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
and really to have conquered Asâ—â— and overcome Pompey c. This knowledg then of Christ which is not by the Revelation of his own Spirit in the heart is no more properly the knowledg of Christ than the pratling of a Parret which has been taught a few words may be said to be the voice of a man for as that or some other Bird may be taught to sound or utter forth a rational sentence as it hath learned it by the outward ear and not from any living principle of reason actuating it So just such is that knowledg of the things of God which the natural and carnal man hath gathered from the words or writings of Spiritual men which are not true to him because conceived in the natural Spirit and so brought forth by the wrong Organ and not proceeding from the Spiritual Principle no more than the words of a man acquired by art and brought forth by the mouth of a Bird not proceeding from a rational Principle are true with respect to the Bird that utters them Wherefore from this Scripture I shall further add this Argument If no man can say Jesus is the Lord but by the Holy Ghost then no man can know Jesus to be the Lord but by the Holy Ghost But the First is true Therefore the Second From this argument there may be another deduced concluding in the very terms of this assertion thus If no man can know Jesus to be the Lord but by the Holy Ghost then can there be no certain knowledg or Revelation of him but by the Spirit But the First is true Therefore the Second § VII The third thing affirmed is That by the Spirit God always revealed himself to his Children For making appear of the truth of this assertion it will be but needful to consider God's manifesting himself towards and in relation to his Creatures from the beginning which resolves it self always herein The First step of all is ascribed hereunto by Moses Gen. 1.2 And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the Waters I think it will not be denied that God's converse with man all along from Adam to Moses was by the immediate manifestation of his Spirit And afterwards through the whole tract of the Law he spake to his Children no otherwaies which as it naturally followeth from the Principles above proved so it cannot be denied by such as acknowledg the Scriptures of Truth to have been written by the inspiration of the Holy Ghost For these writings from Moses to Malachy do declare that during all that time God revealed himself to his Children by his Spirit But if any will object that after th dispensation of the Law God's method of speaking was altered I answer first that God spake alwayes immediatly to the Jewes in that he spake always immediatly to the High-Priest from betwixt the Cherubins who when he entered into the Holy of Holys returning did relate to the whole People the voice and will of God there immediately revealed So that his immediate speaking never ceased in any age Secondly from this immediate fellowship were none shut out who earnestly sought after and waited for it in that many besides the High-Priest who were not so much as of the kindred of Levi nor of the Prophets did receive it and speak from it as it is written Numb 11.25 Where the Spirit is said to have rested upon the seventy Elders which Spirit also reached unto two that were not in the Tabernacle but in the Camp whom when some would have forbidden Moses would not but rejoiced wishing all the Lord's people were Prophets and that he would put his Spirit upon them verse 29. This is also confirmed Neh. 9. Where the Elders of the People after their return from captivity when they began to sanctifie themselves by fasting and prayer in which numbring up the many mercies of God towards their Fathers they say ver 20. Thou gavest also thy good Spirit to instruct them and ver 30. Yet many years didst thou forbear and testifie against them by thy Spirit in thy Prophets Many are the sayings of Spiritual David to this purpose as Psal. 51.13 Take not thy Holy Spirit from me uphold me with thy free Spirit Psal. 139.7 Whither shall I go from thy Spirit Hereunto doth the Prophet Isaiah ascribe the credit of his Testimony saying chap. 48. v. 16. And now the Lord God and his Spirit hath sent me And that God revealed himself to his children under the New Testament to wit to the Apostles Evangelists and primitive Disciples is confessed by all How far now this yet continueth and is to be expected comes hereafter to be spoken to § VIII The fourth thing affirmed is that these Revelations were the object of the Saints faith of old This will easily appear by the definition of Faith and considering what its object is For which we shall not dive into the curious and various notions of the School-men but stay in the plain and positive words of the Apostle Paul who Hebr. 11. describes it two ways Faith saith he is the substance of things hoped for and the evidence of things not seen which as the Apostle illustrateth it in the same chapter by many examples is no other but a firm and certain belief of the mind whereby it resteth and in a sence possesseth the substance of some things hoped for through its confidence in the promise of God And thus the Soul hath a most firm evidence by its faith of things not yet seen nor come to pass The object of this faith is the promse word or testimony of God speaking to the mind Hence it hath been generally affirmed that the object of Faith is Deus loquens c. That is God speaking c. Which is also manifest from all these Examples deduced by the Apostle throughout that whole Chapter whose Faith was founded neither by that outward testimony nor upon the voice and writing of man but upon the revelation of Gods Will manifest unto them and in them as in the Example of Noah ver 7. thus By Faith Noah being warned of God of things not seen as yet moved with fear prepared an Ark to the saving of his House by the which he condemned the World and became Heir of the Righteousness which is by Faith What was here the object of Noahs Faith but God speaking unto him He had not the Writings nor Prophesyings of any going before nor yet the concurrence of any Church or People to strengthen him and yet his Faith in the Word by which he contradicted the whole World saved him and his House Of which also Abraham is set forth as a singular Example being therefore called the Father of the Faithful who is said against hope to have believed in hope In that he only willingly forsook his Fathers Countrey not knowing whether he went In that he believed concerning the coming of Isaac though contrary to natural probability But above all In that he refused not
but inward and immediate revelation as we have before proved Their example can be no ways applicable to us except we believe in God as they did that is by the same object The Apostle clears this yet further by his own example Gal. 1.16 where he saith so soon as Christ was revealed in him he consulted not with flesh and blood but forthwith believed and obeyed The same Apostle Heb. 13.7 8. where he exhorteth the Hebrews to follow the faith of the Elders adds this reason considering the end of their conversation Jesus Christ the same to day yesterday and for ever hereby notably insinuating that in the object there is no alteration If any now object the diversity of Administration I answer that altereth not at all the object for the same Apostle mentioned this diversity three times 1 Cor. 12.4 5 6. centreth always in the same Object the same Spirit the same Lord the same God But further if the object of Faith were not one and the same both to us and to them then it would follow that we were to know God some other way than by the Spirit But this were absurd Therefore c. Lastly this is most firmly proved from a common and received maxim of the School-men to wit Omnis actus specificatur ab objecto every act is specified from its object from which if it be true as they acknowledg tho for the sake of many I shall not recur to this argument as being too nice and Scholastick Neither lay I much stress upon those kind of things as being that which commends not the simplicity of the Gospel If the object were different then the faith would be different also Such as deny this Proposition now adays use here a distinction granting that God is to be known by his Spirit but again denying that it is immediate or inward but in and by the Scriptures in which the mind of the Spirit as they say being fully and amply expressed we are thereby to know God and be led in all things As to the negative of this assertion that the Scriptures are not sufficient neither were ever appointed to be the adequate and only rule nor yet can guide or direct a Christian in all those things that are needful for him to know we shall leave that to the next Proposition to be examined What is proper in this place to be proved is that Christians now are to be led inwardly and immediatly by the Spirit of God even in the same manner though it befal not to many to be led in the same measure as the Saints were of old § X. I shall prove this by divers Arguments and first from the Promise of Christ in these words Joh. 14.16 And I will pray the Father and he will give you another Comforter that he may abide with you for ever 17. Even the Spirit of Truth whom the World cannot receive because it seeth him not neither knoweth him but ye know him for he dwelleth with you and shall be in you Again ver 26. But the Comforter which is the Holy Ghost whom the Father will send in my Name he shall teach you all things and bring all things to your remembrance and 16.13 But when that Spirit of Truth shall come he shall lead you into all Truth for he shall not speak of himself but whatsoever he shall hear he shall speak and shall declare unto you things to come We have here first who this is and that is divers wayes expressed to wit The Comforter the Spirit of Truth the Holy Ghost and sent of the Father in the Name of Christ. And hereby is sufficiently proved the fottishness of those Socinians and other carnal Christians who neither know nor acknowledge any internal Spirit or Power but that which is meerly Natural by which they sufficiently declare themselves to be of the World who cannot receive the Spirit because they neither see him nor know him Secondly Where this Spirit is to be He dwelleth with you and shall be in you And Thirdly What his Work is He shall teach you all things and bring all things to your remembrance and guide you into all Truth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 As to the First Most do acknowledge that there is nothing else understood than what the plain words signifie which is also evident by many other places of Scripture that will hereafter occur Neither do I see how such as affirm otherwayes can avoid Blasphemy For If the Comforter the Holy Ghost and Spirit of Truth be all one with the Scriptures then it will follow that the Scriptures is God seeing it is true that the Holy Ghost is God If these Mens reasoning might take place where ever the Spirit is mentioned in relation to the Saints thereby might be truly and properly understood the Scriptures Which what a non-sensical Monster it would make of the Christian Religion will easily appear to all Men. As where it is said A Manifestation of the Spirit is given to every man to profit withal it might be rendred thus A manifestation of the Scriptures is given to every man to profit withal What notable sense this would make and what a curious interpretation let us consider by the sequel of the same chapter 1 Cor. 12.9 10 11. To another the gifts of Healing by the same Spirit to another the working of Miracles c. But all these worketh that one and the self same Spirit dividing to every man severally as he will What would now these great masters of Reason the Socinians judge if we should place the Scriptures here instead of the Spirit Would it answer their Reason which is the great guide of their Faith Would it be good and sound Reason in their Logical Schools to affirm that the Scriptures divideth severally as it will and giveth to some the gift of Healing to others the working of Miracles If then this Spirit a manifestation whereof is given to every man to profit withal be no other than that Spirit of Truth before-mentioned which guideth into all Truth this Spirit of Truth cannot be the Scriptures I could infer an hundred more absurdities of this kind upon this sottish Opinion but what is said may suffice For even some of themselves being at times forgetful or ashamed of their own Doctrine do acknowledge that the Spirit of God is another thing and distinct from the Scriptures to guide and influence the Saints Secondly That this Spirit is inward in my opinion needs no interpretation nor commentary He dwelleth with you and shall be in you This indwelling of the Spirit in the Saints as it is a thing most needful to be known and believed so is it as positively asserted in the Scripture as any thing else can be If so be the Spirit of God dwell in you saith the Apostle to the Romans 8.9 and again Know ye not that ye are the Temple of the Holy Ghost and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you 1 Cor. 6.19 Without this the
