your foul back-biting reviling censorious contentious tongues do not prove the contrary 13. who is a wise man and endued with knowledge among you Let him shew out of a good conversation his works with meekness of wisedome that is Let him that would be thought more knowing and religious than his neighbours be so much more blameless and meek to all men and excel them in good works v. 14. But if ye have a bitter zeal for so is the Greek word and strife in your hearts glory not in such a zeal or in your greater knowledge and lie not against the truth 15. This wisdome descendeth not from above as you imagine who father it on Gods word and spirit but is earthly sensual or natural and devillish O doleful mistake that the world the flesh and the Devil should prove the cause of that conceited spiritual knowledge and excellency which they thought had been the inspiration of the spirit v. 16. For where zeal and strife 〈◊〉 that is a striving contentious zeal against brethren there is confusion or tumult and unquietness and every evil work O lamentable reformers that set up every evil work while they seemed zealous against evil v. 17. But the wisdome that is from above is first pure then peaceable gentle and easie to be intreated full of mercy and good fruits without partiality or wrangling and without Hypocrisie And the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace of them that make peace when peace-breakers that sow in divisions and contention shall reap the fruit of unrighteousness though they call their way by the most religious names Thus I have briefly shewed you what Vâ—nity and Division are that wrong apprehensions draw you not to sin DIRECT VIII When any thing needeth amendment in the Church remember that the best Christian must be the forwardest to reformation and â—he backwardest to Division and must search and try all means of Reforming which make not against the concord of the Church I Do not here determine in what cases you may or may not separate from any company of faulty Christians I only say that you must never separate what God hath conjoyned the Holiness and the Vnity of believers If corruptions blemish and dishonour the Congregation Do not say Let sin alone I must not oppose it for fear of division But be the forwardest to reduce all to the will of God And yet if you cannot prevail as you desire be the backwardest to divide and separate and do it not without a certain warrant and extream necessity Resolve with Austin I will not be the chaff and yet I will not go out of the floor though the chaff be there Never give over your just desire and endeavour of Reformation And yet as long as possibly you can avoid it forsake not the Church which you desire to reform As Paul said to them that were ready to forsake a sea-wrackt vessel If these abide not in the ship ye cannot be saved Many a one by unlawful flying and shifting for his own greater peace and safety doth much more hazard his own and others DIRECT IX Forget not the great difference between casting out the wicked and impenitent from the Church by discipline and the godlies separating from the Church it self because the wicked are not cast out The first is a great duty The second is ordinarily a great sin THe question is not Whether the impenitent should be put away from Church-Communion That 's not denied But whether you should separate from the Church because they are permitted This is it which we call you to beware Not but that in some cases a Christian may lawfully remove from one Church to another that hath more light and purity for the edification of his soul. But before you separate from a faulty Church as such as may not lawfully be communicated with you must look well about you and be able to prove that thing which you affirm Many weak Christians marking those Texts which bid us avoid a man that is an Heretick and to have no company with disorderly walkers and not to eat with flagitious persons do not sufficiently mark their sense but take them as if they call'd us to separate from the Church with which these persons do communicate Whereas if you mark all the Texts in the Gospel you shall find that all the separation which is commanded in such cases besides our separation from the Infidels or Idolatrous world or Antichristian and Heretical confederacies and no-Churches is but one of these two sorts First either that the Church cast out the impenitent sinner by the power of the Keyes Secondly or that private men avoid all private familiarity with them And both these we would promote and no way hinder Thirdly but that the private members should separate from the Church because such persons are not cast out of it shew me one Text to prove it if you can Let us here peruse the Texts that speak of our withdrawing from the wicked 1 Cor. 5. Is expresly written to the whole Church as obliged to put away the incestuous person from among them and so not to eat with such offenders So is that in 2 Thes. 3. and that in Tit. 3. 