that day shall not come except there come a falling away first 2 Thes 2. 1 2 3. And I know this that after my departure shall grievous Wolves enter in among you not sparing the flock Also of your own selves shall men arise speaking perverse things to draw away disciples after them Therefore watch and remember that by the space of three years I ceased not to warn every one night and day with tears Act. 20. 29 30 31. And Jude saith But beloved remember ye the words which were spoken before of the Apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ how that they told you there should be mockers in the last time who should walk after their own ungodly lusts these be they c. Jude Epist ver 17 18 19. I say John speaking of the times which should be after the Apostacy which was then entring saith And I saw no Temple therein that is in the Holy City which had been long trod under foot by the Gentiles of which he speaks he saw no Temple therein Nothing made with hands No Institutions No Ordinations No Appointments of Men Nothing that is made with Men's hands or ordered by Men for the Lord God Almighty saith he and the Lamb are the Temple of it which the outward Temple signified as aforesaid and the City had no need of the Sun saith he neither of the Moon nothing that is made to shine in it for the Glory of God saith he did lighten it and the Lamb is the light thereof Read this in the Light within that which reproves that which makes manifest and there see the Mystery And the Nations saith he of them that are saved shall walk in the Light of it And the Kings of the Earth do bring their Glory and Honour unto it Rev. 21. 22 23 24. And this he spake of the New Jerusalem the Holy City as aforesaid which he saith he saw coming down from God out of Heaven prepared as a Bride adorned for her Husband And I saw saith he a New Heaven and a New Earth for the first Heaven and the first Earth were passed away and there was no more Sea And I heard a gréat Voice out of Heaven saying The Tabernacle of God is with Men and he will dwell with them and they shall be his People and God himself will be with them and be their God And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes and there shall be no more Death neither Sorrow nor Crying neither shall there be any more Pain for the former things are passed away And he that sate upon the Throne said Behold I make all things new Then saith he he said unto me Write for these things are true and faithfull Then he describes the City and the Gates and the Wall and the Foundation and the Light thereof the Glory of God like unto a stone most precious and its form and breadth and height and building and the stones thereof and who should and who should not enter therein and what was in it as the Angel which carried him away in the Spirit to a great and high Mountain shewed to him And this as I said was what should be after the Apostacy and the Overthrow of Babylon and the Casting of Satan the old Deceiver into the Pit and Death and Hell into the Lake and the Destruction of Gog and Magog and the taking of the Beast and of the false Prophet alive and the casting them alive into the Lake of fire burning with brimstone which had brought in and ruled the Apostacy and the Great Supper of the Lord God Almighty wherein was eaten the flesh of Kings and of Captains and of Mighty Men and of Horses and of them that sate of them and the flesh of all men both free and bond both small and great And when the time of the Lamb's Marriage was come and his Wife had made her self ready Rev. 18 19 20 21 chapters Then he saith chap. 22. He said unto me These Sayings are faithful and true and the Lord God of the Holy Prophets sent his Angel to shew unto his Servant the things which must shortly be done Behold I come quickly Blessed is he that keepeth the Sayings of the Prophecy of this Book And he saith he saith unto me Seal not the Sayings of the Prophecy of this Book for the time is at hand He that is Unjust let him be Unjust still and he which is filthy let him be filthy still and he that is righteous let him be righteous still and he that is holy let him be holy still And behold I come quickly and my Reward is with me to give every man according as his work shall be And he closeth up all and saith I Jesus have sent mine Angel to testifie to you these things in the Churches I am the Root and Off-spring of David and the bright and Morning-Star And the Spirit and the Bride say Come and let him that heareth say Come and whosoever will let him take the Water of Life freely For I testifie unto every one that heareth the words of the Prophecy of this Book If any man shall add unto these things God shall add unto him the Plagues that are written in this Book And if any man shall take away from the words of the Book of this Prophecy God shall take away his Part out of the Book of Life and out of the Holy City and from the things that are written in this Book He that testifies these things saith Surely I come quickly Amen Even so come Lord Jesus Chap. 22. 