Vessels of honour and yet some hee made Vessels of dishonour To that I anwser It is very true that hee did make some of that Lump Vessels of honour but they were such as were pricked in their heart for their sins * and did purifie their heart through beleeving and obeying the truth and so Christ became the Author of their eternal Salvation Heb. 5.9 1 Pet. 1. vers. 22. for it was that which the Lord hath promised Souls that did purge themselves from the unbeleef in their hearts as you may see 2 Tim. 2.20 But in a great House there are not only Vessels of Gold and of Silver but also of Wood and of Earth and some to honour and some to dishonour vers. 21. if a man therefore purge himself from these he shall be a vessel unto honour sanctified and meet for the Masters use and prepared unto every good work And now I shall give you a brief review of those words that the Apostle Paul makes use of Rom. 9. they are the words of the Prophet Ieremy Jer. 18.1 to 17. and so onwards And the Word of the Lord came unto me saying Go down to the Potters house and there will I cause thee to hear my words and I went down to the Potters House and behold he wrought a work on the wheel and the vessel that he made with clay was marred in the hands of the Potter and he made another Vessel as seemed the Potter good to make it then the Word of the Lord came unto me saying O House of Israel can I not do with you as this Potter saith the Lord Behold as the clay is in the Potters hands so are yee in my hands O House of Israel At what instant I speak concerning a Nation or Kingdom to pluck up or destroy If that Nation turn from their evil I will repent of the evil I thought to do unto them but in what instant I speak concerning a Nation or Kingdom to build or to plant it if they do evil in my sight then will I repent of the good wherewith I said I would benefit them now therefore go speak to the men of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem saying thus saith the Lord Behold I frame evil against you and devise a device against you return every one of you from his evil way and make your ways and your doings good but they said there is no hope but we wil waâ—â—â— after our own devices c. and in vers 17. he threatens to shew them his back and not the face in the day of their Calamity the which wee may see the Lord brought upon them and yet he was just when he judged and thus you see the Apostle answereth the Objection and shews the Jews Rom. 9. what the Lord had determined concerning them and also made known by the Prophet Jeremy that hee could according to the truth of his Justice if they remained obstinate in doing evil in his sight make them a dishonourable Vessel as well as the Potter could make that Clay which was not yeelding and conformable to his hands a vessel of dishonour Thus I have shewed you the words of the Prophet and the meaning of the Apostle that he doth not stop the mouthes of those persons that say the Lord of the whole earth cannot do unrighteousness and therefore cannot Condemn the Childe and cast it into Hell for the Fathers sin neither can he Reprobate any but for their actual sin but hee stops the mouthes of those Jews and all such as they are who do question why God might finde fault although they before have given him just cause of offence Mal. 3.8 The next thing you affirm is not true wherein you said I did affirm That that fire which Saint Jude calls eternal fire was meant only consuming fire though it was consuming indeed yet I did not affirm that to bee the only meaning of it but you may remember I said by the word eternal fire was meant such a fire as was not kindled by man neither did it happen in the City by accident but it issued forth from God being not kindled by man and so was as eternal as himself for the breath of the Lord was ever a fire to his enemies Dan. 7.10 From hence it is said of him in Hebr. 11.29 Our God is a consuming fire the which fire did destroy the Natural bodies of the Sodomites and that eternal fire was not Hell as you blindly conceive but it was such fire as the Prophet commanded to come down from Heaven to destroy the Captains and their Fifties which was as eternal as that of Sodom being without kindling by man or without end and it came not out of Hell but from Heaven and so you may see it Gen. 19.24 in these words Then the Lord rained upon Sodom and upon Gomorrah brimstone and sire from the Lord out of Heaven and this was for the destruction of no more but their Natural bodies for it is not Gods way to afflict the punishment of Hell before he hath tried Souls at the general Judgement which shall not be till after the Resurrection for the Sentence against the first sin and the punishment thereof which was the first death was not inflicted upon Adam till after God had legally tried him and Sir let me tell you that the very Devils are not yet in Hell but their punishment is reserved until the Day of Judgement Iude vers. 6. Matth. 