and I my self with others have shared of in suffering there they have often beaten us and cast water and dirt upon us there they have danced leaped sung and spoken all manner of prophane and ungodly words offered violence and shameful behaviour to grave Woman and Virgins jeared mocked and scoffed asking us If the Spirit was not yet come and much more which were tedious here to relate and all this while we have been seriously and silently sitting together and waiting upon the Lord so that by these things our inward and spiritual Fellowship with God and one another in the pure life of Righteousness hath not been hindered But on the contrary the Lord knowing our sufferings and reproaches for his Testimonies sake hath caused his Power and Glory more to abound among us and hath mightily refreshed us by the sense of his love which hath filled our Souls and so much the rather as we found our selves gathered into the Name of the Lord which is the strong Tower of the Righteous whereby we felt our selves sheltered from receiving any inward hurt through their malice and also that he had delivered us from that vain name and profession of Christianity under which our opposers were not ashamed to bring forth these bitter and cursed Fruits yea sometimes in the midst of this tumult and opposition God would powerfully move some or other of us by his Spirit both to testifie of that joy which notwithstanding their malice we enjoyed and powerfully so declare in the evidence and demonstration of the Spirit against their folly and wickedness so as the power of Truth hath brought them to some measure of quietness and stillness and stopped the impetuous streams of their fury and madness that as ever of old Moses by his Rod divided the Waves of the Red Sea that the Israelites might pass so God hath thus by his Spirit made a way for us in the midst of this raging wickedness peaceably to enjoy and possess him and accomplish our Worship to him So that sometimes upon such occasions several of our opposers and interrupters have hereby been convinced 〈…〉 Truth and gathered from being Persecutors to be Sufferers with 〈…〉 let it not be forgotten but let it be inscribed and abide for a constant remembrance of the thing that in these beastly and bruitish pranks used to molest us in our Spiritual meetings none have been more busie than the Young Students of the Universities who were learning Philosophy and Divinity so called and many of them preparing themselves for the Ministry Should we commit to writing all the abominations committed in this respect by the young fry of the Clergy it would make no small Volumn as the Churches of Christ gathered into his Pure Worship in Oxford and Cambridge in England and Edinburgh and Aberdeen in Scotland where the Universities are can well bear witness § XIV Moreover in this we know that we are partakers of the New Covenant's Dispensation and Disciples of Christ indeed sharing with him of that Spiritual Worship which is performed in the Spirit and in Truth because as he was so are we in this world For the Old Covenant Worship had an outward Glory Temple and Ceremonies and was full of outward Splendor and Majesty having an outward Tabernacle and Altar beautified with Gold Silver and Precious Stones and their Sacrifices were tied to an outward particular place even the outward Mount Zion and those that prayed behoved to pray with their Faces towards that outward Temple and therefore all this behoved to be protected by an outward arm nor could the Jews peaceably have enjoyed it but when they were secured from the violence of their outward Enemies and therefore when at any time their Enemies prevailed over them their Glory was darkned and their Sacrifices stopped and the Face of their Worship marred hence they complain lament and bewail the destroying of the Temple as a loss irreparable But Jesus Christ the Author and Institutor of the New Covenant Worship testifies that God is neither to be worshipped in this nor that place but in the Spirit and in Truth and forasmuch as his Kingdom is not of this World neither doth his Worship consist in it or need either the Wisdom Glory Riches or Splendor of this world to beautifie or adorn it nor yet the outward power or arm of flesh to maintain uphold or protect it but it is and may be performed by those that are spiritually minded notwithstanding all opposition violence and malice of men because it being purely Spiritual it is out of the reach of natural men to interrupt or molest it even as Jesus Christ the Author thereof did enjoy and possess his Spiritual Kingdom while oppressed persecuted and rejected of men and as in despite of the malice and rage of the devil he spoiled principalities and powers triumphing over them and through death destroyed him that had the power of death that is the devil so also all his followers both can and do worship him not onely without the arm of Flesh to protect them but even when oppressed For their worship being spiritual is by the power of the Spirit defended and maintained but such worships as are carnal and consist in carnal and outward ceremonies and observations need a carnal and outward arm to protect them and defend them else they cannot stand and subsist And therefore it appears that the several worships of our opposers both Papists and Protestants are of this kind and not the true Spiritual and New Covenant worship of Christ because as hath been observed they cannot stand without the protection or countenance of the outward Magistrate neither can be performed if there be the least opposition for they are not in the patience of Jesus to serve and worship him with sufferings ignomies calumnies and reproaches And from hence have sprung all those wars fightings and bloodshed among Christians while each by the arm of Flesh endeavoured to defend and protect their own way and worship and from this also sprung up that monstrous opinion of persecution of which we shall speak more at length hereafter § XV. But Fourthly The nature of this Worship which is performed by the Operation of the Spirit the natural man being silent doth appear from these words of Christ John 4.23 24. But the hour cometh and now is when the true Worshippers shall Worship the Father in Spirit and in Truth For the Father seeketh such to Worship him God is a Spirit and they that Worship him must Worship him in Spirit and in Truth This Testimony is the more specially to be observed for that it is both the first chiefest and most ample testimony which Christ gives us of his Christian Worship as different and contradistinguished from that under the Law For First he sheweth that the season is now come wherein the Worship must be in Spirit and in Truth For the Father seeketh such to Worship him so then it is no more a Worship
consisting in outward observations to be performed by man at set times or opportunities which he can do in his own will and by his own natural strength for else it would not differ in matter but only in some circumstances from that under the Law Next as for a reason of this Worship we need not to give any other and indeed none can give a better than that which Christ giveth which I think should be sufficient to satisfie every Christian to wit GOD is a SPIRIT and they that Worship him must Worship him in Spirit and in Truth As this ought to be received because it is the words of Christ so also it is founded upon so clear a demonstration of Reason as sufficiently evidenceth its verity For Christ excellently argues from the analogy that ought to be betwixt the Object and the Worship directed thereunto God is a Spirit Therefore he must be Worshipped in Spirit This is so certain that it can suffer no contradiction Arg. yea and this analogy is so necessary to be minded that under the Law when God instituted and appointed that Ceremonial Worship to the Jews because that Worship was outward that there might be an analogy he saw it necessary to condescend to them as in a special manner to dwell betwixt the Cherubims within the Tabernacle and afterwards to make the Temple of Jerusalem in a sort his habitation and cause something of an outward Glory and Majesty to appear by causing Fire from Heaven to consume the Sacrifices and filling the Temple with a Cloud through and by which mediums visible to the outward Eye he manifested himself proportionably to that outward Worship which he had commanded them to perform So now under the New Covenant he seeing meet in his Wisdom to lead his Children in a path more Heavenly and Spiritual and in a way both more easie and familiar and also purposing to disappoint carnal and outward observations that his may have an Eye more to an inward Glory and Kingdom than to an outward he hath given us for an example hereof the appearance of his Beloved Son the Lord Jesus Christ who instead that Moses delivered the Israelites out of their outward Bondage and by outwardly destroying their Enemies hath delivered and doth deliver us by suffering and dying by the hands of his Enemies thereby Triumphing over the Devil and his and our inward Enemies and delivering us therefrom he hath also instituted an Inward and Spiritual Worship so that God now tieth not his People to the Temple of Jerusalem nor yet unto outward Ceremonies and Observations but taketh the heart of every Christian for a Temple to dwell in and there immediately appeareth and giveth him directions how to serve him in any outward acts Since as Christ argueth God is a Spirit he will now be worshipped in the Spirit where he reveals himself and dwelleth with the contrite in heart Now since it is the heart of man that now is become the Temple of God in which he will be worshipped and no more in particular outward Temples since as Blessed Stephen said out of the Prophet to the Professing Jews of old the Most High dwelleth not in Temples made with hands as before the Glory of the Lord descended to fill the outward Temple it behoved to be purified and cleansed and all polluted stuff removed out of it yea and the place for the Tabernacle was overlaid with Gold the most pretious clean and clearest of all metals so also before God be worshipped in the inward Temple of the heart it must also be purged of its own filth and all its own thoughts and imaginations that so it may be fit to receive the Spirit of God and to be acted by it and doth not this directly lead us to that inward silence of which we have spoken and exactly pointed out And further This Worship must be in Truth intimating that this Spiritual Worship thus acted is only and properly a true Worship as being that which for the reasons above observed can not be counterfeited by the Enemy nor yet performed by the Hypocrite § XVI And though this Worship be indeed very different from the divers established invented Worships among Christians and therefore may seem strange to many yet hath it been testified of commended and practised by the most Pious of all sorts in all ages by many evident Testimonies might be proved so that from the professing and practicing thereof the name of Mysticks hath arisen as of a certain Sect generally commended by all whose Writings are full both of the explanation and of the commendation of this sort of worship where they plentifully assert this inward introversion and abstraction of the mind as they call it from all Images and Thoughts and the prayer of the will yea they look upon this as the heighth of Christian perfection so that some of them though professed Papists do not doubt to affirm that such as have attained this method of Worship or are aiming at it as in a Book called Sancta Sophia put out by the English Benedictines Printed at Doway anno 1657. Tract 1. Sect. 2. cap. 5. Need not nor ought to trouble or busie themselves with frequent and unnecessary Confessions with exercising corporal labours and austerities the using of Vocal Voluntary Prayers the hearing of a number of Masses or set Devotions or exercises to Saints or Prayers for the Dead or having solicitous and distracting cares to gain Indulgences by going to such and such Churches or adjoyning ones self to confraternities or intangling ones self with Vows and Promises because such kind of things hinder the Soul from observing the Operations of the Divine Spirit in it and from having liberty to follow the Spirit whether it would draw her And yet who knows not but that in such kind of observations the very substance of the Popish Religion consisteth Yet nevertheless it appears by this and many other passages which out of their Mystik writers might be mentioned how they look upon this Worship as excelling all other and that such as arrived hereunto had no absolute need of the others yea see the Life of Balthazar Alvares in the same Sancta Sophia Tract 3. Sect. 1. cap. 7. such as tasted of this quickly confessed that the other Forms and Ceremonies of Worship were useless as to them neither did they perform them as things necessary but meerly for order or examples sake and therefore though some of them were so overclouded with the common darkness of their profession yet could they affirm that this Spiritual Worship was still to be retained and sought for though there be a necessity of omitting their outward Ceremonies Hence Bernard as in many other places so in his Epistle to one William Abot of the same order saith Take heed to the Rule of God the Kingdom of God is within you and afterwards saying that rheir outward orders and rules should be observed he adds But otherwise when it shall happen that none
to every man to profit withal This certain Doctrine then being received to wit that there is an Evangelical and saving Light and Grace in all the universality of the Love and Mercy of God towards mankind both in the death of his beloved Son the Lord Jesus Christ and in the manifestation of the Light in the heart is established and confirmed against all the Objections of such as deny it Therefore Christ hath tasted death for every man not only for all kinds of men as some vainly talk but for every one of all kinds the benefit of whose offering is not only extended to such who have the distinct outward knowledg of his death and suffering as the same is declared in the Scriptures but even unto those who are necessarily excluded from the benefit of this knowledg by some inevitable accident which knowledg we willingly confess to be very profitable and comfortable but not absolutely needful unto such from whom God himself hath withheld it yet they may be made partakers of the mystery of his death tho ignorant of the History if they suffer his Seed and Light inlightning their hearts to take in which Light communion with the Father and the Son is enjoyned so as of wicked men to become holy and lovers of that power by whose inward and secret touches they feel themselves turned from the evil to the good and learn to do to others as they would be done by in which Christ himself affirms all to be included As they have then falsly and erreonously taught who have denyed Christ to have died for all Men so neither have they sufficiently taught the Truth who affirming him to have died for all have added the absolute necessity of the outward knowledg thereof in order to the obtaining its saving effects Among whom the Remonstrants of Holland have been chiefly wanting and many other Assertors of universal Redemption in that they have not Placed the extent of this salvation in that Divine and Evangelical Principle of Light and Life wherewith Christ hath enlightned every man that comes into the world which is excellently and evidently held forth in these Scriptures Gen. 6.3 Deut. 30.14 John 1.7 8 9. Rom. 10.8 Tit. 2.11 The Seventh Proposition Concerning Justification As many as resist not this Light but receive the same in them is produced a holy pure and spiritual birth bringing forth holiness righteousness purity and all these other blessed fruits which are acceptable to God by which holy birth to wit Jesus Christ formed within us and working his works in us as we are sanctified so are we justified in the sight of God according to the Apostles words But ye are washed but ye are sanctified but ye are justified in the Name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God Therefore it is not by our works wrought in our will nor yet by good works considered as of themselves but Christ who is both the gift and the giver and the cause producing the effects in us who as he hath reconciled us while we were enemies doth also in his wisdom save us and justifie us after this manner as saith the same Apostle elsewhere according to his mercy he hath saved us by the washing of Regeneration and the renewing of the Holy Ghost The Eighth Proposition Concerning Perfection In whom this holy and pure birth is fully brought forth the body of death and sin comes to be crucified and removed and their hearts united and subjected unto the truth so as not to obey any suggestion or temptation of the evil one but to be free from actual sinning and transgressing of the Law of God and in that respect perfect yet doth this perfection still admit of a growth there remaineth ever in some part a possibility of sinning where the mind doth not most diligently and watchfully attend unto the Lord. The Ninth Proposition Concerning Perseverence and the possibility of falling from Grace Altho this Gift and inward Grace of God be sufficient to work out Salvation yet in those in whom it is resisted it both may and doth become their Condemnation Moreover in whom it hath wrought in part to purifie and sanctifie them in order to their further Perfection by disobedience such may fall from it and turn it to wantoness making Shipwrack of Faith and after having tasted of the Heavenly Gift and been made Partakers of the Holy Ghost again fall away yet such an increase and stability in the Truth may in this Life be attained from which there can not be a total Apostacy The Tenth Proposition Concerning the Ministry As by this Gift or Light of God all true knowledge in things Spiritual is received and revealed so by the same as it is manifested and received in the heart by the strength and power thereof every true Minister of the Gospel is ordained prepared and supplied in the work of the Ministry and by the leading moving and drawing hereof ought every Evangelist and Christian Pastor to be led and ordered in his labour and work of the Gospel both as to the place where as to the Person to whom and as to the times when he is to Minister Moreover who have this Authority may and ought to Preach the Gospel tho without human Commission or Literature as on the other hand who want the Authority of this Divine Gift however Learned or Authorized by the Commissions of Men and Churches are to be esteemed but as deceivers and not true Ministers of the Gospel also who have received this holy and unspotted Gift as they have freely received so are they freely to give without hire or bargaining far less to use it as a Trade to get Money by it yet if God hath called any from their Imployments or Trades by which they acquire their livelihood it may be lawful for such according to the liberty which they feel given them in the Lord to receive such Temporals to wit what may be needful to them for Meat and Cloathing as are freely given them by those to whom they have Communicated spirituals The Eleventh Proposition Concerning Worship All true and acceptable worship to God is offered in the inward and immediate moving and drawing of his own Spirit which is neither limited to places times or Persons for tho we be to worship him always in that we are to fear before him yet as to the outward signification thereof in Prayers Praises or Preachings we ought not to do it where and when we will but where and when we are moved thereunto by the secret Inspirations of his Spirit in our hearts which God heareth and accepteth of and is never wanting to move us thereunto when need is of which he himself is the alone proper Judg all other worship then both Praises Prayers and Preachings which man sets about in his own will and at his own appointment which he can both begin and end at his pleasure do or leave undone as himself
