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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
B04886	No power but of God, and yet a power in every creature, or, A word in season, to all men not void of grace, or deprived of reason wherein is held forth that the Almighty God is not wanting to us in impowering of us, but we are wanting to him, in not improving our talent for him ... / by Robert Purnel.	Purnell, Robert, d. 1666.	1651 (1651)	Wing P4238A; ESTC R187132	119,586	280

Hope your Patience and Sel●… denyal is not the Faith Hope Patience and ●…elf-denial of the Gospel your assurance 〈…〉 r Heaven is unfound you have been daw 〈…〉 d with untempered mortar the day is al●…ost come that thou must die after death 〈…〉 me to judgment and then be judged ac●…rding to thy works Then if thou doest ●●ant Oyle in thy Lamp which is Grace in 〈…〉 e heart thou wilt be shut out it will be 〈◊〉 vaine then with Balaam to fall a praying 〈…〉 ord let me die the death of the righteous and let 〈◊〉 latter end be like his No no He that will 〈◊〉 the death of the righteous must live the life of 〈◊〉 righteous Those that he appointed for ●●ory hereafter shall have the beginning of ●●ace here for they be chosen to salvation ●…rough sanctification of the Spirit and be 〈…〉 ef of the truth and without holinesse no man ●●all see the Lord. Your Leaders have caused 〈…〉 ou to erre the blinde hath led the blinde and 〈…〉 th will fall into the ditch unlesse you be●…are in time O poore Souls I cannot blame you to ●…omplain of bad suffering times to be thus ●…heated on every side you have but a Body ●…nd a Soule and to be deceived and depri●…ed of the comfortable being of the one ●…here and to have no assurance of rest for ●…he other hereafter is a sad condition indeed Oh how be the people destroyed for want of knowledge Like Priest like People as in Hos 4. 6 9. The Prophets there of doe teach for hire and the Priests divine for money and you poore simple ones love to hav●… it so O you simple ones how long will yee lov●… simplicity and you scorners delight in scorning 〈◊〉 you are deceived and by those that you least mistrusted namely the Prophets Mich. 3. 5. Do 〈…〉 but spend a little time and tracethis Trib●● from the Prophet Isaiah's dayes untill now 〈…〉 First Isaiah complains of them in his dayes Isai 28. 7. Jeremy complains of them in hi●… dayes J●● ●…0 6. and Ezekiel the Prophe●● complain of them in his daies Ezek. 22. 26. So the Prophets Daniel Hosea Joel and Amos these also complains of the badnesse of this generation Then the Prophet Micah he complains of their sins and prophesieth of their judgements Mich. 3. from v. 5. to the end of the Chapter Then when Christ came in the flesh h●… was opposed by them and complains o 〈…〉 them Matt. 23. 13 15 16. then the Apostles themselves were continually persecuted and afflicted from time to time by them as you may read in the Acts of the Apostles And if there be any truth in Histories see what a sort of Ministry there were in Henry 〈…〉 eighth's dayes when the King denied Popes Supremacy how soon did this 〈…〉 be face about and side with the King 〈…〉 en again in the dayes of Edward the sixt ●●reason of his pious resolution though 〈◊〉 young the Clergie feared a turn and ●●esently fell a preaching against the Masse 〈…〉 ok and it was soon abolished and the common-prayer-●●mmon-Prayer-book set up in its place ●●d these men zealous Common-Prayer●●ok men And then about three or foure ●…ars after that Queen Mary was made ●…ueen the Clergie bethought themselves ●●d presently the greatest part of them tur●●d about again from Common-Prayer●●ok to Masse-Book for say they the diffe●●nce is not great Then after Queen Mary was dead and Queen Elizabeth had the Crown●… pre●…ently the whole tribe of them except some ●●w turned Protestants again under which shape and in which visage they have ●…ontinued untill the beginning of this pre●…ent Parliament Well the Parliament had not sate long but the Wolfe covered with Sheeps cloathing was discovered and after a little consideration it was put to the Vote and suddenly after tumbled down the Prelatical discipline root and branch Wel what follows why our Clergie for 〈◊〉 most part threw aside their Surplisse Hoods and Tippets Organs and Altar●● Bowings and Cringings Tapers and Ca●…dles and perk up into the Pulpit an●… lifts up their voices and preach again those things and so became the reveren●● laborious zealous Ministers of England thou desirest a fuller discovery of this look into what I have written before ca●…led A word to the pretended Minister and neither of these will _____ satisfie thee if thou wil●… see the Wolfe stript of his Sheeps cloathing indeed then look into the Chronicles 〈◊〉 England Scotland and Ireland Mr. Fox hi●… book of Acts and Monuments of th●… Church and his History of Martyrs c. O then take heed how you hear Luke 8. 