CONVERTED AN APOLOGY FOR THE TRUE CHRISTIAN DIVINITY AN APOLOGY TRUE CHRISTIAN DIVINITY V BKING AN Explanation antj C^mlJuation PRINCIPLES AND DOCTRINES OP THE PEOPLE CAU.tD QUAKERS. BY ROBERT BARCLAY, i^int!) CFnition. LONDON: PRINTED FOR THOMAS TEGG, 73, CHEAPSIDE : R. M, TIMS, DUBLIN ; AND R. GRIFFIN AND CO. GLASGOW. 1825. (L. anv C CD^ittingtiam, College l^ott^e, €^i$i»ifl. i TO CHARLES 11. KING OF GREAT BRITAIN, AND THE DOMINIONS THEREUNTO BELONGING, ROBERT BARCLAY, A Servant of Jesus Christ, called of God to the Dispensation of the Gospel now again revealed, and, after a long and dark Night of Apostacy, commanded to be preached to all Nations, wisheth Health and Salvation. As the condition of kings and princes placeth them in a station more obvious to the view and observation of the world, than that of other men; of whom, as Cicero observes, neither any word or action can be obscure ; so are those kings during whose appearance upon the stage of this world it pleaseth the Great King of kings singularly to make known unto men the wonderful steps of his unsearch- able providence^ more signally observed, and their lives and actions more diligently re- marked, and inquired into by posterity ; espe- cially if those things be such as not only relate to the outw^ard transactions of this world, but also are signalized by the manifestation or revelation of the knowledge of God in matters spiritual and religious. These are the things that rendered the lives of Cyrus, Augustus Caesar, and Constantine the Great in former times, and of Charles the Fifth, and some other modern princes in these last ages, so considerable. VI TO THE KING. But among all the transactions which it hath pleased God to permit, for the glory of his power, and the manifestation of his wisdom and providence, no age furnisheth us with things so strange and marvellous^ whether with respect to matters civil or religious, as these that have fallen out within the compass of thy time ; who, though thou be not yet arrived at the fiftieth year of thy age, hast yet been a witness of stranger things than many ages be- fore produced. So that whether we respect those various troubles wherein thou foundest thyself engaged while scarce got out of thy infancy; the many different afflictions where- with men of thy circumstances are often unac- quainted ; the strange and unparalleled for- tune that befell thy father ; thy own narrow escape, and banishment following thereupon, with the great improbability of thy ever re- turning, at least without very much pains and tedious combatings ; or finally the incapacity thou wert under to accomplish such a design, considering the strength of those that had pos- sessed themselves of thy throne, and the terror they had inflicted upon foreign states ; and yet that, after all this, thou shouldest be re- stored without stroke of sword, the help or assistance of foreign states, or the contrivance and work of human poHcy ; all these do suffi- ciently declare that it is the Ijynfs doing ; which, as it is marvellous in our eyes, so it will justly be a matter of wonder and astonish- ment to generations to come ; and may suffi- ciently serve, if rightly observed, to confute and confound that aiheiam wherewith tliis age doth so much abound. TO THE KING. VU As the vindication of the liberty of conscience (which thy father, by giving way to the im- portunate clamours of the clergy, the answer- ing and fulfilhng of whose unrighteous wills has often proved hurtful and pernicious to princes, sought in some part to restrain), was a great occasion of those troubles and revolu- tions ; so the pretence of conscience was that which carried it on, and brought it to that pitch it came to. And though no doubt some that were engaged in that work designed good things, at least in the beginning, albeit always wrong in the manner they took to accomplish it, viz. by carnal weapons ; yet so soon as they had tasted the sweets of the possessions of them they had turned out, they quickly began to do those things themselves for which they had accused others. For their hands were found full of oppression, and they Jiated the reproof of instruction, which is the way of life ; and they evilly entreated the messengers of the Lord, and caused his prophets to be beaten and imprisoned, and persecuted his people, whom he had called and gathered out from among them, whom he had made to beat their swords into ploughshares, and their spears into pruning hooks, and not to learn carnal war any more : but he raised them up, and armed them with spiritual weapons, even with his own Spirit and power, whereby they testified in the streets and highways, and public markets and synagogues, against the pride, vanity, lusts, and hypocrisy of that generation, who were righteous in their own eyes ; though often cruelly entreated therefore : and they faith- tin TO I'll E KING. fully prophesied and foretold them of their judgment and downfall, which came upon them, as by several warnings and epistles de- livered to Oliver and Richard Cromwell, the parliament, and other then powers, yet upon record, doth appear. And after it pleased God to restore thee, what oppressions, what banishments, and evil entreatings they have met with, by men pre- tending thy authority, and cloaking their mis- chief with thy name, is known to most men in this island ; especially in England, where there is scarce a prison that hath not been filled with them, nor a judge before whom they have not been haled ; though they could never yet be found guilty of any thing that might deserve that usage. Therefore the sense of their in- nocency did no doubt greatly contribute to move thee, three years ago, to cause some hundreds of them to be set at liberty : for indeed their sufferings are singular, and obvi- ously distinguishable from all the rest of such as live under thee, in these two respects. First, In that among all the plots cmitrked by others against thee since thy return into Britain^ there was never any^ oumed of that people^ found or known to be guilt]/ (though many of them have been taken and imprisoned upon such kind of jealousies), but were always found inno- cent and harmless, as became the followers of Christ; not coveting after, nor contending for, the kingdoms of this zvorld, but subject to even/ ordinance of man, for conscience sake. Secondly, /;/ that in the hottest times of perse- cution, and the most violent prosecution of those TO THE KING. IX laws made against meetings^ being clothed with innocency, they have holdly stood to their testi- mony for God, without creeping into holes or cor- ners, or once hiding themselves, as all other Dis- senters have done ; hut daily met, according to their custom, in the public places appointed for that end ; so that none of thy officers can say of them, that they have surprised them in a cor- ner, overtaken them in a private conventicle^ or catched them lurking in their secret chambers ; nor needed they to send out spies to get them, uhom they were sure daily to find in their open assemblies, testifying for God and his truth. By which those who have an eye to see may observe their Christian patience and courage, constancy and suffering, joined in one, more than in any other people that differ from them, or oppose them. And yet, in the midst of those troubles, thou canst bear wit- ness, that as on the one part they never sought to detract from thee, or to render thee and thy government odious to the people, by nameless and scandalous pamphlets and libels ; so on the other hand they have not spared to admonish, exhort, and reprove thee ; and have faithfully discharged their consciences towards thee, without flattering words, as ever the true prophets in ancient times used to do to those kings and princes, under whose power vio- lence and oppression were acted . And although it is evident by experience to be most agreeable both to divine truth and human policy to allow every one to serve God according to their consciences, nevertheless those other sects, who for the most part durst X' tTO THE KING. not peep out in the times of persecution, while these innocent people stood bold and faithful, do now combine in a joint confederacy, not- withstanding all the former janglings and con- tentions among themselves, to render us odi- ous ; seeking unjustly to wrest our doctrine and words, as if they were both inconsistent with Christianity and civil society : so that to effectuate this their work of malice against us, they have not been ashamed to take the help, and commend the labours, of some invidious Socinians against us. So do Herod and Pon- tius Pilate agree to crucify Christ. But our practice, known to thee by good experience to be more consistent with Chris- tianity and civil society, and the peace and welfare of this island, than that of those who thus accuse us, doth sufficiently guard us against this calumny; and we may indeed appeal to the testimony of thy conscience, as a witness for us in the face of the nations. These things moved me to present the world with a brief, but true account of this people's principles, in some short theoloirical propositions ; which, according to the will of God, proving successful, beyond my expec- tation, to the satisfaction of several, and to the exciting in many a desire of being farther informed concerning us, as being every where evil spoken of; and likewise meeting with public opposition by some, as such will al- ways do, so long as the dml inks in the chil- dren of disobedience ; I was thereby farther engaged, in the liberty of the Lord, to present to the world this Apology of the truth held by TO THE KING. XI those people : which, because of thy interest in them, and theirs in thee, as having first appeared, and mostly increased, in these na- tions under thy rule, I make bold to present unto thee. Thou knowest, and hast experienced, their faithfulness towards their God^ their patience in suffering, their peaceableness towards their king, their honesty, plainness, and integrity in their faithfid warnings and testimonies to thee ; and if thou wilt allow thyself so much time as to read this, thou mayest find how consonant their prin- 1 ciples are both to scripture, truth, and right reason, j The simplicity of their behaviour, the genera- lity of their condition, as being poor men and illiterate ; the manner of their procedure, being without the wisdom and policy of this world ; hath made many conclude them fools and madmen, and neglect them, as not being capable of reason. But though it be to them as their crown, thus to be esteemed of the wise, the great, and learned of this world, and though they rejoice to be accounted fools for Christ's sake ; yet of late some, even such who in the world's account are esteemed both wise and learned, begin to judge otherwise of them, and find that they hold forth things very agreeable both to scripture, reason, and true learnino'. As it is inconsistent with the truth I bear, so it is far from me, to use this epistle as an engine lo flatter thee, the usual design of such works ; and therefore I can neither dedicate it to thee, nor crave thy patronage, as if thereby I might have more confidence to pre- 3tll TO THE KING. sent it to the world, or be more hopeful of its success. To God alone I owe what 1 have, and that more immediately in matters spiri- tual ; and therefore to him alone, and to the service of his truth, I dedicate whatever work he brings forth in me ; to whom only the praise and honour appertain, whose truth needs not the patronage of worldly princes ; his arm and power being that alone by which it is propagated, established, and confirmed. But I found it upon my spirit to take occasion to present this book unto thee ; that as thou hast been often warned by several of that people, who are inhabitants of England; so thou mayest not want a seasonable advertise- ment from a member of thy ancient kingdom of Scotland; and that thou mayest know, which I hope thou wilt have no reason to be troubled at, that God is raising up and in- creasing that people in this nation. And the nations shall also hereby know, that the truth we profess is not a work of darkness, nor propagated by stealth; and that we are not ashamed of the gospel of Christy because we know it to be the power of God unto salvatwn ; and that we are no ways so inconsistent with government, nor such disturbers of the peace, as our enemies, by traducing us, have sought to make the world believe we are : for which to thee I dare appeal, as a witness of our peaceableness and Christian patience. Generations to come shall not more admire that singular step of Divine Providence, in restoring thee to thy throne, witliout outward bloodshed, than they shall admire the in- TO THE KINGi XIll crease and progress of this truths without all outward help, and against so great opposition ; which shall be none of the least things render- ing thy memory remarkable. God hath done great things for thee ; he hath sufficiently shown thee, that it is by him princes ruk^ and that he can pull clown and set tip at his pleasure. He hath often faithfully warned thee by his servants, since he restored thee to thy royal dignity, that thy heart might not wax wanton against him, to forget his mercies and provi- dences towards thee ; whereby he might per- mit thee to be soothed up, and lulled asleep in thy sins, by the flattering of court parasites^ who, by their fawning, are the ruin of many princes. There is no king in the world, who can so experimentally testify of God's providence and goodness ; neither is there any who rules so many free people, so many true Christians : which thing renders thy government more honourable, thyself more considerable, than the accession of many nations, filled with slavish and superstitious souls. Thou hast tasted of prosperity and adver- sity ; thou knowest what it is to be banished thy native country, to be overruled, as well as to rule, and sit upon the throne ; and being oppressed, thou hast reason to know how hate- fid the oppressor is both to God and man : if after all these warnings and advertisements, thou dost not turn unto the Lord with all thy heart, but forget him, who remembered thee in thy distress, and give up thyself to follow XIV TO TUB KING.' lust and vanity : surely great will be thy con- demnation. Against which snare, as well as the temp- tiition of those that may or do feed thee, and prompt thee to evil, the most excellent and prevalent remedy will be^ to apply thyself to that Light of Christy which shmetli in thy con- science ^)which neither can nor will flatter thee, nor suffer thee to be at ease in thy sins ; but doth and will deal plainly and faithfully with thee, as those that are followers thereof have also done. GOD Almghti/y who hath so signally hitherto visited tliee with his /ow, so touch and reach thy hearty eix the day of thy visitation be ex- pired^ that thou may est effectually turn to hirn^ so as to improve thy place and station for his name. So wisheth, so prayeth, Thy faithful friend and subject, i!'* V Robert Barclay. From \jrj, iu m^ nati?e oounlrjr of Scotlnnd. the 25tli of the tuoiith ciillod November, in itio ;ear MIMfAW. R. B. UNTO THE FRIENDLY READER WISHETH SALVATION. Forasmuch as that, which above all things I propose to myself, is to declare and defend the truths for the service whereof I have given up and devoted myself, and all that is mine ; therefore there is nothing which for its sake (by the help and assistance of God) I may not attempt. And in this confidence, I did some time ago publish certain propositions of divi- nity, comprehending briefly the chief prin- ciples and doctrines of truth ; which appear- ing not unprofitable to some, and being be- yond my expectation well received by many, though also opposed by some envious ones, did so far prevail, as in some part to remove that false and monstrous opinion which lyin^ fame, and the malice of our adversaries, had implanted in the minds of some, concerning us and our doctrines. In this respect it seemed to me not fit to spare my pains and labour ; and therefore, being actuated by the same Divine Spirit, and the like intention of propagating the truth, by which I published the propositions themselves, I judged it meet to explain them somewhat more largely at this time, and de- fend them by certain arguments. Perhaps my method of writing may seem { not only different, but even contrary, to that which is commonly used by the men called XVI TO THE I'HIENDLY READER. divines^ with which I am not concerned : inas- much as I confess myself to be not only no imitator and admirer of the school-men^ but an opposer and despiser of them as such, by whose labour I judge the Christian religion to be so far from being bettered, that it is rather destroyed. Neither have I sought to accom- modate this my work to itching ears, w^ho desire rather to comprehend in their heads the sublime notions of truth, than to embrace it in their hearts : for what I have written comes more from my heart than from my head ; what 1 have heard with the ears of my soul, and seen with my inward eyes, and my hands have handled of the JVord of Life, and what hath been inwardly manifested to me of jhe things of Cod, that do I declare ; not so much regarding the eloquence and excellency of speech, as desiring to demonstrate the effi- cacy and operation of truth ; and if I err sometimes in the former, it is no great matter ; for I act not here the grammarian, or the orator, but the Christian; and therefore in this I have followed the certain rule of the Divine Light, and of the Holy Scriptures, And to make an end ; what I have written is written not to feed the uisdom and knozc' ledge, or rather vain pride of this uorld, but to starve and oppose it, ws the little preface pre- fixed to the propositions doth show; which, with the title of them, is as followeth. THESES THEOLOGICiE. . TO THE CLERGY, OF WHAT SORT SOEVER, UNTO WHOSE HANDS THESE MAY COME; BUT MORE PARTICULARLY ^0 tl)t 23oclot0, ^rofc^^or^, anlJ <^tuDcnt0 of IDibinitg IN THE UNIVERSITIES AND SCHOOLS OF GREAT BRITAIN, WHETHER PRELATICAL, PRESBYTERIAN, OR ANY OTHER; ROBERT BARCLAY, A SERVANT OF THE LORD GOD, AND ONE OF THOSE WHO IN DERISION ARE CALLED QUAKERS, WI8HETH UNFEIGNED REPENTANCE, UNTO THE ACKNOWLEDGMENT OF THE TRUTH. FRIENDS, Unto you these following propositions are offered ; in which, they being read and con- sidered in the fear of the Lord, you may per- ceive that simple naked truth, which man bj^ his wisdom hath rendered so obscure and mysterious, that the world is even burthened with the great and voluminous tractates which are made about it, and by their vain jangling and commentaries, by which it is rendered a hundred fold more dark and intricate than of itself it is : which great learning (so accounted *k THESES THEOLOGIC^. ward revelations, which we make absolutely neces- sary for the building up of true faith, neither do nor can ever contradict the outward testimony of the scriptures, or right and sound reason. Yet from hence it will not follow, that these divine revelations are to be subjected to the examination, either of the outward testimony of the scriptures, or of the natural reason of man, as to a nwre noble or certain rule or touchstone ; for this divine revelation, and inward illumination, is that which is evident and clear of itself, forcing, by its own evidence and clearness, the well disposed understanding to assent, irresistibly moving the same thereunto ; even as the common principles of natural ti^uths move and incline the mind to a natural assent : as, that the whole is greater than its part ; that two contradictory sayings cannot be both true, nor both false ; which is also manifest, according to our adversaries' principle, who (sup- posing the possibility of inward divine relations) will nevertlieless confess with us, that neither scripture nor sound reason will contradict it : and yet it will not follow, according to them, that the scripture or sound reason should be subjected to the examination of the divine revelations in the heart. THE THIRD PROPOSITION. Concerning the Scriptures. From these revelations of the Spirit of God to the saints, have proceeded the scriptures of truth, which contain: 1. A faithful historical account of the act- ings of God's people in divers ages, with many sin- gular aid remarkable providences attending them. 2. A prophetical account of several things, whereof some are already past, and some yet to come. 3. A full and ample account of all the chief principles of the doctrine of Christ, held forth in divers precious declarations, exhortations, and sentences, which, by THESES THEOLOGIC.E. the moving of God's Spirit, were at several times, and upon sundry occasions, spoken and written unto some churches and their pastors : nevertheless, be- cause they are only a declaration of the fountain, and not the fountain itself, therefore they are not to be esteemed the principal ground of all truth and know- ledge, nor yet the adequate primary rule oi faith and manners. Nevertheless, as that which giveth a true and faithful testimony of the first foundation, they are and may be esteemed a secondary rule, subordinate to the Spirit, from which they have all their excel- lency and certainty ; for as by the inward testimony of the Spirit we do alone truly know them, so they testify, that the Spirit is that guide by which the John xvi. saints are led into all truth : therefore, according to ^^^^ ^ij; the scriptures, the Spirit is the first and principal i4. leader. And seeing we do therefore receive and be- lieve the scriptures, because they proceeded from the Spirit; therefore also the Spirit is more originally and principally the rule, according to that received maxim in the schools. Propter quod unumquodque est tale, illud ipsuni est magis tale. Englished thus : That for which a thing is such, that thing itself is 7nore such. THE FOURTH PROPOSITION. Concernmg the Condition of Man in the Fall. All Adam's posterity (or mankind) both Jews and Rom. ▼. 