Light to shine out of Darkness hath shined into our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the Glory of God in the Face of Jesus Christ to give that is to give it forth to others 2 Cor. 4.6 And again in 1 Cor. 2.12 13. Now we have received not the Spirit of the World but the Spirit which is of God that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God Which things also we speak not with the words which mans wisdom teacheth but which the Holy Ghost teacheth And besides this of internal and immediate Revelation there is no way imaginable for men to come to the knowledge of Christ as Mediator but by external and mediate Revelation So that by the process of this Discourse you are brought to this either to say that all men to whom the Gospel comes are enlightned by Christ with the knowledge of his being the Son of God the Christ of God and Saviour of the world by immediate and supernatural Revelation as the Apostles were or else to grant that some men in the world are not enlightened by Christ without being taught by outward means to know what they are bound to believe upon pain of Damnation For I have shewed before that all men and women to whom the Gospel is preached are bound to believe Jesus to be the Christ the Son of God upon pain of Damnation and that there is but these two ways imaginable by which they can come to know it that they might believe it immediate and mediate Revelation or Instruction If being reduced to this straight you shall be so absurd as to chuse to say that all those under the sound and outward teaching of the Gospel that shall be damned for not believing on Christ as the Son of God and for not obeying him had that knowledge of him by immediate and supernatural Revelation as the Apostles had for the sinning against which they shall be damned as knowing their Masters Will and not doing it yet the Scriptures as well as all Experience will detect your Folly in so saying For I have proved in my Propositiions to which I refer you that God's way method of proceeding with men in justifying or condemning them will be according to their Obedience to or Disobedience against that Doctrine of the Gospel which they had heard preached by men to them Go preach the Gospel to every Creature said our Saviour He that believeth not shall be damned that believeth not that Gospel so preached and made known to them by preaching Mat. 16.16 And the Apostle supposeth it impossible for the generality of men to believe that have not heard of Christ in the way of preaching the Gospel to them and concludes that those that do believe are brought to it by hearing it preached and that is not by way of immediate inward teaching of God's Spirit without the teaching by man Rom. 10.14 15 16 17. How shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard And how shall they hear without a Preacher saith St. Paul Yes might it have been said by immediate Revelation and inward teaching of God's Spirit or the Light within if that had been the common way of bringing men to believe the Gospel But you see Paul knew of no such way to propagate the Faith after it was once set on foot in an extraordinary way If he had he would not have put such Questions nor have made such a Conclusion as he doth in v. 17. So then Faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the Word of God And do you know more and better than he did And for your selves it is not to be imagined that ever you could have known that ever there was such a one as Christ in the World any more than the poor Indians or Pagans that never heard of him had you not been beholding to the Scriptures or Oral Tradition for it as God's means for all your great talk of your Light within you If Christ Jesus then doth not savingly enlighten all those who yet are savingly illuminated neither by Natural Light nor by Supernatural Revelation in an immediate way then it follows that such are enlightened by Supernatural Revelation mediately or instrumentally by the Scriptures and Ministration of men unless there can be another way of saving Illumination assigned different from the three before mentioned which none pretend to do so far as I have heard These things are so plain and full of Evidence and so easie to be understood and in their Nature so apt to prevail with all such as do not deny but that the Scriptures are true that after you have considered them I cannot but think you will be convinced by them if there be that love to Truth in you which you pretend to that you have unawares all this while abused that first Chapter of John v. 9. and abused your selves and the world by a misrepresentation of it whereas Christ is the Light of the world divers ways and in several respects as by his Spirit by his Word and by his Works both Miraculous and Exemplary it cannot but be very great weakness or way wardness in you to limit his being so to one of these only § 14. Another Scripture which you alledge as favouring your foresaid Opinion is that Prophesie of Joel 2.28 29. Cited by St. Peter in Acts 2.17 Behold the days come saith the Lord that I will poure out my Spirit upon all Flesh and your Sons and your Daughters shall prophesie and your young men shall see Visions and your old men shall dream Dreams and on my Servants and on my Handmaids I will poure out of my Spirit in those days and they shall prophesie But that this Scripture also is impertinently alledged to prove that in the days of the Gospel every one is immediately directed and moved by the Spirit of God without outward teaching in what they are to believe and do will appear by two things The one from the Nature of the thing here predicted The other by the Application of this Prediction to the event 1. From the Nature of the Subject-Matter of this Prophesie It is not that the Spirit should be poured out upon all flesh so as to direct every one what to believe and do without outward teaching but to qualifie persons extraordinarily for outward teaching it is to enable them to prophesie for that is twice mentioned in the Prophesie fore-cited as the end for which the Spirit should be poured out upon all flesh And prophesying is for the instruction of others it is a means of conveying knowledge of the Divine Will from one man to another He that prophesieth edifieth the Church saith St. Paul 1 Cor. 14.4 This of Prophets was a Second Order in the Evangelical Ministry God hath set some in the Church first Apostles secondarily Prophets 1 Cor. 12. And although seeing Visions and dreaming Dreams be also mentioned as the effect of the pouring out of the Spirit yet