6. to the end Lastly As to the things conversant thereabouts They must stand in the same that the Worship it self and the manner of it doth For it is wholly his own that the Lord accepts For he is a Spirit and he that worships him must worship him in Spirit and Truth throughout and such Worshippers the Father seeketh And he that cometh to God must believe that he is and that he is a Rewarder of them that diligently seek him And Faith is the gift of God and is the evidence of things not seen which cannot be said of any outward thing for that can be seen the substance of things hoped for And whatsoever is not of Faith is sin for it stands not in the Root which is holy Nor proceeds from it in which stands Faith And therefore the Word preached did not profit the Word nigh in the mouth and in the heart which witnesseth to God Christ Jesus Say not in thine heart who shall ascend into Heaven that is to bring Christ down from above Or who shall descend into the Deep that is to bring up Christ again from the Dead but what faith it The Word is nigh thee in thy mouth and in thy heart that is the Word of Faith which we preach said the Apostle Rom. 10. 6 7 8. And the Righteousness which is of Faith saith he speaketh on this wise c. as aforesaid I say the Word this
Word preached did not profit them not being mixed with Faith in them that heard it And without Faith it is impossible to please God This is my wel-beloved Son in whom I am well pleased hear him saith the Lord of his Son in whom he is well pleased in the measure of him and no other And therefore hath he given a measure of him a measure of the Spirit of him to every one to profit withal that every one in it might know how to do his Will so that he need not ask Who shall ascend into the Heaven c. Or who shall descend into the Deep to bring Christ down or up again as a thing without them Nor depend upon another to know the Will of God but as every man must be saved for himself or damned and as the Lord will require an Account of every man and as every man must give an Account to the Lord for himself not for another nor another for him as to the deeds done in the body whether they be good or whether they be evil So hath he put a measure of himself into every man that every man might have in him something of the Lord to Direct him and Guide him and lead him into that which he should do by which he might know what he is to do and how to worship God so as it may be acceptable in his sight For that which pleaseth God stands not in the will of man though it is fit there should be in the Creature a ready mind If there be first a willing mind it is accepted according to that a man hath and not according to that a man hath not 2 Cor. 8. 11. And thy People shall be willing in the day of thy Power in the beauties of Holiness from the Womb of the Morning thou hast the dew of thy Youth Psal 110. 3. My heart is fixed O God my heart is fixed I will sing and give praise Psal 57. 7. because of its Relation unto God and its Dependency on him to be ready when he moves whose Spirit is as the Wind which bloweth where it listeth and thou hearest the sound thereof but knowest not from whence it comes nor whither it goes So is every one saith the Son of God that is born of the Spirit Joh. 3. 8. I say that which pleaseth God in which he will be worshipped standeth not in the Will of man though it 's fit the Creature should be willing and ready when the Lord moves and in the Day of his Power it will be so as aforesaid as that which answers to God is hearkened to and obeyed by which his Power comes to be made known which makes his People willing but in the measure of him in every one which as I have said he hath placed in every one that every one may know how and in what to worship him which every one is to know and in which every one is to believe and to wait to know what is the Will and Counsel of God and how and when and after what manner and in what he will be worshipped that so it may be acceptable in his sight Let the Words of my mouth and the Meditation of my heart be acceptable in thy sight O Lord my strength and my Redeemer Psal 19. 14. prayed the holy man of God For all other Services or things done from this measure of him in the will of man Or of the spirit that is in him that lusteth unto Envy and knows not God is as Swines flesh He that killeth an Ox saith the Lord by the Prophet is as if he slew a Man He that sacrificeth a Lamb as if he cut off a Dogs neck He that offereth an Oblation as if he offered Swines blood He that burneth Incense as if he blessed an Idol Isa 66. 