such as their Converting of the Nations to the Christian Faith their gathering of the Churches their Writing of the Holy Scriptures yea and their Offering up and Sacrificing of their Lives for the Testimony of Jesus What may our Adversaries think of this Argument whereby it will follow that the Holy Scriptures whose perfection and excellency they seem so much to magnifie are proved to be impure and imperfect because they came through impure and imperfect Vessels It appears by the confessions of Protestants that the Fathers did frequently attribute unto works of this kind that Instrumental work which we have spoken of in Justification albeit some ignorant persons cry out it is Popery and also divers and that Famous Protestants do of themselves confess it Amandus Polanus in his Symphonia Catholica cap. 27. de remissione peccatorum pag. 651. places this These as the common opinion of Protestants most agreeable to the Doctrine of the Fathers We obtain the remission of sins by Repentance Confession Prayers and Tears proceeding from Faith but do not merit to speak properly and therefore we obtain remission of sins not by the merit of our Repentance and Prayers but by the mercy and goodness of God Innocentius Gentiletus a Lawyer of great same among Protestants in his examin of the Council of Trent pag. 66 67. of Justification having before spoken of Faith and Works adds these words But seeing the one cannot be without the other we call them both conjunctly instrumental causes Zanchius in his 5 book De Natura Dei saith We do not simply deny that good works are the cause of Salvation to wit the instrumental rather than the efficient cause which they call sine qua non And afterwards Good Works are the instrumental cause of the possession of Life Eternal for by these as by a means and a lawful way God leads unto the possession of Life Eternal G. Amesius saith that our obedience albeit it be not the principal and meritorius cause of Life Eternal is nevertheless a cause in some respect administring helping and advancing towards the possession of the life Also Richard Baxter in the book above cited pag. 155. saith that we are justified by works in the same kind of causality as by Faith to wit as being both causes sine qua non or conditions of the New Covenant on our part requisite to Justification And pag. 195. he saith It is needless to teach any Schollar who hath read the Writings of Papists how this Doctrine differs from them But lastly because it is fit here to say something of the merit and reward of works I shall add something in this place of our sense and belief concerning that matter we are far from thinking or believing that man merits any thing by his works from God all being of Free Grace and therefore do we and always have denyed that Popish notion of meritum excondigno nevertheless we cannot deny but that God out of his infinite goodness wherewith he hath loved mankind after he communicates to him his Holy Grace and Spirit doth according to his own will recompence and reward the good works of his Children and therefore this merit of congruity or reward in so far as the Scripture is plain and positive for it we may not deny neither wholly reject the word in so far as the Scripture makes use of it For the same Greek 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which signifies merit is also in those places where the Translators express it worth or worthy as Matth. 3.8 1 Thess. 2.12 2 Thess. 1.5 8. concerning which Richard Baxter saith in the above cited book pag. 8. But in a larger sense as promise is an Obligation and the thing promised is said to be debt so the performers of the conditions are called worthy and that which they perform Merit although properly all be of Grace and not of Debt Also those who are called the Fathers of the Church frequently used this word of merit whose sayings concerning this matter I think not needful to insert because it is not doubted but evident that many Protestants are not averse from this word in the sense that we use it The Apology for the Augustine Confession Art 20. hath these words We agree that works are truly meritorius not of remission of sins or Justification but they are meritorious of other rewards Corporal and Spiritual which are indeed as well in this Life as after this Life And further Seeing works are a certain fulfilling of the Law they are rightly said to be meritorious it is rightly said that a reward is due to them In the acts of the conference of Oldenburgh the Electoral Divines pag. 110 265. say In this sense our Churches also are not averse from the word merit used by the Fathers neither therefore do they defend the Popish Doctrine of merit G. Vossius in his Theological These concerning the merits of good works saith We have not adventured to condemn the word merit wholly as being that which both many of the Ancients use and also the reformed Churches have used in their confessions Now that God judgeth and accepteth men according to their works is beyond doubt to those that seriously will read and consider these Scriptures Matth. 17.26 Rom. 2.6 7 10. 2 Cor. 5.10 Ja. 1.25 Heb. 10.35 1 Pet. 1.17 Rev. 22.12 § XIII And to conclude this Theam let none be so bold as to mock God supposing themselves justified and accepted in the sight of God by vertue of Christ's Death and Sufferings while they remain unsanctified and unjustified in their own Hearts and polluted in their Sins lest their hope prove that of the Hypocrite which perisheth Neither let any foolishly imagine that they can by their own works or by the performance of any Ceremonies or Traditions or by the giving of Gold or Money or by afflicting their bodies in Will-worship and voluntary humility or foolishly striving to conform their way to the outward Letter of the Law flatter themselves that they merit before God or draw a debt upon him or that any man or men have Power to make such kind of things effectual to their Justification lest they be found foolish boasters and strangers to Christ and his Righteousness indeed But blessed for ever are they that having truly had a sense of their own unworthyness and sinfulness and having seen all their own endeavours and performances fruitless and vain and beheld their own emptyness and the vanity of their vain Hopes Faith and Confidence while they remained inwardly pricked pursued and condemned by God's Holy Witness in their Hearts and so having applyed themselves thereto and suffered his Grace to work in them are become changed and renewed in the Spirit of their minds past from death to Life and know Jesus arisen in them working both the will and the deed and so having put on the Lord Jesus Christ in effect are cloathed with him and partake of his Righteousness and Nature such
would affirm it never attainable then should there never be a place known by the Saints in this world wherein they might be free of doubting and despair Which as it is most absurd in it self so it is contrary to the manifest experience of thousands Thirdly God hath given to many of his Saints and children and is ready to give unto all a full and certain assurance that they are his and that no power shall be able to pluck them out of hand But this assurance would be no assurance if those who are so assured were not established and confirmed beyond all doubt and hesitation If so then surely there is no possibility for such to miss of that which God hath assured them of And that there is such assurance attainable in this life the Scripture abundantly declareth both in general and as to particular persons As first Rev. 3. v. 12. him that overcometh will I make a pillar in the temple of my God and he shall go no more out c. which containeth a general promise unto all Hence the Apostle speaks of some that are sealed 2 Cor. 1.22 Who hath also sealed us and given the earnest of his Spirit in our hearts Wherefore the Spirit so sealing is called the earnest or pledge of our inheritance Eph. 1.13 In whom ye were sealed by the holy Spirit of Promise And therefore the Apostle Paul not only in that of the Romans above nored declareth himself to have attained that condition but 2 Tim. 4.7 he affirmeth in these words I have fought a good fight c. which also many good men have and do witness And therefore as there can be nothing more manifest than that which the manifest experience of this time sheweth and therein is found agreeable to the experience of former times so we see there have been both of old and of late that have turned the Grace of God into wantonness that have faln from their faith and integrity thence we may safely conclude such a falling away possible We also see that some of old and of late have attained a certain assurance sometime before they departed that they should inherit eternal life and have accordingly dyed in that good hope Of and concerning whom the Spirit of God testified That they are saved Wherefore we also see that such a state is attainable in this life from which there is not a falling away For seeing the Spirit of God did so testifie it was not possible that they should perish concerning whom he who cannot lye thus bare witness The Tenth Proposition Concerning the Ministry As by this Light or Gift of God all true knowledge in things Spiritual is received and revealed so by the same as it is manifested and received in the heart by the strength and power thereof every true Minister of the Gospel is ordained prepared and supplyed in the work of the Ministry and by the leading moving and drawing hereof ought every Evangelist and Christian Pastor to be led and ordered in his labour and work of the Gospel both as to the place where as to the persons to whom and as to the time wherein he is to minister Moreover who have this authority may and ought to preach the Gospel though without hamane Commission or Literature as on the other hand who want the Authority of this Divine Gift however learned or authorized by the Commission of Men and Churches are to be esteemed but as deceivers and not true Ministers of the Gospel Also who have received this holy and unspotted Gift as they have freely received it so are they freely to give it without hire or bargaining far less to use it as a Trade to get Money by yet if God hath called any one from their Employments or Trades by which they acquire their Lively-hood it may be lawful for such according to the liberty which they feel given them in the Lord to receive such temporals to wit what may be needful for them for meat and clothing as are given them freely and cordially by those to whom they have communicated Spirituals § I. HItherto I have treated of those things which relate to the Christian Faith and Christians as they stand each in his private and particular condition and how and what way every man may be a Christian indeed and so abide Now I come in order to speak of those things that relate to Christians as they are stated in a joynt fellowship and Communion and come under a visible and outward society which society is called the Church of God and in Scripture compared to a body and therefore named the Body of Christ. As then in the natural body there be divers members all concurring to the common end of preserving and confirming the whole body so in this Spiritual and mystical Body there are also divers according to the different measures of Grace and of the Spirit diversly administred unto each member and from this diversity ariseth that distinction of persons in the visible Society of Christians as of Apostles Pastors Evangelists Ministers c. That which in this Proposition is proposed is What makes or constitutes any a Minister of the Church what his qualifications ought to be and how he ought to behave himself But because it may seem somewhat preposterous to speak of the distinct Offices of the Church until something be said concerning the Church in general though nothing positively be said of it in the Proposition yet as here implied I shall briefly premise something thereof and then proceed to the particular members of it § II. It is not in the least my design to meddle with those tedious and many controversies wherewith the Papists and Protestants do tear one another concerning this thing but only according to the Truth manifested to me and revealed in me by the testimony of the Spirit according to that proportion of wisdom given me briefly to hold forth as a necessary introduction both to this matter of the Ministry and of Worship which followeth those things which I together with my Brethren do believe concerning the Church The Church then according to the grammatical signification of the word as it is used in the Holy Scripture signifies an assembly or gathering of many into one place for the Substantive 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 comes from the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I call out of and originally from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I call and indeed as this is the grammatical sense of the word so also it is the real and proper signification of the thing the Church being no other thing but the society gathering or company of such as God hath called out of the World and worldly Spirit to walk in his LIGHT and LIFE The Church then so designed is to be considered as it comprehends all that are thus called and gathered truly by God both such as are yet in this inferiour World and such as having already laid down the earthy Tabernacle are passed into their
heavenly Mansions which together do make up the one Catholick Church concerning which there is so much controversie out of which Church we freely acknowledge there can be no Salvation because under this Church and its denomination are comprehended all and as many of whatsoever Nation Kindred Tongue or People they be though outwardly strangers and remote from those who profess Christ and Christianity in words and have the benefit of the Scriptures as become obedient to the holy Light and Testimony of God in their hearts so as to become sanctified by it and cleansed from the evils of their wayes For this is the Universal or Catholick Spirit by which many are called from all the four corners of the earth and shall sit down with Abraham Isaac and Jacob. By this the secret Life and Vertue of Jesus is conveyed into many that are afar off even as by the blood that runs into the Veins and Arteries of the Natural Body the Life is conveyed from the Head and Heart unto the extremest parts There may be members therefore of this Catholick Church both among Heathens Turks Jews and all the several sorts of Christians Men and Women of integrity and simplicity of Heart who though blinded in something in their understanding and perhaps burthened with the Superstitions and formality of the several Sects in which they are ingrossed yet being upright in their Hearts before the Lord chiefly aiming and labouring to be delivered from iniquity and loving to follow righteousness are by the secret touches of this Holy Light in their Souls inlivened and quickened thereby secretly united to God and there through become true members of this Catholick Church Now the Church in this respect hath been in being in all generations for God never wanted some such witnesses for him though many times slighted and not much observed by this World And therefore this Church though still in being hath been oftentimes as it were Invisible in that it hath not come under the observation of the men of this World being as saith the Scripture Jer. 3.14 One of a City and two of a Family And yet though the Church thus considered may be as it were hid from wicked men as not then gathered into a visible fellowship yea and not observed even by some that are members of it yet may there notwithstanding many belong to it as when Elias complained he was left alone 1 Kings 19.18 God answered unto him I have reserved to my self seven thousand men who have not bowed their knees to the Image of Baal whence the Apostle argues Rom. 11. the being of a remnant in his day § III. Secondly the Church is to be considered as it signifies a certain number of persons gathered by Gods Spirit and by the testimony of some of his servants raised up for that end unto the belief of the true Principles and Doctrines of the Christian Faith who through their hearts being united by the same love and their understanding informed in the same Truths gather meet and assemble together to wait upon God to worship him and to bear a joynt testimony for the Truth against Error suffering for the same and so becoming through this fellowship as one family and houshold in certain respects do each of them watch over teach instruct and care for one another according to their several measures and attainments Such were the Churches of the Primitive time gathered by the Apostles whereof we have divers mentioned in the Holy Scriptures And as to the visibility of the Church in this respect there hath been a great interruption since the Apostles days by reason of the apostasie as shall hereafter appear § IV. To be a member then of the Catholick Church there is need of the inward calling of God by his Light in their Heart and a being leavened into the nature and Spirit of it so as to forsake unrighteousness and be turned to righteousness and in the inwardness of the mind to be cut out of the wild-Olive-tree of our own first faln nature and ingrafted into Christ by his Word and Spirit in the heart And this may be done in those who are strangers to the History God not having pleased to make them partakers thereof as in the V. and VI. Propositions hath already been proved To be a member of a particular Church of Christ as this inward work is indispensibly necessary so is also the outward profession of and belief in Jesus Christ and those holy Truths delivered by his Spirit in the Scriptures seeing the testimony of the Spirit recorded in the Scriptures doth answer the testimony of the same Spirit in the heart even as face answereth face in a glass Hence it follows that the inward work of Holiness and forsaking iniquity is necessary in every respect to the being a member in the Church of Christ and that the outward profession is necessary to be a member of a particular gathered Church but not to the being a member of the Catholick Church yet it is absolutely necessary where God affords the opportunity of knowing it the outward testimony is to be believed where it is presented and revealed the summ whereof hath upon other occasions been already proved § V. But contrary hereunto the Devil that worketh and hath wrought in the mystery of iniquity hath taught his followers to affirm That no man however holy is a member of the Church of Christ without the outward profession and that he be initiated thereunto by some outward Ceremonies And again That men who have this outward Profession though inwardly unholy may be members of the true Church of Christ yea and ought to be so esteemed This is plainly to put Light for Darkness and Darkness for Light as if God had a greater regard to words than actions and were more pleased with vain professions than with real holiness But these things I have sufficiently refuted heretofore Only from hence let it be observed that upon this false and rotten foundation Antichrist hath builded his Babylonish Structure and the anti-Christian Church in the apostasie hath hereby reared her self up to that heighth and grandeur she hath attained so as to exalt herself above all that is called God and sit in the Temple of God as God For the particular Churches of Christ gathered in the Apostles dayes soon after beginning to decay as to the inward Life came to be over-grown with several Errors and the hearts of the professors of Christianity to be leavened with the old Spirit and conversation of the World Yet it pleased God for some Centuries to preserve that life in many whom he emboldened with zeal to stand and suffer for his Name through the ten Persecutions But these being over the meekness gentleness love long-suffering goodness and temperance of Christianity came to be lost For after that the Princes of the earth came to take upon them that Profession and that it ceased to be a reproach to be a Christian but rather became a means to
