other place saith speaking in the meaning of the Lord The word is nigh thee saith he even in thy mouth and in thy heart That is or this is the word of faith which we preach the word or Covenant of Promise That is whoever by vertue of the New Covenant the Word or Statute of life the Covenant of Grace shall be born again and shall Beleeve in his heart and confesse with his mouth the Lord Jesus as before is shewed he shall be saved for such a one is the Child of salvation Now Doctour see how you have wronged these Scriptures by making the first a ground of a long discourse of Philosophy in declaring to the people how in the improvement of naturall Faculties first the Judgement is informed then the Will consenteth and accordingly the Affections are exercised I tell you the truth Doctour I was ashamed of your Doctrine and that made me speak though you returned me a scoffe And when your wisdom led you to shew us the meaning of the Apostles tearms Believing and Confessing by a Sillogisme without distinguishing the meanings that were of divers significations in the Word of God I was so bold as to tell you before all the people your Argument was fallacious and tended to deceive because the tearms were dubious and then you scorn'd and despis'd me again And according to these corrupt Expositions are all the rest of your Arguings whereof except you prevent me by your speedy repentance I shall make a publick Anatomy to the view of the World and Subscribe my Name Your Friend John Graunt SIR I Received a thing subscribed with your Name full of Basket-hilted words and quarrelsome phrases to provoke me to a challenge as I suppose about Mr Cranfords Dispute at Mr Webbs and in Justification of your uncivill behaviour there which not I but your own party rebuked The businesse concerns Mr Cranford and how you should come to interest your selfe in it I know not If Mr Cranford be pleased to resigne it to you under his hand I shall accept it If any thing else lye upon your stomach you may signifie what it is and you need not doubt of a reasonable Answer from June 30. 1652. Peter Chamberlen London thâ—â—â— of July 1652. SIR YEsterday I received a Letter from you dated June 30. 1652. which Antedated the last from me of the 3d Instant which had you seen before you had written this I suppose your mind would not have been as here is expressed for therein you might have understood no carnall quarrelling nor provocation to fleshly challenges nor vaine and uncivill expressions of basket hilted words nor any private naturall mans suppositions but a clear plain and earnest contention for the doctrine of faith once delivered to the Saints clearly discovered and not dissembled nor counterfeited minding more the spirit of faith by which Gods Servants are inabled to speak then this or that mans busines And a Child of truth that hath his right or interest therein they hear they receive they understand they beleive the voyce of their shepheard but a strangers voyce they will not they cannot they may not hear and receive and of the same nature was yours as I have signified twice before At this time I shall deal only with you I speak not of others and mind no such resignation as you speak of but a vindication of the truth of God from you withholding it in unrighteousnesse and pray for your repentance to become truths Friend truly and plainly to distinguish between Divinity and Philosophy and of terms also to preserve differing proprieties and the contrary lyes on my stomach undigested Yours John Graunt SIR THe last night late I met with a more civill Letter of yours and surely therein you shall not outdoe me Wherefore now taking all your a Reproaches of me as done out of Zeal and Conscience I can willingly passe them by and endeavour to satisfie you in whatsoever you may make a scruple as far as the Lord shall enable me In your Letter July 2d you say he that affirmeth that to bee the Church of Christ which is not wrongs the Lord c. And he that gives any other meaning of the Scripture then what the holy Ghost intendeth hurts and wounds the truth of Gods Testimony c. To both these I b assent Let us therefore see whether I be the man that have blasphemed as ye say and I shall not dare to maintain it I shall also desire you in the like candour to lay these Rules to heart and examine your selfe You say I affirm her that is True Durable and everlasting to be fading and framed with untempered morter and that to be the meaning of Christ Matthew 16. 17. and of the Apostle Rom. 10. 9 10. which was never meant nor intended by them which if I were guilty of I confesse your accusation Just Let us therefore speak of them both apart First of the first wherein we must first endeavour to bring your words to your meaning or your meaning to your words For if it c relate unto the first Rules set down it is a kind of contradiction The Rule intimating the making of a false Church to appear as a true the other the making of a true Church to be as a false But if you mean two severall things then I suppose your rule would infer an imputation on me of having maintained our Church to be the Church of Christ which you say is not so and your Church not to be the Church of Christ which neverthelesse is so For surely you mean not that ever I affirmed the Church of Christ to be fading and framed with untempered morter but rather that such Churches which were so fading and framed with untempered morter are not the Churches of Christ Now that whereby we aver our selves to be the true Church of Christ is by keeping the d pure Ordinances of Christ according to his word and if you think otherwise you should instance in any perticular On the other side we say that yours is not the true Church of Christ because you keep not the true Ordinances of Christ according to his word And we instance in Baptisme and the Lords Supper and could instance in more Now this we doe not for any Spleen or Malice for I say the same things to my best Friends but that I might provoke you and them to examine your selves exactly by the Word of God and forsake the Traditions of men As to the Scriptures mentioned Mat. 16. 17. The word it seems saith it was the Father that revealed it to Peter and not e flesh and blood which thing I brought to prove that the knowledge of Truth commeth not by Flesh and Bloud but by Revelation from God And Rom. 10. 9. 10. was no whit clouded or disparaged by the Philosophicall Discourse of f Experience as you suppose since David Psal. 19. 104. c. and Christ himselfe is
