strength and according to each mans measure of the Spirit so is his measure of grace And thus the Holy Spirit by being a Spirit of righteousness is also in us a Spirit of power 6. The Holy Spirit is a Spirit of power in us by being in us a Spirit of the fear of the Lord and so he is by representing God to us in his Glory and Majesty according as he hath revealed himself to us in his word from which knowledge of God springs his fear For what is the reason that the men of the world fear not God but sin securely against the great and glorious God every day Why the reason is because they know not the Lord. Now the Spirit comes and reveals the Father in the Son and presents God to the soul through his word in his infinite and eternal power and justice and wisdom and truth and faithfulness and love and mercy and goodness c. and shines to the soul in each attribute of God and now when a man sees God by his own light and knows him by his own teaching then first doth he begin truely to fear God and the fear of God is his strength For he that fears God is free from all other fear he fears not men of high degree nor men of low degree nor the united power of all the creatures he fears not the fear of other men in their evils but in the midâ—â— of all fearful things he is without fear because he sanctifies the Lord of hosts in himself in his heart and makes him his fear and his dread And by this means amidst all evils he hath admirable confidence and assurance because he knows that no evil can befall him from any man or from any creature till first it be the will of God and also that what ever evil befalls him according to the will of God it shall work for good unto him in the end Thus the fear of the Lord is a Christians confidence and a beleevers strength whereas he that fears not God fears every thing yea not onely reall but imaginary evils and as evils multiply his fears so his fears again multiply his evils till at last he be swallowed up of both But the Holy Spirit being in us a Spirit of the fear the Lord is also in us a Spirit of strength 7. The Holy Spirit is a Spirit of power in us by being in us a Spirit of love and unity The Holy Spirit is a Spirit of love and unity in the Godhead for the Father loves the Son with the Spirit and the Son loves the Father with the Spirit and the Father is one with the Son in the Spirit and the Son is one with the Father in the Spirit and the Spirit is both the bond of love and unity between the Father and the Son and God being most love and most one is also most strong Now what the Spirit is in the Godhead he is the same in the Church of God which is the true temple and habitation of the Godhead and that is a Spirit of love and unity For why is there such constant love and unity between the members of the same body but because one Spirit runs through them all and so there is such constant love and unity between all beleevers because one Holy Spirit runs through them all And hence we may take notice of a remarkable difference between nature and grace for nature of one makes many for we all who are many among our selves even a whole world of men were but one in Adam omnes eramus ille unus homo but grace of many makes one for the Holy spirit which is as fire melts all the faithfull into one mass or lump and makes of many one body one thing yea it makes them one in the unity of God according to that of Christ John 17. 21. that they all may be one as thou Father art in me and I in thee that they also may be one in us mark the words for they are wonderful that they all may be one that is that all beleevers who are many among themselves may be all made one one How one As thou Father art in me and I in thee that is as thou and I being two persons are yet but one God after this highest example of unity let them be made One in us as long as they remain in themselves they are many and how much they remain in themselves they are many for their unity is not in themselves but they are one in us who are one that is how much the saints by the Spirit are carried into the Father and the Son who are one so much also are they made one not onely with the Father and the Son but also with one another You may see in the Acts how the multitude of beleevers after they had received the Spirit so far forth as they had received the Spirit Were of one heart and of one minde And this unity of beelievers is their strength and when God shall take away all those prejudices and suspicions and jealousies and particular ends and interests and divisions and separations and Schismes that are among his own people and the people of God shall be reduced into this blessed unity among themselves and the Lord be one and his name one among them all then shall the Church also be of admirable and invincible power So that all they that strive with it shall perish and all they that war against it shall be as nothing yea then shall the Lord make the Church as a new sharp threshing instrument having teeth and it shall thresh the Mountains that is the Kingdomes of the world and shall beat them small and shall make the hills that is the lesser Common-wealths as chaffe But till the Church of God attain to this unity it shall not do any excellent thing it shall not work any notable deliverance in the earth neither shall the inhabitants of the world fall When the Spirit of God shall be a Spirit of unity in the faithful and shall heal all the sad differences and dissensions that are now between them then also shall it be a Spirit of admirable power in them And thus much for the explication of the point The Vse is twofold 1. The first is to exhort all men everywhere to endeavour to partake of this supernatural spiritual and divine power of the Holy Spirit which is certainly communicated to all the faithful and Elect in Christ Jesus And let no man think it is a thing indifferent whether he have this power or no but know that the having of this power of the Spirit is of absolute necessity and that both for Ministers and for all other Christians 1. There is a necessity of this power of the Holy Spirit for Ministers and to them this present place doth chiefly relate 1. For first if they have not this power of the Holy Spirit they have no power at all For
Prophet is not frighted from his office but through the Spirit of might discharges it faithfully in despight of all those threatnings And whatever Ministers want this Spirit of might though out of danger they may be confident yet at the very first incounter of evil they will bend and yeeld and speak and do all things for the favour of the world rather then for the truths sake they will expose themselves to the hatred and opposition of the world 5. Without this power of the Spirit they are unable to wrestle with and overcome the Devil whose subtilty and wrath and malice and power they must needs encounter with in the work of the Ministry Christ as soon as he was indued with this power and anointed by the spirit to preach was immediately led into the wilderness to be temped of the devil who would fain have taken him off from the work of the Ministery if it had been possible But Christ being indued with this power overcame the divel And Christ before he sent his Apostles to preach the Kindgdom of God as you may see Luke 9. 1. called them together and gave them power and authority over all devils and when they returned they told him that the devils themselves were subject to them But now the seven sons of Sceva who were destitute of this power when they took upon them to call over one who had an evill spirit the name of the Lord Jesus and to say we adjure you by Jesus whom Paul preacheth The evil spirit answered and said Jesus I know and Paul I know but who are ye and so the man in whom the evil spirit was leaped upon them and overcame them and prevailed against them and they fled away naked and wounded Acts 19. So that they being destitute of this power from on high the devil was presently too hard for them and they were overcome by the devil But now they that are invested with this power of the Holy Spirit are able to wrestle with principalities and powers and the rulers of the darkness of this world and to out-wrestle them and to tread Satan himself under their feet Sixthly without this power of the Holy Spirit they are unable to suffer persecution for the Word but the least touch of evil causes them to pull in their hornes and each reproach and opposition and persecution shakes them down Whereas this power makes them confident couragious comfortable and invincible in the midst of all evils See this in some examples Our Lord Jesus Christ being anointed with the Holy Spirit and with power did not onely preach the truth in his life but also witnessed a good confession before Pontius Pilate and sealed to the truth with His death Paul who was indued with the same power when Agabus foretold him by the Holy Spirit his bonds at Jerusalem and the brethren hearing it came weeping to Paul and besought him to keep himself out of bonds by not going up thither Paul reproved them and told them that he was ready not onely to be bound but to dye at Jerusalem for the Lord Jesus Chrysostome was indued with the same power and so resolved to preach the truth and not to depart from the truth though the whole world should wage war against him alone And professed that he desired nothing more then to suffer for the cause of Christ and that if it were offered to him of God whether he would immediately go to heaven or stay on earth and suffer for Christ he would a thousand times rather chuse this latter then the former Because in going immediately to heaven he should seek himself but in staying on earth to suffer for Christ he should wholly deny himself and seek his honour alone Luther was indued with the same spirit of power and so when he was called to Wormes before the Emperour Charls the fifth and before all the estates of the Empire to render a reason of his Doctrine and some of his friends perceiving undue dealing among his adversaries perswaded him not to go to expose himself to danger but he answered with a mighty spirit I have decreed and am resolved because I am called to go into the City in the name of our Lord Jesus Christi though I knew there were so many Devils to oppose me as there are tiles on all the houses of the City And when he was called to return to Wittenberge by the people which he could not do without most evident and apparent danger he being already condemned by the Edicts and Authority both of the Pope and Emperour and so in regard of them could expect no less then a violent death every day yet for all this he was resolved to return to his charge and upon this occasion hath this passage to the Duke of Saxony But what shall I do unavoidable causes urge me God himself calls and compells me and here I will turn my back to no creature Go to then let me do it in the name of Jesus Christ who is Lord both of life and death Again in his answer to the Dialogue of Sylvester Prierias who had threatned him he saith I have nothing that I can loose I am the Lords and if I am lost I am lost to the Lord that is I am found And therefore seek some body else to fright for me you cannot Again in his answer to Ambrosius Catharinus he saith of the Pope and his Instruments they seek not to overcome me with Scriptures but to destroy me out of the earth but I know and am sure that Christ our Lord lives and reigns And being even filled with this knowledge and confidence I will not fear many thousands of Popes For greater is he that is in us then he that is in the World And again in his Epistle to his Father he hath this remarkable passage What if the Pope shall kill me or condemn me below hell He cannot rayse me up again when I am slain and kill me a second and third time And having once condemned me I would never have him absolve me For I am confident that the day is at hand wherein that Kingdom of abomination and destruction shall be it self destroyed But would I might first be counted worthy either to be burned or slain by him that so my blood might cry the lowder and urge his judgement to be the more hastened But if I am not worthy to testifie with my blood let me at least intreat and implore this mercy that I may testifie by my life and Doctrine that Jesus Christ alone is our Lord and God blessed for ever and ever Calme Melancton was indued with the same Spirit of power and so when his enemies threatned him not to leave him a place in all Germany whereon to set his foot he said avido tranquillo animo expecto exilia I expect banishment with a desirous and peace able mind Many more Examples might be produced to show that when Ministers are indued with the
