great Agent and Means of Man's Conversion and Eternal Felicity any more than Infancy Youth and Manhood make three Men instead of three growths or periods of Time of one and the same Man But passing that the many Modes or Ways of Gods appearing to Men arise as hath been said from the divers States of Men in all which it seems to have been his main design to prevent Idolatry and Vice by directing their Minds to the true Object of Worship and pressing Virtue and Holiness So that though mediately he spoke to the Patriarchs mostly by Angels in the fashion of Men and by them to their Families over and above the Illumination in themselves so the Prophets for the most Part by the Revelation of the Holy Ghost in them and by them to the Jews And since the Gospel Dispensation by his Son both Externally by his coming in the Flesh and Internally by his spiritual Appearance in the Soul as he is the great Light of the World Yet all its flowings mediately through others has still been from the same Principle co-operating with the Manifestation of it immediately in Man 's own Particular § 2. This is of great weight for our Information and Incouragement that God's Work in reference to Man is all of a Piece and in it self lies in a narrow Compass and that his Eye has ever been upon the same thing in all his Dispensations viz. to make Men truly Good by planting his Holy Awe and Fear in their Hearts Though he has condescended for the hardness and darkness of Men's Hearts to approach and spell out his Holy Mind to them by low and carnal ways as they may appear to our more Enlightned Understandings Suffering Truth to put on divers sorts of Garments the better to reach to the low State of Men to engage them from false Gods and ill Lives seeing them sunk so much below their nobler Part and what he made them that like brute Beasts they knew not their own Strength and Excellency § 3. And if we do but well consider the Reason of the Prevalency of Idolatry upon the Earlier and Darker Times of the World of which the Scripture is very particular we shall find that it ariseth from this that it is more Sensual and therefore calculated to please the Sences of Men being more Outward or Visible or more in their own Power to perform then one more spiritual in its Object For as their gods were the Workmanship of Mens Hands they could not prefer them that being the Argument which did most of all gaul their Worshippers and what of all things for that reason they were most willing to forget But their Incidency to Idolatry and the Advantages it had upon the true Religion with them plainly came from this that it was more outward and sensual They could see the Object of their Devotion and had it in their Power to Address it when they would It was more fashionable too as well as better accommodated to their Dark and too Brutal State And therefore it was that God by many Afflictions and greater Deliverances brought forth a People to endear himself to them that they might remember the Hand that saved them and Worship him and him only in order to root up Idolatry and plant the Knowledge and fear of him in their Minds for an Example to other Nations VVhoever reads Deuteronomy which is a summary of the other four Books of Moses will find the frequent and earnest Care and concern of that good Man for Israel about this very Point and how often that People slipt and laps'd notwithstanding God's Love Care and Patience over them into the Idolatrous Customs of the Nations about them Divers other Scriptures inform us also especially those of the Prophets Isaiah 44. and 45. Psalms 37. and 115. and Jer. 10. where the Holy Ghost Confutes and Rebukes the People and mocks their Idols with a sort of Holy Disdain § 4. Now that which is farthest from Idolatry and the best Antidote against it is the Principle we have laid down and the more Peoples Minds are turned and brought to it and that they resolve their Faith VVorship and Obedience into the Holy Illuminations and Power of it the nearer they grow to the end of their Creation and consequently to their Creator They are more spiritually qualified and become better fitted to VVorship God as he is VVho as we are told by our Lord Jesus Christ Is a Spirit and will be Worshipped in Spirit and in Truth and that they are such sort of Worshippers which God seeketh to worship him in this Gospel Day The hour cometh saith he and now is That is some now do so but more shall A plain Assertion in present and a Promise and Prophesie of the encrease of such VVorshippers in future VVhich shows a Change intended from a Ceremonial VVorship and State of the Church of God to a Spiritual