12, Gentiles, as to the first Adam or earthly man, is fallen, ^^* degenerated, and dead, deprived of the sensation or feeling of this inward testimony or seed of Ood, and is subject unto the power, nature, and seed of the ser- pent, which he sows in men's hearts, while they abide in this natural and corrupted state ; from whence it comes, that not their words and deeds only, but all their imaginations are evil perpetually in the sight of God, as proceeding from this depraved and wicked 6 THESES THEOLOGICiE. seed. Man tlierefore, as he is in this state, can know nothing aright; yea, his thoughts and conceptions concerning God and things spiritual, until he be dis- joined from this evil seed, and united to the divine light, are unprofitable both to himself and others : hence are rejected the Socinian and Pelagian errors, in exalting a natural light; as also of the Papists, and most Protestants, who affirm, That man, without the true grace of God, may he a true minister of the gospel. Nevertheless, this seed is not imputed to Kpii. ii. 1. infants, until by transgression they actually join them- selves therewith ; for they are by nature the children of wrath, who walk according to the power of the prince of the air. THE FIFTH AND SIXTH PROPOSITIONS. Concer7iing the Universal Redemption by Christ, and also the Saving and Spiritual Light, wherewith every Man is enlightened. THE FIFTH PROPOSITION. E7.ek. xviii. GOD, out of his infinite love, who delighteth not in !f^- ,. ^ the death of a sinfier, but that all should live aiul be IMS. XllXa 6. «/ ' John iii. 10- saved, hath so loved the world, that he hath given his mli^ii ^^^y '^^^^ ^ light, that whosoever believeth in him Eph.r.n. should be saved; who enlighteneth eveiy man that Heb. II. u. (^Q^f^iii if^iQ if^^ worid, a72d maketh manifest all things that are reproveable, and teacheth all temperance, ri^htcous7iess, and godliness : and this light enlighten- eth the hearts of all in a day*, in order to salvation, if not resisted : nor is it less universal than the seed 1 Cor. XV. of sin, being the purchase of his death, who tasted ^' death for every man ; for as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive. • Pro tenopore, for a time. THESES THEOLOGIZE. THE SIXTH PROPOSITION, According to which principle (or h3rpothesis) all the objections against the universality of Christ's death are easily solved ; neither is it needful to recur to the = ministry of angels, and those other miraculous means, i which, they say, God makes use of^ to manifest the \ doctrine and history of Christ's passion, unto such \ who (living in those places of the world where the i outward preaching of the gospel is unknown) have i well improved the first and common grace ; for hence ^ it well follows, that as some of the old philosophers ; might have been saved, so also may now some (who i by providence are cast into those remote parts of j the world, where the knowledge of the history is ] wanting) be made partakers of the divine mystery, if they receive and resist not that grace, a manifeS' \Cox.%\x.7. \ tation whereof is given to every man to profit withal. \ This certain doctrine then being received (to wit) i that there is an evangelical and saving light and grace in all, the universality of the love and mercy \ of God towards mankind (both in the death of \ his beloved Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, and in the I manifestation of the light in the heart) is established i and confirmed against all the objections of such as \ deny it. Therefore Christ hath tasted death for every Heb. ii. 9. \ man; not only /or all kinds of men, as some vainly \ talk, but for every one of all kinds ; the benefit of ; whose offering is not only extended to such who have ' the distinct outward knowledge of his death and suf- 1 ferings, as the same is declared in the scriptures, but '; even unto those who are necessarily excluded from the benefit of this knowledge by some inevitable ac- cident; which knowledge we willingly confess to be *i very profitable and comfortable, but not absolutely \ needful unto such, from whom God himself hath \ withheld it ; yet they may be made partakers of the \ y THESES THEOLOGICiE. mystery of his death (though ignorant of the histoiy) if they suffer his seed and light (enlightening their hearts) to take place (in which light, communion with the Father and Son is enjoyed) so as of wicked men to become holy, and lovers of that power, by whose inward and secret touches they feel themselves turned from the evil to the good, and learn to do to others as they looiild be done by ; in which Christ himself affirms all to be included. As they then have falsely and erroneously taught, who have denied Christ to have died for all men ; so neither have they suffi- ciently taught the truth, who affirming him to have died for all, have added the absolute necessity of the outward knowledge thereof, in order to the obtaining its saving effect ; among whom the Remonstrants of Holland have been chiefly wanting, and many other assertors of universal redemption, in that they have not placed the extent of this salvation in that divine and evangelical principle of light and life, wherewith Christ hath enlightened every man that comes into the world, which is excellently and evidently held forth in these scriptures, Gen. vi. 3. Deut. xxx. 14. John, i. 7, 8, 9. Rom. x. 8. Tit. ii. 11. THE SEVENTH PROPOSITION. Concerning Justification. As many as resist not this light, but receive the same, in them is produced a holy, pure, and spiritual birth, bringing forth holiness, righteousnCvSS, purity, and all these other blessed fruits which are acceptable to God ; by which holy birth (to wit, Jesus Christ formed within us, and working his works in us) as we are sanctified, so are we justified in the sight of 1 Cor.Ti.ii. God, according to the Apostle's words, But ye are washed, but ye are sanctified^ but ye arejuMiJied in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God. Therefore it is not by our works wrought in our will, THESES THEOLOGIC^. 9 nor yet by good as works, considered of themselves, but by Christ, who is both the gift and the giver, and the cause producing the effects in us ; who, as he hath reconciled us while we were enemies, doth also in his wisdom save us, and justify us after this man- ner, as saith the same Apostle elsewhere, Accord'mg Tit. iii. 5. to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regene- ration, and the renewitig of the Holy Ghost. THE EIGHTH PROPOSITION. Concerning Perfection. In whom this holy and pure birth is fully brought Rom. vi. 14 ; forth, the body of death and sin comes to be crucified g'.'l's!^' ^^' and removed, and their hearts united and subjected Uohn iii. 6. unto the truth, so as not to obey any suggestion or temptation of the evil one, but to be free from actual sinning, and transgressing of the law of God, and in that respect perfect. Yet doth this perfection still admit of a growth ; and there remaineth a possibility of sinning, where the mind doth not most diligently and watchfully attend unto the Lord. I THE NINTH PROPOSITION. Concerning Perseverance, and the Possibility of Falling /ro?w Grace. Although this gift, and inward grace of God, be sufficient to work out salvation, yet in those in whom it is resisted it both may and doth become their con- demnation. Moreover, in whom it hath wrought in part, to purify and sanctify them, in order to their further perfection, by disobedience such may fall from it, and turn it to wantonness, making shipwreck of faith ; and after having tasted of the heavenly gift, 1 Tim. i. 6. and been made partakers of the Holy Ghost, again "^g* "'' ^' 10 THESES THEOLOGICiE. fall away. Yet such an increase and stability in the truth may in this life be attained, from which there cannot be a total apostacy. THE TENTH PROPOSITION. Concerning the Ministry. As by this gift, or light of God, all true knowledge in things spiritual is received and revealed ; so by the same, as it is manifested and received in the heart, by the strength and power thereof, every true minis- ter of the gospel is ordained, prepared, and supplied in the work of the ministry : and by the leading, moving, and drawing hereof, ought every evangelist and Christian pastor to be led and ordered in his labour and work of the gospel, both as to the place where, as to the persons to whom, and as to the times when he is to minister. Moreover, those who have this authority may and ought to preach tlie gospel, though without human commission or literature ; as on the other hand, those who want the authority of this divine gift, however learned or authorized by the commissions of men and churches, are to be esteemed but as deceivers, and not true minister's of the gospel. Also, who have received this holy and unspotted gift, Mat. X. 8. as they have freely received, so are they freely to give, without hire or bargaining, far less to use it, as a trade to get money by it : yet if God hath called any from their employments, or trades, by which they acquire their livelihood, it may be lawful for such (according to the liberty which they feel given them in the Lord) to receive such temporals (to wit, what may be needful to them for meat and clothing) as are freely given them by those to whom they have communicated spirituals. THESES THEOLOGIC/E. 1 1 THE ELEVENTH PROPOSITION. Concerning Worship. All true and acceptable worship to God is offered in the inward and immediate moving and drawing of his own Spirit, which is neither limited to places, times, or persons ; for though we be to worship him always, in that we are to fear before him, yet as to the out- ward signification thereof in prayers, praises, or preachings, we ought not to do it where and when we will, but where and, when we are moved there- unto by the secret inspirations of his Spirit in our hearts, which God heareth and accepteth of, and is never wanting to move us thereunto, when need is, of which he himself is the alone proper judge. All other worship then, both praises, prayers, and preach- ings, which man sets about in his own will, and at his own appointment, which he can both begin and end at his pleasure, do or leave undone as himself sees meet, whether they be a prescribed form, as a liturgy, or prayers conceived extemporarily by the natural strength and faculty of the mind, they are all E/ek. but superstitions, will-worship, and abominable ido- ^}^^' *• ?®' ' latry m the sight ot God ; which are to be denied, xTiu. 5. \ rejected, and separated from, in this day of his spiri- ^JjJ" j",;jj' tual arising : however it might have pleased him Jude la. | (who winked at the times of ignorance, with respect 23.*' ""'"• '' to the simplicity and integrity of some, and of his own innocent seed, which lay as it were buried in the \ hearts of men, under the mass of superstition) to blow upon the dead and dry bones, and to raise some breath- ings, and answer them, and that until the day should \ more clearly dawn and break forth. \ Xiir. 12 THESES THEOLOGICiE. THE TWELFTH PROPOSITION. Concerning Baptism. £ph.iT. 5. As there is one Lord and one faith, so there is one 1 Pet. Hi. hapfmn ; which is not the putting away of the filth of Rom. vi. 4. the flesh, hut the answer of a good conscience before r*M:"*i9'^* God, by the resurrection of Jesus Christ. And this John ui. 30. baptism IS a pure and spiritual thing, to wit, the oap- tisrn of the spirit and y/re, by which we are buried icor. 117. with him, that being washed and purged from our sins, we may walk in newness of life ; of which the baptism of John was a figure, which was commanded for a time, and not to continue for ever. As to the baptism of infants, it is a mere human tradition, for which neither precept nor practice is to be found in all the scripture. THE THIRTEENTH PROPOSITION. Concerning the Communion, or Participation of the Body and Blood (?/' Christ. 1 Cor. X. 16, The communion of the body and blood of Christ is ^^' inward and spiritual, which is the participation of John vi. 32, his flesh and blood, by which the i?iward 7nan is daily i^Cor. T. 8. nourished in the hearts of those in whom Christ dwells ; of which things the breaking of bread by Christ with his disciples was ?i figure, which they even used in the church for a time, who had received Acti XT. 20. the substance, for the cause of the weak ; even as ab- John XIII. staitiing from things strangled, and from blood ; the Jtmes T. vmshing one another's feet, and the anointing of the ^' sick with oil ; all which are commanded with no less authority and solemnity than the former ; yet seeing they are but the shadows of better things, they cease in such as have obtained the substance. THESES THEOLOGIC^.. 13 THE FOURTEENTH PROPOSITION. Concerning the Power of the Civil Magistrate, in Matters purely Religious, and pertaining to the Conscience. Since God hath assumed to himself the power and dominion of the conscience, who alone can rightly instruct and govern it, therefore it is not lawful forLokeix.55. any whatsoever, by virtue of any authority or princi- ^^^^ .. pality they bear in the government of this world, to 29. ' force the consciences of others ; and therefore all kill- '^'*' "'• ^^* ing, banishing, fining, imprisoning, and other such things, which men are afflicted with, for the alone exercise of their conscience, or difference in worship or opinion, proceedeth from the spirit of Cain, the murderer, and is contrary to the truth; provided always, that no man, under the pretence of consci- ence, prejudice his neighbour in his life or estate ; or do any thing destructive to, or inconsistent with hu- man society ; in which case the law is for the trans- gressor, and justice to be administered upon all, with- out respect of persons. THE FIFTEENTH PROPOSITION. Concerning Salutations, Recreations, &c. Seeing the chief end of all religion is to redeem man Epb. v. 11. from the spirit and vain conversation of this world, \QY^^'y.'lll and to lead into inward communion with God, before Jer. x. 3. whom, if we fear always, we are accounted happy; mt.xv^ii. therefore all the vain customs and habits thereof, both ^o\. \i s. in word and deed, are to be rejected and forsaken by those who come to this fear ; such as the taking off the hat to a man, the boAvings and cringings of the body, and such other salutations of that kind, with all the foolish and superstitious formalities attending 14 THESES THEOLOGICif:. them ; all which man has invented in his degenerate state, to feed his pride in the vain pomp and glory of this world; as also the unprofitable plays, frivolous recreations, sportings, and gamings, which are invented to pass away the precious time, and divert the mind from the witness of God in the heart, and from the living sense of his fear, and from that evangelical Spirit wherewith Christians ought to be leavened, and which leads into sobriety, gravity, and godly fear ; in which, as we abide, the blessing of the Lord is felt to attend us in those actions in which we are neces- sarily engaged, in order to the taking care for the sustenance of the outward man. ^ AN APOLOGY FOR THE TRUE CHRISTIAN DIVINITY. PROPOSITION I. '; CONCERNING THE TRUE FOUNDATION OF KNOWLEDGE. Seeing the height of all happiness is placed in the true know- I ledge of God (This is life eternal, to knoic thee the only tnte JobnxTii.3. | God, and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent), the true and right j understanding of this foundation and ground of knowledge is that which is most necessary to be known and believed in the | first place. He that desireth to acquire any art or science, seek- etli first those means by which that art or science is ' obtained. If we ouo^ht to do so in things natural and earthly, how much more then in spiritual? In this ] affair then should our inquiry be the more diligent, \ because he that errs in the entrance is not so easily ] brought back again into the right way ; he that miss- \ eth his road from the beginning of his journey, and is j deceived in his first marks, at his first setting forth, - J the greater his mistake is, the more difficult will be i his entrance into the right way. ' ] Thus when a man first proposeth to himself the The way to knowledge of God, from a sense of his own unwor- ^'nowi'edge i thiness, and from the great weariness of his mind, of tjod. ; occasioned by the secret checks of his conscience, and I the tender, yet real glances of God's light upon his H heart ; the earnest desires he has to be redeemed from j his present trouble, and the fervent breathings he has j 16 OF THE TRUE FOUNDATION' PROP. I. to be eased of his disordered passions and lusts, and to find quietness and peace in the certain knowledge of God, and in the assurance of his love and good-will towards him, make his heart tender, and ready to receive any impression ; and so (not having then a distinct discerning) through forward- ness embraceth . any thing that brings present ease. If either through the reverence he bears to certain persons, or from the secret inclination to what doth comply with his natural disposition, he fall upon any principles or means, by which he apprehends he may come to know God, and so doth centre himself, it will be hard to remove him thence again, how wrong soever they may be : for the first anguish being over, he becomes more hardy ; and the enemy being near, creates a false peace, and a certain confidence, which is strengthened by the mind's unwillingness to enter again into new doubtfulness, or the former anxiety of a search. This is suflficiently verified in the example of the Jewish Doc- Pharisees and Jewish Doctors, who most of all re- PhLirels sisted Christ, disdaining to be esteemed ignorant; resist for this vain opinion they had of their knowledge ciirist. hindered them from the true knowledge; and the mean people, who were not so much preoccupied with former principles, nor conceited of their own knowledge, did easily believe. Wherefore the Pha- johnvu.48, risees upbraid them, saying, Have any of the Rulers ^^' or Pharisees believed on hurt ? But this people, which kfiow not the law, are accused. This is also abun- dantly proved by the experience of all such, as being secretly touched with the call of God's grace unto them, do apply themselves to false teachei*s, where the remedy proves worse than the disease ; because instead of knowing God or the things relating to their salvation aright, they drink in wrong opinions of him; from which it is harder to be disentangled than while the soul remains a blank, or Tabula rasa. For they that conceit themselves wise, are worse to deal with OF KNOWLEDGE. 17 than they that are sensible of their ignorance. Nor hath it been less the device of the devil, the great enemy of mankind, to persuade men into wrong no- tions of God, than to keep them altogether from ac- knowledging him ; the latter taking with few, because odious ; but the other having been the constant ruin of the world: for there hath scarce been a nation found, but hath had some notions or other of religion; so that not from their denying any Deity, but from their mistakes and misapprehensions of it, hath proceeded all the idolatry and superstition of the world ; yea, hence even atheism itself hath proceeded : for these many and various opinions of God and religion, being so much mixed with the guessings and uncertain judg- ments of men, have begotten in many the opinion, That there is no God at all. This, and much more that might be said, may show how dangerous it is to miss in this first step : All that come not in by the right door, are accounted as thieves a fid robbers. Again, How needful and desirable that knowledge is, which brings life eternal, Epictetus showeth, say- Epici«ti ing excellently well, cap. 38. tOi on to Kvpiwrarov, &c. Know, that the main foundation of piety is this, To have o^Qaq vTro\r\ypHq, right opinions and apprehen- sions of God. This therefore I judged necessary, as a first princi- ple, in the first place, to aflBrm ; and I suppose will not need much farther explanation or defence, as being generally acknowledged by all (and in these things that are without controversy I love to be brief) * as that which will easily commend itself to every man's reason and conscience ; and therefore I shall proceed to the next proposition ; which, though it be nothing less certain, yet by the malice of Satan, and ignorance of many, comes far more under debate. M OF IMMEDfATE PROPOSITION II. OF IMMEDIATE REVELATION. Ittat. xr. 27. Seeing no man knoweth the Father but the Son, and he to whom the Son revealeth him; and seeing the revelation of the So7i is in and by the Spirit; therefore the testimony of the Spirit is that alone by which the true knowledge of God hath been, is, and can be only revealed; who as, by the moving of his own Spirit, he disposed the chaos of this world into that wonderful order in which it was in the beginning, and created man a liv- ing soul, to rule and govern it, so by the revelation of the same Spirit he hath manifested himself all along unto the sons of men, both patriarchs, prophets, and apostles; which revela- tions of God by the Spirit, whether by outward voices and appearances, dreams, or inward objective manifestations in the heart, were of old the formal object of their faith, and remain yet so to be ; since the object of the saint's faith is the same in all ages, though held forth under divers adm inistraiions. Moreover, these divine inward revelations, which we make absolutely necessary for the building up of true faith, neither do nor can ever contradict the outward testimony of the scriptures, or right and sound reason. Yet from hence it will not tallow, that these divine revelations are to be subjected to the test, either of the outward testimony of the scriptures, or of the natural reason of man, as to a more noble or certain rule and touchstone; for this divine revelation, and inward illumina- tion, is that wliich is evident and clear of itself, forcing by its own evidence and clearness, the well disposed understanding to assent, irresistibly moving the same thereunto, even as the common principles of natural truths do move and incline the mind to a natural assent: as, that the whole is greater than its part ; that two contradictories can neither be both true, nor both false. Rereiation §. I. It is vciy probable, that many carnal and natu- ^zlllllt '*^ ^^ Christians will oppose this proposition ; who being Christians, wholly unacquaintcd with tl)e movings and actings of God s Spirit upon their hearts, judge the same nothing necessary ; and some are apt to flout at it as ridicu- lous : yea, to that heighf are the generality of Chris- tians apostatized and degenerated, that though there be not any thing more plainly asserted, more seriously recommended, or more certainly attested, in all the writings of the holy scriptures, yet nothing is less REVELATION. 