is he but mark what followes not withst anding he that is least in the kingdome of heaven is greater than he meaning that he that is indeed a Preacher of the Gospel though never so mean and contemptible in the eyes of men should doe greater workes than John did Q. But there are other baptismes spoken of in Scripture as well as Johns for the Disciples of Christ did baptize and Christ at his ascension sent them to baptize all Nations Is not water-baptisme then an Ordinance of the Gospel A. True indeed Christs Disciples did baptize while he was with them in the flesh But it was with John's Baptism and so the Scripture calls it For indeed the preaching of John and his Baptism was the same with the preaching and Baptism of Christs Disciples For John preached saying The Kingdom of heaven is at hand Christs Disciples preached saying The Kingdome of heaven is at hand Both John and Christs Disciples by their Baptism which was in cold water could but wash mens bodies and call upon them to repent and to expect remission of sins onely in Christ Jesus who was to wash away the filth of their souls even with a Spiritual water or Baptism of his Spirit So that although the Disciples of Christ did baptize yet their Baptism was the same with John's Baptism and to continue but for a season for so John confesseth I must decrease but he meaning Christ must increase And for Christs Commission to his Apostles to Baptize all Nations that is not to be understood of Water-Baptism as appeareth by his own words Acts 1. 5. when being risen from the Dead and now ready to ascend into his Glory acquaints them with the work whereto he is now sending them commands them not to depart from Jerusalem until they had received the Promise of the Father that is the Spirit for saith he John truly Baptized with water as if he had said it hath been the Fathers good pleasure to appear in Types and significations and to vail himself a while under dark Administrations But now the time is full come in which he will shew himself clearly in his abundant love and goodness for ye shall be Baptized with the Holy Ghost which is the Spirit or Comforter not many dayes hence and then ye shall receive power to know what ye ought to do and be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem c. And when ye are thus impowred or Baptized your selves Then go and teach all Nations Baptizing them in the Name of the Father c. Where by Name of the Father and of the Son c he doth not mean that they should wash them in water using that form of words but by Name is to be understood the Power of the Father c. As Christ saith Mark 16. 17. In my Name they shall cast out Devils that is by my Power And so in this business All Power saith Christ in heaven and in earth is given to me Go ye therefore and Teach and Baptize the Nations in the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost As if he had said All Power is given to me of the Father and by this power I will come into you and into your ministry and ye shall go forth in this power unto all nations and by the same ye shall be enabled to make them know and believe That I am the wisdome of God and the power of God to salvation to the Gentile as well as to the Jew and that whosoever believes in me indeed or is baptized with the Spirit which is all one shall never perish but have everlasting life And this was done effectually for in one day there was added three thousand soules And in another place all that were ordained to eternall life believed Q. But if it was not the command of Christ that they should baptize with Water why then did they they use it after his ascension and if Water-Baptisme was to cease and have an end at that time why then do not the Scriptures declare the same A. As for the Apostles baptizing with Water after Christs ascension it was not from any command of Christ as one of them doth testifie The Baptisme of Water or Johns Baptisme was very famous and of great note in that time and therefore could not at present be very easily laid down as likewise very many other Legall observations And again it is not to be questioned but that the Apostles themselves were ignorant of many things after they had received the Spirit abundantly for Peter was ignorant that he might eat with the Gentiles or that God had a purpose by Jesus to bring in the Gentiles Paul must goe to Jerusalem to be resolved about Circumcision and there were thousands of Jewes which did believe and yet they were all zealous of legall rites God did not reveal himself all at once but by degrees Again the Apostles used water-baptisme as they used Circumcision to avoid contention among the Saints and further they used it sometimes when it was desired and to stoop to the weaknesse of many young believers they became all things to all men that they might not offend any but save all if it were possible And for the Scriptures to declare against water-baptisme to be used in the dayes of the Gospel there be many Scriptures that speak much to that purpose as 1 Cor. 1. 17. Paul the Apostle of the Gentiles utterly disclaimes it for Christ saith he sent me not to baptize but to preach Again Ephes 4. 5. One Lord one Faith one Baptisme now water-baptisme is not the same with the Baptisme of the Spirit for they are two distinct things one is Johns and the other is Christs and if they were both one then they that have the one must also have the other and they that cannot have the one of water neither can they have the other Again it is not water-baptisme that can make us one with Christ or give us a new name or make us partake of the divine nature c. and therefore water-baptisme is not that one Baptisme nor left us in command in the dayes of the Gospel Q The baptisme of water hath been used in all the Churches of Christ from the very time of the Apostles and that with warant from Scripture for Infants were circumcised under the Law and Circumcision was a seal of the Covenant which God made with Abraham and the Covenant is the same now as it was then and Baptisme is come in the room of Circumcision and is a seal of the Gospel-Covenant and therefore Infants may be baptized and the Apostle tells the Corinthians that their fathers were all baptized in the Cloud and in the Sea And Saint Peter saith that Baptisme doth now save us how can it then be denied that Baptisme even of water doth not stand us in great stead even in the dayes
it is also as plain in our daily experience how that the Saints in whom Christ dwels and who are united to him and made one with God in him that they are carried forth in the strength of his quickning spirit to shew forth the prayses of him who hath called them out of darknesse into his marvelous Light But on the contrary we see worldly wicked men live many of them more like bruite beasts than reasonable creatures pampering and feeding themselves without fear swilling and wallowing themselves in their own vomit like filthy swine sporting and delighting themselves in their own lusts and windy fancies and deceivings belching out the rottennesse of their own hearts by cursed oathes and blasphemies making a continual â—â—ade of mocking backbiting standering fighting and quarrelling ranting and roaring in a word living in all ungodlinesse and dying without repentance And thus it is plain in experience that there be many yea too too many who are so farre from living in God and God living in them by Jesus Christ that they are rather possest of Satan who lives in them and leads them captive at his own pleasure Thus both Scripture and Experience do clearly witnesse that God is not in all men in a way of life and salvation which is by Christ Jesus But in a common spirit or common and outward providences so he acts rules and orders all men Neither can God be said to be in the Saints in his fulnesse for the fulnesse of the Godhead dwels onely in Christ and the Saints receive of that fulnesse which is in him For though they partake of the same spirit or divine nature with him yet it is still in that measure or degree as he is pleased to let out or to manifest him self by Christ is the head and the Saints are the body or members now all the members as they have several offices so they have several capacities for God hath set all the members in the body every one in due place and office that it might be compleated in the head which is Christ And from Christ or the head the whole body being fitly joynted together receiveth nourishment to every part a measure even to encrease and edifie it self in love Neither is this to divide God for as he cannot be devided so neither can he be comprehended for he fills all things and so he fills the Saints yet while they walk in flesh they are not able to comprehend him in his fullnesse But they are all so filled according to their several measures to advance the good of the whole And that God may be in men in his love in Jesus Christ and ever lie hid and not appear is contrary to Scripture and right reason For God is light and with him is no darknesse at all And where God comes in this Light which is Christ there he expels darknesse The Saints indeed while they are in the state of nature are in darknesse because they want the manifestation of God or revelation of Jesus Christ All this while they are in the love of God but this Love is not yet shed abroad in their hearts the seed was sown but it was not yet quickned up to life But when the appointed time is come that Christ will say come forth and I say unto thee arise Then appeares first the blade then the eare then the full corne in the eare But this is not in all men without exception but onely in the Saints who are elected in Christ Jesus in the purpose of of God before the world began that they should be thus conformed unto the Image of his Sonne and so be holy and without blame before him in love Q. But election doth not relate to persons but to the things in the persons for Gods love hatred is not toward the persons of men but toward the good or evill in the persons and this is Typed out in Jacob and Esau which as good and evill dwell in every man as they were in the womb of one Rebecca for the persons of men are but outward formes in which good and evill is acted and these outward bedies can act nothing but are acted themselves either by a good or an evill spirit How then can God be said to elect or not to elect to save or not to save the person of a man which is nothing and shall be nothing when the spirit ceases to act in it A. That election doth not relate to mens persons but to the good things acted in the persons is a meer fancy and quite contrary to the mind of God revealed in the Scripture First we must consider what the person of man is and what makes him a man or person and then secondly prove that election relates to the person For the first in short a man and every man consists of two main parts The body and the soul without the soul or spirit the body is but a dead carcass and without the body the soul hath no residence or place to act in and cannot act at all Therefore it must be concluded that if either be wanting there is not a man or a person A man then is a person consisting of a reasonable soul and humane body Now that election doth relate to a person thus considered and not to the good things acted in the person is easily made good in Scripture The Apostle in the Ephesians chap 1. vers 4. 