One. Thus the Text But the time cometh and now is when the true Worshippers shall Worship the Father in the Spirit and in the Truth VVhich is as much as to say when the VVorship of God shall be more Inward than Outward and so more suitable to the Nature of God and the nobler Part of Man his Inside or his inward and better Man For so those blessed VVords import in Spirit and in Truth In the Spirit that is through the Power of the Spirit In the Truth that is in Realities not in Shadows Ceremonies or Formalities but in Sincerity with and in Life being divinely prepared and animated which brings Man not only to offer up Right VVorship but also into Intimate Communion and Fellowship with God who is a Spirit § 5. And if it be duly weighed it will appear that God in all his Manifestations of himself hath still come nearer and nearer to the Insides of Men that he might reach to their Understandings and open their Hearts and give them a plainer and nearer Acquaintance with himself in Spirit And then it is that Man must seek and find the Knowledge of God for his Eternal Happiness Indeed all things that are made show forth the Power and Wisdom of God and his Goodness too to Mankind and therefore many Men urge the Creation to silence Atheistical Objections But though all those things show a God yet Man does it above all the Rest He is the precious Stone of the Ring and the most glorious Jewel of the Globe to whose reasonable Use Service and Satisfaction the whole seems to be made and dedicated But God's Delight by whom Man was made we are told by the Holy Ghost is in the habitable Parts of the Earth with the Sons of Men Prov. 8. 31. And with those that are contrite in Spirit Isa 66. 1. And why is Man his Delight but because Man only of all his Works was his Likeness This is the intimate Relation of Man to God Somewhat nearer than ordinary for of all other Beings Man only
it is that Conformity that gives Communion and there is no fellowship with God no Light of his Countenance to be enjoyed no Peace and Assurance to be had further than there is Obedience to his Will and a Faithfulness to his Word according to the Manifestation of the Light thereof in the Heart I say this is the truest and highest State of Worship for Set Days and Places with all the Solemnity of them were most in Request in the weakest Dispensation Altars Ark and Temples Sabbaths and Festivals c. are not to be found in the Writings of the New Testament There every Day 's alike and every Place is alike but if there were a Dedication let it be to the Lord. Thus the Apostle but he plainly shews a State beyond it for to Live with him was Christ and to Dye was Gain for the Life he Lived was by the Faith of the Son of God and therefore it was not he that Lived but Christ that Lived in him that is that Ruled Conducted and bore Sway in him which is the true Christian Life the Supersensual Life the Life of Conversion and Regeneration to which all the Dispensations of God and Ministry of his Servants have ever tended as the Consummation of God's Work for Man's Happiness Here every Man 's a Temple and every Family a Church and every Place is a Meeting-Place and every Visit a Meeting And yet a little while and it shall be so yet more and more and a People the Lord is now Preparing to enter into this Sabbath or Degree of Rest Not that we would be thought to undervalue Publick and Solemn Meetings We have them all over the Nations where the Lord has called us Yea tho' but Two or Three of us be in a Corner of a County we meet as the Apostle Exhorted the Saints of his time and Reproved such as Neglected to Assemble themselves But yet shew we unto thee O Reader a more excellent Way of Worship For many may come to those Meetings and go away Carnal Dead and Dry but the Worshippers in Spirit and in Truth whose Hearts Bow whose Minds Adore the Eternal God that is a Spirit in and by his Spirit such as conform to his Will and walk with him in a Spiritual Life they are the True Constant Living and Acceptable Worshippers whether it be in Meetings or out of Meetings And as with such all outward Assemblies are greatly Comfortable so also do we meet for a Publick Testimony of Religion and Worship and for the Edification and Encouragement of those that are yet Young in the Truth and to Call and Gather others to the knowledge of it who are yet going astray and Blessed be God it is not in vain since many are thereby added to the Church that we hope and believe shall be Saved CHAP. XI Sect. 1. Against Tythes Sect. 2. Against all Swearing Sect. 3. Against War among Christians Sect. 4. Against Salutation of the Times Sect. 5. And for