of Truth but the Spirit of Truth they have not and who have it not cannot minister it And therefore Paul imputeth all the good Fruit and Success of his Ministry not to himself but to the Grace of God that was with him and in him 1 Cor. 15.10 How then can a graceless Man have any fruit or success in his Ministry seeing all fruit and success belongeth not to the Man however so well furnished with natural or acquired parts but to the Grace of God It is Grace Grace that maketh a Man's Preaching effectual to the Hearers and that Grace is in the Minister and worketh both in him and with him in the Hearts of the Hearers where God is pleased to concur and give the blessing and increase and thus the Grace of God is like a good Seed and Plant that not only bringeth forth Fruit in that little spot of Earth where it was first planted but spreadeth abroad and filleth many other parts and places with it and hath new Roots and Seeds continually encreasing and multiplying 7. And as concerning the Call to the Ministry It is worthy of great observation how they are pinched and narrowed to give any colourable account of their Call who deny all inward and immediate calling to the Ministry and especially such of them who say The Church of Rome is no true Church but a Harlot and the Pope is Antichrist as the Westminster Cenfession of Faith doth expresly call him cap. 25. sect 6. and yet the Presbyterian Ministers generally derive their Call from him and I have heard divers of them expresly affirm it being questioned about their Call whether immediate or mediate they have answered mediate from the Apostles and then being urged to shew the Line of Succession through which that mediate Call is conveyed unto them they have plainly said The Popes of Rome as one lately a Preacher in New-England said before some Hundreds of People That their Call to Preach was by the Popes of Rome and so according to their own Doctrin by Antichrist Surely these men do not believe that Christ is in them either to call or furnish them in their Ministry who must go so far as Rome to bring it and from him too whom they call Antichrist But they think Rome and the Pope however much distant from them is much nearer than Christ and Heaven from whom the true Ministers have their Call 8. And as all true Preaching ought to be by the Inspiration and moving of the Spirit of God so all true Praying and Singing both in private and in publick for still that is it which the Scripture enjoyneth Ephes 6.18 to Pray always with the Spirit or in the Spirit and no man can say that Jesus is the Lord either in Preaching or Praying but by the holy Ghost And I charge them to produce one Instance where Praying without the Spirit is commanded any where in Scripture or was ever practised by any of the Saints without the Inspiration of the Spirit Do they not grant that all the Prayers recorded in Scripture did proceed from divine Inspiration and Revelation And if their Prayers do not they are quite of a Bastard kind for the true Worshippers Worship the Father in Spirit and in Truth and the Father seeketh such to Worship him and none else And whereas some say Then men who neglect Prayer are excusable because they have not the Spirit to move them to Prayer I answer Not they are not in the least excusable for as he that oweth a sum of Mony to his Prince though he hath not wherewith to pay his Debt is still Debtor and yet must not pay with false Coyn but true so he who hath not the Spirit 's assistance and help to Pray is still obliged to Pray but not without the Spirit and that he hath not the Spirit 's help at all seasonable and requisite times for Prayer it is his own default who hath resisted the Spirit and provoked him to with-draw his necessary assistance from him for the Spirit of the Lord is ready to give his seasonable help to all men to help them both in Prayer and Thanksgiving and all other commanded Duties and Performances And as for Singing on a Book and with artificial Musick and notes or tones it is no part of Gospel-worship being no where either commanded or practised in the New-Testament And it is strange that these men should be against Praying on a Book and yet Sing on a Book for if the one be not Spiritual the other is not 9. There are others such as these called Independents and Baptists who deny all immediate Call to the Ministry and yet betake themselves to as poor and shiftless evasion about their Call as the former They say They have the Call of the Church But still the question is Whence had the Church her Power either immediately or mediately And then the former difficulty returneth for they cannot say their Church hath been visible from the Apostles days and besides the Church is posterior to the Ministry for by true Preachers and Ministers people come to be converted and so to be made fit Members of a Church and therefore the Ministers by whom their Church was first raised or gathered cannot have their Call from the same for that were to put the Effect before the Cause or to say the Church called the Ministers and the Ministers called the Church is to run into a Circle as to say the Egg bringeth forth the Hen and the Hen bringeth for the Egg to wit first of all which is impossible 10. And as concerning true Gospel-Maintenance to the Ministry any Maintenance that may be necessary to any that are poor and have not of their own according to the Scripture it ought to be free and voluntary without force of human Law and compulsion for the Scripture saith He that Preacheth the Gospel should Live by the Gospel It doth not say by human Laws and straining of mens Goods and Cattle as the Preachers both of Old and New-England have done and they ought to relie upon the gracious Care and Providence of God that never suffered his Ministers to want for when Christ sent forth his Disciples without Bag or Scrip at their return they said they wanted nothing Secondly there should be no bargaining in the case betwixt the Minister and the People for that is altogether mercenary and proveth them to be Hirelings and the Servants of Men who have so hired them Thirdly they should receive only to supply their present Necessities and labour with their Hands as honest Paul did that he might make the Gospel of Christ without charge who would not abuse his Power in the Gospel 1 Cor. 9.18 and 2 Cor. 11.9 I was chargeable to no Man And 1 Thes 2.9 Because we would not be chargeable and 2 Thes 3.8 For why may not Ministers when they do not Preach or otherwise labour in the ministerial Work work with their Hands to supply their Necessities to
but that only the true Saints and Children of God belong to the invisible Church And again tho such who have true Desires and true living Breathings raised in them after the Lord may be said as such to belong to him and be of his Sheep yet they are still but as scattered and driven from the true Fold and as wandering for most part upon the barren Mountains and the dry and desolate Hills seeking the living among the dead until they come to be gathered into the True and Living Way of God and of Christ so as to know and be acquainted with the Lord and his inward Leadings Rule and Government in them and to be able to distinguish his Voice and inward appearance in them from that of a stranger and to worship him in Spirit and in Truth and serve him in the newness of the Spirit and in pure Holy Fear and Love as Sons and Children in his House And this State ye are generally strangers unto and therefore tho some of you may be allowed in true Charity to be the Sheep of Christ yet ye are but scattered until ye are returned unto Christ the Shepherd and Bishop of your Souls and know him revealed in you to lead rule and guide you and feed you with the living Bread and give you the living Water to drink which he himself is inwardly revealed and that ye be turned away from all false Teachers and Shepherds which is the earnest breathing and cry of my Soul unto God for you G.K. Heads or Principles OF Christian DOCTRIN CHAP. I. Concerning the Holy Scriptures 1. THe Holy Scriptures of the old and new Testament being generally and worthily acknowledged by all Christians to be writ by Divine Inspiration without any mixture of Error are a sufficient outward Rule and Standard whereby to examin and try all Doctrins of men 2. They contain a full and intire Declaration of all Christian Doctrin and therefore whatever Doctrins or Principles of Christian Religion men presume to teach which they cannot prove and demonstrate from the Holy Scriptures they lay no obligation upon any to believe them 3. The Scriptures are only sufficiently and savingly believed and understood by the inward Illumination and Revelation of the Holy Spirit which is the same in kind to that which God gave to the Saints of Old 4. Although they contain a full and sufficient Declaration of all Christian Doctrin yet they do not contain the whole Mind Will and Counsel of God as some say they do Because there are many things wherein God doth reveal of his Counsel to his Children which are not in Scripture either expresly or consequentially altogether necessary to their Peace and Comfort as to instance in some particulars First It is a part of the counsel of God for a Christian to know his inward Calling and whether he be indeed one of God's called and chosen Ones whether in favour with God and justified and sanctified And though the Scripture doth give infallible Signs and Marks of such an estate yet no Scripture nor Scripture-consequence can infallibly assure any man that he hath these marks but it is the spirit of God that only can and doth give them this assurance Rom. 8.16 2 dly All true Preachers and Ministers of Christ ought to know the mind and will of God whether they be called of God to the Work of the Ministry which Call is an inward Call that is altogether necessary to their faithful discharge of so great a Work but this they cannot know simply by the Scripture 3 dly Every true Christian should know his inward Call to Pray or give Thanks or perform any Religious Duty or Service unto God as David said When thou said'st Seek my Face my Heart answered thy Face O Lord I will seek hide not thy Face from me Psal 27.8 Again 4 thly It is commonly granted that it is a Duty belonging to every Christian to enquire the Mind and Counsel of God in every weighty matter and concern of our Life as if we be visited with any great Affliction inward or outward to enquire with Job Shew me O Lord why thou contendest with me And as Rebecca when the Twins strugled in her Womb enquired at the Lord and said Why am I thus And the Lord answered her Also in the case of Marriage every true Christian man and woman ought to enquire and wait for God's counsel with whom to be joyned in Marriage that they may know indeed the Lord's joyning of them and that they marry in the Lord But this cannot be known by any Scripture or consequence from Scripture but the Spirit of the Lord must reveal it even the same that led Abraham's Servant to take a Wise to his Son Isaac And every Christian should know the will and counsel of God in his outward Vocation that it is of God and so abide therein as the Scripture saith Let every man abide in the Calling wherein he is called of God And as the Servants of God in days past in traveling and sojourning from place to place received the counsel of God so do these now that wait for it in uprightness of Heart as really as holy men did of old and as Philip received the Word of God which he could not find in the Scripture either expresly or consequentially when the Spirit said unto him Joyn thy self to this Chariot when he was sent to preach Christ to the Eunuch and as Peter was sent to Cornelius and Ananias to Saul and many other the like instances and as James declareth Men ought not to be rash or hasty to say to day or to morrow we will go into such a City c. for that ye ought to say If the Lord will James 4.13 15. Now how can a man know what the Lord willeth in such a case unless it be given him by the Spirit of the Lord inwardly to feel either a Command or Permission to do such a thing For whereas too many make the outward passages of Providence their rule as to say If Sickness or some outward Impediment hinder not they constitute that to be the Will of God And whereas many remove from one place to another and Divine Providence doth not hinder them and yet in that removal they have not had God's approbation and it hath not had a blessing to follow it but on the contrary for leaving their place they have been exposed to sad Temptations and have fallen under them And lastly there are many precious living Soliloquies and Intercourses betwixt the Lord and the Souls of his dear Children while he answers the returns of their Prayers in living Testimonies and words of his Holy Spirit which though they are agreeable to Scripture yet are not express Scripture words but are the real Words and Dictates of the Holy Ghost speaking Peace and Consolation to them beyond all utterance or demonstration of Speech and wonderfully quickning and strengthning them in the inward man as we find in the
Rev. 2.2 Thou hast tryed them which say they are Apostles and are not and hast found them Liars Rev. 3.9 Behold I will make them of the Synagogue of Satan which say they are Jews and are not but do lie behold I will make them to come and worship before thy feet and to know that I have loved thee Rev. 18.4 5 6. And I heard another Voice from Heaven saying Come out of her my People that ye be not Partakers of her sins and that ye receive not of her Plagues for her sins have reached unto Heaven and God hath remembred her Iniquities Reward her even as she rewarded you and double unto her double according to her Works in the Cup which she hath filled fill to her double THE Presbyterian and Independent VISIBLE CHURCHES IN New-England And else-where Brought to the Test and examined according to the Doctrin of the holy Scriptures in their Doctrin Ministry Worship Constitution Government Sacraments and Sabbath Day More particulary directed to those in New-England and more generally to those in Old-England Scotland Ireland c. WITH A Call and Warning from the Lord to the People of Boston and New-England to Repent c. And two Letters to the Preachers in Boston and an Answer to the gross Abuses Lies and Slanders of Increase Mather and Nath. Morton c. By GEORGE KEITH LONDON Printed for Thomas Northcott in George-Yard in Lombard-street 1691. A Friendly EPISTLE To these PEOPLE called Presbyterians and Independents FRIENDS IN true Love and good Will I have writ the following Treatise unto you hoping it may find entertainment with some among you to give it the Reading and seriously to consider what you read and my earnest Exhortation and Advice is unto you that in all your reading whether in this or any other Book ye turn your minds to that Light of Christ within you wherewith he hath enlightned you and all Men as the holy Scriptures declare and that ye may believe in Christ the Light and Life in you who is the Wisdom and Power of God and who was in all the holy Prophets and Apostles and whose Spirit that was in them that gave forth the holy Scriptures both of the Old and New Testament and the same Spirit only doth and only can give to all Readers of the holy Scripture a true and right understanding of them and of all other Books that treat of Doctrins and Matters of Religion whether they have proceeded from a measure of the same holy Spirit And if ye believe in Christ the Light the Life the Wisdom and Power of God in you and joyn your Minds to his inward divine Illumination He will anoynt the Eyes of your Understanding with his Spiritual Eye-Salve and then your Eyes shall be opened to see and understand what ye read and through your faith in him he will also open and circumcise your inward Ears and cause you still more and more to be acquainted with his living Voice and Words in you all which are Spirit and Life and this will give you a spiritual savour and taste whereby ye shall be able to try and judge of things that differ whether Men or Books whether Spirits or Doctrins what are of God and what are not of him for although the Scriptures are the best outward Test or Touchstone or Rule whereby to try all Doctrins of Men or Books yet it is the holy Spirit of Christ and his Light inwardly shining and enlightning the dark Hearts and Vnderstandings of Men that gives them ability rightly to understand the Scriptures otherwise the Scriptures are as a sealed Book both to the learned and unlearned For though the Jews had the Scriptures of the Old Testament which prophecied of Christ and of the Time and Manner of his Coming and how he was to suffer Death for the sins of Men and to rise again and ascend into Glory yet none of them had that Understanding but such only as were turned to his divine Illumination in their Hearts and were acquainted with his holy Spirit Light and Life in them And the like grave and wholsom advice I recommend unto you which a certain Ancient Christian gave unto Justin Martyr before his Conversion to the Christian Faith to wit That he should diligently read and search the holy Scriptures which should give him more Content than all Heathen Authors but withal that he should mind the Gate the LIGHT by which only he could enter into the true Understanding and Knowledge of them The which Passage the said Justin relateth in his Works and John Fox hath it also in his Martyrology taken out of him And though in this Treatise I have affirmed and sufficiently demonstrated that your Visible Churches are no true Churches of Christ yet I do not say nor conclude that none of you belong to Christs true Church in any true regard But on the contrary I have that true Charity Faith and Hope concerning a Remnant among you who have in the least measure true Hungerings and Thirstings after Righteousness and a great inward longing and panting of Heart and Soul after the Lord Jesus Christ to know him and enjoy him more nearly than by all hear-say or report of him and whose Souls are sick of Love for him and feel your need and want of him as the sick that need the Physician that ye do indeed even all such of you belong to Christ and are the real Members of his Body which is his Church for where any living Desire is after Christ and where any true sense or feeling of the want and great need of him is raised in any Soul there is somewhat of the Life of Christ in that Soul and there is Christ himself present who hath begot it and that Soul is in some Measure a living Member of Christ and to such it will be glad Tidings to hear that Christ is so near unto it as really to be within it even really and livingly present and where the least true measure of Sincerity Tenderness Meekness Gentleness Humility Uprightness of Heart and Soul hath place in any there is Christ present in that Soul who hath already begun his good Work in the same and the beginning of his Work is to quicken and make alive the Soul unto him And every Soul that is thus quickned and made alive unto him as it doth hold fast this Beginning and doth continue still hungering and thirsting after Him to know and enjoy and receive of his Fulness more plentifully doth really belong to him and is in a state of Salvation e'en so far and as it here abideth it is impossible that it can perish But yet tho such belong to Christ and to his Church it doth not follow that the visible Church which they are outwardly and by some outward Form or Practice joyned unto is the true Church of Christ for they themselves distinguish of the Church Visible and Invisible and do affirm That Hypocrites are Members of their Visible Church
