be truly one must be much more necessary to make a man a Minister of Christianity seeing the one is a degree above the other and has it included in it nothing less than he that supposeth a master supposeth him first to have attained the knowledg and capacity of a Scholar They that are not Christians cannot be Teachers or Ministers among Christians But this inward call power and vertue of the Spirit of God is necessary to make a man a Christian as we have abundantly proved before in the second proposition according to these Scriptures He that hath not the Spirit of Christ is none of his As many as are led by the Spirit of God are the sons of God Therefore this call moving and drawing of the Spirit must be much more necessary to make a minister Secondly all ministers of the New Testament ought to be ministers of the Spirit and not of the letter according to that 2 Cor. 3.6 and as the old Latine hath it not by the letter but by the Spirit But how can a man be a minister of the Spirit who is not inwardly called by it and who looks not upon the operation and testimony of the Spirit as essential to his call As he could not be a minister of the letter who had thence no ground for his call yea that were altogether a stranger to and unacquainted with it so neither can he be a minister of the Spirit who is a stranger to it and unacquainted with the motions thereof and knows it not to draw act and move him and go before him in the work of the Ministery I would willingly know how those that take upon them to be ministers as they suppose of the Gospel meerly from an outward vocation without so much as being any ways sensible of the work of the Spirit or any inward call therefrom can either satisfie themselves or others that they are Ministers of the Spirit or wherein they differ from the ministers of the Letter For Thirdly if this inward call or testimony of the Spirit were not essential and necessary to a minister then the ministery of the New Testament should not only be no ways preferable to but in divers respects far worse than that of the Law for under the Law there was certain tribe allotted for the ministery and of that tribe certain families set apart for the priesthood and other offices by the immediate command of God to Moses so that the people needed not be in any doubt who should be Priests and Ministers of the holy things yea and besides this God called forth by the immediate testimony of his Spirit several at divers times to teach instruct and reprove his people as Samuel Nathan Elias Elisa Jeremiah Amos and many more of the Prophets But now under the New Covenant where the ministry ought to be more spiritual the way more certain and the access more easie unto the Lord our adversaries by denying the necessity of this inward and Spiritual vocation make it quite otherways for there being now no certain family or tribe to which the ministry is limited we are left in uncertainty to chuse and have pastors at a venture without all certain assent of the will of God having neither an outward rule nor certainty in this affair to walk by for that the Scripture cannot give any certain rule in this matter hath in the third Proposition concerning it been already shewn Fourthly Christ proclaims them all Thieves and Robbers that enter not by him the door into the Sheep-fold but climb up some other way whom the Sheep ought not to hear but such as come in without the Call movings and leadings of the Spirit of Christ wherewith he leads his Children into all truth come in certainly not by Christ who is the Door but some other way and therefore are not true Shepherds Obj. § VIII To all this they object the succession of the Church alledging that since Christ gave a call to his Apostles and Disciples they have conveyed that call to their Successors having power to ordain Pastors and Teachers by which power the authority of ordaining and making Ministers and Pastors is successively conveyed to us so that such who are ordained and called by the Pastors of the Church are therefore true and lawful Ministers and others who are not so called are to be accounted but intruders Hereunto also some Protestants add a necessity though they make it not as a thing essential that besides this calling of the Church every one being called ought to have the inward call of the Spirit inclining him so chosen to his work but this they say is subjective and not objective of which before Answ. As to what is subjoined of the inward call of the Spirit in that they make it not essential to a true call but a supererogation as it were it sheweth how little they set by it since those they admit to the ministery are not so much as questioned in their trials whether they have this or not Yet in that it hath been often mentioned especially by the Primitive Protestants in their treatises of this subject it sheweth how much they were secretly convinced in their minds that this inward call of the Spirit was most excellent and preferable to any other and therefore in the most noble and heroick acts of the reformation they laid claim unto it so that many of the primitive Protestants did not scruple both to despise and disown this outward call when urged by the Papists against them But now Protestants having gone from the testimony of the Spirit plead for the same succession and being pressed by those whom God now raiseth up by his Spirit to reform these many abuses that are among them with the example of their Forefathers practice against Rome they are not at all asham'd utterly to deny that their fathers were call'd to their work by the inward and immediate vocation of the Spirit cloathing themselves with that call which they say their Forefathers had as Pastors of the Roman Church For thus not to go further affirmeth Nicolaus Arnoldus in a pamphlet written against the same Propositions called a Theologick Exercitation sect 40. averring that they pretended not to an immediate act of the Holy Spirit but reformed by the vertue of the ordinary vocation which they had in the Church as it then was to wit that of Rome c. § IX Many absurdities do Protestants fall into by deriving their ministry thus through the Church of Rome As first they must acknowledg her to be a true Church of Christ though only erroneous in some things which contradicts their fore-fathers so frequently and yet truly calling her Anti-Christ Secondly they must needs acknowledge that the Priests and Bishops of the Romish Church are true Ministers and Pastors of the Church of Christ as to the essential part else they could not have been fit subjects for that power and authority to have resided in neither
have an Advocate with the Father Jesus Christ the Righteous And he is the Propitiation for our Sins and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole World The way which our Adversaries take to evite this Testimony is most foolish and ridiculous The World here say they is the World of Believers For this Commentary we have nothing but their own assertion and so while it manifestly destroys the Text may be justly rejected For first let them shew me if they can in all the Scripture where the whole world is taken for Believers only I shall shew them where it is many times taken for the quite contrary as the world knows me not the world receives me not I am not of this world Besides all these Scriptures Psal. 17.14 Isa. 13.11 Matth. 18.1 John 7.7 8.26.12.19.14.17.15.18 19.17.14.18.20 1 Cor. 1.21.2 12.6.2 Gal. 6.14 Jam. 1.27 2 Pet. 2.20 1 Joh. 2.15.3.1 and 4.4 5. and many more Secondly the Apostle in this very place contradistinguisheth the World from the Saints thus And not for ours only but for the sins of the whole world What means the Apostle by ours here Is not that the sins of Believers Was not he one of those Believers And was not this an universal Epistle written to all the Saints that then were So that according to these mens comment there should be a very unnecessary and foolish redundancy in the Apostles words as if he had said he is a Propitiation not only for the sins of all Believers but for the sins of all Believers Is not this to make the Apostles words void of good sense Let them shew us where ever there is such a manner of speaking in all the Scripture where any of the Pen-men first name the Believers in concreto with themselves and then contradistinguish them from some other whole world of Believers That whole World if it be of Believers must not be the world we live in But we need no better interpreter for the Apostle than himself who uses the very same expression and phrase in the same Epistle c. 5.19 saying We know that we are of God and the whole world lieth in wickedness there cannot be found in all the Scripture two places which run more parallel seeing in both the same Apostle in the same Epistle to the same persons contradistinguisheth himself and the Saints to whom he writes from the whole world which according to these mens commentary ought to be understood of Believers as if John had said We know particular Believers are of God but the whole World of Believers lieth in wickedness What absurd wresting of Scripture were this And yet it may be as well pleaded for as the other for they differ not at all seeing then that the Apostle John tells us plainly that Christ not only died for him and for the Saints and Members of the Church of God to whom he wrote but for the whole world Let us then hold it for a certain and undoubted Truth notwithstanding the cavils of such as oppose This might also be proved from many more Scripture testimonies if it were at this season needful All the Fathers so called and Doctors of the Church for the first four centuries preached this Doctrin according to which they boldly held forth the Gospel of Christ and efficacy of Death