5. 6. 7. telleth the Saints or rather blesseth God on their behalf for that he had chosen them in Christ before the foundation of the world that they should be holy and without blame before him in love And that he had adopted them to be Children by Jesus Christ meerly of his free grace even his own good pleasure And that they were accepted in the beloved for no other end but for the praise of his glorious grace And not onely so but also through the riches of his grace wherein he abounded towards them they were redeemed from Sinne and Satan Hell and Death their sins being forgiven them through his bloud From whence it is plain that persons and not things are here intended For it is not said that God had chosen holinesse or unblamablnesse in them but them to be holy and unblamable Neither is it said that God had predestinated the good things in them to the adoption of Children But them to the adoption of Children Again if election relate not to persons but to things I wonder what redemption remission of sins mean in this place and many others what can good things be redeemed from and how can good things stand in need of remission of sins And the Apostle Peter in his first Epistle 1. Chapter 1. 2. Tells the strangers that were scattered that they were elect according to the fore-knowledge of God and not the good things in them And that this election is assured
to them through sanctification of the Spirit that thereby they might believe or be obedient and be sprinkled with the bloud of Jesus Now what can be added to good things or how can good things believe or be sprinkled with the bloud of Jesus or have remission of sins Againe if gods anger be not against the persons of men as well as against sin in the person then why did he so severely avenge himself upon sin in the person of Christ Was it sin or Christ that cryed out My God my God why hast thou forsaken me And for that Jacob and Esau are brought in to be a type of this great mistery being both in the wombe of one Rebecca it makes nothing to this purpose that God should elect the good things in a man and not the man Jacob and Esau were men and both of the seed of Abraham and both of them the sonnes of Isaac and both in Rebeccas womb at one and the same time and yet one of them elected and the other rejected to shew that the purpose of God in election was not out of any fleshly or carnal respects But meerly according to his own good pleasure For all are not Israel that are of Israel neither because they are the seed of Abraham are they all Children True it is that there is flesh and Spirit both in the Saints yet that is no ground to conclude that God will destroy the flesh and save the Spirit and not the person but rather that God will save the the Saint or person and destroy the flesh And whereas it is said that the persons of men are but outward formes and act not but are acted and therefore salvation and damnation belongs not to them I hope then that if it be made to appeare that mens persons do act then it will be also granted that salvation and damnation belongs to them And for the word person or man it is all one and that by person or man is meant the whole man and so to be understood is already shewed Now that sin is acted by the whole man is very clear in Scripture In the third of Genesis 1 2 3 4. It is there declared at large how the Serpent begiuled the woman First he is dealing with her understanding and the thing must needs have passage through her eares for the devill was yet without doors Next she looked upon it with her eyes for she saw the fruit that it was good Then her affections were wrought upon And she desired it At length the will consented and she took it with her hand and did eat yea and gave her husband and he did eat Who doth not see here an act of the whole man And it is just so in every actual sin for though Satan be gotten within yet he can force no man to sin but is dealing with the understanding to deceive that and the understanding being deceived cannot force the Will noâ— the will the outward man For though the body cannot act in good or evill without the soul yet those very actions of the soul performed by the outward man are accounted actions of the body both in good and evill things And though mens persons be acted either by a good or evill Spirit the good Spirit is God and the evill Spirit is the Devil and neither of these do force the person of a man For man being a reasonable creature even that good Spirit or God deales with him according to reason and though it be said that the love of God constraineth us Yet it is not meant of using violence to any mans person but such a constraining as Lydia used towards Paul even a perswading or intreating for so saith the Apostle God doth beseech you by us And we pray you in Christs stead c. Again every man is transformed into the same nature of that spirit which bears rule in him They in whom Satan bears sway they partake of his Image and nature and it is as natural yea as delightful unto them even the whole man to obey Satans commands in committing of sinne as to performe any natural actions which are civilly good And is it not then just with God to render to every man according to his workes Q. But Christ is Gods elect and he in whom his soul delighteth and it is said Eph. 1. 10. That he will gather together all things in Christ And Col. 1. 16 17. All things were made by him and for him and by him all things consist and in him dwels all fulnesse Christ shall come forth as a refiner and purifier of silver and shall purifie the sonnes of Levi and purge them as gold c. And the light of Israel shall be for a fire and his holy one for a flame and shall burn up his briars and thorns in one day c. And if any mans work burn he shall suffer losse yet he himself shall be saved yet so as by fire From all which Scriptures it is manifest that Christ will come forth in all men and destroy and consume all sin and wickednesse and unbelief and gather all the good and the believeing part which is himself into himself God is the fountaine from whence all things proceed and into the same fountaine shall all things return God will come forth in consuming fire and separate between the precious and the vile and gather the good into himself and destroy the evill For Christ and the Saints make but one elect and God by electing of Christ elects all that is good and by saving of Christ saves all that is good for he is the chief good and sin is the chief evill and he onely is elected and sin destroyed thus election and salvation meet in one Christ who is the onely elect and relate not to mens persons for how can it be that God should be so unjust as to make man and afterward damne him first to love him and afterward to hate him A. That Christ is the elect of God and he in whom his soul delighteth cannot be denied But how is Christ Gods elect As touching his deity or divine nature so he is the mighty God the everlasting Father who of his rich and infinite grace and love doth elect and choose to salvation Then surely as he did partake of our nature and our flesh so he was Gods elect and as he was thus Gods elect so all the Saints are elected in him he being the first fruits of election in him the whole lump even all the Saints are sanctified to God and so presented by him Christ was elected of God but not that one person or man in whom the God-head did so wonderfully appear and shine forth should be saved But that all the Saints in all ages and in all nations in whom the divine nature or Christ should appear and shâ—ne forth according to their several measures should be brought home to
God and saved For so saith the Prophetverse the 6. I the Lord have called thee in righteousnesse and will strengthen thine hand and preserve thee and give thee for a Covenant of the people a light of the Gentiles To what purpose To open blind eyes to bring thâ— prisoners out of prison and them that sit in darknesse out of the prison-house Again The Spirit of the Lord is upon me and he hath annointed me to preach glad tidings to the meek to bind up the broken hearted to proclaim liberty to the captives and the opening of the prison to them that are bound c. The Saints though they were in the state of election in the purpose of God yet for the present being fallen under sin were in a condition of darknesse and death and were in slavery to sin and Satan And being no way able to free or deliver themselves therefore was Christ Gods elect or his righteous servant that he by undertaking for them in the flesh and by raising and quickning them in the spirit might bring them out of prison and captivity make them free men and present them to the Father in himself without rebuke And so also meanes the Apostle when he tells the Ephesians that now it is Gods design in the dispensation of the fullnesse of times to gather into one sweet agreement or holy fellowship all the Saints that are elected in Christ or which are in Christ in his purpose which is all one which are in heaven and in earth whether they be Jewes or Gentiles circumcised or uncircumcised bond or free even in him as the Saints are in Christ by vertue of Gods election So God will gather them together and so raise them by Christ that they shall now know and believe their union with God in Christ and their union one with another even in him And to this end all things were made