19 , '^ minded and more rejected by all sorts of Chris- l tians, than immediate and divine revelation ; insomuch i that once to lay claim to it is matter of reproach. \ Whereas of old none were ever judged Christians, [ but such as had the Spirit of Christ, Rom. viii. 9. But now many do boldly call themselves Christians, '\ who make no difficulty of confessing they are without j it, and laugh at such as say they have it. Of old | they were accounted the Sons of God, who %vere led \ hy the Spirit of God, Rom. viii. 14. But now many aver themselves sons of God, who know nothing of this leader ; and he that affirms himself so led is, by the pretended orthodox of this age, presently pro- claimed an heretic. The reason hereof is very mani- fest, viz. Because many in these days, under the name \ of Christidns, do experimentally find, that they are \ not actuated nor led by God's Spirit ; yea, many great doctors, divines, teachers, and bishops of Christianity (commonly so called), have wholly shut their ears \ from hearing, and their eyes from seeing, this inward \ guide, and so are become strangers unto it ; whence ' \ they are, by their own experience, brought to this \ strait, either to confess that they are as yet ignorant of \ God, and have only the shadow oi knoivledge, and not I the true kmowledge of him, or "that this knowledge is i acquired without immediate revelation. ] For the better understanding then of this proposi- Knowledge \ tion, we do distinguish betwixt the certain knowledge nte'r'ai'tiis-' i I of God, and the uncertain ; betwixt the spiritual tinguisUed. , knowledge, and the literal ; the saving heart-know- [ ledge, and the soaring airy head-knowledge. The I last, we confess, may be divers ways obtained ; but \ the first, by no other way than the inward immediate ^ manifestation and revelation of God's Spirit, shining ] in and upon the heart, enlightening and opening the \ understanding. \ §. II. Having then proposed to myself, in these : propositions, to affirm those things which relate to the , ■ true and effectual knowledge which brings life eter- i c2 ■ ■ 1 20 OF IMMEDIATE PROP. If* nal with it, therefore I have truly affirmed, that this knowledge is no otherways attained, and that none have any true ground to believe they have attained it, who have it not by this revelation of God's Spirit. The certainty of whicli truth is such, that it hath been acknowledged by some of the most refined and famous of all sorts of professors of Christianity in all ages; who being truly upright-hearted, and earnest seekers of the Lord (however stated under the disad- vantages and epidemical errors of their several sects or ages), the true seed in them hath been answered by God's love, who hath had regard to the good, and hath had of his elect ones among all ; who finding a dis- taste and disgust in all other outward means, even in the very principles and precepts more particularly relative to their own forms and societies, have at last concluded, with o?ie voice, that there was no. true knowledge of God, but that which is revealed in- wardly by his own Spirit. Whereof take these fol- lowing testimonies of the ancients. Aug. ex 1. "It is the inward master (saith Augustine) that JoTs.^^ teacheth, it is Christ that teacheth, it is inspiration that teacheth : where this inspiration and unction is wanting, it is in vain that words from without are beaten in." And thereafter: " For he that created us, and redeemed us, and called us by faith, and dwell- eth in us by his Spirit, unless he speaketh unto us inwardly, it is needless for us to cry out." Clem. Alex. 2. "There is a difference (saith Clemens Alexan- I. I.Strom, drinus) betwixt that which any one saith of the truth, and that which the truth itself, interpreting itself, saith. A conjecture of truth differeth from the truth itself; a similitude of a thing differeth from the thing itself; it is one thing that is acquired by exercise and discipline, and another thing, which by power and Pa-dag. faith." Lastly, the same Clemens saith, " Truth is neither hard to be arrived at, nor is it impossible to apprehend it ; for it is most nigh unto us, even in our houses, as the most wise Moses hath insinuated." REVELATION. 21 3. '^ How is it (saith Tertullian) that since the devil Tertuiiia- always worketh, and stirreth up the mind to iniquity, ""f^.^j'^vfr- that the work of God should either cease, or desist to ginibas.cap. act ? Since for this end the Lord did send the Com- ^' forter, that because human weakness could not at once bear all things, knowledge might be by little and little directed, formed, and brought to perfection by the Holy Spirit, that vicar of the Lord. / have • 7nanii thhigs yet (saith he) to speak unto you, but ye cannot as yet bear them; but tvhen that Spirit of truth shall come, he shall lead you into all truth, and shall teach you these things thaf are to come. But of this his work we have spoken above. What is then the administration of the Comforter, but that disci- pline be directed, and the scriptures revealed?" &c. 4. "• The law (saith Hierom) is spiritual, and there Hieron.Ep. is need of a revelation to understand it." And in his ^*a"''»-i<>3. Epistle 150, to Hedibia, Quest. 11. he saith, "The whole epistle to the Romans needs an interpretation; it being involved in so great obscurities, that for the understanding thereof we need the help of the Holy Spirit, who through the apostle dictated it." 5. " So great things (saith Athanasius) doth our Athanasius Saviour daily : he draws unto piety, persuades unto Y*^.*b^D"i* virtue, teaches immortality, excites to the desire of heavenly things, reveals the knowledge of the Father, inspires power against deatli, and shows himself unto every one." 6. Gregory the Great, upon these words [i/e shall oieg. Mag. teach you all things'] saith, "That unless the same "°'^-^,^^' Spirit is present in the heart of the hearer, in vain is oospei. the discourse of the doctor; let no man then ascribe unto the man that teacheth, what he understands from the mouth of him that speaketh ; for unless he that teacheth be within, the tongue of the doctor, that is without, laboureth in vain." 7. Cyrillus Alexandrinus plainly affirmeth, "Thatc^yrii. aicx. men know that Jesus is the Lord by the Holy Ghost, y.y^^-^^ll 22 OF IMMEDIATE PROP. II. no otlierwise, than they who taste honey know that it is sweet, even by its proper quality." Bernard, in 8. " Therefore (saith Bernard) we daily exhort PmI. 84. yQ^^ brethren, that ye walk the ways of the heart, and that your souls be always in your hands, that ye may hear what the Lord saith in you." And again, upon these words of the apostle [Let him that gloriethy ghfy in the Lord], " With which threefold vice (saith he) all sorts of religious men are less or more danger- ously affected, because they do not so diligently attend, with the ears of the heart, to what the Spirit of truth, which flatters none, inwardly speaks." This was the very basis, and main foundation upon which the primitive reformers built. Luther, Luther, in his book to the nobility of Germany, ^om. y. p. gaith, " This is certain, that no man can make him- self a teacher of the holy scriptures, but the Holy Spi- rit alone." And upon the Magnificat he saith, " No man can rightly know God, or understand the word of God, unless he immediately receive it from the Holy Spirit ; neither can any one receive it from the Holy Spirit, except he find it by experience in him- self; and in this experience the Holy Ghost teacheth, as in his proper school ; out of which school nothing is taught but mere talk." Phil. Me- Philip Melancthon, in his annotations upon John janctbon. yj^ " Thosc who hear only an outward and bodily voice, hear the creature ; but God is a Spirit, and is neither discerned, nor known, nor heard, but by the 3j the Spi- Spirit ; and therefore to hear the voice of God, to see God'u * ^o is to know and hear tlie Spirit. By the Spirit known. alone God is known and perceived. Which also the more serious to this day do acknowledge, even all such who satisfy themselves not with the superficies of re- ligion, and use it not as a cover or art. Yea, all those who apply themselves effectually to Christianity, and are not satisfied until they have foimd its effectual work upon their hearts, redeeming them from sin, do REVJELATION. 23 ^ feel that no knowledge effectually prevails to the pro- . j ducing of this, but that which proceeds from the warm influence of God's Spirit upon the heart, and from i the comfortable shining of his light upon their under- standing." i And therefore to this purpose a modern author, viz. ] T>'r. Smith of Cambridge, in his Select Discourses, Dr. Smiih saith well : " To seek our divinity merely in books tri^^^'con. 1 and writings, is to seek the living among the dead ; ceruin^ i we do but in vain many times seek God in these, uJ^*"^'''" ? where his truth is too often not so much enshrined as 1 entombed. Intra te qucere Dmm, Seek God within , thine own soul. He is best discerned vosp^ ^Tra(j>ii (aJs - Plotinus phraseth it) by an intellectual touch of him. We must see with mir eyes, and hear with our ears, ' ; and our hands must handle the word of life (to express \ it in St. John's words), icrn koi \pvy^riQ aiOrjGig riq, &C. The soul itself hath its sense, as well as the body. And therefore David when he would teach us to know what the divine goodness is, calls not for speculation, ' but sensation : Taste, a?td see hoiv good the Lord is. ] That is not the best and truest knowledo^e of God i which is wrought out by the labour and sweat of the brain, but that which is kindled within us by a hea- ] venly warmth in our hearts." And again : " There is a knowing of the truth as it is in Jesus, as it is in a \ Christ-like nature; as it is in that sweet, mild, hum- i ble, and loving Spirit of Jesus, which spreads itself, ; like a morning sun, upon the souls of good men, full of light and life. It profits little to know Christ him- ; self after the flesh ; but he gives his Spirit to good \ men that searcheth the deep things of God.'' And j again : " It is but a thin airy knowledge that is got 1 by mere speculation, which is ushered in by syllo- ^ gisms and demonstrations; but that which springs J forth from true goodness, is Oeiore^ov n Traaiig vTToSei^ewg \ (as Origen speaks). It brings such a divine light into the soul, as is more clear and convincing than any de- | monstration." I 24 OF IMMEDIATE PROP. II. Apo«taojr §. III. That this certain and imdoubted method of k'nowild" ^^^ t^^^ knowledge of God hath been brought out of introduced, use, hath been none of the least devices of the devil, to secure mankind to his kingdom. For after the light and glory of the Christian religion had prevailed over a good part of the world, and dispelled the thick mists of the heathenish doctrine of the plurality of gods, he that knew there was no probability of delud- ing the world any longer that way, did then puff man up with a false knowledge of the true God ; setting him on work to seek God the wrong way, and per- suading him to be content with such a knowledge as was of his own acquiring, and not of God's teaching. And this device hath proved the more successful, be- cause accommodated to the natural and corrupt spirit and temper of man, who above all things affects to .exp,lt himself; in which exaltation, as God is greatly dishonoured, so therein the devil hath his end ; who is not anxious how much God is acknowledged in words, provided himself be but always served ; he matters not how great and high speculations the na- tural man entertains of God, so long as he serves his own lusts and passions, and is, obedient to his evil Christianity suggestions and temptations, -^hus Christianity is "n wt!*Tc* become as it were an art, acquired by human science quired by aud iudustry, like any other art or science; and men eloeLdln- ^^^c uot ouly assumcd the name of Christ iafis, but dustry. evcu havc procured themselves to be esteemed as ifias- ters of Christianity, by certain artificial tricks, though altogether strangers to the spirit and life of Jesus. But if we make a right definition of a Christiatt, ac- cording to the scripture, That he is one who hath the Spirit, and is led by it, how many Christians, yea, and of these great masters and doctors of Christianity, so accounted, shall we justly divest of that noble title? If those therefore who have all the other means of knowl(3dge, and are sufficiently learned tlierein, whe- ther it be the letter of the scripture, the traditions of REVELATION. 25 churches, or tlie works of creation and providence, whence they are able to deduce strong and undeni- able arguments (which may be true in themselves) are not yet to be esteemed Christ icms, according to the certain and infallible definition abovementioned ; and if the inward and immediate revelation of God's Spirit in the heart, in such as have been altogether ignorant of some, and but very little skilled in others, of these means of attaining knowledge, hath brought them to salvation ; then it will necessarily and evi- By reveia- dently follow, that inward and immediate revelation JJ.°° '^^^Jj^^ is the only sure and certain way to attain the true and ledge of saving knowledge of God. ^°^' But the first is true : therefore the last. Now as this argument doth very strongly conclude for this way of knowledge, and against such as deny it, so in this respect it is the more to be regarded, as the propositions from which it is deduced are so clear, that our very adversaries cannot deny them. For as to the first, it is acknowledged, that many learned men may be, and have been, damned. And as to the second, who will deny but many illiterate men may be, and are, saved? Nor dare any affirm, that none come to the knowledge of God and salvation by the inward revelation of the Spirit, without these other outward means, unless they be also so bold as to ex- clude Abel, Seth, Noah, Abraham, Job, and all the Abei, Seiii, holy patnarchs from true knowledge and salvation. jJstt'nced.' §. IV.vL would however not be understood, as if hereby I excluded those other means of knowledge from any use or service to man ; it is far from me so to judge, as concerning the scriptures, as in the next proposition will more plainly appear. The question is not, what may be profitable or helpful, but what is absolutely necessary. Many things may contribute to further a work, which yet are not the main thing that makes the work go on. The sum then of what is said amounts to this : That ^ where the true inward knowledge of God is, through r 2G OF IMMEDIATE PROP. II. the revelation of his Spirit, there is all ; neither is there an absolute necessity of any other. But where the best, highest, and most profound knowledge is without this, there is nothing, as to the obtaining the great end of salvation. This truth is very effectually confirmed by the first part of the proposition itself, which in few words comprehendeth divers unques- tionable arguments, which I shall in brief subsume. I. First, That there is no knowledge of the Father but by the Son. J I. Secondly, That there is no knowledge of the Son but by the Spirit. III. Thirdly, That by the Spirit God hath always revealed himself to his children, jv. Fourthly, That these revelations were the formal object of the saints' faith. V. And Lastly, That the same continueth to be the object of the saints' faith to this day. Of each of these I shall speak a little particularly, and then proceed to the latter part. Assert. 1. §. V. As to the first, viz. That there is no know- proved. Yedge of the Father but by the Son, it will easily be proved, being founded upon the plain words of scrip- ture, and is therefore a fit medium from whence to de- duce the rest of our assertions. For the infinite and most wise God, who is the foundation, root, and spring of all operation, hath wrought all things by his eternal Word and Son. 3ohn\,\,2,This is that Word that was in the beginning with ^* God ajid was God, by whom all things were made, and without whom was not any thing made that was made, Eph.iii. 9. This is that Jesus Christ, by whom God created all things, by whom, and for whom, all things were created, that are in heaven and in earthy visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principali- ties, or powers, Col. i. 16. who therefore is called. The first boi^ of every creature. Col. i. 15. As then that infinite and incomprehensible fountain of life and motion operateth in the creatures by his own eternal REVELATION. 27 word and power, so no creature has access again unto him but in and by the Son, according to his own express words, No man hioweth the Father, but the Son, and he to whom the Son will reveal him, Mat. xi. 27. Luke, x. 22. And again, he himself saith, I am the way, the truth, and the life : no man cometh unto the Father but by me, John, xiv. 6. Hence he is fitly called. The 7nediator hetioijct God and man : for having been with God from all eter- nity, being himself God, and also in time partaking of the nature of man, through him is the goodness and love of God conveyed to mankind, and by him again man receiveth and partaketh of these mercies. Hence is easily deduced the proof of this first asser- tion, thus : If no man knoweth the Father but the Son, and he to whom the Son will reveal him, then there is no knowledge of the Father but by the Son. But, no man knoweth the Father but the Son : Therefore, there is no knowledge of the Father but by the Son. The first part of the antecedent are the plain words of scripture : the consequence thereof is undeniable ; except one would say, that he hath the knowledge of the Father, while yet he knows him not ; which were an absurd repugnance. Again, If the Son be the way, the truth, and the life, and that no man cometh unto the Father but by him ; then there is no knowledge of the Father but by the Son. But the first is true : therefore the last. The antecedent are the very scripture words : the consequence is very evident : for how can any know a thing, who useth not the way, without which it is not knowable ? But it is already proved, that there is no other way but by the Son ; so that whoso uses not that way, cannot know him, neither come unto him. §. VI. Having then laid down this first principle. Assert. 2. I come to the second, viz. That there is no knowledge p'^*'****- 28 OF IMMEDIATE PROP. II. of the Son but by the Spirit ; or, That the revelation of the Son of God is by the Spirit. Where it is to be noted, that I always speak of the having, certain, and necessary knowledge of God ; which that it cannot be acquired otherways than by the Spirit, doth also appear from many clear scrip- tures. For Jesus Christ, in and by whom the Father is revealed, doth also reveal himself to his disciples and friends in and by his Spirit. As his manifesta- tion was outward, when he testified and witnessed for the truth in this world, and approved himself faithful throughout, so being now withdrawn, as to the out- ward man, he doth teach and instruct mankind in- wardly by his own Spirit ; He standcth at the door and knocketh, and whoso heareth his voice and openeth, he comes in to such. Rev. iii. 20. Of this revelation of Christ in him Paul speaketh, Gal. i. 16; in which he placeth the excellency of his ministry, and the cer- tainty of his calling. And the promise of Christ to his disciples, Lo, I am with you to the end of the world, confirmeth the same thing ; for this is an in- ward and spiritual presence, as all acknowledge : but what relates hereto will again occur. I shall deduce the proof of this proposition from two manifest places Proof I. of scripture: the first is, 1 Cor. ii. 11, 12. Whatman knowcth the thifigs of a man, save the spirit of man The things which is i?i him? Even so the things of God knotceth ko^wnbr ^'^ ^'^''' ^^^ ^^'^ Spirit of God. Now we have received the Spirit of not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit which is of ^°**' God, that we inight know the things which are freely given us of God. The apostle in the verses before, speaking of the wonderful things which are prepared for the saints, after he hath declared, that the natural man cannot reach them, adds, that they are revealed by the Spirit of God, ver. 9, 10; giving this reason, For the Spirit searcheth all things, eveii the deep things of God. And then he bringeth in the compa- rison, in the verses abovementioned, very apt, and answerable to our purpose and doctrine, that as the REVELATION. 