would tremble and bite in the truth In the 10. Chap. of Mat. Christ tells his Disciples that they should be brought before Governours and Kings for his names sake But saith he vers 19. When they shall deliver you up take no thought how or what ye shall speak for it shall be given you in that same hour what ye shall speak For it is not ye that speak but the Spirit of your Father that speaketh in you Here Christ tels his Disciples that they should be brought before great men yea before the greatest in the world to give testimony to his truth And surely it is a very hard thing for a man not to be daunted then but to be unmoveable before all worldly power and glory and all the terrible frowns and threats of mighty men Now saith Christ at such a time when you are to speak before the armed power of the world be not troubled beforehand how or what to say For if you have Christ and his Spirit in your hearts you cannot want words in your mouths And the truth which you profess is most glorious when it is most naked and destitute of the garnishings of humane eloquence and wisdom And therefore be not fearful before hand no nor yet careful touching what you shall say for it shall be given to you in that same hour in that same moment you shall have most present help How so for it is not ye that speak but the Spirit of your Father that dwels in you The spirit of truth that dwels in you shall inable you to speak the words of truth when you are called to it And though you it may be are plain and mean men and your lips would tremble and be quite closed up before such an Assembly of power and Majesty yet Gods spirit shall give you a mouth to speak even then And because if you were only supplied with a mouth to speak at such a time you would be ready to speak rashly and foolishly to the great prejudice and disadvantage of the truth therefore he will give you not only a mouth but wisdom too and he himself will manage his own cause with your mouths And you shall so speak as all your adversaries shall not be able to resist the truth that you speak but shall be so convinced in their consciences that their tongues shall not know what to say You shall have a mouth and wisdom and they shall want both And thus have many poor mean simple Christians when brought before Rulers and Magistrates been able to carry out the truth in that strength that all their adversaries have been put to silence and shame as you may see in a multitude of examples in the Book of Martyrs And all this they did by the power of the Spirit coming upon them Seventhly and lastly all Christians stand in need of the power of the Spirit to overcome afflictions and persecutions from which it is impossible they should be free in this world they being contrary to the world and the whole world to them A natural man who hath no strength in himself but his own strength faints and fails under affliction and persecution but the faithful have in them strength above natural strength strength above the strength of men even the strength of the Spirit coming on them and so they indure and overcome Our spirits are weak spirits and are conquered by every evil but when they are strenghtned by the power of Gods Spirit they are over all evils more then Conquerors And this is one thing observable between natural and spiritual strength in the overcoming of evil Natural strength seeks alwayes to throw off the evil and so it prevailes but spiritual strength neever seeks the removing of the evil but let the evil be what it will it stands to it and overcomes it For the strength of the Spirit is easily able to overcome all evils that can happen to flesh and bloud whether they arise from earth or hell And thus those blessed Martyrs mentioned Hebr. 11. and thousands and ten thousands of their consorts since have overcome cruel mockings and scourgings and bonds and imprisonment and stoning and sawing in sunder and slaying with the sword and all the woes of poverty and want and banishment and of living in wildernesses and caves and dens of the earth these and all other evils they have mightily overcome by this only power of the Spirit comming upon them Thus we stand in need of the power of the Spirit to overcome affliction and persecution and how much power we have in affliction and persecution to indure them and overcome them just so much of the power of the Spirit we have and no more And thus also have I declared unto you what necessity all Christians have of the power of the Spirit coming on them as well as Ministers And this was to strengthen the Vse of exhortation The second Use is for information and instruction after this manner If the receiving of the Spirit be the receiving of power then it clearly informs us that the way to partake of this power is to obtain this Spirit and the way to increase this power is to increase this Spirit I shall endeavour to speak to both these things and so shall conclude 1. The way to obtain this power is to obtain the Spirit And that we may obtain the Spirit we must first prepare our selves to receive the Spirit Now this Preparation doth not stand as Papists teach and many ignorant persons among our selves think in sweeping the soul from sin and then strewing it with graces that so we may be fit to receive the Spirit For first the sweeping of the soul from sin is not a work of our own before the coming of the Spirit but a work of the Spirit it self after it is come For no flesh can clear the soul of one sin it is the Spirit must do that And secondly for the strewing of the soul with grace neither is this a work of our own but a work of the Spirit it self after it is come For the Spirit it self brings all grace with it and before the comming of the Spirit there is no grace at all So that we cannot by any acts of our own prepare our selves to receive the Spirit but only by the Spirit we prepare our selves to receive the Spirit For it is not any work of our own upon our selves but the immediate work of the Holy Spirit upon us that can make us fit to receive himself It lies wholly in his own power and goodness first to prepare in us a place for himself and then after to receive and entertain himself in that place he hath so prepared Now the workes of the Spirit whereby he first prepares us for himself and then entertaines himself in us are these two especially 1. He empties us and 2. he fills us with himself whom he hath made empty 1. He empties us And this emptying is the
Christ speaking in me which to you wards is not weak but mighty who ever is the instrument Christ is the only Preacher of the New Testament and that which is the true Gospel is the ministration of the Spirit for holy men spake as they were moved by the holy Spirit and were first anointed with the Spirit before they preached Judas who preached the word and was not anointed with the Spirit proved a traitor to Christ and who ever preach the word without the Spirit are the successors of Judas and also traitors to Christ 11. The Churches of men have the government of them laid on mens shoulders whether single persons as Pope or Archbishop or combined as the General Councel or a National Assembly but the true Church hath its government laid only on Christs shoulders as the Prophet fore-told Isa 9. Vnto us a child is born a Son is given and the government shall lie on his shoulders and Zech. 6. 12. He shall build the temple of the Lord c. and he shall sit and rule upon his throne for none can rule the true Church but he that built it For if the Church be gathered together in Christ as the true Church is Christ is alwaies in the midst of them and if Christ is ever present with them his own self how cometh it to pass that Christ may not reign immediately over them Wherefore the true Church reckons it sufficient authority that they have Christ and his Word for the ground of their practice and what ever they finde in the word they presently set upon the practice of it and never ask leave either of civil or ecclesiastical powers but the Churches of men will do nothing without the authority of the Magistrate or Assembly though it be never so clear in the word of God For in their Religion they regard the authority of men more then the authority of God 12. The Churches of men are still setting themselves one above another but the assemblies of the true Church are all equal having Christ and the Spirit equally present with them and in them and therefore the believers of one congregation cannot say they have power over the believers of another congregation seeing all congregations have Christ and his Spirit alike among them and Christ hath not anywhere promised that he will be more with one then with another And so Christ and the Spirit in one congregation do not subjected neither are subject to Christ and the Spirit in another congregation as if Christ and the Spirit in several places should be above and under themselves But Christ in each assembly of the faithful is their head and this head they dare not leave and set up a fleshly head to themselves whether it consist of one or many men seeing Antichrist doth as strongly invade Christs headship in many as in one man in a Councel as in a Pope Lastly The churches of men the gates of hell which are sin and death shall certainly prevail against but the true church of Christ though the gates of hell do always fight against it yet they shall never prevail against it as Christ hath promised Mat. 16. 18. Vpon this rock I will build My church and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it In these things among other the true Church of Christ differs from the churches of men By which we may clearly see that the true Church is not an outward and visible society or corporation neither can it be pointed out by the finger loe here or loe there seeing it is not confined to any certain place time or person but it is wholly a spiritual and invisible society as I have said that is assembled in the Son and in the Father who are the true pale and circumference of this Church and out of whom no part of it is to be found Now hereupon it will presently be said if the true Church be invisible as you have affirmed then 1. How shall we know it 2. How can we joyn our selves to it To both which I hope I shall return a clear answer And first to this Question How shall we know the true Church seeing it is invisible I answer Just so as Christ the head is known is the church his body known and no other way now Christ is known 1. By the revelation of the Father when Peter confessed Christ to be the Son of the living God Christ told him that flesh and blood had not revealed it to him but his Father now the members of Christ can no more be known without this revelation of the Father then Christ the head of these members seeing the Apostle hath said that as he is so are we in this world so that he had need of other eyes then the world sees withal that would discern the true Church and of another Revelation then any that flesh and blood can make 2. Christ was known by the Spirits resting on him Joh. 1. 33. And I knew him not said John Baptist but he that sent me to baptize with water the same said unto me Vpon whom thou shalt see the Spirit descending and remaining on him the same is he which baptizeth with the Holy Spirit and I saw and bare record that this is the Son of God After the same manner the Church of Christ is known to wit by the Spirits comming and remaining on it So that whatever people have received the Spirit of Christ of what sort or condition soever they be they are the Church of Christ and they that are destitute of this Spirit are not of the Church 3. Christ was known by the works he did Joh. 10. 37. If I do not the works of my Father believe me not but if I do though you believe not me believe the works that ye may know that the Father is in me and I in him And thus also is the true Church known by doing the works of Christ seeing Christ hath said He that believes in me the works that I do shall he do c. And thus the body of Christ is known by its living the life of the head which is the life of faith and love and the members of Christ are known by their doing the works of the head Thus then you see that though the true Church be spiritual and cannot be known by our outward senses yet we have certain tokens of her spiritual presence whereby we may reckon that in this or that place there be certain of her members As by a natural example though the soul of man in it self be spiritual and invisible and cannot be discerned by any of our senses yet may we have sure tokens of its presence by the effects and operations of the soul in that body wherein it dwels as the exercise of reason understanding discourse c. so likewise the true Church which is invisible in it self may yet be known by some certain signs as by the word of faith which sounds no where but in
the Spirit which is the onely true Church and body of Christ he that lives out of this spiritual body though he live in the most excellent society in the world yet he breaks the unity of the Church not living in one body with it And thus many break the Churches unity that never think on it 2. Again they break this bond of the Churches unity that live in this one body but not as members And such are they who having got the advantage of the Magistrates power will needs lift themselves up above their fellow-members and exercise authoritative coercive domineering power over them whereas the very Apostles themselves were not Lords of the Church but fellow-members with the faithful living in one body and under one head with them and so did all by love and perswasion and nothing by force and violence Now those members that exalt themselves above their fellow and equal members what do they else but usurp the place of the Head and so break in sunder the unity of the body which stands in the unity of the Head He that in a single or combined unity sets himself up above other Believers by giving Laws and by prescribing and commanding Forms and Rules to those that are every way his equals he advances himself as another head besides Christ and so Anti-christ is nearer to us then we are aware and many men that are so forward and fierce to make and enforce Rules and Orders colourably to procure the Churches peace they are the first men that do themselves break this first bond of the Churches Vnity to wit Vnity of Body which makes all Believers equal members equally subject to one Head The second bond of the true Churches unity is ONE SPIRIT There is one body and one Spirit saith Paul and through unity of Spirit they become one body Now as the body of man consists of many members and but one soul comprehends quickens moves and governs all these members making the eye to see the hand to work the foot to walk c. So the body of Christ which is the Church consisting of many members hath yet but one and the same HOLY SPIRIT which comprehends quickens moves and governs them all and brings them into a most near and intimate society together and inables each member to its several office according to its place and use in the body of Christ And as a member being cut off from the body the soul doth not follow it to cause it to live out of the unity of the body So he that is divided from the true body of Christ the Spirit doth not follow him to make him live single by himself and so neither is the body of Christ without the Spirit nor the Spirit of Christ without the body And as the same soul in several members acts severally and yet is but one and the same soul in all so the same holy Spirit in several Believers works severally as it pleaseth and yet is but the same holy Spirit in them all So that the whole body of Christ that is all Believers in the world have but one and the same holy Spirit in them and this unity of Spirit in the Church is one strong bond of its peace Among mankinde in general and more nearly among kindred there is unity of flesh but because there is difference of spirit there is much envie hatred strife and variance in that unity of flesh but now the members of the body are not only one flesh but one soul or spirit too and so there is always peace and agreement between them And so the true Church of Christ is not only one body but one Spirit too and this makes it one indeed For as this Spirit is the love and connexion of the Father and the Son so it is also our love and connexion in the Father and