8.29 Why art thou come to torment us before the time Which sheweth plainly that the punishment of reprobate Angels and reprobate Men is not yet inflicted but hath reference to time and Sir if I should ask you where Hell were what answer would you give me you would happily tell mee it was where the Wrath of God was and then I shall conclude that Hell were under your Coat for Christ saith Ioh. 3.36 That he that beleeveth not the wrath of God abideth on him for ever And truly Sir if your faith should be tried by your works as Iames saith it must be then doubtless you would be found altogether unbeleeving and if so then according to the former words of our blessed Saviour That the wrath of God abides on such so that if you do conclude Hell to bee in all places where the Wrath of God is though I do indeed conclude that there shall be a material place of Hell where the Wrath of God shall remain perpetually then Hell must of necessity be at the place aforesaid And if you do conclude it to bee on the Earth or under the Earth as some foolishly have conceived then it is most evident that the Devils are not yet in Hell for he is called the Prince of the Air and hence it comes to pass that the Devil is many times cast down by the Judgements of God so that if you have any reason to prove Hell to be yet in being then you might have some better ground to say the
sign and none shall be given them And furthermore I said That if you were as careful to read the Scriptures and being frequent in them as you were to look after your Tithes you might have remembred that John the Baptist who was a very great Prophet did shew no sign or mark at all yet all that that he said was true Joh. 10.41 and this was the sum of that I said which you call rayling The last thing you say appears to be full of confusion for in the first Clause of your last Verse in which you say that such as wee are given up The meaning thereof is this That God hath given us up to be cast out of his favour not only intending to harden us but also to harden himself against us not intending any means shall do us good cutting us from mercy delighting in our destruction this is meant by giving up to a reprobate sense And yet now in the last Clause of your Verse you pray That the Lord would open our eyes so that in one place you cast us as far as you can into Hell and say That God hath done so in his account already Do I wrong such a generation of men if I should call them Babels Brats I leave the Reader to judge But as for your prayer I matter it not whether you pray for us or curse us which is your most usuallest practice for I know that the prayers of such are abomination according to the Word of the Lord Prov. 28. vers. 9. I shall speak no more to the Letter at present but exhort you to repent from your dead works and beleeve the Gospel and be Baptized for remission of sins before the Decree pass and there be no remedy The Servant of all men for Christs sake George Hamman Now Sir having answered your Letter I shall not leave you so but shall further clear the truth of what I have affirmed by word and writing and that by several Reasons or Arguments as followeth Arg. 1. That opion that affirmeth God may change in what he hath absolutely Decreed is false and erronious but your Opinion that Original sin bringeth Adam and all his Posterity liable or guilty to the second Death and yet we see Adam and all his Posterity are not punished with the second Death maketh God changeable in what he hath absolutely Decreed ergo your opinion is false and erronious The Major part of the Argument I suppose will not bee denied and that you know well that God changeth not and therefore the Sons of Jacob are not consumed The Minor I shall thus prove from Gen. 2.17 which faith But of the tree of knowledge of good and evil thou shalt not eat of it for in the day thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely dye or in dying thou shalt dye Here we may see God did absolutely Decree and also declare his Decree That if Adam did transgress that Law hee should dye Now if that Death included there do presuppose the second Death as well as the first then if all do not dye the second Death as well as the first Gods Justice is not satisfied but his Decree frustrated for God cannot bring any secondary means to frustrate that which he hath absolutely Decreed or disappoint the satisfaction of his Justice When I say he cannot my meaning is this That the Will of God with the Attribute of his Truth doth guide the Attribute of his Power so that he can do nothing but what is righteous according to truth If God may bring a secondary means to disappoint the satisfaction of his Justice he may as well bring a secondary means to disappoint the satisfaction of his Mercy whereby the