18●… take heed whom you heare Jer. 27. 9. take hee●… what you hear Mark 4. 24. Beloved I have not written these things to take off your affections from the true Ministers of the Gospel but to disengage your hearts affections from the ravening Wolves that the Lord Christ hath commanded me and you to beware of Matt. 7. 15 and Acts 20. 29. and Joh. 10. 12. Again Believe not every spirit but try the spirits whether they be of God 1 Joh. 4. 1. For many deceivers are entred into the ●…orld 2 Joh. 7. These things have I written ●…nto you concerning them that seduce you 1 Joh. 〈◊〉 26. Now that you might take heed whom you hear how you hear and what ●…ou hear and that you might not believe ●…very spirit but try the spirits whether ●…hey be of God I shall under correction ●…nd with submission to better judgements ●…ive my thought of the one of the other ●…nd endeavour to put a difference between 〈◊〉 Prelate and a Pilate a Feeder and a Flee●…er a Blinde-beetle and a Seer a Butcher ●…nd a Shepheard a Destroyer and an Instru●…ter a Tyrant and a Father a Thief and a Keeper a Seducer and a Leader a ravening Wolf and a moderate Shepheard that so ●…ou might cast off the one and embrace the other and truly herein I cannot speak in ●…allibly but give my thoughts at a distance ●…or Satan hath transformed himself into an Angel of light and his works are more my●…terious then ever the Lord cannot have ●…is Church but the Devil will have his Chappel if they will have Ordinances he will have them too if they will congregate themselves together by uniting in one spirit Sathan and his company will unite together in one form of communion and afterwards teach union If the true Church of Christ will teach first the Doctrinal par 〈…〉 and then the practical part Sathan wi 〈…〉 allow his Ministers to preach the same on●…ly with this difference he will put the●● upon building before they have laid th●● foundation if the true Chruch will buil●… upon the rock Sathan and his compan●… will build too but his foundation must 〈◊〉 laid on sand I shall now endeavour 〈◊〉 give my judgement of the pretended Min●…ster first and then of the true Minist●● next that so you might hold to the o 〈…〉 and forsake the

No Power but of God And yet a Power in every Creature OR A word in season to all Men not void of Grace or deprived of Reason Where in is beld forth That the Almighty God is not wanting to us in impowering of us but we are wanting to him in not improving our talent for him The Almighty gives to every man some talent or talents viz. To some Natural to others Spiritual talents or gifts But there is no man that improves his talent so well as he might in point of obedience to him Which appears In our not doing so much good and refraining so much evil as by the power he hath given us we ought and might have done And That the Ordinances Institutions appointments of Christ held forth in the Gospel are still in force so that to slight them is to slight our own priviledges and to forsake them is to forsake our own mercies The abuse of Gospel-Ordinances by some doth not take away the lawful use of them to others By ROBERT PURNEL Isa 28. 7. The Priests and Prophets they erre in vision and stumble in judgment Psal 140. 11. Therefore let not an evil speaker be established in the earth Isa 28. 