the Son and as the Father and the Son live in unity of Spirit so all Believers live the unity of the same Spirit in them Now they on whom the Spirit was first given after Christ was glorified had also with the Spirit the gift of tongues the Spirit given being for the communion of the Church so they spake with the tongues of all the Church having through the communion of the Spirit its society and consociation For he that speaks by the Spirit in the Church where all are one Spirit in Christ he speaks with the tongues of all and when a Believer hears another speak it is as if he himself did speak and when one speaks it is as if all spake for he speaks in the unity of Spirit with them and so speaks the same doctrine of the Gospel and minde of Christ which they all have equally heard and learned from God Hence it is evident that it is nothing to have the outward from of a Church even as our souls could wish except there be inwardly in that Church the Spirit of Christ for it is not unity of form will ever make the Church one but unity of Spirit That Church then that is destitute of the Spirit in its laws orders constitutions forms members officers what true unity can that have in all its uniformity And this is the second bond of the true Churches Vnity Vnity of Spirit Now they break this bond of the Churches unity that live in their own spirits and not in Christs for they that live in a different spirit from the true Church what unity can they possibly have with it They then that live in their own humane reason understanding thoughts councel wils ends they live quite and clean out of the unity of this Church yea in direct enmity against it seeing our own corrupt and earthly spirits are most contrary to the Holy and Heavenly Spirit of Christ in which the Church lives Wherefore we may learn hence what to judge of those men that cry out much for the peace of the Church and yet themselves neither live in nor are led by the Spirit of the Church but either by their own Spirits or Antichrists 2. They that labour to joyn men into one body with the Church that are not one Spirit with it do marr the peace of it For as unity of Spirit in the Church is the bond of peace so diversity of Spirit is the breach of peace and therefore to preserve the peace of the Church none are to joyn themselves to this one body that are not of this one Spirit 3. They that being of the Church do any thing in it by their own Spirits and not by Christs prejudice the peace of the Church for the true Church is such a body which is to have all its communion in the Spirit And therefore when any pray or prophesie or the like in the strength of natural parts or humane studies and invention onely and do not pray and prophesie in the Spirit they break the unity of the Church for the faithful have communion with one another onely so far
their imployments for their sufferings and for their doings And as Souldiers that are under a wise and carefull Commander when they are neer an ingagement are not suffered to run rashly upon the enemy nor permitted to go forth to battle till they are armed and mounted so Christ would not suffer his Disciples to go forth in his warfare to incounter so many evils and oppositions and persecutions and the whole power of the world and of the Devil till first he had armed them with the power of Holy Spirit Ye shall receive power when the Holy Ghost is come upon you c. Christ alwayes gives unto all those whom he sends forth and imployes of his own power for his own works heavenly power for heavenly works spiritual power for spiritual works the power of God to do the works of God Indeed Christ gives unto some a greater measure of power and to some a lesser according as he intends to use some in greater works and difficulties and some in lesser but still they have of Christs power whether more or lesse who are imployed by Christ and a little of that power that is communicated by Christ will inable a man to do great things far greater then the world suspects or imagines So that we may judge of our calling to any business and of our imployment in it by the power we have received from Christ for it If we have none of the power of Christ we were never set on work by Christ for Christ never sets any on his work with out communicating unto them of his power And hereby we may certainly know and conclude that those in the Ministery that are loose and vitious and idle and negligent and insufficient for that work were never called to it nor imployed in it by Christ but they run of their own heads when they were not sent and minister in the Church for the gain of money and preach onely that they might live Whereas if Christ had imployed them in that calling he would have furnished them with abilities for it and they being destitute of such abilities it is most evident they were not sent by Christ Judge then what a kinde of Reformation this church were like to have if some men might have their minds who would have ignorant and insufficient men yea loose and prophane men tolerated in the Ministry under pretence of keeping up ordinances when yet such men were never imployed by Christ nor supplyed with any power from him Yea and what ordinances I pray are those like to be which are kept up by men that are carnal not having the Spirit But you see here that Christs way and wisdom was different from this for he first gives the Apostles the power of the Spirit and then sent them to preach when he had first inabled them to preach 2. You see here that Christ being to leave his Disciples in regard of his bodily presence yet leaves behind him the promise of the Spirit of power and this was some establishment to them yea this gave great joy and comfort to them who before had their hearts filled with sorrow Christ though sometime he leave his people in regard of sense yet he never leaves them without a promise The soul sometimes in the hours of temptation and desertion may want the sense and feeling of Christ but it never wants a promise from Christ and the promise makes Christ present in his absence For Christ himself is spiritually present in the promise and not Christ onely but the Holy Spirit also for Christ and the Spirit are never asunder but as the Father and the Son are one so is Christ and the Spirit one and all are in the promise And so the promise is able to uphold the soul in any condition not because of its own nature but because God and Christ and the Spirit are present in the Promise and they are infinitely able to support the soul through the Promise under the greatest evils either of earth or hell Now this injoyment of God in the Promise is the injoyment of faith and not of sense and this injoyment of faith is the most excellent and intimate injoyment of Christ And thus may the soul injoy Christs presence in his absence his presence according to faith in his absence according to sence And therefore Christ departing from his Disciples in regard of his bodily presence leaves with them the promise of the Holy Spirit and in that promise his spiritual presence And this is the worst condition that Christ ever leaves his true Church in he leaves them his presence in a Promise when in regard of sense he forsakes them 3. Note that Luke being to speak in this Book of the Acts of the Apostles of the propagating and inlarging and governing the Christian Church doth first make mention of the pouring forth of the Spirit and that both upon the Apostles and afterwards upon the Disciples Signifying hereby that there is nothing so necessary for the increase and well ordering of the true Church of Christ as the pouring forth of the Spirit And therefore they are altogether deceived and walk in the light of Nature and not of God who think the increase and propagation and preservation and establishment and order and ordering of the Church of God depend especially upon the Councels and Decrees and Constitutions of men and that without these the Church of God would soon come to woful disorder yea to utter ruine and confusion as if Christ and his Spirit sate idle in heaven and had left the whole business of his Church to men and the sacred power confirmed with the secular were abundantly sufficient for the increase and well ordering of the Church In the mean time not regarding the promise of the Father or the pouring out of the Spirit by the Son And this is the very mystery of the mystery of iniquity among us and the very head of Antichrist which is yet to be broken And therefore let us know that as the Psalmist saith Except the Lord build the house they labor in vain that build it and except the Lord keep the City the watchman watcheth but in vain so also except the Lord through his Word pour forth the promise of the Spirit and by that Spirit of his in and through the Word inlarge and govern the Church they labor in vain that undertake these things of themselves For it is the Spirit alone that through the faithful ministry of the Word makes the increase of the Church and layes hold on all the elect and brings them through faith into the unity of the Son and of the Father and teaches them and orders them and governs them and preserves them And therefore you see here that the promise of the Spirit is first performed before the Church of God hath any inlargement or government And now from these general things we proceed to the words more particularly Ye shall receive power when the
Christ sent them only as his Father sent him and so Christ never gave unto them any earthly or humane or secular power no power of words or prisons no power of outward constraint and violence Christ gave them no such outward and worldly power for the inlargement of his Kingdom as not being at all sutable to it For his Kingdom is spiritual and what can carnal power do in a Spiritual Kingdom His Kingdom is heavenly and what can earthly power do in a heavenly Kingdom His Kingdom is not of this world and what can worldly power do in a Kingdom that is not of the World And though Antichrist and his Ministers have arrogated and usurped such a carnal and earthly and worldly power to themselves in their pretended managing the Kingdom of Christ yet the faithful Ministers of Christ cannot And therefore seeing the Ministers of the Gospel have no power from beneath they must needs have power from on high seeing they have no fleshly power they must needs have Spiritual power seeing they have no power from earth and from men they must needs have power from heaven and from God that is the power of the Holy Spirit coming on them or else they have no power at all 2. The Ministers of the Gospel must needs have this power of the Holy Spirit because otherwise they are not sufficient for the Ministery For no man is sufficient for the work of the Ministery by any natural parts and abilities of his own nor yet by any acquisite parts of humane learning and knowledge but onely by this power of the Holy Spirit and till he be indowed with this notwithstanding all his other accomplishments he is altogether insufficient And therefore the very Apostles were to keep silence till they were induced with this power they were to wait at Jerusalem till they had received the promise of the spirit and not to preach till then Yea Christ himself did not betake himself to the work of the Ministery till first the spirit of God came upon him and anointed him to preach And therefore for thirty years together he did not preach publikely and ordinarily till at Johns Baptism he received this power of the spirit coming on him Now if Christ himself and his Apostles were not sufficient for the Ministery till they had received this power from on high no more are any other Ministers whatsoever For as I said it is not natural parts and abilities and gifts and learning and eloquence and accomplishments that make any man sufficient for the Ministery but only the power of the Holy Spirit coming upon him So that who ever is destitute of the spirit of power is insufficient for the work of the Ministery and that in these regards 1. Without this power of the spirit Ministers are utterly unable to preach the Word that is the true spiritual and living Word of God For to preach this Word of God requires the Power of God One may speak the word of man by the power of man but he cannot speak the Word of God but by the power of God And Christ himself in all his Ministery spake nothing of himself in the strength of his humane nature but he spake all he spake by the power of God and without this power of God he could not have spoken one word of God And so in like manner no man is able to preach Christ but by the Holy Spirit which is the power of God For Christ is the power of God and can never be represented but by the Holy Spirit which is the power of God For as we see light in his light that is the Father who is light in the Son who is light or else the Son who is light in the Holy Spirit who is light So we know power in his power that is the Son who is power in the Holy Spirit who is power And Christ who is the power of God can never be made known to the Church but by the ministration of the spirit which is the power of God So that it is not an easie thing to preach Christ the power of God yea none can do it aright but by the power of the Holy Spirit comming upon him 2. Without this power of the Spirit Ministers are unable to preach the word powerfully They may it may be happen upon the outward word yet there is no power in their Ministry till they have received this power of the spirit comming upon them Otherwise their Ministery is cold and there is no heat in it it is weak and there is no strength in it 1. It is cold and there is no heat in it Without men have received the power of the spirit there is no fire in their preaching Their ministery is unlike the ministery of Elias whose ministery was as fire and unlike John Baptists who in his ministery was a burning and shining light and unlike Christs whose ministery made the Disciples hearts burn within them and unlike the Apostles who having received this spirit were as men made all of fire running through the world and burning it up Without this spirit a mans ministery is cold it warms the hearts of none it inflames the spirit of none but leaves men still frozen in their sins 2. It is weak and hath no might in it There is no strength in a Ministery where there is no spirit Whereas when men have received the spirit then their ministery is a powerful ministery as Paul 1 Thess 1. 5. The Gospel came to you not in word onely but in power and in the Holy Ghost and therefore in povver because in the Holy Spirit And again 1 Cor. 2. 4. My speech and preaching was not with the entising words of mans wisdom but in demonstration of the spirit and power Where you see the spirit and power in the work of the Ministery are alwayes conjoyned as the Sun and light are And that Ministery that is in the spirit is alway in power And being in power it is alwayes effectual either to convert men or to inrage them And the inraging of men is as evident a sign of the spirit of power in a mans ministery as the conversion of men Whereas a cold and dead ministry that is destitute of this power doth as we use to say neither good nor harm neither converts nor inrages neither brings in righteousness nor destroyes sin neither kils nor quickens any but leaves men in their old temper for many years together and never stirs them But the ministration of the spirit and power is operative and mighty and carries all before it And though evil and carnal men will ever be murmuring and wrangling and opposing and contending against such a ministry yet they are never able to resist the wisdom and spirit of it as the Libertines Cyrenians and Alexandrians were not able to resist the wisdom and spirit by which Stephen spake And therefore let them that will needs be striving
