Christ Christ himself also as he was after the flesh must be crucified that veil rent and done away as Paul saith he will know no man after the flesh no although he had known Christ after the flesh yet henceforth would he know him so no more so also all those things that had their dependence thereupon or related thereunto as it is in the Hebrews Leaving saith he the doctrine of the beginning of Christ let us go forward unto perfection not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works and of the doctrine of Baptisms and laying on of hands and of the resurrection from the dead and of the eternal judgement as if these things would not make perfect if they could we are not to leave them The same thing appears by that which was before cited Ye shall no more need teach one another saying Know the Lord for all shall know me from the greatest to the least I am so far from having any who in any kinde whatsoever differ or dissent in opinion from me therefore to be persecuted molested or troubled that I would have him in all things have the same respect from the State equal with my self Provided he keep close fast and firm to that rule of doing to everyman as he would every man should do to him and so of not doing that to any man which he would not any should do to him And in this and this only to my understanding is the care diligence and industry of the Magistrate to be exercised and for the breach hereof is the sword onely to be drawn Where or in whom this Gospel is not indeed and in truth preached where or in whose heart this Law is not written or where any man or men whatsoever are destitute or fall short in this or transgress herein then and therein onely if at any time according to the Gospel is the Magistrate to step in and by his power to make up such neglects or defects therefore it 's said The law was not made for arighteous man but for the disobedient and sinner and he who breaks that royal and onely royal law Love shall unavoidably suffer in or with the breach thereof That I would then humbly seriously and faithfully advise and move you unto is That you would try every spirit whence it comes and whither it tends see whether it be of God and Christ or no try it by what is here laid down try it by the Gospel which you would propagate Can any but a truely-Gospel-spirit in truth propagate the Gospel or propagate the Gospel in truth Take heed lest this spirit if you receive it if you hearken unto and embrace it and its counsels prove not as dangerous and fatal as it hath to those who have gone before and whether by these means and upon these occasions many of the truely real sincerely godly upright hearted people of this Nation have not been and are very much estranged from you And think you that you will be able to spare any such Are not hereby divisions and animosities fomented cherished nourished and increased betwixt us and amongst us And will the present state of things well bear this Nay hath not this Commonwealth often lost and been bereaved by these means and occasions of its best and most faithful members You have now seen according to my understanding what the very Gospel indeed and in truth is and what spirit it is that must indeed and in truth propagate this Gospel even a gospel-Gospel-spirit an Evangelized or Evangelical spirit and indeed and in truth none else can as hath likewise been shewed and proved You may likewise now in part determine where or whether there be at present or as yet in very deed and truth any such spirit or no whatever the thoughts and high pretensions of some men are Then it 's not I humbly conceive unworthy consideration whether that Christ that man-childe according as S. John speaks was not before that great desection in the Apostles times taken up again into heaven there to remain until the appointed time for whom or for whose coming again in greater power and glory then before all who have the first fruits of the spirit in great ful and assured hopes and expectations do and must wait bearing their witness in sackcloth to him and to that day of his appearing with watchfulness when by whom or at what time the book shall be unsealed all the mysteries of Christ and his Kingdom made manifest opened or revealed Wherefore being if I mistake not in that juncture of time where it is said that it was neither day nor night but in the evening it should be light I conceive that great care should be had of stigmatizing any with blasphemy and heresie but rather leave it to the Great Day to declare them Wherefore for propagation of the Gospel if it may be by us done I should humbly offer that there be a removal so far and so much as may be of all and every thing which in its own nature and property is evidently and eminently visibly and certainly destructive or contrary thereunto As first that inquisition be made for and repeal had of all such Statutes Orders Ordinances and Acts of Parliament any ways tending that way for it 's better if I may so speak that many Errours and Hereticks escape unpunished by the Civil Magistrate had he indeed a rightful power thereunto then that one true witness of Christ should suffer that many tares should remain in the field and grow together with