by him and for his glory and still consist to help forward his great designes for in him dwells the fulnesse of the Godhead and the Saints are compleat in him Yea Christ fits in the Saints as a refiner and purifier of silver and by the spirit of judgement and burning which is himself doth purifie the sonnes of Levi even them which he hath brought near to himself and burnes up all their drosse the briars and the thornes their sinnes and corruptions that they may come forth a vessell for the refiner and fit for the Masters use That they may offer to the Lord in righteousnesse or give up themselves wholly to him in Christ and whosoever of the Saints rest or build upon any formes or ordinances below Christ the fire of Christs Spirit shall consume these works yet they being built upon or interested in Christ shall be saved by him yet so as to be purified by fire And thus God will come forth and is already come in the Saints not in all men destroying and consuming all sin and unbelief and doth daily gather them together into one body in Jesus and will by Jesus bring them into himself their originall and fountain after he hath first separated between the pretious and the vile between the Saints and their beloved lusts Christ came not to save the good or the believing part of men for there was no good nor believing part at all in man for man was quite and clean lost and undone and Christ came to save that which was lost namely poor men and women and to save them from their sinnes The good things and believing part in the Saints is Christ and he was never lost and the Saints partaking of him are united to him and so are saved in and by him True indeed Christ and the Saints make but one elect for they make but one compleat Christ he is the head and they the members and indeed God in electing of Christ did in him elect all his members and in saving of Christ saves whole Christ even all the body and that the bodies of the Saints are the members of Christ the Apostle shall inform us 1 Cor. 6. 15 16 17. where he seems to deal with some that thought fornication to be no sin because it was outward in the body I wish there be not many such in these dayes to whom he replies that though it be in the belly yet it ought not to be because the body is not for fornication but for the Lord. Yea saith he know you not that your bodies are the members of Christ and the temples of the holy Ghost and that they ought to glorifie God in their bodies as well as in their spirits seeing they are both Gods And that this may not seem strange he tells us that Christ is already by his Spirit quickening our mortall bodies more and more to holiness and will in the end change them and make them like his glorious body even by his mighty power And that election and salvation relate to mens persons let one Scripture more declare Acts 13. 48. Paul and Barnabas preaching at Antioch the Jews contradict and blaspheme they turn themselves to the Gentiles the Gentiles they are glad and they receive the Word with joy and all that were ordained to eternal life believed Now whether faith or any good things in these Gentiles were ordained to eternal life or the persons of these Gentiles who did believe and to whom Christ appeared in the preaching of the Apostles let all men well consider and then judge But there is a sort of people that live after the flesh unbelievers sorcerers whoremongers murtherers Idolaters c. who are without to whom Christ will say Depart from me yee cursed and these are not things namely sin unbelief muthers c. but persons also in and by whom these sinnes were committed who loved cursing or the cursed wayes of sin therefore it namely the curse shall come upon them and who delighteth not in blessing or the undefiled way of God even Jesus Christ and therefore the blessed enjoyment of God shall be farre from them for whom is reserved the blacknesse of darknesse for ever and who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the prsence of the Lord c. Neither is God unjust but most righteous in rewarding every man according to his workes for God is so infinitely holy and righteous that he cannot doe any unjust act Nay he neither doth nor will doe any thing but wherein he will appear most perfectly just and righteous For God did not elect man and afterward reject him or damne him love him and afterward hate him But the Lord who is infinite in wisdome did see and behold all things before any thing was created for all things were in him although they were not brought forth or manifested And in his fore-knowledge and in himself he beheld all men when as yet there was none of them yea even then he beheld them
in their severall conditions both in their creation and in their fall Now God thus beholding mans severall conditions at one and the same instant for there is neither first nor last with God did purpose in his eternal counsel to make man an upright creature And did also at the same instant fore-know and fore-see that men by sin would undoe themselves And was pleased also in the very same instant and according to this fore-knowledge out of the abundant riches of his love in Jesus Christ to choose out some poor miserable fallen wretches and to make known to them the exceeding and super-abundant treasures of his grace and favour in him in their severall generations and so to unite them to himself in Christ that they should be to the praise of his glorious grace And also to let others alone in their sinnes by leaving them to their own hearts lust unbelief hardnesse and impenitency delighting themselves in sin and all ungodlinesse and becoming one with Satan and willingly obeying his commands he might then declare himself infinitely glorious in justice in rendering to every man according to his work And in this respect it is said Shall the thing formed say to him that formed it why hast thou made me thus For he hath mercy namely in restoring men to grace and favour in Jesus Christ on whom he will have mercy and whom he will he hardeneth or leaves them in their sinnes Thus God did not elect and afterward reject neither doth he love and afterward hate for whosoever God loves indeed with an especial love a love to eternal life he loves them in Christ and he loves none in Christ but whom he hath elected and chosen in him and those whom he thus elects he cannot hate for he loves them in Christ and as Christ God indeed loves all his creatures as they be his creatures and in this respect hates none of them for he hates nothing but that which is contrary to his holinesse which is sin but when the creature is corrupted by sin and is become one with the devill in sin then it is just with God to hate the creature as he hates the devill and sin and to punish them together Neither did God make man to damne him but he made man yea all men for his own glory Now if men wilfully disobey God and willingly dishonour him by living in actuall rebellion against him all their dayes and so bring upon themselves destruction and damnation Is God unrighteous that taketh vengeance God forbid God will have his honour from all men yea the most wicked and ungodly wretches that live in following greedily their own base lusts doe many times help forward Gods designes and justly perish in so doing But the Saints even those whom he hath elected and manifested himself unto in Jesus Christ as they glorifie him in their lives for his glory shines forth in their conversations so he doth glorifie them here with great glory and will eternally glorifie them with himself as the resurrection of the just Q. What mean you by resurrection if you mean a resurrection of the body What resurrection can be of that which is nothing and comes to nothing earth it is and to earth it must return and there is no difference between them and beasts as one dies so dies the other all goe to one place and there is no more resurrection of the one than of the other but the resurrection is Christ and Christ is the resurrection God hath given him all things and he will raise up all the good things which are himself into himself to a more full and glorious discovery of it self in him in one body for every man is a grave to himself wherein lies dead and buried all his comforts life and joyes but when Christ calls from above by his power and rises from below even in our hearts then are we raisedup with him and in him and so make up a glorious union in one person so that the great and generall resurrection and judgement is nothing else but the raising and heightening of all things in man to a perfect state of light and darknesse pleasure and pain For what other resurrection or judgement can there be But a bringing again of all good things in man to a full discovery of glory and the casting away of all evill things into a discovery of darknesse or a heightening of both good and evill to a full end and period of life and death salvation and damnation A. That there is a resurrection even of the body is plain in Scripture although Salomon in that place makes such a comparison between men and beasts yet he intends it between beasts and men in a natural estate For what great advantage have meer natural and carnal men above a beast The one eates and drinks and sports So doth the other The one dies and sees corruption so doth the other The one knowes not what shall be after him so neither doth the other And what if carnal men be rulers and so in the place of Judgement where they ought to do Righteousnesse Then they turne oppressors and do much wickednesse I said in my heart saith he Oh that God would manifest himself to them and make them see that they be but beasts in the likenesse of men c. Here is no great strength in all this against the resurrection of the body For the bodies of wicked men shall be raised as well as their souls to give an account for things done in them 2 Cor. 5. 10. And our Saviour saith all that are in the graves shall hear his voice and shall come forth They that have done good to the resurrection of life and they that have done evill to the resurrection of damnation And that he intends here a resurrection of the body is plain For he had spoken of a spiritual resurrection in the 25. Verse where he saith the hour is comming and now is that the dead shall hear his voyce and they that hear shall live Meaning the dead in sinne whom he would quicken by his power to newnesse of life For although the Saints dye and depart out of this life yet they doe not perish as to their bodies for they are but fallen asleep and they sleep in Christ and this is in respect of their bodies for their soules or spirits cannot be said to sleep And Christ will raise them up at the last day The Apostle met with some among the Corinthians that denied the resurrection of the body 1 Cor. 15. with whom he seemes thus to reason The resurrection of Christ hath been preached among you and you cannot but believe it because it was not onely foretold by Scripture but was witnessed also by many who had seen him after he was risen Now if this be a truth how then say
