free and special grace of God conferred upon them who of his own good pleasure doth work in them by the gift of Faith both to will their conversion and to perform the same so that they are brought Free-willingly unto Christ and desire above all things to be found in him to partake of the merits of his death Concerning the Second We believe that God doth make good unto all such as by Faith are found in Christ the Tenour of his Covenant when by his grace they are justified and adopted to be his children and sanctified by the Spirit of regeneration whereby they are also sealed unto the day of their final Redemption and enabled to walk and persevere in the obedience of Faith and in the enjoyment of grace unto the end Concerning the Third We believe that all true Believers may have a comfortable assurance of their blessed estate in grace by the testimony of the Spirit of Adoption unto their conscience given them in the sincerity of their walking with God in the Covenant according to that which the Apostle saith Rom. 8. 15 16. The Spirit of adoption whereby we cry Abba Father the Spirit it self beareth witness with our spirit that we are the Children of God and a Cor. 1. 12. Our rejoycing is this the testimony of our conscience that in simplicity and godly sincerity by the grace of God we have had our conversation in the World How the Particular Tearms of the Covenant are made good to Professors IN the particular Call of Professors to entertain professedly the duties and therein to receive the Graces of the Covenant Two things are to be acknowledged wherein the Communion of Saints do consist First That such as professe the name of Jesus Christ are to be gathered together and bound to joyn themselves in one body as members one of another in Christ Secondly That they are to be perfected and built up by the work of the Ministry towards the effect of the Covenant Concerning The gathering of Professors together into one Body First We believe that to effect this the Lord hath given gifts unto men At first Apostles Prophets and Evangelists to lay the foundation of his Church and now Pastors and Teachers to build thereupon who have continued and shall continue by a lawfull Ordinary Calling unto the End of the World Secondly We believe also that the gathering together of Professors into one body is lawfully performed when they professedly give up themselves unto God through the Ministry of the Testament which Christ hath instituted and by their professed subjecting of themselves to all the Ordinances of Gods house which make the Believers as one in the Covenant with God so one with each other before the World in the profession thereof to Gods glory Concerning the perfecting and building up of the Professors as one man till they come to the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ in the Covenant We believe that the Lord hath appointed severall administrations of the gifts of his Spirit to be used amongst them in the household of Faith some relating principally to the inward man and some to the outward man and all to be performed as the services of Love in the communion of Saints The administration of gifts relating principally to the inward man is in the duties of publick worship whereunto Professors are obliged to apply themselves by attending to the word of Prophesie and by joyning in the ordinary Sacrifices of Prayers and Praises to be offered up unto God in his house and in the extraordinary and lawfull use of an Oath and of a Lot wherein Gods presence is to be attested and petitioned when necessary matters cannot otherwise be determined The administration of gifts relating principally to the outward man is in the duties of Love belonging to the communion of Saints wherein Professors are obliged to watch over one another observing each others conversation and to supply each others wants in all things And although in some respect all are bound alike to administer their gifts to each other by themselves yet We believe that the Eldership is more especially bound to over-see the wayes of their Flocks and to make use of the Keyes of the kingdom of heaven towards them to open and shut the dore of comfort unto them as they shall find cause and that the Deaconship is more particularly obliged to consider the bodily necessities of the Saints and to distribute the Contributions of Professors to such as stand in need thereof Hitherto We have spoken of the wayes by which the Covenant is established that is to say whereby God doth offer it the Elect do embrace it and the Professors do entertain it before the World Now followeth the Reason wherefore all men are bound thus to entertain it and keep it Of the Third Wherefore all men are bound to entertain the Offer and keep the Tenor of the Covenant THe Ground and Motive wherefore all men should receive the Offer and observe the Tenor of the Covenant which God doth make with them is Twofold First because God hath now commanded all men every-where to Repent and believe the Gospel Act. 17. 30. Luk. 24. 57. Secondly because God hath appointed a Day wherein the Dead shall be raised and the World judged in righteousness by the man Jesus Christ Acts 17. 