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 sitted to every capacity and the innate 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 Neigbour 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 teach 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 Word taught and the Scriptures opened This appears all along the Acts of the Apostles In Chap. 2. when Peter had said ver 36. Let all the House of Israel know assuredly that God hath made that same Jesus whom ye crucified both Lord and Christ and had further said unto them ver 38. Repent and be baptized every one of you in the Name
avoid such as caused Divisions and Offences contrary to the Doctrine which they had learned Rom. 16.17 And forbid to receive into their Houses such as brought not this Doctrine 2 John 10. And if any man teach otherwise saith St. Paul and consents not to wholesom words even the words of our Lord Jesus Christ and the Doctrine which is according to Godliness he is proud knowing nothing 1 Tim. 6.3 4. These things being all so plain as what can be plainer it cannot but be highly ridiculous for such as are ignorant in the very A B C of Christianity as by your dissent in this plain Truth you appear to be to pretend to such Sublimity and Spirituality as to esteem all other Christians in the world of what denomination soever that are not of your way in comparison of your selves to be all in Darkness and Confusion § 4. The Second Proposition is this Although the first Promulgators of the Gospel were enabled by immediate Revelation from Christ to teach it unto others yet afterward God's ordinary way and method of transmitting the Knowledge and Faith of the Gospel downwards to others successively was by such mens teaching it to others as had themselves learned it of the Apostles or others that taught the same Doctrine as they did Thus Timothy and Titus though Evangelists were instructed by Paul in the Christian Faith and how they should behave themselves in their publick capacities as Evangelists or Bishops and this was done partly by Speech and partly by his Epistles to them 2 Tim. 1.13 Hold fast the Form of sound words which thou hast heard of me 2 Tim. 3.14 15. Continue in the things which thou hast learned and hast been assured of knowing of whom thou hast learned them and that from a Child thou hast known the Holy Scriptures Titus learned the Christian Faith by Paul for which cause he stiles him his Son in the Common Faith Tit. 1.4 And by his Epistle instructs him in the Election of Bishops which he was to place in the Cities of Crete And one of his Instructions about this Affair was that he should ordain such as held fast the faithful word as they had been taught Tit. 1.9 And the same things which Timothy had learned of Paul he was to commit to faithful men and such as should be able to teach others 2 Tim. 2.2 The things which thou hast heard of me among many Witnesses commit thou to faithful men who shall be able to teach others also § 5. 3. The same Doctrine and many of the same Miracles were committed to writing by the Apostles which were first preached and done by Christ and his Apostles and for the same end to wit to bring men to the Christian Belief and Life John 20.31 But these are written that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ the Son of God and that believing ye might have life through his Name 1 John 5.13 These things have I written unto you that believe on the Name of the Son of God that ye may know that ye have Eternal Life and that ye may believe on the Name of the Son of God That is that they might believe more groundedly and firmly and so constantly and perseveringly against all opposition and temptations to the contrary Luke 1.3 4. It seemed good to me also having had perfect understanding of things from the very first to write unto thee most excellent Theophilus that thou mightest know the Certainty of those things wherein thou hast been instructed 2 Tim. 3.15 16. The Scriptures given by inspiration of God are profitable for reproof correction and instruction in righteousness and able to make men wise unto salvation through Faith which is in Christ Jesus Rom. 16.26 And by the Scriptures of the Prophets according to the Commandment of the everlasting God made known to all Nations for the obedience of Faith God of old commanded the Law written to be read to all the Congregation of Israel that they might learn to fear him Deut. 31.11 12. § 6. 4. The Apostle required the same regard to be given to what he taught by his Epistles as to what he taught by speech face to face 2 Thes 2.15 Therefore stand fast and hold the Traditions which ye have been taught whether by word or our Epistle 1 Cor. 14.37 If any man think himself to be a Prophet or spiritual let him acknowledge that the things which I write unto you are the Commandments of the Lord. And the Epistles written to particular Churches were intended for the benefit of all in those things which in their nature were of common concern unto all 1 Cor. 1.2 Unto the Church of God at Corinth With all that in every place call upon the Name of Jesus Christ our Lord both theirs and ours The two Epistles of St. Peter the first Epistle of John the Epistle of Jude and that of James are all General Epistles not directed to any particular Churches as such but to the Christians scattered abroad in