sees meet whether they be a prescribed Form as a Liturgy or Prayers conceived extemporally by the natural strength and faculty of the mind they are all but Superstitions Will-worship and abominable Idolatry in the sight of God which are to be denyed rejected and separated from in this day of his Spiritual arising however it might have pleased him who winked at the times of Ignorance with a respect to the simplicity and integrity of some and of his own innocent Seed which lay as it were buried in the hearts of Men under the mass of Superstition to blow upon the dead and dry bones and to raise some breathings and answer them and that until the day should more clearly dawn and break forth The Twelfth Proposition Concerning Baptism As there is one Lord and one Faith so there is one Baptism which is not the putting away the filth of the flesh but the answer of a good Conscience before God by the Resurrection of Jesus Christ and this Baptisme is a Pure and Spiritual thing to wit the Baptism of the Spirit and fire by which we are buried with him that being washed and purged from our sins we may walk in newness of Life of which the Baptism of John was a figure which was commanded for a time and not to continue for ever as to the Baptism of Infants it is a meer humane Tradition for which neither Precept nor Practice is to be found in all the Scripture The Thirteenth Proposition Concerning the Communion or participation of the body and blood of Christ. The Communion of the Body and Blood of Christ is inward and Spiritual which is the participation of his flesh and blood by which the inward mâ—n is daily nourished in the hearts of those in whom Christ dwells of which things the breaking of bread by Christ with his Disciples was a figure which they even used in the Church for a time who had received the substance for the cause of the weak even as abstaining from things strangled and from blood the washing one anothers feet and the anointing of the sick with Oyl all which are commanded with no less authority and solemnity than the former yet seeing they are but the shaddows of better things they cease in such as have obtained the Substance The Fourteenth Proposition Concerning the Power of the Civil Magistrate in matter purely religious and pertaining to the Conscience Since God hath assumed to himself the power and Dominion of the Conscience who alone can rightly instruct and govern it therefore it is not lawful for any whatsoever by vertue of any Authority or Principality they bear in the Government of this World to force the Consciences of others and therefore all Killing Banishing Fining Imprisoning and other such things which men are afflicted with for the alone exercise of their Conscience or difference in Worship or Opinion proceedeth from the Spirit of Cain the murtherer and is contrary to the Truth providing always that no Man under the pretence of Conscience prejudice his Neighbour in his Life or Estate or do any thing destructive to or inconsistent with human Society in which case the Law is for the transgressor and Justice is to be administred upon all without respect of Persons The Fifteenth Proposition Concerning Salutations and Recreations c. Seeing the chief end of all Religion is to redeem Man from the Spirit and vain Conversation of this World and to lead into inward communion with God before whom if we fear always we are accounted happy therefore all the vain customs and habits thereof both in word and deed are to be rejected and forsaken by those who come to this fear such as the taking off the Hat to a Man the bowings and cringings of the Body and such other Salutations of that kind with all the foolish and superstitious formalities attending them all which Man has invented in his degenerate state to feed his pride in the vain pomp and glory of this World as also the unprofitable Plays frivolous Recreations Sportings and Gaming 's which are invented to pass away the pretious time and divert the mind from the witness of God in the heart and from the living sense of his fear and from that Evangelical Spirit wherewith Christians ought to be leavened and which leads into sobriety gravity and Godly fear in which as we abide the blessing of the Lord is felt to attend us in these actions which we are necessarily engaged in order to the taking care for the sustenance of the outward man AN APOLOGY For the true CHRISTIAN DIVINITY The first Proposition Seeing the heighth of all happiness is placed in the true knowledg of God this is Life eternal to know the true God and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent the true and right understanding of this foundation and ground of knowledg is that which is most necessary to be knâ—wn and believed in the first place HE that desireth to acquire any art or science seeketh first those means by which that art or science is obtained If we ought to do so in things Natural and Earthly how much more then in Spiritual In this affair then should our inquiry be the more diligent because he that errs in the entrance is not so easily reduced again into the right way he that misseth his road from the beginning of his Journey and is deceived in his first Marks at his first seting forth the greater his Mistake is the more difficult will be his Entrance into the right way Thus when a Man first proposeth to himself the knowledg of God from a sense of his own unworthiness and from the great weariness of his mind occasioned by the secret checks of his Conscience and the tender yet real glances of Gods Light upon his Heart the earnest desires he has to be redeemed from his present trouble and the fervent breathings he has to be eased of his disordered Passions and Lusts and to find quietness and peace in the certain knowledg of God and in the assurance of his love and good will towards him makes his heart tender and ready to receive any Impression and so not having then a distinct discerning through forwardness embraceth any thing that brings present ease If either through the reverence he bears to certain persons or from the secret inclination to what doth comply with his natural Disposition he fall upon any Principles or Means by which he apprehends he may come to know God and so doth center himself it will be hard to remove him thence again how wrong soever they may be For the first anguish being over he becomes more hardy and the Enemy being near creates a false peace and a certain confidence which is strengthened by the minds unwillingness to enter again into new doubtfulness or the former anxiety of a search This sufficiently verified in the example of the Pharisees and Jewish Doctors who most of all resisted Christ disdaining to be esteemed ignorant
and really to have conquered Asâ—â— and overcome Pompey c. This knowledg then of Christ which is not by the Revelation of his own Spirit in the heart is no more properly the knowledg of Christ than the pratling of a Parret which has been taught a few words may be said to be the voice of a man for as that or some other Bird may be taught to sound or utter forth a rational sentence as it hath learned it by the outward ear and not from any living principle of reason actuating it So just such is that knowledg of the things of God which the natural and carnal man hath gathered from the words or writings of Spiritual men which are not true to him because conceived in the natural Spirit and so brought forth by the wrong Organ and not proceeding from the Spiritual Principle no more than the words of a man acquired by art and brought forth by the mouth of a Bird not proceeding from a rational Principle are true with respect to the Bird that utters them Wherefore from this Scripture I shall further add this Argument If no man can say Jesus is the Lord but by the Holy Ghost then no man can know Jesus to be the Lord but by the Holy Ghost But the First is true Therefore the Second From this argument there may be another deduced concluding in the very terms of this assertion thus If no man can know Jesus to be the Lord but by the Holy Ghost then can there be no certain knowledg or Revelation of him but by the Spirit But the First is true Therefore the Second § VII The third thing affirmed is That by the Spirit God always revealed himself to his Children For making appear of the truth of this assertion it will be but needful to consider God's manifesting himself towards and in relation to his Creatures from the beginning which resolves it self always herein The First step of all is ascribed hereunto by Moses Gen. 1.2 And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the Waters I think it will not be denied that God's converse with man all along from Adam to Moses was by the immediate manifestation of his Spirit And afterwards through the whole tract of the Law he spake to his Children no otherwaies which as it naturally followeth from the Principles above proved so it cannot be denied by such as acknowledg the Scriptures of Truth to have been written by the inspiration of the Holy Ghost For these writings from Moses to Malachy do declare that during all that time God revealed himself to his Children by his Spirit But if any will object that after th dispensation of the Law God's method of speaking was altered I answer first that God spake alwayes immediatly to the Jewes in that he spake always immediatly to the High-Priest from betwixt the Cherubins who when he entered into the Holy of Holys returning did relate to the whole People the voice and will of God there immediately revealed So that his immediate speaking never ceased in any age Secondly from this immediate fellowship were none shut out who earnestly sought after and waited for it in that many besides the High-Priest who were not so much as of the kindred of Levi nor of the Prophets did receive it and speak from it as it is written Numb 11.25 Where the Spirit is said to have rested upon the seventy Elders which Spirit also reached unto two that were not in the Tabernacle but in the Camp whom when some would have forbidden Moses would not but rejoiced wishing all the Lord's people were Prophets and that he would put his Spirit upon them verse 29. This is also confirmed Neh. 9. Where the Elders of the People after their return from captivity when they began to sanctifie themselves by fasting and prayer in which numbring up the many mercies of God towards their Fathers they say ver 20. Thou gavest also thy good Spirit to instruct them and ver 30. Yet many years didst thou forbear and testifie against them by thy Spirit in thy Prophets Many are the sayings of Spiritual David to this purpose as Psal. 51.13 Take not thy Holy Spirit from me uphold me with thy free Spirit Psal. 139.7 Whither shall I go from thy Spirit Hereunto doth the Prophet Isaiah ascribe the credit of his Testimony saying chap. 48. v. 16. And now the Lord God and his Spirit hath sent me And that God revealed himself to his children under the New Testament to wit to the Apostles Evangelists and primitive Disciples is confessed by all How far now this yet continueth and is to be expected comes hereafter to be spoken to § VIII The fourth thing affirmed is that these Revelations were the object of the Saints faith of old This will easily appear by the definition of Faith and considering what its object is For which we shall not dive into the curious and various notions of the School-men but stay in the plain and positive words of the Apostle Paul who Hebr. 11. describes it two ways Faith saith he is the substance of things hoped for and the evidence of things not seen which as the Apostle illustrateth it in the same chapter by many examples is no other but a firm and certain belief of the mind whereby it resteth and in a sence possesseth the substance of some things hoped for through its confidence in the promise of God And thus the Soul hath a most firm evidence by its faith of things not yet seen nor come to pass The object of this faith is the promse word or testimony of God speaking to the mind Hence it hath been generally affirmed that the object of Faith is Deus loquens c. That is God speaking c. Which is also manifest from all these Examples deduced by the Apostle throughout that whole Chapter whose Faith was founded neither by that outward testimony nor upon the voice and writing of man but upon the revelation of Gods Will manifest unto them and in them as in the Example of Noah ver 7. thus By Faith Noah being warned of God of things not seen as yet moved with fear prepared an Ark to the saving of his House by the which he condemned the World and became Heir of the Righteousness which is by Faith What was here the object of Noahs Faith but God speaking unto him He had not the Writings nor Prophesyings of any going before nor yet the concurrence of any Church or People to strengthen him and yet his Faith in the Word by which he contradicted the whole World saved him and his House Of which also Abraham is set forth as a singular Example being therefore called the Father of the Faithful who is said against hope to have believed in hope In that he only willingly forsook his Fathers Countrey not knowing whether he went In that he believed concerning the coming of Isaac though contrary to natural probability But above all In that he refused not
singularly by his Spirit who from the testimony of the Scriptures perceiving the errors into which such as bear the name of Christians are faln may instruct and teach them and then become authorized by the people's joyning with and accepting of their ministry only Most of them also will affirm that the Spirit herein is subjective and not objective But they say that where a Church is reformed Obj. such as they pretend the Ptotestants Churches are there an ordinary orderly call is necessary and that of the Spirit as extraordinary is not to be sought after alledging that res aliter se habet in ecclesia constituenda quam in ecclesia constituta that is there is a difference in the constituting of a Church and after it is constitute I answer this objection as to us saith nothing seeing we accuse Answ. and are ready from the Scriptures to prove the Protestants guilty of gross errors and needing reformation as well as they did and do the Papists and therefore we may justly lay claim if we would to the same extraordinary call having the same reason for it and as good evidence to prove ours as they had for theirs As for that Maxime viz. that the case is different in a constituting Church and a Church constituted I do not deny it and therefore there may be a greater measure of power required to the one than to the other and God in his Wisdom distributes the same as he seeth meet but that the same immediate assistance of the Spirit is not necessary for ministers in a gathered Church as well as in gathering one I see no solid reason alledged for it For sure Christs promise was to be with his children to the end of the world and they need him no less to preserve and guide his Church and Children than to gather and beget them Nature taught the Gentiles this Maxime Non minor est virtus quam quaerere parta tueri Englished thus For to defend what you attain Requires no less strength than to gain For it is by this inward and immediate operation of the Spirit which Christ hath promised to lead his Children with into all Truth and to teach them all things that Christians are to be led in all steps as well last as first which relates to Gods Glory and their own Salvation as we have heretofore sufficiently proved and therefore need not now repeat it And truly this device of Satan whereby he has got people to put the immediate guidings and leadings of Gods Spirit as an extraordinary thing a far off which their Fore-fathers had but which they now are neither to wait for nor expect is a great cause of the growing Apostacy upon the many gathered Churches and is one great reason why a dry dead barren lifeless spiritless ministry which leavens the people into the same death doth so much abound and is so much overspreading even the Protestant nations that their preachings and worships as well as whole conversation is not to be discerned from Popish by any fresh living zeal or lively Power of the Spirit accompanying it but meerly by the difference of some notions and opinions Obj. § XII Some unwise and unwary Protestants do sometimes object to us that if we have such an immediate call as we lay claim to we ought to confirm it by miracles Answ. But this being an objection once and again objected to the primitive Protestants by the Papists we need but short return the answer to it that they did to the Papists to wit that we need not miracles because we preach no new Gospel but that which is already confirmed by all the miracles of Christ and his Apostles and that we offer nothing but that which we are ready and able to confirm by the testimony of the Scriptures which both already acknowledge to be true And that John the Baptist and divers of the Prophets did none that we hear of and yet were both immediately and extraordinarily sent This is the common Protestant answer therefore may suffice in this place though if need were I could say more to this purpose but that I study brevity § XIII There is also another sort of Protestants to wit the English Independents who differing from the Calvinistical Presbyterians and denying the necessity of this succession or the authority of any National Church take another way affirming that such as have the benefit of the Scriptures any company of people agreeing in the principles of Truth as they find them there declared may constitute among themselves a Church without the authority of any other and may choose to themselves a Pastor who by the Church thus constitute and consenting is authorized requiring only the assistance and concurrence of the Pastors of the neighbouring Churches if any be not so much as absolutely necessary to authorize as decent for orders sake Also they go so far as to affirm that in a Church so constitute any gifted Brother as they call them if he find himself qualified thereto may instruct exhort and preach in the Church though as not having the Pastoral office he cannot administer that they call their Sacraments To this I answer that this was a good step out of the Babylonish darkness and no doubt did proceed from a real discovery of the Truth and from the sense of a great abuse of the promiscuous National gatherings Also this preaching of the Gifted Brethren as they called them did proceed at first from certain lively touches and movings of the Spirit of God upon many But alas because they went not forward that is much decayed among them and the motions of Gods Spirit begin to be denyed and rejected among them now as much as by others But as to their pretended Call from the Scripture I answer The Scripture gives a meer declaration of true things but no call to particular persons so that though I believe the things there written to be true and deny the errors which I find there testified against yet as to these things which may be my particular duty I am still to seek and therefore I can never be resolved in the Scripture whether I such a one by name ought to be a Minister And for the resolving this doubt I must needs recur to the inward and immediate testimony of the Spirit as in the Proposition concerning the Scriptures more at large is shewn § XIV From all this then we do firmly conclude that not only in a general apostasie it is needful men be extraordinarily called and raised up by the Spirit of God but that even when several assemblies or Churches are gathered by the Power of God not only into the belief of the Principles of Truth so as to deny Errors and Heresies but also into the Life Spirit and Power of Christianity so as to be the Body and House of Christ indeed and a fit Spouse for him that he who gathers them doth also for the preserving them in a lively fresh and powerful condition
up a shadow and form of these orders and so make several ranks and degrees to establish a carnal Ministry of mens making without the Life Power and Spirit of Christ this is that work of Anti-christ and Mystery of Iniquity that hath got up in the dark night of Apostasie but in a true Church of Christ gathered together by God not only unto the belief of the principles of Truth but also into the Power Life and Spirit of Christ the Spirit of God is the Orderer Ruler and Governour as in each particular so in the general and when they assemble together to wait upon God and worship and adore him then such as the Spirit sets apart to the Ministry by its Divine Power and Influence opening their Mouths and giving them to exhort reprove and instruct with Vertue and Power these are thus of God ordained and admitted into the Ministry and their brethren cannot but hear them receive them and also honour them for their works sake and so this is not monopolized to a certain kind of men as the Clergy who are to that purpose educated and brought up as other carnal Artists and the rest to be despised as Laicks but it is left to the free Gift of God to chuse any whom he seeth meet thereunto whether rich or poor servant or master young or old yea male or female And such as have this call verifie the Gospel by preaching not in Speech only but also in Power and the Holy Ghost and in much fulness 1 Thes. 1.5 and cannot but be received and heard by the Sheep of Christ. § XXV But if it be objected here Obj. that I seem hereby to make no distinction at all betwixt Ministers and others which is contrary to the Apostle saying 1 Cor. 12.29 Are all Apostles Are all Prophets Are all Teachers c. From thence they insinuate that I also contradict his comparison in that chapter of the Church of Christ with a humane body as where he saith verse 17. If the whole body were an Eye where were the hearing If the whole were hearing where were the smelling c. Also the Apostle not only thus distinguisheth the Ministers of the Church in general from the rest of the Members but also from themselves as naming them distinctly and separately Apostles Prophets Evangelists Pastors and Teachers c. As to the last part of this objection to which I shall first answer Answ. it is apparent that this diversity of Names is not for to distinguish separate Offices but to denote the different and various Operations of the Spirit a manner of Speech frequent with the Apostle Paul wherein he sometimes expatiates to the Illustrating of the Glory and Praise of God's Grace as in particular Rom. 12.6 Having then Gifts differing according to the Grace that is given us whether Prophecy let us Prophecy according to the proportion of Faith Or Ministry let us wait on our Ministring or he that Teacheth on Teaching or he that Exhorteth on Exhortation Now none will say from all this that these are distinct Offices or do not or may not co-incide in one person as may all these other things mentioned by him in the subsequent verses viz. Of Loving being kindly affectioned Fervency of Spirit Hospitality Diligence Blessing Rejoycing c. Which yet he numbers forth as different gifts of the Spirit And according to this objection might be placed as distinct and separate Offices which were most absurd Secondly in these very places mentioned it is clear that it is no real distinction of separate Offices because all acknowledg that Pastors and Teachers which the Apostle there no less separateth and distinguisheth than Pastors and Prophets or Apostles are one and the same and co-incide in the same Office and Person and therefore so may be said of the rest For Prophecy as it signifieth the foretelling of things to come is indeed a distinct Gift but no distinct Office and therefore our Adversaries do not place it among their several orders neither will they deny but that both may be and have been given of God to some that not only have been Pastors and Teachers and that there it hath co incided in one Person with these other Offices but also to some of the Laicks and so it hath been found according to their own concession without the limits of their Clergy Prophecy in the other sense to wit as it signifieth a speaking from the Spirit of Truth is not only peculiar to Pastors and Teachers who ought so to Prophecy but even a common priviledg to the Saints for though to Instruct Teach and Exhort be proper to such as are more particularly called to the work of the Ministry yet it is not so proper to them as not to be when the Saints are met together as any of them are moved by the Spirit common to others For some acts belong to all in such a relation but not only to those within that relation competunt omni sed non Soli thus to see and hear are proper acts of a man seeing it may be properly predicated of him that he heareth and seeth yet are they common to other Creatures also So to Prophecy in this sense is indeed proper to Ministers and Teachers yet not so but that it is common and lawful to other Saints when moved thereunto though it be not proper to them by way of relation because notwithstanding that motion they are not particularly called to the work of the Ministry as appears by 1 Cor. 14. where the Apostle at large declaring the order and ordinary method of the Church saith ver 30 31. But 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 be comforted Which sheweth that none is here excluded But yet that there is a subordination according to the various measures of the Gift received the next verse sheweth And the Spirits of the Prophets are subject to the Prophets For God is not the Author of confusion but of peace Now that Prophecying in this sense may be common to all Saints appears by the 39 verse of the same Chapter where speaking to all in general he saith Therefore Brethren covet to Prophecy and verse 1. he exhorts them saying Covet Spiritual Gifts but the rather that ye may Prophecy Secondly as to Evangelists the same may be said for whoever preacheth the Gospel is really an Evangelist and so consequently every true Minister of the Gospel is one else what proper office can they assign to it unless they should be so foolish as to affirm that none were Evangelists but Matthew Mark Luke and John who wrote the Account of Christ's Life and Sufferings And then it were neither a particular office seeing John and Matthew were Apostles Mark and Luke Pastors and Teachers so that there they co-incided in one and indeed it is absurd to think that upon that particular account the
