already enjoy and Possess and so the Apostles brought them to a further examination not to look at things visible but to examine themselves whether they were in the Faith for he that is in the Faith is not in that which is visible Prove your selves know you not your own selves how that Jesus Christ is in you except you be Reprobates 2 Cor. 13.5 Now they who came to witness Christ in them knew the Resurrection and the Life in them and Witnessed the Life of the Son of God to live in them and they in it and this was a further State then looking at visible Things which were in remembrance only of his Death and blessed are they who have an Eye to see and an Heart to believe these things And now the Apostle spake unto wise Men and bad them â—udge what he said 1 Cor. 10.15 So that Novices or they that were young or Babes had hâ—rdly been able to discern if he had spoken such things to them but he spoke to wise men which could judge of what he said and ver 16. thus he said The Cup of blessing that we bless is it not the Communion of the Blood of Christ And the Bread which we breakâ— is it not the communion of the Body of Christ ver 17. For we being many are one Bread and one Body for we are all partakers of that one bread and that one Bread was Christ who said I am the Bread of Life and this they witnessed and these are great Mysteries and they whose Eyes are towards visible things cannot see them and what a Nâ—ise and a Stir hath been made these many hundred Years and what killing and persecuting about things that are seen And since the Mystery hath been lost and the Key which opens the mystery how People have waded in the dark till they have lost themselves and are sunk down into utter Darkness as hath been manifest about visible things which do corrupt how many have been killed about this Bread and this Cup which are visible since the Apostles Dayes and how many Institutions and Laws have been made about this and have fought like Swine about the husk and discern not the Life neither the Lords Body It is endless to declare what stir they make about this Bread and this Wine in the Church of Rome which I shall not now stand to particularize much but however after the Priest hath consecrated it they conclude it to be the very Body and Blood of Christ and yet a thing which may be seen and that is a temporal thing and so give it Names past numeration And what work have they made about times and dayes when it was fit to be received and how many Decrees have been made about these things Anacletus caused a Decree to be made that all were to come to it under pain of Excommunication and Victor denounced that those should be interdicted from all Service when they should receive the Sacrament that would not be reconciled to their Neighbours of all Grudges and Hatred again Clepharanius one hundred Years after Anaâ—letus commanded that all that professed Christ or bare the Name of Christians being of the Age of twelve or fourteen Years should at least once a year at Easter receive the blessed Sacrament Fabianus decreed that they should receive it three times in a Year and Innocentius the third decreed it should be kept in the church that it should be ready at all times lest they that were sick should want to spiritual comfort of it and Honorus the third confirmed the same and Austin concluded the Eucharist to be of absolute necessity for Infants And what a stir hath been in the reformed churches so called about this and what disorderly work and what high Imputations they have gained to it whenas they commanded the Parishes to buy it and then sell it them again that the Priest must have a Offering at Easter also a token of a piece of Lead a token that they are at Unity with the Priest or else they may not have their Bread and Wine again for which they paid before and this hath been called a great Mystery HAP XII Concerning Ministers and their Office under the Law and the Gospel BEfore the Law was given forth there were divers did offer Sacrifice and builded Altars unto the Lord as Seth Abel Melchizedeck A braham Isaac and Jacob who were Guiders and Directors of People in the Way of Righteousness who instructed their Families in the Fear of the Lord but after the Law was given forth Aaron and his Sons and they were to offer Sacrifice according to the command of the Lord and to perform the Worship that God had appointed for that Time and Age at the Tabernacle and Temple there were Levites who bore the Ark and looked to the Vessels and pitched the Camp and divers other Services as Singers and Readers of the Law and Prophets on their Sabbath Dayes and Porters and the like and all these pertained to the First Covenant and Priesthood which was to have an End both the Priesthood and the Law and the Service thereof for it was but to continue till the Substance came Now Christ being come to the End of the Law for Righteousness unto all that believe made after the Order of Melchizedeck and not by a carnal commandment he offered up himself once for all and became the Author of eternal Salvation unto them that believe put an End to the first Worship and Priesthood Before he was offered up he chose Disâ—iples unto him twelve and also seventy and endued them with Power and many did believe through their Words and they were not Men of great parts but as they were fitted by the holy Ghost that gave them Utterance and they were sent out not to preach the Law but the Word of the Kingdom and many did believe and grew and were confirmed in the Faith and after Christ s Ascension the holy Ghost was poured forth upon them in a more ample Manner and it did bring to their Remembrance as Christ had foretold and they received great Gifts for the Work of the Ministry some were Prophets some Apostles some Evangelists some Pastors some Teachers and all made Ministers by the Spirit for the Work whereunto they were chosen and many were converted and did believe then they that had the Word of God to publish travailed as they were led and moved by the Spirit to publish the glad-tidings of the Gospel and when the Believers were many and many young in the Faith they ordained Overseers or Bishops or Elders who were sound in the Faith to watch over them that were begotten but mark they were approved men and faithful and of blameless lives not given to Covetousness neither did tyrannâ—ze over them in rigour but were apt to teach and instruct in Love Gentleness and they that had been ancient Labourers in God's Work did so who had received a Gift to minister unto others and as to be
that were given to them that had no Portion among their Brethren in the Land but these Bishops Presbyters and Priests have a great Part of some Counties and Diocesses for their Revenue and their inferior Officers Tythes of such things as were never tythable under the Law so what damnable Deceit and Hypocrisie is this is it any other but the Pope's Yoak an absolute Apostate for Hundreds of Years and must this be received and enjoyned as Apostolical Doctrine Oh for Shame let it never be mentioned among them that call themselves Ministers of Christ neither of any who profess themselves to be Christians But to return to the Levitical Priesthood no Tythes did the Priests receive under the Law of the People for those belonged to the Levites Exod. 13.2 that were appointed over the Tabernacle to bear it and to take it down and to set it up to serve Aaron and his Sons and to keep the Instruments thereof and for the better ordering of things they were divided into three parts the Coathites the Gershonites and the Mararites and these received Tythes of the People and delivered the Priests did not all so our Tythe-taking Priests are contrary to the Law and first Covenant and the Gospel also and therefore to be looked upon as no other then Anti-christians but to return to Aaron's Priesthood in the first Covenant they grew and multiplied and then the Priests were divided into twenty four Ranks or Courses of which our Prebends Deans and Chapters take their Example or Imitation so to serve by their Turns at Cathedrals as they are called or else from the Church of Rome which is worse but the latter I am rather enclined to believe because there was no such Name of any Ministers among the Jews neither in the primitive Church truly so called but the Priests gave Attendance to execute their Office and burn Incense as his Turn came and hereupon Zecharias who is said to be of the course of Abiah Luke 1. The Levites that were Singers were divided into twenty four Ranks also or Courses of which I believe the present Quiristers or Surpless-men do imitate and will bring the Levites for a Proof concerning their Office but we cannot receive Judaism for Christianity neither their Practice for Apostolical Ordinances in the Church of Christ. The Priests and the Levites being separated for the Work of the Lord in the Tabernacle and Temple ministred according to the command and ordinances of the first Covenant which were only Figures of things to come and Shadows of things that were but to continue until the time of Reformation and then they all had an End both the Priesthood and the Levites and their Service and Office and Maintenance and Tythes ended as the Apostle saith to the Hebrews The Priesthood is changed and the Law is changed by which they received these Tythes for the Work aforesaid but to descend and to come unto the primitive time we shall see whether Tythes were paid or no to Gospel-Ministers in the second Covenant In the Fulness of time God raised up another Priest Christ Jesus who was not of the Tribe of Levi nor consecrated after the Order of Aaron so he pertained to another Tribe of which no man gave Attendance to the Altar he obtained a more excellent Ministry and of a greater and a more perfect Tabernacle not of the former Building he being the Sum and Substance of all the Figures under the first Covenant he put an End to the first Priesthood with all its Shadows and carnal Ordinances and changing the Priesthood which had a Command to take Tythes of their Brethren there was made of Necessity also a Change of the Law and a disannulling of the Commandment going before Christ Jesus when he had finished his Office upon Earth by fulfilling all Righteousness he offered up himself through the eternal Spirit a Sacrifice unto God without Spot the Apostles and Ministers who were made Partakers of the Divine Nature and of the Word of Reconciliation did not look back to the former Ordinances of the first Priesthood but testified an End was put to them and witnessed against the Temple wherein the Priests ministred Paul and likewise Stephen were stoned and against Circumcision saying It was not that of the Flesh and against all the outward Ordinances of that Covenant and called them Carnal and preached up Christ Jesus and his Doctrine the new and living Way which was not manifest while the first Tabernacle was standing they preached freely the Everlasting Gospel and did not desire or require setled Maintenance but were ministred to only by them who had believed their Report and were turned to Christ Jesus and were made Partakers of spiritual things though they often denyed that which was given unto them here was no Tythes spoken on either to the Jews or Gentiles who believed At Jerusalem and thereabouts such was the Love and Unity of Heart among the Saints in the Apostles Time that all things were in common and none wanted so likewise the Church gathered by Mark at Alexandria in Egypt followed the same Practice and the Church at Jerusalem and Philo Judeus saith in many other