The Second Proposition Concerning Immediate Revelation Seeing no man knoweth the Father but the Son and he to whom the Son revealeth him and seeing the Revelation of the Son is in and by the Spirit therefore the Testimony of the Spirit is that alone by which the true knowledge of God hath been is and can be only revealed who as by the moving of his own Spirit converted the Chaos of this World into that wonderful order wherein it was in the beginning and created Man a living Soul to rule and govern it so by the Revelation of the same Spirit he hath manifested himself all along unto the Sons of Men both Patriarchs Prophets and Apostles which Revelations of God by the Spirit whether by outward voices and appearances Dreams or inward objective manifestations in the heart were of old the formal object of their Faith and remaineth yet so to be since the object of the Saints Faith is the same in all ages though set forth under divers Administrations Moreover these divine inward Revelations which we make absolutely necessary for the building up of true Faith neither do nor can ever contradict the outward Testimony of the Scriptures or right and found Reason Yet from hence it will not follow that these Divine Revelations are to be subjected to the examination either of the outward Testimony of the Scriptures or of the natural reason of Man as to a more noble or certain rule or touchstone for this Divine Revelation and inward Illumination is that which is evident and clear of it self forceing by its own evidence and clearness the well disposed understanding to assent irresistibly moving the same thereunto even as the common Principles of natural Truths move and incline the mind to natural assent Such as are these that the whole is greater than the part that two contradictory sayings cannot be both true or false which is also manifest according to our adversaries Principle who supposing the possibility of inward Divine Revelations will nevertheless confess with us that neither Scripture nor found Reason will contradict it and yet it will not follow according to them that the Scripture or found Reason should be subjected to the examination of the Divine Revelations in the Heart The Third Proposition Concerning the Scriptures From these Revelations of the Spirit of God to the Saints have proceeded the Scriptures of Truth which contain 1. A faithful Historical Account of the Actings of God's People in divers Ages with many singular and remarkable Providences attending them 2. A Prophetical Account of several things whereof some are already past and some yet to come 3. A full and ample account of all the chief Principles of the Doctrine of Christ held forth in divers pretious declarations exhortations and sentences which by the moving of God's Spirit were at several times and upon sundry occasions spoken and written unto some Churches and their Pastors Nevertheless because they are only a Declaration of the Fountain and not the Fountain it self therefore they are not to be esteemed the principal ground of all Truth and Knowledge nor yet the adequate primary Rule of Faith and Manners Nevertheless as that which giveth a true and faithful Testimony of the first Foundation they are and may be esteemed a secondary Rule subordinate to the Spirit from which they have all their excellency and certainty for as by the inward Testimony of the Spirit we do alone truly know them so they testifie that the Spirit is that guide by which the Saints are led into all Truth Therefore according to the Scriptures the Spirit is the first and principle Leader And seeing we do therefore receive and believe the Scriptures because they proceeded from the Spirit therefore also the Spirit is more originally and principally the Rule according to that received maxim in the Schools Propter quod unumquodque est tale illud ipsum est magis tale Englished thus That for which a thing is such that thing it self is more such The Fourth Proposition Concerning the Condition of Man in the fall All Adam's Posterity or Mankind both Jews and Gentiles as to the first Adam or earthly man is fallen degenerated and dead deprived of the sensation or feeling of this inward Testimony or Seed of God and is subject unto the power nature and Seed of the Serpent which he sows in mens hearts while they abide in this natural and corrupted State from whence it comes that not their words and deeds only but all their imaginations are evil perpetually in the sight of God as proceeding from this depraved and wicked Seed Man therefore as he is in this state can know nothing aright yea his thoughts and conceptions concerning God and things Spiritual until he be disjoyned from this evil Seed and united to the Divine Light are unprofitable both to himself and others Hence are rejected the Socinian and Pelagian Errors in exalting a Natural Light as also the Papists and most of Protestants who affirm that Man without the true Grace of God may be a true Minister of the Gospel Nevertheless this Seed is not imputed to Infants until by transgression they actually joyn themselves therewith for they are by Nature the children of Wrath who walk according to the Power of the Prince of the Air The Fifth and Sixth Proposition Concerning the Vniversal Redemption by Christ and also the Saving and Spiritual Light wherewith every Man is enlightened The Fifth Proposition God out of his Infinite love who delighteth not in the death of a sinner but that all should live and be saved hath so loved the world that he hath given his only Son a Light that whosoever believeth in him should be saved who enlighteneth every man that cometh into the world and maketh manifest all things that are reproveable and teacheth all temperance righteousness and godliness and this Light enlighteneth the hearts of all in a day in order to Salvation if not resisted Nor is it less universal than the seed of sin being the purchase of his death who tasted death for every Man For as in Adam all die even so in Christ all shall be made alive The Sixth Proposition According to which principle or Hypothesis all the Objections against the universality of Christ's death are easily solved neither is it needful to recur to the Ministry of Angels and those other miraculous means which they say God makes use of to manifest the Doctrine and History of Christ's passion unto such who living in those places of the world where the outward preaching of the Gospel is unknown have well improved the first and common Grace For hence it well follows that as some of the old Philosophers might have been saved so also may now 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
for this vain Opinion they had of their knowledg hindered them from the true knowledg and the mean people who were not so much preoccupyed with former principles nor conceited of their own knowledg did easily believe Wherefore the Pharisees upbraid them saying Have any of the Rulers or Pharisees believed in him But this people which know not the Law are accursed This is also abundantly proved by the experience of all such as being secretly touched with the call of God's Grace unto them do apply themselves unto false Teachers where the remedy proves worse than the disease because instead of knowing God or the things relating to their Salvation aright they drink in wrong Opinions of him from which it 's harder to be dis-intangled than while the Soul remains a blank or tabala rasa For they that conceit themselves wise are worse to deal with then they that are sensible of their ignorance Nor hath it been less the device of the Devil the great Enemy of Mankind to perswade Men into wrong notions of God than to keep them altogether from acknowledging him the latter taking with few because odious but the other having been the constant ruin of the World for there hath scarce been a Nation found but hath had some notions or other of Religion so that not from their denying any Deity but from their mistakes and misapprehensions of it hath proceeded all the Idolatry and superstition of the world yea hence even Atheism it self hath proceeded for these many and various opinions of God and Religion being so much mixed with the guessings and uncertain judgments of men have begotten in many the opinion that there is no God at all This and much more that might be said may shew how dangerous it is to miss in the first step All that come not in by the door are accounted as Thieves and Robbers Again how needful and desireable that knowledge is which brings Life Eternal Epictetus sheweth saying excellently well cap. 38. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Know that the main foundation of piety is this to have 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 right opinions and apprehensions of God This therefore I judged necessary as a first Principle in the first place to affirm and I suppose will not need much further explanation nor defence as being generally acknowledged by all and in these things that are without controversie I love to be brief as that which will easily commend it self to every Man's reason and Conscience and therefore I shall proceed to the next Proposition which tho it be nothing less certain yet by the malice of Satan and ignorance of many comes far more under debate The Second Proposition Of Immediate Revelation Seeing no man knoweth the Father but the Son and he to whom the Son revealeth him Matt. 11.27 And seeing the revelation of the Son is in and by the Spirit therefore the Testimony of the Spirit is that alone by which the true knowledge of God hath been is and can be only revealed who as by the moving of his own Spirit he disposed the chaos of this World into that wonderful order wherein it was in the beginning and created man a living Soul to rule and govern it so by the revelation of the same Spirit he hath manifested himself all along unto the sons of Men both Patriarchs Prophets and Apostles which revelations of God by the Spirit whether by outward voices and appearances dreams or inward objective manifestations in the heart were of old the former object of their faith and remain yet so to be since the object of the Saints faith is the same in all ages tho held forth under divers administrations Moreover these divine inward revelations which we make absolutely necessary for the building up of true faith neither do nor can ever contradict the outward testimony of the Scriptures or right and sound Reason yet from hence it will not follow that the Divine revelations are to be subjected to the Test either of the outward testimony of the Scriptures or of the natural reason of Man as to a more noble and certain rule and touchstone for this Divine revelation and inward illumination is that which is evident and clear of it self forcing by its own evidence and clearness the well disposed understanding to assent irresistibly moving the same thereunto even as the common principles of natural truths do move and incline the mind to a natural assent As that the whole is greater than its part That two contradictorys can neither be both true nor both false § I. IT is very probable that many carnal and natural Christians will oppose this Proposition who being wholly unacquainted with the movings and actings of God's Spirit upon their hearts judge the same nothing necessary and some are apt to flout at it as ridiculous Yea to that highth are the generality of all Christians apostatized and degenerated that tho there be not any thing more plainly asserted more seriously recommended nor more certainly artested to in all the writings of the Holy Scriptures yet nothing is less minded and more rejected by all sorts of Christians than Immediate and Divine Revelation in so much that once to lay claim to it is matter of reproach Whereas of old none were ever judged Christians but such as had the Spirit of Christ Rom. 8.9 But now many do boldly call themselves Christians who make no difficulty of confessing they are without it and laugh at such as say they have it Of old they were accounted the Sons of God who were led by the Spirit of God ibid. verse 14. But now many averr themselves Sons of God who know nothing of this leader and he that affirms himself so led is by the pretended Orthodox of this Age presently proclaimed a Heretick the reason hereof is very manifest viz because many in these dayes under the name of Christians do experimentally find that they are not acted nor led by Gods Spirit yea many great Doctors Divines Teachers and Bishops of Christianity commonly so called have wholly shut their ears from hearing and their eyes from seeing this inward Guide and so are become strangers unto it whence they are by their own experience brought to this strait either to confess that they are as yet ignorant of God and have only the shadow of knowledg and not the true knowledg of him or that this knowledg is acquired without immediate revelation For the better understanding then of this proposition we do distinguish betwixt the certain knowledg of God and the uncertain betwixt the spiritual knowledg and the literal the saving heart-knowledg and soaring airy head-knowledg The last we confess may be divers obtained but the first by no other way then the inward immediate manifestation and revelation of Gods Spirit shining in and upon the heart inlightning and opening the understanding § II. Having then proposed to my self in these propositions to affirm those things which relate to the true and effectual knowledg which brings
to offer him up not doubting but God was able to raise him from the dead of whom it is said that in Isaac shall thy Seed be called And last of all In that he rested in the Promise that his Seed should possess the Land wherein himself was but a Pilgrim and which to them was not to be fulfilled while divers Ages after The object of Abrahams Faith in all this was no other but inward and immediate Revelation or God signifying his will unto him inwardly and immediately by his Spirit But because in this part of the Proposition we made also mention of external Voices Appearances and Dreams in the alternative I think also fit to speak hereof what in that respect may be objected to wit Obj. That those who found their Faith now upon immediate and objective Revelation ought to have also outward Voices or Visions Dreams or appearances for it It is not denyed but God made use of the Ministry of Angels who in the appearance of men spake outwardly to the Saints of old and that he did also reveal some things to them in Dreams and Visions none of which we will affirm to be ceased so as to limit the power and liberty of God in manifesting himself towards his Children But while we are considering the object of Faith we must not stick to that which is but circumstantially and accidently so but to that which is universally and substantially so Next again we must distinguish betwixt that which in it self is subject to doubt and delusion and therefore is received for and because of another and that which is not subject to any doubt but is received simply for and because of it self as being prima veritas the very first and original Truth Let us then consider how or how far these outward voices appearances and dreams were the object of the Saints faith was it because they were simply voices appearances or dreams nay certainly we know and they were not ignorant that the Devil can form a sound of words and convey it to the outward ear That he can easily deceive the outward senses by making things to appear that are not Yea do we not see by daily experience that the Juglers and Mountebancks can do as much as all that by their Legerdemain God forbid then that the Saints faith should be founded upon so fallacious a foundation as man's outward and fallible senses What made them then give credit to these visions eertainly nothing else but the secret testimony of Gods Spirit in their hearts assuring them that the voices dreams and Visions were of and from God Abraham believed the Angels but who told him that these men were Angels we must not think his faith then was built upon his outward senses but proceeded from the secret perswasion of Gods Spirit in his heart This then must needs be acknowledged to be originally and principally the object of the Saints faith without which there is no true and certain faith and by which many times faith is begotten and strenthenged without any of these outward or visible helps As we may observe in many passages of the Holy Scripture where it is only mentioned and God said c. And the word of the Lord came unto such and such saying c. But if any one should pertinaciously affirm that this did import an outward audible voice to the carnal ear I would gladly know what other argument such a one could bring for this his affirmation saving his own simple conjecture It is said indeed the Spirit witnesseth with our Spirit but not to our outward ears Rom. 8.16 and seeing the Spirit of God is within us and not without us it speaks to our Spiritual and not to our bodyly ear Therefore I see no reason where it 's so often said in Scripture the Spirit said moved hindered called such or such a one to do or forbear such or such a thing that any have to conclude that this was not an inward voice to the ear of the Soul rather than an outward voice to the bodyly ear If any be otherwise minded let them if they can produce their arguments and we may further consider of them From all then which is above declared I shall deduce an argument to conclude the probation of this assertion thus That which any one firmly believes as the ground and foundation of his hope in God and life Eternal is the formal object of his faith But the inward and immediate revelation of God's Spirit speaking in and unto the Saints was by them believed as the ground and foundation of their hope in God and life eternal Therefore these inward and immediate revelations were the formal object of their faith § IX That which now cometh under debate is what we have asserted in the last place to wit That the same continueth to be the object of the Saints faith unto this day Many will agree to what we said before who differ from us herein There is nevertheless a very firm argument confirming the truth of this assertion included in the Proposition it self to wit That the object of the Saints faith is the same in all ages though held forth under divers administrations Which I shall reduce to an argument and prove thus First Where the Faith is one the object of the Faith is one But the Faith is one Therefore c. That the Faith is one is the express words of the Apostle Eph. 4.5 who placeth the one Faith with the one God importing no less than that to affirm two faiths is as absurd as to affirm two Gods Moreover if the Faith of the Ancients were one and the same with ours i. e. agreeing in substance therewith and receiving the same definition it had been impertinent for the Apostle Heb. 11. to have illustrated the definition of our faith by the examples of that of the Ancients or to go about to move us by the example of Abraham if Abraham's faith were different in nature from ours Nor doth hence any difference arise because they believe in Christ with respect to his appearace outwardly as future and we as already appeared For nor did they then so believe in him to come as not to feel him present with them and witness him near seeing the Apostle saith they all drank of that spiritual Rock which followed them which Rock was Christ Nor do we so believe concerning his appearance past as not also to feel and know him present with us and to feed upon him except Christ saith the Apostle be in you ye are reprobates so that both our faith is one terminating in one and the same thing And as to the other part or consequence of the antecedent to wit that the object is one where the faith is one the Apostle also proveth it in the forecited Chapter where he makes all the Worthys of old examples to us Now wherein are they imitable but because they believed in God and what was the object of their Faith
thou determine not precisely to speak what before thou hast meditated whatsoever it be for though it be lawful to determine the Text which thou art to expound yet not at all the interpretation lest if thou so dost thou take from the Holy Spirit that which is his to wit to direct thy speech that thou mayst Prophecy in the Name of the Lord denuded of all Learning Meditation and Experience and as if thou hadst studied nothing at all committing thy heart thy tongue and thy self wholly unto his Spirit and trusting nothing to thy former studying or meditation but saying with thy self in great confidence of the Divine Promise the Lord will give a word with much power unto those that preach the Gospel But above all things be careful thou follow not the manner of Hypocrites who have written almost word by word what they are to say as if they were to repeat some Verses upon a Theatre having learned all their Preaching as they do that act Tragedies and afterwards when they are in the place of Prophecying pray the Lord to direct their tongue but in the mean time shutting up the way of the Holy Spirit they determine to say nothing but what they have written O unhappy kind of Prophets yea and truly cursed which depend not upon God's Spirit but upon their own Writings or meditation Why pray'st thou to the Lord thou false Prophet to give thee his holy Spirit by which thou mayst speak things profitable and yet thou repellest the Spirit why preferrest thou thy meditation or study to the Spirit of God otherwise why committest thou not thy self to the Spirit § XIX Secondly this manner of preaching as used by them considering that they also affirm that it may be and often is performed by men who are wicked or void of true Grace cannot only not edifie the Church beget or nourish true Faith but is destructive to it being directly contrary to the Nature of the Christian and Apostolick Ministry mentioned in the Scriptures For the Apostle preached the Gospel not in the wisdom of words lest the Cross of Christ should be of none effect 1 Cor. 1.17 But this preaching not being done by the actings and movings of God's Spirit but by man's invention and eloquence in his own will and through his natural and acquired parts and learning is in the wisdom of words and therefore the Cross of Christ is thereby made of none effect The Apostles speech and preaching was not with inticing words of man's wisdom but in demonstration of the Spirit and of Power That the Faith of their Hearers should not stand in the Wisdom of men but in the Power of God 1 Cor. 2 3 4 5. But this preaching having nothing of the Spirit and Power in it both the Preachers and Hearers confessing they wait for no such thing nor yet are often-times sensible of it must needs stand in the enticing words of man's wisdom since it is by the meer wisdom of man it is sought after and the meer strength of man's eloquence and enticing words it is uttered and therefore no wonder if the Faith of such as hear and depend upon such Preachers and Preachings stand in the wisdom of men and not in the Power of God The Apostles declared that they spake not in the words which man's wisdom teacheth but which the Holy Ghost teacheth 1 Cor. 2.13 But these Preachers confess that they are strangets to the Holy Ghost his motions and operations neither do they wait to feel them and therefore they speak in the words which their own natural wisdom and learning teacheth them mixing them in and adding them to such words as they steal of the Scripture and other Books and therefore speak not what the Holy Ghost teacheth Thirdly this is contrary to the method and order of the primitive Church mentioned by the Apostle 1 Cor. 14.30 c. where in Preaching every one is to wait for his Revelation and to give place one unto another according as things are revealed But here there is no waiting for a revelation but the Preacher must speak and not that which is revealed unto him but what he hath prepared and premeditated before hand Lastly by this kind of preaching the Spirit of God which should be the chief instructor and teacher of God's people and whose influence is that only which makes all preaching effectual and beneficial for the edifying of Souls is shut out and man's natural wisdom learning and parts set up and exalted which no doubt is a great and chief reason why the preaching among the generality of Christians is so unfruitful and unsuccessful yea according to this Doctrine the Devil may preach and ought to be heard also seeing he both knoweth the Truth and hath as much eloquence as any But what avails excellency of speech if the demonstration and Power of the Spirit be wanting which toucheth the Conscience We see that when the Devil confessed to the Truth yet Christ would have none of his testimony And as these pregnant testimonies of the Scripture do prove this part of preaching to be contrary to the Doctrin of Christ so do they also prove that of ours before affirmed to be conform thereunto § XX. But if any object after this manner Have not many been benefited yea and both converted and edified by the Ministry of such as have premiditated their preachings yea and hath not the Spirit often concurred by its divine influence with preaching thus premeditated so as they have been powerfully born in upon the Souls of the hearers to their advantage I answer though that be granted which I shall not deny it will not infer that the thing was good in it self more than because Paul was met with by Christ to the converting of his Soul riding to Damascus to persecute the Saints that he did well in so doing neither particular actions nor yet whole congregations as we above observed are to be measured by the acts of God's condescension in times of ignorance But besides it hath often times faln out that God having a regard to the simplicity and integrity either of the preacher or hearers hath faln in upon the heart of a Preacher by his power and holy influence and thereby hath led them to speak things which were not in his premeditated discourse and which perhaps he never thought of before and those passing ejaculations and unpremeditated but living exhortations have proved more beneficial and refreshful both to preacher and hearers than all their premeditated Sermons But all that will not allow them to continue in these things which in themselves are not approved but contrary to the practice of the Apostles when God is raising up a people to serve him according to the primitive purity and spirituality yea such acts of God's condescension in times of darkness and ignorance should ingage all more and more to follow him according as he reveals his most perfect and spiritual way § XXI Having hitherto spoken of Preaching
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
life eternal with it therefore I have affirmed and that truely that this knowledg is no otherways attained and that none have any true ground to believe they have attained it who have it not by this revelation of Gods Spirit The certainty of which truth is such that it hath been acknowledged by some of the most refined and famous of all sorts of Professors of Christianity in all ages who being truly upright-hearted and earnest seekers of the Lord however stated under the disadvantages and epidemical errors of their several sects or ages the true seed in them hath been answered by Gods love who hath had regard to the Good and hath had of his elect ones among all who finding a distast and disgust in all other outward means even in the very principles and precepts more particullary relative to their own forms and societies have at last concluded with one voice that there was no true knowledg of God but that which is revealed inwardly by his own Spirit whereof take these following testimonies of the Ancients 1. It is the inward Master saith Augustin that teacheth it is Christ that teacheth it is inspiration that teacheth where this inspiration and unction is wanting it is in vain that words from without are beaten in And therefore for he that created us and redeemed us and called us by faith and dwelleth in us by his Spirit unless he speaketh unto you inwardly it is needless for us to cry out 2. There is a difference faith Clemens Alexandrinus betwixt that which any one saith of the Truth and that which the Truth it self interpreting it self saith A conjecture of Truth differeth from the Truth it self a similitude of a thing differeth from the thing it self it is one thing that is acquired by exercise and discipline and another thing which by power and faith Lastly the same Clemens saith Truth is neither hard to be arrived at nor is it impossible to apprehend it for it is most nigh unto us even in our houses as the most wise Moses hath insinuated 3. How is it saith Tertullian that since the Devil always worketh and stirreth up the mind to iniquity that the work of God should either cease or desist to act Since for this end the Lord did send the Comforter that because human weakness could not at once bear all things knowledg might be by little and little directed formed and brought to perfection by the holy Spirit that Vicar of the Lord. I have many things yet saith he to speak unto you but ye can not as vet bear them but when that Spirit of Truth shall come he shall lead you into all Truth and shall teach you these things that are to come But of his works we have spoken above What is then the administration of the Comforter but that discipline be derived and the Scriptures revealed c. 4. The Law saith Hierom is spiritual and there is need of a revelation to understand it And in his epistle 150 to Hedibia question 11. he saith the whole epistle to the Romans needs an interpretation it being involved in so great obscuritys that for the understanding thereof we need the help of the Holy Spirit who through the Apostle dictated it 5. So great things saith Athanasius doth our Saviour daily he draws unto piety perswades unto vertue teaches immortality excites to the desire of heavenly things reveals knowledg from the Father inspires power against death and shews himself unto every one 6. Gregory the Great upon these words he shall teach you all things saith that unless the same Spirit sit upon the heart of the hearer in vain is the discourse of the doctor let no man then ascribe unto the man that teacheth what he understands from the mouth of him that speaketh for unless he that teacheth be within the tongue of the Doctor that 's without laboureth in vain 7. Cyrillas Alexandrinus plainly affirmeth that men know that Jesus is the Lord by the Holy Ghost no otherwise than they who tast honey know that it is sweet even by its proper quality 8. Therefore saith Bernard we daily exhort you Brethren by speech that ye walk the ways of the heart and that your Souls be always in your hands that he may hear what the Lord saith in you And again upon these words of the Apostle Let him that glorieth glory in the Lord with which threefold vice saith he all sorts of religious men are less or more dangerously affected because they do not so diligently attend with the ears of the heart to what the Spirit of Truth which flatters none inwardly speaks This was the very basis and main foundation upon which the primitive Reformers walked Luther in his book to the Nobility of Germany saith This is certain that no man can make himself a Doctor of the holy Scripture but the holy Spirit alone And upon the Magnificat he saith No man can rightly understand God or the Word of God unless he immediately receive it from the Holy Spirit neither can any one receive it from the Holy Spirit except he find it by experience in himself and in this experience the Holy Ghost teacheth as in his proper school out of which school nothing is taught but meer talk Philip Melanchton in his Annotations upon the 6. of John Who hear only an outward and bodily voice hear the creature but God is a Spirit and is neither discerned nor known nor heard but by the Spirit and therefore to hear the voice of God to see God is to know and hear the Spirit by the Spirit alone God is known and perceived Which also the more serious to this day do acknowledg even all such who satisfie themselves not with the superfice of Religion and use it not as a cover or art Yea all these who apply themselves effectually to Christianity and are not satisfied until they have found its effectual work upon their hearts redeeming them from Sin do feel that no knowledge effectually prevails to the producing of this but that which proceeds from the warm influence of God's Spirit upon the heart and from the comfortable shinings of his Light upon their understanding and therefore to this purpose a late modern Author saith well videlicer Doctor Smith of Cambridge in his select discourses To seek our Divinity meerly in Books and Writings is to seek the living among the dead we do but in vain many times seek God in these where his Truth is too often not so much enshrined as entombed Intra te quaere Deum seek God within thine own Soul he is best discerned 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Plotinus phraseth it by an intellectual touch of him We must see with our eyes and hear with our ears and our hands must handle the Word of Life to express it in St. John 's words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. The Soul it self hath its sense as well as the Body And therefore David
but inward and immediate revelation as we have before proved Their example can be no ways applicable to us except we believe in God as they did that is by the same object The Apostle clears this yet further by his own example Gal. 1.16 where he saith so soon as Christ was revealed in him he consulted not with flesh and blood but forthwith believed and obeyed The same Apostle Heb. 13.7 8. where he exhorteth the Hebrews to follow the faith of the Elders adds this reason considering the end of their conversation Jesus Christ the same to day yesterday and for ever hereby notably insinuating that in the object there is no alteration If any now object the diversity of Administration I answer that altereth not at all the object for the same Apostle mentioned this diversity three times 1 Cor. 12.4 5 6. centreth always in the same Object the same Spirit the same Lord the same God But further if the object of Faith were not one and the same both to us and to them then it would follow that we were to know God some other way than by the Spirit But this were absurd Therefore c. Lastly this is most firmly proved from a common and received maxim of the School-men to wit Omnis actus specificatur ab objecto every act is specified from its object from which if it be true as they acknowledg tho for the sake of many I shall not recur to this argument as being too nice and Scholastick Neither lay I much stress upon those kind of things as being that which commends not the simplicity of the Gospel If the object were different then the faith would be different also Such as deny this Proposition now adays use here a distinction granting that God is to be known by his Spirit but again denying that it is immediate or inward but in and by the Scriptures in which the mind of the Spirit as they say being fully and amply expressed we are thereby to know God and be led in all things As to the negative of this assertion that the Scriptures are not sufficient neither were ever appointed to be the adequate and only rule nor yet can guide or direct a Christian in all those things that are needful for him to know we shall leave that to the next Proposition to be examined What is proper in this place to be proved is that Christians now are to be led inwardly and immediatly by the Spirit of God even in the same manner though it befal not to many to be led in the same measure as the Saints were of old § X. I shall prove this by divers Arguments and first from the Promise of Christ in these words Joh. 14.16 And I will pray the Father and he will give you another Comforter that he may abide with you for ever 17. Even the Spirit of Truth whom the World cannot receive because it seeth him not neither knoweth him but ye know him for he dwelleth with you and shall be in you Again ver 26. But the Comforter which is the Holy Ghost whom the Father will send in my Name he shall teach you all things and bring all things to your remembrance and 16.13 But when that Spirit of Truth shall come he shall lead you into all Truth for he shall not speak of himself but whatsoever he shall hear he shall speak and shall declare unto you things to come We have here first who this is and that is divers wayes expressed to wit The Comforter the Spirit of Truth the Holy Ghost and sent of the Father in the Name of Christ. And hereby is sufficiently proved the fottishness of those Socinians and other carnal Christians who neither know nor acknowledge any internal Spirit or Power but that which is meerly Natural by which they sufficiently declare themselves to be of the World who cannot receive the Spirit because they neither see him nor know him Secondly Where this Spirit is to be He dwelleth with you and shall be in you And Thirdly What his Work is He shall teach you all things and bring all things to your remembrance and guide you into all Truth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 As to the First Most do acknowledge that there is nothing else understood than what the plain words signifie which is also evident by many other places of Scripture that will hereafter occur Neither do I see how such as affirm otherwayes can avoid Blasphemy For If the Comforter the Holy Ghost and Spirit of Truth be all one with the Scriptures then it will follow that the Scriptures is God seeing it is true that the Holy Ghost is God If these Mens reasoning might take place where ever the Spirit is mentioned in relation to the Saints thereby might be truly and properly understood the Scriptures Which what a non-sensical Monster it would make of the Christian Religion will easily appear to all Men. As where it is said A Manifestation of the Spirit is given to every man to profit withal it might be rendred thus A manifestation of the Scriptures is given to every man to profit withal What notable sense this would make and what a curious interpretation let us consider by the sequel of the same chapter 1 Cor. 12.9 10 11. To another the gifts of Healing by the same Spirit to another the working of Miracles c. But all these worketh that one and the self same Spirit dividing to every man severally as he will What would now these great masters of Reason the Socinians judge if we should place the Scriptures here instead of the Spirit Would it answer their Reason which is the great guide of their Faith Would it be good and sound Reason in their Logical Schools to affirm that the Scriptures divideth severally as it will and giveth to some the gift of Healing to others the working of Miracles If then this Spirit a manifestation whereof is given to every man to profit withal be no other than that Spirit of Truth before-mentioned which guideth into all Truth this Spirit of Truth cannot be the Scriptures I could infer an hundred more absurdities of this kind upon this sottish Opinion but what is said may suffice For even some of themselves being at times forgetful or ashamed of their own Doctrine do acknowledge that the Spirit of God is another thing and distinct from the Scriptures to guide and influence the Saints Secondly That this Spirit is inward in my opinion needs no interpretation nor commentary He dwelleth with you and shall be in you This indwelling of the Spirit in the Saints as it is a thing most needful to be known and believed so is it as positively asserted in the Scripture as any thing else can be If so be the Spirit of God dwell in you saith the Apostle to the Romans 8.9 and again Know ye not that ye are the Temple of the Holy Ghost and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you 1 Cor. 6.19 Without this the
