7.19 20 21 22 and had accordingly effected in process of time as appears in the Captivity by Zedekiah and in the Lamentations Chap. 2.6 7. He hath violently taken away his tabernacle as a garden he hath destroyed his palaces of the assembly the Lord hath caused the solemn feasts and sabbaths to be forgotten in Sion and despised in the indignation of his anger the king and the priests the Lord hath cast off his altar he hath abhorred his sanctuary he hath given up into the hand of the enemy the walls of her palaces they have made a noise in the house of the Lord as in the day of a solemn feast Notwithstanding which dealing of his towards them he caused them to return at the time appointed to build their walls and to restore their Worship according to the Word which he had spoken by his holy Prophets because as yet the full time was not come wherein the Entail was to be cut off from this people That which I would have observed in this Circumlocution is this Viz. First That although God had promised that his eyes and his heart should be upon that house which Solomon had built perpetually yet that time was a prefixt and limited time Secondly That before the time limited wherein there was to be a cessation of the Temple and Temple-Worship there was a Discontinuance as to the enjoyment and exercise of it which befel that people through their transgressions and sin insomuch that it may be said They sinned themselves into a difuse of their Mercy which befel them for a time during their Captivity till their restoration Thirdly That whereas it was by divine intendment that at the time appointed the daily sacrifice should cease the Temple-work and Worship should be at an end of which expiration God himself would be the author and procurer yet these people beforehand by their sins procured themselves a Separation Banishment and Captivity for the space of seventy yeers though then at the end thereof God graciously returned their Captivity So would I that it were considered touching the promise of our Lord Jesus to the Apostles or to the Christian Ministery Lo I am with you all the days unto the end of the world First That there is a time limited for the continuation of his presence with them as a Ministery at which time there is to be a cessation thereof as to a Ministery when the work for which the Ministery was given is fulfilled according to Eph. 4.11 12.13 14. and this according to divine purpose and fore-appointment of God Till we all come to the unity of the faith c. Secondly That it 's possible for the Successors of the Apostles in the work of their Ministery to make shipwrack of faith and a good conscience to prove false Teachers and privily to bring in damnable doctrines and through covetousness to make merchandice of men proving spots and blemishes sporting themselves with their own deceivings having eyes full of adultery that cannot cease from sin beguiling unstable souls exercised with covetous practices cursed children which have forsaken the right way and gone astray following the way of Balaam the son of Bosor who loved the wages of unrighteousness Nay all this the holy Apostles of our Lord did foretel should be as may particularly be instanced in the Epistles of Paul Peter Jude and this iniquity began to work in a Mystery before the Apostles left the earth and afterwards mightily prevailed as the History of time will evidence and most eminently that learned Discourse of Master Mede called The Apostacie of the last times and Clappam's Brief upon the Bible and became as that Scripture saith Isa 28.8 The priests and the prophets erred through strong drink they are swallowed up of wine they are out of the way through strong drink They erre in vision they stumble in judgement for all tables are full of vomit and filthiness there is no place clean And this will be found to have been the condition of the Ministery soon after the Apostles time and so forward ever since that pretended Vicar of Christ that false Vice-Christ hath as God set himself in the temple of God and hath sent forth his Angels Messengers or Apostles viz. Nuntio's Cardinals Legats and what not whereby he hath darkened the counsel of God by feigned and devised words and Ministeries From which we may expect to be delivered when the most High shall send his great Angel to enlighten the earth with his glory The fields being now grown almost white to the harvest the Lord of the harvest will in mercy to the ignorance of his poor people thrust forth labourers into the harvest Oh turn again our Captivity also as the rivers of the south who are fallen under a disuse of our mercy our first Ministery which our Lord ascending on high gave as gifts to men for the perfecting the number of the Saints and edifying the body of Christ which though discontinued because of our and our forefathers sins yet may be restored to us again when we are brought to see a want of them and can cry unto God for them Isai 30.18 19 20 The Lord is a God of judgement blessed are all they that wait for him And though the Lord give you the bread of adversity and the water of affliction yet shall not thy teachers be removed into a corner any more but thine eyes shall see thy teachers But whom shall he teach knowledge and whom shall he cause to understand doctrine Them that are weaned from the milk and drawn from the brests Isa 28.9 Therefore as in the former times there hath been a discontinuance of the true Ministery for a long season by reason of