the Assembly of Divines at VVestminster in their Confession of Faith cap. 1. sect 1. Prov. 22.19 20 21. Isa 8.9 10. which places if they prove now that all new Revelation is ceased they do as much prove that it ceased in the days of Christ and the Apostles yea in the days of the Prophets that did succed them Is it not admirable blindness that these men did not see how impertinent these Citations are And as for all the places of the new Testament cited by them as Luke 3.4 Rom. 15.4 Mat. 4.4 7 10. 2 Tim. 3.15 Heb. 1.1 2. 2 Pet. 1.19 they do no more prove what these intend than the former for by their own confession divine Revelation and Inspiration continued after all these places of Scripture were writ for divers intire Books of Scripture were writ after them here alledged And if they say that all new Revelation did cease as soon as all these Books of Scripture were in being then they must also affirm that all new Revelation did cease to divers of the Apostles long before they deceased because divers of them and particularly John survived after he wrote his Book of the Revelation 2. It is most readily granted that God in his infinite Wisdom and Goodness was pleased that there should be Oracles and Testimonies of his Truth and Gospel committed to writing according to which the Doctrins and Words of Men however so holy that should come in after ages should be tryed and examined for the Spirits of the Prophets are subject to the Prophets but this doth not prove in any wise all ceasing of Prophecy or Divine Revelation or Inspiration by the same Spirit The Apostles Doctrin and Preaching was tried by the Noble Bereans whether it was according to the Scriptures of the old Testament but it doth not therefore follow that the Apostle Paul did not preach by divine Revelation and Inspiration And both Christ and the Apostles proved their Doctrin generally out of the Scriptures of the Prophets but that doth not argue that they did not Preach by new divine Revelation 3. But for the further clearing of the matter we are to distinguish betwixt new Revelation of new Doctrin and new Revelation of ancient Doctrin The Apostles had a new Revelation yet not of any new Doctrin but the very same that Christ and the Prophets preached before them and all agreed in the same Doctrin for Substance and yet had their own peculiar Visions and Revelations which were new to them to wit new though not in kind or specie yet in particular or individual unto them And so it is as to us we plead not for any new Revelation of any new Doctrin Faith or Gospel differing from what Christ and the Prophets and Apostles have taught before us and is largely and fully declared in the holy Scriptures but for a new Revelation of the same Doctrin Faith and Gospel which was revealed unto them For as the Faith of the Prophets and Apostles is not enough to us but we must also have the like precious Faith with them 1 John 1.2 and we must see with our spiritual Eyes and hear with our spiritual Ears and handle with our spiritual handling the Word of Life as they did so it must be newly revealed to us and in us 4. And if all new divine Revelation and Inspiration be ceased then all spiritual seeing and hearing is ceased and neither God nor Christ is or hath been heard or seen spiritually as the Saints did see and hear formerly nay not in the least degree and all inward spiritual Sensation and feeling is gone and all use or exercise of spiritual Series which is sad tidings to poor Souls But if any grant that there is any true and real spiritual hearing seeing tasting and other spiritual Sensations of God and divine things they must also grant true divine Revalation the same in kind and nature with what the Saints had of old for what is the proper object of the inward hearing and seeing and tasting and feeling Is it not God and Christ As David invited others saying O taste and see that God is good And as the Spouse said in the Song I sate down under his Shadow with great delight and his Fruit was sweet unto my taste his Left-hand is under my Head and his Right hand doth embrace me he hath brought me to his banqueting House c. and again The King hath brought me into his Wine-Cellar And can these sweet and heavenly Experiences be witnessed without divine Revelation or Inspiration And whereas some say It is Revelation by the Word and Spirit going along together but not by the Spirit alone without the Word I Answer granting it to be so in a true sense for the Prophets and Apostles had both the Word and the Spirit going along together in their divine Revelations according to Isa 50.21 and that did not hinder them to be real and proper in their kind But that God hath limited and confined himself so as never to give any inward enjoynment of himself to the Souls of his dear Children by any inward sense sight or hearing but what is conveyed unto them always by means of Scripture words is a most extravagant presumption to affirm without all Scripture proof for besides that the Soul may hear God speaking other words to it inwardly than express Scripture words though not contrary or disagreeing it oft falls out that the inward and spiritual seeing tasting and feeling may be enjoyed and witnessed without all words composed of Letters or Syllables even in a deep inward stillness and quietness according to these words Be still and know that I am God And as the outward seeing tasting smelling and feeling may be used without the present use of the outward hearing so may the inward and spiritual seeing tasting smelling and feeling be used at times and seasons without the inward and spiritual hearing of any Words formally composed of Letters and Syllables or Scripture words or so much as inwardly thought or conceived which Men of spiritual Experience who have their spiritual Senses cannot but readily grant We find by common experience that Words fall short to give us a sufficient and satisfactory knowledge of outward and natural things and therefore we desire rather to see taste and handle them than to hear the best or most true report of them We love rather to see a pleasant Country than to hear of it only and every good Child loveth to see his Parents rather than to hear a report or talk of them so every loving Wife loveth rather to see her Husband and hear himself and be imbraced by him than to hear others tell of him And the loving Subject is more glad to see his Prince or King of whom he hath received so many Favours and to hear himself than to hear others tell of him and thus it is with every Soul that truly loveth God they much rather desire to hear himself and see him than
the Spirit of God speaking in the Scriptures is the supream Judge of all Controversies of Religion although it is no Scripture phrase nor proper but figurative as when a man is said to speak in his Books or Writings yet in a figurative sense it might be allowed if they did not confine all the speaking of the spirit of God to his only and alone speaking in the Scriptures so as that the Spirit speaketh not at all as they would have it in the Souls and Hearts of Men as he used to do in the Prophets and Apostles And because they have a wrong sense of it and that it is not proper but figurative it is better not to use it And in the room of it I say the Spirit of God speaking in some measure in the Heart of every true Believer and Spiritual man opening and expounding the Scripture unto him in the due and diligent use of reading hearing and meditation of Scripture words or any other means of God's appointing for our Institution and especially in the frequent use of fervent and earnest Prayer praying earnestly with David who was richly indued with divine Revelation Open my Eyes that I may see the wonderful things of thy Law and most especially in our being found in the way of Righteousness and faithful Obedience to what is already revealed unto us for as we are found here we have good warrant to expect that where any doubt or Controversie in Doctrin or in the meaning of a place of Scripture doth arise that God's holy Spirit whom Christ hath promised to his Disciples to teach them all things and to lead them into all Truth will indeed judge and decide the matter in question in their Hearts by his secret Light and Teaching or Revelation And let it be noted that I say it is not the Spirit abstractly considered from the Scriptures or our due use of them or the duty that God requireth of us but it is the holy Spirit opening or expounding the Scriptures unto us in reading hearing meditation prayer waiting and obedience to what we already know that it is the Judge of all Controversie in matter of Doctrin 4. Next as to the Rule as the Scripture is the best and only external or outward Rule and Standard it is worthily preferred to all other outward Records and Testimonies yet because we both believe the Scriptures not simply for their own Testimony but for the inward Witness and Testimony of the Spirit and also because we can only understand the Scriptures but by the said inward Witness and Testimony of the holy Spirit therefore the inward Witness of the spirit or the spirit inwardly witnessing both to the truth and true sense of Scripture is the greatest and primary Rule as John plainly testified saying If we receive the Testimony of Men the Testimony or Witness of God is greater and he that believes hath the Witness in himself and hath set to his Seal that God is true And therefore Paul recommended his Doctrin to the Witness of the Spirit in the Hearts and Consciences of the Hearers and told the Thessalonians 1 Thess 1.5 that his Gospel came unto them not in word only but in Power and in the holy Ghost and in much assurance And he told the Corinthians that their Faith was to stand in the Power of God and therefore not in the bare words that he preached for he did not preach himself nor his Words but Christ to be the Foundation of their Faith CHAP. IV. Concerning ministerial Gifts and Qualifications and the Call to the Ministry the nature and manner of true Preaching and Praying and Singing and the true Gospel-Maintenance to the Ministry 1. BEcause of the near and close connexion and dependance that the things mentioned in the Title of this Chapter have with the truth of what is delivered in the preceeding Chapters therefore I do see it meet to treat of them in this place The common Doctrin and Opinion of these who deny all new Revelation of the holy Spirit is that natural and acquired Parts of Letter-learning without divine inward Revelation or Inspiration is sufficient to qualifie a man to be a Minister of the Gospel and is necessary to his esse or being of a Minister and Grace or true Piety and Holiness is only accidental and doth but only contribute to his bene esse or making him the better By Letter-learning they do not only mean human Arts and Sciences and the knowledge of Greek Hebrew and Latin but especially a Letter-knowledge of the Scripture without any saving Grace or illumination of the Spirit as being essential to a Minister And indeed they say agreeable enough to their own Doctrin for if all new Revelation of the Spirit is ceased what is left behind to qualifie a Man to be a Minister but only natural and acquired parts of Letter-learning Nor can they with any Reason affirm according to their Doctrin that true Piety and Holiness is essential to a Minister otherwise no Man is a Minister without it and then it doth follow that no Man can infallibly be known whether he be a real Minister yea or nay for if divine inward Revelation be ceased then all infallible discerning of Mens Spirits and spiritual estates is ceased and no Man can know another infallibly whether he be a Saint or Hypocrite for they grant that a Hypocrite may have all the outwards of a true Christian as the Pharisees that made clean the outside but their inward was full of Rottenness and Uncleanness And if a Man cannot be known to be a true Minister according to their Doctrin the People are in a woful case as concerning that they call their Sacraments and especially that called the Supper which they say cannot be administred but by a true and real Minister and if any that is not a true Minister should presume to do any such thing as to Bless or Consecrate and set apart the Bread and Wine from common use it would be no Sacrament at all as some or most of them affirm 2. Now that divine Revelation and Inspiration is necessary to the Being or Essential Constitution of a Minister of Christ is evident from the Doctrin already delivered because it is necessary to the being or essential Constitution of every true Christian No man is or can be a true Christian without inward divine Revelation or Inspiration and therefore without the same no man can be a true Christian or Gospel-Minister for that which is absolutely necessary to constitute a true Christian or Believer is absolutely necessary to constitute a true Christian Minister otherwise it might be said a man may be a true Christian Minister and yet no true Christian But every true Minister of Christ as he ought to be a true Christian so he ought to be more than an ordinary Christian so as to exceed or excel them both in Spiritual Knowledge and other spiritual Gifts even as in natural teaching the Master or Teacher should