unholy and proflagate men such were the false Propets and Apostles as appears from Mic. 3.5.11 1 Tim. 6.5 6 7 8. c. 2 Tim. 3.2 2 Pet. 2.1 2 3. 3. The Ministers we plead for are such as act move and labour in the work of the Ministry not from their own meer natural strength and ability but as they are acted moved under-proped assisted and influenced by the Spirit of Christ and Minister according to the Gift received as good stewards of the manifâ—ld Grace of God such were the holy Prophets and Apostles 1 Pet. 4.10 11. 1 Cor. 1.17 1 Cor. 2.3 4 5 13. Acts. 2.4 Matth. 10.20 Mark 13.11 Luke 12.12 1 Cor. 13.2 3. But the Ministers our adversaries plead for are such as wait not for nor expect nor need the Spirit of God to act and move them in the work of the Ministry but what they do they do from their own meer natural strength and ability and what they have gathered and stoln from the letter of the Scripture and other Books and so speak it forth in the strength of their own wisdom and eloquence and not in the evidence and demonstration of the spirit and power Such were the false Prophets and Apostles as appears Jer. 23.30 31 32 34. c. 1 Cor. 4.18 Jude 16. 4. The Ministers we plead for are such as being holy and humble conend not for precedency and priority but rather strive to perfer one anoher and serve one another in love neither desire to be distinguished from the rest by their Garments and large Phylacteries nor seek the greetings in the Market places nor uppermost Rooms at Feasts nor the chief seats in the Synagogues nor yet to be called of men Master c. Such were the holy Prophets and Apostles as appears from Matth. 23.8 9 10. and 20.25 26 27. 4. But the Ministers our Adversaries plead for are such as strive and contend for Superiority and claim precedency over one another affecting and ambitiously seeking after the forementioned things such were the false Prophets and Apostles in time past Matth. 23.5 6 7. 5. The Ministers we plead for are such as having freely received freely give who covet no man's Silver Gold or Garments who seek no man's Goods but seek them and the Salvation of their Souls whose hands supply their own necessities working honestly for Bread to themselves and their Families and if at any time they be called of God so as the work of the Lord hinder them from the use of their Trades take what is freely given them by such to whom they have communicated Spirituals and having food and raiment are therewith content such were the Holy Prophets and Apostles as appears from Matth. 10.8 Act. 20.33 34 35. 1 Tim. 6.8 5. But the Ministers our Adversaries plead for are such as not having freely received will not freely give but are covetous doing that which they ought not for filthy lucres sake as to preach for hire and divine for money and look for their gain from their quarter and prepare War against such as put not into their mouths c. Greedy Dogs which can never have enough Shepherds who feed themselves and not the Flock eating the fat and cloathing themselves with the wool making Merchandise of Souls and following the way of Balaam that loved the wages of Vnrighteousness Such were the false Prophets and Apostles Isa. 56.11 Ezech. 34.2 3 8. Mic. 3.5 11. Tit. 1.10 11. 2 Pet. 2. verses 1 2 3 14.15 And in a word We are for a Holy Spiritual pure and living Ministry where the Ministers are both called qualified and ordered acted and influenced in all the steps of their Ministry by the Spirit of God which being wanting we judg cease to be the Ministers of Christ. But they judging this Life Grace and Spirit no essential part of their Ministry are therefore for the upholding of an humane carnal dry barren fruitless and dead Ministry of which alass we have seen the Fruits in the most part of their Churches of whom that saying of the Lord is certainly verified Jer. 23.32 I sent them not nor commanded them therefore they shall not profit this People at all saith the LORD The Eleventh Proposition Concerning Worship All true and acceptable Worship to God is offered in the inward and immediate moving and drawing of his own Spirit which is neither limited to places times nor persons for though we be to Worship him always and that we are continually to fear before him yet as to the outward signification thereof in Prayers Praises or Preachings we ought not to do it in our own will where and when we will but where and when we are moved thereunto by the stirring and secret Inspiration of the Spirit of God in our hearts which God heareth and accepteth of and is never wanting to move us thereunto when need is of which he himself is the alone proper Judg. All other Worship then both Praises Prayers or Preachings which man sets about in his own will and at his own appointment which he can both begin and end at his pleasure do or leave undone as himself seeth meet whether they be a prescribed form as a Liturgy c. Or Prayers conceived extempore by the Natural strength and Faculty of the mind they are all but Superstitions Will-worship and abominable Idolatry in the sight of God which are now to be denyed and rejected and separated from in this day of his Spiritual arising however it might have pleased him winked at the times of Ignorance with a respect to the simplicity and integrity of some and of his own Innocent Seed which lay as it were buried in the hearts of men under that mass of Superstition to blow upon the dead and dry bones and to raise some breathings of his own and answer them and that until the day should more clearly dawn and break forth § I. THE Duty of man towards God lieth chiefly in these two generals 1. In an Holy conformity to the pure Law and Light of God so as both to forsake the evil and be found in the practice of these perpetual and moral precepts of Righteousness and Equity And 2. In rendring that Reverence Honour and Adoration to God that he requires and demands of us which is comprehended under Worship Of the former we have already spoken as also of the different relations of Christians as they are distinguished by the several measures of Grace received and given to every one and in that respect have their several offices in the Body of Christ which is the Church Now I come to speak of Worship or of those acts whether private or publick general or particular whereby man renders to God that part of his duty which relates immediately to him and as Obedience is better than Sacrifice so neither is any Sacrifice acceptable but that which is done according to the will of him to whom it is offered But men finding it easier to Sacrifice in their own
wills than obey God's will have heaped up Sacrifices without obedience and thinking to deceive God as they do one another give him a shew of Reverence Honour and Worship while they are both inwardly estranged and alienated from his Holy and Righteous Life and wholly strangers to the pure breathings of his Spirit in which the acceptable Sacrifice and Worship is only offered up Hence it is that there is not any thing relating to man's duty towards God which among all sorts of People hath been more vitiated and in which the Devil hath more prevailed than in abusing man's mind concerning this thing and as among many others so among those called Christians nothing hath been more out of order and more corrupted as some Papists and all Protestants do acknowledg As I freely approve whatsoever the Protestants have reformed from Papists in this respect so I meddle not at this time with their controversies about it only it suffices me with them to deny as no part of the true Worship of God that abominable Superstition and Idolatry the Popish Mass the Adoration of Saints and Angels the Veneration of Reliques the Visitation of Sepulchres and all these other Superstitious Ceremonies Confraternities and endless Pilgrimages of the Romish Synagogue Which all may suffice to evince to Protestants that Anti-Christ hath wrought more in this than in any other part of the Christian Religion and so it concerns them narrowly to consider whether herein they have made a clear and perfect Reformation as to which stands the controversie betwixt them and us For we find many of the Branches lopped off by them but the Root yet remaining to wit a Worship acted in and from man's will and spirit and not by and from the Spirit of God for the true Christian and Spiritual Worship of God hath been so early lost and man's wisdom and will hath so quickly and throughly mixed it self herein that both the Apostacy in this respect hath been greatest and the Reformation herefrom as to the evil root most difficult Therefore let not the Reader suddenly stumble at the account of our Proposition in this matter but here us patiently in this respect explain our selves and I hope by the assistance of God to make it appear that though our manner of 〈◊〉 and Doctrine seem most singular and different from all 〈…〉 of Christians yet it is most according to the purest Christian Religion and indeed most needful to be observed and followed and that there be no ground of mistake for that I was necessitate to speak in few words and therefore more obscurely and dubiously in the Proposition it self it is fit in the first place to explain and hold forth out sense and clear the state of the controversie § II. And first let it be considered that what is here affirmed is spoken of the worship of God in Gospel times and not of the worship that was under or before the Law For the particular commands of God to men then are not sufficient to authorize us now to do the same things else we might be supposed at present acceptable to offer Sacrifice as they did which all acknowledge to be ceased So that what might have been both commendable and acceptable under the Law may justly now be charged with superstition yea and Idolatry So that impertinently in this respect doth Arnoldus rage against this Proposition Exercit. Theolog. sect 44. saying that I deny all publick worship and that according to me such as in Enoch 's time publickly began to call upon the Name of the Lord and such as at the command of God went twice up to Jerusalem to worship and that Anna Simeon Mary c. Were Idolaters because they used the publick worship of these times Such a consequence is most impertinent and no less foolish and absurd than if I should infer from Paul's expostulating with the Galatians for their returning to the Jewish Ceremonies that he therefore condemned Moses and all the Prophets as foolish and ignorant because they used those things the forward man not heeding the different dispensation of times ran into this impertinency Though a Spiritual Worship might have been and no doubt was practiced by many under the Law in great simplicity yet will it not follow that it were no superstition to use all those Ceremonies that they used which were by God dispensed to the Jews not as being essential to true worship or necessary as of themselves for transmitting and entertaining an holy fellowship betwixt him and his people but in condescension to them who were inclinable to Idolatty albeit then in this as in most other things the substance was enjoyed under the Law by such as were Spiritual indeed yet was it vailed and surrounded with many Rites and Ceremonies which is no waies lawful for us to use now under the Gospel § III. Secondly albeit I say that this worship is neither limited to times places nor persons yet I would not be understood as if I intended the putting away of all set times and places to worship God forbid I should think of such an opinion Nay we are none of those that forsake the assembly of our selves together but have even certain times and places in which we carefully meet together nor can we be driven thereform by the threats and persecutions of men to wait upon God and worship him To meet together we think necessary for the people of God because so long as we are cloathed with this outward tabernacle there is a necessity to the entertaining of a joynt and visible fellowship and bearing of an outward testimony for God and seeing of the Faces of one another that we concur with our Persons as well as Spirits To be accompanied with that inward love and unity of Spirit doth greatly tend to encourage and refresh the Saints But the limitation we condemn is that whereas the Spirit of God should be the immediate actor moreover perswader and influencer of man in the particular acts of worship when the Saints are met together this Spirit is limited in its operations by setting up a particular man or men to preach and pray in man's will and all the rest are excluded from so much as believing that they are to wait for God's Spirit to move them in such things and so they neglecting that which should quicken them in themselves and not waiting to feel the pure breathings of God's Spirit so as to obey them are led meerly to depend upon the preacher and hear what he will say Secondly in that these peculiar men come not hither to meet with the Lord and to wait for the inward motions and operations of his Spirit and so pray as they feel the Spirit to breath through them and in them and to preach as they find themselves acted and moved by God's Spirit and as he gives utterance so as to speak a word in season to refresh weary Souls and as the present condition and state of the peoples hearts requires
suffering God by his Spirit both to prepare peoples hearts and also give the preacher what may be fit and seasonable for them But he hath hammered together in his closet according to his own will by his humane wisdom and illeterature and by stealing the words of Truth from the letter of the Scriptures and patching together other mens Writings and Observations so much as will hold him speaking an hour while the Glass runs and without waiting or feelling the inward influence of the Spirit of God he declaims that by hap-hazard whether it be fit or seasonable for the peoples condition or no and when he has ended his Sermon he saith his Prayer also in his own will and so there is an end of the business Which customary worship as it is no waies acceptable to God so how unfruitful it is and unprofitable to those that are found in it the present condition of the Nations doth sufficiently declare It appears then that we are not against set times for worship as Arnoldus against this Proposition Sect. 45. No less impertinently alledgeth offering needlesly to prove that which is not denyed only these times being appointed for outward conveniency we may not therefore think with the Papists that these daies are holy and lead people into a superstitious observation of them being perswaded that all daies are alike holy in the sight of God And albeit it be not my present purpose to make a long digression concerning the debates among Protestants concerning the first day of the week commonly called the Lords day yet for as much as it comes fitly in here I shall briefly signifie our sense thereof § IV. We not seeing any ground in Scripture for it cannot be so superstitious as to believe that either the Jewish Sabbath now continues or that the first day of the week is the anti-tipe thereof or the true Christian Sabbath which with Calvin we believe to have a more Spiritual sense and therefore we know no moral obligation by the fourth command or elsewhere to keep the first day of the week more as any other or any holiness inherent in it But first for as much as it is most necessary that there be some time set apart for the Saints to meet together to wait upon God And that secondly it is fit at some times they be freed from their other outward affairs And that thirdly Reason and Equity doth allow that Servants and Beasts have some time allowed them to be eased from their continual labour And that fourthly it appears that the Apostles and primitive Christians did use the first day of the week for these purposes We find our selves sufficiently moved for these to do so also without superstitiously straining the Scriptures for another reason which that it is not to be there found many Protestants yea Calvin himself upon the fourth command hath abundantly evinced And though we therefore meet and abstain from working upon this day yet doth not that hinder us from having meetings also for worship at other times § V. Thirdly though according to the knowledg of God revealed unto us by the Spirit through that more full dispensation of Light which we believe the Lord hath brought about in this day we judg it our duty to hold forth that Pure and Spiritual Worship which is acceptable to God and answerable to the testimony of Christ and his Apostles and likewise to testifie against and deny not only manifest Superstition and Idolatry but also all formal Will-worship which stands not in the power of God yet I say we do not deny the whole Worship of all those that have born the name of Christians even in the Apostacy as if God had never heard their prayers nor accepted any of them God forbid we should be so void of Charity The latter part of the Proposition sheweth the contrary and as we would not be so absurd on the one hand to conclude because of the errors and darkness that many were covered and surrounded with in Babylon that none of their prayers were heard or accepted of God so will we not be so unwary on the other as to conclude that because God heard and pitied them so we ought to continue in these errors and darkness and not come out of Babylon when it is by God discovered unto us The Popish Mass and Vespers I do believe to be as to the matter of them abominable Idolatry and Superstition and so also believe the Protestants yet will either I or they affirm that in the darkness of Popery no upright-hearted men tho zealous in these abominations have been heard of God or accepted of him Who can deny but that both Bernard and Bonaventur Thaulerus Thomas a Kempis and divers others have both known and tasted of the love of God and felt the Power and Vertue of God's Spirit working with them for their Salvation And yet ought we not to forsake and deny those Superstitions which they were found in the Calvinistical Presbyterians do much upbraid and I say not without reason the formality and deadness of the Episcopalian and Lutheran Liturgies and yet as they will not deny but there have been some good men among them so neither dare they refuse but that when that good step was brought in by them of turning the publick Prayers into the vulgar Tongues tho continued in a Liturgy it was acceptable to God and sometimes accompanied with his Power and Presence yet will not the Presbyterians have it from thence concluded that the Common Prayers should still continue so likewise tho we should confess that through the mercy and wonderful condescension of God there have been upright in heart both among Papists and Protestants yet can we not therefore approve of their way in the general or not go on to the upholding of that Spiritual Worship which the Lord is calling all to and so to the testifying against whatsoever stands in the way of it § VI. Fourthly to come then to the state of the Controversie as to the publick Worship we judg it the duty of all to be diligent in the assembling of themselves together and what we have been and are in this matter our enemies in Great Britain who have used all means to hinder our assembling together to Worship God may bear witness and when assembled the great work of one and all ought to be to wait upon God and returning out of their own thoughts and imaginations to feel the Lord's presence and know a gathering into his Name indeed where he is in the midst according to his promise And as every one is thus gathered and so met together inwardly in their Spirits as well as outwardly in their Persons there the secret Power and Vertue of Life is known to refresh the Soul and the pure motions and breathings of God's Spirit are felt to arise from which as words of Declaration Prayers or Praises arise the acceptable Worship is known which edifies the Church and is well-pleasing to God