A LITTLE STARRE Giving some light into the counsels and purposes of God revealed in the Scriptures OR A CATECHISME Wherein these ensuing principles 1. What God is and how he manifests himselfe 2. Why he made the world and man 3. Mans condition what 1. By creation 2. By his fall 3. By being restored by Jesus Christ 4. The uses and ends of the Law 5. What the Gospell is 6. Justification what it is 7. Sanctification what and how it is wrought 8. What repentance is 9. The use and ends of the Scriptures 10. What true prayer is 11. Baptisme and the Lords Supper why and how used 12. Generall redemption what and how to be adjudgedof 13. Resurrection and Judgement what 14. Heaven and Hell what in truth and misterie All which are briefly by way of Question and Answer opened and explained By VVilliam Mason That which we have seen and heard declare we unto you that ye also may have fellowship with us and truly our fellowship is with the Father and with his Sonne Jesus Christ 1 Joh. 1. 3. London Printed by G. D. for Giles Calvert at the Black Spread-Eagle neer the West end of Pauls TO ALL THE SAINTS Scattered particularly throughout Oxford-shire Warwick-shire and Northampton-shire and more generally throughout England especially they under lower dispensations Grace and Peace be multiplyed DEARE BRETHREN IT is a sad thing to consider how the Saints who are united and made one with and in Jesus Christ by partaking of his Spirit or divine nature should yet be so disunited and broken off one from another by yielding to much to that spirit of the world or rather to that principle of envy and malice which Sathan the God of this world labours to throw in amongst them Is it not cause of much sadness and grief to see that a little difference in opinion produceth great breaches and much estrangedness in affection and yet this difference being weighed in the ballance of true Judgement will be found no difference amongst them who are truly Saints Indeed There are some who say they are Jewes and are not but doe lie and these are some of them high in notion but altogether without life and power of godliness and the difference between the Saints and such in point of sound doctrine is very great But the Saints who are truly so indeed they all indeavour to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace They all know and profess that there is but one body whereof they are members and that there is but one Spirit by which they are united and made one in this body and that their hope whereof they are not ashamed is one and the same being effectually called thereunto they all profess and acknowledge one Lord in whom they do believe and one faith by which they believe and one baptisme through which they are not onely made conformable to Christ in his death but also are made like unto him in his glorious resurrection unto newnesse of life And are also annointed with him to hold forth the same to others they all professe one God who is the Father the Fountain the Originall of all good who is above all in respect of his glorious power and through whose infinite love and goodness they all obtaine life and happiness and who is in them all to act and carry them on unto eternall glory Thus the Saints who are so indeed hold correspondencie one with another in the substance of religion and the difference between them is but a seeming difference a difference in regard of manifestation for to every one of us is given grace according to the measure of the gift of Christ The Lord dispenseth not alike to all but to every one a measure as he will and yet they may be all of one and the same Judgement though some of a higher and some of a lower degree Moses had high and glorious manifestations and yet he was of the same judgement w th the meanest of his Saints in that generation Paul was taken up into the third Heavens in respect of those glorious revelations and high discoveries of God made known unto him and yet he was as the Saints were that so he might perswade them to be as he was yea he submitted to the weakness of the Saints that he might thereby bring them up into strength Al the differences among the Saints at this day is onely about externall and outward formes and observations I which are all terminated in Christ when they once come to know him and are taught by him as the truth is in him then they cannot look for him at any distance for he is in them the hope of glory It is a great fault among children to begrudge one another of their fathers gifts there be severall attainments among Saints or severall degrees of manifestations there be some babes and some strong men and there is milk for the one and strong meat for the other they that be strong were once weake and they who are weak as yet will in time grow strong my deare Friends let us leave judging and censuring one another for who art thou that iudgest another mans servant let us indeavour unity peace and concord let us walk in love oh if we could love one another with a pure heart fevently with what sweet imbraces should we receive and injoy each other how would our heavenly Father be glorified how would truth be advanced and appear like it selfe and how would errors heresies lyes and falshoods run into holes to hide themselves yea how soon might we expect to see our dread Soveraign the Lord Jesus comming forth gloriously and riding on prosperously conquering and to conquer and bringing the wheele over sin and flesh and all sinners and ungodly men who hold the truth in unrighteousness and proclaiming that joyfull Jubile to all his who are yet kept under by poverty debt c. Sin ignorance unbelief weakness clouds forms observations Friends rest not in shadows let your souls inherit substance Christs kingdome is spirituall it is within and it is above all outward observations it is not meat and drink but it is righteousness peace and joy in the holy Ghost This little Starre if it please the Father of Lights may lead you toward this King or this little Catcchisme may instruct you in the way to this Kingdom It presents you with no new thing but cleers up old truths and distinguisheth them from new errors It comes not busling forth stuft full of humane testimony but it comes forward gently and meekly attended with divine evidence and witness Dear Friends first read and then judge but be not rash in censuring if any thing seem difficult weigh the Scriptures in the margent and yet if difficulties and doubts still arise wait upon God by prayer and supplication of the Spirit
And he who is a Revealer of secrets and to whom interpretations doe belong shall in due time reveale the same unto you If you cannot receive it at present yet ye may in time but if not at all yet take heed of condemning it for heresie blasphemy Christ was called a blasphemer a Devil and that by Saints in profession Truth hath been adjudged to be falshood and sound doctrine hath been condemned for heresie in all ages If any dislike or cannot receive it because in some passages it may seem beyond his apprehension Let him know that the maine end of this is to carry up his heart to Christ above it selfe and if on the other hand any shall despise it and cast it away as too much below them let such know that it is not sent but to the lost sheep of the House of Israel and that the foolishness of God is wiser than men To whomsoever it comes it will bring this testimonie along that it hath no self-ends at all but comes meerly out of love to poore souls Deare Brethren Let me now in one word beseech you to lift up your heads for your redemption draweth nigh Be making toward your heavenly rest be longing after your Fathers house be owning of your own priviledges be standing fast in your own liberty be getting out of Babylon ye have dwelt long enough in confusion long enough in the mount of outward observations Take up your carriages raise up your hearts ask the way to Sion set your faces that way if you can but get one step into new Jerusalem you are past all danger here yee see sorrow sighing pain fear and death here you say oh that I were assured of Gods favour oh that I knew he loved me c. poore soules If ye were but entred into Christs spirituall Kingdome indeed if ye did but know God Christ and the Saints in the Spirit indeed your hearts would leap for ioy did you but know God in Christ Christ in the Saints the Saints united and made one with God in Christ by that one eternall Spirit your hearts would rejoyce your joy would be full yea yee would rejoyce with joy unspeakable and full of glory Then you should see the Tabernacle of God with men and God dwelling with men or in men then should all teares be wiped away and then there should be no more feare of death no more sorrow nor crying nor paine in respect of the losse of Gods love and favour for all former things as namely all low and carnall apprehensions of God which caused feares doubts distractions would be passed away for there shall be no night nor clouds to hide his love but they that be his Servants shall serve him in Spirit and Truth and they shall see his face with joy and his name or glory shall be in their fore-heads or shine forth in them to his praise and they shall reigne with him here in joy and glory even in this life and shall at last injoy him in unconceiveable and eternall glory of which this is but a tast Brethren the Grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all Amen Your most affectionate Friend and Brother in Chist Iesus William Mason A LITTLE STARRE OR CATECHISME c. QUest What is the end of Catechizing Answ To instruct the ignorant in the knowledge of God and of themselves Q. Is there a God then A. Yes Psal 19. 