together with Christ the Head and the Church the Body in their joint unction and Officers and all other things they understand carnally and have a fleshly sense and apprehension of them And as they understand all other things of Gods kingdome carnally so also the Reformation of it and there are not greater and grosser mistakes about any of the things of God then about this men imagining the Reformation of the Church which is altogether a spiritual and heavenly kingdom after the manner of the Reformation of worldly States and Common-wealths which only stands in outward things and is brought to passe by humane councels and humane power Now because this is not only a grosse but a generall errour in all sorts of people both of high and of low degree I shall indeavour at this time according to the good hand of God with me to represent in some Gospel-light to this Honourable and Christian Auditory the true Reformation of the Church of the New-Testament and blessed is hee who shall not be offended at it For this purpose I made choice of the words now read Vntill the time of Reformation For the better understanding of which wee must read the Context Ver. 9. The first tabernacle was a figure for the time then present in which were offered both gifts and sacrifices that could not make him that did the service perfect as pertaining to the conscience V. 10. Which stood only in meats and drinks and divers washings and carnall ordinances it should be righteousnesses or justifications of the flesh {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} imposed on them {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} untill the time of Reformation In which words the Apostle shews the imperfection of the worship of the old Law because it stood in outward rites ceremonies duties performances and so could not make him that used them and was busied in them perfect as pertaining to his conscience and therefore God did not simply and absolutely impose these things on the Church to continue for ever but only untill the time wherein all things were to be reformed not only evill things but imperfect And then all that outward Religion was to be abolished Now if the law of Moses could not make men perfect as pertayning to the Conscience much lesse can any new lawes invented now And if any such lawes should be imposed on the people of God now the Gospel hath the same strength in it self to make them void as the former and also the same ground from them because all such lawes and ordinances devised by men cannot make them that obey and practise them perfect as pertaining to the conscience and therefore are all to be at an end when the time of Reformation comes Quest Now if you ask me when this time of Reformation was Ans. I answer It was when Christ came not a servant as Moses but the Son out of the bosome of the Father the great Prophet of the new Testament whose doctrine was not letter as Moses was but Spirit and life And now when Christ the Minister of the new Testament came with the ministration of the Spirit now was the time of Reformation In the time of the Law there were outward duties and performances and ceremonies and sacrifices and strict laws to injoyn the observation of these things carrying along with them the severity of death and yet notwitstanding all this there was no true Reformation but under all that outward Religion men were inwardly as corrupt and wicked as the very heathen for all their circumcision in the flesh they were uncircumcised in heart for all their outward washing they were inwardly unclean for all their blood of buls and goats their sins remained in their natures and consciences for all their strict forcing of men to the duties of the outward worship of God the people still remained far from God even in all those duties So that notwithstanding the outward worship of Moses law the people remained inwardly corrupt filthy and unclean and without any true Reformation before Goa till Christ who was God in the flesh came with the ministration of the Spirit and then indeed was the time of Reformation Vntill the time of Reformation The thing then the Spirit would have us take notice of in these words is this That the time of the Gospel is the time of Reformation When-ever the Gospel is preached in the spirit and power of it that is {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} the time of Reformation For our more orderly proceeding in this point wee will observe this Method 1. Show what true Gospel-Reformation is and how it is qualified that so you may the better distinguish it from Politicall and Ecclesiasticall Reformation Now both these I joyn together because the carnall Church hath alwayes interested and mingled it self with the power of the world as being able to doe nothing without it 2. I will indeavour to shew to whose hands the work of Gospel-Reformation is committed 3. By what means he to whose hands it is committed brings it about 4. The advantages of such a Reformation where it is wrought 5. The Vse The first Generall What true Gospel Reformation is and how qualified 1. What it is It is the mortiying destroying and utter abolishing out of the faithfull and elect all that sin corruption lust evill that did flow in upon them through the fall of Adam Or It is the taking away and destroying the body of sin out of the faithfull and elect by the presence and operation of the righteousnesse of God dwelling in their hearts by faith This is true Gospel Reformation and besides this I know no other This the Evangelicall Prophet Isaiah describeth Chap. 1. 