Apostle reckoneth no man a Christian. If any man saith he have not the Spirit of Christ he is none of his These words immediately follow those above-mentioned out of the Epistle to the Romans but ye are not in the Flesh if so be the Spirit of God dwell in you The context of which sheweth that the Apostle reckoneth it the main token of a Christian both positively and negatively For in the former verses he sheweth how the carnal mind is enmity against God and that such as are in the Flesh cannot please him Where subsuming he adds concerning the Romans that they are not in the Flesh if the Spirit of God dwell in them What is this but to affirm that they in whom the Spirit dwells are no longer in the Flesh nor of those who please not God but are become Christians indeed Again In the next verse he concludes negatively that if any man have not the Spirit of Christ he is none of his that is he is no Christian. He then that acknowledges himself ignorant and a stranger to the inward in being of the Spirit of Christ in his Heart doth thereby acknowledge himself to be yet in the carnal mind which is enmity to God to be yet in the Flesh where God cannot be pleased and in short whatever he may otherwayes know or believe of Christ or however much skilled or acquainted with the Letter of the Holy Scripture not yet to be notwithstanding all that attained to the least desire of a Christian yea not once to have embraced the Christian Religion For take but away the Spirit and Christianity remains no more Christianity than the dead Carcass of a Man when the Soul and Spirit is departed remains a man which the living can no more abide but to bury out of their sight as a noisome and useless thing however acceptable it hath been when actuated and moved by the Soul Lastly Whatsoever is Excellent whatsoever is Noble whatsoever is Worthy whatsoever is Desireable in the Christian Faith is ascribed to this Spirit without which it could no more subsist than the outward World without the Sun Hereunto have all true Christians in all Ages attributed their Strength and Life It is by this Spirit that they avouch themselves to have been converted to God to have been redeemed from the World to have been strengthened in their Weakness comforted in their Afflictions confirmed in their Temptations imboldened in their Suffering and triumphed in the midst of all their Persecutions Yea The Writings of all true Christians are full of the great and notable things which they all affirm themselves to have done by the Power and Vertue and Efficacy of the Spirit of God working in them It is the Spirit that quickeneth Joh. 6.63 It was the Spirit that gave them utterance Act. c. 2.4 It was the Spirit by which Stephen spake That the Jews were not able to resist Acts 6.10 It is such as walk after the Spirit that receive no condemnation Rom. 8.1 It is the Law of the Spirit that makes free ver 2. It is by the Spirit of God dwelling in us that we are redeemed from the Flesh and from the carnal mind v. 9. It is the Spirit of Christ dwelling in us that quickneth our mortal Bodies v. 11. It is through this Spirit that the deeds of the Body are mortified and Life obtained ver 13. It is by this Spirit that we are adopted and cry ABBA Father v. 15. It is this Spirit that beareth witness with our Spirit that we are the Children of God v. 16. It is this Spirit that helpeth our infirmities and maketh intercession for us with grâ—anings which cannot be uttered 26. It is by this Spirit that the glorious things which God hath laid up for us which neither outward Ear hath heard nor outward Eye hath seen nor the Heart of Man conceived by all his Reasonings are revealed unto us 1 Cor. 2.9 10. It is by this Spirit that both Wisdom and Knowledg and Faith and Miracles and Tongues and Prophesies are obtained 1 Cor. 12.8 9 10. It is by this Spirit that we are all baptized into one Body v. 13. In short what things relating to the Salvation of the Soul and to the Life of a Christian is rightly performed or effectually obtained without it And what shall I more say For the time would fail me to tell of all those things which the Holy Men of Old have declared and the Saints of this day do witness themselves to enjoy by the vertue and power of this Spiritual dwelling in them Truely my Paper could not contain those many Testimonies whereby this Truth is confirmed wherefore besides what is above mentioned out of the Fathers whom all pretend to reverence and these of Luther and Melancthon I shall deduce yet one observable Testimony out of Calvin because not a few of the followers of his Doctrine do refuse and deride and that as it is to be feared because of their own Non-experience thereof this way of the Spirit 's in-dwelling as uncertain and dangerous that so if neither the Testimony of the Scripture nor the sayings of others nor right reason can move them they may at least be reproved by the words of their own Master who saith in the third book of his Institutions cap. 2. on this wise But they alledg it is a bold presumption for any one to pretend to an undoubted knowledg of God's will which saith he I should grant unto them if we should ascribe so much to our selves as to subject the incomprehensible counsel of God to the rashness of our understandings But while we simply say with Paul that we have received not the Spirit of this World but the Spirit which is of God by whose teaching we know those things that are given us of God What can they prate against it without reproaching the Spirit of God For if it be a horrible Sacriledg to accuse any Revelation coming from him either of a lye of uncertainty or ambiguity in asserting its certainty wherein we do offend But they cry out that it is not without great temerity that we dare so boast of the Spirit of Christ. Who would believe that the sottishness of these men were so great who would be esteemed the masters of the world that they should so fail in the first Principles of Religion Verily I could not believe it if their own writings did not testify so much Paul accounts those the Sons of God who are acted by the Spirit of God but these will have the Children of God acted by their own Spirits without the Spirit of God He will have us call God Father the Spirit dictating that term unto us which only can witness to our Spirits that we are the Sons of God These tho they cease not to call upon God do nevertheless demit the Spirit by whose guiding he is rightly to be called upon He denies them to be the Sons of God or the Servants of Christ who are
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
unmoveable foundation of all Christian faith which argument when well weighed I hope will have weight with all sorts of Christians and it is this That which all Professors of Christianity of whatsoever kind are forced ultimately to recur unto when pressed to the last That for and because of which all other foundations are recommended and accounted worthy to be believed and without which they are granted to be of no weight at all must needs be the only most true certain and unmovable foundation of all Christian Faith But inward immediate objective revelation by the Spirit is that which all Professors of Christianity of whatsoever kind are forced ultimately to recur unto c. Therefore c. The Proposition is so evident that it will not be denyed The assumption shall be proved by parts And first as to Papists they place their foundation in the judgment of the Church and Tradition If we press them to say why they believe as the Church doth Their answer is because the Church is always led by the infallible Spirit So here the leading of the Spirit is the utmost foundation Again If we ask them why we ought to trust Tradition They answer Because these Traditions were delivered us by the Doctors and Fathers of the Church which Doctors and Fathers by the Revelation of the Holy Ghost commended the Church to observe them Here again all ends in the Revelation of the Spirit And for the Protestants and Socinians both which acknowledg the Scriptures to be the foundation and rule of their Faith the one is subjectively influenced by the Spirit of God to use them the other as manageing them with and by their own Reason Ask both or either of them why they trust in the Scriptures and take them to be their Rule Their answer is Because we have in them the mind of God delivered unto us by those to whom these things were inwardly immediately and objectively revealed by the Spirit of God And not because this or that man wrote them but because the Spirit of God dictated them It is strange then that men should render that so uncertain and dangerous to follow upon which alone the certain ground and foundation of their own faith is Built Or that they should shut themselves out from that Holy Fellowship with God which only is enjoyed in the Spirit in which we are commanded both to walk and live If any reading these things find themselves moved by the strength of these Scripture arguments to assent and believe such Revelations necessary and yet find themselves strangers to them which as I observed in the beginning is the cause that this is so much gain-said and contradicted Let them know that it is not because it is ceased to become the priviledge of every Christian that they do not feel it but rather because they are not so much Christians by Nature as by Name and let such know that the secret Light which shines in the heart and reproves unrighteousness is the small beginnings of the Revelation of God's Spirit which was first sent into the world to reprove it of Sin John 16.8 And as by forsaking Iniquity thou com'st to be acquainted with that Heavenly voice in thy heart thou shalt feel as the Old man the Natural man that savoureth not the things of God's Kingdom is put off with his evil and corrupt affections and Lusts I say thou shalt feel the New Man the Spiritual birth and Babe raised which hath its Spiritual Sences and can see feel taste handle and smell the things of the Spirit but till then the knowledg of things Spiritual is but as an historical Faith but as the description of the Light of the Sun or of curious Colours to a blind man who though of the largest capacity cannot so well understand it by the most acute and lively description as a child can by seeing them So neither can the natural man of the large capacity by the best words even Scripture words so well understand the Mysteries of God's Kingdom as the least and weakest child who tasteth them by having them revealed inward and objectively by the Spirit Wait then for this in the small Revelation of that pure Light which first reveals things more known and as thou becom'st fitted for it thou shalt receive more and more and by a living experience easily refute their Ignorance who ask how dost thou know that thou art acted by the Spirit of God which will appear to thee a question no less ridiculous then to ask one whose eyes are open how he knows the Sun shines at Noon-day and though this be the surest and certainest way to answer all objections yet by what is above written it may appear that the mouths of all such opposers as deny this Doctrine may be shut by unquestionable and unanswerable reasons The Third Proposition Concerning the Scriptures From these Revelations of the Spirit of God to the Saints have proceeded the Scriptures of Truth which contain I. A faithful historical account of the actings of Gods People in divers ages with many singular and remarkable Providences attending them II. A Prophetical account of several things whereof some are already past and some yet to come III. A full and ample account of all the chief Principles of the Doctrine of Christ held forth in divers precious Declarations Exhortotions and Sentences which by the moving of God's Spirit were at several times and upon sundry occasions spoken and written unto some Churches and their Pastors Nevertheless because they are only a Declaration of the Fountain and not the Fountain it self therefore they are not to be esteemed the principal ground of all Truth and Knowledg nor yet the adequate primary Rule of Faith and manners Yet because they give a true and faithful Testimony of the first Foundation they are and may be esteemed a secondary rule subordinate to the Spirit from which they have all their excellency and certainty for as by the inward Testimony of the Spirit we do alone truly know them so they testifie that the Spirit is that Guide by which the Saints are led into all Truth therefore according to the Scriptures the Spirit is the First and Principal Leader Seeing then that we do therefore receive and believe the Scriptures because they proceeded from the Spirit for the very same reason is the Spirit more Originally and Principally the Rule according to that received Maxime in the Schools Propter quod unumquodque est tale iliud ipsum est magis tale That for which a thing is such the thing it self is more such § I. THe former part of this Proposition though it needs no Apology for it yet it is a good Apology for us and will help to sweep away that among many other Calumnys wherewith we are often loaded as if we were vilifiers and deniers of the Scriptures for in that which we affirm of them it doth appear at what high rate we value them accounting them without all
can draw near to the Lord with boldness and know their acceptance in and by him in whom and in as many as are found in him the Father is well-pleased The Eighth Proposition Concerning Perfection In whom this Pure and Holy Birth is fully brought forth the Body of Death and Sin comes to be Crucified and removed and their hearts united and subjected to the Truth so as not to obey any Suggestions or Temptations of the Evil One 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 and there remaineth always in some part a possibility of sinning where the mind doth not most diligently and watchfully attend unto the Lord. § I. SInce we have placed Justification in the Revelation of Jesus Christ formed and brought forth in the Heart there working his works of Righteousness and bringing forth the Fruits of the Spirit The question is how far he may prevail in us while we are in this Life or we over our Souls Enemies in and by his strength Those that plead for Justification wholly without them meerly by imputative Righteousness denying the necessity of being cloathed with real and inward Righteousness do consequently affirm that it is impossible for a man even the best of men to be free of sin in this life which they say no man ever was but on the contrary that none can neither of himself nor by any Grace received in this life O! wicked saying against the power of God's Grace Keep the Commandments of God perfectly but that every man doth break the Commandments in Thought Word and Deed. Whence they also affirm as was a little before observed That the very best actions of the Saints their Prayers their Worships are impure and polluted We on the contrary though we freely acknowledg this of the Natural Faln man in his first state whatever his profession or pretence may be so long as he is unconverted and unregenerate yet we do believe that those in whom Christ comes to be formed and the new man brought forth and born of the incorruptible Seed as that birth and man in union therewith naturally doth the will of God so it is possible so far to keep to it as 〈◊〉 to be found daily Transgressors of the Law of God And for 〈…〉 stating of the controversie let it be considered 〈…〉 that we place not this possibility in man 's own will and 〈…〉 is a man the Son of faln Adam or as he is in his natural state however wise or knowing or however much endued with a notional and literal knowledg of Christ thereby endeavouring a conformity to the letter of the Law as it is outward Secondly that we attribute it wholly to man as he is born again renewed in his mind raised by Christ knowing Christ alive reigning and ruling in him and guiding and leading him by his Spirit and revealing in him the Law of the Spirit of Life which not only manifests and reproves sin but also gives power to come out of it Thirdly that by this we understand not such a perfection as may not daily admit of a growth and consequently mean not as if we were to be as Pure Holy and Perfect as God in his Divine Attributes of Wisdom Knowledg and Purity but only a perfection proportionable and answerable to man's measure whereby we are kept from transgressing the Law of God and enabled to answer what he requires of us even as he that improved his Two Talents so as to make Four of them perfected his work and was so accepted of his Lord as to be caled a good and faithful Servant nothing less than he that made his Five Ten. Even as a little Gold is perfect gold in its kind as well as a great mass and a Child hath a perfect body as well as a man though it daily grow more and more Thus Christ is said Luke 2.52 to have increased in Wisdom and Stature and in favour with God and man though before that time he had never sinned and was no doubt perfect in a true and proper sense Fourthly though a man may witness this for a season and therefore all ought to press after it yet we do not affirm but those that have attained it in a measure may by the wiles and temptations of the Enemy fall into iniquity and lose it sometimes if he be not watchful and diligently attend not to that of God in the heart And we doubt not but many good and holy men who hath not arrived to everlasting life have had divers ebbings and flowings of this kind for though every sin weaken a man in his Spiritual condition yet it doth not so as to destroy him altogether or render him uncapable of rising again Lastly though I affirm that after a man hath arrived to such a condition in which a man may not sin he yet may sin I will nevertheless not deny but there may be a state attainable in this life in which to do Righteousness may become so natural to the Regenerate Soul that in the stability of this condition they cannot sin Others may perhaps speak more certainly of this state as having arrived to it For me I shall speak modestly as acknoâ—ledging my self not to have arrived at it yet I dare not deny it for that it seems so positively to be asserted by the Apostle in these words 1 John 3.9 He that is born of God sinneth not neither can he because the Seed of God remaineth in him The Controversie being thus stated which will serve to obviate objections I shall proceed first to shew the absurdity of that Doctrine that pleads for sin for term of life even in the Saints Secondly prove this Doctrine of perfection from many pregnant Testimonies of the Holy Scripture And lastly answer the arguments and objections of our opposers § III. First then this Doctrin viz. that the Saints nor can nor ever will be free of sinning in this life is inconsistent with the Wisdom of God and with his glorious Power and Majesty Who is of purer Eyes than to behold Iniquity who having purposed in himself together to him that should worship him and be witnesses for him on earth a chosen people doth also no doubt sanctifie and purifie them For God hath no delight in iniquity but abhors transgression and though he regard man in transgression so far as to pitty him and afford him means to come out of it yet he loves him not neither delights in him as he is joyned thereunto Wherefore if man must alwaies be joyned to sin then God should alwaies be at a distance with them as it is written Isa. 59.2 Your iniquities have separated between you and your God and your sins have hid his Face from you whereas on the contrary the Saints are said to partake even while here of the Divine Nature 2 Pet. 1.4 and to be one spirit with the Lord 1 Cor.
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
suffering God by his Spirit both to prepare peoples hearts and also give the preacher what may be fit and seasonable for them But he hath hammered together in his closet according to his own will by his humane wisdom and illeterature and by stealing the words of Truth from the letter of the Scriptures and patching together other mens Writings and Observations so much as will hold him speaking an hour while the Glass runs and without waiting or feelling the inward influence of the Spirit of God he declaims that by hap-hazard whether it be fit or seasonable for the peoples condition or no and when he has ended his Sermon he saith his Prayer also in his own will and so there is an end of the business Which customary worship as it is no waies acceptable to God so how unfruitful it is and unprofitable to those that are found in it the present condition of the Nations doth sufficiently declare It appears then that we are not against set times for worship as Arnoldus against this Proposition Sect. 45. No less impertinently alledgeth offering needlesly to prove that which is not denyed only these times being appointed for outward conveniency we may not therefore think with the Papists that these daies are holy and lead people into a superstitious observation of them being perswaded that all daies are alike holy in the sight of God And albeit it be not my present purpose to make a long digression concerning the debates among Protestants concerning the first day of the week commonly called the Lords day yet for as much as it comes fitly in here I shall briefly signifie our sense thereof § IV. We not seeing any ground in Scripture for it cannot be so superstitious as to believe that either the Jewish Sabbath now continues or that the first day of the week is the anti-tipe thereof or the true Christian Sabbath which with Calvin we believe to have a more Spiritual sense and therefore we know no moral obligation by the fourth command or elsewhere to keep the first day of the week more as any other or any holiness inherent in it But first for as much as it is most necessary that there be some time set apart for the Saints to meet together to wait upon God And that secondly it is fit at some times they be freed from their other outward affairs And that thirdly Reason and Equity doth allow that Servants and Beasts have some time allowed them to be eased from their continual labour And that fourthly it appears that the Apostles and primitive Christians did use the first day of the week for these purposes We find our selves sufficiently moved for these to do so also without superstitiously straining the Scriptures for another reason which that it is not to be there found many Protestants yea Calvin himself upon the fourth command hath abundantly evinced And though we therefore meet and abstain from working upon this day yet doth not that hinder us from having meetings also for worship at other times § V. Thirdly though according to the knowledg of God revealed unto us by the Spirit through that more full dispensation of Light which we believe the Lord hath brought about in this day we judg it our duty to hold forth that Pure and Spiritual Worship which is acceptable to God and answerable to the testimony of Christ and his Apostles and likewise to testifie against and deny not only manifest Superstition and Idolatry but also all formal Will-worship which stands not in the power of God yet I say we do not deny the whole Worship of all those that have born the name of Christians even in the Apostacy as if God had never heard their prayers nor accepted any of them God forbid we should be so void of Charity The latter part of the Proposition sheweth the contrary and as we would not be so absurd on the one hand to conclude because of the errors and darkness that many were covered and surrounded with in Babylon that none of their prayers were heard or accepted of God so will we not be so unwary on the other as to conclude that because God heard and pitied them so we ought to continue in these errors and darkness and not come out of Babylon when it is by God discovered unto us The Popish Mass and Vespers I do believe to be as to the matter of them abominable Idolatry and Superstition and so also believe the Protestants yet will either I or they affirm that in the darkness of Popery no upright-hearted men tho zealous in these abominations have been heard of God or accepted of him Who can deny but that both Bernard and Bonaventur Thaulerus Thomas a Kempis and divers others have both known and tasted of the love of God and felt the Power and Vertue of God's Spirit working with them for their Salvation And yet ought we not to forsake and deny those Superstitions which they were found in the Calvinistical Presbyterians do much upbraid and I say not without reason the formality and deadness of the Episcopalian and Lutheran Liturgies and yet as they will not deny but there have been some good men among them so neither dare they refuse but that when that good step was brought in by them of turning the publick Prayers into the vulgar Tongues tho continued in a Liturgy it was acceptable to God and sometimes accompanied with his Power and Presence yet will not the Presbyterians have it from thence concluded that the Common Prayers should still continue so likewise tho we should confess that through the mercy and wonderful condescension of God there have been upright in heart both among Papists and Protestants yet can we not therefore approve of their way in the general or not go on to the upholding of that Spiritual Worship which the Lord is calling all to and so to the testifying against whatsoever stands in the way of it § VI. Fourthly to come then to the state of the Controversie as to the publick Worship we judg it the duty of all to be diligent in the assembling of themselves together and what we have been and are in this matter our enemies in Great Britain who have used all means to hinder our assembling together to Worship God may bear witness and when assembled the great work of one and all ought to be to wait upon God and returning out of their own thoughts and imaginations to feel the Lord's presence and know a gathering into his Name indeed where he is in the midst according to his promise And as every one is thus gathered and so met together inwardly in their Spirits as well as outwardly in their Persons there the secret Power and Vertue of Life is known to refresh the Soul and the pure motions and breathings of God's Spirit are felt to arise from which as words of Declaration Prayers or Praises arise the acceptable Worship is known which edifies the Church and is well-pleasing to God
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
by him so may many through negligence miss to hear God often-times calling upon them and giving them access to pray unto him yet will not that allow them without this liberty in their own wills to fall to work And lastly though this be the only true and proper method of Prayer as that which is alone acceptable to God yet shall we not deny but he often-times answered the Prayers and concurred with the desires of some especially in times of darkness who have greatly erred herein so that some that have sit down in formal Prayers tho far wrong in the matter as well as manner without the assistance or influence of God's Spirit yet have found him to take occasion therethrough to break in upon their Souls and wonderfully tender and refresh them yet as in preaching and elsewhere hath afore been observed that will not prove any such practices or be a just let to hinder any from coming to practice that pure Spiritual and acceptable Prayer which God is again restoring and leading his people into out of all superstitious and meer empty formalities The state of the controversie and our sense thereof being thus clearly stated will both obviate many objections and make the answer to others more brief and easie I shall first prove this Spiritual Prayer by some short considerations from Scripture and then answer the Objections of our Opposers which will also serve to refute their method and manner thereof § XXII And first that there is a necessity of this inward retirement of the mind as previous to prayer that the Spirit may be felt to draw thereunto appears for that in most of those places where Prayer is commanded watching is prefixed thereunto as necessary to go before as Matth. 24.42 Mark 13.33.14.38 Luke 21.36 from which it is evident that this watching was to go before prayer Now to what end is this watching or what is it but a waiting to feel God's Spirit to draw unto prayer that so it may be done acceptably For since we are to pray alwaies in the Spirit and cannot pray of our selves without it acceptably this watching must be for this end recommended to us as preceeding prayer that we may watch and wait for the seasonable time to pray which is when the Spirit moves thereunto Secondly this necessity of the Spirit moving and concurrence appears abundantly from that of the Apostle Paul Rom. 8.26.27 Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities for we know not what we should pray for as we ought but the Spirit it self maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered And he that searcheth the hearts knoweth what is the mind of the Spirit because he maketh intercession for the Saints according to the will of God Which first holds forth the incapacity of men as of themselves to pray or call upon God in their own wills even such as have received the faith of Christ and are in measure sanctified by it as was the Church of Rome to whom the Apostle then wrote Secondly It holds forth that which can only help and assist men to pray to wit the Spirit as that without which they cannot do it acceptably to God nor beneficially to their own Souls Thirdly The manner and way of the Spirits intercession with sighs and groans which are unutterable And Fourthly That God receiveth graciously the prayers of such as are presented and offered unto himself by the Spirit knowing it to be according to his will Now it cannot be conceived but this order of prayer thus asserted by the Apostle is most consistent with those other testimonies of scripture commending and recommending to us the use of prayer From which I thus argue If man know not how to pray neither can do it without the help of the Spirit then it is to no purpose for him but altogether unprofitable to pray without it But the first is true Therefore also the last Thirdly This necessity of the Spirit to true Prayer appears from Eph. 6.18 and Jude 20. where the Apostle commands to pray alwaies in the Spirit and watching thereunto which is as much as if he had said that we were never to pray without the Spirit or watching thereunto And Jude sheweth us that such prayers as are in the Holy Ghost only tend to the building up of our selves in our most holy faith Fourthly The Apostle Paul saith expresly 1 Cor. 12.3 that no man can say that Jesus is the Lord but by the Holy Ghost If then Jesus cannot be thus rightly named but by the Holy Ghost far less can he be acceptably called upon Hence the same Apostle declares 1 Cor. 14.15 that he will pray with the Spirit c. A clear evidence that it was none of his method to pray without it But Fifthly all prayer without the spirit is abomination such as are the prayers of the wicked Prov. 28.9 and the confidence that the Saints have that God will hear them is if they ask any thing according to his will 1 Joh. 5.14 So if the prayer be not according to his will there is no ground of confidence that he will hear Now our adversaries will acknowledg that prayers without the spirit are not according to the will of God and therefore such as pray without it have no ground to expect an answer for indeed to bid a man pray without the spirit is all one as to bid one see without eyes work without hands or go without feet And to desire a man to fall to prayer ere the spirit in some measure less or more move him thereunto is to desire a man to see before he open his eyes or to walk before he rise up or to work with his hands before he move them § XXIII But lastly from this false opinion of praying without the Spirit and not judging it necessary to be waited for as that which may be felt to move us thereunto hath proceeded all the superstition and idolatry that is among those called Christians and those many abominations wherewith the Lord is provoked and his Spirit grieved so that many deceive themselves now as the Jews did of old thinking it sufficient if they pay their daily Sacrifices and offer their customary Oblations from thence thinking all is well and creating a false peace to themselves as the Whore in the Proverbs because they have offered up their Sacrifices of Morning and Evening Prayers And therefore it 's manifest that their constant use of things doth not a whit influence their lives and conversations but they remain for the most part as bad as ever yea it is frequent both among Papists and Protestants for them first to leap as it were out of their vain light and profane conversations at their set hours and seasons and fall to their customary devotion and then when it is scarce finished and the words to God scarce out the former profane talk comes after it so that the same wicked profane spirit of this world acts them in both
which God is the alone proper and infallible Judge who by his Power and Spirit can alone rectifie the mistakes of Conscience and therefore hath reserved to himself the power of punishing the errors thereof as he seeth meet Now for the Magistrate to assume this is to take upon him to meddle with things not within the compass of his jurisdiction for if this were within the compass of his jurisdiction he should be the proper judge in these things and also it were needful to him as an essential qualification of his being a Magistrate to be capable to Judge in them But that the Magistrate as a Magistrate is neither proper Judge in these cases not yet that the capacity so to be is requisite in him as a Magistrate our adversaries cannot deny or else they must say that all the Heathen Magistrates were either no lawful Magistrates as wanting something essential to Magistracy and this were contrary to the express Doctrin of the Apostles Rom. 13. or else which is more absurd that those Heathen Magistrates were proper Judges in matters of Conscience amongst Christians As for that evasion that the Magistrate ought to punish according to the Church censure and determination which is indeed no less than to make the Magistrate the Churches Hang-man we shall have occasion to speak of it hereafter But if the chief members of the Church though ordained to inform instruct and reprove are not to have dominion over the Faith nor Consciences of the Faithful as the Apostle expressly affirms 2 Cor. 1.24 then far less ought they to usurp this dominion or stir up the Magistrate to persecute and murther those who will not yield to them therein Secondly this pretended power of the Magistrate is both contrary unto and inconsistent with the nature of the Gospel which is a thing altogether extrinsic from the rule and government of political States as Christ expressly signified saying his Kingdom was not of this World and if the propagating of the Gospel had had any necessary relation thereunto then Christ had not said so but he abundantly hath shewn by his Example whom we are chiefly to imitate in matters of that nature that its by perswasion and the Power of God not by Whips Imprisonments Banishments and Murtherings that the Gospel is to be propagated and that those that are the propagators of it are often to suffer by the wicked but never to cause the wicked to suffer When he sends forth his Disciples he tells them he sends them forth as Lambs among Wolves to be willing to be devoured not to devour he tells them of their being whipped imprisoned and killed for their Conscience but never that they shall either whip imprison or kill and indeed if Christians must be as Lambs it is not the nature of Lambs to destroy or devour any It serves nothing to alledge that that in Christ and his Apostles times the Magistrates were Heathens and therefore Christ and his Apostles not being Magistrates nor yet any of the Believers could not exercise the power because it cannot be denied but Christ being the Son of God had a true right to all Kingdoms and was righteous Heir of the Earth Next as to his Power it cannot be denied but he could if he had seen meet have called for legions of Angels to defend him and have forced the Princes and Potentates of the Earth to be subject unto him Matth. 26.53 So that it was only because it was contrary to the nature of Christ's Gospel and Ministry to use any force or violence in the gathering of Souls to him This he abundantly expressed in his reproof to the Sons of Zebedee who would have been calling for Fire from Heaven to burn those that refused to receive Christ. It is not to be doubted but this was a great crime as now to be in an error concerning the Faith and Doctrin of Christ. That there was not Power wanting to have punished those refusers of Christ cannot be doubted for they that could do other Miracles might have done this also and moreover they wanted not the president of a holy man under the Law as did Elias yet we see what Christ saith to them Ye know not what Spirit ye are of Luke 9.55 for the Son of man is not come to destroy mens lives but to save them Here Christ shews that such kind of zeal was no waies approved of him and such as think to make way for Christ or his Gospel by this means do not understand what Spirit they are of But if it was not lawful to call for Fire from Heaven to destroy such as refused to receive Christ it is far less lawful to kindle Fire upon Earth to destroy those that believe in Christ because they will not believe nor can believe as the Magistrates do for Conscience sake and if it was not lawful for the Apostles who had so large a measure of the Spirit and were so little liable to mistake to force others to their judgment it can be far less lawful now for men that experience declareth and many of themselves confess are fallible and often mistaken to kill and destroy all such as cannot because otherwise perswaded in their minds judge and believe in matters of Conscience just as they do And if it was not according to the Wisdom of Christ who was and is King of Kings by outward force to constrain others to believe him or receive him as being a thing inconsistent with the nature of his Ministry and Spiritual Government do not they grossly offend him that will needs be wiser than he and think to force men against their perswasion to conform to their Doctrin and Worship The word of the Lord saith not by Power and by Might but by the Spirit of the Lord Zach. 4.6 But these say not by the Spirit of the Lord but by Might and Carnal Power The Apostle saith plainly we wrestle not with Flesh and Blood and the weapons of our warfar are not carnal but Spiritual but these men will needs wrestle with Flesh and Blood when they cannot prevail with the Spirit and the Understanding and not having Spiritual Weapons go about with Carnal Weapons to establish Christ's Kingdom which they can never do and therefore when the matter is well sifted it is found to be more out of love to self and from a principle of pride in man to have all others to bow to him than from the love of God Christ indeed takes another method for he saith he will make his People a willing People in the day of his power but these men labour against mens wills and Consciences not by Christ's power but by the outward Sword to make men the people of Christ which they can never do as shall hereafter be shewn But thirdly Christ fully and plainly declareth to us his sense in this matter in the parable of the Tares Matth. 13. of which we have himself the Interpreter ver 38 39
