13. 7. Remember them which have the Rule over you who have spoken unto you the Word of God whose Faith follow considering the End of their Conversation 17. Obey them that have the Rule over you and submit your selves for they watch for your Souls as they that must give Account that they may do it with Joy and not with Grief for that is unprofitable for you Jude 8. Likewise also these filthy Dreamers defile the Flesh despise Dominion and speak Evil of Dignities I might at length enlarge if needful upon these Passages any of which is sufficient to prove the Matter in Hand but that what is said may satisfie such as are not wilfully blind and obstinate for there can be nothing more plain from these Testimonies then that the Ancient Apostles Primitive Christians practised Order and Government in the Church that some did appoint and ordain certain Things condemn and approve certain Practices as well as Doctrines by the Spirit of God that there lay an Obligation in Point of Duty upon others to obey and submit that this was no Encroachment nor-Imposition upon their Christian-Liberty nor any Wayes contradictory to their being inwardly and immediately led by the Spirit of God in their Hearts and lastly that such as are in the true Feeling and Sense will find it their Places to obey and be one with the Church of Christ in such like Cases and that it 's such as have lost their Sense and Feeling of the Life of the Body that dissent and are disobedient under the false Prentence of Liberty so that thus is sufficiently proven what I undertook in this Place Thirdly I judge there will need no great Arguments to prove the People of God may do well to exercise the like Government upon the very like Occasion for even Reason may teach us that what proved good wholsom Cures to the Distemper of the Church in former Ages will not now the very like Distempers falling in prove hurtful and poysonable especially if we have the Testimony of the same Spirit in our Hearts not only allowing us but commanding us so to do It is manifest though we are sorry for it that the same Occasions now fall in we find that there are that have eaten and drunken with us at the Table of the Lord and have been Sharers of the same spiritual Joy and Consolation that afterwards fall away we find to our great Grief that some walk disorderly and some are puffed up and strive to sow Division labouring to stumble the weak and to cause Offences in the Church of Christ What then is more suitable and more christian then to follow the Foot-steps of the Flock and to labour and travail for the good of the Church and for the removing all that is hurtful even as the holy Apostles who walked with Jesus did before us If there be such as walk disorderly now must not they be admonished rebuked and withdrawn from as well as of old or is such to be the Condition of the Church in these latter Times that all Iniquity must go unreproved Must it be Heresie or Oppression to watch over one another in Love to take Care for the Poor to see that there be no corrupt no defiled Members of the Body and carefully and christianly deal with them for restoring them if possible and for withdrawing from them if incureable I am perswaded that there are none that look upon the Commands of Christ and his Apostles the Practice and Experience of the primitive Church and Saints as a sufficient President to authorize a Practice now that will deny the Lawfulness or Usefulness hereof but must needs acknowledge the Necessity of it But if it be objected as some have done Do not you deny that the Scripture is the adequate Rule of Faith and Manners and that the Commands or Practices of the Scripture are not a sufficient Warrant for you now to do any thing without you be again authorized and led unto it by the same Spirit and upon that Score do you not forbear some things both practised and commanded by the primitive Church and Saints Well I hope I have not any thing weakned this Objection but presented it in its full Vigour and Strength to which I shall clearly and distinctly answer thus First Seasons and Times do not alter the Nature and Substance of Things in themselves though it may cause Things to alter as to the Usefulness or not Usefulness of them Secondly Things commanded and practised at certain times and seasons fall of themselves whenas the Cause and Ground for which they were commanded is removed as there is no need now for the Decision about Circumcision seeing there are none contend for it neither as to the Orders concerning Things offered to Idols seeing there is now no such Occasion yet who will say that the Command enjoyn'd in the same Place Acts 15. 20. To abstain from Fornication is now made void seeing there is daily need for its standing in Force because it yet remains as a Temptation man is incident to We confess indeed we are against such as from the bare Letter of the Scripture though if it were seasonable now to debate it we find but few to deal with whose Practises are so exactly squared seek to uphold Customs Forms or Shaddows when the Use for which they were appointed is removed or the Substance it self known and witnessed as we have sufficiently elsewhere answered our Opposers in the Case of Water-Baptism and Bread and Wine c. so that the Objection as to that doth not hold and the Difference is very wide in respect of such Things the very Nature and Substance of which can never be dispensed with by the People of God so long as they are in this World yea without which they could not be his People