Justice of his Mercy be not executed In plaineness of words my meaning is this That if the Lord would after he had said Adam should dye and all his eternally and yet afterwards prepare life and glory for so many of them as would accept of it may hee not as well prepare a Hel for persons who have continued faithful unto death whose reward is a Crown of Life But now to answer an Objection or two Obj. 1. The first Objection is from the example of Ninivie for the Lord said Forty days and Ninivie shall be destroyed and yet it was not destroyed from which word many conclude that God doth change in his Decree Ans. To this I answer That God did not change his Decree but did decree to change his Dispensation of Mercy or Judgement according to the Creatures obedience or disobedience for God had declared his Decree long before Jonah was sent to Ninivie That at what instant be spake of a Nation or Kingdom to pluok up or destroy if they did repent of their evil hee would repent of the evil he thought to do unto them Jerem. 18.7 but wee see Ninivie did repent from the King on the throne to the Begger on the dunghil And hence it comes to pass that God could not destroy them though he told Jonah hee did intend such a thing as concerning them and thus we see God doth not alter in his Decree although he doth Decree to alter his Dispensation of Mercy or Judgement according to the Creatures actings Hence it comes to pass though Adam should have enjoyed all Paradisical glory not been rooted up for ever yet for his disobedience he was rooted up drove out of the Garden with the loss of all that aforesaid injoyment and God that seeth things before time that shall be in time and calleth things that shall be as if they were saw Adam the very same day that hee did Transgress not only dying in dying thou shalt surely dye but also saw Adam and his posterity returned unto Earth from whence hee was taken so the Sentence is true in his account that calls things that shall be as if they were So much briefly to the first Objection Obj. 2. The second Objection is That the Promise did intervene Adams Sin and the Sentence Ans. I answer That makes not to the taking away of the Punishment of it hence it comes to pass though the Promise hath been made flesh and dwelt amongst us and hath been dead and risen again yet no whit of the punishment is abated so that God can as well cease to be as he can cease to be unfaithful in the true execution of the Attributes of his Justice or Mercy But I conceive the reason why the Promise did intervene was because he would not leave his Creatures without some comfort as if he should have said Adam there was a time when thou mightest have eaten of every Tree in the Garden unless that Tree in the middest and in pleasure and not in sorrow but now thou shalt eat in sorrow all the days of thy life until thou returnest unto that lump of Earth from whence thou wast taken therefore thou maist see what thou hast got by harkning to the voyce of the Serpent and thy Wife yet this
A DISCOVERY Of the Latitude of the loss of the EARTHLY PARADISE BY ORIGINAL SIN Occasioned by a Disputation betwixt Mr. Matthias Rutton Min: of Boughton Munchalse in Kent and the Author hereof branched out in these particulars as followeth I. First An Examination of his Apologetical Letter with a full Answer thereunto II. Secondly Six arguments to prove that Original Sin exposed Adam and his Posterity but to the first death III. Thirdly A Discovery of the false and corrupted Ministers by Ten Characters IV. Fourthly a Discovery of the true Ministers by Ten Characters By George Hammon Pastor to the Church of Christ meeting in Biddenden in Kent But of the tree of knowledge of good and evil thou shalt not eat of it for in the day thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die Gen. 2.17 And in the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread until thou return unto the ground dust thou art and to dust shalt thou return London Printed by Ro Ibbitson for Francis Smith and are to be sold at his Shop in Flying-Horse Court in Fleet street 1655. The Epistle Dedicatory To Mr. Matthias Rutton Minister of Boughton Munchalse and to the rest of his Brethren the Clergy who have ecclipsed and darkned the Doctrine of the Gospel by the humane traditions received from the Fathers SIR I Having received your apologetical discourse in a Letter sent to a friend of mine in reference to what discourse you and I formerly had in the which Letter you discovered your self to be a great Antagonist unto the truth the Ministry thereof Moreover it doth appear by your Letter that it is your Pulpit discourse frequently to calumniate the people of God upon the consideration whereof I thought my self bound in duty to spend some time in shewing the difference betwixt true and false Ministers by several characters to the end you may see