31. who will receive none into Glory but such as have kept his Covenant by Repentance and Faith and by making profession thereof before the World Hitherto We have mentioned the fundamental Heads of Faith which concern the Revealing and the establishing of the Covenant Now followeth that which concerneth the confirmation of the same Matters of Truth to be known to confirm us in the Covenant COncerning the confirmation of the Covenant two things are to be acknowledged First What God on his part doth offer to assure us of the truth of his meaning and the Reality of his purpose in the Covenant Secondly What the Believers on their part are bound to do in accepting that which God doth offer for their confirmation in the promises of the Covenant Concerning the First We believe First That God hath given unto such as he hath received into his Covenant certain Signs to represent the Reality of his Purpose to confirm the things promised in the Word and to conveigh the assurance thereof unto them thereby as badges of his special Love to them in the Profession Secondly We believe further That these Signes are appointed for three several uses in the house of God First for the Reception of Professors into Gods house to oblige them to entertain the Covenant professedly and to this effect Baptism is appointed Secondly for the maintenance and continuance of Professors in the unity of the Covenant with God and one with another to which End the Lords Supper is instituted and Thirdly for the settlement of orderly Courses and the due observation and administration of all Gods Ordinances in the house wherewith he is in
thereof I suppose the ground is prepared upon which the Fundamentals of Divine Faith that is the Doctrine of Revealed Truths which by natural Reasoning no man can reach unto may be offered For as God doth make a man first by a living soul to be a natural man and afterward he becomes by grace a new creature and spirituall man so I suppose he doth 1 Cor. 15. 46. cause the Truths of Rationality concerning himselfe first to become effectual upon the conscience before the understanding is obliged conscionably to entertain Revealed Truths For he who is not capable of that measure of Faith which common Reason it self doth beget upon the natural apprehensions of God and his Truths written in the heart how can he be thought susceptible of the other measure which dependeth onely upon Revelation and Divine Tradition We conclude therefore that these Precognitions are first to be handled as matters requisite to fit the mind of a natural man to receive that which is to follow after because I conceive not that the Principles of the life of Godlinesse which are to follow are to be delivered as the products of these fore-going Truths but onely as matters subsequent unto the same in respect of the order of things to be taught These Praecognita are Praesupponenda but not Principia because I take a Principle of Godlinesse to be such a Truth from which a Conclusion of divine faith and love may flow But that cannot flow from any truth which is entertained upon meer natural Grounds as I suppose without spiritual Revelation and Illumination for divine Faith as it is the gift of God and not the product of humane Reasoning so it must needs have a higher Principle then these Precognitions namely some truth as revealed immediately by God unto the Conscience to convince it that he doth offer himselfe unto it to be a Saviour And this is the reason why I would have the Precognitions and the Principles of Godlinesse distinguished namely because they are truths of a different nature yet they are subordinate but so that the latter cannot follow the former without some speciall work of God upon the mind Concerning the Principles THe Principles of the life of Godlinesse are such Truths as set the mind upon the apprehension of supernatural Objects and beget thereby the acts of divine Faith therein which worketh through love in the whole Man all which is acceptable unto God Now all the Truths which beget divine Faith and Love proceed from one Root which is the Tenor of the Covenant which God hath appointed to be offered from the Scriptures by the Preaching of the Gospel in his name to be believed and entertained by all for all that God doth aime at in his dealing with Man-kind next unto the manifestation of the glory of his goodnesse over all his Creatures is chiefly this to shew himselfe a Saviour in uniting man by a Covenant Psal 73. 24. 2 Tim. 4. 