inviting and intreating the Heathens to come and be partakers of the benefits of it shewing them how there was a door open for them all to be saved through Jesus Christ not telling them that God had predestinated any of them to Damnation or had made Salvation impossible to them by with-holding Power and Grace necessary to believe from them But of many of their sayings which might be alledged I shall only instance a few Austin on the 95 Psalm saith The Blood of Christ is of no less value than the whole World Prosper ad Gall. c. 9. The redeemer of the World gave his blood for the World and the World would not be redeemed because the darkness did not receive the Light He that saith the Saviour was not crucified for the redemption of the whole World looks not to the vertue of the Sacrament but to the part of Infidels since the blood of our Lord Jesus Christ is the price of the whole World from which redemption they are strangers who either delighting in their captivity would not be redeemed or after they were redeemed returned to the same servitude The same Prosper in his answer to Vencentius's first objection Seeing therefore because of one common nature and cause in Truth undertaken by our Lord all are rightly said to be redeemed and nevertheless all are not brought out of Captivity the property of Redemption without doubt belongeth to those from whom the Prince of this World is shut out and now are not vessels of the devil but Members of Christ whose Death was so bestowed upon mankind that it belonged to the Redemption of such who are not to be regenerated But so that which was done by the Example of one for all might by a singular mystery be celebrated in every one For the Cup of Immortality which is made up of our Infirmity and the Divine Power hath indeed that in it which may profit all but if it be not drunk it doth not heal The Author de vocat Gentium lib. 11. cap. 6. There is no cause to doubt but that our Lord Jesus Christ died for Sinners and wicked Men and if there can be any found who may be said not to be of this number Christ hath not died for all he made himself a Redeemer for the whole World Chrysistom on the 1. chap. of John If he inlightens every man coming into the World how comes it that so many men remain without Light For all do not so much as acknowledg Christ how then doth he inlighten every Man he illuminates indeed so far as in him is but if any of their own accord closing the eyes of their mind will not direct their eyes unto the beams of this Light the cause that they remain in darkness is not from the nature of the Light but through their own malignity who willingly have rendred themselves unworthy of so great a gift But why be lieved they not Because they would not Christ did his part The Arelatensian Synod held about the year 490 Pronounced him accursed who should say that Christ hath not dyed for all or that he would not have all men to be saved Ambr. on Psal. 118. Serm. 8. The mystical Sun of Righteousness is arisen to all he came to all he suffered for all and rose again for all And therefore he suffered that he might take away the Sin of the World But if any one believed not in Christ he bros himself of this general Benefit even as if one by closing the Windows should hold out the Sun-beams the Sun is not therefore not arisen to all because such a one hath so robbed himself of its heat But the
life eternal with it therefore I have affirmed and that truely that this knowledg is no otherways attained and that none have any true ground to believe they have attained it who have it not by this revelation of Gods Spirit The certainty of which truth is such that it hath been acknowledged by some of the most refined and famous of all sorts of Professors of Christianity in all ages who being truly upright-hearted and earnest seekers of the Lord however stated under the disadvantages and epidemical errors of their several sects or ages the true seed in them hath been answered by Gods love who hath had regard to the Good and hath had of his elect ones among all who finding a distast and disgust in all other outward means even in the very principles and precepts more particullary relative to their own forms and societies have at last concluded with one voice that there was no true knowledg of God but that which is revealed inwardly by his own Spirit whereof take these following testimonies of the Ancients 1. It is the inward Master saith Augustin that teacheth it is Christ that teacheth it is inspiration that teacheth where this inspiration and unction is wanting it is in vain that words from without are beaten in And therefore for he that created us and redeemed us and called us by faith and dwelleth in us by his Spirit unless he speaketh unto you inwardly it is needless for us to cry out 2. There is a difference faith Clemens Alexandrinus betwixt that which any one saith of the Truth and that which the Truth it self interpreting it self saith A conjecture of Truth differeth from the Truth it self a similitude of a thing differeth from the thing it self it is one thing that is acquired by exercise and discipline and another thing which by power and faith Lastly the same Clemens saith Truth is neither hard to be arrived at nor is it impossible to apprehend it for it is most nigh unto us even in our houses as the most wise Moses hath insinuated 3. How is it saith Tertullian that since the Devil always worketh and stirreth up the mind to iniquity that the work of God should either cease or desist to act Since for this end the Lord did send the Comforter that because human weakness could not at once bear all things knowledg might be by little and little directed formed and brought to perfection by the holy Spirit that Vicar of the Lord. I have many things yet saith he to speak unto you but ye can not as vet bear them but when that Spirit of Truth shall come he shall lead you into all Truth and shall teach you these things that are to come But of his works we have spoken above What is then the administration of the Comforter but that discipline be derived and the Scriptures revealed c. 4. The Law saith Hierom is spiritual and there is need of a revelation to understand it And in his epistle 150 to Hedibia question 11. he saith the whole epistle to the Romans needs an interpretation it being involved in so great obscuritys that for the understanding thereof we need the help of the Holy Spirit who through the Apostle dictated it 5. So great things saith Athanasius doth our Saviour daily he draws unto piety perswades unto vertue teaches immortality excites to the desire of heavenly things reveals knowledg from the Father inspires power against death and shews himself unto every one 6. Gregory the Great upon these words he shall teach you all things saith that unless the same Spirit sit upon the heart of the hearer in vain is the discourse of the doctor let no man then ascribe unto the man that teacheth what he understands from the mouth of him that speaketh for unless he that teacheth be within the tongue of the Doctor that 's without laboureth in vain 7. Cyrillas Alexandrinus plainly affirmeth that men know that Jesus is the Lord by the Holy Ghost no otherwise than they who tast honey know that it is sweet even by its proper quality 8. Therefore saith Bernard we daily exhort you Brethren by speech that ye walk the ways of the heart and that your Souls be always in your hands that he may hear what the Lord saith in you And again upon these words of the Apostle Let him that glorieth glory in the Lord with which threefold vice saith he all sorts of religious men are less or more dangerously affected because they do not so diligently attend with the ears of the heart to what the Spirit of Truth which flatters none inwardly speaks This was the very basis and main foundation upon which the primitive Reformers walked Luther in his book to the Nobility of Germany saith This is certain that no man can make himself a Doctor of the holy Scripture but the holy Spirit alone And upon the Magnificat he saith No man can rightly understand God or the Word of God unless he immediately receive it from the Holy Spirit neither can any one receive it from the Holy Spirit except he find it by experience in himself and in this experience the Holy Ghost teacheth as in his proper school out of which school nothing is taught but meer talk Philip Melanchton in his Annotations upon the 6. of John Who hear only an outward and bodily voice hear the creature but God is a Spirit and is neither discerned nor known nor heard but by the Spirit and therefore to hear the voice of God to see God is to know and hear the Spirit by the Spirit alone God is known and perceived Which also the more serious to this day do acknowledg even all such who satisfie themselves not with the superfice of Religion and use it not as a cover or art Yea all these who apply themselves effectually to Christianity and are not satisfied until they have found its effectual work upon their hearts redeeming them from Sin do feel that no knowledge effectually prevails to the producing of this but that which proceeds from the warm influence of God's Spirit upon the heart and from the comfortable shinings of his Light upon their understanding and therefore to this purpose a late modern Author saith well videlicer Doctor Smith of Cambridge in his select discourses To seek our Divinity meerly in Books and Writings is to seek the living among the dead we do but in vain many times seek God in these where his Truth is too often not so much enshrined as entombed Intra te quaere Deum seek God within thine own Soul he is best discerned 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Plotinus phraseth it by an intellectual touch of him We must see with our eyes and hear with our ears and our hands must handle the Word of Life to express it in St. John 's words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. The Soul it self hath its sense as well as the Body And therefore David