exceed the Scholar for if Divine Inward Revelation and Inspiration together with other spiritual Gifts are the common priviledg of all true Christians in some degree more or less according to their several growth and capacity much more are they to be found in the true Ministers of Christ who are both to feed the Babes with Milk and the strong Men with Meat and to be Rom. 2.19 20. the guide of the Blind a Light of them which are in Darkness and Instructors of the Foolish and Teachers of Babes and also who can speak Wisdom among them that are perfect according to which Christ said to his Apostles Ye are the Light of the World and the Salt of the Earth 3. But more particularly it is apparent from the Scripture that there is a peculiar Ministerial Gift or Gifts that God giveth to all his true Ministers to fit or qualifie them for that great Work whereby to make them able Ministers of the New-Testament not of the Letter but of the Spirit the which Gifts are the Purchase of Christ and the Fruits and Effects of his Death Resurrection and Ascension as is clear from Ephes 4.8 11 12. When he ascended on high he led Captivity captive and gave Gifts unto men and he gave some Apostles and some Prophets and some Evangelists Pastors and Teachers Where altho' it may be granted that some of these are extraordinary as namely Apostles and some ordinary yet all are given to the Church by Christ as the Fruit and Effect of his Purchase and that therefore all ordinary Ministers who are indeed true Ministers of Christ are indued with some measure of Spiritual Gifts in more or less according to the good pleasure of God And as concerning the spiritual peculiar gifts of the holy Spirit besides these that were common to all such as Faith Love Hope Knowledge Meekness Temperance Patience Brotherly-kindness Charity the Scripture doth expresly mention them in divers places 1 Cor. 12.8 To one is given by the Spirit the Word i. e. Speech or utterance of Wisdom to another the VVord of Knowledg that is some degree inferior to another Faith that is some peculiar degree of Faith for some peculiar Service besides the Faith common to all Believers and all these are ordinary and have still remained in the true Church but together with these in the Apostles days there were extraordinary Gifts which God may give or with-hold as he pleaseth as not being essential to a true Minister of Christ such were Gifts of Miracles Gifts of Healing Gifts of Tongues and the like And as concerning Prophecying it was either extraordinary or ordinary extraordinary was a fore-telling of particular things to come as was that of Agabus his fore-telling that Paul should be bound at Jerusalem ordinary was the ordinary and usual manner of Preaching by the Inspiration and motion of the holy Ghost in Doctrin Exhortation Correction c. Moreover concerning this diversity of spiritual Gifts Paul saith Rom. 12.6 Having then Gifts differing according to the Grace that is given to us whether Prophecy let us prophecy according to the proportion of Faith or Ministry let us wait on our Ministry or he that teacheth on teaching or he that exhorteth on exhortation And likewise Peter concerning these spiritual Gifts saith 1 Pet. 4.10 11. As every Man hath received the Gift even so minister the same one to another as good Stewards of the manifold Grace of God If any Man speak let him speak as the Oracles of God If any Man minister let him do it as of the Ability or vertue which God giveth that God in all things may be glorified through Jesus Christ And as touching spiritual Gifts that were not common to all Christians but peculiar to some Paul exhorted the believing Corinthians saying 1 Cor. 14.1 Desire spiritual Gifts but rather that ye may prophecy And he declareth what that prophecying was vers 3. He that prophesieth speaketh unto Men to Edification and Exhortation and Comfort And vers 5. Greater is he that prophesieth than he that speaketh with Tongues except he interpret that the Church may receive edifying And concerning the great power and virtue of Prophecying he said further vers 24 25. If all Prophesie and there come in one that believeth not or unlearned he is convinced of all he is judged of all And thus are the secrets of his Heart made manifest and so falling upon the Person to wit that did Prophesie for so the Words may be better translated he will worship God and report that God is in you of a truth 4. Now in the true Church and among the true Believers there was a spiritual discerning or judgment that they had whereby they did know who had these spiritual Gifts and who had them not who spoke and preached by the Spirit and who did pray and sing by the Spirit and who did not and who not only had the Words but the Power and who had only the Words and had not the Power and these were false Apostles and false Teachers and Hypocrites that had good Words which they did take or receive from other Men but had not that good Power and Spirit that was in the true Ministers of Christ and because they had not that good Power their Ministry and Words were dead dry and barren and such the Scripture compareth to Clouds without Rain and Wells or Cisterns without Water and of such Paul said he would know not the Speech of them which are puffed up but the Power 1 Cor. 4.19 The which spiritual discerning or judgment as it was in some measure given in common to all true Believers as the sense of Taste is given in common to Beasts Mankind whereby to relish things sweet or bitter and Meats and Drinks that have the true Nourishing Virtue in them so it was given in some greater measure to some than to others according to their growth experience and exercise or use of their spiritual senses even as both among Men and Beasts some do far excell others in the sagacity of the Taste of outward things and so in the Smell of things as Flowers Spices c. and according to this spiritual discerning and judgment Paul said to the Corinthians 1 Cor. 14 29. c. Let the Prophets speak two or three and let the other judge If any thing be revealed to another that sitteth by let the first hold his peace for ye may all prophecy one by one that all may learn and all may be comforted and the Spirits of the Prophets are subject to the Prophets For God is not the Author of Confusion but of Peace as in all the Churches of the Saints So we see here was good Order where in one Meeting two or three might speak one after another or more if they had any motion of the Spirit so to do and in that case the first speaker was to give place to him But nothing of this is to be found among these Churches who deny
all inward new Revelation of the Spirit but one Man must take up all the time and preach over the People one Year after another and the people ever learning and yet never able to come to the knowledge of the Truth as was the manner of false Teachers in days past who had the Form of Godliness but denyed the Power thereof who were to be turned from 2 Tim. 3.5 6 7. And concerning the trying and knowing of Spirits as well as Doctrins the Apostle John writ in his General Epistle 1 John 2.1 Believe not every Spirit but try the Spirits whether they are of God Now this ability to try Spirits is greater than barely to try whether a Man's Doctrin be true or false for it is possible a Man may Preach for an hour or more words of Doctrin that may be true and yet his Spirit not be of God And that which gave them this Ability to try all Spirits as well as Doctrins was the Vnction or anointing from the holy One which they had received 1 John 2.20 But ye have an Vnction from the holy ' One and ye know all things And vers 26 27. These things have I written unto you concerning them that seduce you i. e. seek to seduce you But the anointing which ye have received of him abideth in you and ye need not that any Man teach you but as the same Anointing teacheth you of all things c. 5. But because it is taken for granted and laid down for a Fundamental among Presbyterians and Independent Teachers as well as many others That all inward divine Revelation and Inspiration such as Believers had in the time of the Apostles is ceased therefore they lay no claim to any of these spiritual Gifts and plainly confess they have them not and also that they have no Infallible discerning or knowledge what Men are truly gracious and holy and living Members of Christ's Body and what not And therefore when these and other places of Scripture are brought that declare how true Ministers of Christ had spiritual Gifts of Ministration some in a lesser degree and some in a greater they alledge all these Gifts are now ceased and the reason they give is because all inward divine Revelation and Inspiration such as the Saints formerly had is altogether ceased Whereas if they did grant that inward divine Revelation did continue they would also readily grant that these spiritual Gifts of Ministry did continue and a spiritual discerning and ability whereby to know Infallibly who were indeed indued with the Spirit of God and who did preach and pray by the Spirit or sing by the Spirit and who not And the like concerning the Ministerial Call if they did grant that divine inward Revelation and Inspiration did continue in the Church as the common Priviledge of all true and sound Believers as being given to all and every one of them to lead them into all Truth they would readily enough grant that Ministers had an inward Call to preach and exercise other Ministerial Services and Performances as these Ministers did of old So that indeed this their Doctrin That inward divine Revelation is ceased in the Church and in Believers is the foundation of many other false and pernicious Doctrins yea almost of all the false and erroneous Doctrins they have among them And since it is so that they have no Belief of having the Spirit of God inwardly inspiring them and revealing in them the things of God and inwardly teaching them the Mysteries of the Kingdom What is their Ministry or Church or Ordinances All made things of Mans making and inventing and setting up a Man-made Church Man-made Ministry Man-made Ordinances and a Man-made Worship And though they say they hope they have the Spirit and seem at times to lay great stress and weight upon it and the need of it not only to believe but to do all good and acceptable Works and Performances yet their blind Doctrin and Unbelief that all inward divine Revelation is ceased doth so blind and darken them generally and make them so spiritually stupid senseless and benummed that they plainly confess They have no infallible assurance or infallible knowledge that they have the Spirit of God or any of these gracius Motions and Operations of the holy Spirit For according to their blind Doctrin and Faith all the motions and operations of the Spirit are only effective but none of them objective and any Illumination that they have is only effective and not objective that is to say is no immediate object of their knowledge or feeling or spiritual perception the Spirit only works in them so to speak as fire or heat works in Stone or Iron or Wood but the Stone Iron or Wood hath not any inward sense or perception of it for if they did grant true spiritual sense and spiritual feeling or perception they would grant infallible knowledge of these things even as our outward senses when sound and duly qualified and within due circumstances give us an infallible knowledge of outward things for is not every sensible Child infallibly sure that it both seeth its Mother and feeleth her when the Mother is handling the Child and feeding it And doth not the Suckling on the breast surely know the Milk that it sucketh and can well distinguish the breast that hath Milk in it from that which is dry and empty But as the Epistle to the Hebrews saith Things made to wit the things of Mans making without the Spirit and Power of God inwardly revealed are all to be removed Heb. 12.26 27. Yet once more I shake not the Earth only but also Heaven And this word yet once more signifieth the removing of these things that may be shaken as of things that are made that those things which cannot be shaken may remain Let them consider this who seem to themselves to have a Church Constitution Ministry Discipline Worship far above others as Heaven is above Earth as the Presbyterian Church thinks she is above the Episcopal the Independent Church thinks she is above the Presbyterian the Baptists think themselves above both and yet all these as well as others are open and declared Enemies to the holy Spirit his inward Revelation and Inspiration by which alone the true Church is a living Church and the Ministry a living Ministry and every true Member a living Member and all truly Religions Duties and Services are living But made things of Mans making are all dead things and therefore must all be shaken and removed not the made Earth only but the made Heavens also of Mans making made Faiths made Worships made Ministers made Covenants all things of Mens making without the Spirit and Power of God inwardly revealed must all be removed and every plant that is not of the heavenly Fathers planting must be plucked up But if any of them say Our Churches our Ministry our Faith our Worship our Covenant is not so for we have the spirit of God assisting
us and working together with us This answer is but a meer presumption or Conjecture seeing they deny all inward Revelation and Inspiration of the Spirit which gave the Believers and Saints in former ages an infallible kowledge and assurance that they had the Spirit of God for the Spirit that they claim unto as they say doth only work in them effectively but not by way of object it is altogether an unknown mean or principle of operation it hath no proper light or evidence or demonstration of its own such as the Spirit that was in the Apostles is no infallible spirit that they have but fallible and therefore their Faith is fallible their Knowledge fallible their Hope fallible and every thing in them fallible dubious conjectural and uncertain and they only think that they have the Spirit of God and a spiritual knowledge of things and when asked they dare not say their thought hath any infallible assurance in it as all true assurance is Infallible yea some of them are so dark ignorant and blind that to me in my hearing have affirmed That the Apostle Paul was not infallibly sure that he had the Spirit of God bringing Paul's words 1 Cor. 7.40 I think also that I have the Spirit of God But according to his blind argument the holy Ghost is not infallibly sure for the same Greek word is applied to the holy Ghost Acts 15.28 It seemed good to the holy Ghost but this is blasphemous to think or affirm and I see not how they can clear their Doctrin of Blasphemy to say That they have the Spirit of God and yet to affirm That they have no Infallible Spirit The plain English of which is that the Spirit of God and God himself is fallible 6. But the great cause and reason why all true Ministers and Preachers of the Gospel should not only be truly godly and holy Men but also should be indued with some more than ordinary power of the holy Spirit and communications thereof not common to all Christians at least in degree though one spirit in all is That the Ministry of every true Minister of Christ is a Ministration of Grace of Spirit of Life and Power which doth emanate or flow forth from or through the Minister or Preacher as living Waters that emanate and flow from a living spring or fountain which reach and flow into the hearts and inward parts of the Hearers such as are sensible and whose hearts God is pleased to open to receive them and sometimes to the opening and making alive the dead souls and hearts of many hearers whereby not only many that are spiritually dead are made alive but the living are made more living and livingly refreshed and strengthened and though this can hardly or not at all be received by many yet thousands can witness it from living experience that they have felt streams of divine Life Power and Vertue to spring and flow forth from the Spirit of Christ in faithful Preachers into their souls and inward parts to their exceeding refreshing and strengthning in the inward Man and the Scriptures abundantly confirm it that so it was in the primitive times the Ministers of Christ were the Ministers of the Spirit and Power of God and the outward and audible Words that reached the outward Ears were only as a Conduit of Conveyance to convey and transmit that heavenly Virtue that flowed through them and therefore the Ministers of God are called in Scripture flames of Fire and their Words and Preaching have a divine and spiritual Fire and Heat in them that exceedingly warm and melt the cold and congealed Hearts of many Hearers and that Fire is a living Fire or Power of Life to quicken them And this was it that made the two Disciples going to Emaus say How did not our Hearts burn within us while he spoke to us by the way and opened the Scriptures unto us And when Christ preached to the People it is said he spoke with Authority that is Power and not as the Scribes and so did the Apostles as Paul declared That his Preaching was in Demonstration of the Spirit and of Power And Christ and the holy Spirit spake in him to the People when he preached and so did it in all the other Apostles and Ministers of Christ and the Hearers who had and knew Christ in their own hearts had a Proof sufficient that Christ spoke in Paul by what they felt of that spiritual Vertue and Power that did flow forth through him in his Ministry And according to this Peter exhorted That he who ministers should minister of the Power that God giveth as good Stewards of the manifold Grace of God So they ministred not only Words but Grace and Power and Life to the hearers And thus there is a communication of the Grace and Graces of God not only betwixt Ministers and Hearers but among all the Faithful who are as one living Body but many Members and every Member a living Member and ministring Life one to another as it is in the natural Body and this is that Communion of the Saints that the Scripture testifieth that they had together in the Spirit which did knit their Hearts together in Love unto all Riches of the full assurance of Understanding Col. 2.2 And with such living instruments that are spiritually made alive unto God doth God work to make their Ministry effectual and fruitful to convert and beget Souls unto God and when begotten to nourish and feed them with the sincere Milk of the Word which Milk is not the outward Words but the Life that is in the Words For as in the outward God doth not work with a dead Man to beget outward and natural Children but with the living so it is with Men spiritually living with whom God worketh to beget Sons and Daughters spiritually unto God where God only properly and principally is the Father and Men but Instruments with and by whom he worketh and in order to this spiritual begetting of Sons and Daughters unto God by the Ministry of faithful Preachers God giveth unto them a spiritual and divine Seed which they convey in their words into the Hearts and Souls of their Hearers according to 1 Cor. 9.10 He that ministreth Seed to the Sower And Isa 55.10 That it may give Seed to the Sower So that there is a divine and spiritual Seed in the Words and Preaching of a true Minister of Christ for the words are living Words and are not his but the words of Christ and of the holy Spirit that speaketh in him But he that speaketh Words as suppose Scripture-words and not by the Spirit of Christ speaking in him there is no divine Seed in the Words there is the form or body of the Words but there is no Soul or Life in them as he speaks them And these Men are like that Harlot which took hold of Josephs garment but himself she could not enjoy So many get the outward form of the words
