he appears to be an hypocrite even a drunkard or a fornicator or the like now will you admit of that man although formerly he had communion with you to have communion with you now when he appears both to you and all men that behold him to be a scandalous and prophane man I hope not and if another man of the great or little Bodies as you call them should proffer to have communion with you whom you judge godly would you not admit of him surely yea and if so consider at your leisure how much less this is than receiving and rejecting taking in and casting out binding and loosing consider well if yours were a congregation approved of by Christ the danger of such as ye reject and the benefit of such as ye admit of and indeed my opinion is that the great reason why ye do not practise that Ordinance is because if you did then you would be necessitated to receive in and cast out or otherwise you would have such a communion as the very worldlings would hisse at but now that you may shuffle a company together of all sorts and inlarge your Tents rather than you would let go some the which you would be ashamed of if yours were a communion of Saints you let go Christs Ordinance and so condemn your self in the things that you allow and indeed I do profess it seems very strange to me that any man that hath but a face of zeale in Religion and godliness that they will associate themselves with you in spiritual things for I do assure you that I should be very cautious how I had any communion with a man that liveth in the breach of that which he knoweth to be his duty to do fearing that he that makes but little conscience or indeed no conscience in one duty will make as little conscience in another provided it be inconsistant with his credit or reputation But to pass these things I shall give an argument to prove the continuation of receiving and rejecting binding and loosing which is If there be such a conjunction between keeping the Lords Supper and receiving and rejecting as that the Lords Supper cannot remain practicable and to be practised so as to be approved of God without it then receiving in and casting out is as perpetual as the Lords Supper But there is such a conjunction between the keeping of the Lords Supper and receiving and rejecting so that the Lords Supper cannot remain practicable and to be practised so as to be approved of by God without it Ergo the Ordinance of receiving and rejecting is as perpetual as the Lords Supper and one to attend the other The major is undeniable that is to say in short thus if receiving in and casting out be an Ordinance of such consequence as the Lords Supper cannot remain to be practised without it then it of necessity will follow that if one remain practicable so doth the other and Mr. Henden saith one doth remain namely the Lords Supper And the minor I shall prove that one cannot remain practicable without the other that is to say that without receiving into the Church and casting out of the Church the Ordinance of the Lords Supper cannot remain practicable and practised so as the Lord will approve of it and if so receiving into communion and casting out viz. binding and loosing is perpetuated and to remain as well as the Lords Supper but now to prove the minor namely that the Lords Supper cannot remain practised so as to be approved of by God without receiving in and casting out is first persons must have a time to be received into the visible Church of Christ one way or other unless persons are born members of Christs Church the which I think none will affirm because Christ saith that unless a man be borne again he cannot enter into the Kingdome of God for that which is born of flesh is flesh and that which is born of Spirit is Spirit marvel not that I say unto thee that thou must be borne again And that it was the practice of the primitive Churches to receive in her members is clear from these Scriptures and many more that might be added Rom. 15.1 2 3 4 5 6 7. 2 Cor. 7.2 Gal. 4.13 14. 3 John 10. So that if there be not a continual adding to the Church daily such as shall be saved then Christs House will be quickly empty Secondly If there be not also a casting out the Lords Supper cannot remain practised so as the Lord will accept of it for the Lord hath commanded that if any be a fornicator or covetous or extortioner or an idolator or a drunkard or a railor that the Church should not have communion with him no not with such an one to eat and that there hath been such in the Church of God and have been cast out when they have been discovered read 1 Cor. 5. from the first verse to the 12. and that it is so in our dayes is plainly seen that there be some that seem to walk a while as Christians and then who can deny them the Lords Supper and not long after do shew themselves wicked and prophane and then who dares to administer it unto them and who dares to eat with them because the Lord hath forbid it And therefore to say that the Churches may and ought to break bread viz. eat the Lords