own Eternal Word and Power so no Creature has access again unto him but in and by the Son according to his own express words No man knoweth the Father but the Son and he to whom the Son will reveal him Matth. 11.27 Luk. 10.22 And again he himself saith I am the Way the Truth and the Life no man cometh unto the Father but by me Joh. 14.6 Hence he is fitly called the Mediator betwixt God and Man For having been with God from all Eternity being himself God and also in time partaking of the nature of man through him is the goodness and love of God conveighed to mankind and by him again man receiveth and partaketh of these mercies Hence is easily deduced the probation of this first Assertion thus If no man know the Father but the Son and he to whom the Son will reveal him then there is no knowledge of the Father but by the Son But no man knoweth the Father but the Son Therefore there is no knowledge of the Father but by the Son The first part of the antecedent are the plain words of Scripture The consequence thereof is undeniable except one would say that he hath the knowledge of the Father while yet he knows him not which were an absurd repugnance Again If the Son be the Way the Truth and the Life and that no man cometh unto the Father but by him then there is no knowledg of the Father but by the Son But the first is true Therefore the last The antecedent are the very Scripture words The consequence is very evident For how can any know a thing who useth not the way without which it is not knowable But it is already proved that there is no other way but by the Son so that who so uses not that way cannot know him neither come unto him § VI. Having then laid down this first Principle I come to the second viz. That there is no Knowledg of the Son but by the Spirit or that the Revelation of the Son of God is by the Spirit Where it is to be noted that I alwayes speak of the saving certain and necessary Knowledge of God which that it cannot be acquired otherwayes than by the Spirit doth also appear from many clear Scriptures For Jesus Christ in and by whom the Father is revealed doth also reveal himself to his Disciples and Friends in and by his Spirit as his manifestation was sometimes outwards when he testified and witnessed for the Truth in this World and approved himself faithful throughout So being now withdrawn as to the outward man he doth teach and instruct mankind inwardly by his own Spirit he standeth at the door and knocketh and who so heareth his Voice and openeth he comes in to such Rev. 3.20 Of this Revelation of Christ in him Paul speaketh Gal. 1.6 in which he placeth the excellency of his Ministry and the certainty of his Calling And the Promise of Christ to his Disciples Lo I am with you to the end of the World confirmeth this same thing for this is an inward Presence and Spiritual as all acknowledg But what relates hereto will again occur I shall deduce the proof of this Proposition from two manifest places of Scripture The first is 1 Cor. 2.11 12. What man knoweth the things of a man save the Spirit of a man which is in him Even so the things of God knoweth no man but the Spirit of God Now we have received not the Spirit of the World but the Spirit which is of God that we might know the things which are freely given us of God The Apostle in the verses before speaking of the wonderful things which are prepared for the Saints after he hath declared that the natural man cannot reach them adds that they are revealed by the Spirit of God ver 9 10. giving this reason for the Spirit searcheth all things even the deep things of God And then he bringeth in the comparison in the verses above mentioned very apt and answerable to our purpose and Doctrine that as the things of a man are only known by the Spirit of man so the things of God are only known by the Spirit of God that is that as nothing below the Spirit of man as the Spirit of Brutes or any other Creatures can properly reach unto nor comprehend the things of a man as being of a more noble and higher Nature so neither can the Spirit of man or the natural man as the Apostle in the 14 verse subsumes receive nor discern the things of God or the things that are Spiritual as being also of a higher Nature which the Apostle himself gives for the reason saying neither can he know them because they are spiritually discerned So that the Apostles words being reduced to an argument do very well prove the matter under debate thus If that which appertaineth properly to man cannot be discerned by any lower or baser Principle than the Spirit of man then cannot these things that properly relate unto God and Christ be known or discerned by any lower or baser thing than the Spirit of God and Christ. But the First is true Therefore also the Second The whole strength of the argument is contained in the Apostles words before mentioned which therefore being granted I shall proceed to deduce a second argument thus That which is Spiritual can only be known and discerned by the Spirit of God But the Revelation of Jesus Christ and the true and saving knowledg of him is Spiritual Therefore the Revelation of Jesus Christ and the true and saving knowledge of him can only be known and discerned by the Spirit of God The other Scripture is also a saying of the same Apostle 1 Cor. 12.3 No man can say that Jesus is the Lord but by the Holy Ghost The Scripture which is full of Truth and answereth full well to the inlightned understanding of the Spiritual and real Christian may perhaps prove very strange to the carnal and pretended follower of Christ by whom perhaps it hath not been so diligently remarked Here the Apostle doth so much require the Holy Spirit in the things that relate to a Christian that he positively averrs we cannot so much as affirm Jesus to be the Lord without it which insinuates no less than that the Spiritual Truths of the Gospel are as lyes in the Mouths of carnal and unspiritual men for though in themselves they be true yet are they not true as to them because not known nor uttered forth in and by that Principle and Spirit that ought to direct the mind and actuat it in such things they are no better than the counterfeit representations of things in a comedy neither can it be more truly and properly called a real and true knowledg of God and Christ than the actings of Alexander the great and Julius Caesar c. if now transacted upon a Stage might be called truly and really their doings or the persons representing them might be said truly
it did not profit but became useless as to these grounds It was I say the same Seed that was sown in the good ground It is then the fear of Persecution and deceitfulness of riches as Christ himself interpreteth the parable which hindereth this Seed to grow in the hearts of many Not but that in its own nature it is sufficient being the same with that which groweth up and prospereth in the hearts of those who receive it So that though all are not saved by it yet there is a Seed of Salvation planted and sown in the hearts of all by God which would grow up and redeem the Soul if it were not choaked and hindred Concerning this parable Victor Antiochenus on the 4 chap. of Mark as he is cited by Vossius in his Pelagian History Book 7. saith that Our Lord Christ hath liberally sown the Divine Seed of the Word and proposed it to all without respect of persons and as he that soweth distinguisheth not betwixt ground and ground but simply casteth in the seed without distinction so our Saviour hath offered the food of the Divine Word so far as was his part altho he was not ignorant what would become of many Lastly he so behaved himself as he might justly say what should I have done than I have not done And to this answereth the parable of the Talents Mat. 25. he that had two Talents was accepted as well as he that had five because he used them to his Master's profit And he that had one might have done so his Talent was of the same nature with the rest it was capable to have proportionably brought forth its interest as the rest And so tho there be not a like proportion of Grace given to all to some five Talents to some two Talents and to some but one Talent yet there is given to all that which is sufficient and no more is required than according to that which is given For unto whomsoever much is given from him shall much be required Luk. 12.48 he that had the two Talents was accepted for giving four nothing less than he that gave the ten so should he also that gave the one if he had given two and no doubt one was capable to have produced two as well as five to have produced ten or two four § XXIII Thirdly this Saving Spiritual Light is the Gospel which the Apostle saith expresly is preached in every creature under Heaven even that very Gospel whereof Paul was a Minister Col. 1.23 For the Gospel is not a meer declaration of good things being the power of God unto Salvation to all those that believe Rom. 1.16 tho the outward declaration of the Gospel be taken sometimes for the Gospel yet it is but figuratively and by a Metonymie For to speak properly the Gospel is this inward Power and Life which preacheth glad tidings in the hearts of all men offering Salvation unto them and seeking to redeem them from their iniquities and therefore it is said to be preached in every creature under Heaven whereas there are many thousands of men and women to whom the outward Gospel was never preached Therefore the Apostle Paul Rom. 1. where he saith the Gospel is the Power of God unto Salvation adds that therein is revealed