time and it was not a bare Figure or Sign that he gave them but in the use of the Bread and Wine he gave them at the same time an inward enjoyment of him And all this we own and are very glad of such occasions when we have them to sit together and eat and drink both outwardly and inwardly enjoying a two-fold Table and Supper at one time and finding the Lord himself spiritually present and blessing both unto us and enabling us to receive both his Spiritual and Temporal Blessings with Prayer and Thanksgiving And such breaking of Bread we own from House to House even outwardly as well as inwardly with singleness and gladness of Heart as the Primitive Christians did of Old sometimes in a lesser Number and sometimes in a greater For at that Supper above mentioned Luke 24.30 there were only present these two Disciples besides Christ himself so that it is not the number whether greater or small that is essential And also we do believe and say that it is our Duty not only in these more solemn Eatings and Drinkings to remember the Lord's death and what he hath done and suffered for us when we thus eat drink together perhaps many belonging to divers Families but also in all our other Eatings and Drinkings and at all other times as it doth please the Lord to enable us and every true Christian hath the Lord's Death Resurrection and his great Love and what he hath done and suffered for us printed as in Capital Letters upon his very Heart and Soul and writ as a living Epistle with the Spirit of the living God upon fleshly Tables and that this ought to be done not only to his more abundant inward and spiritual coming unto us but to be perpetuated and continued by all true Christians to the end of the World and the last coming of Christ And now tell me wherein we are behind you or wherein we fall short of you or what excellency worth or value hath your Supper above and beyond ours But on the contrary hath not ours the advantage every way Seeing we have more frequently both the outward and inward eating and drinking together than ye have the outward and alas the many lean and dead Souls among you void of inward and spiritual discerning taste or savour too manifestly demonstrate ye are generally strangers to the Supper of the Lord. And we also acknowledge the outward eating and drinking is but a figure of the inward and therefore ought not to be rested in but the Substance that is invisible and eternal ought to be minded and sought after above all And though we are not for holding up or preaching of Figures meerly institute for to signifie and represent a thing to come as were these under the Law yet such a Figure as is natural and necessarily to be used by us all as eating and drinking we may not reject For the outward eating and drinking is a natural and necessary Figure of the inward even as the whole outward World is a Figure of the inward and spiritual as Paul doth expresly call it 1 Cor. 7.31 see the â—reek 5. And concerning that ye call your Christian-Sabbath which ye say is the first Day of the Week and ye do positively affirm in your Confession That the Sabbath was changed from the last Day of the Week from the Resurrection of Christ unto the first day of the Week and so to continue unto the end of the World see Confess cap. 21. sect 7. But ye bring no sober proof for any such change and the Scriptures ye cite say no such thing as Gen. 2.2 3. Rev. 1.10 Exod. 20.8 10. Matth. 5.17 That place in Gen. 2.2 3. saith nothing of the first Day but of the seventh Day And what that seventh Day is ye cannot demonstrate And as to the next Scripture Rev. 1.10 where John saith He was in the Spirit on the Lord's Day Although it is more than ye can prove from Scripture that the first Day of the Week is that Lord's Day yet taking it for granted it doth not therefore follow that it was appointed to be the Christian Sabbath But it might be so called because Christ rose upon that day and honoured that day solemnly not only with his rising upon it but appearing at sundry times on that day to his Disciples betwixt his Resurrection and Ascension And that the Christians did usually and more solemnly meet on that day for publick and religious Worship in honour of our Saviour than on other days we readily grant and so also do we according to the Example of the ancient Christians And all true Christians should employ more of their time in religious Works and Services both in private and in publick than the Jews did and ought not to fall short of them but exceed them And that beside other times set apart for the worship of God both in publick and in private it is commendable in Christians to set apart the first day of the Week from common and ordinary labour not only for an ease to their Servants and Cattel but also that they may with the more freedom and cheerful readiness attend upon the Lord and his Service without all incumbrance For experience doth prove it that even bodily Rest from toyl and labour doth contribute to the ease of the Mind and is a help being duly used to disburthen it from divers weights For if the Body be over-charged with labour it is a hurt and clog unto the Mind in divers respects But all this doth not prove that the first day of the Week was appointed for a Sabbath and put in the room of the seventh day of the Week enjoyned to the Jews and People of Israel for that outward Sabbath that was enjoyned unto them was a Sign and Figure as all other outward Sabbaths which they had were as of Weeks Months Years as well as of Days And when the pure Gospel and Christian Dispensation did take place all these figurative and shadowy Sabbaths were changed to the Substance and that Substance or Body is Christ according to Coloss 2.17 But to say the Jewish Sabbath is changed into the first day of the Week is to put the first day of the Week in the room of the Lord Jesus Christ which is a great dishonour unto him for he is the End and Perfection of the Law and of all the shadowy and figurative Ordinances thereof And as the outward Temple that the Jews had is not to be changed into another outward Temple but Christ is the true Temple of the Christians wherein they meet so he is their Sabbath and not any outward day Next as to Exod. 20.8 10. it saith nothing of the first day of the Week nor of one day of seven All this is but Man's invention But it mentioneth the seventh day wherein the Lord rested from all his Works and that Rest signifieth the perfection or finishing of them although as it is said Heb. 4. the