the world And the Colossians were to read the Epistle sent to Laodicea and the Laodiceans to read that sent to the Colossians as well as those that were sent to both themselves respectively Col. 4 16. And St. John was commanded to send all the seven Epistles to each of the seven Churches in Asia and not only one Epistle to one Church and another to another And in Rev. Chap. 2 3. It is seven times said He that hath an Ear let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the Churches as every man in the world hath that is not deaf And Chap. 22.18 I testifie to every man saith Christ that heareth the words of the Prophesie of this Book c. And there is great reason why the same regard should be given to what the Apostles and Evangelists wrote as to what they spake as long as they either wrote the same Doctrine or History upon the same evidence For the Doctrine is the same after it is written as it was before for its Being written doth not alter the Nature of it And therefore men must needs be as much concerned in their Belief or Disbelief Obedience or Disobedience to it when it is communicated to them by writing as when it is so by Preaching yea I had almost said or by immediate Revelation For 't is not the way and manner of communicating the will of God to us that makes it saving but our belief and serious consideration of it and yielding obedience to it how or by what means soever we come to know it Otherwise 't is possible men may have Revelations from God as Balaam had and as Judas and other workers of Iniquity that prophesied and cast out Devils in Christ's Name had or might have had and yet not be profited by them And if there be any less degree of evidence of Divine Truth when it is communicated to us by writing than when it was communicated to others by the Apostles preaching or to the
the Father and the Son And again 1 John 2.24 If that which ye have heard from the beginning shall remain in you ye also shall continue in the Son and in the Father § 12. 10. That in Christ Jesus neither Circumcision availeth any thing nor Uncircumcision but a new Creature is a most important Doctrine declared in writing by St. Paul Gal. 6.15 And when he saith in the next Verse As many as walk according to this Rule peace be on them it is most evident he was not of your mind and way who hold that the Holy Scriptures or Doctrine contained in them which is the same are not a Rule of Christian Faith and Practice This written Doctrine of the Gospel we see is a Rule for Christians to walk by as the written Law and Testimony was to the Jews and as it was said of those that walked not according to that Word or Rule that it was because there was no Light in them Isa 8.20 Even so and for the same reason it may now be said of you that if you walk not according to this Rule it is because in truth there is no Light in you how much soever you vainly boast of it and censure others for want of it that yet make it their daily care and endeavour to walk according to the Light and Guidance of that Rule that hath its seat in their Conscience And now Sirs by this time methinks you should not but perceive that I have given you proof in good measure heaped up shaken together pressed down and running over That Gods way and method of directing men what to believe and do as necessary to their Salvation and of perswading them to believe and do accordingly is and hath been by that teaching which comes from God into the Soul by outward means such as is his Word written or by mens teaching the same Doctrine which is contained in the Scriptures and if so then not by his immediate teaching and operation without such outward teaching which yet is that which you hold and teach in opposition to God's Method The Proof of this is so evident and convincing that if you will but give your minds and Consciences Liberty seriously to consider it I cannot imagine how you should possibly persist in your way without offering some violence to the reason of your Minds § 13. But since you have strengthened your selves in this your perswasion out of an Opinion you have that some Scriptures are on your side in it I shall yet add something farther to convince you of Error and Mistake therein You seem to ground your selves much upon John 1.9 Where it is said of Christ This is the true Light which lightneth every man that cometh into the world That Christ doth one way or other lighten every man that comes into the world is a great truth here declared But that which you are wont to alledge it for and which you are to prove hence if you would have it do your business is That Christ lighteneth every man that comes into the world with the knowledge of what he ought to believe and do in order to his salvation without learning it from or by any Outward Means That no such thing as that Christ so lightens all men without Outward Teaching can be proved either from this or any other Scripture I shall easily shew you Christ doth enlighten all whom he doth enlighten in one or more of these three ways either 1. By Natural Light Or 2. By Supernatural Revelation Or 3. By outward Teaching by Speech or Writing or Example in conjunction with the inward assistance of his Spirit 1. Christ indeed as God Creator as he is described in the beginning of that Chapter doth enlighten every man that comes into the world with the faculty of Reason and Understanding by which he may know that there is a God and that he is to be worshipped and that he is placable and the difference between moral good and evil in many things But however this may possibly be a Light sufficient to direct the Heathen to as much as God expects from them if they live up to it to whom he affords no other Light yet this Natural Light is not sufficient to direct those that live under the Gospel to believe and do what they are bound to believe and do upon pain of Damnation They that live under the Gospel are bound to believe Jesus to be Christ the Son of God and Saviour of