27. Zion shall be redeemed with judgement and her converts with righteousnesse Now Christ dwelling in our hearts by faith as he discovers reproves condemnes and destroyes sin so he is called Judgement and thus is judgement to be understood in the Gospel sense and not terribly as in the sense of the Law and this Judgement shall at last break forth into victory that is though Christ in us hath to doe with many strong corruptions and lusts in the soule yet at last hee prevails against them all and Judgement breaks forth into Victory because Christ the Judgement of God in the soul must needs in the end prevail against every sin of man Again Christ the Righteousnesse of God as he makes us righteous with his own righteousnesse and makes us the righteousnesse of God in him so hee is called Righteousnesse not in himself onely but in us he is the Lord our Righteousnesse and by this Judgement and Righteousnesse is Zion and her converts redeemed and reformed And so true Gospel reformation is the destruction of sin out of the faithfull by the presence of righteousnesse And therefore you see how grosly they are mistaken who take Gospel Reformation to be the making of certain Laws and
And if the love of God had not put forth this power in the soule a Christian had never been reformed no not from one sin Now the power of this Reformation eminently appears in that it changeth the very natures of men it findes them lions it makes them lambs it findes them wolves it makes them sheep it findes them birds of prey it makes them doves It finds them trees of the forrest it makes them apple-trees In a word it finds them flesh it makes them spirit it finds them sin it makes them righteousnesse Mighty indeed is the power of this Reformation But now as this Gospel Reformation is mighty so Civill-Ecclesiasticall Reformation is weak for as the former hath the power of God engaged in it so this later hath only the power of man and so can do no such works as the former I appeale to all that are spirituall what heart or nature was ever changed by this sort of Reformation For there is that corruption in the heart of every man that is able to stand out against all the Reformation that all the powers in the world can undertake And so the Reformation mannaged by the mightiest and severest powers of men is weak as water in this businesse of changing natures and can onely change some outward forms and postures and the like leaving in the mean time a mans nature the same it was before It onely puts sheeps clothing upon men which is easily done but still leaves them wolves underneath Fifthly It is a constant Reformation a Reformation which being once begun is never intermitted again till all be perfected For as long a Gods nature dwels in ours it will ever be reforming our nature to it selfe till it be altogether like it As long as the Spirit of God dwels in the flesh it will still be reforming the flesh to the Spirit till the whole body of sin be destroyed and the naturall man be made spirituall So that the whole-whole-time of this life that is lived in faith that is in union with Christ is a time of continuall Reformation and a Christian is daily washing cleansing and purifying himself till hee purifie himfelf even as Christ is pure But now Civill-Ecclesiasticall Reformation at first makes a great noise and tumult in the world and after lies as still as a stone For such Reformation reforms States and Kingdoms to mens own profit honour power-advantages and so to themselves rather then to Christ And when men have once attained to their own ends their activity ceases Again it brings men to certain outward orders and conformities and then runnes round as in a mill and goes no farther Again It reforms for a time and not constantly because the outward power being taken away nature returns to its own course again For State-Ecclesiasticall Reformation onely changes some outward works leaving the nature the self same that it was as you have heard Now where the works are contrary to nature nature by degrees returns to it self again and puts an end to those works and so there is an end of that Reformation And thus you see what Gospel-Reformation is and how qualified whereby you see it cleerly differenced from Civill-Ecclesiasticall Reformation And oh that that Prophesie might here be fulfilled Isa. 32. 3. The eyes of them that see shall not be dim and the ears of them that hear shall hearken The second Generall To whose hand this work of Reformation is committed Now that is only to Jesus Christ the great and onely Magistrate in the Kingdome of God and who onely is to doe all that is done in the Church of God he is the Dominus fac totum as they say If the Church be to be redeemed Christ must redeem it if it be to be governed Christ must govern it if it be to be protected Christ must protect it if it be to be saved Christ must save it All that is to be done in the Church of God Christ only is to do it and so among other things to reform it that is to wash it sanctifie it purifie it Christ then is the only Reformer of the Church of God For First God hath committed the care of the Churches Reformation to Christ onely and to no body else and this is a thousand times better for the Church then if he had committed it to all the Princes and Magistrates in the world All things are given to me of my Father saith Christ and the Church above all other things Thine they were and thou gavest them mee thine they were by election and thou gavest them me that