the Righteousness of God from faith to faith and also the wrath of God against such as hold the Truth of God in unrighteousness For this reason saith he because that which may be known of God is manifest in them for God hath shewed it unto them Now that which may be known of God is known by the Gospel which was manifest in them For those of whom the Apostle speaks had no outward Gospel preached unto them so that it was by the inward manifestation of the knowledg of God in them which is indeed the Gospel preached in man that the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith that is it reveals to the Soâ—l that which is just good and righteous and that as the Soul receiveth it and believes righteousness comes more and more to be revealed from one degree of Faith to another For tho as the following verse saith the outward Creation declares the Power of God yet that which may be known of him is manifest within By which inward manifestation we are made capable to see and discern the Eternal Power and God-head in the outward Creation so were it not for this inward Principle we could no more understand the invisible things of God by the outward visible Creation than a blind man can see and discern the variety of shapes and colours or judg of the beauty of the outward Creation Therefore he saith First That which may be known of God is manifest in them and in and by that they may read and understand the Power and God-head in those things that are outward and visible And tho any might pretend that the outward Creation doth of it self without any supernatural or Saving Principle in the heart even declare to the natural man that there is a God Yet what would such a knowledg avail if it did not also communicate to me what the will of God is and how I shall do that which is acceptable to him For the outward Creation tho it may beget a perswasion that there is some Eternal Power or Vertue by which the World hath had its beginning yet it doth not tell me nor doth it inform me of that which is just holy and righteous how I shall be delivered from my temptations and evil affections and come unto righteousness That must be from some inward manifestation in my heart Whereas those Gentiles of whom the Apostle speaks knew by that inward Law and manifestation of the knowledg of God in them to distinguish betwixt good and evil as in the next chapter appears of which we shall speak hereafter The Prophet Micah speaking of man indefinitely or in general declares this Mic. 6.8 He hath shewed thee O man what is good And what doth the Lord require of thee but to do justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with thy God He doth not say God requires till he hath first assured that he hath shewed unto them Now because this is shewed unto all men and manifest in them therefore saith the Apostle is the wrath of God revealed against them for that they hold the Truth in unrighteousness that is the measure of Truth the Light the Seed the Grace in them for that they hide the Talent in the Earth that is in the earthly and unrighteous parts in their hearts and suffer it not to bring forth fruit but to be choaked with the sensual cares of this life the fear of reproach and the deceitfulness of riches as by the parables above mentioned doth appear But the Apostle Paul opens and illustrates this matter yet more Rom. 10. where he declares that the Word which he preached now the Word which he preached and the Gospel which he preached
Luke 1.6 that they were perfect But under the Gospel besides that of the Rom. above mentioned see what the Apostle saith of many Saints in general Eph. 2.4 5 6. But God who is rich in mercy for his great love wherewith he hath loved us even when we were dead in sins hath quickned us together with Christ by Grace ye are saved And hath raised us up together and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus c. I judg while they were sitting in these heavenly places they could not be daily sinning in Thought Word and Deed neither were all their works which they did there as filthy rags or as a menstruous Garment See what is further said to the Hebrews 12.22 23. Spirits of just men made perfect And to conclude let that of the Revelation 14. 1 2 3 4 5. be considered Where though their being found without fault be spoken in the present time yet is it not without respect to their innocency while upon earth and their being redeemed from among men and no guile found in their mouth is expresly mentioned in the time past But I shall proceed now in the third place to answer the objections which indeed are the arguments of our opposers § IX I shall begin with their chief and great argument which is the words of the Apostle Obj. 1. Joh. 1.8 If we say that we have no sin we decieve our selves and the Truth is not in us This they think invincible Answ. But is it not strange to see men so blinded with partiality How many Scriptures tenfold more plain do they reject and yet stick so tenaciously to this that can receive so many answers As first If we say we have no sin c. will not import the Apostle himself to be included Sometimes the Scripture useth this manner of expression when the person speaking cannot be included which manner of speech the Grammarians call Metaschematismos Thus Ja. 3.9 10. speaking of the Tongue saith therewith bless we God and therewith curse we men adding these things ought not so to be who from this will conclude that the Apostle was one of those cursers But secondly this objection hitteth not the matter he saith not we sin daily in Thought Word and Deed far less that the very good works which God works in us by his Spirit are sin yea the next verse clearly shews that upon confession and repentance we are not only forgiven but also cleansed He is faithful to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness Here is both a forgiveness and removing of the guilt and a cleansing or removing of the filth for to make forgiveness and cleansing to belong both to the removing of the guilt as there is no reason for it from the text so it were a most violent forcing of the words and would imply a needless tautology The Apostle having shewn how that not the guilt only but even the filth also of sin is removed subsumes his words in the time past in the 10 verse If we say we have not sinned we make him a liar Thirdly as Augustine well observed in his exposition upon the Epistle to the Galatians It is one thing not to sin another thing not to have sin The Apostles words are not If we say we sin not o◠commit not sin daily but if we say we have no sin And betwixt these two there is a manifest difference for in respect all have sinned as we freely acknowledg all may be said in a sense to have sin Again sin may be taken for the seed of sin which may be in those that are redeemed from actual sinning but as to the temptations and provocations proceeding from it being resisted by the servants of God and not yielded to they are the Devils sin that tempteth not the man's that is preserved Fourthly this being considered as also how positive and how plain once again the same Apostle is in the very same Epistle as in divers places above cited is it equal or rational to strain this one place presently after so qualified and subsumed in the times past to contradict not only other positive expressions of his but the whole tendency of his Epistle and of the rest of the holy commands and precepts of the Scripture Secondly Their second Objection is from two places of Scripture much of one signification The one is 1 Kings 8.46 Obj. For there is no man that sinneth not The other is Eccles. 7.20 for there is not a just man upon earth that doth good and sinneth not I answer first These affirm nothing of a daily and continual sinning Answ. so as never to be redeemed from it but only that all have sinned or that there is none that doth not sin though not always so as never to cease to sin and in this lies the question Yea in that place of the Kings he speaks within two verses of the returning of such with all their Souls and Hearts which implies a possibility of leaving off sin Secondly there is a respect to be had to the seasons and dispensations for if it should be granted that in Solomon's time there was none that sinned not it will not follow that there are none such now or that it is a thing is not now attainable by the Grace of God under the Gospel for a non esse ad non posse non valet sequela And lastly this whole objection hangs upon a false interpretation for the Hebrew word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 may be read in the potential mood Thus There is no man who may not sin as well as in the Indicative so both the old Latin Junius and Tremellius and Vatablus have it and the same word is so used Psal. 119.11 I have hid thy Word in my Heart 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is to say that I may not sin against thee in the potential mood and not in the indicative as it is in the English which being more answerable to the universal scope of the Scriptures the testimony of the Truth and the sense almost of all Interpreters doubtless ought to be so understood and the other interpretation rejected as spurious Thirdly they object some expressions of the Apostle Paul Obj. Rom. 7.19 for the good that I would I do not but the evil which I would not that I do And ver 24. O wretched man that I am who shall deliver me from the body of this death I answer This place infers nothing unless it were apparent that the Apostle here were speaking of his own condition Answ. and not rather in the person of others or what he himself had sometimes born which is frequent in Scripture as in the case of cursing in James before mentioned But there is nothing in the text that doth clearly signify the Apostle to be speaking of himself or of a condition he was then under or was always to be under yea on the contrary in the former Chapter as afore is
