your notions and opinions and then apply them to your purpose and then are confident the Holy Spirit hath guided you therein When-as alas you do not understand the intent or design of the Writer in the places where such expressions are no nor as is to be feared do you make it your business to understand it but think your business is rather to sit still and to expect the immediate teachings of the Spirit and then conclude your conceptions which first offer themselves to you to be his teachings And on the other hand conclude all rational opposition that is made against you by such as have taken pains to consider the scope and coherence of Scripture to be the issues of fleshly wisdom and carnal reason So that I know not which is more to be pitied your ignorance or your confidence but certain it is that you are to be pittied for both It is observable that when Solomon a man wiser in his generation than any of you are in yours had a promise from God of being made wise above all that were before him did not therefore think himself unconcerned in labour and diligent search to attain it but said I gave my heart to seek and search out by wisdome concerning all things that are done under heaven this sore travel saith he hath God given to the Sons of men to be exercised therewith Eccles 1. 13. And as he saith the blessing of the Lord maketh rich in one place so he saith the diligent hand maketh rich in another from which may fairly be collected that the blessing of God in the diligent use of due means is the way to prosper in the world And it is as true in the course of attaining to spiritual riches in understanding and grace as it is in temporals And therefore he saith again in reference to that if thou cryest after knowledge and liftest up thy voice for understanding if thou seekest her as silver and searchest for her as for hid Treasures then shalt thou understand the fear of the Lord and find the knowledge of God for the Lord giueth wisdome out of his mouth proceedeth knowledge and understanding that is he gives such wisdome unto men usually upon those terms forementioned Prov. 2 3 4 5 6. But your rare notions like Jacobs Venison are usually too soon too easily come by to be right § 17. But because I would not be too tedious I shall I think in reference to the business in hand consider but one or two places of Scripture more at which you stumble unless others fall in upon occasion of discussing those And one of them is Rom. 8. 14. As many as are led by the Spirit of God they are the Sons of God And you suppose this comports with your wild notion of mens being guided by the internal teachings of the Spirit without outward teaching But why I pray you without outward teaching Do you not know that the whole Gospel preached by Christ and his Apostles and afterwards written is the Issue or product of the Spirit Is not all the Holy Scripture given by inspiration of God Did not the holy men of old the Prophets speak and write as they were moved by the Holy Ghost and do not you your selves say that the Scriptures cannot be understood but by the same Spirit that gave them forth by which you suppose and grant that they were given forth by the Spirit And for what end did the Holy Spirit inspire the Apostles first to preach and after that to write the Holy Doctrine of the Gospel but to teach men thereby what to beleive and how to live that they might be saved And if so are not all those who are led and guided by this Gospel which is the Doctrine of the Holy Spirit led by the Spirit of God There 's no doubt but that the Spirit by its inward operations upon the minds of men doth concur with that teaching of his which is from without by the Scriptures and by men from the Scriptures But methinks it 's wonderful I mean wonderfully absurd that you should divide the Spirits teaching and leading and oppose his inward to his outward teaching Whereas the Lord hath declared expresly that his word outwardly and Spirit shall be so conjoyned in carrying on his design of grace towards the world under the Gospel as that they shall never be separated Isa 59. 21. As for me this is my Covenant with them saith the Lord my Spirit that is upon thee and my words which I have put in thy mouth shall not depart out of thy mouth nor out of the mouth of thy Seed nor out of the of mouth thy Seeds Seed saith the Lord from hence forth and for ever Prov. 123. By which and by other Scriptures I know assuredly that whatever inward teaching by the Spirit you pretend to yet the Holy Spirit never taught you to believe or to say that the Spirits inward teaching only without any outward teaching by the Scriptures or by men is the rule of Faith and Practice whatever other Spirit it is that taught it you the which it concerns you more than me to examine For the Spirit having said thus much by this holy man of God in this Place for he as all other Prophets spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost I am sure he hath said nothing to the contrary in any other for the word that proceeds from the Spirit of truth is not yea and nay When St. Paul said Gal. 5. 18. if ye are led by the Spirit ye are not under the Law he did not mean if they were led by the inward guidance of the Spirit without the outward conduct of the Gospel but under the word Spirit here he opposeth the Gospel to the Law And his meaning was that if they gave up themselves to the conduct of the Spirit by the Gospel they should not need to make conscience still of the Ceremonies of Moses's Law as Circumcision or the like as some among them did from which he had been dehorting them in the begining of this Chapter This Gospel is called the Law of the Spirit of Life in Christ Jesus which frees those that walk after it and not after the Flesh from the Law of Sin and Death Rom. 8. 1 2. And where this Gospel is received into the heart so as that it is predominant there there Christ dwells and the Spirit dwells by that word of the Gospel And thus Christ is in men the hope of Glory and thus Christ dwells in the heart by Faith by Faith in his word and those live and walk in the Light that live and walk according to this word and thus they abide in Christ that have his word abiding in them and those that abide in the Doctrine of Christ have both the Father and the Son and they are spiritually minded whose minds are powerfully influenced by the Gospel and they resist the Holy Ghost who resist that word which hath been declared