3. and such must come to an account for their Services and Worships as for their Transgressions and Sins and this will be hard when in that Day a man shall find that that which he thought pleased God and he therefore did it as thinking it might please God being deceived by the Enemy to offer that and from that which is not God's from the measure of him which he requires and only accepts is Iniquity For then what is left a man in which he can hope If his Righteousness if his Worships if his Services as he thinks to God be as menstrous rags be iniquity and the Lord is weary to bear them as hath been said and it is a trouble to him and his Soul abhors them and he cannot away with it and it is an Abomination in his sight What then is left a Man wherein to hope Or wherein is it that he can say I am accepted of God seeing that in him alone in the measure of him that which comes from the measure of him Christ Jesus it is that the Lord is well-pleased and that which is done out of him out of the measure of him can have no hope in Christ Nothing that is truly so but all such hope will fail a man and that which is done out of the measure of him is not in him and that which is in him is as he is for as he is so are we in this world 1 Joh. 4. 17. and he that doth righteousness is righteous as he is righteous 1 Joh. 3. 7. And if any man be in Christ Jesus he is a New-creature Old things are passed away behold all things are become new 2 Cor. 5. 17. And this will be found so in the Day wherein the Lord will judge the Secrets of all men by the Man Christ Jesus Therefore it concerneth every one to come to and to heed and to know the measure of God in him whereby to know in what and when and how to worship him and to do that which is acceptable in his sight For God is a Spirit as I have said and they that worship him must worship him in Spirit and in Truth and that which is Letter is not Spirit and therefore the manifestation of the Spirit which is given to every man to profit withal which is that which reproves that which makes manifest must of necessity be come unto heeded and believed in ere there can be a worshipping in spirit or that the Worship which is in spirit which the Father seeketh such to worship him who will be worshipped in spirit and in truth can be known For nothing is known out of its Principle and the Measure of God is the Principle of the things of God in which only God is known and the things that are of him which Principle is as aforesaid which must be come unto believed in and obeyed viz. that which reproves that which makes manifest ere that the Worship of God that which is truly so can be known or the way how to worship him who will be worshipped in spirit and in truth So hither all must come to this Principle to that which is of God in them and from
A LITTLE TREATISE CONCERNING Things Indifferent In Relation unto WORSHIP DIRECTED To the KING and his COUNCIL and all Others who are concerned or do think themselves so to be in matters of RELIGION FOR THEM To Weigh well Mind and Consider if they please ere any Determination be had in Things of that nature By one that loves the Truth and Peace GEORGE BISHOPE All things are lawful for me but all things are not expedient All things are lawful for me but I will not be brought under the power of any 1 Cor. 6. 12. All things are lawful for me but all things are not expedient All things are lawful for me but all things edifie not 1 Cor. 10. 23. Printed in the Year 1663. A LITTLE TREATISE CONCERNING Things Indiferent c. THings Indifferent are so called either from the Nature of the Things themselves Or of the things about which they are Conversant And the General signification of them or of the word Indifferent the Term unto which they relate and by which they are understood is Something that may be done or not done according to the Liberty and Choice of him that doth them or not doth them So that if they be done it imports not any thing of a Necessity and if they be not done it implies not any matter of Guilt but that they may be done or not done according to the pleasure of him who doth them or doth them not And this is the Nature and Signification of Things Indifferent And this I lay down in the first Place because the Nature and Signification of the things treated about are necessary to be opened ere that which is intended there-from comes to be Discoursed Now it may be demanded as to the Thing What are things Indifferent and what not in relation to the Worship of God For that 's the Thing unto which this Little Treatise is terminated by me I Answer Things Indifferent in relation to the Worship of God are to be considered either as things that may be done or not done as being so or things Indifferent in their own Nature or as things that are not so in their own Nature yet are or may be left so by him who orders all things according to the good pleasure of his will especially as to that in which he will be Worshipped And so they may be considered either as to the Worship it self or to the Manner thereof or as to the things that are conversant thereabouts As to the Worship it self there is nothing that can be called Indifferent For nothing is indeed the Worship of God or can be truly called so but what he requires or what proceeds from the measure of him and the very requiring of a thing takes away the Indifferency of it So the Jews who were commanded all the Males of them once in a year to come and appear before the Lord and