I might redeem them and reform them and present them to thee again without spot So that the Father hath committed the care of the Reformation of the Church to Christ And secondly Christ hath taken this care upon himself out of obedience to his Father and love to his Church 1. Out of obedience to his Father for he saith I came not to do my own will but the will of him that sent me and this is the will of him that sent mee that of all that hee hath given mee I should lose none And so Christ reforms all that he might lose none out of obedience to his Father 2. Out of love to his Church he takes this care and charge on him For such is the love of Christ to the Church every where so gloriously discovered in the Gospel that hee doth not onely give himself for us to redeem us but also gives himself to us to reform us Christ dying for us is our Redemption Christ dwelling and living in us is our Reformation Thirdly This work of Reformation is only sutable to and convenient for Christ the Head as having so neer and deer interest in the Church his Body And so he is ful of love and bowels and tender compassions to the Church he will not deal roughly ruggedly and boistrously with the saints hee will not grieve them and vex them oppresse them and crush them in peices but he being their Head wil deal meekly and gently with them He will not break the bruised reed nor quench the smoaking flax When he is reforming the sins and corruptions of the faithfull he deals with them in the very love and goodnesse of God and wil not put them to more sorrow then needs must and when hee must needs put them to sorrow in the flesh for flesh cannot chuse but mourn to part with it self utterly in this reformation yet he is present with the comforts of his Spirit and when hee hath smitten them is ready to heal them and to bind them up as soon as he hath broken them He deals with every Christian in this reformation as tenderly as a man doth with one of his own members that is in grief and anguish he regards and handles him as his own body as his own flesh And so the reformation of Christ is altogether for edification and not at all for destruction for
blind by this he kils and quickens by this he saves and damns and all that ever he doth in this Kingdom he doth by his word and without this he doth nothing of all that he doth Christ doth all in his Kingdom by the word only but Antichrist doth all things without the word even by the Decrees and Constitutions of men Now as Christ doth all other things in the Church by the word so he reforms too Now are yee clean through the word that I have spoken to you All the powers in the world cannot reform the Church as the word of God can do for this is quick and powerfull and sharper then a two-edged sword piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit and of the joints and marrow and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart and doth change and renew and reform all and therefore Christ when hee comes to reform the Church comes with no worldly power or weapons but onely with the word in his mouth yea though God set him King upon his holy hill of Sion yet he reforms not by outward power but by preaching saying I will publish the decree whereof the Lord hath said unto me Thou art my Son this day have I begotten thee And again The Spirit of the Lord is upon mee for he hath annointed mee to preach the Gospel And again The Redeemer shall come to Sion and then follows the Covenant of God with the Redeemer My word shall never depart out of thy mouth Isa. 59. 10. and in Psalm 45. the Church saith by the Spirit to Christ Ride on prosperously on the word of truth meeknesse and righteousnesse which is the word of the Gospel And so Christ when the time of Reformation was come went up and down preaching the word And thus he brought to passe the glorious Reformation of the New Testament by preaching the Gospel of the Kingdome and nothing else And when hee was to leave the world hee sent his Disciples to carry on the work of Reformation as hee himselfe had begun it as hee saith As my Father sent mee so send I you not with the power of the world but with the power of the word and so hee bid them goe teach all Nations and preach the Gospel to every creature and by teaching and preaching to the world to reforme the world and so accordingly they did Mark 16. ver. 20. They went forth and preached every where the Lord working with them So that Christ sent them not forth with any power of swords or guns or prisons to reforme the world or with any power of States or Armies but sent forth poor illiterate mechanick men and only armed them with the power of the word and behold what wonders they wrought by that power alone They turned the world upside downe they changed the manners customes religion worship lives and natures of men they carried all oppositions and difficulties before them they won many in most Kingdoms unto Christ and brought them into willing subjection and obedience to him and all this they did I say not with any earthly or secular power but by the ministery of the Gospel alone Christs great and onely Instrument for the conquering subduing and reforming of the Nations And so the power appeared to be Gods onely and not the creatures And thus you see how the word is one means Christ useth for Reformation And this word only works a right Reformation For this reforms truly and indeed all other power reforms but in appearance So that there is no true reformation of any thing but what is wrought by the word but what