Christians but only assumed the Name on purpose to deceive these malicious Heathens did throw it all upon the Christians without making any distinction And the like concerning these Rusticks that rose up in War against their lawful Princes in Germany and the mad Crew that followed John of Leiden The Adversaries of Truth did impute all this as the proper effect of the Reformation And thus also in Old England the ungodly Sayings and Practices of Ranters and Libertines have been odiously cast upon the People called Quakers whereas it is well known that the People called Quakers have always with great zeal opposed the Ranters and Libertines both in their Principles and Practices and have shewed their Zeal against them both in Disputing and Printing against them more than any People have done and have been a great occasion and means of suppressing that evil spirit in them so that little of it hath for many years openly appeared in Old England and the same Ranting Spirit is greatly decaying of late years in these American parts and we hope ere long it shall be quite gone And let the impartial judge whether it can be any other thing but Malice as well as Rashness as he hath shewed his rashness and folly in some other passages of his Life if not Malice that hath occasioned him for some time past to abscond and depart from the place where he preached at Boston in this Increase Mather to charge the Crimes of the Guilty upon the Innocent without distinction when it is notoriously known both in New-England and in all other places where the People called Quakers live that they never did own any of these People from the first instant that they appeared in any of these Practices And seeing ye of the Presbyterian and Independent Churches of New-England cannot but acknowledge that too many unlucky and unchristian Practices have fallen out and have been committed by your Church-Members as Whoredom Drunkenness and and the like c. Yet if when upon your first discovery of these things ye have disowned them and sufficiently cleared your selves of them we are more Men and more reasonable than to charge these things upon you And when Judas betrayed Christ his Lord and Master though he was one of the twelve and numbred among them should therefore this great Crime of Judas be cast upon the eleven that were Innocent Or when David committed these two great Sins of Murder and Adultery should this be cast upon the faithful People of God in that day who were in Society formerly with him Or should the Crime of the incestuous Person at Corinth because of him be cast upon all other Christians If this be not equal as all sober Men will say it is not equal it is no more equal but abominably unjust to throw the Crimes of Thomas Case or his Crew upon the honest People called Quakers of whose Society and Spirit they are not And the said Increase Mather may with the same Impudence charge all the abominable Heresies of the Manichees Nicolaitans Ebionites and all others upon the Christians because all went under that general Name of Christians in these days And these of Case's Crew they call themselves Christians and so doth Increase Mather doth it therefore follow that their Crimes on that only account should be charged upon him Let him see how he can answer to these things or any of his Brethren or Kindred for him in his absence It wanteth to be inserted in his Book that what hath befallen him of late is a remarkable Judgment of God upon him for his Injustice to the Quakers and his unjust charging the Innocent with the Crimes of the Guilty Nor is his last Story concerning one Robert Churchman living at Balsham in Cambridge-Shire in Old England related by H. Moor of any more weight or validity to discredit the Religion or Profession of the People called Quakers than the former Why the said Churchman had only some inclination to be a Quaker but we do not find in all the Relation that ever he was a professed Quaker and owned by that People and some Whimsies or Fancies did take him in the Head for some time that he supposed he was inspired with the Spirit of God and that the Spirit of God did speak in him And at last it appeared that it was not really so but that the Man was under some mistake or delusion or suppose a real possession of the Devil or was mad What can all this say in the least to discredit the Quaker's Religion or Principle Have there not been mad People and whimsical both of the Presbyterian and Independent Churches Yea doth not Increase Mather relate how that Ann Cole of Hartford in New England that was esteemed a godly and gracious Woman and I suppose a Member of some Independent Church or Presbyterian otherwise it is not like he would have so commended her that she was really bodily possessed with the Devil see his fifth Chapter but this doth not infer that either the Presbyterian or Independent Profession of Religion by Increase Mather his own Judgment is of the Devil Yea