Supper at such a time as she hath lost her power to deal with the wicked and scandalous so far as to exclude them is no less than to say that Christ is a transgressor in building the things the which he hath destroyed and will not the Church then be a cage of all manner of unclean birds or is it not as frequently seen that there be apostates in our dayes as in the primitive age and in short take this maxime that take either a Common-wealth without its power in government namely power to bind and loose in Civils and a Family without its power in government and a Church of Christ without its power in government and you shall see that the best of it will be a lump of confusion and at the end come to destruction or be a desolation so then the sum of all is this in short that if the Ordinance of the Lords Supper be perpetuated and to ramain in the greatest times of apostacy then the power of the Church also did remain because it is impossible for persons to eat the Lords Supper so as for God to approve of it if the Church have not power to exclude offenders because with such the Church may not eat nor have no fellowship in Spiritual things 2 Cor. 6. And that such were and will be found in the visible Church till they be purged out the Scriptures and our experience witnesseth daily from whence we may see that if the Church have not lost that precious Ordinance of the Lords Supper neither hath she lost her keyes of binding and loosing
Quer. 10. Whether shall the desolation of the Heavens spoken by Peter be at the time of his coming to raign or at the time when the thousand years shall be expired at the bringing in of the general judgment Answ It appears clearly from the Scriptures that Jesus Christ at his first coming to receive the Kingdome and to raign upon earth that then he is to come in flaming fire so as fiery streams shall issue forth from before him and that many of the ungodly shall perish by the flame and some by the baile and the like and also that he is to abide in the Heavens until the times or years of the restoration of all things spoken by the mouth af all the holy Prophets since the World began and yet also we find that at the end of the thousand years that when the ungodly that shall spring up in the time of Christs raign shall come up against Jerusalem by the counsel of the Devil that then fire shall come down from God out of Heaven and devoure them so that in short I understand that the corruptions of the Heaven and earth shall be burnt up or destroyed or the Heavens and earth refined at Christs first coming and yet the work to be totally finished at the end because it is called TIMES in the plural number of restitution and TIMES of refreshing Dan. 7.10 2 Thes 1.7 8. Ezek. 38.22 Isa 66.15 16. Acts 3.19.20 21. 2 Pet. 3.10 11 12 13 14. Revel 20.9 Quer. 11. What is the new Heaven and new Earth and how shall they become new Answ The Heaven and the Earth is understood to be a new Heaven and a new Earth when the imperfection and corruption is taken away and so all things are to become new and that the corruption of both the Heavens and Earth shall be taken away so as that the Earth shall bring forth in abundance and the Heavens also far excel their brightness which they have now so that the light of the Moon shall be as the light of the Sun and the Sun shall be seven degrees better than what now she is read my Zions Redemption and you may see it proved to be glorious in the time of Christs raign in which time the Heavens and Earth shall be glorious Isa 30.24 25 26. cap. 65.17 18. cap 66.22 Quer. 12. Whether the new Heavens and new Earth and restoration shall be at Christs coming to raign upon Earth Answ The Heavens are to retain Christ until the times of restoration as I before have said so that the beginning of the work is immediately so soon as Christ comes and so to increase and grow more stronger and excellenter as now the Earth the things therein grow older and older and weaker and weaker Isa 9.7 chap. 29.19 Ezek. 36.27 28 29 30. Quer. 13. Whether or no shall Christ and the Saints raign for ever upon the Earth or not Answ It appears that Christ and the Saints shall not raign for ever because there is a time when the mediatour-ship shall be given up into the hands of the Father when the Son shall be in subjection unto him so as to lay down his government unto him and yet it shall be for ever in one sense that is for ever so long as there shall be a Nation upon earth to raign over but as for their scituation and abode I understand it shall be for ever in the new Jerusalem that cometh down from Heaven which is and for ever will be the Tabernacle of God which then shall remain in the Land of Canaan and so the Tabernacle of God to be with man and he for ever dwell with them for I do not find that the new Jerusalem shall be again removed 1 Cor. 15.24 25 26 27 28. Revel 21.1 2 3 4 5 6 7. Chap. 3.12 Quer. 14. If Christ and the Saints shall remain for ever in the new Jerusalem upon the earth where shall the Devil and