Provinces the Christians lived together in Societies In the Church of Antioch Galatia and Corinth the Saints possessed every man his own Estate where the Apostle ordained that a weekly Offering should be made of the Saints that every one might offer freely of that which God had blessed him with which was put into the Hands of the Deacon of the Churches whereby the poor was relieâ—ed and other necessary Services were supplyed In the next Age monthly Offerings were made not exacted but freely given as appears plainly by Tertullian Apologet chap. 29. where he upbraids the Gentiles with the Piety and Charity of the Christians he saith Whatsoever we have in the Treasury of our Churches it is not raised by Taxation as though we put Men to ransom their Religion but every Man once a Moneth or when he pleaseth himself gives what he thinks good for no Man is compelled but left free to his own Discretion and it is not bestowed in Vanity but relieving the poor and for Maintenance of poor Children destitute of Parents and aged People and such as are cast into Prisons for professing the Christian Faith and that this Way of Contribution continued till the great Persecution under Maximinian and Dioclesian about the Year 304. as Eusebius witnesseth â—nd so dâ—th Tertullian Origen Cyprian and others Also about this time some Land was given to the Church by them that believed the revenue thereof was distributed as other free Gifts were by the Deacons and Elders to the poor for the fore-mentioned Uses but the Bishops or Ministers medled not with them Origen saith It is not lawful for any Minister to possess Lands given to the Church to his own Use. Cyprian Bishop of Carthage about the Year 250. testifieth the same and sheweth how the Church maintaineth
denyes the veracity of his word or the immutability of the most high yet notwithstanding I cannot set up the changeable Priesthood and Covenant and the Ordinances belonging thereunto against the unchangeable and everlasting Priesthood and Covenant and as hath been said before as though that all the precepts therein were so unalterable as that of necessity they must needs continue as obligatory to Generations I might truss up together many Scriptures and thwack them one on the Back of another which belong to the Jews and the first Covenant most properly till the Seed Christ was revealed and offered up and I might bring in Scripture to prove that many things were commanded by the immutable God and by him who is uncapable of alteration and multiply many words as A. S. doth to little purpose and say what was written in the old Testament was by the Inspiration of God and that his precepts are no more alterable then the Laws of the Medes and Persians and therefore they must needs still be observed by all Christians to the World's end or else conclude they that do not are atheistical and deny God's veracity and make the Law of God void and what would all this in arguing prove nothing at all the Jews will confess as much and plead as hard as A. S. can who yet have not believed in him of whom the Prophets prophesied neither have received him who is the Substance of what Moses and the Prophets bore witness and in whom the Law is fulfilled and the Promises made good and confirmed with and in whom all the Shadows end and the vail done away and all the Worship precepts belonging thereunto who hath manifested and revealed the Father in all that believe who is the new and living way whose Worship is not now in the Letter nor in the Shadows nor Types nor in any outward Observations but in Spirit truth is he worshipped for he seeketh such to Worship him for the great Promise of reward was to as ever was to Swearing yet when they resisted him whom the Father had sent all their observances though never so strict did not avail but their Circumcision became Uncircumcision and their Worship and service became Prophaneness when they despised the substance by whom Grace and Truth came to all the Children of promise and we grant with A. S. that he came not to destroy the Law but to fulfil it and to end both Sin and Transgression and the Law which was added because of it and to bring in everlasting Righteousness and it to rule in the Hearts of all that believe and against such there is no Law and though Christ enjoyned the Disciples Mat 23. to observe what the Scribes and Pharisees bad them who sate in Moses's Chair and read the Law and performed those services in part commanded that was the time before he was offered up and the Ministration of that Covenant was not fully ended yet I hope A. S. with us will grant that they were not to heed them or to obey them in their vain traditions and false glosses and Interpretations and Evil manners which he cryed wo against Mat. 23.13 14. neither after his Resurrection did he enjoyn them to hear the Pharisees neither to observe the Legal Ordinances of the first Priesthood but they declared against them and their practice which continued in the Observation of those things which did not make perfect as pertaining to the Conscience Heb. 8.9 Heb. 9.9 and for all these Texts he alledges out of the Old Testament Mat. 6.13 Psal. 63.11 Jer. 12.16 unto these it hath been answered that this proves nothing that Christians under the second Covenant should Swear as they did in the first for these Precepts were only to keep them from Idolatry for Jer. 12.16 If you will diligently learn the wayes of my People to Swear by my Name the Lord liveth as they taught my People to Swear by Baal then shall they be Builded in the midst of the People And the 6th of Deut. 13.14 is to the same Effect You shall fear the Lord and serve him and Swear by my Name And Verse the 14. Ye shall not go after other Gods All these only prove that the Nations went after other Gods and Sware by them and served them and Israel too prone to follow their manners did so also and therefore he gave them these Precepts to serve him and fear him and acknowledge him to keep them from Idolatry as hath been said in the state of their Minority and weakness and that before the Seed was revealed and that which A. S. calls a Prophecy by Isa. 19.18 of Christians Swearing under the Gospel it 's no such thing but a Prophesie of Egypt his joyning to the Jews and owning their Worship and their God and acknowledge him and do Sacrifice and Oblation yea and vow a vow unto the Lord and perform it ver 21. Which clearly hath relation to the Law and the Worship of the Jews and not to the Gospel so that A. S. might have as well said it was a promise how Christians under the Gospel should offer Sacrifice and Oblations as under the Law as well as Swear But the Doctor hath traversed many Paths which are crooked winding and turning to gather something together and hath fetched it far to prove Swearing under the Gospel but all his proof falls short of his matter by much And that of Isaiah 5.23 is a Prophecy of Israel's return out of the Captivity of Babylon in the days of Cyrus whom the Lord called his Anointed and shepherd Isa. 44.28.45 who made a Decree for all Israel to go out of Assyria to Jerusalem and build their City and their Temple and Worship their God according as he had commanded as may be seen at large in the Book of Ezra and Nehemiah and this was fulfilled then when they builded the City and the Temple in those days long before Christ was manifest in the Flesh and then did Israel return and every Knee did bow and every Tongue did Swear by the Lord which before the Captivity had not bowed nor served nor acknowledged his Name but Idols which provoked the Lord and therefore gave he them into the hand of the Babylonians for seventy Years till they were humbled and then brought them back according to Jeremiah Isaiah Haggai and Zachariah's Prophesies for this was fulfilled then is spoken by Isaiah in this Prophesie Isaiah 5. ver 23 24 25. without contradiction to Christ's command and his command entrencheth not upon this prophesie neither doth this make the Gospel thwart the Law beyond all terms of Reconciliation as A. S. vainly suggests in his margent for this Prophesie was fulfilled long before Christ gave forth this command Swear not at all Moreover if this prophesie have any relation to the state of the Christian Church as A. S. supposes upon what Ground I know not saving his own affirmation then we shall consider and see how it is fulfilled under the
by Tradition in their ovvn Wills God abhors that And thou bringest in the Old Covenant vvhich vvas given to a particular People the Jews but novv the Priesthood is changed and the Lavv is changed and as for thy Lavv vvhich thou vvouldst have the Governours of this Nation to make for suppressing of Sects and Schismaticks that vvorship at Dan and Bethel and thou sayest this is charged upon them But thou mightst have told them who they had been and where Dan and Bethel is lest they be mistaken as thou art that callest Darkness Light and Light Darkness But all that thou art troubled at is this that the Light of Christ in the Conscience should have Liberty and here thou art he which is born after the Flesh and art that Egyptian thou speakest of which persecutes the Righteous Seed It is true there are Sects and Schisms too many and Opinions they stand all in one Ground and thou and they come out of one Land Babylon is the Land of your Nativity in the Light you are seen that thou and they are turned from the Light of Christ and so are gone into Sects and Opinions and Imaginations and all the Powers without in the World cannot suppress the Root from whence these flow none can overcome the Root from whence Heresies and Opinions come And therefore vain Shepherd and blind cease thy Divining those that thou would'st have supprest are those that break Bread from House to House and meet together in the Name of the Lord as the Saints ever did and this thou callest Dan and Bethel because they will not come to an Idols Temple where all the deceived in the Nation worship an Unknown God I say unto thee thy Steeple-house thy Idols Temple which God never commanded where all Lyars Fighters Swearers Night-Birds and Scriech-Owls meet and call it the House of God and where they speak nought but the Imaginations of their own Hearts and call them the Ordinances of God and it the Church that is Dan and Bethel And as for the Magistrates which thou tellest they ought to suppress the false Prophets thou mightest have declared who they had been But for the honest-hearted Magistracy and People I shall declare a little when they came in and who they are Christ sayes Many False Prophets shall arise and Paul Peter John and the rest they saw them come already then many Anti-christ's and Deceivers and then they came in as the Scriptures witness and they have deceived the Nations since and Christ saith By their Fruits you shall know them and they are such as he cryed Wo against which laid heavy Burdens upon the People and such as were got into Moses 's Seat and were called of Men Master stood praying in the Assemblies and had the chiefest Place in the Synagogue and Peter saith They followed after covetous Practices and Jude saith They went after the Error of Balaam for Gifts and Rewards and Isaiah saith They sought for their Gain from their Quarter and Ezekiel saith They were such as fed of the Fat and Zachary saith They were as Evening Wolves and Paul saith They were covetous Men heady high-minded and Lovers of Pleasure and fierce Despisers of those that are good and had a Form of Godliness and they were Witches that turned them back to Circumcision and false Prophets when the Substance