and some belonging to their Churches in New-England have very lately been convicted of Witchcraft at Boston It cannot be denied but that Madness and melancholy Whimsies and Fancies may befall some of all Professions called Christians the causes of which are best known unto the Lord. But it is altogether unmanly and inhuman as well as Unchristian to charge these things upon the whole Profession We have always asserted it that it is one thing to profess to be led by the Spirit of God and another thing to be really and in deed led by it We are not ignorant how many have both said and done very bad things under a pretence of being led by the Spirit of God and of having the Spirit to be their Rule and yet this is no Argument against the leading and rule of the Spirit of God no more than it is an Argument against the Scripture that many have done bad things and pretended they have had the Scripture to be their Rule in what they did as in the late Wars in Old England and Scotland when they rose up against the lawful Authority wherein many both Presbyterians and Independents were concerned they all did pretend they had the Scripture to be their Rule in what they did and yet surely the Scripture was no Rule nor warrant unto them in these bad Practices The leadings of the true Spirit of God are known both by the first Motions and also by the Effects and Fruits that follow after and that is to deny all Vngodliness and Vnrighteousness and to live Soberly and Godly and Righteously in this present World and to follow and be found in doing whatsoever things are true honest just pure virtuous and praise worthy and of good Report among these who have a spiritual Ability to judge of things that differ as too many have not And we are well
but that only the true Saints and Children of God belong to the invisible Church And again tho such who have true Desires and true living Breathings raised in them after the Lord may be said as such to belong to him and be of his Sheep yet they are still but as scattered and driven from the true Fold and as wandering for most part upon the barren Mountains and the dry and desolate Hills seeking the living among the dead until they come to be gathered into the True and Living Way of God and of Christ so as to know and be acquainted with the Lord and his inward Leadings Rule and Government in them and to be able to distinguish his Voice and inward appearance in them from that of a stranger and to worship him in Spirit and in Truth and serve him in the newness of the Spirit and in pure Holy Fear and Love as Sons and Children in his House And this State ye are generally strangers unto and therefore tho some of you may be allowed in true Charity to be the Sheep of Christ yet ye are but scattered until ye are returned unto Christ the Shepherd and Bishop of your Souls and know him revealed in you to lead rule and guide you and feed you with the living Bread and give you the living Water to drink which he himself is inwardly revealed and that ye be turned away from all false Teachers and Shepherds which is the earnest breathing and cry of my Soul unto God for you G.K. Heads or Principles OF Christian DOCTRIN CHAP. I. Concerning the Holy Scriptures 1. THe Holy Scriptures of the old and new Testament being generally and worthily acknowledged by all Christians to be writ by Divine Inspiration without any mixture of Error are a sufficient outward Rule and Standard whereby to examin and try all Doctrins of men 2. They contain a full and intire Declaration of all Christian Doctrin and therefore whatever Doctrins or Principles of Christian Religion men presume to teach which they cannot prove and demonstrate from the Holy Scriptures they lay no obligation upon any to believe them 3. The Scriptures are only sufficiently and savingly believed and understood by the inward Illumination and Revelation of the Holy Spirit which is the same in kind to that which God gave to the Saints of Old 4. Although they contain a full and sufficient Declaration of all Christian Doctrin yet they do not contain the whole Mind Will and Counsel of God as some say they do Because there are many things wherein God doth reveal of his Counsel to his Children which are not in Scripture either expresly or consequentially altogether necessary to their Peace and Comfort as to instance in some particulars First It is a part of the counsel of God for a Christian to know his inward Calling and whether he be indeed one of God's called and chosen Ones whether in favour with God and justified and sanctified And though the Scripture doth give infallible Signs and Marks of such an estate yet no Scripture nor Scripture-consequence can infallibly assure any man that he hath these marks but it is the spirit of God that only can and doth give them this assurance Rom. 8.16 2 dly All true Preachers and Ministers of Christ ought to know the mind and will of God whether they be called of God to the Work of the Ministry which Call is an inward Call that is altogether necessary to their faithful discharge of so great a Work but this they cannot know simply by the Scripture 3 dly Every true Christian should know his inward Call to Pray or give Thanks or perform any Religious Duty or Service unto God as David said When thou said'st Seek my Face my Heart answered thy Face O Lord I will seek hide not thy Face from me Psal 27.8 Again 4 thly It is commonly granted that it is a Duty belonging to every Christian to enquire the Mind and Counsel of God in every weighty matter and concern of our Life as if we be visited with any great Affliction inward or outward to enquire with Job Shew me O Lord why thou contendest with me And as Rebecca when the Twins strugled in her Womb