11. But wi●…h a stammering lip and another tongue speak to thy people London Printed for Samuel Newton dwelling in Wine-street in Bristol 1651. THE EPISTLE to the Impartial READER Courteous Reader TIme is one of the most precious Herbs in the Garden of the World so that there is nothing more precious and yet by most men there is no one thing more slighted Wherefore if I shall here give thee the fruits of a little redeemed time think not hardly of me but let it have acceptance with thee I must confesse that I am the most unmeet of many which this Age doth afford to write or speak of things of so great concernment Yet I suppose this will be granted by all men rational that he which hath but a little strength and improveth that to the uttermost to doe good withall is more acceptable in the sight of God and sincere-hearted men then he which hath ten times the strength and useth it not And although in me there is the least Candle that ever God enlightened yet I shall not put it under a Bushel and although I have but one Talent I will not hide it in a Napkin it 's true the Candle of the Lord cannot burn with a more dim light then in my selfe Though a little truth liveth in me yet clouds and darknesse are round about me So that I have but a little of the Spirit in abundance of weaknesse Wherefore if any of the glory of Christ break forth in the ensuing discourse let him have the glory who hath chosen the weak things of the World to confound the wisdome of the wise and although these things be not broug●… forth in the painted Dish of Human Learning varnished and coloured over with the wisdome of man yet if the fruit be good in the taste though the Tree be not so beautiful in the eye reject no the fruit for the Trees sake but rather consider that which is most unpleasant in the eyes of men is for the most part most pleasant in the sight of God for man is apt to love that which God abhors and to abhor that which the Almighty loves For this Treatise as much as in me lieth I have avoided the crying up of any party or opinion and endeavoured to own truth and deny untruth wheresoever it is found either in noble or ignoble old or young weak or strong learned or unlearned wishing with my whole heart that there were but only these two names under Heaven to know the sons and daughters by viz. Saints and Sinners for there is but light and darknes heaven and hell truth and errour sheep and wolves But the muddy waters of Babylon have run so long in the channels of our understanding that it hath blinded our judgements and disordered our affections Understanding Reader the things that I have written of are many the method which I have observed is familiar and plain the rule which I have endeavored to walk by is the word of truth the end I have aimed at is the glory of God in the good of his people and wherein I have come short of my end attribute that to my weaknesse and not the truths asserted The fore named considerations have enflamed my desires and winged my endeavours to cast in this mite also into the Cabinet of thy soule And although I have met with some discouragements already and do suppose I shall have many more when this comes to publike view Yet if any man doe reap any spiritual benefit by it though I may suffer reproaches for it I have not lost my end in it I have endeavoured according to the measure of light and strength that is in me to speak the words of truth and sobernesse unto thee But that I might not spin out my Epistle beyond the staple I will endeavour to give thee a brief sum of what I have written and leave the farther enlargement of these things to every one that shall reade this book I have written these things not as so many Infallibilities but under correction with submission to beter judgements I have given mine and that I hope without a preingaged affection honouring the things of God as well in those under one form as those under another And as in every place and amongst all sorts of people he that feareth God and worketh righteousnesse is accepted of him so I would endeavour to love any in whom I see the least appearance of Christ let them go under what name or notion the Prince of darknesse and his children please The sum of what I have hereafter written in brief is this First I have laid before thee the several Temptations that doe surround thee on every side next I have exhorted thee to put on all the armour of God to defend thy self and offend thy enemies and that thou mightest so doe abide in the Doctrine of Christ which is a City of Refug●… and then love in the will of God which is the strong Castle of content Improve thy power whether natural or spiritual for him who gave it thee ●…n whom are all our springs from whom are all our supplies yet let our omissions and commissions be charged upon our selves that God may be true and every man a liar There is darknesse in the Prophets and grosse darknesse in their Flock●… and but a little light in any of the Saints A few words to the preiended Ministery with a brief Epistle to the World whom they have deceived with a discovery of them and how thou mayest easily know them Of our fall in the first Adam and of our recovery by the second Adam The glorious state of those restored the deliverances they have already had are great and greater then these be at hand onely the Saints be too suddain in their