was come And are they not so now who sue for Tythes maintain the first Priesthood and bewitch People and deny Christ come in the Flesh Now let all judge where these are many in the North taking away the Peoples Cows their Pots Kettles and Bedding and one Priest sued one for Two Pence and two in York-shire sued one for One Penny and another for a Penny Half-penny and these are they that call themselves the Ministers of the Gospel shame shame blush howl ye Caterpillars the Hand of the Lord is against you and yet I would not have their Lives taken away as thou would'st have theirs that thou callest Sectaries but to that in thy Conscience I speak which will let thee see that thou hast a busie Mind and abidest not in the Doctrine of Christ but art among the false Prophets And thou and the rest of them which are Merchants and trade with other Mens Words which must have your Gospel and Worship defended with Swords and Staves and the Power of the Earth you are they that spread Nets at Mispeh and Tabor for it 's neither in Jerusalem nor this Mount but they that worship the Father worship in Spirit and Truth And thou that would'st confine God to a Place to a Day to a Time and have him bound by a Law and how the Saints should worship him thou art carnal and thy Petition carnal and all who have any Honesty in them or Light will see thee to be in the Generation of the Pharisees that said They had a Law and by that Law he ought to dye And whereas thou art comparing thy self and the Priests of Newcastle and Durham to Sarah the Mistress and them who oppose you to Hagar Answ. Sarah never brought forth Sons of Bondage as you are but you are truly Hagar the Egyptian who genders unto Bondage for you and all the Children that ever you have begotten or brought forth are in Bondage till now and the Lord hath raised up a People out of the Dust to confound you and your Wisdom and to declare against your Profession in laying heavy Burdens upon the People and taking their Money for that which is not Bread and be ye all ashamed ye high Oakes ye fat Bulls ye Diviners that cannot maintain your Gospel with all your Parts and Wisdom that you boast of against those contemptible Things in your Eyes but you must run to a carnal Sword or to a Justice of Peace or Constable to preserve you or to have them imprisoned Stocks and Mockings and Reproaches this is all we have or expect from the Powers of the Earth because we speak the Truth Be ye ashamed and lay your Hands upon your Mouthes what Gospel is this they have preached what Worship is this you give unto God that must be defended with Clubs and Staves Stocks and Whips Stoning and haling before Magistrates and yet thou would'st have them accounted Ministers of the Gospel they who were Ministers of the Gospel their Weapons were not Carnal but Spiritual and they were Mighty through God but the Mightiness of this Generation lyes in the Magistrates Sword to defend them and drive the People to pay them money for nought And therefore let all Magistrates consider in this Nation and else-where that you be warned how you make any Laws against the Innocent and how you uphold those that Christ cryed VVo against and such as the Lord sent his Prophets to declare against lest that come upon them which the Prophet spoke that they that help and them that are helped shall fall together And whereas thou further flatterest them and tellest them That they are
Communion which is but carnal and earthly you have none of you the form one of you is for eating before Supper another after Supper another for as much Bread and Wine as you can eat and drink and so your God is your Belly and you mind earthly things and instead of remembring of Christ's Death you crucifie him afresh one with lust another with envy another with Pride and so instead of coming to the Table of the Lord you feed at the Table of Devils and nourish the flesh deceit and uncleanness and as Jannes and Jambres resisted Moses by making likenesses so do you resist the Spirit of the Lord because it comes not according to your carnal Will nor your vain Conceptions and so deceit leads you all and the Cross of Christ you know not and those things you have formerly declared against you now take up some pretend sending out to preach and take Tythes others crying out against them in Words and yet uphold them and pay to the Priests whom you say are not Ministers of Christ and so waste the Lord's goods to uphold deceit and betray the Just in your selves and not one of you will suffer for that you judge your Principle and now you begin to creep into the Idols Temples and worship there and seek to the Powers of the Earth to uphold you and one of you preaching up Free-will another down another an Election of Persons and yet you never knew true Faith which is without Respect of Persons another Company of you dreamiâ—g of personal Reign in your carnal Imaginations and judge just such a God and a Christ as your selves that you may live in Pride and Lust and filthy and earthly-mindedness and Envy and yet talk of reigning with him but of being baptized into his Death you know nothing nor suffering with him you know nothing of nor of bearing his Reproach daily nor of suffering the spoiling of all and denying all for him this you are Strangers to you that tell of exercising your Gifts you have no Gift but acquired by long raking in the Letter and the Exercise of your carnal Wit and Knowledge in Contention and Strife you have treasured up a great deal of Stuff in the earthly Memory and this you call a Gift of the Spirit and such an one you make a Pastor or an Apostle of and he begets into his Image but still in the Curse and makes Proselites in the same Likeness leads into Sorts and Opinions from the true Gift of God for who hath a Gift it exercises him first and then he declares unto others of those things which the Gift of God hath wrought in him and he that knows the Gift of God is led out of his own Way Will and Time into his Will from whence it comes and here is the Ministry Christ alwayes blessed not in their own Wills but in his Will and this wrought a real Change in People from Satan's Power unto God's Power and so in all your Separation self shines in all you have not the Form much less the Power Another Sort tell of a Power to come and of a greater Glory to be revealed and a more glorious Ministry then hath been yet yet your Eyes are without and the Glory you look at is in great Words and your Expectation will fail for you neglect the present Measure of Christ's Gift that leads to Repentance and that you are got above and this is too low a thing for you you judge because you heard of this and talked of it therefore you are past this but I shâ—ll say unto you all Adulterers and Adulteresses come down from off your Mountain of Exaltation exalted above the Door and the Cross and you that are here are Thieves and Robbers your Minds are without feeding upon the Tree of Knowledge and imitating the best of you in your fallen Wisdom and your Foundation is upon Report as the Vagabâ—nd Jews were in the Name of Jesus that Paul preached they would cast out unclean Spirits and they were Sorcerers and what are you now who only preach of Christ that Paul and Peter and John in the Name of that Jesus they declared of and his Righteousness they spoke of but know not his Name in you nor his Power nor his Righteousness but in Tradition Imitation and conforming in the earthly Will here is all your Worship all of you calling the Letter the Light the Word the Gospel nay some of you so impudent as to call it Spirit and Life And so now you are made manifest and seen and your God and Worship and all your Profession is tryed by the Light is seen comprehended weighed and judged with the Light and all this will be too narrow to cover you in the Day of the Lord which is coming as a Thief upon all the World who make mention of the Name of the Lord but not in Righteousness And therefore strip you make you bare be uncovered cast off your ragged Covers whiâ—h will rust and wax old and mind the first Principle the Light that shews you Evil and own it to lead you and guide you out of Sin or else I testifie unto you you shall dye in your Sins and Wrath Eternal will be your Portion except you repent and cease from your vain Thoughts and Words and wait to see the Law of God revealed in your Hearts that may shew you Sin and condemn this Nature in the Transgression and do it away and slay you and quicken another thing which is dead in Trespasses and in Sins and while you sin the Image of God is dead and Christ suffers So while you have Time prize it To all you who put out the Eye through long and accustoming unto Sin who are near utter Darkness ANd you mingled People of Babylon and Egypt who are in Darkness and love to be so who are blind and love to be so who wallow in your Iniquity and love to be so who live at Ease in the Flesh in Pleasures and Wantonness you are dead while you live you have taken up your Rest in the Earth you are inlarging your Barns you are cieling your Houses and you are building with hewed Stone and Cedars and are laying House to House and Land to Land and are making your selves great in the World and seeking a Name among men you are swallowed up of the Earth and you go upon your Bellies you feed upon Dust Wo unto you that are here you have your Consolation here you lay up your Bags where Thieves break in and steal your Garments are moth-eaten your Gold is rusty and your Silver is cankered and there is your God which you worship which you have set up and worship in your Heart And when you have over-reached your Brethren and cheated and oppressed and defrauded your Brethren and are grown rich then you say God hath given you all this whenas you have stolen it and got it in Usury and Oppression and Deceit and when you have it
this Nature he offered and was not accepted for he was in the Imitation out of the Life out of the Power in Feignedness and this was self and not the Lord that moved him The Jews in the Prophets Time who were in Cain's Nature in Envy and Maliciousness grinding the Faces of the poor and oppressing the needy and chopping them in Pieces as Flesh for the Pot they brought Sacrifices Oblations Burnt-Offerings kept Fasts Sabbaths and New Moons and all these Things and lyed swore and dealt falsly and left no room for the poor and yet they said the Lord was among them the Lord sent his Servant the Prophet to tell them the Lord was weary of them and of their Oblations why they were out of the Faith out of the Life out of the Power and Deceit lodged in their Hearts Covetousness Envy Murder Oppression and Violence as ravening Wolves hunting for their Prey the Prophets prophesied for hire their Priests bear Rule by their Means and people were one with it and liked it and loved it should be so the End of those things was Misery the Judgment of God came upon them they were scattered among their enemies their prophets slain and for their sake Sion became as a plowed Corn-field and Jerusalem a Heap and now he that offered an Ox was no more accepted then if he slew a man no more then if he blessed Chemosh Ashteroth or Baal all was Sin and to be condemned by the power out of which they were gone The Scribes and Pharisees in Christ's Time great Worshippers devout Men devout Women zealous Men for Temple Priests Tythes Dayes Sabbaths Oblations and were acting all those Things that were commanded in or about the Worship of God yet Christ said unto his Disciples Except your Righteousness exceed the Righteousness of the Scribes and Pharisees ye