best of them for he has better skill of Languages and more Logick Philosophy and School Divinity than any of them and knows the Truth in the notion better than they all and talk more Eloquently than all those Preachers But what availeth all this Is it not all but as Death as a painted Sepulchre and dead Carcase without the Power Life and Spirit of Christianity which is the marrow and substance of a Christian Ministry and he that hath this and can speak from it though he be a poor Shepherd or a Fisher-man and ignorant of all that Learning and of all those questions and notions yet speaking from the Spirit his Ministry will have more influence towards the converting of a sinner unto God than all of them learned after the flesh as in that Example of the old man at the Council of Nice did appear § XXIII And if in any Age since the Apostles daies God hath purposed to shew his power by weak instruments for the battering down of that carnal and heathenish wisdom and restoring again the ancient simplicity of Truth this is it for in our day God hath raised up witnesses for himself as he did Fisher-men of old many yea most of whom are labouring and mechanick men who altogether without that learning have by the Power and Spirit of God struck at the very root and ground of Babylon and in the strength and might of this Power have gathered thousands by teaching their Consciences into the same Power and Life who as to the outward part have been far more knowing than they yet not able to resist the vertue that proceeded from them Of which I my self am a true witness and can declare from a certain experience because my heart hath been often greatly broken and tendered by that vertuous Life that proceeded from the powerful Ministry of those illeterate men so that by their very countenance as well as words I have felt the evil in me often chained down and the good reached to and raised What shall I then say to you who are lovers of learning and admirers of knowledg Was not I also a lover and admirer of it who also sought after it according to my age and capacity But it pleased God in his unutterable love early to withstand my vain endeavours while I was yet but eighteen years of age made and me seriously to consider which I wish also may befall others that without holiness and regeneration no man can see God and that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom and to depart from iniquity a good understanding And how much knowledg puffeth up and leadeth away from that inward quietness stilness and humility of mind where the Lord appears and his heavenly wisdom is revealed If ye consider these things then will ye say with me that all this learning wisdom and knowledg gathered in this faln nature is but as dross and dung in comparison of the cross of Christ especially being destitute of that Power Life and Vertue which I perceived these excellent though despised because illeterate Witnesses of God to be filled with and therefore seeing that in and among them I with many others have found the heavenly food that gives contentment let my Soul seek after this learning and wait for it for ever § XXIV Having thus spoken of the call and qualifications of a Gospel Minister that which comes next to be considered is What his proper work is how and by what rule he is to be ordered Our adversaries do all along go upon outwards and therefore have certain prescribed rules and methods contrived according to their humane and earthly wisdom We on the contrary walk still upon the same foundation and lean alwaies upon the immediate assistance and influence of that Holy Spirit which God hath given his Children to teach them all things and lead them in all things which Spirit being the Spirit of order and not of confusion leads us and as many as follow it into such a comely and decent order as becometh the Church of God But our adversaries having shut themselves out from this immediate council and influence of the Spirit have run themselves into many confusions and disorders seeking to establish an order in this matter For some will have first a chief Bishop or Pope to rule and be Prince over all and under him by degrees Cardinals Patriarchs Archbishops Priests Deacons Sub-deacons and besides these Acoluthi consotari ostiarii c. And in their Theology as they call it Professors Batchelors Doctors c. And others are to have every Nation independent of another having its own Metropolitan or Patriarch and the rest in order subject to him as before Others again are against all precedency among Pastors and constitute their subordination not of persons but of power as first the Consistory or Session then the Class or Presbytery then the Provincial and then the National Synod or Assembly Thus do they tear one another and contend among themselves concerning the ordering distinguishing and making their several orders offices concerning which there hath been no less contest not only by way of verbal diâ—pute but even by fighting tumults wars vastations and blood-shed than about the conquering overturning and establishing of Kingdoms And the Histories of late times are as full of the various Tragedies acted upon the account of this Spiritual and Ecclesiastical Monarchy and Common Wealth as the Histories of old times that gave account of the wras and contests that fell out both in Assyrian Persian Greek and Roman Empires These last upon this account though among those that are called Christians have been no less bloody and monstrous than the former among Heathens concerning their outward Empires and Governments Now all this both among Papists and Protestants proceedeth in that they seek in imitation to uphold a form and shadow of things though they want the Power Vertue and Substance though for many of their orders and forms they have not so much as the name in the Scripture But in opposition to all this mass of formality and heap of Orders Rules and Governments we say the Substance is chiefly to be sought after and the Power Vertue and Spirit is to be known and waited for which is one in all the different names and offices the Scripture makes use of as appears by 1 Cor. 12. often before mentioned There are diversities of Gifts but the same Spirit And after the Apostle throughout the whole chapter hath shewn how one and the self same Spirit worketh in and quickeneth each member then in the 28 verse he sheweth how thereby God hath set in the Church first Apostles secondly Prophets Teachers c. And likewise to the same purpose Eph. 4. he sheweth how by these Gifts he hath given some Apostles some Prophets some Evangelists some Pastors some Teachers c. Now it was never Christs purpose nor the Apostles that Christians should without this Spirit and Heavenly Gift set
the Jews following him for the Loaves to tell them of this Spiritual bread and flesh of his body which was more necessary for them to feed upon It will not therefore follow that their following him for the Loaves had any necessary relation thereunto So also Christ here being at supper with his Disciples takes occasion from the bread and wine which was before them to signifie unto them that as that bread which he brake unto them and that wine which he blessed and gave unto them did contribute to the preserving and nourishing of their bodies so was he also to give his body and shed his blood for the Salvation of their Souls and therefore the very end proposed in this ceremony to those that observe it is to be a memorial of his Death But if it be said that the Apostle 1 Cor. 10.16 calls the bread which he brake the communion of the body of Christ and the cup the communion of his blood I do most willingly subscribe unto it but do deny that this is understood of the outward bread neither can it be evinced but the contrary is manifest from the context for the Apostle in this chapter speaks not one word of that ceremony for having in the beginning of it shewn them how the Jews of old were made partakers of the Spiritual food and water which was Christ and how several of them thro' disobedience and idolatry fell from that good condition he exhorts them by the example of those Jews whom God destroyed of old to flee those evils shewing them that they to wit the Corinthians are likewise partakers of the body and blood of Christ of which communion they would rob themselves if they did evil because they could not drink of the cup of the Lord and the cup of devils and partake of the Lords table and of the Table of devils ver 21. which shews that he understands not here the using of outward bread and wine because those that do drink the cup of devils and eat of the table of devils yea the wickedest of men may partake of the outward bread and outward wine For there the Apostle calls the bread one ver 17. and he saith we being many are one bread and one body for we are all partakers of that one bread Now if the bread be one it cannot be the outward or the inward would be excluded whereas it cannot be denyed but that it 's the partaking of the inward bread and not the outward that makes the Saints truly one body and one bread And whereas they say that the one bread here comprehendeth both the outward and inward by vertue of the Sacramental union that indeed is to affirm but not to prove As for that figment of a Sacramental union I find not such a thing in all the Scripture especially in the New Testament nor is there any thing can give a rise for such a thing in this chapter where the Apostle as is above observed is not at all treating of that ceremony but only from the excellency of that priviledg which the Corinthians had as believing