Immediate Revelation of the Light in his own Particular then received which he is to abide in hearken unto and obey is so very manifest that indeed it is a deserting the Cause of Immediate Revelation once so fiercely contended for to be in every Man to lead him into all Truth and on 〈◊〉 acknowledgement of the Insufficiency of that Light within of it self so to lead them in whom it is or to preserve them therein It remains in order to the closing of this Discourse to examine some of the arguments of old mustered up by those of the Roman Church against the Protestants and long since refuted by them and manifest in their Consciences to have no force in them against this Doctrine of the New Testament treated of in this Discourse yet now again raised out of that Rubbish to uphold this little new erected Papacy Is the Body to be without Government And if so will it not turn into the confusion of the Ranters every one having liberty to do what he pleaseth Is not this rather a Carnal Licentiousness than Christian Liberty I answer It is not pleaded for here that every one or indeed any one should do what he pleaseth but that none should be constrained or imposed upon to do what others please but they should be left free to do what God pleaseth They that are Christ's are led by his Spirit whose Conduct cannot introduce Confusion or Licentiousness in them especially who own the Divine Authority of the Holy Scripture as their Outward Rule Indeed such things may enter into a Christian Society but its only then when the Doctrine of the New Testament and the Leadings of God's Spirit according to them is departed from But are we not to believe as the True Church Believes Is not the Infallible Spirit of God in his Church If so what will you believe if not as the True Church doth believes I answer This is the old reasoning of Carnal Wisdom whereby Christ is justled out of his Office and the Divine Authority of the Holy Scripture trampled upon to introduce an Implicit Blind Obedience the strength of which Argument is at large solidly refuted and the Deceit lurking under that Covering clearly laid open by W. Pen a Protestant in his Book entituled An Address to Protestants the Perusal whereof is recommended to the People called Quakers for their Information herein I am saith he to believe as the true Church believes but not because she so believes but because I am convinced in my Conscience of the truth of what she believes otherwise my Faith may be false though hers be true We have the same Rule for our Faith the true Church hath and the same Reasons to induce us to believe that she hath the whole multitude of the Believers who make up the whole Church having the same Rule of Faith with me in particular therefore I believe as the whole Church believes but upon the same Principles and Motives upon which every one in particular believed who first made up a Christian Church which was Conviction and Choice and though I ought thus to believe as the Holy Catholick Church believes and that the Spirit of God rests in his Catholick Church yet I am not therefore blindly without examination and convincement to give up my whole Concern Temporal and Spiritual unto any particular Society of Christians even though I be ingaged as one among them in Church-Fellowship as unto the Judgment of the Spirit of God in the Men's or Womens-Meetings the generality among whom may be in a Decay and the Dissenters may be the few who keep their Garments undefiled as most ordinarily in ages past it hath happened actually to be in other Christian Societies Obj. But was there not a Government in the Churches in the Apostles Days And were there not Governours and Governed And should it not be so still Were not the Elders to seed the Flock and rule over them and was not the Flock to submit themselves to them and to follow their Faith as they that must give an account of their Souls And it was not Tyranny then to exercise this Authority in the Church how comes it to be so now I answer Church-Government is Spiritual and only to be exercised Spiritually in the Consciences of the Governed not as Lording it over their Consciences by an Ecclesiastick Jurisdiction but by Perswasion and Conviction to become manifest in their Consciences waiting till the Lord shall reveal it to them thus was Spiritual Government exercised in the first Churches by their Governours according to the Rules of Expediency Edification Peace and Charity and thus did the Governed submit themselves in the Lord whereby they were preserved in the Unity of the Spirit in different Outward Practices which being departed from the Government becomes Tyrannous Obj. But the infallible Judgment in reference to Differences in the Church though it be fixed in the Spirit of God according to the Testimony of the Scriptures ought it not to be exercised by one or more certain Person or Persons in the General Meetings of the Elders of the Body so long as he or they abide in the Conduct of that Spirit and are not in a Decay And what can be the hazard to say That in such a Church there is still an Infallible Judgment in one or more so guided to whom