1. The heavens declare that there is a glorious God and the firmament sheweth forth his handy work Q. What is God A. God is an eternal Spirit having his being in and of himself infinite in wisdome in power in justice in mercy and goodnesse yea who is all these in highest perfection Q. How doe you know that there is a God A. First By his works of creation and providence whereby his eternall power and God-head are wonderfully manifested And Secondly By the Scriptures which doe abundantly declare him But thirdly and chiefly By his Spirit which he hath given us 1 John 4. 14. and 20. Q. How many Gods be there A. There be many that are called Gods but to us there is but one God who is one intire invisible glorious being comprehending all things filling all things and who is not confined nor comprehended 1 Kings 8. 27. Q. Why then are the names and titles of God given to more than one namely to three called the three persons in the Trinity the Father the Son and the Holy Ghost if there be but one God A. God hath been pleased in much wisedom and goodness to manifest himself by and under these three denominations or titles not that there are three Gods but rather so many various discoveries and makings forth of one and the same God Q. What conceive you of God when he makes himself known by the name of Father A. First that he is the fountain the root the originall of all good to all men in relation to the outward condition And Secondly and chiefly that of and from himselfe he doth bring forth glorious discoveries and dispensations of infinite love and goodnesse toward the Sons of men electing and adopting them for himself drawing their souls up unto himself and making them partakers of himself Eph. 1. 4. 5. John 6. 44. Q. What conceive you of him when he makes forth himself by the name of Sonne A. Here is held forth a second way of his inexpressible love to man for here is a wonderfull condiscention the glorious God manifesting himself in the flesh taking on him our nature and our flesh becoming Immanuel or God made one with us in the flesh and in our nature and our flesh fulfilled all righteousness for us subjected himself in the flesh to death and curse to satisfie divine Justice which we had offended that by this means he might 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 us from that wrath and curse which we had deserved Q. And what doe you understand when he makes himself known by the name of Holy Ghost or Holy Spirit A. By this is manifested a third way of his abundant goodness for by his Spirit which is the powerfull working of his love in the hearts of his people he reveals and communicates himselfe with all the riches of his grace and love unto them yea by which he sanctifies and transforms them into his own Image fulfilling all righteousness in them and whereby he takes them into union with himselfe to live in him Q. Why did God make the world A. God who is infinitely glorious in himselfe yea who is an overflowing fulnesse of all glorious excellencies needed not the world to add to his glorious perfections but he made the world for the manifestation and declaration of his glory Q. Could not the glory of God shine forth sufficiently without the work of creation A. No That infinite and transcendent
Gods love in the soul apprehended by faith and is a fruit of faith There is a worldly sorrow which causeth or worketh death being wrought by the apprehension of death or punishment and this is in wicked and unregenerate men fear of death drives them to a kind of repentance yea and the Saints sometimes having attained but a small measure of the apprehension of Gods love in Jesus Christ being under a spirit of bondage and looking upon God as he manifested himself upon Sinai are so filled with fear and terror which causeth abundance of sorrow even mourning and grieving exceedingly because they can grieve no more and that meerly upon this ground that if their sorrow were in any good measure answerable to their sin then they hope that God will pardon them apprehending in themselves and being told so by others that if they doe not soundly repent mourn and grieve for their sinnes heartily and seriously confesse them with a resolution to leave and forsake them that God would not nay could not pardon them and all this from mis-understanding of Scripture as he that hideth his sinne shall not prosper but he that confesseth and forsaketh them shall find mercy and if we confesse our sinnes he is faithfull and just to forgive c. concluding from the very letter of these Scriptures not having the true meaning thereof explained unto them that unlesse they first grieve and mourn and confesse God will not pardon and so goe heavily under this burthen for want of better information but true repentance which is repentance indeed doth not proceed from a bare hope of pardon but from sence of pardon already apprehended for as no man can believe his justification until God hath revealed it to him by Jesus so neither can any man repent truly and indeed untill he first understand and believe that God for Christs sake hath forgiven him all his trespasses And this repentance is called a repentance unto life or a repentance flowing from life or evidencing life and life which is Christ is very desireable unto all them who have but the least sence or taste of it and it is also active wheresoever it is and puts men upon all enquiries what must we doe that we may have life those Converts in the Acts had but a little before been very forward in the crucifying of Christ and denied him in the presence of Pilate when he was determined to let him goe Yet now when they hear the Apostles preach remission of sinnes in his name and that there is no other name given under heaven whereby they must be saved but the name Jesus onely and that God hath advanced him on high and given him all power to bring all those to life and salvation that desist from their evill wayes and believe in his name Now when they heard this they were pricked in their hearts now Christ who is life began to stirre or act a little in their hearts and now what shall we doe men and brethren that we may have and enjoy more life To whom the Apostle answered repent not that repentance doth purchase pardon but if yee doe indeed believe in Jesus and if he be come into your soules then yee can repent indeed and by your true and sound repentance yee may be assured that your sinnes are forgiven for yee shall receive the gift of the holy Ghost which shall seal the same unto you and it is further said that the same day there were added three thousand soules And for that which the Apostle John saith If we confesse our sinnes he is faithfull and just to forgive c. The Apostle seemes in this place to deal with two sorts of men The one sort are very high in notion and opinion and think themselves to be the men that are in Christ and have fellowship with the Father in the Son and yet notwithstanding they walk contrary to him in their practice nay saith the Apostle that cannot be for God is light and with him is no darknesse at all God is a holy and righteous God and will doe neither can he doe any thing but what is most pure and just and if any say that they have fellowship or communion with him and yet are not conformable to him in holinesse and righteousnesse they lie and doe not the truth and if they say as many doe that they have no sin Christ hath finished transgression and made an end of sin in them so that let them doe what they will they cannot sin they deceive themselves saith he their deceived heart hath turned them aside and there is no truth in them The other sort are such as in whom Christ is revealed but yet in a low degree and these are still in feares and doubts and would gladly know how they may be assured in some comfortable measure of the favour of God and of the pardon of their sins To these he answers If yee walk in the light as he is in the light c. God is a holy God a most pure Spirit with whom is no iniquity and if he by appearing in your soules hath wrought you to a love of purity and holinesse and also to a loathing of all sin and wickednesse then yee may be sure yee have fellowship with him and the bloud of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth you from all sin But if they further say as many a poor soul doth yea but we find that sin is not dead in us but lively and corruptions strong a Law in the members leading us into captivity the good that we would doe we doe not the evill which we would not doe that we doe The Apostle answers your condition is good if God by his Spirit in you hath brought you to see and confesse this yee need not be discouraged for God is a faithful God he never begins a good work but he will perfect it he hath already pardoned your sinnes and he will more and more assure your hearts thereof by cleansing you by degrees from all your corruptions Q. If justification and remission of sinnes be free without any condition desert or desire on our part why then doth our Saviour teach us to pray for it saying forgive our debts And if men be justified and their sinnes be forgiven before they repent then what need have men to repent at all A. Although justification and remission of sinnes be free and undeserved yet it is not presently revealed to the soul so soon as men believe but it is brought home to the soul a little at once by degrees according as they are enabled to believe neither doth the Lord discover himself in his love to all in a like measure for it pleaseth him divers times to suffer many of his dear ones to sit a great while in darknesse and to see but a very little light and to have but a small measure of the comfortable