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
own Eternal Word and Power so no Creature has access again unto him but in and by the Son according to his own express words No man knoweth the Father but the Son and he to whom the Son will reveal him Matth. 11.27 Luk. 10.22 And again he himself saith I am the Way the Truth and the Life no man cometh unto the Father but by me Joh. 14.6 Hence he is fitly called the Mediator betwixt God and Man For having been with God from all Eternity being himself God and also in time partaking of the nature of man through him is the goodness and love of God conveighed to mankind and by him again man receiveth and partaketh of these mercies Hence is easily deduced the probation of this first Assertion thus If no man know the Father but the Son and he to whom the Son will reveal him then there is no knowledge of the Father but by the Son But no man knoweth the Father but the Son Therefore there is no knowledge of the Father but by the Son The first part of the antecedent are the plain words of Scripture The consequence thereof is undeniable except one would say that he hath the knowledge of the Father while yet he knows him not which were an absurd repugnance Again If the Son be the Way the Truth and the Life and that no man cometh unto the Father but by him then there is no knowledg of the Father but by the Son But the first is true Therefore the last The antecedent are the very Scripture words The consequence is very evident For how can any know a thing who useth not the way without which it is not knowable But it is already proved that there is no other way but by the Son so that who so uses not that way cannot know him neither come unto him § VI. Having then laid down this first Principle I come to the second viz. That there is no Knowledg of the Son but by the Spirit or that the Revelation of the Son of God is by the Spirit Where it is to be noted that I alwayes speak of the saving certain and necessary Knowledge of God which that it cannot be acquired otherwayes than by the Spirit doth also appear from many clear Scriptures For Jesus Christ in and by whom the Father is revealed doth also reveal himself to his Disciples and Friends in and by his Spirit as his manifestation was sometimes outwards when he testified and witnessed for the Truth in this World and approved himself faithful throughout So being now withdrawn as to the outward man he doth teach and instruct mankind inwardly by his own Spirit he standeth at the door and knocketh and who so heareth his Voice and openeth he comes in to such Rev. 3.20 Of this Revelation of Christ in him Paul speaketh Gal. 1.6 in which he placeth the excellency of his Ministry and the certainty of his Calling And the Promise of Christ to his Disciples Lo I am with you to the end of the World confirmeth this same thing for this is an inward Presence and Spiritual as all acknowledg But what relates hereto will again occur I shall deduce the proof of this Proposition from two manifest places of Scripture The first is 1 Cor. 2.11 12. What man knoweth the things of a man save the Spirit of a man which is in him Even so the things of God knoweth no man but the Spirit of God Now we have received not the Spirit of the World but the Spirit which is of God that we might know the things which are freely given us of God The Apostle in the verses before speaking of the wonderful things which are prepared for the Saints after he hath declared that the natural man cannot reach them adds that they are revealed by the Spirit of God ver 9 10. giving this reason for the Spirit searcheth all things even the deep things of God And then he bringeth in the comparison in the verses above mentioned very apt and answerable to our purpose and Doctrine that as the things of a man are only known by the Spirit of man so the things of God are only known by the Spirit of God that is that as nothing below the Spirit of man as the Spirit of Brutes or any other Creatures can properly reach unto nor comprehend the things of a man as being of a more noble and higher Nature so neither can the Spirit of man or the natural man as the Apostle in the 14 verse subsumes receive nor discern the things of God or the things that are Spiritual as being also of a higher Nature which the Apostle himself gives for the reason saying neither can he know them because they are spiritually discerned So that the Apostles words being reduced to an argument do very well prove the matter under debate thus If that which appertaineth properly to man cannot be discerned by any lower or baser Principle than the Spirit of man then cannot these things that properly relate unto God and Christ be known or discerned by any lower or baser thing than the Spirit of God and Christ. But the First is true Therefore also the Second The whole strength of the argument is contained in the Apostles words before mentioned which therefore being granted I shall proceed to deduce a second argument thus That which is Spiritual can only be known and discerned by the Spirit of God But the Revelation of Jesus Christ and the true and saving knowledg of him is Spiritual Therefore the Revelation of Jesus Christ and the true and saving knowledge of him can only be known and discerned by the Spirit of God The other Scripture is also a saying of the same Apostle 1 Cor. 12.3 No man can say that Jesus is the Lord but by the Holy Ghost The Scripture which is full of Truth and answereth full well to the inlightned understanding of the Spiritual and real Christian may perhaps prove very strange to the carnal and pretended follower of Christ by whom perhaps it hath not been so diligently remarked Here the Apostle doth so much require the Holy Spirit in the things that relate to a Christian that he positively averrs we cannot so much as affirm Jesus to be the Lord without it which insinuates no less than that the Spiritual Truths of the Gospel are as lyes in the Mouths of carnal and unspiritual men for though in themselves they be true yet are they not true as to them because not known nor uttered forth in and by that Principle and Spirit that ought to direct the mind and actuat it in such things they are no better than the counterfeit representations of things in a comedy neither can it be more truly and properly called a real and true knowledg of God and Christ than the actings of Alexander the great and Julius Caesar c. if now transacted upon a Stage might be called truly and really their doings or the persons representing them might be said truly
and really to have conquered Asâ—â— and overcome Pompey c. This knowledg then of Christ which is not by the Revelation of his own Spirit in the heart is no more properly the knowledg of Christ than the pratling of a Parret which has been taught a few words may be said to be the voice of a man for as that or some other Bird may be taught to sound or utter forth a rational sentence as it hath learned it by the outward ear and not from any living principle of reason actuating it So just such is that knowledg of the things of God which the natural and carnal man hath gathered from the words or writings of Spiritual men which are not true to him because conceived in the natural Spirit and so brought forth by the wrong Organ and not proceeding from the Spiritual Principle no more than the words of a man acquired by art and brought forth by the mouth of a Bird not proceeding from a rational Principle are true with respect to the Bird that utters them Wherefore from this Scripture I shall further add this Argument If no man can say Jesus is the Lord but by the Holy Ghost then no man can know Jesus to be the Lord but by the Holy Ghost But the First is true Therefore the Second From this argument there may be another deduced concluding in the very terms of this assertion thus If no man can know Jesus to be the Lord but by the Holy Ghost then can there be no certain knowledg or Revelation of him but by the Spirit But the First is true Therefore the Second § VII The third thing affirmed is That by the Spirit God always revealed himself to his Children For making appear of the truth of this assertion it will be but needful to consider God's manifesting himself towards and in relation to his Creatures from the beginning which resolves it self always herein The First step of all is ascribed hereunto by Moses Gen. 1.2 And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the Waters I think it will not be denied that God's converse with man all along from Adam to Moses was by the immediate manifestation of his Spirit And afterwards through the whole tract of the Law he spake to his Children no otherwaies which as it naturally followeth from the Principles above proved so it cannot be denied by such as acknowledg the Scriptures of Truth to have been written by the inspiration of the Holy Ghost For these writings from Moses to Malachy do declare that during all that time God revealed himself to his Children by his Spirit But if any will object that after th dispensation of the Law God's method of speaking was altered I answer first that God spake alwayes immediatly to the Jewes in that he spake always immediatly to the High-Priest from betwixt the Cherubins who when he entered into the Holy of Holys returning did relate to the whole People the voice and will of God there immediately revealed So that his immediate speaking never ceased in any age Secondly from this immediate fellowship were none shut out who earnestly sought after and waited for it in that many besides the High-Priest who were not so much as of the kindred of Levi nor of the Prophets did receive it and speak from it as it is written Numb 11.25 Where the Spirit is said to have rested upon the seventy Elders which Spirit also reached unto two that were not in the Tabernacle but in the Camp whom when some would have forbidden Moses would not but rejoiced wishing all the Lord's people were Prophets and that he would put his Spirit upon them verse 29. This is also confirmed Neh. 9. Where the Elders of the People after their return from captivity when they began to sanctifie themselves by fasting and prayer in which numbring up the many mercies of God towards their Fathers they say ver 20. Thou gavest also thy good Spirit to instruct them and ver 30. Yet many years didst thou forbear and testifie against them by thy Spirit in thy Prophets Many are the sayings of Spiritual David to this purpose as Psal. 51.13 Take not thy Holy Spirit from me uphold me with thy free Spirit Psal. 139.7 Whither shall I go from thy Spirit Hereunto doth the Prophet Isaiah ascribe the credit of his Testimony saying chap. 48. v. 16. And now the Lord God and his Spirit hath sent me And that God revealed himself to his children under the New Testament to wit to the Apostles Evangelists and primitive Disciples is confessed by all How far now this yet continueth and is to be expected comes hereafter to be spoken to § VIII The fourth thing affirmed is that these Revelations were the object of the Saints faith of old This will easily appear by the definition of Faith and considering what its object is For which we shall not dive into the curious and various notions of the School-men but stay in the plain and positive words of the Apostle Paul who Hebr. 11. describes it two ways Faith saith he is the substance of things hoped for and the evidence of things not seen which as the Apostle illustrateth it in the same chapter by many examples is no other but a firm and certain belief of the mind whereby it resteth and in a sence possesseth the substance of some things hoped for through its confidence in the promise of God And thus the Soul hath a most firm evidence by its faith of things not yet seen nor come to pass The object of this faith is the promse word or testimony of God speaking to the mind Hence it hath been generally affirmed that the object of Faith is Deus loquens c. That is God speaking c. Which is also manifest from all these Examples deduced by the Apostle throughout that whole Chapter whose Faith was founded neither by that outward testimony nor upon the voice and writing of man but upon the revelation of Gods Will manifest unto them and in them as in the Example of Noah ver 7. thus By Faith Noah being warned of God of things not seen as yet moved with fear prepared an Ark to the saving of his House by the which he condemned the World and became Heir of the Righteousness which is by Faith What was here the object of Noahs Faith but God speaking unto him He had not the Writings nor Prophesyings of any going before nor yet the concurrence of any Church or People to strengthen him and yet his Faith in the Word by which he contradicted the whole World saved him and his House Of which also Abraham is set forth as a singular Example being therefore called the Father of the Faithful who is said against hope to have believed in hope In that he only willingly forsook his Fathers Countrey not knowing whether he went In that he believed concerning the coming of Isaac though contrary to natural probability But above all In that he refused not
not led by his Spirit but these feign a Christianity that needs not the Spirit of Christ. He makes no hope of the blessed Resurrection unless we feel the Spirit residing in us but these feign a hope without any such a feeling But perhaps they will answer that they deny not but that it is necessary to have it only of modesty and humility we ought to deny and not acknowledg it What means he then when he commands the Corinthians to try themselves if they be in the Faith to examine themselves whether they have Christ whom whosoever acknowledges not dwelling in him is a reprobate By the Spirit which he hath given us saith John we know that he abideth in us And what do we then else but call in question Christ his promise while we would be esteemed the Servants of God without his Spirit which he declared he would pour out upon all his Seeing these things are the first grounds of Piety it is miserable blindness to accuse Christians of Pride because they dare glory of the presence of the Spirit without which glorying Christianity it self could not be But by their example they declare how truly Christ spake saying that his Spirit was unknown to the world and that those only acknowledg it with whom it remains Thus far Calvin If therefore it be so why should any be so foolish as to deny or so unwise as not to seek after this Spirit which Christ hath promised shall dwell in his Children They then that do suppose the in-dwelling and leading of his Spirit to be ceased must also suppose Christianity to be ceased which cannot subsist without it Thirdly What the work of this Spirit is is partly before shown which Christ compriseth in two or three things He will guide you into all Truth he will teach you all things and bring all things to your remembrance Since Christ hath provided for us so good an instructor what need we then lean so much to those traditions and commandments of Men wherewith so many Christians have Burthened themselves What need we set up our own Carnal and corrupt reason for a guide to us in matters Spiritual as some will needs do May it not be complained of all such as the Lord did of old concerning Israel by the Prophets Jer. 2.13 For my People have commited two Evils they have forsaken me the Fountain of Living waters and hewed them out Cisterns broken Cisterns that hold no water Have not many forsaken do not many deride and reject this inward and Immediate Guide this Spirit that leads into all Truth and cast up to themselves other ways broken waves indeed which have not all this while brought them out of the flesh nor out of the world nor from under the dominion of their own lusts and sinful affections whereby truth which is only rightly learned by this Spirit is so much a stranger in the Earth From all them that have been mentioned concerning this promise and these words of Christ it will follow that Christians are always to be led inwardly and immediately by the Spirit of God dwelling in them and that the same is a standing and perpetual Ordinance as well to the Church in general in all ages as to every individual member in particular as appears from this argument The promise of Christ to his Children are Yea and Amen and cannot fail but must of necessity be fulfilled But Christ hath promised that the Comforter the Holy Ghost the Spirit of Truth shall abide with his Children for ever shall dwell with them shall be in them shall lead them into all Truth shall teach them all things shall bring all things to their remembrance Therefore c. Again No man is redeemed from the carnal mind which is at enmity with God which is not subject to the Law of God neither can be No man is yet in the Spirit but in the flesh and cannot please God except he in whom the Spirit of God dwells But every true Christian is in measure redeemed from the carnal mind is gathered out of the Enmity and can be subject to the Law of God is out of the flesh and in the Spirit the Spirit of God dwelling in him Therefore every true Christian hath the Spirit of God dwelling in him Again Whosoever hath not the Spirit of Christ is none of his that is no Child no Friend no Disciple of Christ. But every true Christian is a Child a Friend a Disciple of Christ. Therefore every true Christian hath the Spirit of Christ. Moreover Whosoever is the Temple of the Holy Ghost in him the Spirit of God dwelleth and abideth But every true Christian is the Temple of the Holy Ghost Therefore in every true Christian the Spirit of God dwelleth and abideth But to conclude He in whom the Spirit of God dwelleth it is not in him a lazy dumb useless thing but it moveth actuateth governeth instructeth and teacheth him all things whatsoever is needfull for him to know yea bringeth all things to his remembrance But the Spirit of God dwelleth in every true Christian Therefore it leadeth instructeth and teacheth every true Christian whatsoever is needful for him to know § XI But there are some that will confess that the Spirit doth now lead and influence the Saints but that he doth it only Subjectively or in ablind manner by inlighting their understandings to understand and believe the Truth delivered in the Scriptures But not at all by presenting these Truths to the mind by way of object and this they call medium incognitum assentiendi as that of whose working a man is not sensible This opinion tho somewhat more tolerable than the former is nevertheless not altogether according to Truth neither doth it reach the fulness of it 1. Because there be many Truths which as they are applicable to particulars and individuals and most needful to be known by them are no wise to be found in the Scripture as in the following Proposition shall be shown Besides the arguments already deduced do prove that the Spirit doth not only subjectively help us to discern Truths elsewhere delivered but also objectively present those Truths to our minds For that which teacheth me all things and is given me for that end without doubt presents those things to my mind which it teacheth me It is not said it shall teach you how to understand those things that are written but it shall teach you all things Again that which brings all things to my remembrance must needs present them by way of object else it were improper to say it brought them to my remembrance but onely that it helpeth to remember the objects brought from elsewhere My second argument shall be drawn from the Nature of the New Covenant by which and those that follow I shall prove that we are led by the Spirit both immediately and objectively the nature of the New Covenant is expressed in divers places and First Isa. 59.21 As for me this is my
deceit or equivocation the most excellent Writings in the World to which not only no other Writings are to be preferr'd but even in divers respects not comparable thereunto For as we freely acknowledg that their Authority doth not depend upon the approbation or Canons of any Church or Assembly so neither can we subject them to the faln corrupt and defiled reason of man and therein as we do freely agree with the Protestants against the error of the Romanists so on the other hand we cannot go the length of such Protestants as make their Authority to depend upon any vertue or power that is in the Writings themselves but we desire to ascribe all to that Spirit from which they proceeded We confess indeed there wants not a Majestie in the Stile a coherence in the parts a good scope in the whole but seeing these things are not discerned by the Natural but only by the Spiritual man it is the Spirit of God that must give us that belief of the Scriptures which may satisfie our Consciences Therefore the chiefest among Protestants both in their particular Writings and publick Confessions are forced to acknowledg this Hence Calvin though he saith he is able to prove that if there be a God in Heaven these writings have proceeded from him yet he concludes another knowledg to be necessary Insti lib. 1. cap. 7. Sect. 4. But if saith he we respect the Consciences that they be not daily molested with doubts and they stick not at every Scruple it is requisite that this perswasion which we speak of be taken higher than humane Reason Judgment or conjectures to wit from the secret Testimony of the Holy Spirit And again To those that ask that we prove unto them by Reason that Moses and the Prophets were Inspired of God to speak I answer that the Testimony of the Holy Spirit is more excellent than all reason And again let this remain a firm Truth that he only whom the Holy Ghost hath perswaded can repose himself on the Scripture with a true certainty And lastly this then is a judgment which cannot be begotten but by a Heavenly Revelation c. The same is also affirmed in the first publick Confession of the French Churches published in the Year 1559. Art 4. We know these books to be Canonick and the most certain Rule of our Faith not so much by the common accord and consent of the Church as by the Testimony and inward perswasion of the Holy Spirit Thus also in the 5 Article of the Confession of faith of the Churches of Holland confirmed by the Synod of Dort We receive these books only for holy and canonick not so much because the Church receives and approves them as because the Spirit of God renders witness in our hearts that they are of God And lastly The Divines so called at Westminster who began to be afraid of and guard against the Testimony of the Spirit because they perceived a dispensation beyond that which they were under beginning to dawn and to eclipse them yet could they not get by this tho they have laid it down neither so clearly distinctly nor honestly as they that went before It is in these words chap. 1. sect 5. Nevertheless our full perswasion and assurance of the infallible Truth thereof is from the inward work of the Holy Spirit bearing witness by and with the Word in our heart By all which it appeareth how necessary it is to seek the certainty of the Scriptures from the Spirit and no where else The infinit janglings and endless contests of those that seek their authority elsewhere do witness to the Truth hereof For the Antients themselves even of the first Centuries were not as one among themselves concerning them while some of them rejected Books which we approve and others of them approved those which some of us reject It is not unknown to such as are in the least acquainted with Antiquity what great contests are concerning the second Epistle of Peter that of James the second and third of John and the Revelations which many even very Antient deny to have been written by the beloved Disciple and Brother of James but by another of that name What should then become of Christians if they had not received that Spirit and those Spiritual senses by which they know how to discern the true from the false It 's the priviledg of Christ's Sheep indeed that they hear his voice and refuse that of a stranger which priviledg being taken away we are left a prey to all manner of wolves § II. Tho then we do acknowledg the Scriptures to be a very heavenly and Divine writing the use of them to be a very comfortable and necessary to the Church of Christ and that we also admire and give praise to the Lord for his wonderful Providence in preserving these writings so pure and uncorrupted as we have them through so long a night of Apostasy to be a testimony of his Truth against the wickedness and abominations even of these whom he made instrumental in preserving them so that they have kept them to be a witness against themselves yet we may not call them the principal fountain of all Truth and knowledg nor yet the first adequate rule of Faith and manners because the principal fountain of Truth must be the Truth it self i. e. that whose certainty and authority depends not upon another When we doubt of the streams of any river or flood we recur to the fountain it self and having found it there we sist we can go no further because there it springs out of the bowels of the Earth which are inscrutable Even so the writing and sayings of all men we must bring to the Word of God I mean the Eternal Word and if they agree hereunto we stand there for this Word always proceedeth and doth eternally proceed from God in and by which the unsearchable wisdom of God and unsearchable counsel and will conceived in the heart of God is revealed unto us that then the Scripture is not the principal ground of faith and knowledg as it appears by what is above spoken so it is provided in the latter part of the Proposition which being reduced to an argument runs thus That the certainty and authority whereof depends upon another and which is received as Truth because of its proceeding from another is not to he accounted the principal ground and origin of all Truth and knowledg But the Scriptures authority and certainty depends upon the Spirit by which they were dictated and the reason why they were received as Truth is because they proceeded from the Spirit Therefore they are not the principal ground of Truth To confirm this argument I added the School Maxim Propter quod unumquodque est tales illud ipsum est magis tale Which Maxim tho I confess it doth not hold universally in all things yet in this it both doth and will very well hold as by applying it as we have
above intimated will appear The same argument will hold as to the other branch of the position That it is not the primary adequade rule of faith and manners thus That which is not the rule of my faith in believing the Scriptures themselves is not the primary adequate rule of faith and manners But the Scripture is not nor can it be the rule of that faith by which I believe them c. Therefore c. But as to this part we shall produce divers arguments hereafter as to what is affirmed That the Spirit and not the Scriptures is the rule it is largely handled in the former proposition the sum whereof I shall subsume in one argument thus If by the Spirit we can only come to the true knowledge of God If by the Spirit we be to be led into all truth and so be taught of all things Then the Spirit and not the Scriptures is the foundation and ground of all Truth and knowledg and the primary rule of faith and manners But the first is true Therefore also the last Next the very nature of the Gospel it self declareth that the Scriptures cannot be the only and chief rule of Christians else there should be no difference betwixt the Law and the Gospel As from the nature of the New Covenant by divers Scriptures described in the former Proposition is proved But besides those which are before mentioned herein doth the Law and the Gospel differ in that the Law being outwardly written brings under condemnation but hath not life in it to save whereas the Gospel as it declares and makes manifest the evil so it being an inward powerful thing also gives power to obey and deliver from the evil Hence it is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is glad tidings the Law or Letter which is without us kills but the Gospel which is the inward Spiritual Law gives life for it consists not so much in words as in vertue Wherefore such as comes to know it and be acquainted with it come to feel greater power over their iniquities than all outward Laws or Rules can give them Hence the Apostle concludes Rom. 6.14 Sin shall not have dominion over you For ye are not under the Law but under Grace This Grace then that is inward and not an outward Law is to be the Rule of Christians hereunto the Apostle commends the Elders of the Church saying Acts 20.32 And now Brethren I commend you to God and to the Word of his Grace which is able to build you up and to give you an inheritance among all those that are sanctified He doth not commend them here to outward laws or writings but to the Word of Grace which is inward even the Spiritual Law which makes free as he elsewhere affirms Rom. 8.2 The Law of the Spirit of Life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death This Spiritual Law is that which the Apostle declares he preached and directed people unto which was not outward as Rom. 10.8 is manifest where distinguishing it from the Law he saith The Word is nigh thee in thy heart and in thy mouth and this is the Word of Faith which we preach From what is above said I argue thus The principal Rule of Christians under the Gospel is not an outward letter nor law outwardly written and delivered but an inward Spiritual Law ingraven in the heart the Law of the Spirit of Life the Word that is nigh in the heart and in the mouth But the letter of the Scripture is outward of it self a dead things a meer declaration of good things but not the things themselves Therefore it is not nor can be the chief or principle rule of Christians § III. Thirdly That which is given to Christians for a Rule and Guide must needs be so full as it may clearly and distinctly guide and order them in all things and occurences that may fall out But in that there are many hundred of things with a regard to their circumstances particular Christians may be concerned in for which there can be no particular Rule had in the Scriptures Therefore the Scriptures cannot be a Rule to them I shall give an instance in two or three particulars for to prove this Proposition It is not to be doubted but some men are particularly called to some particular Services there being not found in which though the act be no general positive duty yet in so far as it may be required of them is a great sin to omit for as much God is zealous of his Glory and every act of Disobedience to his will manifested is enough not only to hinder one greatly from that Comfort and inward Grace which otherwise they might have but also bringeth Condemnation As for instance Some are called to the Ministry of the Word Paul saith there was a necessity upon him to preach the Gospel wo unto me if I preach not If it be necessary that there be now Ministers of the Church as well as then then there is the same necessity upon some more than upon others to occupy this place which necessity as it may be incumbent upon particular persons the Scripture neither doth nor can declare If it be said that the qualifications of a Minister are found in the Scripture and by applying these qualifications to my self I may know whether I be fit for such a place or no. I answer The qualifications of a Bishop or Minister as they are mentioned both in the Epistle to Tim. and Tit. are such as may be found in a private Christian yea which ought in some measure to be in every true Christian so that that giveth a man no certainty every pacity to an office giveth me not a sufficient call to it Next again By what Rule shall I judg if I be so qualified how do I know that I am sober meek holy harmless Is not the Testimony of the Spirit in my Conscience that which must assure me hereof And suppose that I was quallified and called yet what Scripture Rule shall inform me whether it be my duty to preach in this or that place in France or England Holland or Germany whether I shall take up my Time in Confirming the Faithful reclaiming Hereticks or Converting Infidels as also in Writing Epistles to this or that Church The general Rules of the Scripture viz. to be diligent in my duty to do all to the Glory of God and for the good of his Church can give me no light in this thing Seeing two different things may both have a respect to that way yet may I commit a great error and offence in doing the one when I am called to the other If Paul when his Face was turned by the Lord toward Jerusalem had gone back to Achaia or Macedonia he might have supposed he could have done God more acceptable service in Preaching and Confirming the Churches than in being shut up in Prison in Judea but would God have been pleased
herewith Nay certainly Obedience is better than Sacrifice and it is not our doing that which is good simply that pleaseth God but that good which he wille thus to do Every Member hath its particular place in the Body as the Apostle sheweth 1 Cor. 12. If then I being the foot should offer to exercise the office of the hand or being the hand that of the tongue my service would be troublesome and not acceptable and instead of helping the Body I should make a Schism in it So that that which is good for another to do may be sinful to me for as Masters will have their Servants to obey them according to their good pleasure not only in blindly doing that which may seem to them to tend to their Masters profit whereby it may chance the Master having business both in the field and in the house that the Servant that knows not his Masters will may go to the field when it is the mind of the Master he should stay and do the business of the house Would not this Servant then deserve a reproof for not answering his Master's mind And what Master is so sottish and careless as having many Servants leaves them in such disorder as not to assign each his particular station and not only the general term of doing that which is profitable which would leave them in various doubts and no doubt end in confusion Shall we then dare to ascribe unto Christ in the ordering of his Church and Servants that which in man might justly be accounted disorder and confusion The Apostle sheweth this distinction well Rom. c. 12. v. 6 8. Having then Gifts differing according to the Grace that is given us whether Prophecy let us Prophecy according to the proportion of Faith or Ministry let us wait on our Ministrings or he that teacheth on teaching or he that exhorteth on exhortation Now what Scripture Rule sheweth me that I ought to exhort rather than prophecy or to minister rather than teach Surely none at all Many more difficulties of this kind occur in the Life of a Christian. Moreover that which of all things is most needful for him to know to wit whether he really be in the Faith and an heir of Salvation or no the Scripture can give him no certainty in neither can it be a Rule to him That this knowledg is exceeding desirable and comfortable all do unanimously acknowledg besides that it is especially commanded 2 Cor. 13. v. 5. Examine your selves whether ye be in the Faith prove your selves Know ye not your own selves how that Jesus Christ is in you except you be reprobates and 2 Pet. 1.10 Wherefore the rather Brethren give all dilligence to make your calling and election sure Now I say what Scripture Rule can assure me that I have true Faith that my calling and election is sure If it be said by comparing the Scripture marks of true faith with mine I demand wherewith shall I make this observation what shall ascertain me that I am not mistaken It cannot be the Scripture That 's the matter under debate If it be said My own Heart How unfit a judg is it in its own case and how like to be partial especially if it be yet unrenewed Doth not the Scripture say that it is deceitful above all things I find the promises I find the threatnings in the Scripture but who telleth me that the one belongs to me more than the other The Scripture gives me a meer declaration of these things but makes no application so that the assumption must be of my own making thus as for example I find this Proposition in the Scripture He that believes shall be saved thence I draw this assumption But I Robert believe Therefore I shall be saved The minor is of mine own making not expressed in the Scripture and so a humane conclusion not a Divine position so that by my Faith and assurance here is not built upon a Scripture position but upon a humane Principle which unless I be sure of elsewhere the Scripture gives me no certainty in the matter Again if I should pursue the argument further and seek a new medium out of the Scripture the same difficulty would occur thus He that hath the true and certain marks of true Faith hath true Faith But I have those marks Therefore I have true Faith For the assumption is still here of my own making and is not found in the Scriptures and by consequence the conclusion can be no better since it still followeth the weaker proposition This is indeed so pungent that the best of Protestants who plead for this assurance ascribe it to the inward Testimony of the Spirit as Calvin in that large citation cited in the former Proposition so that not to seek further into the Writings of the primitive Protestants which are full of such expressions even the Westminster confession of Faith affirmeth chap. 18. sect 12. This certainty is not bear conjecture and probable perswasion grounded upon fallible hope but an infallible assurance of Faith founded upon the Divine Truth of the promise of Salvation the inward evidences of these Graces unto which these promises are made the Testimony of the Spirit of Adoption witnessing to our Spirits that we are the Children of God which Spirit is the earnest of our Inheritance whereby we are sealed to the day of Redemption Moreover the Scripture it self wherein we are so earnestly pressed to seek after this Assurance doth not at all affirm it self a rule sufficient to give it but wholly ascribeth it to the Spirit as Rom. 8.16 The Spirit it self beareth witness with our Spirit that we are the Children of God 1 Joh. 4.13 Hereby do we know that we dwell in him and he in us because he hath given us of his Spirit and 5.6 And it is the Spirit that beareth witness because the Spirit is truth § IV. Lastly That cannot be the only principle nor chief rule which doth not universally reach every individual that needeth it to produce the necessary effect and from the use of which either by some innocent and sinless defect or natural yet harmless and blameless imperfection many who are within the compass of the visible Church and may without absurdity yea with great probability be accounted oft he Elect are necessarily excluded and that either wholly or at least from the immediate use thereof But it so falls out frequently concerning the Scriptures in the case of deaf People Children and Ideots who can by no means have the benefit of the Scriptures Shall we then affirm that they are without any rule to God-ward or that they are all damned As such an Opinion is in it self very absurd and inconsistent both with the Justice and Mercy of God so I know no sound reason can be alledged for it Now if we may suppose any such to be under the New Covenant Dispensation as I know none will deny but that we may suppose it without any absurdity we