man of sin with the wicked of the World be punished Answ It appears from the Scripture as though that the Land of Canaan were to remain for ever as the new Heaven and new Earth Isa 65.17 18 19. and that the punishment of the wicked should be without the gates or diases of the Land even in Babylon Caldea and Idumea and the like read Isa 34.4 5 to the 10. Ezek. 35.14 15. Isa 47.14 chap. 51.19 Revel 18.2 Quer. 15. Whether will Christ render vengeance to all the ungodly besides the perpetual torments that he will cast them into at the end of the thousand years Answ It appears that there are some that shall have only their power taken from them and their lives to be prolonged for a season Dan. 7.12 and also although great judgments shall fall upon the wicked yet there will a seed remain of them which shall be reserved to be destroyed at the end of the thousand years Isa 14.29 30. Revel 20 9. Quer. 16. Whether the punishment of the wicked be everlasting after the sentence is past at the general judgment Answ It appears to be everlasting although I know there be some that suppose a redemption out of Hell from the words of Christ Mat. 5.26 which saith Thou shalt by no means come from thence till thou hast paid the utmost farthing This place intends no such thing but is rather literally to be understood but if by prison there spoken of we may understand Hell yet it will not follow there is to be a redemption out of Hell as some suppose for the word until sometimes is never to be as it is said that Samuel came no more to see Saul until the day of his death 1 Sam. 15.35 And he cannot then but suppose the word until should prefix a set time yet the Text saith that thou shalt not come from thence until thou hast paid the utmost farthing and suppose a man were cast into prison for five hundred pounds and had not five hundred pence nor in a capacity to gain while he lay in prison if he should not come from thence till he had paid the utmost farthing he could never come out and such is the condition of the wicked that as their debt is very great even so they are in an incapacity to gain when they are in Hell whereby to pay their debt and none can pay it for them Psal 49.7 8. And so if they must pay the utmost farthing it will never be paid no the punishment of the wicked is everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord where the worm shall not die nor the fire be quenched 2 Thes 1.8 Isa 66 24. Quer 17. When can it be truly said according to 1 Cor. 15.22 That in Adam all dyed when it is plain that Enoch was translated so as not to taft of death with Elijah and Iohn chap. 21.23 Answ Whereas the Text 1 Cor. 15.22 saith that as in Adam all dyed even so in Christ shall all be made alive All in Scripture is often taken for the Major part and not every individual person for we know that many shall be changed at the coming of Christ and be caught up to meet him and so was Enoch changed or translated which is all one as death but that which is spoken by St. Paul 1 Cor. 15.22 saying As in Adam all dyed even so in Christ shall all be made alive It is to be thus understood that so many as did die by Adams sin was made alive by Christs obedience and raised from the dust finally every particular person must die or be changed for this corruptable body cannot enter into the Kingdome of God but must first put on incorruption and immortality and this change had Enoch and as for Elijah and Iohn I have before shewed what will befal them when they have accomplished their prophesie and thus leaving this Query I shall pass to the next and last which is Quer. 18. If Christ be the first fruits of them that sleep that is to say the first that is to arise from the dead how is it then that some Saints did arise at the time of Christs sufferings Answ Those Saints that were seen to come out of their graves and enter into the holy City was after the resurâ—ction of Christ and not at his sufferings Mat. 27 53. So then Christ was the first which was raised from the dead I could have spoken somewhat more to this and other things but time fails me and as for the other particulars mentioned in thy letter I have spoken unto them in my Book as Objections and such occasions have offered themselves and therefore have no more at present to say unto thee only exhorting thee to stand fast in the faith and profession of the Gospel for dear Brother as thou well knowest the portion of the godly is to suffer tribulation for Christ and the Gospel sake because thorow many tribulations we must enter into the Kingdome of God for they that are born after the flesh will persecute such as are born after the spirit for so it was and is and will be unto the end and it shall come to pass that those that kill the godly shall think that they do God service but however let us know that all things shall work together for good to those that love God and that the end is a crown of life to such as are faithful unto the death and then it will be the time that God will recompence tribulation to them that trouble his people that it had been good for them that they had never been born or that a milstone hanged about their neck and they cast into the depth of the Sea than to offend the friends of Iesus Christ finally he that soweth in tears shall reap in joy and he that goeth forth weeping bearing precious seed shall doubtless return rejoycing with everlasting joy upon his head and all sighing and sorrow shall flee away and for their shame they shall have double and for their confusion they shall rejoyce in their portion for in their land double everlasting joy shall be their portion FINIS