assurance of his love These he holds in suspence and therefore they cry and pray forgive us our sinnes not being assured of the pard on thereof Yea others also that have attained to a higher degree of assurance and are able to conclude and that safely that their sinnes are forgiven and that Christ is their righteousnesse unto justification yet seeing their own weaknesses and knowing that they are sanctified but in part and having a law in their members rebelling against the law of the mind they have need and doe pray for a further discovery of Gods love to perfect their sanctification that they may thereby have a further evidence of their justification and therefore it is said forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors that is Lord work in us such a holy frame of spirit that seeing thou hast freely forgiven us through Christ all our sinnes we may also freely for thy sake forgive our offending brother his trepasses and that our readinesse and willingnesse to pardon others may evidence unto us that thou hast forgiven us so that we are not taught to pray for pardon of sin as though the Lord would not forgive us untill we pray for it but rather that God would manifest himself so to us in acts of sanctification as may testifie unto us our justification And although repentance is not necessary as a meanes of remission and so of life yet it is a necessary consequence or effect of life as the fruit is not a meanes or a condition of life to the tree but an effect or evidence of life in the tree for it is impossible that Christ should be in the soul and not act like himself according to that degree and measure in which he manifests himself therein Now repentance is not onely a sorrow for sin for that may be in wicked men neither is it a bare confession joyned with the former for both these may be done for self-ends But when a man doth indeed apprehend the love of God in Jesus freely justifying and pardoning all sin and transgression whatsoever without any desert or desire and not onely so but also sanctifying and saving him from all sin for the future then his soul is melted and dissolved into godly sorrow mourning and grieving not for fear of death and hell but because he hath walked so contrary to God who hath so farre condiscended in love to him and hereupon falls to confesse all sin and to rip up his heart and to search out his most secret sinnes as well as those that be more outward and desires to appear before God the most vile and abominable sinner in the world in his own eyes deserving nothing but wrath and condemnation and admires at the infinite love and goodnesse of God in Jesus Christ thus pardoning and sanctifying him and prayes earnestly unto God that he will make further discoveries of his love unto him in Jesus that he may be more vile in his own eyes and that he may now hate and abhorre all sin which is so contrary to the holinesse of God that Christ may live more in him and that he may henceforth be enabled through him to walk in all well pleasing And thus the Saints though they be already justified and pardoned yet cannot but repent for if Christ who is the root be within repentance which is a fruit thereof will appear in the branches and thus the Saints can mourn after Christ and blessed are they that so mourn for they shall be comforted Q. Seeing that the Saints or Believers are sanctified but in part and have flesh as well as spirit and are compassed about not onely with many infirmities but also with many enemies which are strong and potent Whereby are they then quickened Or what helps have they to grow in grace and sanctification A. The chief help or meanes whereby the Saints are quickened up to holinesse is Christ himself dwelling in them and acting them by his spirit or power to all well pleasing but there are other subordinate meanes which he hath appointed and sanctified to that end as namely his Word in the reading and preaching of it as also godly conference with one another and prayer Q. How can the Scriptures being but the writings of men be of any force to help us grow in grace c. A. Although the Scriptures were written by men yet they were not the device of mens braines or wits but they were the words of God inspired into men by the holy Spirit neither did men write them at their own pleasure but how and when the Lord who is that Spirit pleased and they are profitable to teach instruct to reprove and correct yea there is in the Scriptures whatsoever is necessary to be known to salvation they being a revelation of the most righteous and perfect will of God in every dispensation and they are also mighty through Christ for indeed to the Saints Christ is the Word and the Word is Christ and when he is pleased to come forth in it read or preached then it casts down strong holds then it divides asunder between soul and spirit between men and their beloved lusts then it subdues every high thought and brings every thing into subjection that exalts it self against Christ and then when he is pleased to come forth thus in it by his Spirit then it transformes the soul into the same nature or Image of it self which is Christ And here is the power of binding and loosing or the power of the keyes There is in the word a double power or efficacy when it comes in the evidence and demonstration of the Spirit it is both for softening and for hardening of mens hearts and it alwayes doth the work to which it is sent it is called a sharp two-edged Sword the Sword of the Spirit c. Now no mans word can work any effect upon mens hearts they may blesse or they may curse and all to no purpose they may bind and loose at their own pleasure but there is nothing done in the soul but where this word comes indeed in the name that is in the power and authority of Christ there it doth the work effectually and there is no resistance it either makes men fruitful and meet for salvation or else hardens them and binds them over to damnation Q. Yea indeed Christ is the Word and he came from the bosome of the Father and he onely doth reveal the Fathers will But doth he not doe it by visions and revelations of the Spirit rather than by a written word which is so full of contradictions or so contrary to it self A. Christ hath alwayes manifested himself or the Fathers will by visions and revelations but yet in a different way in every dispensation when the Gospel was first preached he was pleased to reveal himself unto the Apostles for the most part without any written word they having but a few dark
for us and is gone into heaven there to appear in the presence of God for us And why then are we commanded to pray to the Father in the name of Christ A. Christ is indeed at the right hand of God that is the Lord hath advanced him into his own glory and given him his own power and authority even all power in heaven and earth for God doth not manifest himself in any wise unto the Saints or bestow any thing upon them but in and by Jesus Christ neither can or doe the Saints enjoy God or have any true fellowship with him but in and through Christ so that whatsoever is done in heaven or in earth Christ is the doer of it now Christ dwells in the Saints by his Spirit which is the power of his love proceeding infinitely from the Father unto the Son and from Christ into the Saints and by this Spirit or power of love he quickens them up to prayer and not onely so but also frames and endites their prayers in them according to the will of the Father and so they become acceptable to him for whatsoever Christ doth is well pleasing to God for the Father loveth the Son and the Saints being united to Christ and made one with God in him are hereby brought into the love and favour of God through him And thus he is in heaven appearing in the presence of God for us And for that we are to pray to the Father in the name of Christ it is not meant that we must often use or repeat the name of Christ or in word beg or crave any thing at the hand of God for Christs sake for so a wicked carnal wretch may doe but to pray to the Father in the name of Christ is to pour forth the soul unto the Father in the power and intercession of the Son for God looks not at any thing in all this world but Christ men may be high in gifts and notions and may make admirable prayers for words and sentences and also for method and form but if Christ be not there and if the prayer goe not forth in the Spirit and power of Jesus Christ then the Lord regards it not but loaths it and casts it away as abominable To pray then in the name of Christ is when the soul goeth forth into the armes of Gods love by the Spirit and power of the Lord Jesus who is the Son of his love Q. Seeing that men of themselves cannot pray aright and that the Lord to whom we are to pray knowes our wants before we pray What need have we then to pray A. As men cannot pray of themselves so neither can they live of themselves for the life which the Saints now live in the flesh is not by any power of their own but by the power of Christ living in them so that there is not onely a necessity of life in them in whom Christ lives who is the life but an impossibility of not living In like manner though men cannot pray acceptably by their own power or worth yet if Christ who is the mediator and intercessor live in them there is not onely a necessity of praying but it is altogether impossible that they should not pray Christ being in their hearts the Spirit of supplication and of adoption causing them to cry Abba Father Yea in him they have accesse with boldnesse unto the throne of grace And though the Lord doe know our wants yet he hath commanded us to pray ask and yee shall have c. And yee fight and warre and have not because yee ask not The Lord would have his people to rejoyce but they must pray ask and yee shall receive that your joy may be full Now although the Lord command us to pray he doth not intend that we should make Idols of our prayers and think that we receive for our praying but he doth it that we may know and consider on whom our joy our happinesse yea our very life dependeth and also that he may have the honour and glory of all his goodnesse when we in asking acknowledge him to be the giver of all and that we receive all of grace and not of debt and then it occasions much thankfulnesse when we return him the praise of all his love and bounty and live in the use of his mercies to his praise Q. But is not the Lord said to be an unchangeable God with whom is not the least shaddow of turning and if he have determined to bestow any favour or mercy he will doe it without our prayers and if he have not determined us any good to what purpose should we pray seeing by the same we cannot alter nor change his mind A. Although the Lord be altogether unchangeable and unalterable in his purposes and determinations yet he would have his children make known to him their needs by their requests neither is there the least shadow of change in him when he bestowes mercies and blessings upon them in answer to their prayers for whatsoever good thing he purposeth to his children yet before he bestow it upon them he usually