enquired at the Lord and said Why am I thus And the Lord answered her Also in the case of Marriage every true Christian man and woman ought to enquire and wait for God's counsel with whom to be joyned in Marriage that they may know indeed the Lord's joyning of them and that they marry in the Lord But this cannot be known by any Scripture or consequence from Scripture but the Spirit of the Lord must reveal it even the same that led Abraham's Servant to take a Wise to his Son Isaac And every Christian should know the will and counsel of God in his outward Vocation that it is of God and so abide therein as the Scripture saith Let every man abide in the Calling wherein he is called of God And as the Servants of God in days past in traveling and sojourning from place to place received the counsel of God so do these now that wait for it in uprightness of Heart as really as holy men did of old and as Philip received the Word of God which he could not find in the Scripture either expresly or consequentially when the Spirit said unto him Joyn thy self to this Chariot when he was sent to preach Christ to the Eunuch and as Peter was sent to Cornelius and Ananias to Saul and many other the like instances and as James declareth Men ought not to be rash or hasty to say to day or to morrow we will go into such a City c. for that ye ought to say If the Lord will James 4.13 15. Now how can a man know what the Lord willeth in such a case unless it be given him by the Spirit of the Lord inwardly to feel either a Command or Permission to do such a thing For whereas too many make the outward passages of Providence their rule as to say If Sickness or some outward Impediment hinder not they constitute that to be the Will of God And whereas many remove from one place to another and Divine Providence doth not hinder them and yet in that removal they have not had God's approbation and it hath not had a blessing to follow it but on the contrary for leaving their place they have been exposed to sad Temptations and have fallen under them And lastly there are many precious living Soliloquies and Intercourses betwixt the Lord and the Souls of his dear Children while he answers the returns of their Prayers in living Testimonies and words of his Holy Spirit which though they are agreeable to Scripture yet are not express Scripture words but are the real Words and Dictates of the Holy Ghost speaking Peace and Consolation to them beyond all utterance or demonstration of Speech and wonderfully quickning and strengthning them in the inward man as we find in the
among the Jews of a two fold sort of Proselites one of the Covenant that received Circumcision and the Law another of the Gate that did not receive Circumcision yet this is but barely alledged without all proof But if he was a Proselite of the Gate it is certain at that time when the Angel was sent unto him he had no express Knowledge nor Faith of Christ crucified for that was the thing which Peter was sent to preach unto him by hearing of which he was to receive the holy Ghost and be saved for the Angel told him that Peter should speak Words to him by which he and all his House should be saved see Acts 11.14 Now altho' at that time when the Angel appeared unto him Cornelius had no Knowledge nor Faith of Christ crucified yet he was in a good estate and well were it for many called Christians that they were in as good estate as he then was in When the Angel appeared to him he told him that his Prayers and his Alms were come up for a memorial before God Acts 10.4 And it is said of him verse 2. He was a devout Man and one that feared God with all his House which gave much Alms to the People and prayed unto God alway And with respect to this Peter began his Preaching saying Acts 10.34 35. Of a truth I perceive that God is no respecter of Persons but in every Nation he that feareth him and worketh Righteousness is accepted of him Now who dare be so bold to say Cornelius at this time had no real and true beginning of Salvation or of saving Grace and Faith before Peter did preach Christ crucified raised again unto him For although Cornelius had not at that time Faith in Christ crucified yet he had without all question Faith in God and in the Word of God that was in his Heart and that Word was Christ in him though the Mystery of Christ was not fully revealed unto him at that time and in that state he was accepted of God yet not for his Works sake but for Christ And therefore Men may have a beginning of true Faith and of a true Work of Salvation begun in them when the Mystery of Christ crucified and raised again is not revealed unto them For that Mystery being so great as it is was not in that Day to wit before Christ came and suffered in the Flesh preached as one of the first and most necessary things to be first known and believed as without the Faith and Knowledge of which no Man could be in any degree blessed otherwise when Christ began to Preach he would have preached it as one of the first things and when he sent his Disciples to preach the Gospel before he suffered Death he would have given them an express Commission to preach it to all People how he was to be crucified and raised again the third day but the Mystery of it at that time they knew not and therefore could not preach it then Nor did he preach it himself when he began his Ministry nor for a considerable time afterwardâ— until the time drew near that he was to suffer In all that excellent Sermon of his on the Mount not one Title or Word doth he mention of his Death and Resurrection expresly but he taught the Law and the Prophets and expounded the Spirituality of the Law in its extent far beyond the reach and conception which the People