7. of Grace unto himselfe that he being guided by his Counsel and having kept the faith therein may afterward be received into glory The Covenant of Grace then is the great and fundamental Principle of all the Principles of the life of Godlinesse for as there is none other way appointed to unite man unto God and restore us again from our fall to integritie but this way of a Covenant so there is nothing which we can do acceptably towards God or profitably for our own salvation but that which is done in order to the Tenor thereof Whence followeth also that all our knowledge is not otherwise useful nor to be sought after upon any other ground but as it leadeth to the observation of the Covenant nor to be entertained for any other aime but as it is subordinate unto the Tenor thereof for as no man ever was is or can be saved but he that is faithful in the Covenant of Grace with God so no matter of knowledge can be saving to any man but that which inableth him to keep the Tenor thereof Hereunto then all truths both Theoretical and Practical are finally to be referred and therefore in the Doctrine of the life of Godlinesse the Covenant must be made the ground of all the principles of Faith from which the duties of obedience must flow And I am fully perswaded both upon the grounds of found reason which a natural morall man is capable of and upon the grounds of divine Testimony and spiritual experience that all doubtful matters in Divinity whether they concern the points of Knowledge or of Practice may not onely be resolved by the right understanding of Gods aime towards us and of our dutie towards him in the Covenant but that the Resolutions thereof of what kind soever must be examined by and applyed unto the Analogy of Faith concerning the Covenant before ever they can bring true peace to the Conscience of any man and therefore my advice shall be unto those who will undertake any part of this Work that they keep alwayes the Covenant in their eye as Marriners do the North point of the Compass to steer their Course by it in all their Meditations for it is mainly for want of this Directory that both in our Notions and Actions concerning Religion we run such wild courses nor is it possible as I conceive ever to unite the Professors of Christianity to each other to heale their Breaches and Divisions in Doctrine and Practice and to make them live together as brethren in one Spirit ought to do without the same sense of the Covenant by which they may be made to perceive the termes upon which God doth unite all those that are his Children unto himselfe and upon which every one that is in Covenant with God is bound in Conscience through love unto God to maintain the unitie of the Spirit in the bond of peace with those that are his Children who all alike and by the same very way are in Covenant with him The knowledge of the Covenant then being the fundamental Principle whereunto all other Truths are to be reduced that they may be received unto the end for which they are revealed we shall endeavour to shew what the Doctrines of divine Faith are which are subordinate thereunto and which by vertue of that subordination are able to beget love towards God in a believing soul for no doctrine of Faith doth otherwise oblige any man to love and obedience towards God then as it is revealed to manifest Gods love unto us as he is become our Saviour and to make us faithfull towards him in the Covenant I conceive then that all the Doctrines of divine Faith tend either to the erecting and settling of the Covenant of Grace with us or to the confirmation of our Faith in the truth thereof To Erect and settle the Covenant with us we must needs know 1. The true Instrument of the Covenant wherein it is revealed 2. The things belonging to the true Tenor thereof as they are offered
is so undeniably evident to any that will trace Publick proceedings in some actors and compare them with the Rules of Christianity that I am for my Brethrens sake ashamed to speak of it any more and shall therefore turn my back upon particulars to cover them with silence as my fathers nakedness nor shall I mention any more of this neglect in the general lest I should seem either to reproach those with their failings who by admonition may be reclaimed from the error of their way or to furnish the adversaries with matter of contempt against the Cause by reason of our frailties who mannage the same The other neglect which is of Brotherly Communion in Spiritual matters both amongst our selves at home and toward the Churches abroad is of all others the greatest hinderance to the Cause and obstruction to the wayes of Gospel-edification For if brotherly Communion were not neglected all the former mistakes and neglects might be remedied by common advice but because it is not at all laid to heart no remedy can either be applyed or being offered become effectual For now although some can discern the causes of our miseries and know where the Remedy thereof is to be found and how to be made use of yet because our spiritual gifts are like dead mens bones scattered at the graves mouth dis-joynted withered buried within every mans particular brest without life and without coherence for the actions of life therefore we are unserviceable one to another nor can there be any common Cure applyed to common Diseases For as the body of the Church cannot otherwise be edisied then by it self through love when every joynt supplyeth according to the effectual working in the measure of every part that which maketh the increase of the body so the evils and distempers of the parts which are destructive to the whole cannot otherwise be taken away but by the spiritual communion of gifts and the supply of Graces from one member to another For which cause I have made it my work for these many years to solicite the performance of this duty and continue still in so doing