the world and that upon pain of damnation If ye believe not that I am he ye shall die in your sins said our Saviour to them to whom the Gospel came Jo. 8.24 Every Spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God but is the Spirit of Antichrist 1 John 4.3 He that believeth not the Son of God shall not see Life but the wrath of God abideth on him Joh. 3.36 Now that no man can know Christ know him to be the Son of God and Saviour of the world by his Natural Light without Supernatural Revelation from God or Instruction from without derived from them that had such Revelation is most evident When Peter said to Christ Thou art Christ the Son of the Living God our Saviour told him Flesh and Bloud had not revealed that unto him but his Father Mat. 16.16 17. And the Natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God neither can he know them because they are spiritually discerned that is they are knowable only by means that are purely spiritual and supernatural as the revelation of the Gospel at first was And it may well be that in this respect 't is said that no man can say that Jesus is the Lord but by the holy Ghost 1 Cor. 12.3 For no man could know that he was so but by that Revelation and discovery which the Holy Ghost several ways at the first made concerning him He shall glorifie me for he shall receive of mine and shall shew it unto you said Christ to his Apostles concerning the Holy Spirit John 16.14 And Christ is said to be justified in or by the Spirit to be what he himself said he was and his Apostles witnessed him to be 1 Tim. 3.16 All this shews that though Christ do enlighten all men with Natural Light yet this is not sufficient without somewhat else to enlighten all men particularly those that are under the Gospel with the knowledge of what is necessary for all such to know and believe in order to their Salvation For to whom much is given of him much shall be required Luke 18.48 Then secondly Another way by which Christ enlightens men with the knowledge of himself and of what is necessary for mens Salvation is by immediate and supernatural Revelation and thus he enlightened the Apostles that they might be able infallibly to teach the way of Salvation by Christ through Faith in him and Obedience to him For God saith one of them who commanded the
that refers but to the same thing the qualifying of persons to prophesie For the Prophets of old did usually receive the matter of Prophesie by Dreams or Visions Numb 12.6 If there be a Prophet among you I the Lord will make my self known unto him in a Vision and will speak unto him in a Dream Hos 12.10 And it was not unusual for Prophets then to fore-tell Evangelical Events in an Old-Testament Dialect And when 't is said the Spirit should be poured out upon all flesh it is not meant of all persons in the world without exception for it was never given unto all persons to prophesie taking all in so large a sence but to persons of all sorts both for Sex and Age Sons and Daughters old men and young yea Servants and Handmaids also as they are particularly exprest in the Text and these not of the Jews only but on the Gentiles also as the Event shews which was new to the world 2. The Application of this Prophesie to the Event plainly shews that the End for which a Promise of this pouring out of the Spirit was made was to enable some to teach others For the event of this Prophesie in which it received its completion was the pouring out of the Spirit in extraordinary and miraculous gifts upon the Apostles and Disciples on the day of Pentecost and for some time after This appears by St. Peter's application of that Prophesie to this very Event Act. 2.16 This is that saith he which was spoken by the Prophet Joel c. And that those miraculous Gifts were poured out on some to enable them to teach others will appear in these two things not to instance in more First the Gift of speaking divers Tongues which was one of them was to enable them to declare the things of the Gospel to people of all Nations Tongues and Languages in their own Mother-Tongue wherein they were born Upon the use of this gift those of every Nation under heaven then resident at Jerusalem said We do hear them speak in our Tongues the wonderful works of God Acts 2.11 By this Gift the Apostles were prepared to preach the Gospel to all Nations to every Creature as Christ afterwards commissioned them to do Secondly As by this Gift of Tongues they could and did propagate the Knowledge of the Gospel to them that never heard of it before so by this as by other miraculous Gifts of the Spirit was Belief of the Gospel procured from them to whom it was made known For hereby they knew or had reason to believe that persons thus qualified were sent of God and the Doctrine they brought was from God John 3.2 We know that thou art a Teacher come from God for no man can do these Miracles that thou dost except God be with him In which respect this and other miraculous Gifts were called signs and signs of what but that the persons so qualified and their Doctrine were of God Tongues saith St. Paul are for a sign to those that believe not 1 Cor. 14.22 They were teaching Signs they taught those to believe the Gospel who did not believe before Signs and Wonders done by the Apostles and others were those things by which God gave testimony to the Word of his Grace as it is Acts 14.3 These signs said our Saviour shall follow those that believe in my name in my name they shall cast out Devils they shall speak with new Tongues c. Mark 16.17 And in v 20. They the Apostles went forth and preached every where the Lord working with them and confirming the Word with Signs following And Heb. 2.4 God also bearing them witness with Signs and Wonders and divers Miracles and Gifts of the Holy Ghost according to his own will Truly saith St. Paul the Signs of an Apostle were wrought among you in Signs and Wonders and mighty Deeds 2 Cor. 12.12 These were teaching Signs by which