cannot enter the Kingdom of God they might have said which at least they did in their Hearts this Man sayes he is the Son of God and yet saith and teacheth his Disciples another Righteousness then is commanded in the Law and moreover tells them Except their Righteousness exceedours they cannot enter into God's Kingdom where is there in all the Earth any better Righteousness then ours we do not as the Heathen worship Idol-gods we keep the Sabbaths and purifie our selves and pay Tythes and keep the Ordinances given by the Lord to Moses and our Fathers well these Things they were doing but they were but dead Works they were out of the Faith out of the Power and had not God's Word abiding in their Hearts from which their Power and Ability should have come to have answered the will of God here was self-righteousness although they did the outward things which were commanded of the Lord yet they were dead works their Temple left desolate worship desolate Jerusalem compassed about with Armies not one Stone left upon another which was not to be thrown down they scattered among the Heathen their Priests slain and their Oblations ceased Plagues and Judgments pursuing whithersoever they went did all those things save them from wrath all their works dead worships and self-righteousness save them were they accepted oh nay rejected a Seed of Falshood a crooked Generation an hypocritical Generation these things with many more which I could instance all shewing that Man in the Transgression of the Life of the Power whether he sinned or wrought that which he might judge was righteous yet they were but dead works Obâ—ect But some may say What sayest thou to their Generation of Ministers Preachers and Ordinances we live in a Gospel-time and are under Gospel-Ordinances and they teach that Man is redeemed by Christ from Sins past present and to come and the Ordinances that we practise now I hope you will not call them dead Works Answ. I say the Ministry in these Nations made by man's will and by the will of the Flesh and that are seeking their Gain from their Quarter and are suing Men at Law and throwing Men in Dungeons and Holes to the Loss of some mens Lives already and hundreds have been and are like to be spoiled only to uphold their greedy devouring Nature who have ravened and devoured like evening wolves some mens Estates wholly and sometimes taken ten fold the Value who raven from place to place from one end of the Land to another and into other Nations also for filthy Lucre or a greater Benefit I say they are in the Fall in the Transgression Death rules in them over them and they are Ministers of Death and never brought any to God but of them many other Brethren who are in the Faith of our Lord Jesus Christ have born a large Testimony which any considerate wise prudent and reasonable man may see them to be Ministers of Death demonstrated by many sound Grounds and unanswerable Arguments and the Scripture of Truth clearly bearing witness to the same and so I refer the Reader to those things and shall content my self at present in what I have said in this particular Now as to the Worship or Ordinances or Practices themselves I come unto and shall speak no otherwise of any thing then God by his eternal Light and Spirit hath made me understand in the true Ground of things else I know well how to be Silent Now this I say to all Sects Opinions and Fellowships though they be divided into many Heads or Societies man acting or performing any thing of worship Ordinance or any practice whatsoever which the Scripture declares hath been or ever was though they should do it in the same manner sutable in every Circumstance to that which others did till all or every man come to believe in the power again which man went from in the Transgression all that he doth is Self-righteousness and dead Works Preaching dead Prayer dead Baptism dead their Communion dead their Conferences dead their exhortations dead their Fasts dead their Offerings like as if one had offered a dead Beast under the Law or a Lame Lamb which had been abomination even so I say till man come to that which he hath lost in the Transgression till man find the Power the Life the Light the Messiah and feel him in them to Work move and lead guide and act all will be accounted with the Lord Self-righteousness dead Works dead Fruit and if all would examine and try they might see the Nations almost spread over with dead men in Adam and dead Works abound and coverings which God will Rent and lay all waste together false Rest imitated Forms and representations without Life I say till men come into the Power again that Adam went from and so died in that Day cannot do any thing well-pleasing to God and whosoever comes to that again passeth every step through Death and denyes himself and all Self-actions self-righteousness and must come to be bare and Naked again even as he was before he came out he and his wife were Naked and were not ashamed
the Whore hath decked her self with and Life it shall be known in the Body and God enjoyed worshipped glorified and honoured in that which shall never alter but abides forever and this shall be and is the last Ministration that ever shall appear among the Sons of men We who are come out of the Apostacy know what was before and see what shall be after the everlasting Gospel of the Son of God shall be Preached again to them that dwell on the Earth the same that was preached to Abraham before either old or new Testament was written the latâ—er all Sects since the Apostacy call the Gospel and so greatly manifest their Ignorance for that were to make two Gospels to call the Scriptures the Gospel or that which is written and they who so err in their Judgments are yet among the Smoke of the Pit and are yet under Anti-christ's reign and are ignorant of him who is the saving health of the Nations And he living Infallible true lasting and everlasting Spirit of the Father shall be poured out again and many now witness it and a numberless number shall witness it and the Time hastens And the Lamb shall stand upon Mount Sion and many who are redeemed from the Earth and from among men which shall be the first Fruits unto God and to the Lamb and they shall sit with him and shall Reign with him and have Power over Sin Temptation and the Devil Hell and the Lake and this is to come to pass and is coming to pass and hastens greatly and the Voice out of Heaven shall be heard as the Voice of many Waters and the Voice of Harpers harping with their Harps and the new song shall be sung the pure Song of the Lamb shall be sung by all who are redeemed from the Earth in every Nation Kindred Tongue and People who have heard believed and received the joyful Sound of the everlasting Gospel again and now they shall fear God and Glorifie him and Honour him even they who have feared the Beast and glorified him in the Apostacy they shall deny his Power and own the Lamb's Power and Worship him that sits upon the Throne of Righteousness who lives forever and ever and is eternal Life it self the worship shall be now in Spirit and Truth where the Dragon cannot come neither the Beast Harlot false Prophet nor Anti-christ nor none of his followers can come and herein the Ministration shall be more Glorious after the Apostacy then it was before the Worship stood before in many outward Visible things and Representations and outward Performances and Ordinances and I manifestly say the Dragon Beast Whore and false Prophets and Apostates took up these things and Nations and Kindreds and Tongues and People who drunk of the Whore's cup and all that were gone from their Maker their Husband they have been and are acting and performing Imitating like Jannes and Jambres but since the dayes of the Apostles they corrupted these things and have made Idols of them and Painted themselves with them and have got the Sheeps Cloathing Therefore now will the Lord appear and manifest his Power Life and Glory in a way more invisible and pure then before and more divine Caelestial and Glorious where never an Hypocrite shall tread in the Path and so the restoration is a Mystery that shall be after the Apostacy the Glory is not to appear in external things for there the Mother of Harlots hath hid her self long which hath made all Nations Drunk but the Cloathing of the Lamb's wife and of the Bride shall be another thing then the attire of the Harlot for the Spouse of the Lamb shall be arrayed in the same attire that the Lamb is cloathed withall and with the same Vestment and the Tabernacle of God is to be with men and he shall dwell in them even the Lord that Spirit and shall walk in them and they shall be his People and God himself shall be with them and in them and Sorrow shall be done away and Tears wiped away and that done away which was the cause of Sorrow Rev. 21.3 and 4. and there shall be no more Death nor crying nor any more Pain for the former things are passed away to wit Death which entred in by Sin it shall be destroyed and the Earth out of which the second Beast arose and the Sea out of which the first Beast did arise and upon which the Whore sate and Hell and the Lake which was prepared and raised up when man was degenerated from the Lord they shall be Destroyed and he also which hath the Power of Death which is the Devil he shall be destroyed and his Works the cause of scorn and then they shall see the Lord face to face even them that have but seen him darkly as in a Glass or as in a Cloud they shall see his pure living countenance which giveth Life and Death and Hell shall be cast in the Lake of Fire and whosoever is not found written in the Lamb's Book of Life must be cast into the Fire Then the new Heaven and Earth shall be seen and the heavenly City which shall come down from God out of Heaven which no mortal Eye shall behold neither shall be able to behold which hath twelve Foundations and twelve Gates and the Glory of God shall be upon her and her Light shall be as a Stone most precious and as clear as Crystal yea all things visible are too short and not to be compared to it for in it there need neither Sun nor Moon to shine in it for the glory of the Lord shall lighten it and the Lamb is the Light thereof and all who have been partakers of this Glorious Ministration shall walk in the Light of the Lamb there shall be no Night nor the least appearance of a Cloud or Darkness but transparent Brightness and Glory which shall be permanent durable and everlasting for the Lord God and the Lamb is the Temple of the City in which the Saints shall Worship him that sits upon the Throne for evermore and shall give unto him Glory and Honour and Dominion and eternal Praises for evermore who alone is worthy who lives forever in eternal Glory and everlasting Light and Brightness for evermore And his Face shall be seen in whom all Figures Representations and Shadows end in and the pure River of Water of Life which is as clear as Crystal which proceeds out of the Throne of God and of the Lamb and all who have kept the Word of his Patience shall drink thereof and be nourished up in Immortality and Life everlasting forever and the Tree of Life that stands in the Paradise of God them that have overcome shall eat thereof and live forever and the Nations Kindreds Tongues People and Regions who have heard believed and received the everlasting Gospel shall know his Saving Health and the Throne of God and of the Lamb shall be seen and his Servants shall serve him who