10. A man that is an Heretick after the first and second admonition avoid Unless it be a Heretick that hath already separated himself from our communion And then it can be put private familiarity which we are further to avoid In brief there is no other place of Scripture that I know of which commandeth any more I have before shewed that abundance of Church corruptions or of scandalous members were then among them and yet the Apostle never spake a syllable to any one Christian to separate from any one of all those Churches Which we cannot imagine that the Holy Ghost would have wholly omitted if indeed it had been the will of God Obj. But then why did Luther and the first Pretestants separate from the Church of Rome and how will you justifie them from Schisme Ans. Its pity that sloth and sortishness should keep any Protestant or Papist either in such ignorance as to need any help to answer so easie a question at this day Let not equivocal names deceive us and the case is easie By the word Church the Scripture still meaneth first either the Universal Church which is the body or Kingdome of Christ alone Secondly or particular Congregations associated for personal communion in Gods worship But the Pope hath feigned another kind of thing and called it The Church That is The Vniversality of Christians as headed by himself as the constitutive and governing head Whereas first God never instituted or allowed such a Church Secondly nor did ever the Universality of Christians acknowledge this usurping Head Shew me in Scripture or in Church-History that either there ever was de facto or ought to be de jure such a thing in the world as they call the Church and I profess I will immediately turn
quench it and hath these fifteen hundred years but especially these thirteen hundred been the wolvish Scatterer of the flocks of Christ And must that be now the way to build it which hath so long been the way to pull it down It is Love that must be our Union and Love that must cause it or we shall never have the Union of a Christian Church By this shall all men know that you are Christs Disciples if you have Love one to another If you believe not this pretend not to believe in Jesus Christ who doth affirm it I confess I am so far guilty of superstition my self that if I had been one of the Changers of our ancient Government I should have been somewhat the more backward for his Name sake to the beheading of Christopher Love lest it should be an ill Omen both to Church and State but especially to the Actors of it 8. Another of the Motives of this Discourse is because I know that times of most temptation are times of greatest danger and commonly of greatest sin And all faithful Pastors must know what are the special Temptations of the Time and Place which they live in When had we ever greater Temptations to Love-killing principles and practices than now except in the times of the miserable Wars I need not name them to you The harder it is for men to Love them that hate them that censure them unjustly that revile them and reproach them and make them odious or that hurt them the more cause have Ministers and all Christians to set a double watch upon their Love Lest before they are aware a flaming and consuming zeal do tell others that they know not what manner of Spirit they are of Luk. 9. 55. 9. Yea it is not only a time of great Temptation to this sin but of common guilt They are multitudes that are overtaken already with this sin Is not the Land in a continual heart war Are there not parties against parties and cause against cause and heart-risings and passions and censurings of Dissenters to say no worse And is it not time to bring water when we see the flames 10. And I perceive few know so heinous a sin to be any sin at all But all factions and parties are still justifying their Love-killing wayes and reproaching those whom they have wronged As if when they have sinfully withdrawn their Love from them it were no crime to take away next their good names and all that they have but power to take away And when they have cast their brethren out of their estimation and affection they think it a piece of commendable zeal or justice to cast them ouâ— of Christian communion and if they could out of the Land and of the world And shall Ministers stand by and see men take such sin for duty and serve God by abusing his Servants and look for a reward for dividing and pulling down his Church and never tell them what they are doing 11. And the old Non-conformists who wrote so much against separation were neither blind nor temporizers They saw the danger on that side Even Brightman on Rev. that writeth against the Prelacy and Ceremonies severely reprehendeth the separatists Read but the writings of Mr. Iohn Paget Mr. Iohn Ball Mr. Hildersham Mr. Bradshaw Mr. Baine Mr. Rathband and many such others against the separatists of those times and you may learn that our Light is not greater but less than theirs and that we see not further into that cause than they did and that change of times doth not change the truth nor will warrant us to change our Religion unless we will make our Religion subject to the wills and interests of men and change it as oft as the times shall change 12. Lastly if your friends tell you not of your faults and errours in Love those whom you account your enemies will do it in wrath And though all sober Christians should learn by the keenest rebukes of their Adversaries yet passion and prejudice maketh it so difficult that it usually hardeneth men more in their sin And this is another thing which causeth me the more to abhor division and to long for the reconciling of the minds of all dissenting Christians Because while they take each other for adversaries nothing that is written or said by any is like to do the Adversaries any good Nay I must confess when I see an adversary tell men of their sin especially with furious spleen and wrath mixing together words and swords I am greatly afraid lest by that temptation Satan will draw the reproved to impenitency and greatly harden them in their sin and make them glory in that as a virtue which such a person doth so reprove But if you will neither hear of your sin nor duty by adversaries nor friends by fair speeches nor by foul you fasten the guilt upon your selves Remember I pray you that I am not kindling fires nor drawing Swords against you nor