Rule in the original languages and thereby be the more capable to comment upon it and interpret it c. That also which made this knowledge be the more prized by the Primitive Protestants was indeed that dark Barbarity that was over the world in the centuries immediately preceeding the reformation the knowledge of the tongues being about that time until it was even then restored by Erasmus and some others almost lost and extinct And this barbarity was so much the more abominable that the whole worship and prayers of the people was in the Latine tongue and among that vast number of Priests Monks and Fryers scarce one of a thousand understood his breviary or that mass that he daily read and repeated The Scriptures being not only to the people but to the greater part of the Clergy even as to the literal knowledge of it as a sealed book I shall not at all discommend the zeal that the first Reformers had against this Babylonish darkness nor their pious endeavours to translate the Holy Scriptures but I do truly believe according to their knowledge that they did it candidly and therefore to answer the just desires of those that desire to read them and for other very good reasons as maintaining a commerce and understanding among divers nations by these common languages and other of that kind we judge it necessary and commendable there be publick Schools for the teaching and instructing youth as are inclinable thereunto in the languages And although that Papal ignorance deserved justly to be abhorred and abominated we see nevertheless that the true reformation consists not in that knowledge because although since that time the Papists stirred up through emulation of the Protestants have more applied themselves unto literature and it now more flourisheth in their Universities and Cloysters than before especially in the Ignatian or Jesuitick Sect they are as far now as ever from a true reformation and more obdured in their pernicious doctrines But all this will not make this a necessary qualification to a minister far less a more necessary qualification than the Grace of God and his Spirit because the Spirit and Grace of God can make up this want in the most rustick and ignorant But this knowledge can no ways make up the want of the Spirit in the most learned and eloquent For all that which man by his own industry learning and knowledge in the languagues can interpret of the Scriptures or find out is nothing without the Spirit he cannot be certain of it and may still miss of the sense of it but a poor man that knoweth not a letter when he heareth the Scriptures read by the same Spirit he can say this is true and by the same Spirit he can understand open and interpret it if need be yea he finding his condition to answer the condition and experience of the Saints of old knoweth and possesseth the Truths there delivered because they are sealed and witnessed in his own heart by the same Spirit And this we have plentiful experience of in many of those illiterate men whom God hath raised up to be ministers in his Church in this day so that some such by his Spirit have corrected some of the errors of the Translators as in the third Proposition concerning the Scriptures I before observed Yea I know my self a poor shoe-maker that cannot read a word who being assaulted with a false citation of Scripture from a publick Professor of Divinity before the Magistrate of a City when he had been taken preaching to some few that came to hear him I say I know such a one and he yet liveth who though the Professor who also is esteemed a learned man constantly asserted his saying to be a Scripture sentence yet affirmed not through any certain letter knowledge he had of it but from the most certain evidence of the Spirit in himself that the Professor lyed and that the Spirit of God never said any such thing as the other affirmed and the Bible being brought it was found as the poor shoe-maker had said § XX. The second part of their Literature is Logick and Philosophy an art so little needful to a true minister that if one that comes to be a true minister hath had it it is safest for him to forget and lose it for it is the root and ground of all contention and debate and the way to make a thing a great deal darker than clearer For under the pretence of regulating man's Reason into a certain order and rules that he may find out as they pretend the Truth it leads into such a labyrinth of contention as is far more fit to make a Sceptick than a Christian far less a minister of Christ yea it often hinders man from a clear understanding of things that his own Reason would give him and therefore through its manifold rules and divers inventions it often gives occasion for a man that hath little reason foolishly to speak much to no purpose Seeing a man that is not very wise may notwithstanding be a perfect Logician and then if ye would make a man a fool to purpose that is not very wise do but teach him Logick and Philosophy and whereas before he might have been fit for something he shall then be good for nothing but to speak non-sence for these notions will so swim in his head that they will make him extreamly busy about nothing The use that wise men and solid make of it is to see the emptiness thereof therefore saith one It is an art of contention and darkness by which all other sciences are rendered more obscure and harder to be understood If it be urged that thereby the Truth may be maintained and confirmed and Hereticks confuted I answer the Truth in men truly rational Answ. needeth not the help thereof and such as are obstinate this will not convince for by this they may learn twenty tricks and distinctions how to shut out the Truth and the Truth proceeding from an honest heart and spoken forth from the Vertue and Spirit of God will have more influence and take sooner and more effectually than by a thousand demonstrations of Logick as that Heathen Philosopher acknowledged who disputing with the Christian Bishops in the Council of Nice was so subtile that he could not be overcome by them but yet by a few words spoken by a simple old rustick was presently convinâ—ed by him and converted to the Christian Faith and being inquired how he came to yield to that ignorant Old Man and not to the Bishops he said that they contended with him in his own way and he could still give words for words but there came from the Old Man that vertue which he was not able to resist This secret vertue and power ought to be the Logick and Philosophy wherewith a true Christian minister ought to be furnished and for which they need not be beholden to Aristotle As to natural Logick by which rational
AN APOLOGY For the True CHRISTIAN Divinity As the same is held forth and preached by the People Called in Scorn QUAKERS Being a full Explanation and Vindication of their Principles and Doctrines by many Arguments deduced from Scripture and right Reason and the Testimony of famous Authors both ancient and modern with a full answer to the strongest objections usually made against them Presented to the KING Written and Published in Latine for the information of Strangers by ROBERT BARCLAY And now put into our own Language for the benefit of his Country-men Acts 24.14 After the way which they call heresie so Worship I the God of my Fathers believing all things which are written in the Law and the Prophets Tit. 2.11 12 13 14. For the Grace of God that bringeth Salvation hath appeared to all men Teaching us that denying ungodliness and wordly lusts we should live soberly righteously and godlily in this present World Looking for that blessed hope and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ. Who gave himself for us that he might redeem us from all Iniquity and purifie unto himself a peculiar people Zealous of good Works 1 Thes. 5.21 Prove all things hold fast that which is good Printed in the Year 1678. UNTO CHARLES II. KING OF Great Britain And the Dominions thereunto belonging ROBERT BARCLAY A Servant of JESUS CHRIST called of God to the Dispensation of the Gospel now again revealed and after a long and dark night of Apostacy commanded to be Preached to all Nations wisheth Health and Salvation AS the condition of Kings and Princes puts them in a station more obvious to the view and observation of the World than that of other men of whom as Cicero observes neither any word or action can be obscure so are those Kings during whose appearance upon the stage of this World it pleaseth the Great KING of Kings singularly to make known unto men the wonderful steps of his unsearchable Providence more signally observed and their lives and actions more diligently remarked and inquired into by posterity especially if those things be such as not only relate to the outward transactions of this World but also are signalized by the manifestation or revelation of the knowledg of God in matters Spiritual and Religious These are the things that rendred the lives of Cyrus Augustus Caesar and Constantine the Great in former times and of CHARLES the Fifth and some other modern Princes in these last Ages so considerable But among all these transactions which it hath pleased God to permit for the Glory of His Power and the manifestation of His Wisdom and Providence no Age furnisheth us with things so strange and marvellous whether with respect to matters Civil or Religious as these that have faln out within the compass of thy time who though thou be not yet arrived at the Fiftieth year of thy age hast yet been a witness of stranger things than many Ages before produced so that whether we respect those various troubles wherein thou foundst thy self engaged while scarce got out of thy Infancy the many different afflictions wherewith men of thy circumstances are often unacquainted the strange and unparallel'd fortune that befel thy Father thy own narrow escape and banishment following thereupon with the great improbability of thy ever returning at lest without very much pains and tedious combatings or finally the incapacity thou wert under to accomplish such a design considering the strength of those that had possessed themselves of thy Throne and the terror they had inflicted upon Foreign States and yet that after all this thou shouldst be restored without stroke of Sword the help or assistance of Foreign States or the contrivance and work of human policy All these do sufficiently declare that it is the Lord 's doing which as it is marvellous in our eyes so it will justly be a matter of wonder and astonishment to generations to come and may sufficiently serve if rightly observed to confute and confound that Atheism wherewith this Age doth so much abound As the vindication of the Liberty of Conscience which thy Father by giving way to the important clamours of the Clergy the answering and fulfilling of whose unrighteous wills has often proved hurtful and pernicious to Princes sought in some part to restrain was a great occasion of these troubles and revolutions so the pretence of Conscience was that which carried it on and brought it to that pitch it came to and though no doubt some that were engaged in that work designed good things at lest in the beginning albeit alwaies wrong in the manner they took to accomplish it viz. by carnal weapons yet so soon as they had tasted of the sweet of the possessions of them they had turned out they quickly began to do those things themselves for which they had accused others for their hands were found full of oppression and they hated the reproofs of instruction which is the way of life And they evilly entreated the Messengers of the Lord and caused to beat and imprison his Prophets and persecuted his people whom he had called and gathered out from among them whom he had made to beat their Swords into Plow-shares and their Spears into Pruning-hooks and not to learn carnal War any more but he raised them up and armed them with Spiritual weapons even with his own Spirit and Power whereby they testified in the Streets and High-waies and publick Markets and Synagogues against the Pride Vanity Lusts and Hypocrisie of that generation who were righteous in their own eyes though often cruelly entreated therefore and they faithfully prophesied and foretold them of their judgment and downfal which came upon them as by several warnings and Epistles delivered to Oliver and Richard Cromwell the Parliament and other then Powers yet upon Record doth appear And after it pleased God to restore thee what oppressions what banishments and evil entreatings they have met with by men pretending thy authority and cloaking their mischief with thy name is known to most men in this Island especially in England where there is scarce a Prison that hath not been filled with them nor a Judge before whom they have not been haled though they could never yet be found Guilty of any thing that might deserve that usage therefore the sense of their innocency did no doubt greatly contribute to move thee three years ago to cause some hundreds of them to be set at liberty for indeed their Sufferings are singular and obviously distinguishable from all the rest of such as live under thee in these two respects First In that among all the Plots contrived by others against thee since thy return into Britain there was never any owned of that people found or known to be guilty tho many of them have been taken and imprisoned upon such kind of jealousies but were alwaies found innocent and harmless as became the Followers of Christ not coveting after nor contending for the Kingdoms
it are answered § XIII The most usual is that these Revelations are uncertain But this bespeaketh much ignorance in the opposers for we distinguish betwixt the thesis and the hypothesis that is betwixt the proposition and supposition For it is one thing to affirm that the true and undoubted Revelation of God's Spirit is certain and infallible and another thing to affirm that this or that particular person or people is led infallibly by this Revelation in what they speak or write because they affirm themselves to be so led by the inward and immediate Revelation of the Spirit The first is only by us asserted the latter may be called in question The question is not who are or are not so led but whether all ought not or may not be so led Seeing then we have already proved that Christ hath promised his Spirit to lead his Children and that every one of them both ought and may be led by it If any depart from this certain Guide in deeds and yet in words pretend to be led by it into things that are not good it will not from thence follow that the true guidance of the Spirit is uncertain or ought not to be followed no more than it will follow that the Sun sheweth not light because a blind man or one who wilfully shuts his Eyes falls into a ditch at Noon day for want of Light or that no words are spoken because a deaf man hears them not or that a Garden full of fragrant Flowers has no sweet smell because he that has lost his smelling doth not savour it the fault then is in the Organ and not in the Object All these mistakes therefore are to be ascribed to the weakness or wickedness of men and not to that Holy Spirit Such as bend themselves most against this certain and infallible Testimony of the Spirit use commonly to alledge the example of the old Gnosticks and the late monstruous and mischievous actings of the Anabaptists of Munster all which toucheth us nothing at all neither weakens a whit our most true Doctrine Wherefore as a most sure Bullwark against such kind of assaults was subjoyned that other part of our Proposition thus Moreover these Divine and inward Revelations which we establish as absolutely necessary for the founding of the true Faith as they do not so neither can they at any time contradict the Scriptures Testimony or found Reason Besides the intrinsick and undoubted Truth of this assertion we can boldly affirm it from our certain and blessed Experience For this Spirit never deceived us never acted nor moved us to any thing that was amiss but is clear and manifest in its Revelations which are evidently discerned of us as we wait in that pure and undefiled Light of God that proper and fit Organ in which they are received Therefore if any reason after this manner That because some wicked ungodly devilish men have committed wicked actions and have yet more wickedly asserted that they were led into these things by the Spirit of God Therefore no man ought to lean to the Spirit of God or seek to be led by it I utterly deny the consequence of this Proposition which were it to be received as true then would all faith in God and hope of Salvation become uncertain and the Christian Religion be turned into meer Scepticism For after the same manner I might reason thus Because Eve was deceived by the lying of the Serpent Therefore she ought not to have trusted to the promise of God Because the old World was deluded by evil Spirits Therefore ought neither Noah nor Abraham nor Moses to have trusted the Spirit of the Lord. Because a lying Spirit spake through the four hundred Prophets that perswaded Achab to go up and fight at Ramoth Gilead Therefore the Testimony of the true Spirit of Micajah was uncertain and dangerous to be followed Because there were seducing Spirits crept into the Church of old Therefore it was not good or uncertain to follow the Anointing which taught all things and is Truth and no Lye Who dare say that this is a necessary consequence Moreover not only the Faith of the Saints and Church of God of old is hereby rendered uncertain but also the Faith of all sorts of Christians now is liable to the like hazard even of those who seek a foundation for their Faith elsewhere than from the Spirit For I shall prove by an inevitable argument ab incommodo i. e. from the inconveniency of it that if the Spirit be not to be followed upon that account and that men may not depend upon it as their Guide because some while pretending thereunto commit great evils that then nor Tradition nor the Scriptures nor Reason which the Papists Protestants and Socinians do respectively make the rule of their Faith are any whit more certain The Romanists reckon it an error to celebrate Easter any other ways than that Church doth This can only be decided by Tradition And yet the Greek Church which equally layeth claim to Tradition with her self doth it otherwise Yea so little effectual is Tradition to decide the case that Polycarpus the Disciple of John and Anicetus the Bishop of Rome who immediately succeeded them according to whose example both sides concluded the question ought to be decided could not agree Here of necessity one behoved to err and that following Tradition Would the Papists now judg we dealt fairly by them if we should thence aver that Tradition is not to be regarded Besides in a matter of far greater importance the same difficulty will occur to wit in the Primacy of the Bishop of Rome for many do affirm and that by Tradition that in the First Six Hundred Years the Roman Prelates never assumed the Title of Vniversal Shepherd nor were acknowledged as such And as that which altogether overturneth this presidency there are that alledg and that from Tradition also that Peter never saw Rome and that therefore the Bishop of Rome cannot be his Successor Would ye Romanists think this sound reasoning to say as ye do Many have been deceived and erred grievously in trusting to Tradition Therefore we ought to reject all Traditions yea even those by which we affirm the contrary and as we think prove the Truth Lastly in the Council of Florence the chief Doctors of the Romish and Greek Churches did debate whole Sessions long concerning the Interpretation of one Sentence of the Council of Ephesus and of Epiphanius and Basilius neither could they ever agree about it Secondly as to the Scripture the same difficulty occurreth the Lutherans affirm they believe Consubstantiation by the Scripture which they Calvinists deny as that which they say according to the same Scripture is a gross error The Calvinists again affirm absolute reprobation which the Arminians deny affirming the contrary wherein both affirm themselves to be ruled by the Scripture and Reason in the matter should I argue thus then to the Calvinists Here the