Christians to partake of the flesh and blood of Christ dehorts them from Idolatry and partaking of the Sacrifices offered to Idols so as thereby to offend or hurt their weak brethren But that which they most of all cry out in this matter Obj. and are alwaies noising as from 1 Cor. 11. where the Apostle is particularly treating of this matter and therefore from some words here they have the greatest appearance of Truth for their assertion as ver 27. where he calls the Cup the cup of the Lord and saith that they who eat of it and drink unworthily are guilty of the body and blood of the Lord and ver 26. eat and drink their own damnation intimating thence that this hath an immediate or necessary relation to the body flesh and blood of Christ. Though this at first view may catch the unwary Reader Answ. yet being well considered it doth no ways evince the matter in controversie As for the Corinthians being in the use of this ceremony why they were so and how that obliges not Christians now to the same shall be spoken of hereafter it suffices at this time to consider that they were in the use of it Secondly that in the use of it they were guilty of and committed divers abuses Thirdly that the Apostle here is giving them directions how they may do it aright in shewing them the right and proper use and end of it These things being premised let it be observed that the very express and particular use of it according to the Apostle is to shew forth the Lord's death c. But to shew forth the Lord's death and partake of the flesh and blood of Christ are different things He saith not as often as ye eat this bread and drink this cup ye partake of the body and blood of Christ but ye shew forth the Lord's death So I acknowledg that this ceremony by those that practise it hath an immediate relation to the outward body and death of Christ upon the Cross as being properly a memorial of it but it doth not thence follow that it hath any inward or immediate relation to believers communicating or partaking of the Spiritual body and blood of Christ or that Spiritual Supper spoken of Rev. 3.20 for though in a general way as every religious action in some respect hath a common relation to the Spiritual Communion of the Saints with God so we shall not deny but this hath a relation as others Now for his calling the cup the cup of the Lord and saying they are guilty of the body and blood of Christ and eat their own damnation in not discerning the Lord's body c. I answer that this infers no more necessary relation than any other religious act and amounts to no more than this that since the Corinthians were in the use of this ceremony and so performed it as a religious act they ought to do it worthily else they should bring condemnation upon themselves Now this will not more infer the thing so practised by them to be a necessary religious act obligatory upon others than when Rom. 14.6 the Apostle saith He that regardeth the day regardeth it unto the Lord it can be thence inferred that the days that some esteemed and observed did lay an obligation upon others to do the same but yet as as he that esteemed a day and placed Conscience in keeping it was to regard it to the Lord and so it was to him in so far as he dedicated it unto the Lord the Lord's day he was to do it worthily and if he did it unworthily he would be guilty of the Lord's day and so keep it to his own damnation so also such as observe this ceremony of bread and wine it is to them the bread of the Lord and the cup of the Lord because they use it as a religious act and forasmuch as their
suffer for no man that will persecute another for his Conscience would suffer for his own if he could avoid it seeing his Principle obliges him if he had power by force to establish that which he judges is the Truth and so to force others to it Therefore I judg it meet for the information of the Nations briefly to add something in this place concerning the nature of true Christian sufferings whereunto a very faithful testimony has been borne by God's Witnesses which he hath raised up in this age beyond what hath been generally known or practised for these many generations yea since the Apostacy took place Yet 't is not my design here in any wise to derogate from the sufferings of the Protestant Martyrs whom I believe to have walked in faithfulness towards God according to the dispensation of Light in that day appearing and of which many were utter enemies to persecution as by their testimonies ugainst it might be made appear But the true faithful and Christian suffering is for men to profess what they are perswaded is right and so practice and perform their Worship towards God as being their true right so to do and neither to do more in that because of outward incouragement from men nor any whit less because of the fear of their Laws and Acts against it Thus for a Christian man to vindicate his just liberty with so much boldness and yet Innocency wil in due time though through blood purchase peace as this age has in some measure experienced and many are witnesses of it which yet shall be more apparent to the world as Truth takes place in the earth But they greatly sin against this excellent rule that in time of persecution do not profess their own way so much as they would if it were otherwaies and yet when they can get the Magistrate upon their side not only stretch their own liberty to the utmost but seek to establish the same by denying it to others But of this excellent patience and sufferings the Witnesses of God in scorn called Quakers have given a manifest proof for so soon as God revealed his Truth among them without regard to all opposition or what they might meet with they went up and down as they were moved of the Lord preaching and propagating the Truth in Market-places High-ways Streets and publick Temples though daily beaten whipped bruised haled and imprisoned therefore And when there was any where a Church or Assembly gathered they taught them to keep their meetings openly and not to shut the door nor do it by stealth that all might know it and who would might enter and as hereby all just occasion of fear of plotting against the Government was fully removed so this their courage and faithfulness in not giving over their meeting together but more especially the presence and Glory of God manifested in the meeting being terrible to the Consciences of the Persecutors did so weary out the malice of their adversaries that often-times they were forced to leave their work undone For when they came to break up a meeting they were forc'd to take every individual out by force they not being free to give up their liberty by dissolving at their command and when they were haled out unless they were kept forth by violence they presently returned peaceably to their place Yea when sometimes the Magistrates have pulled down their Meeting-houses they have met the next day openly upon the rubbish and so by innocency kept their possession and ground being properly their own and their right to meet and worship God being not forfeited to any So that when armed men have come to dissolve them it was impossible for them to do it unless they had killed every one for they stood so close together that no force could move any one to stir until violently pull'd down so that when the malice of their opposers stirred them to take shovels and throw the rubbish upon them there they stood unmoved being willing if the Lord should so permit to have been there buried alive witnessing for him As this patient but yet couragious way of suffering made the Persecutors work very heavy and wearisome unto them so the courage and patience of the sufferers using no resistance nor bringing any weapons to defend themselves nor seeking any ways revenge upon such occasions did secretly smite the hearts of the persecutors and make their Charriot-wheels go on heavily Thus after much and many kind of sufferings thus patiently born which to rehearse would make a volumn of it self which may in due time be published to the Nations for we have them upon record a kind of negative liberty has been obtained so that at present for the most part we meet together without disturbance from the Magistrate But on the contrary most Protestants when they have not the allowance and tolerance of the Magistrate meet only in secret and hide their testimony and if they be discovered if there be any probability of making their escape by force though it were by cutting off those that seek them out they will do it whereby they lose the glory of their sufferings by not appearing as the innocent followers of Christ nor having a testimony of their harmlesness in the hearts of their pursuers their fury by such resistance is the more kindled against them As to this last part of resisting such as persecute them they can lay claim to no precept from Christ nor any example of him or his Apostles approved Obj. But as to the first part for fleeing and meeting secretly and not openly testifying for the Truth they usually object that saying of Christ Matth. 10.23 when they persecute you in this City flee ye into another And Acts 9.4 that the Disciples met secretly for fear of the Jews And Acts 9.25 that Paul was let out of Damascus in a basket down by the wall Answ. To all which I answer First as to that saying of Christ it is a question if it had any further relation than to that particular message with which he sent them to the Jews yea the latter end of the words seem expresly to hold forth so much for ye shall not have gone over the Citys of Juda till the Son of man be come Now a particular practice or command for a particular time will not serve for a president to any at this day to shun the Cross of Christ. But supposing this precept to reach further it must be so understood to be made use of only according as the Spirit giveth liberty else no man that could flee might suffer persecution How then did not the Apostles John and Peter flee when they were the first time persecuted at Jerusalem But on the contrary went the next day after they were discharged by the Council and preached boldly to the People But indeed many are but too capable to stretch such sayings as these for self preservation and therefore have great ground to fear when they interpret them
