converted only these few even of the Church of Corinth whom he saith he Baptized nor were it less absurd to think that that was a constant Apostolick practice which he that was not inferiour to the chiefest of the Apostles and who declares he laboured as much as they all rejoyceth he was so little in But further the conclusion inferred from the Apostles practice of baptizing with water to evince that they understood Matth. 28. of Water-baptism doth not hold for though they baptized with water it will not follow that either they did it by vertue of that commission or that they mistook that place nor can there be any medium brought that will infer such a conclusion As to the other insinuated absurdity that they did it without a Commission It is none at all for they might have done it by a permission as being in use before Christ's Death And because the People nursed up with outward Ceremonies could not be weaned wholly from them And thus they used other things as Circumcision and Legal Purifications which yet they had no commission from Christ to do to which we shall speak more at length in the following Proposition concerning the Supper But if from the sameness of the word because Christ bids them baptize and they afterwards in the use of water are said to baptize Obj. it be judged probable that they did understand that commission Matth. 28. to authorize them to baptize with water and accordingly practised it Although it should be granted that for a season Answ. they did so far mistake it as to judg that water belonged to that baptism which however I find no necessity of granting yet I see not any great absurdity would thence follow for it is plain they did mistake that commission as to a main part of it for a season as where he bids them go teach all Nations since sometime after they judged it unlawful to teach the Gentiles yea Peter himself scrupled it until by a Vision constrained thereunto for which after he had done it he was for a season until they were better informed judged by the rest of his Brethren Now if the Education of the Apostles as Jews and their propensity to adhere and stick to the Jewish Religion did so far influence them that even after Christ's Resurrection and the pouring forth of the Spirit they could not receive nor admit of the teaching of the Gentiles though Christ in his commission to them commanded them to preach to them What further absurdity were it to suppose that through the like mistake the chiefest of them having been the Disciples of John and his Baptism being so much prized there among the Jews that they also took Christ's Baptism intended by him of the Spirit to be that of Water which was John's and accordingly practised it for a season it suffices us that if they were so mistaken though I say not that they were so they did not always remain under that mistake else Peter would not have said of the Baptism which now saves that it is not a puting away of the filth of the flesh which certainly Water-baptism is But further they urge much Peter's baptizing Cornelius in which they press two things First that Water-baptism is used even to those that had received the Spirit Secondly that it is said positively he commanded them to be baptized Acts 10.47 48. But neither of these doth necessarily infer Water baptism to belong to the New Covenant Dispensation nor yet to be a perpetual standing Ordinance in the Church For first all that this will amount to was that Peter at that time baptized these men but that he did it by vertue of that commission Matth. 28. remains yet to be proved And how doth the baptizing with water after the receiving of the Holy Ghost prove the case more than the use of Circumcision and other Legal Rites acknowledged to have been acted by him afterwards also no wonder if Peter that thought it so strange notwithstanding all that had been professed before and spoken by Christ that the Gentiles should be made partakers of the Gospel and with great difficulty not without a very extraordinary impulse thereunto was brought to come to them and eat with them was apt to put this Ceremony upon them which being as it were the particular Dispensation of John the fore runner of Christ seemed to have greater affinity with the Gospel than the other Jewish Ceremonies then used by the Church but that will no waies infer our Adversaries conclusion Secondly as to these words and he commanded them to be baptized it declareth matter of fact not of right and amounteth to no more than that Peter did at that time pro hic nunc command those persons to be baptized with Water which is not denied but it saith nothing that Peter commanded Water-baptism to be a standing and perpetual Ordinance to the Church neither can any man of sound reason say if he heed what he sayes that a command in matter of fact to particular persons doth infer the thing commanded to be of general obligation to all if it be not otherwaies bottomed upon some positive precept why doth Peter's commanding Cornelius and his Houshold to be baptized at that time infer Water-baptism to continue more than his constraining which is more than commanding the Gentiles in general to be Circumcised and observe the Law We find that at time when Peter Baptized Cornelius it was not yet determined whether the Gentiles should not be Circumcised but on the contrary it was the most general sense of the Church that they should And therefore no wonder if they thought it needful at that time that they should be baptized which had more affinity with the Gospel and was a burthen less grievous Obj. § X. Fourthly they object from the signification of the word Baptize which is as much as to dip and wash with water alledging thence that the very word imports a being baptized with water Answ. This objection is very weak For since baptizing with water was a Rite among the Jews as Paulus Riccius sheweth even before