stirreth up their hearts to pray for the same Now the Lord whatever he gives to the Saints he gives it them in Christ and what the Saints pray for they request and beg the same in the Spirit and intercession of Christ for he is the way by which the Lord comes down to us in all good and he is the way also by which we goe up to God in prayer and thanksgiving Now as it is impossible that God should alter his determinations in bestowing of mercies so also is it that the Saints should not pray for blessings and favours being quickened up thereto by the Spirit of Christ living in them so then God is not changed but the change is in the Saints for many times when God entends a blessing his children are not fit to receive the same then he by that Spirit of adoption quickens them up to pray and yet delaies them that by the continual use of this heavenly exercise and by the spirit of judgement and burning their corruptions may be consumed and destroyed and their hearts brought into a more holy and humble frame and they at length by this meanes made fit to receive the mercy Q. If men cannot pray unill they be moved or quickened thereunto by the Spirit how then shall it be known when the Spirit moves or which or when is the most convenient and fittest time for prayer A. That no man is able of himself without the help of the Spirit to make any prayer acceptable to God hath been already shewed prayer being a work of that Spirit of adoption called the Spirit of the Son and is nothing else but an effect of that power in the Son given unto him by the Father men may use
words or formes of prayer but none can pray indeed but they who have received this spirit of adoption and are thereby become the Sonnes of God and they who are thus become Sonnes have not the Spirit by fits and starts but the Spirit or the Lord Jesus who is that Spirit dwells in their hearts and is continually exciting and stirring up their hearts to prayer and every good thing But it is not alwayes apprehended alike for many times by reason of temptation want of watchfulnesse and other infirmities of the flesh it is clouded and acts not so clearly as at other times yet notwithstanding it will in due time break through all difficulties and remove all impediments and acts like it self and ministers matter of prayer upon all occasions so then whensoever the Lord presents occasion or opportunity of prayer then he by the same calls for prayer and then is the Spirit ready to quicken and help if it be not quenched with carnall workings of the flesh as worldly cares worldly sorrowes worldly joyes c. Now if there be any time wherein the Lord doth not minister occasion of prayer and praise then that is no time for prayer and thanksgiving but there is no time in the whole life of a Christian in which the Lord doth not minister occasion of prayer and praise therefore the Saints ought to pray continually and in every thing to give thanks Furthermore as the Saints ought upon all occasions to lift up their hearts to God so also they are to take the fittest opportunity for prayer is not a light businesse but of great weight and concernment it is called a pouring forth of the soul to God a wrestling with God a crying earnestly to God c. Now the fittest time for this serious businesse is when we can set about it with least distraction when we can best sequester our selves from all other occasions whatsoever and attend upon that work with freedome of Spirit And as we must take the fittest time so also we must watch unto it that is so order our outward affaires that there may be convenient time and so watch over our own hearts in the strength of Christ that they may be alwayes well disposed to prayer and not to flag or faint though we meet with many delayes and other discouragements but to continue instant in the same watching when God will give in occasion of thanksgiving Q. But doth not God give us other helpes also to build us up in grace and holinesse What say you of the Sacraments Is not Baptisme of great use in these dayes of the Gospel A. The word Sacrament is no where to be found in all the Scripture and for Baptisme the Scripture mentions divers Baptismes as the baptisme of water the baptisme of the holy Ghost and of fire and the baptismes of sufferings all which were beautiful in their seasons and some of them are still of great concernment to the Saints The baptisme of water was the baptisme of John who was sent of God to prepare the way of Christ Israel had dwelt long enough in that Mount of out-side observations for although they had their legall washings and cleansings which were and might be called baptismes yet all these could not wash away one sin from the conscience but served onely to cleanse them from legall pollutions though they were not without their significations But now the baptisme of John and his ministry was mighty for he came in the spirit and power of Elias and was a sign of a great change of administrations for he called them to repentance even to repent of all that out-side and formal religion which they had so hotly pursued for they were generally grown so corrupt and so blockish and blind withall that they imagined that by the bare out-side performance of those legal cleansings they were sufficiently sanctified though they continued in the practise of most grosse and notorious sinnes But John tells them plain that although God had long endured and born with their hipocrisies and formalities yet now he would bear no longer for he had now laid the axe to the root of the trees and if any tree were barren or did not bring forth good fruit it was to be hewen down and cast into the fire hereby giving them to understand that unlesse they did desist from all their wicked and ungodly wayes and courses and amend their evill lives there was no remission of sinnes to be expected nor true sanctification to be attained notwithstanding all their legal and strict performances and hereupon calls them to his baptisme declaring plainly unto them that though many of them thought he was the Christ yet they were deceived for he was but sent to prepare his way and that his baptisme was but with water which could onely wash away the filth of the body but could goe no further but yet by the same they were to be instructed that there is one among them already in the flesh even Christ who shall baptize them with the holy Ghost and with fire that is wash and cleanse their soules from all the filth and guilt of sin that was upon them And thus John's ministry was to prepare the way or to manifest Christ already come and his baptisme did hold forth the baptisme of Christ in the Spirit which was to follow in its season Q. If Johns ministry and baptisme served onely to prepare the way of Christ or to manifest Christ in the flesh and to instruct them or type out unto them the baptisme of Christ why then was it needfull that Christ himself should be baptized of John A. Christ indeed was baptized of John but not out of any need to shew forth sorrow for sin he being altogether without sin nor yet was he baptized out of any necessity to be instructed in the mystery of the Spirits baptisme but Christ submitted to Johns baptisme for our sakes onely the head that had no sin for the body that was full of sin Again Johns baptisme was part of the Law and it was the last and most lively Ceremony of it and Christ submitted unto the same that he might fulfill all righteousnesse for us Now that Johns baptisme was of the Law and not of the Gospel is evident from his preaching for John preached saying repent for the kingdome of heaven is at hand now the kingdome of heaven is Christ not in the flesh but crucified risen again ascended returned in the Spirit the Comforter dwelling in the hearts of the Saints the kingdome of heaven is within you And from our Saviours words Mat 11. 11. where speaking of John saith that among them that were born of women there hath not risen a greater Prophet than John the Bapptist because other of the Prophets had spoken of Christ afarre off but John pointed him out with the finger saying this
truth which is to be perfected by degrees in this life though not fully untill the life to come Neither is there any outward ordinance or observation that can hold proportion or correspondence with this Spiritual Kingdome it being exalted above all the Hills and infinitely above all significations Now Water-Baptisme can no way shew forth our union with Christ for that is a Spiritual union and Water-Baptisme is a Carnall ordinance and holds no proportion with the former Againe we are not made one with Christ as we are one flesh with him but as we are one Spirit with him Christ by taking our flesh became Immanuel or God one with us in the flesh but now the Lord who is that Spirit takes us into the same Spirit and so we are made one Spirit with him To this very end the glorious God did abase himself and clothed himself with our flesh and took it into union with himself that so by this meanes he might also receive all them that do truely believe in him into union with himself by the same Spirit So that it is not the Baptisme of Water that can ingraft us into Christ or make us one with him But by the Baptisme of the eternall Spirit are all the Saints united to him and partake of the same Divine nature with him And further Water-Baptisme can give us no true fellowship with the Saints for where the Saints have true fellowship one with another they have this fellowship together in Christ So that this fellowship consists not in being of the same opinion or forme one with another But in partaking of the same Spirit are united into one body together in Christ For by one Spirit are we all Baptized into one Body whether we be Jewes or Gentils So that it is not water-baptisme that can give any true fellowship with the Saints but onely a carnall admission into an outward fellowship with men of the same form which may hold for a time and afterward come to nothing Ananias and Saphira may have for a time an outward fellowship with the Apostles and Simon Magus with Phillip and the rest of the Saints in Samaria Q. What say you then of the Lords Supper is not that an Ordinance of Christ to be used now in the time of the Gospel A. That our Saviour Christ did give Bread and Wine unto his Disciples in remembrance of his death which he was now suddenly to accomplish is not denied