the Apostles were known to be Apostles Messengers sent by God and their Word and Doctrine to be the Message which God sent by them These miraculous powers of the Spirit of God visible in the Apostles and those that received their Doctrine were that which procured such wonderful success to the preaching of the Gospel notwithstanding the fiercest opposition of Adversaries The very first day in which the Gospel set out armed and attended with these powers it brought in of Converts no less than 3000 Souls and so went forth conquering and to conquer from Jerusalem and throughout all Judea and Samaria and to the uttermost parts of the Earth I will not dare saith St. Paul to speak of any of those things which Christ hath not wrought by me to make the Gentiles obedient by word and deed by the word preached and the mighty deeds that did accompany it through mighty Signs and Wonders by the power of the Spirit of God so that from Jerusalem and round about to Illyricum I have fully preached the Gospel of Christ Rom. 15.18 19. That which made the Gospel the more credible as coming from God and the more successful in bringing in multitudes of new Converts and in confirming and establishing those who were already converted was in that the holy Spirit was shed abroad in those Miraculous Gifts not only upon the Apostles that preached that Doctrine but also upon those that received it and believed it afterwards as well as on the day of Pentecost And that the more credit might be thereby procured to the Apostles in their Message from God to men the holy Ghost in extraordinary gifts was given to the Disciples after they believed by the laying on of the Apostles hands Thus at Samaria the Believers converted by Philip received the holy Ghost not by the laying on of his hands but of the hands of Peter and John Acts 8.17 And that they received the holy Ghost in some visible effects appears in that it is said that when Simon saw that through the laying on of the Apostles hands the Holy Ghost was given he offered them Money for the like power What to confer inward spiritual Grace No that was not the thing which he saw or could see the Apostles do nor is it probable that he desired it Likewise those Believers at Ephesus when Paul had laid his hands on them the Holy Ghost came on them and they spake with tongues and prophesied Acts 19.6 Thus it is said of them that after they believed they were sealed with the Holy Spirit of Promise as the earnest of the future Inheritance and purchased possession they continuing in the belief and practice of that Gospel that came thus confirmed to them Eph. 1.13 14. At the very first indeed it should seem the Holy Ghost fell on the Believers thus without laying on of the Apostles hands as in Acts 2. 10.44 But afterwards we have seen how it was The Spirit in some extraordinary gifts was poured on some of the Prophets of old but we never read that it was in such
the Kingdom of the Messias as Moses who also was a Mediator in that respect had delivered a standing Law to the Jews by which they were to govern themselves throughout their Generations and the Administration of the Mosaical Covenant By what hath been said touching the plentiful effusion of the Spirit upon the first setting out of the Gospel into the world you may see if Prejudice do not blindfold you that what was done in that kind is so far from giving any countenance to your Opinion of the Spirit 's being given to teach men immediately by internal Illmination and Operation without outward Ministry and Teaching that it is an evident proof of the quite contrary For the Spirit was thus given to the Apostles and others that they might propagate the Christian Faith in the world being enabled thereby to make it known to them of other Languages in their own Tongues and to embolden them to run all hazards in so doing for they being filled with the Holy Ghost spake the Word of God with all boldness Acts 4.31 And likewise to convince the World that Christ and his Apostles and their Doctrine were all from God All which was done by Vocal Teaching and Visible Signs not excluding the Inward Assistance of divine Grace All which would have been needless if God had chosen to teach men by the Light of Christ within only as you speak So that either your Enthusiastical Notion overthrows God's Method of proceeding to teach men the Christian Religion or else his Method overthrows your Notion for doubtless they are contrary one to another and whether it be better to follow God or man judge you § 15. Another place misunderstood and misapplied by you is John 16.13 When the Spirit of Truth is come he will guide you into all Truth Which is not a Promise of sending the Spirit to guide all Christians by its immediate motions but a Promise to his Apostles for they only were then present with Christ at the Passeover just before his Apprehension and Suffering And this and other like Promises of sending the Spirit were made to them to encourage them the better to bear his departure from them giving them to know thereby how they should be enabled when he should be taken from them to carry on the great work of Apostleship to which he had chosen them And this he did first by giving them to understand that this Spirit should bring all things to their remembrance which he had spoken unto them while he was yet with them 2. That this Spirit of his should teach them all things in which Christ himself had not instructed them while he was with them inasmuch as they were not then able to bear them 3. That this Spirit to wit in his miraculous Gifts should concur with them in testifying of Christ John 14.26 But the Comforter which is the Holy Ghost whom the Father will send in my Name he shall bring all things to your remembrance whatsoever I have said unto you John 16.12 13. I have yet many things to say unto you but ye cannot bear them now Howbeit when he the Spirit of Truth is come he will guide you into all Truth and he will shew