29 things of a man are only knoivn by the spirit of man^ so the things of God are only knoivn by the Spirit of God ; that is, that as nothing below the spirit of man (as the spirit of brutes, or any other creatures) can properly reach unto or comprehend the things of a man, as being of a nobler and higher nature, so neither can the spirit of man, or the natural man, as the apostle in the fourteenth verse subsumes, receive nor discern the things of God, or the things that are spiritual, as being also of a higher nature ; which the apostle himself gives for the reason, saying. Nei- ther can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned. So that the apostle's words, being reduced to an argument, do very well prove the matter under debate, thus : If that which appertaineth properly to man can- not be discerned by any lower or baser principle than the spirit of man; then cannot those things, that properly relate unto God and Christ, be known or discerned by any lower or baser thing than the Spirit of God and Christ. But the first is true : therefore also the second. The whole strength of the argument is contained in the apostle's words before-mentioned ; which there- fore being granted, I shall proceed to deduce a second argument, thus: That which is spiritual can only be known and discerned by the Spirit of God. But the revelation of Jesus Christ, and the true and saving knowledge of him, is spiritual : Therefore the revelation of Jesus Christ, and the true and saving knowledge of him, can only be known and discerned by the Spirit of God. The other scripture is also a saying of the same Proof ir. apostle, 1 Cor. xii. 3. No man can say that Jesus No man can is the Lord, but by the Holy Ghost, This Scripture, LoId,'&c. which is full of truth, and answereth full well to the enlightened understanding of the spiritual and real Christian, may perhaps prove very strange to the 30 OF IMMEDIATE PROP. II. carnal and pretended follower of Christ, by whom perhaps it hath not been so diligently remarked. Here the apostle doth so much require the Holy Spirit in the things that relate to a Christian, that he positively avers, we cannot so much as affirm Jesus to be the Lord without it; which insinuates no less, Spiritaai than that the spiritual truths of the Gospel are as Ues spoken ^^^^ ^^ ^^^ mouths of camal and unspiritual men; by carnal for though iu themsclvcs they be true, yet are they not true as to them, because not known nor uttered forth in and by that principle and spirit that ought to direct the mind and actuate it; in such things they are no better than the counterfeit representations of things in a comedy; neither can it be more truly and properly called a real and true knowledge of God and Christ, than the actions of Alexander the Great and Julias Caesar, &c. if now transacted upon a stage, might be called truly and really their doings, or the persons representing them might be said truly and really to have conquered Asia, overcome Pompey, &c. This knowledge then of Christ, which is not by the revelation of his own Spirit in the heart, is no more properly the knowledge of Christ, than the i.ike the prattling of a parrot, which has been taught a few prattling of -yvords, may be said to be the voice of a man ; for^as a parrot. 1*^11.1 , i 1 that, or some other bird may be taught to sound or utter forth a rational sentence, as it hath learned it by the outward ear, and not from any living principle of reason actuating it; so just such is that knowledge of the things of God, which the natural and camal man hath gathered from the words or writings of spiritual men, which are not true to him, because conceived in the natural spirit, and so brought forth by the wrong organ, and not proceeding from the spiritual principle; no more than the words of a man acquired by art, and brought forth by the mouth of a bird, not proceeding from a rational principle, are true with respect to the bird which utters them. Wherefore from this scripture I shall further add this argument : REVELATION'. 31 If no man can say Jesus is the Lord, but by the Holij Ghost; then no man can know Jesus to be the Lord, but by the Holy Ghost. But the first is true : therefore the second. From this argument there may be another deduced, concluding in the very terms of this assertion : thus, If no man can know Jesus to be the Lord, but by the Holy Ghost, then there can be no certain know- ledge or revelation of him but by the Spirit. But the first is true : tj^refore the second. §. VII. The third thing aflBrmed is, That by the Assert. 3. Spirit God always revealed himself to his children. pro»e<^- For making the truth of this assertion appear, it will be but needful to consider God's manifesting himself towards and in relation to his creatures from the beginning, which resolves itself always herein. The first step of all is ascribed hereunto by Moses, Gen. i. 2. And the Spirit of God vioved upon the face of the waters. I think it will not be denied, that God's converse with man, all along from Adam Timt reve- to Moses, was by the immediate manifestation of his IJe s^nirit'of Spirit: and afterwards, through the whole tract of God. the law, he spake to his children no .otherways; which, as it naturally followeth from the principles above proved, so it cannot be denied by such as acknowledge the Scriptures of truth to have been written by the inspiration of the Holy Ghost : for these writings, from Moses to Malachi, do declare, that during all that time God revealed himself to his cTiildren by his Spirit. But if any will object That, after the dispensation object. of the law, God's method of speaking was altered ; I answer: First, That God spake always imme-ANsw. diately to the Jews, in that he spake always imme- diately to the High Priest from betwixt the Cheru- bims; who, when he entered into the Holy of Holies, Sancinm returning, did relate to the whole people the voice ^'"'^"'""'• and will of God, there immediately revealed. So that this immediate speaking never ceased in any age. 32 OF IMMEDIATE PROP. II. Secondly, from this immediate fellowship were none shut out, who earnestly sought after and waited for it; in that many, besides the High Priest^ who were not so much as of the kindred of Levi, nor of the prophets, did receive it and speak from it ; as it is written. Numb. xi. 25 ; where the Spirit is said to None shot havc vestecl upon the seventy elders; which Spirit tM/[mme- ^^^ rcachcd unto two that were not in the taber- diate fei- uaclc, but iu the camp ; whom, when some would lowsiup. ija.ve forbidden, Moses wotiid not, but rejoiced, wish- ing that all the Lord's people were prophets, and that he would put his Spirit upon them, ver. 29. This is also confirmed, Neh. ix. where the elders of the people, after their return from captivity, when they began to sanctify themselves by fasting and prayer, numbering up the many mercies of God to- wards their fathers, say, verse 20, Thougavest also thy good Spirit to instruct them; and verse 30, Yet many years didst thou forbear, and testify against them by thy Spirit in thy prophets. Many are the sayings of spiritual David to this purpose, as Psalm li. 11, 12, Take not thy holy Spirit from me; uphold me with thy free Spirit. Psalm cxxxix. 7, Whither shall I go from thy Spirit? Hereunto doth the prophet Isaiah ascribe the credit of his testimony, saying, chap, xlviii. 16, And now the Lord God and his Spirit hath sent me. And that God revealed himself to his children under the New Testament, to wit, to the apostles, evangelists, and primitive disciples, is confessed by all. How far now this yet continueth, and is to be expected, comes hereafter to be spoken to. Assert. 4. §. VIII. The fourth thing affiimed is, That these revelations were the object of the saints' faith of old. Proved. This will easily appear by the definition of faith, and considering what its object is; for which we shall not dive into the curious and various notions of the school-men, but stay in the plain and positive words of the apostle Paul, who, Iieb. xi. describes What faith it two ways. Faith (saith he) is the substance of it? IIEVELATIOX. 33 1 things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen : which, as the apostle illustrateth it in the same I chapter by many examples, is no other but a firm 1 and certain belief of the mind, whereby it resteth, \ and in a sense possesseth the substance of some things ] hoped for, through its confidence in the promise of \ God : and thus the soul hath a most firm evidence, I by its faith, of things not yet seen nor come to pass. The object of this faith is the promise, word, or testi- \ mony of God, speaking in the mind. Hence it hath I been generally aflSrmed, that the object of faith is \ Deus loquens, &c. ; that is, God speaking, Sec. which tlc object \ is also manifest from all those examples deduced by ^^^fl^, I the apostle throughout that whole chapter, whose qaens. ' faith was founded neither upon any outward testi- \ mony, nor upon the voice or writing of man, but i upon the revelation of God's will, manifest unto them, l and in them ; as in the example of Noah, ver. 7, i thus, By faith Noah, being warned of God of things \ not seen as yet, moved with fear, prepared an ark to \ the saving of his house ; by the which he condemned . j the world, and became heir of the righteousness which \ is by faith. What was here the object of Noah's Noab's ' \ faith, but God speaking unto him? He had not the^'^'"* \ writings nor prophesyings of any going before, nor \ yet the concurrence of any church or people to •] strengthen him; and yet his faith in the word, by J which he contradicted the whole world, saved him \ and his house. Of which also Abraham is set forth Abraham'* as a singular example, being therefDre called the '^'^''' \ Father of the Faithful, who is said against hope to \ have believed in hope, in that he not only willingly \ forsook his father's country, not knowing whither he went ; in that he believed concerning the coming of .^ Isaac, though contrary to natural probability; but ^ above all, in that he refused not to offer him up, not = doubting but God was able to raise him from the : dead ; of whom it is said, that in Isaac shall thy \ seed be called. And, last of all, in that he rested in J 34 OF IMMEDIATE PROP. H. the promise, that his seed should possess the land wherein he himself was but a pilgrim, and which to them was not to be fulfilled while divers ages after. The object of Abraham's faith in all this was no other but inward and immediate revelation, or God signifying his will unto him inwardly and immedi- ately by his Spirit. But because, in this part of the proposition, we made also mention of external voices, appearances, and dreams in the alternative, I think also fit to speak here- of, what in that respect may be objected ; to wit. Object. That those who found their faith now upon imme- diate and objective revelation, ought to have also outr ward voices or visions, dreams or appearances for it. answ. It is not denied but God made use of the ministry u7^'la- ^^ angels, who, in the appearance of men, spake out- geis speak- wardly to the saints of old, and that he did also appearlnce r^veal somc thiugs to them in dreams and visions; of mep to none of which we will affirm to be ceased, so as to oro?d!°** limit the power and liberty of God in manifesting himself towards his children. But while we are considering the object of faith, we must not stick to that which is but circumstantially and accidentally so, but to that which is universally and substantially so. Next again, we must distinguish betwixt that which in itself is subject to doubt and delusion, and therefore is received for and because of another ; and that which is not subject to any doubt, but is received simply for and because of itself, as being prima Veritas, the very Jirst and origiftal truth. Let us Revelation* then considcr how or how far these outward voices, >od viiHoni. appearances, and dreams were the object of the saints* faith : was it because they were simply voices, ap- pearances, or dreams ? Nay, certainly ; for they were not. ignorant that the devil might form a sound of words, convey it to the outward ear, and deceive the outward senses, by making things to appear that are not. Yea, do we not see by daily experience, that the jugglers and mountebanks can do as much as all REVELATrOxV. 35 that by their legerdemain ? God forbid then that the saints' faith should be founded upon so fallacious a foundation as man's outward and fallible senses. What made them then give credit to these visions ? Certainly nothing else but the secret testimony of God's Spirit in their hearts, assuring them that the voices, dreams, and visions were of and from God. Abraham believed the angels ; but who told him that these men were angels ? We must not think his faith then was built upon his outward senses, but pro- ceeded from the secret persuasion of God's Spirit in his heart. This then must needs be acknowledged to be originally and principally the object of the saints' faith, without which there is no true and certain faith, and by which many times faith is be- gotten and strengthened without any of these outward or visible helps ; as we may observe in many pas- sages of the holy scripture, where it is only men tioned, AjkI God said, &c. . And the tvord of the Lord came unto such and such, saying, &c. But if any one should pertinaciously affirm. That object. this did import an outward audible voice to the car- nal ear ; I would gladly know what other argument such an$v, a one could bring for this his affirmation, saving his own simple conjecture. It is said indeed. The Spirit The SpiHt witnesseth with our spirit ; but not to our outward ^fe*''^i/i? ears, Rom. viii. 16. And seeing the Spirit of God tuai ear, not is within us, and not without us only, it speaks to ^^.^^^ °"^' our spiritual, and not to our bodily ear. Therefore I see no reason, where it is so often said in scripture, The Spirit said, moved, hindered, called such a one to do or forbear such or such a thing, that any have to conclude, that this was not an inward voice to the ear of the soul, rather than an outward voice to the bodily ear. If any be otherwise minded, let them, if they can, produce their arg-uments, and we may fur- ther consider of them. From all therefore which is above declared, I shall d2 36 OF IMMEDIATE PROP. IT. deduce an argument to conclude the proof of this assertion, thus : That which any one firmly believes, as the ground and foundation of his hope in God, and life eternal, is the formal object of his faith. But the inward and immediate revelation of God's Spirit, speaking in and unto the saints, was by them believed as the ground and foundation of their hope in God, and life eternal. Therefore these inward and immediate revelations were the formal object of their faith. Assert. 5 §. IX. That which now cometh under debate is vroy from nature continue, and some strange and unnatural re- •stronoinr yolution intervene not) there will be an eclipse of the trj/ °" sun or moon such a day, and such an hour; yet can he not persuade an ignorant rustick of this, until he visibly see it. So also a muthematician can infallibly know by the rules of ait, that the three angles of a right triangle are equal to two right angles ; yea, can know them more certainly than any man by measure. And some geometrical demomtrations are by all ac- knowledged to be infallible, which can be scarcely discerned or proved by the senses ; yet if a geometer be at the pains to certify some ignorant man concern- ing the certainty of his art, by condescending to mea- sure it, and make it obvious to his senses, it will not thence follow, that that measuring is so certain as the demonstration itself, or that die demonstration would be uncertain without it. §. XVI. But to make an end, I shall add one argu- ment to prove, that this inward, immediate, objective revelation, which we have pleaded for all along, is the only sure, certain, and unmovable foundation of all Christian faith ; which argument when well weighed, I hope will htive weight with all sorts of Christians, and it is this : irameui ite That whlch all professors of Christiamtii, of what •thehnmo". ^^^^ socvcr, arc forced ultimately to recur unto, when able founda- prcsscd to the last ; that for and because of which all Thr\J\u!l other foundations are recommended, and accounted faitb. worthy to be believed, and without which they are granted to be of no weight at all, must needs be tlie only most true, certain, and unmovable foundation of all Christian faith. But inward, immediate, objective revelation by the Spirit, is that which all professors of Christianity/, of what kind soever, are forced ultimately to recur unto, &c. Therefore, &c. The proposition is so evident, that it will not be denied ; the assumption shall be proved by parts. REVELATION. 63 And First, As to the Papists, they place their foun- Papisu dation in the iude^ment of the church and tradition, [^''i^'i'it'on It we press them to say. Why they beheve as the and tradi- church doth? Their answer is, Because the church ?**'''"' '"''^^ always led by the infallible Spirit. So here the leading of the Spirit is the utmost foundation. Again, if we ask them, Why we ought to trust to traditionl They answer. Because these traditions were delivered us by the doctors and fathers of the church ; which doc- tors and fathers^ by the revelation of the Holy Ghost, commanded the church to observe them. Here ao:ain all ends in the revelation of the Spirit. And for the Protestants and Socinians, both which Protestants acknowledge the scriptures to be the foundation and alls make' rule of their faith ; the one as subjectively influenced t^^e scrip- by the Spirit of God to use them, the other as ma- ^rmmd aid naging them with and by their own reason ; ask both, capacity, by the best words, even scripture words, so well understand the mysteries of God's kif/gdom, as the least and weakest child who tasteth them, by hav- ing them revealed inwardly and objectively by the Spirit. Wait then for this in the small revelation of that pure light which first reveals things more known ; and as thou becomest fitted for it, thou shalt receive more and more, and by a living experience easily re- fute their ignorance, who ask, How dost thou know that thou art actuated by the Spirit of God ? Which will appear to thee a question no less ridiculous, than to ask one whose eyes are open, How he knows the sun shines at noonday ? And though this be the surest and certainest way to answer all objections ; yet by what is above written it may appear, that the mouths of all such opposers as deny this doctrine may be shut, . by unquestionable and unanswerable reasons. 65 PROPOSITION III. CONCERNING THE SCRIPTURES. From these revelations of the Spirit of God to the saints have proceeded the Scriptures of Truth, which contain, I. A faithful historical account of the actings of God's people in divers ages; with many singular and remarkable providences attending them. II. A prophetical account of several thingfi, whereof some are already past, and some yet to come. III. A full and ample account of all the chief principles of the doctrine of Christ, held forth in divers precious declarations, exhortations, and sentences ; which, by the moving of God's Spirit, were at several times, and upon sundry occasions, spoken and written unto some churches and their pastors. Nevertheless, because they are only a declaration of the foun- tain, and not the fountain itself, therefore they are not to be esteemed the principal ground of all truth and knowledge, nor yet the adequate primary rule of faith and manners. Yet be- cause they give a true and faithful testimony of the first foun- dation, they are and may be esteemed a secondary rule, subor- dinate to the Spirit, from which they have all their excellency and certainty : for as by the inward testimony of the Spirit we do alone truly know them, so they testify. That the ispirit is John xvi. that guide by which the saints arc led into all truth ; there- 13. fore, according to the scriptures, the Spirit is the first and ]*^°*' *'"• principal leader. Seeing then that we do therefore receive ' and believe the scriptures because they proceeded from the Spirit, for the very same reason is the Spirit more originally and principally the rule, according to the received maxim in the schools. Propter quod unumquodque est tale^ illud ipsum est magis tale: That for which a thing is such, that thing itself is more such. §. I. The former part of this proposition, though it needs no apology for itself, yet it is a good apology for us, and will help to sweep away that, among many other calumnies, wherewith we are often loaded, as if we were vilifiers and deniers of the scriptures ; for in that which we athrm of them, it doth appear at what high rate we value them, accounting them, without xhe hoij all deceit or equivocation, the most excellent writings *Jg'^"f in the world ; to which not only no other writings excellent are to be preferred, but even in divers respects not Ji"*^frid! F C6 OF THE SCRIPTURES. PROP. 111. comparable thereto. For as we freely acknowledge that their authority doth not depend upon the appro- bation or canons of any church or assembly ; so nei- ther can we subject them to the fallen, corrupt, and defiled reason of man : and therein as we do freely agree with the Protestants against the error of the Ro- manists, so on the other hand, we cannot go the length of such Protestants as make their authority to depend ' upon any virtue or power that is in the writings them- selves ; but we desire to ascribe all to that Spirit from which they proceeded. We confess indeed there wants not a majesty in the style, a coherence in the parts, a good scope in the whole ; but seeing these things are not discerned by the natural, but only by the spiritual man, it is the Spirit of God that must give us that belief ofThe scriptures which may satisfy our consciences ; there- fore some of the chief among Protestants, both in their particular writings and public confessions, are forced to acknowledge this. Calvin's tes- Hcncc Calviu, though he saith he is able to prove thTscriJJ** that if there be a God in heaven, these writings have tare ccr- procccded from him, yet he concludes another know- from^ie ledge to be necessary. Instit. lib. i. cap. 7. sect. 4. Spirit. " But if (saith he) we respect the consciences, that they be not daily molested with doubts, and hesitate not at every scruple, it is requisite that this persuasion which we speak of be taken higher than human rea- son, judgment, or conjecture ; to wit, from the secret testimony of the Spirit." And again, " To those who ask, that we prove unto them, by reason^ that Moses ami the prophets were inspired of God to speak, I answer. That the testimony of the Holy Spirit is more excellent than all reajson.'' And again, "Let this remain a firm truth, that he only whom the Holy Spirit hath persuaded, can repose himself on the scriptures with a tnie certainty." And lastly, " This then is a judgment which cannot be begotten but by a heavenly revelation," &c. OF THE SCRIPTURES. 67 The same is also affirmed in the first public con- The confe$- fession of the French churches, published in the year prend/^^ 1559. A?^. 4. " We know these books to be canoni- chorcbes. cal, and the most certain rule of our faith, not so much by the common accord and consent of the church, as by the testimony and inward persuasion of the Holy Spirit." Thus also in the 5th article of the confession of churches of faith, of the churches of Holland, confirmed bv the "°"f°^ *** Synod of Dort. *' We receive these books only for same. holy and canonical, — not so much because the church receives and approves them, as because the Spirit of God doth witness in our hearts that they are of God." And lastly. The divines, so called at Westminster, westmin- who beoran to be afraid of and eruard aofainst the '!