be excluded from entring into the Kingdome of God as he that dyeth without the second part the Baptisme of the spirit That the first part of this birth from above is something called in Scripture by the name of Baptisme besides that which is called the Baptisme of the holy Ghost is out of question I thinke to all Outward baptisme it cannot be for the reasons before mentioned because one may be saved that is never baptized therwith as hath been proved Then without all doubt it must bee some speciall necessarie principle of Christ called in Scripture by the name of Baptisme and signified also by outward Baptisme because it is layd downe in the first place as a necessarie part of the new birth and first plantation of a Christian And there is no principle of Christ so speciall and necessary called by the name of Baptisme and signified by outward Baptisme that is required to the first plantation of a Christian besides the Baptisme of the Holy Ghost but onely repentance That repentance is a speciall principle of Christ is evident by Marke 1. 1. 2. 3. 4 Luk. 24. 47. Act. 20. 21. Heb. 6. 1. That it is so necessary is also evident by Christs owne testimony in Luke 13. where hee urgeth it with the same words of necessitie saying Except yee repent yee shall all likewise perish Vers 3. That it is called by the name of Baptisme and signified by outward Baptisme is manifest by Mat. 3. 11. Mar. 1. 1. 2. 3. 4. Luke 3. 3 Act. 10. 37. Act. 13. 24. Act. 19. 4. And that it is required in the first place to the first plantation of a Christian is also manifest by sundry Scriptures where the Holy Ghost saith Repent and believe the Gospell Repent that your sinnes may be blotted out Repent and be Baptised every one of you in the Name of Iesus Christ for the remission of sinnes and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost Mar. 1. 15. Act. 3. 19. Act. 2. 38. Therefore the first part of regeneration is the Baptisme of repentance even the same which Iohn the Baptist a speciall Minister and patterne thereof preached in the power and spirit of Elias wherewith hee made ready a people prepared for the Lord as it was prophesyed of him Esay 43. And is a turning and dissolving of the heart which naturally through sin is hard and stony to water as it were to flesh as the Scriptures speake even to weeping and mourning and humble confession of sinnes unto God as Christ himselfe expresseth it in a Parable saying Wee have lamented unto you and yee have not wept and is caused by the speciall power and working of the Holy Ghost and is of the Gospell and not of the Law The second part of this birth from above is that Baptisme of Christ which Iohn the Baptist also spake of to his disciples whom he had prepared by the Baptisme of repentance saying I indeed Baptise you with Water to repentance but he that commeth after me is mightier then I hee shall Baptise you with the Holy Ghost and with fire as if hee had said I indeed through the power and Spirit of God preaching unto you repentance have prepared you ready for the Lord I have brought you into the travell of the birth to weepe and mourne for your finnes the first laver of regeneration But Christ which cometh after me he is mightier then I he by a more excellent gift of the Spirit as it were with fire will purge and sanctifie your hearts by faith and so justifie you from all your finnes he will deliver you that labour and are heavy loaden and accomplish in you the new birth comfort you that mourne bind up your broken hearts and speake peace to your soules For although repentance be a part of the Gospell in a generall confideration the first principle and of the purchase of Christ as it is manifest by Luke 24. 47. 48. Act. 20. 20. 21. Heb. 6. 1. c. yet the Word preaching peace by Iesus Christ the glad tidings of remission of sins to the repentant is the Gospell and so called in a speciall distinct manner from repentance and the preaching and the enjoyment thereof by faith is a more excellent thing then the ministery and enjoyment of repentance And in this regard hee that is the least messenger of the latter is greater then hee that is the greatest messenger of the first as Christ himselfe testifieth Matth. 11. 