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A38702
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The defence of Iohn Etherington against Steven Denison and his witnesses their accusatons and depositions vvherein their whole proceedings and ground whereupon he was censured and committed to prison by the high commission court is in brief declared : which he having now opportunitie and speciall occasion also urging, thought needfull to publish.
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Etherington, John, fl. 1641-1645.
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1641
(1641)
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Wing E3384; ESTC R7935
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45,195
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66
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be excluded from entring into the Kingdome of God as he that dyeth without the second part the Baptisme of the spirit That the first part of this birth from above is something called in Scripture by the name of Baptisme besides that which is called the Baptisme of the holy Ghost is out of question I thinke to all Outward baptisme it cannot be for the reasons before mentioned because one may be saved that is never baptized therwith as hath been proved Then without all doubt it must bee some speciall necessarie principle of Christ called in Scripture by the name of Baptisme and signified also by outward Baptisme because it is layd downe in the first place as a necessarie part of the new birth and first plantation of a Christian And there is no principle of Christ so speciall and necessary called by the name of Baptisme and signified by outward Baptisme that is required to the first plantation of a Christian besides the Baptisme of the Holy Ghost but onely repentance That repentance is a speciall principle of Christ is evident by Marke 1. 1. 2. 3. 4 Luk. 24. 47. Act. 20. 21. Heb. 6. 1. That it is so necessary is also evident by Christs owne testimony in Luke 13. where hee urgeth it with the same words of necessitie saying Except yee repent yee shall all likewise perish Vers 3. That it is called by the name of Baptisme and signified by outward Baptisme is manifest by Mat. 3. 11. Mar. 1. 1. 2. 3. 4. Luke 3. 3 Act. 10. 37. Act. 13. 24. Act. 19. 4. And that it is required in the first place to the first plantation of a Christian is also manifest by sundry Scriptures where the Holy Ghost saith Repent and believe the Gospell Repent that your sinnes may be blotted out Repent and be Baptised every one of you in the Name of Iesus Christ for the remission of sinnes and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost Mar. 1. 15. Act. 3. 19. Act. 2. 38. Therefore the first part of regeneration is the Baptisme of repentance even the same which Iohn the Baptist a speciall Minister and patterne thereof preached in the power and spirit of Elias wherewith hee made ready a people prepared for the Lord as it was prophesyed of him Esay 43. And is a turning and dissolving of the heart which naturally through sin is hard and stony to water as it were to flesh as the Scriptures speake even to weeping and mourning and humble confession of sinnes unto God as Christ himselfe expresseth it in a Parable saying Wee have lamented unto you and yee have not wept and is caused by the speciall power and working of the Holy Ghost and is of the Gospell and not of the Law The second part of this birth from above is that Baptisme of Christ which Iohn the Baptist also spake of to his disciples whom he had prepared by the Baptisme of repentance saying I indeed Baptise you with Water to repentance but he that commeth after me is mightier then I hee shall Baptise you with the Holy Ghost and with fire as if hee had said I indeed through the power and Spirit of God preaching unto you repentance have prepared you ready for the Lord I have brought you into the travell of the birth to weepe and mourne for your finnes the first laver of regeneration But Christ which cometh after me he is mightier then I he by a more excellent gift of the Spirit as it were with fire will purge and sanctifie your hearts by faith and so justifie you from all your finnes he will deliver you that labour and are heavy loaden and accomplish in you the new birth comfort you that mourne bind up your broken hearts and speake peace to your soules For although repentance be a part of the Gospell in a generall confideration the first principle and of the purchase of Christ as it is manifest by Luke 24. 47. 48. Act. 20. 20. 21. Heb. 6. 1. c. yet the Word preaching peace by Iesus Christ the glad tidings of remission of sins to the repentant is the Gospell and so called in a speciall distinct manner from repentance and the preaching and the enjoyment thereof by faith is a more excellent thing then the ministery and enjoyment of repentance And in this regard hee that is the least messenger of the latter is greater then hee that is the greatest messenger of the first as Christ himselfe testifieth Matth. 11. 11. This is it which the Prophet Esay prophecied of before concerning Christ saying The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me and hee hath annoynted me to preach glad tidings to the poore and to bind up the broken hearted c. he saith not to all or every one in the world but the poore the broken in heart onely c. This is that word preaching peace by Iesus Christ which is said to begin to be preached after the Baptisme of repentance which Iohn peached Not but that it was preached before this time even in all ages from the beginning but because no one did receive it or had it so preached unto him in such a speciall peculiar manner but such a one as was first prepared by repentance therefore it is said to begin to be preached after And because it was now to bee done in a more plentifull and larger manner then ever it was before Therefore was Iohn sent before the face of the Lord in the power and spirit of Elias to prepare his way before him This is it which Christ sent Iohn word of saying Goe tell Iohn The blind doe see the lame doe walk and the poor have the Gospell preached unto them as much as to say the humble repentant sinners the poore and contrite in heart they have the glad tidings of peace and remission of sinnes preached unto them and ministred unto their soules according to the prophecie of Esay and they receive the same or believed it with joy and peace in their heats for this preaching implieth such a believing or receiving And so doth Saint Paul interpret the words of Iohn concerning this Baptisme of Christ in Act. 19. where he saith Iohn verily Baptized with the Baptisme of Repentance saying unto the people that they should believe in him which should come after him that is in Christ Iesus Iohns words beeing He shall Baptise you with the Holy Ghost with fire So that as to bee Baptized with the Baptisme of Repentance is to repent to weepe and mourne for our sinnes washing them as it were in this first laver So to bee Baptixed with the Holy Ghost and with fire is to believe in Christ to bee justified and purged from our sinnes by faith in him These are the true parts of regeneration the special and most necessary principles of Christ the foundation as Saint Paul calleth them the briefe or sum of the Gospell as Christ declareth This did Christ Preach at
