his message his promise and obey his command We see Christ did not speak and preach only but he did and appeared really in all things to be the same which he preached prays when they were putting him to death Father forgive them they know not what they do so doth Stephen also and heals his ear who came to apprehend him which Peter had cut off gives his life for his enemies And this is that Paul speaks of Love not in dead word but in deed and in truth in the life and power of it which love as the Scriptures testifie is God and which as Paul saith thinketh none ill but it beareth all things suffers all things endures all things Love it covereth all sins Prov. 10.12 Love it worketh none ill to his Neighbour Rom. 13.10 And this is that promised in Isa 2.2,3,4 And it shall come to pass in the last days that the mountain of the Lord's house shall be established in the top of the mountains and shall be exalted above the hills and all Nations shall flow unto it And many people shall go and say Come ye and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord to the house of the God of Jacob and he will teach us of his ways and we will walk in his paths for out of Zion shall go forth a Law and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem And he shall judge among the Nations and rebuke many people and they shall beat their swords into plow-shares and their spears into pruning hooks Nation shall not lift up sword against Nation neither shall they learn war any more and in Isa 11.6,7,8,9 The Wolf also shall dwell with the Lamb and the Leopard shall ly down with the Kid and the Calf and the young Lyon and the Fatling together and a little childe shall lead them And the Cow and the Bear shall feed their young ones shall ly down together and the Lyon shall eat straw like the Ox And the sucking Childe shall play on the hole of the Aspe and the weaned Childe shall put his hand on the Cockatrise den They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the Sea And in Jer. 31.31,32,33,34 Behold the days come saith the Lord that I will make a new Covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah Not according to the Covenant that I made with their Fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt which my Covenant they brake although I was an husband unto them saith the Lord. But this shall be the Covenant which I will make with the house of Israel After those days saith the Lord I will put my Law in their inward parts and write it in their hearts and will be their God and they shall be my people And they shall teach no more every man his Neighbour and every man his brother saying Know the Lord for they shall all know me from the least of them unto the greatest of them saith the Lord for I will forgive their iniquity and I will remember their sin no more There you have Christ promised as a living life dwelling and abiding in the soul or law written in the heart so that we shall not at all hang upon the lips of men or have any need or use of their teachings Whether this then be not in deed and in truth the very reall and true Gospe of Christ or Christ's Gospel God's Spell or good Spell is offered and left together with the several Scriptures quoted with many others coherent thereunto which for brevity sake I omit to your due inspection and serious consideration And if this be indeed and in truth Christ's Gospel God's Spel or good Spell as it 's supposed it will not by any be denied The next thing to be considered is How far any man or men whatsoever are impowered constituted ordained appointed fitted furnished enabled or anointed by Christ hereunto all these names signifying indeed but one and the same thing for he who is not fitted furnished enabled or anointed thereunto is not impowered constituted ordained or appointed by God or Christ thereunto the ordinations of men in this point will not do except they could give the thing also the inward anointing as well as the outward Therefore the Apostles although they had the promise yet they were not to stir they were not to go forth to preach the Gospel until themselves had received the Gospel the promise of the Father until they were indued with power from on high Luke 24.49 And behold I do send the promise of my Father upon you but tarry ye in the City of Jerusalem until ye be indued with power from on high Acts 1.8 Ye shall receive the holy Ghost Here 's a further confirmation of the promise but yet they stir not Acts 2.1.4 there it is said They were all filled with the holy Ghost Now have they the performance of the promise now and not before were they Commissioned ordained impowered or appointed because now and not before really and actually anoynted and then indeed were they anointed or baptised in with or unto the preaching of Christ's Gospel unto others and then they indeed do go forth preaching baptising healing all manner of diseases casting out divels and the like freely they had received and freely they were to give and so indeed they did as Peter said to the Cripple whom he healed Silver and Gold have I none but such as I have that give I unto you Rise up and walk And he lift him up by the hand healed him and he walked Thereby manifesting and declaring what the Gospel what the Anointing what the Missage or Message was they had received and accordingly did give forth the same as is declared And indeed nothing can give that which it hath not or more then it hath neither can any thing act beyond the power or ability it hath received If the power be of men the anointing of and by men why accordingly is and must needs be in its speakings and goings forth its actings and operations for no stream can run higher or above its head or spring That which is born of the flesh is flesh that which is born of the Spirit is Spirit If it be from men its living is and must needs be in and upon men and its returns unto men If of and from God its living is and will be only in and upon God and its returns only unto or into God Wherefore it is as Christ saith John 5.44 How can ye believe who receive Honour one from another and seek not the honour that cometh from God alone Whence I argue He that hath not himself received the Gospel in deed and in truth He that hath not received the message as is before declared that hath not received it in life and power that is not thus