stirring up any to do you hurt but only perswading all dissenters to love one another and to forbear but all that is contrary to love And if such an exhortation and advice seem injurious or intollerable to you the Lord have mercy on your Souls III. And now without a spirit of Prophecy I will foretel what entertainment this Paper must expect 1. Some on the one side will say It is sharper and rounder dealing than all this that must cure the Schismes in the Church And if you would heal our Divisions why do you not conform you self but stand out as one of the party that divideth 2. Some on the other side will say that it is an unseasonable time when so much anger is breaking forth against those that we account Dividers to mention their faults and so to stir up more I will give these men no other answer than to bid them read the last part of this Book or else do not talk till they know of what 3. And some will say that I am doing that which will prove a hurt to my self and others For if I should draw the People to Communion with the Conformists there would little compassion be shewed to the Ministers that cannot conform But selfish wisdome must be shut out of the Council when we are consulting about the healing of the Churches and the good of Souls And indeed there is little danger of this consequence as long as the people are far more averse to Communion or Concord with the Parish-Churches than the Non-conforming Ministers are But suppose it prove true should we not do good to Souls and save men from sin and heal divisions at the dearest rate What though it cost us more than is here mentioned The reviving of decayed Love and the closure of any of the Churches wounds is a recompence worth our liberties and lives 4. And those that are most guilty of the Love-killing principles here detected and are most eminent in self-conceited ignorance will do by me and by
thou judge thy brother or why dâ—st thou set at nought thy brother we shall all stand before the judgement seat of Christ. Let us not therefore judge one another any more v. 13. 14. I know and am pâ—rswaded by the Lord Iesus that there is nothing unclean of it self but to him that esteemeth any thing unclean to him it is unclean v. 17. For the Kingdom of God is not meat and drink but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Ghost For he that in these things serveth Christ is acceptable to God and approved of men Let us therefore follow after the things that make for peace v. 22. Hast thou faith Have it to thy self before God Ch. 15. 1 2. We that are strong ought to bear the infirmities of the weak and not to please our selves Let us every one please his neighbour for his good to edification For even Christ pleased not himself v. 5. 6. Now the God of patience and consolation grant you to be like minded one â—owards another according to Christ Iesus that ye may with ONE MIND and ONE MOuTH glorifie God wherefore receive ye one another as Christ received us to the glory of God Ch. 16. 17 18. Now I beseech you brethren mark them which cause divisions and offenses contrary to the doctrine which ye have learned and avoid them For they that are such serve not our Lord Iesus but their own belly and by good words and fair speeches deceive the hearts of the simple Act. 20. 30. Also of your own selves shall men arise speaking perverse things to draw away Disciples after them Joh. 13. 35. By this shall all men know that ye are my Disciples if ye have love one to another 1 Cor. 11. 17 18. I hear there are divisions among you For there must be also heresies among you that they which are approved may be made manifest Math. 13. 29 30. Nay lest while ye gather up the â—ares ye root up also the wheat with them Let both grow together till the harvest 41. The Angels shall gather out of his Kingdom all things that offend and them which do iniquity and shall cast them into a furnace of fire Then shall the righteous shine forth as the Sun in the Kingdom of their Father V. 47. The Kingdom of Heaven is like a net cast into the Sea which gathered of every kind which when it was full they drew to the shore and sate down and gathered the good into Vessels and the bad they cast away so shall it be at the end of the world Math. 22. 9 10. Go into the high ways and as many as ye find bid to the marriage or as Luk. 14. Compel them to come in so those servants went unto the high ways and gathered all as many as they found both bad and good and the wedding was furnished with guests And the King saw there a man that had not on a wedding garment and said Friend How camâ—st thou in hither c. Mark thus he will condemn wicked hypocrites themselves but blameth not the Ministers that compelled them or that let them in Gal. 6. 1. If a man be overtaken in a fault ye that are spiritual restore such a one in the spirit of meekness Considering thy self lest thou also be tempted Bear ye one anothers burdens and so fulfill the Law of Christ Let every man prove his own work Note that Paul purified himself as having a Vow He circumcised Timothy He became a Jew to the Jews and all things to all men that he might win some Phil. 1. 15 16. Some preach Christ of envy c. as aforecited Phil. 2. 1 2 3. If there be any consolation in in Christ fulfill ye my joy that ye be like minded having the same love being of one accord and of one mind Let nothing be done through strife or vain glory but in lowliness of mind let each esteem other better than themselves 14. Do all things without murmurings and disputings Ch. 3. 15 16. Let as many as are perfect be thus minded and if in any thing ye be otherwise minded God shall reveal even this unto you But whereunto we have already attained let us walk by the same rule let us mind the same things 1 Thes. 5. 