against such a ministery know that they strive against more then a meer man they strive against power from on high against the greatest power that ever God put forth against the power of Christ himself and his eternal spirit and so they shall never be able to prevail against this power but shall surely sinke under it But to return from whence we have a little digressed 3. Without this power of the spirit as Ministers are not able to preach the Word nor to preach it powerfully so neither are they able to hold out in their ministry and to carry it on strongly against all opposition and contradiction Peter and John preached the Gospel but presently the Rulers and Elders and Scribes convented them and straightly threatned them and commanded them not to speak at all nor to teach in the name of Jesus And now if the Apostles had wanted this power of the spirit they would presently have been snibd and awed and would have sneaked away and you should have heard no more of them But they having received this power all the threatnings and scornings of the Rulers and Magistrates could not deterr them from the discharge of their office and that ministery they had received from Christ But though before they were fearful and trembling and daunted at the apprehension of the least danger yet now having received this power they are altogether undaunted and said to the Rulers and Elders whether it be right in the sight of God to hearken unto you more then unto God judge ye As if they should have said O ye Rulers and Elders of the people our case is a plain case wherein we are most willing that even your own selves should be Judges For we have received a command from God to preach the Gospel of his Son Jesus Christ and you forbid us to do that which God hath commanded us Now do you your selves be Judges who is fittest to be obeyed God or you the great and glorious God of heaven and earth or poor wretched men such as your selves Nay what God hath commanded us we must and will obey against all your threatnings and punishments and what ever you can say or do We cannot conceal but must publish what we have seen and known of our Lord Jesus Christ of his incarnation life death resurrection ascension kingdom glory and of that great redemption and salvation which he hath wrought and purchased for all the Elect of God Now I would to God that the unjust commands of all Magistrates and secular Powers whatsoever might be no otherwise obeyed then this unjust command of the Rulers was by Peter and John and that no man would dare to yield more obedience to the creature then to the Lord of all For no Princes or Magistrates in the world have any power to forbid the preaching of the everlasting Gospel which God hath commanded should be published to all Nations for the obedience of Faith I say they have no power at all to forbid the preaching of this Gospel or of any one truth of it though never so cross to their designs And if they should yet herein ought we to know no more obedience then Peter and John did here We ought to obey God and not them and to make known the whole minde of God though it be never so contrary to their minde After the example of Peter and John who having received this power of the Holy Spirit held on their Ministery against all the countermands and threatnings and punishments of the Magistrates Whereas without this power they had soon fainted and failed and had never been able to have gone through with it 4. Without this power of the Holy Spirit Ministers are not able to reprove the world For every man by nature seeks the amity of the world and no man by his good will would provoke the enmity of it against himself And therefore flesh and blood will never reprove the world of sin but allows it and countenances it in sin But now the Spirit when he is come he will reprove the world of sin When a man hath this power of the Spirit in him then presently he reproves and argues the world of sin and so by his ministery bids defiance to the whole world and provokes the whole world against himself And this no man either can do or dares do except he be first indued with this power of the Spirit coming on him And therefore saith Micah Cha. 3. vers 8. I am full of power by the Spirit of the Lord and of judgement and of might to declare unto Jacob his transgression and to Israel his sin The world of all other things cannot indure the reproof of sin and the declaration of its evil wayes And therefore it is exceedingly offended yea and extreamly rages against the faithful teachers of the Word with all sorts of punishments and persecutions as the examples of all the Prophets Apostles and faithful teachers of the Word of God in all ages do declare Yea and Christ himself testifies touching himself therefore the world hates me because I testifie of it that the works thereof are evil But now they that will connive at sin and flatter the world in its own wayes these are the onely men of reckoning and live in all worldly Honour and prosperity And all ages can witness that all Teachers are not of that strength and resolution to contemn the hatred and fury of the world Nay the most are quite overcome with the prosperity of this present life and with the desire of friends and riches and preferment and so wink at the sins of the world and are Ministers in whose mouths are no reproofs though the whole world lye in wickedness For thus they escape the rage and violence and obtain the favour and love of the men of this world And thus weak and unworthy are those men who are onely indued with their own Spirits But now saith Micah I am full of power by the Spirit of the Lord and of judgement and of might to declare unto Jacob his transgression and to Israel his sin As if he should have said the power of the Spirit of the Lord dwelling in me puts forth its self two wayes in judgement and in fortitude 1. In judgement and this signifies the reproving and the condemning sin and wickedness as the Prophet himself explicates saying that I might declare unto Jacob his transgression and to Israel his sin But seeing their being full of judgement doth not want danger but exposes a man to a thousand evils in as much as the world can indure nothing less then the reproof of sin therefore I am by the power of the Spirit not onely full of judgement but also Secondly full of Might and as the Spirit of judgement exposes me to danger so the Spirit of might inables me to contemn those dangers So that though the world because of the Spirit of judgement threatens never so many evils yet the
Christ and the more we receive of Christ the more we receive of the spirit in Christ For faith doth not apprehend bare Christ but Christ with his Spirit because these are inseparable Now alwayes according to the measure of Christ in us is the measure of the spirit and according to the measure of faith is the measure of Christ in us 3. To be much in prayer For the prayer of the spirit increases the spirit The more we have the spirit the more we pray and the more we pray the more we receive the spirit So that when we have the spirit in truth we shall have daily a greater and greater increase of it till we be filled with the spirit For the spirit comes from Christ in whom is the fulness of the spirit and carries us back again to Christ that we may receive still more of the spirit And so by the spirit that is in our hearts we lay hold on the spirit that is in Christ and receive more and more of it 4. To turn our selves daily from the creature to God For the more we inlarge our hearts towards the creature the less capable are we of the Spirit of God For to live much upon the creature is to live much according to the flesh and this quenches and straitens the spirit in us And therefore we must live abstractedly from the creatures and so use them as if we did not use them and so minde them as if we did not minde them and abandon the contents and satisfactions of flesh and blood and wean our selves from all things but the necessities of nature And the more free and loose we are from the creature the more capable are we of Gods spirit and the operations of it He that lives at greatest distance from the world and hath least communion with the things of it hath alwayes the greatest proportion of Gods spirit For as the Apostle saith If any man love the world the love of the Father that is the Holy Spirit is not in him so if any man love the Father the love of the world is not in him now the more any one loves the Father the less he loves the world and the less he loves the world the more the spirit dwels in him 5. To cease daily from our own works The more we act our selves the less doth the Spirit act in us And therefore we must must from day to day cease from our own works from the operations of our own minds and understandings and wils and affections and must not be the Authors of our own actions For we being flesh our selves what ever we do is fleshly seeing the effect cannot be better then the cause And if we mingle the works of our flesh with the works of Gods Spirit he will cease from working in us But the less we act in our selves according to the principles of our corrupt nature the more will the spirit act in us according to the principles of the divine nature But our own works are alwayes a mighty impediment to the operations of the Spirit 6. To encrease the spirit in us we must give up our selves to the Spirit that he only may work in us without the least opposition and resistance from us That as the soul acts all in the body and the body doth nothing of it self but is subject to the soul in all things so the spirit may do all in us and we may do nothing of our selves without the Spirit but be subject to the Spirit in all its operations For the Spirit of God cannot work excellently in us except it work all in all in us And in such a man in whom the Spirit hath full power the Spirit works many wonderful things that he according to humane sense is ignorant of For as the soul doth secretly nourish and cherish and refresh the body and disperses life and spirits through it even when the body is asleep and neither feels it nor knows it so the Holy Spirit dwelling in the soul by a secret kinde of operation works many things in it for the quickning and renewing it whilst it oftentimes for the present is not so much as sensible of it 7. The seventh means to encrease the spirit is to attribute the works of the spirit to the spirit and not to our selves For if we attribute to the flesh the works of the Spirit and take from the Spirit the glory of his own works he will work no longer in us Wherefore we must ascribe unto the Spirit the whole glory of his own works and acknowledge that we our selves are nothing and can do nothing and that it is he only that is all in all and works all in all and we our selves among all the excellent works of the Spirit in us must so remain as if we were and wrought nothing at all that so all that is of flesh and blood may be laid low in us and the Spirit alone may be exalted first to do all in us and then to have all the glory of all that is done And thus you see the means to encrease the Spirit and so consequently strength as well as to get it And by the daily use and improvement of these means we may attain to a great degree of spiritual strength that we may walk and not be weary and may run and not faint and may mount up as Eagles yea and may walk as Angels among men and as the powers of heaven upon earth to his praise and honour who first communicates to us his own strength and then by that strength of his own works all our works in us And thus is he glorified in his Saints and admired in all them that believe FINIS Uniformity Examined Whether it be found in the GOSPEL OR In the PRACTICE of the Churches OF CHRIST By WIL. DELL Minister of the Gospel 2 Cor. 4. 13. We having the same spirit of Faith according as it is written I believed and therefore have I spoken we also believe and therefore speak Published according to Order London Printed 1651. Vniformity Examined OBserving that our Brethren of Scotland together with the Assembly of Divines and the rest of the Presbyterian judgement do often both in their Discourse and writings exceedingly press for Vniformity I have been urged in my spirit to think upon the matter and to consider whether there could be any such thing found in the Word of the New Testament or in the practice of the Churches of Christ And for my part I ingenuously profess I cannot yet discover it and would be glad if any would instruct me further in this particular so he do it from the Word Now Vniformity what is it but an unity of form and the form they mean no doubt is outward for the inward form as it cannot be known by the outward senses so neither can it be accomplished by outward power And therefore till I know their meaning better I conceive that by uniformity they understand an unity