all are to submit In respect we are not to imagine that in a Christian Society there must be no Orders made or executed for the better regulating of the Society or that among them Matters controverted shall never be finally determined I answer In such a Society Matters controverted may and ought to be finally determined by Persons of the Society to whom they should be referred and it rests in the power of any one particular Church to make Orders for the better Governing of the Church the Exercise whereof may be committed by the Church to particular Elders and Overseers to whom in their acts of Government they are accountable but in the framing such Orders and in the Exercise of Church-Government the Rules of Expediency Edification Peace and Charity are ever to be observed that the Consciences of the Desciples may be preserved tender under the feeling of Christ's Government within them that Obedience be never imposed as necessary upon them but as the Lord shall clear the Matter to them for this being departed from it ceaseth to be the Spiritual Government of Christ exercised in his Church according to the New Testament and becomes an Ecclesiastâ—cal Jurisdiction usurped and tyrannously exercised over the Consciences of the Disciples So that in any particular Church there is no necessity of any Person or Persons one or more Pope or General Council's having such a Power though Builders in Babylon would make it necessary for preserving in themselves an Ecclesiastical Supremacy over the Scriptures and the Consciences of all in the Church the hazard of which Doctrine is manifest in the Apostacy of those
of Rome from the Truâ—h and Order of the Gospel upon this very Principle an External Judge in the Church one or more to have an Infallible Judgment to whom all are to submit though unconvinced the admitting whereof in any Christian-Church is the readiest way I know of to make void their great Principle of Union Conviction and Choice and to introduce the necessity of an Implicit Obedience to all manner of Innovations Church-Rulers shall please to impose without a possibility in the whole Church to remedy it For to add So long as he or they abide in the Conduct of that Spirit in their own particular and so not in a Decay Is no more than what they of Rome assert of themselves and the great question here remains undetermined Viz. Who shall be Judge of the Life or Decay of this one or more Whether the Pope and the Council of Trent or the Dissenting Protestants The very assuming such a Power in themselves at Trent was a sufficient evidence in the Consciences of Dissenting Protestants of their Decay then and it is so now Obj. But if there be no infallible Judgment to be expected now in the Church how are these words of our Lord 's to be understood Lo I am with you to the end of the World the Gates of Hell shall not prevail against it And how is the Church the Ground and Pillar of Truth I Answer The necessity of this infallible Judgment in one or more in the Church can no more be concluded from these words than the Pope's Supremacy over Emperours and Kings and the whole Catholick Church from the words of our Lord to Peter Feed my Sheep These Expressions in plainness importing only this That Jesus Christ will be so present with his Holy Catholick Church in the World so long as it shall last that the Gates of Hell shall not prevail against it so as in it the truth of the Gospel shall be preserved and prosessed which is not applicable to any one particular Church for many that were such in the days of the Apostles are long since so far prevailed upon by Heresies Persecutions and Devastations that they have lost not only a Church-State according to the Order of the Gospel but also their very Being in the World yet Christ's Presence remains with his Church so as it continues in the World the Ground and Pillar of Truth against which the Powers of Darkness shall never so far prevail so as it shall not have a Being in the World or shall cease to be the Ground and Pillar of Truth Obj. But if there be no Infallible Judgment now to be expected in the Church will not both the Dissenters they that are dissented from be in the Mist both hitting at Random And will not Religion degenerate into Sceptism I Answer There is no such hazard where the Divine Authority of the Holy Scriptures and the Illumination of the Holy Spirit of God in the understanding of them is owned and preserved and where People are called upon not to imbrace outward Appointments too hastily but wait the Conduct of the Spirit of the Lord to lead into all Truth according to the Scriptures and this can never be the necessary consequence of this Doctrine however these Masters of Order would impose such an Inference upon it but we do indeed then hit at random and are in the mist blindfolded when being denyed the use of our Reason and Spiritual Understanding we are required to submit to outward Impositions to be first blindfolded and then led by such blind Guides is the shortest way I know of to fall into the Ditch Obj. But if any through unclearness or disobedience do not submit is not the Church to deny them