that they shun to witness for Christ for fear of hurt to themselves lest they mistake them As for that private meeting of the Disciples we have only an account of the matter of fact but that suffices not to make of it a president for us and mens aptness to imitate them in that which for ought we know might have been an act of weakness and not in other things of the contrary nature shews that it is not a true zeal to be like those Disciples but indeed a desire to preserve themselves which moves them so to do Lastly as to that of Paul's being conveyed out of Damascus the case was singular and is not to be doubted but it was done by a special allowance from God who having designed him to be a principal Minister of his Gospel saw meet in hss Wisdom to disoppoint the wicked council of the Jews But our adversaries have no such pretext for fleeing whose fleeing proceeds from self preservation not from immediate revelation And that Paul made not this the method of his proceedure appears in that at another time notwithstanding the perswasion of his Friends and certain Prophecys of his sufferings to come he would not be disswaded to go up to Jerusalem which according to the fore-mentioned rule he should have done But lastly to conclude this matter Glory to God and our Lord Jesus Christ that now these twenty five years since we were known to be a distinct and separate People hath given us faithfully to suffer for his Name without shrinking or fleeing the Cross and what liberty we now enjoy it is by his Mercy and not by an outward working or procuring of our own but 't is he has wrought upon the hearts of our opposers nor was it any outward interest hath procured it unto us but the testimony of our harmlesness in the hearts of our Superiors for God hath preserved us hitherto in the patient suffering of Jesus that we have not given away our cause by persecuting any which few if any Christians that I know can say Now against our unparalleled yet innocent and Christian cause our malicious enemies have nothing to say but that if we had Power we would do so likewise This is a piece of meer unreasonable malice and a priviledg they take to judg of things to come which they have not by immediate revelation and surely it is the greatest heighth of harsh judgment to say men would do contrary to their professed Principle if they could who have from their practice hitherto given no ground for it and wherein they only judg others by themselves such conjectures cannot militate against us so long as we are innocent And if ever we prove guilty of persecution by forcing other men by corporal punishment to our way then let us be judged the greatest of Hypocrites and let not any spare to persecute us AMEN saith my Soul The Fifteenth Proposition Concerning Salutations and Recreations c. Seeing the chief end of all Religion is to redeem men 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 precious 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 those actions which we are necessarily ingaged in order to the taking care for the sustenance of the outward man § I. HAving hitherto treated of the Principles of Religion both relating to Doctrine and Worship I am now to speak of some practices which have been the product of this Principle in those Witnesses whom God hath raised up in this day to testifie for his Truth It will not a little commend them I suppose in the judgment of sober and judicious men that taking them generally even by the Confession of their Adversaries they are found to be free of those Abominations which abound among other Professors such as are Swearing Drunkenness Whoredom Riotousness c. And that generally the very coming among this People doth naturally work such a change so that many vitious and profane persons have been known by coming to this Truth to become sober and vertuous and many light vain and wanton ones to become grave and serious as our adversaries dare not deny yet that they may not want something to detract us for cease not to accuse us for those things which when found among themselves they highly commend thus our gravity they call sullenness our seriousness melancholly our silence sottishness Such as have been vitious and profane among them but by coming to us have left off those evils lest they should commend the truth of our profession they say that whereas they were profane before they are become worse in being hypocritical and spiritually proud If any before dissolute and profane among them by coming to the Truth with us become frugal and diligent then they will charge them with covetousness And if any eminent among them for seriousness piety and discoveries of God come unto us then they will say they were always subject to melancholly and to enthusiasm though before when among them it was esteem'd neither melancholly nor enthusiasm in an evil sense but Christian gravity and Divine revelation Our boldness and Christian suffering the call obstinacy and pertinacy though half as much if among themselves they would account Christian courage and nobility And though thus by their envy they strive to read all relating to us backwards counting these things vice in us which in themselves they would extol as vertues yet hath the strength of Truth extorted this confession often from them that we are generally a pure and clean people as to the outward conversation But this they say is but in policy to commend our heresie But such policy it is say I as Christ and his Apostles made use of and all good Christians ought to do yea so far hath Truth prevailed by the purity of his followers that if one that is called a Quaker do but that which is common among them as to laugh and be wanton speak at large and keep not his word punctually or be overtaken with hastyness or anger they presently say O!
Lev. 16.2 3 6. the Sabbaths and regard to parents are mentioned with Swearing Obj. Fifthly they Object that solemn Oaths which God commanded cannot be here forbidden by Christ for he saith that they come from evil But these did not come from evil for God never commanded any thing that was evil or came from evil Answ. I answer there are things which are good because commanded and evil because forbidden other things are commanded because good and forbidden because evil As Circumcision and Oaths which were good when and because they were commanded and in no other respect and again when and because prohibited under the Gospel they are evil And in all these Jewish constitutions however ceremonial there was something of good to wit in their season as prefiguring some good as by Circumcision the purifications and other things the holiness of God was typified and that the Israelites ought to be holy as their God was holy In the like manner Oaths under the shaddows and ceremonys signified the verity of God his faithfulness and certainty and therefore that we ought in all things to speak and witness the Truth But the Witness of Truth was before all oaths and remains when all oaths are abolished and this is the morality of all oaths and so long as men abide therein there is no necessity of nor place for Oaths as Polibius witnessed who said The use of Oaths in Judgment were rare among the Antients but by the growing of perfidiousness so grew also the use of Oaths To which agreeth Grotius saying An Oath is only to be used as a Medicin in case of necessity a solemn oath is not used but to supply defect The lightness of men and their inconstancy begot diffidence for which swearing was sought out a remedy Basil the Great saith that swearing is the effect of sin And Ambrose that Oaths are only a condescendency for defect Chrysostom saith that an Oath entred when evil grew when men exerciseth their frauds when all foundations were overturned that Oaths took their beginning from the want of Truth These and the like are witnessed by many others with the forementioned Authors But what need of testimonies where the evidence of things speak it self For who will force another to swear of whom he is certainly perswaded that he abhors to lye in his words And again as Chrysostom and others say For what end wilt thou force him to swear whom thou believest not that he will speak the Truth § XII That then which was not from the beginning which was of no use in the beginning which had not its beginning first from the will of God but from the work of the Devil occasioned from evil to wit from unfaithfulness lying deceit and which was at first only invented by man as a mutual remedy of this evil in which they called upon the names of their idols yea that which as Hirerom Chrysostom and others testifie was given to the Israelites by God as unto children that they might abstain from the Idolatrous Oaths of the Heathens Jer. 12.16 whosoever is so is far from being a moral and eternal precept and lastly whatsoever by its profanation an abuse is polluted with sin such as are abundantly the oaths of these times by so often swearing and forswearing far differs from any necessary and perpetual duty of a Christian But oaths are so Therefore c. Sixthly they object that God swore Therefore to swear is good Obj. I answer with Athanasius Seeing it is certain Answ. it is proper in swearing to swear by another thence it appears that God to speak