you things to come Chap. 14.26 He shall teach you all things Chap. 15.26 27. But when the Comforter is come whom I will send unto you from the Father he shall testifie of me and ye also shall bear witness because ye have been with me from the beginning This agrees exactly with what he said again to them after he was risen Acts 1.8 Ye shall receive power after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you and ye shall be Witnesses unto me c. And that these Predictions and Promises of sending the Holy Ghost upon the Apostles the better to qualifie them for their great Work and Office began to be made good to them in those extraordinary Gifts which were poured out on them on the day of Pentecost and that Christ's Prediction of the coming of the Holy Ghost did refer to that appears by what St. Peter said in his Sermon upon that occasion Acts 2.33 Therefore being by the right hand of God exalted and having received of the Father the promise of the Holy Ghost he hath shed forth this which ye now see and hear the Spirit in its sensible effects Compare herewith Acts 1.4 5. Wait for the Promise of the Faoher which saith he Jesus which ye have heard of me ye shall he baptized with the Holy Ghost not many days hence The giving of the Spirit thus was purposely reserved for the honour and evidence of Christ's Exaltation in Glory but the Spirit to sanctifie was given before The Holy Ghost was not yet given because Jesus was not yet glorified John 7.39 But the sending of the Holy Ghost to these ends is greatly remote from the end you assign thereof as hath also been shewn before and which you may easily see by what hath been here represented to you if the Light which was once in you be not become Darkness Your applying Promises as if made to all Christians as Christians and to common and ordinary cases which were made to the Apostles only or to them and some others in extraordinary cases peculiar to persons extraordinarily qualified and extraordinarily sent hath led you and some others into very dangerous errors that have made very bad work in the Church of God § 16. Another Scripture which you are wont frequently to produce in defence of this Opinion of yours touching the Spirits inward Teaching without outward Teaching by man is 1 John 2.20 But ye have an Vnction from the Holy One and ye know all things And again ver 27. But the Anointing which ye have received of him abideth in you and ye need not that any man teach you but as the same Anointing teacheth you of all things and is Truth and is no Lie and even as it hath taught you ye shall abide in him Whatever the right sence of this Scripture is 't is certain your Notion of the Holy Spirit 's teaching men that live under the Gospel as those did to whom these words were written whatever they ought to believe and do without any outward Teaching by Speech or Writing cannot be the sence of it because such a sence of the place is inconsistent with what is manifestly proved in my Propositions before laid down and because it would render the design of St. John in this Epistle and other Writings of his needless in which he labours to settle and firmly establish the Christians in the Belief and Practice of what they had heard and by hearing had been taught from the beginning against all Temptations to Apostacy from or Loosness in the Profession of Christianity But if we consider upon what occasion these words are here brought in and compare them also with what we find in some other Scriptures it will be no hard matter to understand the Apostles scope in them He
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 giveth 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 tobe 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 dehorttng 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 by motion and inspiration from him So inseparable are the Word and Spirit in the conduct of Christians to happiness St. Paul exhorted the Ephesians to be filled with the Spirit in order to their speaking to themselves in Psalms and Hymnes and Spiritual Songs Eph. 5.18 19. and the Colossians that they
they may be with some But though the things necessary to salvation are in the Revelation of them accommodated to the capacities of the weak and simple whose Salvation is designed by them as well and as much as theirs of stronger and quicker apprehensions yet there are things under the New Testament that are hard to be uttered as the phrase is Heb. 5.11 and therefore hard to be understood as the phrase is again 2. Pet. 3.16 As there is milk for Babes who are unskilful in the Word of righteousness so there is meat for strong Men who by reason of use have their Senses exercised to discern both good and evil as 't is said Heb. 5.13 14. And mens differences about these points proceed at the best from their different measures of Light and understanding and sometimes are persisted in from that which is worse So it was in the Apostles time between the believing Jews and the blieving Gentiles Rom. 14. Which by the way would not have been if all good Christians then had been guided by an infallible Light within as you suppose they are now If they had they would not have needed to have been taught and re-taught which are the first principles of the Oracles of God as some of them were Heb. 5. But when men which are but poor in knowledge and yet rich in confidence undertake to manage and master these more difficult points and passages of Scripture they too often wrest them to their own destruction as St. Peter speaks 2. Ep. 3.16 And this they either do or are in great danger of doing when they fasten upon some wrong sence and notion of hard and difficult places of Scripture and then pervert plain and easie places by interpreting them to their wrong sence of those that are more obscure and difficult especially when their interpretations are not mere speculations but such as influence men in their practice as becoming a rule to them therein