12 13. We beseech you brethren to know them that labour among you and are over you in the Lord c. and be at peace among your selves Tit. 3. 10. A man that is an heretick after the first and second admonition avoid knowing that he that is such is subverted and sinneth being condemned of himself Jam. 3. 1 2 13 c. My brethren be not many Masters knowing that ye shall receive the greater condemnation For in many things we offend all who is a wise man and endued with knowledge among you Let him shew out of a good conversation his works with meekness of wisdom But if ye have bitter envying and strife in your hearts glory not and lie not against the truth This wisdom descendeth not from above but is earthly sensual devilish For where envying and strife is there is confusion and every evil work The wisdom from above is first pure then peaceable gentle easie to be entreated full of mercy and good fruits without partiality without hypocrisie and the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace of them that make peace Mat. 12. 25. Iesus said every Kingdom divided against it self is brought to desolation and every City or house divided against it self shall not stand I have cited so many Texts against division and for the Unity of the Church and concord of Christians as one would think by the very hearing of them without expositions or argumentation should utterly mortifie all inclination to divisions and hard censures in all true believers yea so many Texts as I am perswaded many that most need them will think it tedious to read them over And yet I have cause to fear lest many such will feel as little of the sense and authority of them as if there were no such words in the Scripture and none of this had been set before them Out of all these you may gather these reasons of the necessity of Unity and of the evil of schism or division First It is One God One Head One Saviour and One Holy Spirit into whose name we are all baptized Secondly It is One Covenant which all in Baptism make with this One God Thirdly It is One Spirit by which we are all regenerated and One new Nature which is in all the truly sanctified Fourthly It is One Gospel or holy word of God which is to us all the seed of our new birth the rule of our faith and lives and the foundation of our hope and must be our daily meditation and delight and the food on which the children of Gods family must all live Fifthly It is One Body of Christ whereof we are all members As Christ is not divided so his Body that is his Church both as
upon all your prayers that ever he will teach you in this life the sense of every text of Scripture If ever he promised this he will perform it And is it to One Christian or to every praying Christian that he hath promised it If to every one why are we not all of a mind Why be not all as wise as you What need we Commentaries then Or what need have others of your Revelations If it be but to some who be those some And how shall we know them And how know you that you are one of them And why do not those some condescend to write an infallible Commentary upon all the Bible when they themselves are taught it of God that so we may doubt and differ no more But if you say that it is not the meaning of every text that God hath promised to make known to you when you pray but of some few how will you know which those few be And where is the promise which maketh this difference Except only that to all true Christians he hath promised to reveal so much as is necessary to their salvation But if you will pray for more your belief of your success must not go beyond the promise If you will promise to your selves you must perform for your selves Obj. But hath not God bid us believe that we shall receive what ever we ask and promised to believers that they shall receive it Answ. He hath first made a Law to command you prayer and then made a promise to grant what you pray for according to his will that is according to his command and promise and hath made your believing of this promise one of the conditions of his fulfilling it to you So that if you believe not his power and promise you shall not have right immediately to the thing promised But if you pray and believe and withall use those other means with diligence and patience which God hath appointed you you shall know in that measure as is suitable to your state For God hath not promised the same measure of knowledg to all true believers So that this is all that the promise giveth you and not that you shall know all that you pray to know and that immediately Obj. But then you leave us at utter uncertainty whether we have the answer of our prayers or not Answ. Not so But the answer of your prayers must not be tried by your conceits but by Gods rule If you pâ—ay for that which you have neither a command nor promise for your prayer is sin and your answer can be nothing but Gods rebuke or your own delusion But if you pray for that which you have a command for but no particular promise then you have only the General promise that your prayer shall not be lost but shall bring down either the thing you pray for or something else which the wisdome of God seeth to be best for you and others and to his ends And this is all that you can warrantably believe But if you pray for that which hath both a command and a particular promise as the pardon of sin and necessary grace and life eternal to a believer you may be sure that this prayer shall be granted in kind So that you are not to judge of the answer of prayers by your feelings and passions and impulses but by the promise of God which you must believe will be