Christ Christ himself also as he was after the flesh must be crucified that veil rent and done away as Paul saith he will know no man after the flesh no although he had known Christ after the flesh yet henceforth would he know him so no more so also all those things that had their dependence thereupon or related thereunto as it is in the Hebrews Leaving saith he the doctrine of the beginning of Christ let us go forward unto perfection not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works and of the doctrine of Baptisms and laying on of hands and of the resurrection from the dead and of the eternal judgement as if these things would not make perfect if they could we are not to leave them The same thing appears by that which was before cited Ye shall no more need teach one another saying Know the Lord for all shall know me from the greatest to the least I am so far from having any who in any kinde whatsoever differ or dissent in opinion from me therefore to be persecuted molested or troubled that I would have him in all things have the same respect from the State equal with my self Provided he keep close fast and firm to that rule of doing to everyman as he would every man should do to him and so of not doing that to any man which he would not any should do to him And in this and this only to my understanding is the care diligence and industry of the Magistrate to be exercised and for the breach hereof is the sword onely to be drawn Where or in whom this Gospel is not indeed and in truth preached where or in whose heart this Law is not written or where any man or men whatsoever are destitute or fall short in this or transgress herein then and therein onely if at any time according to the Gospel is the Magistrate to step in and by his power to make up such neglects or defects therefore it 's said The law was not made for arighteous man but for the disobedient and sinner and he who breaks that royal and onely royal law Love shall unavoidably suffer in or with the breach thereof That I would then humbly seriously and faithfully advise and move you unto is That you would try every spirit whence it comes and whither it tends see whether it be of God and Christ or no try it by what is here laid down try it by the Gospel which you would propagate Can any but a truely-Gospel-spirit in truth propagate the Gospel or propagate the Gospel in truth Take heed lest this spirit if you receive it if you hearken unto and embrace it and its counsels prove not as dangerous and fatal as it hath to those who have gone before and whether by these means and upon these occasions many of the truely real sincerely godly upright hearted people of this Nation have not been and are very much estranged from you And think you that you will be able to spare any such Are not hereby divisions and animosities fomented cherished nourished and increased betwixt us and amongst us And will the present state of things well bear this Nay hath not this Commonwealth often lost and been bereaved by these means and occasions of its best and most faithful members You have now seen according to my understanding what the very Gospel indeed and in truth is and what spirit it is that must indeed and in truth propagate this Gospel even a Gospel-spirit an Evangelized or Evangelical spirit and indeed and in truth none else can as hath likewise been shewed and proved You may likewise now in part determine where or whether there be at present or as yet in very deed and truth any such spirit or no whatever the thoughts and high pretensions of some men are Then it 's not I humbly conceive unworthy consideration whether that Christ that man-childe according as S. John speaks was not before that great desection in the Apostles times taken up again into heaven there to remain until the appointed time for whom or for whose coming again in greater power and glory then before all who have the first fruits of the spirit in great ful and assured hopes and expectations do and must wait bearing their witness in sackcloth to him and to that day of his appearing with watchfulness when by whom or at what time the book shall be unsealed all the mysteries of Christ and his Kingdom made manifest opened or revealed Wherefore being if I mistake not in that juncture of time where it is said that it was neither day nor night but in the evening it should be light I conceive that great care should be had of stigmatizing any with blasphemy and heresie but rather leave it to the Great Day to declare them Wherefore for propagation of the Gospel if it may be by us done I should humbly offer that there be a removal so far and so much as may be of all and every thing which in its own nature and property is evidently and eminently visibly and certainly destructive or contrary thereunto As first that inquisition be made for and repeal had of all such Statutes Orders Ordinances and Acts of Parliament any ways tending that way for it 's better if I may so speak that many Errours and Hereticks escape unpunished by the Civil Magistrate had he indeed a rightful power thereunto then that one true witness of Christ should suffer that many tares should remain in the field and grow together with the wheat until the time of harvest as Christ himself saith when it's easie to distinguish then by plucking them up before endanger the wheat also The earth hath done may do nay must help the woman though many false Prophets may nay shall arise insomuch that they should deceive the very elect if it were possible but it 's not possible and it 's necessary as the Scripture speaks that such should be that they which are approved may be made manifest Secondly that all compulsive and forcible maintenance for such who call themselves the Ministers of the Gospel be also removed and done away because it 's contrary to the rules of the Gospel and to the command of Christ which saith Take onely the things that are set before you by those who receive you but they were not to carry away any thing with them for they were not to have so much as a scrip to put it in and were onely to cast off the dust of their feet against them that received them not Thirdly that there may be no outward compulsions or enforcements of any to receive their or any other mens doctrines or principles neither that any mulcts fines banishments or any other corporal punishment be inflicted upon those that receive them not or who write preach or speak against any others so that no affronts injury or violence be done by the one unto the other because these things also as is before declared