Pope and the Priest did confess by their practise that the person baptized must confess his sins himself or some other for him which sheweth also That the Person baptized was first to confess his sin and promise amendment of life and so must be of mature years before baptized And now the greatest part of people being ashamed of Pope Ignatius vanity I know not what they will do if they understood what they learned in their old Catechism but in very deed and truth I am ready to beleeve and that not without ground the more is the pity that men are so implicit in their Faith as to beleeve and practise such things in the worship and service of God because it is in custom amongst men as they are not able to give an account of either to God or man nor satisfie their own Conscience if they would but suffer themselves to be brought to a tryal but go on like a blind Horse in a Mill that hath his circuit limitted and cast up for him to go in And is not this a miserable delusion of the Devil whereby he hath blinded the eyes of the understandings of them which beleeve not to think if they take their practises from such and such wise learned men that they shall do well enough not minding what the Lord hath said which shall stand sure to a thousand generations That he will destroy the wisdom of the wise and bring to nought the understanding of the prudent and yet these foolish men will be so wise for their bodies that if they take but a small piece of silver of either of these wise men they will turn it over and over again to see whether it be silver or counterfeit coyn but as for their Souls they run a hazard leaving the tryal of it until the last day and then when Christ saith Who hath required these things at your hands being not able to give an account they stand speechless and so receive the sentence Take ye that unprofitable Servant and bind him hand and foot and cast him into utter darkness and there his Portion will be weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth And thus I come to the Seventh Reason to prove Beleeving Men and Women to be the only fit subjects of Baptism which is Reas 7. Because Faith is required of all such as appear before God in any Gospel-Ordinance or administration because the Gospel-administrations are the administrations of the Spirit and so require a spiritual faithful seed to participate thereof contrary to the administrations of the Law which were carnal Ordinances for the Law was not of Faith but the man which did it should live in it but the Gospel is Faith and that which requires Faith in all that come to God through it for as saith the Eunuch See here is water what hindreth me to be baptized And Philips Answer was If thou beleevest thou mayest Acts 8.37 implying that Faith was that which would give him admittance unto it or the want of Faith would hinder him for he that cometh to God must beleeve that he is a rewarder of all them which diligently seek him And indeed we may see that through Faith it is that we stand in the Grace of God and new Covenant Rom. 5.1 2 3. And so much briefly to the Seventh Reason to prove beleeving Men and Women to be the only subjects fit for Baptism And so I come to the 8. Reason which is Reas 8. Because Baptism represents the new Birth and is a demonstration to the world that the Person baptized is new born of Water and of the Spirit and is significantly called the washing in regeneration and renewing the Holy Ghost Titus 3.5 Which sheweth that they only are to be baptized which are new born and thereby to represent to the world the work of God upon their Soul that as they have their Hearts sprinckled from an evil Conscience so they represent it by having their Bodies washed with pure water not that the water it self as barely considered water is pure no but the Commands of God and his Ordinances are pure inlightning the eyes and so to the pure all things are pure and so the Water in Baptism may be called pure it being a pure Ordinance and representing a pure work of God wrought in the Soul And hence it came to pass that our blind Priests gave thanks to God when they had strewed or sprinckled a little water on a Childs face that the Child was regenerated and born again as though Baptism conferred grace which if so doubtless Simon Magus also had not been in the gall of bitterness after Baptism unless he could and had fell from Grace O you blind guides