not led by his Spirit but these feign a Christianity that needs not the Spirit of Christ. He makes no hope of the blessed Resurrection unless we feel the Spirit residing in us but these feign a hope without any such a feeling But perhaps they will answer that they deny not but that it is necessary to have it only of modesty and humility we ought to deny and not acknowledg it What means he then when he commands the Corinthians to try themselves if they be in the Faith to examine themselves whether they have Christ whom whosoever acknowledges not dwelling in him is a reprobate By the Spirit which he hath given us saith John we know that he abideth in us And what do we then else but call in question Christ his promise while we would be esteemed the Servants of God without his Spirit which he declared he would pour out upon all his Seeing these things are the first grounds of Piety it is miserable blindness to accuse Christians of Pride because they dare glory of the presence of the Spirit without which glorying Christianity it self could not be But by their example they declare how truly Christ spake saying that his Spirit was unknown to the world and that those only acknowledg it with whom it remains Thus far Calvin If therefore it be so why should any be so foolish as to deny or so unwise as not to seek after this Spirit which Christ hath promised shall dwell in his Children They then that do suppose the in-dwelling and leading of his Spirit to be ceased must also suppose Christianity to be ceased which cannot subsist without it Thirdly What the work of this Spirit is is partly before shown which Christ compriseth in two or three things He will guide you into all Truth he will teach you all things and bring all things to your remembrance Since Christ hath provided for us so good an instructor what need we then lean so much to those traditions and commandments of Men wherewith so many Christians have Burthened themselves What need we set up our own Carnal and corrupt reason for a guide to us in matters Spiritual as some will needs do May it not be complained of all such as the Lord did of old concerning Israel by the Prophets Jer. 2.13 For my People have commited two Evils they have forsaken me the Fountain of Living waters and hewed them out Cisterns broken Cisterns that hold no water Have not many forsaken do not many deride and reject this inward and Immediate Guide this Spirit that leads into all Truth and cast up to themselves other ways broken waves indeed which have not all this while brought them out of the flesh nor out of the world nor from under the dominion of their own lusts and sinful affections whereby truth which is only rightly learned by this Spirit is so much a stranger in the Earth From all them that have been mentioned concerning this promise and these words of Christ it will follow that Christians are always to be led inwardly and immediately by the Spirit of God dwelling in them and that the same is a standing and perpetual Ordinance as well to the Church in general in all ages as to every individual member in particular as appears from this argument The promise of Christ to his Children are Yea and Amen and cannot fail but must of necessity be fulfilled But Christ hath promised that the Comforter the Holy Ghost the Spirit of Truth shall abide with his Children for ever shall dwell with them shall be in them shall lead them into all Truth shall teach them all things shall bring all things to their remembrance Therefore c. Again No man is redeemed from the carnal mind which is at enmity with God which is not subject to the Law of God neither can be No man is yet in the Spirit but in the flesh and cannot please God except he in whom the Spirit of God dwells But every true Christian is in measure redeemed from the carnal mind is gathered out of the Enmity and can be subject to the Law of God is out of the flesh and in the Spirit the Spirit of God dwelling in him Therefore every true Christian hath the Spirit of God dwelling in him Again Whosoever hath not the Spirit of Christ is none of his that is no Child no Friend no Disciple of Christ. But every true Christian is a Child a Friend a Disciple of Christ. Therefore every true Christian hath the Spirit of Christ. Moreover Whosoever is the Temple of the Holy Ghost in him the Spirit of God dwelleth and abideth But every true Christian is the Temple of the Holy Ghost Therefore in every true Christian the Spirit of God dwelleth and abideth But to conclude He in whom the Spirit of God dwelleth it is not in him a lazy dumb useless thing but it moveth actuateth governeth instructeth and teacheth him all things whatsoever is needfull for him to know yea bringeth all things to his remembrance But the Spirit of God dwelleth in every true Christian Therefore it leadeth instructeth and teacheth every true Christian whatsoever is needful for him to know § XI But there are some that will confess that the Spirit doth now lead and influence the Saints but that he doth it only Subjectively or in ablind manner by inlighting their understandings to understand and believe the Truth delivered in the Scriptures But not at all by presenting these Truths to the mind by way of object and this they call medium incognitum assentiendi as that of whose working a man is not sensible This opinion tho somewhat more tolerable than the former is nevertheless not altogether according to Truth neither doth it reach the fulness of it 1. Because there be many Truths which as they are applicable to particulars and individuals and most needful to be known by them are no wise to be found in the Scripture as in the following Proposition shall be shown Besides the arguments already deduced do prove that the Spirit doth not only subjectively help us to discern Truths elsewhere delivered but also objectively present those Truths to our minds For that which teacheth me all things and is given me for that end without doubt presents those things to my mind which it teacheth me It is not said it shall teach you how to understand those things that are written but it shall teach you all things Again that which brings all things to my remembrance must needs present them by way of object else it were improper to say it brought them to my remembrance but onely that it helpeth to remember the objects brought from elsewhere My second argument shall be drawn from the Nature of the New Covenant by which and those that follow I shall prove that we are led by the Spirit both immediately and objectively the nature of the New Covenant is expressed in divers places and First Isa. 59.21 As for me this is my
the daily clamours of their Preachers did not only violently take up the Houses of the reformed Teachers overturn their libraries and spoil their furniture but also with reproachful words yea and with stones assaulted the Marquess of Brandeburgh the Elector's brother while he sought by smooth words to quiet the fury of the multitude they killed ten of his Guard scarcely sparing himself who at last by flight escaped out of their hands All which sufficiently declares that the concurrence of the Magistrate doth not alter their Principles but only their method of procedure So that for my own part I see no difference betwixt the actings of those of Munster and these others whereof the one pretended to be led by the Spirit the other by Tradition Scripture and Reason save this that the former were rash heady and foolish in their proceedings and therefore were the sooner brought to nothing and so into contempt and derision But the other being more Politick and wise in their Generation held it out longer and so have authorized their wickedness more with seeming Authority of Law and Reason But both their actings being equally evil the difference appears to me to be only like that which is betwixt a simple silly Thief that is easily catched and hanged without any more ado and a Company of resolute bold Robbers who being better guarded tho their offence be nothing less yet by violence do to evite the danger force their Masters to give them good terms From all which then it evidently follows that they argue very ill that despise and reject any Principle because Men pretending to be led by it do evil in case it be not the natural and consequential tendency of that principle to lead unto those things that are evil Again It doth follow from what is above asserted that if the Spirit be to be rejected upon this account all these other principles ought on the same account to be rejected And for my part as I have never a whit the lower esteem of the blessed Testimony of the Holy Scriptures nor do the less respect any solid Tradition that is answerable and according to Truth neither at all despise Reason that noble and excellent faculty of the mind because wicked men have abused the name of them to cover their wickedness and deceive the simple So would I not have any reject or diffide the certainty of that unerring Spirit which God hath given his Children as that which can alone guide them into all Truth because some have falsly pretended to it § XV. And because the Spirit of God is the Fountain of all Truth and sound Reason therefore we have well said that it cannot contradict neither the Testimony of the Scripture nor right Reason yet as the Proposition it self concludeth to whose last part I now come it will not from hence follow that these Divine Revelations are to be subjected to the examination either of the outward Testimony of Scripture or of the humane or natural reason of Man as to a more noble and certain rule and touch-stone for the Divine Revelation and inward Illumination is that which is evident by it self forcing the wel-distosed understanding and irresistibly moving it to assent by its own evidence and clearness even as the common Principles of Natural Truths do bow the mind to a natural assent He that denies this part of the Proposition must needs affirm that the Spirit of God neither can nor ever hath manifested it self to Man without the Scripture or a distinct discursion of Reason or that the Efficacy of this Supernatural Principle working upon the Souls of Men is less evident then natural principles in their common Operations both which are false For First through all the Scriptures we may observe that the manifestation and revelation of God by his Spirit to the Patriarchs Prophets and Apostles was immediate and objective as is above proved which they did not examin by any other principle but their own evidence and clearness Secondly to say that the Spirit of God has less evidence upon the mind of Man then natural principles have is to have too mean and low thoughts of it How comes David to invite us to tast and see that God is good if this cannot be felt and tasted This were enough to overturn the faith and assurance of all the Saints both now and of old How came Paul to be perswaded that nothing could separate him from the love of God but by evidence and clearness which the Spirit of God gave him The Apostle John who knew well wherein the certainty of Faith consisted judged