had of it at that time and withal dropped some Evangelical Precepts unto them and taught them the right way of Prayers Fasting and Alms and pronounced them blessed that hungred and thirsted after Righteousness and were poor in Spirit that were Merciful that were Meek and Peace-makers and that mourned c. and suffered for Righteousness sake And therefore it may be very safely concluded that the express Knowledge and Faith of Christ crucified is not of absolute and indispensible necessity especially where it hath not been preached nor revealed unto the beginning of a Man's Salvation although it is really of absolute and indispensible necessity unto the finishing and perfecting of it because as hath been already said our inward renewing unto God when perfected in us is a renewing us perfectly and not in part only into the Image of God and a part of that perfect Image is the perfect Knowledge of God and of Jesus Christ whom to know is Life Eternal and that perfect Knowledge requireth men to know him as he came in the Flesh and died and rose again which is that great Mystery of Godliness as Paul called it 1 Tim. 3.16 But if these Men who own that said Confession of Faith enquire whether all these honest Gentiles that lived in the world or do now live in the world who have not had Christ crucified outwardly preached unto them but were diligent to frame their Lives according to the Light that was in them died in a state of Salvation I say yea they did and this I may the rather say according to their own Doctrin For what if they had not the perfect Knowledge and Faith of Christ crucified when they lived Yet they might have it at their Death to wit in the passing through the Valley of the shadow of Death according to Psal 23.4 Even when they are not able to demonstrate unto the Living what is then revealed unto them And as it is in Job 33.22 23 24. When a Mans Soul draweth near unto the Grave and his Life to the Destroyers there may be a Messenger with him an Interpreter one of a Thousand to show unto Man his Vprightness then he is gracious unto him and saith Deliver him from going down to the Pit I have found a Ransom or Attonement see the Hebr. or Margin of the English Bible Or if I should say they receive this perfect Knowledge of Christ after Death it is according to your Doctrin who say The Souls of the Righteous generally or universally after Death note after Death being then made perfect in Holiness are received into the highest Heavens c. These are the express Words of your Catechism cap. 32. sect 1. But when and how or at what precise time these honest Gentiles who used their greatest diligence to frame their Lives according to the Light that is in them and yet have not had the Death and Resurrection of Christ outwardly preached unto them when they then lived in the World is not my present business to determine It doth suffice that I have demonstrated from Scripture that Men have been in a state of Salvation and acceptance with God who have not had the mystery of Christ his Death and Resurrection made known unto them and surely these Men continuing faithful to what they had received when they died could not perish For it is impossible that any Man who hath the Work of Salvation really begun in him though but as a Child in Knowledge that holdeth fast the beginning of his Confidence firm unto the end
Scripture would not have said Work out your Salvation with Fear and Trembling And if ye through the Spirit do mortifie the Deeds of the Body ye shall live And therefore when Paul doth so earnestly plead that men are not justified by the Works of the Law it is evident he doth only exclude these legal Performances and Observations that the Jews rested in who had not Faith in Christ And that no Works however so good or holy being performed by men ought to be rested in as a Foundation or ground of Justification for that were to exclude Christ and make his Death of no effect And again when James doth plead so earnestly that men are justified by Works and not by Faith only giving an instance in Abraham and Rahab he only placeth Faith and Works together viz. such Works as accompany true Faith and work together with it as necessary Instruments and Conditions whereby to obtain Justification but not to be the Foundation thereof 8. And whereas Paul generally so much useth that manner of Speech of Justification by Faith it is manifest that by Faith he doth not mean only that single Virtue called Faith but as by way of Synecdoche the most eminent or noted part is put for the whole as when in Scripture as well as in common Speech the Head of a man is put for the whole man Ezek. 33.4 Ezek. 17.9 Even so by Faith the Apostle in these places doth mean the whole complex or systeme or intire Body of the Evangelical Virtues and Graces whereof Faith is as it were the Head and is first in order of Nature at least in respect of the other and sometimes also by Faith he understandeth the whole Evangelical Dispensation and Doctrin as especially in that noted place Gal. 3.23 But before FAITH came we were kept under the Law c. And verse 5. But after that FAITH is come c. Where certainly Paul doth not mean only that single Virtue called Faith but the whole Evangelical Dispensation with all the spiritual Gifts and Graces of it And again Gal. 3.2 Received ye the Spirit by the Works of the Law or by the hearing of Faith which hath the same signification And thus in common Speech among Christians and Christian Writers the Christian Faith doth signifie the whole Christian Religion and Obedience and so Unbelief in Scripture is put for all other Sin that Men generally are under before they believe as Rom. 11.32 9. True Faith in Christ Jesus on whom alone the