yee see the day approaching All which I suppose the meanest Christian of the lowest degree or place that is may doe and that it concerneth him as much as it doth any other though never so great If in this I have offended against the law of the Church of England I have offended it I confesse but I doe suppose nay I verily beleeve there is no law in this Christian Kingdome now at this time forbidding these things In the times of Papistry it was not held lawfull for the Scriptures to be in the English Language nor for the lay people to reade the same But thankes be to God it is not so now those dayes of desolation are shortned in this Realme according to the word of Christ as he foretold saying But for the elect sake those dayes shall be shortned The Scriptures wherein the light of the truth and way of salvation is conteined and held forth which by Antichrist and his Church hath beene so long obscured are by the Lawes and Authoritie of this Land translated into our owne native tongue and by the same Authoritie all men young and old have free libertie to reade and consider the same to talke and conferre thereof one neighbour with another and as the men of Berea after they had heard Paul preach did search the Scriptures daily so may we doe after we have heard and as Timothy did know the Scriptures of a childe which were able to make him wise unto salvation so may wee even of children know the Scriptures Therefore we are greatly bound to be thankfull unto God for this inestimable treasure and for those his servants who have beene the meanes of this so great good unto us And God forbid that ever the Authoritie or Law of this Christian Kingdome should prohibit the same againe So that whereas Steven Denison and his witnesses doe charge me that I have oftentimes taken upon me to expound sundry places of Scripture as a teacher or instructer to many persons c. They charge me very falsly for I never did otherwise then as one Christian neighbour or friend may and ought to doe to and with another so far forth as God hath given him grace and understanding as I have sayd But because it will be conceived that all this that hath been said and done against me was not for nothing I must therefore request the favour and patience of the Reader to give me leave to relate the beginning and ground of all which was this First it is true I confesse I did and doe still hold as a maine truth of the Gospel of Christ contrary as it appeareth to Mr. Denison that repentance doth necessarily goe before remission of sinnes and so before justifying faith also as well as before justification or remission and this I confesse I have endeavoured to maintaine against some that have held the contrary Which thing Mr. Denison having heard of he tooke upon him with great violence in his Pulpits to oppose the same calling it a damnable errour a familisticall poynt of doctrine and that none but familists held it and naming me often by name and by trade as if I were the Author thereof and charged me also with many other things very false vilde and wicked And this was before he began his suite in Court against me and not at all knowing me or having once ever spoken with me but being onely informed and set on by his two first witnesses Thomson and Rogers as Thomson afterward acknowledged These two Thomson and Rogers are men that I was never acquainted or conversant with either in one kinde or other neither have I ever been in their company but by their owne occasion or procurement or some of their owne or Mr. Denisons sociates and alwayes with some others with them and under pretence of refuting the forementioned poynt of repentance before justifying faith which I held or after Mr Denison had begun so in his Pulpits under colour of friendship as seeming to be desirous to know my minde in matters of Religion more fully to the end they might informe Mr. D. thereof rightly and so stay his proceedings in his Pulpits for this Thomson and Rogers were his speciall devotaries and inward with him I say under these forementioned pretences they procured me into their company three or foure times which I for my part never sought And when I was in their company they or some of their fellowes spake as much or more then I and especially Mr. Robrowgh who for most part of the times was one with them and the speech was not in any manner of teaching or expounding as a teacher or instructer for my part especially but in the way of reasoning and answering to their questions and demands and the chiefe matter was concerning repentance which I hold for a principle of truth is and must be before justifying faith I say not all kinde of faith but justifying onely We must repent that is to say returne from the pleasures of our vaine and evill wayes and sinnes to a true and deepe sorrow and mourning for the same and in humblenesse and contrition of heart confesse them unto God and like the Publican standing a far off as not daring because of our sinnes and vildnesse to looke up to heaven but smiting our brest as truly confounded earnestly desire God to be mercifull to us sinners This repentance being a principle of Christ and part of the Gospel doe I hold is and must be before justifying faith as these Scriptures doe declare Matth. 4. 17. Mar. 1. 15. Luk. 24. 47. Act. 2. 38. Act. 3. 19. Act. 5. 31. Act. 13. 23 24 Act. 19. 4. Luk 18. 13 14. Which Mr. Robrowgh being their chiefe disputer denied and opposed as a damnable errour denied I say repentance to be before justifying faith but acknowledging it to be before justification and remission of sinnes for he maketh repentance and sanctification meaning a holy and new life to be both one and will have them to fall in and come betweene justifying faith and justification as in the writing which he before in his deposition mentioneth passed betweene him and me is to be seene as if justifying faith could be one moment of time without or before justification or remission of sinnes which are in effect both one for to have ones sinnes forgiven is to be justified from them and so of necessitie it will follow that if repentance be before remission of sinnes and justification it must be before justifying faith because where remission of sinnes is not there can be no justifying faith Hereupon it is that the said Thomson and Rogers doe depose that I have often times taken upon me to expound sundry places of Scripture and to instruct many persons in their presence and hearing and therefore they name no time place part of Scripture poynt of doctrine nor person to be present besides themselves least their cunning equivocations should be discovered but since the 20