what can you declare a Person to be the Child of Wrath and a Child of God and an heir to heaven in half an hours time without seeing any visible demonstration of the Work of Grace wrought upon the Soul and yet notwithstanding although you do give thanks to God that they are regenerated and born again yet so soon as they be capable to be Preached to you tell them if they will not Repent and Beleeve and such like things they shall be Damned and yet deny any falling from Grace What kind of strange confused Doctrine is this What half an hour a-go a Child of Wrath but now being sprinkled it 's Regenerated and born again and an heir to heaven and shortly in a damnable estate again so that if it do not Repent and the like it must be damned Oh strange Confusion It makes me admire how the understanding of the wise comes to be so confounded only God hath confounded the language of the builders of Babel and hence it comes to pass that their language is so confounded Take heed therefore of building of a way to Heaven of your own inventions But to pass this Discourse you may see that Baptism represents a new Birth and therefore the persons baptized must first be new born for that which is born of the flesh is flesh and that which is born of the spirit is spiritual therefore beleevers which are born again are the only fit subjects of Baptism And so I pass to the 9. Reason to prove beleevers the only subjects sit for Baptism which is Reas 9. Because Baptism is a visible manifestation of a Covenant made between God and the Soul whereby the Soul visibly puts off the old Man viz. the lust of the Flesh and puts on the new Man Christ Jesus in righteousness and true holiness not to serve any longer according to the Will of the Flesh but to God in newness of Spirit and this is that the Apostle saith to the Galatians Gal. 3.27 That as many as were baptized unto Christ had put on Christ which sheweth That Baptism is a visible putting on the Lord Christ which requireth Faith in the person baptized for if a person should be baptized ten thousand times and have not faith he puts not on Christ and so
namely Mans Mortality A DISCOURSE Touching the Mortality of the Soul IN order to the clearing up of this Subject of Dicourse I shall lay down this Position which is That man by sin made himself wholly mortal So that when God shall take away his breath which is from the time of death till the time of Resurrection he is no more then what he was before God breathed into him the breath of life which was but dust and also to dust he doth return and the word Soul is used for illustration sake and very large in its acceptation in Scripture sometimes to be understood one thing sometimes another that no man living can say of any one thing this is the soul and this is not but the whole individual man is taken for the soul and where there is spoken of soul and body there is no more difference than there is between Spirit and breath only it is spoken by way of illustration and the Greek word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 doth signifie several things as the Mind Will Soul Delight Pleasure Affection Disposition Phantasie Life Breath Wind Blast Wrath Anger Memory Thought Stomack Courage Advice Opinion Heart Witt Stoutness Willingness Promptness or Readiness of Mind also Sleep and also Man these many significations and more is derived from the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which we read in our Translation Soul But leaving these things I shall come suddenly to the Reasons and then answer some Objections but first see some Scriptures which proveth that Man is wholly mortal and first see the words of the Wise man Eccles 3.19 20. in these words For what befalleth the sons of men befalleth Beasts even one thing befalleth them as the one dyeth so dyeth the other yea they have all one breath so that man hath no preheminence above a beast for all is vanity all go to one place all are of the dust and return to dust again Agreeable to the Word of the Lord Gen. 3. Dust thou art and to dust thou shalt return and this is also further amplified by John 4.7 8 9 10 11 12. in these words For there is hope of a tree if he be cut down that it will sprout again and the tender branches thereof will not cease though the root thereof wax old in the ground and the stock thereof die in the earth yet thorow the descent of water it will bud and bring forth branches like a plant but man dyeth and wasteth away ye man giveth up the Ghost and where is he as the waters fall from the Sea and the floods decay and dry up so man lyeth down for we must needs die and be as water spilt upon the ground that cannot be gathered neither doth God respect the person of any man yet he hath used a means that his banished shall not be for ever expelled from him From whence we may see that the estate of man is compared to the floods that are dryed up that is become as it were nothing and is so to remain until the resurrection for by sin and death we are banished from the