it no ways absurd without further argument to ascribe his knowledg and assurance and that of all the Saints hereunto in these words Hereby know we that we dwell in him and he in us because he hath given us of his Spirit 1 Joh. 4.13 and again 5 6. it's the Spirit that beareth witness because the Spirit is Truth Observe the reason brought by him because the Spirit is Truth Of whose certainty and infallibility I have heretofore spoken We then trust to and confide in this Spirit because we know and certainly believe that it can only lead us a right and never mis-lead us and from this certain confidence it is that we affirm that no revelation coming from it can ever contradict the Scriptures Testimony nor right Reason not as making this a more certain rule to our selves but as condescending to such who not discerning the revelations of the Spirit as they proceed purely from God will try them by these mediums Yet those that have the Spiritual sences and can savour the things of the Spirit as it were in prima instantia i. e. at the first blush can discern them without or before they apply them either to Scripture or Reason Just as a good Astronomer can calculate an eclipse infallibly by which he can conclude if the order of Nature continue and some strange and unnatural revolution interveen not there will be an eclipse of the Sun or Moon such a day and such an hour yet can he not perswade an ignorant rustick of this until he visibly see it So also a Mathematician can infallibly know by the Rules of Art that the three sides of a right triangle are equal to two right angles yea can know them more certainly than any man by measure And some geometrical demonstrations are by all acknowledged to be infallible which can be scarcely discerned or proved by the Senses yet if a Geometer be at the pains to certify some ignorant man concerning the certainty of his Art by condescending to measure it and make it obvious to his senses it will not hence follow that that measuring is so certain as the demonstration it self or that the demonstration would be uncertain without § XVI But to make an end I shall add one argument to prove that this inward Immediate objective Revelation which we have pleaded for all along is the only sure certain and
deceit or equivocation the most excellent Writings in the World to which not only no other Writings are to be preferr'd but even in divers respects not comparable thereunto For as we freely acknowledg that their Authority doth not depend upon the approbation or Canons of any Church or Assembly so neither can we subject them to the faln corrupt and defiled reason of man and therein as we do freely agree with the Protestants against the error of the Romanists so on the other hand we cannot go the length of such Protestants as make their Authority to depend upon any vertue or power that is in the Writings themselves but we desire to ascribe all to that Spirit from which they proceeded We confess indeed there wants not a Majestie in the Stile a coherence in the parts a good scope in the whole but seeing these things are not discerned by the Natural but only by the Spiritual man it is the Spirit of God that must give us that belief of the Scriptures which may satisfie our Consciences Therefore the chiefest among Protestants both in their particular Writings and publick Confessions are forced to acknowledg this Hence Calvin though he saith he is able to prove that if there be a God in Heaven these writings have proceeded from him yet he concludes another knowledg to be necessary Insti lib. 1. cap. 7. Sect. 4. But if saith he we respect the Consciences that they be not daily molested with doubts and they stick not at every Scruple it is requisite that this perswasion which we speak of be taken higher than humane Reason Judgment or conjectures to wit from the secret Testimony of the Holy Spirit And again To those that ask that we prove unto them by Reason that Moses and the Prophets were Inspired of God to speak I answer that the Testimony of the Holy Spirit is more excellent than all reason And again let this remain a firm Truth that he only whom the Holy Ghost hath perswaded can repose himself on the Scripture with a true certainty And lastly this then is a judgment which cannot be begotten but by a Heavenly Revelation c. The same is also affirmed in the first publick Confession of the French Churches published in the Year 1559. Art 4. We know these books to be Canonick and the most certain Rule of our Faith not so much by the common accord and consent of the Church as by the Testimony and inward perswasion of the Holy Spirit Thus also in the 5 Article of the Confession of faith of the Churches of Holland confirmed by the Synod of Dort We receive these books only for holy and canonick not so much because the Church receives and approves them as because the Spirit of God renders witness in our hearts that they are of God And lastly The Divines so called at Westminster who began to be afraid of and guard against the Testimony of the Spirit because they perceived a dispensation beyond that which they were under beginning to dawn and to eclipse them yet could they not get by this tho they have laid it down neither so clearly distinctly nor honestly as they that went before It is in these words chap. 1. sect 5. Nevertheless our full perswasion and assurance of the infallible Truth thereof is from the inward work of the Holy Spirit bearing witness by and with the Word in our heart By all which it appeareth how necessary it is to seek the certainty of the Scriptures from the Spirit and no where else The infinit janglings and endless contests of those that seek their authority elsewhere do witness to the Truth hereof For the Antients themselves even of the first Centuries were not as one among themselves concerning them while some of them rejected Books which we approve and others of them approved those which some of us reject It is not unknown to such as are in the least acquainted with Antiquity what great contests are concerning the second Epistle of Peter that of James the second and third of John and the Revelations which many even very Antient deny to have been written by the beloved Disciple and Brother of James but by another of that name What should then become of Christians if they had not received that Spirit and those Spiritual senses by which they know how to discern the true from the false It 's the priviledg of Christ's Sheep indeed that they hear his voice and refuse that of a stranger which priviledg being taken away we are left a prey to all manner of wolves § II. Tho then we do acknowledg the Scriptures to be a very heavenly and Divine writing the use of them to be a very comfortable and necessary to the Church of Christ and that we also admire and give praise to the Lord for his wonderful Providence in preserving these writings so pure and uncorrupted as we have them through so long a night of Apostasy to be a testimony of his Truth against the wickedness and abominations even of these whom he made instrumental in preserving them so that they have kept them to be a witness against themselves yet we may not call them the principal fountain of all Truth and knowledg nor yet the first adequate rule of Faith and manners because the principal fountain of Truth must be the Truth it self i. e. that whose certainty and authority depends not upon another When we doubt of the streams of any river or flood we recur to the fountain it self and having found it there we sist we can go no further because there it springs out of the bowels of the Earth which are inscrutable Even so the writing and sayings of all men we must bring to the Word of God I mean the Eternal Word and if they agree hereunto we stand there for this Word always proceedeth and doth eternally proceed from God in and by which the unsearchable wisdom of God and unsearchable counsel and will conceived in the heart of God is revealed unto us that then the Scripture is not the principal ground of faith and knowledg as it appears by what is above spoken so it is provided in the latter part of the Proposition which being reduced to an argument runs thus That the certainty and authority whereof depends upon another and which is received as Truth because of its proceeding from another is not to he accounted the principal ground and origin of all Truth and knowledg But the Scriptures authority and certainty depends upon the Spirit by which they were dictated and the reason why they were received as Truth is because they proceeded from the Spirit Therefore they are not the principal ground of Truth To confirm this argument I added the School Maxim Propter quod unumquodque est tales illud ipsum est magis tale Which Maxim tho I confess it doth not hold universally in all things yet in this it both doth and will very well hold as by applying it as we have
heavenly Mansions which together do make up the one Catholick Church concerning which there is so much controversie out of which Church we freely acknowledge there can be no Salvation because under this Church and its denomination are comprehended all and as many of whatsoever Nation Kindred Tongue or People they be though outwardly strangers and remote from those who profess Christ and Christianity in words and have the benefit of the Scriptures as become obedient to the holy Light and Testimony of God in their hearts so as to become sanctified by it and cleansed from the evils of their wayes For this is the Universal or Catholick Spirit by which many are called from all the four corners of the earth and shall sit down with Abraham Isaac and Jacob. By this the secret Life and Vertue of Jesus is conveyed into many that are afar off even as by the blood that runs into the Veins and Arteries of the Natural Body the Life is conveyed from the Head and Heart unto the extremest parts There may be members therefore of this Catholick Church both among Heathens Turks Jews and all the several sorts of Christians Men and Women of integrity and simplicity of Heart who though blinded in something in their understanding and perhaps burthened with the Superstitions and formality of the several Sects in which they are ingrossed yet being upright in their Hearts before the Lord chiefly aiming and labouring to be delivered from iniquity and loving to follow righteousness are by the secret touches of this Holy Light in their Souls inlivened and quickened thereby secretly united to God and there through become true members of this Catholick Church Now the Church in this respect hath been in being in all generations for God never wanted some such witnesses for him though many times slighted and not much observed by this World And therefore this Church though still in being hath been oftentimes as it were Invisible in that it hath not come under the observation of the men of this World being as saith the Scripture Jer. 3.14 One of a City and two of a Family And yet though the Church thus considered may be as it were hid from wicked men as not then gathered into a visible fellowship yea and not observed even by some that are members of it yet may there notwithstanding many belong to it as when Elias complained he was left alone 1 Kings 19.18 God answered unto him I have reserved to my self seven thousand men who have not bowed their knees to the Image of Baal whence the Apostle argues Rom. 11. the being of a remnant in his day § III. Secondly the Church is to be considered as it signifies a certain number of persons gathered by Gods Spirit and by the testimony of some of his servants raised up for that end unto the belief of the true Principles and Doctrines of the Christian Faith who through their hearts being united by the same love and their understanding informed in the same Truths gather meet and assemble together to wait upon God to worship him and to bear a joynt testimony for the Truth against Error suffering for the same and so becoming through this fellowship as one family and houshold in certain respects do each of them watch over teach instruct and care for one another according to their several measures and