unmoveable foundation of all Christian faith which argument when well weighed I hope will have weight with all sorts of Christians and it is this That which all Professors of Christianity of whatsoever kind are forced ultimately to recur unto when pressed to the last That for and because of which all other foundations are recommended and accounted worthy to be believed and without which they are granted to be of no weight at all must needs be the only most true certain and unmovable foundation of all Christian Faith But inward immediate objective revelation by the Spirit is that which all Professors of Christianity of whatsoever kind are forced ultimately to recur unto c. Therefore c. The Proposition is so evident that it will not be denyed The assumption shall be proved by parts And first as to Papists they place their foundation in the judgment of the Church and Tradition If we press them to say why they believe as the Church doth Their answer is because the Church is always led by the infallible Spirit So here the leading of the Spirit is the utmost foundation Again If we ask them why we ought to trust Tradition They answer Because these Traditions were delivered us by the Doctors and Fathers of the Church which Doctors and Fathers by the Revelation of the Holy Ghost commended the Church to observe them Here again all ends in the Revelation of the Spirit And for the Protestants and Socinians both which acknowledg the Scriptures to be the foundation and rule of their Faith the one is subjectively influenced by the Spirit of God to use them the other as manageing them with and by their own Reason Ask both or either of them why they trust in the Scriptures and take them to be their Rule Their answer is Because we have in them the mind of God delivered unto us by those to whom these things were inwardly immediately and objectively revealed by the Spirit of God And not because this or that man wrote them but because the Spirit of God dictated them It is strange then that men should render that so uncertain and dangerous to follow upon which alone the certain ground and foundation of their own faith is Built Or that they should shut themselves out from that Holy Fellowship with God which only is enjoyed in the Spirit in which we are commanded both to walk and live If any reading these things find themselves moved by the strength of these Scripture arguments to assent and believe such Revelations necessary and yet find themselves strangers to them which as I observed in the beginning is the cause that this is so much gain-said and contradicted Let them know that it is not because it is ceased to become the priviledge of every Christian that they do not feel it but rather because they are not so much Christians by Nature as by Name and let such know that the secret Light which shines in the heart and reproves unrighteousness is the small beginnings of the Revelation of God's Spirit which was first sent into the world to reprove it of Sin John 16.8 And as by forsaking Iniquity thou com'st to be acquainted with that Heavenly voice in thy heart thou shalt feel as the Old man the Natural man that savoureth not the things of God's Kingdom is put off with his evil and corrupt affections and Lusts I say thou shalt feel the New Man the Spiritual birth and Babe raised which hath its Spiritual Sences and can see feel taste handle and smell the things of the Spirit but till then the knowledg of things Spiritual is but as an historical Faith but as the description of the Light of the Sun or of curious Colours to a blind man who though of the largest capacity cannot so well understand it by the most acute and lively description as a child can by seeing them So neither can the natural man of the large capacity by the best words even Scripture words so well understand the Mysteries of God's Kingdom as the least and weakest child who tasteth them by having them revealed inward and objectively by the Spirit Wait then for this in the small Revelation of that pure Light which first reveals things more known and as thou becom'st fitted for it thou shalt receive more and more and by a living experience easily refute their Ignorance who ask how dost thou know that thou art acted by the Spirit of God which will appear to thee a question no less ridiculous then to ask one whose eyes are open how he knows the Sun shines at Noon-day and though this be the surest and certainest way to answer all objections yet by what is above written it may appear that the mouths of all such opposers as deny this Doctrine may be shut by unquestionable and unanswerable reasons The Third Proposition Concerning the Scriptures From these Revelations of the Spirit of God to the Saints have proceeded the Scriptures of Truth which contain I. A faithful historical account of the actings of Gods People in divers ages with many singular and remarkable Providences attending them II. A Prophetical account of several things whereof some are already past and some yet to come III. A full and ample account of all the chief Principles of the Doctrine of Christ held forth in divers precious Declarations Exhortotions and Sentences which by the moving of God's Spirit were at several times and upon sundry occasions spoken and written unto some Churches and their Pastors Nevertheless because they are only a Declaration of the Fountain and not the Fountain it self therefore they are not to be esteemed the principal ground of all Truth and Knowledg nor yet the adequate primary Rule of Faith and manners Yet because they give a true and faithful Testimony of the first Foundation they are and may be esteemed a secondary rule subordinate to the Spirit from which they have all their excellency and certainty for as by the inward Testimony of the Spirit we do alone truly know them so they testifie that the Spirit is that Guide by which the Saints are led into all Truth therefore according to the Scriptures the Spirit is the First and Principal Leader Seeing then that we do therefore receive and believe the Scriptures because they proceeded from the Spirit for the very same reason is the Spirit more Originally and Principally the Rule according to that received Maxime in the Schools Propter quod unumquodque est tale iliud ipsum est magis tale That for which a thing is such the thing it self is more such § I. THe former part of this Proposition though it needs no Apology for it yet it is a good Apology for us and will help to sweep away that among many other Calumnys wherewith we are often loaded as if we were vilifiers and deniers of the Scriptures for in that which we affirm of them it doth appear at what high rate we value them accounting them without all
above intimated will appear The same argument will hold as to the other branch of the position That it is not the primary adequade rule of faith and manners thus That which is not the rule of my faith in believing the Scriptures themselves is not the primary adequate rule of faith and manners But the Scripture is not nor can it be the rule of that faith by which I believe them c. Therefore c. But as to this part we shall produce divers arguments hereafter as to what is affirmed That the Spirit and not the Scriptures is the rule it is largely handled in the former proposition the sum whereof I shall subsume in one argument thus If by the Spirit we can only come to the true knowledge of God If by the Spirit we be to be led into all truth and so be taught of all things Then the Spirit and not the Scriptures is the foundation and ground of all Truth and knowledg and the primary rule of faith and manners But the first is true Therefore also the last Next the very nature of the Gospel it self declareth that the Scriptures cannot be the only and chief rule of Christians else there should be no difference betwixt the Law and the Gospel As from the nature of the New Covenant by divers Scriptures described in the former Proposition is proved But besides those which are before mentioned herein doth the Law and the Gospel differ in that the Law being outwardly written brings under condemnation but hath not life in it to save whereas the Gospel as it declares and makes manifest the evil so it being an inward powerful thing also gives power to obey and deliver from the evil Hence it is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is glad tidings the Law or Letter which is without us kills but the Gospel which is the inward Spiritual Law gives life for it consists not so much in words as in vertue Wherefore such as comes to know it and be acquainted with it come to feel greater power over their iniquities than all outward Laws or Rules can give them Hence the Apostle concludes Rom. 6.14 Sin shall not have dominion over you For ye are not under the Law but under Grace This Grace then that is inward and not an outward Law is to be the Rule of Christians hereunto the Apostle commends the Elders of the Church saying Acts 20.32 And now Brethren I commend you to God and to the Word of his Grace which is able to build you up and to give you an inheritance among all those that are sanctified He doth not commend them here to outward laws or writings but to the Word of Grace which is inward even the Spiritual Law which makes free as he elsewhere affirms Rom. 8.2 The Law of the Spirit of Life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death This Spiritual Law is that which the Apostle declares he preached and directed people unto which was not outward as Rom. 10.8 is manifest where distinguishing it from the Law he saith The Word is nigh thee in thy heart and in thy mouth and this is the Word of Faith which we preach From what is above said I argue thus The principal Rule of Christians under the Gospel is not an outward letter nor law outwardly written and delivered but an inward Spiritual Law ingraven in the heart the Law of the Spirit of Life the Word that is nigh in the heart and in the mouth But the letter of the Scripture is outward of it self a dead things a meer declaration of good things but not the things themselves Therefore it is not nor can be the chief or principle rule of Christians § III. Thirdly That which is given to Christians for a Rule and Guide must needs be so full as it may clearly and distinctly guide and order them in all things and occurences that may fall out But in that there are many hundred of things with a regard to their circumstances particular Christians may be concerned in for which there can be no particular Rule had in the Scriptures Therefore the Scriptures cannot be a Rule to them I shall give an instance in two or three particulars for to prove this Proposition It is not to be doubted but some men are particularly called to some particular Services there being not found in which though the act be no general positive duty yet in so far as it may be required of them is a great sin to omit for as much God is zealous of his Glory and every act of Disobedience to his will manifested is enough not only to hinder one greatly from that Comfort and inward Grace which otherwise they might have but also bringeth Condemnation As for instance Some are called to the Ministry of the Word Paul saith there was a necessity upon him to preach the Gospel wo unto me if I preach not If it be necessary that there be now Ministers of the Church as well as then then there is the same necessity upon some more than upon others to occupy this place which necessity as it may be incumbent upon particular persons the Scripture neither doth nor can declare If it be said that the qualifications of a Minister are found in the Scripture and by applying these qualifications to my self I may know whether I be fit for such a place or no. I answer The qualifications of a Bishop or Minister as they are mentioned both in the Epistle to Tim. and Tit. are such as may be found in a private Christian yea which ought in some measure to be in every true Christian so that that giveth a man no certainty every pacity to an office giveth me not a sufficient call to it Next again By what Rule shall I judg if I be so qualified how do I know that I am sober meek holy harmless Is not the Testimony of the Spirit in my Conscience that which must assure me hereof And suppose that I was quallified and called yet what Scripture Rule shall inform me whether it be my duty to preach in this or that place in France or England Holland or Germany whether I shall take up my Time in Confirming the Faithful reclaiming Hereticks or Converting Infidels as also in Writing Epistles to this or that Church The general Rules of the Scripture viz. to be diligent in my duty to do all to the Glory of God and for the good of his Church can give me no light in this thing Seeing two different things may both have a respect to that way yet may I commit a great error and offence in doing the one when I am called to the other If Paul when his Face was turned by the Lord toward Jerusalem had gone back to Achaia or Macedonia he might have supposed he could have done God more acceptable service in Preaching and Confirming the Churches than in being shut up in Prison in Judea but would God have been pleased
herewith Nay certainly Obedience is better than Sacrifice and it is not our doing that which is good simply that pleaseth God but that good which he wille thus to do Every Member hath its particular place in the Body as the Apostle sheweth 1 Cor. 12. If then I being the foot should offer to exercise the office of the hand or being the hand that of the tongue my service would be troublesome and not acceptable and instead of helping the Body I should make a Schism in it So that that which is good for another to do may be sinful to me for as Masters will have their Servants to obey them according to their good pleasure not only in blindly doing that which may seem to them to tend to their Masters profit whereby it may chance the Master having business both in the field and in the house that the Servant that knows not his Masters will may go to the field when it is the mind of the Master he should stay and do the business of the house Would not this Servant then deserve a reproof for not answering his Master's mind And what Master is so sottish and careless as having many Servants leaves them in such disorder as not to assign each his particular station and not only the general term of doing that which is profitable which would leave them in various doubts and no doubt end in confusion Shall we then dare to ascribe unto Christ in the ordering of his Church and Servants that which in man might justly be accounted disorder and confusion The Apostle sheweth this distinction well Rom. c. 12. v. 6 8. Having then Gifts differing according to the Grace that is given us whether Prophecy let us Prophecy according to the proportion of Faith or Ministry let us wait on our Ministrings or he that teacheth on teaching or he that exhorteth on exhortation Now what Scripture Rule sheweth me that I ought to exhort rather than prophecy or to minister rather than teach Surely none at all Many more difficulties of this kind occur in the Life of a Christian. Moreover that which of all things is most needful for him to know to wit whether he really be in the Faith and an heir of Salvation or no the Scripture can give him no certainty in neither can it be a Rule to him That this knowledg is exceeding desirable and comfortable all do unanimously acknowledg besides that it is especially commanded 2 Cor. 13. v. 5. Examine your selves whether ye be in the Faith prove your selves Know ye not your own selves how that Jesus Christ is in you except you be reprobates and 2 Pet. 1.10 Wherefore the rather Brethren give all dilligence to make your calling and election sure Now I say what Scripture Rule can assure me that I have true Faith that my calling and election is sure If it be said by comparing the Scripture marks of true faith with mine I demand wherewith shall I make this observation what shall ascertain me that I am not mistaken It cannot be the Scripture That 's the matter under debate If it be said My own Heart How unfit a judg is it in its own case and how like to be partial especially if it be yet unrenewed Doth not the Scripture say that it is deceitful above all things I find the promises I find the threatnings in the Scripture but who telleth me that the one belongs to me more than the other The Scripture gives me a meer declaration of these things but makes no application so that the assumption must be of my own making thus as for example I find this Proposition in the Scripture He that believes shall be saved thence I draw this assumption But I Robert believe Therefore I shall be saved The minor is of mine own making not expressed in the Scripture and so a humane conclusion not a Divine position so that by my Faith and assurance here is not built upon a Scripture position but upon a humane Principle which unless I be sure of elsewhere the Scripture gives me no certainty in the matter Again if I should pursue the argument further and seek a new medium out of the Scripture the same difficulty would occur thus He that hath the true and certain marks of true Faith hath true Faith But I have those marks Therefore I have true Faith For the assumption is still here of my own making and is not found in the Scriptures and by consequence the conclusion can be no better since it still followeth the weaker proposition This is indeed so pungent that the best of Protestants who plead for this assurance ascribe it to the inward Testimony of the Spirit as Calvin in that large citation cited in the former Proposition so that not to seek further into the Writings of the primitive Protestants which are full of such expressions even the Westminster confession of Faith affirmeth chap. 18. sect 12. This certainty is not bear conjecture and probable perswasion grounded upon fallible hope but an infallible assurance of Faith founded upon the Divine Truth of the promise of Salvation the inward evidences of these Graces unto which these promises are made the Testimony of the Spirit of Adoption witnessing to our Spirits that we are the Children of God which Spirit is the earnest of our Inheritance whereby we are sealed to the day of Redemption Moreover the Scripture it self wherein we are so earnestly pressed to seek after this Assurance doth not at all affirm it self a rule sufficient to give it but wholly ascribeth it to the Spirit as Rom. 8.16 The Spirit it self beareth witness with our Spirit that we are the Children of God 1 Joh. 4.13 Hereby do we know that we dwell in him and he in us because he hath given us of his Spirit and 5.6 And it is the Spirit that beareth witness because the Spirit is truth § IV. Lastly That cannot be the only principle nor chief rule which doth not universally reach every individual that needeth it to produce the necessary effect and from the use of which either by some innocent and sinless defect or natural yet harmless and blameless imperfection many who are within the compass of the visible Church and may without absurdity yea with great probability be accounted oft he Elect are necessarily excluded and that either wholly or at least from the immediate use thereof But it so falls out frequently concerning the Scriptures in the case of deaf People Children and Ideots who can by no means have the benefit of the Scriptures Shall we then affirm that they are without any rule to God-ward or that they are all damned As such an Opinion is in it self very absurd and inconsistent both with the Justice and Mercy of God so I know no sound reason can be alledged for it Now if we may suppose any such to be under the New Covenant Dispensation as I know none will deny but that we may suppose it without any absurdity we