^' 7"'"*'"" testimony 01 the Spirit, because they perceived a dis- same, pensation beyond that which they were under bec^in- ning to dawn, and to eclipse them ; yet could they not get by this, though they have laid it down neither so clearly, distinctly, nor honestly as they that went before. It is in these words, chap. i. sect. 5. " Ne- vertheless our full persuasion and assurance of the infallible truth thereof, is from the inward work of the Holy Spirit, bearing witness by and with the word in our hearts." By all which it appeareth how necessary it is to seek the certainty of the scriptures from the Spirit, and nowhere else. The infinite janglings and end- less contests of those that seek their authority else- where, do witness to the truth hereof. For the ancients themselves, even of the first cen- Apocrypha. turies, were not agreed among themselves concerning Conc.Laod. them; while some of them rejected books which we^^'^^^*'" approve, and others of them approved those which ics. some of us reject. It is not unknown to such as are heT/iifX'^ in the least acquainted with antiquity, what great year 3C4, contests are concerning the Second Epistle of Peter, fro^Veca- that of James, the Second and Third of John, and "on EccI. f2 tJ8 OF THE SCRIPTURES. PROP. III. the Wis- the Revelations, which many, even very ancient, deny foTon!^. *® ^^^^ ^^^" vi^ritten by the beloved disciple and bro- diih.Tibia*. ther of James, but by another of that name. What bMsfwhiTh should then become of Christians, if they had not re- the ooancii ccivcd that Spirit, and those spiritual senses, by which *hei9, jg \\^q privilege of Christ's sheep indeed that they hear his voice, and refuse that of a stranger ; which privilege being taken away, we are left a prey to all manner of wolves. ^. II. Though then we do acknowledge the scrip- tures to be very heavenly and divine writings, the use of them to be very comfortable and necessary to the church of Christ, and that we also admire and give praise to the Lord, for his wonderful providence in preserving these writings so pure and uncorrupted as we have them, through so long a night of apostacy, to be a testimony of his truth against the wicked- ness and abominations even of those whom he made instrumental in preserving them, so that they have The scrip- kept them to be a witness against themselves ; yet we ioMhe**^!; "^^y ^^^ ^'^^ them the principal fountain of all truth cipaipround and kuowlcdgc, nor yet the first adequate rule of faith ©f truth. ^^^ manners ; because the principal fountain of truth must be the truth itself; i. e. that whose certainty and authority depends not upon another. When we doubt of the streams of any river or flood, we recur to the fountain itself; and having found it, there we desist, we can go no farther, because there it springs out of the bowels of the earth, which are inscrutable. Even so the writings and sayings of all men we must bring to the word of God, I mean the eternal word, and if they agree hereunto, we stand there. For this word always proceedeth, and doth eternally proceed from God, in and by which the unsearchable wisdom of God, and unsearchable counsel and will conceived in the heart of God, is revealed unto us. That then the scripture is not the principal ground of faith and knowledge, as it appears by what is above spoken, so OF THE SCRIPTURES. 69 ] it is proved in the latter part of the proposition ; which being reduced to an argument, runs thus : ] That whereof the certainty and authority depends upon another, and which is received as truth because of its proceeding from another, is not to be accounted j the principal ground and origin of all truth and know- ledge : But the scriptures' authority and certainty depend i upon the Spirit by which they were dictated ; and the reason why they were received as truth is, because \ they proceeded from the Spirit : * ; Therefore they are not the principal ground of \ truth. J To confirm this argument, I added the school maxim. Propter (jiiod unumquodque est tale, illud ip- ] sum magis est tale. Which maxim, though I confess • it doth not hold universally in all things, yet in this ] it doth and will very well hold, as by applying it, as \ we have above intimated, will appear. The same argument will hold as to the other branch Neither are i of the proposition, That it is not the primary adequate ^^H^^l^^l'^ \ rule of faith and manners ; ihxxs, faith and i That which is not the rule of my faith in believing '"»"°«'^*- the scriptures themselves, is not the primary adequate \ rule of faith and manners : '\ But the scripture is not, nor can it be, the rule of | that faith by which I believe them, &c. \ Therefore, &c. But as to this part, we shall produce divers argu- : ments hereafter. As to what is affirmed, that the That ihe j Spirit, and not the scriptures, is the rule, it is largely f^^c"* " ^''* ^ handled in the former proposition ; the sum whereof I shall subsume in one argument, thus : I If by the Spirit we can only come to the true know- ; ledge of God ; if by the Spirit we are to be led into i all truth, and so be taught of all things ; then the \ Spirit, and not the scriptures, is the foundation and ] ground of all truth and knowledge, and the primary rule of faith and manners : \ 70 OF THE SCRIPTURES. PROP. III. But the first is true, therefore also the last. Next, the veiy nature of the gospel itself declareth that the scriptures cannot be the only and chief rule of Chjistians, else there should be no diiference be- twixt the law and the gospel; as from the nature of the new covenant, by divers scriptures described in the former proposition, is proved. Wherein But besidcs thcsc which are before mentioned, * o» dVf"^ herein doth the law and the gospel ditfer, in that the fer. law, being outwardly written, brings under condemmi- tion, but hath not life in it to save ; whereas the gos- pel, as it declares and makes manifest the evil, so, being an inward powerful thing, it gives power also to obey, and deliver from the evil. Hence it is called EuayyfXiov, which is glad tidings. The law or letter, which is without us, kills ; but the gospel, which is the inward spiritual law, gives life; for it consists not so much in words as in virtue. Wherefore such as come to know it, and be acquainted with it, come to feel greater power over their iniquities than all out- vv^ard laws or rules can give them. Hence the apostle concludes, Rom. vi. 14, Sm shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace. This grace then that is inward, and not an outivard law, is to be the rule of Christians. Here- unto the apostle commends tlie elders of the church, saying. Acts, xx. 32, Aiui now. Brethren^ I comniettd you to God, aiul to the word of his grace, which is able to build you up, and to give you an inheritance anwjig all them which are sanctified. He doth not commend them here to outward laws or writings, but to the wot^d of grace, which is inward ; even the spiritual law, which makes free, as he elsewhere affirms, Rom. viii. 2, The laiv of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus, hath fnade me free from the law of sin and death. This spiritual law is that which the apostle declares he preached and directed people unto, which was not outward, as by Rom. x. 8, is manifest ; where distinguishing it from the law, he saith, The wonl is ture uot tbo rale. OF THE SCRIPTURES. 71 7iigh thee, in thy heart, and in thy mouth ; and this is the word of faith which we preach. From what is above said I argue thus : The principal rule of Christians under the gospel is not an outward letter, nor law outwardly written and delivered, but an inward spiritual law, engraven in the heart, the law of the Spirit of life, the word that is nigh in the heart and in the mouth. But the letter of the scripture is outward, of itself a dead thing, a mere declaration of good things, but not the things themselves : Therefore it is not, nor aan be, the chief or princi- pal rule of Christians. §. III. Thirdly, That which is given to Christians The scrip- for a rule and guide must needs be so full, that it may clearly and distinctly guide and order them in all things and occurrences that may fall out. But in that there are numberless things, with re- gard to their circumstances, which particular Chris-- tians may be concerned in, for which there can be no particular rule had in the scriptures ; Therefore the scriptures cannot be a rule to them. I shall give an instance in two or three particulars to prove this proposition. It is not to be doubted but some men are particularly called to some particu- lar services ; their being not found in which, though the act be no general positive duty, yet in so far as it may be required of them, is a great sin to omit ; for- asmuch as God is zealous of his glory, and every act of disobedience to his will manifested, is enough not only to hinder one greatly from that comfort and in- ward peace which otherwise he might have, but also bringeth condemnation. As for instance, Some are called to the ministry of the word : Paul saith. There teas a necessity upon him to preach the gospel; wo unto me, if I preach not. If it be necessary that there be now ministers of the church, as well as then, then there is the same neces- sity upon some, more than upon others, to occupy 72 OF THE SCRIPTURES. PROP. III. this place ; which necessity, as it may be incumbent upon particular persons, the scripture neither doth nor can declare. Object. If it be said, That the qualijications of a minister are found in the scripture, and by applying these quali- fications to myself I may hum whether I be fit for such a place or not ; ANsvr. I answer, The qualifications of a bishop, or minister, as they are mentioned both in the Epistle to Timothy and Titus, are such as may be found in a private Christian ; yea, which ought in some measure to be in every true Christian : so that this giveth a man no certainty. Every capacity to an office giveth me not a sufficient call to it. Next again. By what rule shall I judge if I be so qualified ?-^ How do 1 know that I am sober, ineek, holy, harmlessl Is it not the testimony of the Spirit in my conscience that must assure me hereof? And sup- pose that I was qualified and called, yet what scrip- ture rule shall inform me. Whether it be my duty to preach in this or that place, in France or England, Holland or Germany ? Whether I shall take up my time in confirming the faithful, reclaiming hereticks, or converting infidels, as also in writing epistles to this or that church I The general rules of the scripture, viz. To be dili- gent in my duty, to do all to the glory of God, and for the good of his church, can give me no light in this thing. Seeing two different things may both have a respect to that way, yet may I commit a great error and offence in doing the one, when I am called to the other. If Paul, when his face was turned by the Lord toward Jerusalem, had gone back to Achaia or Macedonia, he might have supposed he could have done God more acceptable service, in preaching and confirming the churches, than in being shut up in prison in Judea; but would God have been pleased herewith ? Nay, certainly. Obedience is better than sacri/icc ; and it is not our doing that which is good OF THE SCRIPTURES. 73 simply that pleaseth God, but that good which he willeth us to do. Every member hath its particular place in the body, as the apostle showeth, 1 Cor. xii. If then, I being the foot, should offer to exercise the office of the hand ; or being the hand, that of the tongue; my service would be troublesome, and not acceptable ; and instead of helping the body, I should make a schism in it. So that that which is good for That which another to do, may be sinful to me : for as masters *^ g«o*^/«'^ •' , , , . one JO do, will have their servants to obey them, according to maj be sin- their good pleasure, and not only in blindly doing [jj^^^° ''°°" that which may seem to them to tend to their mas- ter's profit, whereby it may chance (the master having business both in the field and in the house) that the servant that knows not his master's will may go to the field, when it is the mind of the master he should stay and do the business of the house, would not this ser- vant then deserve a reproof, for not answering his master's mind ? And what master is so sottish and careless, as, having many servants, to leave them in such disorder as not to assign each his particular station, and not only the general terms of doing that which is profitable ? which would leave them in vari- ous doubts, and no doubt end in confusion. Shall we then dare to ascribe unto Christ, in the ordering of his church and servants, that which in man might justly be accounted disorder and confu- sion? The apostle showeth this distinction well, Rom. xii. 6, 7, 8 ; Having then gifts differing according to Diversities the grace that is given to us ; whether propheci/, let us °^ s'*^^"*- prophesy according to the proportion of faith ;. or minis- try, let us icait on our viinistring ; or he that teacheth, c7i teaching; or he that eahoiieth, on exhortation. Now what scripture rule showeth me that I ought to exhort, rather than prophesy ? or to minister, rather than teach ? Surely none at all. Many more difficul- ties of this kind occur in the life of a Christian. Moreover, that which of all things is most needful of faith and for him to know, to wit, whether he really be in the »*'^*^**'° 74 OF THE SCRIPTURES. PROP. 111. oan the faith, and an heir of salvation, or not, the scripture I^J*re7bee? ^^^ ^^^^ ^^^"^ ^^ Certainty in, neither can it be a rule to him. That this knowledge is exceedingly desira- ble and comfortable all do unanimously acknowledge ; besides that it is especially commanded, 2 Cor. xiii. 6 ; Ed'amine yourselves whethei* ye be in the faith, prove yourselves; hurw ye not your owmelves, how that Jesus Christ is iu you, except ye be reprobates ? And 2 Pet. i. 10, Wherefore the ratha\ brethren, give all diligence to make your calling and election sure. Now I say. What scripture rule can assure me that I have true faith ? That my calling and election is sure I If it be said. By compaiing the scripture marks of tt^e faith with mi tie : I demand, Wherewith shall I make this observa- tion? What shall ascertain me that I am not mis- taken i It cannot be the scripture : that is the matter under debate. If it be said, Aly own heart : How unfit a judge is it in its own case ? And how like to be partial, especially if it be yet unrenewed ? Thehenrtof Doth uot the scripturc say, that // h deceitful above ^^^^^'^^^- all things 1 I find the promises, I find the threaten- ings in the scripture ; but who telleth me that the one belongs to me more than the other? The scripture gives me a mere declaration of these things, but makes no application ; so that the assumption must be of my own making, thus ; us for example : I find this proposition in scripture ; He that believes shall be saved: thence I draw the assumption. But 1, Robert, believe ; Therefore, / shall lye saved. The minor is of my own making, not expressed in the scripture ; and so a human conclusion, not a divine position ; so that my faitli and assurance here is not built upon a scripture proposition, but upon a human principle ; which, unless I be sure of else- OF THE SCRIPTURES. ^ 75 > where, the scripture gives me no certainty in the I matter. \ Again, If I should pursue the argument further, and seek a new 77iedium out of the scripture, the same difficulty would occur : thus, ' ' He that hath the true and certain marks of true i faith, hath true faith : \ But I have those marks : Therefore I have true faith. \ For the assumption is still here of my own making, ] and is not found in the scriptures; and by conse- 1 quence the conclusion can be no better, since it still J fblloweth the weaker proposition. This is indeed so ^ pungent, that the best of Protestants, who plead for this assurance, ascribe it to the inward testimony of Tbe in^vard \ the Spirit; as Calvin, in that large citation, cited in l^es^''^ \ the former proposition. So that, not to seek farther the seal of : into the writings of the primitive Protestants, which prom-ges. "\ are full of such expressions, even the Westminster \ confession of faith affirmeth, chap, xviii. sect. 12. I " This certainty is not a bare conjecture and proba- \ ble persuasion, grounded upon fallible hope, but an \ infallible assurance of faith, founded upon the divine \ truth of the promise of salvation ; the inward evi- I dences of these graces, unto which these promises are \ made ; the testimony of the Spirit of adoption, wit- . : nessing to our spirits that we are the children of God ; which Spirit is the earnest of our inheritance, whereby \ we arc sealed to the day of redemption ^ i Moreover, the scripture itself, wherein we are so | earnestly pressed to seek after this assurance, doth not ! at all affirm itself a rule sufficient to give it, but wholly ascribeth it to the Spirit, as Rom. viii. 16, i The Spirit itself bearetk ivitness ivith our spirit, that I tve are the childi^en of God, 1 John, iv. 13, Hereby \ know we that we dwell in him, and he in as, because he hath given us of his Spirit ; and chap. v. 6, And it is ] the Spirit that bearcth witness, because the Spirit is \ truth, J 76 OK THE SCRIPTURES. PROP. 111. That the §. IV. Lastly, That cannot be the only, principal, Ire CThe ^^^ chief rule which doth not universally reach every chief rule, individual that needeth it to produce the necessary effect; and from the use of which, either by some innocent and shiless defect, or natural yet harmless and blameless imperfection, many who are within the compass of the visible church, and may, without ab- surdity, yea, with great probability, be accounted of the elect, are necessarily excluded, and that either wholly, or at least from the immediate use thereof. But it so falls out frequently concerning the scrip- 1. Deafpeo- tures, in the case of deaf people, children, and idiots d'renl'and ^^^^ ^^^ % ^^ mcaus havc the benefit of the scrip- idiot* in- tures. Shall we then affirm, that they are without any rule to God-ward, or that they are all damned? As such an opinion is in itself very absurd, and incon- sistent both with the justice and mercy of God, so I know no sound reason can be alleo^ed for it. Now if we may suppose any such to be under the new cove- nant dispensation, as I know none will deny but that we may suppose it without any absurdity, we cannot suppose them without some rule and means of know- ledge ; seeing it is expressly affirmed, They shall all be taught of God, John, vi. 45. And they shall all know me from the least to the greatest, Heb. viii. 11. But secondly. Though we were rid of this difficulty, how many illiterate and yet good men are there in the church of God, who cannot read a letter in their own mother tongue? Which imperfection, though it be inconvenient, I cannot tell whether we may safely affirm it to be sinful. These can have no immediate knowledo:e of the rule of their faith : so their faitli must needs depend upon the credit of other men s reading or relating it unto them ; where either the altering, adding, or omitting of a little word may be a foundation in the poor hearer of a very dangerous mistake, whereby he may either continue in some 2. Papists iniquity ignorantly, or believe a lie confidently. As cooceai the f^^ examplc, The Papists in all their catechisms, and OF THE SCRIPTURES. 77 public exercises of examinations towards the people, second com have boldly cut away the second command, because "om 0^* it seems so expressly to strike against their adoration people. and use of images ; whereas many of these people, in whom by this omission this false opinion is fostered, are under a simple impossibility, or at least a very great difficulty, to be outwardly informed of this abuse. But further; suppose all could read the scrip- tures in their own language ; where is there one of a thousand that hath that thorough knowledge of the original languages in which they are written, so as in that respect immediately to receive the benefit of them ? Must not all these here depend upon the ho- 3. The on- nesty and faithfulness of the interpreters ? Which l^XTel""^ how uncertain it is for a man to build his faith upon, preters of the many corrections, amendments, and various essays, lure^^mi which even among Protestants have been used (where- their adui- of the latter have constantly blamed and corrected the ^^'^^""^ '^' former, as guilty of defects and errors) doth suffi- ciently declare. And that even the last translators in the vulgar languages need to be corrected (as I , could prove at large, were it proper in this place) learned men do confess. But last of all, there is no less difficulty occurs even to those skilled in the original languages, who cannot so immediately receive the mind of the authors in these writings, as that their faith doth not at least obliquely depend upon the honesty and credit of the transcribers, since the original copies are granted by all not to be now extant. Of which transcribers Je- Hieron. rom in his time complained, saying, That they wrote ^p'^'- t^- not what theij found, but what they understood. And 247. Epiphanius saith. That in the good and correct copies Epiph. in of Luke it was written, that Christ wept, and that Ire- An^^cho.. II'' 11 1 r^ I I' 1 1 I • iom. oper. 7i(Eus doth Cite it ; but that the Latholics blotted it out, fearing lest heretics should have abused it. Other fathers also declare, That whole verses were taken out of Mark, because of the Manichees. But further, the various readings of the Hebrew The various 78 OF THE SCRIPTURES. PROP. HI. readingH of character by reason of the points, which some plead Ihwicurr ^or, as coeval with the first writings, which others, *«o- with no less probability, allege to be a later invention ; the disagreement of divers citations of Christ and the apostles with those passages in the Old Testament they appeal to ; the great controversy among the fathers, whereof some highly approve the Greek Sep- tuagint, decrying and rendering very doubtful the Hebrew copy, as in many places vitiated, and altered by the Jews ; other some, and particularly Jerom, exalting the certainty of the Hebrew, and rejecting, yea even deriding, the history of the Septuagint, which the primitive church chiefly made use of; and some fathei-s that lived centuries before him, affirmed to be a most certain thing; and the many various readings in divers copies of the Greek, and the great altercations among the fathers of the first three centu- ries, who had greater opportunity to be better in- formed than we can now lay claim to, concerning the books to be admitted or rejected, as is above observed ; I say, all these and much more which might be al- leged, puts the minds even of the learned into infinite doubts, scruples, and inextricable difficulties : whence we may very safely conclude, that Jesus Christ, who promised to be always with his children, to lead tliem into all truth, to guard them against the devices of the enemy, and to establish their faith upon an un- movable rock, left them not to be principally ruled by that which was subject in itself to many uncertain- ties : and therefore he gave them his Spirit, as their principal guide, which neither moth nor time can wear out, nor transcribers nor translators corrupt; which none are so young, none so illiterate, none in so remote a place but they may come to be reached, and rightly informed by it. Through and by the clearness which that Spirit gives us it is that we are only best rid of those diffi- culties that occur to us concerning the scriptures. The real and undoubted experience whereof I myself OF THE SCRIPTURES. 