Plainness of Speech Sect. 6. Against mixt Marriages Sect. 7. And for plainness in Apparel c. no Sports and Pastimes after the manner of this World Sect. 8. Of Observing Days Sect. 9. Of Care of Poor Peace and Conversation § 1. AND as God has been pleased to call us from an Human Ministry so we cannot for Conscience-sake Support and Maintain it and upon that Score and not out of Humour or Covetousness we refuse to pay Tithes or such-like pretended Dues concerning which many Books have been writ in our Defence We cannot Support what we cannot Approve but have a Testimony against for thereby we should be found Inconsistent with our selves § 2. We dare not Swear because Christ forbids it Mat. 5. 34 37. and James his true follower It is Needless as well as Evil for the reason of Swearing being Vntruth that Men's Yea was not Yea Swearing was used to awe Men to Truth Speaking and to give others Satisfaction that what was Sworn was true But the true Christians Yea being Yea the end of an Oath is answered and therefore the use of it is Needless Superfluous and cometh of Evil. The Apostle James Taught the same Doctrine and the Primitive Christians Practised it as may be seen in the Book of Martyrs as also the earliest and best of the Reformers § 3. We also believe that War ought to cease among the followers of the Lamb Christ Jesus who taught his Disciples to forgive and love their Enemies and not to War against them and kill them and that therefore the Weapons of his true Followers are not Carnal but Spiritual yet mighty through God to cut down Sin and Wickedness and Dethrone him that is the Author thereof And as this is the most Christian so the most Rational Way Love and Perswasion having more Force than Weapons of War Nor would the worst of Men easily be brought to hurt those that they really think love them 'T is that Love and Patience must in the end have the Victory § 4. We dare not give worldly Honour or use the Frequent and Modish Salutations of the Times seeing plainly that Vanity Pride and Ostentation belong to them Christ also forbid them in his Day and made the Love of them a Mark of Declension from the Simplicity of purer times and his Disciples and their Followers were observed to have obeyed their Masters Precept It is not to Distinguish our selves a Party or out of Pride Ill-breeding or Humour but in Obedience to the Sight and Sence we have received from the Spirit of Christ of the evil Rise and Tendency thereof § 5. For the same Reason we have returned to the first Plainness of Speech viz. Thou and Thee to a single Person which tho' Men give no other to God they will hardly endure it from us It has been a great Test upon Pride and shewn the Blind and weak Insides of many This also is out of pure Conscience whatever People may think or say of us for it We may be Despised and have been so often yea very evilly Entreated but we are now better known and People better Informed In short 't is also both Scripture and Grammar and we have Propriety of Speech for it as well as Peace in it § 6. We cannot allow of mix'd Marriages that is to joyn with such as are not of our Society but Oppose and Disown them if at any time any of our Profession so grosly err from the Rule of their Communion yet Restore them upon sincere Repentance but not disjoyn them The Book I writ of the Rise and Progress of the People called Quakers is more full and express herein § 7. Plainness in Apparel and Furniture is another Testimony peculiar to us in the degree we have bore it to the World As also few Words and being at a Word Likewise Temperance in Food and Abstinence from the Recreations and Pastimes of the World All which we have been taught by the Spirit of our Lord Jesus Christ
general an Unhappiness among the Professors of Christianity that they are apt to cloak their own Active and Passive Disobedience with the Active and Passive Obedience of Christ The first part of Justification we do reverently and humbly acknowledge is only for the sake of the Death and Sufferings of Christ nothing we can do though by the Operation of the Holy Spirit being able to cancel Old Debts or wipe out Old Scores It is the Power and Efficacy of that Propitiatory Offering upon Faith and Repentance that justifies us from the Sins that are past and it is the Power of Christ's Spirit in our Hearts that purifies and makes us acceptable before God For till the Heart of Man is purged from Sin God will never accept of it He Reproves Rebukes and Condemns those that entertain Sin there and therefore such cannot be said to be in a Justified State Condemnation and Justification being Contraries So that