transgression yet may there be a glorious restoration thereof also in God's due time For as the Apostacie began at the Ministery both in the former and later times as is witnessed by the Apostle 2 Pet. 2 There were false prophets among the people even as there shall be false teachers among you who shall privily bring in damnable heresies even denying the Lord that bought them and bring upon themselves swift damnation And yet from the former the Lord in his good pleasure set his people of old free For these reasons why may it not also be hoped that in due time he will again return in mercy and visit the dark corners of the earth causing the people that sit in darkness and in the shadow of death to hear the joyful sound that they may walk in the light of his countenance The rather considering that the Ministery was given to continue till the number of the Saints were perfected Eph. 4.12 or as the former Translation renders it For the gathering together of the Saints Now if the number of the Saints be not perfected nor their gathering together compleated How is the end for which Christ ascended and for which he gave gifts to men accomplished if the work of the Ministery be not again restored unto
A SOBER WORD To A SERIOUS PEOPLE Or A MODERATE DISCOURSE RESPECTING As well The SEEKERS so called As The Present Churches Wherein the Difference between them touching Visible Administrations is Discovered and Discussed And may serve as A Plea for the Nations Ministery By a lover of Truth and Peace PSAL. 22.30 A seed shall serve him it shall be counted to the Lord for a generation 24. 6. This is the generation of them that seek him that seek thy face O Jacob. 14 7. Oh that the salvation of Israel were come out of Sion When the Lord bringeth back the capivity of his people Jacob shall rejoyce and Israel shall be glad London Printed by J. Cottrel for James Noell in Foster-line and are to be fold by Giles Calvert at the black Spread-Eagle neer the West-end of Pauls 1651. To the Reader COURTEOUS READER THou art here presented with a brief Discourse touching a Subject which hath not wherewith to commend it self and therefore subjects it self to thy Ingenuity and Candor in its perusal if it be thought by thee worthy thereof To invite or court thee thereunto would be very unbeseeming thee to whom it 's directed considering thee both sober and serious and to me it 's no less unsutable if thou knewest my Genius Thou art therfore left free either to entertain it or pass it by as thou pleasest and it 's as freely submitted to thy Censure But considering it's possible that some may bestow time upon it for their sakes I have been prevailed with to say a little by way of Preface touching the nature and end thereof both which when thou clearly understandest thou wilt with the less prejudice attempt the reading and examining of it when it shall be freed in thy judgement from such aspersions as some may rashly yet too plentifully bestow upon it Be thou therefore hereby assured that thou art not troubled with this Discourse out of any designe either to weaken thy present confidence which thou hast in God or to startle thee touching thy present Practice in things pertaining to God nor out of any Irreligious Atheistical or Self-ended interest to tempt thee to cast off all Ordinances of Worship and Service of God which thou at present art perswaded thou oughtst to be found exercised in but to give thee an account touching a Sort of people which some are pleased to call SEEKERS of whom several men in several books have spoken several things shewing the dangerousness of their Opinion and the dreadfulness of its tendency and under that term of Seekers comprehend all those which differ from themselves touching the present exercise of Visible Administrations How great their mistake hath been and is thou mayst finde herein the rectifying whereof is one End of this Work by laying down somewhat positively touching what they believe and practise and somewhat privatively touching such things as they see not ground to practise These are reduced and abridged under two Heads The Present Churches and Present Ministery and compared with the Primitive Patterns of each as they are laid down in the Scriptures and accordingly applied with some Considerations had touching certain Objections depending thereupon Under which general Heads thou hast the sum of what thou wilt here be troubled with and perhaps thou mayst judge it worthy thy trouble As touching the End to give thee some account as well what it is as what it is not be pleased to know that having observed many persons of an enquiring spirit unsatisfied with their present Practice as not seeing sufficient ground for it yet impatient and restless in their spirits have made out after this people so distinguished as before but finding them very inconsiderable both for quantity and quality and nothing extant which in any measure might be a stay to them by laying a ground for their dependance further waiting upon God have waxed weary and almost fainted in their minds and at the best have returned to that condition from whence at first they thought themselves happie they were escaped using such expressions as these Come let us go back to Egypt for Bread it 's better take it at the mouth of Ravens then starve Which expressions have been very sadly uttered by some mean while the God which had led them by the hand out of Egypt and brought them thorow the Red-sea cannot be trusted nor depended