your selves to be such as you accuse the Ministers of Christ to be viz. the false corrupt Ministers and so consequently the Ministers of Sathan to the end you may cease to pervert the right way of the Lord and repent of your abusing Gods People and Ordinances for assuredly Sirs your turning of things upside down will cause the Lord to turn you out of his presence unlesse you repent for God in all ages hath been very zealous of his order hence it came to passe that the Lord threatned the Priests of old to shew them his back and not his face in the day of their calamity the reason was because they had caused the People to stumble from the antient path to walk in a way not cast up and doubtlesse it you look into the antient path of Christ which he and his Apostles and Disciples walked in you will find that you are got far out of that path for they did not teach for hire to make themselves the Rabbies of the times but were willing to demean themselves and be the servants of all men for Christs sake neither did they cast up such a Path as Infants baptisme to make whole Nations to be a Church but did command persons to come out from the multitude and thereby compacted Christs Churches together of sanctified Stones that is to say men separated from the National multitude by repentance faith and baptism which became the spiritual house Moreover Sir whereas you abuse the People of God by casting reproachfull ignominious slanders on them know the Lord takes it as done unto himself they being as dear to him as the apple of his eye and if Samson would be revenged of the Philistins for his eyes surely the Lord will be revenged of such as labour as much as in them lieth to pluck out his eyes Sirs are you not like unto those Pharisaical Priests that Christ reproves which did build the toombs of the prophets and garnish the Sepulcher of the righteous pretending great love to them and yet notwithstanding persecute the friends of Christ which walk in that way which Christ hath left them to walk in by your sect and example I say if the blood of the righteous should be required of such a generation repent you and break off your sins by righteousnesse before the wrath of the Lord break out and there be no remedy But to passe that and come to the matter in hand I have perused your Letter and given you a full answer to it in the following treatise one thing I strange at that you should so much forget your self as to charge me that I fell upon you with abusive words for a Sermon you delivered in the which you said you proved me and such as I were to be the Ministers of Sathan when in very deed and truth I knew not that you had delivered such a Sermon neither did I begin with you but after you had answered to some questions that were propounded to you by another and that in your speech you had cast reproachfull speech upon the people of God I could do no lesse but answer to your speech but not with abusive words as you may see more at large in the answer to your Letter and several other things you did mistake your self in but I have shewed you them in their time and places as before mentioned Moreover Sir take this word of advise that if your memory be so shallow that you cannot retain any thing without Book when you have the like occasion again take down what is spoken in writting so that you may affirm the truth for I doe assure you to speak untruth is a shame and reproach to any people but more especially to such as professe themselves to be the Ministers of Christ and as to original Sin which was a thing we contested about I have also shewed you in the following treatise what punishment it brought upon the Sons of men and what death it was that was threatned as to be the punishment of it the which death reigned over all from Adam to Moyses and yet righteous Noah and several others were not damned so desiring your conversion much more than your confusion I rest but not to be your servant and all mens for Christs sake George Hammon The Epistle to the Reader Curteous Reader THere is inclosed in this little Treatise many weighty particulars the which did concern all persons to look into in former ages but more especially we that live in the last age If therefore thou shalt read this Treatise with a single heart and an impartial affection doubtless it will be worth thy time and pains Moreover I do desire that thou wouldest search the Scriptures and bring those things that are contained herein to them that so by the Touchstone of Gods Word thou maist discern between Truth and Error and thereby thou wilt become obedient to that Command of the Lord which is Try all things and hold fast that which is good Remember that the Bereans were counted more noble than the men of Thessalonica because they received the words of Paul which