another argument from these words of the Apostle 1 Cor. 2. where he so positively excludes the Natural man from an understanding in the things of God but because I have spoken of that Scripture in the beginning of the Second Proposition I will here avoid to repeat what is there mentioned referring thereunto Yet because the Socinians and others who exalt the Light of the Natural man or a natural Light in man do object against this Scripture I shall remove it ere I make an end Obj. They say The Greek word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ought to be translated animal and not natural else say they it would have been 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 from which they seek to infer that it is only the animal Man and not the rational that is excluded here from the discerning the things of God Which shift without disputing the word is easily refuted neither is it any wife consistent with the scope of the place for Frist The animal life is no other than that which Man hath common with other living Creatures for as he is a meer Man he differs no otherwise from Beasts than by the rational Property Now the Apostle deduceth his argument in the foregoing Verses from this simile that as the things of a Man cannot be known but by the Spirit of a Man so the things of God no Man knoweth but by the Spirit of God But I hope these Men will confess unto me that the things of a Man are not known by the animal Spirit only i. e. by that which he hath common with the Beasts but by the rational So that it must be the rational that is here understood Again the subsumption shews clearly that the Apostle had no such intent as these Mens gloss would make him to have viz. So the things of God knoweth no Man but the Spirit of God according to their Judgment he should have said the things of God knoweth no Man by his animal Spirit but by his rational Spirit for to say the Spirit of God here spoken of is no other than the rational Spirit of Man would border upon Blasphemy since they are so often contra-distinguished Again going on he saith not that they are rationally but spiritually discerned Secondly The Apostle throughout this Chapter shews how the wisdom of Man is unfit to Judg the things of God and ignorant of them Now ask these Men whether a Man be called a wise Man from his animal Property or from his rational If from his rational then it is not only the animal but even the rational as he is yet in the natural State which the Apostle excludes here and whom he contradistinguisheth from the Spiritual v. 15. But the Spiritual man judgeth all things this cannot be said of any Man meerly because rational or as he is a Man seeing the Men of greatest reason if we may so esteem Men whom the Scripture calls wise as were the Greeks of Old not only may be but often are Enemies to the Kingdom of God while both the preaching of Christ is said to be foolishness with the wise Men of this World and the wisdom of this World is said to be foolishness with God Now whether it be any ways propable that either these wise Men that are said to account the Gospel foolishness are only so called with respect to their animal Property and not their rational or that that wisdom that is foolishness with God is not meant of the rational but only the animal property any rational Man laying aside interests may easily Judg. § IV. I come now to the other part to wit that this evil and corrupt seed is not imputed to Infants until they actually joyn with it For this there is a reason given in the end of the Proposition it self drawn from Eph. 2. for these are by nature Children of Wrath who walk according to the prince of the power of the Air the Spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience Here the Apostle gives their evil walking and not any thing that is not reduced to act as a reason of their being Children of wrath and this is sutable to the whole strain of the Gospel where no man is ever threatned or judged for what iniquity he hath not actually wrought Such indeed as continue in iniquity and so do Homologat the sins of their Fathers God will visit the iniquity of the Fathers upon the Children Is it not strange then that men should entertain an opinion so absurd in it self and so cruel and contrary to the nature as well of God's mercy as justice concerning the which the Scripture is altogether silent But it is manifest that Man hath invented this opinion out of self-love and from that bitter Root from which all errors springs for the most of Protestants that hold this having as they fancy the absolute decree of Elections to secure them and their Children so as they cannot miss of Salvation they make no great difficulty to send all others both Old and Young to hell For whereas self-love which always is apt to believe that which it desires possesseth them with a hope that their part is secure they are not solicitous how they leave their Neighbours which are the far greater part of Mankind in these inextricable difficultys The Papists again use this Opinion as an art to augment the esteem of their Church and reverence of its Sacraments seeing they pretend it is washed away by Baptism only in this they appear to be a little more Merciful in that they send not these unbaptized infant to Hell but to a certain Limbus concerning which the Scriptures are as silent as of the other This then is not only not authorised in the Scriptures but contrary to the express tenor of it The Apostle saith plainly Rom. 4.15 Where no Law is there is no transgression And again 5.13 But sin is not imputed where there is no Law Than which Testimonies there is nothing more positive since to infants there is no Law seeing as such they are utterly uncapable of it the Law cannot reach but such as have in some measure less or more the exercise of their understanding which infants have not So that from thence I thus agree Sin is imputed to none where there is no Law But to infants there is no Law Therefore sin is not imputed to them The Proposition is the Apostle's own Words the Assumption is thus proved Those who are under a physical impossibility of either hearing knowing or understanding any Law where the impossibility is not brought upon them by any act of their own but is according to the very order of nature appointed by God to such there is no Law But infants are under this physical impossibility Therefore c. Secondly What can be more positive than that of Ezek. 18.20 The Soul that sinneth it shall die the Son shall not bear the Fathers Iniquity For the Prophet here first sheweth what is the cause of mans Eternal Death which he
have an Advocate with the Father Jesus Christ the Righteous And he is the Propitiation for our Sins and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole World The way which our Adversaries take to evite this Testimony is most foolish and ridiculous The World here say they is the World of Believers For this Commentary we have nothing but their own assertion and so while it manifestly destroys the Text may be justly rejected For first let them shew me if they can in all the Scripture where the whole world is taken for Believers only I shall shew them where it is many times taken for the quite contrary as the world knows me not the world receives me not I am not of this world Besides all these Scriptures Psal. 17.14 Isa. 13.11 Matth. 18.1 John 7.7 8.26.12.19.14.17.15.18 19.17.14.18.20 1 Cor. 1.21.2 12.6.2 Gal. 6.14 Jam. 1.27 2 Pet. 2.20 1 Joh. 2.15.3.1 and 4.4 5. and many more Secondly the Apostle in this very place contradistinguisheth the World from the Saints thus And not for ours only but for the sins of the whole world What means the Apostle by ours here Is not that the sins of Believers Was not he one of those Believers And was not this an universal Epistle written to all the Saints that then were So that according to these mens comment there should be a very unnecessary and foolish redundancy in the Apostles words as if he had said he is a Propitiation not only for the sins of all Believers but for the sins of all Believers Is not this to make the Apostles words void of good sense Let them shew us where ever there is such a manner of speaking in all the Scripture where any of the Pen-men first name the Believers in concreto with themselves and then contradistinguish them from some other whole world of Believers That whole World if it be of Believers must not be the world we live in But we need no better interpreter for the Apostle than himself who uses the very same expression and phrase in the same Epistle c. 5.19 saying We know that we are of God and the whole world lieth in wickedness there cannot be found in all the Scripture two places which run more parallel seeing in both the same Apostle in the same Epistle to the same persons contradistinguisheth himself and the Saints to whom he writes from the whole world which according to these mens commentary ought to be understood of Believers as if John had said We know particular Believers are of God but the whole World of Believers lieth in wickedness What absurd wresting of Scripture were this And yet it may be as well pleaded for as the other for they differ not at all seeing then that the Apostle John tells us plainly that Christ not only died for him and for the Saints and Members of the Church of God to whom he wrote but for the whole world Let us then hold it for a certain and undoubted Truth notwithstanding the cavils of such as oppose This might also be proved from many more Scripture testimonies if it were at this season needful All the Fathers so called and Doctors of the Church for the first four centuries preached this Doctrin according to which they boldly held forth the Gospel of Christ and efficacy of Death inviting and intreating the Heathens to come and be partakers of the benefits of it shewing them how there was a door open for them all to be saved through Jesus Christ not telling them that God had predestinated any of them to Damnation or had made Salvation impossible to them by with-holding Power and Grace necessary to believe from them But of many of their sayings which might be alledged I shall only instance a few Austin on the 95 Psalm saith The Blood of Christ is of no less value than the whole World Prosper ad Gall. c. 9. The redeemer of the World gave his blood for the World and the World would not be redeemed because the darkness did not receive the Light He that saith the Saviour was not crucified for the redemption of the whole World looks not to the vertue of the Sacrament but to the part of Infidels since the blood of our Lord Jesus Christ is the price of the whole World from which redemption they are strangers who either delighting in their captivity would not be redeemed or after they were redeemed returned to the same servitude The same Prosper in his answer to Vencentius's first objection Seeing therefore because of one common nature and cause in Truth undertaken by our Lord all are rightly said to be redeemed and nevertheless all are not brought out of Captivity the property of Redemption without doubt belongeth to those from whom the Prince of this World is shut out and now are not vessels of the devil but Members of Christ whose Death was so bestowed upon mankind that it belonged to the Redemption of such who are not to be regenerated But so that which was done by the Example of one for all might by a singular mystery be celebrated in every one For the Cup of Immortality which is made up of our Infirmity and the Divine Power hath indeed that in it which may profit all but if it be not drunk it doth not heal The Author de vocat Gentium lib. 11. cap. 6. There is no cause to doubt but that our Lord Jesus Christ died for Sinners and wicked Men and if there can be any found who may be said not to be of this number Christ hath not died for all he made himself a Redeemer for the whole World Chrysistom on the 1. chap. of John If he inlightens every man coming into the World how comes it that so many men remain without Light For all do not so much as acknowledg Christ how then doth he inlighten every Man he illuminates indeed so far as in him is but if any of their own accord closing the eyes of their mind will not direct their eyes unto the beams of this Light the cause that they remain in darkness is not from the nature of the Light but through their own malignity who willingly have rendred themselves unworthy of so great a gift But why be lieved they not Because they would not Christ did his part The Arelatensian Synod held about the year 490 Pronounced him accursed who should say that Christ hath not dyed for all or that he would not have all men to be saved Ambr. on Psal. 118. Serm. 8. The mystical Sun of Righteousness is arisen to all he came to all he suffered for all and rose again for all And therefore he suffered that he might take away the Sin of the World But if any one believed not in Christ he bros himself of this general Benefit even as if one by closing the Windows should hold out the Sun-beams the Sun is not therefore not arisen to all because such a one hath so robbed himself of its heat But the
could they have been vessels capable to receive that power and again transmit it to their successors Thirdly it would follow from this that the Priests and Bishops of the Romish Church are yet really true Pastors and Teachers for if Protestant Ministers have no authority but what they received from them and since the Church of Rome is the same she was at that time of the reformation in doctrine and manners and she has the same power now she had then and if the power lye in the Succession then these Priests of the Romish Church now which derive their ordination from those Bishops that ordained the first reformers have the same authority which the successors of the reformed have and consequently are no less Ministers of the Church than they are But how shall this agree with that opinion which the primitive Protestants had of the Romish Priests and Clergy to whom Luther did not only deny any power or authority but contrariwise affirmed that it was wickedly done of them to assume to themselves only this authority to teach and be Priests and Ministers c. For he himself affirmed that every good Christian not only men but even women also is a Preacher § X. But against this vain succession as asserted either by the Papists or Protestants as a necessary thing to the call of a minister I answer that such as plead for it as a sufficient or necessary thing to the call of a minister do thereby sufficiently declare their ignorance of the nature of Christianity and how much they are strangers to the Life and Power of a Christian ministery which is not entail'd to succession as an outward inheritance and herein as hath been often before observed they not only make the Gospel not better than the Law but even far short of it for Jesus Christ as he regardeth not any distinct particular family or nation in the gathering of his Children but only such as are joined to and leavened with his own pure and righteous Seed so neither regards he a bare outward succession where his pure immaculate and righteous Life is wanting for that were all one He took not in the Nations within the New Covenant that he might suffer them to fall into the old errors of the Jews or to approve them in these errors but that he might gather unto himself a pure people out of the earth Now this was the great error of the Jews to think they were the Church and People of God because they could derive their outward succession from Abraham whereby they reckoned themselves the Children of God as being the off-spring of Abraham who was the Father of the faithful But how severely doth the Scripture rebuke this vain and frivolous pretence Telling them that God is able of the stones to raise children unto Abraham and that not the outward seed but those that were found in the faith of Abraham are the true Children of faithful Abraham Far less then can this pretence hold among Christians seeing Christ rejects all outward affinity of that kind These saith he are my mother brethren and sisters who do the will of my Father which is in heaven And again He looked round about him and said who shall do the will of God these said he are my brethren So then such as do not the commands of Christ as are not found cloathed with his righteousness are not his disciples and that which a man hath not he cannot give to another and it 's clear that no man nor Church though truly called of God and as such having the authority of a Church and Minister can any longer retain that authority than they retain the power life and righteousness of Christianity for the form is entailed to the power and substance and not the substance to the form So that when a man ceaseth inwardly in his heart to be a Christian where his Christianity must lie by turning to Satan and becoming a reprobate he is no more a Christian though he retain the name and form than a dead man is a man though he have the image and representation of one or than the Picture or Statue of a man is a man and though a dead man may serve to a Painter to retain some imperfect representation of the man that sometimes was alive and so one Picture may serve to make another by yet none of those can serve to make a true living man again neither can they conveigh the life and spirit of the man it must be God that made the man at first that alone can revive him As death then makes such interruption of an outward natural succession that no art nor outward form can uphold and as a dead man after he is dead can have no issue neither can dead images of men make living men so that it is the living that are only capable to succeed one another and such as dye so soon as they dye cease to succeed or to transmit Succession So it is in Spiritual things it is the life of Christianity taking place in the Heart that makes a Christian and so it is a number of such being alive joyned together in the life of Christianity that make a Church of Christ and it is all those that are thus alive and quickened considered together that make the Catholick Church of Christ Therefore where this life ceaseth in one then that one ceaseth to be a Christian and all power vertue and authority which he had as a Christian ceaseth with it so that if he hath been a Minister or Teacher he ceaseth to be so any more and though he retain the form and hold to the authority in words yet that signifies no more nor is it of any more real vertue or authority than the meer image of a dead man And as this is most agreeable to Reason so is it to the Scriptures Testimony for it is said of Judas Acts 1.25 That Judas fell from his Ministry and Apostleship by transgression So his transgression caused him to cease to be an Apostle any more whereas had the Apostleship been entailed to his person so that transgression could not cause him to lose it until he had been formally degraded by the Church which Judas never was so long as he lived Judas had been as really an Apostle after he betrayed Christ as before And as it is of one so of many yea of a whole Church for seeing nothing makes a man truly a Christian but the life of Christianity inwardly ruling in his Heart so nothing makes a Church but the gathering of several true Christians into one Body Now where all these members lose in this life there the Church ceaseth to be though they still uphold the form and retain the name for when that which made them a Church and for which they were a Church ceaseth then they cease also to be a Church and therefore the Spirit speaking to the Church of Laodicea because of her luke-warmness Rev. 3.16 threateneth to