several manner and among all these families there is no external uniformity and yet they all agree well enough in the unity of a City Nay further to bring but one man to an uniformity of life and practice by an outward Law would be the most absolute tyranny in the world and make his life worse then death To compel every man by a Law every day in the week or every Munday Tuseday c. in the week to an uniformity of life that he shall rise at the same time use the same postures speak the same words eat the same food receive the same physick sit and stand and walk and lie down at the same set times who ever heard of such a cruel bondage What an absurd and intolerable thing then is uniformity in the life of a man taking away all freedom of the soul But how much more evil and intolerable is uniformity in the life of a Christian or of the true Churches of Christ taking away all freedom of the Spirit of God who being one with God works in the freedom of God and is not to be bound with any authoritative or coercive power of poor dark ignorant vain foolish proud and sinful men What now then do the Presbyters mean by uniformity Would they have the word preached and the Sacraments administred and the name of God called on and all this done in Spirit and truth in the Churches of Christ this truly is unity and not uniformity and such an unity as no man can compel But would they have the Word preached the name of God called on Sacraments administred the spiritual Discipline of the spiritual Church mannaged the vertues of Christ and graces of the Spirit in the Saints exercised and all this in one and the same outward form or uniformity This is the burthen of the Saints the bondage of the Church the straitning of the Spirit the limiting of Christ and the eclipsing the glory of the Father And how wise so ever these men may be in natural and carnal things yet their wisdom is but foolishness in spiritual things in which there is no more uniformity then in the workings of the Spirit who works severally in several Saints and severally in the same Saints at several times And therefore they that would tye the Church to an uniformity which works not of it self but as the Spirit works in it let them first tye the Spirit to an uniformity and we are contented But these men seem to run a sad hazard who would thus reduce the workings of the Spirit in Christians and Churches to an outward uniformity according to their own mind and fancy and so would rule and order and enlarge and straiten the Spirit of God by the spirit of man seeing it is worse to sin against Christ in the Spirit then against Christ in the flesh And therefore till I be otherwise taught by the word I cannot conceive that there ought to be or is possible to be any such external uniformity in the Churches of Christ as these men strive wrastle sweat contend for I will not say are ready to fight for but that several Churches of Christ having unity of doctrine faith the Spirit ordinances c. may have divers forms of outward administrations as God and Christ by the Spirit shall lead them and that every Church is in these things to be left free and no Church forced by any outward power to follow or imitate another Church against its Will not being freely led unto it by the Spirit of God Neither do I think that God hath set up any company of men or Synod in the world to shine to a whole Nation so that all People shall be constrained to follow their judgement and to walk by their light seeing other Ministers and Christians may have more light and spirit then they Neither hath Christ promised his presence and spirit to Ministers more then to believers nor more to an hundred then two or three And if two or three Christians in the Country being met together in the name of Christ have Christ himself with his word and Spirit among them they need not ride many miles to the Assembly at London to know what to do or how to carry and behave themselves in the things of God And therefore for any company of men of what repute soever to set up their own judgement in a Kingdom for a peremptory rule from which no man must vary and to compel all the faithful people of God who are the very members of Jesus Christ himself to fall down before it upon pain of being cast into the burning fiery furnace of their indignation heated seven times more hot then ordinary through the desired access of secular power to their power is a far worse work in my eyes then that of King Nebuchadnezzars setting up a golden Image and forcing all to fall down before it seeing spiritual Idolatry is so much worse then corporal as the spirit is better then the flesh And therefore I do think let them teach me better by the word that can that uniformity the great Diana of the Presbyterians and the Image that falls down from the brain and fancy of man hath no footing in the Scriptures or in the practise of the Churches of Christ And that the Presbyterian uniformity is neer a kin to Prelatical conformity and is no other then the same thing under another word after the manner of Prelacy and Presbytery and do conclude that unity is Christian uniformity Antichristian And this I have only hinted and that briefly among many occasions to discover to the faithfull that some of the very dregs of Antichristianisme still prevail and domineer under the very name of Reformation And also to give occasion to men of more spirit and abilities and leisure to discourse more fully to this point that the Serpents head of Formality which is so carefully nourished by humane reason may be crushed in pieces by the power of the word 1 JOHN 2. 27. The annointing which ye have received of him abideth in you and ye need not that any man should teach you but as the same anointing teacheth you all things and is truth and is no lye and even as it hath taught you you shall abide in him The spiritual Church is taught by the anointing the carnal Church by Councels FINIS The Building Beauty Teaching and Establishment of the truly Christian and Spiritual CHURCH Represented in an EXPOSITION On Isai 54 from Vers 11. to the 17. PREACHED To His Excellency Sir Tho. Fairfax and the general Officers of the Army with divers other Officers and Souldiers and People At Marston being the Head-quarter at the Leaguer before Oxford June 7. 1646. By WILLIAM DELL Minister of the Gospel attending on His Excellency Sir Thomas Fairfax in the Army Together with a faithful Testimony touching that valiant and victorious Army in the Epistle to the Reader Matth. 5. 11. Blessed are ye when men shall revile you
this sense may be said to come forth from God as the child from the father and the Lord Jesus did not more truly partake of the nature of man then these do partake of the nature of God and therefore saith Peter Great and precious promises are made to us that we should be partakers of the divine nature Others have only the nature of men in them or which is worse the nature of the devil but the faithful have in them the nature of God communicated to them through a new birth 2. They have a more excellent spirit then others have as it was said of Daniel that there was a more excellent spirit found with him then with all the other wise men Now the excellency of each creature is according to the spirit of it but the Saints have the Spirit of God even the Spirit of the Father and the Son dwelling in them they have the same spirit of God dwelling in their flesh as Christ had dwelling in his flesh so that the very Spirit of God is found in the faithful and therefore they are more glorious then the rest of the world 3. They have a more excellent lustre then other men One thing that appertaines to the excellency of precious stones is the lustre of them Now this lustre in the faithfull is the glory of God upon them The Lord shall arise upon thee and his glory shall bee seen upon thee saith Isaiah Chap. 60. And Paul saith We all beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord are changed into the same image from glory to glory even as by the Spirit of the Lord. So that as Christ was taken into the glory of the Father so are we taken into the glory of Christ as he saith Joh. 17. And the glory which thou gavest me I have given them for the head and members are taken into the same glory acccording to their proportion 4. They have more excellent operations for the faithful are not such precious stones that are onely for shew but they also have some vertue in them even the very vertues of Jesus Christ for they having the same Nature and Spirit of God as he had are able according to the measure of the gift of Christ to do the same works that he did and so the Saints are excellent in the operations of faith hope love humility meekness patience temperance heavenly mindedness c. And in this regard also are more precious then the rest of the world And therfore the Lord cals them his Jewels In the day whrein I make up my jewels and elswhere they are called the precious Sons of Sion The people of God are a most precious people men and women of a precious anointing though some wicked and scurrilous Libellers against the spiritual Church will not allow them this name but according to the anointing they have received from Sathan reproach it And yet still it is a truth that the gates of hell shall not prevail against That the truly faithful are precious stones in the building of the Church partaking of the Nature and Spirit of God and of the lustre and operation of both Whereas on the contrary other people are the vile of the earth the true filth and off-scouring of all things Psal 15. In whose eyes a vile person is contemned a man that is a natural man a sinful and unregerate man who hath no other nature in him but that corrupt nature he brought into the world though in this present world he may be a Gentleman or a Knight or a Noble man or a King yet in the eys of God and his Saints he is but a vile person and a poor mean Christian that earns his bread by hard labour is a thousand times more precious and excellent then he according to the judgement of God and his Word And thus much for the first thing The matter of which the Church of the New Testament is made that is of precious stones 2. Now the next thing observable is the variety of these precious stones For the spiritual Church is not built up of precious stones of one sort onely not all of Saphires or all of Agates or all of Carbuncles but of all these both Saphires Agates Carbuncles and many other precious stones of fair colours And this notes the diversity of gifts in the Saints of God For though all of them are precious stones yet they are of diversity of colours and lustre and operations And this also makes for the greater glory of the Church for the variety of lustre adds to the beauty and ornament of it In the body of a man there is not one member but many If the body were all but one member it would be but a lump of flesh but the variety of members with their several gifts and operations are the glory of the body And so it is in the Church the Body of Jesus Christ wherein are divers members with diversity of gifts and operations excellently set forth by Paul 1 Cor. 12. 4. c. Now there are diversities of gifts but the same Spirit And there are differences of administrations but the same Lord and there are diversities of operations but it is the same God that worketh all in all But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to every one to profit withall For to one is given by the Spirit the word of wisedom to another the word of knowledge by the same Spirit to another faith by the same Spirit to another the gift of healing by the same Spirit to another the working of miracles to another prophecie to another discerning of spirits to another divers kinds of tongues to another interpretation of tongues but all these worketh that one and the same Spirit dividing to every man severally as he will Here you see are diversities of gifts and administrations and operations in the faithful but all proceed from one and the same Spirit and whatsoever gift proceeds from the Spirit there is an excellent beauty a heavenly lustre in it And therefore labour to distinguish between those gifts that are connatural to thee and flow from thy own spirit and those gifts that are supernatural and flow from Gods Spirit In all the operations of thine own spirit in all thy natural abilities parts wisdom learning actings there is nothing but ungloriousness deformity darkness death how specious soever they may appear to the world but in the gifts and operations that flow from Gods Spirit there is a heavenly beauty and lustre and glory yea even in weak Christians that are true Christians you shall oft see and discern an excellent beauty in some gift or other which they have received from the Spirit which shines not forth so clearly in some stronger Christians And therefore let us not expect all gifts in all men and that every man should excell in every gift for then one would be saying to another I have no need of thee But God hath given diversity of gifts to