and no man here limits the Spirit of God nor bringeth forth his own conned and gathered stuff but every one puts that forth which the Lord puts into their hearts and it 's uttered forth not in man's will and wisdom but in the evidence and demonstration of the Spirit and of Power Yea though there be not a word spoken yet is the true Spiritual Worship performed and the body of Christ edified yea it may and hath often faln out among us that divers meetings have past without one word and yet our Souls have been greatly edified and refreshed and our hearts wonderfully overcome with the secret sense of God's Power and Spirit which without words hath been ministred from one Vessel to another This is indeed strange and incredible to the meer natural and carnally-minded man who will be apt to judg all time lost where there is not something spoken that 's obvious to the outward senses and therefore I shall insist a little upon this subject as one that can speak from a certain experience and not by meer hear-say of this Wonderful and Glorious Dispensation which hath so much the more of the Wisdom and Glory of God in it as it 's contrary to the Nature of man's Spirit Will and Wisdom § VII As there can be nothing more opposite to the Natural will and wisdom of man than this silent waiting upon God so neither can it be obtained not rightly comprehended by man but as he layeth down his own wisdom and will so as to be content to be throughly subject to God And therefore it was not preached nor can be so practised but by such as find no outward ceremony no observations no words yea not the best and purest words even the words of Scripture able to satisfie their weary and afflicted Souls because where all these may be the life power and vertue which make such things effectual may be wanting Such I say were necessitate to cease from all outwards and to be silent before the Lord and being directed to that inward principle of Life and Light in themselves as the most excellent Teacher which can never be removed into a corner came thereby to be learned to wait upon God in the measure of Life and Grace received from him and to cease from their own forward words and actings in the natural willing and comprehension and feel after this inward Seed of Life that as it moveth they may move with it and be acted by its power and influenced whether to pray preach or sing And so from this principle of man's being silent and not acting in the things of God of himself until thus acted by God's Light and Grace in the heart did naturally spring that manner of sitting silent together and waiting together upon the Lord. For many thus principled meeting together in the pure fear of the Lord did not apply themselves presently to speak pray or sing c. being afraid to be found acting forwardly in their own wills but each made it their work to retire inwardly to the measure of Grace in themselves not being only silent as to words but even abstaining from all their own Thoughts Imaginations and Desire so watching in a holy dependence upon the Lord and meeting together not only outwardly in one place but thus inwardly in One Spirit and in One Name of Jesus which is his Power and Vertue They come thereby to enjoy and feel the arisings of this Life which as it prevails in each particular becomes as a stood of refreshment and overspreads the whole meeting for man and man's part and wisdom being denyed and chained down in every individual and God exalted and his Grace in dominion in the heart thus his Name comes to be One in all and his Glory breaks forth and covers all and there is such a holy aw and reverence upon every Soul that if the natural part should arise in any or the wise part or what is not one with the Life it would presently be chained down and judged out And when any are through the breaking forth of this power constrained to utter a sentence of exhortation or praise or to breath to the Lord in Prayer then all are sensible of it for the same Life in them answers to it as in water face answereth to face This is that Divine and Spiritual Worship which the World neither knoweth nor understandeth which the Vultures Eye seeth not into Yet many and great are the advantages which my Soul with many others hath tasted of hereby and which would be found of all such as would seriously apply themselves hereunto For when People are gathered thus together not meerly to hear men nor depend upon them but all are inwardly taught to stay their minds upon the Lord and wait for his appearance in their hearts thereby the forward working of the Spirit of man is stayed and hindred from mixing it self with the Worship of God and the form of this Worship is so naked and void of all outward and worldly splendor that all occasion for man's wisdom to be exercised in that superstition and idolatry hath no lodging here and so there being also an inward quietness and retiredness of mind the Witness of God ariseth in the heart and the Light of Christ shineth whereby the Soul cometh to see its own condition And there being many joyned together in this same work there is an inward travel and wrestling and also as the measure of Grace is abode in an overcoming of the power and spirit of darkness and thus we are often greatly strengthned and renewed in 〈…〉 of our minds without a word and we enjoy and possess the 〈…〉 and Communion of the Body and Blood of Christ by which our inward than is nourished and fed Which makes us not to dote upon outward Water and Bread and Wine in our Spiritual things Now as many thus gathered together grow up in the strength power and vertue of Truth and as Truth comes thus to have victory and dominion in their Souls then they receive an utterance and speak steadily to the edification of their Brethren and the pure Life hath a free passage through them and what is thus spoken edifieth the body indeed Such is the evident certainty of that Divine strength that is communicated by thus meeting together and waiting in silence upon God that sometimes when one hath come in that hath been unwatchful and wandring in his mind or suddenly out of the hurry of outward business and so not inwardly gathered with the rest so soon as he retires himself inwardly this Power being in a good measure raised in the whole meeting will suddenly lay hold upon his Spirit and wonderfully help to raise up the good in him and beget him into the sense of the same Power to the melting and warming of his heart even as the warmth would take hold upon a man that is cold coming into a stove or as a flame will lay
strongly exercised as in a day of battle and thereby trembling and a motion of body will be upon most if not upon all wbich as the power of Truth prevails will from pangs and groans end with a sweet sound of thanksgiving and praise and from this the name of Quakers i. e. Tremblers was first reproachfully cast upon us which though it be none of our choosing yet in this respect we are not ashamed of it but have rather reason to rejoyce therefore even that we are sensible of this power that hath often times laid hold upon our adversaries and made them yield unto us and joyn with us and confess to the Truth before they had any distinct or discursive knowledg of our Doctrins so that sometimes many at one Meeting have heen thus convinced and this Power would sometimes also teach to and wonderfully work even in little Children to the admiration and astonishment of many § IX Many are the blessed experiences which I could relate of this silence and manner of Worship yet do I not so much commend and speak of silence as if we had a Law in it to shut out Praying or Preaching or tied our selves thereunto not at all for as our Worship consisteth not in the Words so neither in silence as silence but in an holy dependence of the mind upon God from which dependence silence necessarily follows in the first place until words can be brought forth which are from God's Spirit and God is not wanting to move in his Children to bring forth words of Exhortation or Prayer when it is needful so that of the many gatherings and meetings of such as are convinced of the Truth there is scarce any in whom God raiseth not up some or other to minister to his Brethren that there are few meetings that are altogether silent For when many are met together in this one Life and Name it doth most naturally and frequently excite them to pray to and praise God and stir up one another by mutual exhortation and instructions yet we judg it needful there be in the first place some times of silence during which every one may be gathered inward to the Word and Gift of Grace from which he that ministreth may receive strength to bring forth what he ministreth and that they that hear may have a sense to discern betwixt the precious and the vile and not to hurry into the exercise of these things so soon as the Bell rings as other Christians do yea and we doubt not but assuredly know that the meeting may be good and refreshful though from the sitting down to the rising up thereof there hath not been a word as outwardly spoken and yet Life may have been known to abound in each particular and an inward growing up therein and thereby yea so as words might have been spoken acceptably and from the life yet there being no absolute necessity laid upon any so to do all might have chosen rather quietly and silently to possess and enjoy the Lord in themselves which is very sweet and comfortable to the Soul that hath thus learned to be gathered out of all its own thoughts and workings to feel the Lord to bring forth both the will and the deed which many can declare by a blessed experience though indeed it cannot but be hard for the natural man to receive or believe this Doctrine and therefore it must be rather by a sensible experience and by coming to make proof of it than by arguments that such can be convinced of this thing seeing it is not enough to believe it if they come not also to enjoy and possess it yet in condescension to and for the sake of such as may be the more willing to apply themselves to the practice and experience hereof that they found their understandings convinced of it and that it is founded upon Scripture and Reason I find a freedom of mind to add some few considerations of this kind for the confirmation hereof besides what is before mentioned of our experience § X. That to wait upon God and to watch before him is a duty incumbent upon all I suppose none will deny and that this also is a part of Worship will not be called in question since there is scarce any other so frequently commanded in the Holy Scriptures as may appear from Psal. 27.14.37 v. 7.34 Prov. 20.22 Isa. 30.18 Hosea 12.7 Zach. 3.8 Matth. 24.42 25.13.26.41 Marc. 13.33 35. Luc. 21.36 Act. 1.4.20.31 1 Cor. 16.13 Col. 4.2 1 Thes. 5.6 2 Tim. 4.5 1 Pet. 4.7 Also this duty is often recommended with very great and precious promises as Psal. 25.3.37.9.69.7 Isa. 40.31 Lam. 3.25.26 They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength c. Now how is this waiting upon God or watching before him but by this silence of which we have spoken Which as it is in it self a great and principle duty so it necessarily in order both of nature and time proceedeth all other But that it may be the better and more perfectly understood as it is not only an outward silence of the body but an inward silence of the mind from all its own imaginations and self-cogitations let it be considered according to Truth and to the Principles and Doctrines heretofore affirmed and proved that man is to be considered in a two fold respect to wit in his natural unregenerate and faln state and in his Spiritual and renewed condition from whence ariseth that distinction of the natural and spiritual man so much used by the Apostle and heretofore spoken of also these two births of the mind proceed from the two Seeds in man respectively to wit the good Seed and the evil And from the evil Seed doth not only proceed all manner of gross and abominable wickedness and profanity but also hypocrisie and these wickednesses which the Scripture calls spiritual because it is the Serpent working in and by the natural man in things that are spiritual which having a shew and appearance of good are so much the more hurtful and dangerous as it is Satan transformed and transforming himself into an Angel of Light and therefore doth the Scripture so pressingly and frequently as we have heretofore had occasion to observe shut out and exclude the natural man from medling with the things of God denying his endeavours therein though acted and performed by the most eminent of his parts as of wisdom and utterance Also this spiritual wickedness is of two sorts though both one in kind as proceeding from one root yet different in their degrees and in the subjects also sometimes The one is when as the natural man is medling in and working in the things of Religion doth from his own conceptions and divinations affirm or propose wrong and erroneous notions and opinions of God and things spiritual and invent superstitions ceremonies observations and rites in worship from whence have sprung all the Heresies and Superstitions that are among Christians The other is when as
the natural man from a meer conviction of his understanding doth in the forwardness of his own will and by his own natural strength without the influence and leading of God's Spirit go about either in his understanding to imagine conceive or think of the things of God or actually to perform them by preaching or praying The first is a missing both in matter and form The second is a retaining of the form without the Life and Substance of Christianity because Christian Religion consisteth not in a meer belief of true Doctrins or a meer performance of Acts good in themselves or else the bare letter of the Scripture though spoken by a Drunkard or a Devil might be said to be Spirit and Life which I judg none will be so absurd as to affirm and also it would follow that where the form of godliness is there the power is also which is contrary to the express words of the Apostle For the form of godliness cannot be said to be where either the notions and opinions believed are erroneous and ungodly or the acts performed evil and wicked for then it would be the form of ungodliness and not of godliness But of this further hereafter when we shall speak particularly of preaching and praying Now though this last be not so bad as the former yet it hath made way for it for men having first departed from the Life and Substance of true Religion and Worship to wit from the inward Power and Vertue of the Spirit so as therein to act and thereby to have all their actions enlivened have only retained the form and shew to wit the true words and appearance and so acting in their own natural and unrenewed wills in this form the form could not but quickly decay and be vitiated for the working and active spirit of man could not contain it self within the simplicity and plainness of Truth but giving way to his own numerous inventions and imaginations began to vary in the form and adapt it to his own inventions until by degrees the form of godliness for the most part came to be lost as well as the power For this kind of Idolatry whereby man loveth idolizeth and huggeth his own conceptions inventions and product of his own brain is so incident unto him and seated in his faln nature that so long as his natural Spirit is the first author and actor of him and is that by which he only is guided and moved in his worship towards God so as not first to wait for another Guide to direct him he can never perform the pure Spiritual Worship nor bring forth any thing but the Fruit of the first faln natural and corrupt root Wherefore the time appointed of God being come wherein by Jesus Christ he hath been pleased to restore the true Spiritual Worship and the outward form of Worship which was appointed by God to the Jews and whereof the manner and time of its performance was particularly determined by God himself being come to an end we find that Jesus Christ the Author of the Christian Religion prescribes no set form of Worship to his Children under the more pure administration of the New Covenant save that he only tells them that the Worship now to be performed is Spiritual and in the Spirit and it 's especially to be observed that in the whole New Testament there is no order nor command given in this thing but to follow the Revelation of the Spirit save only that general of meeting together a thing dearly owned and diligently practised by us as shall hereafter more appear True it is mention is made of the duties of Praying Preaching and Singing but what order or method should be kept in so doing or that presently they should be set about so soon as the Saints are gathered there is not one word to be found yea these duties as shall afterwards be made appear are always annexed to the assistance leadings and motions of God's Spirit Since then man in his natural state is thus excluded from acting or moving in things Spiritual how or what way shall he exercise this first and previous duty of waiting upon God but by silence and by bringing that natural part to silence Which is no otherwaies but by abstaining from his own Thoughts and Imaginations and from all the self-workings and motions of his own mind as well in things materially good as evil that he being silent God may speak in him and the Good Seed may arise This though hard to the natural man is so answerable to Reason and even natural experience in other things that it cannot be denyed He that cometh to learn of a master if he expect to hear his master and be instructed by him must not continually be speaking of the matter to be taught and never be quiet otherwise how shall his master have time to instruct him yea though the schollar were never so earnest to learn the science yet would the master have reason to reprove him as untoward and indocile if he would always be meddling of himself and still speaking and not wait in silence patiently to hear his master instructing and teaching him who ought not to open a mouth until by his master he were commanded and allowed so to do So also if one were about to attend a great Prince he would be thought an impertinent and imprudent servant who while he ought patiently and readily to wait that he might answer the King when he speaks and have his Eye upon him to observe the least motions and inclinations of his will and to do accordingly would be still deafening him with discourse though it were in praises of him and running to and fro without any particular and immediate order to do things that perhaps might be good in themselves or might have been commanded at other times to others Would the Kings of the Earth accept of such servants or service Since then we are commanded to wait upon God diligently and in so doing it is promised that our strength shall be renewed this waiting cannot be performed but by silence or cessation of the natural part on our side since God manifests himself not to the outward man or senses so much as to the inward to wit to the Soul and Spirit if the Soul be still thinking and working in her own will and busily exercised in her own imaginations though the matters as in themselves may be good concerning God yet thereby she incapacitates her self from discerning the still and small voyce of the Spirit and so hurts her self greatly in that she neglects her chief business of waiting upon the Lord nothing less than if I should busie my self crying out and speaking of a business while in the mean time I neglect to hear one who is quietly whispering into my ear and informing me in these things which are most needful for me to hear and know concerning that business And since it is the chief work of a Christian to know the