singularly by his Spirit who from the testimony of the Scriptures perceiving the errors into which such as bear the name of Christians are faln may instruct and teach them and then become authorized by the people's joyning with and accepting of their ministry only Most of them also will affirm that the Spirit herein is subjective and not objective But they say that where a Church is reformed Obj. such as they pretend the Ptotestants Churches are there an ordinary orderly call is necessary and that of the Spirit as extraordinary is not to be sought after alledging that res aliter se habet in ecclesia constituenda quam in ecclesia constituta that is there is a difference in the constituting of a Church and after it is constitute I answer this objection as to us saith nothing seeing we accuse Answ. and are ready from the Scriptures to prove the Protestants guilty of gross errors and needing reformation as well as they did and do the Papists and therefore we may justly lay claim if we would to the same extraordinary call having the same reason for it and as good evidence to prove ours as they had for theirs As for that Maxime viz. that the case is different in a constituting Church and a Church constituted I do not deny it and therefore there may be a greater measure of power required to the one than to the other and God in his Wisdom distributes the same as he seeth meet but that the same immediate assistance of the Spirit is not necessary for ministers in a gathered Church as well as in gathering one I see no solid reason alledged for it For sure Christs promise was to be with his children to the end of the world and they need him no less to preserve and guide his Church and Children than to gather and beget them Nature taught the Gentiles this Maxime Non minor est virtus quam quaerere parta tueri Englished thus For to defend what you attain Requires no less strength than to gain For it is by this inward and immediate operation of the Spirit which Christ hath promised to lead his Children with into all Truth and to teach them all things that Christians are to be led in all steps as well last as first which relates to Gods Glory and their own Salvation as we have heretofore sufficiently proved and therefore need not now repeat it And truly this device of Satan whereby he has got people to put the immediate guidings and leadings of Gods Spirit as an extraordinary thing a far off which their Fore-fathers had but which they now are neither to wait for nor expect is a great cause of the growing Apostacy upon the many gathered Churches and is one great reason why a dry dead barren lifeless spiritless ministry which leavens the people into the same death doth so much abound and is so much overspreading even the Protestant nations that their preachings and worships as well as whole conversation is not to be discerned from Popish by any fresh living zeal or lively Power of the Spirit accompanying it but meerly by the difference of some notions and opinions Obj. § XII Some unwise and unwary Protestants do sometimes object to us that if we have such an immediate call as we lay claim to we ought to confirm it by miracles Answ. But this being an objection once and again objected to the primitive Protestants by the Papists we need but short return the answer to it that they did to the Papists to wit that we need not miracles because we preach no new Gospel but that which is already confirmed by all the miracles of Christ and his Apostles and that we offer nothing but that which we are ready and able to confirm by the testimony of the Scriptures which both already acknowledge to be true And that John the Baptist and divers of the Prophets did none that we hear of and yet were both immediately and extraordinarily sent This is the common Protestant answer therefore may suffice in this place though if need were I could say more to this purpose but that I study brevity § XIII There is also another sort of Protestants to wit the English Independents who differing from the Calvinistical Presbyterians and denying the necessity of this succession or the authority of any National Church take another way affirming that such as have the benefit of the Scriptures any company of people agreeing in the principles of Truth as they find them there declared may constitute among themselves a Church without the authority of any other and may choose to themselves a Pastor who by the Church thus constitute and consenting is authorized requiring only the assistance and concurrence of the Pastors of the neighbouring Churches if any be not so much as absolutely necessary to authorize as decent for orders sake Also they go so far as to affirm that in a Church so constitute any gifted Brother as they call them if he find himself qualified thereto may instruct exhort and preach in the Church though as not having the Pastoral office he cannot administer that they call their Sacraments To this I answer that this was a good step out of the Babylonish darkness and no doubt did proceed from a real discovery of the Truth and from the sense of a great abuse of the promiscuous National gatherings Also this preaching of the Gifted Brethren as they called them did proceed at first from certain lively touches and movings of the Spirit of God upon many But alas because they went not forward that is much decayed among them and the motions of Gods Spirit begin to be denyed and rejected among them now as much as by others But as to their pretended Call from the Scripture I answer The Scripture gives a meer declaration of true things but no call to particular persons so that though I believe the things there written to be true and deny the errors which I find there testified against yet as to these things which may be my particular duty I am still to seek and therefore I can never be resolved in the Scripture whether I such a one by name ought to be a Minister And for the resolving this doubt I must needs recur to the inward and immediate testimony of the Spirit as in the Proposition concerning the Scriptures more at large is shewn § XIV From all this then we do firmly conclude that not only in a general apostasie it is needful men be extraordinarily called and raised up by the Spirit of God but that even when several assemblies or Churches are gathered by the Power of God not only into the belief of the Principles of Truth so as to deny Errors and Heresies but also into the Life Spirit and Power of Christianity so as to be the Body and House of Christ indeed and a fit Spouse for him that he who gathers them doth also for the preserving them in a lively fresh and powerful condition
throughout for the Apostle in that Chapter treating of the diversity of Gifts and Members of the Body sheweth how by the working of the same Spirit in different manifestations or measures in the several Members of the whole Body is edified saying v. 13. That we are all baptized by the One Spirit into one Body and then v. 28. he numbers out the several dispensations thereof which by God are set in the Church through the various working of his Spirit for the edification of the whole Then if there be no true member of the body which is not thus baptized by this Spirit neither any thing that worketh to the edifying of it but according to a measure of Grace received from the Spirit surely without Grace none ought to be admitted to work or labour in the body because their labour and work without this Grace and Spirit would not be ineffectual § XVI Thirdly that this Grace and Gift is a necessary qualification to a Minister is clear from that of the Apostle Peter 1 Peter 4.10 11. As every man hath received the Gift even so minister the same one to another as good Stewards of the manifold Grace of God If any man speak let him speak as the Oracles of God if any man minister let him do it as of the ability which God giveth that God in all things may be glorified through Jesus Christ to whom be praise and dominion for ever and ever Amen From which it appears That these that minister must minister according to the Gift and Grace received but they that have not such a Gift cannot minister according thereunto Secondly As good Stewards of the manifold Grace of God But how can a man be a good Steward of that which he hath not Can ungodly men that are not gracious themselves be good Stewards of the manifold Grace of God and therefore in the following Verses he makes an exclusive limitation of such as are not thus furnished saying If any man speak let him speak as the Oracles of God and if any man minister let him do it as of the ability that God giveth which is as much as if he had said They that cannot thus speak and thus minister ought not to do it For this If denotes a necessary condition Now what this ability is is manifest by the former words to wit the Gift received and the Grace whereof they are Stewards as by the immediate context and dependency of the words doth appear neither can it be understood of a meer natural ability because man in this condition is said not to know the things of God and so he cannot minister them to others And the following words shew this also in that he immediately subjoyneth That God in all things may be glorified but surely God is not glorified but greatly dishonoured when natural men from their meer natural ability meddle in Spiritual things which they neither know nor understand Fourthly that Grace is a most necessary qualification for a Minister appears by these qualifications which the Apostle expressly requires 1 Tim. 3.2 Tit. 1. c. where he saith A Bishop must be blameless vigilant sober of good behaviour apt to teach patient a lover of good men just holy temperate as the Steward of God holding fast the faithful Word as he hath been taught Upon the other hand He must neither be given to Wine nor a Striker nor covetous nor proud nor self-willed nor soon angry Now I ask If it be not impossible that a man can have all these above-named Vertues and be free of all these Evils without the Grace of God if then these Vertues for the producing of which in a man Grace is absolutely necessary be necessary to make a true Minister of the Church of Christ according to the Apostles judgment surely Grace must be necessary also Concerning this thing a learned man and well skilled in Antiquity about the time of the Reformation writeth thus Whatsoever is done in the Church either for Ornament or Edification of Religion whether in chusing Magistrates or instituting Ministers of the Church except it be done by the ministry of Gods Spirit which is as it were the Soul of the Church it is vain and wicked For whoever hath not been called by the Spirit of God to the great office of God and dignity of Apostleship as Aaron was and hath not entred in by the door which is Christ but hath otherways risen in the Church by the window by the favours of men c. truly such a one is not the Vicar of Christ and the Apostles but a thief and a Robber and the Vicar of Judas Iscariot and Simon the Samaritan Hence it was so strictly appointed concerning the election of Prelates which holy Dionisius calls Sacrament of Nomination that the Bishops and Apostles who should oversee the Service of the Church should be men of most intire manners and life powerful in sound Doctrine to give a reason for all things So also another about the same time writeth thus Therefore it can never be that by the Tongues or Learning any can give a sound judgment concerning the Holy Scriptures and the Truth of God Lastly saith he the Sheep of Christ seeketh nothing but the Voice of Christ which he knoweth by the Holy Spirit wherewith he is filled he regards not learning Tongues or any outward thing so as therefore to believe this or that to be the voice of Christ his true Shepherd he knoweth that there is need of no other thing but the testimony of the Spirit of God § XVII Against this absolute necessity of grace they object That if all Ministers had the saving Grace of God Obj. then all ministers should be saved seeing none can fall away from or lose Saving Grace But this Objection is built upon a false Hypothesis Answ. purely denyed by us and we have in the former Proposition concerning Perseverance already refuted it Obj. Secondly it may be objected to us That since we affirm that every Man hath a measure of true and Saving Grace there needs no singular qualifications neither to a Christian nor Minister for seeing every man hath this Grace then no man needs forbear to be a Minister for want of Grace Answ. I answer We have above shewn that there is necessary to the making a Minister a special and particular call from the Spirit of God which is something besides the universal dispensation of Grace to all according to that of the Apostle No man taketh this honour unto himself but he that is called of God as was Aaron Moreover we understand by Grace as a qualification to a Minister not the meer measure of Light as it is given to reprove and call him to righteousness but we understand Grace as it hath converted the Soul and operateth powerfully in it as hereafter concerning the work of Ministers will further appear So we understand not men simply as having Grace in them as a Seed which we indeed affirm
men without that art and rules or sophistical learning deduce a certain conclusion out of true Propositions which scarce any man of Reason wants we deny not the use of it and I have sometimes used it in this Treatise which also may serve without that Dialectical art As for the other part of Philosophy which is called Moral or Ethicks it is not so necessary to Christians who have the rules of the Holy Seriptures and the Gift of the Holy Spirit by which they can be much better instructed The Physical and Metaphysical part may be reduced to the arts of Medicine and the Mathematicks which have nothing to do with the essence of a Christian Minister And therefore the Apostle Paul who well understood what was good for Christian Ministers and what hurtful thus exhorted the Colossians Col. 2.8 Beware lest any man spoil you through Philosophy and vain deceit And to his beloved Disciple Timothy he writes also thus 1 Tim. 6.20 O Timothy keep that which is committed to thy trust avoiding profane and vain babblings and oppositions of science falsly so called § XXI The third and main part of their literature is School Divinity a monster made up betwixt some Scriptural notions of Truth and the Heathenish terms and maximes being as it were the Heathenish Philosophy Christianized or rather the literal external knowledge of Christ Heathenized it is man in his first faln natural state with his devilish wisdom pleasing himself with some notions of Truth and adorning them with his own serpentine and worldly wisdom because he thinks the simplicity of the Truth too low and mean a thing for him and so despiseth that simplicity wheresoever it is found that he may set up and exalt himself puffed up with this his monstrous birth it is the devil darkening obscuring and veiling the knowledge of God with his sensual and carnal wisdom that so he may the more securely deceive the hearts of the simple and make the Truth as it is in it self despicable and hard to be known and understood by multiplying a thousand hard and needless questions and endless contentions and debates all which whoso perfectly knoweth he is not a whit less the servant of sin than he was but ten times more in that he is exalted and proud of iniquity and so much the further from receiving understanding or learning the Truth as it is in its own naked simplicity because he is full learned rich and wise in his own conceit and so those that are most skilled in it wear out their day and spend their precious time about the infinite and innumerable questions they have feigned and invented concerning it A certain learned man called it a two-fold discipline as of the race of the centaurs partly proceeding from Divine sayings partly from Philosophical reasons A thousand of their questions they confess themselves to be no ways necessary to Salvation and yet many more of them they could never agree upon but are and still will be in endless janglings about them The Volumes that have been written about it a man in his whole age though he lived very old could scarce read and when he has read them all he has but wrought himself a great deal more vexation and trouble of Spirit than he had before These certainly are the words multiplied without knowledge by which counsel hath been darkened Job c. 38. v. 2. They make the Scripture the text of all this Mass and it 's concerning the sense of it that their voluminous debates arise But a man of a good upright heart may learn more in half an hour and be more certain of it by waiting upon God and his Spirit in the heart than by reading a thousand of their Volumes which by filling his head with many needless imaginations may well stagger his faith but never confirm it and indeed those that give themselves most to it are most capable to fall into error as appeareth by the example of Origen who by his learning was one of the first that falling into this way of interpreting the Scriptures wrote so many Volumes and in them so many errors as very much troubled the Church Also Arius led by this curiosity and humane scrutiny despising the simplicity of the Gospel fell into his error which was the cause of that horrible Heresie which so much troubled the Church methinks the simplicity plainness and brevity of the Scriptures themselves should be a sufficient reproof for such a science and the Apostles being honest plain illeterate men my be better understood by such kind of men now than with all that mass of scholastick stuff which neither Peter nor Paul nor John ever thought of § XXII But this invention of Satan wherewith he began the Apostasie hath been of dangerous consequence for thereby he at first spoiled the simplicity of Truth by keeping up the Heathenish learning which occasioned such uncertainty even among those called Fathers and such debate that there are few of them to be found who by reason of this mixture do not only frequently contradict one another but themselves also And therefore when the Apostasie grew greater he as it were buried the Truth with this vail of darkness wholly shuting out people from true knowledg and making the learned so accounted busie themselves with idle and needless questions while the weighty Truths of God were neglected and as it were went into desuetude Now though the grossest of these abuses be swept away by Protestants yet the evil root still remains and is nourished and upheld and upon the growing hand that this science is kept up and deemed necessary for a Minister for while the pure learning of the Spirit of Truth is despised and neglected and made ineffectual man 's faln earthly wisdom is upheld and so in that he labours and works with the Scriptures being out of the Life and Spirit those that wrote them were in by which they are rightly understood and made use of And so he that is to be a Minister must learn this art or trade of merchandizing with the Scriptures and be that which the Apostle would not be to wit a trader with them 2 Cor. 2.17 That he may acquire a trick from a verse of Scripture by adding his own barren notions and conceptions to it and his uncertain conjectures and what he hath stoln out of Books for which end he must have of necessity a good many by him and may each Sabbath day as they call it or oftner make a Discourse for an hour long and this is called the preaching of the word whereas the Gift Grace and Spirit of God to teach open and instruct and to preach a word in season is neglected and so man's arts and parts and knowledg and wisdom which is from below set up and established in the Temple of God yea and above the little Seed which in effect is Antichrist working in the Ministry and so the Devil may be as good and able a Minister as the