and authorizing his commandmens by the miracles of his heavenly works he wills not that any should confess him with a forced will c. He is the God of the whole Vniverse he needs not a forced ebedience nor requires a constrained confession Christ saith Ambrose sent his Apostles to sow Faith not to constrian but to teach not to exercise coercive power but to extoll the Doctrine of Humility Hence Cyprian comparing the Old Covenant with the New saith then were they put to death with the outward sword but now the proud and contumacious are cut off with the Spiritual sword by being cast out of the Church and this answers very well that objection before observed taken from the practice of the Jews under the Law See saith Tertullian to the Heathens if it be not to contribute to the renown of irreligion to seek to take away the liberty of Religion and to hinder men their choice of God that I may not be admitted to adore whom I will but must be constrained to serve him whom I will not There is none nay not a man that desires to be adored by any against their will And again It 's a thing that easily appears to be unjust to constrain and force men to sacrifice against their wills seeing to do the service of God there is required a willing heart And again It is an humane right and natural power that every one Worship what he esteems and one mans religion doth not profit nor hurt another Neither is it any piece of Religion to enforce religion which must be undertaken by consent and not by violence seeing that the Sacrifices themselves are not required but from a willing-mind Now how either Papists or Protestants that boast of Antiquity can get by these plain testimonies let any rational man judge And indeed I much question if in any one point owned by them and denyed by us they can find all the old Fathers and Writers so exactly unanimous Which shews how contrary all of them judged this to be to the nature of Christianity and that in the point of persecution lay no small part of the Apostacy which from little to more came to that that the Pope upon every small discontent would excommunicate Princes absolve their subjects from obeying them and turn them in and out at his pleasure Now if Protestants do justly abhor these things among Papists is it not said that they should do the like themselves A thing that at their first appearance when they were in their primitive innocency they did not think on as appears by that saying of Luther Neither Pope nor Bishop nor any other man hath power to oblige a Christian to one syllable except it be by his own consent And again I call boldly to Christians that neither man nor Angel can impose any Law upon them but so far as they will for we are free of all And when he appeared at the Diet of Spiers before the Emperor in a particular conference he had before the Arch bishop of Triers and Joachim Elector of Brandenburgh when there seem'd no possibility of agreeing him with his opposers they asking him what remedy seem'd to him most fit He answered the counsel that Gamaliel proposed to the Jews to wit that if this design was of God it would stand if not it would vanish which he said ought to content the Pope he did not say because he was in the right he ought to be spared For this counsel supposeth that those that are tolerated may be wrong and yet how soon did the same Luther ere he was well secure himself press the Elector of Saxony to banish poor Carolostadius because he could not in all things submit to his judgment and certainly it is not without ground reported that it smote Luther to the heart so that he needed to be comforted when he was informed that Carolostadius in his Letter to his Congregation stiled himself a man banished for Conscience by the procurement of Martin Luther And since both the Lutherans and Calvinists not admitting one another to worship in those respective Dominions sheweth how little better they are that either Papists or Arians in this particular And yet Calvin saith that the Conscience is free from the power of all men If so why then did he cause Castellio to be banisht because he could not for Conscience sake believe as he did that God had ordained men to be damned and Servetus to be burned for denying the Divinity of Christ if Calvin's report of him be to be credited which opinion though it was indeed to be abominated yet no less was Calvin's practice in causing him to be burned and afterwards defending that it was lawful to burn Hereticks by which he encouraged the Papists to lead his followers the more confidently to