made the most bless●…d of all creatures ●…ut by his fall in the first Adam and not im●…racing the second Adam is become the most ●●rsed creature of all so that we may say ●…f all men and women fallen in the first Adam and not restored by the second as on●… our Lord Christ said concerning Judas Ma●… 14. 2. Good were it for that man if he had neve●… been borne So the attribute of his Power may be see●… in the upholding the whole Creation an●… the attribute of his Mercy in the preserv●…tion of his Creatures All that we are have or do enjoy ar●… gifts of God and if we act and move b●… the power of God then it is impossibly tha●… we should perform any spiritual duty o●… our selves without his assistance Christ tel●… leth Pilate that he could have no power at a●… against him unlesse it was given him A ma●… can receive nothing saith the Baptist excep●… it be given him from heaven Joh. 3. 27. It i●… God saith Paul that worketh in us both to wi●● and to doe what have we therefore which w●… did not receive So then all things be from him but al●… things are not him as some ignorantl●… imagine I say again all things are from hi●… but all things are not him He is the Creator we be the creatures He hath his being in himselfe we have our being from him He was from everlasting before time we ha●… our being from him in time He is immutable we are all mutable He is Alpha an●… Omega the beginning and the ending which 〈◊〉 and which was and which is to come The 〈◊〉 mighty he can bring good out of evil 〈…〉 ht out of darknesse strength out of weak●●sse hobour out of dishonour If the first ●…am be deceived by the Serpent he will ●●rn it to his glory if the second Adam be ●…trayed by a Judas he will turn it to 〈◊〉 Glory If the first fall by unbelief he 〈◊〉 raise us in a second by faith in a word 〈◊〉 is the head of all principality power 2 Col. 〈◊〉 All power is in him habitually vertu●●y primitively originally essentially The Scriptures are so full in setting forth ●…s that there is no power but of God almost every book from the beginning of Genesis 〈◊〉 the end of the Revelation that I suppose ●…ere is no man if he be endued but with ●●mmon reason will or can deny it where●…e excuse me if I am silent and speak no ●…ther to it 2. The next thing to be considered is 〈…〉 e power that is in every Creature If there be 〈◊〉 power but in God as hath in some ●…asure been proved in the former expres 〈…〉 ns Tell me then without any evasions ●●w there is a power in every Creature A. There is no power but of God ori 〈…〉 ally and essentially habitually primitively or virtually But there is a power 〈◊〉 every Creature distributively The pow●● is in God as in a fountain it is in us●… streams flowing from that fountain but n●… essentially habitually or virtually There is a twofold power that is dist●●buted or given forth to the Creature t●… first is common to all the second is prop●… only to some First there is a natural power as one tale●… which we ought not to hide in a napki●… given forth to all men and women wi●… severall commands from the Giver to i●…prove that Secondly there is his blessed Spirit giv●… forth with a spiritual power only to som●… by vertue of which they can pray in the Sp●…rit rejoyce in the Spirit worship God wh●… is a Spirit in spirit and truth they can re●… and understand the L●●●er in the Spirit th●… can discourse of spiritual things unde●…standingly and feelingly further by th●… power they can bring down strong holds th●… can cast down imaginations and every high thin●… they can bring more or lesse their though●… into captivity unto the obedience of Christ Re●● and well consider 2 Cor. 10. 3 4 5 6. 1. First of the first There is a natu●● power given forth from God to the Creature 〈◊〉 Talent which the Creature is not to hide in ●●apkin but to improve Now ●…hough this ●●wer was not ours but Gods in whom 〈◊〉 power dwels yet he having given this 〈◊〉 us it becomes ours for a man may as ●●operly cal that his own which was given ●●m as that which he bought with his ●…ony Christ tels Pilate that he could have 〈◊〉 power either to release him or to condemn him ●…les it were given him Jo. 19. 