ever evill is reformed and not by the power of the word it is not truly reformed it is onely reformed in the flesh and not in the spirit it is only suspended in the outward operation of it but the seed and nature of it still remaines in the heart to grow up and work again as opportunity serves And therefore what-ever evill or corruption is reformed in thee see it be reformed by the power of the word if the word hath killed it in thee it is killed indeed if not it is alive in thee though it seeme to be dead The outward power of the world may set up an image of Reformation but it is the word onely can work true Reformation And therefore let us learn to rely on the word for the Reformation of the Church For this is much for the honour of the word which God hath magnified above all his Name when wee can neglect the power of the world and leave the whole work of Reformation to the power working and efficacy of the word alone which is almighty and able to bring off the heart from all things to God As on the contrary it is a great dishonor to God and his word when men dare not relie on the word alone to reform the Church though it be stronger then men and Angels and all the creatures but will needs be calling in the power of the world and rest and rely on that for this work as if the power of the word were not sufficient But let such men know that if the power of the word will not reform men all the power of the world will never do it And therefore well said Luther Praedicare annuntiare scribers volo neminem autem vi adigam I will preach and teach and write but I will constrain no body Oh therefore that our civill and Ecclesiasticall powers would so much honour Christs Word as to trust the reformation of his Kingdome with it and that as it is sufficient to reform the Church so you would be pleased to think it sufficient and thus shall you give Christ and his Word due honour as well as declare your own faith And if you would commit this work to the power of the word to which onely it belongs you should soon see what the Word would do There is no such glorious sight under heaven as to see the Word in the spirit and power of it come in to an unreformed world and to observe the changes and alterations it makes there And thus you see that one means that Christ useth for the Reformation of his Church is the Word But here I must further declare to you that this Word by which Christ reforms the Church is not the Word of the Law for the Law made nothing perfect but the Word of the Gospel This this is the onely Word that works Reformation For first 1. This Word works faith and therefore it is called the word of faith because faith comes by hearing of this Word Rom. 10. ver. 8. and v. 17. Now as the Word workes faith so faith apprehends the Word even that Word that was with God and was God this living and eternall Word dwels in our heart by faith as the Apostle saith That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith And this Word dwelling in us by faith changeth us into its
own likenesse as fire changeth the Iron into its own likenesse and takes us up into all its own vertues And so the word dwelling in the flesh reforms the flesh and it dwels in us through faith and faith is wrought by the Gospel So that the Word whereby Christ reforms is not the Word without us as the Word of the Law is but the Word within us as it is written The Word is nigh thee even in thy mouth and in thy heart and this is the word of Faith If thou live under the Word many years and if it come not into thy Heart it wil never change thee nor reform thee And therefore the reforming Word is the Word within us and the Word within us is the Word of faith 2. The Gospel reformes because it doth not only reveal Christs righteousnesse as it is written The righteousnesse of God is revealed from faith to faith but also it communicates it to us And therefore it is called the Word of righteousnesse because it works righteousnesse So that Christ the righteousnesse of God is conveyed to us through this Word of righteousnesse And when the righteousnesse of God revealed in the Gospel comes and dwels in us what Reformation of sin doth this work all sin perisheth at the rebuke of his countenance for the righteousnesse of God will endure no sin in us And so the Gospel reformes by working righteousnesse in us 3. The Gospel reformes because it shews us Christ and by shewing us him it changeth us into his Image the more we see Christ in the Gospel the more are we made like unto him that as we have born the Image of the earthly so we may bear the Image of the Heavenly Adam 2. Yea the Gospel shews us God in Christ in all his glory and changeth us into that glory of God which is shewn us we all saith Paul with open face beholding as in a glasse and this glasse is the Gospel the glory of the Lord are changed into the same Image from glory to glory even as by the Spirit of the Lord so that the Gospell by shewing us God changing us into the Image of God and God through the Gospel ariseth on us till his glory be seen upon us And thus you see the grounds of the Gospels Reformation So that now the Word of the Gospel is the only Reforming Word and if there be never so much preaching if it be but Legal it wil reform no body aright because there can be no working Faith nor communicating righteousnesse nor changing men into Gods Image and so there can be no true Reformation And thus much for the first Means of Reformation which Christ useth which is the Word and this Word the Gospel 2. Means the Spirit