attainments Such were the Churches of the Primitive time gathered by the Apostles whereof we have divers mentioned in the Holy Scriptures And as to the visibility of the Church in this respect there hath been a great interruption since the Apostles days by reason of the apostasie as shall hereafter appear § IV. To be a member then of the Catholick Church there is need of the inward calling of God by his Light in their Heart and a being leavened into the nature and Spirit of it so as to forsake unrighteousness and be turned to righteousness and in the inwardness of the mind to be cut out of the wild-Olive-tree of our own first faln nature and ingrafted into Christ by his Word and Spirit in the heart And this may be done in those who are strangers to the History God not having pleased to make them partakers thereof as in the V. and VI. Propositions hath already been proved To be a member of a particular Church of Christ as this inward work is indispensibly necessary so is also the outward profession of and belief in Jesus Christ and those holy Truths delivered by his Spirit in the Scriptures seeing the testimony of the Spirit recorded in the Scriptures doth answer the testimony of the same Spirit in the heart even as face answereth face in a glass Hence it follows that the inward work of Holiness and forsaking iniquity is necessary in every respect to the being a member in the Church of Christ and that the outward profession is necessary to be a member of a particular gathered Church but not to the being a member of the Catholick Church yet it is absolutely necessary where God affords the opportunity of knowing it the outward testimony is to be believed where it is presented and revealed the summ whereof hath upon other occasions been already proved § V. But contrary hereunto the Devil that worketh and hath wrought in the mystery of iniquity hath taught his followers to affirm That no man however holy is a member of the Church of Christ without the outward profession and that he be initiated thereunto by some outward Ceremonies And again That men who have this outward Profession though inwardly unholy may be members of the true Church of Christ yea and ought to be so esteemed This is plainly to put Light for Darkness and Darkness for Light as if God had a greater regard to words than actions and were more pleased with vain professions than with real holiness But these things I have sufficiently refuted heretofore Only from hence let it be observed that upon this false and rotten foundation Antichrist hath builded his Babylonish Structure and the anti-Christian Church in the apostasie hath hereby reared her self up to that heighth and grandeur she hath attained so as to exalt herself above all that is called God and sit in the Temple of God as God For the particular Churches of Christ gathered in the Apostles dayes soon after beginning to decay as to the inward Life came to be over-grown with several Errors and the hearts of the professors of Christianity to be leavened with the old Spirit and conversation of the World Yet it pleased God for some Centuries to preserve that life in many whom he emboldened with zeal to stand and suffer for his Name through the ten Persecutions But these being over the meekness gentleness love long-suffering goodness and temperance of Christianity came to be lost For after that the Princes of the earth came to take upon them that Profession and that it ceased to be a reproach to be a Christian but rather became a means to
to every man to profit withal This certain Doctrine then being received to wit that there is an Evangelical and saving Light and Grace in all the universality of the Love and Mercy of God towards mankind both in the death of his beloved Son the Lord Jesus Christ and in the manifestation of the Light in the heart is established and confirmed against all the Objections of such as deny it Therefore Christ hath tasted death for every man not only for all kinds of men as some vainly talk but for every one of all kinds the benefit of whose offering is not only extended to such who have the distinct outward knowledg of his death and suffering as the same is declared in the Scriptures but even unto those who are necessarily excluded from the benefit of this knowledg by some inevitable accident which knowledg we willingly confess to be very profitable and comfortable but not absolutely needful unto such from whom God himself hath withheld it yet they may be made partakers of the mystery of his death tho ignorant of the History if they suffer his Seed and Light inlightning their hearts to take in which Light communion with the Father and the Son is enjoyned so as of wicked men to become holy and lovers of that power by whose inward and secret touches they feel themselves turned from the evil to the good and learn to do to others as they would be done by in which Christ himself affirms all to be included As they have then falsly and erreonously taught who have denyed Christ to have died for all Men so neither have they sufficiently taught the Truth who affirming him to have died for all have added the absolute necessity of the outward knowledg thereof in order to the obtaining its saving effects Among whom the Remonstrants of Holland have been chiefly wanting and many other Assertors of universal Redemption in that they have not Placed the extent of this salvation in that Divine and Evangelical Principle of Light and Life wherewith Christ hath enlightned every man that comes into the world which is excellently and evidently held forth in these Scriptures Gen. 6.3 Deut. 30.14 John 1.7 8 9. Rom. 10.8 Tit. 2.11 The Seventh Proposition Concerning Justification As many as resist not this Light but receive the same in them is produced a holy pure and spiritual birth bringing forth holiness righteousness purity and all these other blessed fruits which are acceptable to God by which holy birth to wit Jesus Christ formed within us and working his works in us as we are sanctified so are we justified in the sight of God according to the Apostles words But ye are washed but ye are sanctified but ye are justified in the Name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God Therefore it is not by our works wrought in our will nor yet by good works considered as of themselves but Christ who is both the gift and the giver and the cause producing the effects in us who as he hath reconciled us while we were enemies doth also in his wisdom save us and justifie us after this manner as saith the same Apostle elsewhere according to his mercy he hath saved us by the washing of Regeneration and the renewing of the Holy Ghost The Eighth Proposition Concerning Perfection In whom this holy and pure birth is fully brought forth the body of death and sin comes to be crucified and removed and their hearts united and subjected unto the truth so as not to obey any suggestion or temptation of the evil one but to be free from actual sinning and transgressing of the Law of God and in that respect perfect yet doth this perfection still admit of a growth there remaineth ever in some part a possibility of sinning where the mind doth not most diligently and watchfully attend unto the Lord. The Ninth Proposition Concerning Perseverence and the possibility of falling from Grace Altho this Gift and inward Grace of God be sufficient to work out Salvation yet in those in whom it is resisted it both may and doth become their Condemnation Moreover in whom it hath wrought in part to purifie and sanctifie them in order to their further Perfection by disobedience such may fall from it and turn it to wantoness making Shipwrack of Faith and after having tasted of the Heavenly Gift and been made Partakers of the Holy Ghost again fall away yet such an increase and stability in the Truth may in this Life be attained from which there can not be a total Apostacy The Tenth Proposition Concerning the Ministry As by this Gift or Light of God all true knowledge in things Spiritual is received and revealed so by the same as it is manifested and received in the heart by the strength and power thereof every true Minister of the Gospel is ordained prepared and supplied in the work of the Ministry and by the leading moving and drawing hereof ought every Evangelist and Christian Pastor to be led and ordered in his labour and work of the Gospel both as to the place where as to the Person to whom and as to the times when he is to Minister Moreover who have this Authority may and ought to Preach the Gospel tho without human Commission or Literature as on the other hand who want the Authority of this Divine Gift however Learned or Authorized by the Commissions of Men and Churches are to be esteemed but as deceivers and not true Ministers of the Gospel also who have received this holy and unspotted Gift as they have freely received so are they freely to give without hire or bargaining far less to use it as a Trade to get Money by it yet if God hath called any from their Imployments or Trades by which they acquire their livelihood it may be lawful for such according to the liberty which they feel given them in the Lord to receive such Temporals to wit what may be needful to them for Meat and Cloathing as are freely given them by those to whom they have Communicated spirituals The Eleventh Proposition Concerning Worship All true and acceptable worship to God is offered in the inward and immediate moving and drawing of his own Spirit which is neither limited to places times or Persons for tho we be to worship him always in that we are to fear before him yet as to the outward signification thereof in Prayers Praises or Preachings we ought not to do it where and when we will but where and when we are moved thereunto by the secret Inspirations of his Spirit in our hearts which God heareth and accepteth of and is never wanting to move us thereunto when need is of which he himself is the alone proper Judg all other worship then both Praises Prayers and Preachings which man sets about in his own will and at his own appointment which he can both begin and end at his pleasure do or leave undone as himself
Apostle reckoneth no man a Christian. If any man saith he have not the Spirit of Christ he is none of his These words immediately follow those above-mentioned out of the Epistle to the Romans but ye are not in the Flesh if so be the Spirit of God dwell in you The context of which sheweth that the Apostle reckoneth it the main token of a Christian both positively and negatively For in the former verses he sheweth how the carnal mind is enmity against God and that such as are in the Flesh cannot please him Where subsuming he adds concerning the Romans that they are not in the Flesh if the Spirit of God dwell in them What is this but to affirm that they in whom the Spirit dwells are no longer in the Flesh nor of those who please not God but are become Christians indeed Again In the next verse he concludes negatively that if any man have not the Spirit of Christ he is none of his that is he is no Christian. He then that acknowledges himself ignorant and a stranger to the inward in being of the Spirit of Christ in his Heart doth thereby acknowledge himself to be yet in the carnal mind which is enmity to God to be yet in the Flesh where God cannot be pleased and in short whatever he may otherwayes know or believe of Christ or however much skilled or acquainted with the Letter of the Holy Scripture not yet to be notwithstanding all that attained to the least desire of a Christian yea not once to have embraced the Christian Religion For take but away the Spirit and Christianity remains no more Christianity than the dead Carcass of a Man when the Soul and Spirit is departed remains a man which the living can no more abide but to bury out of their sight as a noisome and useless thing however acceptable it hath been when actuated and moved by the Soul Lastly Whatsoever is Excellent whatsoever is Noble whatsoever is Worthy whatsoever is Desireable in the Christian Faith is ascribed to this Spirit without which it could no more subsist than the outward World without the