fulfilled what ever you feel Faith and not feeling must tell you whether your prayer be accepted Nay if you should receive health or wealth or gifts for your selves or others when you have prayed for them you cannot tell whether it be a merciful answer to your prayer or a judgement unless you try it by faith according to the promise I have nothing now to say of the case of miracles but this If God promise a miracle you may believe it because it is promised If he perform it without a promise then either you must not believe it till it is done or else your faith must be a miracle also And then the faith it self is its own justification But miracles are now so rare that all sober Christians will take heed how they expect them or over-hastily believe them and especially how they take their own belief for a miracle All the talk that some men make of a particular faith may be tried by what I have here said To conclude the warning which I give you in this case is from long and sad experience I have known too many very honest hearted Christians especially melancholly persons and women who have been in great doubt about the opinions of the Millenaries the Separatists the Anabaptists the Seekers and such like and after earnest prayer to God they have been strongly resolved for the way of errour and confident by the strong impression that it was the spirits answer to their prayers and thereupon they have set them into a course of sin If you say How know you that they were mistaken I will tell you how First Because they have been resolved contrary to the word of God And I know that Gods spirit did first make a standing Rule to try all after-impulses by And what ever impulse is contrary to that Rule is contrary to Gods spirit The Law and the testimony are now sealed and all spirits to be tried by them Isa. 8. 20. Secondly Because I have found their impulses contrary to one another One hath been resolved for Infant baptism and another against it One hath had a revealation for a prelacy like the order of Aaron and the Priests and another against all Prelacy One hath been confident of an answer of prayers for Antinomianism and another against it for Arminianism One for publike Communion and another to detest it And both came in in the same way And Gods spirit is not contrary to it self Thirdly Because I have seen abundance of prophesies of things to come which people have this way received with the greatest confidence to prove all false Fourthly Because I have staid till many of the persons have found by experience that they were deceived and have confessed it with lamentation And fifthly because perhaps I know more of the nature of prejudice affection melancholy feminine weakness and self-conceit and of tempting God in the way of prayer and of satans transforming himself into an Angel of light than every Reader will know till they have paid for their learning DIRECT XXVIII Do not too much reverence the impulses or revelations or most confident opinions of any others upon the account of their sincerity or holiness but try all judiciously and soberly by the Word of God MAny that have no such impulses themselves are yet so much taken with the reverence of others that they are very apt to be seduced by their confidence When so great a man as Tertullian was deceived by Montanus and his prophetess when such a one as Hacket could deceive not only Coppinger and Arthington but
abundance more some taking him for the Messiah and some by his breathing on them thinking that they received the Holy Ghost When David George in Holland and Iohn of Leyden in Munster and Behmen Stiefelius and so many more pretended Prophets in Germany could deceive so many persons as they did When the pretended revelations of the Ranters first and the Quakers after could so marvellously transport many thousand professours of religion in this land I think we have fair warning to take the counsel of St. Iohn Believe not every spirit but try the spirits whether they be of God It is a pitiful instance of the good old learned Commenius who so easily believed the prophesies of Daubritius and the rest which he hath published Yea when he saw the prophesies fail yet when he adjured the prophet to speak truth and got him to swear as before the Lord that it was truth this seemed enough to confirm his belief of him whereas if he had been as well acquainted with the nature of Melancholy and Historical passions as many others are he would have known that as strange things as that he recordeth of the man or women may be done without any Divine inspirations and that it is no wonder if that person swear that his words are true who is first deceived himself before he deceive others For a crackt brain'd person to believe his delusions to be real verities is little wonder I have many a time my self conversed with persons of great honesty and piety though of no great judgment who have some of them affirmed that they had angelical revelations and some of them thought that the Spirit of God did bring this Scripture or that Scripture to their mind in answer to their prayers and were so very confident that what they affirmed was the certain truth or voice of God that I have been stricken with a reverence to their professions and with a fear lest I should resist God in resisting them But resolving to take none on earth for the master of my faith but to try the Spirits whether they be of God by going to the Law and Testimony I was constrained to turn my reverence into pity For I found that their seeming revelations were some of them Scripture-doctrine and some of them contrary to the Scripture As for that which is already in the Scripture what need I further revelation for it Is it not there sufficiently revealed Can their words add any authority to the Word of God And have I not Gods own Ministers and means to help me to the knowledge of his word And as for that which is contrary to Scripture I am sure that it is contrary to the will of God And if an Angel from Heaven should preach another Gospel to me I must hold him accursed Gal. 1. 