Soul resteth as on the true Foundation for Justification and all other divine and spiritual gifts blessings is not only a believing in him as he is the Word which was in the beginning with God and is God by whom all things were made and which was in all the Prophets and faithful and holy Men in all Ages but as the same Word did take Flesh and was God manifest in the Flesh justified in the Spirit c. 1 Tim. 3.16 which Paul called The great Mystery of Godlinss to wit Christ crucified and risen again made of a Woman made under the Law the Son of God that did come in the likeness of sinful Flesh made like unto us in all things Sin excepted who being in the form of God and thought it no Robbery to be equal with God humbled himself and took upon him the form of a Servant and was found in the true Form and Nature of a Man the Seed of Abraham and David conceived by the holy Ghost and born of the Virgin Mary at Bethlem in the Land of Judah And thus the true Faith doth not divide Christ but receiveth him and joyneth the Soul unto him entirely to wit the whole and intire Christ both as he did come outwardly in the Flesh and as he did and doth inwardly come in the Spirit and as the said true Faith doth not divide him so nor doth it divide his Offices but taketh or receiveth him in all his Offices as King Priest and Prophet Shepherd Physician Husband c. And as he is called Jerm 23.6 The Lord our Righteousness in Scripture so as none can have him to be their Righteousness and Justification but who have him to be their Lord King and Ruler in them and their Sanctification Wisdom and Redemption And thus every truly believing Soul is as the true Mother of the Child who would not have the Child divided but she who was not the true Mother of the Child she would have the Child divided a true Figure of all false Christians who would have Christ divided and say They believe in Christ without them but do not believe and receive Christ within them as God the Father doth inwardly reveal him or as Ranters and other high Notionists who pretend to believe in Christ as he is the Word and Light in them but slight and blaspheme against Christ that was crucified without them Whereas the true Believer doth both believe in Christ and receive Christ as he came in the Flesh and was crucified for our Sins and rose and ascended into Heaven and is now in Heaven glorified in the intire and perfect Nature of man in Soul and Body appearing in the presence of God for us our Advocate with the Father and also doth believe in him and receive him spiritually to live and dwell in his Heart as he is the Lord that Spirit and the second Adam or heavenly Man the quickning Spirit who is the true spiritual Meat and Drink to every believing Soul even as Christ said I am the true Bread of Life he that eateth me shall live by me 10. And this true Faith in the least true measure of it as it is an act or exercise hath assurance in it of the Love and Mercy of God revealed in Christ Jesus and true infallible Assurance is of the very Nature and Being of true Faith as it is exercised on Christ its true and proper Object and Foundation and upon the Love and Mercy of God the Father revealed in Christ hence Paul said That his Gospel came unto these to whom he preached not in Speech only but in Power and in the holy Ghost and in much Assurance or as the Greek hath it much full Assurance 1 Thes 1.5 And he said further his Preaching was in the Demonstration of the Spirit and of Power 1 Cor. 2.4 5. That their Faith ought not to be in the Wisdom of Man but in the Power of God And this was sure footing and had assurance in it as the building on the sure Rock But they who deny all inward new Revelation of the Spirit it s no wonder they deny that Faith hath Assurance in the Being and Nature of it But without divine inward Revelation which begetteth Assurance there is no true Faith but only Opinion or Conjecture seeing there is no midst betwixt Assurance and Opinion or Conjecture and therefore these Faith-Publishers have denyed the true Faith of God's Elect when they say It may be without Assuranee and that
so a Church or Assembly of People only professing the true Religion but having nothing of the true Life and Spirit of Christ and whose outward and bodily Services and Works have no inward and spiritual Virtue and Life in them which is that Salt that maketh them savoury and doth recommend them unto God so that he savoureth a sweet savour in them cannot be truly and justly accounted a true Church of Christ For we no where find in Scripture any Society or company of People called the Church of Christ who had nothing but the Profession of the true Religion and although Hypocrites and meer Formalists did outwardly at times mingle or mix with sincere Christians and did assume the same outward Profession with them in former Ages as such were among the Churches of Corinth and Gulatia c. Yet these Hypocrites and meer Formalists who had only the Form but had nothing of the Power and Life of true Religion were no part of the true Church no more than Chaff or Tares that are mixed with Wheat are any part of the Wheat or Dross that is mixed with Silver is any part of the Silver or old Leaven that is mixed with the new Dough is any part of it And therefore it ought to be the work of all the true Members of the true Church to purge out the old Leaven and to be a separate People from all these that have only a Form and Profession of Religion but have nothing of the Power of it 3. The Church of Christ is called his Body frequently in Scripture and every Member thereof is called a Member of Christ and his Body is a living Body and every Member a living Member and that which maketh both the whole Body and every