and this Spirit rules the most in those men who are so full of their Complements that begets one another into Pride and Deceit and provoke one another by their bad Example into deceit like Drunkards drinking one to another to make one another Drunk it 's like thou wilt call this civility too And if thou wilt plead it s the Custom of the Nation doffing Hats and Bowing The customs of the Heathen are vain and many in Israel who feared the Lord were not to walk after the Customs of the Nations for this Deceit was not from the beginning and who ever comes to be a follower of Christ who received no Honour of men neither respected Persons will deny this deceit Take him for thy example rather then a company of Fidlers and Roysters and Ruffins who are without the fear of God and Christ who is the Saints Example he said How can you believe that seek and receive Honour one of another So then they were Unbelievers who sought and received Honour one of another and wouldst thou and the rest who live in deceit bring the custom of Unbelievers and the practice of Unbelievers among the Saints who are believers and follow Christ their example I say we have no such Custom nor the Churches of Christ. The next piece of Deceit thou art pleading for is bowing to one another the Knee and Titles of Honour wherein the Devil hath a great hold among people Gen. 44.14 This thou bringst to prove Bowing Judah and his Brethren came to Joseph's House and they fell on the Ground This is an example indeed Wilt thou take another the same Brethren of Joseph sold him when he was a Boy was that a good act If thou sayst nay I say one is as much commanded and commended as the other for that same that doth Violence it 's the same that respects Persons but Abraham bowed to the Children of Heth what of that So did Joseph Swear by the Life of Pharaoh and both Joseph and Abraham were good men but they were never the better for these Actions neither the one nor the other But then thou brings a Scripture and thou saith it must stop our Mouthes Gen. 49.8.10 And thou saist this may Teach us if we be of Jacob's Seed and houshold To bow to the God of Jacob our King and why should this stop our Mouthes But the Scepter shall not depart from Judah nor a Law-giver from between his Feet till Shilo come So he was to Rule to wit Judah till Shilo came why should this stop our Mouths Shilo is come and hath opened our Mouths and the Scepter is departed from Judah long since both them that bowed to Judah and Judah that was once Bowed unto they are both Bowed under and Shilo is set above and now he must be bowed unto go learn what that means It was answered agaiâ—st Bowing the second Commandment prohibits it Thou shalt not bow down to them but the answer satisfies thee not Thou saist Doth thâ—s forbid civil respects or Idolatrous worship That which callst civil respects is Idolatrous worship putting off the Hat and bowing the Knee to a man with a gay Cloak or a Gold Ring or a company of Ribbons or a long Gown To bow down to such because of the Attire is respecting of Persons and Idolatry but you are fallen into a far worse state then respecting of Persons for you respect Cloaths and doff your Hats and bow your Knees to them with fine Rayment And let the man in vile Rayment or poor Attire go by without either Cap or Knee and for all thy civility thou so greatly pleadest for and courtesie if he put not off his Hat to thee it may be thou wilt call him Sirrah Rogue or Clown for all thy civility Again put on the Poor man good Attire and a fine Cloak and a gold Ring then you change your note and say If it please your Worship or liâ—e your Honour your humble Servant Sir Now here is not only respecting of Persons which is Commission of Sin but respecting the Creatures and Worshipping the array which is upon a man's back which is idolatry and not civility which is to be condemned Yet civility and courtesie I own which is so indeed and in Truth but that which the World calls civility and courtesie is Hypocrisie and Idolatry And for Salutation thou saist we seldom use and thou bringst Scripture to prove that Christ and the Saints saluted one another Their Salutations are owned and such Salutations are practised by us in uprightness of Heart and true Love without Feignedness but we cannot do as you do bid a man God-speed when he is not doing the work of God nor say Farewell to them who are in their Evil deeds nor as the Wâ—rld doth with thier Good-evens and Good-morrows and takes God's Name is Vain and if one do not answer them according to their Light Vain Mind they will fall a Rayling and Beating all such Spirits we deny and their Salutations In thy second Observation Thou saist Do not we prove that places of Christian Assemblies to be a Church and thou bringst many Scriptures to no purpose Thou bringst the first of Kings vers 8. and 1 Cor. 11. For the Glory of the Lord shall fill the House of the Lord. And thou answerest and saist not the Steeple-house but the Church There thou hast added to the Scripture and divers other Scriptures thou bringst wherein the Temple was called the House of God and the Store-houses were called the House of God Mal. 3.10 All which Scriptures I own but they are nothing to thy purpose that the Temple was called the House of God and the Tabernacle the House of God and the Store-houses the House of God this is granted These were made and builded according to the Command of God wherein the Lord's Treasure was which sed the Poor the Fatherless and the Widow and the Priests and Levites that Ministred unto him which Temple Priests Store-houses and Tythes were Figures and shadows of good things to come which when the good things did come the Figures ended But when did God command your Idols Temples to be built and what are they a Figure of That which thou shouldst have proved is that your Steeple-houses where you meet any where in Scripture are called the Church of God Thou and thy Master Smith art offended that we call the place you 〈◊〉 in a Steeple-house and say Take heed that no such Languaâ—e be spâ—kâ—n again as Steeple-house Why nâ—t Have not these Houses Steeples But we shall call it truly and properly as it is the Mass-house which hath the Crosses standing upon them yet or an Idol's Temple which was 〈◊〉 for the Idolatrous Worship and for the Idol Mass and other superstitiâ—â—â— Ceremonies your Windows full of Pictures your Walls full of Images and Monks faces and bear the Popish Names as St. Anthony St. Clemenâ— St. Dunstâ—ns and St. Patrick and St. Maryes and the like You blind
Doctrine and further say'st Charity though shooting at Random cannot miss the right Mark Answ. It is one thing what God accounteth true Honour it is another thing what R. I. counteth Honour True Honour is to obey the Commands of Superiours who rule in the Power of God and this the Quakers do submitting to all the just and equal Commands which are required of them that rule in the Power of God and this is not to blaspheme the Name of God and his Doctrine but this Fellow would have accused the Apostles as his Generation did who put them out of the Cities charging them to speak no more in the Name of Jesus and then when the Apostles return'd plead their Authority saying Did not we command you to speak no more in his Name and now you are disobedient blaspheming the Name of God and his Doctrine Is this Good Reasoning R. I. And Charity shoots not at random neither misses the Mark but it is pure and singles out its Obâ—ect to joyn unto and joyns not unto Deceit but this is R. I. his Charity to think well of them that are doing Evil and joyn to them who are doing the Devil's Work but this Man honours Charity as he doth the Scriptures he saith Charity shoots at random and the Scriptures are the true Cards as hereafter thou shalt see And saith R. I. F. H. labours to disgrace if not to deface our Churches he like a cunning Gamster knows how to alter the Course of true Cards the Scripture as R. I calls them Answ. Because F. H. would have them to take away their Crosses and Pictures and Images which were set up in the time of gross Idolâ—try this R. I. counts graces and adorns their Churches and so he is joyned to Idols I shall let him alone and the Reader may see how R. I. honours the Scriptures when in one Place he pleads for the same Titles to be given unto them which are given to God and saith No Man can dâ—shonour Christ by giving as honoura le Titles to the Scriptures as to God or Christ then by his own Argument he hath brought a great Dishonour to God and Christ and the Scripture by giving them so base a Title as the Name of Cards and so in going about to exalt his own Imaginations he hath vilified the Scriptures of Truth And saith R. I. To call Steeple-houses Churches is no Addition to the Scripture but a true Exposition thereof and what if there be some Reliques of Idolatry in our material Temples is there are some Reliques of Sin in our living Temples 〈◊〉 they therefore be called Idol-Temples Answ. The Temple in which the Jews worshipped was builded by the Command of God which all these Steeple houses cannot be compared unto which were invented and set up in the Apostacy since Men have departed from the Faith and ruined into Formalities and Idolatry when Christ was offered up the everlasting Offering them that did believe in Christ â—eparated from the Temple and the Gentiles who believed separated from their Idols Temples and they met together in Houses which we do not read of were filled with Pictures Images and Crosses and Steeple-houses were not then invented and the Council of Nice divers hundred Years after the Apostles decreed that Images and Crosses were to be placed in the Churches and also worshipped and there is the Original of those things which R.I. saith do grace and adorn their Church And if some of the reliques of Idolatry do abide in your Temples then it demonstrates that you are in the same Spirit they were that set them up And if your Temples take their Denomination from the People that meet therein as R. I. saith in page 32. then they may be truly called Popish Houses and Mass-houses from the People that meet therein and if the reliques of Sin abide in your living Temples and bear rule there then they that defile the Temple will God destroy for Holiness becomes the Habitation of his Hâ—use forever and 1 Kings 8.11 will be but a bad Proof for thee For the Glory of the Lord shall fill the House of the Lord for that is the Temple blind man which was commanded by God and the Glory of God did appear there but if this will not serve we must have another Proof Psal. 76.2 In Salem is his Tabernacle and his dwelling-place in Sion which may be understood allegorically of our Temple saith R. I. Doth the Glory of the Lord fill your Mass-houses you glory in Deceit and in Pride and your Glorying is not good and thy Allegory is false though his Tabernacle was in Salem and his Dwelling in Sion and his Presence in the Temple is yours the Temple or Salem or Sion or the Tabernacle if not for Shame pervert not the Scripture nor bring it to cover your idolatrous Practices which R. I. pleads for and saith Images Pictures and Crosses may be continued in some Places and it is like R.I. would count it Sacriledge to take them away he is far from the Exhortation of the Apostle Abstain from every Appearance of Evil and hate the Garment that is spotted with the Flesh. And R.I. saith I plead not for Baal nor for proud phantastick Spirits and yet a little while after saith that putting off Lace Ribbons and costly Apparel may be putting on of Pride Now who will believe this R.I. that he pleads not for Baal when he pleads for Pictures Crosses and Images for Cuffs Ribbonds Lace and costly Apparel Now Reader thou may'st observe by R.I. his Decorum how the Wheels go within And further R. I. saith It is utterly unlawful for any Christian whatsoever gifted or not gifted to preach the Word in the Name of the Lord before the Church publickly assembled unless they be ordained and set apart by the Church for such a Work Answ. this man is far from Moses's Spirit who wished that all the Lord's People were Prophets and would not forbid Eldad and Medad to prophesie in the Camp which was a publick Assembly and Israel then the Church of God and R. I. hath made too hasty a Conclusion who would prohibit all from speaking the Word of God if they wanted outward Ordination then Paul was a great Transgressor who consulted not with Flesh and Blood neither with any other of the Brethren nor went not up to Jerusalem for Orâ—ination but preached three years the Word of God and then afterward went up to Jerusalem and saw none except Peter and James and no Ordaination as we read of and afetrward went into Syrâ—a and Cilicia and furthermore saith he that was not known by Face to the Churches of Judea So who ordained him all this time for there were no Churches of the Gentiles but what he had planted then and so they could not ordain him Gal. 1.17 18 19 21 22. And who ordained Apollo but it may be that R. I. will say that Paul was ordained at Antioch Acts 12.2 but I would have R. I. to