What wild and woful work do men make when they will undertake to be building the Church by their own humane wisdom and prudence and counsel when they think we will have the Church of God thus and thus and we will make it up of such and such men and we will govern it by such and such Laws and we will get the power of the Magistrate to back ours and then what we cannot do by the power of the Word and Spirit we will do by the power of flesh and blood Poor men that think that these new Heavens wherein the Lord will dwell must be the work of their own fingers or that the new Jerusalem must of necessity come out of the Assembly which is to come down from God out of Heaven or that they can build the house of God all of precious stones whereas this must be Gods own work and his own doing and no State or Councel in the World can bring this about and after much tryal and paines and weariness the Lord will at last teach his own that the gathering and laying these pretious stones together must be the Lords own doing even his own doing When the building of the Church is left to men how wofully is it mannaged why saith one we must needs admit such an one he is the chief man in the Parish or he is a man of good esteem in the world or he is a Noble man or he is my neer kinsman or is thus and thus related to me or he is a good civil fair dealing man and we must needs admit him and thus will flesh and blood be ever making a carnal temple for God to dwell in but Gods true habitation can never be framed but by the Spirit And therefore for the building of the Church let us look higher then the highest instruments for it must be the Lords own work by the word and Spirit and though every man be against it and oppose it yet the Lord will do it when there are no hands to build it up he will build it up without hands I will lay thy stones with c. It follows Ver. 13. And thy children shall be taught of the Lord and great shall be the peace of thy children See here how the prophet by the Spirit carries up the Saints above all visible and sensible things even as high as God himself God saith he to the Church shall build thee and God shall teach thee all thy children shall be taught of the Lord. The note is this That all the true and genuine children of the Church have Gods own teaching in all the things of God they have the Father and the Son to teach them by the Spirit This truth Christ himself confirmes where he saith It is written that they shall be all taught of God he therefore that heard and learned of my father commeth to me And again the spirit when he is come he shall lead you into all truth Which doctrine John after preached thus 1 Joh. 2. 27. The anointing which ye have received of him abideth in you and ye â—ceed not that any man should teach you but as the same anointing teacheth you all things Hereby now we perceive how few true children of the Church there be among those who are commonly called Christians for among all these how few are there who have the teaching of God but most have their teaching only from men and no higher Consider therefore I pray whether the knowledge you have be from the teaching of God or the teaching of man you all pretend to know that Christ is the Son of the living God and that redemption and salvation is by him alone but how came ye by this knowledge did you read it in the letter or did some body tell you so or hath God himself taught you this For no man knows the Son but the Father and he to whom the Father will reveal him and therefore when Peter said thou art Christ the Son of the living God Christ answered flesh and blood hath not taught thee this but my Father which is in heaven And so though all of you profess your selves Christians yet none of you know Christ truly but only such as are taught of the Father And this holds in all other points as touching calling and faith and union and justification and sanctification and the gift and sealing of the Spirit touching the spiritual Kingdom of Christ and the Government of it oh consider whether you have the teaching of God in these things or no and if you have not the teaching of God you are none of the children of the Church what ever truth thou knowest from the letter if thou hast not the teaching of the Spirit it will do thee no good thou knowest not any thing spiritually and savingly wherein thou hast not the teaching of God All thy children shall be taught of the Lord. And therefore what a sad thing is it when men look for their teaching no farther then men they onely look to the Minister or to such an able learned Orthodox man as they phrase it or at the highest to the Assembly and what they shall teach them they are resolved to stand by it and build upon it for their foundation in the mean time never regarding in truth the teaching of God but say what can so many grave learned godly men err and shall not we believe what they determine why now these are none of the children of the spiritual Church for they neither have Gods teaching nor care for it but the spiritual Church is all taught of God Object But you will say doth God teach without means Answ I answer no God teacheth but it is by the Word and that chiefly in the Ministery of it and he that pretends to be taught of God without the Word is not taught of God but of the Devil And therefore no man is to despise the Ministery of the Word which is Gods own Ordinance and to depend upon I know not what revelations and inspeakings without the word seeing God teacheth all his children by the word and none without it And therefore it is not the Prophets meaning when he saith all thy children shall be taught of the Lord that they should neglect and despise the Word and the Ministery of it but that we ought so to use the Word and the means as not to look for our teaching from them but from God himself in and through them and when you come to hear not to think I will hear what Mr. such an one or Mr. such one will say but with the Psalmist I will hear what the Lord God will say And truly I would not care to hear what any man in the world would say in whom Christ himself did not speak Now much more might be said of this teaching of God but that I intend brevity in all as namely that this teaching 1. Is a clear and evident teaching that you shall have certainty in what
us hath to do with many strong Corruptions and Lusts in the Soul yet at last he prevails against them all and Judgement breaks forth into victory because Christ the Judgement of God in the Soul must needs in the end prevail against every sin of man Again Christ the Righteousness of God as he makes us righteous with his own righteousness and makes us the righteousness of God in him so he is called Righteousness not in himself onely but in us he is the Lord our Righteousness and by this Judgement and Righteousness is Zion and her converts redeemed and reformed And so true Gospel reformation is the destruction of sin out the faithfull by the presence of righteousness And therefore you see how grosly they are mistaken who take Gospel Reformation to be the making of certain Laws and Constitutions by the sacred power or Clergy for external conformity in outward duties of outward worship and government and to have these confirmed by civil sanction and inforced upon men by secular power when in the mean time all that inward corruption and sin they brought with them into the world remains in their hearts and natures as it did before After this manner the old Prelates reformed who were wont to say to the Kings We will study out the faith and you shall maintain it and the faith they studied and broughâ— to the Kings the Kings must maintain and not questâ—on but that it was Jure Divino And thus you see in general what Gospel Reformation is and that it is a cleer different thing from Civil Ecclesiastical Reformation 2. Now in the next place let us see how this Gospel Reformation is qualified whereby the difference between this and the other will appear yet more cleerly First then it is a spiritual Reformation For as the Kingdom of Christ is a spiritual Kingdom so all the things that belong to it are spiritual things and so the Reformation of it A carnal Reformation is not sutable to a spiritual Kingdom And spiritual it is because it proceeds from the Spirit and stands in spiritual things as you shall see more full anon But now the Reformation of the Civil and Ecclesiastical State is but a carnal Reformation wrought by the powes of flesh and blood and stands in outward and fleshly things as you shall presently see Secondly it is an inward Reformation For as the Kingdom of God is an inward Kingdom the kingdom of God is within you so the Reformation that belongs to it is an inward Reformation This true Gospel reformation lays hold upon the heart and soul and inner man and changes and alters and renews and reforms that and when the heart is reformed all is reformed And therefore this Gospel Reformation doth not much busie and trouble it self about outward forms or external conformity but onely minds the reforming of the heart and when thâ— heart is right with God the outward form cannot be amiss And therefore saith Christ touching the worship of the New Testament God is a Spirit and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth but speaks not one word of any outward form So that God in this Gospel Reformation aims at nothing but the heart according to the tenour of the new covenant Jer. 31. 33. This shall be the covenant that I will will make with them after those dayes saith the Lord I will put my Law in their inward parts and write it in their hearts so that they shall not onely have the word of the letter in their books but the living word of God in their hearts and God intending to reform the Church begins with their hearts and intending to reform their hearts puts his word there and that living word put into the heart reforms it indeed But now Civil Ecclesiastical Reformation is onely outward and busies it self in reforming the outward man in outward things and so is very industrious and elaborate about outward forms and outward orders and outward government and outward confession and outward practice and thinks if these be put into some handsomeness and conformity they have brought about an excellent Reformation though the heart in the mean time remain as sinful vile and corrupt as ever and so altogether unreformed And so this Reformation is like that Reformation of the Scribes and Pharisees notorious hypocrites who made clean onely the outside of the cup or platter leaving them all filthy and unclean within and whited over sepulchres to make them beautifull outwardly when inwardly they were full of rottenness and corruption So Civil Ecclesiastical Reformation makes a man clean outwardly with an outward Confession of faith c. when inwardly he is all filthy through unbelief and whites him over with a few handsom forms of worship when inwardly he is full of ignorance of God and Atheism Object Now if any ask But must there be no change of outward things in the Reformation of the Gospel Answ I answer Yes an outward change that flows from an inward but not an outward change without an inward much less an outward change to enforce an inward 3. It is a thorow Reformation for it reforms the whole man it reforms not the soul onely but the body too and the very spirit of the mind the spirit as it animates and quickens and acts the body is called the soul as it is in it self in its own nature and essence so it is called the spirit of the mind and this Gospel Reformation reforms all that is both inward and outward and outward and inward man yea the inwardest of the inward man and not only the operations of the soul in the body but of the soul in its self But Civil Ecclesiastical Reformation reforms by halfs it reaches the body and orders that but attains not to the soul much less to the spirit of the mind Again Gospel Reformation reforms sin wholly aswell as the man it reforms all sin whatsoever I will turn my hand upon thee saith God by this Gospel Reformation and will purely purge away thy dross and take away all thy tin It reforms a man not only of outward sins but of inward It reforms him of those sins that seldome come forth into the view of the world as Atheisme ignorance of God pride vain glory self-seeking hypocrisie carnal mindedness and all the evil desires of the flesh and of the minde Yea it doth not only reform all evil things in us but all imperfect things doing away imperfect things by the coming of perfect things doing away our own strength by the coming in of Gods strength and our own wisdome and righteousness by the coming in of Gods wisdome and righteousness But now Civil-Ecclesiastical reformation reforms sin by the halfs aswel as the man and so only reforms outward and gross sins such as run into the eyes of the world which are the least by a thousand times of the evils that a man hath and
and follow in all things but in the right Church the people are all taught of God as Isaiah saith Thy children shall be all taught of the Lord and Christ saith They shall hear and learn from the Father and John saith The anointing they have received teacheth them all things 5. In the Churches of men the greatest part are hated and rejected of God as being strangers and enemies to Christ but in the true Church all the members are dear to God as Christ is dear and loved of God as Christ is loved as being one flesh and spirit with him 6. The Churches of men are of mens building contriving framing fashioning beautifying but the true Church is built onely by Christ as it is written Zach. 6. 12. The man whose name is the BRANCH he shall build the Temple of the Lord even he shall build it And again Math. 16 18. Vpon this rock I will build my Church The true Church is such a building which neither Men nor Angels can frame but Christ alone 7. The Churches of men are all of them more or less the habitation of Antichrist who as Paul saith 2 Thes 2. 4. as God sitteth in the Temple of God that is not in the true Temple of God but in the Churches of men which arrogate to themselves that name and title shewing himself that he is God For Antichrist always dwels there where men have a form of godliness denying the power but the true Church is built together to be the habitation of God in the spirit Ephes 2. 22. And again 2 Cor. 6. 