Apostle used the word Evangelist Calvin acknowledgeth that such as preach the Gospel in purity after some time of Apostacy may be truly called Evangelists and therefore saith that there were Apostles in his time and hence the Protestants at their first coming forth termed themselves Evangeleci or Evangeliks Lastly an Apostle if we look to the Etymology of the word signifies one that is sent and in respect every true Minister is sent of God in so far he is an Apostle though these Twelve because of their being specially sent of Christ were therefore called Apostles 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or per eminentiam i. e. by way of excellency And yet there was no limitation to such a number as some foolishly imagine it appears because after that number was filled up the Apostle Paul was afterwards so called therefore we judg that these are no distinct separate Offices but only Names used upon occasions to express the more eminent arising and shining forth of God's Grace as if any Minister of Christ should now Prosolyte or turn a whole Nation to the Christian Faith though he had no distinct Office yet I doubt not but both Papists and Protestants would judg it tolerable to call such an one an Apostle or an Evangelist For some of the Jesuits call of their Sect Apostles of India and of Japon upon this alledged account And Calvin testifies that there were Apostles and Evangelists in his time upon the account of the Reformation upon which account we have known John Knox often called the Apostle of Scotland so that we conclude that Ministers Pastors or Teachers doth comprehend all and that the Office is but one and therefore in that respect we judg there ought to be no precedency among them to prove which I shall not insist seeing it is shewn largely and treated of by such as have denyed the Diocesian Episcopacy as they call it § XXVI As to the first part of the objection viz. that I seem to make no distinction betwixt the Minister and People I answer If it be understood of a liberty to Speak or Prophecy by the Spirit I say all may do that when moved thereunto as above is shewn but we do believe and affirm that some are more particularly called to the work of the Ministry and therefore are fitted of the Lord for that purpose whose work is more constantly and particularly to instruct exhort admonish oversee and watch over their Brethren and that as there is something more incumbent upon them in that respect than upon every common Believer so also as in that relation there is due to them from the Flock such obedience and subjection as is mentioned in these Testimonys of the Scripture Heb. 13.17 1 Thess. 5.12 13. 1 Tim. 5.17 1 Pet. 5.5 Also besides these who are thus particularly called to the Ministry and constant labour in the Word and Doctrine there are also the Elders who though they be not moved to a frequent Testimony by way of Declaration in Words yet as such as are grown up in the experience of the blessed work of Truth in their Hearts watch over and privately admonish the Young care for the Widows the Poor and Fatherless and care and look that nothing be wanting but that Peace Love Unity Concord and Soundness be preserved in the Church of Christ and this answers to the Deacons mentioned Acts 6. That which we oppose is the distinction of Laity and Clergy which in the Scripture is not to be found whereby none are admitted unto the work of the Ministry but such as are educated at Schools on purpose and instructed in Logick and Philosophy c. And so are at their Apprenticeship to learn the Art and Trade of Preaching even as a man learns any other Art whereby all other honest mechanick men who have not got this Heathenish Art are excluded from having this priviledg and so he that is a Schollar thus bred up must not have any honest trade whereby to get him a Lively-hood if he once intend for the Ministry but he must see to get him a place and then he hath his set hire for a Lively-hood to him he must also be distinguished from the rest by the Colour of his Cloaths for he must only wear Black and must be a Master of Arts but more of this hereafter § XXVII As this manner of separating men for the Ministry is nothing like the Church in the Apostles days so great Evils have and do follow upon it for first Parents seeing both the Honour and Profit that attends the Clergy do allot their Children sometimes from their Infancy to it and so breed them up on purpose and others come to age upon the same account betake them to the same Trade and having these natural and acquired parts that are judged the necessary qualifications of a Minister are thereby admitted and so are bred up in Idleness and Pleasure thinking it a disgrace for them to work with their hands only if they study a little out of their Books to make a discourse once or twice in a Week during the running of an Hour-glass Whereas the Gift Grace and Spirit of God to call gift and qualifie for the Ministry is neglected and overlooked And many Covetous Corrupt Earthly Carnal men having a meer shew and form but strangers to and utterly ignorant of the inward work of Grace upon their hearts are brought in and intrude themselves and so through them Death Barrenness and Darkness and by consequence Superstition Error and Idolatry hath entred and leavened the Church and they that will narrowly observe shall find that it was thus the Apostacy came to take place of the Truth of which I could give many examples which for brevities sake I omit For so the Office Reverence and respect due to it was annexed to the meer name so that when once a man was ordained a Bishop or a Priest he was heard and believed though he had nothing of the Spirit Power and Life that the true Apostles and Ministers were in that in a short time the succession came to be of the Name and Title and the Office was thereto annexed and not of the Nature Vertue and Life Which in effect made them to cease to be the Ministry and Ministers of Christ but only a shadow and vain image of it which also decaying was in some ages so metamorphosed that not only the substance was lost but the very form wholly vitiated alterated and marred that it may be far better said of the pretended Christian Church as was disputed of Theseus's Boat which by the piecing of many new pieces of Timber was wholly altered whether indeed it were the same or another But in case that the first had been of Oak and the last pieces put in but of rotten Fir and that also the form had been so far changed as to be nothing like the first I think it would have suffered no dispute but might have easily been concluded to be quite
become a Proverb that the KIRK is always GREEDY Whereby the Gift and Grace of God being neglected they have for for the most part no other motive or rule in applying themselves to one Church more than another but the greater Benefice For tho they hypocritically pretend at their accepting of and entring unto their Church that they have nothing before them but the Glory of God and the Salvation of Souls yet if a richer Benefice offer it self they presently find it more for God's Glory to remove from the first and go thither And thus they make no difficulty often to change while notwithstanding they accuse us that we allow Ministers to go from place to place and not to be tied to one place but we allow this not for the gaining of money but as moved of God for if a Minister be called to Minister in a particular place he ought not to leave it except God call him from it and then he ought to obey for we make the will of God inwardly revealed and not the love of money and more gain the ground of removing Secondly From this abuse hath proceeded that Luxury and Idleness that most of the Clergy live in even among Protestants as well as Papists to the great scandal of Christianity For not having lawful Trades to work with their hands and being so superfluously and sumptuosly provided for they live in Idleness and Luxury and there doth more Pride Vanity and Worldly Glory appear in their Wives and Children than in most others which is open and evident to all Thirdly They become hereby so glewed to the love of money that there is none like them in malice rage and cruelty if they deny their hire they rage like drunken men fret fume and as it were go mad A man may sooner satisfie the severest Creditor than them the general voice of the poor doth confirm this for indeed they are far more exact in taking up the Tithes of Sheep Geese Swine and Eggs c. and look more narrowly to it than to the members of the Flock they will not miss the least mite and the poorest Widow cannot escape their avaritious hands twenty Lyes they will hear unreproved and as many Oaths a man may swear in their hearing without offending them and greater evils than all this they can overlook But if thou owest them ought and refuse to pay it then nothing but war will they thunder against thee and they will stigmatize thee with the horrible Title of Sacriledg and send thee to Hell without mercy as if thou hadst committed the sin against the Holy Ghost Of all People we can best bear witness to this for God having shewn us this corrupt and Anti-Christian Ministry and called us out from it and gathered us unto his own Power and Life to be a separate People so that we dare not joyn with nor hear these Anti-Christian hirelings neither yet put into their mouths or feed them O! what malice envy and fury hath this raised in their Hearts against us that tho we get none of their wares neither will buy them as knowing them to be nought yet will they force us to give them money and because we cannot for conscience sake do it our sufferings have upon that account been unutterable Yea to give account of their cruelty and several sorts of inhumanity used against us would make no small History These avaritious Hirelings have come to that degree of malice and rage that several poor labouring men have been carried hundreds of miles from their own dwellings and shut up in prison some two some three yea some seven years together for the value of one pound sterling and less I know my self a poor Widow that for the tithes of her Geese which amounted not to five shillings was about four years kept in prison thirty miles from her house Yea they by violence for this cause have plundred of mens goods the hundred fold and prejudiced much more yea hundreds have hereby spilt their innocent blood by dying in the filthy noisom holes and prisons and some of the Priests have been so inraged that Goods thus ravished could not satisfie them but they must also satisfie their fury by beating knocking and wounding with their hands innocent men and women for refusing for Conscience sake to put into their mouths The only way then soundly to reform and remove all these abuses and take away the ground and occasion of them is to take away all stinted and forced maintainance and stipend and seeing those things were anciently given by the people that they return again into the publick treasure and thereby the people may be greatly benefited by them for that they may supply for these publick taxations and impositions that are put upon them and may ease themselves of them And whoever call or appoint teachers to themselves let them accordingly entertain them And for such as are called and moved to the Ministry by the Spirit of God those that receive them and taste of the good of their Ministry will no doubt provide things needful for them and there will be no need of a Law to force a hire for them for he that sends them will take care for them and they also having food and raiment will therewith be content § XXXIII The sum then of what is said Is that The Ministry that we have pleaded for and which also the Lord hath raised up among us is in all its parts like the true Ministry of the Apostles and primitive Church Whereas the Ministry our adversaries seek to uphold and plead for as it doth in all its parts differ from them so on the other hand it is very like the false Prophets and Teachers testified against and condemned in the Scripture as may be thus briefly illustrated 1. The Mintstry and Minister we plead for are such as are immediately called and sent forth by Christ and his Spirit unto the work of the Ministry so were the holy Apostles and Prophets as appears by these places Matth. 10. verse 1.5 Eph. 4.11 Heb. 5.4 1. But the Ministry and Ministers our opposers plead for are such as have no immediate call from Christ to whom the leading and motion of the Spirit is not reckoned necessary but who are called sent forth and ordained by wicked and ungodly men such were of old the false Prophets and Teachers as appears by these places Jer. 14.14 15. item chap. 23.21 and 27.15 2. The Ministers we plead for are such as are acted and led by God's Spirit and by the power and operation of his Grace in their hearts are in some measure converted and regenerate and so are good holy and gracious men such were the Holy Prophets and Apostles as appears from 1 Tim. 3.2 3 4 5 6. Tit. 1.7 8 9. 2. But the Ministers our adversaries plead for are such to whom the Grace of God is no needful qualification and so may be true Ministers according to them though they be ungodly
of these two must be omitted in such a case these are much rather to be omitted than those former for by how much the Spirit is more excellent and noble than the Body by so much are Spiritual exercises more profitable than corporal Is not that then the best of Worships which the best of men in all ages and of all sects have commended and which is most suitable to the Doctrine of Christ I say is not that Worship to be followed and performed And so much the rather as God hath raised a People to testifie for it and preach it to their great refreshment and strengthening in the very face of the World and notwithstanding much opposition who do not as these Mystiks make of it a mystery only to be attained by a few men or women in a Cloyster or as their mistake was after wearying themselves with many outward Ceremonies and Observations as if it were the consequences of such a labour But who in the free love of God who respects not Persons and was near to hear and reveal himself as well to Cornelius a Centurion and a Roman as to Simeon and Anna and who discovered his Glory to Mary a poor Hand-maid and to the poor Shepherds rather than to the High Priests and Devout Proselytes among the Jews in and according to his free love finding that God is revealing and establishing this Worship and making many poor Trades-men yea young boys and girles witnesses of it do intreat and beseech all to lay aside their own Will-worships and voluntary acts performed in their own wills and by their own meer natural strength and power without retiring out of their own vain imaginations and thoughts or feeling the pure Spirit of God to move and stir in them that they may come to practise this acceptable worship which is in Spirit and in Truth But against this worship they object § XVII First It seems to be an unprofitable exercise Obj. for a man to be doing or thinking nothing and that one might be much better imployed either in meditating upon some good subject or otherwise praying to or praising God I answer That is not unprofitable which is of absolute necessity before any other duty can be acceptably performed Answ. as we have shewn this waiting to be Moreover those have but a carnal and gross apprehension of God and of the things of his Kingdom that imagine that men please him by their own workings and actings whereas as hath been shewn the first step for a man to fear God is to cease from his own thoughts and imaginations and suffer God's Spirit to work in him for we must cease to do evil ere we learn to do well and this medling in things Spiritual by man's own natural understanding is one of the greatest and most dangerous evils that man is incident to being that which occasioned our first Parents fall to wit a forwardness to desire to know things and a medling with them both without and contrary to the Lord's command Obj. Secondly some object if your worship meerly consist in inwardly retiring to the Lord and feeling of his Spirit arise in you and then to do outward acts as ye are led by it what need ye have publick meetings at set times and places since every one may enjoy this at home or should not every one stay at home until they be particularly moved to go to such a place at such a time since to meet at set times and places seems to be an outward observation and ceremony contrary to what ye at other times assert Answ. I answer first To meet at set times and places is not any religious act or part of worship in it self but only an outward conveniency necessary for our seeing one another so long as we are cloathed with this outward Tabernacle and therefore our meeting at set times and places is not a part of our worshsp but a preparatory accommodation of our outward man in order to a publick visible worship since we set not about the visible acts of worship when we meet together until we be led thereunto Secondly God hath seen meet so long as his Children are in this world to make use of the outward senses as a means to convey Spiritual Life as by speaking praying c. which cannot be done to mutual edification but when we hear and see one another but also for to entertain an outward visible testimony for his Name in the world he causeth the inward Life which is also many times not conveyed by the outward senses the more to abound when his Children assemble themselves diligently together to wait upon him that as Iron sharpeneth Iron so the seeing of the face one of another when both are inwardly gathered unto the Life giveth occasion for the Life secretly to arise and pass from vessel to vessel and as many Candles lighted and put in one place do greatly augment the light and makes it more to shine forth so when many are gathered together into the same Life there is more of the Glory of God and his Power appears to the refreshment of each individual for that he partakes not only of the Light and Life raised in himself but in all the rest and therefore Christ hath particularly promised a blessing to such as assemble together in his Name seeing he will be in the midst of them Matth. 18.20 And the Author to the Hebrews doth precisely prohibit the neglect of this duty as being of very dangerous and dreadful consequence in these words Heb· 10.24 And let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works Not forsaking the assembling of our selves together as the manner of some is For if we sin wilfully after that we have received the knowledg of the Truth there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins And therefore the Lord hath shewn that he hath a particular respect to such as thus assemble themselves together because that thereby a publick testimony for him is upheld in the earth and his Name is thereby glorified and therefore such as are right in their Spirits are naturally drawn to keep the Meetings of God's People and never want a Spiritual influence to lead them thereunto And if any do it in a meer customary way they will no doubt suffer condemnation for it Yet cannot the appointing of places and times be accounted a ceremony and observation done in man's will in the worship of God seeing none can say it is an act of worship but only a meer presenting of our persons in order to it as is abovesaid Which that it was practised by the primitive Church and Saints all our adverlaries do acknowledg Lastly some object Obj. That this manner of Worship in silence is not to be found in all the Scripture I answer We make not silence to be the sole matter of our Worship Answ. since as I have abovesaid there are many Meetings which are seldom if ever altogether silent some or