worship at Jerusalem and to observe New Moons and Sabbaths and to offer Incense and to keep appointed Feasts to Pray there in the Place where he said he would be heard yet they coming in the mind in which they should not come and offering in that which he accepts not which is not of him of the measure of him and from it he said unto them When ye come to appear before me who hath required this at your hand to tread in my Courts Bring no more vain Oblations and all that is so which is not from him the measure of him it proceeds from that which is vain and its end is vain it accomplishes not the thing it intends Incense is an abomination to me the New Moons and Sabbaths the calling of Assemblies I cannot away with It is Iniquity even the solemn Meeting Your New Moons and your appointed Feasts my soul hateth they are a trouble unto me I am weary to bear them And when you spread forth your hands I will hide mine eyes from you yea when ye make many prayers I will not hear And the Reason is subjoyned Your hands are full of blood said the Lord by the Prophet Isa 1. 12 13 14 15. Now if the Jews who were so commanded coming to offer and to tread in his Courts and to pray and to keep dayes and to frequent the solemn Meetings and to observe the appointed Feasts which they were commanded had this said unto them When ye come to appear before me who hath required this at your hand to tread in my Courts because their hands were full of Blood because it was the murtherous spirit in which they came to appear the spirit that is out of Truth the Devil unto which he hath not regard nor to the offering of that which is not from the Spirit of him whom he accepts the spirit of the Devil who was a Lyar from the beginning and abode not in the Truth who caused Cain to slay his Brother about Religion the Murderer which was not accepted nor his Offering who slew his Brother and therefore is said to be of that wicked one and to slay his Brother because his own works were evil and his Brothers righteous how much more will he say it as to that which he requireth not And the reason of this is plain because all such things as are done as Worships and the Lord commandeth them not are Will-Worship or that which proceedeth not from the Lord or the measure of him in man which he only accepts that which is offered from it but from the Creature the spirit which is in the Creature and guides and rules it which is not of God which he doth not accept but is an abomination in his sight The Sacrifice of the wicked is an abomination to the Lord but the Prayer of the upright is his Delight Prov. 15. 8. Therefore it is said They Sacrificed unto Devils not to God to gods whom they knew not to new gods that came newly up whom their Fathers feared not when they Worshipped that or did that Worship which he required not But Jesurun waxed fat and kicked Thou art waxen fat thou art grown thick thou art covered with fatness then he forsook God that made him and lightly esteemed the rock of his salvation they provoked him to jealousie with strange gods with abomination they provoked him to anger They sacrificed to Devils not to God c. though they seemed to pretend to Worship God when they worshipped but not as he required this was a sacrificing to Devils and not to God though he was in their mind or though they thought they worshipped him when it was not from him the measure of him the requirings of him who will be worshipped as he requires the thing and the mind the spirit and the thing And so saith Moses of the Rock that begat thee this was Israel who had a measure of God his first-born something in which he might know how to worship God and from which he will be worshipped and he accepts no other but what comes from it and
is of it Thou art unmindful and hast forgotten God that formed thee when he went from this said the Lord by Israel Deut. 32. 15 16 17 18. And of King Jeroboam who set up the Calves at Dan and at Bethel for Israel to worship and the high Places and ordained Priests unto them which the Lord required not it is said who did it without the command of the Lord And he ordained him Priests for the high Places and for the Devils and for the Calves which he had made 2 Chron. 11. 15. And he it was that made Israel to sin And of the Men of Judah it is said And the Princes thereof when they sacrificed that which the Lord required not They Sacrificed their sons and their daughters unto Devils and shed innocent blood even the blood of their sons and of their daughters whom they sacrificed unto the Idols of Canaan and the Land was polluted with blood Read this within as well as without for the offering up of the mind to a strange god to or in a thing which the Lord requires not is the same for the Birth of God is there strangled and made to pass thorow the fire of that which is offered to that of which the offering is even that from which it proceeds for unto that is the Offering made to that spirit from whence it comes and it being from the Devil it is to the Devil though the Mind may be to God which is deceived and thinks he is worshipped when it is the contrary Thus were they defiled with their own works and went a whoring after their own Inventions such is all that Worship which the Lord requireth not saith the Prophet Psal 106. 