on nor waited for while they are in the wilderness These Considerations on their part have moved me to bethink me of my duty to my God and whether I were not obliged in thankfulness to him who had betrusted me with the knowledge of his pleasure in any measure touching this particular to impart it to others that they might also have the opportunity of considering what hath been a stay to my own spirit and perhaps may prove forcible to prevent from further straying such who are upon rhe like enquiry I have likewise observed how much it hath offended and grieved divers good persons who are themselves under the practice and exercise of such Administrations as this Discourse treats of because the SEEKER'S as they are called do not joyn issue in the practise thereof expressing this offence and trouble of theirs by writing and otherwise which I have great cause to hope will by this occasion be abated or at least moderated when they shall perceive that there is a reason to be rendered for that which they have judged unreasonable In the consideration of which I cannot but think it's possible that Thou Reader mayst finde thy self to have drunk too deep of the cup of my former and thy present Errour in that both thou and I have taken up our Practices upon other mens Principles or at least upon too easie too slight a search touching which if they were to begin again we should judge it necessary to put a pause and to make more diligent enquiry after the minde of God in the Scriptures To which some persons are reduced and that in mercy searching and seeking after those things now which long since they presumed they had attained To the exercise whereof thou art also invited viz. to prove thy own works that so thy rejoycing may be in thy self and not in another And if in examining this Work thou findest many things weak and amiss I shall not wonder at it I pretend not to Perfection Put thy Character upon them let them pass for dross and write them mine But if thou findest Gold I mean Truth that will abide the fire of trial say that 's God's 't is none of mine and let not that pass I expect thy Censure I shall hearken for it and I hope thy Reproofs shall be as welcome as the smiting of the righteous was to David Psal 141.5 and for ought thou knowest if thou sendest me back to the searching of the Scriptures which must be the Standard Rule of trial I may truly be enabled to say It shall be a kindness to me an excellent oil
to the Nations in their proper Language Therefore this Scripture rightly understood is not of force against what hath been said Object The Scriptures of the Apostles Object they may in a sence be called the Apostles And as the Apostle spake to the Corinthians If I be not an Apostle to others yet I am one to you so of their Writings If they be not Apostles to others to whom they are not come yet they are so to them to whom they are come Answ Ans Their Writings may be called Apostles in a figure as Isaiah was a Prophet to the Eunuch into whose hands his Prophecie came Act. 8.30 but as he needed one to guide him to understand that Prophet so do we stand in need of a guide to understand the Apostles in their writings And that God who was pleased to send his Messenger to the Eunuch to instruct him and to cause him to understand what he read may in his due time send out his Messengers againe in the Power and Spirit of the former to open to us not onely Moses but Christ and his Apostles whose writings we have but seen them as he who saw men walking like trees or as the Eunuch did the Prophecie of Isaiah before it was expounded If it were but in the heart of Gods People to mistrust their own understanding and but to see need to cry out to the Lord to restore the ancient Gospel and to send out those Messengers which are to Preach to the World his fear and worship according to Rev. 14.6 7 to discover Babylon and mightily to call out his People from thence and to lead to Sion it would not be long before some great thing might be accomplished But while we are apt to think we can do these things of our selves without any farther help no marvel that as yet deliverance comes not Oh if the Lord of the harvest must be sought to finde labourers and to thrust them forth and if he will be enquired of for this to do it why do the Lords remembrancers keep silence and give him any rest till he make Hierusalem a praise in the earth till he build up Sion and gather her stones out of the rubbish of Babylons confusions Object Object But whatever may be pretended for a necessity of a Ministery to the World yet Paul took care for the Ordinances and Ministery of the Churches when he gave Timothy instructions how to behave himself in the Church of the living God and gave him a command to commit that which he had taught him to faithful men who might be able to teach others also 2 Tim. 1.2 Answ Answ It is most certaine he did so and by this place and many others appeares the plentiful provision the Lord made for the Churches in point of Ordinances so far as concerned the rules and laws of Worship Act. 20. from Vers 17 to the 32. 1 Cor. 11.2 23. 1 Cor. 7.17 1 Cor. 14.37 2 Tim. 2.1 2 and almost thorowout those Epistles But though he were faithful in appointing the rules for Worship and giving Laws thereof and committing the same to Timothy and by him to faithful men that they should teach others also yet how treacherous they would in after-times prove to those Rules and Laws of Worship is likewise Prophesied of and foretold which should befal the Christian Churches Act. 20.29 30. 