but that he left it with them as an ordinance to be performed by all believers in the dayes of the Gospel is to be enquired into Our blessed Lord a little before his suffering told his Disciples that he had a great desire to eat one Passeover more with them before his death and being come into the house as they were eating together he tells them plain that one of them should betray him into the hands of the chief Priests and Elders c. and that he was to undergoe great sufferings yea and death also and that all this was no more than what was written of him though they were ignorant of it and that they must now enjoy his company but a very little while for as he came forth from the Father into the world so he must now leave the world and goe to the Father upon this heavy and sad and indeed unexpected newes his poor weak Disciples who looked for better things from their Master at least in their own conceits were so presently filled with sorrow that they knew not what to say much lesse what to doe whereupon our Saviour seeing them take the matter so to heart and knowing that his death was of so great advantage unto them takes occasion to instruct them in the knowledge and ends of the same that as his departure from them was cause of great grief and sorrow unto them so the remembrance of the great benefits which should redound unto them thereby might a little stay and comfort their hearts untill he did appear to them more fully To this end he took bread and brake it saying This is my body which is given for you as if he had said as I break this bread and give it unto you so my body is given and must be broken for you even for your sinnes And taking the cup he saith drink yee all of it for it is the New Testament in my bloud or a signification of the bloud of the New Covenant which is my bloud that must be shed for you and many others also or else yee cannot have remission of sinnes And for a help to their weak faith and comfort in their sad condition he said also unto them doe this in remembrance of me as if he had said I know that for the present you are almost overwhelmed with grief and sorrow because I say such things to you yet let this be a little comfort to you make use of Bread and Wine in-remembrance that my death is of great advantage to you and though I goe away in the flesh yet it shall not be long ere I see you again in the Spirit for I will not leave you comfortlesse but will come to you in the comforter which is the Spirit of truth and then your hearts shall rejoyce and your joy shall no man be able to take from you so that from hence it may appear that this action of Christ and likewise his command was rather to comfort and stay the hearts of his poor sorrowrowfull fainting then Disciples than to be a standing Ordinance for all believers afterwards Q But it is not said in many places in the Acts of the Apostles that this Ordinance was in use even among the Apostles themselves and many other Saints after the Ascension of Christ and sending down of the holy Ghost A. The Apostles indeed are said to break bread and that from house to house but every breaking of bread there spoken of cannot be said to be the Lords Supper for it is said that they did eat their meat with gladnesse and singlenesse of heart whereby it may appear that by breaking of bread in that place is rather meant the Saints mutuall love in receiving and entertaining one another into their houses with feasting and rejoycing than eating the Lords Supper for it is said that the multitude of them that believed were of one heart and of one soul neither said any man that the things which he possessed were his own but they had all things common The preaching of the Apostles was of such power and efficacy that it wrought great effects there was none that lacked they that were poor were provided for out of the goods of them that were rich But if by breaking of bread in this or other places be meant the eating the Lords Supper yet it was used as a thing indifferent and of christian liberty rather than a binding Ordinance for the Apostles
any man as he is a man as he is a Jew nor as he is a Gentile as he is rich or as he is poor bond or free but as he is in Christ and Christ in him In this sence the Lord doth accept persons for he accepts of these in Christ and as for others who are not in Christ he regards them not be they Jew or Gentile high or low noble or base he accepts of none but in whom he appeares and manifests himself by Jesus Christ Q. But is not God in all men Is not he one and the same and doth not he infinitely comprehend all things in himself All come from his fulnesse and he dwells in all and every one in his fulnesse for he cannot be divided a piece in one and a piece in another but he is all and in all and to all onely there is not the same manifestations in some he lies hid and in others he shines forth and we are said to be the off spring of God and to live move and have our being in him How then can it be but that all must be saved seeing God is in all and all are in him A. That God doth infinitely comprehend all things in himself and that all things even the whole creation proceeded from his fullnesse is a truth yea that God is in all men in some sence or respect is also granted Man being created in the Image of God was thereby able to act according to God but having by sinne defaced this Image he was now become more like Satan than God And though he had lost all his wisdome and strength to act according to the will of God in things spiritual yet there remained so much of the light of nature in him namely his natural understanding and reason which served him and whereby he was enabled to act in moral and civill things and to leave him without excuse For without understanding and reason he could not be able to glorify God as God in the outward creation Now this natural understanding and reason as it is purely natural so God ownes it as a sparke of his Image but as it is corrupted and defiled with sinne so he disowns it and this is that which doth accuse or excuse When naturall men led on by the light of nature did act according to reason or judgement then their conscience did excuse them But when they acted contrary to reason even from corrupt and carnal principles then their naturall conscience was against them and accused them And this naturall principle hath many names even in Scripture somtimes it is called a knowing of God or a knowledge of God Sometimes mans righteousnesse Rom. 10. 3. And sometimes mans wisdome and the spirit of the World c. And by this spirit or principle of nature God is in all and acts in all rationall men yet in some in a higher and in others in a lower degree For it is by this spirit or principle that all natural and civill men act lawfully in all natural and civil things For there is not any action in the world that is naturally and civilly good but in this respect it is of God Neither can God ly hid in this respect in the most wicked or carnal men For even they many times do act things in themselves that are naturally and civilly good And thus all men may be said to be the off-spring of God not onely because they all came from him as their original but also as they are acted by him through a spirit or principle of nature to walk honestly and civilly in things of outward concernment But now there is a more special and spiritual in-dwelling of God in the Saints namely the eternal in-dwelling of his love in Jesus Christ wherely he hath from all eternity chosen them and made them one with himself in Christ And in due time in their several generations hath manifested and doth manifest and reveal this love which is Christ in their hearts which doth assure them of their adoption and of their union with him And whereby they are carried forth to live up to him yea to live in him being transformed more and more into his own glorious Image even by his spirit dwelling in them Now that God is not thus in all men namely in his love in Jesus Christ is clear both from Scripture and common experience The Apostle in the eighth Chapter of the Romanes and the first Verse layes this down as a firme conclusion That there is no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus But who are they Such as walk not after the flesh but after the spirit Now to walk after the spirit is to be led forth by the same to mortifie the deeds of the body that henceforth they might not serve sin For Jesus Christ who is in them a law of the Spirit which is a law of Life doth free them first from sinne and then from death But there are some that walk after the flesh and mind or are led onely by a naturall principle and this tends onely to death because this spirit or carnal principle is at enmity against God and neither is nor can be subject or obedient to Christ who is the Law of life or power of God to salvation in all that do believe but is full of self-righteousnesse acting by legall and fleshly performances for life and happiness And being thus earnal in their minds cannot please God because partaking not of Christ or of that spirit wherewith he is annointed they are not nor cannot be any of his But walk in the vanity of their own minds having nothing but darknesse in their understandings and by reason of that ignorance are estranged from the glorious Light and Life of God even Jesus Christ and being hardned by continual custome in sinne become at length insensible and give themselves over unto lasciviousness and wantonness to act all manner of uncleannesse and that with greedinesse But the Saints have better learned Christ for they being annointed with and receiving of his Spirit do therefore mind the things thereof and are led forth thereby into all well pleasing actions Christ who is the Life being risen in their hearts the old man or body of sinne is destroyed mortified and put off by little and little even as he is pleased to manifest himself But the wicked even the children of disobedience or unbeliefe they have no fellowship in Christs Kingdome which is Spiritual nor no inheritance in the Kingdome of God which is in glory eternal though they deceive themselves For the wrath of God cometh and abideth on them And thus it is clear from Scripture that God is not in all men in his love in Jesus Christ for he is where he comes in Christ both Light and Life and where he is thus he acts like himself And