16. Yee are the Temples of the living God as God hath said I will dwell in them and walk in them 8. The Churches of men are as large as men will make them for they that have chief power in these Churches interesting themselves in worldly Magistrates through their favour and help make their Churches as large as the Magistrates Dominions thus the Church of Rome was made of as large extent as the Dominions of the Emperour and of other Princes in whom the Pope had interest And so likewise the Church in other Kingdoms was made as large as the Dominions of the temporal Magistrate and all under their power must be forced to be of their Church But the true Church which is the Kingdom of the Son is onely the preparation of the Fathers Kingdom and so will admit no more into it then the Fathers Kingdom will admit into it the Sons Kingdom and the Fathers being of a like latitude and extent and so the Sons Kingdom is no larger then the Fathers nor the Fathers then the Sons The Fathers Kingdom will not receive any into it that have not first been of the Sons Kingdom and the Sons Kingdom will not admit into it what the Fathers Kingdom will not after receive but the Son delivers up his whole Kingdom to the Father and the Father receives it all without any exception Now from hence these three things are evident 1. That the Kingdoms of England Scotland c. are not the Church but the world as well as the Kingdoms of France Spain Hungary c. but in all these and all other Kingdoms the faithful who are taken into union and communion with Christ and with one another in him they are the Church and not the Kingdoms themselves 2. In particular Assemblies whether Parochial or Congregational all the company that meet together bodily and have outward communion in outward Ordinances are not the Church but those among all these that meet together in one Faith and Spirit in one Christ and God for herein only stands the true communion of Saints and the true Church of the New Testament is to be judged hereby and by no outward things whatsoever 3. That it belongs not to Magistrates and worldly Powers to say which is the Church and which is not the Church who do belong to it and who do not but it belongs to Christ onely to point out his own Church seeing he onely knows it and it onely stands by his election and collection and not by mans 9. The Churches of men knit themselves together into such Societies by some outward Covenant or Agreement among themselves But the true Church is knit into their Society among themselves by being first knit unto Christ their Head and as soon as ever they are one with him they are also one with one another in him and are not first one among themselves and then after one with Christ So that the true Church is a spiritual Society knit unto Christ by Faith and knit to one another in Christ by the Spirit and love and this makes them infinitely more one then any outward Covenant they can engage themselves in the union wherein God makes us one passing all the unions wherein we can make our selves one And so when some believers perceive the grace that is given to others they presently fall into one communion without any more ado Wherefore they that are of the Church the body cannot deny communion to them that are in true union with Christ the head when they do perceive this grace For this is considerable in this matter that we are not first one with the Church and then after one with Christ but we are first one with Christ and then one with the Church and our union with the Church flows from our union with Christ and not our union with Christ from our union with the Church Christ Joh. 17. prays That they all that is believers may be one in us So that our union is not first among our selves and then with the Son and with the Father but it is first with the Son and with the Father and then with one another in them And Christ is the door through which we enter into the Church and not the Church the door through which we enter into Christ For men may joyn themselves to Believers in the use of all outward Ordinances and yet never be joyned to Christ nor to that communion which Believers have in Christ but a man cannot be joyned to Christ but he is joyned to all Believers in the world in the communion they have with Christ and with one another in him which upon all occasions he enjoys with them wherever he meets with them So that the true Church is knit up together into one body and society by one Faith and Spirit the Churches of men by an outward Covenant or Agreement onely 10. The Churches of men have humane Officers who act in the strength of natural or acquisite parts who do all by the help of Study learning and the like But in the true Church Christ and the Spirit are the only Officers and men onely so far as Christ and the Spirit dwel and manifest themselves in them and so when they do any thing in the Church it is not they that do it but Christ and his Spirit in them and by them And therefore saith Paul Seek ye a proof of
forth as the Spirit is manifested in each Now if any shall say How may I know Christs Spirit in these acts and duties from a mans own I answer That as by the Word of God we can judge of all other Words and Doctrines and as by the Faith of Christ we can judge of all other beliefs so by the Spirit of Christ we can judge of all other spirits and can know where is the same spirit and where is a different or a contrary spirit as the members of the body can judge of the one-ness of Spirit that is among themselves The third bond of the true Churches unity is ONE HOPE OF OUR CALLING Even as ye are called in one hope of your calling As all Believers are called by one calling which is the inward and effectual voyce of God to the soul by his Spirit through the Gospel so they are all called into one blessed hope of obtaining the Kingdom and glory of God And no one is called to this hope more then another or hath more interest or share in it then another Fishes that live in the Sea though some be greater and some less yet none hath more interest or share in it then another but all being alike produced in it enjoy it alike and creatures that live on the earth though some be greater and some less yet all enjoy the Sun and Ayr alike and yet nearer the members of the body though of different quantity form and office yet all have alike interest in the head and all its senses and in the soul and all its faculties So all the faithful enjoy Christ alike and in him the Spirit and the Father and no Believer hath more interest in Christ and God then another So that all the faithful are called to the same things and God gives not more nor better things to one then to another but he gives immortality glory eternal life the Kingdom of Heaven which is the inheritance of the Saints or which is all one himself alike to all and makes all to sit alike in heavenly places in Christ and in the Father All the faithful then are equally called to an Vnity of hope and none can hope for greater or better things then another It was a very carnal thing in the Mother of Zebedee's children to desire of Christ That one of her Sons might sit at his right hand and another at his left hand in his Kingdom where all alike sit at his right hand and none at all at his left Indeed in the Kingdoms of men some have greater estates then others and are in higher Honour and Authority and this breeds envie and emulation and strife and distances c. but in the Sons Kingdom and in the Fathers all that are counted worthy to dwell therein do alike inherit all things All things are yours saith Paul And he that overcomes shall inherit all things saith John And the least believer hath no less and the greatest hath no more and this causes unity and peace among them We see what a strong bond of peace and agreement unity of hope is in them that travel together that fight together that labour together and so much more in them who are equally called by God to the Kingdom of God And this is the third bond of the true Churches Vnity Vnity of Hope Now they break this bond of the Churches Vnity that live out of this hope of the Church whose hope is in earthly carnal base things who pretending to be Christians yet live onely in the hopes of men in hopes of worldly profit honour preferment and the attaining and enjoyment of the things of this life which they according to the eagerness of their hopes prosecute mightily by all ways and means These men I say break the Vnity of the Church for what true Vnity can they have with the true Church that live not in unity of hope with it Seeing worldly hopes carry men one way and the hopes of Believers carry them another carnal hopes make men leave God for the world and the hope of Saints make them leave the world for God Wherefore they that differ in their hopes which are their ends must needs differ in their ways and works and so he that lives out of the hope of the Church lives also out of the unity of it The fourth bond of the true Churches unity is ONE LORD The right Church hath not many Lords but One and this one and only Lord is the Lord Jesus Christ And so all the subjects of this Kingdom are fellow servants to one Lord to whom they do owe equal obedience and this also is a strong bond of Vnity For when there are divers Lords there are divers minds and wils and ends and so divers laws and these breed divisions and dissentions and wars among men but where there is but one Lord there is also but one Law and where people live by one Law under one Lord unto whom all are equally subject this breeds peace and union Now the Lordship of the Church is the Royal Prerogative of Christ and no creature must presume to arrogate this honour to himself seeing unto the very Angels he hath not put in subjection this world to come whereof we speak And for men Christ hath charged his own Apostles who if there were any difference among Believers might undoubtedly challenge the preheminence I say Christ hath charged even them on this sort Matth. 23. 10. Be not ye called Masters for one is your Master even Christ but he that is greatest among you shall be your servant That is you may and ought to be servants to one another but not masters and this same doctrine the Apostle James preacheth Jam. 3. 1. My brethren saith he be not many Masters knowing that we shall receive the greater condemnation it is not fit for brethren who are equal among themselves to make themselves masters over one another Christ also hath spoken again so plainly to this matter Math. 20. that one would wonder that ever the Beast or his image should dare to arrogate to themselves Lordship over the People of God in so clear a light Ye know saith Christ to the twelve that the Princes of the Gentiles exercise Dominion over them and they that are great exercise authority over them but it shall not be so amongst you he speaks it peremptorily that some Believers should not exercise dominion and authority over Believers no not the greatest over the least all being fellow servants alike under one Lord. Wherefore they that are puffed up in their hearts against their fellow servants might better think thus with themselves why Christ is our Lord as well as theirs and is as much over us as over them and we are not over our fellow servants nor they under us but both of us are equally under Christ and Christ is equally over us both and so Christ hath given us the same laws he hath given them to
diversity of gifts are in no wise to divide where there is unity of faith Further among them that believe where there is the more gift there is only the more labour but there is not another or a better Christ and where there is the less gift there is the same Christ equally enjoyed through faith He that had five Talents given him brought in five that he had gained and he that had ten ten but he that brought in most Talents had not more of Christ then he that brought in fewer and he that brought in fewer had not less of him then he that brought in more but each having Christ alike by faith brought in the exercise of his several gifts And so unity of Faith is to keep us one notwithstanding diversity of inward gifts And secondly it is to keep us one notwithstanding diversity of outward works For unity of Faith makes all believers righteous alike though they differ in outward work For in Christs Kingdom each ones righteousness is reckoned by his faith not by his outward works And therefore Paul Heb 13. 7. having reckoned up many excellent works of the Fathers doth not enjoyn us to follow their works but their faith saying Whose faith follow considering the end of their conversation seeing the unity of the Church stands in unity of faith and there may be unity of faith in diversity of works for faith uses freely any outward laws manners forms works so farr as they may tend to the mortifying of our bodies and the edifying of our neighbours wherein faith also will judge for it self and will suffer no body to judge for it and in all change of works faith is the same and changes not and the Church still remains one through unity of faith in the midst of variety and diversity of outward works And therefore where men are accounted Christians for such and such outward works sake and this unity of faith is not taught and received there the gates of hell do certainly prevail And this is the fifth bond of the true Churches unity Vnity of Faith Now they break this bond of the Churches unity that live out of this faith of Gods Elect seeing it is written That the just shall live by faith And therefore they that live by sense in the things of the world or by form in the things of God they live out of this faith and unity of the Church 1. They that live by sense in the things of the world break this bond of the Churches unity even such as minde and affect and love and desire earthly things and have all their joy comfort sweetness satisfaction support and confidence in the creature these live out of the unity of the Church seeing the life of sense is clean contrary to the life of faith Faith carrying us to live in God out of the creature and sense carrying us to live in the creature out of God 2. They that live by form in the things of God whether it be called Conformity as the Prelates called it or Vniformity as the Rhemists do also break this bond of the Churches unity For to live upon this or that form of religion or worship so as to think our selves good Christians therefore and others evil that shall live otherwise is to fall apparently from the faith of the Church seeing faith doth not live upon this or that form of Religion but it lives on Christ only in every duty and whatsoever form it may use for a help to the infirmity of the flesh yet in the use of forms it lives above forms in Jesus Christ and his fulness The sixth bond of the true Churches unity is ONE BAPTISME The true Church which is the body or flesh or Christ hath but one and the self same Baptism by which it is purified which is the Baptism of the Spirit For the Apostle speaks here of that Baptism wherein the whole Church is one which is not the Baptism of the sign which hath often been altered and changed but the Baptism of the substance which comprehends all believers and all ages and under several and various dispensations and was the same before Christs comming in the flesh as since believers both of the Jews and Gentiles of the Old and New Testament drinking all alike into one Spirit though these more plentifully then those So that though many have wanted the Baptism of water yet not one member of the true Church hath wanted the Baptism of the Spirit from whence our true Christianity begins Now this Baptism of the Spirit is the onely Baptism that hath power and efficacy to make Christians one For through the Baptism of the Spirit it is that the Church is made one body as Paul saith 1 Cor. 12. 13. For by one Spirit we are all baptized into one body whether we be Jews or Greeks whether we be bond or free and have been all made to drink into one Spirit The true Church drinks all into one Spirit as ye have heard and not into many and through one Spirit are baptized into one body and not into many and believers are never truly one till they partake of this one Baptism Now this Baptism of the Spirit as it is but one so it is administred onely by one Christ as John Baptist witnesseth Math. 3. 11. saying I indeed baptize you with water unto reprentance but he that cometh after me is mightier then I whose shoes I am not worthy to bear he shall baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire For as none can give the Son but the Father so none can baptize with the Spirit but the Son for this is Christ proper and peculiar Baptism from the Throne of his glory and no mans whatsoever this he hath reserved in his own power and hath not given it into any mans power And this is the sixth bond of the true Churches unity One Baptism Now they break this bond of the Churches unity that content themselves onely with the Baptism of water being destitute of the Baptism of the Spirit and so remain in the uncleanness of all their old corruptions and lusts and in all the filthiness and pollutions of flesh and spirit by reason of which they can have no true peace and agreement in heart and Spirit and Nature with those who are cleansed from these pollutions and are washed and justified purified and sanctified in the name and by the Spirit of God For what agreement can there be between them that live in all the corruptions of sinful men and them that live in the renewing of the Holy Spirit So that it is not the washing of water but the washing of the Spirit that is the true ground of the true Churches unity and they that want this Baptism of the Spirit though they have been baptized with water never so much live quite and clean out of the unity of the Church The seventh bond of the true Churches unity is ONE GOD AND FATHER OF