cannot suppose them without some rule and means of knowledg seeing it is expresly affirmed They shall all be taught of God Joh. 6.45 And they shall know me from the least to the greatest Heb. 8.11 But secondly Though we were rid of this difficulty how many illeterate and yet good men are there in the Church of God who cannot read a Letter in their own Mothers Tongue Which imperfection though it be inconvenient I cannot tell whether we may safely affirm it to be sinful these can have no immediate Knowledg of the rule of their Faith So their Faith must needs depend upon the credit of other mens Reading or relating it unto them where either the altering adding or omitting of a little word may be a foundation in the poor hearer of a very dangerous mistake whereby he may either continue in an iniquity ignorantly or believe a lie confidently As for Example the Papists in all their Catechisms and publick Exercises of Examination towards the People have boldly cut away the second Command because it seems so expresly to hit against their Adoration and use of Images Whereas many of these People in whom by this omission this false Opinion is fostered are under a simple impossibility or at least a very great difficulty to be outwardly informed of this abuse But further suppose all could read the Scriptures in their own Language where is there one of a thousand that hath that through knowledge of the original Languages in which they are written so as in that respect immediately to receive the benefit of them Must not all these here depend upon the honesty and faithfulness of the Interpreters Which how uncertain it is for a man to build his Faith upon the many Corrections Amendments and various Essays which even among Protestants have been used whereof the latter hath constantly blamed and corrected the former as guilty of Defects and Errors doth sufficiently declare And that even the last Translations in the vulgar Languages needs to be corrected as I could prove at large were it proper in this place learned men do confess But last of all there is no less difficulty even occurs to these skilled in the Original Languages who cannot so immediately receive the mind of the Authors in these Writings as that their Faith doth at least obliquely depend upon the honesty and credit of the Transcribers since the Original Copies are granted by all not to be now extant Of which Transcribers Jerome in his time complained saying that they wrote not what they found but what they understood And Epiphanius saith that in the good and correct Copies of Luke it was written that Christ wept and that Irenaeus doth cite it but that the Catholicks blotted it out fearing least Hereticks should have abused it Other Fathers also declare that whole verses were taken out of Mark because of the Manichees But further the various lections of the Hebrew Character by reason of the Points which some plead for as coaevous with the first writings which others with no less probability alledg to be a later invention the disagreement of divers citations of Christ and the Apostles with those passages in the Old Testament they appeal to the great controversie among the Fathers whereof some highly approve the Greek Septuagint decrying and rendring very doubtful the Hebrew Copy as in many vitiated and altered by the Jews other some and particularly Jerom exalting the certainty of the Hebrew and rejecting yea even deriding the History of the Septuagint which the primitive Church chiefly made use of and some Fathers that lived centuries before them affirmed to be a most certain thing Add the many various lections in divers copys of the Greek and the great alterations among the Fathers of the first three Centuries who had greater opportunity to be better informed than we can now lay claim to concerning the books to be admitted or rejected as is above observed I say all these and much more which might be alledged puts the minds even of the Learned into infinite doubts scruples and inextricable difficulties Whence we may very safely conclude that Jesus Christ who promised to be always with his Children to lead them into all Truth to guard them against the devices of the Enemy and to establish their Faith upon an unmoveable Rock left them not to be principally ruled by that which was subject in it self to many uncertainties and therefore he gave them his Spirit as their Principal Guide which neither moths nor time can wear out nor transcribers nor translators corrupt which none are so young none so illiterate none in so remote a place but they may come to be reached and rightly informed by it Through and by the clearness which that Spirit gives us it is that we are only best rid of those difficulties that occur to us concerning the Scriptures The real and undoubted experience whereof I my self have been a witness of with great admiration of the love of God to his children in these latter days For I have known some of my Friends who profess the same faith with me faithful servants of the most High God and full of the Divine knowledg of his Truth as it was immediately and inwardly revealed to them by the Spirit from a true and living experience Who not only were ignorant of the Greek and Hebrew but even some of them could not read their own vulgar Language who being pressed by the adversaries with some citations out of the English Translation and finding them to disagree with the manifestation of Truth in their hearts have boldly affirmed the Spirit of God never said so and that it was certainly wrong for they did not believe that any of the Holy Prophets or Apostles had ever written so which when I on this account seriously examined I really found to be errors and corruptions of the Translators Who as in most translations do not so much give us the genuine significations of the words as strain them to express that which comes nearest with that opinion and notion they have of Truth And this seemed to me to sute very well with that saying of Augustin Epist. 19. ad Hen. Tom. 2. fol. 14. after he has said that he gives only that honour to those books which are called Canonical as to believe that the Authors thereof did in writing not err He adds and if I shall meet with any thing in these writings that seemeth repugnant to Truth I shall not doubt to say that either the volume is faulty or erroneous that the expounder hath not reached what was said or that I have in no wise understood it So that he supposes that in the transcription and translation there may be errors § V. If it be then asked me whether I think hereby to render the Scripture altogether uncertain or useless I answer not at all The proposition it self declares what esteem I have for them and provided that to the Spirit from which they came be but
granted that place the Scriptures themselves give it I do freely concede to the Scripture the second place even whatsoever they say of themselves Which the Apostle Paul chiefly mentions in two places Rom. 15.4 Whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for learning that we through patience and comfort of the Scriptures might have hope 2 Tim. 3.15 16 17. The Holy Scriptures are able to make wise unto Salvation through Faith which is in Christ Jesus All Scripture given by inspiration from God is profitable for correction for instruction in righteousness that the Man of God may be perfect throughly furnished unto every good work For tho God do principally and chiefly lead us by his Spirit yet he sometimes conveys his comfort and consolation to us through his Children whom he raises up and inspires to speak or write a word in season whereby the Saints are made instruments in the hand of the Lord to strengthen and encourage one another which do also tend to perfect and make them wise unto Salvation and such as are led by the Spirit cannot neglect but do natural love and are wonderfully cherished by that which proceedeth from the same Spirit in another because such mutual emanations of the heavenly Life tend to quicken the mind when at any time it is overtaken with heaviness Peter himself declares this to have been the end of his writing 2 Pet. 1.12 13. Wherefore I will not be negligent to put you alwaies in remembrance of those things tho ye know them and be established in the present Truth Yea I think it meet as long as I am in this Tabernacle to stir you up by putting you in remembrance God is Teacher of his People himself and there is nothing more express than that such as are under the New Covenant they need no man to teach them yet it was a fruit of Christ's Ascension to send Teachers and Pastors for perfecting of the Saints So that the same work is ascribed to the Scriptures as to Teachers the one to make the man of God perfect the other for the perfection of the Saints As then Teachers are not to go before the teaching of God himself under the New Covenant but to follow after it neither are they to rob us of that great priviledg which Christ hath purchased unto us by his Blood so neither is the Scripture to go before the teaching of the Spirit or to rob us of it Secondly God hath seen meet that herein we should as in a looking glass see the conditions and experiences of the Saints of old that finding our experience answer to theirs we might thereby be the more confirmed and comforted and our hope strengthened of obtaining the same end that observing the Providences attending them seeing the snares they were liable to and beholding their deliverances we may thereby be made wise unto Salvation and seasonably reproved and instructed in righteousness This is the great work of the Scriptures and their service to us that we may witness them fulfilled in us and so discern the stamp of God's Spirit and ways upon them by the inward acquaintance we have with the same Spirit and work in our hearts The prophecys of the Scripture are also very comfortable and profitable unto us as the same Spirit inlightens us to observe them fulfilled and to be fulfilled For in all this it is to be observed that it is only the Spiritual Man that can make a right use of them they are able to make the man of God perfect so it is not the natural Man and whatsoever was written aforetime was written for our comfort our that are the believers our that are the Saints concerning such the Apostle speaks for as for the other the Apostle Peter plainly declares that the unstable and unlearned wrest them to their own destruction these were they that were unlearned in the Divine and heavenly learning of the Spirit not in humane and School Literature of which we may safely presume that Peter himself being a Fisher-man had no great skill for it may with great probability yea certainly be affirmed that he had no knowledg of Aristotles Logick which both Papists and Protestants now degenerating from the simplicity of Truth make hand-maid of Divinity as they call it and a necessary introduction to their carnal natural and humane Ministry By the infinite obscure labours of which kind of men mixing in their heathenish stuff the Scripture is rendred at this day of so little service to the simple People whereof if Jerom complained in his time now twelve hundred years ago Hieron Ep. 134. ad Cypr. tom 3. saying It is wont to befall the most part of learned Men that it is harder to understand their expositions than the things which they go about to expound what may We say then considering those great heaps of commentarys since in ages yet far more corrupted § VI. In this respect above mentioned then we have shown what service and use the Holy Scriptures as managed in and by the Spirit are of to the Church of God wherefore we do account them a secondary rule Moreover because they are commonly acknowledged by all to have been written by the dictates of the Holy Spirit and that the errors which may be supposed by the injury of times to have slipt in are not such but that there is a sufficient clear Testimony left to all the essentials of the Christian faith we do look upon them as the only fit outward judg of Controversies among Christians and that whatsoever doctrine is contrary unto their Testimony may therefore justly be rejected as false And for our parts we are very willing that all our Doctrines and Practices be tryed by them which we never refused nor ever shall in all controversies with our adversaries as the Judg and Test. We shall also be very willing to admit it as a positive certain Maxim That whatsoever any do pretending to the Spirit which is contrary to the Scriptures be accounted and reckoned a delusion of the Devil For as we never lay claim to the Spirit 's leadings that we may cover our selves in any thing that is evil so we know that as every evil contradicts the Scriptures so it doth also the Spirit in the first place from which the Scriptures came and whose motions can never contradict one another though they may appear sometimes to be contradictory to the blind Eye of natural Man as Paul and James seem to contradict one another Thus far we have shown both what we believe and what we believe not concerning the Holy Scriptures hoping we have given them their due place But since they that will needs have them to be the only certain and principal Rule want not some shew of arguments even from the Scripture it self though it no where call it self so by which they labour to prove their Doctrin I shall briefly lay them down by way of Objections and answer them before I make an end of this
only rule to try his Doctrine by So neither will it follow that though he made use of the Scriptures to the Jews as being a principle already believed by them to try his Doctrine that from thence the Scriptures may be accounted the principal or only rule § IX The last and which at first view seems to be the greatest objection is this Obj. If the Scripture be not the adequate principal and only Rule then it would follow that the Scripture is not compleat nor the Canon filled that if men be now immediately led and ruled by the Spirit they may add new Scriptures of equal authority with the old whereas every one that adds it cursed yea what assurance have we but at this rate every one may bring in a new Gospel according to his fancy The dangerous consequences insinuated in this objection were fully answered in the latter part of the last Proposition in what was said a little before offering freely to disclaim all pretended Revelations contrary to the Scriptures But if it be urged that it is enough to deny these consequences Obj. if they naturally follow from your Doctrine of immediate Revelation and denying the Scripture to be the only rule I answer We have proved both these Doctrines to be true and necessary according to the Scriptures themselves and therefore to fasten evil consequences upon them which we make appear do not follow is not to accuse us but Christ and his Apostles who preached them But Secondly we have shut the door upon all such Doctrine in this very position affirming that the Scriptures give a full and ample Testimony to all the principal Doctrines of the Christian Faith For we do firmly believe that there is no other Gospel or Doctrine to be preached but that which was delivered by the Apostles and do freely subscribe to that saying Let him that preacheth any other Gospel than that which hath been already preached by the Apostles and according to the Scriptures be accursed So we distinguish betwixt a revelation of a new Gospel and new doctrines and a new Revelation of the good old Gospel and Doctrines the last we plead for but the first we utterly deny For we firmly believe that no other foundation can any man lay than that which is laid already But that this revelation is necessary we have already proved and this distinction doth sufficiently guard us against the hazard insinuated in the objection As to the Scriptures being a filled Canon I see no necessity of believing it And if these men that believe the Scripture to be the only Rule will be consistent to their own Doctrine they must needs be of my judgment Seeing it is simply impossible to prove the Canon by the Scriptures For it cannot be found in any book of the Scripture that these Books and just these and no other are Canonical as all are forced to acknowledg how can they then evite this argument That which cannot be proved by Scripture is no necessary article of Faith But the Canon of the Scripture to wit that there are so many Books precisely neither more or less cannot be proved by Scripture Therefore it is no necessary article of Faith If they should alledg Obj. that the admitting of any other books to be now written by the same Spirit might infer the admission of new doctrines I deny that consequence for the Principal of fundamental Doctrines of the Christian Religion are contained in the tenth part of the Scripture but it will not follow thence that the rest are impertinent or useless If it should please God to bring to us any of these Books which by the injury of time are lost which are mentioned in the Scripture as The Prophecy of Enoch the Book of Nathan c. or the third epistle of Paul to the Corinthians I see no reason why we might not receive them and place them with the rest That which displeaseth me is that men should first affirm that the Scripture is the only and principal rule and yet make a great article of Faith of that which the Scripture can give us no light in As for instance how shall a Protestant prove by Scripture to such as deny the Epistle of James to be authentick that it ought to be received First if he should say because it contradicts not the rest besides that there is no mention made of it in any of the rest perhaps these men think it doth contradict Paul in relation to Faith and Works But if that should be granted it would as well follow that every Writer that contradicts not the Scripture should be put into the Canon And by this means these men fall into a greater absurdity than they fix upon us for thus they would equal every one the writings of their own Sect with the Scriptures for I suppose they judg their own confession of Faith doth not contradict the Scriptures Will it therefore follow that it should be bound up with the Bible And yet it seems impossible according to their Principles to bring any better argument to prove the Epistle of James to be authentick There is then this unavoidable necessity to say We know it by the same Spirit from which it was written or otherwise to step back to Rome and say we know by Tradition that the Church hath declared it to be Canonical and the Church is infallible let them find amidst if they can so that out of this objection we shall draw an unanswerable Argument ad hominem to our purpose That which cannot assure me concerning an article of Faith necessary to be believed is not the primary adequate only rule of Faith But the Scripture cannot thus assure me Therefore c. I prove the assumption thus That which cannot assure me concerning the canon of the Scripture to wit that such Books are only to be admitted and the Apochrypha to be excluded cannot assure me of this Therefore c. And lastly As to these words Rev. 22.18 that if any man shall add unto these things Obj. God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this Book I desire they will shew me how it relates to anything else than to that particular Prophecy It saith not now the Canon of the Scripture is filled up no man is to write more from that Spirit Yea do not all confess that there have been Prophecies and true Prophets since The Papists deny it not And do not the Protestants affirm that John Hus prophecied of the Reformation was he therefore cursed or did he therein evil I could give many other examples confessed by themselves but moreover the same was in effect commanded long before Prov. 30.6 Add thou not unto his words lest he reprove thee and thou be found a Lyar. Yet how many books of the Prophets were written after and the same was said by Moses Deut. 4.2 Ye shall not add unto the word which I command you neither shall ye diminish ought from it So that
another argument from these words of the Apostle 1 Cor. 2. where he so positively excludes the Natural man from an understanding in the things of God but because I have spoken of that Scripture in the beginning of the Second Proposition I will here avoid to repeat what is there mentioned referring thereunto Yet because the Socinians and others who exalt the Light of the Natural man or a natural Light in man do object against this Scripture I shall remove it ere I make an end Obj. They say The Greek word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ought to be translated animal and not natural else say they it would have been 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 from which they seek to infer that it is only the animal Man and not the rational that is excluded here from the discerning the things of God Which shift without disputing the word is easily refuted neither is it any wife consistent with the scope of the place for Frist The animal life is no other than that which Man hath common with other living Creatures for as he is a meer Man he differs no otherwise from Beasts than by the rational Property Now the Apostle deduceth his argument in the foregoing Verses from this simile that as the things of a Man cannot be known but by the Spirit of a Man so the things of God no Man knoweth but by the Spirit of God But I hope these Men will confess unto me that the things of a Man are not known by the animal Spirit only i. e. by that which he hath common with the Beasts but by the rational So that it must be the rational that is here understood Again the subsumption shews clearly that the Apostle had no such intent as these Mens gloss would make him to have viz. So the things of God knoweth no Man but the Spirit of God according to their Judgment he should have said the things of God knoweth no Man by his animal Spirit but by his rational Spirit for to say the Spirit of God here spoken of is no other than the rational Spirit of Man would border upon Blasphemy since they are so often contra-distinguished Again going on he saith not that they are rationally but spiritually discerned Secondly The Apostle throughout this Chapter shews how the wisdom of Man is unfit to Judg the things of God and ignorant of them Now ask these Men whether a Man be called a wise Man from his animal Property or from his rational If from his rational then it is not only the animal but even the rational as he is yet in the natural State which the Apostle excludes here and whom he contradistinguisheth from the Spiritual v. 15. But the Spiritual man judgeth all things this cannot be said of any Man meerly because rational or as he is a Man seeing the Men of greatest reason if we may so esteem Men whom the Scripture calls wise as were the Greeks of Old not only may be but often are Enemies to the Kingdom of God while both the preaching of Christ is said to be foolishness with the wise Men of this World and the wisdom of this World is said to be foolishness with God Now whether it be any ways propable that either these wise Men that are said to account the Gospel foolishness are only so called with respect to their animal Property and not their rational or that that wisdom that is foolishness with God is not meant of the rational but only the animal property any rational Man laying aside interests may easily Judg. § IV. I come now to the other part to wit that this evil and corrupt seed is not imputed to Infants until they actually joyn with it For this there is a reason given in the end of the Proposition it self drawn from Eph. 2. for these are by nature Children of Wrath who walk according to the prince of the power of the Air the Spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience Here the Apostle gives their evil walking and not any thing that is not reduced to act as a reason of their being Children of wrath and this is sutable to the whole strain of the Gospel where no man is ever threatned or judged for what iniquity he hath not actually wrought Such indeed as continue in iniquity and so do Homologat the sins of their Fathers God will visit the iniquity of the Fathers upon the Children Is it not strange then that men should entertain an opinion so absurd in it self and so cruel and contrary to the nature as well of God's mercy as justice concerning the which the Scripture is altogether silent But it is manifest that Man hath invented this opinion out of self-love and from that bitter Root from which all errors springs for the most of Protestants that hold this having as they fancy the absolute decree of Elections to secure them and their Children so as they cannot miss of Salvation they make no great difficulty to send all others both Old and Young to hell For whereas self-love which always is apt to believe that which it desires possesseth them with a hope that their part is secure they are not solicitous how they leave their Neighbours which are the far greater part of Mankind in these inextricable difficultys The Papists again use this Opinion as an art to augment the esteem of their Church and reverence of its Sacraments seeing they pretend it is washed away by Baptism only in this they appear to be a little more Merciful in that they send not these unbaptized infant to Hell but to a certain Limbus concerning which the Scriptures are as silent as of the other This then is not only not authorised in the Scriptures but contrary to the express tenor of it The Apostle saith plainly Rom. 4.15 Where no Law is there is no transgression And again 5.13 But sin is not imputed where there is no Law Than which Testimonies there is nothing more positive since to infants there is no Law seeing as such they are utterly uncapable of it the Law cannot reach but such as have in some measure less or more the exercise of their understanding which infants have not So that from thence I thus agree Sin is imputed to none where there is no Law But to infants there is no Law Therefore sin is not imputed to them The Proposition is the Apostle's own Words the Assumption is thus proved Those who are under a physical impossibility of either hearing knowing or understanding any Law where the impossibility is not brought upon them by any act of their own but is according to the very order of nature appointed by God to such there is no Law But infants are under this physical impossibility Therefore c. Secondly What can be more positive than that of Ezek. 18.20 The Soul that sinneth it shall die the Son shall not bear the Fathers Iniquity For the Prophet here first sheweth what is the cause of mans Eternal Death which he
that hid his Talent and did not improve it Cast ye the unprofitable Servant into utter darkness If then their not improving of the Talent made the man unprofitable and he was therefore cast into utter darkness it will follow by the Rule of Contraries so far at least that the improving made the other profitable seeing if our Adversaries will allow us to believe Christ's Words this is made a reason and so at left a cause instrumental of their acceptance Well done good and faithful Servant thou hast been faithful over a few things I will make thee ruler over many things enter thou into the joy of thy Lord. Obj. Secondly they object those sayings of the Apostle where he excludes the deeds of the Law from Justification as first Rom. 3.20 because by the deeds of the Law there shall be no flesh justified in his sight And ver 28. Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by Faith without the deeds of the Law Answ. Answ. We have shewn already what place we give to works even to the best of works in justification and how we ascribe its immediate and formal cause to the worker brought forth in us but not to the works But in answer to this objection I say there is a great difference betwixt the works of the Law and those of Grace or of the Gospel The first are excluded the second not but are necessary The first are those which are performed in man's own will and by his strength in a conformity to the outward Law and Letter and therefore are men's own imperfect works or works of the Law which makes nothing perfect And to this belong all the Ceremonies Purifications Washings and Traditions of the Jews The second are the works of the Spirit of Grace wrought in the Heart wrought in conformity to the Inward and Spiritual Law which works are not wrought in man's will nor by his power and ability but in and by the Power and Spirit of Christ in us and therefore are pure and perfect in their kind as shall hereafter be proved and may be called Christ's works for that he is the immediate author and worker of them Such works we affirm absolutely necessary to justification so that a man cannot be justified without them and all faith without them is dead and useless as the Apostle James saith Now that such a distinction is to be admitted and that the works excluded by the Apostle in the matter of Justification are of the first kind will appear if we consider the occasion of the Apostle mentioning this as well here as throughout in his Epistle to the Galatians where he speaks of this matter and to this purpose at large which was this That whereas many of the Gentiles that were not of the Race nor Seed of Abraham as concerning the Flesh were come to be converted to the Christian Faith and believe in him some of those that were of the Jewish Proselites thought to subject the faithful and believing Gentiles to the legal Ceremonies and Observations as necessary to their Justification This gave the Apostle Paul occasion at length in his Epistle to the Romans Galatians and elsewhere to shew the use and tendency of the Law and of its works and to contradistinguish them from the Faith of Christ and Righteousness thereof shewing how the former was ceased and become ineffectual the other remaining and yet necessary And that the works excluded by the Apostle are of this kind of works of the Law appears by the whole strain of his Epistle to the Galatians chap. 1 2 3 and 4. for after in the 4 chapter he upbraideth them for their returning unto the observation of daies and times and that in the beginning of the 5 chapter he sheweth them their folly and the evil consequence of adhering to the Ceremonies of Circumcision then he adds v. 6. For in Christ Jesus neither Circumcision nor Vncircumcision availeth but Faith which worketh by love and thus he concludes again chap. 6. v. 15. For in Christ Jesus neither Circumcision availeth nor Vncircumcision but a new Creature From which places appeareth that distinction of works aforementioned whereof the one is excluded the other necessary to Justification For the Apostle sheweth here that Circumcision which word is often used to comprehend the whole Ceremonies and legal Performances of the Jews is not necessary nor doth avail Here are then the works which are excluded by which no man is justified but Faith which worketh by love but the new Creature this is that which availeth which is absolutely necessary for Faith that worketh by love cannot be without works for as is said in the same 5 chapter v. 22. Love is a work of the Spirit Also the New Creature if it avail and be necessary cannot be without works seeing it is natural for it to bring forth works of Righteousness Again that the Apostle no waies intends to exclude such good works appears in that in the same Epistle he exhorts the Galatians to them and holds forth the usefulness and necessity of them and that very plainly c. 6. v. 7 8 9. Be not deceived saith he God is not mocked for what soever man soweth that shall he also reap for he that soweth to the Flesh shall of the Flesh reap Corruption but he that soweth in the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap Life everlasting And let us not be weary of well doing for in due season we shall reap if we faint not Doth it not hereby appear how necessary the Apostle would have the Galatians know that he esteemed good works to be to wit not the outward testimony and tradition of the Law but the fruits of the Spirit mentioned a little before by which Spirit he would have them to be led and walk in those good works As also how much he ascribed to these good works by which he affirms Life Everlasting is reaped Now that cannot be useless to man's Justification which capaciates him to reap so rich a harvest But lastly for a full answer to this objection and for the establishing of this Doctrin of good works I shall instance another saying of the same Apostle Paul which our adversaries also in the blindness of their minds make use of against us to wit Tit. 3.5 Not by works of Righteousness which we have done but according to his mercy he saved us by the washing of Regeneration and renewing of the Holy Ghost It is generally granted by all that saved is here all one as if it had been said justified Now there are two kinds of works here mentioned one by which we are not saved that is not justified and another by which we are saved or justified The first the works of Righteousness which we have wrought that is which we in our first faln nature by our own strength have wrought our own legal performances and therefore may truly and properly be called ours whatever specious appearances they may seem to have And that it must needs
6.17 now no unclean thing can be so It is expresly written that there is no communion betwixt Light and Darkness 2 Cor. 6.14 But God is Light and every sin is darkness in a measure What greater stain then can there be than this upon God's Wisdom as if he had been wanting to prepare a means whereby his Children might perfectly serve and worship him or had not provided a way whereby they might serve him in any thing but that they must withal still serve the devil no less yea more than himself For he that sinneth is the servant of sin Rom. 6.16 and every sin is an act of service and obedience to the devil So then if the Saints sin daily in thought word and deed yea if the very service they offer to God be sin surely they serve the devil more than they do God For besides that they give the devil many intire services without mixture of the least grain to God they give God not the least service in which the devil hath not a large share and if their prayers and all their spiritual performances be sinful the devil is as much served by them in these as God and in most of them much more Since they confess that many of them are performed without the leadings and influence of God's Spirit Now who would not account him a foolish master among men who being able to do it and also desirous that it might be so yet would not provide away whereby his Children and Servants might serve him more intirely than his avow'd enemy or would not guard against their serving of him but be so imprudent and unadvised in his contrivance that whatever way his Servants and Children served him they should no less yea often much more serve his enemy What may we then think of that Doctrin that would infer this folly upon the Omnipotent and only Wise GOD. § IV. Secondly It is inconsistent with the Justice of God For since he requires purity from his Children and commands them to abstain from every iniquity so frequently and precisely as shall hereafter appear and since his wrath is revealed against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men it must needs follow that he hath capacitated man to answer his will or else that he requires more than he has given power to perform which is to declare him openly unjust and with the sloathful Servant to be a hard Master We have elsewhere spoken of the injustice these men ascribe to God in making him to damn the wicked to whom they alledg he never offered any means of being good But this is yet an aggravation more irrational and inconsistent to say that God will not afford to those whom he has chosen to be his own whom they confess he loveth the means to please him What can follow then from so strange a Doctrin This imperfection in the Saints either proceeds from God or from themselves If it proceeds from them it must be because they are short in improving or making use of the power given them whereby they are capable to obey and so it is a thing possible to them as indeed it is by the help of that power but this our adversaries deny they are then not to be blamed for their imperfection and continuing in sin since it is not possible to them to do otherwise If it be not of themselves it must be of God who hath not seen meet to allow them Grace in that degree to produce that effect And what is this but to attribute to God the heighth of injustice to make him require his Children to forsake sin and yet not to afford them sufficient means for so doing Surely this makes God more unrighteous than wicked men who if as Christ saith their Children require Bread of them will not give them a Stone or instead of Fish a Serpent But these men confess we ought to seek of God power to redeem us from sin and yet believe they are never to receive such a power such Prayers then cannot be in Faith but are all vain Is not this to make God as unjust to his Children as Pharoah was to the Israelites in requiring Brick and not giving them straw But blessed be God he deals not so with those that truly trust in him and wait upon him as these men vainly imagine for such faithful ones find of a truth that his Grace is sufficient for them and know how by his Power and Spirit to overcome the Evil one § V. Thirdly this evil Doctrine is highly injurious to Jesus Christ and greatly denegates from the Power and Vertue of his Sacrifice and renders his coming and ministery as to the great end of it ineffectual For Christ as for other ends so principally he appeared for the removing of sin for gathering a righteous Generation that might serve the Lord in purity of mind and walk before him in fear and bring in Everlasting Righteousness and that Evangelick perfection which the Law could not do Hence he is said Tit. 2.14 To have given himself for us that he might redeem us from all Iniquity and purifie unto himself a peculiar People zealous of good works This is certainly spoken of the Saints while upon Earth But contrary thereunto these men affirm that we are never redeemed from all Iniquity and so make Christ's giving of himself for us void and ineffectual and give the Apostle Paul the Lye plainly by denying that Christ purifieth to himself a peculiar People zealous of good works How are they zealous of good works who are ever committing evil ones how are they a purified People that are still in impurity as are they that daily sin unless sin be accounted no impurity Moreover it is said expresly 1 Joh. 3.5 8. that For this purpose the Son of God was manifested that he might destroy the works of the Devil and ye know that he was manifested to take away our sins But these men make this purpose of none effect for they will not have the Son of God to destroy the works of the Devil in his Children in this world Neither will they at all believe that he was manifest to take away our sins seeing they plead a necessity of always living in them And lest any should wrest this place of the Apostle as if it were spoken only of taking away the guilt of sin as if it related not to this life the Apostle as of purpose to obviate such an objection adds in the two following verses whosoever abideth in him sinneth not c. I hope then they sin not daily in Thought Word and Deed. Let no man deceive you he that doth Righteousness is Righteous even as he is Righteous he that committeth sin is of the Devil But he that sinneth daily in Thought Word and Deed committeth sin How comes such a one then to be the Child of God And if Christ was manifest to take away sin how strangely do they overturn the Doctrine of Christ that deny that it