and temperate to do to others as we would be done to our selves in point of equity fidelity and charity to be humble and meek patient and contented and the like are things that tend to the peace and satisfaction of the minde to the health of the body and long life to a mans Credit Reputation and thriving in the World and to the good of humane Society Besides their certain relation to a future happy State And there is no man that acts according to the best reason of his minde but would chuse these things though you should suppose him under no express command to do it and though there were no Heaven promised or Hell threatened But when you consider the great reward in another World that is promised to a faithful observance of the Laws of Christ and to a belief in him and the dreadful threatnings against such as despise and neglect them it makes them yet far more desirable and eligible because as it is natural for every man to desire the happiness and perfection of his own being so it is agreeable to the highest reason in man to chuse the means that tend thereto and such is our obedience to the Gospel And these rewards which are such mighty motives to obedience are far more clearly revealed and brought into open Light by the Gospel than they were before which makes the Gospel far more effectual to perswade to Holy Living than the Law could be The Law made nothing perfect but the bringing in of a better hope did by which we draw nigh unto God Heb. 7. 19. These two things forementioned then the easiness of understanding God's way and method of Salvation from the plainness and fulness of the revelation of it under the New Covenant by which it is fitted to every capacity and the â—nnate goodness of the Laws thereof in conjunction with the promise of eternal Life made to the observance of them by which they are also compleatly fitted to attract and draw mens wills to accept embrace and chuse them these I say are the things I conceive foretold in that Prophesie Jer. 31. here cited in Heb. 8. under those expressions of God's putting giving or conveying his Laws into the mind and writing them in the heart so that they shall not teach every man his Neighbour and every man his Brother c. And when it is so said it is not then said that they shall not be taught neither by Apostles Evangelists Pastors or Teachers but they shall not teach every man his Neighbour and every man his Brother And though the Phrase here used seem absolute in sound yet it may well be understood in a Comparative sence as other expessions in Scripture of like nature sometimes must be As when its said labour not for the meat that perisheth but for that meat which endureth to everlasting Life Joh. 6. 26. The meaning here of labour not is labour not so much And so again I desired Mercy and not Sacrifice Hos 6. 6. the meaning is I desired Mercy more than Sacrifice or Sacrifice not so much as Mercy So again Eph. 6. 12. we wrestle not with flesh and blood that is not only or not so much but against Principalities c. And so here when it is said they shall not â—â—each every man his Neighbour c. The meaning may be that they shall not so much need to do it under the second Covenant as under the first But indeed the words and phrase here used seem to be a strain of elegance oft used in Scriptures when to set forth the greatness or great abundance and plenty of things expressions are used improperly and hyperbolically in reference thereto and so are not to be understood properly but figuratively As when it is said in reference to the same thing under the Gospel with that I have been now speaking of That the Earth shall be filled with the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the Sea Isa 11. 9. I suppose you will not understand this in such a strict sence as if it foretold in Gospel-times that there should be no more knowledge of God wanting on the Earth than there is bare ground in the Sea or that David would have the World believe that he did weep a River yea Rivers full of Tears when he said mine eyes run down with Rivers of Tears because men keep not thy Laws Psalm 119. or that St. John did think in a strict sence that the world could not contain the books if all the signs which Jesus did should be written Joh. 20. And if not why should you so much as once imagine that these words of the Prophet should foretel that under the New Covenant there should be no need of teaching by mans Ministry when the whole current of the Scriptures of the New Testament both in precept and example shew the contrary The words of the Prophet here are only a prediction of the rich and plentiful means of Knowledge and Grace that was to be vouchsafed under the New Covenant more than under the Old § 19. One would think you have an aking Tooth against outward teaching when you build such Castles in the Air as ye do rather than none to batter it down But how comes it to pass that you use it so much your selves if there be no more need of it than you pretend I know that which you alledge to excuse your selves in this seeming contradiction is this or to this effect You say though men need not be taught by men what it is which they ought to know believe and do the light within teaching them this and being a Rule to them in these things yet in as much as men may and do rebel against this light its necessary to call upon and perswade them to obey it But in this Plea you suppose for truth that which is a manifest gross and most dangerous and pernicious error which is this That it is not as well necessary to teach men by the Scriptures and by the Ministry of men to know believe what is necessary to their salvation as it is to perswade them to do what is necessary thereto For contrary hereunto I have already proved that for men that live under the Gospel its necessary to their Salvation that they know and believe that Jesus is the Christ the Son of God and Saviour of the World and that remission of sin is promised in his name to such as repent I have proved likewise that these things cannot be known but either by immediate revelation from God or by instruction from them that have had such Revelation or by them whose knowledge thereof hath been derived down successively by outward teaching from the first preachers of such Doctrine To which I will now add as followes In the Apostles days the Converts that were then made such were brought to the knowledge and belief of those great Articles of the Christian Faith fundamentally necessary to Salvation by hearing the