pretending the tradition of John kept another After this Victor Bishop of Rome rose up a great stickler in the controversy of Easter and would needs have excommunicated the Churches of Asia for not yielding to his judgement to whom Iraeneus writing touching the diversity of outward things used by the Primitive Christians hath these words Notwithstanding the variety of ceremonies among the former Christians they all kept peace among themselves and we saith he still retain it and the difference of our fasting commends the unity of our faith And thus the Doctrine of Christian liberty remained sound and entire till this Victors time which was ann 200. And he earnestly endeavoured to draw or rather inforce the Churches of Asia to his opinion And then began the Vniformity of keeping that Feast to be first required as a thing necessary and all they to be accounted as Heretickes and Schismatikes who dissented from the judgement of the Bishop of Rome Now against this judgement of Victor Polycrates and many other Bishops and brethren of Asia declared and the matter had burst out into a great flame had not some godly men of those times brought forth the word of God to quench it Among whom Iraeneus as Eusebius relates speaks to this effect That the variety and difference of ceremonies is no strange matter in the Church of Christ when as this variety is not onely in the day of Easter but also in the manner of fasting and in divers other usages among the Christians For some fast one some two dayes some more and others counting 40. hours both day and night reckon that for their full fast day And this so divers fashion of fasting in the Church began not in our time but in theirs who lived before us And yet notwithstanding they with all this diversity were in unity amongst themselves and so be we Neither doth this difference of ceremonies any thing hinder but rather commend the agreement of our faith And he bringeth forth the examples of the Fathers of Telesphorus Pius Anicetus Soter Eleutherius and such others who neither observed the same usage themselves nor prescribed it to others and yet notwithstanding kept Christian charity with such as came to communicate with them though not observing the same form of things which they observed as well appeared by Polycarpus and Anicetus who although they agreed not in one uniform custom of rites Communionem tamen inter se habuerunt yet had communion with one another And thus Iraeneus in his practice answering his name perswaded the peace of the Church notwithstanding diversity of forms and rites And so Christian liberty was still preserved in the Church against the tyranny of Vniformity till the Nicene Councel And farther Socrates the Writer of the Ecclesiastical History who lived after the dayes of Theodosius speaking of the fasting before Easter saith The Christians that dwell at Rome fast three weeks continually before Easter besides the Sabbath and the Sunday but those that dwell in Illyria and all Greece and Alexandria fast six weekes before Easter And speaking of the severall sorts of fasting in severall Churches saith And because no can bring forth any Commandment written of this matter it is plain that the Apostles left this fast free to every mans minde and will that no man might be compelled by fear and necessity to do that which is good And in the same Chapter he relates many several forms and usages in several Christian Churches and concludes that matter thus But saith he to commit to writing all the rites of Churches that are used in each City and Country as it would be very troublesome so hardly could it be done And yet further I finde that Austin who was sent into England by Pope Gregory ann 598. among other questions to the Pope propounds this as one That seeing there is but one faith how it should happen that the customes and ceremonies of Churches should be so divers And Gregory returns this answer The custom of the Church of Rome what it is you know wherein you have been brought up from your youth but rather it pleaseth me better that whether it be in the Church of Rome or in any French Church where ye finde any thing that seemeth better to the service and pleasing of God that ye choose the same and so infer and bring into the English Church which is yet new in the faith the best and pickedst things chosen out of many Churches For things are not to be beloved for the place sake but the place is to be beloved for the things that be good Wherefore such things as be good godly and religious those choose out of all Churches and induce to your people that they may take root in the minds of English men So that yet you see the Church was not enslaved by any enforced Vniformity but kept its own Christian freedom till Antichrist grew up to more heighth and got the secular power of Princes to do what he listed in the Church and then he and his Clergy made laws of all that seemed good in their own eyes and enforced men to them against their wills And thus he reigned for many hundred yeers together till the determinate time of the Apostacy began to be fulfilled and then God poured forth his Spirit upon some chosen servants of his to oppose Antichrist as in other parts of the mystery of iniquity so in this also of Uniformity Among others who after the general falling away opposed this Vniformity was John Gerson Chancellor of Paris who lived about an 100. yeers before Luther and in many things received much clear light from God he in his Sermon before the King of France in the name of the Vniversity of Paris pro pace unione Graecorum in his 7 th consideration speaks thus Men ought not generally to be bound by the positive determinations of Popes and it will as well hold of all others who arrogate to themselves an Ecclesiastical Supremacy whether they be Councels or Assemblies to hold and believe one and the same manner of Government in things that doe not immediately concern the truth of our Faith or of the Evangelical Law And he saith this consideration well taken and understood would be the principal key to open a door of peace between the Greeks and Latines who differ in many outward Forms and Rules as in Baptisme the Latine Church saith I baptize thee the Greek Baptizetur servus Christi Let this servant of Christ be baptized And in the Supper the Latine Church used unleavened the Greek leavened bread c. And herein he spake as a Christian that said Quaelibet provincia abundet sensu suo Let every Province abound in its own sense Note also saith he that a good Prince permits divers Laws and Customs of divers of his Subjects so they be not evidently against the Law of Nature And not to do so would often be the destruction of
the Commonwealth As the Lord of Arras a City of Picardie was wont to say that Flanders would be governed otherwise then France or Burgundy And this consideration saith he rightly understood to wit not to press Uniformity in the Church but to let the Church use its liberty in these things would be an excellent beginning of the Reformation of the Church notwithstanding the contradiction of many of the Court of Rome Luther also that chosen Vessel of Christ did clearly oppose this evil of Vniformity He thus delivers his judgement touching Vniformity of Ceremonies If one Church will not follow another of its own accord in those outward things what need is there that it should be compelled by the Decrees of Councels which presenly are turned into laws and snares of souls And therefore let one Church freely imitate another or let it be suffered to use its own way so that unity of Spirit be preserved in Faith and the Word though there be variety and diversity in the flesh or Elements of the world Again the same Luther after he had set down a Form of Celebrating the Supper for the Church of Christ at Wittingberg concludes thus In quibus omnibus cavendum ne legem ex libertate faciamus c. That is In all which we must take heed that we make not a law of liberty or constrain them to sin who shall either do otherwise or shall omit some things so they permit the words of blessing to remain entire and do all act here in Faith For these ought to be the Rites of CHRISTIANS that is of the children of the FREE-WOMAN who may keep them willingly and of their own accord having power to change them when and as often as they will And therefore there is no cause that any should either desire or establish any necessary Form as a law in this matter whereby he may either ensnare or trouble mens consciences And therefore we read not in the ancient Fathers or Primitive Church any example of any such Rite but onely in the Romane Church And if so be they had established any thing for a law in this matter we ought not to have kept it Quod legibus hic obstringi nec possent nec debent Because these things neither could nor ought to be bound by Laws Moreover if divers men shall use a diverse Rite let none either judge or contemne another but let every one abound in his own sense and let us all savour and judge the same things though for Forms we act diversly and let each Rite please others lest by diversity of Rites follow divesity of opinions and sects as it came to pass in the Church of Rome For outward Rites though we cannot want them as neither meat nor drink yet they commend us not to God but onely Faith and love commend us to him And therefore let that of Paul take place here That the Kingdom of God is not meat and drink but righteousness peace and joy in the Holy Spirit and so no Rite nor Form is the Kingdom of God but faith within us c. And at the end of the same form for the Church of Wittenberg which he writes out for Nicholas Hausmannus a Godly Minister he saith Which Copy either you or others may follow if you please if not we willingly give place to the anointing being our selves to receive from you or any others more profitable things These things he spake like a Christian indeed and we acknowledge the voice of Christ in him as in others that act these things peremptorily and command and inforce them by secular power we are sensible of the voice of strangers and of such strangers as are Theeves and Murtherers Melancton also perswades certain Christians to unity who differed in Vniformity in these words Seeing we do agree among our selves in the chief Articles of Christian Doctrine let us imbrace one another with mutual love and let not unlikeness and variety of Rites and Ceremonies and Bucer quoting this place adds no nor of Ecclesiastical government disjoyn our minds Upon all these Testimonies which these godly men give from the light of the word which we acknowledge in them it is evident that all forms are to be left free to the faithful and Congregations of Saints and when any shall set down any form the Congregations of the faithful may use them so far forth as they please or may add or alter or wholly reject them and no Laws are to be made in this matter which the secular power should inforce to insnare Consciences and to infringe Christian Liberty and to straighten the Spirit in those in whom it dwels and to obscure the vertues of Christ in his people Wherefore it is most evident that they are most horribly mistaken that now urge external Vniformity on the Church as the only means of Vnity who scarce minding I am sure not naming one body one spirit one hope of calling one Lord Faith Baptism c. to make the Church one do earnestly and fiercely labour for one outward Form and Order one Directory one Confession one Catechism one Discipline and to have these things of their own devising inforced on the Church by the power of the State as the onely means their hearts can find out to make the Church one But the Seers are blinde in this matter and the Prophets prophesie false things For if the unity of the Church stand onely or chiefly in Vniformity what woful division will be found in it For the Fathers before the flood lived in one form the Fathers after the flood in another the Believers under the Law in an other the Believers under the Gospel in another yea these being free from all forms used any according to the wisdom of the Spirit Christ himself and John Baptist who both lived in the same time observed no Vniformity between them for John lived retiredly in the wilderness and came neither eating nor drinking and Christ lived in the frequency of the world and did both eat and drink And their Disciples observed no Vniformity for Johns Disciples fasted oft and Christs not at all in those days Besides at first the believing Jews used another form then the believing Gentiles and after among the Gentiles the Greek Church used one form the Latine another and several Churches under both several forms and so the Church on earth according to the infirmity of the flesh still uses some or other form and the Church in Heaven is without all form Now then if we shall have no Vnity but where is Vniformity what an Earthquake of confusion and division will this make through the whole Church of God in all ages and under all Gods own dispensations in the world yea through the whole Church in Earth and Heaven Wherefore I dare be bold to affirm that imposed and inforced Vniformity is one of the greatest enemies to the true Churches unity that Antichrist himself could devise