Christ and the more we receive of Christ the more we receive of the spirit in Christ For faith doth not apprehend bare Christ but Christ with his Spirit because these are inseparable Now alwayes according to the measure of Christ in us is the measure of the spirit and according to the measure of faith is the measure of Christ in us 3. To be much in prayer For the prayer of the spirit increases the spirit The more we have the spirit the more we pray and the more we pray the more we receive the spirit So that when we have the spirit in truth we shall have daily a greater and greater increase of it till we be filled with the spirit For the spirit comes from Christ in whom is the fulness of the spirit and carries us back again to Christ that we may receive still more of the spirit And so by the spirit that is in our hearts we lay hold on the spirit that is in Christ and receive more and more of it 4. To turn our selves daily from the creature to God For the more we inlarge our hearts towards the creature the less capable are we of the Spirit of God For to live much upon the creature is to live much according to the flesh and this quenches and straitens the spirit in us And therefore we must live abstractedly from the creatures and so use them as if we did not use them and so minde them as if we did not minde them and abandon the contents and satisfactions of flesh and blood and wean our selves from all things but the necessities of nature And the more free and loose we are from the creature the more capable are we of Gods spirit and the operations of it He that lives at greatest distance from the world and hath least communion with the things of it hath alwayes the greatest proportion of Gods spirit For as the Apostle saith If any man love the world the love of the Father that is the Holy Spirit is not in him so if any man love the Father the love of the world is not in him now the more any one loves the Father the less he loves the world and the less he loves the world the more the spirit dwels in him 5. To cease daily from our own works The more we act our selves the less doth the Spirit act in us And therefore we must must from day to day cease from our own works from the operations of our own minds and understandings and wils and affections and must not be the Authors of our own actions For we being flesh our selves what ever we do is fleshly seeing the effect cannot be better then the cause And if we mingle the works of our flesh with the works of Gods Spirit he will cease from working in us But the less we act in our selves according to the principles of our corrupt nature the more will the spirit act in us according to the principles of the divine nature But our own works are alwayes a mighty impediment to the operations of the Spirit 6. To encrease the spirit in us we must give up our selves to the Spirit that he only may work in us without the least opposition and resistance from us That as the soul acts all in the body and the body doth nothing of it self but is subject to the soul in all things so the spirit may do all in us and we may do nothing of our selves without the Spirit but be subject to the Spirit in all its operations For the Spirit of God cannot work excellently in us except it work all in all in us And in such a man in whom the Spirit hath full power the Spirit works many wonderful things that he according to humane sense is ignorant of For as the soul doth secretly nourish and cherish and refresh the body and disperses life and spirits through it even when the body is asleep and neither feels it nor knows it so the Holy Spirit dwelling in the soul by a secret kinde of operation works many things in it for the quickning and renewing it whilst it oftentimes for the present is not so much as sensible of it 7. The seventh means to encrease the spirit is to attribute the works of the spirit to the spirit and not to our selves For if we attribute to the flesh the works of the Spirit and take from the Spirit the glory of his own works he will work no longer in us Wherefore we must ascribe unto the Spirit the whole glory of his own works and acknowledge that we our selves are nothing and can do nothing and that it is he only that is all in all and works all in all and we our selves among all the excellent works of the Spirit in us must so remain as if we were and wrought nothing at all that so all that is of flesh and blood may be laid low in us and the Spirit alone may be exalted first to do all in us and then to have all the glory of all that is done And thus you see the means to encrease the Spirit and so consequently strength as well as to get it And by the daily use and improvement of these means we may attain to a great degree of spiritual strength that we may walk and not be weary and may run and not faint and may mount up as Eagles yea and may walk as Angels among men and as the powers of heaven upon earth to his praise and honour who first communicates to us his own strength and then by that strength of his own works all our works in us And thus is he glorified in his Saints and admired in all them that believe FINIS Uniformity Examined Whether it be found in the GOSPEL OR In the PRACTICE of the Churches OF CHRIST By WIL. DELL Minister of the Gospel 2 Cor. 4. 13. We having the same spirit of Faith according as it is written I believed and therefore have I spoken we also believe and therefore speak Published according to Order London Printed 1651. Vniformity Examined OBserving that our Brethren of Scotland together with the Assembly of Divines and the rest of the Presbyterian judgement do often both in their Discourse and writings exceedingly press for Vniformity I have been urged in my spirit to think upon the matter and to consider whether there could be any such thing found in the Word of the New Testament or in the practice of the Churches of Christ And for my part I ingenuously profess I cannot yet discover it and would be glad if any would instruct me further in this particular so he do it from the Word Now Vniformity what is it but an unity of form and the form they mean no doubt is outward for the inward form as it cannot be known by the outward senses so neither can it be accomplished by outward power And therefore till I know their meaning better I conceive that by uniformity they understand an unity
us hath to do with many strong Corruptions and Lusts in the Soul yet at last he prevails against them all and Judgement breaks forth into victory because Christ the Judgement of God in the Soul must needs in the end prevail against every sin of man Again Christ the Righteousness of God as he makes us righteous with his own righteousness and makes us the righteousness of God in him so he is called Righteousness not in himself onely but in us he is the Lord our Righteousness and by this Judgement and Righteousness is Zion and her converts redeemed and reformed And so true Gospel reformation is the destruction of sin out the faithfull by the presence of righteousness And therefore you see how grosly they are mistaken who take Gospel Reformation to be the making of certain Laws and Constitutions by the sacred power or Clergy for external conformity in outward duties of outward worship and government and to have these confirmed by civil sanction and inforced upon men by secular power when in the mean time all that inward corruption and sin they brought with them into the world remains in their hearts and natures as it did before After this manner the old Prelates reformed who were wont to say to the Kings We will study out the faith and you shall maintain it and the faith they studied and broughâ— to the Kings the Kings must maintain and not questâ—on but that it was Jure Divino And thus you see in general what Gospel Reformation is and that it is a cleer different thing from Civil Ecclesiastical Reformation 2. Now in the next place let us see how this Gospel Reformation is qualified whereby the difference between this and the other