7V have been a witness of, with great admiration of the love of God to his children in these latter days : for I Wrong have known some of my friends, who profess the same o7scHpui"e faith with me, faithful servants of the Most High discerned in God, and full of divine knowledge of his truth, as itb^^theun- was immediately and inwardly revealed to them by learned in the Spirit, from a true and living experience, who ^ not only were ignorant of the Greek and Hebrew, but even some of them could not read their own vul- gar language, who being pressed by their adversaries with some citations out of the English translation, and finding them to disagree with the manifestation of truth in their own hearts, have boldly affirmed the Spirit of God never said so, and that it was certainly wrong ; for they did not believe that any of the holy prophets or apostles had ever written so ; which when I on this account seriously examined, I really found to be errors and corruptions of the translators ; who (as in most translations) do not so much give us the genuine signification of the words, as strain them to express that which comes nearest to that opinion and notion they have of truth. i\nd this seemed to me to suit very well with that saying of Augustine, Epist. 19. ad Hier. tom. ii. fol. 14, after he has said, " That he gives only that honour to those books which are called ca?2onicalj as to believe that the authors thereof did in writing not err," he adds, *' And if I shall meet with any thing in these writings that seemeth repugnant to truth, I shall not doubt to say, that either the volume is faulty or erroneous ; that the expounder hath not reached what was said ; or that I have in no wise understood it." So that he supposes that in the transcription and translation there may be errors. § V. If it be then asked me, Whether I think Objfxt. hereby to render the scriptures altogether uncertain, or useless 1 I answer ; Not at all. The proposition itself de- Answ. dares how much I esteem them ; and provided that to the Spirit from which they came be but granted 80 OF THE SCRIPTITTIES. PROP. III. that place the scriptures themselves give it, I do freely concede to the scriptures the second place, even what- soever they say of themselves; which the apostle Paul chiefly mentions in two places, Rom. xv. 4, Whatsoever things were ivritten aforetime, were writ- ten for our learning, that we through patience and comfort of the scriptures might have hope. 2 Tim. iii. 15, 16, 17, The holy scriptures are able to make wise unto salvation, through faith which is in Jesus Christ. All scripture given bij inspiration of God, is profitable for correction, for instruction in righte- ousness, that the man of God mat/ be perfect, tho- roughlij fur)iished unto everij good work. For though God doth principally and chiefly lead us by his Spirit, yet he sometimes conveys his com- fort and consolation to us through his children, whom he raises up and inspires to speak or write a word in season, whereby the saints are made instruments in the hand of the Lord to strengrthen and encouraore one another, which doth also tend to perfect and make them wise unto salvation ; and such as are led The saints' by the Spirit cannot neglect, but do naturally love, IbrTif thT" ^"^ are wonderfully cherished by that which pro- same Spirit ceedeth from the same Spirit in another; because " *"■ such mutual emanations of the heavenly life tend to quicken the mind, when at any time it is overtaken with heaviness. Peter himself declares this to have been the end of his writing, 2 Pet. i. 12, 13 : Where- fore I will not be negligent to put you always in re- membrance of these things, though ye know them, and be established in the present truth ; yea, I think it meet, as long as 1 am in this tabernacle, to stir you up, by putting you in remembrance. God is teacher of his people himself; and there is nothing more express than that such as are under the new covenant need no man to teach them : yet it was a fruit of Christ's ascension to send teachers and pas- tors for perfecting of the saints. So that the same work is ascribed to the scriptures as to teachers ; the OF THE SCRIPTURES^ 81 one to make the man of God perfect, the other for the perfection of the saints. As then teachers are not to go before the teaching of God himself under the new covenant, but to follow after it ; neither are they to rob us of that great pri- vilege which Christ hath purchased unto us by his blood; so neither is the scripture to go before the teaching of the Spirit, or to rob us of it. Secondly, God hath seen meet that herein we answ. 2. should, as in a lookingglass, see the conditions and The scrip- experiences of the saints of old ; that finding our ex-j"^^!^*^ perience answers to theirs, we might thereby be the glass, more coniirmed and comforted, and our hope of ob- taining the same end strengthened ; that observing the providences attending them, seeing the snares they were liable to, and beholding their deliverances, we may thereby be made wise unto salvation, and sea- sonably reproved and instructed in righteousness. This is the great work of the scriptures, and their The scri|>- service to us, that we may witness them fulfilled in a'J.Tser'lici. us, and so discern the stamp of God's Spirit and ways upon them, by the inward acquaintance we have with the same Spirit and work in our hearts. The prophe- cies of the scriptures are also very comfortable and profitable unto us, as the same Spirit enlightens us to observe them fulfilled, and to be fulfilled ; for in all this it is to be observed, that it is only the spiritual man that can make a right use of them : they are able to make the man of God perfect (so it is not the natural man) and whatsoever was written aforetime, was writ- ten for our comfort, [our'] that are the believers, [our] that are the saints ; concerning such the apostle speaks : for as for the others, the apostle Peter plainly declares, that the unstable and unlearned ivrest them • to their own destruction : these were they that were unlearned in the divine and heavenly learning of the Spirit, not in human and school literature ; in which we may safely presume that Peter himself, being a fisherman, had no skill ; for it may with great proba- 82 PF THE SCRIPTURES. PROP. 111. bility, yea, certainty, be affirmed, that he had no Logic. knowledge of Aristotle's logic, which both Papists • 1076. and Protestants now*, degenerating from the simpli- city of truth, make the handmaid of divinity, as they call it, and a necessary introduction to their carnal, natural, and human ministry. By the infinite ob- scure labours of which kind of men, intermixing their heathenish stuff, the scripture is rendered at this day of so little service to the simple people : whereof if Jerome complained in his time, now twelve hundred years ago, Hierom. Epist. 134, ad Gypr. tom. 3, say- ing. It is want to befall the most part of leai^ned men, that it is harder to understaiid th^ir expositions, than the things tvhich they go about to expound; what may we say then, considering those great heaps of commentaries since, in ages yet far more cor- rupted ? §. VI. In this respect abovementioned then we have shown what service and use the holy scriptures, as managed in and by the Spirit, are of to the church The scrip- of God ; whercforc we do account them a secondaiy tures a se- p^lg Morcovcr, bccausc they are commonly acknow- roie. ledged by all to have been written by the dictates of the Holy Spirit, and that the errors which may be supposed by the injury of times to have slipped in, are not such but that there is a sufficient clear testi- mony left to all the essentials of the Christian faith ; we do look upon them as the only fit outward judoe of controversies among Christians ; -and that whatso- ever Qoctrine is contrary unto their testimony, may therefore justly be rejected as false. And, for our parts, we are very willing that all our doctrines and practices be tried by them ; which we never refused, nor ever shall, in all controversies with our adversa- ries, as the judge and test. We shall also be veiy willing to admit it as a positive certain maxim, That ivhatsoever a?ti/ do, pretending to the Spirit, which is contrary to the scriptures, oe accounted and reckoned a delusion of the devil. For as we never lay claim to OF TH£ SCRIPTURES. 83 the Spirit's leadings, that we may cover ourselves in any thing that is evil ; so we know, that as every evil contradicts the scriptures, so it doth also the Spirit in the first place, from which the scriptures came, and whose motions can never contradict one another, though they may appear sometimes to be contradictory to the blind eye of the natural man, as Paul and James seem to contradict one another. Thus far- we have shown both what we believe, and what we believe hot, concerning the holy scrip- tures, hoping we have given them their due place. But since they that will needs 'have them to be the only, certain, and principal rule, want not some show of arguments, even from the scripture itself (though it no where calls itself so) by which they labour to prove their doctrine ; I shall briefly lay them down by way of objections, and answer them, before I make an end of this matter. §. VII. Their first objection is usually drawn from object, i. Isaiah, viii. 20 : To the law and to the testimony ; if they speak not according to this word, it is because ' there is no light in them. Now this law, testimony, and word, they plead to be the scriptures. To which I answer ; That that is to beg the thing answ. in question, and remains yet unproved. Nor do I know for what reason we may not safely affirm this l^iw and word to be inward : but suppose it was o^t' ward, it proves not the case at all for them, neither makes it against us : for it may be confessed, without any prejudice to our cause, that the outward law was more particularly to the Jews a rule, and more prin- cipally than to us; seeing their law was outward and literal, but ours under the new covenant (as hath been already said) is expressly affirmed to be inward and spiritual; so that this scripture is so far from making against us, that it makes for us. For if the To try aii Jews were directed to try all things by their law, ^^[^^^^ ^^ which was without them, written in tables of stone ; then if we will have this advice of the prophet to G 2 84 OF THE SCRIPTURES. PROP. III. reach us, we must make it hold parallel to that dis- pensation of the gospel which we are under ; so that we are to try all things, in the first place, by that word of fait li which is preached unto us, which the apostle saith is in the heart : and by that law which God hath given us, which the apostle saith also ex- pressly is IV r it ten and placed in the mind. Lastly, If we look to this place according to the Greek interpretation of the Septuagint, our adversa- ries shall have nothing from thence to carp ; yea, it will favour us much ; for there it is said, that the lata is given us for a help ; which very well agrees with what is above asserted. Object. 2. Their sccoud objection is from John, v. 39 : Search the scriptures, &c. Heix, say they, we are commanded, by Christ him- self, to search the scriptures. answ.i. I answer. First, That the scriptures ought to be searched, we do not at all deny ; but are very willing to be tried by them, as hath been above declared : but the question is, Whethei^ they be the only and principul rule! Which this is so far from proving, that it proveth the contrary ; for Christ checks them here for too high an esteem of the scriptures, and neglecting of him that was to be preferred before them, and to whom they bore witness, as the folio w- search the iug words dcclarc ; for in them ye think ye have eter- scriptarei, ^^^ ^j-^^ ^^^^ ^j^^^ ^^.^ ^^^^ which tcstify of mc I ttud ye will not come unto me, that ye might have life. This shows, that while they thought they had eternal life in the scriptures, they neglected to come unto Christ to have life, of which the scriptures bore wit- ness. This answers well to our purpose, since our adversaries now do also exalt the scriptures, and think to have life in them ; which is no more than to look upon them as the only principal rule and way to life, and yet refuse to come unto the Spirit of which they testify, even the inward spiritual law, which could give them life: so that the cause of this people's OF THE SCRIPTUUES. 85 ignorance and unbelief was not their want of respect to the scriptures, which though they knew, and had a high esteem of, yet Christ testifies in the former verses, that they had neither seen the Father, nor heard his voice at any time; neither had his word abiding in them ; which had they then had, then they had beheved in the Son. Moreover, that place may Answ. 2. be taken in the indicative mood, Ye search the scrip- tures ; which interpretation the Greek word will bear, and so Pasor translateth it: which by the reproof following seemeth also to be the more genuine inter- pretation, as Cyrillus long ago hath observed. §. VIII. Their third objection is from these words, object. 3. Acts, xvii. 1 1 : These were more noble than those in Tliessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness of mind, and searched the scriptures daily, whether those things were so. Here, say they, the Bereans are commended for searching the scriptures, and making them the rule. I answer. That the scriptures either are the prin- Answ. 1. cipal or only rule, will not at all follow from this ; neither will their searching the scriptures, or being commended for it, infer any such thing : for we re- commend and approve the use of them in that respect as much as any ; yet will it not follow, that we affirm them to be the principal and only rule. Secondly, It is to be observed that these were the answ. 2. Jews of Berea, to whom these scriptures, which were the law and the prophets, were more particularly a The Bere- rule ; and the thing under examination was, whether f^ * f^r*^ the birth, life, works, and sufferings of Christ did scriptures, answer to the prophecies that went before him ; so ™*t IL o'ni'y that it was most proper for them, beino^ Jews, to exa- ^»'« *° ^''y , 1 > 1 • 1 1 • • doctrines. mme the apostle s doctrme by the scriptures ; seemg he pleaded it to be a fulfilling of them. It is said nevertheless, in the first place. That they received the word with cheerfulness; and, in the second place, They searched the scriptures : not that they searched the scriptures, and then received the word ; for then ktanced. 86 OF THE SCRIPTURES. PROP. III. could they not have prevailed to convert them, had they not first minded the word abiding in thern^ vt^hich opened tlieir understandings ; no more than the Scribes and Pharisees, who (as in the former objection we observed) searched the scriptures, and exalted them, and yet remained in their unbelief, because they had not the word abiding in them. answ.3. But lastly, If this commendation of the Jewish Be- reans might infer that the scriptures were the only and principal rule to try the apostles' doctrine by, what should have become of the Gentiles? How should they ever have come to have received the faith of Christ, who neither knew the scriptures, nor believed them ? We see in the end of the same chap- The Aihe- tcr, how the apostle, preaching to the Athenians, took another method, and directed them to somewhat of God within themselves, that they might feel after him. He did not go about to proselyte them to the Jewish religion, and to the belief of the law and the prophets, and from thence to prove the coming of Christ ; nay, he took a nearer way. Now certainly the principal and only rule is not different; one to the Jews, and another to the Gentiles ; but is univer- sal, reaching both: though secondary and subordi- nate rules and means may be various, and diversely suited, according as the people they are used to are stated and circumstantiated : even so we see that the apostle to the Athenians used a testimony of one of their own poets, which he judged would have credit with them ; and no doubt such testimonies, whose authors they esteemed, had more weight with them than all the sayings of Moses and the profjhets, whom they neither knew nor would have cared for. Now because the apostle used the testimony of a poet to the Athenians, will it therefore follow he made that the principal or only rule to try his ddctrine by ? So neither will it follow, that though he made use of the scriptures to the Jews, as being a principle al- rfeady believed by them, to try his dofctrine, that from OF THE SGltlPTURES. 87 thence the scriptures may be accounted the principal or only rule. §. IX. The last, and that which at first view seems to be the greatest objection, is this : If the scripture be not the adequate, principal, and object. 4. only rule, then it would follow that the scripture is not complete, nor the canon filled ; that if men be now immediately led arid ruled by the Spirit, they may add new scriptures of equal authority with the old; whereas every one that adds is cursed: yea, what assurance have we, but at this rate every one may bring in a new gospel according to his fancy ? The dangerous consequences insinuated in this ob- answ. jection were fully answered in the latter part of the last proposition, in what was said a little before, offering freely to disclaim all pretended revelations contrary to the scriptures. But if it be urged, That it is 7iot enough to deny object, i. these consequences, if they naturally follow from your doctrine of immediate revelation, and denying the scripture to be the only rule ; I answer ; We have proved both these doctrines answ. i. to be true and necessary, according to the scriptures themselves ; and therefore to fasten evil consequences upon them, which we make appear do not follow, is not to accuse us, but Christ and his apostles, who preached them. But, Secondly, We have shut the door upon all answ. 2. such doctrine in this very position ; affirming, That the scriptures give a full and ample testimony to all the principal doctrines of the Christiaii faith. For we do firmly believe that there is no other gospel or doctrine to be preached, but that which was delivered by the apostles ; and do freely subscribe to that say- ing, Let him that preacheth any other gospel, than Gai. i. 8. that which hath been already preached by the apostles, and according to the scriptures, be accursed. ' So we distinguish betwixt a revelation of a wew;Anewre- 88 OF THE SCRIPTURES. PROP. III. YeUtion is gospel, and new doctrines, and a 7iew revelation of golpd"*"' the good old gospel and doctrines; the last we plead for, but the first we utterly deny. For we firmly be- lieve, That 710 other foundation can any man lay, than that which is laid already. But that this revelation is necessary we have already proved ; and this dis- tinction doth sufficiently guard us against the hazard insinuated in the objection. Books ca- As to the scriptures being dijilled canofi, I see no oonicai. necessity of believing it. And if these men, that believe the scriptures to be the only rule, will be consistent with their own doctrine, they must needs be of my judgment ; seeing it is simply impossible to prove the canon by the scriptures. For it cannot be found in any book of the scriptures, that these books, and just these, and no other, are canonical, as all are forced to acknowledge ; how can they then evite this argument ? That which cannot be proved by scripture is no necessary article of faith. But the canon of the scripture ; to wit, that there are so many books precisely, neither more nor less, cannot be proved by scripture : Therefore, it is no necessary article of faith. Object. 2. If they should allege ; That the admitting of any other books to be now written by the same Spirit might infer the admission of fiew doctrines ; I deny that consequence ; for the principal or fun- damental doctrines of the Christian religion are con- tained in the tenth part of the scripture ; but it will not follow thence that the rest are impertinent or use- less. If it should please God to bring to us any of those books, which by the injury of time are lost, Books lost, which are mentioned in the scripture; as, The pro- phecy of Enoch : the Book of Nathan, &c. or, the Third Epistle of Paul to the Corinthians ; I see no reason why we ought not to receive them, and place them with the rest. That which displeaseth me is, OF THE SCRIPTURES. 