Member thereof living is Christ Jesus the Life living and indwelling in every Member and together with Christ both the Father and the holy Spirit do dwell in every Member of the true Church even as Christ promised it should be John 14.23 If a Man love me he will keep my Words and my Father will love him and We will come unto him and make our abode with him And this WE is the Father the Son and the holy Spirit who are three and one indwelling in every true Member of the Church of Christ and according to this Paul said to the believing Corinthians Know ye not that your Bodies are the Temples of the holy Ghost which dwelleth in you And the holy Ghost which dwelt in them together with the Father and the Son did work every good Work in them and move them in all holy and religious Services and Performances whether to Preach Pray or give Thanks or to meditate and wait upon the Lord in silence And they knew by the inward Teaching and Revelation of God's holy Spirit the proper and fit times when to speak and when to be silent when to preach and when to pray and when to begin and when to make an end they had no Hour-glass to measure out the Time unto them nor an outward Bell hanging in a Steeple to call them together but the Gospel-Bell did ring and sound in their Hearts and this gathered them together in a living way and manner and of this the outward Bells Ex. 28 34 35 that did hang at the High-Priest's Garment with the Pomegranats were Types And this is the living Word even Christ whose inward Voice and Call in the Soul and Heart giveth a joyful sound to that Ear which is opened to hear it and of such it is written Blessed are they that know the joyful sound they shall walk O Lord in the Light of thy Countenance Psal 89.15 4. Moreover the true Church and every Member thereof is said to be of Christ's Flesh and of his Bones and they two are one Flesh Ephes 5.30 31. And they are one Spirit 1 Cor. 6.17 For Christ he is both the Head and Life of the Church which is his Body from whom the whole Body fitly joyned together and compacted by that which every Joynt supplyeth according to the effectual working the Greek hath it Energia in the measure of every part maketh increase of the Body unto the edifying of it self in Love Ephes 4.16 And that which thus knitteth all the Members both unto Christ the Head and one unto another is the Spirit and the Unity of the Spirit is the Bond of Peace for by one Spirit they are all baptized into one Body and do all drink into one Spirit And this is the true gathering of a Church or Churches of Christ that is far beyond all Profession of true Religion or outward Signs or Ceremonies as that of water Baptism which Presbyterians and others use to Initiate or enter People into their Church or outward Covenants and Contracts or Bonds which these called Independents use to initiate or enter People into their Church all which outward things are but Mens Inventions as they are now used whereby to gather and make up Churches And all this is but Mans gathering and work made Things Likenesses and graven Images of heavenly things which the Lord hath forbidden saying Thou shalt not make to thy self any graven Image nor the likeness of any thing in Heaven above c. Exod. 20. For whatever Men make or set up whether it be Church Ordinance or Service without the Spirit and Power of God inwardly moving assisting teaching leading guiding and ordering them so to do is but Man's work a thing of Man's making and all such made Things made Faiths made Churches made Worships made Ordinances without the Spirit and Power of God inwardly revealed are to be abolished shaken and removed and the Voice of God will do it whose Voice of Old did shake Mount Sinai and the Lord hath said Yet once more I shake not the Earth only but the Heavens also And this Voice of the Lord uttered from Heaven hath both shaken abolished and removed many things of Mens making already and in the Lords due time will remove them all and every Plant that is not of the Father's planting he will pluck it up and throw it away And this is a warning unto you O ye Churches and People of New-England altho' Babylon like ye sit as a Queen or have at least so sate some few Years ago and did say in your Heart ye shall see no Widdowhood and have preached it as Doctrin that the sounding of God's Voice from Heaven is althogeter ceased in these days Let this be told unto you it hath not ceased to sound but still doth and shall and the sound of it shall not only shake but utterly remove undo and destroy all your Babylonish buildings And this the Lord will do not by Might nor Power viz. of man but by his own Spirit and the time hastneth and blessed shall he be who receiveth warning and hearkneth unto the counsel of the Lord he who hath Ears to hear let him hear 5. And the true Church is in God the Father and in
Works were finished from the Foundation of the World and therefore that seventh day doth signifie Christ Jesus the first and the last who is the alone true Rest and Sabbath of all the Faithful as he invited saying Mat. 11.28 Come unto me all ye that labour and are heavy laden and I will give you Rest And concerning this spiritual and divine Sabbath or Sabbatism it is said in Heb. 4.9 10. Therefore there doth remain a Rest unto the People of God for he that is entred into his Rest he also hath ceased from his own Works as God did from his let us labour therefore to enter into that Rest c. And Verse 3. We which have believed do enter into Rest By all which it doth plainly appear that the New-Testament understandeth the Christian Sabbath not of any outward Day but of Christ which the outward Sabbaths of the Jews did by way of Allegory signifie and hold forth And lastly as to Matth. 