will appear yet more cleerly First then it is a spiritual Reformation For as the Kingdom of Christ is a spiritual Kingdom so all the things that belong to it are spiritual things and so the Reformation of it A carnal Reformation is not sutable to a spiritual Kingdom And spiritual it is because it proceeds from the Spirit and stands in spiritual things as you shall see more full anon But now the Reformation of the Civil and Ecclesiastical State is but a carnal Reformation wrought by the powes of flesh and blood and stands in outward and fleshly things as you shall presently see Secondly it is an inward Reformation For as the Kingdom of God is an inward Kingdom the kingdom of God is within you so the Reformation that belongs to it is an inward Reformation This true Gospel reformation lays hold upon the heart and soul and inner man and changes and alters and renews and reforms that and when the heart is reformed all is reformed And therefore this Gospel Reformation doth not much busie and trouble it self about outward forms or external conformity but onely minds the reforming of the heart and when thâ— heart is right with God the outward form cannot be amiss And therefore saith Christ touching the worship of the New Testament God is a Spirit and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth but speaks not one word of any outward form So that God in this Gospel Reformation aims at nothing but the heart according to the tenour of the new covenant Jer. 31. 33. This shall be the covenant that I will will make with them after those dayes saith the Lord I will put my Law in their inward parts and write it in their hearts so that they shall not onely have the word of the letter in their books but the living word of God in their hearts and God intending to reform the Church begins with their hearts and intending to reform their hearts puts his word there and that living word put into the heart reforms it indeed But now Civil Ecclesiastical Reformation is onely outward and busies it self in reforming the outward man in outward things and so is very industrious and elaborate about outward forms and outward orders and outward government and outward confession and outward practice and thinks if these be put into some handsomeness and conformity they have brought about an excellent Reformation though the heart in the mean time remain as sinful vile and corrupt as ever and so altogether unreformed And so this Reformation is like that Reformation of the Scribes and Pharisees notorious hypocrites who made clean onely the outside of the cup or platter leaving them all filthy and unclean within and whited over sepulchres to make them beautifull outwardly when inwardly they were full of rottenness and corruption So Civil Ecclesiastical Reformation makes a man clean outwardly with an outward Confession of faith c. when inwardly he is all filthy through unbelief and whites him over with a few handsom forms of worship when inwardly he is full of ignorance of God and Atheism Object Now if any ask But must there be no change of outward things in the Reformation of the Gospel Answ I answer Yes an outward change that flows from an inward but not an outward change without an inward much less an outward change to enforce an inward 3. It is a thorow Reformation for it reforms the whole man it reforms not the soul onely but the body too and the very spirit of the mind the spirit as it animates and quickens and acts the body is called the soul as it is in it self in its own nature and essence so it is called the spirit of the mind and this Gospel Reformation reforms all that is both inward and outward and outward and inward man yea the inwardest of the inward man and not only the operations of the soul in the body but of the soul in its self But Civil Ecclesiastical Reformation reforms by halfs it reaches the body and orders that but attains not to the soul much less to the spirit of the mind Again Gospel Reformation reforms sin wholly aswell as the man it reforms all sin whatsoever I will turn my hand upon thee saith God by this Gospel Reformation and will purely purge away thy dross and take away all thy tin It reforms a man not only of outward sins but of inward It reforms him of those sins that seldome come forth into the view of the world as Atheisme ignorance of God pride vain glory self-seeking hypocrisie carnal mindedness and all the evil desires of the flesh and of the minde Yea it doth not only reform all evil things in us but all imperfect things doing away imperfect things by the coming of perfect things doing away our own strength by the coming in of Gods strength and our own wisdome and righteousness by the coming in of Gods wisdome and righteousness But now Civil-Ecclesiastical reformation reforms sin by the halfs aswel as the man and so only reforms outward and gross sins such as run into the eyes of the world which are the least by a thousand times of the evils that a man hath and
faith is a work of the Spirit of power and no less power would work faith in us then that which raised up Christ from the dead when he lay under all the sin of man and all the Wrath of God and all the sorrows of death and all the paines of hell it must be a mighty power indeed that must raise Christ then and that power was the power of the Spirit and no less power will work faith So that whoever truely beleeves by this faith of the operation of God is sensible in his own soul of the self same power that raised Christ up from the dead And thus the Holy Spirit is a Spirit of Faith in us and so of Power For unbelief keeps a man in himself but faith carries a a man out to Christ now there is no man weaker then he that rests on himself and there is no man stronger then he that forsakes himself and rests on Christ And so a man through the power of Faith is able both to do and indure the self same things which Christ himself did and indured 1. He is able to do the same things that Christ himself did and therefore saith Christ all things are possible to him that beleeveth so that a beleever hath a kinde of omnipotency and all things are possible to him because by faith he lays hold upon the power of God and all things are possible to the power of God and so all things are possible to a beleever who is partaker of that power of God And hence Paul saith I can do all things through Christ that strengthneth me This Christ that strengthned him was the power of God and this power of God is not a finite power but an infinite nor a particular power but an universal and so can do not some things only but all things and so also can all they who are truly partakers of it by faith Yea Christ himself hath a greater expression then this yea such an one that I never durst have spoken if Christ himself had not first spoken it and that is this John 14. 