her Spiritual Fellowship If in Civil Corporations or Societies they have power to declare the Breakers of the Fundamental Articles of their Society to have forfeited their Right in the Society why should it not be so in Christian Societies without the brand of Tyranny I Answer The chiefest Liberty pleaded for in this Discourse is not on their behalf who break the Fundamental Spiritual Band of the Churches Unity which is the Spirit of God by Conviction and Choice uniting them together in one voluntary joynt Communion neither is it pleaded for on their behalf who break the Fundamental Articles of a Christian Society as such to wit those who walk scandalously in a disordered prophane Conversation unsuitable to the Holiness of the Gospel and those who avowedly maintain and obstinately adhere unto those damnable Heresies as are manifestly inconsistent with the very Fundamental Principles of the Christian Faith from all such as having a Form of Godliness but denying the Power thereof and as having erred concerning the Truth overthrowing the Faith of some in the Apostles days the Christians were to turn from and it ought to be so now in all Christian Societies walking according to that Pattern as is clear in the New-Testament But if Persons make Outward Bands of Church-Unity as necessary Conditions of Church Communion which was not in the first Churches and impose them contrary to the Apostles Rules of Expediency Edification Peace and Charity obliging all persons in the Church notwithstanding any unclearness in themselves to a submissive obedience thereunto as unto the Judgment of the Spirit of God in the Men's and Women's Meetings or be denied the Spiritual Fellowship of the Church In this Case the standing fast to Christian Liberty not to be subject to Ordinances after the Commandments and Doctrines of Men is no breach of the Fundamental Articles of a Christian Society but a necessary Testimony against Introduced Innovations contrary to them for in any Christian Congregation or Church though there be not an Uniformity in Outward Practices because of unclearness in the Consciences of the Disciples in matters that are not plainly manifest to them all to be of that weight as utterly to dissolve the Spiritual Union and break the Fundamental Articles of all Christian Societies as such the Congregation or Church is not to deny the Dissenters her Spiritual Fellowship Christian Liberty was thus allowed of in the first Churches and will be so still where Church Government is not turned into Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction in the hands of a few Church-Rulers to uphold their Authority over all in the Church Neither are Christian Societies like other Corporations because not gathered on the same Grounds nor being gathered preserved by the same Principles nor governed by the same Methods the ground of their being gathered in Societies is their being first joyned to the Lord by his Grace in their Hearts and then a voluntary joyning together for their mutual Edification in the holy things of the Gospel this Principle which first united them and that only preserves them in one joynâ— Body in the exercise of that Spiritual Government that is consistent with Christian Liberty in different Outward Practices which Principle of Union and Method of Government no Civil
SPIRITUAL ORDER AND Christian Liberty PROVED To be Consistent in the Churches of Christ AND Impositions upon the Consciences of Believers in Religious Practices FOUND To be Antichristian and Destructive to both By R.G. A Protestant Acts 2.42 And they continued in the Apostles Doctrine and Fellowship Yet Rom. 14.5.23 Let every man be fully perswaded in his own Mind for what is not of Faith is Sin But 1 Cor. 14.10 Let all things be done decently and in Order Yet 2 Cor. 1.24 Not that we have Dominion over your Faith For 2 Cor. 13.10 The Power given of the Lord to us was not to Destruction but to Edification Therefore Gal. 5.1 Stand fast in the Liberty wherein Christ hath made you free and be not again intangled with Yoaks of Bondage Yet Gal. 5.13 Vse not this Liberty for an occasion to the Flesh but in Love serve one another To the Christian Reader whether Bound or Free COuld I have satisfied my self in smothering this Discourse it had not appeared in publick from me now in this my retiredness from the noise of the many Debates about Rites and Ceremonies in Religion which have so miserably rent and divided Protestants-Societies in separate Communions judging and condemning one another because of different outward Practices and various apprehensions in debatable Questions wherein though they differ each abounding in his own sense yet they ought to continue as One in the Lord though in several distinct Fellowships and differing in Outward Practices But being alaramed with the loud clamour on the one hand of Church Government Laws and Orders of general and particular Meetings of the Friends of the Ministry and others the necessity of one or more in the Church having power infallibly to determine all Matters controverted therein to whom all must submit though unconvinced or unclear in