the Stake as having for their warrant the doctrin of their own Sect-master which they omitted not frequently to twit them with and indeed it was to them unanswerable Hence upon this occasion the judicious Author of the History of the Couneil of Trent in his fifth Book where giving an account of several Protestants that were burned for their Religion well and wisely observeth it as a matter of astonishment that those of the new Reformation did offer to punish in case of Religion And afterwards taking notice that Calvin justifies the punishing of Hereticks he adds But since the name of Heresie may be more or less restricted yea or diversly taken this Doctrin may be likewise taken in divers senses and may at one time hurt those whom at another time it may have benifited So that this Doctrin of Persecution cannot be mentioned by Protestants without strengthening the hands of Popish Inquisitors and indeed in the end lands in direct Popery Seeing if I may not profess and preach that Religion which I am perswaded of in my Conscience is true it is to no purpose to search the Scripture or to seek to chuse my own faith by convictions thence derived since whatever I there observe or am perswaded of I must either subject to the jungment of the Magistrate and Church of that place I am in or else resolve to remove or dye Yea doth not this heretical and Anti-christian Doctrine both of Papists and Protestants at last resolve into that cursed policy of Mahomet who prohibited all reason or discourse about Religion as occasioning factions and divisions And indeed those that press Persecution and deny Liberty of Conscience do thereby shew themselves more the Disciples of Mahomet than of Christ and that they are no ways followers of he Apostles Doctrine who desired the Thessalonians 1 Thess. 5.21 To prove all things and hold fast that which is good and also saith unto such as are otherwise minded God shall reveal it Phil. 3.15 not that by beatings and banishments it must be knocked into them § VI. Now the ground of Persecution as hath been above shewn is an unwillingness to
that they shun to witness for Christ for fear of hurt to themselves lest they mistake them As for that private meeting of the Disciples we have only an account of the matter of fact but that suffices not to make of it a president for us and mens aptness to imitate them in that which for ought we know might have been an act of weakness and not in other things of the contrary nature shews that it is not a true zeal to be like those Disciples but indeed a desire to preserve themselves which moves them so to do Lastly as to that of Paul's being conveyed out of Damascus the case was singular and is not to be doubted but it was done by a special allowance from God who having designed him to be a principal Minister of his Gospel saw meet in hss Wisdom to disoppoint the wicked council of the Jews But our adversaries have no such pretext for fleeing whose fleeing proceeds from self preservation not from immediate revelation And that Paul made not this the method of his proceedure appears in that at another time notwithstanding the perswasion of his Friends and certain Prophecys of his sufferings to come he would not be disswaded to go up to Jerusalem which according to the fore-mentioned rule he should have done But lastly to conclude this matter Glory to God and our Lord Jesus Christ that now these twenty five years since we were known to be a distinct and separate People hath given us faithfully to suffer for his Name without shrinking or fleeing the Cross and what liberty we now enjoy it is by his Mercy and not by an outward working or procuring of our own but 't is he has wrought upon the hearts of our opposers nor was it any outward interest hath procured it unto us but the testimony of our harmlesness in the hearts of our Superiors for God hath preserved us hitherto in the patient suffering of Jesus that we have not given away our cause by persecuting any which few if any Christians that I know can say Now against our unparalleled yet innocent and Christian cause our malicious enemies have nothing to say but that if we had Power we would do so likewise This is a piece of meer unreasonable malice and a priviledg they take to judg of things to come which they have not by immediate revelation and surely it is the greatest heighth of harsh judgment to say men would do contrary to their professed Principle if they could who have from their practice hitherto given no ground for it and wherein they only judg others by themselves such conjectures cannot militate against us so long as we are innocent And if ever we prove guilty of persecution by forcing other men by corporal punishment to our way then let us be judged the greatest of Hypocrites and let not any spare to persecute us AMEN saith my Soul The Fifteenth Proposition Concerning Salutations and Recreations c. Seeing the chief end of all Religion is to redeem men from the Spirit and vain conversation of this World and to lead into inward communion with God before whom if we fear always we are accounted happy therefore all the vain customs and habits thereof both in word and deed are to be rejected and forsaken by those who come