Confession it is revealed to all elect Persons who are uncapable of being outwardly called by the Word the Spirit working in them when where and how he pleaseth 7. But whether any are or can be saved or justified without the express Knowledge and Faith of Christ crucified and risen again is one Question and whether without all outward hearing of Christ crucified outwardly Preached unto them is another Question For without all outward preaching of Men the mystery of Christ crucified can be revealed and preached inwardly to Men by the Spirit of God and by the same Spirit Faith can be wrought in them by that inward hearing as these Men confess And though it may seem hard and difficult to prove that all honest Gentiles who did by Nature to wit by the Principle of the divine Nature implanted into the true Nature of Men the things contained in the Law had that express Knowledge and Faith of Christ crucified and raised again yet it is more hard and difficult unto them who affirm they had it not to prove it seeing the Spirit who worketh when and where and how he pleaseth might reveal it unto them and that they grant the Spirit doth work in all elect Persons who are not outwardly called by the Word and doth regenerate and save them by Christ. And to the further clearing of this matter we are to consider that the Work of Salvation is not a thing that is commonly done in an instant but hath its gradual Steps its beginning progress and finishing even as Faith it self hath for as at the first instant of a Man's sincere believing he is enâ—â—ed into a state of Salvation so as his Faith groweth his Salvation doth gradually encrease and grow with it the which Salvation is not only a Salvation from Wrath to come or from Hell fire and torment but is a Salvation from Sin and from under the Power of Darkness and from all Ignorance and Error and Darkness of Understanding and a thorow renewing into the Image of God and bringing Man into Conformity unto the Image of the Son of God the heavenly and second Adam And the true knowledge of Christ and of God the Father being a part of the Image of God that is to be renewed in them that are to be saved according to Col. 3.10 And have put on the new Man which is renewed in Knowledge after the Image of him that created him Therefore it doth necessarily follow that perfect Salvation in the full extent of it cannot be had without the full and perfect knowledge of Christ the which full and perfect knowledge of Christ is to know him both as he is that eternal Word and Son of God the only begotten of the Father who was with the Father before the World was by whom all things were made and as he is God manifest in the Flesh justified in the Spirit c. to wit Christ crucified and raised which Paul calleth the great Mystery of Godliness And that both Salvation and Faith is gradual and hath its steps and progress beginning growth and perfection is very clear both from the Scriptures Testimony and the Saints experience for Paul writing to the believing Philippians exhorted them to work out their Salvation with Fear and Trembling 2 Philip. 12. So though they were entred into a state of Salvation through Faith in Christ yet it was not perfected in them but was to be further wrought out and to encourage them in this great Work he told them It was God which worketh in them both to will and to do of his own good pleasure And Paul encouraged the believing Romans and also himself saying Now is our Salvation nearer than when we believed Rom. 13.11 And the perfect Salvation of Souls is called the end of Faith 1 Pet. 1.9 And verse 10. Of which Salvation the Prophets have enquired and searched diligently who prophecyed of the Grace that should come unto you Verse 11. Searching what or what manner of time the Spirit of Christ which was in them did signifie when it testified before-hand the Sufferings of Christ and the Glory that should follow And Verse 13. Wherefore gird up the Loins of your Mind be sober and hope to the end for the Grace that is to be brought unto you in the Revelation of Jesus Christ so the Greek hath viz. Enapokalepsei And Philip. 1.6 Being confident of this very thing that he which hath begun a good Work in you will perform it unto the Day of Jesus Christ And as the Work of the outward Creation is distinguished into six Days and that a Day of Sabbath or Rest which is the perfection So the Work of the inward Creation which is the creating Men anew in Christ Jesus by way of Analogy may be said to have its six Days and then the spiritual Sabbath or Rest according to Heb. 4.9 There remaineth therefore a Sabbath to the People of God And verse 11. For he that is entred into his Rest hath ceased from his own Works as God did from his And Verse 11. Let us labour therefore to enter into that Rest c. Where its plain the Writer doth hint at the said Analogy Now though it ought to be granted that the Knowledge and Faith of Christ crucified and raised again doth belong to the finishing and perfecting of the Saints Salvation yet it is most clear and plain from Scripture that it doth not universally belong to the beginning of it For we can prove most clearly from Scripture that the good work of God even the Work of Salvation was begun in them who had not that Knowledge and Faith of Christ crucified as first to instance in Nathaniel of whom Christ gave a noble Testimony Behold an Israelite indeed in whom is no Guile John 1.47 And yet at that time he had not Faith in Jesus of Nazareth as being come in the Flesh but reasoned or questioned saying Can any good thing come out of Nazareth Philip saith unto him Come and see c. Next to instance in the Disciples of Christ who for sometime after they had followed him and that Peter had confessed to him that he was the Son of God and that Christ had told him his Father had revealed it to him yet the mystery of his Death and Resurrection was for all that hid from him and the rest of them For this see Mark 9.31 For he taught his Disciples and said unto them the Son of Man is delivered into the Hands of Men and they shall kill him and after that he is killed he shall rise the third Day And verse 32. But they understood not that saying and were afraid to ask him See again Luke 9.43 But that instance of Cornelius is a most manifest and clear demonstration of this Truth For this Cornelius was a Gentile and uncircumcised and therefore no Proselite of the Covenant to be sure and though some alledge that he was a Proselite of the Gate according to that distinction that was
is this righteous Law but in their Hearts And this righteous Law cannot be any natural Faculty of fallen Man which they confess is wholly defiled and corrupted and unholy and unrighteous 3 dly they confess That it is sufficient to leave men unexcusable sect 1. cap. 1. And therefore it is also sufficient to make men excusable who are diligent to frame their Life according to it and to say the contrary is to contradict the very instinct of common Justice that God hath put into mens Hearts 4 thly the Scripture saith that some of the Gentiles their Thoughts did excuse them in well doing as it did accuse them in evil doing Rom. 2.15 5 thly The Apostle Paul doth plainly distinguish it from the Conscience Rom. 2.15 the true Translation being Their Conscience co-witnessing or bearing a joynt Witness with that righteous Law or Principle 6 thly He calleth it the Truth and that which may be known of God which God hath shewed unto them which gave them the Knowledge of God and shewed them the goodness of God that leadeth to Repentance and also gave them to know the Judgment of God and revealed the Wrath of God from Heaven against them And because that many of them who knew God did not glorifie him as God nor were thankful therefore God gave them over to a reprobate mind and therefore they were not Reprobates from the beginning far less from all Eternity as these men alledg And therefore any Light or Illumination that these Gentiles had in them or that any men have in them is a new Gift and Grace of God and gracious Visitation of God unto them as the Apostle calleth it Rom. 5.18 Moreover that God himself doth inwardly speak to men generally in their Hearts both in good men and bad and is their Teacher and doth warn them yea and fore-warn them of Evil and Wrath to come and doth reprove and convince them of Sin is the Testimony of the holy Scripture in many places see Psal 94.10 Psal 50.1 16 to 22. Amos 4.13 Micah 6.8 Prov. 8.1 2 3 4. Job 28.28 Chap. 24.13 and 21.14 And it is a place greatly worth noticing Luke 12.20 God said unto him Thou Fool this Night thy Soul shall be required of thee And where did God say thus to him but in his Heart And therefore it hath been the way of God and ever will be to speak to men in their Hearts to call them and warn and fore-warn them of evil and danger and to perswade and incline them to that which is good And they who deny this as they belye God and say It is not the Lord that speaketh and calleth to men in their Hearts so they do a great injury and wrong unto men who instead of turning them to God's Teachings in their Hearts turn them away from them and they do ill deserve so great Wages of the People so to turn away the Ears of the People from God's inward teachings in their Hearts and from the Word of his Grace which is able to save their Souls And to conclude although the dispensations of the divine Grace be various and may be variously distinguished into a more or less number yet God and Christ and the holy Spirit are one and the one Author of all these various Dispensations and who-ever is faithful unto God in any of them is accepted in Christ and for Christ's sake and not otherwise And though the last which is the pure and perfect Christian and Gospel Dispensation is far more excellent and far surpassing either that among the Gentiles who had not the outward Law or that among the Jews and People of Israel who had the outward Law and the Prophets yet every one of them had their Glory in their day and that inward divine Dispensation that is now among the Gentiles who have not Christ as yet outwardly preached unto them hath its Glory and great Service and Blessing to them who are faithful to God in it and such who continue faithful therein to the end shall never perish and though it be not purely and throughly Christian and Evangelical but rather more Legal yet it is also partly Christian and Evangelical and the pure Gospel Dispensation is hid within it as a Wheel within a Wheel or as the most holy place was hid within the outer Court and there to wit in that first Dispensation Christ as it were lieth as in swadling Cloathes and though the Jews do not know him as he is there yet such as the Wise men from the East do both know and honour him as the King of the Jews yea as King and Lord both of Heaven and Earth who is in all and through all and over all blessed forever Amen CHAP. VII Concerning Justification and the Nature of true Faith whether Assurance is of the Nature of it 1. WHen the Scripture saith God justifieth the Vngodly Rom. 4.5 It is not to be understood that he doth justifie them in their Ungodliness but from it as the like manner of Speech is used Acts 13.39 And by him all that believe are justified from all things from which ye could not be justified by the Law of Moses For seeing according to the Law of God He that justifieth the Wicked is an Abomination to the Lord Prov. 17.15 God himself can do no such thing as to justifie a wicked or ungodly man in his Ungodliness 2. As it is only the true believer who hath Faith in Christ Jesus whom God justifieth so it is only he who is truly sanctified and regenerated or born again of the Spirit of God whom God doth justifie who are called the Seed of Israel Isa 45.25 In the Lord shall all the Seed of Israel be justified and shall glory For as a Rich Man when he dyeth by his Will or Testament leaveth his Goods or Riches not to Strangers but to his own Kindred as his Brethern or Children and to his Wife so our Lord Jesus Christ hath left by his Will and Testament when he dyed his Spiritual Goods to wit Remission of Sin Justification Adoption and Eternal Life only to his true spiritual Kindred to wit his Brethren who are born from Above and spiritually related unto him who are the true Children of God by spiritual Regeneration and renewing of the holy Ghost and who are his true Church and Body and of his Flesh and Bones according to Ephes 5.30 3. And therefore not only Faith but true inward Sanctification and a thorow inward renewing into the Image of God and Conformity of the whole man unto the Image of the Son of God is a Condition and Qualification necessarily required in order unto mens being perfectly justified in the sight of God and as no man is justified but who is sanctified so no man is any more or further justified than he is sanctified 4. According unto which God doth justifie men not only by Faith in Christ but by a real inward Righteousness or Holiness which he doth beget in
them by his holy Spirit and not only Faith but Love Hope true Righteousness and Holiness Meekness Temperance and Humility and all other Evangelical Virtues and Fruits of the holy Spirit are the Instruments and Means whereby men obtain free Justification through Christ Jesus and whereby they are enabled and fitted or qualified to apply Christ Jesus and his Righteousness unto them so as to have the same imputed unto them and made theirs to wit Christ and all his spiritual Blessings Gifts and Benefits and his Death and Sufferings and Obedience with all the blessed Effects and Fruits of it For as a Line that is straight cannot be applyed unto another Line that is crooked but unto a Line that is straight so cannot the Lord Jesus Christ who is the Righteousness of God be applyed unto men for Justification unless these men be made righteous as he is in likeness or conformity unto him although not equal unto him And therefore John did seasonably give the warning and caution fore-seeing that many would claim to be righteous or justified when they were not really doers or workers of Righteousness 1 John 3.7 Little Children let no man deceive you he that doth Righteousness is righteous even as he is righteous And the same John said Rev. 22.14 Blessed are they that do his Commandments that they may have right to the Tree of Life c. Which is equivalent to their being justified seeing Justification doth include in its Nature a Right or Interest in Christ who is that Tree of Life 5. It is therefore a gross Error and a false and Antichristian Doctrin in these Faith-publishers at Westminster espoused by the Presbyterians and Independant Teachers in New-England That God doth justifie men not by infusing Righteousness into them but by pardoning their Sins and accepting them as righteous c. cap. 11. sect 1 2. And also that they say Faith receiving and resting on Christ and his Righteousness is the alone Instrument of Justification is another great Error For as Faith may well be compared to one Hand of the Soul whereby it receiveth and embraceth the Lord Jesus Christ so Love which is an inward Evangelical Grace and Virtue that is shed abroad or infused into the Soul by the holy Ghost may be compared to another Hand and Arm whereby it doth receive and embrace him And all the inward Evangelical divine Virtues and Graces that are wrought and begot in the Soul by the holy Spirit of Christ are so to speak as a whole intire Body consisting of many Members whereby the Soul doth embrace and cleave unto the Lord Jesus Christ and thus a perfect Union cometh to be witnessed betwixt the faithful Soul and the Lord Jesus Christ when it is joined unto him receiveth him and cleaveth unto him not by one single Grace or Virtue called Faith but by all other divine Graces and Virtues which make up a whole intire Body having many Members and Joynts whereby the Soul cleaveth to him as one streight Line is joyned to another or as one streight Body to another not in part only but in all parts And thus also doth the Lord Jesus Christ embrace the whole Soul in all its spiritual and divine Powers and Virtues that he hath freely conferred upon it And hence it is that true Believers are said to put on the Lord Jesus Christ as a man putteth on a Garment Now he that putteth on a compleat or intire Garment every part of his Body cleaveth to it even so the Soul that putteth on Christ cleaveth to him by all its spiritual Members which are the divine Evangelical Virtues wrought in it by the holy Spirit of Christ even as the Sins and evil Lusts are called the Members on Earth Col. 3.5 6. But though real inward Holiness and Righteousness as well as Faith be the Instruments whereby men are justified yet they are not the Foundation and Ground of Justification but the Lord Jesus Christ alone even Jesus of Nazareth who dyed for our Sins without the Gates of Jerusalem and rose again in his intire and perfect Obedience and Righteousness is the alone and only Foundation and ground of Justification on which the Souls of all the Faithful are to rest for Justification and Remission of all Sin and therefore no man is to rest or relie upon the best Works or Righteousness or Obedience that he doth or can do even when helped to perform the same by the help of the holy Spirit For this were to put good Works in the room of Christ which ought not to be for no Works of Righteousness or Holiness done by us even by the help of the holy Spirit is the Foundation of the Saints Faith or Justification but Christ alone and the free Love Mercy Grace and Favour of God the Father revealed in him and by him through the holy Spirit For seeing all men generally have sinned no mans best Obedience for Sin formerly committed can be a Ransom unto God but Christ alone is the Ransom even he who was Crucified and rose again 1 Pet. 3.18 The Just having suffered for the Vnjust that he might bring us unto God And as no man can redeem the Soul of his Brother so nor can he redeem his own Soul For the Redemption of the Soul is precious and ceaseth forever Psal 49.8 viz. to be the Work of man but it is only and alone the Work of him who is both God and Man according to verse 15. But God will redeem my Soul from the Power of the Grave for he shall receive me Selah See further these other Scriptures Ephes 1.7 Col. 1.14 Heb. 9.12 15. Gal. 3.13 1 Pet. 1.18 Rev. 5.9 Mat. 20.28 1 Tim. 2.6 Job 33.23 24. 