10 11. But there ●…as a power given to Pilate even a natural ●…ower and Pilate judged him and con●…emned him If there be no power given forth from ●…od to the Creature then there is no pow●● in the Creature and then all those ex●…ortations perswasions intreatings and ●…eseechings are in vain But that there is a ●…ower in the Creature I say a received pow●…r a derivative power it will appear if you ●…ill answer seriously to what followes ●…iz Tell me O man whosoever thou art ●…hat dost read or hear these lines Hast thou ●…er done so much good or refrained so ●…uch evil as thou mightest have done Consider of it and see what knowledge ●…hat wisdome what comfort what full ●…ssurance mightest thou and I by this time ●…ave risen unto What means that Scripture Heb. 5. 12. Where as by this time you mi 〈…〉 have been teachers of others you have need to taught your selves what be the first principles religion You might have been teachers 〈◊〉 others if you had improved your talen●… Did Paul speak truly or falsely O ma●… when he brake forth into these words 1 C●● 9. 4 5 6. in v. 4. Have we not power to e 〈…〉 and to drink and have we not power to lead 〈◊〉 bout a sister or wife as well as others v. 6. Agai●… have we not power to forbeare working c. There is a place worth our noting Jer. 3●… 6. 18. 19. compared together In v. 〈◊〉 there is mention made of one Jonadah whic●… commanded his sonnes that they shoul●… drink no wine and in v. 18. 19. we fin●… that they in obedience to the command 〈◊〉 their father did forbear to drink any during lif●… Insomuch that the Almighty took noti●● of this their obedience to their father i●… improving their natural power in a wa●… of temperance Just as Paul I have power t●… eat and to drink saith he and as oft as 〈◊〉 pleased he could forbear eating and drinking fo●… a season Oh how much is God blamed an●… man excused by denying this Solomon saith Wherefore is there a price put into the hands of 〈◊〉 foole to get wisdom Mind first here is a pric●… or talent given 2. Where it is put into th●… hands of a fool 3. For what end it is put in●…o his hands to get wisdome c. 4. The rea●…on why he hath not wisdome he hath no ●…eart to mind it no desire to it

Some would ●…ave God not only to give them ability ●…ut to perform the action and then indeed ●●ey might say it was the will of God it ●●uld be so when they did evil for then ●●ey would be carried on as the Sun Moon ●…nd Stars are without resistance But God ●…aving made man a rational creature and ●…iven him power to act he requires him to ●●t by vertue of that power given him and 〈◊〉 commends him for acting well blames ●…im for acting ill And though our ability ●…e but small at first yet if we improve that ●…ccording to the strength we have God hath ●…romised to increase it and we shall grow ●●om strength to strength But if we be un●●ithful in that which is least he will not ●…ust us with more It is good therefore to ●…o what we can and ask and seek for what ●…e cannot do It was possible for the sons ●…f Jonadab to obey their fathers command 〈◊〉 not drinking wine and it was as pos●●ble for Israel to obey their Lords com●…and for God reproves them by that ●…xample Jer. 35. 14. I suppose that the ●●ghteous God never commands impossible things The word is nigh thee in thy mouth a●… in thy heart saith Moses that thou mayest do 〈…〉 Deut. 30. 13 14. Therefore in the book 〈◊〉 bids them choose life Choose saith Joshu●● whom you will serve as for me and my house 〈◊〉 will improve our selves to the utterm 〈…〉 to serve the Lord Jos 24. 15. And therefo●● the Lord complains because they did n●● chuse the feare of the Lord Pro. 12. 9. The●… want of ability is not once mentioned as a●… excuse Again let me ask thee O man whosoev●● thou art that readest these lines Dost tho●… not think and believe that God hath give●… everyman power and ability to do so muc●… as he requires of him For the proof har●… of read understandingly Rom. 1. 