they that hold themselves in a Justified State by the Active and Passive Obedience of Christ while they are not Actively and Passively Obedient to the Spirit of Christ Jesus are under a strong and dangerous Delusion and for crying out against this Sin-pleasing Imagination not to say Doctrine we are Staged and Reproached as Deniers and Despisers of the Death and Sufferings of our Lord Jesus Christ But be it known to such they add to Christ's Sufferings and Crucifie to themselves afresh the Son of God and trample the Blood of the Covenant under their Feet that walk unholily under a Profession of Justification for God will not acquit the Guilty nor justifie the Disobedient and Unfaithful Such deceive themselves and at the Great and Final Judgment their Sentence will not be Come ye Blessed because it cannot be said to them Well done Good and Faithful for they cannot be so esteemed that live and die in a Reproveable and Condemnable State but Go ye Cursed c. § 5. Wherefore O my Reader Rest not thy self wholly satisfied with what Christ has done for thee in his Blessed Person without Thee but press to know his Power and Kingdom within thee that the strong Man that has too long kept thy House may be bound and his Goods spoiled his Works destroyed and Sin ended according to the 1 John 3. 7. For which end says that Beloved Disciple Christ was manifested that all things may become New New Heavens and New Earth in which Righteousness dwells Thus thou wilt come to glorifie God in thy Body and in thy Spirit which are his and live to him and not to thy self Thy Love Joy Worship and Obedience thy Life Conversation and Practice thy Study Meditation and Devotion will be Spiritual For the Father and the Son will make their abode with thee and Christ will manifest himself to thee for the Secrets of the Lord are with them that fear him And an holy Vnction or Anointing have all those which leads them into all truth and they need not the Teachings of Men They are better Taught being Instructed by the Divine Oracle no bare Hear-say or Traditional Christians but fresh and living Witnesses Those that have seen with their own Eyes and heard with their own Ears and have handled with their own Hands the Word of Life in the divers Operations of it to their Souls Salvation In this they Meet in this they Preach and in this they Pray and Praise Behold the New Covenant fulfilled the Church and Worship of Christ the Great Anointed of God and the Great Anointing of God in his Holy High Priesthood and Offices in his Church CHAP. IX Sect. 1. A Confession to Christ and his Work both in Doing and Suffering Sect. 2. That ought not to make void our Belief and Testimony of his Inward and Spiritual Appearance in the Soul Sect. 3. What our Testimony is in the latter respect That 't is impossible to be Saved by Christ Without us while we reject his Work and Power Within us Sect. 4. The Dispensation of Grace in its Nature and Extent Sect. 5. A further Acknowledgment to the Death and Sufferings of Christ Sect. 6. The Conclusion shewing our Adversaries Vnreasonableness § 1. AND lest any should say we are Equivocal in our Expressions and Allegorize away Christ's Appearance in the Flesh meaning only thereby our own Flesh and that as often as we mention him we mean only a Mystery or a Mystical Sense of him be it as to his Coming Birth Miracles Sufferings Death Resurrection Ascention Mediation and Judgment I would yet add to preserve the well-disposed from being stagger'd by such Suggestions and to inform and reclaim such as are under the Power and Prejudice of them That we do we Bless God Religiously Believe and Confess to the Glory of God the Father and the Honour of his Dear and Beloved Son that Jesus Christ took our Nature upon him and was like unto us in all things Sin excepted That he was Born of the Virgin Mary and Suffered under Pontius Pilate the Roman Governour Crucified Dead and Buried in the Sepulchre of Joseph of Arimathea Rose again the Third Day and Ascended into Heaven and sits on the Right Hand of God in the Power and Majesty of his Father who will one Day Judge the World by him even that Blessed Man Christ Jesus according to their Works § 2. But because we so Believe must we not Believe what Christ said He that is with you shall be in you John 14. I in them and they in me c. Chap. 17. When it pleased God to reveal his Son in me c. Gal. 1. The Mystery hid from Ages is Christ in the Gentiles the hope of Glory Col. 1. Vnless Christ be in you ye are Reprobates 2 Cor. 13. Or must we be industriously represented Deniers of Christ's Coming in the Flesh and the Holy Ends of it in all the Parts and