7. And seeing Remission and Pardon of Sin for Christ's sake is a part or branch of Justification as these Faith-publishers do acknowledg and that repentance is of such necessity that none may expect pardon without it as they confess cap. 15. sect 3. Is it not very manifest by their own Confession though in plain contradiction to their own Doctrin that Repentance is a necessary Instrument and Condition whereby to obtain Justification And indeed the Scripture layeth equal weight upon Repentance and Conversion as it doth upon Faith in order to obtain Remission or Pardon of Sins Acts 3.19 Repent ye therefore and be converted that your Sins may be blotted out Acts 26.18 To turn them from Darkness unto Light and from the Power of Satan unto God that they may receive Forgiveness of Sins c. And when the Scripture saith Titus 3.5 Not by Works of Righteousness which we have done but according to his Mercy he saved us It is clear that Works before or without true Faith are understood and not the inward Work of Sanctification as is clear from the following Words by the washing of Regeneration and renewing of the holy Ghost And if the real inward Work of Sanctification and Obedience had not been necessary to Salvation the
Scripture would not have said Work out your Salvation with Fear and Trembling And if ye through the Spirit do mortifie the Deeds of the Body ye shall live And therefore when Paul doth so earnestly plead that men are not justified by the Works of the Law it is evident he doth only exclude these legal Performances and Observations that the Jews rested in who had not Faith in Christ And that no Works however so good or holy being performed by men ought to be rested in as a Foundation or ground of Justification for that were to exclude Christ and make his Death of no effect And again when James doth plead so earnestly that men are justified by Works and not by Faith only giving an instance in Abraham and Rahab he only placeth Faith and Works together viz. such Works as accompany true Faith and work together with it as necessary Instruments and Conditions whereby to obtain Justification but not to be the Foundation thereof 8. And whereas Paul generally so much useth that manner of Speech of Justification by Faith it is manifest that by Faith he doth not mean only that single Virtue called Faith but as by way of Synecdoche the most eminent or noted part is put for the whole as when in Scripture as well as in common Speech the Head of a man is put for the whole man Ezek. 33.4 Ezek. 17.9 Even so by Faith the Apostle in these places doth mean the whole complex or systeme or intire Body of the Evangelical Virtues and Graces whereof Faith is as it were the Head and is first in order of Nature at least in respect of the other and sometimes also by Faith he understandeth the whole Evangelical Dispensation and Doctrin as especially in that noted place Gal. 3.23 But before FAITH came we were kept under the Law c. And verse 5. But after that FAITH is come c. Where certainly Paul doth not mean only that single Virtue called Faith but the whole Evangelical Dispensation with all the spiritual Gifts and Graces of it And again Gal. 3.2 Received ye the Spirit by the Works of the Law or by the hearing of Faith which hath the same signification And thus in common Speech among Christians and Christian Writers the Christian Faith doth signifie the whole Christian Religion and Obedience and so Unbelief in Scripture is put for all other Sin that Men generally are under before they believe as Rom. 11.32 9. True Faith in Christ Jesus on whom alone the Soul resteth as on the true Foundation for Justification and all other divine and spiritual gifts blessings is not only a believing in him as he is the Word which was in the beginning with God and is God by whom all things were made and which was in all the Prophets and faithful and holy Men in all Ages but as the same Word did take Flesh and was God manifest in the Flesh justified in the Spirit c. 1 Tim. 3.16 which Paul called The great Mystery of Godlinss to wit Christ crucified and risen again made of a Woman made under the Law the Son of God that did come in the likeness of sinful Flesh made like unto us in all things Sin excepted who being in the form of God and thought it no Robbery to be equal with God humbled himself and took upon him the form of a Servant and was found in the true Form and Nature of a Man the Seed of Abraham and David conceived by the holy Ghost and born of the Virgin Mary at Bethlem in the Land of Judah And thus the true Faith doth not divide Christ but receiveth him and joyneth the Soul unto him entirely to wit the whole and intire Christ both as he did come outwardly in the Flesh and as he did and doth inwardly come in the Spirit and as the said true Faith doth not divide him so nor doth it divide his Offices but taketh or receiveth him in all his Offices as King Priest and Prophet Shepherd Physician Husband c. And as he is called Jerm 23.6 The Lord our Righteousness in Scripture so as none can have him to be their Righteousness and Justification but who have him to be their Lord King and Ruler in them and their Sanctification Wisdom and Redemption And thus every truly believing Soul is as the true Mother of the Child who would not have the Child divided but she who was not the true Mother of the Child she would have the Child divided a true Figure of all false Christians who would have Christ divided and say They believe in Christ without them but do not believe and receive Christ within them as God the Father doth inwardly reveal him or as Ranters and other high Notionists who pretend to believe in Christ as he is the Word and Light in them but slight and blaspheme against Christ that was crucified without them Whereas the true Believer doth both believe in Christ and receive Christ as he came in the Flesh and was crucified for our Sins and rose and ascended into Heaven and is now in Heaven glorified in the intire and perfect Nature of man in Soul and Body appearing in the presence of God for us our Advocate with the Father and also doth believe in him and receive him spiritually to live and dwell in his Heart as he is the Lord that Spirit and the second Adam or heavenly Man the quickning Spirit who is the true spiritual Meat and Drink to every believing Soul even as Christ said I am the true Bread of Life he that eateth me shall live by me 10. And this true Faith in the least true measure of it as it is an act or exercise hath assurance in it of the Love and Mercy of God revealed in Christ Jesus and true infallible Assurance is of the very Nature and Being of true Faith as it is exercised on Christ its true and proper Object and Foundation and upon the Love and Mercy of God the Father revealed in Christ hence Paul said That his Gospel came unto these to whom he preached not in Speech only but in Power and in the holy Ghost and in much Assurance or as the Greek hath it much full Assurance 1 Thes 1.5 And he said further his Preaching was in the Demonstration of the Spirit and of Power 1 Cor. 2.4 5. That their Faith ought not to be in the Wisdom of Man but in the Power of God And this was sure footing and had assurance in it as the building on the sure Rock But they who deny all inward new Revelation of the Spirit it s no wonder they deny that Faith hath Assurance in the Being and Nature of it But without divine inward Revelation which begetteth Assurance there is no true Faith but only Opinion or Conjecture seeing there is no midst betwixt Assurance and Opinion or Conjecture and therefore these Faith-Publishers have denyed the true Faith of God's Elect when they say It may be without Assuranee and that
the World without them or from the natural and mortal part in them that we plead a freedom from for it is readily granted that such Temptations may and do follow the best Men and therefore they ought to watch against them and resist them the which if they do and that they no wise joyn and consent to Temptation it is not sin unto them according to that saying of an Ancient Non nocet sensus si desu Consensus i. e. the sense of the Temptation doth not hurt if the consent be not given unto it 5 thly The Seed or Principle of Evil tho' it remain in the mortal or natural part at times move to evil Thoughts and Desires c. yet not being in any wife joyned nor consented unto neither outwardly in Word or Deed nor inwardly in the least Thought or Desire or delight and love of the Heart yielded unto nor obeyed is not imputed to be Sin unto Men who do not joyn to it nor obey it even as the Seed and Principle of God's Grace of Truth Holiness and Righteousness that is in the Hearts of wicked Men and oft moveth in them to turn and convert them unto God from the evil of their ways yet not being consented or yielded unto nor obeyed by them it is not in that case their Righteousness nor doth it make them in any respect righteous unless they joyn and yield unto it in true Obedience 6thly It is not the same degree and stature of Perfection that God requireth of every one but according to that measure and degree of Grace and Light that God hath imparted to every one to some more to others less but to every one sufficient to the present time and state For he that was faithful in the improving his two Talents to make them four was accepted although he made them not ten as he that was faithful in his five and made them ten and they were both proportionally rewarded hence we read of good and holy Men who are said to be perfect in their Generation according to the Light and Grace that God gave them in their Day and Age. And the high Priest that had on his Breast the Vrim and Thummim that signifieth Lights and Perfections was a Type of Christ our great and only high Priest who hath the Vrim that is Lights and the Thummim that is Perfections and distributeth of these Lights and Perfections variously towards his Saints and Children but to all sufficiently And so the degree of Perfection and perfect Obedience ought to answer to the degree of Light and Grace that God giveth through Christ unto every one and he who is faithful in that degree though he hath not the same equal degree and measure that another hath is perfect in that respect and the Child in the Child's state is perfect being faithful to the Grace and Light that is given him and if he die in that state he is safe and cannot perish as well as he that is a Man in Christ and is come up to the spiritual stature and growth of a spiritual Man So that Faithfulness in the Work and Service of God is that which doth render a Man perfect in the sight of God according to the ability of Light and Grace received whether in the state of a Child Young-man or Elder in Christ And thus I have gone through all the twelve particulars which I charged on the four Teachers whether Presbyterian or Independent at Boston and have given them not only my Assertions but my Arguments against their false and pernicious Doctrins that do not feed but starve and kill the Souls of them that believe and receive them CHAP. IX Of the Constitution and Government of their visible Church who are called Presbyterians and Independents or gathered Churches 1. THe visible Church they define to be or to consist of all those throughout the World that profess the true Religion together with their Children see Confession Cap. 25. Sect. 2. where it doth plainly appear that they require no other qualification to constitute or make the Members of their visible Church but a Profession of the true Religion So that nothing of true Piety or Holiness nothing of the Spirit of God nothing of an inward Possession of Christ or his Life and Power or Grace or heavenly Presence and Appearance is requisit to constitute any Members of their visible Church and thus though all the Members of their visible Church were gross and notorious Hypocrites and meer empty Formalists having only a Form of Godliness without the Power of it they are sufficiently qualified to be their Church-Members yea notoriously slanderous Persons notoriously Lyars Deceivers Drunkards Adulterers Thieves Murderers are qualified Members of their Church for all these and the worst of Men may profess the true Religion It is strange that Independents so called require no more but to profess the true Religion to make People Members of their Church Why did they formerly separate and set up Churches apart not only from the Popish and Episcopal but from the Presbyterian Churches so called if a Profession of the true Religion be enough to qualifie Persons to be Church-Members of their Church Do not those profess the true Religion as well as these called Independents Yea Do not the Presbyterians profess the same Religion in all parts with these called Independents and differ nothing from them but in some small Circumstances of Discipline Government and the like 2. We find no such Church in all the Scripture owned to be a Church of God or Christ that the outward Form or Profession of true Religion doth make a Church of God or Christ But on the contrary these who have the Form of Godliness but have not the Power of it and deny the Power the Scripture bids turn away from them For of this sort are they which creep into Houses c. see 2 Tim. 3.5 6. And consequently these can be no true Church of Christ And as for the distinction of the Church visible and invisible it may be owned in a sense but not in that sense given by them as if to profess the true Religion was sufficient to make a People to be a true visible Church of Christ For the invisible Church and the visible do not differ in Substance or Nature but in some circumstances of Time Places and outward Actions And it may be well allowed that a Company or Assembly of truly holy Men and Women meeting together at certain Times and Places that are known to People among whom they dwell and calling together upon the Name of the Lord and teaching and instructing and edifying one another every one using his spiritual Gift of Ministration whether in Praying or Prophecying to the Edification of the whole may be called a visible Church insomuch that they appear in external or outward and bodily Works and Actions that are visible But as the Body without Life or Spirit is dead and cannot properly be called a Man