other are still moved either to preach pray and praise and so in this our Meetings cannot be but like the Meetings of the primitive Churches recorded in Scripture since our adversaries confess that they did preach and pray by the Spirit And then what absurdity is it to suppose that at sometimes the Spirit did not move them to these outward acts and that then they were silent since we may well conclude they did not speak until they were moved and so no doubt had sometimes silence Acts 2.1 Before the Spirit came upon them it is said They were all with one accord in one place and then it is said the Spirit suddenly came upon them but no mention is made of any one speaking at that time and I would willingly know what absurdity our adversaries can infer should we conclude they were a while silent But if it be urged that a whole silent meeting cannot be found in Scripture I answer supposing such a thing were not recorded it will not therefore follow that it is not lawful Answ. seeing it naturally followeth from other Scripture precepts as we have proved this doth for seeing the Scripture commands to meet together and when met the Scripture prohibits prayers or preachings but as the Spirit moveth thereunto if People met together and the Spirit move not to such acts it will necessarily follow that they must be silent But further there might have been many such things among the Saints of old though not recorded in Scripture and yet we have enough in Scripture signifying that such things were For Job sate silent seven daies with his Friends together here was a long silent meeting See also Ezra c. 9.4 and Ezekiel c. 1.14 20.1 Thus having shewn the excellency of this Worship proving it from Scripture and Reason and answered the objections which are commonly made against it which though it may suffice to the explanation and probation of our Proposition yet I shall add something more particularly of Preaching Praying and Singing and so proceed to the following Proposition § XVIII Preaching as it 's used both among Papists and Protestants is for one man to take some place or verse of Scripture and thereon speak for an hour or two what he hath studied and premiditated in his Closet and gathered together from his own inventions or from the writings and observations of others and then having got it by heart as a school boy doth his lesson he brings it forth and repeats it before the people and how much the fertiler and stronger a man's invention is and the more industrious and laborous he is in collecting such observations and can utter them with the excellency of speech and humane eloquence so much the more is he accounted an able and excellent preacher To this we oppose that when the Saints are met together and every one gathered to the Gift and Grace of God in themselves he that ministreth being acted thereunto by the arising of the Grace in himself ought to speak forth what the Spirit of God furnisheth him with not minding the eloquence and wisdom of words but the demonstration of the Spirit and of Power and that either in the interpreting some part of Scripture in case the Spirit which is the good Remembrancer lead him so to do or otherwise words of exhortation advice reproof and instruction or the sense of some spiritual experiences all which will still be agreeable to the Scripture though perhaps not relative to nor founded upon any particular chapter or verse as a text Now let us examine and consider which of these two sorts of preaching be most agreeable to the Precepts and Practice of Christ and his Apostles and the Primitive Church recorded in Scripture For First as to their Preaching upon a text if it were not meerly customary or premeditated but done by the immediate motion of the Spirit we should not blame it but to do it as they do there is neither precept nor practice that ever I could observe in the New Testament as a part of the instituted Worship thereof But they alledge that Christ took the Book of Isaiah and read out of it and spake therefrom and that Peter Preached from a sentence of the Prophet Joel I answer That Christ and Peter did it not but as immediately acted and moved thereunto by the Spirit of God and that without premeditation which I suppose our Adversaries will not deny in which case we willingly approve of it but what is this to their customary conned way without either waiting for or expecting the movings or leadings of the Spirit Moreover that neither Christ nor Peter did it as a setled custom or form to be constantly practised by all the Ministers of the Church appears in that most of all the Sermons recorded by Christ and his Apostles in Scripture were without this as appears from Christ's Sermon upon the Mount Matth. 5.1 c. Mark 4.1 c. and Paul's Preaching to the Athenians and to the Jews c. As then it appears that this method of Preaching is not grounded upon any Scripture precept so the nature of it is contrary to the preaching of Christ under the New Covenant as exprest and recommended in Scripture for Christ in sending forth his Disciples expresly mentioneth that they are not to speak of or from themselves or to sore cast before hand but that which the Spirit in the same hour shall teach them as is particularly mentioned in the three Evangelists Matth. 10.20 Mark 13.11 Luke 12.12 Now if Christ gave this order to his Disciples before he departed from them as that which they were to practice during his abode outwardly with them much more were they to do it after his departure since then they were more especially to receive the Spirit to lead them in all things and to bring all things to their remembrance John 14.26 And if they were to do so when they appeared before the Magistrates and Princes of the Earth much more in the Worship of God when they stand specially before him seeing as is above shewn his Worship is to be performed in Spirit and therefore after their receiving of the Holy Ghost it is said Acts 2.4 they spake as the Spirit gave them utterance not what they had studied and gathered from Books in their Closets in a premeditated way Franciscus Lambertus before cited speaketh well and sheweth their Hypocrisie Tract 5. of Prophecy chap. 3. saying Where are they now that glory in their Inventions who say A brave Invention a brave invention This they call invention which themselves have made up but what have the Faithful to do with such kind of Inventions It is not figments nor yet Inventions that we will have but things that are solid invincible eternal and heavenly not which men have invented but which God hath revealed for if we believe the Scripture our invention profiteth nothing but to provoke God to our ruin And afterwards Beware saith he that
thou determine not precisely to speak what before thou hast meditated whatsoever it be for though it be lawful to determine the Text which thou art to expound yet not at all the interpretation lest if thou so dost thou take from the Holy Spirit that which is his to wit to direct thy speech that thou mayst Prophecy in the Name of the Lord denuded of all Learning Meditation and Experience and as if thou hadst studied nothing at all committing thy heart thy tongue and thy self wholly unto his Spirit and trusting nothing to thy former studying or meditation but saying with thy self in great confidence of the Divine Promise the Lord will give a word with much power unto those that preach the Gospel But above all things be careful thou follow not the manner of Hypocrites who have written almost word by word what they are to say as if they were to repeat some Verses upon a Theatre having learned all their Preaching as they do that act Tragedies and afterwards when they are in the place of Prophecying pray the Lord to direct their tongue but in the mean time shutting up the way of the Holy Spirit they determine to say nothing but what they have written O unhappy kind of Prophets yea and truly cursed which depend not upon God's Spirit but upon their own Writings or meditation Why pray'st thou to the Lord thou false Prophet to give thee his holy Spirit by which thou mayst speak things profitable and yet thou repellest the Spirit why preferrest thou thy meditation or study to the Spirit of God otherwise why committest thou not thy self to the Spirit § XIX Secondly this manner of preaching as used by them considering that they also affirm that it may be and often is performed by men who are wicked or void of true Grace cannot only not edifie the Church beget or nourish true Faith but is destructive to it being directly contrary to the Nature of the Christian and Apostolick Ministry mentioned in the Scriptures For the Apostle preached the Gospel not in the wisdom of words lest the Cross of Christ should be of none effect 1 Cor. 1.17 But this preaching not being done by the actings and movings of God's Spirit but by man's invention and eloquence in his own will and through his natural and acquired parts and learning is in the wisdom of words and therefore the Cross of Christ is thereby made of none effect The Apostles speech and preaching was not with inticing words of man's wisdom but in demonstration of the Spirit and of Power That the Faith of their Hearers should not stand in the Wisdom of men but in the Power of God 1 Cor. 2 3 4 5. But this preaching having nothing of the Spirit and Power in it both the Preachers and Hearers confessing they wait for no such thing nor yet are often-times sensible of it must needs stand in the enticing words of man's wisdom since it is by the meer wisdom of man it is sought after and the meer strength of man's eloquence and enticing words it is uttered and therefore no wonder if the Faith of such as hear and depend upon such Preachers and Preachings stand in the wisdom of men and not in the Power of God The Apostles declared that they spake not in the words which man's wisdom teacheth but which the Holy Ghost teacheth 1 Cor. 2.13 But these Preachers confess that they are strangets to the Holy Ghost his motions and operations neither do they wait to feel them and therefore they speak in the words which their own natural wisdom and learning teacheth them mixing them in and adding them to such words as they steal of the Scripture and other Books and therefore speak not what the Holy Ghost teacheth Thirdly this is contrary to the method and order of the primitive Church mentioned by the Apostle 1 Cor. 14.30 c. where in Preaching every one is to wait for his Revelation and to give place one unto another according as things are revealed But here there is no waiting for a revelation but the Preacher must speak and not that which is revealed unto him but what he hath prepared and premeditated before hand Lastly by this kind of preaching the Spirit of God which should be the chief instructor and teacher of God's people and whose influence is that only which makes all preaching effectual and beneficial for the edifying of Souls is shut out and man's natural wisdom learning and parts set up and exalted which no doubt is a great and chief reason why the preaching among the generality of Christians is so unfruitful and unsuccessful yea according to this Doctrine the Devil may preach and ought to be heard also seeing he both knoweth the Truth and hath as much eloquence as any But what avails excellency of speech if the demonstration and Power of the Spirit be wanting which toucheth the Conscience We see that when the Devil confessed to the Truth yet Christ would have none of his testimony And as these pregnant testimonies of the Scripture do prove this part of preaching to be contrary to the Doctrin of Christ so do they also prove that of ours before affirmed to be conform thereunto § XX. But if any object after this manner Have not many been benefited yea and both converted and edified by the Ministry of such as have premiditated their preachings yea and hath not the Spirit often concurred by its divine influence with preaching thus premeditated so as they have been powerfully born in upon the Souls of the hearers to their advantage I answer though that be granted which I shall not deny it will not infer that the thing was good in it self more than because Paul was met with by Christ to the converting of his Soul riding to Damascus to persecute the Saints that he did well in so doing neither particular actions nor yet whole congregations as we above observed are to be measured by the acts of God's condescension in times of ignorance But besides it hath often times faln out that God having a regard to the simplicity and integrity either of the preacher or hearers hath faln in upon the heart of a Preacher by his power and holy influence and thereby hath led them to speak things which were not in his premeditated discourse and which perhaps he never thought of before and those passing ejaculations and unpremeditated but living exhortations have proved more beneficial and refreshful both to preacher and hearers than all their premeditated Sermons But all that will not allow them to continue in these things which in themselves are not approved but contrary to the practice of the Apostles when God is raising up a people to serve him according to the primitive purity and spirituality yea such acts of God's condescension in times of darkness and ignorance should ingage all more and more to follow him according as he reveals his most perfect and spiritual way § XXI Having hitherto spoken of Preaching
would then follow that all those that have this baptism are saved by it Now this consequence would be false if it were understood of Water-baptism because many by the confession of all are baptized with water that are not saved but this consequence holds most true if it be understood as we do of the Baptism of the Spirit since none can have this answer of a good Conscience and abiding in it not be saved by it Fifthly that the One Baptism of Christ is not a washing with Water as it hath been proved by the definition of the One Baptism so it is also manifest from the necessary fruits and effects of it which are three-times particularly expressed by the Apostle Paul as first Rom. 6.3 4. where he saith that so many of them as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his Death buried with him by Baptism into death that they should walk in newness of Life Secondly to the Gal. 3.27 he saith positively For as many of you as have been baptized unto Christ have put on Christ. And thirdly to the Col. 2.12 he saith that they were Buried with him in Baptism and risen with him through the Faith of the operation of God It is to be observed here that the Apostle speaks generally without any exclusive term but comprehensive of all he saith not some of you that were baptzed into Christ have put on Christ but as many of you which is as much as if he had said every one of you that hath been Baptized into Christ hath put on Christ. Whereby it is evident that this is not meant of Water-Baptism but of the Baptism of the Spirit because else it would follow that whosoever had been Baptized with Water baptism had put on Christ and were risen with him which all acknowledg to be most absurd Now supposing all the visible members of the Churches of Rome Galatia and Coloss had been outwardly Baptized with Water I do not say they were but our Adversaries will not only readily grant it but also contend for it suppose I say the case so they will not say they had all put on Christ since divers expressions in these Epistles to them shew the contrary so that the Apostle cannot mean Baptism with Water and yet he meaneth the Baptism of Christ i. e. of the Spirit cannot be denyed or that the Baptism wherewith thes were Baptized of whom the Apostle here testifies that they had put on Christ was the One Baptism I think none will call in question Now admit as our Adversaries contend that many in these Churches who had been Baptized with Water had not put on Christ it will follow that notwithstanding that Water-baptism they were not Baptized into Christ or with the Baptism of Christ seeing as many of them as were Baptized into Christ had put on Christ e. From all which I thus argue Arg. 1. If the Baptism with Water were the one Baptism i. e. the Baptism of Christ as many as were Baptized with Water would have put on Christ. But the last is false Therefore also the first And again Arg. 2. Since as many as are baptized into Christ i. e. with the one baptism which is the baptism of Christ have put on Christ then Water-baptism is not the one baptism viz. the baptism of Christ. But the first is true Therefore also the last § V. Thirdly since John's Baptism was a Figure and seeing the Figure gives way to the Substance albeit the thing figured remain to wit the one baptism of Christ yet the other ceaseth which was the baptism of John That John's baptism was a figure of Christ's baptism I judg will not readily be denyed but in case it should it can easily be proved from the nature of it John's baptism was a being baptized with Water but Christ's is a baptizing with the Spirit Therefore John's baptism must have been a figure of Christ's But further that Water-baptism was John's baptism will not be denyed that Water-baptism is not Christ's baptism is already proved From which doth arise the confirmation of our Proposition thus There is no baptism to continue now but the one baptism of Christ Arg. Therefore Water-baptism is not to continue now because it is not the baptism of Christ. That John's baptism is ceased many of out Adversaries confess but if any should alledg it otherwise it may be easily proved by the express words of John not only as being insinuated there where he contra-distinguisheth his baptism from that of Christ but particularly where he saith John 3.30 he Christ must increase but I John must decrease From whence it clearly follows that the encreasing or taking place of Christ's Baptism is the decreasing or abolishing of John's Baptism so that if Water baptism was a particular part of John's Ministry and is no part of Christ's baptism as we have already proved it will necessarily follow that it is not to continue Secondly Arg. If Water-baptism had been to continue a perpetual ordinance of Christ in his Church he would either have practised it himself or commanded his Apostles so to do But that he practised it not the Scripture plainly affirms John 4.2 And that he commanded his Disciples to baptize with water I could never yet read As for what is alleged that Matth. 28.19 c. where he bids them baptize is to be understood of water baptism that is but to beg the question and the grounds for that shall be hereafter examined Therefore to baptize with Water is no perpetual ordinance of Christ to his Church This hath had the more weight with me because I find not any standing ordinance or appoyntment of Christ necessary to Christians for which we have not either Christ's own practice or command as to obey all the Commandments which comprehend both our duty towards God and man c. and where the Gospel requires more than the Law which is abundantly signified in the 5. and 6. Chapters of Matthew and elsewhere Besides as to the duties of Worship he exhorts us to meet promising his presence commands to Pray Preach Watch c. and gives precepts concerning some temporary things as the washing of one anothers Feet the breaking of Bread hereafter to be discussed only for this one thing of baptizing with Water though so earnestly contended for we find not any precept of Christ. § VI. But to make Water-baptism a necessary institution of the Christian Religion which is pure and Spiritual and not carnal and and ceremonial is to derogate from the New Covenant Dispensation and set up the legal Rites and Ceremonies of which this of Baptism or washing with Water was one as appears from Heb. 9.10 where the Apostle speaking thereof saith that it stood only in Meats and Drinks and divers Baptisms and carnal Ordinances imposed until the time of Reformation If then the time of Reformation or the Dispensation of the Gospel which puts an end to the Shaddows be come then such Baptisms and