7 8. so that if these persons should have the appearance voice of an Angel speaking to them I would despise it as well as the words of a mortal man if they be against the recorded word of God But by what I have seen and heard I know that it is a great temptation to some weak Christians to hear one that is much in prayer say Take heed what you do Have no Communion with this sort of men nor in this or that way of worship nor in this or that opinion for I am sure it is against the mind of God I once thought as you do but God hath better made known his mind unto me But saving the due respect to the honesty of such persons ask them How shall I know that you are in the right If they say I will not reason the case with you but I know it to be the mind of God Tell them that God hath made you reasonable creatures and will accept no unreasonable service of you and you have but one Master of your Faith even Christ Therefore if they believe that themselves which they can give you no reason to believe they must be content to keep their belief to themselves and not for shame perswade any other to it without proof If they say that God hath revealed it to them Tell them that he hath not revealed it to you and therefore that 's nothing to you till they prove their divine revelation If God reveal it to them but for themselves they must keep it to themselves If he reveal to them for others he will enable them to make some proof of their revelations that others may be sure that they sin not in believing them If they say that the Scripture is their ground Tell them that the Scripture is already revealed to all And if indeed what they speak be there you are ready to believe it But if they pervert the Sâ—â—pture by false interpretation or abuse it and mâ—â—apply it none of this is the work of the Spirit of God If they say that the spirit hath told them the meaning of the Scripture say as before that is not told for you which is not proved to you The Scripture is written in such words as men use of purpose that they might understand it and is to be understood by all men that hear it though they have no revelation God hath set Pastors in his Church to teach it If therefore revelations be still necessary to the understanding of the Scripture revelations then the Scriptures seem to be in vain and these last revelations must again have new revelations to the right understanding of them also The truth is it is very ordinary with poor fanciful women and melancholy persons to take all their deep apprehensions for revelations And if a text of Scripture come into their minds they say This text was brought to my mind and that text was set upon my spirit As if nothing could bring a text to their thoughts but some extraordinary motion of God And as if this bringing it to their mind would warrant their false exposition of it To conclude Decry not the necessity of the ordinary sanctifying work of the spirit to bless the Scripture to your true illumination and sanctification And if any pretend to any other revelations or inspirations or expositions of the Scripture which they cannot prove to youâ— despise them not but modestly leave them to themselves But take heed that the reverence of any ones holiness tempt you not to depart from the certain sufficienâ— word of God and draw you not into any 〈◊〉 Heresie or Separation or Opinion contrary to Gods standing Law DIRECT XXIX Take heed lest the trouble of your own disquieted doubting minds do become a snare to draw you to some uncouth way of cure and so make the fancy of some new Opinion Sect or Practise to seem your Remedy and give you ease and thereby perswade you that it is the certain truth THis is the pitiful Case of the ignorant and ungrounded and troubled sort of religious persons that they are looking every way for ease and comfort And having not wisdom enough to
child of God And if you knew how every word of oblequy especially by back-biting against your brethren doth tend to infect the hearers with the same vices and kill their Love and lead them into divisions you would take heed for the sake of others Unless you are of those who are foolisher than the devil and would build Christs house and Kingdome by dividing it Math. 12. One raileth at Luther and another at Calvin and another at Arminius and another at this man and another at that for matters which are above their reach and the people are taught to rail at all and to make it also their talk behind mens backs â—o prate against this man and that man and the other and in time to shew it by breaking into sects In a word such carnal courses of their Teachers do make or harden carnal professors to be one for Paul and another for Apollo and another for Cephas but few sincerely and prudently for Christ so that instead of Holiness Love and Concord we have in almost all company little but ignorant censorious wrangling at the opinions of those that they never were acquainted with or at the controverted practises or circumstances of worship which are not suitable to their prejudice and custom and of which they never desired to be the impartial hearers of a just account If ever God will shew mercy to his Church he will give them Pastors after his heart who shall abound in Light and Love and lead the people into Concord upon the ancient terms and