have already seen their error and are come off from you and to others that shall follow them therein § 23. I know 't is a very hard thing for such to get quite rid of all their confused and Enthusiastical Thoughts Notions and Phrases but that some reliques of their old Disease will still hang on them and cleave to them and so encumber them that they can very hardly come quickly to any clear and distinct apprehensions of Evangelical Verities To such I would give this short advice that laying aside all thoughts and conceits of high attainments in the things of God they would repent and do their first works and begin as it were again at the first Principles of the Doctrine of Christ and so lay their Foundation a new in the beginning work of Christians Also that they would frame their Notions and apprehensions of things absolutely necessary to Salvation according to that plainness in which they are expressed in Scripture not affecting nor entertaining Mystical Notions of them More particularly that they would furnish their minds with right apprehensions of the person of Christ as Son of God and Son of the Virgin Mary and of the Nature of his Mediatory Office That as Priest he offered himself in Sacrifice to expiate Sin by his Death and in vertue thereof makes continual Intercession for us That as Prophet he revealed and declared the New Covenant of Salvation That as King he hath given Laws to the World and that he doth Rule and Govern his Church through his Spirit by those Laws and that at last he will try and judg all men by them that have lived under them and that he will reward all with eternal happiness or endless torments according as they have been obedient or disobedient to them That they be careful also that their Notions of the New Covenant be according to the plain Doctrine of the Gospel in the Scriptures Particularly That it consists of two parts of Promises and of conditions of those Promises Also that the Promises of it are made upon account and for the sake of Christ his undertaking as Mediator That the great and special Promises of it are pardon of sin or justification the assistance of God's Spirit in our endeavouring to perform the condition and eternal Life That the condition on which these Promises are made are Faith in Christ Repentance sincere Obedience and the craving of the assistance of God's Spirit in the use of appointed means and our endeavours to perform the condition That they be careful also to form right Notions of the nature of the condition on our part on which the Promises of the New-Covenant are made As that no Faith short of such a belief in Christ and of his Doctrine as worketh unfeigned Repentance and sincere Obedience is justifying and saving That no Repentance short of a desire resolution and endeavour to forsake all known sin is saving Repentance That no Obedience short of a desire resolution and a continued endeavour to observe all the Laws of Christ without baulking any one of them when known to be such is sincere That no Faith no Repentance no Obedience short of these as thus described is a fulfilling of the condition of the Promises of Salvation in the Covenant of Grace As these great things of the Gospel are in Scripture expressed in great plainness so great care must be had to keep close to and to hold fast the form of sound words according to which they are so declared not affecting any Notion Phrase or Expression which makes them more hard to be understood by common capacities than they are by the very Letter of the Scriptures but when other expressions are used than what are in the Letter of the Text as its necessary there should sometimes especially in explaining metaphors and Idioms of Speech proper to the times and places in which the Scriptures were written they should be such and so used as may give a clearer insight into the Nature of the things themselves than without them can well be had carefully avoiding to take words properly which are spoken metaphorically or to be led by the meer sound of words but to take the measure of the sence of them by the scope and design of the Author since words of the same sound are not always of the same signification § 24. And now after I have laid things before you which are very apt in their own Nature to rectifie you in one of your grand and fundamental mistakes especially if invincible prejudice hinder not I should be very sorry to think or suspect that what is done herein should turn to no better account than to be a witness against you in that great day in which every mans work will be tryed of what sort it is And therefore to prevent that I cannot for your sakes and for the longing I have after your salvation but earnestly perswade you to give things purposely prepared to serve you a due consideration in your minds and not to pass over such things slightly as wherein your eternal Estate is much concern'd Remember that Heresie is one of those works of the Flesh which shut Men out of the Kingdom of God Gal. 5. 20 21. And considering the Nature and bad influence of several of your opinions and with what pertinaciousness you persist in them it s greatly feared not to say confidently believed by such as are jealous over you with a Godly jealousie that many of you at least lye under no less guilt than that of grand Heresie And do you not then owe all seriousness of consideration to what is offered to rescue you from so great a danger Doubtless you do Let not then the height of your confidence to the contrary deceive you For it is not the greatness of your confidence that will in the least alter the nature of things or make them bend to your humour You are not the first that have been as confident as confidence it self could make them that they had fast hold of Truth when all the while it hath been but a lye they have had in their right hand But the more confident you are in your way you are like to be so much the more surprized with amazement when in another World you shall find yourselves to have been mistaken in that of which you are now so strongly confident in this if you should be so unhappy as to carry such mistaken confidence with you thither without a pardon Which that you may not is I assure you all the hurt that is designed you in this Address And therefore let me tell you again that it will be your wisdom much rather to bestow your thoughts and pains in labouring to find out whether you be not indeed under a delusion than in darkning of words without knowledge in labouring to obscure to your selves and others the evidence of Truth offered which clearly tends to your conviction FAREWEL THE END POSTSCRIPT THere being some vacant Leaves