the wheat until the time of harvest as Christ himself saith when it's easie to distinguish then by plucking them up before endanger the wheat also The earth hath done may do nay must help the woman though many false Prophets may nay shall arise insomuch that they should deceive the very elect if it were possible but it 's not possible and it 's necessary as the Scripture speaks that such should be that they which are approved may be made manifest Secondly that all compulsive and forcible maintenance for such who call themselves the Ministers of the Gospel be also removed and done away because it 's contrary to the rules of the Gospel and to the command of Christ which saith Take onely the things that are set before you by those who receive you but they were not to carry away any thing with them for they were not to have so much as a scrip to put it in and were onely to cast off the dust of their feet against them that received them not Thirdly that there may be no outward compulsions or enforcements of any to receive their or any other mens doctrines or principles neither that any mulcts fines banishments or any other corporal punishment be inflicted upon those that receive them not or who write preach or speak against any others so that no affronts injury or violence be done by the one unto the other because these things also as is before declared
anointed of God cannot himself in deed and in truth preach the Gospel unto another He who preaches the Gospel must be Gospelized Evangelized must be in very deed and truth the very thing he speaks and preaches The Gospel is not the kingdom of Christ is not letter or dead word onely but it is life and power it is not a dead Christ but a living Christ or Christ indeed and in truth dwelling or living lively and powerfully in flesh manifesting preaching or speaking forth it self by or through flesh and that not in or by dead word or letter only but in power and life declared by real sensible and sutable acts as is before quoted according as is also in 2 Cor. 3.2,3 Ye are our Epistle written in our hearts which is understood and read of all men in that ye are manifest to be the Epistle of Christ ministred by us and written not with Inke but with the Spirit of the living God not in Tables of stone but in the fleshly Tables of the heart Thus as the Gospel was received in power so was it again preached or given forth in power What Paul had received that he also communicated which what it was you there see Wherefore I leave it to be duly weighed and considered whether it be not necessary that he who goes forth to preach the Gospel of God or Christ or Christ's Gospel or God's Gods Spell or good Spell be not thus ordained appointed impowered or anointed of God as is before expressed And that he do indeed and in truth receive his power or anoynting not from below not from men but from God or from above And then Whether any are-thus ordained appointed or anoynted and who and where those are And then if there be any such Whether they do not highly dishonour their Lord and Master in seeking power from below or from men contrary to the example of Christ and his Apostles yea contrary to the very nature of the thing or power it self they pretend to It was said by some of the Clergy at the Committee To what end or purpose was it for them to propose any thing to the Parliament were it not in their power or the power of the Magistrate to make Lawes in such cases and to punish the Breakers of those Lawes so made As much as if they had said To what end is it for us to preach and proclaim the Gospel of God or Christ although ordained impowered constituted appointed and anoynted thereunto by God or Christ except you the Civil Magistrate do not or will not onely tolerate and allow us but incourage and protect us also therein nay except you also follow after us with your swords to cut all their throats who believe not as we believe who do not hear or receive the things we say and speak although we can indeed and in truth give no better reason nor shew any better Commission then our bare say so Which whether it be not quite contrary to a Gospel Spirit I leave to be considered yea contrary to Christ's and the Apostles both precepts and practises Mat. 5.38 to the end Ye have heard that it hath been said An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth But I say unto you That ye resist not evil but whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek turne to him the other also And if any man will sue thee at the law and take away thy coat let him have thy cloak also And whosoever shall compel thee to go a mile go with him twain Give to him that asketh thee and from him that would borrow of thee turn thou not away Ye have heard that it hath been said Thou shalt love thy neighbour and hate thine enemy but I say unto you Love your enemies bless them that curse you do good to them that hate you and pray for them which despight sully use you and hate you That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good and sendeth his rain on the just and unjust For if ye love them which love you what reward have ye do not even the publicans the same And if ye salute your brethren onely what