12. He that beleeveth in me the works that I do shall be do and greater works then these because I go to the Father Where Christ saith a beleever shall not only do the same works with himself which also had been a great thing but also greater works then himself and this indeed is altogether admirable and wonderfull That a beleever shall do greater works then Christ But how is this made good Why thus Christ he overcame the Law and Sin and Death and Hell and the whole power of the Devill in a body and soul free from sin his humane nature being the immediate formation of the Holy Spirit in the womb of the Virgin Mary and so had not the least spot of sin in it But now beleevers overcome the same evils even the Law Sin Death Hell and the whole power of the Devil in corrupted and polluted nature in bodies and souls at the first full of sin and afterwards defiled through many corruptions The Devil came to Christ and found nothing in him and so he overcame but he comes to a beleever and findes much in him and yet he overcomes And this truly is a greater work then Christ did And these works we do but not through our own power but through Christs of which we truly partake through faith 2. A Christian through the power of faith is able not only to do but also to suffer the same things that Christ himself sufferd Now the sufferings of Christ were the most grievous and intolerable to nature that ever were For how did Christ for the present as it were lay aside his Divine nature that he might suffer in his humane and how did he suffer in this the whole weight and condemnation of sin to the very utmost and the whole wrath of God to the utmost and all the sorrows of death and the pains of hell to the very utmost And among all the sufferings had not the least drop of comfort either from heaven or earth and yet through the power of the Spirit he indured and overcame all And so each Christian is able to indure and overcome the same evills by the same power and therefore Paul desired to know Christ truly and not onely the power of his resurrection which any one would desire to know but also the fellowship of his sufferings which flesh and blood trembles at yea and to be made conformable to his very death Yea I add yet further that if a Christian should chance to fall down into Hell as we beleeve Christ descended into Hell and so also many of his Saints have done as David and Hezekiah c. Yet a Christian through the power of the Spirit were able to overcome both the sins and the pains of Hell and therefore saith Solomon Love which is the power of the Spirit is too strong for death and too hard or too cruel for Hell As is evident in that Godly woman for I will name but one instance instead of many who thinking of the torments of hell and of the hatred and blasphemy of God which reigned in the damned did earnestly entreat God ut etiamsi damnaretur tamen Deum diligeret that though she were damned yet still she might love God Here love was too hard for Hell indeed And thus a beleever through faith is inabled both to do and indure the self same things which Christ himself did and endured and the Holy Spirit by being a Spirit of faith is a Spirit of Power in us 5. The Holy Spirit is a Spirit of power in us by being in us a Spirit of Righteousness and so he is two waies 1. In regard of mortifying sin For the Spirit of God dwelling in us is not idle in us but continually active and so from day to day mortifies sin And this is the proper work of the Spirit in our flesh to destroy out of us whatsoever is contrary to it self and that is every sin lust and corruption Now our sins are our weakness a mans pride and passion and envy and covetousness and lust and intemperance and every sin is his weakness Now the Holy Spirit by being in us a Spirit of righteousness mortifies and destroyes all our sins and so takes away our weakness 2. Again as the Holy Spirit is a Spirit of righteousness in us in regard of mortifying sin so also in regard of imparting grace to us For all grace is the fruit and operation of the Spirit in our flesh and as all light is from the sun so is all grace from the Spirit Now every grace is so much strength in the soul Faith so much strength Hope so much strength Love so much strength and so humility and patience and temperance and godliness and brotherly Kindness and all other graces are so much strength and according to each mans measure of grace so is his measure of
Greek to the Greeks to the weak as weak to the strong as strong all things to all men that he might win some and what external Vniformity was here And then for the Sacraments Christ administred the Sacrament of the Supper immediately after Supper Paul at midnight and it may be others in the morning or at noone and what external Vniformity in all this And for Government sometimes the Apostles met together into a Councel and in that Councel ordered things not of their own heads or by plurality of voyces but by the Word and Spirit and what they ordered by the Word and Spirit they put in execution by the power of the Word and Spirit and not by the power of the World At other times Ministers and Believers did things by the Word and Spirit among themselves by the mutual consent of both or else Believers alone among themselves if there were no Ministers present And where the number of Believers were more they stood in need of more Officers and where fewer of fewer Officers and all these things are the free ordering of the Churches who have Christ the Spirit and the Father among them and in them and so are taken out of the bondage of men into the freedom of God That truly I see not the Gospel more setting its spirit against any thing of Antichrist then against this point of external uniformity For if we have one Lord Christ Spirit Faith Baptism and God all other things are free to the Churches as God shall order by them and no otherwise and the reason and wisdom and prudence of man have no place in this world where the Sun of righteousness shines as the only light But against this that hath been said do lie some objections as first The Prophet foretold that the Lord should be one and his name one and doth not this imply external uniformity I answer nothing less for the Apostle explicates plainly and clearly what it is to have the Lord one and his name one among believers Eph. 4. ch 4. 5. 6. where he saith there is in the spiritual Church one Body and one Spirit one hope of our calling one Lord one Faith one Baptism one God and father of all who is above all through all and in all Where you see that among believers there is a manifold unity but no external uniformity yea the prayer of Christ the Son for the Church unfolds clearly the promise of God the Father to the Church Joh. 17. Christ prays that they all who are many among themselves according to the flesh may be one as thou Father art in me and I in thee that is according to the unity of the Spirit not external uniformity that after this manner they also may be one in us But again it is objected out of 1 Cor. 14. that the Apostle requires that all things may be done in the Church decently and in order and doth not this imply external uniformity I answer that they will hardly admit in their Parish Churches such a decency and order as the Apostle there means neither are they capable of it For he saith before When the whole Church is come together into some place that all may prophesie one by one that all may learn and all may be comforted and that during this exercise of prophesying if any thing be revealed to another the former to give place and he must speak that hath the clearest light seeing the Spirit to whomsoever it is given it is given to profit withall And that though all may prophesie one by one yet all may not prophesie at once for then it would not be order but confusion which the Apostle would have avoided saying Let all things be dâ—ne decently and in order And this decency too he perswades to by the word he doth not enforce by secular power And if they will call this uniformity for beleevers to prophesie one after another according to the variety of the gifts of the Spirit and not many or two or three at once or the same time we willingly agree with them but how far this thing is from their sence every one knows Thus you see these objections answered and I am confident there are no more can be brought but may as clearly and easily be answered as these And therefore I say I wonder and wonder again that we having covenanted and agreed together solemnly to endeavour for a Government most agreeable to the word of God should in the mean time be left so void of the spirit and light of the Gospel as to fall upon external uniformity which is nowhere to be found in the Gospel nor in the practise of primitive Christians Yea while I consider more seriously of the Matter me thinks external uniformity is a monstrous thing how glorious soever in their eyes and not to be found either in nature or in grace either in Christs Kingdom or the Kingdoms of the World In nature is no external uniformity extended to all the works of nature for look into the world and see if there be not variety of forms heavenly and earthly