for the Doctrines and fundamental Principles of the Christian Faith we own and believe originally and principally because they are the Truths of God whereunto the Spirit of God in our Hearts hath constrained our Understandings to obey and submit In the second Place we are greatly confirmed strengthned and comforted in the joint Testimony of our Brethren the Apostles and Disciples of Christ who by the Revelation of the same Spirit in the Dayes of old believed and have left upon record the same Truths so we having the same Spirit of Faith according as it is written I believed and therefore have I spoken we also believe and therefore we speak and we deny not but some that from the Letter have had the Notion of these Things have thereby in the Mercy of God received Occasion to have them revealed in the Life for we freely acknowledge though often calumniated to the contrary that whatsoever Things were written aforetime were written for our learning that we through Patience and Comfort of the Scriptures may have Hope So then I hope if the Spirit of God lead me now unto that which is good profitable yea and
absolutely needful in order to the keeping my Conscience clear and void of Offence towards God and Man none will be so unreasonable as to say I ought not to do it because it is according to the Scriptures nor do I think it will savour ill among any serious solid Christians for me to be the more confirmed and perswaded that I am led to this Thing by the Spirit that I find it in it self good and useful and that upon the like Occasions Christ commanded it the Apostles and Primitive Christians practised and recommended it Now seeing it is so that we can boldly say with a good Conscience in the Sight of God that the same Spirit which leads us to believe the Doctrines and Principles of the Truth and to hold them and maintain them again after the Apostacy in their primitive and ancient Purity as they were delivered by the Apostles of Christ in the holy Scriptures I say that the same Spirit doth now lead us into the like holy Order and Government to be exercised among us as it was among them being now the like Occasion and Opportunity ministred to us therefore what can any Christianly or Rationally object against it for that there is a Real Cause for it the thing it self speaketh and that it was the Practice of the Saints and Church of old is undeniable what kind of Ground then can any such Opposers have for to such as scrupling at this do notwithstanding acknowledge our Principle that this were done by Imposition or Imitation more then the Belief of the Doctrines and Principles seeing as it is needful to use all Diligence to convince and perswade People of the Truth and bring them to the Belief of it which yet we cannot do but as Truth moves and draws in their Hearts it is also no less needful when a People is gathered to keep and preserve them in Unity and Love as becomes the Church of Christ and to be careful as saith the Apostle That all Things be done decently and in Order and that all that is wrong be removed according to the Method of the Gospel and the good cherished and encouraged so that we conclude and that upon very good Grounds that there ought now as well as heretofore to be Order Government in the Church of Christ that which now cometh to be examined in the third Place is First What is the Order and Government we plead for Secondly In what Cases and how far it may extend and in whom the Power decisive is Thirdly How it differeth and is wholely an other then the oppressive and persecuting Principallity of the Church of Rome and other Antichristian Assemblies SECTION Fourth Of the Order and Government which we plead for IT will be needful then before I proceed to describe the Order Government of the Church to consider what is or may be properly understood by the Church for some as I touched before seem to be offended or at least afraid of the very Word because The Power of the Church the Order of the Church the Judgment of the Church and such like Pretences have been the great Weapons wherewith Antichrist and the Apostate Christians have been these many Generations persecuting the Woman and warring against the Man-child and indeed great Disputes have been among the Learned Rabbies in the Apostacy concerning this Church what it is or what may be so accounted which I find not my Place at present to dive much in but shall only give the true Sense of it according to Truth and the Scriptures plain Testimony The Word Church in it self and as used in the Scriptures is no other but a Gathering Company or Assembly of certain People called or gathered together for so the Greek Word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifies which is that the Translators render Church which Word is derived from the Verb 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e. evoco I call out of from the Root 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 voco I call Now though the English Word Church be only taken in such a Sense as People are gathered together upon a Religious Account yet the Greek Word that is so rendered is taken in general for every Gathering or Meeting together of People and therefore where it is said The Town-Clark of the Ephesians dismissed the Tumult that was gathered there together the same Greek Word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is used Acts 19. 41. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he dismissed the Assembly or the Church A Church then in the Scripture Phrase is no other then a Meeting or Gathering of certain People which if it be taken in a religious Sense as most commonly it is are gathered together in the Belief of the same Principles Doctrines and Points of Faith whereby as a Body they become distinguished from others and have a certain Relation among themselves and a conjunct Interest to the maintaining and propagating these Principles they judge to be right and therefore have a certain Care and Oversight over on another to prevent and remove all Occasions that may tend to break this their conjunct Interest hinder the Propagation of it or bring Infamy Contempt or Contumely upon it or give such as on the other Hand are or may be banded together to undo them just Occasion against them to decry and defame them Now the Way to distinguish that Church Gathering or Assembly of People whereof Christ truly is the Head from snch as falsly pretend thereto is by considering the Principles Grounds upon which they are gathered together the Nature of that Hierarchy Order they have among themselves the Way and Method they take to uphold it and the Bottom upon which it standeth which will greatly contribute to clear all Mistakes Forasmuch as Sanctification and Holiness is the great and chief End among true Christians which moves them to gather together therefore the Apostle Paul defines the Church in his Salutation to the Corinthians 1 Cor. 1. 2. Vnto the Church of God which is at Corinth them that are sanctified in Christ Jesus called to be Saints so the Church is such as are sanctified in Christ Jesus called to be Saints The Power and Authority Order and Government we speak of is such as a Church Meeting Gathering or Assembly claims towards those that have or do declare themselves Members who own believe and profess the same Doctrines and Principles of Faith with us and go under the same Distinction and Denomination whose Escapes Faults and Errors may by our Adversaries justly be imputed to us if not seasonably and christianly reproved reclaimed or condemned for we are not so foolish as to concern our selves with those who are not of us far less who stand in Opposition to us so as to reprove instruct or reclaim them as Fellow Members or Brethren yet with a Respect to remove the general Reproach from the Christian Name with a tender Regard to the good of their immortal Souls for the Zeal we owe to God's Glory and
not hold Suppose a People really gathered unto the Belief of the true and certain Principles of the Gospel if any of these people shall arise and contradict any of those fnndamental Truths whether has not such as stand good right to cast such a one out from among them to pronounce positively this is contrary to the Truth we profess and own and therefore ought to be rejected and not received nor yet he that asserts it as one of us And is not this obligatory upon all the Members seeing all are concerned in the like Care as to themselves to hold the right and shut out the wrong I cannot tell if any man of Reason can well deny this however I shall prove it next from the Testimony of the Scripture Gal. 1. 8. But though we or an Angel from Heaven preach any other Gospel unto you then that which we have preached unto you let him be accursed As we said before so say I now again If any man preach any other Gospel unto you then that ye have received let him be accursed 1 Tim. 1. 19 20. Holding Faith and a Good Conscience which some having put away concerning Faith have made shipwrack Of whom is Hymeneus and Alexander whom I have delivered unto Satan that they may learn not to blaspheme 2 John 10. If there come any unto you and bring not this Doctrine receive him not into your House neither bid him Rejoyce for so the Greek hath it These Scriptures are so plain and clear in themselves as to this Purpose that they need no great Exposition to the Unbyassed and Unprejudicate Reader fore-seeing it is so that in the true Church there may men arise and speak perverse things contrary to the Doctrine and Gospel already received what is to be the place of those that hold the pure and ancient Truth Must they look upon these perverse men still as their Brethren Must they cherish them as Fellow-Members or must they judge condemn and deny them We must not think the Apostle wanted Charity who will have them Accursed and that gave Hymenaeus and Alexander over to Satan after that they had departed from the true Faith that they might learn not to Blaspheme In short If we must as our Opposers herein acknowledge preserve and keep those that are come to own the Truth by the same means they were gathered and brought into it we must not cease to be plain with them and tell them when they are wrong and by sound Doctrine both exhort and convince Gainsayers If the Apostles of Christ of old and the Preachers of the Everlasting Gospel in this day had told all people however wrong they found them in their Faith and Principles our Charity and Love is such We dare not judg you nor separate from you but let us all live in Love together every one injoy his own Opinion all will be well how should the Nations have been or what way now can they be brought to Truth and Righteousness Would not the Devil love this Doctrine well by which Darkness and Ignorance Error and Confusion might still continue in the Earth unreproved and uncondemned If it was needful then for the Apostles of Christ in the dayes of old to reprove without sparing to tell the High Priests and great Professors among the Jews That they were stubborn and stiff-necked and alwayes resisted the Holy Ghost without being guilty of Imposition and Oppression or want of true Love and Charity And also for those Messengers the Lord raised up in this day to reprove and cry out against the Hireling Priests and to tell the World openly both Professors and Prophane that they were in Darkness and Ignorance out of the Truth Strangers and Aliens from the Common wealth of Israel if God has gathered a People by this means into the Belief of one and the same Truth must not they that turn and depart from it be admonished reproved and condemned yea rather then those that are not yet come to the Truth because they crucifie afresh unto themselves the Lord of Glory and put him to open Shame It seems the Apostle judged it very needful they should be so dealt with Tit. 1. 