Whereas the more wise and judicious never interpret hard places in opposition to the common sence of those that are plain and easie but explain those that are hard and difficult by those that are plain The use I would advise you to make of all this is to review the grounds you have gone on and to cease from your new notions and speculations of your being taught only by the Light within which you have taken up from some expressions in Scripture misunderstood by you and wholly disagreeing to the Scope of the places where they are found and contrary to the general current of the Scriptures in their plain and obvious sence Seek not a Knot in a bulrush seek not for Mysteries there where the Lord hath declared his mind plainly and in no parable But form your notions of God's method of proceeding with men to bring them to Salvation according to the plain and express Doctrine of Christ and his Apostles in the Scriptures and receive from and regulate by that Doctrine all your apprehensions perswasions affections and operations of your Souls together with all your words and actions So did the good Christians of Old they obeyed from the heart that form of Doctrine which was delivered to them Rom. 6.17 They purifyed their souls in obeying that Truth through the Spirit 1. Pet. 1.22 Yea the Apostles themselves were first taught by Christ's preaching unto them what to think and believe concerning Christ John 17.8 I have given unto them the words which thou gavest me and they have received them and have known surely that I came out from thee and they have believed that thou didst send me And just as the Apostles preached so the Christians believed they made their Doctrine the Adequate Rule of their notions of things the Rule of their Faith the Rule of their Life So we Preach and so ye believed saith St. Paul 1. Cor. 15.11 And those great plain known and commonly received Truths necessary to Salvation called the common Faith Tit. 1.4 the Faith once delivered to the Saints Jude 3. these I say were the Rule and Standard by which they were to try the Doctrine of such as only pretended to Inspirations from the Spirit Beloloved believe not every Spirit but try the Spirits whether they be of God because many false Prophets are gone out into the World 1. Joh. 4.1 And then St. John in ver 2 3. commends to them one known fundamental Doctrine pertinent to his Case then in hand by which they might know the Teachers he cautioned them against were not inspired by God nor authorized by him Hereby know ye the Spirit of God every Spirit that confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in the Flesh is of God And every Spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the Flesh is not of God And again verse 6. We are of God he that knoweth God heareth us adhered to and governed themselves by the Apostles Doctrine he that is not of God heareth not us hereby know we the Spirit of Truth and the Spirit of Error And truly if you will not make the plain and express Doctrine of Christ and his Apostles in the Scriptures touching Faith and a good Life your Rule by which to try and to judge of the Truth and erroneousness of your conceptions perswasions motions and inclinations under the notion of the Light within and of all your words and actions consequent thereupon you are and will be in great danger to be like the wandring Stars and the clouds carried with a Tempest of which St Peter and Jude speak unfixed and unstable in your judgment Faith and Ways For it is certain and evident whatever you pretend to the contrary that the Light within you is not in your own account always a certain constant and infallible Rule to you for if it were you would not act so contrary to your selves as you have done under pretence of being taught of God and guided by the Light within One while crying up your former practice of shaking as the effect of God's work in and upon you and another while confessing it to be a delusion as Samuel Fisher one of note with you did to me saying it was so judged One while crying down all Ecclesistical forms of Government as tyrannical another while erecting one among your selves pretending to as much Infallibility in your Body representative in managing it as the Papists do in reference to the Pope One while owning the witnessing of a person to be from God and another while condemning the same for an error or delusion How often have those of your number thought they have been sent by God on messages who after have found themselves deluded By these and other like instances you may be convinced that if you do not make the Doctrine of Christ in the Scriptures the Adequate Rule of the motions and inclinations of your minds and the actions of your lives whereby to know when they are of God and when not you have then no certain Rule to
but he that believeth that Jesus is the Son of God v. 5. We must needs take this for a description of saving Faith because those that are born of God and overcome the World are the Children and so the Heirs of God To the same purpose are those words John 2â— 31 These are written that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ the Son of God and that believing ye might have life through his Name And to this description of Faith agrees the several confessions of Faith we read of Thus Peters confession runs Thou art the Christ the Son of the Living God Mat. 16.16 And again John 6.69 We believe and are sure that thou art that Christ the Son of the Living God Thus runs Martha's John 11.27 I believe that thou art Christ the Son of God which should come into the World And thus runs the Ennuchs also Act. 8.37 I believe that Christ is the Son of God But in as much as we are assured by the same authority of Scripture that those that repent not shall perish Luke 13.3 and that those that obey not the Gospel shall be punished with everlasting destruction 2 Thes 1.7 8. and that except a Man be born again he cannot see the Kingdom of God John 3.3 