to this fear such as the taking off the Hat to a man the bowings and cringings of the body and such other Salutations of that kind with all the foolish and superstitious formalities attending them all which man has invented in his degenerate state to feed his Pride in the vain pomp and glory of this world as also the unprofitable Plays frivolous Recreations Sportings and Gaming 's which are invented to pass away the precious time and divert the mind from the witness of God in the heart and from the living sense of his fear and from that Evangelical Spirit wherewith Christians ought to be leavened and which leads into sobriety gravity and godly fear in which as we abide the blessing of the Lord is felt to attend us in those actions which we are necessarily ingaged in order to the taking care for the sustenance of the outward man § I. HAving hitherto treated of the Principles of Religion both relating to Doctrine and Worship I am now to speak of some practices which have been the product of this Principle in those Witnesses whom God hath raised up in this day to testifie for his Truth It will not a little commend them I suppose in the judgment of sober and judicious men that taking them generally even by the Confession of their Adversaries they are found to be free of those Abominations which abound among other Professors such as are Swearing Drunkenness Whoredom Riotousness c. And that generally the very coming among this People doth naturally work such a change so that many vitious and profane persons have been known by coming to this Truth to become sober and vertuous and many light vain and wanton ones to become grave and serious as our adversaries dare not deny yet that they may not want something to detract us for cease not to accuse us for those things which when found among themselves they highly commend thus our gravity they call sullenness our seriousness melancholly our silence sottishness Such as have been vitious and profane among them but by coming to us have left off those evils lest they should commend the truth of our profession they say that whereas they were profane before they are become worse in being hypocritical and spiritually proud If any before dissolute and profane among them by coming to the Truth with us become frugal and diligent then they will charge them with covetousness And if any eminent among them for seriousness piety and discoveries of God come unto us then they will say they were always subject to melancholly and to enthusiasm though before when among them it was esteem'd neither melancholly nor enthusiasm in an evil sense but Christian gravity and Divine revelation Our boldness and Christian suffering the call obstinacy and pertinacy though half as much if among themselves they would account Christian courage and nobility And though thus by their envy they strive to read all relating to us backwards counting these things vice in us which in themselves they would extol as vertues yet hath the strength of Truth extorted this confession often from them that we are generally a pure and clean people as to the outward conversation But this they say is but in policy to commend our heresie But such policy it is say I as Christ and his Apostles made use of and all good Christians ought to do yea so far hath Truth prevailed by the purity of his followers that if one that is called a Quaker do but that which is common among them as to laugh and be wanton speak at large and keep not his word punctually or be overtaken with hastyness or anger they presently say O!
iii 27 277 iv  156  19 148 v 12 20 339  24 383 vi 6 220  14 78 Ephesians i 13 179  14 279 ii  63  4 5 6 169  5 148  8 200  15 134 iii 9 10 iv  214  5 18 277  7 11 16 201  11 165 294  23 239  23 24 149  24 169 iv 30 279 v 8 104  11 350  13 83 93   116  25 26 27 165 vi 12 383  18 268 Philippians i 6 177  8 376  21 66 ii 13 155 iii 10 134  14 178  15 346 Colossians i 13 104  23 83 108  24 135  27 28 148  28 74 ii 6 16 20 327  8 350  12 277  15 253  19 194 iii 1 325  2 370  16 276 iv 2 243  12 166 I Thessalonians i 5 215 ii 12 158 iii 13 166 v 5 104  6 243  12 13 217  17 265  19 20 219  21 346  23 166  27 376 II Thessalonians i 5 8 158 ii 11 12 175 I Timothy i 19 177 ii 1 3 4 6 75  3 71  8 9 10 366  11 220 iii 2 203  2 3 4 5 6 229  15 193 v 16 220  17 217 vi 5 6 c. 229  7 8 9 10 224  8 230  20 209 II Timothy iii 2 229  15 16 17 49  17 166 iv 5 243  7 180 Titus i c  203  7 8 9 229  10 11 230  15 93 ii 11 118 200  14 134 164 iii 5 154  7 144  10 331 Hebrews i 3 356 ii 9 76 iii 14 177 iv 12 13 110 v 4 204 229 vi 16 377 vii 26 140 viii 10 26 ix 9 168  10 328 x 24 259 xi  17  6 138  7 14 15 xii 14 151  16 17 87  22 23 169 xiii 7 8 18  17 217 James i 21 107  25 249  27 78 ii 24 151 iii 9 10 170 iv 1 383 v 6 128  12 371  14 303 326 I Peter i 5 177  14 350  17 367  23 114 ii 5 205  21 90  22 140  22 24 134 iii 3 4 366  18 134  20 99  21 277 iv 7 243 249  10 11 202 229 v 5 217 II Peter i 4 135 162  10 45 179  12 13 49  16 356 ii 1 2 3 230  3 211  1 3 14 15 229  20 78 iii 9 71 77  15 99 I John i 1 206  7 133  8 170 ii 1 2 77  2 to 6 167  15 78  27 27 iii 1 13 78  2 to 10 167  4 172  5 8 164  7 20 149  9 163 iv 4 5 78  9 75  10 134  13 35 46 v 3 169  6 