Branches of his Doing and Suffering because we Believe and press the Necessity of Believing Receiving and Obeying his Inward and Spiritual Appearance and Manifestation of himself through his Light Grace and Spirit in the Hears and Consciences of Men and Women to Reprove Convict Convert and Change them This we esteem hard and unrighteous Measure nor would our warm and sharp Adversaries be so dealt with by others But to do as they would be done to is too often no part of their Practice whatever it be of their Profession § 3. Yet we are very ready to declare to the whole World that we cannot think Men and Women can be saved by their Belief of the one without the Sense and Experience of the other and that is what we oppose and not his Blessed Manifestation in the Flesh We say that he then overcame our Common Enemy foil'd him in the open Field and in our Nature triumphed over him that had overcome and triumphed over it in our Forefather Adam and his Posterity and that as truly as Christ overcame him in our Nature in his own Person so by his Divine
been so treated in the Primitive Times nor indeed is it only about Doctrines of Religion for our Practice in Worship and Discipline have had the same Success But this is what I earnestly desire that however bold People are pleased to make with us they would not deceive themselves in the great things of their own Salvation That while they would seem to own all to Christ they are not found disowned of Christ in the last Day Read the 7th of Matthew it is he that hears Christ the great Word of God and does what he enjoins what he commands and by his Blessed Example recommends that is a Wise Builder that has founded his House well and built with good Materials and whose House will stand the last shake and Judgment For which cause we are often plain close and earnest with People to consider that Christ came not to save them in but from their Sins and that they that think to discharge and release themselves of his Yoke and Burden his Cross and Example and secure themselves and Complement Christ with his having done all for them while he has wrought little or nothing in them nor they parted with any thing for the love of him will finally awake in a dreadful surprize at the sound of the last Trumpet and at this sad and irrevokeable Sentence Depart from me ye Workers of Iniquity I know you not Which terrible End may all timely avoid by hearkening to Wisdom's Voice and turning at her Reproof that she may lead them in the Ways of Righteousness and in the midst of the Paths of Judgment that their Souls may come to inherit Substance even durable Riches and Righteousness in the Kingdom of the Father World without end CHAP. X. Sect. 1. Of the true Worship of God in what it stands Sect. 2. Of the true Ministry that it is by Inspiration Sect. 3. The Scripture plain in that Case Sect. 4. Christ's Ministers True Witnesses they speak what they know not by Report Sect. 5. Christ's Ministers they affirm Preach freely 't is one of their Marks § 1. AS the Lord wrought effectually by his Divine Grace in the Hearts of this People so he thereby brought them to a Divine Worship and Ministry Christ's words they came to Experience viz. That God was a Spirit and that he would therefore be worshipped in the Spirit and in the Truth and that such Worshippers the Father would seek to worship him For bowing to the Convictions of the Spirit in themselves in their daily course of living by which they were taught to eschew that which was made manifest to them to be evil and to do that which was good they in their Assembling together sate down and waited for the Preparation of this Holy Spirit both to let them see their States and Conditions before the Lord and to worship him acceptably and as they were sensible of Wants or Shortness or Infirmities so in the secret of their own Hearts Prayer would spring to God through Jesus Christ to help assist and supply them But they did not dare to wake their Beloved before his time or approach the Throne of the King of Glory till he held out his Scepter or take thought what they should say or after their own or other Mens studied Words and Forms for this were to Offer strange Fire to pray but not by the Spirit to ask but not in the Name that is in the Power of our Lord Jesus Christ who pray'd as well as that he spoke like one having Authority that is Power a Divine Energy and Force to reach and pierce the Heavens which he gives to all that obey his Light Grace and Spirit in their solemn Waitings upon him So that 't is this Peoples Principle that Fire must come from Heaven Life and Power from God to enable the Soul