do ye more then others do not even the publicans so Be ye therefore perfect even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect This indeed and in truth is The Gospel of Christ or this is Christ's Gospel indeed and in truth and it lies not in a few outside preachings prayings baptizings humiliations thanksgivings and the like not in any or all the outward visible Forms of administration whatsoever that ever were are or shall be but this written in the heart this spirit living and dwelling in us in life and power speaking and preaching acting and working it self forth by real visible and sensible demonstrations which the best of us all I fear notwithstanding our so high pretensions are so far from being anointed with so as to preach to others that we cannot nor are we able to bear almost the very hearsay of it from others Now this living life of God in our spirits or this law of God written in our hearts by the Spirit of God is indeed and in truth the Gospel upon whomsoever it falls it will make all his earthliness and fleshliness to tremble and fall and he who looks upon it will presently lower all his stately plumes there is Christ's precept for president look into Luk. 9.54,55,56 when being refused to be entertained and received by the Samaritans John and James would that they might as Elias did command fire from heaven to have consumed them but Jesus rebuked them saying Ye know not of what spirit ye are for the Son of man is not come to destroy mens lives but to save them So when Peter attempted his rescue from those who came to apprehend him he reproves him saying He that kills with the sword shall perish by the sword and further saith he could pray unto the Father and he would send him more then twelve legions of angels but his kingdom is not of this world as he says Joh. 13.36 My Kingdom is not c. if my kingdom were of this world my servants would surely fight for me but now my kingdom is not from hence Wherefore then since Christs kingdom is not of this world as indeed and in truth it is not but diametrically opposite and contrary to it therefore is it not to be propagated supported maintained or defended with or by any the weapons of this world And that whenas he himself would not in his own person or by any other defend himself or be defended by any outward force violence or power whatsoever I offer it to consideration whether any other man or men whatsoever may or ought to do it And if his Kingdom be spiritual as it 's said it is what then should carnal weapons do in it or about it And then whether
his message his promise and obey his command We see Christ did not speak and preach only but he did and appeared really in all things to be the same which he preached prays when they were putting him to death Father forgive them they know not what they do so doth Stephen also and heals his ear who came to apprehend him which Peter had cut off gives his life for his enemies And this is that Paul speaks of Love not in dead word but in deed and in truth in the life and power of it which love as the Scriptures testifie is God and which as Paul saith thinketh none ill but it beareth all things suffers all things endures all things Love it covereth all sins Prov. 10.12 Love it worketh none ill to his Neighbour Rom. 13.10 And this is that promised in Isa 2.2,3,4 And it shall come to pass in the last days that the mountain of the Lord's house shall be established in the top of the mountains and shall be exalted above the hills and all Nations shall flow unto it And many people shall go and say Come ye and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord to the house of the God of Jacob and he will teach us of his ways and we will walk in his paths for out of Zion shall go forth a Law and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem And he shall judge among the Nations and rebuke many people and they shall beat their swords into plow-shares and their spears into pruning hooks Nation shall not lift up sword against Nation neither shall they learn war any more and in Isa 11.6,7,8,9 The Wolf also shall dwell with the Lamb and the Leopard shall ly down with the Kid and the Calf and the young Lyon and the Fatling together and a little childe shall lead them And the Cow and the Bear shall feed their young ones shall ly down together and the Lyon shall eat straw like the Ox And the sucking Childe shall play on the hole of the Aspe and the weaned Childe shall put his hand on the Cockatrise den They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the Sea And in Jer. 31.31,32,33,34 Behold the days come saith the Lord that I will make a new Covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah Not according to the Covenant that I made with their Fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt which my Covenant they brake although I was an husband unto them saith the Lord. But this shall be the Covenant which I will make with the house of Israel After those days saith the Lord I will put my Law in their inward parts and write it in their hearts and will be their God and they shall be my people And they shall teach no more every man his Neighbour and every man his brother saying Know the