so a Church or Assembly of People only professing the true Religion but having nothing of the true Life and Spirit of Christ and whose outward and bodily Services and Works have no inward and spiritual Virtue and Life in them which is that Salt that maketh them savoury and doth recommend them unto God so that he savoureth a sweet savour in them cannot be truly and justly accounted a true Church of Christ For we no where find in Scripture any Society or company of People called the Church of Christ who had nothing but the Profession of the true Religion and although Hypocrites and meer Formalists did outwardly at times mingle or mix with sincere Christians and did assume the same outward Profession with them in former Ages as such were among the Churches of Corinth and Gulatia c. Yet these Hypocrites and meer Formalists who had only the Form but had nothing of the Power and Life of true Religion were no part of the true Church no more than Chaff or Tares that are mixed with Wheat are any part of the Wheat or Dross that is mixed with Silver is any part of the Silver or old Leaven that is mixed with the new Dough is any part of it And therefore it ought to be the work of all the true Members of the true Church to purge out the old Leaven and to be a separate People from all these that have only a Form and Profession of Religion but have nothing of the Power of it 3. The Church of Christ is called his Body frequently in Scripture and every Member thereof is called a Member of Christ and his Body is a living Body and every Member a living Member and that which maketh both the whole Body and every Member thereof living is Christ Jesus the Life living and indwelling in every Member and together with Christ both the Father and the holy Spirit do dwell in every Member of the true Church even as Christ promised it should be John 14.23 If a Man love me he will keep my Words and my Father will love him and We will come unto him and make our abode with him And this WE is the Father the Son and the holy Spirit who are three and one indwelling in every true Member of the Church of Christ and according to this Paul said to the believing Corinthians Know ye not that your Bodies are the Temples of the holy Ghost which dwelleth in you And the holy Ghost which dwelt in them together with the Father and the Son did work every good Work in them and move them in all holy and religious Services and Performances whether to Preach Pray or give Thanks or to meditate and wait upon the Lord in silence And they knew by the inward Teaching and Revelation of God's holy Spirit the proper and fit times when to speak and when to be silent when to preach and when to pray and when to begin and when to make an end they had no Hour-glass to measure out the Time unto them nor an outward Bell hanging in a Steeple to call them together but the Gospel-Bell did ring and sound in their Hearts and this gathered them together in a living way and manner and of this the outward Bells Ex. 28 34 35 that did hang at the High-Priest's Garment with the Pomegranats were Types And this is the living Word even Christ whose inward Voice and Call in the Soul and Heart giveth a joyful sound to that Ear which is opened to hear it and of such it is written Blessed are they that know the joyful sound they shall walk O Lord in the Light of thy Countenance Psal 89.15 4. Moreover the true Church and every Member thereof is said to be of Christ's Flesh and of his Bones and they two are one Flesh Ephes 5.30 31. And they are one Spirit 1 Cor. 6.17 For Christ he is both the Head and Life of the Church which is his Body from whom the whole Body fitly joyned together and compacted by that which every Joynt supplyeth according to the effectual working the Greek hath it Energia in the measure of every part maketh increase of the Body unto the edifying of it self in Love Ephes 4.16 And that which thus knitteth all the Members both unto Christ the Head and one unto another is the Spirit and the Unity of the Spirit is the Bond of Peace for by one Spirit they are all baptized into one Body and do all drink into one Spirit And this is the true gathering of a Church or Churches of Christ that is far beyond all Profession of true Religion or outward Signs or Ceremonies as that of water Baptism which Presbyterians and others use to Initiate or enter People into their Church or outward Covenants and Contracts or Bonds which these called Independents use to initiate or enter People into their Church all which outward things are but Mens Inventions as they are now used whereby to gather and make up Churches And all this is but Mans gathering and work made Things Likenesses and graven Images of heavenly things which the Lord hath forbidden saying Thou shalt not make to thy self any graven Image nor the likeness of any thing in Heaven above c. Exod. 20. For whatever Men make or set up whether it be Church Ordinance or Service without the Spirit and Power of God inwardly moving assisting teaching leading guiding and ordering them so to do is but Man's work a thing of Man's making and all such made Things made Faiths made Churches made Worships made Ordinances without the Spirit and Power of God inwardly revealed are to be abolished shaken and removed and the Voice of God will do it whose Voice of Old did shake Mount Sinai and the Lord hath said Yet once more I shake not the Earth only but the Heavens also And this Voice of the Lord uttered from Heaven hath both shaken abolished and removed many things of Mens making already and in the Lords due time will remove them all and every Plant that is not of the Father's planting he will pluck it up and throw it away And this is a warning unto you O ye Churches and People of New-England altho' Babylon like ye sit as a Queen or have at least so sate some few Years ago and did say in your Heart ye shall see no Widdowhood and have preached it as Doctrin that the sounding of God's Voice from Heaven is althogeter ceased in these days Let this be told unto you it hath not ceased to sound but still doth and shall and the sound of it shall not only shake but utterly remove undo and destroy all your Babylonish buildings And this the Lord will do not by Might nor Power viz. of man but by his own Spirit and the time hastneth and blessed shall he be who receiveth warning and hearkneth unto the counsel of the Lord he who hath Ears to hear let him hear 5. And the true Church is in God the Father and in
the Lord Jesus Christ 1 Thes 1.1 And it is built upon Christ that sure Foundation and Rock of Ages whom Peter confessed unto which Flesh and Blood hath not revealed unto him but the Father in Heaven And upon this Rock so confessed and so known and understood which Flesh and Blood hath not revealed but the Father in Heaven is the true Church built And this is more than a Profession of the true Religion For it is not every one that professeth the true Religion to whom the Father in Heaven hath revealed the Lord Jesus Christ as he did unto Peter and as he doth unto every true and faithful Believer and Confessor of Christ And the true Church that is built on this Rock and every Member thereof they are not only hearers and professors of the Words and Doctrin of Christ but they are doers of them But they who do not although they both hear and say they are foolish Builders and build upon the Sand and such are all these visible Churches who have no other thing to qualifie them but to profess the true Religion Now to profess the true Religion carrieth a two-fold sense one is that the Religion which People profess they call or profess it to be the true Religion and in this sense every one that professeth any Religion at all if he be in earnest professeth the true Religion that is he esteemeth or professeth his Religion to be such The other sense is that the Religion that is professed is indeed the true Religion and is not only so called or professed And according to this sense your visible Churches whether Presbyterian or Independent are no true Churches For the Religion ye profess is not the true Religion of Christ Jesus which he and the Prophets the Evangelists and Apostles did teach as I have already proved in many weighty particulars yea in Fundamentals and in the very Foundation it self which is Christ Jesus on which the true Church is built and every Member thereof But ye who say All inward divine Revelation of Christ is ceased ye build not on Christ but on a meer Hear-say and Historical report of him For how can ye build on him when ye have no belief that Christ is nearer unto you than in some remote place beyond the Skies Can the Walls of the House be built on a Foundation that is altogether remote from it Must not the House and the Foundation be immediately joyned together And must not this Foundation be seen and felt by every Member And is not this incomparably more than the best Profession of true Religion O ye blind Leaders of the Blind How doth my Soul pity you and the poor People more especially who are led by you and whom ye are still seeking to lead until both ye and they fall into the Ditch and ye ill deserve your Wages and the many Hundreds yea Thousands of Pounds that poor People pay Yearly unto you and work sore and hard to feed you and cloath you and your Wives and Children to Luxury and Wantonness many of you while in the mean time under colour and pretence of feeding the Souls of the People ye famish and starve yea poyson and kill them with your false Doctrin as I have through God's assistance sufficiently made appear and I hope yet more to make appear as I have occasion given unto me 6. And Christ Jesus the living elect precious Corner-stone the sure Foundation is laid in Zion and that Zion is not only the heavenly Zion above but the Church and People of God on Earth and Christ Jesus is one both in Heaven without us and also within us even the Man Christ Jesus the same that took hold of the Seed of Abraham and is the Son of Abraham and David according unto that Seed and he is exalted in heavenly Glory in that same Seed and Nature in the whole and intire and perfect Nature of Man in Soul and Body having put off nothing that he had upon Earth but these Weaknesses and Infirmities which he did take on him for our sake even Jesus of Nazareth he who was crucified for our Sins and rose again for our Justification who was dead and is alive and lives for evermore and he who by true Faith is joyned to the Spirit of Christ by the same he is joyned both to Christ in him and also to Christ in Heaven and also to all the Saints in Heaven and the innumerable company of Angels and Spirits of just men made perfect and also unto the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ and both God and Christ are not only in remote places and Heavens without us but also in us and in all his Saints as he hath said Jer. 23.23 24. Am I a God at Hand saith the Lord and not a God afar off Do not I fill Heaven and Earth Saith the Lord. 7. And as to the Government and Governors or Rulers of your visible Churches both Presbyterian and Independent it is of the same Nature with your visible Churches the only qualification of them being an outward profession of Christian Religion and an outward Call which ye are all at a loss where to begin it as I have already proved Cap. 4. accompanied with some natural or acquired Gifts and Abilities of Letter-learning reaching no further than the Letter of the Scripture at best and oft or for most part not that for ye preach not the Letter in the form of sound words of Scripture but have so mingled it with your Glosses and wrested Senses and Meanings and Words of men's wisdom and intentions that it is but little of the very Letter ye preach But if ye did preach the Letter and have not that infallible and unerring Spirit of Christ which was in the true Ministers of Christ in former Ages and is now in his true Ministers in this Age ye are but at best Ministers of the Letter and not Ministers of the Spirit and therefore not Ministers of the New-Testament And what is the use and end of your Government but to keep poor People in Bondage under you and your false Doctrin And if they do not believe it but witness against it then ye cast them out of your Synagogues and yet then will force Maintenance from them as many of you have done And when ye had Power with the Magistrates to instigate and stir them up to persecute honest Dissenters to Whip Stock Imprison spoil Goods cut off Ears and also to put to Death for testifying against your false Doctrins from your false and fallible Spirit I say both false and fallible For seeing ye do not profess to be taught led and guided by the infallible Spirit of Christ which was in the Prophets and Apostles and in all true Christians if ye have not this Spirit your Spirit is not only fallible but false to wit the Spirit of this World For there are but two Spirits that do teach lead and guide all men on Earth the
one is that unerring true and infallible Spirit of Christ which leadeth all God's true Children and the other the Spirit of this World which is the very Devil himself the God of this World that leadeth all Unbelievers and Ungodly Persons in the World and this Spirit is not only fallible but false continually leading into Error as the Spirit of Truth leadeth into all Truth 8. And how are ye not ashamed to cite see Confes cap. 30. sect 1. Isa 9.6 7 Acts 20.17 Matth. 28.18 for your Government and Governors and Elders of your Churches Because it is said Isa 9.6 7. The Government is upon his Shoulders to wit Christ Jesus Doth it therefore follow it is upon yours Or can any be Governors or Rulers in the Church under him without he himself and his holy Spirit Power and Life which hath the heavenly Authority in it be known inwardly revealed which ye deny Was not the Government in the Apostles days altogether derived from the Power and Spirit of Christ in them but yours is quite another thing by your own Confession ye have not that infallible Spirit nor the inward Revelation of it And if ye derive it from the Letter so may any body else as well as ye and say because they have the Letter they are Rulers and Governors of Churches And as to these Elders mentioned Acts 20.17 They were such whom the holy Ghost had made Overseers as is expresly affirmed of them Verse 28. But this ye cannot in truth say who deny all pretence to inward divine Revelation which they had Nor doth Matth. 28.18 make any thing at all for you but against you Christ said to the Apostles All Power in Heaven and in Earth is given unto me go ye therefore and teach all Nations But when said he so unto you Or when gave he you such Commission Or suppose ye had such Commission surely ye are very unfaithful unto it who creep each of you into a House or Town and there only pretend to teach a few that come to hear you So did not the Apostles but travelled from place to place and from one Nation City and Country to another and had no certain dwelling-place by virtue of their said Commission but so do not ye but commonly keep to one place unless a fatter Benefice or more yearly Sallary and Hire invite you to another Will nothing serve your turn but the same Commission which Christ gave the Apostles And if ye have the same Commission are not ye also Apostles A charge which some of you have laid to us But why do ye not mind the other part of the Commission and apply that unto you Acts 1.4 8. And being assembled with them he commanded that they should not depart from Jerusalem but wait for the Promise of the Father which he saith ye have heard of me Verse 8. But ye shall receive Power after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you and ye shall be Witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem and in all Judea and in Samaria and unto the uttermost part of the Earth And though some of you in New-England have made some show of Preaching to the Indians and to have converted them and got great sums of Mony out of Old England on that account Alas to what have ye converted them Is it not very manifest they are generally nothing better than when they were called Heathens but are for most part rather worse Which of them all have ye turned from Darkness to Light and from the Power of Satan to God and to know God and Christ by his Power and Spirit to rule in them Nay alas ye know it not in your selves and preach against it and therefore ye are not like to be Instruments to bring others to know it And if ye say Ye are the Successors of the Apostles and therefore the same Call which he gave unto them he doth give unto you Ye must first prove and demonstrate it that ye succeed them in the same Spirit Power Light and Life and in the same Holiness and Righteousness of Life as well as in Profession before ye ought to be believed but the contrary in all these respects is manifest Nor can ye shew your Line of Succession but from the Church of Rome and her Popes and Bishops which ye have called Antichrist in your Confession of Faith Cap. 25. Sect. 6. as is formerly observed in Cap. 4. 9. And as concerning the visibility of the true Church as it hath been granted that the true Church is oft visible and doth visibly appear in the Face of the World as a City set upon an Hill and doth make a visible and outward Profession of her Faith in Christ Jesus and love to him both in good Words and good Works yet it is not any thing meerly outward and visible that doth infallibly prove or demonstrate her to be the true Church or can make her known to People But it is the same inward Light Spirit and Power of God inwardly revealed that doth make known both Christ the Head and the true Church which is his Body and every true Member thereof And without the Light and Spirit of Christ inwardly shining and revealing both Christ and his Church is unknown unto Men but by the same is well known even as Christ said unto his Disciples John 15.18 If the World hate you ye know that it hated me before it hated you Now whence is it that the World both hateth Christ and his Church Because it knoweth them not And Paul said 2 Cor. 6.9 As unknown and yet well known to wit well known to the Children of the Light who dwell in the Light and see and judge of things and Men in the Light but to them who are in Darkness and are Darkness unknown and therefore hated and persecuted by them CHAP. X. Of their two Sacraments called BAPTISM and the SVPPER 1. AS for the term or word Sacrament it is no where to be found in all the English Translation of the Bible received among Protestants nor is there any Word either in the Hebrew or Greek that doth properly answer unto it unless they will translate the Greek Word that signifieth Mystery to signifie a Sacrament as the old Latin hath it in Ephes 5.32 Hoc est magnum Sacramentum i. e. This is a great Sacrament for which our English Translation readeth more properly this is a great Mystery But if Sacrament signifie Mystery then there must be as many Sacraments as Mysteries and Faith it self is a Sacrament at that rate and true Preaching and Prayer and every other Religious matter and thing all which are holy Mysteries And they who say there are two Sacraments have borrowed these two out of the seven professed by the Church of Rome having cast off and rejected five of the seven for which the said Church doth accuse these latter Churches of Sacriledge and spiritual Robbery to abolish and take away five of the seven Sacraments or rather indeed