to pour out it self acceptably before him And when a Coal from his holy Altar touches our Lips then can we Pray and Praise him as we ought to do And as this is our Principle and that according to Scripture so is it Blessed be God our Experience and Practice And therefore it is we are separated from the Worships of Men under their several Forms because they do not found it in the Operation Motion and Assistance of the Spirit of Christ but the Appointment Invention and Framing of Man both as to Matter Words and Time We do not dissent in our own Wills and we dare not comply against His that has called us and brought us to his own Spiritual Worship in Obedience to whom we are what we are in our Separation from the divers Ways of Worship in the World § 2. And as our Worship stands in the Operation of the Spirit and Truth in our inward Parts as before expressed so does our Ministry For as the Holy Testimonies of the Servants of God of Old were from the Operation of his Blessed Spirit so must those of his Servants be in every Age and that which has not the Spirit of Christ for its Spring and Source is of Man and not Christ Christian Ministers are to minister what they receive This is Scripture now that which we receive is not our own less another Mans but the Lord's So that we are not only not to Steal from our Neighbours but we are not to Study and speak our own words If we are not to study what we are to say before Magistrates for our selves less are we to study what we are to say for and from God to the People We are to minister as the Oracles of God if so then must we receive from Christ God's Great Oracle what we are to minister And if we are to minister what we receive then not what we Study Collect and beat out of our own Brains for that is not the Mind of Christ but our Imaginations and this will not Profit the People § 3. This was recommended to the Corinthians by the Apostle Paul 1 Cor. 14. that they should speak as they were moved or as any thing was revealed to them by the Spirit for the Edification of the Church for says he Ye may all Prophecy that is ye may all Preach to Edification as any thing is revealed to you for the Good of others and as the Spirit giveth Vtterance And if the Spirit must give Christ's Ministers their Utterance then those that are his are careful not to utter any thing in his Name to the People without his Spirit and by good Consequence they that go before the true Guide and utter words without the Knowledge of the Mind of the Spirit are none of Christ's Ministers Such certainly run and God has not sent them and they cannot Profit the People And indeed how should they when it is impossible that meer Man with all his Parts Arts and Acquirements can turn People from Darkness to Light and from the Power of Satan to God which is the very End and Work of the Gospel-Ministry It must be Inspired Men Men
Gifted by God taught and influenced by his Heavenly Spirit that can be qualified for so great so inward and so Spiritual a Work § 4. Ministers of Christ are his Witnesses and the Credit of a Witness is that he has heard seen or handled And thus the Beloved Disciple states the Truth and Authority of their Mission and Ministry 1 John 1. 1 3. That which we have heard which we have seen with our Eyes which we have looked upon and our hands have handled that declare we unto you that your Fellowship may be with us and truly our Fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ I say If Christ's Ministers are his Witnesses they must know what they speak that is they must have experienced and past through those States and Conditions they Preach of and practically know those Truths they declare of to the People or they come not in by the Door but over the Wall and are Thieves and Robbers He that has the Key of David comes in at the Door Christ Jesus and has his Admission and Approbation from him anointed by him the alone High Priest of the Gospel-Dispensation He it is that breaths and lays his hands upon his own Ministers he anoints them and recruits their Cruice and renews their Horn with Oyl that they may have it fresh and fresh for every Occasion and Service he calls them to and engages them in § 5. Nor is this all but as they Receive freely freely they Give They do not Teach for Hire Divine for Mony nor Preach for Gifts or Rewards It was Christ's Holy Command to his Ministers to give freely and it is our Practice And truly we cannot but admire that this should be made a Fault and that Preaching for Hire should not be seen to be one yea a Mark of False Prophets when it has been so frequently and severely cried out upon by the True Prophets of God in former times I would not be Uncharitable but the Guilty are desired to call to mind who it was that offered Mony to be made a Minister and what it was for if not to get Mony and make a Trade or Livelihood by it and what answer he met with from the Apostle Peter Acts 8. 