not been spoken and preached bought and sold as a Gospel not only in the church of Rome but also among them that are separated from her even until now this hath been preacht to Nations Kindreds Tongues and People and if the writings be the everlasting Gospel then how doth John say or why did he so say that the everlasting Gospel should go forth again and be preacht again after the Apostacy or to bring out of the Apostacy But it clearly implies the Word had been preached and published and the temporary Writings which were given forth at divers times had been preached up for Gospel these many Hundred Years which many have received by tradition but the Power of God and the Gift of God by which and from which the Ministers of Christ in all Ages ministred hath been wanting if not altogether lost for the most part among them that are called Christians then what is the Quarrel betwixt you and the Romanists it is but in translation at the most and while words translations and Versions have been contented about the everlasting Gospel hath been hid therefore all People are upon heaps and the Nations like waters rowling up and down in Instability now the reformed Ministry so called are in many things in the same practice with the former You deny an immediate Call and set up an outward Ordinatiâ—n and a Form of laying on of Hands without the holy Ghost ordaining such and such who have some Skill in natural Tongues or some Words of Oratory to be a subject matter to make Ministers upon and that which they preach in Words which hath been long held in the Form without the Life you call the Gospel and these are confined to a Parish as the former to such a Cloyster and such a Monastery and these preach for hire and Gifts and Rewards and for Maintenance and kept up all the aforesaid Wayes and maintenance as lawful and will make People believe it is according to Gospel-Institution when alas it is but the Pope's Tythes Oblations Obventions Mortuaries and Prayers for the dead keeping up the Wages but deny the Work And Tythe of all things as Pigs and Geese Hens and Egs Apples and Cherries and Turnips and all nothing excepted this is a feeble thing as to hold out to People for Gospel-maâ—ntenance and the Preachers of the Gospel are ashamed of it Furthermore they that will not give it sue them at Law throw them into holes till they dye take away ten-fold that which is claimed say the man is not subject to Gospel order denieth Ministers Maintenance this hath been Crime enough to take away the Estates and Lives of Men all this is in the Apostacy And seeing it is said we are under a Gospel Administration and Ordinances what do you wiâ—h Organs Whistlers and Pipes in any part of your Services this pertained to the Jews and not to the primitive Church and what do you do with Surplices Tippets and Hoods and other strange kind of Garments it may be the high-Priest's Garments or the Priest's Linnen Ephod or linnen Breeches must be brought in for a Gospel-proof and for an Apostolick Ordinance and what do you with the Pope's Lent and why should the Pope's Lent be among the reformed Protestants churches forbidding Meats and Drinks and why forbidding Marriage in Lent and who ordained these Dayes what have they been borrowed from the Heathen or are they looked upon to be such Dayes as used to be cited in the Calender for the Dog-dayes which have been brought from the Heathen stand to this Day in too much credit among Believer so called And why is one Day preferred before and above another and some counted holy-Dayes as though some others were unholy-dayes and why such a Collect and such a Gospel and such a Chapter and such a Psalm mincing and cutting and severing the Scripture in Pieces and Shreds Is this like Apostolick Doctrine truly Friends many things we have to say if you had an Ear to hear and that upon good Ground we can speak that we look upon all these things to be feeble and poor and beggerly things and have no agreement or congruity with the primitive times And should People be limited or stinted to such a certain Form of words called Service or Prayer and divine Worship was that ever reckoned divine Worship that was not from the divine Spirit But it may be you will say the Words are good or some of them I am not speaking about Words but the Spirit from which every Service ought to be performed to the Lord God and the primitive Christians prayed in the Spirit and with Understanding and sung with the Spirit and with Understanding 1 Câ—r 14.15 And there were some that knew not what to pray for as they ought but the Spirit helped their Infirmities Rom. 8.26 But you know what to pray for and how much must be said on such a Day or such a time and if there be a Homily or a Sermon Letany must be missed Now I say if it be divine Worship or any thing wherein God is honoured and the People bettered nothing of it ought to be wanting But these things the primitive times do not countenance but when the power was lost and the Life gone from and the Spirit erred from these things have come into the latter dayes which have been very perillous times as to them who have kept the Apostolick Faith and in the Order of the Primitive Church Many more things we could instance which are practised as for Discipline and Order and some for Necessity which have no Affinity or union at all with the primitive Churches but rather are things which are too near of kin unto her that sits as a Queen upon the Waters whose Flesh must be burnt with Fire who hath drunk the Blood of the Saints and how many of the Lord's servants have suffered in and about these things not only in the Church of Rome but also by them which have been called reformed many have known and are living Witnesses thereof And all these Temples Bells Hour-glasses Pulpits and Cushions Altars Tables and Fonts which are things that pertain not to them that look they are come out of the Apostacy but the spiritual minded see over them and beyond them and before these things and also see through the Spirit of prophecy the time when they shall be no more adored worshipped and honoured but God shall be feared in the hearts of the Sons of men and Glory shall be given to him and he shall be worshipped in Spirit and in Truth as he was in the Primitive Times when the Beast and the false Prophet and they that wrought Miracles before him and all they that have cryed who is able to make War with the Beast and have cryed worship him all must be taken alive remember that alive in their Strength and cast into the Lake and the Mother of Harlots shall be made desolate her Cup of Fornication thrown
to magnifie the glorious commendation of Martyrs made a Statute that a yearly Oblation should be had in memorial of them and Gregory would that Mass should be said over their Tombs or Graves now Priests read the original of your service over the Graves of the dead and see if this be Apostolical The Fast of Wednesday and Fryday was appointed the one day Christ was crucified and on Wednesday Judas purposed in his Mind to betray him Gregory was he that ordained that neither Flesh Gregory appointed nor any thing that had affinity with it as Cheese Milk Butter Eggs should not be eaten on such days as were Fasts and here came in this Doctrine of Devils Soul-mass-day this was begun by Odilo that was Provost or Provincial of Cluniacensis Order upon the Occasion he heard about Etna the burning Mountain of Sicily oftentimes great Lamentations and Cryings and Weepings were heard which he supposed to be the Weepings of evil Spirits that bewailed because the Souls of dead men were taken from them by the Petitions and Sacrifices of well-disposed Christians therefore he appointed his Covent to make a general Oblation for All-Souls the next Day after the Feast of All-Saints and this great Institution was ordained about the Year 1002. and so all whose Eyes God hath opened will see all this Heap of Invention hath been practisee since the Beast rose out of the Sea and the Whore hath sate upon the Waters which is since the Apostles Dayes CHAP. X. Concerning Priests Vestures and Belâ—s which are practised among Christians as Apostolick Institutions THE Jews high Priests had Vestments and the rest of the Priests who offered Sacrifices and Oblations at the Temple and Tabernacle Lev. â— 6 7 8 9. 13. And Aaron the Priest had a Coat girded with a Girdle and clothed him with a Robe and put a linnen Ephod upon him and put a Breast-plate upon him and a Mitre upon his Head and Aaron's Sons had Coats with Girdles and Bonnets as was commanded by the Lord and in chap. 16.4 and he put on a linnen Coat and linnen Breeches with a Coat and Mitre and girded it with a Linnen Girdle and these were the holy Garments and these Garments were to be put off in the Holy Place and divers other Garments and Vestments which were worn by the Priest about the Temple-Worship and Sacrifice which were Shadows of better things and of more holy Garments but this was in the first Covenant that made nothing perfect which was faulty and was to continue until the time of Reformation But Christ being come and offered up all Shadows had an End and they preached up the everlasting Offering and him who offered up himself once for all Now Christ sent out his Disciples without great Provision as to Attire for they were to take neither Staff nor Sâ—rip nor Shoes nor Money nor Brass in their Purses and yet they were to go among them that were like Wolves renting and tearing devouring and destroying and there was no great Likelihood of obtaining any earthly thing from such while in that Nature but the Apostles liâ—ed by Faith Mat. 10.9 10. and Luke 10.3 4. and they were not to take two Coats and the Apostle in his Travails was often in Necessities in Hunger and Cold and Nakedness and did not go in costly Array nor in disguised Habits but in his old Age wore sometimes a Cloak among the Churches which he sent for to Troas an ordinary Garment 2 Cor. 4 8 9 10. 6.4 to ver 11. 