was counted as strange doctrine and searched the Scriptures daily to see whether those things were so or no even so although many of these particulars may be counted erroneous yet prove thy self a noble Berean to search the Scriptures to see whether it be so or no Moreover do not count it a strange thing that the truest Doctrines that ever was should be questioned and counted Heresie for the learned Scribes and Pharisees did question Christ to know where he had his Doctrine and said He hath a Devil and is mad The Apostle Paul also was called a pestilent fellow a teacher of strange Doctrines a ring-leader of Sectaries a turner of the world up-side down and what not Yet as the Apostle saith After the manner they called Heresie so worshipped he the God of his Fathers believing all that was written Even so say I that if any thing that I have written in this Treatise doe not agree with the Word of God and the doctrine according to godliness I shall give thanks to any man that will inform me of it and also renounce it but as the Apostle Paul saith in another case I judge I have the Spirit of God and speak the Truth Moreover Christian Reader know that we are in the last age upon whom the very end of the world is come in which last age that great howr of temptation shall be the which shall try all them that dwell upon the face of the whole Earth therefore very profitable for us to look into the Prophecies of the last Times that being fore-warned they may be fore-armed and in order to the stability of thy mind I have in the following Treatise set before thy view the glorious Paradise the which the Lord gave unto his Son Adam and although he lost it by transgression yet I have shewed thee that it shall be restored again by the Lord Jesus into that primitive glory at his second appearance and Kingdom Moreover I have shewed you what a glorious inheritance God will give to his Son Jesus which is the Man from Heaven So that although the earthly Mans earthly Paradise was glorious yet the heavenly Mans heavenly Paradise shall be farr more glorious it is that new Jerusalem the Walls whereof are garnished with all manner of precious stones the Streets whereof is pure gold like to transparent glasse the which Paradise shall not be of the Earth or from the Earth although it shall be placed upon the new Earth but as I have shewed in the Treatise it shall come down out of Heaven from God being that City which faithfull Abraham looked for which had foundations whose maker and builder was God it shall be the glorious habitation of Christ in the day of his raign and all that are saved shall walk in the light of it which City hath no need of the Sun Moon or Stars for the Lamb shall be the light of it Curteous Reader assure thy self that the Godly who have died in the Faith did see these things in promises although they were afar off and did imbrace them and did acknowledge themselves Strangers and Pilgrims on the Earth and they that say such things declare plainly that they seek a Countrey which is a heavenly one wherefore God is not ashamed to be called their God for he hath prepared for them a City and it was that glorious inheritance which made faithfull Moyses slight Pharaohs Royal Diadem and refuse to be called the Son of Pharaohs Daughter choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season for he had an eye to the recompence of reward so that faith is the evidence of things not seen Moreover courteous Reader I desire thee not to slight the matter contained herein because of any prejudice thou mayst have against the Author so desiring the Lord to open thy understanding I shall rest but not to pray for thy endlesse happinesse by Christ in glory Thy unworthy Friend G. H. The Sum of a Dispute betwixt a Teacher of the Anabaptists and the Minister of Baughton where by Providence they met August 16. 1654. THe Anabaptist as appeared by his heat being much troubled at a Sermon delivered by the Minister wherein he proved plainly by Scripture That such as he was were the Messengers of Satan and delivered Satans Message fell upon the Minister with abusive words afterwards they entred into Disputation the Question was Whether there were any such Sin as Original sin the Anabaptist denied it the Minister urged an Argument from the example of David confessing that hee was shapen in iniquity and in sin did his Mother conceive him Psal. 51.5 to prove there was The Anabaptist answered That the meaning of that place was this not that David himself was corrupted or defiled with sin but that hee was shapen and conceived in a sinful Woman Which answer will appear to any man that hath but common sense to be not only false but also most absurd and ridiculous for David as will plainly appear to him that reads that Psalm speaks only of himself confesseth his own Sin only and this Original sin as the root and fountain of all the rest there was not so much as a thought of time betwixt his