bodies having several form and in the earth each bird beast tree plant creature differs one from another in outward form If the whole creation should appear in one form or external uniformity what a monstrous thing would it be nothing differing from the first chaos But the variety of forms in the world is the beauty of the world So that though there be a most admirable unity among all the creatures yet there is nothing less then external uniformity Again as there is no external uniformity spread over the great world so nor yet over the little world or man For look upon a man consisting of head and members unto which the Apostle compares the Church and you shall not finde all the members like one another neither in regard of their outward forms nor operations for the hand doth not move as the foot nor the foot act as the hand and if all the members should appear and act in one form what a monster would a man be And yet among the members though there be no external uniformity yet there is admirable unity And yet again look into the Kingdoms of the world and you shall see no such thing in them as external uniformity Here in England you shall observe that York is not governed as Hull nor Hull as Hallifax nor that as Bristol c. neither is one County governed uniformly as another there is no uniformity in the government of Kent and Essex nor one town governed like another in Godmanchester the youngest son inherits in Huntington the Eldest nor one Corporation governed like another nor one Company in the City governed as another and yet between all Counties Cities Towns Corporations Companies there is unity though no external uniformity Yea look upon the famous City of London and there are it may be an hundred thousand families or more in it and each one governed after a
perceives the Name of God in the Sons of men and the nature of God in the natures of men then presently they fall a persecuting the Saints for this Name and Natures sake and he that strikes at God in his Saints would if he could strike at God in himself And therefore let the world take heed what they do in this point for while they persecute the Saints they are found fighters against God himself because God is one with them and they are one with God in Christ And let the Saints be admonished so to hide and retire themselves into God through Christ that whoever is an enemy to them and opposes them may rather be an enemy to God and oppose God then them they living and acting in God and not in themselves Now this affliction the Church meets with in the world is profitable for the Church it is good for it that it should be afflicted for the more it is afflicted in the flesh the more it thrives in the Spirit this affliction stirres us up to the exercise of our faith and prayer yea then is our faith most active and vigorous and our prayers most fervent till they fill the whole heavens again then are we most in the use of the Word then are we set off furthest from the world then do we keep closest to God then have we neerest intercourse and communion with him so that we could better want fire and water and the sun then want affliction which God out of his meer love through his over-ruling power and wisedome causes to work unto us for good So that we who are placed in the hand of Christ are set in such a condition wherein nothing can do us any harm for ever but evil it self must work good unto us But we proceed Tossed with Tempest Where we see that the Church is not onely afflicted but violently afflicted one wave comes against it after another as in a tempest and the more spiritual the Church is the more doth the world become as a raging sea against it because the more spiritual the Church is made it is set in the more contrariety to the world and the world to it The Psalmist describes this temper in the world against the Church They came upon me like a ramping and a roaring Lyon And again They came upon me to eat up my flesh as they would eat bread When the Saints have appeared in the Spirit and acted in the Spirit how violent and enraged hath the world been against them It would toss them as in a tempest from place to place from post to pillar as they say till it hath quite tost them out of the world Yea men naturally meek and moderate how fierce have they become against the Saints when there hath appeared any glorious discoveries of Christ in them For the enmity that is in the seed of the Serpent against the seed of the Woman will be still breaking forth And though it may for a time be covered under many moral vertues and a form of godliness yet when God leaves them to themselves and lets them act outwardly according to their inward principles how cruelly and maliciously and fiercely and desperately do they act against the Saints of God Yea there is not that enmity between Turk and Jew as there is between carnal Gospellers and spiritual Christians the former hating these and being angry against these to the very death And when ever the Lord shall suffer these to exercise their enmity against the Church then shall the Churches condition become such as it is here described afflicted and tossed with tempest And not comforted The Church of God in all the evil it meets withal in the world hath not one drop of comfort from the world it hath affliction tribulation persecution from the world but no comfort This we see in Christ the Head you know what he suffered in the world in the dayes of his flesh he was despised and rejected of men and so full of sorrows that he took his name from them and was called A man of sorrows and acquainted with grief At last out of meer envy and malice they apprehended him bound him buffeted him spit on him crucified him and all this would have been but a small matter to have suffered from the Heathen but he suffered all this from the onely visible Church of God in the World who put him to the most painful and shameful death of the Cross between two malefactors to bear the world in hand that he was the third and the chief And in all this evil he had no body to pitty him or have compassion on him but they laughed at him and derided him and mocked and jeered him but no body comforted him And as it was with Christ the Head so it is with Christ the body and members they in all the evils and woes and sorrows and oppositions and persecutions they have from the world have no body to comfort them or take compassion on them Refuge failed me saith David no man cared for my soul Lover and friend hast thou put far from me and mine acquaintance into darkness saith Heman Psal 88. 18. Brethren and Beloved ye that are partakers of the heavenly calling and of the divine nature if ever the Lord suffer the world to prevail against you to afflict you and toss you from one evil to another as in a tempest to reproach you throw you out of your comforts banish you imprison you c. you shall finde no body to comfort you no body will take notice of you or regard you or own you or pitty you or be so sensible of your condition as to say Alas my brother You must look for affliction in the World but you must look for no comfort there When God shall cast us into sorrows and sufferings let us not look for one worldly man to stand by us no not of those that now smile upon us and pretend friendship to us no norâ— yet of our neer relations but then that shall be fulfilled I was a stranger to my brethren an alien to my mothers children Nay yet further they that are weak or worldly Christians will stand aloof from thee and will be shye to own and countenance and encourage and comfort thee publikely The disciples of Christ when he was led to the Cross they all forsook him and fled and left him to tread the wineâ—press alone And so if you suffer in the righteousness and truth of God you shall find little comfort from men O thou afflicted tossed with tempest and not comforted Now this the Lord doth in much mercy to his Saints he leaves them destitute of earthly Comfort that they may look for heavenly he leaves them destitute of all comfort from men that they may look for comfort from God alone And therefore when thou art brought into such a case to be afflicted and not comforted lift up thy heart to God and expect all from him Saith