peccato originali lib. 2. cap. 2. Gelasius also in his disputation against Pelagius saith But if any affirm that this may be given to some Saints in his life not by the Power of mans strength but by the grace of God he doth well to think so confidently and hope it faithfully for by the gift of God all things are possible That this was the common opinion of the Fathers appears from the words of the Aszansik Council Canon last We believe also this according to the Catholick Faith that all that are baptized through Grace by baptism received and Christ helping them and co-working may and ought to do whatsoever belongs to Salvation if they will faithfully labour § XI Blessed then are they that believe in him who is both able and willing to deliver as many as come to him through true repentance from all sin and do not resolve as these men do to be the devil's servants all their life time but daily go on forsaking unrighteousness and forgetting those things that are behind press forwards towards the Mark for the Prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus such shall not find their faith and confidence to be in vain but in due time shall be made conquerors through him in whom they have believed and so overcoming shall be established as pillars in the house of God so as they shall go no more out Rev. 3. ver 12. The Ninth Proposition Concerning Perseverance and the possibility of falling from Grace Although 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 they in whose hearts it hath wrought in part to purify and sanctifie them in order to their further perfection may by disobedience fall from it turn it to wantonness 1 Tim. 1.9 make shipwrack of faith and after having tasted the heavenly Gift and been made partakers of the Holy Ghost again fall away Heb. 6.4 5 6. yet such an increase and stability in the Truth may in this life be attained from which there can not be a total Apostasie § I. THE first sentence of this Proposition hath already been treated of in the 5 and 6 Propositions where it hath been shewn that that Light which is given for Life and Salvation becomes the condemnation of those that refuse it and therefore is already proved in those places where did demonstrate the possibility of man's resisting the Grace and Spirit of God and indeed it is so apparent in the Scriptures that it cannot be denied by such as will but seriously consider these testimonies Prov. 1.24 25 26. Joh. 3.18 19. 2 Thes. 2.11 12. Acts 7.51 13.46 Rom. 1. v. 18. As for the other part of it that they in whom this Grace may have wrought in a good measure in order to purifie and sanctifie them tending to their further perfection may afterwards through disobedience fall away c. The testimonies of the Scripture included in the Proposition it self are sufficient to prove it to men of unbyassed judgments But Because as to this part our cause is common with many other Protestants I shall be the more brief in it For it is not my design to do that which is done already neither do I covet to appear knowing by writing much but simply purpose to present to the world a faithful account of our principles and briefly to let them understand what we have to say for our selves § II. From these Scriptures then included in the Proposition not to mention any more which might be urged I argue thus If men may turn the Grace of God into wantonness then they must once argument 1 have had it But the first is true Therefore also the Second argument 2 If men may make shipwrack of faith they must once have had it neither could they ever have had true faith without the Grace of God But the first is true Therefore also the last argument 3 If men may have tasted of the heavenly Gift and been made partakers of the holy Spirit and afterwards fall away they must needs have known in measure the operation of Gods Saving Grace and Spirit without which no man could tast the heavenly Gift nor yet partake of the Holy Spirit But the first is true Therefore also the last Secondly Seeing the contrary doctrin is built upon this false hypothesis that Grace is not given for salvation to any but to a certain elect number which cannot lose it that all the rest of mankind by an absolute decree are debarred from grace and salvation that being destroyed this falls to the ground Now as that doctrine of theirs is wholly inconsistent with the daily practice of those that preach it in that they exhort people to believe and be saved while in the mean time if they belong to the decree of reprobation it is simply impossible for them so to do and if to the decree of election it is needless seeing it is as impossible to them to miss of it as hath been before demonstrated so also in this matter of perseverance their practice and principle are no less inconsistent and contradictory for while they daily exhort people to be faithful to the end shewing them if they continue not they shall be cut-off and fall short of the reward which is very true but no less inconsistent with that doctrine that affirms there is no hazard because no possibility of departing from the least measure of true Grace Which if true it is to no purpose to beseech them to stand to whom God hath made it impossible to fall I shall not longer insist upon the probation of this seeing what is said may suffice to answer my design and that the thing is also abundantly proved by many of the same judgment That this was the doctrine of the primitive Protestants thence appears that the Augustan confession condemns it as an error of the Anabaptists to say that who once are justified they cannot lose the Holy Spirit Many such like sayings are to be found in the common places of Philip Melancthon Vossius in his Pelagian History lib. 6. testifies that this was the common opinion of the Fathers in the confirmation of the 12 These pag. 587. he hath these words that this which we have said was the common sentiment of antiquity those at present can only deny who otherways perhaps are men not unlearned but nevertheless in antiquity altogether strangers c. These things thus observed I come to the objections of our opposers Obj. § III. First they alledge that those places mentioned of making shipwrack of faith is only understood of seeming faith and not of a real true faith This objection is very weak and apparently contrary to the Text Answ. 1 Tim. 1.19 where the Apostle addeth to faith a good Conscience by way of complaint whereas if their faith had been only seeming and hypocritical the men had been
be truly one must be much more necessary to make a man a Minister of Christianity seeing the one is a degree above the other and has it included in it nothing less than he that supposeth a master supposeth him first to have attained the knowledg and capacity of a Scholar They that are not Christians cannot be Teachers or Ministers among Christians But this inward call power and vertue of the Spirit of God is necessary to make a man a Christian as we have abundantly proved before in the second proposition according to these Scriptures He that hath not the Spirit of Christ is none of his As many as are led by the Spirit of God are the sons of God Therefore this call moving and drawing of the Spirit must be much more necessary to make a minister Secondly all ministers of the New Testament ought to be ministers of the Spirit and not of the letter according to that 2 Cor. 3.6 and as the old Latine hath it not by the letter but by the Spirit But how can a man be a minister of the Spirit who is not inwardly called by it and who looks not upon the operation and testimony of the Spirit as essential to his call As he could not be a minister of the letter who had thence no ground for his call yea that were altogether a stranger to and unacquainted with it so neither can he be a minister of the Spirit who is a stranger to it and unacquainted with the motions thereof and knows it not to draw act and move him and go before him in the work of the Ministery I would willingly know how those that take upon them to be ministers as they suppose of the Gospel meerly from an outward vocation without so much as being any ways sensible of the work of the Spirit or any inward call therefrom can either satisfie themselves or others that they are Ministers of the Spirit or wherein they differ from the ministers of the Letter For Thirdly if this inward call or testimony of the Spirit were not essential and necessary to a minister then the ministery of the New Testament should not only be no ways preferable to but in divers respects far worse than that of the Law for under the Law there was certain tribe allotted for the ministery and of that tribe certain families set apart for the priesthood and other offices by the immediate command of God to Moses so that the people needed not be in any doubt who should be Priests and Ministers of the holy things yea and besides this God called forth by the immediate testimony of his Spirit several at divers times to teach instruct and reprove his people as Samuel Nathan Elias Elisa Jeremiah Amos and many more of the Prophets But now under the New Covenant where the ministry ought to be more spiritual the way more certain and the access more easie unto the Lord our adversaries by denying the necessity of this inward and Spiritual vocation make it quite otherways for there being now no certain family or tribe to which the ministry is limited we are left in uncertainty to chuse and have pastors at a venture without all certain assent of the will of God having neither an outward rule nor certainty in this affair to walk by for that the Scripture cannot give any certain rule in this matter hath in the third Proposition concerning it been already shewn Fourthly Christ proclaims them all Thieves and Robbers that enter not by him the door into the Sheep-fold but climb up some other way whom the Sheep ought not to hear but such as come in without the Call movings and leadings of the Spirit of Christ wherewith he leads his Children into all truth come in certainly not by Christ who is the Door but some other way and therefore are not true Shepherds Obj. § VIII To all this they object the succession of the Church alledging that since Christ gave a call to his Apostles and Disciples they have conveyed that call to their Successors having power to ordain Pastors and Teachers by which power the authority of ordaining and making Ministers and Pastors is successively conveyed to us so that such who are ordained and called by the Pastors of the Church are therefore true and lawful Ministers and others who are not so called are to be accounted but intruders Hereunto also some Protestants add a necessity though they make it not as a thing essential that besides this calling of the Church every one being called ought to have the inward call of the Spirit inclining him so chosen to his work but this they say is subjective and not objective of which before Answ. As to what is subjoined of the inward call of the Spirit in that they make it not essential to a true call but a supererogation as it were it sheweth how little they set by it since those they admit to the ministery are not so much as questioned in their trials whether they have this or not Yet in that it hath been often mentioned especially by the Primitive Protestants in their treatises of this subject it sheweth how much they were secretly convinced in their minds that this inward call of the Spirit was most excellent and preferable to any other and therefore in the most noble and heroick acts of the reformation they laid claim unto it so that many of the primitive Protestants did not scruple both to despise and disown this outward call when urged by the Papists against them But now Protestants having gone from the testimony of the Spirit plead for the same succession and being pressed by those whom God now raiseth up by his Spirit to reform these many abuses that are among them with the example of their Forefathers practice against Rome they are not at all asham'd utterly to deny that their fathers were call'd to their work by the inward and immediate vocation of the Spirit cloathing themselves with that call which they say their Forefathers had as Pastors of the Roman Church For thus not to go further affirmeth Nicolaus Arnoldus in a pamphlet written against the same Propositions called a Theologick Exercitation sect 40. averring that they pretended not to an immediate act of the Holy Spirit but reformed by the vertue of the ordinary vocation which they had in the Church as it then was to wit that of Rome c. § IX Many absurdities do Protestants fall into by deriving their ministry thus through the Church of Rome As first they must acknowledg her to be a true Church of Christ though only erroneous in some things which contradicts their fore-fathers so frequently and yet truly calling her Anti-Christ Secondly they must needs acknowledge that the Priests and Bishops of the Romish Church are true Ministers and Pastors of the Church of Christ as to the essential part else they could not have been fit subjects for that power and authority to have resided in neither
all have in a measure but we understand men that are gracious leavened by it into the nature thereof so as thereby to bring forth these good Fruits of a blameless conversation and of justice holiness patience and temperance which the Apostle requires as necessary in a true Christian Bishop and Minister Thirdly they object the example of the false Prophets of the Pharisees and of Judas But first as to the false Prophets there can nothing be more foolish and ridiculous as if because there were false Prophets truely false without the Grace of God therefore Grace is not necessary to a true Christian Minister Indeed if they had proven that true Prophets wanted this Grace they had said something But what have false Prophets common with true Ministers but that they pretend falsely that which they have not And because false Prophets want true Grace will it therefore follow that true Prophets ought not to have it or need it not yea doth it not much rather follow that they ought to have it that they may be true and not false The example of the Pharisees and Priests under the Law will not answer to the Gospel times because God set apart a particular Tribe for that Service and particular Families to whom it belonged by a lineal Succession and also their service and work was not purely Spiritual but only the performance of some outward and carnal observations and ceremonies which were but a shadow of the Substance that was to come and therefore their work made not the comers thereunto perfect as pertaining to the Conscience seeing they were appointed only according to the Law of a carnal commandment and not according to the power of an endless life Notwithstanding as in the figure they behoved to be without blemish as to their outward man and in the performance of their work they behoved to be washed and purified from their outward pollutions so now under the Gospel times the Ministers in the anti-type must be inwardly without blemish in their Souls and spirits being as the Apostle requires blameless and in their work and service must be pure and undefiled from their inward pollutions and so clean and holy that they may offer up Spiritual Sacrifices acceptable to God by Jesus Christ 1 Pet. 2.5 As to Judas the season of his ministry was not wholly Evangelical as being before the work was finished and while Christ himself and his Disciples were yet subject to the Jewish Observances and Constitutions and therefore his Commission as well as that which the rest received with him at that time was only to the House of Israel Matth. 10.5 6. which made that by vertue of that Commission the rest of the Apostles were not impowered to go forth and preach after the Resurrection until they had waited at Jerusalem for the pouring forth of the Spirit So that it appears Judas's ministry was more Legal than Evangelical Secondly Judas's Case as all will acknowledge was singular and extraordinary he being immediately called by Christ himself and accordingly furnished and impowered by him to preach and do miracles which immediate Commission our Adversaries do not so much as pretend to and so fall short of Judas who trusted in Christs Words and therefore went forth and preached without Gold or Silver or Scrip for his Journey giving freely as he had freely received which our Adversaries will not do as hereafter shall be observed Also that Judas at that time had not the least measure of Gods Grace I have not as yet heard proved But is it not sad that even Protestants should lay aside the eleven good and faithful Apostles and all the rest of the holy Disciples and Ministers of Christ and betake them to that one of whom it was testified that he was a devil for a pattern and example to their Ministry Alas it is to be regretted that too many of them resemble this pattern over much Obj. Another Objection is usually made against the necessity of Grace that in case it were necessary then such as wanted it could not truly administer the Sacraments and consequently the people would be left in doubts and infinite scruples as not knowing certainly whether they had truly received them because not knowing infallibly whether the administrators were truly gracious men But this objection hitteth not us at all because the nature of that Spiritual and Christian Worship Answ. which we according to the truth plead for is such as is not necessarily attended with these carnal and outward institutions from the administring of which the objection ariseth and so hath not any such absurdity following upon it as will afterwards more clearly appear § XVIII Though then we make not humane Learning necessary yet we are far from excluding true learning to wit that learning which proceedeth from the inward teachings and instructions of the Spirit whereby the Soul learneth the secret wayes of the Lord becomes acquainted with many inward travels and exercises of the mind and learneth by a living experience how to overcome evil and the temptations of it by following the Lord and walking in his Light and waiting dayly for wisdom and knowledge immediately from the revelation thereof and so layeth up these heavenly and Divine Lessons in the good treasure of the heart as honest Mary did the sayings which she heard and things which she observed and also out of this Treasure of the Soul as the good Scribe brings forth things new and old according as the same Spirit moves and gives a true liberty and as need is for the Lords glory whose the Soul is and for whom and with an eye to whose glory she which is the Temple of God learneth to do all things This is that good learning which we think necessary to a true Minister by and through which learning a man can well instruct teach and admonish in due season and testifie for God from a certain experience as David did Solomon and the holy Prophets of old and the blessed Apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ Who testified of what they had seen heard felt and handled of the Word of Life 1 Joh. 1.1 ministring the Gift according as they had received the same as good Stewards of the manifold Grace of God and preached not the uncertain rumors of others by hear-say which they had gathered meerly in the comprehension while they were strangers to the thing in their own experience in themselves as to teach people how to believe while themselves were unbelieving or how to overcome sin while themselves are slaves to it as all ungracious men are or to believe and hope for an eternal reward which themselves have not as yet arrived at c· § XIX But let us examine this Literature which they make so necessary to the being of a Minister as in the first place the knowledge of the Tongues at least of the Latine Greek and Hebrew The reason for this is that they may read the Scriptures which is their only
Rule in the original languages and thereby be the more capable to comment upon it and interpret it c. That also which made this knowledge be the more prized by the Primitive Protestants was indeed that dark Barbarity that was over the world in the centuries immediately preceeding the reformation the knowledge of the tongues being about that time until it was even then restored by Erasmus and some others almost lost and extinct And this barbarity was so much the more abominable that the whole worship and prayers of the people was in the Latine tongue and among that vast number of Priests Monks and Fryers scarce one of a thousand understood his breviary or that mass that he daily read and repeated The Scriptures being not only to the people but to the greater part of the Clergy even as to the literal knowledge of it as a sealed book I shall not at all discommend the zeal that the first Reformers had against this Babylonish darkness nor their pious endeavours to translate the Holy Scriptures but I do truly believe according to their knowledge that they did it candidly and therefore to answer the just desires of those that desire to read them and for other very good reasons as maintaining a commerce and understanding among divers nations by these common languages and other of that kind we judge it necessary and commendable there be publick Schools for the teaching and instructing youth as are inclinable thereunto in the languages And although that Papal ignorance deserved justly to be abhorred and abominated we see nevertheless that the true reformation consists not in that knowledge because although since that time the Papists stirred up through emulation of the Protestants have more applied themselves unto literature and it now more flourisheth in their Universities and Cloysters than before especially in the Ignatian or Jesuitick Sect they are as far now as ever from a true reformation and more obdured in their pernicious doctrines But all this will not make this a necessary qualification to a minister far less a more necessary qualification than the Grace of God and his Spirit because the Spirit and Grace of God can make up this want in the most rustick and ignorant But this knowledge can no ways make up the want of the Spirit in the most learned and eloquent For all that which man by his own industry learning and knowledge in the languagues can interpret of the Scriptures or find out is nothing without the Spirit he cannot be certain of it and may still miss of the sense of it but a poor man that knoweth not a letter when he heareth the Scriptures read by the same Spirit he can say this is true and by the same Spirit he can understand open and interpret it if need be yea he finding his condition to answer the condition and experience of the Saints of old knoweth and possesseth the Truths there delivered because they are sealed and witnessed in his own heart by the same Spirit And this we have plentiful experience of in many of those illiterate men whom God hath raised up to be ministers in his Church in this day so that some such by his Spirit have corrected some of the errors of the Translators as in the third Proposition concerning the Scriptures I before observed Yea I know my self a poor shoe-maker that cannot read a word who being assaulted with a false citation of Scripture from a publick Professor of Divinity before the Magistrate of a City when he had been taken preaching to some few that came to hear him I say I know such a one and he yet liveth who though the Professor who also is esteemed a learned man constantly asserted his saying to be a Scripture sentence yet affirmed not through any certain letter knowledge he had of it but from the most certain evidence of the Spirit in himself that the Professor lyed and that the Spirit of God never said any such thing as the other affirmed and the Bible being brought it was found as the poor shoe-maker had said § XX. The second part of their Literature is Logick and Philosophy an art so little needful to a true minister that if one that comes to be a true minister hath had it it is safest for him to forget and lose it for it is the root and ground of all contention and debate and the way to make a thing a great deal darker than clearer For under the pretence of regulating man's Reason into a certain order and rules that he may find out as they pretend the Truth it leads into such a labyrinth of contention as is far more fit to make a Sceptick than a Christian far less a minister of Christ yea it often hinders man from a clear understanding of things that his own Reason would give him and therefore through its manifold rules and divers inventions it often gives occasion for a man that hath little reason foolishly to speak much to no purpose Seeing a man that is not very wise may notwithstanding be a perfect Logician and then if ye would make a man a fool to purpose that is not very wise do but teach him Logick and Philosophy and whereas before he might have been fit for something he shall then be good for nothing but to speak non-sence for these notions will so swim in his head that they will make him extreamly busy about nothing The use that wise men and solid make of it is to see the emptiness thereof therefore saith one It is an art of contention and darkness by which all other sciences are rendered more obscure and harder to be understood If it be urged that thereby the Truth may be maintained and confirmed and Hereticks confuted I answer the Truth in men truly rational Answ. needeth not the help thereof and such as are obstinate this will not convince for by this they may learn twenty tricks and distinctions how to shut out the Truth and the Truth proceeding from an honest heart and spoken forth from the Vertue and Spirit of God will have more influence and take sooner and more effectually than by a thousand demonstrations of Logick as that Heathen Philosopher acknowledged who disputing with the Christian Bishops in the Council of Nice was so subtile that he could not be overcome by them but yet by a few words spoken by a simple old rustick was presently convinâ—ed by him and converted to the Christian Faith and being inquired how he came to yield to that ignorant Old Man and not to the Bishops he said that they contended with him in his own way and he could still give words for words but there came from the Old Man that vertue which he was not able to resist This secret vertue and power ought to be the Logick and Philosophy wherewith a true Christian minister ought to be furnished and for which they need not be beholden to Aristotle As to natural Logick by which rational
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
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
wills than obey God's will have heaped up Sacrifices without obedience and thinking to deceive God as they do one another give him a shew of Reverence Honour and Worship while they are both inwardly estranged and alienated from his Holy and Righteous Life and wholly strangers to the pure breathings of his Spirit in which the acceptable Sacrifice and Worship is only offered up Hence it is that there is not any thing relating to man's duty towards God which among all sorts of People hath been more vitiated and in which the Devil hath more prevailed than in abusing man's mind concerning this thing and as among many others so among those called Christians nothing hath been more out of order and more corrupted as some Papists and all Protestants do acknowledg As I freely approve whatsoever the Protestants have reformed from Papists in this respect so I meddle not at this time with their controversies about it only it suffices me with them to deny as no part of the true Worship of God that abominable Superstition and Idolatry the Popish Mass the Adoration of Saints and Angels the Veneration of Reliques the Visitation of Sepulchres and all these other Superstitious Ceremonies Confraternities and endless Pilgrimages of the Romish Synagogue Which all may suffice to evince to Protestants that Anti-Christ hath wrought more in this than in any other part of the Christian Religion and so it concerns them narrowly to consider whether herein they have made a clear and perfect Reformation as to which stands the controversie betwixt them and us For we find many of the Branches lopped off by them but the Root yet remaining to wit a Worship acted in and from man's will and spirit and not by and from the Spirit of God for the true Christian and Spiritual Worship of God hath been so early lost and man's wisdom and will hath so quickly and throughly mixed it self herein that both the Apostacy in this respect hath been greatest and the Reformation herefrom as to the evil root most difficult Therefore let not the Reader suddenly stumble at the account of our Proposition in this matter but here us patiently in this respect explain our selves and I hope by the assistance of God to make it appear that though our manner of 〈◊〉 and Doctrine seem most singular and different from all 〈…〉 of Christians yet it is most according to the purest Christian Religion and indeed most needful to be observed and followed and that there be no ground of mistake for that I was necessitate to speak in few words and therefore more obscurely and dubiously in the Proposition it self it is fit in the first place to explain and hold forth out sense and clear the state of the controversie § II. And first let it be considered that what is here affirmed is spoken of the worship of God in Gospel times and not of the worship that was under or before the Law For the particular commands of God to men then are not sufficient to authorize us now to do the same things else we might be supposed at present acceptable to offer Sacrifice as they did which all acknowledge to be ceased So that what might have been both commendable and acceptable under the Law may justly now be charged with superstition yea and Idolatry So that impertinently in this respect doth Arnoldus rage against this Proposition Exercit. Theolog. sect 44. saying that I deny all publick worship and that according to me such as in Enoch 's time publickly began to call upon the Name of the Lord and such as at the command of God went twice up to Jerusalem to worship and that Anna Simeon Mary c. Were Idolaters because they used the publick worship of these times Such a consequence is most impertinent and no less foolish and absurd than if I should infer from Paul's expostulating with the Galatians for their returning to the Jewish Ceremonies that he therefore condemned Moses and all the Prophets as foolish and ignorant because they used those things the forward man not heeding the different dispensation of times ran into this impertinency Though a Spiritual Worship might have been and no doubt was practiced by many under the Law in great simplicity yet will it not follow that it were no superstition to use all those Ceremonies that they used which were by God dispensed to the Jews not as being essential to true worship or necessary as of themselves for transmitting and entertaining an holy fellowship betwixt him and his people but in condescension to them who were inclinable to Idolatty albeit then in this as in most other things the substance was enjoyed under the Law by such as were Spiritual indeed yet was it vailed and surrounded with many Rites and Ceremonies which is no waies lawful for us to use now under the Gospel § III. Secondly albeit I say that this worship is neither limited to times places nor persons yet I would not be understood as if I intended the putting away of all set times and places to worship God forbid I should think of such an opinion Nay we are none of those that forsake the assembly of our selves together but have even certain times and places in which we carefully meet together nor can we be driven thereform by the threats and persecutions of men to wait upon God and worship him To meet together we think necessary for the people of God because so long as we are cloathed with this outward tabernacle there is a necessity to the entertaining of a joynt and visible fellowship and bearing of an outward testimony for God and seeing of the Faces of one another that we concur with our Persons as well as Spirits To be accompanied with that inward love and unity of Spirit doth greatly tend to encourage and refresh the Saints But the limitation we condemn is that whereas the Spirit of God should be the immediate actor moreover perswader and influencer of man in the particular acts of worship when the Saints are met together this Spirit is limited in its operations by setting up a particular man or men to preach and pray in man's will and all the rest are excluded from so much as believing that they are to wait for God's Spirit to move them in such things and so they neglecting that which should quicken them in themselves and not waiting to feel the pure breathings of God's Spirit so as to obey them are led meerly to depend upon the preacher and hear what he will say Secondly in that these peculiar men come not hither to meet with the Lord and to wait for the inward motions and operations of his Spirit and so pray as they feel the Spirit to breath through them and in them and to preach as they find themselves acted and moved by God's Spirit and as he gives utterance so as to speak a word in season to refresh weary Souls and as the present condition and state of the peoples hearts requires