For the Spirit accompanies the Word in the Ministry of the Gospel and therefore the Gospel is called the Ministration of the Spirit that is the Word and Spirit in union and operation In the Law there was the Letter without the Spirit and so that could do nothing but in the Gospel the Word and the Spirit are alwayes joyned and therefore saith Christ The words that I speak are spirit and Life that is they come from the spirit and carry spirit with them And this Spirit that is present in the word of the Gospel and works in it and is given by it reforms mightily and therefore it is called the spirit of judgement and burning And the Lord looking to this time of reformation promised long before to pour out his Spirit upon all flesh and so to reform all flesh Now the Spirit poured forth upon the flesh reforms it two wayes 1. By taking away all evils out of the flesh 2. By changing the flesh into its own likenesse 1. The Spirit poured forth upon the flesh reforms it all by taking all evil out of the flesh As first all Sin and Corruption saith Paul If you mortifie the deeds of the flesh by the Spirit yee shal live the deeds of the flesh are not to be mortified by any power but by the Spirit all pride and envy and lust and covetousnesse and carnal mindedness and all other evils of the flesh are reformed by the presence of the Spirit in it and no other way 2. The Spirit reforms not only all Sins in the Church but all Errors and Heresies and false doctrines as is evident by that of Paul 1 Cor. 1. 12. If any man build upon this foundation gold silver precious stones wood hay stubble every mans work shal be made manifest for the day shal declare it because it shal be revealed by fire and the fire shal try every mans work of what sort it is c So that a man may lay Christ for a foundation and yet build wood hay and stubble upon him that is humane doctrines and the inventions of men and false and wicked opinions 2. The destruction of this hay wood and stubble error herefie and humane doctrines in the Church of God that is the people built on Christ shal not be by Laws of States or Constitutions of Councels but by the Holy Ghost which is as fire The Spirit shal come into the Saints and burn up all that corrupt and false doctrine that wil not indure the Spirit and error shal never be destroyed but by the Spirit of truth So that the Spirit reforms all error as wel as all corruptions in the faithful 2. The Spirit doth not only reform the flesh by taking away all evil out of it whether corruptions or errors but also it changeth the flesh into its own likenesse For the Spirit is as fire that changeth every thing into its self and so doth the Spirit in the flesh make the flesh spirituall like heavenly fire it changeth men into its own likenesse and makes them spiritual heavenly holy meek good loving c. And thus the Spirit reforms indeed When the Spirit is poured forth upon a man how wonderfully doth it reform him this works a change in him in goodearnest and no man is ever truly reformed til he receive the Spirit And thus you see the means that Christ useth to work this Reformation and these are the only Means Object Yea but I hope you wil allow secular power too May not the Spiritual Church of Christ be Reformed with worldly and secular power Ans. I answer by no means and that for these Causes 1. Forceable Reformation is unbeseeming the Gospel for the Gospel is the Gospel of peace and not of force and fury Civil-Ecclesiasticall reformation reforms by breathing out threatnings punishments prisons fire and death but the Gospel by preaching peace And therefore it is most unbeseeming the gospell to do any thing rashly and violently for the advancement thereof for the gospell of peace is not to be advanced by violence and therefore violent Reformers live in contradiction to the Gospel of Peace and cannot be truely reckoned Christians but enemies to Christianity sith
sel their goods as is now practised in some parts of the Kingdom even upon the Saints and if men be wicked is it not misery enough for them to refuse eternal life except also they inflict on them Temporal death Is it not misery enough for men to refuse the good things of heaven except they also deprive them of the good things of this present life and yet as Luther said of the Clergy Quando non invocat brachium seculare morte utraque terrat mundum When doth it not cal upon the secular power and terrifies the world with both deaths Surely Christ and the Word approved not these ways For Math. 18. Christ imposeth no other punishment on them that would not hear the Church then that he should be reckoned as a heathen and Paul Titus 3. Teacheth us after once and twice admonition to avoyd an Heretick but not to imprison him or kil him or banish him and again they that do these things shal not inherite the Kingdome of God and again he that beleever not shal bee damned but not one word of outward or corporal punishment in all the Gospel 3. Yea Christ reproveth his Disciples for discovering such a spirit of tyranny as to punish men for not receiving him Luk. 9. when the Apostles of a Prelatical and Antichristian Spirit in that particular desired fire to come down from heaven upon them that would not receive him Christ did severely rebuke them saying Ye know not of what spirit ye are not of Christs Spirit which is meek but of Sathans who was a murderer from the beginning and of Antichrists his first begotten in the world and he adds the Son of man came not to destroy mens lives but to save them and therefore to