11. This is it which the Prophet Esay prophecied of before concerning Christ saying The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me and hee hath annoynted me to preach glad tidings to the poore and to bind up the broken hearted c. he saith not to all or every one in the world but the poore the broken in heart onely c. This is that word preaching peace by Iesus Christ which is said to begin to be preached after the Baptisme of repentance which Iohn peached Not but that it was preached before this time even in all ages from the beginning but because no one did receive it or had it so preached unto him in such a speciall peculiar manner but such a one as was first prepared by repentance therefore it is said to begin to be preached after And because it was now to bee done in a more plentifull and larger manner then ever it was before Therefore was Iohn sent before the face of the Lord in the power and spirit of Elias to prepare his way before him This is it which Christ sent Iohn word of saying Goe tell Iohn The blind doe see the lame doe walk and the poor have the Gospell preached unto them as much as to say the humble repentant sinners the poore and contrite in heart they have the glad tidings of peace and remission of sinnes preached unto them and ministred unto their soules according to the prophecie of Esay and they receive the same or believed it with joy and peace in their heats for this preaching implieth such a believing or receiving And so doth Saint Paul interpret the words of Iohn concerning this Baptisme of Christ in Act. 19. where he saith Iohn verily Baptized with the Baptisme of Repentance saying unto the people that they should believe in him which should come after him that is in Christ Iesus Iohns words beeing He shall Baptise you with the Holy Ghost with fire So that as to bee Baptized with the Baptisme of Repentance is to repent to weepe and mourne for our sinnes washing them as it were in this first laver So to bee Baptixed with the Holy Ghost and with fire is to believe in Christ to bee justified and purged from our sinnes by faith in him These are the true parts of regeneration the special and most necessary principles of Christ the foundation as Saint Paul calleth them the briefe or sum of the Gospell as Christ declareth This did Christ Preach at
the first saying Repent and believe the Gospell this did the Apostles Preach after him as he commanded them Act. 2. 38 Act. 〈◊〉 and Act. 20. 20. 21. Where Saint Paul saith I kepte â—â—ching backe that was profitables but taught and testified both to the Iewes and also to the Greeks repentance towards God and saith in our Lord Iesus Christ This did Moses and the Prophets also before Christ came in the flesh Preach and require of the people as the most necessary things to be attained if they would be saved This Abel Hen cb Noah and all the blessed of their times attained unto and had it wrought in them from above And Abraham also before circumcision in the flesh was required This all the holy Patriarchs Prophets and righteous men and women of the Jewes had And that woman which is so specially remembred unto us in the Gospell whose Baptisme of repentance is so truely manifested by her plentifull teares wherewith she washed Christs feet And her Baptisme of the holy Ghost and justification by faith from her sins by her true and much love to Christ expressed in her washing and kissing his feet and anoynting them with oyle For every one that is borne from above of water and of the Spirit is inwardly of the same heavenly nature all the dayes of his life after whose fruit doth alwayes in his due times and seasons according to his measure like the tree planted by the river side shew forth the fame This al the elect of God that ever were now are or hereafter shal be have had have must have yea the youngest child dying in the birth or the womb if not in outward expression yet inwardly in the true nature thereof for no one child of man begotten of flesh can be saved except he be begotten from above of water and of the Spirit and so changed or renewed from the polluted and inthralled estate of nature which we all had and received originally in the very conception into the estate of grace and love with God in Christ And God may worke this change this new birth or rebegetting in the wombe if it pleaseth him as he did in Iohn the Baptist or at the time of outward baptisme if he so please or before it as he did in Abraham before circumcision in the flesh and as in the Apostles times he did to some or after it as he had done formerly after circumcision and now most usually doth since all are so generally baptized in their young estate For we may not limit God neither hath he tyed himselfe to any time or estate of nature in us nor to any one outward action performed by man unto us although he hath ordained sundry excellent holy out ward meanes whereby he doth direct and lead us as it were by the hand to the things that are spirituall and indeed necessary which we are bound to imbrace with much thankfulnesse to God and to use with reverence and not to despise the least of them nor in any part wilfully neglect them in paine of Gods high displeasure But the death and resurrection of Christ the sacrifice of his body and blood the value vertue price and purchase thereof he hath tyed himselfe unto so as that without it and some powerfull administration the same to the soule of man there is no salvation as Christ pronounceth saying Except yee eate the flesh of the Son of man and drinke his blood yee have no life in you Iohn 6. 