and no man here limits the Spirit of God nor bringeth forth his own conned and gathered stuff but every one puts that forth which the Lord puts into their hearts and it 's uttered forth not in man's will and wisdom but in the evidence and demonstration of the Spirit and of Power Yea though there be not a word spoken yet is the true Spiritual Worship performed and the body of Christ edified yea it may and hath often faln out among us that divers meetings have past without one word and yet our Souls have been greatly edified and refreshed and our hearts wonderfully overcome with the secret sense of God's Power and Spirit which without words hath been ministred from one Vessel to another This is indeed strange and incredible to the meer natural and carnally-minded man who will be apt to judg all time lost where there is not something spoken that 's obvious to the outward senses and therefore I shall insist a little upon this subject as one that can speak from a certain experience and not by meer hear-say of this Wonderful and Glorious Dispensation which hath so much the more of the Wisdom and Glory of God in it as it 's contrary to the Nature of man's Spirit Will and Wisdom § VII As there can be nothing more opposite to the Natural will and wisdom of man than this silent waiting upon God so neither can it be obtained not rightly comprehended by man but as he layeth down his own wisdom and will so as to be content to be throughly subject to God And therefore it was not preached nor can be so practised but by such as find no outward ceremony no observations no words yea not the best and purest words even the words of Scripture able to satisfie their weary and afflicted Souls because where all these may be the life power and vertue which make such things effectual may be wanting Such I say were necessitate to cease from all outwards and to be silent before the Lord and being directed to that inward principle of Life and Light in themselves as the most excellent Teacher which can never be removed into a corner came thereby to be learned to wait upon God in the measure of Life and Grace received from him and to cease from their own forward words and actings in the natural willing and comprehension and feel after this inward Seed of Life that as it moveth they may move with it and be acted by its power and influenced whether to pray preach or sing And so from this principle of man's being silent and not acting in the things of God of himself until thus acted by God's Light and Grace in the heart did naturally spring that manner of sitting silent together and waiting together upon the Lord. For many thus principled meeting together in the pure fear of the Lord did not apply themselves presently to speak pray or sing c. being afraid to be found acting forwardly in their own wills but each made it their work to retire inwardly to the measure of Grace in themselves not being only silent as to words but even abstaining from all their own Thoughts Imaginations and Desire so watching in a holy dependence upon the Lord and meeting together not only outwardly in one place but thus inwardly in One Spirit and in One Name of Jesus which is his Power and Vertue They come thereby to enjoy and feel the arisings of this Life which as it prevails in each particular becomes as a stood of refreshment and overspreads the whole meeting for man and man's part and wisdom being denyed and chained down in every individual and God exalted and his Grace in dominion in the heart thus his Name comes to be One in all and his Glory breaks forth and covers all and there is such a holy aw and reverence upon every Soul that if the natural part should arise in any or the wise part or what is not one with the Life it would presently be chained down and judged out And when any are through the breaking forth of this power constrained to utter a sentence of exhortation or praise or to breath to the Lord in Prayer then all are sensible of it for the same Life in them answers to it as in water face answereth to face This is that Divine and Spiritual Worship which the World neither knoweth nor understandeth which the Vultures Eye seeth not into Yet many and great are the advantages which my Soul with many others hath tasted of hereby and which would be found of all such as would seriously apply themselves hereunto For when People are gathered thus together not meerly to hear men nor depend upon them but all are inwardly taught to stay their minds upon the Lord and wait for his appearance in their hearts thereby the forward working of the Spirit of man is stayed and hindred from mixing it self with the Worship of God and the form of this Worship is so naked and void of all outward and worldly splendor that all occasion for man's wisdom to be exercised in that superstition and idolatry hath no lodging here and so there being also an inward quietness and retiredness of mind the Witness of God ariseth in the heart and the Light of Christ shineth whereby the Soul cometh to see its own condition And there being many joyned together in this same work there is an inward travel and wrestling and also as the measure of Grace is abode in an overcoming of the power and spirit of darkness and thus we are often greatly strengthned and renewed in 〈…〉 of our minds without a word and we enjoy and possess the 〈…〉 and Communion of the Body and Blood of Christ by which our inward than is nourished and fed Which makes us not to dote upon outward Water and Bread and Wine in our Spiritual things Now as many thus gathered together grow up in the strength power and vertue of Truth and as Truth comes thus to have victory and dominion in their Souls then they receive an utterance and speak steadily to the edification of their Brethren and the pure Life hath a free passage through them and what is thus spoken edifieth the body indeed Such is the evident certainty of that Divine strength that is communicated by thus meeting together and waiting in silence upon God that sometimes when one hath come in that hath been unwatchful and wandring in his mind or suddenly out of the hurry of outward business and so not inwardly gathered with the rest so soon as he retires himself inwardly this Power being in a good measure raised in the whole meeting will suddenly lay hold upon his Spirit and wonderfully help to raise up the good in him and beget him into the sense of the same Power to the melting and warming of his heart even as the warmth would take hold upon a man that is cold coming into a stove or as a flame will lay
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
that envious Spirit of man's Eternal Happyness knoweth well how to accomodate himself and fit his snares for all the several dispositions and inclinations of men if he find one not fit to be engaged with gross Sins or Worldly Lusts but rather averse from them and Religiously inclined he can fit himself to beguile such an one by suffering his Thoughts and Imaginations to run upon Spiritual matters and so hurry them to work act and meditate in their own wills for he well knoweth that so long as self bears rule and the Spirit of God is not the principal and chief Actor man is not put out of his reach so therefore he can accompany the Priest to the Altar the Preacher to the Pulpit the Zealot to his Prayers yea the Doctor and Professor of Divinity to his Study and there he can chearfully suffer him to labour and work among his Books yea and help him to find out and invent subtle distinctions and quiddities by which both his mind and others through him may be kept from heeding God's Light in the Conscience and waiting upon him There is not any exercise whatsoever wherein he cannot enter and have a chief place so as the Soul many times cannot discern it except in this alone for he can only work in and by the natural man and his Faculties by secretly acting upon his Imaginations and desires c. And therefore when he to wit the natural man is silent there he must also stand And therefore when the Soul comes to this silence and as it were is brought to nothingness as to her own workings then the Devil is shut out for the Pure Presence of God and shining of his Light he cannot abide because so long as a man is thinking and meditating as of himself he cannot be sure but the devil is influencing him therein but when he comes wholly to be silent as the Pure Light of God shines in upon him then he is sure that the Devil is shut out for beyond the imaginations he cannot go which we often find by sensible experience For he that of old is said to have come to the gathering together of the Children of God is not wanting to come to our Assemblies and indeed he can well enter and work in a meeting that 's silent only as to words either by keeping the minds in various thoughts and imaginations or by stupifying them so as to overwhelm them with a spirit of heavynses and sloathfulness but when we retire out of all and are returned in both by being diligent and watchful upon the one hand and also silent and retired out of all our thoughts upon the other as we abide in this sure place we feel our selves out of his reach yea often-times the Power and Glory of God will break forth and appear just as the bright Sun through many Clouds and Mists to the dispelling of that Power of Darkness which will also be sensibly felt seeking to cloud and darken the mind and wholly to keep it from purely waiting upon God § XIII Thirdly The excellency of this Worship doth appear in that it can neither be stopped nor interrupted by the malice of Men or Devils as all other can Now interruptions and stoppings of Worship may be understood in a twofold respect either as we are hindered from meeting as being outwardly by violence separated one from another or when permitted to meet together as we are interrupted by the Tumult Noise and Confusion which such as are malitious may use to molest or distract us Now in both these respects this Worship doth greatly overpass all others for how far soever People be separate or hindred from coming together yet as every one is inwardly gathered to the measure of Life in himself there is a secret unity and fellowship enjoyed which the Devil and all his Instruments can never break or hinder But Secondly it doth as well appear as to these molestations which occur when we are met together what advantage this True and Spiritual Worship gives us beyond all others seeing in despite of a thousand interruptions and abuses one of which were sufficient to have stopped all other sorts of Christians we have been able through the Nature of this Worship to keep it uninterrupted as to God and also at the same time to shew forth an example of our Christian Patience towards all even often-times to the reaching and convincing of our opposers for there is no sort of Worship used by others which can subsist though they be permitted to meet unless they be either authorized and protected by the Magistrate or defend themselves with the Arm of Flesh but we at the same time exercise Worship towards God and also patiently bear the reproaches and ignominies which Christ Prophesied should be so incident and frequent to Christians for how can the Papists say their Mass if there be any there to disturb and interrupt them Do but take away the Mass-book the Calice the Host or the Priest's Garments yea do but spill the Water or the Wine or blow out the Candles a thing quickly done and the whole business is marred and no Sacrifice can be offered Take from the Lutherans or Episcopalians their Liturgy or Common Prayer Book and no service can be said Remove from the Calvinists Arminians Socinians Independants or Anabaptists the Pulpit the Bible and the Hour-glass or make but such a noise as the Voice of the Preacher cannot be heard or disturb him but so before he come or strip him of his Bible and his Books and he must be dumb for they all think it an Heresie to wait to speak as the Spirit of God giveth utterance and thus easily their whole Worship may be marred But when People meet together and their Worship consisteth not in such outward acts and they depend not upon any ones speaking but meerly sit down to wait upon God and to be gathered out of all visibles and to feel the Lord in Spirit none of these things can hinder them of which we may say of a truth we are sensible witnesses for when the Magistrates stirred up by the malice and envy of our opposers have used all means possible and yet in vain to deter us from meeting together and that openly and publickly in our own hired Houses for that purpose both Death Banishments Imprisonments Finings Beatings Whippings and other such Devilish Inventions have proved ineffectual to terrifie us from our Holy Aâ—â—â—…blies I say and we having thus often-times purchased our Liberty to meet by deep sufferings our opposers have then taken another way by turning in upon us the worst and wickedest People yea the very off scourings of men who by all manner of inhumane beastly and bruitish behaviour have sought to provoke us weary us and molest us but in vain It would be almost incredible to declare and indeed a shame that among many men pretending to be Christians it should be mentioned what things of this kind mens eyes have seen
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
now it is fit to speak of Praying concerning which the like controversie ariseth Our adversaries whose Religion is all for the most part outside and such whose acts are the meer product of man's natural will and abilities as they can preach so can they pray when they please and therefore have their set particular prayers I meddle not with the controversies among themselves concerning this some of them being for set prayers as a liturgy others for such as are ex tempore conceived it suffices me that all of them agree in this that the motions and influence of the Spirit of God are not necessary to be previous thereunto and therefore they have set times in their publick worship as before and after preaching and in their private devotion as morning and evening and before and after meat and other such occasions at which they precisely set about the performing of their prayers by speaking words to God whether they feel any motion or influence of the Spirit or not so that some of the chiefest have confessed that they have thus prayed without the motions or assistance of the Spirit acknowledging that they sinned in so doing yet they said they look upon it as their duty to do so though to pray without the Spirit be sin We freely confess that Prayer is both very profitable and a necessary duty commanded and fit to be practised frequently by all Christians but as we can do nothing without Christ so neither can we pray without the concurrence and assistance of his Spirit But that the state of the Controversie may be the better understood let it be considered First that Prayer is twofold inward and outward Inward Prayer is that secret turning of the mind towards God whereby being secretly touched and awakened by the Light of Christ in the Conscience and so bowed down under the sense of its iniquities unworthiness and misery it looks up to God and joining issue with the secret shinings of the Seed of God it breaths towards him and is constantly breathing forth some secret desires and aspirations towards him It is in this sense that we are so frequently in Scripture commanded to pray continually Luke 18.1 1 Thes. 5.17 Eph. 6.18 Luke 21.36 Which cannot be understood of outward Prayer because it were impossible that men should be alwaies upon their knees expressing words of prayer and this would hinder them from the exercise of those duties no less positively commanded Outward Prayer is when as the Spirit being thus in the exercise of inward retirement and feeling the breathing of the Spirit of God to arise powerfully in the Soul receives strength and liberty by a superadded motion and influence of the Spirit to bring forth either audable sighs groans or words and that either in publick assemblies or in private or at meat c. As then inward prayer is necessary at all times so so long as the day of every man's visitation lasteth he never wants some influence less or more for the practice of it Because he no sooner retires his mind and considers himself in God's presence but he finds himself in the practice of it The outward exercise of Prayer as needing a greater and superadded influence and motion of the Spirit as it cannot be continually practised so neither can it be so readily so as to be effectually performed until his mind be sometime acquainted with the inward therefore such as are dilligent and watchful in their minds and much retired in the exercise of this inward Prayer are more capable to be frequent in the use of the outward because that this Holy Influence doth more constantly attend them and they being better acquainted with and accustomed to the motions of God's Spirit can easily perceive and discern them and indeed as such who are most diligent have a near access to God and he taketh most delight to draw them by his Spirit to approach and call upon him So when many are gathered together in this watchful mind God doth frequently pour forth the Spirit of Prayer among them and stir them thereunto to the edifying and building up of one another in love But because this outward Prayer depends upon the inward as that which must follow it and cannot be acceptably performed but as attended with a superadded influence and motion of the Spirit therefore cannot we prefix set times to pray outwardly so as to lay a necessity to speak words at such and such times whether we feel this heavenly influence and assistance or no for that we judg were a tempting of God and a coming before him without due preparation We think it fit for us to present our selves before him by this inward retirement of the mind and so to proceed further as his Spirit shall help us and draw us thereunto and we find that the Lord accepts of this yea and seeth meet sometimes to exercise us in this silent place for the tryal of our patience without allowing us to speak further that he may teach us not to rely upon outward performances or satisfie our selves as too many do with the saying of our Prayers and that our dependence upon him may be the more firm and constant to wait for the holding out of his Scepter and for his allowance to draw near unto him and with greater freedom and enlargement of Spirit upon our hearts towards him yet nevertheless we do not deny but sometimes God upon particular occasions very suddenly yea upon the very first turning-in of the mind may give power and liberty to bring forth words or acts of outward Prayer so as the Soul can scarce discern any previous motion but the influence and bringing forth thereof may be as it were simul semel nevertheless that saying of Bernard is true that All Prayer is tepid which hath not an inspiration preveening it Though we affirm that none ought to go about Prayer without this motion yet we do not deny but such sin as neglect Prayer but their sin is in that they come not to that place where they may feel that that would lead them thereunto And therefore we question not but many through neglect of this inward watchfulness and retiredness of mind miss many precious opportunities to Pray and thereby are guilty in the sight of God yet would they sin if they should set about the act until they first felt the influence For as he grosly offends his Master that lyeth in his Bed and sleeps and neglects to do his Masters business yet if such a one should suddenly get up without puting on his Cloaths or taking along with him those necessary tools and instruments without which he could not possibly work should forwardly fall a doing to no purpose he would be so far thereby from repairing his former fault that he would justly incur a new censure and one that is careless and otherwaies busied may miss to hear one speaking unto him or even not hear the Bell of a Clock though striking hard
would follow as is evident and will be acknowledged by all Next we do not deny but wicked men are sensible of the motions and operations of God's Spirit often-times before their day be expired from which they may at times pray acceptably not as remaining altogether wicked but as entring into Piety from whence they afterwards fall away § XXVI As to the singing of Psalms there will not be need of any long discourse for that the case is just the same as in the two former of Preaching and Prayer We confess this to be a part of God's Worship and very sweet and refreshful when it proceeds from a true sense of God's love in the heart and arises from the divine influence of the Spirit which leads Souls to breath forth either a sweet Harmony or words suitable to the present condition whether they be words formerly used by the Saints and recorded in Scripture such as the Psalmes of David or other words as were the Hymns and Songs of Zacharias Simeon and the Blessed Virgin Mary But as for the formal customary way of singing it hath in Scripture no foundation nor any ground in true Christiansty yea besides all the abuses incident to prayer and preaching it hath this more peculiar that often times great and horrid lies are said in the sight of God for all manner of wicked prophane People take upon them to personate the experiences and conditions of Blessed David which are not only false as to them but also as to some of more sobriety who utter them forth as where they will sing sometimes Psal. 22.14 my heart is like Wax it is melted in the midst of my Bowels and verse 15. My strength is dried up like a Pot-sheard and my Tongue cleaveth to my Jaws and thou hast brought me into the dust of Death And Psal. 6.6 I am weary with my groaning all the night make I my Bed to swim I water my Couch with my Tears And many more which those that speak know to be false as to them And sometimes will confess just after in their Prayers that they are guilty of the Vices opposite to those Vertues which but just before they have asserted themselves endued with Who can suppose that God accepts of such jugling And indeed such singing doth more please the carnal ears of men than the pure ears of the Lord who abhors all Lying and Hypocrisie That singing then that pleaseth him must proceed from that which is PVRE in the Heart even from the Word of Life therein in and by which richly dwelling in us Spiritual Songs and Hymns are returned to the Lord according to that of the Apostle Col. 3.16 But as to their artificial Musick either by Organs or other instruments or voice we have neither example nor precept for it in the New Testament § XXVII But lastly the great advantage of this true Worship of God which we profess and practice is that it consisteth not in man's Wisdom Arts or Industry neither needeth the Glory Pomp Riches nor Splendor of this World to beautifie it as being of a Spiritual and Heavenly nature and therefore too simple and contemptible to the natural mind and will of man that hath no delight to abide in it because he finds no room there for his imaginations and inventions and hath not the opportunity to gratifie his outward and carnal Senses so that this form being observed is not like to be long kept pure without the Power For it is of it self so naked without it that it hath nothing in it to invite and tempt men to dote upon it further than it is accompanied with the Power Whereas the Worship of out Adversaries being performed in their own wills is self-pleasing as in which they can largely exercise their natural parts and invention and as to most of them having somewhat of an outward and worldly splendor delectable to the carnal and worldly Senses they can pleasantly continue it and satisfie themselves though without the Spirit and Power which they make no ways essential to the performance of their Worship and therefore neither wait for nor expect it § XXVIII So that to conclude the Worship Preaching Praying and Singing which we plead for is such as proceedeth from the Spirit of God and is always accompanyed with its influence being begun by its motion and carried on by the power and strength thereof and so is a Worship purely Spiritual such as the Scripture holds forth Joh. 4.23 24. 1 Cor. 14.15 Eph. 6.18 c. But the Worship Preaching Praying and Singing which our Adversaries plead for and which we oppose is a Worship which is both begun carried on and concluded in man's own natural will and strenghth without the motion or influence of God's Spirit which they judg they need not wait for and therefore may be truly acted both as to the matter and manner by the wickedest of men Such was the Worship and vain Oblations which God always rejected as appears from Isa. 66.3 Jer. 14.12 c. Isa. 1.13 Prov. 15.29 John 9.31 The Twelfth Proposition Concerning Baptism As there is one Lord and one Faith so there is one Baptism which is not the putting away the Filth of the Flesh but the answer of a good Conscience before God by the Resurrection of Jesus Christ and this Baptism is a Pure and a Spiritual thing to wit the Baptism of the Spirit and Fire by which we are buried with him that being washed and purged from our sins we may walk in newness of Life of which the Baptism of John was a Figure which was commanded for a time and not to continue for ever as to the Baptism of Infants it is a meer humane Tradition for which neither Precept nor Practice is to be found in all the Scripture § I. I Did sufficiently demonstrate in the explanation and probation of the former Proposition how greatly the Professors of Christianity as well Protestants as Papists were degenerated in the matter of Worship and how much strangers to and averse from that true and acceptable Worship that is performed in the Spirit of Truth because of man's natural propensity in his faln state to exalt his own inventions and to intermix his own work and product in the Service of God and from this root sprung all the Idle Worships Idolatries and numerous Superstitious Inventions among the Heathens For when God in condescension to his chosen People the Jews did prescribe to them by his Servant Moses many Ceremonies and Observations as Types and Shaddows of the Substance which in due time was to be revealed which consisted for the most part in washings outward purifications and cleansings which were to continue until the time of the Reformation until the Spiritual Worship should be set up and that God by the more powerful pouring forth of his Spirit and guiding of that Anoynting which was to lead his Children into all Truth and teach them to Worship him in a way more Spiritual and acceptable
really did administer the baptism of water did in so doing not administer the Baptism of Christ so that if there be now but one Baptism as we have already proved we may safely conclude that it is that of the Spirit and not of water else it would follow that the One baptism which now continues were the baptism of water i. e. John's baptism and not the baptism of the Spirit i. e. Christs which were most obsurd If it be said further that though the Baptism of John before Christs was administred was different from it as being the figure only Obj. yet now that both it as the figure and that of the Spirit as the substance is necessary to make up the one baptism I answer this urgeth nothing unless it be granted also that both of them belong to the essence of Baptism Answ. so that Baptism is not to be accounted as truly administred where both are not which none of our adversaries will acknowledg but on the contrary account not only all those truly baptized with the Baptism of Christ who are baptized with water tho they be uncertain whether they be baptized with the Spirit or not but they even account such truly baptized with the baptism of Christ because sprinkled or baptized with water though it be manifest and most certain that they are not baptized with the Spirit as being enemies thereunto in their heart by wicked works So here by their own confession baptism with water is without the Spirit Wherefore we may far safer conclude that the baptism of the Spirit which is that of Christ is and may be without that of Water as appears in that Acts 11. where Peter testifies of these men that they were baptized with the Spirit though not then baptized with Water and indeed the controversie in this as in most other things stands beiwixt us and our opposers in that they not only often times prefer the form and shadow to the power and substance by denominating persons as inheritors and possessors of the thing from their having the form and shadow though really wanting the power and substance and not admitting those to be so denominated who have the power and substance if they want the form and shadow This appears evidently in that those truly baptized with the one baptism of Christ who are not baptized with the Spirit which in Scripture is particularly called the Baptism of Christ if they be only baptized with Water which themselves yet confess to be but the shaddow or figure And moreover in that they account not those who are surely baptized with the Baptism of the Spirit baptized neither will they have them so denominate unless they be also sprinkled with or dipped in Water But we on the contrary do alwaies prefer the power to the form the substance to the shaddow and where the Substance and Power is we doubt not to denominate the Person accordingly though the form be wanting and therefore we alwaies seek first and plead for the Substance and Power as knowing that to be indispensable necessary though the form sometimes may be dispensed with and the figure or tipe may cease when the Substance and Anti-tipe comes to be enjoyed as it doth in this case which shall hereafter be made appear § IV. Fourthly that the one Baptism of Christ is not a washing with Water appears from 1 Pet. 3.21 The like figure whereunto even Baptism doth also now save us not the putting away of the filth of the flesh but the answer of a good Conscience towards God by the Resurrection of Jesus Christ. So plain a definition of Baptism is not in all the Bible and therefore seeing it is so plain it may well be preferred to all the coined definitions of the School-men The Apostle tells us first negatively what it is not viz. Not a putting away of the filth of the flesh then surely it is not a washing with Water since that is so Secondly he tells us affirmatively what it is viz. the answer of a good Conscience towards God by the Resurrection of Jesus Christ where affirmatively defines it to be the answer or confession as the Syriak version hath it of a good Conscience Now this answer cannot be but where the Spirit of God hath purified the Soul and the fire of his judgment hath burned up the unrighteous nature and those in whom this work is wrought may be truly said to be baptized with the baptism of Christ i. e. of the Spirit and of Fire Whatever way then we take this definition of the Apostle of Christ's baptism it confirmeth our sentence for if we take the first or negative part viz. that it is not a puting away of the filth of the Flesh then it will follow that water-baptism is not it because that is a puting away of the filth of the Flesh. If we take the second and affirmative definition to wit that it is the answer or confession of a good Conscience c. then Water-baptism is not it since as our Adversaries will not deny Water-baptism doth not alwaies imply it neither is it any necessary consequence thereof Moreover the Apostle in this place doth seem especially to guard against those that might esteem Water-baptism the true baptism of Christ because lest by the Comparison induced by him in the preceeding verse betwixt the Souls that were saved in Noah's Ark and us that are now saved by Baptism lest I say any should have thence hastily concluded that because the former were saved by water this place must needs be taken to speak of Water-baptism to prevent such a mistake he plainy affirms that it â—s not that but another thing He saith not that it is the Water or the putting away of the filth of the Flesh as accompanyed with the answer of a good Conscience whereof the one viz. the Water is the Sacramental Element administred by the Minister and the other the Grace or thing signified conferred by Christ but plainly that it is not the puting away c. than which there can be nothing more manifest to men unprejudicate and judicious Moreover Peter calls this here which saves the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Anti-type or the thing figured whereas it is usually translated as if the like figure did now save us thereby insinuating that as they were saved by water in the Ark so are we now by Water baptism But this interpretation crosseth his sense he presently after declaring the contrary as hath above been observed and likewise it would contradict the opinion of all out opposers For Protestants deny it to be absolutely necessary to Salvation And though Papists say none are saved without it yet in this they admit an exception as of Martyrs c. and they will not say that all that have it are saved by Water-baptism for seeing we are saved by this baptism as those that were in the Ark were saved by Water and that all those that were in the Ark were saved by water it
carnal Ordinances are no more to be imposed For how Baptism with Water comes now to be a Spiritual Ordinance more than before in the time of the Law doth not appear seeing it is but Water still and a washing outward man and a puting away of the filth of the flesh still and as before those that are so washed were not thereby made perfect as pertaining to the Conscience neither are they at this day as our adversaries must needs acknowledg and experience abundantly sheweth So that the matter of it which is a washing with Water and the effect of it which is only an outward cleansing being still the same How comes Water-baptism to be less a carnal Ordinance now than before Obj. If it be said that God censers inward Grace upon some that are now baptized So no doubt he did also upon some that used those Baptisms among the Jews Answ. Obj. Or if it be said because 't is commanded by Christ now under the New Covenant Answ. I answere first that 's to beg the question of which hereafter But secondly we find that where the matter of Ordinances is the same and the end the same they are never accounted more or less Spiritual because of their different times Now was not God the Author of the Purifications and Baptisms under the Law Was not Water the matter of them which is so now Was not the end of them to signifie an outward purifying by an inward washing And is not that alleadged to be the end still And are the necessary effects or consequences of it any better now than before since men are now by the vertue of Water-baptism as a necessary consequence of it no more than before made inwardly clean And if some by Gods Grace that are Baptized with Water are inwardly purified so were some also under the Law so that this is not any necessary consequence nor effect neither of this nor that Baptism it is then plainly repugnant to right reason as well as to the Scripture Testimony to affirm That to be a Spiritual Ordinance now which was a carnal Ordinance before If it be still the same both as to its Author Matter and end however made to vary in some small circumstances The Sairituality of the New Covenant and of its Worship established by Christ consisted not in such superficial alterations of circumstances but after another manner therefore let our adversaries shew us if they can without beging the question and building upon someone or other of their own principles denied by us where ever Christ appointed or ordained any institution or observation under the New Covenant as belonging to the nature of it or such a necessary part of its Worship as is perpetually to continue which being one in substance and effects I speak of necessary not accidental effects yet beceause of some small difference in form or circumstance was before carnal notwithstanding it was commanded by God under the Law but now is become Spiritual because commanded by Christ under the Gospel And if they cannot do this then if Water-baptism was once a carnal Ordinance as the Apostle positively affirms it to have been it remains a carnal Ordinance still and if a carnal Ordinance then no necessary part of the Gospel or New Covenant Dispensation and if no necessary part of it then not needful to continue nor to be practised by such as live and walk under this Dispensation But in this as in most other things according as we have often observed our adversaries Judaize and renouncing the Glorious and Spiritual Priviledges of the New Covenant are sticking in and cleaving to the Rudiments of the old both in Doctrin and Worship as being more suted and agreeable to their carnal apprehensions and natural senses But we on the contrary travel above all to lay hold upon and cleave unto the Light of the Glorious Gospel revealed unto us And the harmony of the Truth we profess in this may appear by briefly observing how in all things we follow the Spiritual Gospel of Christ as contradistinguished from the carnality of the legal Dispensation while our adversaries through rejecting this Gospel are still labouring under the burthen of the Law which neither they nor their Fathers were able to bear For the Law and rule of the old Covenant and Jews wus outward written in Tables of Stone and Parchments So also is that of our adversaries But the Law of the New Covenant is inward and perpetual written in the heart so is ours The Worship of the Jews was outward and carnal limitted to set times places and persons and performed according to set prescribed forms and vations so is that of our adversaries But the Worship of the New Covenant is neither limited to time place nor person but is performed in the Spirit and in Truth and is not acted according to set formand prescriptions but as the Spirit of God immediately acts moves and leads whether it be to Preach Pray or Sing and such is also our Worship So likewise the baptism among the Jews under the Law was an outward washing with outward water only to tipifie an outward purification of the Soul which did not necessarily follow upon those that were thus baptized But the Baptism of Christ under the Gospel is the Baptism of the Spirit and of Fire not the putting away of the filth of the flesh but the answer of a good conscience towards God and is the baptism that we labour to be baptized withal and contented for Arg. § VII But again If Water baptism had been an ordinance of the Gospel then the Apostle Paul would have been sent to administer it but he declares positively 1 Cor. 17. That Christ sent him not to baptize but to preach the Gospel The reason of that consequence is undenyable because the Apostle Paul's Commission was as large as that of any of them and consequently he being in special manner the Apostle of Christ to the Gentiles if Water-baptism as our Adversaries contend be to be accounted the Badg of Christianity he had more need than any of the rest to be sent to Baptize with Water that he might mark the Gentiles converted by him with that Christian sign But indeed the reason holds better thus that since Paul was the Apostle of the Gentiles and that in his Ministry he doth through all as by his Epistles appears labour to wean them from the former Jewish Ceremonies and Observations though in so doing he was sometimes undeservedly judged by others of his Brethren who were unwilling to lay aside those Ceremonies therefore his commission though as full as to the preaching of the Gospel and New Covenant Dispensation at that of the other Apostles did not require of him that he should lead those Converts into such Jewish Observations and Baptisms however that practice was indulged in and practised by the other Apostles among their Jewish Proselytes for which cause He thanks God that he baptized so few intimating that what he did