Sun Hereunto have all true Christians in all Ages attributed their Strength and Life It is by this Spirit that they avouch themselves to have been converted to God to have been redeemed from the World to have been strengthened in their Weakness comforted in their Afflictions confirmed in their Temptations imboldened in their Suffering and triumphed in the midst of all their Persecutions Yea The Writings of all true Christians are full of the great and notable things which they all affirm themselves to have done by the Power and Vertue and Efficacy of the Spirit of God working in them It is the Spirit that quickeneth Joh. 6.63 It was the Spirit that gave them utterance Act. c. 2.4 It was the Spirit by which Stephen spake That the Jews were not able to resist Acts 6.10 It is such as walk after the Spirit that receive no condemnation Rom. 8.1 It is the Law of the Spirit that makes free ver 2. It is by the Spirit of God dwelling in us that we are redeemed from the Flesh and from the carnal mind v. 9. It is the Spirit of Christ dwelling in us that quickneth our mortal Bodies v. 11. It is through this Spirit that the deeds of the Body are mortified and Life obtained ver 13. It is by this Spirit that we are adopted and cry ABBA Father v. 15. It is this Spirit that beareth witness with our Spirit that we are the Children of God v. 16. It is this Spirit that helpeth our infirmities and maketh intercession for us with grâ—anings which cannot be uttered 26. It is by this Spirit that the glorious things which God hath laid up for us which neither outward Ear hath heard nor outward Eye hath seen nor the Heart of Man conceived by all his Reasonings are revealed unto us 1 Cor. 2.9 10. It is by this Spirit that both Wisdom and Knowledg and Faith and Miracles and Tongues and Prophesies are obtained 1 Cor. 12.8 9 10. It is by this Spirit that we are all baptized into one Body v. 13. In short what things relating to the Salvation of the Soul and to the Life of a Christian is rightly performed or effectually obtained without it And what shall I more say For the time would fail me to tell of all those things which the Holy Men of Old have declared and the Saints of this day do witness themselves to enjoy by the vertue and power of this Spiritual dwelling in them Truely my Paper could not contain those many Testimonies whereby this Truth is confirmed wherefore besides what is above mentioned out of the Fathers whom all pretend to reverence and these of Luther and Melancthon I shall deduce yet one observable Testimony out of Calvin because not a few of the followers of his Doctrine do refuse and deride and that as it is to be feared because of their own Non-experience thereof this way of the Spirit 's in-dwelling as uncertain and dangerous that so if neither the Testimony of the Scripture nor the sayings of others nor right reason can move them they may at least be reproved by the words of their own Master who saith in the third book of his Institutions cap. 2. on this wise But they alledg it is a bold presumption for any one to pretend to an undoubted knowledg of God's will which saith he I should grant unto them if we should ascribe so much to our selves as to subject the incomprehensible counsel of God to the rashness of our understandings But while we simply say with Paul that we have received not the Spirit of this World but the Spirit which is of God by whose teaching we know those things that are given us of God What can they prate against it without reproaching the Spirit of God For if it be a horrible Sacriledg to accuse any Revelation coming from him either of a lye of uncertainty or ambiguity in asserting its certainty wherein we do offend But they cry out that it is not without great temerity that we dare so boast of the Spirit of Christ. Who would believe that the sottishness of these men were so great who would be esteemed the masters of the world that they should so fail in the first Principles of Religion Verily I could not believe it if their own writings did not testify so much Paul accounts those the Sons of God who are acted by the Spirit of God but these will have the Children of God acted by their own Spirits without the Spirit of God He will have us call God Father the Spirit dictating that term unto us which only can witness to our Spirits that we are the Sons of God These tho they cease not to call upon God do nevertheless demit the Spirit by whose guiding he is rightly to be called upon He denies them to be the Sons of God or the Servants of Christ who are
him on whom God therefore truly accounteth Righteous and Just. This is so far from being the Doctrine of Papists that as the generality of them do not understand it so the learned among them oppose it and dispute against it and particularly Bellarmin Thus then as I may say the formal cause of Justification is not the works to speak properly they being but an effect of it but this inward Birth this Jesus brought forth in the heart who is the Well-beloved whom the Father cannot but accept and all those who thus are sprinkled with the Blood of Jesus and washed with it By this also comes that communication of the goods of Christ unto us by which we come to be made partakers of the Divine Nature as saith Peter ep 2. c. 1. v. 4. are made one with him as the Branches with the Vine and have a title and right to what he hath done and suffered for us So that his Obedience becomes ours his Righteousness ours his Death and Sufferings ours And by this nearness we come to have a sense of his Sufferings and to suffer with his Seed that yet lies pressed and crucified in the hearts of the ungodly and so travel with it and for its Redemption and for the repentance of those Souls that in it are crucifying as yet the Lord of Glory Even as the Apostle Paul who by his sufferings is said to fill up that which is behind of the afflictions of Christ for his Body which is the Church Though this be a Mystery sealed up from all the wise men that are yet ignorant of this Seed in themselves and oppose it nevertheless some Protestants speak of this Justification by Christ inwardly put-on as shall hereafter be recited in its place Lastly though we place remission of sins in the Righteousness and Obedience of Christ performed by him in the flesh as to what pertains to the remote procuring cause and that we hold our selves formally justified by Christ Jesus formed and brought forth in us yet can we not as some Protestants have unwarily done exclude works from Justification for though properly we be not justified for them yet are we justified in them and they are necessary even as causa sine qua non i. e. the cause without which none are Justified For the denying of this as it 's contrary to the Scriptures Testimony so it hath brought a great scandal to the Protestant Religion opened the mouths of Papists and made many too secure while they have believed to be Justified without good works Moreover though it be not so safe to say they are meritorious yet seeing they are rewarded many of those called the Fathers have not spared to use the word merit which some of us have perhaps also done in a qualified sense but no ways to inferr the Popish abuses above mentioned And lastly if we had that notion of good works which most Protestants have we could freely agree to make them not only not necessary but reject them as hurtful viz. that the best works even of the Saints are defiled and polluted For though we judg so of the best works performed by man endeavouring a conformity to the outward Law by his own strength and in his own will yet we believe that such works as naturally proceed from this Spiritual Birth and formation of Christ in us are pure and Holy even as the Root from which they come and therefore God accepts them Justifies us in them and rewards us for them of his own Free Grace The state of the controversie being thus stated these following Positions do hence from arise in the next place to be proved § IV. First that the obedience sufferings and death of Christ is that by which the Soul obtains remission of sins and is the procuring cause of that Grace by whose inward workings Christ comes to be formed inwardly and the Soul to be made conformable unto him and so just and justified And that therefore in respect of this capacity and offer of Grace God is said to be reconciled not as if he were actually reconciled or did actually justifie or account any just so long as they remain in their sins really impure and unjust Secondly that it is by this inward Birth of Christ in man that man is made just and therefore so accounted by God wherefore to be plain we are thereby and not till that be brought forth in us formally if we must use that word justified in the sight of God because Justification is both more properly and frequently in Scripture taken in its proper signification for making one just and not reputing one meerly such and is all one with Sanctification Thirdly that since good works as naturally follow from this birth as heat from fire therefore are they of absolute necessity to Justification as causa sine qua non i. e. though not as the cause for which yet as that in which we are and without which we cannot be Justified And though they be not meritorious and draw no debt upon God yet he cannot but accept and reward them for it is contrary to his Nature to deny his own Since they may be perfect in their kind as proceeding from a Pure Holy Birth and Root Wherefore their judgment is false and against the Truth that say that the holyest works of the Saints are defiled and sinful in the sight of God For these good works are not the works of the Law excluded by the Apostle from Justification § V. As to the first I prove it from Rom. 3.25 Whom God hath set forth to be a Propitiation through Faith in his Blood to declare his Righteousness for the remission of sins that are past through the forbearance of God Here the Apostle holds forth the extent and efficacy of Christs death shewing that thereby and by Faith therein remission of sins that are past is obtained as being that wherein the forbearance of God is exercised towards mankind So that though men for the sins they daily commit deserve Eternal Death and that the Wrath of God should lay hold upon them yet by virtue of that most satisfactory Sacrifice of Christ Jesus the Grace and Seed of God moves in love towards them during the day of their visitation yet not so as not to strike against the evil for that must be burned up and destroyed but to redeem man out of the evil Secondly if God were perfectly reconciled with men and did esteem them just while they are actually unjust and do continue in their sins Then should God have no Controversie with them How comes he then so often to complain to expostulate so much throughout the whole Scripture with such as our Adversaries confess to be Justified telling them that their sins separate betwixt him and them Isa. 59.2 For where there is a perfect and full reconciliation there there is no separation Yea from this Doctrine it necessarily follows either that such for whom Christ died and whom he hath