the Spirit of the Lord foretold And they shall doe great wonders and works of great power so that they would deceive if it were possible the very elect Which kind of Faith may properly be defined thus That it is a certain undoubted confidence whereby a man beleeveth that God Almighty will by him doe this or that Miracle as the Scripture saith Through Faith in his name The third sort of the gifts of the Spirit which any man receiveth to Eternall life is called by the name of Faith and that more often then those before named which the Scripture calleth The Faith of God The Faith of the Son of God the Faith of Jesus Christ the Faith of Abraham the Faith that worketh by love the Faith of Gods Elect which is often and properly called by godly men justifying Faith and of this sort and kind of Faith all the Saints and they onely have which may be truely defined in this manner that it is a full sure and firme confidence ingraven by the power of the Spirit of God in a penitent broken heart whereby he assuredly beleeveth that all his sins are remitted and that he is reconciled and made one with God in everlasting love and favour through the Lord Jesus Christ Now the Doctour ought to have considered which of all these three sorts of Faith is meant by our Saviour in the place he alledges the last sort of Faith cannot be understood for that is included in the next tearm Baptized as I shall shew when I give you the meaning Nor the second sort for that 's not peculiar to them that shall be saved And therefore without all contradiction it must be the first sort of Faith which all the Elect of God must have in some measure or other wrought by Gods Spirit before he works either Repentance or Remission of sins which kind of Faith may well be expressed in saying that it is and it is nothing else but a sure knowledge and settled assent of the mind and heart by which a man most undoubtedly beleeveth such things as are revealed for the Salvation of mankinde Now the second Tearme in the Text is Baptized which word is likewise of divers significations in the Scripture and he ought here to have dealt like a skilfull spirituall workman as before is exprest that is in the first place to have shewed the manifold acceptations the same word also hath in the Holy Ghosts expression and then which of all the meanings by the same tearm is here to be understood which the Doctor having omitted of necessity I must do this work for him to find out the true meaning of this Scripture also Wherefore I say of the tearm Baptisme as of the tearm Faith that it hath divers disfinct and severall meanings in the Scriptures sometimes is meant by it externall elementary Baptisme that which is from below but more often that which is spirituall and heavenly from above as repentance is called Baptisme and so is Remission of Sinnes and these two heavenly operations together being Regeneration and the making parts of the New man are called Baptisme and so are the gifts of the Holy Ghost given to this New creature called Baptisme as also the enabling Grace in the holy conversation of this Child of God His mortification and vivification are called Baptisme as also are his blessed sufferings for righteousnesse sake Can you be Baptized with the Baptisme that I am Baptized with c. Now Mr. Doctour may it please you to learne which of all these distinct meanings is that which is intended by our Lord and Saviour the last it cannot be for in that our Lord speaks of the work and exercise of a New man born and not of the Birth it selfe the first it cannot be for that is from below and it is impossible for the water of the great Ocean Springs or Fountains to unharden the heart to convert a naturall man to renew the sinner to sanctifie the polluted then without all question it must be the Baptisme of Repentance and Remission of Sinnes the washing of Regeneration and Renewing of the Holy Ghost for whosoever is so Baptized doth so repent and beleeve shall be saved Now these things considered I pray see what a corrupt manner of Preaching is this of yours and how these Scriptures prove what you have affirmed let the people of the Lord judge For as you have by your false Expositions killed and taken away the life and meaning of Gods holy Word in these past instances of Divine Writ even so in like manner hath your dealing been with all other Scriptures you have made use of for which in due time and place you shall receive just reproof In the next place I should have discovered your ignorance of the Ordinance of the Lords Supper which is your confirmation of your Disciples under the power of your Ordinances as you use to say by which you doe not onely interest your selves into their Estates but have the disposing of their bodies also But I will defer that till I shall determine it rightly by the Scriptures of truth and will now take in hand the point you have spent most of your Syllogismes about concerning the Ministry of the Church of Christ and you ground your large Disputes on a Question page 2. which you frame thus Whether privat men I mean Trades-men say you may Preach the Word of God without Ordination By which it appears his meaning is they may and so goes on in all fury and in a conceit of an uncontrollable ability to make good his three fold Cord of Major Minor and Conclusion with cunning sophisticall words of Juglers as the Apostle speaks of some in his time 2 Pet. 1. 16. And the man is so confident that he thinks neither word nor spirit may countermand him but when the account of his Question is audited I think he will wish he had been better imployed for the Doctour is fallen into a mist as he was before and doth all his work in darknesse and he shall find them to prove no lesse then works of darknesse themselves by not clearing three tearms in his Question that is Private men Ordination and Preaching and that I may the more fully discover the Doctours weaknesse his question 's examination shall be by the Scriptures and then it will appear how the Scriptures meaning and the Doctours doth disagree Now we find the first tearm Private man made use of by the Apostle 2 Pet. 1. 20 21. Knowing this first saith he that no Prophesie of the Scripture is of any private interpretation or motion as some translate for the Prophesie came not at any time by the will of man c. The Apostle teacheth us here that the private man he speaks of is a naturall man and he explains his own meaning to be so in these words By the will of man that is by no naturall mans abilities whatsoever And as he denies that the Prophesie of truth and