make it their work to bring this Love-killing spirit inâ—o hatred whether it work by the way of stâ—iving-disputes or dividing principles or practises or by reproaching others by corporal cruelty or by a Religious censorious cruelty which doth not strike men but unchurch and damn them and separate from them as men unfit for christian communion And whilest the Pastors take another course we must patiently wait and pity the Church and fore-see our further misery in this prognostick though the guilty being puffed up with the conceits of their preciousness to God do promise themselves the desires of their hearts Are not the sons of Levi yet refined when they have been in so many furnaces and so long When wisedom holiness and humility are their nature and selfish pride and worldliness are cured this wrinkled malignant ENVY will then cease and an honest emulation to excel one another in wisdome and Love and all good works will then take place And then we shall not like drunken men one day fight and wound each other and the next day cry out of our wounds and yet go on in our drunken fits to make them wider DIRECT XXII Lastly Let all the Ministers of Christ so deeply study their wonderfull pattern of Love and tenderness meekness and patience and all those passages of Holy Scripture which still commend those vertues to his servants till their souls are cast into this sacred mould and habituated to this Image and imitation of their Lord And then Vertue will go from them and they will be healing among all where-ever they shall come As fire goeth out from the flinty contenders by their collisions which maketh them still incendiaries and consumers of the Churches Peace I Will therefore end these Directions with the bare repetition of some more of those sacred words besides those forecited which may be fit to breed such a gracious habit in those that will faithfully study and receive them Isa. 9. 6 7. The government shall be laid upon his shoulder and his name shall be called Wonderful Counsellor the mighty God the everlasting father the Prince of Peace Of the increase of his Government and Peace there shall be no end Isa. 40. 11. He shall feed his flock like a shepherd he shall gather the lambs with his arm and carry them in his bosome and shall gently lead those that are with young Isa. 42. 1 2 3. 4. Behold my servant whom I uphold mine elect in whom my soul delighteth I have put my spirit upon him he shall bring forth judgement to the Gentiles He shall not cry nor lift up nor cause his voice to be heard in the street A bruised reed shall he not break and the smoking slax shall he not quech he shall bring forth judgement unto truth He shall not fail nor be discouraged till he have set judgement in the earth and the isles shall wait for his law Isa. 44. 3 4 5. I will pour water upon him that is thirsty and floods upon the dry ground I will pour my spirit on thy seed and my blessing on thy off-spring And they shall spring up as among the grass as willows by the water-courses One shall say I am the Lords and another shall call himself by the name of Iacob and another shall subscribe with his hand unto the Lord and surname himself by the name of Israel Psal. 110. 2 3. Rule thou in the midst of thine enemies Thy people shall be willing in the day of thy power in the beauties of holiness Ezek. 34. 2 3 4 5. Wo to the shepherds of Isâ—ael that feed themselves should not the shepherds feed the flocks Ye eate the fat and cloath you with the wool ye kill them that are fed but ye feed not the flock The diseased have ye not strengthened neither have ye healed that which was sick neither have ye bound up that which was broken neither have ye brought again that which was driven away neither have ye sought that which was lost But with Force and with Cruelty have ye ruled them and they were scattered because there is no shepherd Read the rest of that Chapter Isa. 11. And there shall come forth a rod out of the stem of Iesse and a branch shall grow out of his roots And the spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him the spirit of wisedome and understanding the spirit of counsel and might the spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord and shall make him of quick understanding in the fear of the Lord and he shall not judge after the sight of his eyes nor reprove after the hearing of his ears but with righteousness shall he judge the poor and reprove with equity for the meek of the earth and he shall smite the earth with the rod of his mouth and with the breath of his lips shall he slay the wicked The wolf shall dwell with the lamb and the leopard shall lie down with the kid and the calf and the young lion and the faâ—ling together and a little child shall lead them And the cow and the bear shall feed their young ones shall lie down together and the lion shall eat straw like the oxe and the sucking child shall play on the hole of the asp and the weaned child shall put his hand on the cockatrice dâ—n They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord
any thing he knoweth nothing yet as he ought to know But if any man love God the same is known of him v. 4. But take heed lest by any means this liberty of yours become a stumbling block to those that are weak 12. But when ye sin against the brethren and wound their weak conscience ye sin against Christ. 13. Wherefore if meat make my brother to offend I will eat no flesh while the world standeth lest I make my brother to offend Ioh. 13. 3. Jesus knowing that the father had given all things into his hands and that he was come from God and went to God he riseth from supper and laid aside his garments and took a towel and girded himself After that he poureth water into a bason and began to wash the disciples feet and to wipe them with the towel wherewith he was girded 12 13. So after he had washed their feet and had taken his garments and was set down again he said unto them Know ye what I have done to you Ye call me Master and Lord and ye say well for so I am If I then you Lord and Master have washed your feet ye also ought to wash one anothers feet For I have given you an example that ye should do as I have done to you Verily verily I say unto you that the servant is not greater than his Lord neither he that is sent greater than he that sent him If ye know these things happy are ye if ye do them Qu. To what purpose do you set together all these words of Scripture without any exposition or telling us what you conclude from them Answ. I purposely avoid glosses and collections that you may not say that I obtrude any thing on you of my own which is not the mind of your Lord himself And I set them together that they that overlook them may have a deeper apprehension than they have had First What is the true spirit of a Christian and nature of Christianity Secondly What is the office and work of the Ministery and which way they are to win souls and convince or silence gain-sayers and extirpate errours and prevent or cure schismes and secure the Churches peace And as for them that can seriously peruse all these words of the spirit of God and yet can find in them no matter of correction or instruction without a Commentary and argumentation I have no more to say to them at this time but to add Christs next words Ioh. 13. 18. I speak not of you all I know whom I have chosen And I shall annex a few texts which characterize the contrary spirit Contrary I say to CHRISTIANITY and the faithful MINISTERY and with them I shall conclude 1 Ioh. 3. 12 13. Not as Cain who was of that Wicked One and slew his brother And wherefore slew he him Bâ—cause his own works were evil and his brothers righteous Heb. 11. 4. By faith Abel offered to God a more excellent sacrifice than Câ—in v. 13. Marvel not my brethren if the world hate you Whosoever hateth his brother is a murderer And ye know that no murderer hath eternal life abâ—ding in him We ought to lay down our lives for the brethren Ioh. 8. 44. Ye are of your father the devil and the lusts of your father ye will do he was a murderer from the beginning 1 Sam. 25. 25. 17. As his name is so is he Nabal is his name and folly is with him He is such a son of Belial that a man cannot speak to him Read the story of Doeg 1 Sam. 22. Read also Ezra 4. 13 14 15 17. Esth. 3. 8. Haman said to the King There is a certain people scattered abroad and dispersed among the people in all the Provinces of thy Kingdome and their Laws are divers from all people neither keep they the Kings laws therefore it is not for the Kings profit to suffer them Dan. 3. 12. There are certain Jews that O King have not regarded thee they serve not thy Gods nor worship the golden Image which thou hast set up Dan. 6. 5. We shall not find any occasion against this Daniel except we find it against him concerning the Law of his God 7. All the Presidents of the Kingdome the Governours and Princes the Counsellors and Captains have consulted together to establish a royal statute and to make a firm decree that whosoever shall ask a petition of any God or man for 30 dayes save of thee O King he shall be cast into the den of Lions v. 11. These men assembled and found Daniel praying and making supplication before his God which he did three times a day as aforetime 13 They said that Daniel that is of the captivity regardeth not thee O King nor the Decree that thou hast signed but maketh his prayers three times a day Amos 7. 12 13. Amazâ—ah said to Amos O thou Seer go flee thee away into the Land of Juda and there eat bread and prophesie there But prophesie not again any more at Bethel for it is the Kings Chappel and it is the Kings Court. Math. 23. 29 30 31. Wo unto you Scribes Pharisees Hypocriteâ— because ye build the tombs oâ— the Prophets and garnish the sepulchres the righteous and say If we had been in the dayes of our fathers we would not have been partakers with them in the blood of the Prophets Wherefore ye be witnesses to your selves that ye are the children of them which killed the Prophets Fill ye up then the measure of your fathers Ioh. 11. 48. If we let him thus alone all men will believe on him and the Romans shall come and take away both our place and nation Act. 4. 1 2. And as they spake to the people the Priests and the Captain of the Temple and the Sadduces came upon them being grieved that they taught the people And they laid hands on them and put them in hold v. 17. That it spread no further among the people let us straitly threaten them that they speak henceforth no more in this name 18. And they called them and commanded them not to speak at all nor teach in the name of Jesus Gal. 4. 29. But as then he that was born after the flesh persecuted him that was born after the spirit even so it is now 3 Ioh. 9. 10 11. I wrote to the Church but iâ—â— otrephes who loveth to have the pre-eminence among them receiveth us not and not content therewith neither doth he himself receive the Brethren and forbiddeth them that would and casteth them out of the Church Beloved follow not that which is evil but that which is good He that DOTH GOOD is of God but he that doth evil hath not seen God 1 Thes. 2. 14 15. For ye also have suffered like things of your own Countrymen even as they have of the Jews who both killed the Lord Jesus and their own Prophets and have persecuted us and they please not God and are contrary to all men