where ever I can get any opportunity to represent the necessity thereof And although my earnest and constant Solicitations have not been so effectual as I could wish yet I must blesse God that they have not been altogether without effect for although there is not much appearing outwardly yet some grounds are laid which I am confident the gates of hell will never be able to shake It cannot be denyed but that most men are yet full of their own counsels and therefore consider not what is suggested or may be suggested by others most men are full of their own strength and many of those that preach self-denyal unto others practice in spiritual matters least of it themselves and therefore they look not out for mutual supply of strength from the brotherly communion of Graces but all men almost do please themselves in their own way so that they regard no man furtherthen he doth come up and follow the way of their particular choosing because the Apostolical Rule and practice that being free from all we should become servants unto all 1 Cor. 9. 19. is for the most part not at all regarded I say it cannot be denyed but that for the most part as yet things are so But when he who is now in action shall have accomplished to scatter the Holy People Dan. 12. 17. so that none of that strength which Worldly-wise men have hitherto put their confidence in shall be either shut up or left any more with them Deut. 32. 36. then their care will be opened to believe these Suggestions and acknowledge this to be a truth that Christ is their Rock so far as they depend upon him and act joyntly in his way and no further And if once this principle be entertained and made a Maxime to walk by in every thing they will finde that the Lord will suddenly appear as Judge for his People and speedily repent him for his Servants But till we leave all the confidences which by our own devices we have chosen to our selves and till we have freed our spirits from the delusions and the jealousies which we have framed unto our selves to sanctifie the Lord alone in our hearts and to make him our confidence and our fear by walking in his way we cannot look for any prosperity or expect that he should appear amongst us Now his way is the way of brotherly and holy Communion to maintain the knowledge of his truth in the Scriptures the life of his Spirit in the Covenant and the observation of his Ordinances in the Church And whatsoever Counsel we follow or course we take which doth not lead us to the one End in this way will never bring any comfort with it And I may freely say Because this Counsel and course hath not only been neglected by all but flighted and despised by some therefore the Lord hath not as yet appeared amongst us Thus we have seen what properly the Proâ—â—stant Cause is and what it is that weakens our hands in prosecuting the same Now if we look back upon the Body of Practical Divinity which hath been delineated to consider what assistance and help we may give thereby unto the Protestant Cause in case we shall desire to concur with the forrain Churches of Christ therein we shall find that it shall prove one of the most profitable instruments that can be made use of to maintain all the parts and interests of the Cause and that hardly any thing can be set on foot that will be more serviceable both to certifie the mistakes which make us miscarry in our undertakings for Christianity and to set us upon the duties without which the way of our Profession cannot successfully be prosecuted For if you reflect upon the interests of the Cause and take notice what fitness this Engine will have to maintain the same you shall perceive that both by the properties of the matter and form thereof and by the application of the whole to the use of holy Communion it will be most advantagious to uphold the Profession of our Religion For first The matter thereof will be nothing else but the compleat and full substance of all those Doctrines which are substantial unto Christianity as being necessary and useful to advance Scripture knowledge to hold forth the life of the Spirit and to direct all men in the observation of divine Ordinances and in the wayes of their several Vocations to walk worthy of God which are the only things to be intended in our Profession if we do mind Christanity for it self Secondly The form of this Enginâ—â—â—y be made such a disposition of those Doctrines as will shew forth the true 〈◊〉 of handling Scriptural Truths Positively which is to infer from known and undoubted Principles by the Evidence and Demonstration of the Spirit in matters known to the conscience clear and undeniably conclusions