THE SHIPWRACK OF ALL False Churches AND The Immutable Safety and Stability of the true Church of CHRIST Occasioned By DOCTOUR CHAMBERLEN His mistake of her and of the Holy Scriptures also by Syllogising words to find out Spirituall Meanings when in such cases it is the Definition not the Name by which things are truly knowne Jer. 9. Trust not in lying words saying the Temple of the Lord the Temple of the Lord c. Psal. 87. 2. The Lord loveth the Gates of Sion more then all the dwellings of Jacob Matth. 12. 36 37. But I say unto you That every idle word that men shall speake they shall give account thereof in the day of Judgement For by thy words thou shalt be justified and by thy words thou shalt be condemned LONDON Printed and are to be sold by G. Calvert at the West End of Pauls and J. Hancock in Popes-head Alley 1652. To the Church of Christ at London Beloved of God called by the Spirit to be Saints in Christ Jesus All grace be multiplyed FAITHFULL FRIENDS IN love to you and the Truth I have undertaken in your Cause and in the right of you all to discover a counterfeit Friend whom I lately met with that did aver to my selfe and to others of your society That to be your state and condition your devotion fruit and manifestation which upon triall proved no better then carnall and sensuall And having received perfect knowledge of you by the same spirit that doth make and constitute you I could not keep silence but instantly reproved him openly yet notwithstanding that publick disclaim I made of what he said he hath since printed that which he then verbally avouched which is so unsavory and to your holy and pure nature so contrary From which aspersion to free you I have made bold to declare and make knowne your holy and spirituall birth life constitution fellowship communion hope and worship in the purity and spirituall part of Gods Ordinances your divine communion with the Father and with the Son in the Spirit your righteous Garments without you and Gods habitation with his comfortable refreshments within you your peculiar treasures and priviledges in knowing the Truth and the Administration of it also the heavenly power you have with Christ and what it is indeed to be gathered together in his name and how clear and intire you stand distinct from all other Churches that boldly call themselves by your Titles and Appellations and lay claim to your own immunities and priviledges also with such particular Letters that have passed interchangeably between us touching the vindication of you in the premises who am the Lords and yours In all humble Service In the Truth J. G. Bucklersbury the 25th of June 1652. SIR I Have twice borne your contemptuous slightings although what I moved was seasonable both for Gods glory and the present occasion And had not earnest businesse caused my long absence from London you should have heard of me before this time to have required an account concerning your great seemings to no purpose Sir As there was in times past an outward appearance that was not righteous so there is still in this present time which was as much manifested by your selfe in those Arguings where I was with you at Mr Webbs as ever heretofore by any of your Generation Now since my returne to London I have seen you have printed a Monument of your owne weaknesse which except you repent of will unavoydably redound to your great prejudice and if you will give me satisfaction in the two particulars I reproved you in well if not I shall publish not only my reproofe of those two Arguments but of every thing else you then spake of and since have printed this is the mind of him that answered your uncivill questions what he was that spake and how in profession where for habitation and his distinction for nomination who then told you he was alwayes ready to meet you at any time to discover the fallacy of your Baptisme and Church also Subscribing my Name as it is John Graunt Dwelling as abovesaid at the signe of the halfe Moon London the 9th of July 1652. Sir THe last Month I gave you to understand of your incivility towards me intimating the time and place also and because your regardlesnesse is still continued I thought good the second time to write although you denyed me to speak once and againe and to let you to know that there is not a more certaine time of sinning against God his truth and children then of suffering for wronging them For he that affirms that to be the Church of Christ that is not wrongs the Lord the Husband and his holy Spouse also And he that gives any other meaning of the Scripture then what the holy Ghost intendeth hurts and wounds the truth of Gods testimonies and his Children also Now the truth is thou art the man that hast blasphemed the Tabernacle of God and them that dwell therein affirming her to be untempered morter and fading that is true dureable everlasting And that to be the meaning of Christ Mat 16. 17. and the Apostle Rom. 10. 9 10. which was never meant nor intended by them Sir you did not consider the Scriptures when you read them if you had you might have discerned the meaning otherwise then that you have there declared and if it be possible look on the Text with a single eye and then you may perceive more then yet you have for this is a spirituall Scripture and none but spirituall eyes can discern it In the letter it runs thus upon Peters confession Thou art Christ the Son of the living God Jesus answered and said unto him Blessed art thou Simon c. For flesh and bloud hath not revealed this unto thee but my Father which is in Heaven You see the Lord pronounces him blessed because he was one that the Lord had inspired taught and instructed that it was not Peters confession as he was a naturall but as he was a spirituall man and so uttered from the Spirit of adoption as in another place the same Apostle speaking to the same purpose We beleeve and are sure that thou art that Christ the Son of the living God And as in the foregoing words he calls him Lord saying Whether shall we goe thou hast the words of Eternall life Again consider the terms he useth We beleeve and are sure this sure and stedfast Faith is that Faith which â—â—y had that received him that is that loved understood and obeyed him To whom he gave the priviledge of Sonship even them that beleeve on his name And then he shewes what manner of men they are in these words Which were borne saith he not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man but of God so then this blessed confession is from a blessed man a regenerated man the Confession of a Child of the Covenant as the Apostle Paul in the