acts but the greatest part of sin it still leaves within as it was Fourthly It is a powerful and mighty Reformation It is wrought in a man by the very powor of God even by the right hand of his Righteousness And so no sin lust corruption though never so mighty is able to resist this work of God by the Gospel but it makes the whole body of sin and the whole kingdom of the Divel fly in pieces before it The power of God in creating and redeeming the elect may as well be resisted as the power of God in reforming them for it is a power above all power that God puts forth in this work and so is not to be made void by any creature In every stroke of this work the power of the Lord God almighty is put forth as every rightly reformed Christian knows And if the love of God had not put forth this power in the soul a Christian had never been reformed no not from one sin Now the power of this Reformation eminently appears in that it changeth the very natures of men it findes them lions it makes them lambs it findes them wolves it makes them sheep it findes them birds of prey it makes them doves It finds them trees of the forrest it makes them apple-trees In a word it finds them flesh it makes them spirit it finds them sin it makes them righteousness Mighty indeed is the power of this Reformation But now as this Gospel Reformation is mighty so Civil-Ecclesiastical Reformation is weak for as the former hath the power of God engaged in it so this later hath only the power of man and so can do no such works as the former I appeal to all that are spiritual what heart or nature was ever changed by this sort of Reformation For there it s that corruption in the heart of every man that is able to stand out against all the Reformation that all the powers in the world can undertake And so the Reformation mannaged by the mightiest and severest power of man is weak as water in this business of changing natures and can onely change some outward forms and postures and the like leaving in the mean time a mans nature the same it was before It onely puts sheeps clothing upon men which is easily done but still leaves them wolves underneath Fifthly It is a constant Reformation a Reformation which being once begun is never intermitted again till all be perfected For as long as Gods nature dwels in ours it will ever be reforming our nature to it self till it be altogether like it As long as the Spirit of God dwels in the flesh it will still be reforming the flesh to the Spirit till the whole body of sin be destroyed and the natural man be made spiritual So that the whole time of this life that is lived in faith that is in union with Christ is a time of continual Reformation and a Christian is daily washing cleansing and purifying himself till he purifie himself even as Christ is pure But now Civil-Ecclesiastical Reformation at first makes a great noise and tumult in the world and after lies as still as a stone For such Reformation reforms States and Kingdoms to mens own profit honour power advantages and so to themselves rather then to Christ And when men have once attained to their own ends their activity ceases Again it brings men to certain outward orders and conformities and then runs round as in a mill and goes no farther Again It reforms for a time and not constantly because the outward power being taken away nature returns to its own course again For State-Ecclesiastical Reformation onely changes some outward works leaving the nature the self same that it was as you have heard Now where the works are contrary to nature nature by degrees returns to it self again and puts an end to those works and so there is an end of that Reformation And thus you see what Gospel-Reformation is and how qualified whereby you see it cleerly differenced from Civil-Ecclesiastical Reformation And oh that that Prophesie might here be fulfilled Isa 32. 3. The eyes of them that see shall not be dim and the ears of them that hear shall hearken The second General To whose hand this work of Reformation is committed Now that is only to Jesus Christ the great and only Magistrate in the Kingdom of God and who only is to do all that is done in the Church of God he is the Dominus fac totum as they say If the Church be to be redeemed Christ must redeem it if it be to be governed Christ must govern it if it be to be protected Christ must protect it if it be to be saved Christ must save it All that is to be done in the Church of God Christ only is to do it and so among other things to reform it that is to wash it sanctifie it purifie it Christ then is the only Reformer of the Church of God For First God hath committed the care of the Churches Reformation to Christ onely and to no body else and this is a thousand times better for the Church then if he had committed it to all the Princes and Magistrates in the world All things are given to me of my Father saith Christ and the Church above all other things Thine they were and thou gavest them me thine they were by election and thou gavest them me that I might redeem them and reform them and present them to thee again without spot So that the Father hath committed the care of the Reformation of the Church to Christ And secondly Christ hath taken this care upon himself out of obedience to his Father and love to his Church 1. Out of obedience to his Father for he saith I came not to do my own will but the will of him that sent me and this is the will of him that sent me that of all that he hath given me I should lose none And so Christ reforms all that he might lose none out of obedience to his Father 2. Out of love to his Church he takes this care and charge on him For such is the love of Christ to the Church everywhere so gloriously discovered in the Gospel that he doth not onely give himself for us to redeem us but also gives himself to us to reform us Christ dying for us is our Redemption Christ dwelling and living in us is our Reformation Thirdly This work of Reformation is only sutable to and convenient for Christ the Head as having so near and deer interest in the Church his Body And so he is full of love and bowels and tender compassions to the Church he will not deal roughly ruggedly and boystrously with the Saints he will not grieve them and vex them and oppress them and crush them in pieces but he being their Head will deal meekly and gently with them He will not break the bruised
the rod of his mouth and with the breath of his lips he shall slay the wicked And Antichrist himself his greatest Enemy he destroys by the Spirit of his mouth and the brightness of his coming 2. Neither did Christ command his Apostles to use any such outward power but he sent his Disciples to preach and bid them say into what house soever they entered Peace be to this house and if men would not receive peace and the doctrine of peace not to force them but to depart thence and to shake off the dust of their feet as a witness against them that they had been there according to the will of Christ and the Father and offered them mercy and salvation which they refused And this is all that the Ministers of the Gospel can do to any that refuse their doctrine and not to go presently to the secular Magistrate to ask power to punish them or imprison them or sell their goods as is now practised in some parts of the Kingdom even upon the Saints and if men be wicked is it not misery enough for them to refuse eternal life except also they inflict on them Temporal death Is it not misery enough for men to refuse the good things of heaven except they also deprive them of the good things of this present life and yet as Luther said of the Clergy Quando non invocat brachium seculare morte utraque terret mundum When doth it not call upon the secular power and terrifie the world with both