Scripture hath left to every mans conscience to work upon in the several Occurrences of his life wherein the variety of his Circumstances changes the nature of the action and makes a man doubtful what to do or not to do is to be the matter of that which you call Case-Divinity Now who doth not see that these two must be joyned together either in one body of Treatise or else so if they be two several Volumes and Treatises yet in the Method they may be all one so that the cases must be referred every one to his Action of which he is a Case just as in Grammer the Exceptions must needs be referred to the Rules and every Exception to his own Rule otherwise all is in a confusion so it is here the cases are as it were Exceptions of the General Rule which therefore must needs be first delivered from whence you see that I am not of your minde when you say that Case-Divinity must first be ruled before Practical Divinity for Case Divinity cannot be Ruled except you have first a Rule to Rule it by Now the Rule is that which I say is the matter of Practical Divinity viz. all such expresse Determinations as the Scripture doth deliver concerning all the parts and actions either of the general and substantial or of the particular and accidental state of Christianity When these expresse determinations are set down in their natural order then we have a Rule of understanding and conscience by which every man is able to direct himself afterwards in the several Occurrences as his occasions may fall out for the spirit of Obedience dwelling in his conscience and being informed and strengthened by the Rule of the Word will discern the duty which is most requisite to be performed in the particular occasion wherein a man is Neither is it possible as I suppose that all the incident cases of this nature can be truly determined so that they will satisfie every mans conscience For the different measures of knowledge and of the apprehensions of the Rule make the conscience doubtful And therefore except the setled and infallible Rules be first received and proposed all particular decisions of doubtful cases will become nothing else but a matter of inextricable dispute by which means instead of a Body of Practical Truths we shall have a new kind of Polemical Divinity in matters of Practice because the preposterous course being taken to begin at doubts before the true Rules be known whereby to frame our life we shall hardly ever finde the right way For after that different opinions are once taken up in matters of doubt we see how hardly they are laid down and how that men before they will seem to have erred in the particular determination of the doubt will sometimes strain the sense of many Principles as in matters of Theory the Papists do plainly Therefore I think that to begin at cases is a preposterous course every way and to do as you say that these cases should first be sent into all Churches to be allowed of and then published I think is dangerous to cause much contradiction and a great deal more laborious then to make up the chief and more profitable part of the Work which if it be well done may stand by it self without contradiction or fear of opposition being clearly the truth both in the Word and in every mans Conscience And then either when this is done or whiles it is a doing if some be set a work to gather Cases as you say out of all M. S. Letters conferences correspondences c. he ought to referre the Cases to the Heads of the Practical part so that all the Cases stand in the same order wherein the Infallible Rules of Practical Directions were delivered corresponding in the same matters as more particularly and as it were Individual Determinations of the same End and Means of an Action or rather as an application of the Rule delivered to a particular object wherein every body might not hit the right way of proceeding FINIS An Extract of a Letter written by George Horne Doctor in Divinity and publick Professor of History in the University of Leyden To Samuel Hartlib Esq IDea illa Theologiae Practica Domini Duraei it a me affecit ut vix quicquam a Te hactenùs profectum magis Crede mihi nullum Divinius remedium sedandis illis Polemicis inter Protestantes affectibus rixosis verae pietati propagandae etiam apud Atheos Haereticos convenientius Nunquam illud ingens Irenicum Opus ad optatum stabilem finem deducetur nisi hoc effecto Incredibiliter mihi tota Dispositio Scopus placent Et quid quaeso remorae quo minùs Vester Ille Iosua Suâ Authoritate id intra breve tempus Orbi exhibere possit Abundat Britannia Viris capacissimis ad hunc laborem natis Longè profectò satiùs in ejusmodl Opere occupari curas manus plurium quà m in consarcinandis Commentariis Scripturarum quibus jam obrutus est Orbis Ecclesiae velut sub onere quodam gemunt Legam autem relegam totum Opus attentiùs si quid incidat quod aliquid ad Templi illius Hierosolymitani structuram conferre possit studiosè annotabo quanquam profectò eâ in parte Vestrates palmam obtinent ut id Opus non aliundè quà m ab Anglia exspectare Christianus Orbis possit Contulerunt tot pientissimae Animae tot jam annis copiosam materiam quid restat nisi ut Salomo aliquis evocatis Artificibus Templum longè illo Ceremoniali magnificentius exstruat In English MR. Dury his Idea of Practical Divinity hath pleased me as much as any thing that ever you sent me Believe me there is not a more Soveraigne remedy then this for the Putting an end to the controversies and quarrels now between Protestants nor fitter for the Propagating of true piety even amongst Atheists and Hereticks That great Work of Pacification will never be brought to the desired end of settlement but by this means The whole Order and Scope of this Work do