he cannot see the Kingdome of God In which words there are four parts and the tearms therein to be distinctly considered of The first is Of whom our Lord speaks by the name man and by it he means a naturall man And secondly That this man is to be born again his meaning is not as Nicodemus at that time understood him to enter into that place of nature from whence he came forth but to be born from above by a supernaturall force power vertue and operation of the Spirit of God In the third place He speaks of the matter of the Birth and that hath two parts The first is heavenly and spirituall water meaning thereby the grace and gift of God which the holy Ghost often in the Scriptures calls by the name of water which is the Baptisme of Repentance a true turning to God The second part consisteth of another more excellent work of the Spirit which is here called the Holy Ghost but in other places by metaphoricall tearms blood and fire by which is meant the Baptisme of the Holy Ghost or Remission of sins The first part is full of spirituall grief and disconsolation the last full of heavenly comfort and consolation And lastly By seeing the Kingdome of God he means the knowing and being a member of his Church in the state of Regeneration receiving the Spirit of Adoption through which he is made the Child of God and if Children then Heirs of the everlasting Kingdome the World to come the inheritance of the Saints so then from this Scripture thus opened we are taught that Gods method and way to convert men from nature to grace to make them members of his Church is to Turne them from darknesse to light from the power of Satan to be reconciled unto God To deliver us from the power of darknesse and translate us into the Kingdome of the Son of his love And by this way and means the Lord made and constituted the true Church of Christ at Collosse as he doth all other Churches of his which were Saints and faithfull brethren in Christ And so did he likewise that famous Church at Ephesus Yee were somtimes darknesse saith the Apostle but now are yee light in the Lord walk as Children of light Mark I pray you he calls this Church these Saints these Faithfull in Christ Jesus Children of light and how came they to be so but by being Borne of God of his own will begat he them being born again of incorruptible seed the Word of God which is the Word of his Grace the New Covenant the Word of Promise the Covenant of Life the making us partakers thereof is the taking away the stony heart and in the place thereof to give his Elect a heart of flesh that is a soft tender and humble heart and in it to write his everlasting love mercy and kindnesse never to be obliterated or revoked as before is shewed For those whom he thus loves once he loves unto the end And these Children of God are those little ones the Scripture speaks of those humble ones the Lord teacheth those contrite and penitent ones that the Lord comforteth refresheth and reviveth this is his Sion his little City his desired Habitation his delightfull dwelling his Holy Mountaine And where two or three of these are gathered together in his Name where by Name we are to understand Spirit there is he in the midst of them that is it that is it that makes them his Church even his holy presence that is it that makes them his House his Tabernacle to doe his great pleasure in Earth by his Spirit as the everlasting Father and the Son doth in Heaven whose voyce not to regard is as much as not to regard the voyce of God himselfe Oh Doctour for you to compare your hay wood and stubble with the purity and excellency of this Churches mettle which is Gods building it will even so eclipse your rush light and split your hulk and shipwrack your bark for ever as never to recover and your sandy foundation will shortly cause such a fall of your foolish Church building as never to be built again And that you may repent of your ignorance of the true Church of Christ I will give you another discovery of her excellency by her pure estate and glorious condition which the Propheticall Apostle Iohn saw in a Vision and writ it for posterity in these words And a great signe appeared in Heaven a Woman cloathed with the Sun and the Moon under her feet and on her head a Crown of twelve stars And being great with Child shee cryed travelling and labouring to be delivered In which Scripture there are many things considerable 1. A matter of wonderment and admiration for the great excellency of it 2. The place where it appeared and that was in Heaven 3. What it was that appeared and that was a woman 4. Then her cloathing and apparell all over her body 5. As also what she was crown'd with on her head 6. What she trod under her feet and not only denominating all things without her but 7. what was within her also And being great with Child she cryed travelling and labouring to be delivered This precious Virgin Spouse the Lords Bride being in her condition spirituall did shine forth in her primitive estate not in any outward pomp and humane carnall glory as now in any externall forme or soft Rayment after the fashion of the multitude of gathered Churches in these dayes but in her heavenly gifts and holy vertues her chast and prudent conversation the shining of her faith love patience and moderation in all things she was such as she was the light of the world to the wonderment and admiration of all the Children that had eyes to behold her And whereas it is said She appeared in Heaven the meaning is the places where the Gospel was beleeved the truth of God and way to salvation professed as in Iudea Italy Macedonia Asia and divers other places Cities and Countries in which sense the Apostle speaks to the Church of Thessalonica For from you sounded out the word of the Lord not onely in Macedonia and Achaia but also in every place your faith to God-ward is spread abroad c. And that the Church of Christ is signified by the appellation and title of a Woman that is usuall and often the expression of the Holy Ghost in the Scriptures as The Kings Daughter The Daughter of Sion The Spouse of Christ The Lambs Wife The Mother of all the Saints c. And there is great reason for the Female Sex resembles the Church of Christ in many respects as for their fruitfulnesse for their beauty for their subjection and passivenesse and tender bowels of compassion And that she may want nothing that may tend to her full description in her whole attire to make her all glorious without as the Prophet saith The Kings Daughter is all glorious within The son of Righteousnesse even his own