deaths Surely Christ and the Word approve not these ways For Math. 18. Christ imposeth no other punishment on them that would not hear the Church then that he should be reckoned as a heathen and Paul Titus 3. Teacheth us after once and twice admonition to avyd an Heretick but not to imprison him or kill him or banish him and again they that do these things shall not inherite the Kingdom of God and again he that beleeves not shall be damned but not one word of outward or corporal punishment in all the Gospel 3. Yea Christ reproveth his Disciples for discovering such a spirit of tyranny as to punish men for not receiving him Luk. 9. when the Apostles of a Prelatical and Antichristian Spirit in that particular desired fire to come down from Heaven upon them that would not receive him Christ did severely rebuke them saving Ye know not of what spirit ye are not of Christs Spirit which is meek but of Sathans who was a murderer from the beginning and of Antichrists his first begotten in the world and he adds the Son of man came not to destroy mens lives but to save them and therefore to go about to turn the Gospel not to save mens lives but to destroy them and so to change Christ himself from a Saviour into a Destroyer this is Antichrist Triumphant All these things shew that worldly power hath no place at all in the Reformation of the Gospel Now I should have proceeded here to answer some Objections as namely 1. That of Luke 14. compel them to come in this I forgetting named not May a Christian then live as he list No by no means for he hath the Word and Spirit in him to keep him from living as he list and he knows that no man in Gods Kingdom may live as he wils but as God wils But would you have no Law No Laws in Gods Kingdom but Gods Laws and these are a thousands times better then all the Laws of men and they are these three The Law of a new nature The Law of the spirits of life that is in Christ The Law of love But would you have no Government Yes but the government of Christ the Head and the Holy Ghost the Spirit in and over the Church the body They that would govern the faithful the Members of Christs own body make themselves the head of those Members and so Antichrist may as well be found in a combination of men as in one single person But would you have no Order Yes the best thas is even such an Order as is in the body of Christ where every Member is placed by Christ and none by it self The Order of the spiritual Church is a spiritual Order and not a carnal But would you have sin suffered No but more truly and throughly destroyed then any power of the world can destroy it even by the Spirit of judgement and burning But would you have sinners suffered No but punished more severely then any powers of the world can punish them For he shall smite the earth with the rod of his mouth and with the breath of lips he shall slay the wicked And as for those that are outwardly wicked the Magistrate is to keep them in order for the quiet of the State he having power over their persons estates and lives I should also have proceeded to the next thing The advantages of such a Gospel Reformation where it is wrought together with the Vses but because I would not be everlong I pass by these things and so proceed no farther in this Discourse But now being brought hither by an unexpected providence I shall crave liberty to speak a few words to you in the behalf of two Kingdoms that is this Kingdom and Gods 1. That which I have to request of you for this Kingdom is that you would regard the oppression of the poor and the sighing of the needy Never was there more injustice and oppression in the Nation then now I have seen many oppressed and crushed and none to help them I beseech you consider this with all your hearts for many who derive power from you are great oppressors And therefore I require you in the name of God to discharge the trust that God hath put into your hands and so to defend the poor and fatherless to do justice to the afflicted and needy to deliver the poor and needy and to rid them out of the hands of the wicked This is your business discharge your duty if you will not then hear what the Lord saith Psal 12. 5. for the oppression of the poor for the sighing of the needy now will I arise saith the Lord and Gods rising in this case would prove your ruine If you will not do Gods work in the Kingdom which he hath cal'd you too he will do it himself without you as it is written He shall deliver the needy when he cryeth the poor also and him that hath no helper he shall save their souls from deceit and violence the common evils of the times And this is all that I have to say for this Kingdom 2. I have a few more things to say touching Gods Kingdom and the first is this 1. That as Christ Kingdom and the Kingdoms of the world are distinct So you would be pleased to keep them so and not mingle them together your selves nor suffer others
the Church through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit as also by the life of Christ and presence and operations of his Spirit c. And thus you see how the Church though it be spiritual may be known Well but how can we be joyned to such a spiritual and invisible Church I answer Is not Christ a spiritual and invisible head And how canst thou be joyned to such a head Sure our joyning to Christ the head and to the Church his body is of one nature and that which joyns us to Christ the head will assuredly joyn us to the Church his body Now through faith and the spirit onely are we joyned to this head and through faith and the Spirit onely are we joyned to this body and we cannot be of this spiritual body and society but by being taken up into one faith and spirit with them And so it is no more a difficult thing to be joyned to the true Church because it is spiritual and invisible then to be joyned to Christ himself upon the same account that is it is no more difficult to be joyned to a spiritual and invisible body then to a spiritual and invisible head and all acknowledge Christ to be such a head and all must acknowledge the Church to be such a body If any shall say that they cannot presently agree to these things because they have had far different apprehensions of the Church heretofore I desire all such to consider that if the true Church were onely an outward and visible society and corporation of men that were to be governed by outward and visible officers according to outward and visible forms and orders there would then be no great mystery in the Church for these things lie within the easie reach of every mans reason But now whole Christ is a great mystery hid from ages and generations that is not onely Christ the Head of the Church but also the Church the body of Christ Ephes 5. 32. This is a great mystery but I speak concerning Christ and the Church And this latter mystery though both indeed make up one and the same mystery of the Church or Christ the body can no more be known by humane sense or reason then the former of Christ the head the revelation of the Father and the anointing of the Spirit being equally necessary for the right knowledge of both And as Antichrist hath had his mystery of iniquity in opposition to Christ the Head in setting up a visible and carnal Head instead of the invisible and spiritual so also he hath had his mystery of iniquity in opposition to the Church the body in erecting a visible and carnal body or Church instead of an invisible and spiritual for without all peradventure the head and the body must be sutable each to other and of the same kinde and nature And so as a visible and carnal head the Pope was in no measure sutable to an invisible and spiritual body the true Church so likewise a visible and carnal body or Church made and constituted by a mixture of Civil and Ecclesiastical laws and power is in no measure sutable to a spiritual and invisible head But what a kinde of Head the true Christ is such a kinde of body or society the true Church is and both are spiritual and invisible And as the Lord in the former age hath been pleased to reveal to the Church the mystery of the Head after a long time of its obscuring and darkning under the reign of Antichrist so now we wait in hope that he will in this present age reveal the mystery of the body which hath been no less obscured then the former that so the whole mystery of whole Christ may both be known and accomplished among us according to the riches of his glory by the Gospel Wherefore all the faithful are desired as occasion serves to make known what God hath taught them in this matter to supply what is here spoken weakly and imperfectly And thus having declared what the true Church of Christ is and rectified some ancient and general mistakes touching it I shall now proceed to make known from the clear and evident word the true and onely bonds of the Churches union peace and agreement as the Apostle hath delivered them to us by the Spirit Ephes 4. 