Natural being and his Sinful being Corruption did accompany the very first degree of his Conception I was shapen in iniquity and in sin did my Mother conceive me And he praies for the forgiveness of this sin among the rest After many words past the Anabaptist unsatisfied objected That the Minister never read of any Childe that was Damned therefore no such Sin which deserved eternal Death his reason was because eternal Death is only the wages of actual sin which the Minister denied and instanced in Esau reprobated from all eternity Rom. 9.11 12 13. The Anabaptist answerd That that was for Esaus actual transgression and cited Jeremy falsly but the words named are in Amos 1.3.6.9 For three Transgressions of Damascus and for Four I will not turn away the punishment thereof and so the sixth and ninth of Gaza and Tyrus which text is as farre from the purpose as Baughton is from Rome It appears plainly from the Apostle that the words cited by the Minister Esau have I hated are concerning Gods purpose in Election and Reprobation and not for any actual Sin committed by Esau or good done by Jacob for the Children not being yet born mark that neither having done good or evil mark that that the purpose of God according to election might stand vers. 11. it is written Jacob have I loved but Esau have I hated What will the Anabaptists say now they say it is unjust for God to Damn those that never committed Actual Sin the Apostle would stop their blasphemous mouthes vers. 14. What shall we say then is there unrighteousness with God God forbid saith he Hath not the Potter power over the Clay to make one Vessel for honour and another for
what God hath declared in the Sentence Gen. 3. ergo none of the Children of Adam shal suffer in Hell for that Sin and that it was but a loss of earthly injoyments with deformities and corruption I have proved it at large Arg. 5. To prove that Sin in Paradise did not make him or any of his Posterity liable to eternal Death is as followeth That Opinion which in the extent of it will make the Devil to speak truth and God to lye is an absurd and blasphemous opinion But the Opinion that saith That that Sin of Adam in Paradise maketh all the Sons of Adam guilty and liable to eternal Death affirmeth that the Devil speaks true and the Lord lieth Ergo that Opinion is absurd and blasphemous The Major will be easily granted The Minor I shall prove for God saith Gen. 2.17 If thou eatest thou shalt surely dye but the Devil said Gen. 3. to the Woman Yee shall not dye but be like gods c. Now if this Death that the Lord said they should dye be meant punishment in Hell as you blindly conceive and yet wee see that all Adams posterity which sinned in him or are become sinners by him are not punished in Hell which you say is meant by that Death then God speaks not true in saying they shall surely dye when he intends they shall not And the Devil speaks true when hee saith they shall not dye and wee see they do not so dye if that Death which God saith they shall surely dye bee meant the second Death this is to make the Devil speak true and God a Liar O horrid Blasphemous Opinion be ashamed of it Obj. Peradventure you will say That God sent Christ to take away the guilt and punishment of that Original sin which is as false and ridicnlous as the other O blinde guide is this any more in effect than to say That God sent his Son to make the Devils words appear to be true and his own false the Devil said they should not dye God said they should Now that they might not indeed dye you say God sent his Son that they might not dye which is no less than to make God a Lyar And so much briefly to your blasphemous opinion A word or two what I say to this and that is in these words Thou shalt surely dye is only meant the death of the material Body and hence it comes to pass that as well the righteous as unrighteous dye none exempted he regards not the person of any so that it appears clearly our God is a God of truth that cleareth not the guilty and that the Devil according to the words of John is a Lyar and hath been so from the beginning Arg. 6. The last Argument is as followeth That Opinion which crosseth plain texts of Scripture in the plain meaning of them is false and erronious But that Opinion which affirmeth That all Infants as they come into the World are guilty of such a Sin as makes them liable to the second Death namely to be punished in Hel and so lye under the Wrath of God is against plain texts of Scripture in the plain meaning of them Ergo such an Opinion is absurd und erronious Only the Minor will be questioned the which I shall prove from Matth. 