Righteousnesse is her Mantle her cloathing It is a metaphoricall speech often used in the Scripture thereby declaring the Righteousnesse of Christ by being cloathed in sine linnen by a wedding Garment and a white stone and very apt is the resemblance for as a stole or Garment covers and adornes the naturall body so the righteousnesse of Christ covers and cloaths adorns and beautifies the poverty and brokenness of the peninent souls of his Elect. And this Garment is of that nature and quality as that it warms and sustains the feeble and thirsty soule with the assurance of the mercy and favour of God in Christ Jesus for ever And the Holy Ghost giveth testimony also of the fruits of her lively justifying faith in declaring her newnesse of life in her detestation of sin and true love to her Lord in this figurative expression And the Moon under her feet declaring thereby her mortification and death too and of her sinfull corruption and worldly naturall affection and also her vivification and daily renewed mind to a heavenly conversation delighting and meditating day and night in the Holy Law and Word of God being no more carnally but spiritually minded The next externall yet spirituall description is the Ornament of her head wherein shee took most pleasure saying Shee wore on her head a Crowne not with gold and silver beset with precious stones for the excellent matter thereof it exceeded all these for it was made of the holy and pure Doctrine of the Twelve Apostles which testimonies and verities of theirs are the Lords lights and torches to guide and direct sinners when they are benighted and darkned with their sins and for this cause are called by the name of stars And lastly the Holy Ghost declares the effects and operation of Gods spirit and word in her for by the heavenly truth which was by her ears received her heart spiritually conceived and shee was greatly filled with a deep sence of her owne vilenesse and unworthinesse with bemoaning and mournfully lamenting her sad forlorn condition travelling and labouring under great oppression by reason of sin in restlesse desire of reconciliation to God which paines and anguish of her mourning heart and contrite spirit the Apostle most truly compareth to the throwes and paines of a woman in travell of Child-birth of which spirituall pains and labour shee could not possible by any means be eased or releived untill her Lord were formed in her even untill her tender heart were sanctified by faith for nothing could cure the wound but the assurance of mercy nor nothing satisfie her restlesse desire but the love of God insured her in Christ her Lord and written in the fleshy Tables of her heart according to his everlasting Covenant Thus you see both the definition and description of the true Church of Christ that she is holy and spirituall within and without also distinguished and disevered from all other Churches by Regeneration as the outward Court and the Temple were parted by a vaile and described by such perfect fruits of righteousnesse as no Pharisaicall Congregations can bring forth And herein I have made good my promise to you in this first particular The second thing I promised was to make known unto you the divine Ordinances of this holy Church and they are many but we will briefly and that truly discover such as are most materiall to our purpose Now as shee her selfe is spirituall and their communions one with another so also is every part of her worship spirituall likewise and yet we must ever remember that most Ordinances consist of two parts the one carnall and outward the other spirituall and inward Now the common and carnall Christians are most busied about the carnall part as fleshly washings corporall eatings litterall Expositions and verball supplications like the Pharisees that were strict to tyth mint and the meanest externall things but wholly omitted the weightiest and greatest that which was internall as true Repentance c. diligently washed the outside but minded not at all to cleanse inwardly the heart in all which Mr Doctour you spent most of your labour and very few words or none about the spirituall part And one Reason was because all your Disputes tended but to a carnall Church for a Congregation of carnall Christians make no better then a carnall Church and carnall Arguments and actions doe manifest the hearts of such to be carnall But I desire your Repentance of these things and hasten to the discovery of the truth that may make you a Child thereof indeed and therefore we will returne to a further discovery of the true Churches spirituall Worship in the Heavenly part of Gods Ordinances in which shee and her Children are most conversant for they are alwayes mindfull of the Holy Covenant of their Lord in the heavenly parts of it they mourne and weep and suffer together in their patience possesse their souls and passe through the Valley of Tears participating each with other knowing they are thereunto called of God not only to beleeve but to suffer for his sake the assured hope they have of the great portion inheritance and salvation they are born unto by the spirit doth so support them that they rejoyce in tribulation the Holy Ghost bearing them witnesse That if they suffer with him they shall also reign with him Know you not saith the Apostle as if he had said in other words you know assuredly that as many of us as are Baptized into Jesus Christ were Baptized into his death therefore we are buried with him by Baptisme into death Mark the tearms Baptized or Buried with him into death which sheweth if men be Members of his body then if our head suffer the Members must suffer also and as sure as the Head is raised from the dead by the glory of the Father even so we also his Members are raised in our mind and affections to newnesse of life And in the same sence he saith again For if we have been planted together in the likenesse and similitude of his death we shall be also in the likenesse of his Resurrection And these broken melting hearted Saints that at first in their Regeneration were thus humbled and made low and poor in Spirit yielding inclining and bowing to the will and pleasure of Almighty God This heavenly grace which the Lord calls water in a spirituall meaning abides in and with them alwayes throughout their whole life and by it they are enabled to be Baptized with sufferings as they were born or begotten of water which is Repentance So likewise at the Lords Supper they sometimes and that with much comfort eat and drink corporally the Elements of Bread and Wine and therein declare the Lords death till his comming but they alwayes by faith communicate of his body and blood the Spirit of Adoption that dwells in them still bearing witnesse of the Lords everlasting kindnesse with the refreshings of the light of his countenance affording them more comfort then