that envious Spirit of man's Eternal Happyness knoweth well how to accomodate himself and fit his snares for all the several dispositions and inclinations of men if he find one not fit to be engaged with gross Sins or Worldly Lusts but rather averse from them and Religiously inclined he can fit himself to beguile such an one by suffering his Thoughts and Imaginations to run upon Spiritual matters and so hurry them to work act and meditate in their own wills for he well knoweth that so long as self bears rule and the Spirit of God is not the principal and chief Actor man is not put out of his reach so therefore he can accompany the Priest to the Altar the Preacher to the Pulpit the Zealot to his Prayers yea the Doctor and Professor of Divinity to his Study and there he can chearfully suffer him to labour and work among his Books yea and help him to find out and invent subtle distinctions and quiddities by which both his mind and others through him may be kept from heeding God's Light in the Conscience and waiting upon him There is not any exercise whatsoever wherein he cannot enter and have a chief place so as the Soul many times cannot discern it except in this alone for he can only work in and by the natural man and his Faculties by secretly acting upon his Imaginations and desires c. And therefore when he to wit the natural man is silent there he must also stand And therefore when the Soul comes to this silence and as it were is brought to nothingness as to her own workings then the Devil is shut out for the Pure Presence of God and shining of his Light he cannot abide because so long as a man is thinking and meditating as of himself he cannot be sure but the devil is influencing him therein but when he comes wholly to be silent as the Pure Light of God shines in upon him then he is sure that the Devil is shut out for beyond the imaginations he cannot go which we often find by sensible experience For he that of old is said to have come to the gathering together of the Children of God is not wanting to come to our Assemblies and indeed he can well enter and work in a meeting that 's silent only as to words either by keeping the minds in various thoughts and imaginations or by stupifying them so as to overwhelm them with a spirit of heavynses and sloathfulness but when we retire out of all and are returned in both by being diligent and watchful upon the one hand and also silent and retired out of all our thoughts upon the other as we abide in this sure place we feel our selves out of his reach yea often-times the Power and Glory of God will break forth and appear just as the bright Sun through many Clouds and Mists to the dispelling of that Power of Darkness which will also be sensibly felt seeking to cloud and darken the mind and wholly to keep it from purely waiting upon God § XIII Thirdly The excellency of this Worship doth appear in that it can neither be stopped nor interrupted by the malice of Men or Devils as all other can Now interruptions and stoppings of Worship may be understood in a twofold respect either as we are hindered from meeting as being outwardly by violence separated one from another or when permitted to meet together as we are interrupted by the Tumult Noise and Confusion which such as are malitious may use to molest or distract us Now in both these respects this Worship doth greatly overpass all others for how far soever People be separate or hindred from coming together yet as every one is inwardly gathered to the measure of Life in himself there is a secret unity and fellowship enjoyed which the Devil and all his Instruments can never break or hinder But Secondly it doth as well appear as to these molestations which occur when we are met together what advantage this True and Spiritual Worship gives us beyond all others seeing in despite of a thousand interruptions and abuses one of which were sufficient to have stopped all other sorts of Christians we have been able through the Nature of this Worship to keep it uninterrupted as to God and also at the same time to shew forth an example of our Christian Patience towards all even often-times to the reaching and convincing of our opposers for there is no sort of Worship used by others which can subsist though they be permitted to meet unless they be either authorized and protected by the Magistrate or defend themselves with the Arm of Flesh but we at the same time exercise Worship towards God and also patiently bear the reproaches and ignominies which Christ Prophesied should be so incident and frequent to Christians for how can the Papists say their Mass if there be any there to disturb and interrupt them Do but take away the Mass-book the Calice the Host or the Priest's Garments yea do but spill the Water or the Wine or blow out the Candles a thing quickly done and the whole business is marred and no Sacrifice can be offered Take from the Lutherans or Episcopalians their Liturgy or Common Prayer Book and no service can be said Remove from the Calvinists Arminians Socinians Independants or Anabaptists the Pulpit the Bible and the Hour-glass or make but such a noise as the Voice of the Preacher cannot be heard or disturb him but so before he come or strip him of his Bible and his Books and he must be dumb for they all think it an Heresie to wait to speak as the Spirit of God giveth utterance and thus easily their whole Worship may be marred But when People meet together and their Worship consisteth not in such outward acts and they depend not upon any ones speaking but meerly sit down to wait upon God and to be gathered out of all visibles and to feel the Lord in Spirit none of these things can hinder them of which we may say of a truth we are sensible witnesses for when the Magistrates stirred up by the malice and envy of our opposers have used all means possible and yet in vain to deter us from meeting together and that openly and publickly in our own hired Houses for that purpose both Death Banishments Imprisonments Finings Beatings Whippings and other such Devilish Inventions have proved ineffectual to terrifie us from our Holy Aâ—â—â—…blies I say and we having thus often-times purchased our Liberty to meet by deep sufferings our opposers have then taken another way by turning in upon us the worst and wickedest People yea the very off scourings of men who by all manner of inhumane beastly and bruitish behaviour have sought to provoke us weary us and molest us but in vain It would be almost incredible to declare and indeed a shame that among many men pretending to be Christians it should be mentioned what things of this kind mens eyes have seen
of these two must be omitted in such a case these are much rather to be omitted than those former for by how much the Spirit is more excellent and noble than the Body by so much are Spiritual exercises more profitable than corporal Is not that then the best of Worships which the best of men in all ages and of all sects have commended and which is most suitable to the Doctrine of Christ I say is not that Worship to be followed and performed And so much the rather as God hath raised a People to testifie for it and preach it to their great refreshment and strengthening in the very face of the World and notwithstanding much opposition who do not as these Mystiks make of it a mystery only to be attained by a few men or women in a Cloyster or as their mistake was after wearying themselves with many outward Ceremonies and Observations as if it were the consequences of such a labour But who in the free love of God who respects not Persons and was near to hear and reveal himself as well to Cornelius a Centurion and a Roman as to Simeon and Anna and who discovered his Glory to Mary a poor Hand-maid and to the poor Shepherds rather than to the High Priests and Devout Proselytes among the Jews in and according to his free love finding that God is revealing and establishing this Worship and making many poor Trades-men yea young boys and girles witnesses of it do intreat and beseech all to lay aside their own will-Will-worships and voluntary acts performed in their own wills and by their own meer natural strength and power without retiring out of their own vain imaginations and thoughts or feeling the pure Spirit of God to move and stir in them that they may come to practise this acceptable worship which is in Spirit and in Truth But against this worship they object § XVII First It seems to be an unprofitable exercise Obj. for a man to be doing or thinking nothing and that one might be much better imployed either in meditating upon some good subject or otherwise praying to or praising God I answer That is not unprofitable which is of absolute necessity before any other duty can be acceptably performed Answ. as we have shewn this waiting to be Moreover those have but a carnal and gross apprehension of God and of the things of his Kingdom that imagine that men please him by their own workings and actings whereas as hath been shewn the first step for a man to fear God is to cease from his own thoughts and imaginations and suffer God's Spirit to work in him for we must cease to do evil ere we learn to do well and this medling in things Spiritual by man's own natural understanding is one of the greatest and most dangerous evils that man is incident to being that which occasioned our first Parents fall to wit a forwardness to desire to know things and a medling with them both without and contrary to the Lord's command Obj. Secondly some object if your worship meerly consist in inwardly retiring to the Lord and feeling of his Spirit arise in you and then to do outward acts as ye are led by it what need ye have publick meetings at set times and places since every one may enjoy this at home or should not every one stay at home until they be particularly moved to go to such a place at such a time since to meet at set times and places seems to be an outward observation and ceremony contrary to what ye at other times assert Answ. I answer first To meet at set times and places is not any religious act or part of worship in it self but only an outward conveniency necessary for our seeing one another so long as we are cloathed with this outward Tabernacle and therefore our meeting at set times and places is not a part of our worshsp but a preparatory accommodation of our outward man in order to a publick visible worship since we set not about the visible acts of worship when we meet together until we be led thereunto Secondly God hath seen meet so long as his Children are in this world to make use of the outward senses as a means to convey Spiritual Life as by speaking praying c. which cannot be done to mutual edification but when we hear and see one another but also for to entertain an outward visible testimony for his Name in the world he causeth the inward Life which is also many times not conveyed by the outward senses the more to abound when his Children assemble themselves diligently together to wait upon him that as Iron sharpeneth Iron so the seeing of the face one of another when both are inwardly gathered unto the Life giveth occasion for the Life secretly to arise and pass from vessel to vessel and as many Candles lighted and put in one place do greatly augment the light and makes it more to shine forth so when many are gathered together into the same Life there is more of the Glory of God and his Power appears to the refreshment of each individual for that he partakes not only of the Light and Life raised in himself but in all the rest and therefore Christ hath particularly promised a blessing to such as assemble together in his Name seeing he will be in the midst of them Matth. 18.20 And the Author to the Hebrews doth precisely prohibit the neglect of this duty as being of very dangerous and dreadful consequence in these words Heb· 10.24 And let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works Not forsaking the assembling of our selves together as the manner of some is For if we sin wilfully after that we have received the knowledg of the Truth there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins And therefore the Lord hath shewn that he hath a particular respect to such as thus assemble themselves together because that thereby a publick testimony for him is upheld in the earth and his Name is thereby glorified and therefore such as are right in their Spirits are naturally drawn to keep the Meetings of God's People and never want a Spiritual influence to lead them thereunto And if any do it in a meer customary way they will no doubt suffer condemnation for it Yet cannot the appointing of places and times be accounted a ceremony and observation done in man's will in the worship of God seeing none can say it is an act of worship but only a meer presenting of our persons in order to it as is abovesaid Which that it was practised by the primitive Church and Saints all our adverlaries do acknowledg Lastly some object Obj. That this manner of Worship in silence is not to be found in all the Scripture I answer We make not silence to be the sole matter of our Worship Answ. since as I have abovesaid there are many Meetings which are seldom if ever altogether silent some or
other are still moved either to preach pray and praise and so in this our Meetings cannot be but like the Meetings of the primitive Churches recorded in Scripture since our adversaries confess that they did preach and pray by the Spirit And then what absurdity is it to suppose that at sometimes the Spirit did not move them to these outward acts and that then they were silent since we may well conclude they did not speak until they were moved and so no doubt had sometimes silence Acts 2.1 Before the Spirit came upon them it is said They were all with one accord in one place and then it is said the Spirit suddenly came upon them but no mention is made of any one speaking at that time and I would willingly know what absurdity our adversaries can infer should we conclude they were a while silent But if it be urged that a whole silent meeting cannot be found in Scripture I answer supposing such a thing were not recorded it will not therefore follow that it is not lawful Answ. seeing it naturally followeth from other Scripture precepts as we have proved this doth for seeing the Scripture commands to meet together and when met the Scripture prohibits prayers or preachings but as the Spirit moveth thereunto if People met together and the Spirit move not to such acts it will necessarily follow that they must be silent But further there might have been many such things among the Saints of old though not recorded in Scripture and yet we have enough in Scripture signifying that such things were For Job sate silent seven daies with his Friends together here was a long silent meeting See also Ezra c. 9.4 and Ezekiel c. 1.14 20.1 Thus having shewn the excellency of this Worship proving it from Scripture and Reason and answered the objections which are commonly made against it which though it may suffice to the explanation and probation of our Proposition yet I shall add something more particularly of Preaching Praying and Singing and so proceed to the following Proposition § XVIII Preaching as it 's used both among Papists and Protestants is for one man to take some place or verse of Scripture and thereon speak for an hour or two what he hath studied and premiditated in his Closet and gathered together from his own inventions or from the writings and observations of others and then having got it by heart as a school boy doth his lesson he brings it forth and repeats it before the people and how much the fertiler and stronger a man's invention is and the more industrious and laborous he is in collecting such observations and can utter them with the excellency of speech and humane eloquence so much the more is he accounted an able and excellent preacher To this we oppose that when the Saints are met together and every one gathered to the Gift and Grace of God in themselves he that ministreth being acted thereunto by the arising of the Grace in himself ought to speak forth what the Spirit of God furnisheth him with not minding the eloquence and wisdom of words but the demonstration of the Spirit and of Power and that either in the interpreting some part of Scripture in case the Spirit which is the good Remembrancer lead him so to do or otherwise words of exhortation advice reproof and instruction or the sense of some spiritual experiences all which will still be agreeable to the Scripture though perhaps not relative to nor founded upon any particular chapter or verse as a text Now let us examine and consider which of these two sorts of preaching be most agreeable to the Precepts and Practice of Christ and his Apostles and the Primitive Church recorded in Scripture For First as to their Preaching upon a text if it were not meerly customary or premeditated but done by the immediate motion of the Spirit we should not blame it but to do it as they do there is neither precept nor practice that ever I could observe in the New Testament as a part of the instituted Worship thereof But they alledge that Christ took the Book of Isaiah and read out of it and spake therefrom and that Peter Preached from a sentence of the Prophet Joel I answer That Christ and Peter did it not but as immediately acted and moved thereunto by the Spirit of God and that without premeditation which I suppose our Adversaries will not deny in which case we willingly approve of it but what is this to their customary conned way without either waiting for or expecting the movings or leadings of the Spirit Moreover that neither Christ nor Peter did it as a setled custom or form to be constantly practised by all the Ministers of the Church appears in that most of all the Sermons recorded by Christ and his Apostles in Scripture were without this as appears from Christ's Sermon upon the Mount Matth. 5.1 c. Mark 4.1 c. and Paul's Preaching to the Athenians and to the Jews c. As then it appears that this method of Preaching is not grounded upon any Scripture precept so the nature of it is contrary to the preaching of Christ under the New Covenant as exprest and recommended in Scripture for Christ in sending forth his Disciples expresly mentioneth that they are not to speak of or from themselves or to sore cast before hand but that which the Spirit in the same hour shall teach them as is particularly mentioned in the three Evangelists Matth. 10.20 Mark 13.11 Luke 12.12 Now if Christ gave this order to his Disciples before he departed from them as that which they were to practice during his abode outwardly with them much more were they to do it after his departure since then they were more especially to receive the Spirit to lead them in all things and to bring all things to their remembrance John 14.26 And if they were to do so when they appeared before the Magistrates and Princes of the Earth much more in the Worship of God when they stand specially before him seeing as is above shewn his Worship is to be performed in Spirit and therefore after their receiving of the Holy Ghost it is said Acts 2.4 they spake as the Spirit gave them utterance not what they had studied and gathered from Books in their Closets in a premeditated way Franciscus Lambertus before cited speaketh well and sheweth their Hypocrisie Tract 5. of Prophecy chap. 3. saying Where are they now that glory in their Inventions who say A brave Invention a brave invention This they call invention which themselves have made up but what have the Faithful to do with such kind of Inventions It is not figments nor yet Inventions that we will have but things that are solid invincible eternal and heavenly not which men have invented but which God hath revealed for if we believe the Scripture our invention profiteth nothing but to provoke God to our ruin And afterwards Beware saith he that
now it is fit to speak of Praying concerning which the like controversie ariseth Our adversaries whose Religion is all for the most part outside and such whose acts are the meer product of man's natural will and abilities as they can preach so can they pray when they please and therefore have their set particular prayers I meddle not with the controversies among themselves concerning this some of them being for set prayers as a liturgy others for such as are ex tempore conceived it suffices me that all of them agree in this that the motions and influence of the Spirit of God are not necessary to be previous thereunto and therefore they have set times in their publick worship as before and after preaching and in their private devotion as morning and evening and before and after meat and other such occasions at which they precisely set about the performing of their prayers by speaking words to God whether they feel any motion or influence of the Spirit or not so that some of the chiefest have confessed that they have thus prayed without the motions or assistance of the Spirit acknowledging that they sinned in so doing yet they said they look upon it as their duty to do so though to pray without the Spirit be sin We freely confess that Prayer is both very profitable and a necessary duty commanded and fit to be practised frequently by all Christians but as we can do nothing without Christ so neither can we pray without the concurrence and assistance of his Spirit But that the state of the Controversie may be the better understood let it be considered First that Prayer is twofold inward and outward Inward Prayer is that secret turning of the mind towards God whereby being secretly touched and awakened by the Light of Christ in the Conscience and so bowed down under the sense of its iniquities unworthiness and misery it looks up to God and joining issue with the secret shinings of the Seed of God it breaths towards him and is constantly breathing forth some secret desires and aspirations towards him It is in this sense that we are so frequently in Scripture commanded to pray continually Luke 18.1 1 Thes. 5.17 Eph. 6.18 Luke 21.36 Which cannot be understood of outward Prayer because it were impossible that men should be alwaies upon their knees expressing words of prayer and this would hinder them from the exercise of those duties no less positively commanded Outward Prayer is when as the Spirit being thus in the exercise of inward retirement and feeling the breathing of the Spirit of God to arise powerfully in the Soul receives strength and liberty by a superadded motion and influence of the Spirit to bring forth either audable sighs groans or words and that either in publick assemblies or in private or at meat c. As then inward prayer is necessary at all times so so long as the day of every man's visitation lasteth he never wants some influence less or more for the practice of it Because he no sooner retires his mind and considers himself in God's presence but he finds himself in the practice of it The outward exercise of Prayer as needing a greater and superadded influence and motion of the Spirit as it cannot be continually practised so neither can it be so readily so as to be effectually performed until his mind be sometime acquainted with the inward therefore such as are dilligent and watchful in their minds and much retired in the exercise of this inward Prayer are more capable to be frequent in the use of the outward because that this Holy Influence doth more constantly attend them and they being better acquainted with and accustomed to the motions of God's Spirit can easily perceive and discern them and indeed as such who are most diligent have a near access to God and he taketh most delight to draw them by his Spirit to approach and call upon him So when many are gathered together in this watchful mind God doth frequently pour forth the Spirit of Prayer among them and stir them thereunto to the edifying and building up of one another in love But because this outward Prayer depends upon the inward as that which must follow it and cannot be acceptably performed but as attended with a superadded influence and motion of the Spirit therefore cannot we prefix set times to pray outwardly so as to lay a necessity to speak words at such and such times whether we feel this heavenly influence and assistance or no for that we judg were a tempting of God and a coming before him without due preparation We think it fit for us to present our selves before him by this inward retirement of the mind and so to proceed further as his Spirit shall help us and draw us thereunto and we find that the Lord accepts of this yea and seeth meet sometimes to exercise us in this silent place for the tryal of our patience without allowing us to speak further that he may teach us not to rely upon outward performances or satisfie our selves as too many do with the saying of our Prayers and that our dependence upon him may be the more firm and constant to wait for the holding out of his Scepter and for his allowance to draw near unto him and with greater freedom and enlargement of Spirit upon our hearts towards him yet nevertheless we do not deny but sometimes God upon particular occasions very suddenly yea upon the very first turning-in of the mind may give power and liberty to bring forth words or acts of outward Prayer so as the Soul can scarce discern any previous motion but the influence and bringing forth thereof may be as it were simul semel nevertheless that saying of Bernard is true that All Prayer is tepid which hath not an inspiration preveening it Though we affirm that none ought to go about Prayer without this motion yet we do not deny but such sin as neglect Prayer but their sin is in that they come not to that place where they may feel that that would lead them thereunto And therefore we question not but many through neglect of this inward watchfulness and retiredness of mind miss many precious opportunities to Pray and thereby are guilty in the sight of God yet would they sin if they should set about the act until they first felt the influence For as he grosly offends his Master that lyeth in his Bed and sleeps and neglects to do his Masters business yet if such a one should suddenly get up without puting on his Cloaths or taking along with him those necessary tools and instruments without which he could not possibly work should forwardly fall a doing to no purpose he would be so far thereby from repairing his former fault that he would justly incur a new censure and one that is careless and otherwaies busied may miss to hear one speaking unto him or even not hear the Bell of a Clock though striking hard