9.14 where Christ faith Little Children are heirs to the Kingdom of Heaven Take notice Sir these were not Beleevers sprinkled Children neither were they Baptised neither were they brought for that purpose Thus you see your Opinion speaks against plain text of Scripture Christ saith They are heirs of the Kingdom of Heaven And as for the answer of that Objection in Psal. 51.5 I refer you to the place where I have answered it in its time and place in the letter And now I shall take notice of an absurdity that will follow and so will leave as to the Arguments you do affirm in this your Opinion That all Infants that dye in their Infancy none excepted must needs be damned for you did affirm That David was guilty of that Sin that brought Damnation and if David were guilty then all Children for David in your sense was an Elect Person and yet if he had died in his Infancy he had been damned according to your expression from Psalm fifty so that upon this account all Children in their infancy stand at enmity with God and if so then shew mee what reconciliation there can be according to Scripture account without the manifestation of Repentance and Faith towards God for Christ faith Except you beleeve you shall dye in your sins John 8.24 which Children cannot do although you would blindly conclude from Matth. 18. that those little ones there were Children which cannot bee proved for though Christ did take a little one yet he took not little ones and neither are little ones capable to suffer for Christ and so consequently not capable to be offended Secondly Faith is a perswasion of the minde flowing from the understanding but Children having no understanding can have no faith so that God saith I speak not to your Children which neither know nor understand and so much for the absurdity which necessarily will follow That all Infants must be damned if that which you say be true and so I shall leave as to that particular Characters of the false Ministery THe next thing that I shall enter upon is to shew the Characters of the false and corrupted Ministery whereby they that run may read and know them by their fruits First you shall know them by their teaching for Doctrines the Commandements of men the Lord in old time did complain against such Persons as you may see Jer. 5.30 31. in these words A wonderful and horrible thing is committed in the Land the Prophets Prophesy falsly and the Priests bear rule by their means and the people love to have it so and what shall be done in the end thereof Thus you may see the Prophets of old did prophesie the vision of their own Brain and the Priests of Old they must bear rule by their means that is to say their false Divinations must go for truth and it being pleasing to the flesh the people loved to have it so So it is with the false corrupted Ministery in our days the Prophets of old or more properly antient Fathers as they so call them they in their several Councils have determined certain Articles of their own invention imposing them on mens Consciences as infallible truths when God never spake any such thing in his Word the Priests they bear rule by their means and conclude they must needs be truths it being the judgement of their reverend Fathers as Luther and Calvin and St. Austin and the like and it being grown in custom amongst the people they love to have it so like as the people of old who lusted after the Flesh-pots of Aegypt I shall only particularize a few of their Traditions and so pass the first Character
it is so now the continual out-cries of the Priesthood of the Nation against the Ministers of Christ doubtless sounds forth or otherwise I shall willingly be corrected by the Christian Reader and that it was so in the Primitive time I shall prove clearly as from two or three instances of Scripture in the room of many more Acts 24.5 which saith We have found this man a pestilent fellow a mover of seditions amongst all the Jews throughout the World and a Ring-leader of the Sects of the Nazarens this was spoken by Paul Acts 17.6 the last clause in these words Those that have turned the world upside down are come hither also Acts 28.22 Concerning this Sect we know That it is every where spoken against Chapter 22.22 Then they lift up their voices and said Away with such a fellow it is not fit that he should live chap. 25.24 And Festus said King Agrippa and all men that are here present with us yee see this man about whom all the multitude of the Jews have dealt with me about at Jerusalem and also here crying that hee ought not to live any longer So that you may see plainly that as the Ministers of the Gospel then were looked upon as pestilent Fellows and the Ring-leaders of the Sectaries in that time by the wise learned Jews so are the Ministers of the Gospel looked upon in our days by the blinde formal people of this Nation And so much to the Sixth Character The Seventh Character of the true Ministers is they are not ashamed of the meanest ways or Ordinances of Christ though they are contemptible to the Wise men of our times Rom. 1.16 2 Tim. 2.11 the Gospel Ministers do not pick out