10. when he sayes There are many unruly and vain Talkers and Deceivers especially they of the Circumcision WHOSE MOUTHS MUST BE STOPPED c. Were such a Principle to be received or believed That in the Church of Christ no man should be separated from no man condemned or excluded the Fellowship and Communion of the Body for his Judgment or Opinion in Matter of Faith then what Blasphemies so horried what Heresies so damnable what Doctrines of Devils but might harbour it self in the Church of Christ What need then of sound Doctrine if no Doctrine make unsound what need of convincing and Exhorting Gainsayers If to Gainsay be no Crime where should the Vnity of the Faiâ—h be Were not this an Inlet to all manner of Abominations and make void the whole tendency of Christ and his Apostles Doctrine and render the Gospel of none effect and give a Liberty to the unconstant and giddy Will of Man to innovate alter and overturn it at his Pleasure So that from all that is above-mentioned we do safely conclude that where a People are gathered together into the Belief of the Principles and Doctrines of the Gospel of Christ if any of that People shall go from their Principles and assert things false and contrary to what they have already received such as stand and abide firm in the Faith have Power by the Spirit of God after they have used Christian Endeavours to convince and reclaim them upon their obstinacy to separate from such and to exclude them from their spiritual Fellowship and Communion for otherwayes if this be denyed farewel to all Christianity or to the maintaining of any sound Doctrine in the Church of Christ. But secondly Taking it for granted that the Church of Christ or Assembly of Believers may in some Cases that are Matter of Conscience pronounce a positive Sentence and Judgment without hazard of Imposition upon the Members it comes to be inquired In what Cases and how far this Power reached I answer First As that which is most clear and undenyable in the fundamental Principles and Doctrines of Faith in Case any should offer to teach otherwayes as is above declared and proved but some may perhaps acknowledge that indeed if any should contradict the known and owned Principles of Truth and teach otherwayes it were fit to cast out and exclude such But what judgest thou as to lesser matters as in Principles of less Consequence or in outward Ceremonies or Gestures whether it be fit to press Vniformity in these things For Answer to this it is fit to consider First The Nature of things themselves Secondly The Spirit and Ground they proceed from And Thirdly The Consequence and Tendency of them But before I proceed upon these I affirm and that according to Truth That
for the Exaltation and Propagation of his Everlasting Truth and Gospel in the Earth we have not been wanting with the Hazard of our Lives to seek the scattered ones holding forth the Living and Sure Foundation and inviting and perswading all to obey the Gospel of Christ and to take Notice of his Reproofs as he makes himself manifest in and by his Light in their Hearts so our Care and Travail is and hath been towards those that are without that we may bring them into the Fellowship of the Saints in Light and towards those that are brought in that they may not be led out again or drawn aside either to the left Hand or the right by the Workings and Temptations of the Enemy These Things being thus cleared and opened we do positively affirm that we being a People gathered together by the Power of God which most if not all of those that arising among our selves do oppose us herein have acknowledged into the Belief of certain Principles and Doctrines and also certain Practices Performances by which we are come to be separated and distinguished from others so as to meet apart and also to suffer deeply for our Joint-Testimony there are and must of Necessity be as in the gathering of us so in the preserving of us while gathered Diversities of Gifts and Operations for the edifying of the whole Body Hence saith the Apostle 1 Tim. 5. 