Lord yet he hath used a means namely to bring us forth again at the Resurrection that his banished should not be for ever kept from him but if the righteous go to heaven so soon as they die how are they banished from him and become as water spilt upon the ground For what man is he that liveth and shall not see death Shall he deliver his soul from the hand of the grave Selah Psal 89.48 2 Sam. 14.14 No he cannot deliver his soul from the hand of the grave when God sets his heart to look upon man as you may see Job 34.14 15. in these words If he set his heart upon man if he gather unto himself his spirit and his breath all flesh shall perish together and man shall again return unto dust From these words we see all flesh is to perish and man is flesh yea the whole man for that which is born of flesh is flesh now the soul of man is born of flesh and if it be not spirit it must die and the Apostle saith that the first man meaning the whole man was earth earthy and as is the earthy so are they that are earthy howbeit it was not first that which was spiritual but that which was natural and then that which was spiritual speaking there of the man Adam and the man Christ affirming that the first Adam was an earthly natural man and the second Adam viz. Christ was a heavenly spiritual man so then the first man thorow his sin made himself mortal even the whole man there is a multitude of Scriptures that proveth this thing but time being very pretious with me I cannot at this time set them in order before thee but shall pass to some few Reasons to prove man wholly mortal and the first is Reas 1. First because Christ dyed soul and body to purchase our souls and bodies from the grave and if Christs soul dyed it was really to that end that our souls might not lie in the grave and if we had dyed only in body then Christ had dyed only in body but the whole man being mortal and returned to dust Christ also poured out his soul to death and made his soul an offering for sin as saith the Prophet Isa 53.10 When thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin he shall see his seed mark that he shall prolong his dayes and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his hand 12. Because he hath poured out his soul to death and he was numbred with the strangers and he bore the sins of many c. From hence we see that Christs SOVL dyed that ours might live again and not be left in the grave which proveth that our souls are mortal and die and so I pass to the second reason to prove That the whole man is mortal which is Reas 2. Secondly because if mans body be mortal and that die and his soul immortal that live then man hath two lives two distinct Beings which is not for if there be two distinct lives and two distinct Beings then Adam was two distinct Creatures and then it cannot be said that as by the offence of ONE Judgment came upon all men to condemnation for Adam upon that account was TWO distinct beings having two distinct lives but man having but one life the whole man must be mortal or the whole man immortal and that the whole man is mortal the Scriptures and our experience doth witness Reas 3. Again Thirdly Because otherwise Christ had done Lazarus wrong by raising him from the dead for if his Soul had been in Heaven four dayes and then Christ fetched it from thence it was so far from an act of love to him whom Christ so well loved that it was great prejudice and also I strange that Lazarus did not mention one tittle of the glory of Heaven if he had been
is death then shall Christ deliver up his Kingdome and authority into the hands of God the Father and then shall Christ and the Saints be in subjection to God for ever and shall remain with him in bliss in that everlasting station that heavenly Jerusalem the which the Lord grant it to be the portion of every serious Soul that seeketh after truth unto whose hands these lines may come and to all others which is the earnest desire of him that would fain have been larger in meditation writing but by reason of several occasions time suffereth him not Farewel The Good Ancient Laws and Statutes OF KING JESUS VINDICATED Wherein is proved by several Scriptures and several Grounds and Reasons drawn from Scriptures That all the Laws Statutes and Ordinances of King Jesus given forth in his last Will and Testament are practicable and to be practised by the Lords People in all Ages until the Worlds end or till the second Coming of the Lord Jesus Christ to Judgment Whereunto also is added an Answer to the most material Objections to this Point or proof for the Cessation of some of Christs Ordinances It being in Answer to a Book published by Mr. Simon Henden of Biddenden in Kent entituled A Glass of some new Discoveries Together with a brief Review of the Heads of a Conference between him and the Author before many witnesses June 3. 