properly did never swear but only improperly whence speaking to men he is said to swear because these things which he speaks because of the certainty and immutability of his will are to be esteemed for Oaths Compare Psal. 110.4 where it is said The Lord did swear and it did not repent him c. And I swore saith he by my self and this is not an Oath for he did not swear by another which is the property of an oath but by himself Therefore God swears not according to the manner of men neither can we be induced from thence to swear but let us so do and say and shew our selves such by speaking and acting that we need not with our hearers an oath and let our words of themselves have the testimony of Truth for so we shall plainly imitate God Obj. Seventhly they object Christ did swear and we ought to imitate him Answ. I answer that Christ did not swear and albeit he had sworn being yet under the Law this would no waies oblige us under the Gospel as neither Circumcision or the Celebration of the Paschal Lamb. Concerning which Hierom saith All things agree unto us who are Servants that agreed unto our Lord c. The Lord swore as Lord whom no man did forbid to swear but unto us that are servants it is not lawful to swear because we are forbidden by the Law of our Lord. Yet lest we should not suffer scandal by his Example he hath not sworn since he commanded us not to swear Eighthly they object that Paul swore and that often Rom. 1.19 Phil. 1.8 saying Obj. For God is my Witness 2 Cor. 11.10 As the Truth of Christ is in me 2 Cor. 1.23 I call God for a record upon my Soul I speak the Truth in Christ I lye not Rom. 9.1 Behold before God I lye not Gal. 1.20 And so requires Oaths of others I object you saith he before God and our Lord Jesus Christ 1 Thes. 5.27 I charge you by the Lord that this Epistle be read to all the Brethren But Paul would not have done so if all manner of Oaths had been forbidden by Christ whose Apostle he was Answ. To all which I answer First that the using of such forms of speaking are neither Oaths nor so esteemed by our adversaries for when upon occasion in matters of great moment we have said We speak the Truth in the fear of God and before him who is our Witness and the searcher of our hearts adding such kind of serious attestations which we never refused in matters of consequence nevertheless an Oath hath moreover been required of us with the ceremony of putting our hand upon the book the kissing of it the lifting up of the hand or fingers together with this common form of imprecation So help me God or So truly let the Lord God Almighty help me Secondly This contradicts the opinion of our adversaries because that Paul was neither before a Magistrate that was requiring an Oath of him nor did he himself administer the office of a Magistrate as offering an Oath to any other Thirdly the question is not what Paul or Peter did but what their and our Master taught to be done and if Paul did swear which we believe not he had sinned against the command of Christ even according to their opinion because he swore not before a Magistrate but in an Epistle
to his Brethren Ninthly they object Isa. 65.16 where speaking of the Evangelical times Obj. he saith That he who blesseth himself in the Earth shall bless himself in the God of Truth and he that sweareth in the Earth shall swear by the God of Truth because the former troubles are forgotten and because they are hid from mine Eyes For behold I create new Heavens and a new Earth Therefore in these times we ought to swear by the Name of the Lord. I answer It is ordinary for the Prophets to express the greatest duties of Evangelical times in Mosaical terms as appears among others Answ. from Jer. 31.38 39 40. Ezek. 36.25 and 40. and Isa. 45.23 I have sworn by my self that unto me ever knee shall bowe every tongue shall swear Where the Righteousness of the New Jerusalem the purity of the Gospel with its Spiritual Worship and the profession of the Name of Cbrist are expressed under forms of speaking used to Old Jerusalem under the washings of the Law under the names of Ceremonles the Temple Services Sacrifices Oaths c. Yea that which the Prophet speaks here of Swearing the Apostle Paul interprets it expresly of confession saying Rom. 14.11 For it is written As I live saith the Lord Every knee shall bowe to me and every tongue shall confess to God Which being rightly considered none can be ignorant but these words which the Prophet writes under the Law when the Ceremonial Oaths were in use to wit Every Tongue shall swear whereby the Apostle being under the Gospel when those Oaths became abolished expressed by Every tongue shall confess Tenthly they object But the Apostle Paul approves Oaths used among men when he writes Heb. 6.16 Obj. For men verily swear by the greater and an Oath of Confirmation is to them an end of all strife But there are as many contests fallacies and differences at this time as there were ever Therefore the necessity of Oaths doth yet remain I answer the Apostle tells indeed in this place what men at that time did who lived in controversies and incredulity not what they ought to have done nor what the Saints did who were redeemed from strife and incrudulity and had come to Christ that Truth and Amen of God Moreover he only alludes to a certain custom usual among men that he might express the firmity of the Divine Promise that he might excite in the Saints so much the more confidence in God promising to them not that he might instigate them to swear against the law of God or confirm them in that no not at all for neither doth 1 Cor. 9.24 teach Christians the vain races whereby men often times even to the destruction of their Bodies are wearied to obtain a corruptible prize So neither doth Christ who is the Prince of Peace teach his Disciples to fight albeit he takes notice Luk. 14.31 what it behoveth such Kings to do who are accustomed to fight as prudent warriors therein Secondly as to what pertains to contests perfidies and diffidences among men which our adversaries affirm to have grown to such an height that Swearing is at present as necessary as ever that we deny not at all for we see and daily experience teacheth us that all manner of deceit and malice doth encrease among worldly men and false Christians but not among true Christians but because men cannot trust one another and therefore require Oaths one of another it will not therefore follow that true Christians ought to do so whom Christ has brought to true faithfulness and honesty as well towards God as one towards another and therefore has delivered them from contests perfidies and consequently from Oaths Eleventhly they object We grant that among true Christians there is not need of Oaths Obj. but by what means shall we infallibly know them It will follow then that Oaths are at present needful and that it is lawful for Christians to swear to wit that such may be satisfied who will not acknowledg this and the other man to be a Christian. I answer It is no waies lawful for a Christian to swear whom Christ hath called to his essential Truth Answ. which was before all Oaths forbidding him to swear and on the contrary commanding him to speak the Truth in all things to the honour of Christ who called him that it may appear that the words of his Disciples may be as truly believed as the Oaths of all the worldly men Neither is it lawful for them to be unfaithful in this that they may please others for that they may avoid their hurt for thus the primitive Christians for some ages remained faithful who being required to swear did unanimously answer I am a Christian I swear not What shall I say of the Heathens some of whom arrived to that degree For Diodoris Siculus relates lib. 16. that the giving of the right hand was among the Persians a sign of speaking the Truth and the Scythians as Qu. Curtius relates said in their conferences with Alexander the Great Think not that the Scythians confirm their friendship by swearing they swear by keeping their promises Stobaeus in his third Sermon tells that Solomon said A good man ought to be in that estimation that he need not an Oath because it is to be reputed a lessening of his honour if he be forced to swear Pythagoras in his Oration among other things hath this maxime as that which concerns the administration of the Common-wealth Let no man call God to witness by an Oath no not in judgment but let every man so accustom himself to speak that he may become worthy to be trusted even without an Oath Basil the Great commends Clinias an Heathen that he had rather pay three talents which are about three thousand pound than swear Socrates as Stobaeus relates Serm. 14. had this sentence the duty of good men requires that they shew to the world that their manners and actions are more firm than Oaths the same was the judgment of Isocrates Plato also stood against Oaths in his judgments De Leg. 12. Quintilianus takes notice that it was of old a kind of infamy if any was desired to swear but to require an Oath of a noble man was like an examining him by the Hangman Marcus Aurelius Antonius the Emperor of Rome saith in his description of a good man Such is his integrity that he needs not an Oath So also some Jews did witness as Grotius relates out of Maimonides It is best for a man to abstain from all Oaths The Esseans as Philo Judaeus relates did esteem their words more firm than Oaths and Oaths were esteemed among them as needless things And Philo himself speaking of the third Commandment explains his mind thus viz. It were better altogether not to swear but to be accustomed alwaies to speak the Truth that naked words might have the strength of an Oath And elswhere he saith It is more agreeable to natural Reason altogether to abstain from Swearing