5.17 where Christ saith he came not to destroy the Law but to fulfil it It is not to be understood that he came to keep up and perpetuate the Types and Figures of the Law but to put an end to them and in the room and place thereof to fulfil all the Righteousness Equity and Justice that they did signifie or hold forth which is as the Kernal Otherwise ye might argue as much for upholding the outward Circumcision as the outward Sabbath and that outward Sabbath was not the first day but the seventh day And whereas some plead that the 4th Commandment is altogether Moral as well as the other nine that were given forth immediately by the Mouth of the Lord unto the People and writ by his Finger on the Tables of Stone and therefore is perpetual and never to be abrogated If all this be granted it doth not prove that the first day of the Week is there commanded as these called Presbyterians and Independents would have it Nor can they who plead for the keeping of the seventh day of the Week for the Sabbath prove that the said fourth Commandment did enjoyn to the Jews the keeping of any outward or natural seventh day of the Week for their keeping the outward seventh day of the Week was enjoyned to them among the other Ceremonial Laws and Precepts as is clear from Exod. 16.23 and Chap. 31.13 14. where it is called a Sign to wit of that spiritual moral and perpetual Sabbath And therefore if it be granted that the fourth Commandment is altogether moral and perpetual it doth not follow that the seventh day therein mentioned is any outward day or that it enjoyneth any outward day for it can all be spiritually understood very well as the tenth Commandment Thou shalt not covet doth not enjoyn any outward thing but reacheth to the Heart and inward part only and is altogether Spiritual And as the last Commandment of the second Table is altogether spiritual so why may it not be said that the last Commandment of the first Table is altogether spiritual And even the mystick Writers among the Jews do acknowledge that not only the seventh day mentioned in the fourth Commandment but all the six days signifie spiritual Days and Mysteries as well as the seventh of which I shall not particularly enlarge at present A Call and Warning from the Lord to the People of Boston and New-England to Repent c. THE Burden of the Word of the Lord that came unto me on the twenty first day of the fourth Month 1688. in the Town of Boston in New-England to declare it unto Boston its Inhabitants and to the Inhabitants of New-England who have been or are concerned in opposing and hardning their Hearts against the inward appearance of God and of his Son Christ Jesus in the Hearts of his Servants and in the Living Testimonies they have born unto you to call you to believe in the Light of his Son Christ Jesus who hath enlightned you all and every one of you and to turn you from Darkness to Light and from the Power of Satan unto God Oh! Repent Repent for your great Sins and Transgressions of all sorts that ye have committed against the Lord and against his holy and divine Light and Gift in all your Hearts and especially Repent of your great Hypocrisie all Teachers and People of Boston and New-England every where who call your selves Christians and have a Name to live but are dead who draw near unto God with your Mouths and honour him with your Lips but have removed your Hearts far away from him and who have the Name of Christ oft in your Mouths and think to cover you with his imputed Righteousness while ye are ignorant of his Life and holy Power Spirit and divine Nature in your Hearts and while ye are daily crucifying the Lord of Glory afresh and putting him to open shame and treading under Foot the Blood of the Covenant as the holy Scripture declareth concerning some that professed Christ Jesus in former Ages And this is the state of many of you yea of the generality of you both Teachers and People of Boston and New-England of all sorts a few Names excepted whom the Lord doth honour and they shall walk with him in White although ye have sought to dishonour them And this I have seen from the Lord in that pure Light of his that maketh all things manifest and before which all things are naked and bare which Light ye generally despise and reject and blaspheme calling it A meer natural Light and insufficient to lead unto God and the Children of it ye have hated reproached and mocked with cruel Mockings whereby ye have sufficiently declared your selves to be born after the Flesh and not after the Spirit Oh ye Blasphemers against God and his Temple which is his Light and them that dwell therein Repent repent of your Blasphemies and hard Speeches and hard Thoughts against Gods inward appearance by his holy Word Light and Spirit in all your Hearts And Repent of all your Pride Vanity Folly Excess in Meats Drinks and Apparel who though ye profess your selves to be more pure and more purely reformed than other Churches so called yet in the sight of God ye are nothing better but many of you worse and the Sin of Sodom which was Pride and Excess and fulness of Bread is the Sin of many of you especially of the richer sort Oh unthankful Nation Do ye thus requite the Lord who are Jesurun like that since ye waxed fat have kicked against the Lord and are gone from that Tenderness Sobriety and Simplicity that was among you and your Fathers sometime ago Oh! how quickly have ye degenerated and departed from the Lord of whom ye have made and still are making a great Profession The anger of the Lord is ready to break out against you yet more than formerly unless ye Repent And though his Hand hath been manifestly stretched out against you in manifest Judgments and especially in