53. The Sacraments of Baptisme and the Lords Supper have both respect unto this Baptisme to the new birth wherein weare set in the estate of life thereby the Lord Supper to the continuall Commmunion which every one that is once made alive by it hath therein to eternall life and so the flesh of Christ Is meat indeed and his blod is drinke indeed to them according to the word of Christ Iohn 6. 54. 55. Not as if any man did or could eat the very flesh or drinke his blood carnally as Doctor Cosins affirmed not that the bread of the Sacrament or the wine is turned into the flesh or blood of Christ either before we receive them or after so conveied into us as some would make us beleev nor any other kind of way is the flesh or blood of Christ conveied or infused into our bodies or soules to set us in the estate of life or to continue us in the same nay then how could they that were before Christ came in the flesh be saved for the same necessity of eating his flesh and drinking his blood was to them then even from the first fall of Adam as is now to us but it is the grace purchased thereby which we doe receive in our hearts by faith and which by his mediation is continued with us For as the Law which is the Minister of death came by Moses â—oâ— grace and truth which bringeth life is by JESUS GHRIST And therefore the Apostles so often Write and say The grace of our Lord Iesus Christ bee with you c. For although the very body and blood of Christ be the price of the purchase in that respect the only mediate cause of our life and salvation yet doth not his body and blood enter into us to revive and save us nay so it profiteth nothing as Christ himselfe said against some that conceived his words in such a carnall manner as now at this time many doe What and if you shall see the Son of man ascend up where he was before It is the spirit that quickneth the flesh profiteth nothing the words that I speake unto you they are spirit and they are life Iohn 6. 62. 63. Neither doe we by the acts of eating the bread or drinking the wine of the Sacrament eate or drinke the grace of God purchased by the body and blood of Christ neither is grace conferred or any way secretly conveied to our hearts in the bread or wine or by them nor by any thing inferior unto it selfe but it is conferred to the heart of man by the Spirit of God through the word of his promise therefore called the word of his grace And the instrument hand or mouth wherewith wee doe receive the same is faith in the heart caused also therein by the operation of the same spirit as Paul declareth for the habit and estate of eternall life and the promise of raysing up at the last day which Christ doth certifie to those that eate his flesh and drinke his blood doth he assure to them that beleeve in him so that to beleeve in Christ is to eate his flesh and drinke his blood according to his meaning and therefore a sinner is sometimes said to be justified by grace sometimes by the blood of Christ sometimes by faith because in the act of our justification all these doe concur and are together the
That outward Ordination of a Minister doth not make a true Minister Deposed by Henry Robiough from the foresaid booke against Anabaptists To which I answer and confesse that the words are in the place of the booke and I am not afraid to justifie them to be truth agreeing with the Scriptures and with the Doctrine of the Church of England as I meant them I doe not say that out ward Ordination of a Minister doth not make a lawfull Minister outwardly nay I acknowledge it doth So as that hee may lawfully Minister and people may lawfully receive the word and Sacraments with him according to the 26. and 36. Articles of the Church of England and as it was in the Apostles times and in the Church of the Iewes with Christs approbation But this I say that outward Ordination doth not make a true and faithfull Minister inwardly in Gods accounts he may be a deceiver a false Prophet an Antichrist notwithstanding which they that are true in Gods account called and sanctified of him by a more speciall heavenly inward calling may not for they are built upon the Rocke the gates of hell shall not prevaile against them Otherwise if outward Ordination of a Minister did make a true Minister inwardly in Gods account then all they of the Church of Rome must needs be true Ministers for they have outward Ordination as they have also outward Baptisme and such as wee doe not hold needfull to be cast off if any come out from them and receive another outward Ordination and Baptisme before they may administer or be received for true Ministers or true Christians as the Anabaptists opinions is So that of necessity there must be some more excellent thing or things besides outward Ordination and outward Baptisme to make a true