19 20 ●… For the Lord is so just and his wayes 〈◊〉 equal that he never requires impossib●● things of his creatures He dealeth wit●… man according to what he hath and co●…mands what he knowes he may perfor●… He is not like Pharaoh to command Brick 〈◊〉 be made without Straw He gives forth h●… Talents and commands the Receiver 〈◊〉 improve that and when he comes to ca●… them to an account he doth not dema●● five talents where he gave but one only 〈◊〉 blames that servant for not improvi●● that one he that was not able to bring ●…old or Silver Silk or fine Linnen to the ●…ilding of the Temple if he brought ●…asse or Goats haire or such as he could ●…tha willing heart it was accepted Again 〈◊〉 finde that he that was not able to bring ●…amb or a Kid for his sin Offering must ●…ing two Turtle Doves or young Pigeons ●…he could not bring those then the tenth ●…rt of an Ephah of fine flower should serve 〈◊〉 where the Lord gives much he requires ●●ch and where he gives little he re●…ires but little Now is the Lord so tender of the people ●●t he would not have them to stretch ●●emselves beyond their abilities in point 〈◊〉 Sacrifices and is not he as tender of ●●ir weaknesse in other points of obedi●●ce Doth he command impossibilities ●●n the Creature may have a just execuse at 〈◊〉 last day when every man shall be judged ●●●ording to his works saying If thou 〈…〉 st given me power to doe that which 〈…〉 u gavest me a command to doe then I 〈◊〉 done it and so his disobedience is cast ●…on his Judge for not giving strength to ●…e that he required If this be true then ●●me not those that say that God is the au 〈…〉 r of sinne But shall I aske thee again O vain man hast thou done so much good and refrai●…ed so much evil that thou mightest ha●… done Put this question to thy Conscienc●… saying Conscience I doe charge thee in t●● presence of the Lord to deal truly with me●… Have I done so much good and refrained 〈◊〉 much evil as I might have done me thin●… I hear thy Conscience saying to thee a●… mine hath often to me No no thou ha●… been a sloathful servant in the Lords Vin●… yard O poore filly man art thou like t●● Bruites that doe not know their ow●… strength Why dost thou not know 〈◊〉 vain man that God that made thee ha●● indued thee with power and abilit●… suteable to thy state and quality Hat●… thy wise Creatour given forth a power t●… the Fishes of all sorts to swim and to t●● Fowls of the Ayre to flye and the Beasts 〈◊〉 the Earth to go from place to place ye●… hath he given wisdome and power to t●● meanest of Creatures the Ant and Pismi●… Crane and Swallow c. and thou O ma●… whom the Lord of Lords hath made Lo●● over al these things hast thou no ability a●… thou a meer dead lump doth God call a●● canst thou not heare nor answer wilt tho●… tell him when he shall judge thee that 〈◊〉 d●…d not impower thee Wilt thou charge ●●y Omissions and Commission upon him ●…ilt thou make him worse then wicked ●…haroah which made the Children of Is●●el make Brick without Straw let me tell ●…ee O man thou art able by the power ●…hat is given thee according to Gods com●…on Providence I say thou art able by ●…ertue of that power received to speake or 〈◊〉 hold thy peace to go or to sit still and ●…hen thou and I shall both appear before ●●e Tribunal Seat of God at the day of ●…udgement thou and I shal not be charged ●…ith what we could not doe but for lea●●ng undone that which we ought might ●…ave done Now that I might not be mista●…en I shal make or propose these few excep●●ons or limitations to what hath been said 1. There is a power in God incommu●●cable I doe not say there is any such ●…ower in us there is a power also in him ●…ommunicable which dwels in us accord●●g to the measure thereof communica●●d c. 2 We are to consider that this power in ●●e Creature as it was given forth from ●…im so it is limitted by him 3 I doe not say or affirme that natural ●●wer can act in supernatural things for I know the contrary that it cannot bu●… only in naturall 4. Although I doe affirm that all me●… have a natural power yet I doe not sa●… that every man natural hath it in the sam●… measure for I see men transcending o●… another in gifts natural as men excee●… and goe beyond one another in gifts Spiritual Truly friends it is worth our consideration a litle to study or enquire into our natural abilities that so we might improv●… them to the b●…st advantage for natura●… improvements shal have natural rewards a●… spiritual improvements shall have spiritua●● rewards If Ahab repent with a natural r●…pentance Ahab shall receive a natural reward as you may see 1 King 21. 27. It wi●● further appear that