17. Let the Elders that rule well be counted worthy of double Honour especially they who labour in the Word and Doctrine this we suppose neither to be Popish nor Antichristian let our Opposers say it as oft as they can without reckoning the Apostles such Secondly Forasmuch as all are not called in the same Station some rich some poor some Servants some Masters some married some unmarried some Widdows and some Orphans and so forth it is not only convenient but absolutely needfull that there be certain Meetings at certain Places and Times as may best sute the Conveniencies of such who may be most particularly concerned in them where both those that are to take Care may assemble and those who may need this Care may come and make known their Necessities and receive help whether by Counsel or Supply according to their respective Needs This doth not at all contradict the Principle of being led inwardly and immediately by the Spirit else how came the Apostle in that Day of the Powerful pouring forth of the Spirit of God to set apart Men for this Purpose sure this was not to lead them from their inward Guide yea of the contrary it is expresly said Look ye out among you Seven men of honest Report full of the Holy Ghost and Wisdom whom we may appoint over this Business Sure they were not to undertake a Business being full of the Holy Ghost which might import a contradiction to their being led by it So we see it is both fit and suitable to the Apostles Doctrine to have Meetings about Business Now if any should be so whimsical or conceited as to scruple their being at set Places and Times though these be nothing relative to the Essential parts but only Circumstances relating to the Conveniency of our Persons which we must have Regard to so long as we are cloathed with Flesh and Blood and such Notionists as are against this Godly Care work far more in their vain Imaginations than they reduce to Practice being like unto such of whom the Apostle James testified who content themselves with saying to the Naked be clothed and to the hungry be fed while they offer not in the least to minister to them those Things which are needful for clothing and Feeding of them yet shall we not scruple to make it appear that it is not without very good Ground that we both appoint Places and Times and First as to the Place I say as before it is with our Bodies we must meet as well as with our Spirits and so of Necessity we must convey our Bodies unto one Place that we may speak and act in those Things we meet for and that must be in some certain Place where all must know where to find it having herein a regard to the Conveniencies and Occasions of such as meet Were it fit that those of the Church of Corinth should go do their Business at Antioch or the Church of Jerusalem at Rome Nay surely God hath not given us our Reasons to no Purpose but that we should make use for his Glory and the good of our Brethren yet alwayes in Subjection to his Power and Spirit and therefore we have respect to these Things in the appointing of our Meetings and do it not without a Regard to the Lord but in a Sense of his Fear And so the like as to Times which is no contradicting of the inward Leading of the Spirit else how came the Apostle to appoint a Time to the Corinthians in their Contributions desiring them 1 Cor. 16. 2. To lay by them in store upon the first Day of the Week yea saith he not that he gave the same Order to the Church of Galatia I know not how any in Reason can quarrel Set-Times for outward Business it being done in a Subjection to God's Will as all Things ought to be or else how can such as so do but quarrel the Apostle for this Imposition at that Rate upon the Churches of Corinth and Galatia We appoint no set Times for the Performance of the Worship of God so as to appoint men to preach and pray at such and such Set-times though we appoint times to meet together in the Name of the Lord that we may feel his Presence and he may move in and through whom he pleaseth without Limitation which Practice of meeting together we are greatly encouraged to by the Promise of Christ and our own blessed Experience and also we are severely prohibited to lay it aside by the holy Apostle and also on the other Hand by the sad Experience of such as by Negligence or Prejudice forsake the Assemblies of God's People upon many of which is already fulfilled and upon others daily fulfilling the Judgments threatned upon such Transgressors read Heb. 10. from ver 23. to the End where that Duty is so seriously exhorted to and the Contempt of it reckoned a wilfull Sin almost if not altogether unpardonable yea a Treading under Foot the Son of God and a Doing Despite to the Spirit of Grace which is fulfilled in our Day and proves the lamentable Fruits of such as have so backsliden among us and therefore having so much good and real Ground for what we do herein together with the Approbation and Encouragment of Christ and his Apostles both by Command and Practice we can as that which both the Alpha and Omega the Foundation and Cap-stone faithfully affirm in good Conscience That God hath led us by his Spirit both to appoint Places and Times where we may see the Faces one of another and
cannot be denied that there may arise Persons in the true Church that may do such Things from such a Spirit though pretending Conscience and Tenderness then it must also be acknowledged that such to whom God hath given a true Discerning by his Spirit may and ought to judge such Practices and the Spirit they come from and have no Unity with them which if it be owned in the General proves the Case to wit that some pretending Conscience in Things seeming indifferent but yet it proceeding in them from a Spirit of Singularity Emulation or Strife those that have received a Discerning thereof from the Lord may and ought to judge the Transgressors without being accounted Imposers Oppressors of Conscience or Inforcers of Uniformity contrary to the Mind of Christ against which the Apostle also guardeth the Churches of old Phil. 2. 