If there be any such thing as vain Oblations or Prayers that are abomination which God heareth not as is certain there are and the Scripture testifies Isa. 66.3 Jer. 14.12 certainly such Prayers as are acted in man's will and by his own strength without God's Spirit must be of that number § XXIV Let this suffice for probation Now I shall proceed to answer their objections when I have said something concerning joyning in prayer with others Those that pray together with one accord use not only to concur in their spirits but also in the gesture of their body which we also willingly approve of It becometh those who approach before God to pray that they do it with bowed knees and with their heads uncovered which is our practice Obj. But here ariseth a controversie Whether it be lawful to join with others by those external signs of reverence albeit not in heart who pray formally nor waiting for the motion of the Spirit nor judging it necessary Answ. We answer Not at all and for our testimony in this thing we have suffered not a little for when it hath faln out that either accidentally or to witness against their worship we have been present during the same and have not found it lawful for us to bow with them thereunto they have often persecuted us not only with reproaches but also with stroaks and cruel beatings for this cause they use to accuse us of pride profanity and madness as if we had no respect or reverence to the worship of God and as if we judged none could pray or were heard of God but our selves Unto all which and many more reproaches of this kind we answer briefly and modestly that it sufficeth us that we are found so doing neither through Pride nor Madness nor Prophanity but meerly lest we should hurt our Consciences the reason of which is plain and evident for since our Principle and Doctrine obligeth us to believe that the Prayers of those who themselves confess they are not acted by the Spirit are abominations how can we with a safe Conscience joyn with them Obj. If they urge that this is the heighth of uncharitableness and arrogancy as if we judged our selves always to pray by the Spirits motion but they never as if we were never deceived by Praying without the motions of the Spirit and that they were never acted by it seeing albeit they judg not the motion of the Spirit always necessary they confess nevertheless that it is very profitable and comfortable and they feel it often influencing them which that it sometimes falls out we cannot deny Answ. To all which I answer distinctly if it were their known and avowed Doctrine not to Pray without the motion of the Spirit and that seriously holding thereunto they did not bind themselves to Pray at certain prescribed times precisely at which times they determine to Pray though without the Spirit then indeed we might be accused of uncharitableness and pride if we never joyned with them and if they so taught and practised I doubt not but it should he lawful for us so to do unless there should appear some manifest and evident hypocrisie and delusion But seeing they profess that they pray without the Spirit and seeing God hath perswaded us that such Prayers are abominable how can we with a safe Conscience joyn with an abomination That God sometimes condescends to them we do not deny albeit now when the Spiritual Worship is openly proclaimed and all are invited unto it the case is otherwise than those old times of Apostasie and Darkness and therefore albeit any should begin to pray in our presence not expecting the motion of the Spirit yet if it manifestly appear that God in condescension did concur with such a one then according to God's will we should not refuse to joyn also but this is rare lest thence they should be confirmed in their false Principle And albeit this seem hard in our profession nevertheless it is so confirmed by the Authority both of Scripture and right Reason that many convinced thereof have embraced this part before other among whom is memorable of late Years Alexander Skein a Magistrate of the City of Aberdeen a man very modest and very averse from giving offence to others who nevertheless being overcome by the Power of Truth in this matter behoved for this cause to separate himself from the publick Assemblies and Prayers and joyn himself unto us Who also gave the reason of his change and likewise succinctly but yet substantially comprehended this controversie concerning Worship in some short questions which he offered to the publick Preachers of the City which I think meet to insert in this place 1. Whether or not should any act of God's Worship be gone about without the motions leadings and actings of the Holy Spirit 2. If the motions of the Spirit be necessary to every particular duty whether should he be waited upon that all our acts and words may be according as he gives utterance and assistance 3. Whether every one that bears the name of a Christian or professes to be a Protestant hath such an uninterrupted measure thereof that he may without waiting go immediately about the duty 4. If there be an indisposition and unfitness at some times for such exercises at lest as to the Spiritual and lively performances thereof whether ought they to be performed in that case and at that time 5. If any duty be gone about under pretence that it is in obedience to the external command without the Spiritual Life and Motion necessary whether such a duty thus performed can in Faith be expected to be accepted of God and not rather reckoned as a bringing of strange Fire before the Lord seeing it is performed at best by the strength of natural and acquired parts and not by the strength and assistance of the Holy Ghost which was typified by the Fire that came down from Heaven which alone behoved to consume the Sacrifice and no other 6. Whether duties gone about in the meer strength of natural and acquired parts whether in publick or private be not as really upon the matter an image of man's invention as the popish worship though not so gross in the outward appearance And therefore whether it be not as real superstition to countenance any worship of that nature as it is to countenance popish worship though there be a difference in the degree 7. Whether it be a ground of offence or just scandal to countenance the worship of those whose professed principle it is neither to speak for edification nor to pray but as the Holy Ghost shall be pleased to assist them in some measure less or more without which they rather chuse to be silent than to speak without this influence Unto these they answered but very coldly and faintly whose answers likewise long ago he refuted Seeing then God hath called us to his spiritual worship and to testifie against the humane and voluntary worships of
the apostasie if we did not this way stand immoveable to the Truth revealed but should join with them both our testimony for God would be weakned and lost and it would be impossible steadily to propagate this worship in the world whose progress we dare neither retard nor hinder by any act of ours though therefore we shall lose not only worldly honour but even our lives And truly many Protestants through their unsteadiness in this thing for politick ends complying with the popish abominations have greatly scandalized their profession and hurt the reformation as appeared in the Example of the Elector of Saxony who in the Convention at Ausburg in the year 1530. being commanded by the Emperor Charles the Fifth to be present at the Mass that he might carry the Sword before him according to his place which when he justly scrupled to perform his Preachers taking more care for their Princes Honour than for his Conscience perswaded him that it was lawful to it against his Conscience which was both a very bad Example and great scandal to the Reformation and displeased many as the Author of the History of the Council of Trent in his first book well observes But now I hasten to the objection of our adversaries against this method of praying Obj. § XXV First They object that if such particular influences were needful to outward acts of worship then they should also be needful to inward acts as to wit desire and love God But this is absurd Therefore also that from whence it follows I answer that which was said in the state of the controversie cleareth this because as to those general duties Answ. there never wants an influence so long as the day of a man's visitation lasteth during which time God is alwaies near to him and wrestling with him by his Spirit to turn him to himself so that if he do but stand still and cease from his evil thoughts the Lord is near to help him c. But as to the outward acts of Prayer they need a more special motion and influence as hath been proved Secondly they object that it might be also alledged Obj. that men ought not to do moral duties as Children to honour their Parents men to do right to their neighbours except the Spirit moved them to it I answer there is a great difference betwixt these general duties betwixt man and man Answ. and the particular express acts of worship towards God the one is meerly Spiritual and commanded by God to be performed by his Spirit the other answer their end as to them whom they are immediatly directed to and concern though done from a meer natural principle of self-love even as beasts have natural affections one to another and therefore may be thus performed though I shall not deny but that they are not works accepted of God or beneficial to the Soul but as they are done in the fear of God and in blessing in which his Children do all things and therefore are accepted and blessed in whatsoever they do Thirdly they object Obj. that if a wicked man ought not to pray without a motion of the Spirit because his Prayer would be sinful neither ought he to plough by the same reason because the ploughing of the wicked as well as his praying is sin This objection is of the same nature with the former Answ. and therefore may be answered the same way seeing there is a great difference betwixt natural acts such as eating drinking sleeping and seeking for sustenance for the body which things Man hath common with Beasts and Spiritual acts And it doth not follow because man ought not to go about Spiritual acts without the Spirit that therefore he may not go about natural acts without it The analogy holds better thus and that for the proof of our affirmation that as man for the going about natural acts need his natural Spirit so to perform Spiritual acts he needs the Spirit of God That the natural acts of the wicked and unregenerate are sinful is not denied though not as in themselves but in so far as man in that state is in all things reprobated in the sight of God Fourthly they object that wicked men may according to this doctrin Obj. forbear to pray for years together alledging they want a motion to it Answ. I answer the false pretences of wicked men do nothing invalidate the truth of this doctrin for at that rate there is no doctrin of Christ which men might not turn by That they ought not to pray without the Spirit is granted but then they ought to come to that place of watching where they may be capable to feel the Spirits motion They sin indeed in not praying but the cause of this sin is their not watching so their neglect proceeds not from this doctrin but from their disobedience to it seeing if they did pray without this it would be a double sin and no fulfilling of the command to pray nor yet would their Prayer without this Spirit be useful unto them and this our Adversaries are forced to acknowledg in another case for they say It is a duty incumbent on Christians to frequent the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper as they call it Yet they say No man ought to take it unworthily yea they plead that such as find themselves unprepared must abstain and therefore do usually excommunicate them from the Table Now though according to them it be necessary to partake of this Sacrament yet it is also necessary that those that do it do first examine themselves lest they eat and drink their own condemnation and though they reckon it sinful for them to forbear yet they account it more sinful for them to do it without this examination Fifthly they object Acts 8.22 where Peter commanded Simon Magus Obj. that wicked Sorcerer to pray from thence inferring that wicked men may and ought to pray Answ. I answer that in the citing of this place as I have often observed they omit the first and chiefest part of the verse which is thus Acts 8. verse 22. Repent therefore of this thy wickedness and pray God if perhaps the thought of thine heart may be forgiven thee So here he bids him first repent now the least measure of true Repentance cannot be without somewhat of that inward retirement of the mind which we speak of and indeed where true repentance goeth first we do not doubt but the Spirit of God will be near to concur with and influence such to pray to and call upon God Obj. And Lastly they object that many Prayers begun without the Spirit have proved effectual and that the Prayers of wicked men have been heard and found acceptable as Achab's Answ. This objection was before solved for the acts of God's compassion and indulgence at sometimes and to some persons upon singular extraordinary occasions are not be a rule of our actions For if we should make that the measure of our obedience great inconveniencies
would follow as is evident and will be acknowledged by all Next we do not deny but wicked men are sensible of the motions and operations of God's Spirit often-times before their day be expired from which they may at times pray acceptably not as remaining altogether wicked but as entring into Piety from whence they afterwards fall away § XXVI As to the singing of Psalms there will not be need of any long discourse for that the case is just the same as in the two former of Preaching and Prayer We confess this to be a part of God's Worship and very sweet and refreshful when it proceeds from a true sense of God's love in the heart and arises from the divine influence of the Spirit which leads Souls to breath forth either a sweet Harmony or words suitable to the present condition whether they be words formerly used by the Saints and recorded in Scripture such as the Psalmes of David or other words as were the Hymns and Songs of Zacharias Simeon and the Blessed Virgin Mary But as for the formal customary way of singing it hath in Scripture no foundation nor any ground in true Christiansty yea besides all the abuses incident to prayer and preaching it hath this more peculiar that often times great and horrid lies are said in the sight of God for all manner of wicked prophane People take upon them to personate the experiences and conditions of Blessed David which are not only false as to them but also as to some of more sobriety who utter them forth as where they will sing sometimes Psal. 22.14 my heart is like Wax it is melted in the midst of my Bowels and verse 15. My strength is dried up like a Pot-sheard and my Tongue cleaveth to my Jaws and thou hast brought me into the dust of Death And Psal. 6.6 I am weary with my groaning all the night make I my Bed to swim I water my Couch with my Tears And many more which those that speak know to be false as to them And sometimes will confess just after in their Prayers that they are guilty of the Vices opposite to those Vertues which but just before they have asserted themselves endued with Who can suppose that God accepts of such jugling And indeed such singing doth more please the carnal ears of men than the pure ears of the Lord who abhors all Lying and Hypocrisie That singing then that pleaseth him must proceed from that which is PVRE in the Heart even from the Word of Life therein in and by which richly dwelling in us Spiritual Songs and Hymns are returned to the Lord according to that of the Apostle Col. 3.16 But as to their artificial Musick either by Organs or other instruments or voice we have neither example nor precept for it in the New Testament § XXVII But lastly the great advantage of this true Worship of God which we profess and practice is that it consisteth not in man's Wisdom Arts or Industry neither needeth the Glory Pomp Riches nor Splendor of this World to beautifie it as being of a Spiritual and Heavenly nature and therefore too simple and contemptible to the natural mind and will of man that hath no delight to abide in it because he finds no room there for his imaginations and inventions and hath not the opportunity to gratifie his outward and carnal Senses so that this form being observed is not like to be long kept pure without the Power For it is of it self so naked without it that it hath nothing in it to invite and tempt men to dote upon it further than it is accompanied with the Power Whereas the Worship of out Adversaries being performed in their own wills is self-pleasing as in which they can largely exercise their natural parts and invention and as to most of them having somewhat of an outward and worldly splendor delectable to the carnal and worldly Senses they can pleasantly continue it and satisfie themselves though without the Spirit and Power which they make no ways essential to the performance of their Worship and therefore neither wait for nor expect it § XXVIII So that to conclude the Worship Preaching Praying and Singing which we plead for is such as proceedeth from the Spirit of God and is always accompanyed with its influence being begun by its motion and carried on by the power and strength thereof and so is a Worship purely Spiritual such as the Scripture holds forth Joh. 4.23 24. 1 Cor. 14.15 Eph. 6.18 c. But the Worship Preaching Praying and Singing which our Adversaries plead for and which we oppose is a Worship which is both begun carried on and concluded in man's own natural will and strenghth without the motion or influence of God's Spirit which they judg they need not wait for and therefore may be truly acted both as to the matter and manner by the wickedest of men Such was the Worship and vain Oblations which God always rejected as appears from Isa. 66.3 Jer. 14.12 c. Isa. 1.13 Prov. 15.29 John 9.31 The Twelfth Proposition Concerning Baptism As there is one Lord and one Faith so there is one Baptism which is not the putting away the Filth of the Flesh but the answer of a good Conscience before God by the Resurrection of Jesus Christ and this Baptism is a Pure and a Spiritual thing to wit the Baptism of the Spirit and Fire by which we are buried with him that being washed and purged from our sins we may walk in newness of Life of which the Baptism of John was a Figure which was commanded for a time and not to continue for ever as to the Baptism of Infants it is a meer humane Tradition for which neither Precept nor Practice is to be found in all the Scripture § I. I Did sufficiently demonstrate in the explanation and probation of the former Proposition how greatly the Professors of Christianity as well Protestants as Papists were degenerated in the matter of Worship and how much strangers to and averse from that true and acceptable Worship that is performed in the Spirit of Truth because of man's natural propensity in his faln state to exalt his own inventions and to intermix his own work and product in the Service of God and from this root sprung all the Idle Worships Idolatries and numerous Superstitious Inventions among the Heathens For when God in condescension to his chosen People the Jews did prescribe to them by his Servant Moses many Ceremonies and Observations as Types and Shaddows of the Substance which in due time was to be revealed which consisted for the most part in washings outward purifications and cleansings which were to continue until the time of the Reformation until the Spiritual Worship should be set up and that God by the more powerful pouring forth of his Spirit and guiding of that Anoynting which was to lead his Children into all Truth and teach them to Worship him in a way more Spiritual and acceptable