Lord for they shall all know me from the least of them unto the greatest of them saith the Lord for I will forgive their iniquity and I will remember their sin no more There you have Christ promised as a living life dwelling and abiding in the soul or law written in the heart so that we shall not at all hang upon the lips of men or have any need or use of their teachings Whether this then be not in deed and in truth the very reall and true Gospe of Christ or Christ's Gospel God's Spell or good Spell is offered and left together with the several Scriptures quoted with many others coherent thereunto which for brevity sake I omit to your due inspection and serious consideration And if this be indeed and in truth Christ's Gospel God's Spel or good Spell as it 's supposed it will not by any be denied The next thing to be considered is How far any man or men whatsoever are impowered constituted ordained appointed fitted furnished enabled or anointed by Christ hereunto all these names signifying indeed but one and the same thing for he who is not fitted furnished enabled or anointed thereunto is not impowered constituted ordained or appointed by God or Christ thereunto the ordinations of men in this point will not do except they could give the thing also the inward anointing as well as the outward Therefore the Apostles although they had the promise yet they were not to stir they were not to go forth to preach the Gospel until themselves had received the Gospel the promise of the Father until they were indued with power from on high Luke 24.49 And behold I do send the promise of my Father upon you but tarry ye in the City of Jerusalem until ye be indued with power from on high Acts 1.8 Ye shall receive the holy Ghost Here 's a further confirmation of the promise but yet they stir not Acts 2.1.4 there it is said They were all filled with the holy Ghost Now have they the performance of the promise now and not before were they Commissioned ordained impowered or appointed because now and not before really and actually anoynted and then indeed were they anointed or baptised in with or unto the preaching of Christ's Gospel unto others and then they indeed do go forth preaching baptising healing all manner of diseases casting out divels and the like freely they had received and freely they were to give and so indeed they did as Peter said to the Cripple whom he healed Silver and Gold have I none but such as I have that give I unto you Rise up and walk And he lift him up by the hand healed him and he walked Thereby manifesting and declaring what the Gospel what the Anointing what the Missage or Message was they had received and accordingly did give forth the same as is declared And indeed nothing can give that which it hath not or more then it hath neither can any thing act beyond the power or ability it hath received If the power be of men the anointing of and by men why accordingly is and must needs be in its speakings and goings forth its actings and operations for no stream can run higher or above its head or spring That which is born of the flesh is flesh that which is born of the Spirit is Spirit If it be from men its living is and must needs be in and upon men and its returns unto men If of and from God its living is and will be only in and upon God and its returns only unto or into God Wherefore it is as Christ saith John 5.44 How can ye believe who receive Honour one from another and seek not the honour that cometh from God alone Whence I argue He that hath not himself received the Gospel in deed and in truth He that hath not received the message as is before declared that hath not received it in life and power that is not thus
those who give counsel to States and Commonwealths herein give not counsel evidently and eminently destructive to them For no one command precept or president is there given for it by Christ or any of his Apostles who brought preached and published the Gospel but the quite contrary as hath been shewed I would next offer to consideration what surer or better pretension the present Clergie have may or can have to the Chair of Peter to the power given from on high to the appointing or anointing of the Father then hath the Romish Episcopal or other Clergie that what they propose preach or publish should be more obliging or binding then others And then whether they can pretend any more or further to the spirit of infallibility for the opening those mysteries of the Kingdom the mysteries of Christ or to open unfold and truly to declare Christ who is the Mystery of mysteries Great is the mystery of godliness Christ manifest in flesh Perhaps they think it easie let them take heed that lest seeing they be made blinde but Christ himself saith in Matth. 