89 that men should first affirm that the scripture is the only and principal rule, and yet make a great article of faith of that which the scripture can give us no light in. As for instance : How shall a Protestant prove by scripture, to such as deny the Epistle of James to be authentic, that it ought to be received? First, If he would say, Because it contradicts not the rest (besides that there is no mention of it in any of the rest), perhaps these men think it doth contra- dict Paul in relation to faith and works. But, if that should be granted, it would as well follow, that every writer that contradicts not the scripture, should be put into the canon ; and by this means these men fall into a greater absurdity than they fix upon us : for thus they would equal every one the writings of their own sect with the scriptures; for I suppose they judge their own confession of faith doth not contra- dict the scriptures : Will it therefore follow that' it should be bound up with the Bible? And yet it seems impossible, according to their principles, to bring any better argument to prove the Epistle of James to be Whether authentic. There is then this unavoidable necessity o^J^jf^e^s be to say. We know it by the same Spirit from which it authentic, was written ; or otherwise to step back to Rome, and tnow"it! say, We know by tradition that the church hath de- clared it to be canonical ; and the church is infallible. Let them find a mean, if they can. So that out of this objection we shall draw an unanswerable argu- ment ad hominein, to our purpose. That which cannot assure me concerning an article of faith necessary to be believed, is not the primary, adequate, only rule of faith, &c. Therefore, &c. I prove the assumptioh thus : That which cannot assure me concerning the canon of the scripture, to wit, that such books are only to be admitted, and the Apocrypha excluded, cannot assure me of this. 90 OF THE SCUIPTURES. PROP. Ill Object. 3. A NSW. What it meaiiR to add to the scriptoris. Therefore, 8cc, And Lastly, As to these words, Rev. xxii. 18 : That if any man shall add unto these things, God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book ; I desire they will show me how it relates to any thing else than to that particular prophecy. It saith not, Nmv the canon of the scripture is filled up, no man is to write more from the Spirit ; yea, do not all confess that there have been prophecies and true prophets since ? The Papists deny it not. And do not the Protestants affirm, that John Hus prophe- sied of the reformation ? Was he therefore cursed ? Or did he therein evil? I could give many other examples, confessed by, themselves. But, moreover, the same was in effect commanded long "before, Prov. XXX. 6 : Add thou not unto his words, lest he reprove thee, and thou be found a liar : Yet how many books of the prophets were written after? And the same was said by Moses, Deut. iv. 2 : Ye shall ?iot add unto the word which I command you; neither shall ye diminish aught from ^t. So that, though we should extend that of the ixvelation beyond the particular prophecy of that book, it cannot be understood but of a new gospel, or new doctrines, or of restraining man« spirit, that he mix not his human words with the divineV 2^ not of a new revelation of the old, as we have said loefore. 91 PROPOSITION IV. CONCERNING THE CONDITION OF MAN IN THE FALL. All Adam's posterity, or mankind, both Jews and Gentiles, as to the first Adam, or earthly man, is fallen, degenerated, and dead ; deprived of the sensation or feeling of this inward tes- timony or seed of God ; and is subject unto the power, nature, Rom. ?. 12, and seed of the serpent, which he soweth in men's hearts, 15. while they abide in this natural and corrupted estate; from whence it comes, that not only their words and deeds, but all their imaginations are evil perpetually in the sight of God, as proceeding from this depraved and wicked seed. Man therefore, as he is in this state, can know nothing aright; yea, his thoughts and conceptions concerning God and things spiritual, until he be disjoined from this evil seed, and united to the Divine Light, are unprofitable both to himself and others. Hence are rejected the Socinian and Pelagian errors, in exalting a natural light; as also of the Papists, and most Protestants, who affirm. That man ivithout the true grace of God, may be a true minister of the gospel. Nevertheless, this seed is not imputed to infants, until by transgression they actually join themselves therewith; for they are by nature the children of wrath, who walk according to the power of the Eph. ii. I. prince of^the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience y having their conversation in the lusts of the nesh, fulfilling the desires of the ^esh, and of the mind. §. I. Hitherto we have discoursed how the true knowledge of God is attained and preserved ; also of what use and service the holy scripture is to the saints. We come now to examine the state and condition of man as he stands i?i the fall; what his capacity and power is ; and how far he is able^ as of himself, to advance in relation to the things of God. Of this we touched a, little in the beginning of the second proposition; but the full, right, and thorough understanding of it is of great use and service ; because from the ignorance and altercations that have been about it, there have arisen great and dangerous errors, both on the one hand and on the other. While some do so far exalt the lio^ht of 92 OF MAN IN THE FALL. PROP. IV. nature, or the faculty of the natural man, as capable of himself, by virtue of the inward will, faculty, light, and power that pertains to his nature, to follow that which is good and make real progress towards hea- ven : and of these are the Pelagians, and Semi-Pela- gians of old ; and of late the Socinians, and divers others among the Papists. Others again will needs AagasUne's ruu into another extreme (to whom Augustine, among PeuYuT*^' the ancients, first made way iii his declining age, through the heat of his zeal against Pelagius), not only confessing man uncapable of himself to do good, and prone to evil; but that in his very mother's womb, and before he commits any actual transgres- sion, he is contaminate with a real guilt, whereby he deserves eternal death : in which respect they are not afraid to afl[irm. That many poor infants are eternally damned, and for ever endure the tormmts of hell. Therefore the God of truth, having now again re- vealed his truth (that good and even way) by his own Spirit, hath taught us to avoid both these extremes. That then which our proposition leads to treat of is, I. First, What the condition of man is in the fall; and how far incapable to meddle in the things of God, II. And Secondly, That God doth not impute this evil to infants, until they actually join with it : that so, by establishing the truth, we may overturn the errors on both parts. III. And as for that third thing included in the propo- sition itself concerning these teachers which want the grace of God, we shall refer that to the tenth propo- sition, where the matter is more particularly handled. Part I. §. II. As to the first, not to dive into the many cu- rious notions which many have concerning the condi- Adam'i fall, ^/o^^ of Adam before the fall, all agree in this, That thereby he came to a very great loss, not only in the things which related to the outward man, but in re- gard of that true fellowship and communion he had with God. This loss was signified unto him in the i OF MAN IN THE FALL. 93 \ command, For in the day thou eatest thereof, thou shalt surely die, Gen. ii. 17. This death could not be an outward death, or the dissolution of the out- ward man ; for as to that, he did not die yet many hundred years after ; so that it must needs respect his spiritual life and communion with God. The conse- quence of this fall, besides that which relates to the fruits of the earth, is also expressed. Gen. iii. 24 : So he drove out the yuan, and he 'placed at the east of the garden of FAen cheruhims, and a flaming sword, which turned every way, to keep the way of the tree of life. Now whatsoever literal signification this may have, we may safely ascribe to this paradise a mystical sig- nification, and truly account it thaj spiritual commu- nion and fellowship, which the saints obtain with God by Jesus Christ ; to whom only these cherubims give way, /md unto as many as enter by him, who calls himself the Door. So that though we do not Gaiit not ascribe any whit of Adam's ffuilt to men, until thev *^«"'*f<**<» make it then*s by the like acts oi disobedience; yet we leritj. cannot suppose that men, who are come of Adam na- turally, can have any good thing in their nature, as belonging to it; which he, from whom they derive their nature, had not himself to communicate unto them. If then we may aflSrm, that Adam did not retain in his nature (as belonging thereunto) any will or light capable to give him knowledge in spiritual things, then neither can his posterity : for whatsoever real good any man doth, it proceedeth not from his nature, as he is man, or the son of Adam ; but from the seed of God in him, as a new visitation of life, in order to bring him out of this natural condition : so that, though it be in him, yet it is not of him ; and this the Lord himself witnessed. Gen. vi. 5, where it is said, he saw that every imaginatioji of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually : which words, as they are very positive, so are they very comprehensive. Observe the emphasis of them ; First, There is every Everj ima- 94 OF MAN IN THE FALL. PROP. IV. giwiUonof imagination of the thoughts of his Iieart ; so that tlii3 tbe oaiurtti a^j^^jts of 110 exccption of any iipagiuation of the thoughts of his heart. Secondly, h onlij evil conti- nually ; it i^ neither in some part evil continually^ nor yet only evil ai sonietirnes ; but both only evil, and always and continually evil ; which certainly excludes any good, as a proper effect of mans heart, naturally : for that which is only evil, and that always, cannot of its own nature produce any good thing. The Lord expressed this again a little after, chap. viii. 2 1 : The imagination of mans heart is evil from his youth: thus inferring how natural and proper it is unto him ; from which I thus argue : If the thoughts of man s heart be not only evil, but always evil ; then are they, as they simply proceed from his heart, neither good in part, nor at any time. , But the first is true ; therefore the last. Again, If man's thoughts be always and only evil, then are they altogether useless and ineffectual to him in the things of God. But the first is true ; therefore the last. The heart of Sccoudly, This appears clearly from that saying fir ^^""^'^ ^^ ^^^ prophet Jeremiah, chap. xvii. 9 : The heart is deceitful above all thmgs, and desperately wicked. For who can with any colour of reason imagine, that that which is so hath any power of itself, or is in anywise fit to lead a man to righteousness, whereunto it is of its own nature directly opposite ? This is as contrary to reason, as it is impossible in nature that a stone, of its own nature and proper motion, should fly up- wards : for as a stone of its own nature inclineth and is prone to move downwards towards the centre, so the heart of man is naturally prone and inclined to evil, some to one, and some to another. From this then I also thus argue : That which is deceitful above all things, and despe- rately wicked, is not fit, neither can it lead a man aright in things that are good and honest. estate in the fall. OF MAN IN THE FALL. 95 \ But the heart of man is such : Therefore, &c. ] But the apostle Paul describeth the condition of Rom. in. lo. i men in the fall at large, taking it out of the Psalmist, ^'[jj^l'^f ' ^ There is none righteous, no not one : there is 7ione that &c. under standeth, there is none that seeketh after God. ] They are all gone out of the way, they are altogether \ become unprofitable ; there is none that doeth good, no not one. Their throat is an open sepulchre, with their Mans tongues they have used deceit, the poison of asps is under their lips : whose mouths are full of cursing and bitterness. Their feet are swift to shed blood; de- struction and misery are in their ways : and the way of peace have they not kiiown. There is no fear of God before their eyes. What more positive can be spoken? He seemeth to be particularly careful to avoid that any good should be ascribed to the natural man ; he shows how he is polluted in all his ways ; he shows how he is void of righteousness, of under- standing, of the knowledge of God ; how he is out of the way, and in short unprofitable ; than which nothing can be more fully said to confirm our judg- ment : for if this be the condition of the natural man, or of man as he stands in the fall, he is unfit to make one right step to heaven. If it be said. That is not spoken of the condition o/* object. man in general; but only of some particulars, or at the least that it comprehends not all; The text showeth the clear contrary in the fore- answ. going verses, where the apostle takes in himself, as he stood in his natural condition. What then? Are we better than they ? No, in no wise ; for ice have be- fore proved both Jews and Gentiles, that they are. all under sin, as it is written : and so he goes on ; by which it is manifest that he speaks of mankind in general. If they object that which the same apostle saith in object. the foregoing chapter, ver. 14, to wit, That the Gen- tiles do by natwx the things contained iii the law, and 96 OF MAN IN THE FALL. PROP. IV. SO consequently do by nature that which is good and acceptable in the sight of God ; Axsw. 1. I answer ; This nature must not, neither can be understood of mans own nature^ which is corrupt and fallen ; but of the spiritual nature, which proceedeth from the seed of God in mail, as it receiveth a new visitation of God's love, and is quickened by it : which clearly appears by the following words, where By whtt na- lic saith, Thcsc not having a law (i. e.) outwardly, are Gentibsdid ^ ^^^ ^^^'^^ themselves ; which shows the work of the do the law luritten in their hearts. These acts of theirs then ^jings t e ^j.^ ^^ effect of the law written in their hearts ; but the scripture declareth, that the writing of the law in the heart is a part, yea, and a great part too, of the new covenant dispensation, and so no consequence nor part of man's nature. answ. 2. Secondly, If this nature here spoken of could be understood of man's own nature, which he hath as he is a man, then would the apostle unavoidably contra- dict himself; since he elsewhere positively declares, The natural that thc nuturul man discerneth not the things of God, TerDelh not ^^^^ ^^^- ^^^ ^ hope the law of God is among the &c. things of God, especially as it is written in the heart. The apostle, in the seventh chapter of the same epis- tle, saith, verse 12, that the law is holy, just, and good; and verse 14, the law is spiritual, but he is carnaL Now in what respect is he carnal, but as he stands in the fall unregenerate ? Now what inconsistency would here be, to say, That he is carnal, and yet not so of his own nature, seeing it is from his nature that he is so denominated ? We see the apostle contradistin- guisheth the law as spiritual, from man's nature as Mai.Tii.i6. camal and sinful. Wherefore, as Christ saith, There can no grapes be expected from thorns, nor figs of thistles ; so neither can the fulfilling of the law, which is spiritual, holy, and just, be expected from that nature which is corrupt, fallen, and unregenerate. Whence we conclude, with good reason, that the The Gen- nature here spoken of, by which the Gentiles are OF MAN IN THE FALL. 97 said to have done the things contained in the law, is tiies spiri- not the common nature of men ; but that spiritual na- ^"*f '?*'"!"k. . •/ ' 1 in doing tne ture that anseth from the works of the righteous and law. spiritual law that is written in the heart. I confess they of the other extreme, when they are pressed with this testimony by the Socinians and Pelagians, as well as by us when we use this scripture to show them how some of the heathens, by the light of Christ in their heart, came to be saved, are very far to seek ; giving this answer, That there were some reliques of the heavenly image left in Adam, bu which the hea- thens could do some good things. Which, as it is in itself without proof, so it contradicts their own asser- tions elsewhere, and gives away their cause. For if these relics were of force to enable them to fulfil the righteous law of God, it takes away the necessity of Christ's coming ; or at least leaves them a way to be saved without him ; unless they will say (which is worst of all) That though they really fulfilled the righteous law of God, yet God damned them, because of the want of that particular knmvledge, while he him- self withheld all. meajis of their coming to him from them; but of this hereafter. §. III. I might also here use another argument from those words of the apostle, 1 Cor. ii. where he so positively excludes the natural man from an un- derstanding in the things of God ; but because I have spoken of that scripture in the beginning of the second proposition, I will here avoid to repeat what is there mentioned, referring thereunto : yet because the Soci- socinian* nians and others, who exalt the liorht of the natural ,"f'/'7/i''® ITT- 1 ^1 • . 1 • •>g'»t of tl»e man, or a natural light in man, do object agamst this naturaiman. scripture, I shall remove it before I proceed*. •Anteqaam They say. The Greek word xpvy^iKog pught to beo^f^T.^'' translated animal, and not natural ; else (say they) it would have been (jtvmKo^. From which they seek to infer, that it is only the animal man, and not the ra- tional, that is excluded here from discerning the things of God. Which shift, without disputing about the H 98 OP MAM IN THE FALL. PROP. IV. word, is easily refuted ; neither is it anywise consist- ent with the scope of the place. For, AM8W. I. First. The animal life is no other than that which iMtfiu' ^^^ \\^^\^ in common with other living creatures ; for name wUb as he is a mere man, he differs no otherwise from natural. bcasts than by thc /'tf ^/Ww/ /?ro/?er(^. Now the apos- tle deduceth his argument in the foregoing verses from this simile; That as the things of a man cannot he knmvn hut hy the spirit of a man, so the things of , God no man knoweth hut by the Spirit of God. But I hope these men will confess unto me, that the things of a man are not known by the animal spirit only, i. e. by that which he hath in common with the beasts, but by the rational; so that it must be the rational that is here understood. Again, the assumption shows clearly that the apostle had no such intent as these men's gloss would make him have, viz. .So the things of God knoweth no man, but the Spirit of God, Ac- cording to their judgment he should have said, 77/e things of God knoweth no man by his animal spirit, hut by his rational spirit: for to say, the Spirit of God, here spoken of, is no other than the rational spirit of man, would l^order upon blasphemy, since they are so often contradistinguished. Again, going on, he saith npt that they are rationally, but spif^i- tually discerned. answ.2. Secondly, The apostle throughout this chapter shows how the wisdom of man is unfit to judge of the things of God, and ignorant of them. Now I ask these men, whether a man be called a wise man from Tiieraiionai \^\^ animal propcjiu, or from his rational? If from his man 111 the ^. , ,' '. r . , • , i i i nataraistate vatimml, then it IS uot Only the animal, but also the f"m div ^^^'^^^A as he is yet in the natural state, which the cerninntiKj apostlc cxcludcs hcrc, and whom he contradistin- God!' "^ guisheth from the spiritual, verse 1 5, But the sjnritual manjudgeth all things. This cannot be said of any man merely because rational, or as he is a man, seeing the men of the greatest reason, if we may so esteefm men whom the scripture calls wise, as were the Greeks OF MAN IN THE FALL. 99 of old, not only may be, but often are, enemies to the kingdom of God ; while both the preaching of Christ is said to he foolishiess with the wise men of the world, and the wisdom of the world is said to be foolishness with God, Now whether it be any ways probable that either these wise men that are said to account the gospel foolishness, are only so called with respect to their animal property, and not their rational; or that the wisdom that is foolishness with God is not meant of the rational, but only the animal property, any ra- tional man, laying aside interest, may easily judge. §. IV. I come now to the other part, to wit. That infanu. no this evil and corrupted seed is 7iot imputed to infants, Jo^tbTm?'*** until they actually join with it. For this there is a reason given in the end of the proposition itself, drawn from Eph. ii. For these are by nature chil- dren of wrath, who walk according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience. Here the apostle gives their evil walking, and not any thing that is not reduced to act, as a reason of their being children of wrath. And this is suitable to the whole strain of the gospel, where no man is ever threatened or judged for what iniquity he hath not actually wrought : such indeed as continue in iniquity, and so do allow the sins of their fathers, God will visit the iniquity of the fathers upon the children. Is it not strange then that men should entertain an opinion so absurd in itself, and so cruel and contrary to the nature as well of God's mercy as justice, con- cerning which the scri{)ture is altogether silent ? But it is manifest that man hath invented this opinion out of self-love, and from that bitter root from which all errors spring ; for the most part of Protestants that The abso- hold this, having, as they fancy, the absolute decree o/|,7eiect7o!r election to secure them and their children, so as they springsfrom cannot miss of salvation, they make no difficulty to *® ' °^^* send all others, both old and young, to hell. For whereas self-love, which is always apt to believe that h2 . 