2 Tim. 4.3 4. 2 Pet. 2. Jud. 17.18 and this Apostacy was actually begun in the Apostles dayes 2 Thess 2.7 1 Joh. 2.18 1 Joh. 4.1 and in the dayes of the first Churches Rev. Chap. 2. and 3. which Apostacy was grown to be universal in Chap. 13. ult And how universal it was they that will take pains to compare the History of times may finde to their astonishment Object Object But suppose the Apostacy were every way such as hath been spoken May not the People of the Lord who are the Saints of the most High the Kings and Priests of God Rev. 1.6 Rev. 5.10 may not Believers now being Kings by Jesus Christ restore the Worship and set up the Ordinances of Christ as well as Josiah the King did who set up and repaired what the former evill Kings had broken down and destroyed 2 King 22. Answ The building the House Answ and appointing the Laws and Order of the House of God was by him committed First to Moses Exod. 39.32 42 43 who was Prince of the People the first Kingly Magistrate and he who received from the Lord the pattern of his House and the Laws thereof and he was a Type of Christ Next to him Joshuah renewed the Covenant of the Lord with the People at the Commandment of the Lord Josh 5. from the second verse to the ninth Josh 24.25 26 27. This Joshuah was a Type of Jesus and called by that name Act. 7.45 Heb. 4.8 When the Tabernacle ceased and the Temple came in the roome of it the Lord gave King David the pattern thereof and he to Solomon 1 Chron. 28. from verse 11 to 21 and they were both Types of Christ as Kings Now as to the King it was given to build at first and to appoint the Laws of the House at first so to the Kings was it appointed to repaire the breaches when any were The People of Israel were a Royal Priesthood Exod. 19.6 yet they might not meddle with the Priests Office Numb 16.9 10. They were a Kingly People an anointed Nation 1 Chron. 16.22 Psal 105.15 yet they did not all raign as Kings nor did the People set about the restoring or repairing what was amisse till such to whom it was by order appointed to be their head did set upon the work Neither in the Tabernacle without Moses nor in the Circumcision of those who were born in the wilderness without Joshua nor in the Temple without David or Solomon nor in the repairing the Temple without their Kings as Josiah Hezekiah c. nor in the coming out of Babylon without Zerubbabel Declaring plainly that to them to whom at first was given the power of building the House and appointing the Laws thereof to them did appertain the right of repairing the breach and restoring the Laws which were such persons as did type out the Lord Jesus who as at first he became the corner-stone of the building and did by his Messengers his Apostles and Ministers with whom he manifested his visible presence Matth. 28 19 20. Mark 16. ult Joh. 15. the last words of vers 5. lay the foundation and build the superstructure according to Eph. 2.20 Eph. 4.12 so to the same Lord Jesus Christ by his Ministery accompanied with his Power and Presence doth it of right belong to be the Repairer of the breaches which Antichrist hath made in the Christian Church and the Restorer of paths to walk in as of old was typed out in the Temple-state in the examples before alleadged Once the Lord Jesus taught the people by himself from the days of his
in the wilderness they were our Types 1 Cor. 10.11 In their Temple-state they were our Types and what God spake to them then was as typing out the state which was to come after 2 Cor. 6.16 In the state of their Captivity they were the types of the Captivity of the present Israel of God Jer. 50. Revel 11.8 Revel 18.2 4. Therefore what is recorded of them and what befel them according to the Divine wisdom of the most holy God is written for us and for our learning that we might fear with a holy fear Now it appears by the testimony of Divine Truth that there were some parts of Worship which the people were to perform to their God in the Temple at Jerusalem and not elsewhere Deut. 12.6 7 11 13 14. But there were some other parts of his Worship which they might perform to him when they were at the greatest distance from the Temple even in the Land of their Captivity When they were in their own Land they were to perform their Temple-work and Temple-worship at Jerusalem the place where God had chosen to put his Name But in case the Lord should deliver them into the hands of their enemies and they should be led captive into a strange Land inasmuch as they could not come to Jerusalem to worship before the Lord there yet if they did but remember the Lord in the land of their captivity and did humble themselves and pray unto him looking towards his house he would hear in heaven c. That the Lord 's Israel might be put past Temple-work and worship read 1 Kings 8.44 46 47 48 49 50 51. and yet in this their condition when they could not come to Jerusalem if they did but look towards it and repent and pray God would have mercy hear and forgive That these people were carried captive appears 2 Chron. 