all the abundance of earthly things or shaddows of that which is spirituall the witnesse and evidence of the Spirit of God exceeds all testimonies and assurances and fills the soul with satisfaction Now in this condition they know the truth of their Lords words by blessed experience My flesh is meat indeed and my blood is drink indeed living bread that came downe from heaven and they that eat thereof eat everlasting life It is immortall food this body and blood is the resurrection and the life for they that eat this flesh and drink this blood dwell in Christ and Christ in them This food causeth union co-habitation one-nesse of mind and likenesse of affection between Christ and his Members This is the fatted Calfe that fed the prodigall this is the Childrens bread provided of God himselfe for his servant Iacob those excellent dainties sweet and fat things full of marrow the wine and milk the honey-comb with the honey with which the Lord feeds his friends his beloved and chosen ones which food doth not only cheare delight and comfort but it confirms and seals with assurance even that gold Ring that sealed the Fathers favour to his lost Son the best Robe of all the Wardrobe for there is none like it in Heaven nor in Earth for it is the Righteousnesse of the Saints it covers all nakednesse it defends from all dangers and it ever finds acceptance with their heavenly Father in all services and sacrifices for these worshippers have their hearts purged from an evill conscience and their Garments dipt in blood for the Lamb is in them and they in him And thus spirituall are their prayers also this sacrifice likewise is a broken heart and as it is the spirits habitation and dwelling so it is his place of acting and working and although the Saints themselves cannot tell how to pray as they ought yet the Spirit their continuall comforter guider and directer helpeth them and secretly prompteth them with sighs and groans that cannot be uttered with the Organ of the Tongue so inward faithfull and fervent are the spirits requests to God that only knowes the meaning thereof and for their matter they are faithfull supplications they ask in faith in the name of their Lord that is in the powerfull assistance of Christs Spirit And this is the confidence we have in him say the Saints if we ask any thing according to his will he heareth us and if we know that he hears us that is if the Spirit do so witnesse to us we know then that we have the Petitions that we desired of him for number they are but few for place private for practice and performance often and frequent Pray continually saith the Apostle And shall the Elect cry day and night unto God their Father against their Enemies oppressions and shall not he avenge them yea he will avenge them and that speedily In all their spirituall warfare this is the last and principall piece of Armour Praying alwayes with all prayer and supplication in the spirit and watching thereunto with all perseverance This Servant of our Lords had very well learned his Masters Lesson Watch and pray least yee enter into temptation and this part of their worship is spirituall as the worshippers themselves are spirituall Again their understanding the Scripture is not only litterall but spirituall and that it may the more clearly appear we must remember to make use of this distinction that the Scriptures may be spoken of as of a Body and a Spirit in the letter and the meaning thereof Now all carnall Gospellers and false Expositors as they understand no further then the letter or common gifts declared therein by the sense which such give of the Scriptures they kill Gods Witnesses the two holy Testaments Priests whose Visions are darknesse doe violate wrong and injure all the holy Writings of Gods faithfull servants and witnesses of which company aâ—e the Learned Clerks of Rome and all other fleshly Preachers for that Church coâ—sisting of the fat Beasts of the field did kill havock and slay them in such a barbarous manner in that great City of Rome which in a spirituall wicked meaning is called Sodome and Aegypt for their uncleannesse and malice against the true intent of the Scriptures that notwithstanding they had the letter and Corps amongst them yet they did deny the life and soule the mind and will of God therein revealed to be buried or inter'd in their proper Monuments the hearts of men and as they then so the same things doe all carnall Churches now that are of her old nature although of a new frame by their like lying and false Expositions and interpretations even take the life from the body and separate the soule from the corps of these two Witnesses two Prophets two Candlesticks two Testimonies two Olive Trees and two Covenants which two in all and each appellation are but one thing in the true meaning and so they shall continue to doe the remainder of the 42 months till 14 years of the whole number to come be expired In the mean while the voyce of the Church of Christ is heard from out of the Wildernesse and wholly tends to the vindication resurrection and restoration of the true meaning of the Word of God as it is written And after three dayes and a halfe the Spirit of life from God entred into them and they stood upon their feet And Gods Church fears not to speak although she cares not to be known she being indewed with the spirit of life from God and in her reading the Scriptures you shall find her full of consideration and understanding as our Lord directs her Let him that readeth consider For they that read and hear the words of this Prophecy and keep those things that are written therein and are blessed in so doing must needs truly understand them and indeed it is Sion Gods Church only that understandeth and declareth the Gospel truly by the Scriptures administration For by the Church saith the Apostle is made knowne the manifold wisdome of God which shall be more manifested in the next particular in declaring what the Ministers of the Church of Christ are And it is an undenyable truth that they are Regenerated spirituall men for if every Member of their Church be so and all their Ordinances and Sacrâ—fices their Communions and administrations then of necessity their Ministry must be so also and therefore in Scripture they are called Holy men of God and Holy Apostles and Prophets and are thereby distinguished from all others that are vaine and ungodly 1. They are holy personally 2. They are holy giftedly And as God hath joyned them together so I shall not seperate them in their description A Scribe instructed unto the Kingdome of Heaven is like unto a good Housholder that brings forth of his Treasury things new and old Now in that our Lord saith He is taught unto the Kingdome of Heaven it is all one as if he had