please me exceedingly And I pray you what can hinder Your Josua from imposing it on the World by his Authority within a short time England doth abound with men that are most fit for this Work and as it were born to perform it It were certainly much better to have the cares and hands of many men imployed about such a Work as this then in compiling of Commentaries on Scripture wherewith the world is already over whelmed and the Churches groan under them as under a burden But I will read over this whole Tract more heed fully and if any thing come into my mind which may conduce towards the building of this Temple of Jerusalem I will carefully set it down Although in this part your English men do so excell that the Christian World needs not to have it done by any else So many godly Souls having for these many
years been preparing abundant matter for it What is now to be done but for some Solomon to call his Workmen together and build up a Temple far more magnificent then the Ceremoniall one was The Expedient for a Correspondencie with Forrain Protestants THe complaint which the Prophet David made in his low condition may now be taken up in our dayes by all that favour the dust of Sion and take pleasure in her stones namely that her bones are scattered at the graves mouth as one cleaveth wood upon the ground Psal 141. 7. for if we look upon the Churches which make Profession of the same saving truth in opposition to Popery as now they are divided and broken we shall see them almost if not altogether as uselesse one to another as dry bones scattered up and down ready to be cast into the grave or as chippes of wood lying on the ground onely fit to be gathered and burnt therefore our resolution should be the same which the Prophet took in the words following upon his complaint But our eyes are to thee O God the Lord in thee is our trust leave not our souls destitute There is none other that can help but he in such a case Let then our eyes be turned onely towards him because our expectation will not be in vain if we flie to him for refuge for we have a word of promise giving us assurance that he will help for Moses hath said That the Lord shall judge his people and repent him for his servants when he seeth that their power is gone and there is none Deut. 32. 36. shut up or left and the Prophet Isaiah hath declared for our comfort that when the enemie shall come in like a flood the Spirit of the Lord shall lift up a standard against him It is evident then that we have a Isai 59. 19. ground to hope that the Lord in his own time will make our dry bones to stir and live and joyn together and being clothed with flesh and skin to stand upon their feet and become a great and mighty army for there is no condition of the Saints so weak and low but God can and when it is fit will also raise them out of it because he hath in a readiness means which he hath appointed to that effect and when his spirit will breath upon them to set them a work the business will be accomplished Now the means by which the Lord doth execute his wonderful counsel and by which he will bring to passe his excellent work is two fold the one is the manifestation of the Truth by the armour of light and the sword of the Spirit which is the word of God to discover the hidden things of darkness and sweeping away the refuge of lies and Hypocrisie to stay the wicked one and consume the man of sin which part of his work is already well advanced in the midst of all these distractions and divisions of parties and the other is by the unitie of the Spirit in the Communion of Saints to bring the whole Body so to depend upon the head Jesus Christ that it shall appear at last sitly joyned together and compacted by that which every joint supplyeth according to the effectual working in the measure of every part to make the encrease of the Body to the edifying of it self in love and this part of the work although it is very little advanced in appearance yet there are Preparatives towards it which are not inconsiderable if rightly weighed and taken notice of and whereof in due time a more full account may be given but for the present we shall onely shew some motives for which we should attend unto this part of Gods Counsell and suggest a way by which we may help forward the effect thereof and become instrumental towards others in furthering his work The Motives which should induce us to mind the design which God hath of uniting his Saints together are so many in the Holy Scriptures and so clearly set forth that a Volum might be written thereof if we would be large but it shall suffice at present only to point at the places where the Holy Ghost doth urge the duty upon us if we look upon 1 Cor. 12. The scope of the Apostle is there to demonstrate that all spiritual gifts are bestowed upon the Church Militant on earth to the end that they may be made use of to profit withall by the several members of the mystical Body in the unitie thereof and in chap. 13. the grace of Charitie is said to be so necessary for this effect that without it none other grace is profitable either to our selves or towards others in the fourth of the Epistle to the Ephes ver 1. till 17. the Apostle sheweth that no man doth walk worthy of the Vocation wherewith he is called to the Profession of the Gospel who doth not intend and endeavour by humility meekness long suffering and forbearance of others in love to keep the Unitie of the Spirit in the bond of Peace and whatsoever throughout the Scripture is commanded concerning love which is the great and new Commandment and particularly in the 1 Epistle of John it tendes all to oblige our conscience to this main duty of seeking the Unitie of the Spirit amongst Saints and of keeping it in the bond of Peace and if the Apostles words Phil. 2. 