is ascribed and imputed to Believers for Righteousness the merit of his Blood and the Holy Ghost given unto us by Vertue of his merits are equally included And so it shall be confessed that Christ is our Righteousness as well from his Merit Satisfaction and Remission of sins obtained by him as from the gifts of the Spirit of Righteousness And if we do this we shall consider whole Christ proposed to us for our Salvation and not any single part of him The same man pag. 169. In our Justification then Christ is considered who breaths and lives in us to wit by his Spirit put on by us concerning which putting on the Apostle saith Ye have put on Christ. And again pag. 171. We endeavour to treat in Justification not of part of Christ but him wholly in so far as he is our Righteousness every way And a little after as then blessed Paul in our Justification when he saith whom he Justified them he Glorified comprehends all things which pertains to our being reconciled to God the Father and our renewing which fits us for attaining unto glory such as Faith Righteousness Christ and the Gift of Righteousness exhibited by him whereby we are regenerated to the fulfilling of the Justification which the Law requires so we also will have all things comprehended in this cause which are contained in the recovery of Righteousness and Innocency And pag. 181. The form saith he of our Justification is the Divine Righteousness it self by which we are formed just and good This is Jesus Christ who is esteem'd our Righteousness partly from the forgiveness of sins and partly from the renewing and the restoring of that integrity which was lost by the fault of the first Adam so that his New and Heavenly Adam being put on by us of which the Apostle saith Ye have put on Christ ye have put him on I say as the form so the Righteousness Wisdom and Life of God So also affirmeth Claudius Alberius Inuncanus see his Orat. Apodeict Lausaniae excus 1587. orat 2. pag. 86 87. Zuinglius also in his Epistle to the Princes of Germany as cited by Himelius c. 7. p. 60. saith That the Sanctification of the Spirit is true Justification which alone suffices to Justifie Essius upon 1 Cor. 6.11 saith Lest Christian Righteousness should be thought to consist in the washing alone that is in the remission of sins he addeth the other degree or part but ye are sanctified that is ye have attain'd to purity so that ye are now truly Holy before God Lastly expressing the sum of the benefit received in one word which includes both the parts But ye are Justified the Apostle adds in the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ that is by his merits and in the Spirit of our God that is the Holy Spirit proceeding from God and communicated to us by Christ. And lastly Richard Baxter a Famous English Preacher who yet liveth in his Book called Aphorisms of Justification pag. 80. saith that some ignorant wretches gnash their Teeths at this Doctrine as if it were flat Popery not understanding the Nature of the Righteousness of the New Covenant which is all out of Christ in our selves though wrought by the Power of the Spirit of Christ in us § IX The third thing proposed to be considered is concerning good Works their necessity to Justification I suppose there is enough said before to clear us from any imputation of being Popish in this matter But if it be queried Whether we have not said or will not affirm that a man is justified by Works Quest. I answer I hope none need neither ought to take offence if in this matter we use the plain Language of the Holy Scripture Answ. which saith expresly in answer hereunto Jam. 2.24 Ye see then how that by works a man is Justified and not by Faith only I shall not offer to prove the Truth of this saying since what is said in this Chapter by the Apostle is sufficient to convince any man that will read and believe it I shall only from this derive this one argument If no man can be Justified without Faith and no Faith be living nor yet available to Justification without works then works are necessary to Justification But the First is true Therefore also the Last For this Truth is so apparent and evident in the Scriptures that for the proof of it we might transcribe most of the precepts of the Gospel I shall instance a few which of themselves do so clearly assert the thing in question that they need no commentary nor further demonstration And then I shall answer the objections made against this which indeed are the arguments used for the contrary opinion Heb. 12.14 Without Holyness no man shall see God Matth. 7.21 Not every one that saith unto me Lord Lord shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven but he that doth the will of my Father which is in Heaven Joh. 13.7 If ye know these things happy are ye if ye do them 1 Cor. 7.19 Circumcision is nothing and Vncircumcision is nothing but the keeping of the Commandments of God Rev. 22.14 Blessed are they that do his Commandments that they may have right to the Tree of Life and through the Gates may enter into the City and many more that might be instanced from all which I thus argue If those only can enter into the Kingdom that do the will of the Father If those be accounted only the wise builders and happy Arg. that do the sayings of Christ if no observation avail but only the keeping of the Commandments and if they be blessed that do the Commandments and thereby have right to the Tree of Life and entrance through the gate into the City then works are absolutely necessary to Salvation and Justification But the First is true And therefore also the Last The consequence of the antecedent is so clear and evident that I think no man of sound reason will call for a proof of it Obj. § X. But they object that works are not necessary to Justification First because of that saying of Christ Luk. 17.10 When ye shall have done all these things that are commanded you say We are unprofitable Servants c. Answ. Answer as to God we are indeed unprofitable for he needeth nothing neither can we add any thing unto him but as to our selves we are not unprofitable else it might be said that it is not profitable for a man to keep God's Commandments which is most absurd and would contradict Christ's Doctrine throughout Doth not Christ Matth. 5. through all those beatitudes pronounce men blessed for their Purity for their Meekness for their Peaceableness c. And is it not then that for which Christ pronounceth men blessed profitable unto them Moreover Matth. 25.21 23. doth not Christ pronounce the men good and faithful Servants that improved their Talents Was not their doing of that then profitable unto them and verse 30. It is said of him
can draw near to the Lord with boldness and know their acceptance in and by him in whom and in as many as are found in him the Father is well-pleased The Eighth Proposition Concerning Perfection In whom this Pure and Holy Birth is fully brought forth the Body of Death and Sin comes to be Crucified and removed and their hearts united and subjected to the Truth so as not to obey any Suggestions or Temptations of the Evil One to be free from actual sinning and transgressing of the Law of God and in that respect perfect yet doth this perfection still admit of a growth and there remaineth always in some part a possibility of sinning where the mind doth not most diligently and watchfully attend unto the Lord. § I. SInce we have placed Justification in the Revelation of Jesus Christ formed and brought forth in the Heart there working his works of Righteousness and bringing forth the Fruits of the Spirit The question is how far he may prevail in us while we are in this Life or we over our Souls Enemies in and by his strength Those that plead for Justification wholly without them meerly by imputative Righteousness denying the necessity of being cloathed with real and inward Righteousness do consequently affirm that it is impossible for a man even the best of men to be free of sin in this life which they say no man ever was but on the contrary that none can neither of himself nor by any Grace received in this life O! wicked saying against the power of God's Grace Keep the Commandments of God perfectly but that every man doth break the Commandments in Thought Word and Deed. Whence they also affirm as was a little before observed That the very best actions of the Saints their Prayers their Worships are impure and polluted We on the contrary though we freely acknowledg this of the Natural Faln man in his first state whatever his profession or pretence may be so long as he is unconverted and unregenerate yet we do believe that those in whom Christ comes to be formed and the new man brought forth and born of the incorruptible Seed as that birth and man in union therewith naturally doth the will of God so it is possible so far to keep to it as 〈◊〉 to be found daily Transgressors of the Law of God And for 〈…〉 stating of the controversie let it be considered 〈…〉 that we place not this possibility in man 's own will and 〈…〉 is a man the Son of faln Adam or as he is in his natural state however wise or knowing or however much endued with a notional and literal knowledg of Christ thereby endeavouring a conformity to the letter of the Law as it is outward Secondly that we attribute it wholly to man as he is born again renewed in his mind raised by Christ knowing Christ alive reigning and ruling in him and guiding and leading him by his Spirit and revealing in him the Law of the Spirit of Life which not only manifests and reproves sin but also gives power to come out of it Thirdly that by this we understand not such a perfection as may not daily admit of a growth and consequently mean not as if we were to be as Pure Holy and Perfect as God in his Divine Attributes of Wisdom Knowledg and Purity but only a perfection proportionable and answerable to man's measure whereby we are kept from transgressing the Law of God and enabled to answer what he requires of us even as he that improved his Two Talents so as to make Four of them perfected his work and was so accepted of his Lord as to be caled a good and faithful Servant nothing less than he that made his Five Ten. Even as a little Gold is perfect gold in its kind as well as a great mass and a Child hath a perfect body as well as a man though it daily grow more and more Thus Christ is said Luke 2.52 to have increased in Wisdom and Stature and in favour with God and man though before that time he had never sinned and was no doubt perfect in a true and proper sense Fourthly though a man may witness this for a season and therefore all ought to press after it yet we do not affirm but those that have attained it in a measure may by the wiles and temptations of the Enemy fall into iniquity and lose it sometimes if he be not watchful and diligently attend not to that of God in the heart And we doubt not but many good and holy men who hath not arrived to everlasting life have had divers ebbings and flowings of this kind for though every sin weaken a man in his Spiritual condition yet it doth not so as to destroy him altogether or render him uncapable of rising again Lastly though I affirm that after a man hath arrived to such a condition in which a man may not sin he yet may sin I will nevertheless not deny but there may be a state attainable in this life in which to do Righteousness may become so natural to the Regenerate Soul that in the stability of this condition they cannot sin Others may perhaps speak more certainly of this state as having arrived to it For me I shall speak modestly as acknoâ—ledging my self not to have arrived at it yet I dare not deny it for that it seems so positively to be asserted by the Apostle in these words 1 John 3.9 He that is born of God sinneth not neither can he because the Seed of God remaineth in him The Controversie being thus stated which will serve to obviate objections I shall proceed first to shew the absurdity of that Doctrine that pleads for sin for term of life even in the Saints Secondly prove this Doctrine of perfection from many pregnant Testimonies of the Holy Scripture And lastly answer the arguments and objections of our opposers § III. First then this Doctrin viz. that the Saints nor can nor ever will be free of sinning in this life is inconsistent with the Wisdom of God and with his glorious Power and Majesty Who is of purer Eyes than to behold Iniquity who having purposed in himself together to him that should worship him and be witnesses for him on earth a chosen people doth also no doubt sanctifie and purifie them For God hath no delight in iniquity but abhors transgression and though he regard man in transgression so far as to pitty him and afford him means to come out of it yet he loves him not neither delights in him as he is joyned thereunto Wherefore if man must alwaies be joyned to sin then God should alwaies be at a distance with them as it is written Isa. 59.2 Your iniquities have separated between you and your God and your sins have hid his Face from you whereas on the contrary the Saints are said to partake even while here of the Divine Nature 2 Pet. 1.4 and to be one spirit with the Lord 1 Cor.