35 46  14 269  19 78 Jude i 16 229  20 268 Revelation ii 9 194  20 338 iii 12 174 179  16 292  20 11 315 xiv 1 to 5 169 xix 10 363 xxii 9 363  14 151  18 56 A TABLE Of the Chief Things A ABraham's Faith 15. Adam See man sin redemption what happiness he lost by the Fall 63. what death he died 59 66. He retained in his nature no will or light capable of it self to manifest Spiritual things 59. whether there be any reliques of the heavenly image left in them 62 91. Alexander Skein's Queries proposed to the Preachers 271 272. Anabaptists of Great Britain 31 251. Anabaptists of Munster how their mischievous actings nothing touch the Quakers 28 29 30 31 32. Anicetus 30. Anointing the Anointing teacheth all things it is and abideth for ever a common priviledge and sure Rule to all Saints 27 28. Antichrist is exalted when the seed of God is expressed 20 92. his work 213 214 228. Antinomians their Opinion concerning Justification 137. Apostasie 174 211. Apostle who he is their number was not limitted and whether any may be now adaies so called 216 217. Appearances See Faith Arians they first brought in the Doctrin of Persecution upon the account of Religion 342. Arius by what he fell into error 210.211 Arminians See Remonstrants Assemblings are needful and what sort 33 237 c. See Worship they are not to be forsaken 245. Astrologer 35. Aurelia there ten Canonicks were burnt and why 301. B Baptism is one its definition 277 279 280 281 283 284. It is the Baptism of Christ and of the Spirit not of Water 277 279 to 287. the Baptism of Water which was John's Baptism was a figure of this Baptism and is not to be continued 277 280 285 286 to 302. Baptism with Water doth not cleanse the heart 280 288. nor is it a badge of Christianity as was Circumcision to the Jews 202 291 301. that Paul was not sent to Baptize is explain'd 290 291 292. concerning what Baptism Christ speaks Mat. 28.20 it is explained 293 204. how the Apostles Baptized with Water is explained 296 297 298 299. to Baptize signifies to Plunge and how Sprinkling was brought in 299 300. those of old that used Water-baptism were plunged and they that were only sprinkled were not admitted to an Ecclesiastick Function and why 399. against the use of Water-baptism many heretofore have testified 301. Infant-baptism is a meer humane tradition 277 302 Bible the last Translations alwaies find fault with the first 47. Birth the Spiritual birth 37. holy birth 248 see Justification Bishop of Rome concerning his primacy 30. how he abuseth his authority and by what he deposeth Princes and absolveth the people from the Oath of Fidelity 341 344. Blood to abstain from blood and things strangled 303 326 329. it hath been shed 310. Blood of Christ see Communion Body to bow the body see Head Books Canonical and Apocryphal see Canon Scripture Bonaventure 236. Bow to bow the knee see uncover the Head Bread the breaking of bread among the Jews was no singular thing 317 321. it is now other waies performed than it was by Christ 322. whether unleavened or leavened bread is to be used also it is hotly disputed about the manner of taking it and to whom it is to be given 321 322. see Communion C Calvinists see Protestants they deny consubstantiation 30. they maintain absolute reprobation 26. they think Grace is a certain irresistible power and what sort of a Saviour they would have 115 116. of the flesh and blood of Christ 307 309.310 they use leavened bread in the Supper 321. Canon whether the Scripture be a filled up Canon 55. whether it can be proved by Scripture that any Book is Canonical 55 56. Castellio banished 345. Ceremonies see Superstition Christ see Communion Justification Redemption Word He sheweth himself daily revealing the knowledge of the Father 6. without his
173. concerning the Lord's Prayer 245. to pray without the Spirit is to offend God 249 369. concerning the Prayer of the will in silence 256. see Worship Prayer the Prayers of the People were in the Latin Tongue 207. Preacher see Minister Preaching what it is termed the Preaching of the Word 211 218 233 234. to Preach without the Spirit is to offend God 249. see Worship it is a permanent Institution 291. it is learned as another Trade 218. Predestinated God hath after a special manner predestinated some to Salvation of whom if the places of Scripture which some abuse be understood their objections are easily solved 97. Priest under the Law God spake immediately to the High-Priest 14 27. Priests see Minister of the Law 187. 