Minister and a true Christian in Gods account Neither were the words spoken or given in a private Conventicle to adherents or disciples of mine as my doctrine to them as my answers seeme to depose or at least as the Register set it downe and is in the Sentence But they were written in defence of the calling of the Ministers of the Church of England and of the Sacrament of Baptisme here administred against the Separatists and Anabaptists who denyed the same and was published in print with licence of the Bishop of London being first viewed over by himselfe and by his appointment by Master Crashaw then Minister of White-Chappell who did also approve of the same and suscribe to them which is well knowne to be true And this deponent Henry Robrough chargeth me further saying That hee knoweth the Articulate Etherington doth teach and maintaine opinions which doe derogate from the Iurisdiction of Bishops because he interpreteth that place of Scripture Math 18. Tell the Church to be understood of the little ones borne of God as in his booke against Separatists page 74. To which I answer That if Master Robrough can and when he shall infallibly prove as he doth here in effect sweare that Bishops are not not can be of the little ones borne of God spoken of in Mat. 18. then will I grant his deposition to be true in the meane time hee proveth himselfe a false accuser and one that denieth Bishops to be of the holy Catholicke Church of Christ which I doe not For although it be true that the little ones borne of God the lively stones built on the head corner-stone Iesus Christ be the true Church of Christ against which the gates of hell shall not prevaile and to which Christ hath given the keyes of the Kingdome of heaven as in Mat. 16. and Matt. 18. and 1 Pet. 2. and other Scriptures is evident And that the places and Iurisdictions of Bishops be now great and great and high places be dangerous and slippery places as the Scriptures speake and experience lamentable hath a long time and often proved yet notwithding I undoubtedly beleeve that Bishops have been or may and shall be found to be of the little ones borne of God and so of Christ true Church against which the gates of hell shall not prevayle c. When many a one of as low a place in the Church as Master Robrough shall come short of being of that number For I know that he that is greatest may be as the least and he that is chiefe as him that serveth according to the word and commandement of Christ And it greatly concerneth every such one so to be and to beare with his weake Christian brother and not to constraine him with any kind of violence either in words or deeds to doe things against his conscience which he is not nor can yet be perswaded of though otherwise lawfull because whatsoever is not of faith is sinne That so ruling in wisedome and judging alwayes righteous judgement instructing with truth in the spirit of meekenesse and love shewing mercy with good works of charity hee may receive double honour of his Christian brethren and so continuing be found one of those of whom Christ sayeth Blessed is that Servant whom his Lord when he commeth shall find so doing But otherwise if any one so intrusted in place of authority shall begin to smite his fellowes to eate and drinke with the drunken c. the same servants Lord will come in a day that hee is not aware of c. and will hew him in peeces and give him his portion with hyporites And Iohn Okey the man that vowed hee would not leave me till he made me fry to this of the fourth Article he deposeth saying That he knoweth that the said Etherington held that hee was as Elias left alone and that he knew none to be of the visible Church of God but himselfe These are Okeys words as they stand in the deposition which in the Briefe that was read to the Court are altered and set downe thus That within the time articulate the said Etherington hath affirmed that he was as Elyas left alone and that he knew none of the visible Church of God but himselfe And to this deposition of Okeys is also added another of Henry Robroughs his words as they stand in the briefe which was read to the Court are these That the Author of the Epistle to the Church of Rome viz. Iohn Etherington affirmeth that he knoweth no man in the flesh that holdeth with him That the said Etherington is the Author of the book intituled The Epistle to the Church of Rome looke page 9. My Answer and Defence First for the words of Okey they are a very false accusation in both places I never held neither affirmed nor thought any such thing of my selfe but doe hold it a vile and wicked thing for any man so to thinke much more to affirme to himselfe or of any other How Okey knoweth that I held this of my selfe which he deposeth in the first place or who heard me affirme so of my selfe in the second place he mentioneth not And for him he is a man