nor without holiness see God Heb. 12.14 it follows of necessity that the Faith afore described is such a belief that Jesus is the Christ the Son of God as doth effectually draw Men to believe his Doctrine and to obey his Laws in doing of which they become New Creatures and overcome the World For he that believes Christ to be the Son of God and considers what he believes must needs believe all his sayings and the whole of his Doctrine to be true for it is impossible for God to lie And he that believes his Doctrine to be true and considers what he believes must needs be under the influence of the most powerful Motives imaginable to repent of a bad and to lead a good Life because Christ hath expresly declared from God that the one shall be punished with everlasting Destruction and the other rewarded with Life Eternal So that Faith works that change in Men by which they become New Creatures are born of God and sanctified by way of Motive as it doth evidence to the Soul and bind upon the Mind the things not seen as those wherein a Man is infinitely more concerned than in any than in all the things which are seen and therefore must needs be governed in the course of his Life by them and not by the other but in subordination unto them For Faith as it is a powerful Motive is an Operative Principle of a good and Holy Life And upon this accoont all the brave and Heroick Acts of those Worthies mentioned in Heb. 11. are said to be done by their Faith as that was to them the substance of things hoped for and the evidence of things not seen and as such an active Principle of those effects And thus the Life which St. Paul lived in the Flesh he lived through the Faith of the Son of God as every good Christian doth as being thereby perswaded thereto Gal. 2.20 And because Faith is thus Motive-wise such an Operative Principle of a good and Holy Life therefore it is that Men of such a Life are usually described by it in the New Testament and are stiled Believers And when good Men are otherwise described by their fear of God and Love to him as many times they are especially in the Old Testament it is because Fear and Love are also powerful Principles of Action that Govern Men in their way A true Believer then according to the New Testament Dialect is neither more nor less than a Disciple of Christ or a faithful follower of him one that frames his Belief and Life according to his Doctrine and Example And the Faith of every such one is such in its Operation and Effects as doth constitute and denominate him a good Man By all this it may easily be diserned that when Men are said to be justified or to be saved by Faith it is not to be understood of the meer Act of believing abstracted from its effects and alone but as it is an Active and Operative Principle changing the Heart and reforming the Life And accordingly Justification and Salvation are in Scripture attributed to the Effects of Faith as well as to the Act of believing Jam. 2. And when ever they are attributed to believing indifinitely it is not without reference to the effects proper to it when it is of the right kind Now as Faith is described in the Scriptures forecited by its Object and by its acting upon its Object by assent so it is in other Scriptures described by its effects which are produced by its actings upon its Object And so a Believer is described by his coming to Christ John 6.35 He that cometh to me shall never hunger and he that Believet on me shall never Thirst saith Christ For mens coming to Christ to learn of him what he hath done and will do for their Souls and what they themselves are to do that they may be saved is the effect of their believing him to be the Son of God and sent of God to bring Salvation unto Men and to declare how and upon what Terms it is to be had And so when Believers are described by their receiving of Christ as John 1.12 As many as received him to them he gave power to become the Sons of God even to them that believe on his Name they are then described by the effect of their Faith also For when they receive him for what indeed he is Priest Prophet and King it is because they believe that evidence by which he appears to be so Furthermore when Believers are described by their Trusting in Christ or Relying on him as in Ephes 1.12 Who first trusted in Christ Their Faith is described by its effect For men will not venture their Souls in trusting in Christ and relying on him for the expiation of their Sins by his Blood for direction what to do that they may be saved and for Pardon and eternal Life upon the condition upon which those Benefits are promised untill they first believe him to be the Messiah the Son of God and Saviour of the World upon some evidence they have that he is so But although the Holy Penmen of the Scriptures did not in every description of saving Faith attend unto the Rules of Art by taking in all the essential parts but described it sometimes by its assenting Act and Object and sometimes by its Fruits and Effects as occasions did occur Yet we for our parts shall be best able to make a right Judgment of the true Nature of Saving Faith by that which results out of the several descript ions of it in Scripture when compared together And by comparing those several descriptions together we may also perceive that when Faith as saving is described by its Effects yet then the assenting Act of Faith upon its Object is still implyed supposed and ought to be understood though it be not there exprest and so are the effects too when but only the Act and Object are mentioned By all which we may learn that those are none of the best definitions of saving Faith which Men make when they define it by the Act and Object alone or by any of the Effects alone THE END ADVERTISEMENT THere is lately published a Book called A Perswasive to Peace and Unity among Christians notwithstanding their different apprehensions in lesser things To be sold by B. Aylmer at the three Pigeons in Cornhil