carnal Ordinances are no more to be imposed For how Baptism with Water comes now to be a Spiritual Ordinance more than before in the time of the Law doth not appear seeing it is but Water still and a washing outward man and a puting away of the filth of the flesh still and as before those that are so washed were not thereby made perfect as pertaining to the Conscience neither are they at this day as our adversaries must needs acknowledg and experience abundantly sheweth So that the matter of it which is a washing with Water and the effect of it which is only an outward cleansing being still the same How comes Water-baptism to be less a carnal Ordinance now than before Obj. If it be said that God censers inward Grace upon some that are now baptized So no doubt he did also upon some that used those Baptisms among the Jews Answ. Obj. Or if it be said because 't is commanded by Christ now under the New Covenant Answ. I answere first that 's to beg the question of which hereafter But secondly we find that where the matter of Ordinances is the same and the end the same they are never accounted more or less Spiritual because of their different times Now was not God the Author of the Purifications and Baptisms under the Law Was not Water the matter of them which is so now Was not the end of them to signifie an outward purifying by an inward washing And is not that alleadged to be the end still And are the necessary effects or consequences of it any better now than before since men are now by the vertue of Water-baptism as a necessary consequence of it no more than before made inwardly clean And if some by Gods Grace that are Baptized with Water are inwardly purified so were some also under the Law so that this is not any necessary consequence nor effect neither of this nor that Baptism it is then plainly repugnant to right reason as well as to the Scripture Testimony to affirm That to be a Spiritual Ordinance now which was a carnal Ordinance before If it be still the same both as to its Author Matter and end however made to vary in some small circumstances The Sairituality of the New Covenant and of its Worship established by Christ consisted not in such superficial alterations of circumstances but after another manner therefore let our adversaries shew us if they can without beging the question and building upon someone or other of their own principles denied by us where ever Christ appointed or ordained any institution or observation under the New Covenant as belonging to the nature of it or such a necessary part of its Worship as is perpetually to continue which being one in substance and effects I speak of necessary not accidental effects yet beceause of some small difference in form or circumstance was before carnal notwithstanding it was commanded by God under the Law but now is become Spiritual because commanded by Christ under the Gospel And if they cannot do this then if Water-baptism was once a carnal Ordinance as the Apostle positively affirms it to have been it remains a carnal Ordinance still and if a carnal Ordinance then no necessary part of the Gospel or New Covenant Dispensation and if no necessary part of it then not needful to continue nor to be practised by such as live and walk under this Dispensation But in this as in most other things according as we have often observed our adversaries Judaize and renouncing the Glorious and Spiritual Priviledges of the New Covenant are sticking in and cleaving to the Rudiments of the old both in Doctrin and Worship as being more suted and agreeable to their carnal apprehensions and natural senses But we on the contrary travel above all to lay hold upon and cleave unto the Light of the Glorious Gospel revealed unto us And the harmony of the Truth we profess in this may appear by briefly observing how in all things we follow the Spiritual Gospel of Christ as contradistinguished from the carnality of the legal Dispensation while our adversaries through rejecting this Gospel are still labouring under the burthen of the Law which neither they nor their Fathers were able to bear For the Law and rule of the old Covenant and Jews wus outward written in Tables of Stone and Parchments So also is that of our adversaries But the Law of the New Covenant is inward and perpetual written in the heart so is ours The Worship of the Jews was outward and carnal limitted to set times places and persons and performed according to set prescribed forms and vations so is that of our adversaries But the Worship of the New Covenant is neither limited to time place nor person but is performed in the Spirit and in Truth and is not acted according to set formand prescriptions but as the Spirit of God immediately acts moves and leads whether it be to Preach Pray or Sing and such is also our Worship So likewise the baptism among the Jews under the Law was an outward washing with outward water only to tipifie an outward purification of the Soul which did not necessarily follow upon those that were thus baptized But the Baptism of Christ under the Gospel is the Baptism of the Spirit and of Fire not the putting away of the filth of the flesh but the answer of a good conscience towards God and is the baptism that we labour to be baptized withal and contented for Arg. § VII But again If Water baptism had been an ordinance of the Gospel then the Apostle Paul would have been sent to administer it but he declares positively 1 Cor. 17. That Christ sent him not to baptize but to preach the Gospel The reason of that consequence is undenyable because the Apostle Paul's Commission was as large as that of any of them and consequently he being in special manner the Apostle of Christ to the Gentiles if Water-baptism as our Adversaries contend be to be accounted the Badg of Christianity he had more need than any of the rest to be sent to Baptize with Water that he might mark the Gentiles converted by him with that Christian sign But indeed the reason holds better thus that since Paul was the Apostle of the Gentiles and that in his Ministry he doth through all as by his Epistles appears labour to wean them from the former Jewish Ceremonies and Observations though in so doing he was sometimes undeservedly judged by others of his Brethren who were unwilling to lay aside those Ceremonies therefore his commission though as full as to the preaching of the Gospel and New Covenant Dispensation at that of the other Apostles did not require of him that he should lead those Converts into such Jewish Observations and Baptisms however that practice was indulged in and practised by the other Apostles among their Jewish Proselytes for which cause He thanks God that he baptized so few intimating that what he did
us in the time of our ignorance providing always they did not seek to obtrude them upon others nor judg such as found themselves delivered or that they do not pertinaciously adhere to them For we certainly know that the day is dawned in which God hath arisen and hath dismissed all those ceremonies and rites and is only to be worshipped in Spirit and that he appears to them who wait upon him and that to seek God in these things is with Mary at the Sepulchre to seek the living among the dead for we know that he is arisen and revealed in Spirit leading his Children out of these rudiments that they may walk with him in his Light to whom be Glory for ever Amen The Fourteenth Proposition Concerning the Power of the Civil Magistrate in matters purely Religious and pertaining to the Conscience Since God hath assumed to himself the Power and Dominion of the Conscience who alone can rightly instruct and govern it therefore it is not lawful for any whosoever by vertue of any Authority or Principality they bear in the Government of this World to force the Consciences of others and therefore all killing banishing fining imprisoning and other such things which are inflicted upon men for the alone exercise of their Conscience or difference in Worship or Opinion proceedeth from the Spirit of Cain the Murtherer and is contrary to the Truth providing always that no man under the pretence of Conscience prejudice his Neighbour in this life or estate or do any thing destructive to or inconsistent with humane Society in which case the Law is for the transgressor and Justice is to be administred upon all without respect of persons § I. LIBERTY of Conscience from the power of the Civil Magistrate hath been of late years so largely and learnedly handled that I shall not need but to be brief in it yet it is to be lamented that few have walked answerably to this principle each pleading it for themselves but scarce allowing it to others as hereafter I shall have occasion more at length to observe It will be fit in the first place for clearing of mistakes to say something of the state of the controversie that what follows may be the more clearly understood By Conscience then as in the explanation of the 5 and 6 Propositions I have observed is to be understood that perswasion of the mind which arises from the understandings being possessed with the belief of the Truth or Falsity of any thing which though it may be false or evil upon the matter yet if a man should go against his perswasion or Conscience he should commit a sin because what a man doth contrary to his Faith though his Faith be wrong is no ways acceptable to God hence the Apostle saith whatsoever is not of Faith is sin and he that doubteth is damned if he eat though the thing might have been lawful to another and that this doubting to eat some kind of meats since all the creatures of God are good and for the use of man if received with thanksgiving might be a superstition or at lest a weakness which were better removed Hence Ames De Cas. Cons. saith The Conscience although erring doth evermore bind so as that he sinneth who doth contrary to his Conscience because he doth contrary to the will of God although not materially and truly yet formally and interpretatively So the question is First Whether the Civil Magistrate hath power to force men in things religious to do contrary to their Conscience and if they will not to punish them in their goods liberties or lives this we hold in the negative But secondly as we would have the Magistrate avoiding this extream of incroaching upon men's Consciences so on the other hand we are far from joyning with or strengthening such libertines as would stretch the liberty of their Consciences to the prejudice of their Neighbours or to the ruin of humane Society We understand therefore by matters of Conscience such as immediately relate betwixt God and man or men and men that are under the same perswasion as to meet together and worship God in that way which they judg is most acceptable unto him and not to incroach upon or seek to force their neighbours otherwise than by reason or such other means as Christ and his Apostles used viz. preaching and instructing such as will hear and receive it but not at all for men under the notion of Conscience to do any thing contrary to the moral and perpetual statutes generally acknowledged by all Christians in which case the Magistrate may very lawfully use his Authority as on those who under a pretence of Conscience make it a principle to kill and destroy all the wicked id est all that differ from them that they to wit the Saints may rule and that therefore seek to make all things common and would force their neighbours to share their Estates with them and many such wild notions as is reported of the Anabaptists of Munster which evidently appears to proceed from pride and covetousness and not from purity or Conscience and therefore I have sufficiently guarded against that in the latter part of the Proposition But the Liberty we lay claim to is such as the primitive Church justly sought under the Heathen Emperors to wit for men of sobriety honesty and a peaceable conversation to enjoy the liberty and exercise of their Conscience towards God and among themselves and to admit among them such as by their perswasion and influence come to be convinced of the same Truth with them without being therefore molested by the Civil Magistrate Thirdly though we would not have men hurt in their Temporals nor robbed of their Priviledges as men and members of the Common-wealth because of their inward perswasion yet we are far from judging that in the Church of God there should not be censures exercised against such as fall into error as well as such as commit open evils and therefore we believe it may be very lawful for a Christian Church if she find any of her Members fall into any error after due admonitions and instructions according to Gospel order if she find them pertinacious to cut them off from her fellowship by the Sword of the Spirit and denude them of these priviledges which they had as fellow-members but not to cut them off from the world by the temporal Sword or rob them of their common priviledges as men seeing they enjoy not these as Christians or under such a fellowship but as men and members of the Creation Hence Chrysostom saith well de Anath We must condemn and reprove the evil Doctrins that proceed from Hereticks but spare the men and pray for their Salvation § II. But that no man by vertue of any Power or Principality he hath in the Government of this World hath power over the Consciences of men is apparent because the Conscience of man is the Seat and Throne of God in him of
which God is the alone proper and infallible Judge who by his Power and Spirit can alone rectifie the mistakes of Conscience and therefore hath reserved to himself the power of punishing the errors thereof as he seeth meet Now for the Magistrate to assume this is to take upon him to meddle with things not within the compass of his jurisdiction for if this were within the compass of his jurisdiction he should be the proper judge in these things and also it were needful to him as an essential qualification of his being a Magistrate to be capable to Judge in them But that the Magistrate as a Magistrate is neither proper Judge in these cases not yet that the capacity so to be is requisite in him as a Magistrate our adversaries cannot deny or else they must say that all the Heathen Magistrates were either no lawful Magistrates as wanting something essential to Magistracy and this were contrary to the express Doctrin of the Apostles Rom. 13. or else which is more absurd that those Heathen Magistrates were proper Judges in matters of Conscience amongst Christians As for that evasion that the Magistrate ought to punish according to the Church censure and determination which is indeed no less than to make the Magistrate the Churches Hang-man we shall have occasion to speak of it hereafter But if the chief members of the Church though ordained to inform instruct and reprove are not to have dominion over the Faith nor Consciences of the Faithful as the Apostle expressly affirms 2 Cor. 1.24 then far less ought they to usurp this dominion or stir up the Magistrate to persecute and murther those who will not yield to them therein Secondly this pretended power of the Magistrate is both contrary unto and inconsistent with the nature of the Gospel which is a thing altogether extrinsic from the rule and government of political States as Christ expressly signified saying his Kingdom was not of this World and if the propagating of the Gospel had had any necessary relation thereunto then Christ had not said so but he abundantly hath shewn by his Example whom we are chiefly to imitate in matters of that nature that its by perswasion and the Power of God not by Whips Imprisonments Banishments and Murtherings that the Gospel is to be propagated and that those that are the propagators of it are often to suffer by the wicked but never to cause the wicked to suffer When he sends forth his Disciples he tells them he sends them forth as Lambs among Wolves to be willing to be devoured not to devour he tells them of their being whipped imprisoned and killed for their Conscience but never that they shall either whip imprison or kill and indeed if Christians must be as Lambs it is not the nature of Lambs to destroy or devour any It serves nothing to alledge that that in Christ and his Apostles times the Magistrates were Heathens and therefore Christ and his Apostles not being Magistrates nor yet any of the Believers could not exercise the power because it cannot be denied but Christ being the Son of God had a true right to all Kingdoms and was righteous Heir of the Earth Next as to his Power it cannot be denied but he could if he had seen meet have called for legions of Angels to defend him and have forced the Princes and Potentates of the Earth to be subject unto him Matth. 26.53 So that it was only because it was contrary to the nature of Christ's Gospel and Ministry to use any force or violence in the gathering of Souls to him This he abundantly expressed in his reproof to the Sons of Zebedee who would have been calling for Fire from Heaven to burn those that refused to receive Christ. It is not to be doubted but this was a great crime as now to be in an error concerning the Faith and Doctrin of Christ. That there was not Power wanting to have punished those refusers of Christ cannot be doubted for they that could do other Miracles might have done this also and moreover they wanted not the president of a holy man under the Law as did Elias yet we see what Christ saith to them Ye know not what Spirit ye are of Luke 9.55 for the Son of man is not come to destroy mens lives but to save them Here Christ shews that such kind of zeal was no waies approved of him and such as think to make way for Christ or his Gospel by this means do not understand what Spirit they are of But if it was not lawful to call for Fire from Heaven to destroy such as refused to receive Christ it is far less lawful to kindle Fire upon Earth to destroy those that believe in Christ because they will not believe nor can believe as the Magistrates do for Conscience sake and if it was not lawful for the Apostles who had so large a measure of the Spirit and were so little liable to mistake to force others to their judgment it can be far less lawful now for men that experience declareth and many of themselves confess are fallible and often mistaken to kill and destroy all such as cannot because otherwise perswaded in their minds judge and believe in matters of Conscience just as they do And if it was not according to the Wisdom of Christ who was and is King of Kings by outward force to constrain others to believe him or receive him as being a thing inconsistent with the nature of his Ministry and Spiritual Government do not they grossly offend him that will needs be wiser than he and think to force men against their perswasion to conform to their Doctrin and Worship The word of the Lord saith not by Power and by Might but by the Spirit of the Lord Zach. 4.6 But these say not by the Spirit of the Lord but by Might and Carnal Power The Apostle saith plainly we wrestle not with Flesh and Blood and the weapons of our warfar are not carnal but Spiritual but these men will needs wrestle with Flesh and Blood when they cannot prevail with the Spirit and the Understanding and not having Spiritual Weapons go about with Carnal Weapons to establish Christ's Kingdom which they can never do and therefore when the matter is well sifted it is found to be more out of love to self and from a principle of pride in man to have all others to bow to him than from the love of God Christ indeed takes another method for he saith he will make his People a willing People in the day of his power but these men labour against mens wills and Consciences not by Christ's power but by the outward Sword to make men the people of Christ which they can never do as shall hereafter be shewn But thirdly Christ fully and plainly declareth to us his sense in this matter in the parable of the Tares Matth. 13. of which we have himself the Interpreter ver 38 39