therein he did not by vertue of his Apostolick commission but rather in condescendence to their weakness even as at another time he circumcised Timothy Our Adversaries to evade the Truth of this Testimony usually alledge that by this is only to be understood that he was not sent principally to baptize not that he was not sent at all But this exposition since it contradicts the positive words of the text and has no better foundation than the affirmation of its assertors Answ. is justly rejected as spurious until they bring some better proof for it he saith not I was not sent principally to Baptize but I was not sent to baptize As for what they urge by way of confirmation from other places of Scripture where not is to be so taken as where it 's said I will have mercy and not sacrifice which is to be understood that God requires principally mercy not excluding Sacrifices I say this place is abundantly explained by the following words and the knowledg of God more than burnt Offerings by which it clearly appears that Burnt offerings which are one with Sacrifices are not excluded but there is no such word added in that of Paul and therefore the parity is not demonstrated to be alike and consequently the instance not sufficient unless they can prove that it ought so to be admitted here else we might interpret by the same rule all other places of Scripture the same way as were the Apostle saith 1 Cor. 2.5 That your Faith might not stand in the wisdom of men but in the Power of God it might be understood it shall not stand principally so How might the Gospel by this liberty of interpretation be perverted If it be said That the abuse of this baptism among the Corinthians Obj. in dividing themselves according to the persons by whom they were baptized made the Apostle speak so but that the abuse of a thing doth not abolish it I answer it is true it doth not Answ. provided the thing be lawful and necessary and that no doubt the abuse abovesaid gave the Apostle occasion so to write But let it from this be considered how the Apostle excludes baptizing not preaching though the abuse mark proceeded from that no less then from the other For these Corinthians did denominate themselves from those different persons by whose preaching as well as from those by whom they were baptized they were converted as by the 4 5 6 7 and 8 verses of the third chap. may appear and yet for to remove that abuse the Apostle doth not say he was not sent to preach nor yet doth he rejoyce that he had only preached to a few because Preaching being a standing ordinance in the Church is not because of any abuse that the Devil may tempt any to make of it to be forborn by such as are called to perform it by the Spirit of God Wherefore the Apostle accordingly chap. 3.8 9. informs them as to that how to remove that abuse but as to Water-baptism for that it was no standing Ordinance of Christ but only practised as in condescendence to the Jews and by some Apostles to some Gentiles also there so soon as the Apostle perceived the abuse of he let the Corinthians understand how little stress was to be laid upon it by shewing them that he was glad that he had administred this ceremony to so few of them and by telling them plainly that it was no part of his commission neither that which he was sent to administer Some ask us how we know that baptizing here is meant of water and not of the Spirit Quest. which if it be then it will exolude baptism of the Spirit as well as of Water Answ. I answer such as ask the question I suppose speak it not as doubting that this was said of Water-baptism which is more then manifest for since the Apostle Paul's message was to turn People from darkness to Light and convert them to God and that as many as are thus turned and converted so as to have the answer of a good Conscience towards God and to have put on Christ and be arisen with him in newness of life are baptized with the baptism of the Spirit But who will say that only these few mentioned there to be baptized by Paul were come to this Or that to turn or bring them to this condition was not even admitting our Adversaries interpretation as principally a part of Paul's Ministry as any other Since then our Adversaries do take this place for Water-baptism as indeed it is we may lawfully taking it also urge it upon them Why the word baptism and baptizing is used by the Apostle where that of Water and not of the Spirit is only understood shall hereafter be spoken to I come now to consider the reasons alledged by such as plead for Water-baptism which are also the objections used against the discontinuance of it First some object that Christ who had the Spirit above measure was notwithstanding baptized with Water As Nic. Arnoldus against this These Sect. 46. of his Theological Exercitation I answer so was he also circumcised it will not follow from thence that Circumcision is to continue for it behoved Christ to fulfill all Righteousness not only the Ministry of John but the Law also Therefore did he observe the Jewish Feasts and Rites and kept the Passover It will not then follow that Christians ought to do so now and therefore Christ Matth. 3.15 gives John this reason of his being baptized desiring him to suffer it to be so now whereby he sufficiently intimates that he intended not thereby to perpetuate it as an Ordinance to his Disciples Secondly they object Matth. 28.19 Go ye therefore Obj. and teach all nations baptizing them in the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost This is the great objection Answ. and upon which they build the whole Superstructure whereunto the first general and sound answer is by granting the whole but puting them to prove that Water is here meant since the text is silent of it And though in reason it be sufficient upon our part that we conclude the whole expressed in the place but deny that it is by Water which is an addition to the Text. Yet I shall premise some reasons why we do so and then consider the reasons alledged by those that will have Water to be here understood The first is a maxime yielded to by all Arg. that we ought not to go from the literal signification of the Text except some urgent necessity force us thereunto But no urgent necessity in this place forceth us thereunto Therefore we ought not to go from it Secondly that Baptism which Christ commanded his Apostles Arg. was the One Baptism id est his own Baptism But the One Baptism which is Christ's Baptism is not with Water as we have already proved Therefore the Baptism commanded by Christ to his Apostles was not
participation of the Body Flesh and Blood of Christ than any of them all For Christ in this Chapter perceiving that the Jews did follow him for Love of the Loaves desires them ver 27. to labour not for the meat which perisheth but for that meat which endureth for ever but forasmuch as they being carnal in their apprehensions and not understanding the Spiritual Language and Doctrine of Christ did judg the Manna which Moses gave their Fathers to be the most excellent Bread as coming from Heaven Christ to rectifie that mistake and better inform them affirmeth first that is not Moses but his Father that giveth the true Bread from Heaven ver 32 48. Secondly This Bread he calls himself ver 35. I am the Bread of Life and ver 51. I am the living Bread which came down from Heaven Thirdly he declares that this Bread is his Flesh ver 51. This Bread that I will give is my Flesh And ver 55. For my Flesh is Meat indeed and my Blood is Drink indeed Fourthly the necessity of partaking thereof ver 53. Except ye eat the Flesh of the Son of man and drink his Blood ye have no Life in you And lastly ver 33. the blessed fruits and necessary effects of this communion of the Body and Blood of Christ This Bread giveth life to the world ver 50. He that eateth thereof dieth not ver 58. he that eateth of this Bread shall live for ever ver 51. who so eateth this Flesh and drinketh this Blood shall live for ever ver 54. and he dwelleth in Christ and Christ in him ver 56. and shall live by Christ ver 57. From this large description of the origin nature and effects of this Body Flesh and Blood of Christ it is apparent that it is Spiritual and to be understood of a Spiritual Body and not of that Body or Temple of Jesus Christ which was born of the Virgin Mary and in which he walked lived and suffered in the land of Judea because that it is saâ—d both that it came down from Heaven yea that it is he that came down from Heaven Now all Christians at present generally acknowledg that the outward Body of Christ came not down from Heaven neither was it that part of Christ which came down from Heaven And to put the matter out of doubt when the carnal Jews would have been so understanding it he tells them plainly ver 63. It is the Spirit that quickeneth but the Flesh profiteth nothing This is also founded upon most sound and solid reason because that it is the Soul not the Body that is to be nourished by this Flesh and Blood Now outward Flesh cannot nourish nor feed the Soul there is no proportion nor analogy betwixt them neither is the communion of the Saints with God by a conjunction and mutual participation of Flesh but of the Spirit He that is joyned to the Lord is One Spirit not by Flesh I mean outward Flesh even such as was that wherein Christ lived and walked when upon Earth and not Flesh when transported by a metaphor to be understood Spiritually can only partake of Flesh as Spirit of Spirit as the Body cannot feed upon Spirit neither can the Spirit feed upon Flesh and that the Flesh here spoken of is spiritually understood appears further in that that which feedeth upon it shall never die but the Bodies of all men once die yea it behoved the Body of Christ himself to die that this Body and Spiritual Flesh and Blood of Christ is to be understood of that Divine and Heavenly Seed before spoken of by us appears both by the nature and fruits of it First it 's said it is that which cometh down from Heaven and giveth life unto the world now this answers to that Light and Seed which is testified of Joh. 1. to be the Light of the World and the Life of Men. For that Spiritual Light and Seed as it receives place in mens hearts and room to spring up there is as Bread to the hungry and fainting Soul that is as it were buried and dead in the lusts of the World which receives life again and revives as it tasteth and partaketh of this heavenly bread and they that partake of it are said to come to Christ neither can any have it but by coming to him and believing in the appearance of his Light in their hearts by receiving which and believing in it the participation of this body and bread is known And that Christ understands the same thing here by his Body Flesh and Blood which is understood John 1. by the Light inlightening every man and the Life c. appears for the Light and Life spoken of John 1. is said to be Christ he is the true Light and the Bread and Flesh c. spoken of in this 6 of John is called Christ I am the Bread of Life saith he Again they that received that Light and Life John 1.12 obtained power to become the Sons of God by believing in his Name so also here John 6.35 He that cometh unto this bread of Life shall not hunger and he that believes in him who is this bread shall never thirst So then as there was the outward visible Body and Temple of Jesus Christ which took its origen from the Virgin Mary so there is also the Spiritual Body of Christ by and through which he that was the Word in the beginning with God and was and is GOD did reveal himself to the Sons of Men in all ages and whereby men in all ages come to be made partakers of Eternal Life and to have communion and fellowship with God and Christ. Of which body of Christ and flesh and blood if both Adam and Seth and Enoch and Noah and Abraham and Moses and David and all the Prophets and Holy men of God had not eaten they had not had life in them nor could their inward man have nourished Now as the outward Body and Temple was called Christ so was also his Spiritual Body no less properly and that long before that outward Body was in being Hence the Apostle saith 1 Cor. 10.3 4. that the Fathers did all eat the same Spiritual meat and did all drink the same Spiritual drink for they drank of that Spiritual Rock that followed them and that Rock was Christ. This cannot be understood otherwise than of this Spiritual body of Christ which Spiritual body of Christ though it was the saving food of the Righteous both before the Law and under the Law yet under the Law it was vailed and shaddowed and covered under divers types ceremonies and observations yea and not so but it was vailed and hid in some respect under the outward Temple and Body of Christ or during the continuance of it so that the Jews could not understand Christ's Preaching about it while on Earth And not the Jews only but many of his Disciples judged it an hard saying murmured at it and many from that
carnal ordinances no wonder if by their carnal apprehensions they run into heaps and confusion But because it hath been generally supposed that the communion of the body and blood of Christ had some special relation to the ceremony of breaking bread I first refute that opinion and then proceed to consider the nature and use of that ceremony and whether it be now necessary to continue answering the reasons and objections of such as plead its continuance as a necessary and standing ordinance of Jesus Christ. § V. First it must be understood that I speak of a necessary and peculiar relation otherwise than in a general respect for forasmuch as our communion with Christ is and ought to be our greatest and chiefest work we ought to do all other things with a respect to God and our fellowship with him but a special and necessary respect or relation is such as where the two things are so tied and united together either of their own nature or by the command of God that the one cannot be enjoyed or at lest is not except very extraordinarily without the other Thus Salvation hath a necessary respect to Holyness because without Holyness no man shall see God And the eating of the flesh and blood of Christ hath a necessary respect to our having life because if we eat not his flesh and drink not his blood we cannot have life our feeling of God's presence hath a necessary respect to our being found meeting in his name by Divine Precept because he has promised where two or three are met together in his Name he will be in the midst of them in like manner our receiving benefits and blessings from God has a necessary respect to our Praying because if we ask he hath promised we shall receive Now the communion or participation of the flesh and blood of Christ hath no such necessary relation to the breaking of bread and drinking of Wine For if it had any such necessary relation it would either be from the Nature of the thing or from some Divine Precept But we shall shew it is from neither Therefore c. First it is not from the nature of it because to partake of the flesh and blood of Christ is a Spiritual exercise and all confess that it is by the Soul and Spirit that we become real partakers of it as it is the Soul and not the Body that is nourished by it but to eat Bread and drink Wine is a natural act which in it self adds nothing to the Soul neither has any thing that is Spiritual in it because the most carnal man that is can as fully as perfectly and as wholly eat Bread and drink Wine as the most Spiritual Secondly their relation is not by nature else they would infer one another but all acknowledg that many eat of the bread and drink of the wine even that which they say is consecrate and transubstantiate into the very body of Christ who notwithstanding have not life eternal have not Christ dwelling them nor do live by him as all do who truly partake of the flesh and blood of Christ without the use of this ceremony as all the Patriarchs and Prophets did before this ordinance as they account it was instituted neither was there any thing under the Law that had any direct or necessary relation hereunto though to partake of the flesh and blood of Christ in all ages was indispensibly necessary to Salvation For as for the Paschal Lamb the whole end of it is signified particularly Exod. 13.8 9. to wit that the Jews might thereby be kept in remembrance of their deliverance out of Egypt Secondly it has no relation by Divine Precept for if it had it would be mentioned in that which our Adversaries account the institution of it or else in the practise of it by the Saints recorded in Scripture but so it is not For as to the institution or rather narration of Christ's practice in this matter we have it recorded by the Evangelist Matthew Mark and Luke In the first two there is only an account of the matter of fact to wit that Christ brake bread and gave it his Disciples to eat saying this is my Body and blessing the cup he gave it them to drink saying this is my blood but nothing of any desire to them to do it In the last after the bread but before the blessing or giving them the wine he bids them do it in remembrance of him what we are to think of this practice of Christ shall be spoken ofhereafter But what necessary relation hath all this to the believers partaking of the flesh and blood of Christ The end of this for which they were to do it if at all is to remember Christ which the Apostle yet more particularly expresses 1 Cor. 11.26 to shew forth the Lord's death But to remember the Lord or declare his death which are the special and particular ends annexed to the use of this ceremony is not at all to partake of the flesh and blood of Christ neither have they any more necessary relation to it than any other two different Spiritual duties For though they that partake of the flesh and blood of Christ cannot but remember him yet the Lord and his death may be remembred as none can deny where his flesh and blood is not truly partaken of So that since the very particular and express end of this ceremony may be witnessed to wit the remembrance of the Lord's Death and yet the flesh and blood of Christ not partaken of it cannot have had any necessary relation to it else the partaking thereof would have been the end of it and could not have been attained without this participation But on the contrary we may well infer hence that since the positive end of this ceremony is not the partaking of the flesh and blood of Christ and that whoever partakes of the flesh and blood of Christ cannot but remember him that therefore such need not this ceremony to put them in remembrance of him But if it be said that Jesus Christ calls the bread here his body and the wine his blood Obj. therefore he seems to have had a special relation to his Disciples partaking of his flesh and blood in the use of this thing I answer his calling the bread his body and the wine his blood Answ. would yet infer no such thing though it is not denyed but that Jesus Christ in all things he did yea and from the use of all natural things took occasion to raise the minds of his Disciples and hearers to Spirituals Hence from the Woman of Samaria her drawing water he took occasion to tell her of that living Water which whoso drinketh of shall never thirst which indeed is all one with his blood here spoken of Yet it will not follow that that Well or Water had any necessary relation to the Living Water or the Living Water to it c. So Christ takes occasion from
with the using as much as other things But further if the use of water and bread and wine were that wherein the very seals of the New Covenant stood and did pertain to the chief Sacraments of the Gospel and Evangelical Ordinances so called then would not the Gospel differ from the Law or be preferable to it Whereas the Apostle shews the difference Heb. 9.10 in that such kind of observations of the Jews were as a sign of the Gospel for that this stood only in meats and drinks and divers washings And now if the Gospel worship and service stand in the same where is the difference Obj. If it be said These under the Gospel have a spiritual signification Answ. So had those under the Law God was the Author of those as well as Christ is pretended to be Author of these But doth not this contending for the use of water bread and wine as necessary parts of the Gospel-worship destroy the nature of it as if the Gospel were a dispensation of shadows and not of the Substance whereas the Apostle in that of the Collossians above-mentioned argues against the use of these things as needful to those that are dead and arisen with Christ because they are but shadows and since through the whole Epistle to the Hebrews he argues with the Jews to wean them from their worship for this reason because it was typical and figurative Is it agreeable to right Reason to bring them to another of the same nature What ground from Scripture or Reason can our adversaries bring us to evince that one shadow or figure should point to another shadow or figure and not to the Substance And yet they make the figure of Circumcision to point to Water-baptism and the Paschal Lamb so bread and wine But was it ever known that one figure was the antitypes of the other especially seeing Protestants make not these their antitypes to have any more vertue or efficacy than the type had For since as they say and that truly that their Sacraments confer not Grace but that is conferred according to the Faith of the receiver it will not be denied but the faithful among the Jews received also Grace in the use of their figurative Worship And though Papists boast that their Sacraments confer Grace ex opere operato yet experience abundantly proveth the contrary § X. But supposing the use of Water baptism and Bread and Wine to have been in the primitive Church as was also that of abstaining from things strangled and from Blood the use of legal Purification Acts 21.23 24 25. and anointing of the Sick with Oyl for the reasons and grounds beforementioned Yet it remains for our adversaries to shew us how they come by power or authority to administer them It cannot be from the letter of the Scripture else they behoved also to do those other things which the letter declares also they did and which in the letter have as much foundation Then their Power must be derived from the Apostles either mediately or immediately but we have shewn before in the tenth Proposition that they have no mediate Power because of the interruption made by the Apostasie And for an immediate power or command by the Spirit of God to administer these things none of our adversaries pretend to it We know that in this as in other things they make a noise of the constant consent of the Church and of Christians in all ages but as tradition is not a sufficient ground for Faith so in this matter especially it ought to have but small weight for that in this point of Ceremonies and superstitious Observations the Apostasie began very early as may appear in the Epistles of Paul to the Galatians and Colossians and we have no ground to imitate them in those things whose entrance the Apostle so much withstood so heavily regreted and so sharply reproved But if we look to Antiquity we find that in such kind of observances and traditions they were very uncertain and changeable so that neither Protestants nor Papists do observe this Ceremony as they did both in that they gave it to young Boyes and to little Children and for ought can be learned the use of this and Infant-baptism are of alike age though the one be laid aside both by Papists and Protestants and the other to wit Baptism of Infants be stuck to and we have so much the less reason to lay weight upon Antiquity for that if we consider their profession of Religion especially as to worship and the ceremonial part of it we shall not find any Church now whether Popish or Protestant who differ not widely from them in many things as Dalleus in his Treatise concerning the use of the Fathers well observeth and demonstrateth And why they should obtrude this upon us because of the Ancients practice which they themselves follow not or why we may not reject this as well as they do other things no less zealously practised by the Ancients no sufficient reason can be assigned I shall not nevertheless doubt but many whose understandings have been clouded with these Ceremonies have notwithstanding by the Mercy of God had some secret sense of the mystery which they could not clearly understand because it was sealed from them by their sticking to such outward things and that through that secret sence diving in their comprehensions they ran themselves into these carnal apprehensions as imagining the substance of the bread was changed or that if the substance was not changed yet the body was there c. And indeed I am inclinable very favourably to judg of Calvin in this particular in that he deals so ingenuously to confess he neither comprehends it nor can express it in words but yet by a feeling experience can say the Lord is Spiritually present Now as I doubt not but Calvin sometimes had a sense of his presence without the use of this ceremony so as the understanding given him of God made him justly reject the false notions of Transubstantiation and Consubstantiation tho he knew not what to establish instead of them if he had fully waited in that Light that makes all things manifest and had not laboured in his own comprehension to settle upon that external ceremony by affixing the Spiritual presence as chiefly or principally though not only as he well knew by experience there or especially to relate to it he might have further reached unto the knowledg of this mystery than many that went before him § XI Lastly if any now at this day from a true tenderness of Spirit and with real Conscience towards God did practise this ceremony in the same way method and manner as did the primitive Christians recorded in Scripture which yet none that I know now do I should not doubt to affirm but they might be indulged in it and the Lord might regard them and for a season appear to them in the use of these things as many of us have known him to do to
us in the time of our ignorance providing always they did not seek to obtrude them upon others nor judg such as found themselves delivered or that they do not pertinaciously adhere to them For we certainly know that the day is dawned in which God hath arisen and hath dismissed all those ceremonies and rites and is only to be worshipped in Spirit and that he appears to them who wait upon him and that to seek God in these things is with Mary at the Sepulchre to seek the living among the dead for we know that he is arisen and revealed in Spirit leading his Children out of these rudiments that they may walk with him in his Light to whom be Glory for ever Amen The Fourteenth Proposition Concerning the Power of the Civil Magistrate in matters purely Religious and pertaining to the Conscience Since God hath assumed to himself the Power and Dominion of the Conscience who alone can rightly instruct and govern it therefore it is not lawful for any whosoever by vertue of any Authority or Principality they bear in the Government of this World to force the Consciences of others and therefore all killing banishing fining imprisoning and other such things which are inflicted upon men for the alone exercise of their Conscience or difference in Worship or Opinion proceedeth from the Spirit of Cain the Murtherer and is contrary to the Truth providing always that no man under the pretence of Conscience prejudice his Neighbour in this life or estate or do any thing destructive to or inconsistent with humane Society in which case the Law is for the transgressor and Justice is to be administred upon all without respect of persons § I. LIBERTY of Conscience from the power of the Civil Magistrate hath been of late years so largely and learnedly handled that I shall not need but to be brief in it yet it is to be lamented that few have walked answerably to this principle each pleading it for themselves but scarce allowing it to others as hereafter I shall have occasion more at length to observe It will be fit in the first place for clearing of mistakes to say something of the state of the controversie that what follows may be the more clearly understood By Conscience then as in the explanation of the 5 and 6 Propositions I have observed is to be understood that perswasion of the mind which arises from the understandings being possessed with the belief of the Truth or Falsity of any thing which though it may be false or evil upon the matter yet if a man should go against his perswasion or Conscience he should commit a sin because what a man doth contrary to his Faith though his Faith be wrong is no ways acceptable to God hence the Apostle saith whatsoever is not of Faith is sin and he that doubteth is damned if he eat though the thing might have been lawful to another and that this doubting to eat some kind of meats since all the creatures of God are good and for the use of man if received with thanksgiving might be a superstition or at lest a weakness which were better removed Hence Ames De Cas. Cons. saith The Conscience although erring doth evermore bind so as that he sinneth who doth contrary to his Conscience because he doth contrary to the will of God although not materially and truly yet formally and interpretatively So the question is First Whether the Civil Magistrate hath power to force men in things religious to do contrary to their Conscience and if they will not to punish them in their goods liberties or lives this we hold in the negative But secondly as we would have the Magistrate avoiding this extream of incroaching upon men's Consciences so on the other hand we are far from joyning with or strengthening such libertines as would stretch the liberty of their Consciences to the prejudice of their Neighbours or to the ruin of humane Society We understand therefore by matters of Conscience such as immediately relate betwixt God and man or men and men that are under the same perswasion as to meet together and worship God in that way which they judg is most acceptable unto him and not to incroach upon or seek to force their neighbours otherwise than by reason or such other means as Christ and his Apostles used viz. preaching and instructing such as will hear and receive it but not at all for men under the notion of Conscience to do any thing contrary to the moral and perpetual statutes generally acknowledged by all Christians in which case the Magistrate may very lawfully use his Authority as on those who under a pretence of Conscience make it a principle to kill and destroy all the wicked id est all that differ from them that they to wit the Saints may rule and that therefore seek to make all things common and would force their neighbours to share their Estates with them and many such wild notions as is reported of the Anabaptists of Munster which evidently appears to proceed from pride and covetousness and not from purity or Conscience and therefore I have sufficiently guarded against that in the latter part of the Proposition But the Liberty we lay claim to is such as the primitive Church justly sought under the Heathen Emperors to wit for men of sobriety honesty and a peaceable conversation to enjoy the liberty and exercise of their Conscience towards God and among themselves and to admit among them such as by their perswasion and influence come to be convinced of the same Truth with them without being therefore molested by the Civil Magistrate Thirdly though we would not have men hurt in their Temporals nor robbed of their Priviledges as men and members of the Common-wealth because of their inward perswasion yet we are far from judging that in the Church of God there should not be censures exercised against such as fall into error as well as such as commit open evils and therefore we believe it may be very lawful for a Christian Church if she find any of her Members fall into any error after due admonitions and instructions according to Gospel order if she find them pertinacious to cut them off from her fellowship by the Sword of the Spirit and denude them of these priviledges which they had as fellow-members but not to cut them off from the world by the temporal Sword or rob them of their common priviledges as men seeing they enjoy not these as Christians or under such a fellowship but as men and members of the Creation Hence Chrysostom saith well de Anath We must condemn and reprove the evil Doctrins that proceed from Hereticks but spare the men and pray for their Salvation § II. But that no man by vertue of any Power or Principality he hath in the Government of this World hath power over the Consciences of men is apparent because the Conscience of man is the Seat and Throne of God in him of
found nor yet in the New Paul was very civil to Agrippa yet he gives him no such title neither was this title used among Christians in the primitive times Hence the Ecclesiastick History of the Reformation of France relating the Speech of Lord Rochefort at the Assembly of the Estate of France held under Charles the Ninth in the year 1560. saith that this harangue was well remarked in that he used not the word Majesty invented by flatterers of late years and yet this Author minded not how his Master Calvin used this flattering title to Francis the First King of France and not only so but calls him most Christian King in the Epistle to his Institutions though by his daily persecuting of the Reformers it was apparent he was far from being such even in Calvin's own esteem Surely the complying with such vain titles imposed and introduced by Antichrist greatly tended to strain the Reformation and to render it defective in many things Lastly all these titles and stiles of honour are to be rejected by Christians because they are to seek the honour that comes from above and not the honour that is from below But these honours are not that honour that comes from above but are from below For we know well enough what industry and what pains men are at to get these things and what party it is that seeks after them to wit the proud insolent haughty aspiring mind For judge it is the meek and innocent Spirit of Christ that covets that honour Is it that Spirit that must be of no reputation in this World that has its conversation in Heaven that comes to have fellowship with the Sons of God Is it that Spirit I say that loves that honour that seeks after that honour that pleads for the upholding of that honour that frets and rages and fumes when it is denied that honour Or is it not rather the lordly insulting Spirit of Lucifer the Prince of this World he that of old affected and sought after this honour and loved not to abide in the submissive low place And so all his Children are possessed with the same ambitious proud mind seeking and coveting titles of honour which indeed belong not to them For let us examine who they are that are honourable indeed Is it not the righteous man Is it not the holy man Is it not the humble hearted man the meek spirited man And are not such those that ought to be honoured among Christians Now of these may there not be poor men labourers silly Fisher-men And if so how comes it that the titles of honour are not bestowed upon such But who are they that generally receive and look for this honour Are they not the rich ones Such as have abundance of the Earth As be like the rich glutton Such as are proud and ambitious Such as are oppressors of the poor Such as swell with lust and vanity and all superfluity of naughtiness Who are the very abomination and plague of the Nations Are not these they that are accounted the honourable that require and receive the titles of honour proud Haman Now whether is this the honour that comes from God or the honour from below Doth God honour such as daily dishonour him and disobey him And if this be not the honour that comes from God but the honour of this World which the Children of this World give and receive one from another how can the Children of God such as are Christians indeed give or receive that honour among themselves without coming under the reproof of Christ who saith that such as do cannot believe But further if we respect the cause that most frequently procures to men these titles of honour there is not one of a thousand that shall be found to be because of any Christian Vertue But rather for things to be discommended among Christians As by the favour of Princes procured by flattering and often by worse means yea the most frequent and accounted among men most honourable is fighting or some great martial Exploit which can add nothing to a Christians worth since sure it is it were desirable there were no fightings among Christians at all and in so far as there are it shews they are not right Christians And James tells us that all fightings proceeds from the lusts so that it were fitter for Christians by the Sword of God's Spirit to fight against their lusts than by the prevalency of their lusts to destroy one another Whatever honour any might have attained of old under the Law this way we find under the Gospel Christians commended for suffering not for fighting neither did any of Christ's Disciples save one offer outward violence by the Sword in cutting off Malchus's Ear for which he received no title of honour but a just reproof Finally if we look either to the nature of this honour the cause of it the way it s conveyed the terms in which it is delivered it cannot be used by such as mind to be Christians in good earnest § IV. Now besides these general titles of honour what gross abuses are crept in among such as are called Christians in the use of Complements wherein not servants to masters or others with respect to any such kind of relations do say and write to one another at every turn Your humble servant Your most obedient servant c. Such wicked customs have to the great prejudice of Souls accustomed Christians to lye and to use lying is now come to be accounted civility O horrid Apostacy For it is notoriously known that the use of these Complements imports not any design of service neither are any such fools as to think so for if we should put them to it that say so they would not doubt to think we abused them and would let us know they gave us words in course and no more It is strange that such as pretend to Scripture as their rule should not be ashamed to use such things since Elihu that had not the Scriptures would by the Light within him which these men think insufficient say Job 32.21 22. Let me not accept any mans person neither let me give flattering titles unto man For I know not to give flattering titles in so doing my Maker would soon take me away A certain Antient devout Man in the primitive time subscribed himself to a Bishop your humble servant wherein I doubt not but he was more real than our usual Complementers and yet he was sharply reproved for it But they usually object to defend themselves that Luke saith Most Excellent Theophilus and Paul Most Noble Festus I answer since Luke wrote that by the dictates of the infallible Spirit of God I think it will not be doubted but Theophilus did deserve it as being really endued with that vertue in which case we shall not condemn those that do it by the same Rule But it is not proved that Luke gave Theophilus this title as that which was