1 2. be laid to heart they will convince any man that hath any feeling of his duty in this matter If saith he there be any consolation in Christ if any comfort of Love if any fellowship of the Spirit if any bowels and mercies fulfill ye my joy that ye be like minded having the same love being of one accord of one mind c. intimating that without the care of this duty all the joy and happiness which Saints ought to further in one another is quite lost and utterly made void which in these our dayes we find experimentally to be too true by reason of our divisions and strivings for which the name of God is blasphemed amongst the adversaries and the Profession of the truth amongst our selves is dishonoured Now to remedy this great evil and to remove the scandals arising from thence for which a woe is denounced and in some measure executed against us the easie way which is suggested is to set a foot a Religious Correspondencie with Forrain Protestants to carry on a Gospel interest amongst Christians not by strength or might but in a Gospel way by a friendly Correspondencie and concurrence in Counsels to hold forth unanimously the matters of Faith and Doctrine wherein we all fully agree and do own the same saving truths and to set a foot the Practice of the same Rules of duties by walking therein to oppose ignorance and profanness to banish confusion and disorderliness in worship and be no more strangers to one anothers condition but to entertain a mutual Care for each others good and the progress of the Gospel in the world to which effect a setled correspondencie upon Religious grounds and Principles between us and our neighbour Protestants will be both an easie and in Gods way a powerfull means which Correspondencie may be thus contrived and brought about We forthwith intend a systeme or body of Divinity wherein all the English writings of Practical Divinity and Cases of Conscience shall be digested in English and Latine and we intend the intertainment of strangers in a Colledge here from whence our Learning may be carried forth in most Languages by such Students and all good works advanced by the same hands to which we already find great forwardness in this Nation not only to labour in the work but also to contribute in matter of charge And of this Work in instituting a Colledge propagandis bonis operibus we shall give Advertisment to our friends as occasion presents not doubting but since the Lord hath given us in England such a measure of light and Peace but there will appear a ready heart amongst our Nations for the rowling away the reproach upon us of having much of faith and little of Works and from this Colledge and Trustees about this Work we shall be ready to maintain such Correspondence with our Brethren beyond the Seas that they and we may have cause to rejoyce and our enemies to mourn and this charge of Correspondency fixed upon the Trustees for the Work above said The incouragement of this Correspondency intended riseth much from the unspeakable blessing hath accompanied the Letter and Epistle of the Saints witnesse those in the New Testament what Luther Calvin and others have done that way and what dayly success therein of Epistoling there are clouds of witnesses For the present we judge it meet that what any Forrain Divine hath now to Communicate might come either to the Vice-Chancelour of the University or the Ministers sitting at White-hall weekly for approbation of Ministers And these things we desire may be remembred at home and abroad in the prayers of Gods people that we may not make forfeiture of our mercies by our sloth and negligence and sit down by the starving sluggard with non putarem FINIS Errata IN the names subscribed to the Latin Letter read Hopsius item P. T. pastor Schresheimi item Belsteinensis Beilsteinensi In the subscription to the English Letter read Hopsius Schresheim Orzen IN the quotations of Scripture places pag. 1. read in Margin 1 Peter pag. 2. in Margin read John 13. ibid. Jam. 1. 22. pag. 4. lin 39. read 17. 3. pag. 17. lin 36. read Luke 24. 47. p. 21. l. 35. r. 1 Cor. 6. 20. p. 37. l. 11. r. Isai 59. p. 41. l. 37. r. Dan. 12. 7. In the words of the discourse pag. 3. lin 17. read manifest my self pag. 5. lin 35. read Precognitions pag. 6. lin 31. read main heads ibid. lin ult read those pag. 34. lin 21. read Disputations pag. 36. lin 26. read pertaining pag. 37. lin 15. read from my judgement pag. 42. lin 4 read to one end ibid. lin 15. read rectifie pag. 44. lin 35. read Panrani pag. 45. lin 8. read the forrain p. 46. l. 26. read upon residing