time and it was not a bare Figure or Sign that he gave them but in the use of the Bread and Wine he gave them at the same time an inward enjoyment of him And all this we own and are very glad of such occasions when we have them to sit together and eat and drink both outwardly and inwardly enjoying a two-fold Table and Supper at one time and finding the Lord himself spiritually present and blessing both unto us and enabling us to receive both his Spiritual and Temporal Blessings with Prayer and Thanksgiving And such breaking of Bread we own from House to House even outwardly as well as inwardly with singleness and gladness of Heart as the Primitive Christians did of Old sometimes in a lesser Number and sometimes in a greater For at that Supper above mentioned Luke 24.30 there were only present these two Disciples besides Christ himself so that it is not the number whether greater or small that is essential And also we do believe and say that it is our Duty not only in these more solemn Eatings and Drinkings to remember the Lord's death and what he hath done and suffered for us when we thus eat drink together perhaps many belonging to divers Families but also in all our other Eatings and Drinkings and at all other times as it doth please the Lord to enable us and every true Christian hath the Lord's Death Resurrection and his great Love and what he hath done and suffered for us printed as in Capital Letters upon his very Heart and Soul and writ as a living Epistle with the Spirit of the living God upon fleshly Tables and that this ought to be done not only to his more abundant inward and spiritual coming unto us but to be perpetuated and continued by all true Christians to the end of the World and the last coming of Christ And now tell me wherein we are behind you or wherein we fall short of you or what excellency worth or value hath your Supper above and beyond ours But on the contrary hath not ours the advantage every way Seeing we have more frequently both the outward and inward eating and drinking together than ye have the outward and alas the many lean and dead Souls among you void of inward and spiritual discerning taste or savour too manifestly demonstrate ye are generally strangers to the Supper of the Lord. And we also acknowledge the outward eating and drinking is but a figure of the inward and therefore ought not to be rested in but the Substance that is invisible and eternal ought to be minded and sought after above all And though we are not for holding up or preaching of Figures meerly institute for to signifie and represent a thing to come as were these under the Law yet such a Figure as is natural and necessarily to be used by us all as eating and drinking we may not reject For the outward eating and drinking is a natural and necessary Figure of the inward even as the whole outward World is a Figure of the inward and spiritual as Paul doth expresly call it 1 Cor. 7.31 see the â—reek 5. And concerning that ye call your Christian-Sabbath which ye say is the first Day of the Week and ye do positively affirm in your Confession That the Sabbath was changed from the last Day of the Week from the Resurrection of Christ unto the first day of the Week and so to continue unto the end of the World see Confess cap. 21. sect 7. But ye bring no sober proof for any such change and the Scriptures ye cite say no such thing as Gen. 2.2 3. Rev. 1.10 Exod. 20.8 10. Matth. 5.17 That place in Gen. 2.2 3. saith nothing of the first Day but of the seventh Day And what that seventh Day is ye cannot demonstrate And as to the next Scripture Rev. 1.10 where John saith He was in the Spirit on the Lord's Day Although it is more than ye can prove from Scripture that the first Day of the Week is that Lord's Day yet taking it for granted it doth not therefore follow that it was appointed to be the Christian Sabbath But it might be so called because Christ rose upon that day and honoured that day solemnly not only with his rising upon it but appearing at sundry times on that day to his Disciples betwixt his Resurrection and Ascension And that the Christians did usually and more solemnly meet on that day for publick and religious Worship in honour of our Saviour than on other days we readily grant and so also do we according to the Example of the ancient Christians And all true Christians should employ more of their time in religious Works and Services both in private and in publick than the Jews did and ought not to fall short of them but exceed them And that beside other times set apart for the worship of God both in publick and in private it is commendable in Christians to set apart the first day of the Week from common and ordinary labour not only for an ease to their Servants and Cattel but also that they may with the more freedom and cheerful readiness attend upon the Lord and his Service without all incumbrance For experience doth prove it that even bodily Rest from toyl and labour doth contribute to the ease of the Mind and is a help being duly used to disburthen it from divers weights For if the Body be over-charged with labour it is a hurt and clog unto the Mind in divers respects But all this doth not prove that the first day of the Week was appointed for a Sabbath and put in the room of the seventh day of the Week enjoyned to the Jews and People of Israel for that outward Sabbath that was enjoyned unto them was a Sign and Figure as all other outward Sabbaths which they had were as of Weeks Months Years as well as of Days And when the pure Gospel and Christian Dispensation did take place all these figurative and shadowy Sabbaths were changed to the Substance and that Substance or Body is Christ according to Coloss 2.17 But to say the Jewish Sabbath is changed into the first day of the Week is to put the first day of the Week in the room of the Lord Jesus Christ which is a great dishonour unto him for he is the End and Perfection of the Law and of all the shadowy and figurative Ordinances thereof And as the outward Temple that the Jews had is not to be changed into another outward Temple but Christ is the true Temple of the Christians wherein they meet so he is their Sabbath and not any outward day Next as to Exod. 20.8 10. it saith nothing of the first day of the Week nor of one day of seven All this is but Man's invention But it mentioneth the seventh day wherein the Lord rested from all his Works and that Rest signifieth the perfection or finishing of them although as it is said Heb. 4. the
and holy Men witnessed of Old is ceased 11. That human and outward learning without the saving Grace of God and the holy Spirits inward Revelation and Inspiration is sufficient to qualifie a Man to be a Preacher of the Gospel 12. That the Scriptures ought to be believed only for their own outward Evidence and Testimony and not for the inward Evidence and Testimony of the holy Spirit in Mens Hearts I expect your Answer some time this day and remain your Friend G.K. Having received a Blasphemous and Heretical Paper subscribed by one George Keith our answer to it and him is IF he desires Conference to instruct us let him give us his Arguments in writing as well his Assertions If to inform himself let him write his Doubts If to cavil and disturb the Peace of our Churches which we have cause to suspect we have neither list nor leasure to attend his Motions If he would have a Publick Audience let him Print If a private Discourse though he may know where we dwell yet we forget not what the Apostle John saith Ephes 2.10 July the 12th 1688. James Allen Joshua Moody Samuel Willard Cotten Mather To James Allen Joshua Moody Samuel Willard Cotten Mather called Preachers in Boston I Received yours wherein ye give no satisfactory nor reasonable answer to my fair proposal ye call my Letter unto you A blasphemous heretical Paper But wherein it doth contain either Heresie or Blasphemy ye have not mentioned far less demonstrated I pity your Ignorance and I perceive ye are in the same darkness and blindness of Mind that the Jews were in who accused the Lord Jesus Christ of Blasphemy and if he were now among you in the Flesh he would meet with the same entertainment from you for the measure of the same Spirit of Truth which is in his Servants that dwelt in him in all fulness ye blaspheme against But it is well ye have not the Magistrates Sword now at command which your Brethren sometime ago had and made a woful and miserable use of it to turn it against the Innocent And now that ye have no Carnal weapons to fight with we can find no Spiritual weapons that ye have But by silly and frivolou Excuses ye seek to lurk and hide in Corners when ye are fairly and justly required to appear in open Field to defend your false Doctrin To whom shall I liken or compare you but to Night-birds and Beasts of prey as they are described Psal 104.20 21 22. Thou makest Darkness and it is Night wherein all the Beasts of the Forest do creep forth the young Lyons roar after their Prey c. The Sun ariseth they gather themselves together and lay them down in their Dens For now that your Sun of Persecution is gone down and the Sun of Peace is arisen ye have no courage to appear in the open and fair Field to defend your evil Cause only in your Dens and Houses into which ye have crept where the honest People called Quakers have not occasion to hear you ye speak Evil of things ye know not and lie and rail against the Truth And that ye and not we the People called in scorn Quakers are Blasphemers I have not only charged but demonstrated in sundry particulars in this Treatise And yet because I judge ye do so in ignorance I believe it is pardonable and if ye sincerely Repent of it it shall be forgiven you But why are ye afraid of the Light to appear in publick to try your Spiritual strength and weapons when your Carnal are gone Is not that Scripture fulfilled upon you Job 24 16 17. In the dark they dig through Houses which they had marked for themselves in the day time they know not the Light for the Morning is to them even as the Shadow of Death if one know them they are in the terrors of the shadow of Death I do say it in uprightness I writ not this boastingly or glorying in my strength as of self my alone glorying is in the Lord and in his Truth which is the strongest of all that God in his infinite Mercy hath made known unto me and the Truth in the Mouth or Pen of the youngest Child is too strong for all the Goliahs among you Remember that memorable passage of the Barley-Cake that tumbled into the Host of Midian as it was represented to one in a Dream which was the occasion of Gideon's taking courage to go out against the Midianites who was prospered with great success though he and his Men were but a small company Judge 7. And also remember how at the sounding of the Rams Horns the Walls of Jericho fell down flat to the Ground Men of an evil Conscience are commonly afraid Or if ye fear your People lest if any publick Dispute should be they might be in danger to change their mind Is it not the most effectual way to rescue your Sheep if they be in danger suppose we be Wolves as we thank God we are none to appear openly and in a manly way against us and not to suffer the Wolves to hunt the Shepherds for that were a strange thing but that if ye be Shepherds ye hunt the Wolves and seek them out every way and by all means and be glad of every occasion to find them And is your Preaching to the People so little effectual that many Years teaching them is not sufficient to save them from the danger of two or three Hours fair debating of things If your People were built on the Rock ye needed not fear that they would be so soon shaken In your very short Letter ye have very many idle and frivolous Suppositions If this and If that so that in six Lines or seven ye have five needless Suppositions and labour as Men in a Sweat or at least seem so to do to find out the design or intention of my Writing unto you the which is plain without any enquiry for I told you very plainly the end of my writing was to inform you That ye preach unto the People many false and unsound Principles pernicious to the Souls of People And if ye could not receive my Information I profered to debate these things fairly with you And though I neither had nor have the least mind to Cavil yet I most assuredly believe that the Peace of your Churches is not the true Peace of Christ but that both ye and they are set down in a false peace and rest And therefore he who at the command of Christ Jesus and by the motion of his eternal Spirit doth proclaim a holy War and soundeth an alarm in your Ears that Christ himself is come and more abundantly coming to take away your false Peace and to send a spiritual Sword and Fire unto you is really your best Friend and such a Friend I am unto you whether ye will hear or forbear For I came not unto you in my own will but a necessity from the Lord by his living
Motion in my Heart and his living Word that was and is as a Sword and a Fire did lie upon me to clear my self among you And seeing your Churches are no true Churches of Christ as I have sufficiently demonstrated in this Treatise their peace is no true peace and therefore must and will be broken and the sooner it be broken the better it will prove to many poor Souls among you in order to their being gathered unto the Lord. And whereas ye say in your Letter If he would have a publick Audience let him Print Ye see how I have complyed with your Proposal yet not in your will but in the will of the Lord who hath laid it upon me and hath assisted me in this undertaking to write this Treatise and direct it more particularly unto you and more generally to all the Presbyterian and Independent Teachers and People both in New-England or elsewhere to whose Hands by divine Providence it shall come And I require this reasonable demand of you that seeing ye have said Let him Print that after it is come unto you ye would seriously read it and if it please God by it as an Instrument to convince you through his eternal Spirit give God the Glory and confess to the Truth But if otherwise that still ye think ye have Truth on your side then appear in Print openly to defend your Cause not with Railing and Lies but solid Arguments if ye can produce them And if in some places I seem to have appeared sharp unto you or your Brethren in this undertaking I would have you to consider that on a due examination my Arguments and Reasons are full as sharp as my Charges or Conclusions and sharp Premisses can well allow to have sharp Conclusions And what Sharpness or Tartness or seeming Severity I have used true love and compassion to Souls as well as zeal to God's Glory hath constrained it Sweet Potions of Physick are not always the most safe The true Prophets of God were generally led and moved of God to reprove sharply the false Prophets of Old And Christ and the Apostles and other true Teachers did sharply reprove false Teachers in that day and there is the same cause now and the same Spirit of Truth and true Zeal now that moveth in God's true Servants in measure in this day The precious Souls of many Thousands lie at stake and therefore there ought to be plain dealing and no daubing with untempered Morter or sowing Pillows under Arm-holes I know the wrath of Man doth not work the Righteousness of God and I have laboured to keep free from that human Passion and whether I have kept clear and free of it I can and do freely submit to the Judgment of the spiritual Man who hath a spiritual discerning and is able