they say that we deny the resurrection of the body Because when we hear them talk foolishly of Heaven and Hell and the last Judgment we exhort them to come out of that hellish condition they are in and come down to the judgment of Christ in their own hearts and believe in the Light and follow it that so they may come to sit in the heavenly places that are in Christ Jesus hence they maliciously say that we deny any heaven or hell but that which is within us and that we deny any general Judgment which slanders the Lord knows are fouly cast upon us whom God hath raised for this end and gathered us that by us he might confound the wisdom of the wise and bring to nought the understanding of the prudent and might in and by his own Spirit and Power in a despised People that no flesh might glory in his presence pull down that dead dark corrupt image and meer shadow and shell of Christianity wherewith Antichrist hath deceived the Nations for which end he hath called us to be a first-fruits of those that serve him and worship him no more in the oldness of the letter but in the newness of the Spirit And though we be few in number in respect of others and weak as to outward strength which we also altogether reject and foolish if compared with the wise ones of this world yet as God hath prospered us notwithstanding much opposition so will he yet do that neither the art wisdom nor violence of men or devils shall be able to quench that little spark that hath appeared but it shall grow to the consuming of whatsoever shall stand up to oppose it The mouth of the Lord hath spoken it yea he that hath arisen in a small remnant shall arise and go on by the same Arm of Power in his Spiritual manifestation until he hath conquered all his enemies until all the Kingdoms of the Earth become the Kingdom of Christ Jesus Unto him that hath begun this work not among the rich or great ones but among the poor and small and hath revealed it not to the wise and learned but unto the poor unto babes and sucklings even to him the Only-Wise and Omnipotent GOD be honour glory thanksgiving and renown from henceforth and for ever Amen Halelu JAH A TABLE Of the Authors that are cited in this Book A ALanus 301 Amandus Polanus 157 Ambrosius Ansbertus 379 Ambrosius Mediolanensis 80 344 345 380 388 482 Amesius 157 333 Anselmus Bishop of Canterbury 379 Antiochus 379 Apollinarius 88 Athanasius 6 342 375 379 382 Augustinus Bakerus 256 257 Augustinus 5 26 49 58 95 126 127 147 170 173 301 303 379 382 Author de vocat Gentium 79 B Basil the Great 376 379 Beda 379 Bellarmin 135 342 Bernard 6 257 266 Bertius 156 Beza 70 145 338 Borhaeus 145 149 Buchanan 127 Bucerus 146 Bullinger 144 C Calvin 22 23 46 70 147 156 216 217 235 294 299 309 310 321 330 345 357 Carolostadius 344 Casaubonus 359 Cassiodorus 379 Castellio 345 Catechism of Westminster 160 Chamierus 145 Chemnitius 147 Christianus Druthmarus 379 Chromatius 379 382 Chrysostom 79 333 375 379 382 Cicero 125 Claudius Alberius Inuncanus 150 Clemens Alexandrinus 5 110 112 125 379 386. Conference of Oldenburgh El. D. 158 Confession of Ausburgh 158 176 Confession of the French Churches 40 Confession of Faith of the Churches of Holland 40 41 Confession of the Divines at Westminster 40 46 132 Council of Aszanfik 174 Council of Carthage 40 Council of Florence 30 Council of Laodicea 40 Council of Trent 66 157 345 Cyprian 345 370 382 Cyrillus Alexand. 6 102 106 107 379 382 D Dalleus 330 Diodorus Siculus 378 E Epictetus 3 Epiphanius 47 379 Erasmus 360 380 382 Essius 150 Eusebius 30 Eutyches 88 Euthymius 379 382 F Forbes 146 147 Franciscus Lambertus 203 262 Fredericus Sylvius 386 388 G Gelasius 174 Gentiletus 157 Gerardus Vossius 107 159 176 Godeau 360 Gregory the Great 6 Gregorius Nazianzenus 379 Gregorius Nyssenus 379 H Haymo 379 Hierom 6 47 51 173 344 358 376 379 382 Hilarius 343 344 379 Hildebrand 341 Himelius 150 History of the Council of Trent 345 History of the Reformation of France 356 Hosius 344 Hugo Grotius 375 379 I James Coret 156 James Howel 360 Johannes Damascenus 379 Johannes Ferus 382 Johannes Floracensis 301 John Hus 57 John Maresius 360 Isidorus Hispalensis 379 Isidorus Pelusiota 379 Justin Martyr 112 125 380 382 384 387 L Lactantius 125 Lucas Osiander 81 209 Ludovicus Vives 382 388 Luther 6 80 129 131 189 345 346 360 M Marcio 344 Martyr 70 Melancthon 6 145 176 Musculus 156 N Nicolaus Arnoldus of Franequer 189 204 205 221 233 234 292 302 O OEcumenius 379 Origen 7 210 379 382 387 Otho Brunsfeldius 379 P Papirius Masson 301 Paraeus 70 143 Paschasius Ratbertus 379 Paulus Riccius 298 317 Philo Judaeus 380 384 Pithaeus 301 Phocylides 125 Piscator 71 Platina 196 Plato 124 379 Plotinus 125 Polybius 374 Polycarpus 30 379 Prosper 79 80 Pythagoras 378 Q Quintilianus 124 379 Quintus Curtius 378 R Reinerius 351 Richard Baxter 150 157 S Seneca 125 Smith Doctor in Cambridge 7 Stobaeus 379 Sulpitius Severus 386 Synod Arelatensian 80 Synod of Dort 40 69 T Tertullian 5 345 379 382 383 385 386 Theophylactus 379 Thomas Aquinas 26 Thysius 144 V Victor Antiochenus 107 Vincentius Lyrinensis 386 W Waldenses 379 Wicklef 379 Z Zanchius 70 144 147 157 Zwinglius 66 70 150 Passages of Scripture occurring in this Book Genesis Chap. Vers. Pag. i 2 13 ii 17 59 iii 24 ib. iv 6 7 98  7 149 v 22 24 169 vi 3 98  5 59  9 169 Exodus xiii 8 9 312 xxiii 7 143 xxiv 6 99 Leviticus xvi 2 3 6 374 Numbers xi 25 26 14 xiv 18 99 Deuteronomy iv 2 57 vi 13 374 x 20 ib. xiii 5 9 336 xiv 23 374 I Samuel ii 30 357 x 12 240 I Kings viii 46 171 xix 18 182 I Chronicles xxix 11 356 Ezrah ix 4 260 Nehemiah ix 20 30 14 Esther iii 5 389 Job i 8 169 ii 13 260 viii 13 159 ix 20 143 xxiv 13 122 xxvii 5 143 xxviii 28 212 xxxii 21 22 358 389 xxxvii 22 356 xxxviii 2 210 Psalms xiv 3 60 xvii 14 78 xxi 5 356 xxv 3 243 xxvii 14 243 xxix 4 356 xxxvii 7 9 34 243 xliii 3 356 li 5 56  13 14 liii 2 60 liv 3 294 lxiii 1 356 370 lxxxiv 2 ib. lxxxvi 15 99 xcvi 6 356 cx 3 336  4 375 cxviii 22 116 cxix 11 171 cxxxix 7 14 Proverbs i 20 c. 125  24 25 26 101 175 vii 14 269 viii ◠34 125 xv 29 276 xvii 15 143 166 xviii 10 252 294 xx 22 243 xxi 4 249 xxvii 17 258 xxviii 9 269 xxx 6 57 Ecclesiastes i 3 294 Isaiah i 13 276  16 17 258 ii 4 383  10 356 iii  365 v 2 4 100  23 143
visitation in which it is possible for them to be saved 83 84 98 99 100 101 102. the testimony of Cyrill concerning this thing 102. it is explained what is understood and not understood by this day 86. to some it may be longer to others shorter 86. many may out-live this their day of Visitation after which there is no possibility of Salvation to them 86. some examples are alledged 87. the objections and those places of Scripture which others abuse to prove that God incites men necessarily to sin are easily solved if they be applyed to these men after the time of their visitation is past 87 97 98. there is given to every one a measure of the Light Seed Grace and Word of God whereby they can be saved 83 84 97 102 to 112. which is also confirmed by the Testimonies of Cyrill and others 106 107 108 110 111. what that Light is see Light many tho ignorant of the outward history yet have been sensible of the loss that came by Adam which is confirmed by the Testimonies of Plato and others 124 125. many have known Christ within as a remedy to redeem them tho not under that denomination witness Seneca Cicero and others 124 125. yet all are obliged to believe the outward history of Christ to whom God bringeth the knowledg of it 89. Reformation wherein it is not plac'd 188. Mechanick men have contributed much to it 218. what hath been pernicious to it 310. Relation see Quakers Religion the Christian Religion see Christianity how it is made odious to Jews Turks and Heathens 309. Remonstrants of Holland see Arminians Redemption they deny absolute Reprobation 30. how we differ from them 95. they exalt too much the natural power and free will of man and what they think of the Saving Light 114 115. their worship can easily be stopped 251. Reprobation see also Redemption what absolute Reprobation is is described 68 69. its doctrin is horrible impious and blasphemous 69 73 74. it is also so called by Lucas Osiander 81. 't is a new doctrine and Augustin laid the first foundation thereof which Dominicus Calvin and the Synod of Dort maintained 69 80 81. also Luther whom notwithstanding Lutherans afterwards deserted 80 81. it is injurious to God and makes him the author of sin proved by the sayings of Calvin Beza Zanchius Paraeus Martin Zwinglius and Piscator 70 71. it makes the Preaching of the Gospel a meer mock and illusion 71 it makes the coming of Christ and his propitiatory Sacrifice to have been a testimony of God's wrath 72 73. it is injurious to mankind and makes his condition worse than the condition of Devils Beasts Jews under Pharaoh and the same which the Poets applied to Tantalus 72 73. Revelation God alwaies manifested himself by the revelations of the Spirit 3 11 12 34. they are made several waies 3. they have been alwaies the formal object of Faith and so remain 3 13 to 24. and that not only subjectively but also objectively 23 24 25 26. they are simply necessary unto true Faith 3 28 36. they are not uncertain 27 28 29. yea it is horrible sacriledge to accuse them of uncertainty 22. the examples of the Anabaptists of Munster do not a whit weaken this doctrin 29 31 33 34 41. they can never contradict the holy Scripture nor sound Reason 3 34 50 51. they are evident and clear of themselves nor need they anothers Testimony 3 35 36. they are the only sure certain and unmoveable foundation of all Christian Faith 36 37. carnal Christians judge them nothing necessary yea they are hissed out by the most part of men 3. of old none were esteemed Christians save those that had the Spirit of Christ but now adaies he is termed an Heretick who affirms that he is led by it 3 4. the Testimonies of some concerning the necessity of these Revelations 5 6 7 21 22. by whose and what devices they have been brought out of use 83. Revenge see War 379 380. Rule of Faith and manners see Scripture Rustick the poor Rustick's answer given to the proud Prelat 195. he brought a Philosopher unto the Christian Faith 209. S Sabbath 234 235. Sacraments of their number nature c. how much contention there hath been and that the word Sacrament is not found in Scripture but borrowed from the Heathens 278 301. its definition will agree to many other things 279. whether they confer Grace 328 329. Salvation without the Church there is no Salvation 181. Samaria the woman of Samaria 313. Sanctification see Justification Saxony the Elector of Saxony of the scandal he gave to the Reformation by being present at the Mass 272. Sceptick 208 School without the School of Christ nothing is learned but meer talk and a shaddow of Knowledge 4 5 6. whether publick Schools be necessary 207. Scriptures of Truth whence they proceeded and what they contain 38. they are a declaration of the Fountain and not the Fountain it self 38. they are not to be esteemed the adequate primary rule of Faith and manners but a secondary and subordinate to the Spirit and why 38 to 57 199. their certainty is only known by the Spirit 38.39 143. they testifie that the Spirit is given to the Saints for a Guide 38 48 49 52 53 54 55. their authority depends not upon the Church or Council nor upon their intrinsick vertue but upon the Spirit nor is it subjected to the corrupt reason of men but to the Spirit 38 50. the testimonies of Calvin the French Churches the Synod of Dort and the Divines of Great Britain at Westminster concerning this thing 39 40. the contentions of those that seek the certainty of the Scriptures from something else than the Spirit 39 40. divers Opinions of the Fathers so called concerning some Books 39 40. concerning the taking away and the corruption of some places the Translation Transcription and various Lections of the Hebrew Character and of the Greek Books the Interpretation of the Septuagint concerning the Hebrew Books and of admitting or rejecting some Books 47 48 49. of the difficulty in their explanation 50 51. Augustin's judgment concerning the Authors of the Canonick Books and concerning the Transcription and Interpretation 49. the use of them is very profitable and comfortable 41 49. the unlearned and unstable abuse them 50. there is no necessity of believing the Scripture to be a filled up Canon 55. many Canonick Books through the injury of time lost 55. whether it can be proved by Scripture that any Book is Canonical 55 56. they were sometime as a Sealed Book 207. to understand them there is need of the help and revelation of the Holy Spirit 5 6 no man can make himself a Doctor of them but the Holy Spirit 6. Sest the Ignatian Sect loveth literature 207. they call those that are sent unto India Apostles 217. Seed of Righteousness 247. the seed of sin see sin Redemption Self-Denial 247. Semi-Pelagians their Axiom Facienâ—â— quod in
Joh. 5.44 Jer. 10.3 Acts 10.26 Matt. 15.13 Col. 2.8 John 17.3 John 7.48 49. Aug. ex Tract Epist. Joh. 3. Lib. 1. Storm Paedag. Lib. de veland virginibus cap. 1. Hpist Paulin. 103. De incarnatione verbi Dei Hom. 30. upon the Gospel In thesau 10. lib. 13. cap. 3. In Psal. 84. John 1.1 2 3. Eph. 3.9 Joh. 16.13 14 26. Euseb. Hist. Ecclesi lib. 5. cap. 26. Conc. Flor. Sess. 5. decreto quodam Concl. Eph. Act. 6. Sess. 11. 12. Council Flor. Sess. 18.20 Conc. Flor. Sess. 21. p. 480. seqq John 16. verse 13. Rom. 8. verse 14 Concil Laod. can 59. in cod Ecc. 163. Concil Laod. held in the Year 364. excluded from the canon Eccl. the Wisdom of Solomon Judith Tobias the Maccabees which the Council of Carthage held in the Year 399 received Hieron epist. 28 ad Lucin pag. 247. Epiphan in Anchor Tom. 2. oper Gal. 1.8.9 Rom. 3.10 Ps. 14.3 53.2 Mat. 7.16 Ezek. 18.32 33.11 1 Cor. 12.7 * Calv. in cap. 3. Gen. Id. 1. Inst. c. 18. S. 1. Id. lib. de Praed Idem lib. de provid Id Inst. cap. 23. S. 1 a Beza lib. de praed b Id de praed adart 1. c Zanch de excaecat q. 5. Idem lib. 5 de nat Dei cap. 2. de praed d Paraeus lib. 3. de amiss gratiae c. 2. ibid. c. 1. e Martyr in Rom. f Zuing. lib. de prov c. 5. g Resp. ad Vorst part 1. p. 120. Upon Job lib. 1. cap. 11. So saith the Westminster Confession of Faith Chap. 11. Sect. 1. * Eph. 2. verse 15. 1 Joh. 4. verse 10. Ezech. 16. verse 6. 1 Pet. 2. v. 22.24 3.18 Tit. 2.14 Phil. 3. verse 10. * I do not only speak concerning men before conversion who afterwards are converted whom yet some of our Antagonists called Antinomians do averr were Justified from the beginning but also touching those who according to the common Opinion of Protestants have been converted whom albeit they confess they persist alwaies in some misdeeds and sometimes in hanious sins as is manifest in Davids Adultery and Murder yet they assert to be perfectly and wholly Justified Heb. 11.6 Joh. 3.18 Luk. 13.3 Apoc. 2.5 Rom. 8.13 Heb. 7.26 1 Pet. 2.22 De Just. con Bell. lib. 2. cap. 7. pag. 469. Disp. de Iust. Thes. 3. ver 4 loc de Iust. ad Eph. In cap. 2. Tom. 3. de Sanct. lib. 10. cap. 1. In cap. 3. ad Tit. ver 7. In Apol. Confess Aug. In Gen. cap. 15. ad verb. Credidit Abraham Deo pag. 161. Lib. 3. Reg. cap. 9. ver 4. pag. 681. In Rom. 4. ad ver 16. In considerat modest de Just. lib. 2. Sect. 8. Inst. lib. 3. cap. 11. Sect. 15. In Exam. Concil Trid de Inst. pag. 129. In cap. 2. ad Eph. ver 4. loc de lust Thes. 15. In Gen. pag. 162. Arg Epistolae praefixiae dissert ann Impress Paris ann 1597 pag. 78. Impress Genevae 1586. In medulla S. Theologiae lib. 2. cap. 1. Thesi 30. Job 8.13 These are the words of the Westminst larger Catechism Object Phil. 3. ver 14. Matth. 10. ver 8. * As was betwixt the Bishop of Rome and the Bishop of Constantinople Hos. 4.9 Joh. 10.1 * Succession * Who gives himself out Doctor and Professor of the Sacred Theology at Franequer Matth. 12. v. 48. c. Mark 3. ver 33. c 2. Cor. 6. v. 17 18. * In the life of Benedict 4. Of Joh. 16 of Sylvester 3. of Boniface 8. of Steph. 6 of Jean 8. Also Onuphrius annotations upon this Papass towards the end * Franciscus Lambertus Avenionensis In his book concerning Prophecy learning tongues and the Spirit of Prophecy Argentorat Excus anno 1516. de prov cap. 24. Heb. 5.4 * So Nic. Arnoldus Sect. 32. upon the 4 These * Ibid. Nic. Arnoldus Inst. * Lucae Osiandri epit hist. Eccles. lib. 2. cap. 5. cent 4. See also 2 Pet. 2. ver 3. vers 4. vers 11. Acts 21.9 Isa. 56.11 Matth. 10.4 Isa. 30. verse 20. Prov. 27. verse 19. Isa. 10.20 26.3 Eph. 4.23 1 Sam. 10.12 1 Cor. 6.17 * If any object here that the Lord's Prayer is a prescribed form of Prayer Obj. and therefore of Worship given by Christ to his Children I answer first This cannot be objected by any sort of Christians that I know Answ. because there are none who use not other Prayers or that limits their Worship to this Secondly this was commanded to the Disciples while yet weak before they had received the dispensation of the Gospel not that they should only use it in praying but that he might shew them by one example how that their Prayers ought to be short and not like the long Prayers of the Pharisees and that this was the use of it appears by all the Prayers which divers Saints afterwards made use of whereof the Scripture makes mention for none made use of this neither repeated it but used other words according as the thing required and as the Spirit gave utterance Thirdly that this ought so to be understood appears from Rom. 8.26 of which afterwards mention shall be made at greater length where the Apostle saith We know not what we should pray for as we ought but the Spirit it self maketh intercession for us c. But if this Prayer had been such a prescribed form of Prayer to the Church that had not been true neither had they been ignorant what to pray nor should they have needed the help of the Spirit to teach them Prov. 18.10 John 18.36 Col. 2.15 Acts 7.48 Isa. 1.16 17. Prov. â—7·1â— Inst. Job 2.13 Prov. 21.4 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. 1.14 Obi. Confir Matth. 9.13 Refut John 3. verse 34. Allegation Obi. * In the 4 book of his Instit. chap. 15. Quest· 1 Cor 6.17 John â— 60 66. John 6.35 55. 2 Cor. 6.14 John 6.53 John 6.57 John 6.56 verse 16. Inst. lib. 4. cap. 17. Matth. 26.16 Mark 14.22 Luke 22.19 Matth. 26.26 Mar. 14.22 Lu. 22.19 1 Cor. 11.23 Obi. Anws And likewise the other oriental versions as the Arabick and Aethiopick have it the same way Obi. Phh. 5.13 Luke 9. v. 55 56. Matth. 7. v. 12 13.29 Tit. 3.10 Rom. 14.23 Matth. 10.16 Matth. 28.18 2 Cor. 10 4. Psal. 110.3 Athan. in epist. ad solit vit ag ibid. Athan. Apol. 1. de fuga sua tom 1. Hill contra Aux Hieron epist. 62 ad The. Ambr. epist. 32. tom 3. Ambr. epist. 27. Marc. epist. ad Archimand c. Mon. Eg. in acta concil Chalce * Hosius epist. ad Constir apud Ath. in epist. ad solit vit tom 1. (a) Hil. l. 1. ad Const. (b) Ambr. comm in Luc. l. 7. (c) Cypr. epist. 62. (d) Tertu Apolog. cap. 24. Id. Apolog. c. 28. Idem ad Scapul e. 2. Luth. lib. de captivitt Babylonica History of the Council of Trent Calv. Inst. c. 19. Sect. 14. Eph. 5.11 1 Pet. 1.14 Joh. 5.44 Jer. 10.3 Acts 10.26 Matth. 15.13 Col. 2.8 * After this manner the Papists used to disapprove the sobriety of the Waldenses of whom Reinerius a popish Author so writeth But this sect of the Leonists hath a great shew of Truth for that they live righteously before men and believe all things well of God and all the articles which are contained in the creed only they blaspheme and hate the church of Rome Obi. Eccles. hist. lib. 4. pag. 445. Phil. 3.20 1 Sam. 2.30 Heiron in his Epistle to Celant admonisheth her That she was to be preferred to none for her nobility for the Christian Religion admits not of respect of persons neither are men to be esteemed because of their outward condition but according to the disposition of the mind to be esteemed either noble or base he that obeyeth not sin is free who is strong in vertue is noble Let the epistle of James be read * This history is reported by Casaubonus in his Book of Manners and Customs pag. 169. In this last Age he is esteemed an uncivil Man who will not either to his inferior or equal subscribe himself Servant But Sulpitious Severus was heretofore sharply reproved by Paulinus Bishop of Nola because in his Epistle he had subscribed himself his Servant saying Beware thou subscribe not thy self his Servant who is thy Brother for flattery is sinful not a testimony of humility to give their honors to Men which are only due to the One Lord Master and GOD. Rom. 12.2 Athan. in pass cruc Domin Hier. lib. Ep. part 3. tract 1. Ep. 2. Ans. Matth. 5.43 Eph. 6.12 2 Cor. 10.4 Ja. 4.1 Gal. 5.24 Isa 2.4 Mich. 4.3 Isa. 65.25 Joh. 18. v. 36. Matth. 26. v. 52. Rom. 12. v. 19. Marc. 8. v. 34. Luc. 7. v. 28. Luc. 3. v. 14. Esth. 3.5 Job 32.21 22.
to be soothed up and lulled asleep in thy sins by the flattering of Court-Parasits who by their fawning are the ruin of many Princes There is no King in the World who can so experimentally testifie of Gods Providence and Goodness neither is there any who rules so many free People so many true Christians which thing renders thy Government more honourable thy self more considerable than the accession of many Nations filled with slavish and superstitious Souls Thou hast tasted of prosperity and adversity thou know'st what it is to be banished thy Native Countrey to be over-ruled as well as to rule and sit upon the Throne and being oppressed thou hast reason to know how hateful the Oppressor is both to God and man If after all these Warnings and Advertisements thou dost not turn unto the Lord withal thy Heart but forget him who remembered thee in thy distress and give up thy self to follow Lust and Vanity surely great will be thy condemnation Against which snare as well as the temptation of those that may or do feed thee and prompt thee to evil the most excellent and prevalent remedy will be to apply thy self to that Light of Christ which shineth in thy Conscience which neither can nor will flatter thee nor suffer thee to be at ease in thy sins but doth and will deal plainly and faithfully with thee as those that are followers thereof have also done GOD Almighty who hath so signally hitherto visited thee with his love so touch and reach thy heart ere the day of thy visitation be expired that thou mayst effectually turn to him so as to improve thy place and station for his Name So wisheth so prayeth Thy faithful Friend and Subject ROBERT BARCLAY From Ury the place of my Pilgrimage in my Native Country of Scotland the 25 of the Month called November in the YEAR 1675. R. B. Unto the Friendly Reader wisheth Salvation FOrasmuch as that which above all things I propose to my self is to declare and defend the Truth for the service whereof I have given up and devoted my self and all that is mine therefore there is nothing which for its sake by the help and assistance of God I may not attempt And in this confidence I did sometime ago publish certain Propositions of Divinity comprehending briefly the chief Principles and Doctrines of Truth which appearing not unprofitable to some and being beyond my expectation well received both by Foreigners though dissenting from us albeit also opposed by some envious ones did so far prevail as in some part to remove that false and monstruous Opinion which lying fame and the malice of our adversaries had implanted in the minds of some concerning us and our Doctrines In this respect it seem'd to me not fit to spare my pains and labour Therefore being acted by the same measure of the Divine Spirit and the like design of propagating the Truth by which I published the Propositions I judg'd it meet to explain them somewhat more largely at this time and defend them by certain arguments Perhaps my method of writing may seem not only different but even contrary to that which is commonly used by the men called Divines with which I am not concerned for that I confess my self to be not only no imitator and admirer of the School-men but an opposer and despiser of them as such by whose labour I judg the Christian Religion to be so far from being bettered that it is rather destroyed Neither have I sought to accommodate this my work to itching Ears who desire rather to comprehend in their head the sublime notions of Truth than to imbrace it in their heart For what I have written comes more from my heart than from my head what I have heard with the Ears of my Soul and seen with my inward Eyes and my hands have handled of the Word of Life And what hath been inwardly manifested to me of the things of God that do I declare not so much minding the Eloquence and Excellency of Speech as desiring to demonstrate the efficacy and operation of Truth and if I err sometime in the former it is not great matter for I act not here the Grammarian or the Orator but the Christian and therefore in this I have followed the certain Rule of the Divine Light and of the Holy Scriptures And to make an end what I have written is written not to feed the Wisdom and Knowledge or rather vain pride of this world but to starve and oppose it us the little Preface prefix'd to the Propositions doth shew which with the title of them is as followeth THESES THEOLOGICAE To the Clergy of what sort soever unto whose hands these may come but more particularly to the Doctors Professors and Students of Divinity in the Universities and Schools of Great Brittain whether Prelatical Presbyterian or any other ROBERT BARCLAY a Servant of the Lord God and one of those who in derision are called Quakers wisheth unfeigned Repentance unto the acknowledgment of the Truth FRIENDS UNto You these following Propositions are offered in which they being read and considered in the fear of the Lord you may perceive that simple Naked Truth which Man by his Wisdom hath rendred so obscure and mysterious that the World is even burthened with the great and voluminous Tractates which are made about it and by their vain jangling and Commentaries by which it is rendred a hundred fold more dark and intricate than of it self it is which great Learning so accounted of to wit your School Divinity which taketh up almost a mans whole Life-time to learn brings not a whit nearer to God neither makes any man less wicked or more righteous than he was Therefore hath God laid aside the Wise and Learned and the Disputers of this World and hath chosen a few despicable and unlearned Instruments as to Letter-learning as he did Fisher-men of old to publish his pure and naked Truth and to free it of these Mists and Fogs wherewith the Clergy hath clouded it that the People might admire and maintain them And among several others whom God hath chosen to make known these things seeing I also have received in measure Grace to be a Dispencer of the same Gospel it seemed good unto me according to my duty to offer unto you these Propositions tho short yet are weighty comprehending much and declaring what the true ground of knowledge is even of that knowledge which leads to life Eternal which is here witnessed of and the Testimony thereof left unto the Light of Christ in all your Consciences Farewel R. B. The First Proposition Concerning the true Foundation of Knowledge SEing the height of all happiness is placed in the true knowledg of God This is Life Eternal to know the true God and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent the true and right understanding of this foundation and ground of knowledge is that which is most necessary to be known and believed in the first place
the morrow and continued his speech until Mid-night Here is no mention made of any Sacramental eating but only that Paul took occasion from their being togetther to preach unto them And it seems it was a Supper they intended not a morning bit of bread and sup of wine else it 's not very probable that Paul would from the morning have preached until Mid-night But the 11 verse puts the matter out of dispute which is thus When he therefore was come up again and had broken bread and eaten and talked along while even till break of day so he departed This shews that the breaking of bread was differed till that time for those words and when he had broken bread and eaten do shew that it had a relation to the breaking of bread afore-mentioned and that that was the time he did it Secondly these words joyned together and when he had broken bread and eaten and talked shew it was no religious act of worship but only an eating for bodily refreshment for which the Christians used to meet together some time and doing it in God's fear and singleness of heart doth notwithstanding difference it from the eating or feasting of profane persons and this by some is called a Love-feast or a being together not meerly to feed their Bellies or for outward ends but to take thence occasion to eat and drink together in the dread ond presence of the Lord as his People which custom we shall not condemn but let it be observed that in all the Acts there is no other nor further mention of this matter But if that Ceremony had been some solemn Sacrifice as some will have it or such a special Sacrament as others plead it to be it is strange that that History that in many lesser things gives a particular account of the Christians behaviour should have been so silent in the matter Only we find that they used sometimes to meet together to break Bread and eat Now as the primitive Christians began by degrees to depart from that primitive purity and simplicity so also to accumulate superstitious traditions and vitiat the innocent practices of their predecessors by the intermixing either of Jewish or Heathenish Rites so also in the use of this very early abuses began to creep in among Christians so that it was needful for the Apostle Paul to reform them and reprove them therefore as he doth at large 1 Cor. 11. from ver 17. to the end which place we shall particularly examine because our adversaries lay the chief stress of their matter upon it and we shall see whether it will infer any more than we have above granted First because they were apt to use that practice in a superstitious mind beyond the true use of it as to make of it some mystical supper of the Lord he tells them ver 20. that their coming together into one place is not to eat the Lord's Supper he saith not this is not the right manner to eat because the Supper of the Lord is Spiritual and a mystery Secondly he blames them in that they come together for the worse and not for the better the reason he gives of this is ver 21. For in eating every one hath taken before his own supper and one is hungry and another is drunken Here it is plain that the Apostle condemns them for that because this custom of supping in general was used among Christians for to increase their love and as a memorial of Christ's supping with the Disciples that they should have so vitiated it to eat it a part and to come full who had abundance and hungry who had little at home Whereby the very use and end of this practice is lost and perverted and therefore he blames them that they do not either eat this in common at home or reserve their eating till they come all together to the publick assembly this appears plainly by the following verse 22. have ye not houses to eat and drink in or despise ye the Church of God and shame them that have not Where he blames them for their irregular practice herein in that they despised to eat orderly or reserve their eating to the publick assembly and so shaming such as not having houses nor fulness at home came to partake of the common Table who being hungry thereby were ashamed when they observed others come thitherfull and drunken Those that without prejudice will look to the place will see this must have been the case among the Corinthians for supposing the use of this to have been then as now used either by Papists Lutherans or Calvinists it is hard making sense of the Apostles's words or indeed to conceive what was the abuse the Corinthians committed in this thing Having thus observed what the Apostle said above because this custom of eating and drinking together some time had its rise from Christ's Act with the Apostles the night he was betrayed therefore the Apostle proceeded ver 23. to give them an account of that For I have received of the Lord that which also I delivered unto you that the Lord Jesus the same night in which he was betrayed took bread c. Those that understand the difference betwixt a narration of a thing and a command cannot but see if they will that there is no command in this place but only an account of matter of fact he saith not I received of the Lord that as he took Bread so I shall command it to you to do also there is nothing like this in this place yea on the contrary ver 25. where he repeats Christ's imperative words to his Apostles he placeth them so as they import to command this do ye as oft as ye drink it in remembrance of me And then he adds For as often as ye eat this Bread and drink this Cup ye do shew the Lord's death till he come But these words as often imports no more a command than to say as often as thou goest to Rome see the Capitol will infer a command to me to go thither But whereas they urge the last words Obj. ye shew forth the Lord's death till he come insinuating that this imports a necessary continuance of that ceremony until Christ come at the end of the world to judgment I answer they take two of the chief parts of the controversie here for granted without proof First that as often imports a command the contrary whereof is shewn neither will they ever be able to prove it Secondly that this coming is understood of Christ's last outward coming and not of his inward and spiritual that remains to be proved whereas the Apostle might well understand it of his inward coming and appearance which perhaps some of those carnal Corinthians that used to come drunken together had not yet known and others being weak among them and inclinable to dote upon outwards this might have been indulged to them for a season and even used by those who knew Christ's appearance
in Spirit as other things were of which we shall speak hereafter especially by the Apostle who became weak to the weak and all to all that he might save some Now those weak and carnal Corinthians might be permitted the use of this to shew forth or remember Christ's death till he come to arise in them for though such need those outward things to put them in mind of Christ's Death yet such as are dead with Christ and not only dead with Christ but buried and also arisen with him need not such signs to remember him and to such therefore the Apostle saith Col. 3.1 If ye then be risen with Christ seek those things which are above where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God but Bread and Wine are not these things that are above but are things of the Earth But that this whole matter was a meer act of indulgence and condescension of the Apostle Paul to the weak and carnal Corinthians appears yet more by the Syriak Copy which ver 17. in his entring upon this matter hath it thus In that concerning which I am about to command you or instruct you I commend you not because ye have not gone forward but are descended unto that which is less or of less consequence Clearly importing that the Apostle was grieved that such was their condition that he was forced to give them instructions concerning those outward things and doting upon which they shew they were not gone forward in the life of Christianity but rather sticking in beggerly Elements And therefore ver 20. the same version hath it thus when then ye meet together ye do not do it as it is just ye should do in the day of the Lord ye eat and drink Thereby shewing to them that to meet together to eat and drink outward bread and wine was not the labour and work of that day of the Lord but since our adversaries are so zealous for this ceremony because used by the Church of Corinth tho with how little ground is already shewn how come they to pass over far more positive commands of the Apostles as matters of moment As first Acts 15.26 where the Apostles peremptorily commands even the Gentiles as that which was the mind of the Holy Ghost to abstain from things strangled and from blood And Ja. 5.14 where it is expresly commanded that the sick be anointed with Oyl in the Name of the Lord. Obj. If they say these were only temporary things but not to continue Answ. What have they more to shew for this there being no express repeal of them If they say the repeal is implyed because the Apostle saith Obj. We ought not to be judged in meats and drinks I admit the answer Answ. but how can it be evited to militate the same way against the other practice Surely not at all nor can there be any thing urged for the one more than for the other but custom and tradition As for that of James they say there followed a Miracle upon it to wit the recovery of the Sick But this being ceased so should the ceremony Though this might many waies be answered to wit Answ. that Prayer then might as well be forborn to which also the saving of the Sick is there ascribed yet I shall accept of it because I judge indeed that Ceremony is ceased only methinks since our adversaries and that rightly think a ceremony ought to cease where the vertue fails they ought by the same rule to forbear the laying on of hands in imitation of the Apostles since the gift of the Holy Ghost doth not follow upon it § IX But since we find that several testimonies of Scripture do sufficiently shew that such external rites are no necessary part of the New Covenant dispensation therefore not needful now to continue however they were for a season practised of old I shall instance some few of them whereby from the nature of the thing as well as those testimonies it may appear that the ceremony of bread and wine is ceased as well as those other things confessed by our adversaries to be so The first is Rom. 14.17 For the Kingdom of God is not meat and drink but Righteousness and Peace and joy in the Holy Ghost Here the Apostle evidently shews that the Kingdom of God or Gospel of Christ stands not in meats and drinks and such like things but in righteousness as by the context doth appear where he is speaking of the guilt and hazard of judging one another about meats and drinks So then if the Kingdom of God stand not in them nor the Gospel nor work of Christ then the eating of outward bread and wine can be no necessary part of the Gospel worship nor any perpetual ordinance of it Another is yet more plain of the same Apostle Col. 2.16 the Apostle throughout this whole second chapter doth clearly plead for us and against the formality and superstition of our opposers for in the beginning he holds forth the great priviledges Christians have by Christ who are come indeed to the life of Christianity and therefore he desires them ver 6. as they have received Christ so to walk in him and to beware lest they be spoiled through Philosophy and vain deceit after the rudiments or elements of the world because that in Christ whom they have received is all fulness And that they are circumcised with the circumcision made without hands which he calls the circumcision of Christ and being buried with him by baptism are also arisen with him through the Faith of the operation of God Here also they did partake of the true baptism of Christ and being such as are arisen with him let us see whether he thinks it needful they should make use of such meat and drink as bread and wine to put them in remembrance of Christ's death or whether they ought to be judged that they did it not ver 16. Let no man therefore judg you in meat or drink Is not bread and wine meat and drink But why Which are a shadow of things to come but the body is of Christ. Then since our adversaries confess that their bread and wine is a sign or shadow therefore according to the Apostles Doctrine we ought not to be judged in the observation of it But is it not fit for those that are dead with Christ to be subject to such ordinances See what he saith ver 20. Wherefore if ye be dead with Christ from the rudiments of the world why as though living in the world are ye subject to ordinances Touch not taste not handle not Which all are to perish with the using after the commandments and doctrines of men What can be more plain if this serve not to take away the absolute necessity of the use of bread and wine what can it serve to take away Sure I am the reason here given is applicable to them which all do perish with the using since bread and wine perisheth