peccato originali lib. 2. cap. 2. Gelasius also in his disputation against Pelagius saith But if any affirm that this may be given to some Saints in his life not by the Power of mans strength but by the grace of God he doth well to think so confidently and hope it faithfully for by the gift of God all things are possible That this was the common opinion of the Fathers appears from the words of the Aszansik Council Canon last We believe also this according to the Catholick Faith that all that are baptized through Grace by baptism received and Christ helping them and co-working may and ought to do whatsoever belongs to Salvation if they will faithfully labour § XI Blessed then are they that believe in him who is both able and willing to deliver as many as come to him through true repentance from all sin and do not resolve as these men do to be the devil's servants all their life time but daily go on forsaking unrighteousness and forgetting those things that are behind press forwards towards the Mark for the Prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus such shall not find their faith and confidence to be in vain but in due time shall be made conquerors through him in whom they have believed and so overcoming shall be established as pillars in the house of God so as they shall go no more out Rev. 3. ver 12. The Ninth Proposition Concerning Perseverance and the possibility of falling from Grace Although this Gift and inward Grace of God be sufficient to work out Salvation yet in those in whom it is resisted it both may and doth become their condemnation Moreover they in whose hearts it hath wrought in part to purify and sanctifie them in order to their further perfection may by disobedience fall from it turn it to wantonness 1 Tim. 1.9 make shipwrack of faith and after having tasted the heavenly Gift and been made partakers of the Holy Ghost again fall away Heb. 6.4 5 6. yet such an increase and stability in the Truth may in this life be attained from which there can not be a total Apostasie § I. THE first sentence of this Proposition hath already been treated of in the 5 and 6 Propositions where it hath been shewn that that Light which is given for Life and Salvation becomes the condemnation of those that refuse it and therefore is already proved in those places where did demonstrate the possibility of man's resisting the Grace and Spirit of God and indeed it is so apparent in the Scriptures that it cannot be denied by such as will but seriously consider these testimonies Prov. 1.24 25 26. Joh. 3.18 19. 2 Thes. 2.11 12. Acts 7.51 13.46 Rom. 1. v. 18. As for the other part of it that they in whom this Grace may have wrought in a good measure in order to purifie and sanctifie them tending to their further perfection may afterwards through disobedience fall away c. The testimonies of the Scripture included in the Proposition it self are sufficient to prove it to men of unbyassed judgments But Because as to this part our cause is common with many other Protestants I shall be the more brief in it For it is not my design to do that which is done already neither do I covet to appear knowing by writing much but simply purpose to present to the world a faithful account of our principles and briefly to let them understand what we have to say for our selves § II. From these Scriptures then included in the Proposition not to mention any more which might be urged I argue thus If men may turn the Grace of God into wantonness then they must once argument 1 have had it But the first is true Therefore also the Second argument 2 If men may make shipwrack of faith they must once have had it neither could they ever have had true faith without the Grace of God But the first is true Therefore also the last argument 3 If men may have tasted of the heavenly Gift and been made partakers of the holy Spirit and afterwards fall away they must needs have known in measure the operation of Gods Saving Grace and Spirit without which no man could tast the heavenly Gift nor yet partake of the Holy Spirit But the first is true Therefore also the last Secondly Seeing the contrary doctrin is built upon this false hypothesis that Grace is not given for salvation to any but to a certain elect number which cannot lose it that all the rest of mankind by an absolute decree are debarred from grace and salvation that being destroyed this falls to the ground Now as that doctrine of theirs is wholly inconsistent with the daily practice of those that preach it in that they exhort people to believe and be saved while in the mean time if they belong to the decree of reprobation it is simply impossible for them so to do and if to the decree of election it is needless seeing it is as impossible to them to miss of it as hath been before demonstrated so also in this matter of perseverance their practice and principle are no less inconsistent and contradictory for while they daily exhort people to be faithful to the end shewing them if they continue not they shall be cut-off and fall short of the reward which is very true but no less inconsistent with that doctrine that affirms there is no hazard because no possibility of departing from the least measure of true Grace Which if true it is to no purpose to beseech them to stand to whom God hath made it impossible to fall I shall not longer insist upon the probation of this seeing what is said may suffice to answer my design and that the thing is also abundantly proved by many of the same judgment That this was the doctrine of the primitive Protestants thence appears that the Augustan confession condemns it as an error of the Anabaptists to say that who once are justified they cannot lose the Holy Spirit Many such like sayings are to be found in the common places of Philip Melancthon Vossius in his Pelagian History lib. 6. testifies that this was the common opinion of the Fathers in the confirmation of the 12 These pag. 587. he hath these words that this which we have said was the common sentiment of antiquity those at present can only deny who otherways perhaps are men not unlearned but nevertheless in antiquity altogether strangers c. These things thus observed I come to the objections of our opposers Obj. § III. First they alledge that those places mentioned of making shipwrack of faith is only understood of seeming faith and not of a real true faith This objection is very weak and apparently contrary to the Text Answ. 1 Tim. 1.19 where the Apostle addeth to faith a good Conscience by way of complaint whereas if their faith had been only seeming and hypocritical the men had been
throughout for the Apostle in that Chapter treating of the diversity of Gifts and Members of the Body sheweth how by the working of the same Spirit in different manifestations or measures in the several Members of the whole Body is edified saying v. 13. That we are all baptized by the One Spirit into one Body and then v. 28. he numbers out the several dispensations thereof which by God are set in the Church through the various working of his Spirit for the edification of the whole Then if there be no true member of the body which is not thus baptized by this Spirit neither any thing that worketh to the edifying of it but according to a measure of Grace received from the Spirit surely without Grace none ought to be admitted to work or labour in the body because their labour and work without this Grace and Spirit would not be ineffectual § XVI Thirdly that this Grace and Gift is a necessary qualification to a Minister is clear from that of the Apostle Peter 1 Peter 4.10 11. As every man hath received the Gift even so minister the same one to another as good Stewards of the manifold Grace of God If any man speak let him speak as the Oracles of God if any man minister let him do it as of the ability which God giveth that God in all things may be glorified through Jesus Christ to whom be praise and dominion for ever and ever Amen From which it appears That these that minister must minister according to the Gift and Grace received but they that have not such a Gift cannot minister according thereunto Secondly As good Stewards of the manifold Grace of God But how can a man be a good Steward of that which he hath not Can ungodly men that are not gracious themselves be good Stewards of the manifold Grace of God and therefore in the following Verses he makes an exclusive limitation of such as are not thus furnished saying If any man speak let him speak as the Oracles of God and if any man minister let him do it as of the ability that God giveth which is as much as if he had said They that cannot thus speak and thus minister ought not to do it For this If denotes a necessary condition Now what this ability is is manifest by the former words to wit the Gift received and the Grace whereof they are Stewards as by the immediate context and dependency of the words doth appear neither can it be understood of a meer natural ability because man in this condition is said not to know the things of God and so he cannot minister them to others And the following words shew this also in that he immediately subjoyneth That God in all things may be glorified but surely God is not glorified but greatly dishonoured when natural men from their meer natural ability meddle in Spiritual things which they neither know nor understand Fourthly that Grace is a most necessary qualification for a Minister appears by these qualifications which the Apostle expressly requires 1 Tim. 3.2 Tit. 1. c. where he saith A Bishop must be blameless vigilant sober of good behaviour apt to teach patient a lover of good men just holy temperate as the Steward of God holding fast the faithful Word as he hath been taught Upon the other hand He must neither be given to Wine nor a Striker nor covetous nor proud nor self-willed nor soon angry Now I ask If it be not impossible that a man can have all these above-named Vertues and be free of all these