2 Tim. 4.13 and John the Baptist who was a great Prophet had a Coat made of Hair and a leathern Girdle about his Lyons Mat. 2.3 and the primitive Christians wandered up and down in Sheep-Skins and Goat-skins being destitute of whom the World was not worthy Heb. 11.37 38. But after the Apostles Decease deceitful Workers and evil Beasts and they that abode not in the Doctrine and Ordinances of Christ went out into the World and the World went after them and so lost both Power and Form of Godliness and invented things some from the Heathen and much from the Priests under the Law Sextus the first commanded that the Corporis should be of linnen Cloath only and that of the finest and purest and forbad that Lay-men should handle the hallowed Vessels and namely Women were prohibited hallowing the Priests Vestures and Altars and Cloathes Diversity of Vestures of sundry Orders were much what taken from the Example of the Hebrew Priesthood was practised and ordained by Stephen Bishop of Rome and Sabinianus decreed first that the People should be assembled together to hear Service at certain hours by ringing of Bells and John the 22d Bishop of Rome ordained that Bells should be tolled every day three times and that then every man should say three times Ave-Mary as Polidore saith Lib. 6. The Invention of Bells was from Imitation of the Hebrews because the high Priest had in the Skirts of his uppermost Garments little Bells to ring when he was in the holy Place within the Vail And the Banners and Trophies which are hung up in Churches were taken from the Heathen which did bear them to signifie the conquest of their Enemies these have been set up in the Churches so called by some of the Bishops of Rome to declare as they said the Triumph of Christ over Death and Hell Now all Nations who are called Christians look to your original and from whence these Practices have risen and those things are continued even amongst the Protestant Churches are either from the Jews or from the Heathen or from the apostatized Bishop of Rome long after the days of the Apostles and so these Hoods and Surplices and Caps and Bonnets and Cowls and Tippets and Miters and Canonnical-Coats and Girdles and divers strange attires it is like to prove these things we must have Aaron's Breeches brought in and the linnen Ephod and his Son's Girdles and Coats and Bonnets and the high Priest's Mitre and all these Candlesticks for a Gospel-proof CHAP. X. Concerning Mattens and â—inging of Pâ—alms by course in musical Tunes and Supplications and short Prayers called Letany THE Jews under the Law had many Officers which belonged to the Temple-Worship among which were Singers as the Sons of Corah and the Sons of Asâ—ph and Eâ—rahites and the chief Musicians c. and divers Psalms were given forth by the Spirit of God by David and others upon several occasions sometimes after Victories and sometimes when he felt the Presence of God and the working of his Power and who were Eye-witnesses of his wondrous Works as the rest of Israel were many times as at the Dedication of the Temple and also when they came out of captivity Neh. 7.44 12.27.42 43. Psal. 149.3 150.3 4. and all these singers of Songs pertain to the Temple and the first Covenant and to that Priesthood which could not continue by reason of the Faultiness thereof Heb. 8.7
helpers in the Work of the Gospel and all that were ordained were ordained by the holy Ghost although it is true they had the consent of the Brethren and the church in that thing and there were also Deacons ordained which served to look to the Widows and for the Ministration of the poor and these were faithful men and had also a Gift Stephen was one full of the holy Ghost and these were helps unto the Apostles also there were some faithful Widows who were Examples to the younger Women and to instruct them and to be Patterns unto them and were as a Body knit together in Love and served the Lord and strengthned one another in the Faith and served one another in Love and all these forementioned served the Lord freely and willingly and not for Rewards and Gifts and Benefices and earthly things â—n short this was the State and Glory of the church in that time and these are the Minâ—sters we read of in the primitive times But since the Apostacy hath entred in and the power of Godlinesâ— hath been denyed there is such a numberless number of Names crept in we never heard of them and so many Offices and yet none of that Work done which the ministers of Christ did but certain new invented things â—rought in for Worship and Service and the Power despised and men seeking Offices and great Titles and great Benefits and great Revenues and the Heritage of God is laid waste and the Earth become like a Wilderness unplanted with good and the Sheep and scattered And so all may compare these ensuing Names and Offices with the Apostles dayes and the primitive Church and see if they be alike First of all the Pope his Holiness Christ's Vicar Universal Bishop Metropolitane Bishop Lord Cardinals which were but Priests at the first ordained to baptize the Heathen who came to Rome when the Seat thereof began to be had in Honour but now they are swelled big and become Princes and the only Men to govern States also Monks of divers Orders and Fryars of divers Orders Hierom's order of Austin's Order Gregory's order Carmalite Fryars Cross or Crouchet Fryars of Dominiâ—â—s order of St. Francis's order Bennet's order and all of these orders sprâ—â—g up and were ordained in the midnight of darkness within this four hundred Years at the most as were easily proved and Trinity order and Brigandine order of Jesuites and Hermits and Anthony's order and Clunisencies order and Nuns sprung up first of one St. Clara one order then Brigidia a widow to the time of Urban the fifth in the Year 1370. And all these kind of orders were destitute of the true order of the primitive Church and their Service was appointed by them that ordained them and these practised the patched Inventions that were given them for Worship which have not concord with the primitive Doctrine but borrowed from the Jews or Heathen all these kind of Offices and Officers have been acting their parts this many years and have led People into superstitious Blindness and further from the Lord then ever But to come to the reformed Churches so called and there is so many Officers and Names but few that do accord with the Apostles times either in Name or Nature as Metropolitan-Bishops Arch-Bishops Lord-Bishops we heard not of Lord Timothy or Lord Titus Bishops before mentioned but to come on to other orders Arch-Deacons Deans and Chapters Preâ—enâ—â— and these must attend on some old superstitious Buildings call'd Cathedrals or Minsters and there perform a Service somewhat like the former and these are enjoyned their Service like the Levites and Priests of old by turns and course as once in a moneth or two it may be and have a hundred or two hundred pounds in the year for the same and hardly stir from thence till they dye except some greater advance offer it self also Commâ—ssaries Procters and Apparetors and these are subsâ—rvient to the former then Chancellors Vice-chancellors Doctors of Divinity Batâ—hellâ—rs of Divintty Doctors of Art Masters of Art Batchellors of Art Graduates Under-Graduates and these belong to the former then Prelates Parsins Vicars Priests Curates and Church-Wardens all which Titles and Names and Officers if they be but compared with the Scripture there will be hardly any parallel either concerning Office Work or Doctrine And notwithstanding all these Orders and Sorts who are fitted by humane Learning or natural Study though divers years exercised therein are not skilled in the Word of Righteousness neither have the Tongue of the learned to administer a Word in Season to the weary nor to turn the Sinner from his Sins and thus the Form of things Titles and Names are holden up but who seek after the Power of God or to be made able Ministers of the Spirit Litteral Ministers enough while maintenance lasts but the Ministâ—â—tion of the Spirit few are acquainted with and if there be any such it is well if he be not persecuted so in that which I have said the understanding will see that there hath been a great Apostacy since the Apostles dâ—yes in the Ministry in Doctrine in Worship and Practice divers of which I have touched upon to the Intent that they that enquire after the Lord may depart out of the midst of Ignorance and come to worship Gâ—d in Spirit and Truth and in the Temple made without hands and be joyned to the Church which is in God which the Gates of Hell prevail not against though many will claim Authority from the Apostles few will own their Life neither walk after their Example so take but a few more Institutions which are called Apostolick to this Day among them called Christian Churches Cletus the third Bishop of Rome was the first that wrote this Title that is Greeting and Apostolick blessing he ordained the order of Priesthood Everastus the fifth Bishop of Rome ordained that Priests should be honoured and that they should be shaven Alexander the sixth Bishop of Rome ordained that Matrimony should be only solemnized and that the married should be blessed with the Priest there was the beginning of being married by Priests Sixtus about the year 114. after Christ the seventh Bishop of Rome ordained holy water and ordered that it should be strowed abroad in christian Houses and when the People met to worship Telesphorus the eight Bishop of Rome ordained that the communion should be laid upon an Altar and that lay-People should not touch the holy Vessels nor the holy Garments of the Priests he ordained Lent which was to be kept by the Clergy in the year one hundred forty two Higinus the nineth Bishop ordained the Communion to be celebrated three times at Christmas and that Lent should be fasted Pius about the year 147. after Christ the tenth Bishop ordained that chrisme should be ministred as baptism and that children should have God-fathers and God-mothers here was the beginning of this great Ordinance and he ordained that Easter-day should be kept on