said he had been taught of God and that shewes he is a Child of God a holy man as I have instanced before in the Apostle Peters description to this purpose and by bringing forth of his treasure he means the administration of his spirituall gifts from the supernaturall store house within him Again our Lord saith Whosoever beleeveth in me as the Scripture hath said out of his belly shall flow Rivers of water of Life This he spake saith the Text of the gifts they should receive that beleeved on him This effectuall faith which is twice repeated and that to which the Word of God witnesseth to be satisfying drink to the thirsty soule sheweth such a one to be Regenerate and the flowing fountain proceeding from him those heavenly gifts of the Holy Ghost And agreeable to this is that which is spoke of Stephen that Holy Martyr when those choyce and learned Students of the Synagogues of the Libertines men of four severall Nations Cyrenians Allexandrians Cyreans and Asâ—ans these even such were not able to resist the wisdome and the spirit by which he spake So the Prophet Micha speaking to the shame of such Prophets that speak without an answer from God that have no Vision but their own to whom the day the light of Gods truth is darke over them and the Sun is gone downe from them and yet will Prophesie though they confound themselves But truly saith he I am full of power by the Spirit of the Lord and of judgement and of might to declare unto Jacob c. That is to Preach to Jacob And so the Apostle Paul speaking of the Gospel of Christ Whereof saith he I am made a Minister according to or by the gift of grace given to me by or through the effectuall working of his power And so he testifies to another Church Whereof I am made a Minister according to the dispensation of God which is given to me for you fully That is perfectly truly and spiritually to preach the Word of God And so Peter and John testified to the face of such at Jerusalem as had Crucified our Lord with wicked hands and proceeded also to forbid them to speak any more to anyman in his name notwithstanding their threatnings we cannot said they but speake the things we have seene and heard What Gods Messengers see hear and learne of the Father that they declare that they preach Christ gives the gifts God hath set them in his Church his body but every member hath not the same Office therefore the differing gifts give being to different Offices and Officers and all spirituall as the whole body is and are approved of and allowed by the rest of the Members all the Saints Now I should have spoken of the keyes power and rich treasures of this Church but Doctour you are not able to bear it at this time that is neither to understand it nor receive it But you will say I will answer all that he hath said in one word for all that he hath spoken is to be understood of the invisible Church but all my Disputes are of visible Congregations and Sir what you mean by them your owne words declare page 23. as is touch before such as any man may know saith he and if that be so then I am sure they consist of naturall and carnall men and of the same nature are their administrations for the Apostle saith The naturall man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God for they are foolishnesse unto him neither can he know them because they are spiritually discerned Again to say the true Church of Christ is invisible is the old cunning cheat of the Devil to keep men from Repentance and from attaining that eye salve through which they might discerne the things that belong unto their peace and depart from Babylon and make haste to Sion But saith the Doctour The Baptized Churches have forsaken Babylon and admit of none but Baptized Members nothing but pure Ordinances we are knit together in Church fellowship But by your leave if ye be carnall and cannot discerne the Church of God and therefore deny her visibility which her Lord affirmeth of her to be a City set upon a Hill a candle on a Table the Light of the World the Salt of the Earth If you cannot discerne the true Church and yet you professe your selves Churches then you are no other then the carnall Jewes Church Jerusalem from below which is in bondage with her Children and the Righteousnesse thereof but the Righteousnesse of the Scribes and Pharisees who used to wash the out-side and flâ—sh as you doe but inwardly and in heart very foule and adulterous notwithstanding all their seeming holinesse of separation stand further off I am holier then thee their boasting of their Prayers and of their Ordinances and their compassing Sea and Land to make a Proselyte to convert men to their Church and yet in so doing make them more the Child of the devil then they were before and thereby make them the rather a stink in the Lords nostrills I tell you plainly Doctour there are but two Churches in the whole World one carnall the other spirituall two seeds the seed of the Woman and the seed of the Serpent two sorts of Children them of light and them of darknesse two heards of Cattell the fat and the lean two kinds of people the cursed and the blessed and I advise you therefore to trust no longer in lying words saying The Temple of the Lord the Temple of the Lord for no outward conceivings or humane traditions or inventions can be Gods House Church and Temple but those before described and as the Holy Prophet saith The Temple of the Lord are these such as throughly repent of their sinnes and amend their wayes and their doings c. And therefore Doctour I advise you againe now heedfully and speedily to mind the Apostles counsell To day if you will hear his voyce harden not your heart least you enter not into his rest where he teacheth you and me and all that to enter into Gods rest through Faith is by Repentance And because I will omit no means to take you off from minding so much your false Church I will shew you in what condition you and all men else stand in this Câ—mmon-wealth of England Consider this I pray you that this Common-wealth being a University of Believers the whole multitude consisteth of two sorts The one sort Regenerate Believers such as are borne of God whose spirituall estate is before described and this sort onely are the Church of Christ as before also is affirmed The second sort of Believers are outward Christians and are indewed with the common Faith onely from which faith and grace they may fall and perish and yet before their apostacy have equall right with spirituall Christians in outward externall Ordinances as the letter of the word and prayer the washing away the filth of the body and the corporall signes of the