37 38 39. And of them who worshipped Stocks and Stones the works of mens hands yet pretended that they minded God therein and did it as a worship to God or that through them they intended the Lord which he required not It is said Confounded be all they that serve graven Images that boast themselves of Idols Worship him all ye Gods Psal 97. 7. And their Idols are silver and gold the work of mens hands they have mouthes but they speak not eyes have they but they see not noses have they but smell not they have hands but they handle not feet have they but they walk not neither speak they through their throats They that make them are like unto them so is every one that trusteth in them Psal 115. 4 5 6 7 8. And Saying to a Stock Thou art my Father and to a Stone thou hast brought me forth For they have turned their back unto me said the Lord and not their face but in the time of their trouble they will say arise and save us But where are the gods that thou hast made thee Let them arise if they can save thee in the time of thy trouble For according to the number of thy Cities are thy gods O Judah said the Lord to and of the Kings Princes Priests and Prophets of Israel who so said to a Stock and to a Stone that is the thing spake it bowing to that which the Lord did not require for that unto which any man doth bow he maketh that his God and puts it as that which hath begot him and which hath brought him forth And what a thing this is to say to a Stock Thou art my father c. let the man whose eyes are open judge Jer. 2. 27 28. As the thief is ashamed saith he when he is found so is the house of Israel ashamed they their Kings their Princes and their Priests and their Prophets saying c. as aforesaid And hence it is that the Apostle speaking of such things as stood in the will of man and were after the Doctrines and Commandments of men and from the Rudiments of the world which he calls all that which stands not in the will of God and the Commandment of him the measure of him in every one who is the Head by whom the Body by joynts and bands having nourishment ministred and knit together encreaseth with the encrease of God saith to the Colossians Let no man beguile you of your reward in a voluntary humility and worshipping of Angels intruding into those things which he hath not seen vainly puffed up with his fleshly mind and not hodling the head from which all the Body by joints and bands having nourishment ministred and knit together increaseth with the increase of God Wherefore if ye be dead with Christ from the Rudiments of the world why as though living in the world are ye subject unto Ordiances Touch not taste not handle not which all are to perish with the using after the commandments and doctrines of men Which things have indeed a shew of wisdom in will-worship and humility and neglecting of the Body not in any honour to the satisfying of the flesh Col. 2. 18 to the end Thus as to the Worship it self Now as to the manner of it The Jews had not Liberty in any thing as to the Manner of the Worship to order and appoint but what the Lord Commanded as they had not for the Worship as the Books of Exodus Leviticus Numbers and Deuteronomy testify at large Nor had David and Solomon liberty as to the Manner of building of the Temple as of the building the figure of this Other not made with hands in which the Sacrifice is to be offered Christ Jesus who is come but it was built for manner as well as matter according to the Pattern which David received from the Spirit of the Lord and which the Lord made David to understand in writing by his hand upon him even all the work of that Pattern 1 Chron. 28. 12 19. and which David gave to Solomon vers 11. c. And Ezekiel had the Pattern of the second Temple from the Spirit of the Lord. And the Apostles were led into all Truth all matter and manner by the Spirit Howbeit saith Christ when he the Spirit of Truth is come he will guide you into all Truth for he shall not speak of himself but whatsoever he shall hear that shall he speak and he will shew you things to come He shall glorifie me for he shall receive of mine and shew it unto you John 16. 12 13. And John speaking of the times after the Apostacy which was to follow yea it entred before the decease of the Apostles as he testifies Little children saith he it is the last time and as ye have heard that Antichrist shall come even now there are many Antichrists whereby we know that it is the last time 1 Joh. 2. 18. And saith Paul Now we beseech you brethren by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and by our gathering together unto him that ye be not soon shaken in mind or be troubled neither by spirit nor by word nor by letter as from us as that the day of Christ is at hand Let no man deceive you by any means for