1658. By GEORGE HAMMON Pastor to the Church of Christ meeting in Biddenden in KENT I said dayes shall speak and multitude of years should teach wisdome But there is a spirit in man and the inspiration of the Almighty giveth them understanding Great men are not alwayes wise neither doth the aged understand judgment Therefore I said hearken unto me I also will shew thee mine opinion Job 32.7 8 9 10. Go ye therefore and Teach all Nations Baptizing them in the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost Teaching them to observe all things WHATSOEVER I HAVE COMMANDED YOV and loe I am with you ALWAYES EVEN to the END of the WORLD Amen Mat. 28.19 20. LONDON Printed by G. Dawson for the Author 1660. The Epistle Dedicatory TO Mr. Simon Henden and his Son John SIRS ACcording to my promise and the desire of many Friends I have taken in hand to give some further Account of the Conference that we had at your House in June the 3d. 1658. Together with an Examination and Tryal of some few Particulars published by you upon a more mature consideration But truly I must be very brief because the Press hath waited a long while for it by reason of my being so much from home and taken off upon other occasions for indeed part of my Book hath been printed long since the which part was far briefer than it was intended if time would have admitted and also if the man to whom I had Dedicated it in chief had been in England but he being far remote and also giving forth speeches that he would not meddle any more with me either in Disputation nor in the Press I did only intend to answer that which seemed most material unto me and to remove it from my door and also to shew my opinion upon some other Subjects which are material and worth examination as at this day at the end of which I did promise to speak somewhat in order to the reviving of our former Discourse upon which I did also peruse your Treatise intituled The Key of Scripture Prophesies or A Glass of some new Discoveries to the end that I might the better know your Judgment when I had seen it delivered by you upon deliberation with serious and mature thoughts and when I had read it and perused it I was very much astonished at the consideration thereof to think how much I was bereaved of my understanding if that Piece were worthy to be authorized by a man of your gravity and ingenuity but however I desire not to be too confident it may be of greater worth than it appears to me to be and therefore I shall reveiw some few particulars and in the words of Sobriety and Humility give my judgment of things as they appear to me in the plainness and simplicity thereof to the end that I may inform those who are out of the way and yet will ask and enquire for the good old way and to leave others who are wise in their own conceit to stand and fall unto their own Master without casting dirt or things of that nature upon them the which I find to be most profitable in reference to Godliness although most unpleasing unto the flesh But to wave these things and all kind of circumlocution my desire is that these Lines may not be mis-represented upon your spirits as though what I write here be the venting of any thing from a private prejudice but those things that I rather aim at is love and good will first to your selves and then to all those that possibly may be mis-led and be in that Babel that you suppose others are in therefore let the Scripture and sound Reason guide you I mean Scripture Reason and the Lord if it be his will give you a right understanding therein which is the desire of him which desires your eternal peace who is Your Servant and all mens for Christ and his Bodies sake which is the Church GEORGE HAMMON THE Epistle to the Reader Courteous Reader I Have here presented thee with as it were a Homer in a Nut shell much matter of concernment in a little compass or volumn and my desire is that as thou tendreth the good of thy eternal peace to peruse these lines with an impartial heart and an unbyassed affection that thou maist thereby find out the truth in the midst of the varieties of Opinions which are in our dayes and in order thereunto be very careful to try things well before thou receiveth it for a truth and believe not every spirit but try them whether they be of God for many false Prophets are entred into the world which endeavour privately to undermine the truth and to bring in another Gospel to oppose both the Ordinances and Kingdome of the Lord Jesus and to walk in such a way as God hath not cast up for his People to walk in therefore remember how thou hast heard and received and hold fast for the time of account draweth near and then blessed will such be who are sound doing all things that are written in the last Will and Testament of Christ Jesus and if thou find any man so insolent and bold as to say that some of the Laws Statutes or Ordinances of King Jesus be not to be observed but are ceased then examine where it is written that Christ hath said that any of his Laws is to cease or fall to the ground and not to be observed until he comes and puts an end unto them and know that in things of concernment God hath not spoken obscurely