holy Writ came by the power parts and gifts of any man in nature so also he affirms By whom God makes knowne his word will and Prophesies that is by spirituall men in these plain words But holy men of God spake as they were moved by the holy Ghost Now Doctour see that which yet you never saw the Church of Christ her Preachers and Prophets of the Lord are not carnall but spirituall men and their motion and enablement thereunto is not by any humane spirit but through the movings and ability of the holy Ghost Where is now therefore the multitude of your Arguments and Syllogismes of men and Trades men and gifted men not taking into consideration there are men and men and gifts and gifts which for want of Scripture distinction all the pains you have taken to spin so many curious threads to make a carnall webb of no sooner is it toucht by the Divine finger of the spirituall meaning of the word of God but your glorious shew of humane and of carnall or private men falls all into filthy dust for although carnall men may litterally preach as Judas and others have done yet none but holy men can Preach spiritually And in this distinction the other tearms are to be understood also of Ordination and Trades-men both Divine the one in person the other in approbation and mission for holy men of God The Messengers and Ministers of Christ are sent appointed and Ordained by the Lord himselfe and justified and approved of by the Saints And their Preachings and Declarations are not their own visions and thoughâ—s as the Doctours are but the truth word and mind of the Lord the same spirit in them enables them to open the Scriptures now which wrote them by the hands of his holy Prophets and servants which shall be more fully cleared when I come to the truths confirmation Now this brief discovery of the Doctours large mistakes shall suffice for this time some other things there are which we shall have occasion to reprove as we find them to hinder us in the way of truth And therefore according to my promise in the first place I shall make a clear and plain description of the true Church of Christ and so follow the Doctour the same way he goes But who is sufficient for these things as the Apostle speaks But wee are not as many which corrupt or deceitfully deal with the Word of God but as of sincerily but as of God in the sight or in the powerfull presence of God speak we in Christ although the Doctour despise us Be it known unto him therefore and all the world that the true Church of Jesus Christ is of a holy and pure nature every part and member of her for he that sanctifieth her and they that are sanctified are all of one that is of the one Holy Spirit so then as in her new nature she is Holy and Divine so she is heavenly and spirituall spirituall Children which make a spirituall Family or Houshold spirituall Trees which make a spirituall fruitfull fragrant Garden spirituall Stones built up a spirituall House Temple Tabernacle a repose an habitation for the heavenly God the Father of Spirits to abide to delight to dwell and reside in Yea more yet she is a spirituall body consisting of none but of spirituall members knit and joyned together with spirituall sinews supplyed with spirituall grace from the Fountaine the Head the spirituall Head Jesus Christ from which all the joynts and bands having nourishment ministred and knit together groweth or increaseth with the increase of God from the Head I say conveyeth all over the body to the least Member with spirituall veins through which an everlasting supplying grace is continued For as she is the building and workmanship of God the Children and Houshold of God the Plantation and Garden of the Lord so she is kept by the power of God unto salvation And he that keepeth this his Israel his chosen called and sanctified ones doth neither slumber nor sleep but ever watcheth And he their Holy Shepheard is mighty and stronger then all so that no opposite power and strength is able to take them out of his hand Now forasmuch as the faithfull servant and Apostle of Christ writing unto the holy and blessed Church at Ephesus affirms them to be Saints and faithfull and that they are in Christ Jesus Now all that are in Christ Jesus are holy and faithfull for they are justified by faith and sanctified by the Holy Ghost and as the Root is holy so are the branches also yet the Apostle saith to these holy ones You were the Children of wrath as well as others And to another Church he saith And such were some of you speaking before of wicked and unholy men But yee saith he meaning now are washed but yee are sanctified but yee are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God That is through the power of Christ by the operation of the Spirit Therefore to know the way and method which God takes in the conversion of his servants that are his Church the discovery and opening thereof will make not onely the Description of the Church of Christ more clear and manifest but give us a definition also of her supernaturall making parts For as since the creation propagation or birth gives being to all men naturally so heavenly and spirituall birth since the fall of man is ordained and appointed of God to give spirituall being to all his Saints and Children which are the Church of God as it is written That which is borne of the flesh is flesh and that which is borne of the spirit is spirit so it is spirituall birth that gives being to spirituall men But forasmuch as this one Scripture doth fully prove the assertion in both parts thereof that is that birth taken in a two fold meaning is the production both of naturall men and spirituall men And the due consideration of the wisdome of the Holy Ghost by declaring that which is heavenly by that which is naturall teacheth us that there is much resemblance of the births in the manner although not in the nature In the naturall birth there is a conception in the beginning and a reception in the continuance till bringing forth or accomplishment And all these distinctions with their concomitants may be comprehended in the tearm birth now that which doth accompany conception is compunction in nature in sorrow shalt thou conceive and in the reception all the while till the deliverance and in the deliverance pain sorrow labour pangs throwes intollerable dollorous till the Child is born and then comes ease comfort and rejoycing even so it is in the spirituall birth in a likenesse and resemblance for the manner of it but in the nature no similitude at all for the the one is from below the other from above as it is written Except a man be born again from above of water and the Spirit