themselves or else be branded with the odious Names of Schismatick Stragler Breaker of the Vnity of the Body and many worse appellations not worth the repeating And on the other hand with the Groans and Struglings of a few who have not defiled their Garments but are wrestling for their Christian Liberty under different outward Practices against Impositions and introduced Innovations contrary to that great Principle of Conviction and Choice upon which all Christians were at first united in distinct Societies And that from among a People separating themselves from â—he Communion of all other Christians of what Denomination soeveâ— upon the Principle of Immediate Inward Revelation of Light and Spirit communicated to every man as he cometh into the World for his convincement and conduct in all things he is to believe and practice in Religion and condemning in others an Imposing Ecclesiastical Power as tyrannous and contrary to that Inward Revelation they have so often asserted to be in every man to lead him into all Truth I am constrained in my mind thus to appear in publick testifying to that Spiritual Order and Christian Liberty established by the Apostles in the first Churches and recorded in the New-Testament as the only proper means for preserving any Christian Society from a confused disorderly Licentiousness and Tyrannous usurped Imposings I intend not by publishing this Discourse to enter into a debate with any Person being resolved what ever entertainment it may meet with to possess my Soul in Patience committing the Issue to the Lord. Neither would I be understood to be so ingaged in any particular Company of Protestants so as to plead for the one against the other It is the first great Foundation Principle upon which the Protestants separated from those of the Roman Communion that is here pleaded for to wit That the Divine Authority of the Holy Scriptures without us and the Illumination of the Holy Spirit within us gives final determination in Matters of Religion Whereby every Christian for himself is restored to his Liberty of Inquiry Choice so freed from the Imposition of unscriptural Traditions by Popes General Councils Therefore what I am matters not to this Discourse and what others may judge me to be because of it doth but little concern me every man is to give an account of himself to God and not he that commends himself or is highly accounted of by others but he whom the Lord commends is approved FAREWEL Spiritual Order and Christian Liberty c. THE Apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ having received the Promise of the Father and fitted with Power from on high went forth Preaching the Gospel with great Power giving Witness to the Resurrection of the Lord Jesus and Multitudes believed and great Grace fell upon them all They came not with outward Force upon the unbelieving World neither did they magisterially as by an unaccountable authority impose upon Believers Doctrines and Practises to be received by them without inward convincement Nay nay God who commanded Light to shine out of Darkness shined in their Hearts therefore they knowing the terrours of the Lord perswaded men they beseeched prayed men to be reconciled to God commending themselves in the sight of God to every mans Conscience by requiring every one in the Church to be fully perswaded in himself Whereby they became manifest both to God and in the Consciences of those that believed Whereupon the Disciples multiplying first at Jerusalem and afterwards in other Places they were gathered into several distinct Congregations or Churches each distinct Congregation continuing together with one accord abode stedfastly in the Apostles Doctrine and Fellowship the care of whom was upon them by whose Ministry they were first gathered for their Establishment in their most Holy Faith who therefore delivered to them when present among them and in Letters when absent from them such Instructions as being observed might preserve them though in distinct Fellowships as the Houshould of God built upon the Foundation of the Prophets and Apostles Jesus Christ himself being the Chief Corner Stone in the Vnity of the Spirit in the Bond of Peace Hence we read in their Epistles these and such like Precepts I beseech you Brethren mark them which cause Divisions and Offences contrary to the Doctrine which you have learned and avoid them Be perfectly in the same Mind and in the same Judgment I beseech you Brethren be Followers of me for this Cause have I sent Timotheus who is faithful in the Lord who will bring you in remembrance of my ways as I teach every where in every Church Now I pray you Brethren that you remember me in all things and keep the Ordinances as I delivered them to you Know them that labour among you and are over you in the Lord esteem them highly for their Works sake exhort rebuke with all authority let no man dispise thee let all things be done decently and in Order Thus also the Apostles being guided by the unerring conduct of the Spirit of God in discarge of the Ministry committed to them whereof they gave sufficient Evidence to the stopping the Mouthes of