they say that we deny the resurrection of the body Because when we hear them talk foolishly of Heaven and Hell and the last Judgment we exhort them to come out of that hellish condition they are in and come down to the judgment of Christ in their own hearts and believe in the Light and follow it that so they may come to sit in the heavenly places that are in Christ Jesus hence they maliciously say that we deny any heaven or hell but that which is within us and that we deny any general Judgment which slanders the Lord knows are fouly cast upon us whom God hath raised for this end and gathered us that by us he might confound the wisdom of the wise and bring to nought the understanding of the prudent and might in and by his own Spirit and Power in a despised People that no flesh might glory in his presence pull down that dead dark corrupt image and meer shadow and shell of Christianity wherewith Antichrist hath deceived the Nations for which end he hath called us to be a first-fruits of those that serve him and worship him no more in the oldness of the letter but in the newness of the Spirit And though we be few in number in respect of others and weak as to outward strength which we also altogether reject and foolish if compared with the wise ones of this world yet as God hath prospered us notwithstanding much opposition so will he yet do that neither the art wisdom nor violence of men or devils shall be able to quench that little spark that hath appeared but it shall grow to the consuming of whatsoever shall stand up to oppose it The mouth of the Lord hath spoken it yea he that hath arisen in a small remnant shall arise and go on by the same Arm of Power in his Spiritual manifestation until he hath conquered all his enemies until all the Kingdoms of the Earth become the Kingdom of Christ Jesus Unto him that hath begun this work not among the rich or great ones but among the poor and small and hath revealed it not to the wise and learned but unto the poor unto babes and sucklings even to him the Only-Wise and Omnipotent GOD be honour glory thanksgiving and renown from henceforth and for ever Amen Halelu JAH A TABLE Of the Authors that are cited in this Book A ALanus 301 Amandus Polanus 157 Ambrosius Ansbertus 379 Ambrosius Mediolanensis 80 344 345 380 388 482 Amesius 157 333 Anselmus Bishop of Canterbury 379 Antiochus 379 Apollinarius 88 Athanasius 6 342 375 379 382 Augustinus Bakerus 256 257 Augustinus 5 26 49 58 95 126 127 147 170 173 301 303 379 382 Author de vocat Gentium 79 B Basil the Great 376 379 Beda 379 Bellarmin 135 342 Bernard 6 257 266 Bertius 156 Beza 70 145 338 Borhaeus 145 149 Buchanan 127 Bucerus 146 Bullinger 144 C Calvin 22 23 46 70 147 156 216 217 235 294 299 309 310 321 330 345 357 Carolostadius 344 Casaubonus 359 Cassiodorus 379 Castellio 345 Catechism of Westminster 160 Chamierus 145 Chemnitius 147 Christianus Druthmarus 379 Chromatius 379 382 Chrysostom 79 333 375 379 382 Cicero 125 Claudius Alberius Inuncanus 150 Clemens Alexandrinus 5 110 112 125 379 386. Conference of Oldenburgh El. D. 158 Confession of Ausburgh 158 176 Confession of the French Churches 40 Confession of Faith of the Churches of Holland 40 41 Confession of the Divines at Westminster 40 46 132 Council of Aszanfik 174 Council of Carthage 40 Council of Florence 30 Council of Laodicea 40 Council of Trent 66 157 345 Cyprian 345 370 382 Cyrillus Alexand. 6 102 106 107 379 382 D Dalleus 330 Diodorus Siculus 378 E Epictetus 3 Epiphanius 47 379 Erasmus 360 380 382 Essius 150 Eusebius 30 Eutyches 88 Euthymius 379 382 F Forbes 146 147 Franciscus Lambertus 203 262 Fredericus Sylvius 386 388 G Gelasius 174 Gentiletus 157 Gerardus Vossius 107 159 176 Godeau 360 Gregory the Great 6 Gregorius Nazianzenus 379 Gregorius Nyssenus 379 H Haymo 379 Hierom 6 47 51 173 344 358 376 379 382 Hilarius 343 344 379 Hildebrand 341 Himelius 150 History of the Council of Trent 345 History of the Reformation of France 356 Hosius 344 Hugo Grotius 375 379 I James Coret 156 James Howel 360 Johannes Damascenus 379 Johannes Ferus 382 Johannes Floracensis 301 John Hus 57 John Maresius 360 Isidorus Hispalensis 379 Isidorus Pelusiota 379 Justin Martyr 112 125 380 382 384 387 L Lactantius 125 Lucas Osiander 81 209 Ludovicus Vives 382 388 Luther 6 80 129 131 189 345 346 360 M Marcio 344 Martyr 70 Melancthon 6 145 176 Musculus 156 N Nicolaus Arnoldus of Franequer 189 204 205 221 233 234 292 302 O OEcumenius 379 Origen 7 210 379 382 387 Otho Brunsfeldius 379 P Papirius Masson 301 Paraeus 70 143 Paschasius Ratbertus 379 Paulus Riccius 298 317 Philo Judaeus 380 384 Pithaeus 301 Phocylides 125 Piscator 71 Platina 196 Plato 124 379 Plotinus 125 Polybius 374 Polycarpus 30 379 Prosper 79 80 Pythagoras 378 Q Quintilianus 124 379 Quintus Curtius 378 R Reinerius 351 Richard Baxter 150 157 S Seneca 125 Smith Doctor in Cambridge 7 Stobaeus 379 Sulpitius Severus 386 Synod Arelatensian 80 Synod of Dort 40 69 T Tertullian 5 345 379 382 383 385 386 Theophylactus 379 Thomas Aquinas 26 Thysius 144 V Victor Antiochenus 107 Vincentius Lyrinensis 386 W Waldenses 379 Wicklef 379 Z Zanchius 70 144 147 157 Zwinglius 66 70 150 Passages of Scripture occurring in this Book Genesis Chap. Vers. Pag. i 2 13 ii 17 59 iii 24 ib. iv 6 7 98  7 149 v 22 24 169 vi 3 98  5 59  9 169 Exodus xiii 8 9 312 xxiii 7 143 xxiv 6 99 Leviticus xvi 2 3 6 374 Numbers xi 25 26 14 xiv 18 99 Deuteronomy iv 2 57 vi 13 374 x 20 ib. xiii 5 9 336 xiv 23 374 I Samuel ii 30 357 x 12 240 I Kings viii 46 171 xix 18 182 I Chronicles xxix 11 356 Ezrah ix 4 260 Nehemiah ix 20 30 14 Esther iii 5 389 Job i 8 169 ii 13 260 viii 13 159 ix 20 143 xxiv 13 122 xxvii 5 143 xxviii 28 212 xxxii 21 22 358 389 xxxvii 22 356 xxxviii 2 210 Psalms xiv 3 60 xvii 14 78 xxi 5 356 xxv 3 243 xxvii 14 243 xxix 4 356 xxxvii 7 9 34 243 xliii 3 356 li 5 56  13 14 liii 2 60 liv 3 294 lxiii 1 356 370 lxxxiv 2 ib. lxxxvi 15 99 xcvi 6 356 cx 3 336  4 375 cxviii 22 116 cxix 11 171 cxxxix 7 14 Proverbs i 20 c. 125  24 25 26 101 175 vii 14 269 viii ◠34 125 xv 29 276 xvii 15 143 166 xviii 10 252 294 xx 22 243 xxi 4 249 xxvii 17 258 xxviii 9 269 xxx 6 57 Ecclesiastes i 3 294 Isaiah i 13 276  16 17 258 ii 4 383  10 356 iii  365 v 2 4 100  23 143
iii 27 277 iv  156  19 148 v 12 20 339  24 383 vi 6 220  14 78 Ephesians i 13 179  14 279 ii  63  4 5 6 169  5 148  8 200  15 134 iii 9 10 iv  214  5 18 277  7 11 16 201  11 165 294  23 239  23 24 149  24 169 iv 30 279 v 8 104  11 350  13 83 93   116  25 26 27 165 vi 12 383  18 268 Philippians i 6 177  8 376  21 66 ii 13 155 iii 10 134  14 178  15 346 Colossians i 13 104  23 83 108  24 135  27 28 148  28 74 ii 6 16 20 327  8 350  12 277  15 253  19 194 iii 1 325  2 370  16 276 iv 2 243  12 166 I Thessalonians i 5 215 ii 12 158 iii 13 166 v 5 104  6 243  12 13 217  17 265  19 20 219  21 346  23 166  27 376 II Thessalonians i 5 8 158 ii 11 12 175 I Timothy i 19 177 ii 1 3 4 6 75  3 71  8 9 10 366  11 220 iii 2 203  2 3 4 5 6 229  15 193 v 16 220  17 217 vi 5 6 c. 229  7 8 9 10 224  8 230  20 209 II Timothy iii 2 229  15 16 17 49  17 166 iv 5 243  7 180 Titus i c  203  7 8 9 229  10 11 230  15 93 ii 11 118 200  14 134 164 iii 5 154  7 144  10 331 Hebrews i 3 356 ii 9 76 iii 14 177 iv 12 13 110 v 4 204 229 vi 16 377 vii 26 140 viii 10 26 ix 9 168  10 328 x 24 259 xi  17  6 138  7 14 15 xii 14 151  16 17 87  22 23 169 xiii 7 8 18  17 217 James i 21 107  25 249  27 78 ii 24 151 iii 9 10 170 iv 1 383 v 6 128  12 371  14 303 326 I Peter i 5 177  14 350  17 367  23 114 ii 5 205  21 90  22 140  22 24 134 iii 3 4 366  18 134  20 99  21 277 iv 7 243 249  10 11 202 229 v 5 217 II Peter i 4 135 162  10 45 179  12 13 49  16 356 ii 1 2 3 230  3 211  1 3 14 15 229  20 78 iii 9 71 77  15 99 I John i 1 206  7 133  8 170 ii 1 2 77  2 to 6 167  15 78  27 27 iii 1 13 78  2 to 10 167  4 172  5 8 164  7 20 149  9 163 iv 4 5 78  9 75  10 134  13 35 46 v 3 169  6 35 46  14 269  19 78 Jude i 16 229  20 268 Revelation ii 9 194  20 338 iii 12 174 179  16 292  20 11 315 xiv 1 to 5 169 xix 10 363 xxii 9 363  14 151  18 56 A TABLE Of the Chief Things A ABraham's Faith 15. Adam See man sin redemption what happiness he lost by the Fall 63. what death he died 59 66. He retained in his nature no will or light capable of it self to manifest Spiritual things 59. whether there be any reliques of the heavenly image left in them 62 91. Alexander Skein's Queries proposed to the Preachers 271 272. Anabaptists of Great Britain 31 251. Anabaptists of Munster how their mischievous actings nothing touch the Quakers 28 29 30 31 32. Anicetus 30. Anointing the Anointing teacheth all things it is and abideth for ever a common priviledge and sure Rule to all Saints 27 28. Antichrist is exalted when the seed of God is expressed 20 92. his work 213 214 228. Antinomians their Opinion concerning Justification 137. Apostasie 174 211. Apostle who he is their number was not limitted and whether any may be now adaies so called 216 217. Appearances See Faith Arians they first brought in the Doctrin of Persecution upon the account of Religion 342. Arius by what he fell into error 210.211 Arminians See Remonstrants Assemblings are needful and what sort 33 237 c. See Worship they are not to be forsaken 245. Astrologer 35. Aurelia there ten Canonicks were burnt and why 301. B Baptism is one its definition 277 279 280 281 283 284. It is the Baptism of Christ and of the Spirit not of Water 277 279 to 287. the Baptism of Water which was John's Baptism was a figure of this Baptism and is not to be continued 277 280 285 286 to 302. Baptism with Water doth not cleanse the heart 280 288. nor is it a badge of Christianity as was Circumcision to the Jews 202 291 301. that Paul was not sent to Baptize is explain'd 290 291 292. concerning what Baptism Christ speaks Mat. 28.20 it is explained 293 204. how the Apostles Baptized with Water is explained 296 297 298 299. to Baptize signifies to Plunge and how Sprinkling was brought in 299 300. those of old that used Water-baptism were plunged and they that were only sprinkled were not admitted to an Ecclesiastick Function and why 399. against the use of Water-baptism many heretofore have testified 301. Infant-baptism is a meer humane tradition 277 302 Bible the last Translations alwaies find fault with the first 47. Birth the Spiritual birth 37. holy birth 248 see Justification Bishop of Rome concerning his primacy 30. how he abuseth his authority and by what he deposeth Princes and absolveth the people from the Oath of Fidelity 341 344. Blood to abstain from blood and things strangled 303 326 329. it hath been shed 310. Blood of Christ see Communion Body to bow the body see Head Books Canonical and Apocryphal see Canon Scripture Bonaventure 236. Bow to bow the knee see uncover the Head Bread the breaking of bread among the Jews was no singular thing 317 321. it is now other waies performed than it was by Christ 322. whether unleavened or leavened bread is to be used also it is hotly disputed about the manner of taking it and to whom it is to be given 321 322. see Communion C Calvinists see Protestants they deny consubstantiation 30. they maintain absolute reprobation 26. they think Grace is a certain irresistible power and what sort of a Saviour they would have 115 116. of the flesh and blood of Christ 307 309.310 they use leavened bread in the Supper 321. Canon whether the Scripture be a filled up Canon 55. whether it can be proved by Scripture that any Book is Canonical 55 56. Castellio banished 345. Ceremonies see Superstition Christ see Communion Justification Redemption Word He sheweth himself daily revealing the knowledge of the Father 6. without his
173. concerning the Lord's Prayer 245. to pray without the Spirit is to offend God 249 369. concerning the Prayer of the will in silence 256. see Worship Prayer the Prayers of the People were in the Latin Tongue 207. Preacher see Minister Preaching what it is termed the Preaching of the Word 211 218 233 234. to Preach without the Spirit is to offend God 249. see Worship it is a permanent Institution 291. it is learned as another Trade 218. Predestinated God hath after a special manner predestinated some to Salvation of whom if the places of Scripture which some abuse be understood their objections are easily solved 97. Priest under the Law God spake immediately to the High-Priest 14 27. Priests see Minister of the Law 187. 188 205 220 221. Profession an outward profession is necessary that any be a member of a particular Christian Church 183. Prophecy and to prophecy what it signifies 215 216. of the liberty of prophecying 217. Prophets some Prophets did not miracles 198 199. Protestants the rule of their Faith 30. they are forced ultimately to recur unto the immediate and inward revelation of the Holy Spirit 36. what difference betwixt the execrable deeds of those of Munster and theirs 30 31 32 33. they make Phylosophy the hand-maid of Divinity 50. they affirm John Hus prophecyed of the Reformation that was to be 57. whether they did not throw themselves into many errors while they were expecting a greater light 83. they opposed the Papists not without good cause in the doctrin of Justification but they soon ran into another extreme 130 131. they say that the best works of the Saints are defiled 136. whether there be any difference between them and the Papists in superstitions and manners and what it is 184 185 197 198. what they think of the call of a Minister 188 189 190 191 192 196 197 198 199. it's lamentable that they betake them to Judas for a Patron to their Ministers and Ministry 205. their zeal and endeavours are praised 206. of their School-divinity 210 211. of the Apostles and Evangelists of this time 217. whom they exclude from the Ministry 219. that they Preach to none until they be first sure of so much a year 221. the more moderate of them exclaim against the excessive Revenues of the Clergy 224. tho they had forsaken the Bishop of Rome yet they would not part with old Benefices 226. they will not labour 227. whether they have made a perfect Reformation in worship 231 232. their worship can easily be stopped 251. they have given great scandal to the Reformation 272. they deny water-baptism to be absolute necessary to Salvation 285. of water-baptism 299 300 301. of the flesh and blood of Christ 308 309 310. they use not washing of feet 320. how they did vindicate liberty of Conscience 341. some affirm that wicked Kings and Magistrates ought to be deposed yea killed 342. how they meet when they have not the consent of the Magistrate 248 249. of Oaths and Swearing 372 373. Psalms singing of Psalms 275. Q Quakers i. e. Tremblers and why so called 117 242. they are not contemners of the Scriptures and what they think of them 38 40 41 48 49 50 54 55 89. nor of Reason and what they think of it 91 92. they do not say that all other secondary means of knowledg are of no service 9. they do not compare themselves to Jesus Christ as they are falsly accused 88. Nor do they deny those things that are written in the Holy Scriptures concerning Christ his conception c. 89 141. they were raised up of God to shew forth the Truth 83 84 115 116 126 212 243. their doctrin of Justification is not Popish 129 134 151 158. they are not against meditation 248. their worship cannot be interrupted 250. and what they have suffered 249 252. how they vindicate Liberty of Conscience 346 347. they do not persecute others 349. Their adversaries confess that they are found for the most part free from the abominations which abound among others yet they count those things Vices in them which in themselves they extol as notable Vertues and make more noise about the escape of one Quakea than of an hundred among themselves 351 352. they destroy not the mutual relation that is betwixt Prince and People Master and Servant Father and Son nor do they introduce community of Goods 352 353. Nor say that one man may not use the Creation more or less than another 353. R Ranters the blasphemy of the Ranters or Libertines saying that there is no difference betwixt good and evil 167. Reason what need we set up corrupt reason 23. concerning Reason 30 92 93. Rebekkah 241. Reconciliation how reconciliation with God is made 136 to 141. Recreations see Plays Redemption is considered in a twofold respect First performed by Christ without us and secondly wrought in us 134 135. it is Universal God gave his Only begotten Son Jesus Christ for a Light that whosoever believeth in him may be saved 67 68 103 104. the benefit of his death is not less Universal than the seed of sin 67. there is scarce found any Article of the Christian Religion that is so expresly confirmed in the holy Scriptures 71 72 73 74 75 76. this doctrin was Praached by the Fathers so called of the first 600 years and is proved by the sayings of some 78 79. those that since the time of the Reformation have affirmed it have not given a clear testimony how that benefit is communicated to all nor have sufficiently taught the Truth because they have added the absolute necessity of the outward knowledg of the history of Christ yea they have thereby given the contrary party a stronger argument to defend their precise decree of Reprobation among whom were the Remonstrants of Holland 68 80 81 82. God hath now raised up a few illiterate men to be dispensers of this Truth 89 90 116 117. this doctrin sheweth forth the Mercy and Justice of God 83 84 96 97. it is the foundation of Salvation 84. it answers to the whole tenor of the Gospel promises and threats 84. it magnifies and commends the merits and death of Christ 84. it exalts above all the Grace of God 84. it overturns the false doctrin of the Pelagians Semi-pelagians and others who exalt the Light of Nature and the freedom of man's will 84. it makes the Salvation of man solely to depend upon God and his condemnation wholly and in every respect to be of himself 84. it takes away all ground of Despair and feeds none in security 85. it commends the Christian Religion among Infidels 85. it sheweth the Wisdom of God 85. and it is established tho not in words yet by deeds even by those Ministers that oppose this doctrine 85. it derogates not from the attonement and sacrifice of Jesus Christ but doth magnifie and exalt it 89. there is given to every one none excepted a certain day and time of
se est Deus non denegat gratiam Servant whether it be lawful to say I am your humble Servant 358. Servetus 345. Shoe-maker he disputes with the Professor 208 Silence see Worship Simon Magus 222 Sin see Adam Justification it shall not have dominion over the Saints 42. the seed of sin is transmitted from Adam unto all men but it is imputed to none no not to Infants except they actually joyn with it by sinning 57 58 64 65 66. and this seed is often called Death Original sin Of this phrase the Scripture makes no mention 66. by vertue of the Sacrifice of Christ we have remission of sins 90 132. forgiveness of sin among the Papists 129. a freedom from actual sin is obtained both when and how and that many have attained unto it 160 to 174 every sin weakens a man in his Spiritual condition but doth not destroy him altogether 161. it is one thing not to sin another thing not to have sin 170. whatsoever is not done through the Power of God is sin 249. Singing of Psalms 275. Socinians see natural light their rashness is reproved 19. they think Reason is the chief rule and guide of Faith 19 30. albeit many have abused Reason yet they do not say that any ought not to use it and how ill they argue against the inward and Immediate Revelations of the Holy Spirit 29 30 31. yet they are forced ultimately to recur unto them 36. they exalt too much their natural power and what they think of the Saving Light 115. their worship can easily be stopped 92. Son of God see Christ Knowledge Revelation Soul the Soul hath its senses as well as the body 7. by what it is strengthened and fed 248 311. Spirit the Holy Spirit see Knowledg Communion Revelation Scriptures Unless the Spirit sit upon the heart of the hearer in vain is the Discourse of the Doctor 6 16. the Spirit of God knoweth the things of God 11. without the Spirit none can say that Jesus is the Lord 6 11 12. he rested upon the Seventy Elders and others 14. he abideth with us for ever 18 19. he teacheth and bringeth all things to remembrance and leads into all Truth 19 20 23 24 25 38. he differs from the Scriptures 19 20. he is God 19. he dwelleth in the Saints 19 20 21 22 23. without the Spirit Christianity is no Christianity 20 30 40 whatsoever is to be desired in the Christian Faith is ascribed to him 19 20. by this Spirit we are turned unto God and we triumph in the midst of Persecutions 21. he quickens c. 21 22. an observable Testimony of Calvin concerning the Spirit 22 23 39 40. it is the Fountain and Origin of all Truth and right reason 34 35. it gives the belief of the Scriptures which may satisfie our Consciences 39. his Testimony is more excellent than all reason 39. he is the chief and principal Guide 46. he reasoneth with and striveth in men 98. those that are led by the Spirit love the Scriptures 50 183 184. he is as it were the Soul of the Church and what is done without him is vain and impious 208. he is the Spirit of order and not of disorder 213. such as the Spirit sets apart to the Ministry are heard of their Brethren 214. it is the earnest of our inheritance 237. Spiritual iniquities 243 244. spiritual discerning 336. Stephen spake by the Spirit 21. Suffering How Paul filled up that which was behind of the afflictions of Christ. How any is made partaker of the Sufferings of Christ and conformable to his Death 168 169. Superstition 231 232. whence superstitions sprung 244 277 300. Supper see Communion Bread it was of old administred even to little Children and Infants 3.7 T Tables 323. Talent one Talent is not at all unsufficient of it self The Parable of the Talents 101 102 107. those that improved their Talents well are called good and faithful Servants 152. he that improved well his two Talents was nothing less accepted than he that improved his five 161. Talk see Plays Taulerus was instructed by the poor Laik 200. he tasted of the love of God 237. Testimony see Spirit Theseus his Boat 219 Thomas a Kempis 236. Tithes were assigned to the Levites but not to the Ministers of this day 220 221. Titles it is not at all lawful for Christians to use those Titles of Honour Majesty c. 352 354 to 360 388. Tongue the knowledge of tongues is laudable 200 206 207. Tradition how unsufficient it is to decide 30. it is not a sufficient ground for Faith 329. Translations see Bible Truth there is a difference betwixt what one saith of the Truth and that which the Truth it self interpreting it self saith 6. Truth is not hard to be arrived at but is most nigh 6. Turks among them there may be Members of the Church 182 183. V Vespers 236. Voices outward Voices see Faith Miracles W War that it is not lawful for Christians to resist evil nor wage War 352. 380 to 389. Washing of Feet 212 213. William Barclay 342. Woman a Woman can Preach 214 220. Luther also 303. Word the Eternal Word is the Son It was in the beginning with God and was God it is Jesus Christ by whom God created all things 10 87. what Augustin read in the writings of the Platonists concerning this Word 126. Works are either of the Law or of the Gospel 152. see Justification Worship what the true and acceptable worship to God is and how it is offered and what the superstitious and abominable is 231 c. the true worship was soon corrupted and lost 231 232. concerning the worship done in the time of the Apostasie 235 267. of what worship is here handled and of the difference of t he worship of the Old and New Covenant 232 233 252 253 254. the true Worship is neither limitted to times places nor persons and it is explained how this is to be understood 231 233 234 258 259 266 267 289 290. concerning the Lord's-day and the daies upon which Worship is performed 234 235. of the Publique and Silent Worship and its excellency 236 to 261. of Preaching 260 261 262 263 264. of Prayer 264 to 276. of singing of Psalms and Musick 275. what sort of Worship the Quakers are for and what sort their adversaries 276. FINIS John 17.3 Matth. 11.27 Joh. 16.13 Rom. 8.14 Rom. 5.12 15. Eph. 2.1 Ezek. 18.23 Esa. 49.6 John 3.16.1.19 Tit. 2.11 Eph. 5.13 Heb. 2.9 1 Cor. 15.22 1 Cor. 12.7 Heb. 2.9 Tit. 3.5 Rom. 6.14 Rom. 8.13 Rom. 6.2 18 1 John 3.6 1 Tim. 1.6 Heb. 6.4 5 6. Mat. 10. Ezek. 13. Matt. 10.20 Acts 2.4.18.5 John 3.6 4.21 Judges 19. Acts 17.23 Eph. 4.5 1 Pet 3.21 Rom. 6.4 Gal. 3.27 Col. 2.12 Joh. 3.30 1 Cor. 1.17 1 Cor. 10.16 17. Joh. 6.32 33 55. 1 Cor. 5.8 Acts 15 20 Joh. 13 14. Ja. 5.14 Luc. 9.55 56. Matt. 7.12 29. Tit. 3.10 Eph. 5.11 1 Pet 1.14