3 4. Let nothing be done through Strife or Vain-Glory but in Lowliness of Mind let each esteem other BETTER THEN THEMSELVES Look not every Man on his own Things but every Man also on the Things of others Now if it be an Evil to do any Thing out of Strife thus such Things that are seen so to be done are they not to be avoided forsaken So that we are confident our Judgment herein cannot be denied or reputed Erroneous except it be said that none will or can arise in the Church of Christ pretending such things from such a Spirit which I know not any that will it being contrary to the express Prophecies of the Scripture the Experience of the Church in all Ages as may appear from Mat. 24. 24. Acts 15. 24. 1 Tim. 4. 5. 2 Tim. 3. 8. Mark 13. 21 22 2 Pet. 2. 19. Or on the other Hand that those that abide faithful and have a Discerning of those Evils ought to be silent and never ought to reprove and gainst and them nor yet warn and guard others against them and that it is a part of the commendable Unity of the Church of Christ to suffer all such Things without taking Notice of them I know none will say so but if there be any so foolish as to affirm it let them consider these Scriptures Gal. 2. 4. 1 Tim. 1. 20. 2 Tim. 2. 24 25. Tit. 1. 9 10 11. Now if none of these hold true but on the contrary such Evils have been and may be found to creep in among the People of God and that such as see them may and ought to reprove them then necessarily the doing so is neither Imposition Force nor Oppression As to the third concerning the Consequence and Tendency of them it is mostly included in the two former for whatsoever tendeth not to Edification but on the contrary to Destruction and to beget Discord among Brethren is to be avoided according to that of the Apostle Rom. 16. 17. Now I beseech you Brethren mark them which cause Divisions and Offences contrary to the Doctrine which ye have learned and avoid them And since there is no greater Mark of the People of God then to be at Peace among themselves whatsoever tendeth to break that Bond of Love and Peace must be testified against let it be observed I peak always of the Church of Christ indeed and deal with such as are of another Mind not as reckoning only false Churches not to have this Power but denying it even to the true Church of Christ as judging it not fit for her so to act as in relation to her Members for though Christ be the prince of Peace and doth most of all commend Love and Unity to his Disciples yet I also know he came not to send Peace but a Sword that is in dividing Man from the Lusts and Sins he hath been united to and also it is the Work of his Disciples and Messengers to break the Bonds and Unity of the Wicked wherein they are banded against God his Truth the Confederacy of such as stand in Unrighteousness by inviting and bringing as many as will obey unto Righteousness whereby they become disunited and separated from their Companions with whom they were centered at Peace in the contrary and cursed Nature and indeed blessed are they that are sent forth of the Lord to scatter here that they may gather into the Unity of the Life and they are blessed that in this Respect even for Righteousness Sake are scattered and separated from their Brethren that they may come to know the Brotherhood and Fellowship which is in the Light from which none ought to scatter nor to be scattered but be more and more gathered thereunto this leads me to what I proposed in the third Place under this Head of the true Church's Power in Matters Spiritual or purely Conscientious which may be thus objected If thou plead so much for an Oneness in the smallest Matters wherein consisteth the Freedom and Liberty of the Conscience which may be exercised by the Members of the true Church diversly without judging one another In answer to this Proposition I affirm first in general That whatsoever Things may be supposed to proceed from the same Spirit though divers in its Appearance tending to the same End of Edification and which in the Tendency of it layeth not a real Ground for Division or Dissension of Spirit Fellow Members ought not only to bear one another but strengthen one another in them Now the Respects wherein this may be I can describe no better then the Apostle Paul doth principally in two Places which therefore will be fit to consider at length for the opening of this Matter this being one of the weightiest Points pertaining to this Subject because as on the one Hand due Forbearance ought to be exercised in its right Place so on the other the many Devices and false Pretences of the Enemy creeping in here ought to be guarded against The first is 1 Cor. 12. from 4. to 31. thus 4 Now there are Diversities of Gifts but the same Spirit 5 And there are Difference of Administrations but the same Lord. 6 And there are Diversities of Operations but it is the same God which worketh all in all 7 But the Manifestation of the Spirit is given to every man to profit withall 8 For to one is given by the Spirit the Word of Wisdom to another the Word of Knowledge by the same Spirit 9 To another Faith by the same Spirit to another the Gifts of Healing by the same Spirit 10 To another the Working of Miracles to another Prophecy to another Dâ—scerning of Spirits to another divers kinds of Tongues to another the Interpretation of Tongues 11 But all these worketh that one and the self-same Spirit dividing to every Man severally as he will 12 For at the Body is one and hath many Members and all the Members of that one Body being many are one Body so also is Christ 13 For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one Body whether we be Jews or Gentiles whether we be bond or free