11.27 No man knoweth the Son but the Father Or whether they be able to unriddle the riddles open the parables declared by Christ for it 's written Without a parable spake he not Or to unseal the book spoken of by John in the Revelations And if any man understand not these mysteries as they do unfold or open these riddles or parables according to their sence meaning or interpretation he must presently without all doubt or peradventure be an Heretick or Blasphemer And then from the consideration of what Christ and his Gospel as it is held forth unto us in the Scriptures quoted and many other coherent thereunto whether the constituting or appointing any other laws by any in reference to the promulgation and propagation thereof other then are by himself expresly commanded and appointed be not derogatory unto if not a denying of Christ himself whom we lay and affirm to be the onely and alone King Priest and Prophet in and unto his Church and people And then whether it be not upon the fore-going grounds indeed and in truth the spirit of Antichrist as in their predecessors so now risen up again in these their successors labouring and endeavouring by all the force and power they can and by all the subtil devices they are able to engage stir up and incite the present powers for the support defence and maintenance of their own kingdom under colour and pretence of defending the Kingdom of Christ which he disclaims as is before proved and under the notion of suppressing Blasphemy and Heresie that spirit doth not in very deed and in truth aim at labour and endeavour the suppressing of the very Truth it self as it hath constantly been seen to this day though perhaps and I do verily believe many of them see or know it not Verily Truth is seldom or never heard in out-cries against others it 's seldom whispering against or secretly backbiting of any Truth is strong and therefore not easily oftended it willingly hurts no man because it knows no man can hurt it Verily that 's not worth owning that will not stand alone by it self Wherefore I say Let them alone to stand or fall to their own master and if Christ be their Master what need they fear I should therefore offer As you have already broken the Head of that Abaddonism in this Nation that same persecuring spirit that same spirit of division and dividings so that you would also cut off its Tayl. Not that I would have them or any other injured troubled persecuted or molested no for that were contrary to the Gospel as is already declared it were contrary to that rule also which saith Love thy neighbour as thy self and Do to all men as thou wouldst they should do to thee nay as thou wouldst God should do to thee and Do not that unto another man that thou wouldst not another man should do to thee And indeed herein is the fulfilling of the whole Law and on this as Christ saith hangeth or dependeth all the Law and the Prophets this being indeed and in truth all in all this and this onely being the onely and alone necessary and fundamental thing so far as I can or ever could understand It and it onely serving and enduring in and unto all sorts of men whatsoever Wherefore it is that Paul in 1 Cor. 12. the four last verses and the eight first verses of the thirteenth Chapter after he had reckoned up all the most glorious gifts of the Spirit as Apostles Prophets Teachers workers of Miracles Gifts Healings Helps Governments diversities of Tongues but saith he Study earnestly the best gifts and yet saith he shew I unto you a more excellent way intimating there was something more desirable more excellent then all or any of these as in the thirteenth Chapter it appears And God hath set some in the church first apostles secondarily prophets thirdly teachers after that miracles then gifts of healings helps in governments diversities of tongues Are all apostles are all prophets are all teachers are all workers of miracles have all the gifts of healing do all speak with tongues do all interpret But covet earnestly the best gifts and yet shew I unto you a more excellent way Though I speak with the tongue of men and angels and have not charity I am become as sounding brass or a tinkling cymbal And though I have the gift of prophecie and understand all mysteries and all knowledge and though I have all faith so that I could remove mountains and have no charity I am nothing And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor and though I give my body to be burned and have not charity it profiteth me nothing Charity suffereth long and is kinde charity envieth not charity vannteth not it self is not puffed up doth not behave it self unseemly seeketh not her own is not easily provoked thinketh no evil rejoyceth not in iniquity but rejoyceth in the truth beareth all things believeth all things hopeth all things endureth all things Charity never faileth but whether there be prophesies they shall fail whether there be tongues they shall cease whether there be knowledge it shall vanish away So that here you see Love or Charity is preferred before and above all other things and the reason of it as you see also is because it and it onely is everlasting for it is God or Christ as the Scriptures testifie God or Christ made visible manifest born or brought forth in flesh Apostles Prophets Teachers may nay must cease nay all things but it then it and it onely is and can be Fundamental The Temple with all the rites laws and administrations thereof are ceased and done away the Brazen serpent one especial type and figure of Christ after the flesh it also when idolized is stamped to powder and done away the Priesthood must be changed from Levi to Judah as it was in