188 205 220 221. Profession an outward profession is necessary that any be a member of a particular Christian Church 183. Prophecy and to prophecy what it signifies 215 216. of the liberty of prophecying 217. Prophets some Prophets did not miracles 198 199. Protestants the rule of their Faith 30. they are forced ultimately to recur unto the immediate and inward revelation of the Holy Spirit 36. what difference betwixt the execrable deeds of those of Munster and theirs 30 31 32 33. they make Phylosophy the hand-maid of Divinity 50. they affirm John Hus prophecyed of the Reformation that was to be 57. whether they did not throw themselves into many errors while they were expecting a greater light 83. they opposed the Papists not without good cause in the doctrin of Justification but they soon ran into another extreme 130 131. they say that the best works of the Saints are defiled 136. whether there be any difference between them and the Papists in superstitions and manners and what it is 184 185 197 198. what they think of the call of a Minister 188 189 190 191 192 196 197 198 199. it's lamentable that they betake them to Judas for a Patron to their Ministers and Ministry 205. their zeal and endeavours are praised 206. of their School-divinity 210 211. of the Apostles and Evangelists of this time 217. whom they exclude from the Ministry 219. that they Preach to none until they be first sure of so much a year 221. the more moderate of them exclaim against the excessive Revenues of the Clergy 224. tho they had forsaken the Bishop of Rome yet they would not part with old Benefices 226. they will not labour 227. whether they have made a perfect Reformation in worship 231 232. their worship can easily be stopped 251. they have given great scandal to the Reformation 272. they deny water-baptism to be absolute necessary to Salvation 285. of water-baptism 299 300 301. of the flesh and blood of Christ 308 309 310. they use not washing of feet 320. how they did vindicate liberty of Conscience 341. some affirm that wicked Kings and Magistrates ought to be deposed yea killed 342. how they meet when they have not the consent of the Magistrate 248 249. of Oaths and Swearing 372 373. Psalms singing of Psalms 275. Q Quakers i. e. Tremblers and why so called 117 242. they are not contemners of the Scriptures and what they think of them 38 40 41 48 49 50 54 55 89. nor of Reason and what they think of it 91 92. they do not say that all other secondary means of knowledg are of no service 9. they do not compare themselves to Jesus Christ as they are falsly accused 88. Nor do they deny those things that are written in the Holy Scriptures concerning Christ his conception c. 89 141. they were raised up of God to shew forth the Truth 83 84 115 116 126 212 243. their doctrin of Justification is not Popish 129 134 151 158. they are not against meditation 248. their worship cannot be interrupted 250. and what they have suffered 249 252. how they vindicate Liberty of Conscience 346 347. they do not persecute others 349. Their adversaries confess that they are found for the most part free from the abominations which abound among others yet they count those things Vices in them which in themselves they extol as notable Vertues and make more noise about the escape of one Quakea than of an hundred among themselves 351 352. they destroy not the mutual relation that is betwixt Prince and People Master and Servant Father and Son nor do they introduce community of Goods 352 353. Nor say that one man may not use the Creation more or less than another 353. R Ranters the blasphemy of the Ranters or Libertines saying that there is no difference betwixt good and evil 167. Reason what need we set up corrupt reason 23. concerning Reason 30 92 93. Rebekkah 241. Reconciliation how reconciliation with God is made 136 to 141. Recreations see Plays Redemption is considered in a twofold respect First performed by Christ without us and secondly wrought in us 134 135. it is Universal God gave his Only begotten Son Jesus Christ for a Light that whosoever believeth in him may be saved 67 68 103 104. the benefit of his death is not less Universal than the seed of sin 67. there is scarce found any Article of the Christian Religion that is so expresly confirmed in the holy Scriptures 71 72 73 74 75 76. this doctrin was Praached by the Fathers so called of the first 600 years and is proved by the sayings of some 78 79. those that since the time of the Reformation have affirmed it have not given a clear testimony how that benefit is communicated to all nor have sufficiently taught the Truth because they have added the absolute necessity of the outward knowledg of the history of Christ yea they have thereby given the contrary party a stronger argument to defend their precise decree of Reprobation among whom were the Remonstrants of Holland 68 80 81 82. God hath now raised up a few illiterate men to be dispensers of this Truth 89 90 116 117. this doctrin sheweth forth the Mercy and Justice of God 83 84 96 97. it is the foundation of Salvation 84. it answers to the whole tenor of the Gospel promises and threats 84. it magnifies and commends the merits and death of Christ 84. it exalts above all the Grace of God 84. it overturns the false doctrin of the Pelagians Semi-pelagians and others who exalt the Light of Nature and the freedom of man's will 84. it makes the Salvation of man solely to depend upon God and his condemnation wholly and in every respect to be of himself 84. it takes away all ground of Despair and feeds none in security 85. it commends the Christian Religion among Infidels 85. it sheweth the Wisdom of God 85. and it is established tho not in words yet by deeds even by those Ministers that oppose this doctrine 85. it derogates not from the attonement and sacrifice of Jesus Christ but doth magnifie and exalt it 89. there is given to every one none excepted a certain day and time of