those for such Doctrines as please the fancies of men as the Apostle saith If I yet please men I am not the Servant of Christ They preach the Gospel in the plain mean way of it for the which they suffer reproach nevertheless they are not ashamed for they know whom they have beleeved even their Lord and Master who went before them leaving them an example Who turned not away his face from shame and spitting Isa. 50 4 5 6. Heb. 12.2 3. Phil. 2.6 2 Cor. 8.9 So that you may know the Ministers of the Truth by their boldness for the Truth being not ashamed to preach Christ in his low despised ways at all places where the Lord sets a door open unto them And so much for the Seventh Character The Eighth Character whereby you may know a true Minister is They never call for a Magistrate or Temporal Lord to incounter with their Enemies or more properly Christs Enemies Christ hath prohibited them teaching them another Lesson That he that taketh the Sword shall perish by the Sword so that the Weapons of their Warfare are not Carnal but Spiritual so that when they meet with Truths Enemies they take the sword of the Spirit which is the Word of God and that is the Weapon by the which they put the enemies to the worst and by that Sword at the last Christs enemies shall be destroyed Revel. 2.16 Chap. 19.15 and this is the Magistrates Sword or Champion that the Ministers of the Gospel in case of opposition fly to And so much for the Eighth Character The Ninth Character whereby you may know a true Minister is They are not Lords over Gods heritage that is to say they will not Lord it over their fellow Brethren neither do they desire the preheminence over the inferiorest Member in the Church they are indeed the Churches Servants and not their Lords they can bee content to suffer want when happily the Church or some of them are fed to the full they can be contented to bee abased when the Church doth abound they make not a prey of their Flocks they labour not to be rich nay they can cease from their own wisdom they can willingly be counted fools for Christs sake they seek not the goods of the Church but their good not yours but you as the Apostle saith 2 Cor. 12.14 Much more might be said as concerning the Self-denial of the true Ministers of the Gospel but I shall pass to the Tenth and last Character The Tenth Character of a true Minister is as followeth They may bee known by the hardship that will follow them by reviling by scoffing by buffetings by tumults they shall be a by-word in the mouth both of men women and children for Signs and Wonders in the Nation where they live as it hath been prophesied of them Isa. 8.18 I and the Children that thou hast given me are for Signs and Wonders The Phrases of Carnalmen are as followeth What such a Fellow a Minister a Cobler Tailor or Tincker and such like Mechanicks are they fit for Ministers Where had such Fellows their Learning Are they not blind leaders of the blind say the wise Carnalists of our time and by such like terms they set the World in an uproar against them Was it not so with Christ and the true Ministers in the Primitive time Did not the wise Jews and Scribes and Pharisaical Priests deride Christ and call him the Carpenter and Carpenters Son and wondered from whence he had his Doctrins Did not the Wise learned men of the Jews call his Disciples ignorant and unlearned men which knew not the Law and were accursed and yet notwithstanding Christ did chuse Mechanicks as Fisher-men and the like and did reject the wise and learned and yet that was a hard thing to be received in those days and so it is in ours and you may see that Christ was a poor Christ in Carnal mens account His face was more marred than the Sons of men he had no form nor comlinesse when any lookt upon him that they should desire him Isa. 53.1 2 3 4. so are his Ordinances and his ways mean that if men look upon them with a Natural eye there is no form or comliness and so it is with the Ministers of the Gospel as I have shewed you hee calleth not the rich but the poor not the wise but babes not the learned but the ignorant that hee may make such to know Doctrin that the wise men may stumble and fall and bee taken but as it is written He that glorieth let him glory in the Lord and so much briefly to discover the false Ministery and the true so that hee that will view this with an impartial eye or single heart may clearly discern who are the true Ministers and who are the false to that end they may not be misled but may be followers of the Lamb wheresoever he goeth that thereby they may have him to be their refuge when all falshood shall be discovered and the refuge of lies swept away MYstery Babylon the Romish Whore That hath fill'd the World with thy false Doctrines store Thy cousening shifts are almost out of date And thou shalt weep when as it is too late All Nations that of thy Cup