36.17 to the end of vers 21. Now the Sion of God became a plowed field Now the ways of Sion mourned none came to her solemn Assemblies and for their part they could not sing the songs of Jehovah in a strange Land Now the Lord had broken his two staves of Beauty and Bands Zech. 11.9 10 14. Now was Israel given up to the Robbers Isa 42.23 24 25. Quest Well Quest but what do these people do in the Land of their Captivity Answ They seek the Lord by Fasting and Prayer Answ looking towards his House they hang their Harps upon the willows and fall a mourning and weeping at the remembrance of Sion Read these Scriptures Psal 137. Dan. 9.2 3 4. Dan. 6.10 Zech. 7.3 5. Zech. 8.19 21 22. Ezra 8.23 Quest Quest But did the people ever pray together during the time of their Captivity Answ Answ Yea besides what other places of Scripture may hold out for the clearing of it without doubt it lies clear in the face of this Text Esth 4.3 16. Go gather together all the Jews which are in Shushan and fast ye for me If ever this were the case of this people and they were herein as well as in other things Types in respect of what was to come methinks we are taught to consider that which was afore-time written for our learning according to Rom. 15.4 Rom. 11. That in the Christian Church-state there is something so peculiar to it as that it may not elsewhere be administred as the power of Binding and Loosing in the Name of the Lord Jesus together with the Administration of such Ordinances as are peculiar to a Church wherein the Primitive Churches were exercised for their season contending earnestly for the faith once given to the Saints the woman wearing her Brides attire her goodly cloathing Revel 12.1 until the Dragon made war against her and put her to flight pursuing her with floods of water in which condition of hers she hath lien in the wilderness of the world in the rubbish and confusion of Babel among the pots unpolished growing up as a lily among thorns here one and there another like an Army routed like Sheep unfolded according to that Scripture I saw all Israel scattered upon the mountains like sheep having no shepherd 1 King 22.17 Oh that we could read with affection those passages Psal 80. and Psal 81. Oh how is the Sion of the Lord become a plowed field indeed How is the Vineyard of the Lord spoiled Once it was not so but at this day how do the poor people of the Lord rend and devour and tear and eat up one another what sharp and bitter words How great is the company of spear-men the mother eating up the children of a span long Could this be if the Veil were taken away and our Bondage removed What may be the reason Truth is so miscalled so mistaken one pretends to have it and another to have it Is it not because night is to us for a vision We say we see and we think we see but know not that we are as men that dream The Builders are at oddes among themselves and the stones in the building rise up one against another Can Christ be thus divided If that his true Ministery were on foot would not that rectifie that great Confusion which is among the Builders Would not a Trowel be a Trowel and Brick be Brick and Mortar be Mortar Would not the language of Truth be distinctly understood Would he suffer one of his own servants to throw down what another most dear to himself hath been a building up and a third to destroy the work of them both Oh how great is the desolation if we were but sensible of it and affected with it And when we think to mend our selves and to become Repairers of the breaches behold in stead of a girdle a rent in stead of well-set hair baldness This this is the condition of the Lord's people to them that see it and surely unless the Lord of hosts had left us a remnant we had been like Sodom But blessed be the Lord our Rock who hath given us the valley of Achor for a door of hope Hos 2.15 Ier. 31.16 17. Zeph. 3.8 9 17 18. Now the condition of the Lords Israel being thus routed thus scattered they ought to be afflicted deeply with this their desolation and scattering yet not to mourn as men without hope Jer. 31.15 16 17 but cry mightily unto the Lord and give him no rest Isa 62.1 6 7. Luk. 18.1 7 8. To beare one anothers burthens To inquire of the Lord and one of another the way to Sion Jer. 50.4 5 6. To inquire after the true Lord Jesus Cant. 6.1 Thus according to this order and pattern of a poor captivated people ought the scattered Israel of Jehovah to go mourning and weeping and seeking the Lord and not to go about to build and set up wayes by their own mistaken miscalled and misunderstood gifts But to wait upon the Lord lest it be to them in stead of a girdle a rent Isa 3.24 Quest Seeing God hath
this to be effected Object Answ By means of the preaching of those whom God in his holy and blessed time will send out for this work For Answ how shall they call on him of whom they have not heard as the natural Jews have not though their forefathers some of them did and for their disobedience were rejected And how shall they hear without a preacher and how shall they preach except they be sent As it is written How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of them which preach the Gospel Which passage of Scripture however it hath been applied to that publication of the Gospel which hath had its course among the Gentiles yet the Apostle here makes a special application thereof to the sending forth of that Ministery which is to accomplish this work forasmuch as that which is to accompany its administration is something which hath not as yet been performed and which hath a peculiar fulfilling in the Calling of the Jews as almost the whole Chapter from whence the Apostle fetcheth this passage will evince if the Scripture it self be examined Isai 52.7 Read vers 1 2 5 6 7 8 9 10. Well might the Apostle therefore say Isa 25.7 How can they hear without a preacher