to judge but to the carnal Man's Judgment I have no reason to submit And as I freely submit my Spirit to be tryed so the Doctrin to him that is able and above all I appeal to the holy Scripture as the best outward Test and Touch-stone and to the inward opening of the holy Spirit in all that are sensible of it without which ye cannot but err not knowing the Scriptures nor the Power of God Ye decline my coming privately to your Houses citing for your Warrant John 2. verse 10. but I had no such design however ye miserably misapply that place of Scripture as ye are wont to do many more For ye take it for granted that I bring another Doctrin than the Doctrin of Christ and the Apostles which I altogether deny Secondly what John did write was to a private Woman and therefore doth not quadrate to you who reckon your selves publick Men and Rulers as well as Teachers and Pastors in the Church and I do not find any command or practice in all the Scripture for you to decline a fair Dispute with Men suppose Hereticks or false Teachers unless ye have first dealt with them in order to convince them And even ye ought not to reject an Heretick till after the first and second Admonition according to Scripture but ye never as yet gave me your first And he who is an Heretick is self condemned which I bless God I am not and ye pretend not to that spiritual discerning whereby ye can know me to be such It is not always one nor divers Errors or Mistakes in Judgment that maketh Men worthy of that odious Name of Heretick The Apostle John and all the other Apostles had the infallible Spirit of Truth and that gave them a discerning infallibly to judge both Doctrins and Spirits but this ye neither have nor lay claim to And yet we find that the Apostles did not shun to discourse and debate with Men of ill Principles as occasion and season required And Christ also did unweariedly reason with Opposers of all sorts Jews Pharisees Sadducees c. And Paul disputed daily in the School of Cyrannus with them that opposed and with Epicureans and Libertines and others at Athens and went into the Jews Synagogues and reasoned with them and did not excuse themselves with your silly Evasion that these Men were false Teachers and therefore ought not to be disputed with The Scripture commandeth that in Meekness we should instruct them that oppose themselves if God peradventure may give them Repentance And though this is not the work of all private Christians who have not a publick Gift of teaching and are not called to that Work yet this is no defence unto you who pretend to be publick Teachers And if it be so that false Teachers are on no account to be received into Houses ye little consider how this Weapon may ere long be turned against your selves For my hope is that in due time many People both in Boston and New-England shall have their Eyes opened by the Spirit of the Lord which ye blaspheme to see your sort to be these false Teachers who bring not the Doctrin of Christ and the Apostles and the Houses ye Preach in not being your Houses but the Houses of the People they shall not any more receive you into them and this warrantably enough according to your own words But seeing ye are so unwilling that any called a Quaker should come into your Houses why should ye receive their Goods To wit their Kettles Pewter Houshold-stuff Corn and Cattel as some yea many of your Brethren have done and used them as your own though unjustly taken away from the true Owners because they would not give you Maintenance A rare and unparalled practice no where to be traced in all the Scripture nay not by false Prophets and Teachers in like manner as ye have done And when our honest Friends have expostulated with you Why ye crave Wages of them who do not hear you ye have oft told them The Door is open and have invited them to come yea and some have been fined for not coming to your Houses some call Churches but
Christians but only assumed the Name on purpose to deceive these malicious Heathens did throw it all upon the Christians without making any distinction And the like concerning these Rusticks that rose up in War against their lawful Princes in Germany and the mad Crew that followed John of Leiden The Adversaries of Truth did impute all this as the proper effect of the Reformation And thus also in Old England the ungodly Sayings and Practices of Ranters and Libertines have been odiously cast upon the People called Quakers whereas it is well known that the People called Quakers have always with great zeal opposed the Ranters and Libertines both in their Principles and Practices and have shewed their Zeal against them both in Disputing and Printing against them more than any People have done and have been a great occasion and means of suppressing that evil spirit in them so that little of it hath for many years openly appeared in Old England and the same Ranting Spirit is greatly decaying of late years in these American parts and we hope ere long it shall be quite gone And let the impartial judge whether it can be any other thing but Malice as well as Rashness as he hath shewed his rashness and folly in some other passages of his Life if not Malice that hath occasioned him for some time past to abscond and depart from the place where he preached at Boston in this Increase Mather to charge the Crimes of the Guilty upon the Innocent without distinction when it is notoriously known both in New-England and in all other places where the People called Quakers live that they never did own any of these People from the first instant that they appeared in any of these Practices And seeing ye of the Presbyterian and Independent Churches of New-England cannot but acknowledge that too many unlucky and unchristian Practices have fallen out and have been committed by your Church-Members as Whoredom Drunkenness and and the like c. Yet if when upon your first discovery of these things ye have disowned them and sufficiently cleared your selves of them we are more Men and more reasonable than to charge these things upon you And when Judas betrayed Christ his Lord and Master though he was one of the twelve and numbred among them should therefore this great Crime of Judas be cast upon the eleven that were Innocent Or when David committed these two great Sins of Murder and Adultery should this be cast upon the faithful People of God in that day who were in Society formerly with him Or should the Crime of the incestuous Person at Corinth because of him be cast upon all other Christians If this be not equal as all sober Men will say it is not equal it is no more equal but abominably unjust to throw the Crimes of Thomas Case or his Crew upon the honest People called Quakers of whose Society and Spirit they are not And the said Increase Mather may with the same Impudence charge all the abominable Heresies of the Manichees Nicolaitans Ebionites and all others upon the Christians because all went under that general Name of Christians in these days And these of Case's Crew they call themselves Christians and so doth Increase Mather doth it therefore follow that their Crimes on that only account should be charged upon him Let him see how he can answer to these things or any of his Brethren or Kindred for him in his absence It wanteth to be inserted in his Book that what hath befallen him of late is a remarkable Judgment of God upon him for his Injustice to the Quakers and his unjust charging the Innocent with the Crimes of the Guilty Nor is his last Story concerning one Robert Churchman living at Balsham in Cambridge-Shire in Old England related by H. Moor of any more weight or validity to discredit the Religion or Profession of the People called Quakers than the former Why the said Churchman had only some inclination to be a Quaker but we do not find in all the Relation that ever he was a professed Quaker and owned by that People and some Whimsies or Fancies did take him in the Head for some time that he supposed he was inspired with the Spirit of God and that the Spirit of God did speak in him And at last it appeared that it was not really so but that the Man was under some mistake or delusion or suppose a real possession of the Devil or was mad What can all this say in the least to discredit the Quaker's Religion or Principle Have there not been mad People and whimsical both of the Presbyterian and Independent Churches Yea doth not Increase Mather relate how that Ann Cole of Hartford in New England that was esteemed a godly and gracious Woman and I suppose a Member of some Independent Church or Presbyterian otherwise it is not like he would have so commended her that she was really bodily possessed with the Devil see his fifth Chapter but this doth not infer that either the Presbyterian or Independent Profession of Religion by Increase Mather his own Judgment is of the Devil Yea and some belonging to their Churches in New-England have very lately been convicted of Witchcraft at Boston It cannot be denied but that Madness and melancholy Whimsies and Fancies may befall some of all Professions called Christians the causes of which are best known unto the Lord. But it is altogether unmanly and inhuman as well as Unchristian to charge these things upon the whole Profession We have always asserted it that it is one thing to profess to be led by the Spirit of God and another thing to be really and in deed led by it We are not ignorant how many have both said and done very bad things under a pretence of being led by the Spirit of God and of having the Spirit to be their Rule and yet this is no Argument against the leading and rule of the Spirit of God no more than it is an Argument against the Scripture that many have done bad things and pretended they have had the Scripture to be their Rule in what they did as in the late Wars in Old England and Scotland when they rose up against the lawful Authority wherein many both Presbyterians and Independents were concerned they all did pretend they had the Scripture to be their Rule in what they did and yet surely the Scripture was no Rule nor warrant unto them in these bad Practices The leadings of the true Spirit of God are known both by the first Motions and also by the Effects and Fruits that follow after and that is to deny all Vngodliness and Vnrighteousness and to live Soberly and Godly and Righteously in this present World and to follow and be found in doing whatsoever things are true honest just pure virtuous and praise worthy and of good Report among these who have a spiritual Ability to judge of things that differ as too many have not And we are well
assured that the Spirit of God never teacheth nor leadeth any to think say or do what is contrary to the declared Will of God in the holy Scriptures nor to that holy and righteous Law that is writ by the Finger of God upon the Hearts of Men universally which is the substance of the Decalogue that God writ upon the two Tables of Stone And we readily grant that whoever pretend to follow the Spirit of God to be their inward Guide and Rule should be very cautious and wary lest the evil Spirit that doth and can transform himself into many Likenesses but always short of the Truth step in and deceive But there is a most safe and sure way for every one to be sure that they are not deceived and shall never be in any matter of moment and that is for every one to be faithful unto God in these moral Duties or any other things which they know infallibly and are generally agreed upon by all Christians to be good things for such have the Promise of God that they shall be preserved from being deceived And whereas the said Increase Mather hath writ so many remarkable Judgments of God that have come upon notorious Offenders on purpose to record them in Print and that he saith Cap. 11. We may not judge of Men meerly by outward Accidents which befall them in this World c. And some Lines after he saith Nevertheless a Judgment may be so circumstanced as that the displeasure of Heaven is plainly written upon it in legible Characters And in this he saith true but he should have added that such Men who can read the same must not be blind but have the true Eye opened in them otherwise they will make a wrong Construction of these things There wants to be inserted or added to his Book the many signal and manifest Judgments of God that came upon the People of New-England in general and upon divers particular Persons the main actors for that horrible Persecution they raised against that honest People called Quakers and putting to death four of the Lord's Servants for which the Name of these Actors and Abettors are a stink over many places of the World And of these Judgments in general the blasting of their Wheat generally ever since they put our worthy Friends to Death at Boston and the Indian Wars that soon after followed whereby many English were destroyed And after that but of late Years a dreadful Visitation of the Small-Pox called by some the Black Pock that cut off very many both at Boston and else-where of which they were fore-warned by a Woman that came from Barbadoes and went into some of their Meetings with her Face all made black for a Sign of what was coming upon them she being one of these People called Quakers and owned by them in that very Testimony which she declared she was moved by the Lord to come from Barbadoes to bear among them her Name being Margaret Brewster to which may be added the taking away their Charter and Power which they so grosly abused in turning the Sword against the Innocent one cause of which was their persecuting the Quakers unto Death and the manifest Judgments of God that came upon divers particular Persons notorious Persecutors of that innocent People are very observable as Major Adarton who joyned in passing sentence of Death against some of these Servants of the Lord who suffered Death at Boston who not long after was killed with a Cow and that Horton Preacher at Boston a great Persecutor who dyed suddainly as he was walking in his House after Sermon and Captain Davenport another great Persecutor who was killed with Lightning And though the said Increase Mather doth relate the suddain Deaths of both these men he altogether omitteth these great Circumstances of their being great Persecutors the which ommission whether it was wilfully in him or not I shall not determine But it is the more memorable that the said Major Adarton being warned before-hand of the Judgment of God he made light of it as I was informed by some in New-England who had the Relation of it from some that did so warn him being of that persecuted People And also it is very memorable how one of these persecuted Servants of the Lord called Quakers did plainly fore-tell that the House of Governor Indicot a greater Persecutor should be left desolate and become a Dunghil as did accordingly come to pass and hath been observed by divers to have been a real Prophecy divine Justice and Providence did so bring it about There are many other Instances and Examples might be mentioned some of which I refer to George Bishop his Book called New-England Judged to be there read and considered I shall only add one passage more which I was informed of and had it writ from some of the People of Barnstable how that from an honest-man a Quaker in the Town of Barnstable were taken four Cows with some Calves the Quaker's name being Ralph Jones who is yet alive and these Cattel were taken away by the Preacher of that Town his Son-in-law who had married his Daughter and returned to the Priest as a part of his Wages The Priest sent to Ralph Jones to tell him He might have two of his Cows returned to him if he would send for them But he never sent and so the said Priest used them and disposed of them as his own killed one of the Calfs and sent a part of it to his Daughter that lay in Child-bed she no sooner did eat a little of the Calf but fell into a great trouble and cryed Return home the Man's Cows I hear a great noise of them and so dyed in that trouble The Priest alledged the Quakers had bewitched his Daughter although it cannot be proved that ever they had any business with her But to what evil Construction will not Malice and Hypocrisie and Covetousness bend a thing Some time after the said Preacher killed some of these Cows to be eat in his House saying He would try if the Quakers could bewitch him and not long after he dyed even before the Flesh of these Cows were all eat The passage is so fresh in that Town that it is acknowledged by divers of the Neighbours to be true And as great havock was made upon this honest Man and upon many in Sandwich a neighbouring Town and in many other places so much more might have been expected had not their Violence been restrained by the King 's granting an Indulgence to all tender Consciences Next as to Nath. Morton in his Book called New-England's Memorial pag. 157. he chargeth the Quakers with corrupt and damnable Doctrin in the following particulars 1. That the holy Scriptures were not for the enlightning of Man nor a setled and permanent Rule of Life The which charge is false for we have granted that the Scriptures are a Rule of Life so we do still the best outward Rule that can be found but