go about to turn the Gospel not to save mens lives but to destroy them and so to change Christ himself from a Saviour into a Destroyer this is Antichrist Triumphant All these things shew that worldly power hath no place at all in the Reformation of the Gospel Now I should have proceeded here to answer some Objections as namely 1. That of Luke 14. compel them te come in this I forgetting named not May a Christian then live as he list No by no means for he hath the Word and Spirit in him to keep him from living as he list and he knows that no man in Gods Kingdom may live as he wils but as God wils But would you have no Law No Laws in Gods Kingdom but Gods Laws and these are a thausand times better then all the Laws of men and they are these three The Law of a new nature The Law of the spirit of life that is in Christ The Law of love But would you have no Government Yes but the government of Christ the Head and the Holy Ghost the Spirit in and over the Church the body They that would govern the faithful the Members of Christs own body make themselves the head of those Members and so Antichrist may as wel be found in a combination of men as in one single person But would you have no Order Yes the best that is even such an Order as is in the body of Christ where every Member is placed by Christ and none by itself The Order of the spiritual Church is a spiritual Order and not a carnal But would you have sin suffered No but more truly and throughly destroyed then any power of the world can destroy it even by the Spirit of judgment and burning But would you have sinners suffered No but punished more severely then any powers of the world can punish them For he shal smite the earth with the rod of his mouth and with the breath of his lips he shal slay the wicked And as for those that are outwardly wicked the Magistrate is to keep them in order for the quiet of the State he having power over their persons estates and lives I should also have proceeded to the next thing The advantages of such a Gospel Reformation where it is wrought together with the Vses but because I would not be over long I passe by these things and so proceed no farther in this Discourse But being brought hither by an unexpected providence I shal crave liberty to speak a few words to you in the behalf of two Kingdoms that is this Kingdom and Gods 1. That which I have to request of you for this Kingdome is that you would regard the oppression of the poore and the sighing of the needy Never was there more injustice and oppession in the Nation then now I have seen many oppressed and crushed and none to help them I beseech you consider this with all your hearts for many who derive power from you are great appressors And therefore I require you in the name of God to discharge the trust that God hath put into your hands and so to defend the poor and fatherlesse to do justice to the afflicted and needy to deliver the poor and needy and to rid them out of the hands of the wicked This is your businesse discharge your duty if you wil not then hear what the Lord saith Psa. 12. 5. for the oppression of the poor for the sighing of the needy now wil I arise saith the Lord and Gods rising in this case would prove your ruine If you wil not do Gods work in the Kingdome which he hath cal'd you too he wil do it himself without you as it is written He shal deliver the needy when he cryeth the poor also and he that hath no helper he shal save their souls from deceit and violence the common evils of the times And this is all that I have to say for this Kingdom 2. I have a few more things to say touching Gods Kingdom and the first is this 1. That as Christs Kingdom and the Kingdoms of the world are distinct So you would be pleased to keep them so not mingle them together your selves nor suffer others to do it to the great prejudice and disturbance of both 2. That you would be pleased to think that Christs Kingdom which is not of this world hath sufficient power in it self to mannage all the affairs of it without standing in need of any ayd or help from the world Seeing the power of man is of no place or use in the Kingdom of God which is not a Temporal or an Ecclesiastical Dominion but a Spiritual 3. That you would suffer the little stone of Christs Kingdom to be hewen out of the Mountain of the Roman Monarchy whereof this Kingdome is a part without hands even by the power and efficacy of the word and spirit seeing the hands of men cannot help but hinder this work which is to be done without hands And that your might and your power would please to let God do this work of his without might and without power and by his Spirit only 4. That you would be pleased to suffer
raced out then the least truth contained in the word of God Though I like the Covenant well enough according to the true intention of it Again if the thing be truly considered it will appear that you are more against the Covenant then I for the Covenant engages us to reform according to the word of God but you it seems would reform without yea against the word with outward and secular power which you will not suffer in the Magistrates hands neither but will needs have it in your own Mr. LOVE If this Doctrine be true That Gospel Reformation be only spirituall then I wonder how Paul was so out who said When I come I will set all things in order surely that was a Church Order Reply But pray What outward or secular power had Paul who suffered not onely much from the world but most from the false Apostles to set the Church in order Did Paul think you use any worldly power to set the Church in order or only the power of the word and spirit But these men think if the Church be to be set in order by the word and spirit onely which were sufficient in Pauls time it 's like to be out of order for them Mr. LOVE To cry down all kinde of Government under heart-government and all Reformation as carnall because you have the Civil Magistrates hand to it is against that place of Paul 1 Tim. 2. 