18 19 20. The Lord Touch the Hearts of those that are giving Mony to be made Ministers in order to live by their Preaching that they may see what ground it is they build upon and repent and turn to the Lord that they may find Mercy and become living Witnesses of his Power and Goodness in their own Souls so may they be enabled to tell others What God has done for them which is the Root and Ground of the true Ministry and this Ministry it is that God does Bless I could say much on this Subject but let what has been said suffice at this time only I cannot but observe that where any Religion has a strong Temptation of Gain to induce Men to be Ministers there is great Danger of their running faster to that Calling than becomes a true Gospel-Minister § 1. Object But does not this sort of Ministry and Worship tend to make People careless and Spiritual Pride in others may it not give an occasion to great Mischief and Irreligion Answ By no means For when People are of Age They of right expect their Inheritances and the End of all Words is to bring People to the Great VVord and then the Promise of God is Accomplished They shall be all taught of me from the least to the greatest and in Righteousness pray mark that they shall be Established and great shall be their Peace To this of the Evangelical Prophet the beloved Disciple agrees and which is a full Answer to the Objection These things have I written unto you concerning them that Seduce you But the Anointing which ye have received of him abideth in you and ye need not that any Man teach you but as the same Anointing teacheth you of all things and is Truth and is no Lye And even as it hath taught you ye shall abide in him In which Three things are observable 1st That he writ his Epistle upon an extraordinary Occasion viz. to prevent their Delusion 2dly That he asserts a nearer and superior Minister than himself viz. The Anointing or Grace they had received and that not only in that particular Exigency but in all Cases that might attend them Thirdly That if they did but take heed to the Teachings of it they would have no need of Man's Directions or fear of his Seducings At least of no Ministry that comes not from the Power of the Anointing Though I rather take the Apostle in the highest Sence of the Words 2 Thess 4. 9. Thus also the Apostle Paul to the Thessalonians But as touching Brotherly Love ye need not that I write unto you For ye your selves are Taught of God to Love one another But Helps are useful and a great Blessing if from God such was John the Baptists but remember he pointed all to Christ John 1. 26. Lo the Lamb of God! I Baptize you with VVater but he shall Baptize you with the Holy Ghost and with Fire Mat. 3. 11. And so the true Ministry does And while People are Sensual and under such an Eclipse by the Interposition of Sin and Satan God is pleased to send forth his Inlightning Servants to awaken and turn them from the Darkness to the Light in themselves that through Obedience to it they may come to be Children of the Light John 12. 36 and have their fellowship one with another in it and an Inheritance at last with the Saints in Light for ever And as it is the Way God has taken to Call and Gather People so a Living and Holy Ministry is of great advantage to VVatch over and Build up the Young and Comfort and Establish the feeble and simple Ones But still I say the more Inward the less Outward The more People come to be taught Immediately of God by the Light of his Word and Spirit in their Hearts the less need of outward means read Isa 16. 19 20. which is held by all to be a Gospel Promise and the Sun and Moon there as general understood to mean the external Means in the Church Compare them with John 1. 13. Rom. 1. 19. 1 Cor. 2. 11 15. 1 Thes 4. 9. 1 John 2. 20 27. Rev. 21. 22 23 24. All which points at what we assert of the sufficiency and glorious Priviledge of Inward and Spiritual Teachings And most certainly as Men Grow in Grace and know the Anointing of the Word in themselves the Dispensation will be less in Words though in Words and more in Life and Preaching will in great Measure be turned into Praising and the Worship of God more into Walking with than Talking of God For that is VVorship indeed that Bows to his Will at all Times and in all Places The truest the highest Worship Man is capable of in this World And