4 5 6. There is one body and one spirit even as yee are called in one hope of your calling One Lord one Faith one Baptism One God and Father of all who is above all and through all and in you all Where note in general that among all these bonds of the Churches unity the Apostle makes not so much as any mention of UNIFORMITY Indeed the Rhemists being through the just judgement of God blinded from this very place urge and press Vniformity which is the very word they use as being the great and mighty engine first to advance the mystery of iniquity to its Throne and after to preserve it there But it will appear anon by the Apostles Doctrine that no Conformity or Vniformity are any bonds of the true Churches peace and union seeing the Church is such a Kingdom as is not preserved in its peace by any outward forms and orders as the Kingdoms of the world are but by inward principles Wherefore I shall proceed to speak of those spiritual bonds of the spiritual Churches unity which the Apostle names and they are in number seven the first whereof is ONE BODY There is one body saith Paul The right Church of Christ is but one body consisting of many members and this is not a natural or Political but a spiritual body even the body of Christ Paul in several of his Epistles takes pleasure to set forth the unity of the Church by this similitude as in Rom. 12. 4 5. As we have many members in one body and all members have not the same office So we being many are one body in Christ and every one members one of another And again 1 Cor. 12. 12. As the body is one and hath many members and all the members of that one body being many are but one body so also is Christ Where he cals the body by the name of the head both making up one Christ Now this Unity of Body comprehends believers of all ages and of all sorts 1. Of all ages for all believers that hath been in the world heretofore or now are or shall be hereafter do all make up but one body of Christ though born and brought forth of God in several times and ages of the world as in a natural example a childe is not born all in a moment but is brought forth by degrees and though one part be born and another not yet born this doth not hinder unity of body in the child so the bringing forth the Church into the world in several ages doth in no wise hinder this unity of body 2. As this unity of body comprehends
believers of all ages so also of all sorts and conditions Jews and Gentiles bond and free c. all which are made one body in Christ Paul in Ephes 2. 15. speaking of Jews and Gentiles saith That Christ of these twain who differed as much as mankinde could he hath made in himself one new man For Christ melting these two by his Spirit which is as fire causes each to depart from himself and makes both together one new man or body of Christ in himself and thus makes peace For as long as men remain different bodies or men there is no peace amongst them but when Christ makes them one body in himself he makes peace between them unity of body being a most necessary bond of peace in the Church as the Apostle testifies Col. 3. 15. Let the peace of God rule in your hearts to the which ye are called in one body Now from this unity of body in the true Church we may note very considerable things all to our present purpose 1. That unity of body in the Church flows from unity of head for here the members do not first conspire into an unity of body among themselves and after choose a head to their body but first these members are united to the Head and then to one another in and with the Head and so because there is but one true head Christ there is but one true body the Church 2. As the members of the natural body are born such through a natural birth before they do or can exercise and acts or offices sutable to such members and do not first exercise such offices and then after are made such members as for instance the eye doth not first see and then or therefore is made an eye in the body or the ear first hear and then or therefore is made an ear in the body but the eye is first born an eye in the body and then sees and the ear is born an ear and then hears c. So in the spiritual body of Christ each Christian hath his membership meerly from a new or spiritual birth and hath his office from his membership and not from any action or operation of his own before he was a member In this spiritual as in the natural body the eye is born an eye and therefore it sees and the foot is born a foot and therefore it walks and each believer is only that which he is through a new birth and cannot be placed in such and such an office by men no more then men can place a seeing eye or walking foot in the natural body but they must be born there ere they can be there Each member in the true Church is born in his place and office by God and is not placed there by man and when the Church perceives this grace in its members it suffers them to exercise those places and offices in the body in which God hath produced or brought them forth by his Spirit 3. This unity of body stands well with a difference or distinction of members and the difference of members doth not hinder but help the unity of body for saith Paul The body is not one member but many and if they were all one member where were the body And therefore in the body there are diversity of members and each member hath its several form and office If the whole body were an eye where were the hearing and if the whole were an ear where were seeing smelling walking c. So in the unity of Christs body there are diversity of members with diversity of gifts and offices and so one hath the word of wisdom another the word of knowledge another the word of faith another the gift of healing c. Every member in this body being in office and having received the Spirit to profit withal And so again Rom. 12. 6. Having then gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us he speaks of all the members of the body which have some of or other gifts given to them if it be prophesie let us prophesie according to the proportion of faith if ministry let us wait on our ministring or he that teacheth on teaching or he that exhorteth on exhortution c. So that in the true Church unity stands with diversity but in the false unity will not stand without uniformity 4. In this true Church or one body of Christ notwithstanding diversity of members and offices there is still an equality among them all seeing all alike make up one body in which regard one member is as necessary to the body as another and no member can say to another that I contribute more to the making up of the body then thou the most honourable member cannot lay thus to the most mean not the Apostles themselves to Believers among the Gentiles for we are the body of Christ as well as they and they are the body of Christ no more then we wherefore no member for diversity of office is to lift up himself above another member who is as necessary as it self to the making up the body and also is every whit as useful in its place 5. As in the natural body each member is contented with its own place and office in the body so is every member through the grace given unto it contented with its place and office in the spiritual body and not one either envies or despises another 6. The members of the natural body do not each live to themselves but all of them serve one another and each of them serves all as the eye sees for the foot and the whole body and the hand works for the eye and the whole body c. So among believers none lives and acts for himself only but each believer serves all and all serve each one in love 7. Members that are united into one body have a true sympathy with one another both in good and evil things 1 Cor. 12. 