much evidence their affinity with such as hate to be reproved and neither will enter themselves nor suffer those that would § VIII Fourthly let us consider the use of Games Sports Comedies and other such things commonly and indifferently used by all the several sorts of Christians under the notion of divertisement and recreation and see whether these things can consist with the seriousness gravity and godly fear which the Gospel calls for Let us but view and look over the notions of them that call themselves Christians whether Papist or Protestant and see if generally there be any difference save in meer name and profession from the Heathen doth not the same folly the same vanity the same abuse of precious and irrevocable time abound The same Gaming Sporting Playing and from thence Quarrelling Fighting Swearing Ranting Revelling Now how can these things be remedied so long as the Preachers and Professors and those who are the leaders of the People do allow these things and account them not inconsistent with the profession of Christianity And it is strange to see that these things are tolerated every where the inquisition laies no hold on them neither at Rome nor in Spain where in their Masquerades all manner of Obscenity Folly yea and Atheism is generally practised in the face of the world to the great scandal of the Christian name but if any man reprove them in these things and forsake their superstitions and come seriously to serve God and worship him in the Spirit he is made a prey and presently made liable to cruel sufferings Doth this bear any proportion to Christianity Do these things look any thing like the Churches of the primitive Christians Surely not at all I shall first cite some few Scripture testimonies being very positive precepts to Christians and then see whether such as obey them can admit of these forementioned things The Apostle commands us that whether we eat or drink or whatever we do we do it all to the glory of God But I judg none will be so impatient as to affirm that in the use of these Sports and Games God is glorified If any should so say they would declare they neither knew God nor his Glory and experience abundantly proves that in the practice of these things men mind nothing less than the glory of God and nothing more than the satisfaction of their own carnal lusts wills and appetites The Apostle desires us 1 Cor. 7.29.31 Because the time is short that they that buy should be as though they possessed not And they that use this world as not abusing it c. But how can they be found in the obedience of this precept that plead for the use of these Games and Sports who it seems think the time so long that they cannot find occasion enough to employ it neither in taking care for their souls nor yet in the necessary care for their bodies but invent these games and sports to pass it away as if they wanted other work to serve God or be useful to the creation in The Apostle Peter desires us to pass the time of our sojourning here in fear 1 Pet. 1.17 But will any say that such as use dancing comedies carding dicing do so much as mind this precept in the use of these things where there is nothing to be seen but lightness and vanity wantonness and obscenity contrived to hinder men from fear or being serious and therefore no doubt calculate for the service of the Devil There is no duty more frequently commanded nor more incumbent upon Christians than the fear of the Lord to stand in awe before him to walk as in his presence but if such as use these Games and sports will speak from their Consciences they can I doubt not experimentally declare that this fear is forgotten in their gaming and if God by his Light secretly touch them or mind them of the vanity of their way they strive to shut it out and use their gaming as an engine to put away from them that troublesom gust and thus make merry over the Just One whom they have slain and crucified in themselves But further if Christ's reasoning be to be heeded who saith Matth. 12.35 36. That the good man out of the good treasure of the heart bringeth forth good things and an evil man out of the evil treasure bringeth forth evil things And that of every idle word we shall give an account in the day of Judgment it may be easily gathered from what treasure these inventions come and it may be easily proved that it is from the evil and not the good How many idle words do they necessarily produce Yea what are Comedies but a studied Complex of idle and lying words Let men that believe their Souls are Immortal and that there will be a day of Judgment in which these words of Christ will be accomplished answer me how all these will make account in that great and terrible day of all these Idle words that are necessarily made use of about danceing gaming carding and comedies acting And yet how is it that by Christians not condeming these things but allowing of them many that are accounted Christians take up their whole time in them yea make in their Trade and Employment such as the Dancing-masters and Comedians c. whose hellish conversations do sufficiently declare what Master they serve and to what end these things contribute and it cannot be denyed as being obviously manifest by experience that such as are Masters of these trades and are most delighted in them if they be not open Atheists and Profligats are such at best as make Religion or the care of their Souls their least business Now if these things were discountenanced by Christians or inconsistent with their profession it would remove these things for these Wretches would be necessitated then to betake themselves to some more honest livelyhood if they were not fed and upholden by these And as hereby a great scandal and stumbling-block would be removed from off the Christian Name so also would that in part be taken out of the way which provokes the Lord to with-hold his Blessing and by occasion of which things the minds of many remained chained in darkness and drowned in lust sensuality and worldly pleasures without any sense of God's fear or their own Souls Salvation Many of those called Fathers of the Church and other serious persons have signified their regrete for these things and their desires they might be remedied of whom many Citations might be alledged which for brevities sake I have omitted § IX But they object that mens Spirits could not subsist Obj. if they were always intent upon Serious and Spiritual matters and that therefore there is need of some Divertisement to recreate the mind a little whereby it being refreshed is able with greater vigor to apply it self to these things I answer though all this were granted Answ. it would no ways militat against us neither plead the
visitation in which it is possible for them to be saved 83 84 98 99 100 101 102. the testimony of Cyrill concerning this thing 102. it is explained what is understood and not understood by this day 86. to some it may be longer to others shorter 86. many may out-live this their day of Visitation after which there is no possibility of Salvation to them 86. some examples are alledged 87. the objections and those places of Scripture which others abuse to prove that God incites men necessarily to sin are easily solved if they be applyed to these men after the time of their visitation is past 87 97 98. there is given to every one a measure of the Light Seed Grace and Word of God whereby they can be saved 83 84 97 102 to 112. which is also confirmed by the Testimonies of Cyrill and others 106 107 108 110 111. what that Light is see Light many tho ignorant of the outward history yet have been sensible of the loss that came by Adam which is confirmed by the Testimonies of Plato and others 124 125. many have known Christ within as a remedy to redeem them tho not under that denomination witness Seneca Cicero and others 124 125. yet all are obliged to believe the outward history of Christ to whom God bringeth the knowledg of it 89. Reformation wherein it is not plac'd 188. Mechanick men have contributed much to it 218. what hath been pernicious to it 310. Relation see Quakers Religion the Christian Religion see Christianity how it is made odious to Jews Turks and Heathens 309. Remonstrants of Holland see Arminians Redemption they deny absolute Reprobation 30. how we differ from them 95. they exalt too much the natural power and free will of man and what they think of the Saving Light 114 115. their worship can easily be stopped 251. Reprobation see also Redemption what absolute Reprobation is is described 68 69. its doctrin is horrible impious and blasphemous 69 73 74. it is also so called by Lucas Osiander 81. 't is a new doctrine and Augustin laid the first foundation thereof which Dominicus Calvin and the Synod of Dort maintained 69 80 81. also Luther whom notwithstanding Lutherans afterwards deserted 80 81. it is injurious to God and makes him the author of sin proved by the sayings of Calvin Beza Zanchius Paraeus Martin Zwinglius and Piscator 70 71. it makes the Preaching of the Gospel a meer mock and illusion 71 it makes the coming of Christ and his propitiatory Sacrifice to have been a testimony of God's wrath 72 73. it is injurious to mankind and makes his condition worse than the condition of Devils Beasts Jews under Pharaoh and the same which the Poets applied to Tantalus 72 73. Revelation God alwaies manifested himself by the revelations of the Spirit 3 11 12 34. they are made several waies 3. they have been alwaies the formal object of Faith and so remain 3 13 to 24. and that not only subjectively but also objectively 23 24 25 26. they are simply necessary unto true Faith 3 28 36. they are not uncertain 27 28 29. yea it is horrible sacriledge to accuse them of uncertainty 22. the examples of the Anabaptists of Munster do not a whit weaken this doctrin 29 31 33 34 41. they can never contradict the holy Scripture nor sound Reason 3 34 50 51. they are evident and clear of themselves nor need they anothers Testimony 3 35 36. they are the only sure certain and unmoveable foundation of all Christian Faith 36 37. carnal Christians judge them nothing necessary yea they are hissed out by the most part of men 3. of old none were esteemed Christians save those that had the Spirit of Christ but now adaies he is termed an Heretick who affirms that he is led by it 3 4. the Testimonies of some concerning the necessity of these Revelations 5 6 7 21 22. by whose and what devices they have been brought out of use 83. Revenge see War 379 380. Rule of Faith and manners see Scripture Rustick the poor Rustick's answer given to the proud Prelat 195. he brought a Philosopher unto the Christian Faith 209. S Sabbath 234 235. Sacraments of their number nature c. how much contention there hath been and that the word Sacrament is not found in Scripture but borrowed from the Heathens 278 301. its definition will agree to many other things 279. whether they confer Grace 328 329. Salvation without the Church there is no Salvation 181. Samaria the woman of Samaria 313. Sanctification see Justification Saxony the Elector of Saxony of the scandal he gave to the Reformation by being present at the Mass 272. Sceptick 208 School without the School of Christ nothing is learned but meer talk and a shaddow of Knowledge 4 5 6. whether publick Schools be necessary 207. Scriptures of Truth whence they proceeded and what they contain 38. they are a declaration of the Fountain and not the Fountain it self 38. they are not to be esteemed the adequate primary rule of Faith and manners but a secondary and subordinate to the Spirit and why 38 to 57 199. their certainty is only known by the Spirit 38.39 143. they testifie that the Spirit is given to the Saints for a Guide 38 48 49 52 53 54 55. their authority depends not upon the Church or Council nor upon their intrinsick vertue but upon the Spirit nor is it subjected to the corrupt reason of men but to the Spirit 38 50. the testimonies of Calvin the French Churches the Synod of Dort and the Divines of Great Britain at Westminster concerning this thing 39 40. the contentions of those that seek the certainty of the Scriptures from something else than the Spirit 39 40. divers Opinions of the Fathers so called concerning some Books 39 40. concerning the taking away and the corruption of some places the Translation Transcription and various Lections of the Hebrew Character and of the Greek Books the Interpretation of the Septuagint concerning the Hebrew Books and of admitting or rejecting some Books 47 48 49. of the difficulty in their explanation 50 51. Augustin's judgment concerning the Authors of the Canonick Books and concerning the Transcription and Interpretation 49. the use of them is very profitable and comfortable 41 49. the unlearned and unstable abuse them 50. there is no necessity of believing the Scripture to be a filled up Canon 55. many Canonick Books through the injury of time lost 55. whether it can be proved by Scripture that any Book is Canonical 55 56. they were sometime as a Sealed Book 207. to understand them there is need of the help and revelation of the Holy Spirit 5 6 no man can make himself a Doctor of them but the Holy Spirit 6. Sest the Ignatian Sect loveth literature 207. they call those that are sent unto India Apostles 217. Seed of Righteousness 247. the seed of sin see sin Redemption Self-Denial 247. Semi-Pelagians their Axiom Facienâ—â— quod in
together increaseth with the increase of God Col. 2.19 But can such members such a gathering as we have demonstrated that Church and Members to be among whom they alledge their pretended authority to have been preserved and through which they derive their call can such I say be the body of Christ or members thereof or is Christ the head of such a corrupt dead dark abominable stinking carcase If so then might we not as well affirm against the Apostle 2 Cor. 6.14 That righteousness hath fellowship with unrighteousness that Light hath communion with Darkness that Christ hath concord with Belial that a Believer hath part with an Infidel and that the Temple of God hath agreement with Idols Moreover no man is called the Temple of God nor of the Holy Ghost but as his vessel is purified and so he fitted and prepared for God to dwell in and many thus fitted by Christ become his body in and among whom he dwells and walks according as it is written I will dwell in them and walk in them and I will be their God and they shall be my people It is therefore that we may become the Temple of Christ and people of God that the Apostle in the following verse exhorts saying out of the Prophet Wherefore come out from among them and be ye separate saith the Lord and touch not the unclean thing and I will receive you and I will be a Father unto you and ye shall be my Sons and Daughters saith the Lord Almighty But to what purpose all this exhortation and why should we separate from the unclean if a meer outward profession and name be enough to make the true Church and if the unclean and polluted were both the Church and lawful successors of the Apostles inheriting their authority and transmitting it to others Yea how can the Church be the Kingdom of the Son of God as contrary distinguished from the Kingdom and Power of darkness and what need yea what possibility of being translated out of the one into the other if those that make up the Kingdom and Power of darkness be real members of the true Church of Christ and not simple members only but the very Pastors and Teachers of it But how do they increase in the increase of God and receive Spiritual nourishment from Christ the Head that are enemies of him in their hearts by wicked works and openly go into perdition Verily as no metaphysical and nice distinctions that though they were practically as to their own private states enemies to God and Christ and so servants of Satan yet they were by vertue of their office members and ministers of the Church and so able to transmit the succession I say as such invented and frivolous distinctions will not please the Lord God neither will he be deluded by such nor make up the glorious body of his Church with such meer out-side hypocritical shews nor be beholden to such painted sepulchres for to be members of his body which is sound pure and undefiled and therefore he needs not such false and corrupt members to make up the defects of it so neither will such distinctions satisfie truly tender and Christian Consciences especially considering the Apostle is so far from desiring us to regard that as that we are expresly commanded to turn away from such as have a form of godliness but deny the power of it For we may well object against these as the poor man did against the proud Prelate that went about to cover his vain and unchristian-like sumptuousness by distinguishing that it was not as Bishop but as Prince he had all that splendor To which the poor rustick wisely is said to have answered When the Prince goeth to Hell what shall become of the Prelate And indeed this were to suppose the body of Christ to be defective and that to fill up these defective places he puts counterfeit and dead stuff instead of real living members like such as lose their eyes arms or legs make counterfeit ones of timber or glass instead of them But we cannot think so of Christ neither can we believe for the reasons above adduced that either we are to account or that Christ doth account any man or men a whit the more members of his body because though they be really wicked they hypocritically and deceitfully cloath themselves with his Name pretended to it for this is contrary to his own doctrine where he saith expresly Joh. 15.1 2 3 4 5 6 c. that he is the Vine and his Disciples are the Branches that except they abide in him they cannot bear fruit and if they be unfruitful they shall be cast forth as a branch and wither Now I suppose these cut and withered branches are no more true branches nor members of the Vine they can draw no more sap nor nourishment from it after that they are cut off and so have no more vertue sap nor life What have they then to boast or glory of any authority seeing they want that life vertue and nourishment from which all authority comes So such members of Christ as are become dead to him through unrighteousness and so derive no more vertue nor life from him are cut off by their sins and wither and have no more any true or real authority and their boasting of any is but an aggravation of their iniquity by hypocrisie and deceit But further would not this make Christ's body a meer shadow and phantam Yea would it not make him the head of a lifeless rotten stinking carcase having only some little outward false shew while inwardly full of rottenness and dirt and what a monster would these men make of Christ's body by assigning it real pure living quick Head full of vertue and life and yet tied to such a dead lifeless body as we have already described these members to be which they alledge to have been the Church of Christ. Again the members of the Church of Christ are specified by this definition to wit as being the sanctified in Christ Jesus 1. Cor. 1.2 But this notion of succession supposeth not only some unsanctified members to be of the Church of Christ but even the whole to consist of unsanctified members yea that such as were professed Necromancers and open servants of Satan were the true successors of the Apostles and in whom the Apostolick authority resided these being the vessels through whom this Succession is transmitted though many of them as all Protestants and also some Papists confess attained these offices in the so called Church not only by such means as Simon Magus sought it but by much worse even by witchcraft murther traditions money and treachery which Platina himself confesseth of divers Bishops of Rome § XI But such as object not this succession of the Church which yet most Protestants begin now to do distinguish in this matter affirming that in a great apostacy such as was that of the Church of Rome God may raise up some