Evils without the Grace of God if then these Vertues for the producing of which in a man Grace is absolutely necessary be necessary to make a true Minister of the Church of Christ according to the Apostles judgment surely Grace must be necessary also Concerning this thing a learned man and well skilled in Antiquity about the time of the Reformation writeth thus Whatsoever is done in the Church either for Ornament or Edification of Religion whether in chusing Magistrates or instituting Ministers of the Church except it be done by the ministry of Gods Spirit which is as it were the Soul of the Church it is vain and wicked For whoever hath not been called by the Spirit of God to the great office of God and dignity of Apostleship as Aaron was and hath not entred in by the door which is Christ but hath otherways risen in the Church by the window by the favours of men c. truly such a one is not the Vicar of Christ and the Apostles but a thief and a Robber and the Vicar of Judas Iscariot and Simon the Samaritan Hence it was so strictly appointed concerning the election of Prelates which holy Dionisius calls Sacrament of Nomination that the Bishops and Apostles who should oversee the Service of the Church should be men of most intire manners and life powerful in sound Doctrine to give a reason for all things So also another about the same time writeth thus Therefore it can never be that by the Tongues or Learning any can give a sound judgment concerning the Holy Scriptures and the Truth of God Lastly saith he the Sheep of Christ seeketh nothing but the Voice of Christ which he knoweth by the Holy Spirit wherewith he is filled he regards not learning Tongues or any outward thing so as therefore to believe this or that to be the voice of Christ his true Shepherd he knoweth that there is need of no other thing but the testimony of the Spirit of God § XVII Against this absolute necessity of grace they object That if all Ministers had the saving Grace of God Obj. then all ministers should be saved seeing none can fall away from or lose Saving Grace But this Objection is built upon a false Hypothesis Answ. purely denyed by us and we have in the former Proposition concerning Perseverance already refuted it Obj. Secondly it may be objected to us That since we affirm that every Man hath a measure of true and Saving Grace there needs no singular qualifications neither to a Christian nor Minister for seeing every man hath this Grace then no man needs forbear to be a Minister for want of Grace Answ. I answer We have above shewn that there is necessary to the making a Minister a special and particular call from the Spirit of God which is something besides the universal dispensation of Grace to all according to that of the Apostle No man taketh this honour unto himself but he that is called of God as was Aaron Moreover we understand by Grace as a qualification to a Minister not the meer measure of Light as it is given to reprove and call him to righteousness but we understand Grace as it hath converted the Soul and operateth powerfully in it as hereafter concerning the work of Ministers will further appear So we understand not men simply as having Grace in them as a Seed which we indeed affirm
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
173. concerning the Lord's Prayer 245. to pray without the Spirit is to offend God 249 369. concerning the Prayer of the will in silence 256. see Worship Prayer the Prayers of the People were in the Latin Tongue 207. Preacher see Minister Preaching what it is termed the Preaching of the Word 211 218 233 234. to Preach without the Spirit is to offend God 249. see Worship it is a permanent Institution 291. it is learned as another Trade 218. Predestinated God hath after a special manner predestinated some to Salvation of whom if the places of Scripture which some abuse be understood their objections are easily solved 97. Priest under the Law God spake immediately to the High-Priest 14 27. Priests see Minister of the Law 187. 188 205 220 221. Profession an outward profession is necessary that any be a member of a particular Christian Church 183. Prophecy and to prophecy what it signifies 215 216. of the liberty of prophecying 217. Prophets some Prophets did not miracles 198 199. Protestants the rule of their Faith 30. they are forced ultimately to recur unto the immediate and inward revelation of the Holy Spirit 36. what difference betwixt the execrable deeds of those of Munster and theirs 30 31 32 33. they make Phylosophy the hand-maid of Divinity 50. they affirm John Hus prophecyed of the Reformation that was to be 57. whether they did not throw themselves into many errors while they were expecting a greater light 83. they opposed the Papists not without good cause in the doctrin of Justification but they soon ran into another extreme 130 131. they say that the best works of the Saints are defiled 136. whether there be any difference between them and the Papists in superstitions and manners and what it is 184 185 197 198. what they think of the call of a Minister 188 189 190 191 192 196 197 198 199. it's lamentable that they betake them to Judas for a Patron to their Ministers and Ministry 205. their zeal and endeavours are praised 206. of their School-divinity 210 211. of the Apostles and Evangelists of this time 217. whom they exclude from the Ministry 219. that they Preach to none until they be first sure of so much a year 221. the more moderate of them exclaim against the excessive Revenues of the Clergy 224. tho they had forsaken the Bishop of Rome yet they would not part with old Benefices 226. they will not labour 227. whether they have made a perfect Reformation in worship 231 232. their worship can easily be stopped 251. they have given great scandal to the Reformation 272. they deny water-baptism to be absolute necessary to Salvation 285. of water-baptism 299 300 301. of the flesh and blood of Christ 308 309 310. they use not washing of feet 320. how they did vindicate liberty of Conscience 341. some affirm that wicked Kings and Magistrates ought to be deposed yea killed 342. how they meet when they have not the consent of the Magistrate 248 249. of Oaths and Swearing 372 373. Psalms singing of Psalms 275. Q Quakers i. e. Tremblers and why so called 117 242. they are not contemners of the Scriptures and what they think of them 38 40 41 48 49 50 54 55 89. nor of Reason and what they think of it 91 92. they do not say that all other secondary means of knowledg are of no service 9. they do not compare themselves to Jesus Christ as they are falsly accused 88. Nor do they deny those things that are written in the Holy Scriptures concerning Christ his conception c. 89 141. they were raised up of God to shew forth the Truth 83 84 115 116 126 212 243. their doctrin of Justification is not Popish 129 134 151 158. they are not against meditation 248. their worship cannot be interrupted 250. and what they have suffered 249 252. how they vindicate Liberty of Conscience 346 347. they do not persecute others 349. Their adversaries confess that they are found for the most part free from the abominations which abound among others yet they count those things Vices in them which in themselves they extol as notable Vertues and make more noise about the escape of one Quakea than of an hundred among themselves 351 352. they destroy not the mutual relation that is betwixt Prince and People Master and Servant Father and Son nor do they introduce community of Goods 352 353. Nor say that one man may not use the Creation more or less than another 353. R Ranters the blasphemy of the Ranters or Libertines saying that there is no difference betwixt good and evil 167. Reason what need we set up corrupt reason 23. concerning Reason 30 92 93. Rebekkah 241. Reconciliation how reconciliation with God is made 136 to 141. Recreations see Plays Redemption is considered in a twofold respect First performed by Christ without us and secondly wrought in us 134 135. it is Universal God gave his Only begotten Son Jesus Christ for a Light that whosoever believeth in him may be saved 67 68 103 104. the benefit of his death is not less Universal than the seed of sin 67. there is scarce found any Article of the Christian Religion that is so expresly confirmed in the holy Scriptures 71 72 73 74 75 76. this doctrin was Praached by the Fathers so called of the first 600 years and is proved by the sayings of some 78 79. those that since the time of the Reformation have affirmed it have not given a clear testimony how that benefit is communicated to all nor have sufficiently taught the Truth because they have added the absolute necessity of the outward knowledg of the history of Christ yea they have thereby given the contrary party a stronger argument to defend their precise decree of Reprobation among whom were the Remonstrants of Holland 68 80 81 82. God hath now raised up a few illiterate men to be dispensers of this Truth 89 90 116 117. this doctrin sheweth forth the Mercy and Justice of God 83 84 96 97. it is the foundation of Salvation 84. it answers to the whole tenor of the Gospel promises and threats 84. it magnifies and commends the merits and death of Christ 84. it exalts above all the Grace of God 84. it overturns the false doctrin of the Pelagians Semi-pelagians and others who exalt the Light of Nature and the freedom of man's will 84. it makes the Salvation of man solely to depend upon God and his condemnation wholly and in every respect to be of himself 84. it takes away all ground of Despair and feeds none in security 85. it commends the Christian Religion among Infidels 85. it sheweth the Wisdom of God 85. and it is established tho not in words yet by deeds even by those Ministers that oppose this doctrine 85. it derogates not from the attonement and sacrifice of Jesus Christ but doth magnifie and exalt it 89. there is given to every one none excepted a certain day and time of