2. Pray for Kings and all that are in authority that we may lead a quiet and a peaceable life in all godlinesse and honestie Reply Well argu'd now indeed Babes and sucklings you shall come forth and answer this Master iâ— Israel The sense of this place is evidently this That Christians should pray for Kings Governors that God would so incline their hearts that whilest we live in godlinesse under them they would suffer us to live in peace and not make us fare the worse in the world for our interest in the kingdom of God And what one drop can Mr. Love squeeze out of this Scripture to cool the tip of his tongue For the meaning is not That the Magistrate should inforce godlinesse but protect us in godlinesse Mr. LOVE To justle out the Magistrates power is to justle out the first Article of the Covenant What again and they that justle out that will justle out you shortly Reply Good Sir Ascribe not your own work to â—â—r hands The justling out the Magistrate have you not made it the chief part of your businesse now for a long while together and are you not still so diligently acting it every day that now you think your work is in some forwardnesse and you are pretty well able to deal with him And now because you would not be mistrusted your selves you publickly slander us with it Wee see cleerly thorow all your slender disguises Mr. LOVE Ezra was of another mind Ezra 7. 26. Whosoever will not do the Law of thy God and the Law of thy King let Iudgement be executed speedily upon him whether it be unto death or unto banishment or to confiscation of goods or to imprisonment Reply Well Sir will you stand to this place and shall this end the controversie Pray mark then This was part of the Decree of Artaxerxes a King of the Nations touching the Jewes for the rebuilding of the material Temple That they should have liberty to do it and not be molested in the doing of it but should have what assistance the State could afford The Decree was this Ezra 7. 13. I make a Decree That all they of the people of Israel and of the Priests and Levites in any Realm which are minded of their own free will to go up to Jerusalem go with thee For asmuch as thou art sent of the King and his seven Councellors to enquire concerning Iudah and Ierusalem according to the Law of thy God that is in thy hand c. And ver. 21. â— Artaxerxes the King do make a Decree to all the Treasurers beyond the River That whatsoever Ezra the Priest shall require of you it be done speedily unto two hundred Talents of silver And then ver. 26. follows Whoever will not do the law of thy God and the law of thy King Let him be so and so punished as you have heard 1. Here then you see That Artaxerxes made no decree to inforce all the Jewes to go build but as the Text saith Those that were minded of their own free will See you not here that even a King of the Nations thought it unreasonable to force any man to go to build Gods material house against his will 2. And secondly you see How he gave them no lawes how to build but permitted them to do it according to the law of their God that was in their hands 3. And thirdly you see How he deterred any from hindering them from this work upon pain of death banishment c. Do you not perceive now by this time how you then deceived the people by giving them the letter of the Word without the true sense of it as Satan dealt with Christ in his temptations Such Sermons bring an Houre of Temptation upon the people This then is the force of the place 1. First That the Magistrate may make a Decree for all that are minded of their own free will to build the Spiritual Temple of Jesus Christ and to gather up into a Communion of Saints 2. Secondly That he ought to permit this to be done according to the law of our God that is in our hands or rather according to the law of the Spirit of life that is in our Hearts and not to inforce upon us any Clergy constitutions 3. And thirdly That he may deterre you and the rest of the Kingdome that are of the like minde from resisting and bindering this work which hath its authority from Heaven That so the Saints the Kingdome of Christ may pray for the Magistrate and Christ the King of Saints may blesse the Magistrate and make him prosperous And pray now what is all this to your purpose Mr. LOVE If it was good in your Hearts to think to Reform it s much better to do it Reply Does not GOD say It was well that David thought to build a Temple and yet for all that he should not build it And do you now dare to blame this very thing Cannot the Scripture it self be quiet for you Mr. LOVE You need not fear losing a Party Reply Yea but how if God be in that Party What then sir Is it not better keeping a little poor despised Party that hath GOD in it then a great and numerous Party without God Again Did you preach before the Parliament to make or cast off parties Doth this appertain to the mysterie of Christ and the Father Reader These men are so over-busie in making and marring Parties that I much feare they will in the end throw the Kingdome into more misery and blood than their Predecessors have