26. And whether one member suffer all the members suffer with it or one member be honoured all the members rejoyce with it 8. Among the members of the body there is no law of force but only a law of love no member compelling another but each member serving another by love and if one member be infirm the rest help it and do not reject it the more they care for it and do not the more despise it And this now is the first bond of the true Churches unity Vnity of body Now they break this first bond of unity that either live out of this one body of Christ or else live in it but not as members 1. They that do content themselves in joyning to some outward and visible society and corporation of men though called a Church and think that by being knit to them in wayes of outward worship and ordinances they live in the unity of the Church when as yet all this while they live out of that one body that is born of
saltem oremus imploremus misericordiam ut vitâ voce testemur quòd Iesus Christus solus est Dominus Deus noster Benedictus in secula seculorum Luther in Epist ad Patr. The Holy Spirit and the power of it necessary for all Christians Question Answer They need the Spirit of power They need the power of the Spirit 1. To change their nature 2. To work Grace a Psal 25. 11. 2 Pet. 1. 14. 3. To mortifie sin 1. The whole body of sin Rom. 8. 13. 2. Particular strong corruptions 4. To perform duties To inable them to the use of the word In private Act. 18. 16. In publike To inable them to confess the word 7. To overcome afflictions and persecutions Second use The way to get this power is to get this Spirit To this end we must prepare our selves Wherein preparation doth not consist Wherein it doth 1. The Holy Spirit empties us A caution 2. Fills us The means are 1. The hearing of the Word 2. Faith 3. Prayer 2. The Way to increase this power Jer. 36. 32. Joh. 8. 44. Deut. 33. 29. 1 Pet. 1. 12. The great incâ—ease of the spiritual â—huâ—ch Rev. 5. 9. Vse The affliction of the Spiritual Church The spiritual Church is violently afflicted The spiritual Church in affliction hath no comfort from the world The spiritual Church in affliction comforted by a promise The special promise that comforts the Church is that God himself shall build it up gloriously The matter of which the spiritual Church is made The variety of the precious stones in the building of the spiritual Church The spiritual Church is made up only of precious stones The Builder of the spiritual Church is God The teacher of the Spâ—ritual Church is God The Spiritual Church being taught of God is peaceable in it self The establishment of this Spiritual Church The Spiritual Church being established is without fear and terror The worlds enmity against this spiritual Church thus built taught and establisht The world hath no success in their undertakings against the spiritual Church Rev. 3. 11 Antichrists Kingdom set up by the carnal understanding of the Scriptures The Reformation of the Church understood carnally The imperfection of the worship of the old Law No outward law can make men perfect as pertaining to the conscience and so the Gospel abolishes all such outward laws imposed on conscience as well now as heretofore Doctr. Gospel Reformation 1. What it is Christ Judgement Christ Righteousness Gospel Reformation is 1. Spiritual 2. Inward Latth 23. 25. 3. Thorow Isa 1. 25. 4. Powerful 5. Constant Christ the Reformer Note 1 The care of the Church given to Christ 2 Christ takes it 1. Out of obedience 2. Love 3. The work of Reformation only sutable to Christ 4. Christ only able for the work of Reformation 1. The Word The Gospel-Reformes 1. Works faith 2. Cummunicates Righteousness 3. Shews Christ 2. The second means Christ useth to reform the Church withall 2. All errours Object Answ 1. Unbeseem the the Gospel * Though the truth carry its evidence in it self theâ—ord â—ord of God is greater then all the testimonies of men yet for their sakes that are weak I have inserted the judgements of some godly men as I have accidentally met with them who have spoken of these things in the spirit that so you may see the truth though it hath but few followers yet it hath some Melancton on Psal 110. v. 3. habebis populum non coastum gladio sed verbo collectum laeto corde amplectentem evangelium te sponte celebrantem Diâ—cernit igitur ecclesiam ab imperiis mundanis externam servitutem a cultibus cordis accensis voce evangelii a spiritu sancto Ag. Religio cogi non vult doceri expetit Immanitate non stabilitur sed evertitur Polan This Charls to whom Leo gave the title of the most Christian King was a great conqueror and overcame many Nations with the sword and as the Turk compelleth to his faith so he compelled with Violence to the faith of Christ but alas the true faith of Christ whereunto the Holy Ghost draws mens hearts through preaching the Word of truth he knew not c. Tindal Fides sua sponte non coacte agere vult Luth. Christus non voluit vi igne cogere homines ad fidem Luth. Haereticos comburere est contra voluntatem spiritus Luth. He hath given in the Church the sword of the spirit to inforce with and not the sword of the Magistrate Prorsus diversa ratio est regni Christi mundi Mundani Magistratus quae volunt imperant subditi coguntur obedientiam praestare At in Regno Christi quod non est mundana aut pontificia Dominatio sed spirituale regnum nihil simile geritur sed quivis alterius judex quilibet alteri subjectus est At tyranni animicida illi nihil morantes vocem Christi regnum meâ—m non est de hoc mundo ex Ecclesia Politiam civilem seu potius Pontificium imperium constituerunt Luth. Quare ipsam sedem Bestiae nego nihil moratus sit ne bonus vel malus qui in ea sedet Sedes inquam quae fit super omnes sedes nulla est in Ecclesia super terram jure divino sed omnes sunt aequales quia una fides unum baptisma unus Christus c. Luth. Where there is no wordly superiority over one another there is no worldly compulsion of one another In the natural body there is no convocation of many members to govern one or of more members to govern fewer but the foot performs its office without being under the authoritative power of the hands yea each member performs its office aright without being in subordination to another by the guidance of that head to which it is united and of that Spirit that dwels in it each member having an immediate influence of the head upon it self though it may outwardly seem to be further from the head then another member And thus it is in Beleevers and Congregations Quid autem vi coactione opus vobis est qui hujusmodi certamen decertatis in quo cogi nemo debet Ulrichus ab nutren to the Councel of Priests What need you the power of the Magistrate to defend the truth who have so many Scriptures to defend it the truth of God being to be defended by the Word of God and not by the power of men Idem I could produce many more Testimonies but these are sufficient to shew that I am not alone in this point against Forcible reformation but have the Armory of David to defend it withall on which there hang a thousand bucklers all shields of mighty men 2. Unsutable to Christs Kingdom This stand in the Spirit 2. The Subjects of it are a spiritual people Isa 11. 9 Isa 60. 18. 3. A willing people Psal 110. 3. 3. Humane institution is set up 4. It brings men into