forasmuch as the time neither then was nor appears yet to be come wherein those Messengers that are appointed to bring them that glad tidings after their long Captivity in blindness and hardness under which they for a time were to continue to fulfil the Word of the Lord Rom. â—â— 2â— But when the full time is accomplished and that the Deliverer is come to Sion or out of Sion Oh then how beautiful upon the mountains will be the feet of the Apostles or Messengers to whom shall be revealed this Mystery which hath been so long hid but shall then be made manifest and by whom the glad tidings thereof shall be published among those who till this time have not heard thereof and consequently could not believe Not as if no man Jew or Gentile could hear of God and Christ and things of heaven so as to believe to salvation without a special sending of some person or persons to preach unto them as a Minister viz. an Apostle Prophet or Pastor but that it could not be expected that the Nation of the Jews who through their unbelief had been broken off that they should be restored again and become one sheepfold with the Gentiles through believing and the Mystery hereof be accomplished and revealed without a Preacher i. e. those Messengers whose feet were to be beautiful in publishing the glad tidings thereof and which should have its accomplishment in its season Secondly And that this may the more manifestly appear to relate to a special sending of such as hath been spoken of the phrase of speech used in the fifteenth Verse of the tenth Chapter to the Romanes may somewhat help to evince Where it may be observed that the two especial phrases of speech which import Authoritative Sending 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Preaching 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 are used both for the sending and preaching of those Messengers which are there mentioned by the Apostle whereas it will be found in the Scripture that in the days of the first Ministery when it was on foot in the world that Faith was not so tied to a Ministery or to one so especially sent as this Scripture holds forth sending in the terms of it as that the Faith could not be true where the Preaching and Sending was not such i. e. Authoritative To say nothing of Cornelius that devout Souldier and Captaine of the Italian band of whom the blessed Witness of Truth testifies That he feared God with all his house and gave alms to the people and prayed to God alwayes whose prayers and alms the Angel testifieth were come up for a memorial before God Now God heareth not sinners Joh. 9.31 And in the ninth of the Acts it 's noted of Paul after he had seen the Lord in the way in the eleventh vers Behold he prayeth which was an evidence of his conversion Yet this Cornelius did before any Ministery that we read of had made known the minde of the Lord unto him as afterward it did in the conclusion of that Chapter But I refer this to the exercise of a free minde to consider of Friendly and Christian communication There be other cases besides this of Cornelius which may give light to this thing The Faith of the Samaritans who believed upon the report of the woman communicating to them her experiences touching the Messiah owns it self to no such Ministery as the Objection imports and holds forth as the story will easily make appear when it is read Ioh. 4. the Lord Jesus having spoken to her heart and shewed her the corruption thereof in telling her she had had five husbands and he whom she now had was not her husband a thing which she knew very well already this extorts from her an acknowledgment that he was a Prophet Vers 18. but more begot more in conclusion she left the water-pot and went into the City and communicated her experience to the people thereof men and women Come see a man that told me all that ever I did Is not this the Christ The effect of which declaration of hers was such as it not onely if at all prevailed with the people of that City to come to him that by seeing him they might believe but to believe and so come to see as themselves testifie Verse 39 40 41 42. The Apostle mentions as another meanes of conversion A gratious Conversation 1 Cor. 7.16 A holy and chaste conversation compared with the first of Peter 3.1 For what knowest thou O Wife whether thou shalt save thy husband 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Convertes ad fidem Christianam It is the same word which is used in Matth. 1.21 Salvabit populum suum à peccatis eorum He shall save his people from their sinnes Which saving of the husband by the wife the Apostle Peter in 1 Pet. 3.1 2 appropriates instrumentally to her chaste conversation Likewise ye wives be in subjection to your own husbands that if any obey not the Word they also may without the Word be won by the conversation of the wives while they behold your chast conversation with feare I have observed touching the conversion of Paul Immediate Revelation that it was effected by immediate revelation Act. 9.6 11 compared with Gal. 1.12 16. Ephes 3.3 And though the Lord Jesus preacht unto him in the way yet he did it by himself without such instruments as at that time he had appointed and placed in the world for the working Faith and Conversion By all which it appeares that however it is our duty to attend to such means as God hath appointed when and where they way be injoyed yet himself is not bound so to work by them as that he cannot work besides them and without