thresheth in Hope should be made Partaker of his Hope Ver. 13. And do you not know that they who minister holy things live of the things of the Temple and they that wait at the Altar are Partakers with the Altar even so hath the Lord ordained that they who preach the Gospel should live of the Gospel Upon these Scriptures as upon the former Inferences have been made to prove their lawful receiving of Popish Tythes and forced Maintenance The Apostle having travailed and laboured in the Gospel of Christ among the Corinthians afterwards wrote unto them exhorting them to Stedfastness in the Faith and also reproving the Disorders that were amongst them which were crept in iâ— hiâ— Absence whiâ—h were sown by them of the Circumcision who boasted themselves against Paul and led away the Hearts of the Corinthians from him as much as in them lay into the Liberty of the Flesh and looked upon Paul as in Bondage whereunto the Apostle useth Plainness of Speech and tells them that doubâ—less he was as an Apostle to them and magnifies his Office and declares also his Power which he had received from Christ as he told them Ver. 4. have not we Power to eat and to drink and I and Barnabas have not we Power to forbear working doubtless yes it was the same that Christ gave unto his Disciples when he sent them forth with them that are worthy to stay and to eat and drink what was set before them and doubtless they had Power to forbear labouring with their Hands but they would not alwayes use it lest they should seem burthensome but laboured rather to make the Gospel of Christ without Charge so this which is alledged as out of the Law for the Equality of it as the Ox not to be muzled when he tred out the Corn and a Husbandman ploughs in Hope to receive a Crop and the Thresher thresheth in Hope to get out the Corn even so he that ministreth in Word and Doctrine in the Faith and Hope is also made Partaker of his Hope and goeth not to War of his own Charge but Christ maketh Provision for them and opens the Hearts of People to contribute freely in the Work of the Lord and for his Service And seeing the Corinthians allowed this Power unto others who sowed Dissension among them the Apostle urgeth it that he much more had Power though he had not used it And further like as they that ministred at the Temple who were Partakers of the Altar as God had appointed them likewise now they that preach the Gospel live of the Gospel as God hath ordained it But that Clause Ver. 14. Even so hath been miserably strained by this last Generation of Teachers as though they that preached the Gospel should live of Tythes even as they viz. the Levâ—tes that ministred at the Altar did live of the Offerings and Tythes that pertained to the Altar but there is no Necessity to understand the Words Even so as thereby to infer that they who preach the Gospel should live of Tythes but as the Levites lived of Offerings and Tythes that ministred at the Altar in their Day even so they that minister the Gospel should live of the Gospel in their Day and be content with Christ's Allowance and as the Apostle saith else-where having Food and Rayment to be therewith content for to live of the Gospel is not to live of Jewish Tythes nor Popish Tythes nor forced Maintenance for this is contrary to the Practice of the Ministers of the Gospel for we never read of any Commandment given for Payment of Tythes under the Gospel neither Exhortation to any neither Reprehension of any for not paying in all the Writings of the Apostles so that we conclude there is none due neither ought to be received by any Minister of the Gospel but People being generally taught that the Scripture is the Foundation of Faith and Practice of Christians the Teachers of the last Age they know that People will expect to have some Ground or Scripture for Proof of their Arguments or Pleas and they having not what they could desire bring such as they can get miserably turning and twining perverting and straining these and the like Scriptures before-mentioned to blind People withal but the Day is manifest that discovers all the crooked Pathes Windings and Turnings of the old Serpent and Ministers of Unrighteousness and Wages of Unrighteousness But another seeming Hold is 2 Cor. 11.8 I robbed other Churches taking Wages of them to do you Service Answ. Here the Apostle shews how he had behaved himself amongst them though he had Power to eat and to drink and to forbear Labour and to receive of them to wit the Corinthians those things needful yet he had not done so for Reasons given before-mentioned and in divers other Places though he saith whilest he was present with them that he wanted as in ver 9. and had preached the Gospel freely unto them ver 7. and did not use his Power as aforesaid but received something from the Brethren of Macedonia which was freely given and ministred by them amongst whom he had ministred before and he made Use of this even while he was in the Corinthians Work and this he took being offered freely by the Macedonians that he might preach the Gospel freely among the Corinthians and this he reckoned as Wages and as taking from others that he might serve the Corinthians and that he might keep himself clear and not be burthensome but this was ingratefully done of the Corinthians seeing it was that which they freely allowed unto them that had deceived them to wit false Apostles but what doth all this prove for Tythes and forced Maintenance even nothing at all but on the contrary proves receiving freely that which was given freely by them unto whom he had preached freely and the Ingratitude also of the Corinthians But being willing to answer all the Pleas and Arguments that ever I heard and all the Scriptures in the New Testament so called which have been brought in for a Plea by the Ministry of this last Age that their Cover may be rent and their Vail done away and the Feebleness of their Arguments shewed forth that People may see they are without Foundation or any grounded Bottom for thâ—se challenged Tythes and forced Maintenance and that all may see we do not suffer Imprisonment and spoiling of our Goods wilfully or ignorantly but for our abiding in the Doctrine of Christ and keeping stedfast to the Ordinances and Order of the Gospel in the purest times of the Publication thereof but take one other Scripture which they alledge and I have done which is Heb. 7.8 And here men that dye do receive Tythes but there he receiveth them of whom it is witnessed that he liveth Answ. Unto which I answer because this is written in the New-Testament so called which they ignorantly call the Gospel therefore because this Word here is mentioned in the Scripture they have
God's Creation when all was blessed and at Peace and in Unity and Harmony one with another when Man was the Image of God and you through the rich Mercy and Love of God being called to believe in the Hope and Promise of God and having waited and obtained Life through Jesus Christ whom the Father hath given for Life and the Covenant thereof and of Peace unto all that believe I say it being given unto you of the Father to believe and receive him whom the Father hath sent to restore again all even all receive the free Gift and close therewith according as the Father tenders him unto all believing and obeying his Voice they come to witness Restoration and to be delivered from Darkness and Death and every evil Way and Work into perfect Freedom in due time and to serve the living God in Righteousness and Holiness and to be made Partakers of his precious Promise and of the Kingdom Power and Glory of God that fades not away and of Life eternal and Peace and Joy in the holy Ghost now and forever and makes all his chosen Ones who believe in his Name Partakers of his piteous and long Suffering and of his heavenly and spiritual Blessings in Christ Jesus to whom be Glory forever and ever Amen I say because the Lord hath chosen you and hath wrought Change in you and brought you out of their Pathes whose Habitations are full of Cruelty all that are in Bondage hate you and your Freedom and your Life and Way and there can be no Reconciliation no Concord in the Ground for as it was of old time even so now since Cain slew his Brother so all the Children of the Flesh of the Bond-woman and of the World hated them that were born of the Spirit and were redeemed up unto God to live unto him and glorifie him forever by shewing forth by a holy Conversation that they were so called and chosen of God I hope the Consideration of these things and the Knowledge of them dwells with you and in your Hearts and you see you are joyned to a blessed Company and an holy Assembly who are gone before and are entred into Rest and have precious Fellowship with them who now remain alive unto this Day who have Fellowship with the Father and the Son and in all our Trials and Afflictions are afflicted with us although you have had Exercises above many and have walked through the Region and Shadow of Death inward and outward yet the Lord hath upholden you unto this Day that you may bear in Mind his great and dreadful and wonderful Works and fear before him land honour him and speak Good of his Name and worship him in the Beauty of Holiness which he hath led you into and glorifie him in his Temple comfort and strengthen one another in the Truth and let not the World neither the fading Glory of it overcome your Hearts but in the Dominion of God stand over the World and its Temptations lest you be entangled that you cannot run with Patience and follow the Lord in the Cross the Dayes of our Pilgrimage go on apace the time is short all outward Suffering will have an End and Wrath shall cease to be any more happy are they that continue in the Patience for this Moment of time we have to follow the Lamb here through the War and Tribulation Victory is at the End thereof in the mean time God by his holy Spirit gives daily Hints of his Love in the inward Man unto all stay'd Minds and Assurance of the Victory which makes me often overlook present Suffering and forget the Afflictions that are past and little to heed present things though they seem to frown because the Light of God's Countenance is lifted up and his Favour and Love and strengthning Power felt in the inward Man which ballances all and weighs down the Scale of present Trouble and Affliction so that hard things are become easie and ponderous things light look not out at Trouble and Hardship but rather admire the great Goodness of God that hath so much restrained the Wrath of Men which was great and hath made some of it to turn to his Glory he hath made void the Intention of the prudent and hath turned Counsel backward and hath frustrated the Expectation of the proud and lofty who took Counsel together even as of old against the Lord and his anointed yet for all this God hath established his Son on the holy Hill of Sion and his Saints reign with him sure you cannot but have taken notice of these things and of the Out-goings of the Lord and have considered his handy-Works and say with me the Lord hath created Deliverance upon Mount Sion and hath appeared to the Joy of the Righteous and his Enemies he is making as the Dust under his Feet and is scattering the Devices of the Sons of fallen Adam and making them as the Chaff of the Summer Floor which the Wind scattereth Friends what shall I'say unto you that I love you ye know that it 's no less neither diminuished to the faithful I now give you to know I often remember you upon my Bed and not only so but before the Lord whom I know hath a Regard unto the Supplications of the upright and their Prayers are as Incense and from whom he smells a sweet Savour and gives them to feel and know it in their Hearts so that they come unto him with Confidence having Access through Jesus our Life and Joy unto whom be Glory and Honour forever and ever Amen Dearly beloved what shall I say to comfort your Hearts and stir up your Minds to the Exercise of his Grace in you but the plenteous Harvest of the Lord is come wherein they that have sown to the Spirit and have walked in Obedience thereunto do reap the plenteous Fruits of Righteousness Peace Joy Assurance and pure and perfect Consolation so that all Cause of Complaint is taken away Glory to the Lord forevermore the Vintage is ripe the Press is full and many Fatts overflow because of Plenty and many are filled with the Fatness of God's House the new Wine is drunk that comes from the pure and living Vine Christ Jesus Clusters of heavenly Grapes are possessed better by far then them the Spies brought from Eshcoll which may animate all your Hearts and encrease your Faith and Hope and further this I say unto you God is ready to give bountifully unto all if you be ready to receive and meet to digest his heavenly Food and I am sure you cannot want any good thing neither will his Consolation be withhâ—lden from you but that which the Prophet Hosea prophesied concerning Israel and the Blessings that should come upon them The Lord shall hear the Heavens and they shall hear the Earth and the Earth shall hear the Corn and Wine and Oyl and they shall hear Israel the same you shall feel inwardly to the Satisfaction of all your Souls the