100 OF MAN IN THE FALL. PROP. IV. which it desires, possesseth them with a hope that their part is secure, they are not solicitous how they leave their neighbours, which are the far greater part of mankind, in these inextricable difficulties. The Pa- pists again use this opinion as an art to augment the esteem of their church, and reverence of its sacra- ments, seeing they pretend it is washed away by bap- tism ; only in this they appear to be a little more mer- ciful, in that they send not these unbaptized infants to hell, but to a certain lh?ibus, concerning which the scriptures are as silent as of the other. This then is not only not authorized in the scriptures, but contrary to the express tenor of them. The apostle saith plainly, Rom. iv. 15 : Where no law is, there is no transgres- sion. And again, chap. v. 13, But sin is not iniputed, where there is no law. Than which testimonies there To infants is uothiug uiorc positivc ; since to infants there is Uw,*so n^ ^^ '^w» seeing as such they are utterly incapable of traosgren- it ; thc law cauuot rcach any but such as have in some measure less or more the exercise of their understand- ing, which infants have not. So that from thence I thus argue : Sin is imputed to none, where there is no law. But to infants there is no law : Therefore sin is not imputed to them. The proposition is the apostle's own words; the assumption is thus proved : Those who are under a physical impossibility of either hearing, knowing, or understanding any law, where the impossibility is not brought upon them by any act of their own, but is according to the very order of nature appointed by God ; to such there is no law. But infants are under this physical impossibility : Therefore, &c. Secondly, What can be more positive than that of Ezek. xviii. 20: The soul that sinneth, it shall die: the son shall not bear the fathers iniquitif ? For the prophet here first showeth what is tlie cause of man s eternal death, which he saith is his sinning; and JIIOO OF .MAX IN THE X^ IV. : ] ' V '' ' '^jfe i .♦>''. I l then, as if he purposed expressly to shut out such an ^ opinion, he assures us, 7'he son shall not bear the fa- J t heir's inlquitij. From which I thus argue : \ If the son bear not the iniquity of his father, or of infants bear his immediate parents, far less shall he bear the ini- T' V^t!" * I iransgres- quity 01 Adam. sion. ; But the son shall not bear the iniquity of his father : \ Therefore, &c. \ §. V. Having thus far shown how absurd this opi- \ nion is, I shall briefly examine the reasons its authors \ bring for it. ; First, They say, Adam was a public person^ and object, i. \ therefore all nien sinned in him, as being in his loijis. I And for this they allege that of Rom. v. 12, Whet^e- fore as by one man sin entered into the world, and ' J death by sin ; and so death passed upon all men, for \ that all have sinned, &c. These last words, say they, J mai/ be translated, In whom all have sinned. \ To this I answer : That Adam is a public person assw. \ is not denied ; and that through him there is a seed \ of sin propagated to all men, which in its own nature 1 is sinful, and inclines men to iniquity ; yet it will not \ follow from thence, that infants, who join not with this seed, are guilty. As for these words in the Ro- ] mans, the reason of the guilt there alleged is. For that all have sinned. Now no man is said to sin, *\ unless he actually sin in his own person ; for the \ Greek words £(/>' m may very well relate to Qavaroq, 4 which is the nearest antecedent ; so that they hold ^ forth, how that Adam, by his sin, gave an entrance to J sin in the world : and so death entered by sin, k<^' w, i. e. upon which [viz. occasion] or, in which [viz. | death] all others have sinned; that is, actually in • their own persons ; to wit, all that were capable of sinning : of which number that infants could not \ be, the apostle clearly shows by the following verse, '\ Sin is not imputed, where there is no law : and since, - j as is above proved, there is no law to infants, they cannot be here included. I 102 or mXn IX THE FALL. PROP. IV. Object. 2. Their second objection is from Psalm li. 5, Behold I was shapen in iniquity, mid in sin did mij mother conceive me. Hence , they say, it appears that infants from their conception are guilty. AN8W. How they infer this consequence, for my part, I see not. The iniquity and sin here appears to be far more ascribable to the parents than to th6 child. It Conceived is Said iudccd. In sin did my mother conceive me; Iwered." "^^ ^^l^ motlicr did conceive me a sintter. Besides tliat, so interpreted, contradicts expressly the scrip- ture before mentioned, in making children guilty of the sins of their immediate parents (for of Adam there is not here any mention), contrary to the plain words, the son shall not bear the father s iniquity. Object, s. Thirdly, They object. That the wages of sin is death ; and that seeing children are subject to disease and death, therefore they must be guilty of sin. answ. I answer. That these things are a consequence of wajlsoftii. ^^6 fall, and of Adam's sin, is confessed; but that •nswered. that iufcrs uecessarily a guilt in all others that arc subject to them is denied. For though the whole out- ward creation suffered a decay by Adam's fall, which groans under vanity ; according to which it is said in Job, that the heavetis are not clean in the sight of God; yet will it not from thence follow, that the herbs, earth, and trees are sinners? Next, death, though a consequent of the fall, inci- dent to man's earthly nature, is not the wages of sin in the saints, but rather a sleep, by which they pass from death to life ; which is so far from being trou- blesome and painful to them, as all real punishments for sin are, that the apostle counts it gain : To me, Baith he, to die is gain, Philip, i. 21. Object. 4. Some are so foolish as to make an objection farther, saying, 'That if Adam's sin be 7iot imputed to those who actuMy have not sinned, then it would follow that all infants are saved. But we are willing that this supposed absurdity should be the consequence of our doctrine, rather than that which it seems our adversaries reckon not OF MAN IN THE FALL. 103 absurd, though the undoubted and unavoidable con- sequence of theirs, viz. That many infants eternally perish, not for any sin of their own, but only for Adanis iniquity; w^here we are willing to let the controversy stop, commending both to the illuminated understanding of the Christian reader. This error of our adversaries is both denied and refuted by Zuinglius, that eminent founder of the Protestant churches in Switzerland, in his book De Baptismo, for which he is anathematized by the coun- cil of Trent, in the fifth session. We shall only add this information : That we confess then that a seed of sin is transmitted to all men from Adam, although imputed to none, until by sinning they actually join with it ; in which seed he gave occasion to all to sin, and it is the origin of all evil actions and thoughts in men s hearts, £' w to wit, Qavari^ as it is in Rom. v. i. e. In which death all have sinned. For this seed of sin is frequently called death in the scripture, and the body of death ; seeing indeed it is a death to the life of righteousness and holiness : therefore its seed and its product is called the old man, the old Adam; in which all sin is ; for which cause we use this name to ex- press this sin, and not that of original sin ; of which Original sin phrase the scripture makes no mention, and under pj^^^'^/gf^"'* which invented and unscriptural barbarism this no- tion of imputed sin to infants took place among Christians. 104 OF UNIV£R&AL PROPOSITIONS V. AND VI. CONCERNING THE UNIVERSAL REDEMPTION BY CHKIST, AND ALSO THE SAVING AND SPIRIIUAL LIGHT, WHEREWITH EVERY MAN IS ENLIGHTENED. PROPOSITION V. Ezek. xviii. God, out of his infinite love, who deligkteth not in the death of a XI *■•** 11 f^nfier, but that all should live and be saved, hath so loved the xxxiu, , y^oricl, that lie hath given his only Son a Light, tliat whoso- ever believeth in him should be saved, John iii. 16, who enlight- eneth every jnan that cometh into the world, John i. 9, and maketh manifest all things that are reprovable, Ephes. v. 13, and teacheth all temperance, righteousness, and godliness; and this Light enligfateneth the hearts of all for a time, in order to salvation ; and this is it which reproves the sin of all individuals, and would work out the salvation of all, if not resisted. Nor is it less universal than the seed of sin, being the purchase of his death, who fasted death for every man: for as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive, 1 Cor. XV. 22. PROPOSITION VI. According to which principle or hypothesis all the objections against the universality of Christ^ death are easily solved ; neither is it needful to recur to the ministry of angels, and those other miraculous means which they say God useth to manifest the doctrine and history of Christ's passion unto such who, living in parts of the world where the outward preachiuff of the gospel is unknown, have well improved the first and common grace. For as hence it well follows that some of the old philosophers might have been saved, so also may some, who by providence are cast into those remote parts of the world where the knowledge of the history is wanting, be made partakers of the divine mystery, if they receive and resist not lCor.xu.7. that grace, a manifestation whereof is given to every man to profit withal. This most certain doctrine being then received, that there is an evangelical and saving light and grace in all, the universality of the love and mercy of God towards man- kind, both in the death of his beloved Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, and in the manifestation of the light in Uie heart, is established and confirmed, against all the objections of such Heb. ii. 9. as deny it. Therefore Christ hath tasted death for every AND SAVING LIGHT. 105 I i not only for all kinds of men, as some vainly talk, but for 1 every man of all kinds; the benefit of whose offering is not j only extended to such who have the distinct outward know- | ledge of his death and sufferings^ as the same is declared in ^ the scriptures, but even unto those who are necessarily ex- cluded from the benefit of this knowledge by some inevitable accident; which knowledge we willingly confess to be very ■ profitable and comfortable, but not absolutely needful unto ' such from whom God himself hath withheld it ; yet they may \ be made partakers of the mystery of his death, though ignorant ' of the history, if they suffer his seed and lights enlightening ^ their hearts^ to take place, in which light communion with the j Father and the Son is enjoyed, so as of wicked men to become j holy, and lovers of that power, by whose inward and secret . j touches they feel themselves turned from the evil to the good, ] and learn to do to others as they would be done by, in which ] Christ himself affirms all to be included. As they have then 1 falsely and erroneously taught, who have denied Christ to have died for all men ; so neither have they sufficiently taught I the truth, who affirming him to have died for all, have added | the absolute necessity of the outward knowledge thereof, in \ order to obtain its saving effect. Among whom the remon- \. strants of Holland have been chiefly wanting, and many other asserters of universal redemption, in that they have not placed j. the extent of this salvation in that divine and evangelical prin- j_ ciple of light and life, wherewith Christ hath enlightened every \ maji that cometh into the world, which is excellently and evi- dently held forth in these scriptures, Gen. vi. 3 ; Deut. xxx. 14; John i. 7, 8, 9, 16; Rom. x. 8; Titus ii. 11. i Hitherto we have considered man's fallen, lost, cor- Absolute re. 1 rupted, and degenerated condition. Now it is fit to in- f,[°f ^orri- quire, hotv and by what 7ncans he may come to be freed bie and out of this miserable and depraved condition, which in ^'ous^^'oc- '■ these two propositions is declared and demonstrated ; trine, de- \ which 1 thought meet to place together because of *^" ® * \ their affinity, the one being as it were an explanation of the other. \ As for that doctrine which these propositions chiefly i strike at, to wit, absolute reprobation, according to which some are not afraid to assert, " That God, by j an eternal and immutable decree, hath predestinated to eternal damnation the far greater part of mankind, \ not considered as made, much less as fallen, without \ any respect to their disobedience or sin, but only for ; 106 OF UNIVERSAL PROP. V. VI. the demonstrating of the glory of liis justice ; and that for the bringing this about, he hath appointed these miserable souls necessarily to walk in their wicked ways, that so his justice may lay hold on them : and that God doth therefore not only suffer them to be liable to this misery in many parts of the world, by withholding from them the preaching of the gospel and the knowledge of Christ, but even in those places where the gospel is preached, and salva- tion by Christ is offered; whom though he publicly invite them, yet he justly condemns for disobedience, albeit he hath withheld from them all grace by which they could have laid hold of the gospel, viz. Because he hath, by a secret will unknown to all men, ordained and decreed (without any respect had to their obedi- ence or sin) that they shall not obey, and that the offer of the gospel shall never prove effectual for their salvation, but only serve to aggravate and occasion their greater condemnation." I say, as to this horrible and blasphemous doctrine, our cause is common with many others, who have both wisely and learnedly, according to scripture, reason, and antiquity, refuted it. Seeing then that so much is said already and so well against this doc- trine, that little can be superadded, except what hath been said already, I shall be short in this respect ; yet, because it lies so in opposition to my way, I cannot let it altogether pass. Thi»doc. ^. I. First, We may safely call this doctrine a no- /•'iij.* "" velty, seeing the first four hundred years afler Christ there is no mention made of it : for as it is contrary ' to the scripture's testimony, and to the tenor of the gospel, so all the ancient writers, teachers, and doc- tors of the church pass it over with a profound silence. Tiie r'M of The first foundations of it were laid in the later writ- *'' ings of Augustine, who, in his heat against Pelagius, let fall some expressions which some nave unhaj^pily gleaned up, to the eslublishing of this error; thereby contradicting the truth, and sufficiently gainsaying AND SAVING LIGHT. 107 many others, and many more and frequent expressions of the same Augustine. Afterwards was this doc- trine fomented by Dominions, a friar, and the monks of his order ; and at last unhappily taken up by John Calvin (otherwise a man in divers respects to be com- mended) to the great staining of his reputation, and defamation both of the Protestant and Christian religion ; which though it received the decrees of the synod of Dort for its confirmation, hath since lost ground, and begins to be exploded by most men of learning and piety in all Protestant churches. How- ever, we should not oppugn it for the silence of the ancients, paucity of its asserters, or for the learned- ness of its opposers, if we did observe it to have any real bottom in the writings or sayings of Christ and the apostles, and that it were not highly injurious to God himself^ to Jesus Christ our Mediator and Re- deemer, and to the power, virtue, nobility, and ea:cel- lency of his blessed gospel, and lastly unto all man- kirtd. §. II. First, It is highly injurious to God, because fajghiy inju- it makes him the author of sin, which, of all things is J]°'^j^ J^ most contrary to his nature. I confess the asserters making of this principle deny this cons(}quence ; but that is ihor Vf^b. but a mere illusion, seeing it so naturally follows from this doctrine, and is equally ridiculous, as if a man should pertinaciously deny that one and two make three. For if God has decreed that the repro- bated ones shall perish, without all respect to their evil deeds, but only of his own pleasure, and if he hath also decreed long before they ivere in being, or in a capacity to do good or evil, that they should walk in those wicked ways, by which, as by a secondary means, they are led to that end ; who, I pray, is the first author and cause thereof but God, who so willed and decreed ? This is as natural a consequence as can be : and therefore, although many of the preachers of this doctrine have sought out various, strange, strain- ed, and intricate distinctions to defend their opinion, 108 OF UxVIVERSAL PROP. V. VI. and avoid this horrid consequence ; yet some, and that of the most eminent of them, have been so plain in the matter, as they have put it beyond all doubt. Of which I shall instance a few among many pas- ♦ cdvin in sagcs. * / soj/, That by the ordination and will of iS'l iMt"* ^^^» Adam fell. God would have man to fall, -Man c. 18. s. 1. is blinded by the will and commandment of God. We Prod. Id! ^^^fcr the causes of hardening us to God. The high- lib. de Pro- est or remote cause of hardening is the will of God. c.iz.SA^ It followeth that the hidden counsel of God is the cause of hardening. These are Calvin's expressions. • Bc/.a lib. * God (saith Beza) hath predestinated not only unto de Praed. damnation., but also unto the causes of it, whomsoever •» Id. de he saw meet. ^ The decree of God cannot be excluded ^n\ ^^' f^^^^ the causes of corruption. "" It is certain (saith c Zai.ch. de Zaucliius) that God is the first cause of obduration. 5.''id.7ib.** ^^probates are held so fast under God^s almighty de- 5.de Nat. crcc, that they cannot but sin and perish. ^ It is the ?e*Prad. ^ opinion (saith Paroeus) of our doctors, That God did •J Paraeas, incvitubly dccrcc the temptation and fall of man. The Amis.gra- crcature sinneth indeed necessarily, by the inost just li*. c. 2. judgment of God. Our men do most rightly affirm, that the fall of man was necessary and inevitable, by « Martjr io accidcut, bccausc of God's decree. * God (saith Mar- °'°* tyr) doth incline and force the wills of wicked men i?2to ' zoing. g?rat si?is. ^ God (saith Zuinglius) moveth the rob- ^^'t^^^'ber to kill. He killeth, God forcmg him thereunto. But thou wilt say, he is forced to sin; I permit truly » Re«p. ad that he is forced. ^ Reprobate persons (saith Pisca- i!*p!^i2o. ^^^) ^^^ absolutely ordained to this tioofold end, to undergo everlasting punishment, and necessarily to .sin; and therefore to sin, that they may be justly pu7iished. If these sayings do not plainly and evidently im- port that God is the author of sin, we must not then seek these men's opinions from tlieir words, but some way else. It seems as if they had assumed to them- selves that monstrous and twofold will they feign of ,God ; one by which they declare their minds openly, AND SAVING LIGHT. 109 and another more secret and hidden, which is quite 1 contrary to the other. Nor doth it at all help them, \ to say that man sins willingly, since that willingness, j proclivity, and propensity to evil is, according to their " judgment, so necessarily imposed upon him, that he ; cannot but be willing, because God hath willed and ^ decreed him to be so. Which shift is just as if I j should take a child uncapable to resist me, and throw [ it down from a great precipice ; the weight of the \ child's body indeed makes it go readily down, and [ the violence of the fall upon some rock or stone beats j out its brains and kills it. Now then, I pray, though i the body of the child goes willingly down (for I sup- pose it, as to its mind, incapable of any will) and the j weight of its body, and not any immediate stroke of j my hand, who perhaps am at a great distance, makes 1 it die, whether is the child or I the proper cause of its death ? Let any man of reason judge, if God's part be, with them, as great, yea, more immediate, in J the sins of men (as by the testimonies above brought doth appear), whether doth not this make him not only the author of sin, but more unjust than the un- ; justest of men? §. III. Secondly, This doctrine is injurious to God, 2. it make* | because it makes him delight in the death of sinners, f/fheSh ^ yea, and to will many to die in their sins, contrary to of a sinner, these scriptures, Ezek. xxxiii. 1 1 ; 1 Tim. ii. 4 ; 2 Pet. \ iii. 9. For if he hath created men only for this very ] end, that he might show forth his justice and power in them, as these men affirm, and for effecting thereof ^ hath not only withheld from them the means of doing j good, but also predestinated the evil, that they might fall into it ; and that he inclines and forces them into \ great sins ; certainly he must necessarily delight in \ their death, and will them to die ; seeing against his ' own will he neither doth, nor can do any thing. , §. IV. Thirdly, It is highly/ injurious to Christ our s.itrenders ! Mediator, and to the efficacy and e.vcellenci/ of his dS^iT' gospel; for it renders his mediation ineffectual, as if effectual. 110 OF UTflVERSAL PROP. Y, VI. he had not by his suft'erings thoroughly broken down the iniddle wall, no. yet removed the wrath of God, or purchased the love of God towards all mankind, if it was afore decrecl that it should be of no service to the far greater part of mankind. It is to no purpose to allege, that the death of Christ was of efficacy enough to have saved all mankind, if in effect its virtue be not so far extended as to put all mankind into a capacity of salvation. 4. It makes Fourthly, It mokes the preaching of the gospel a m^k!"'"^' ' ^^^^^^ mock ami illusion, if many of these, to whom it is preached, be by any irrevocable decree excluded from being benefited by it ; it wholly makes useless the preaching of faith and repentance, and the whole tenor of the gospel promises and threatenings, as being all relative to a former decree and means before appointed to such ; which, because they cannot fail, man needs do nothing but wait for that irresistible juncture, which will come, though it be but at the last hour of his life, if he be in the decree of election ; and be his diligence and waiting what it can, he shall never attain it, if he belong to the decree of repro- bat ion. 6. It makes Fifthly, It luakcs the coming of Christ, and his ^o('chth\'LP^^P^^^^^^^^y sacrifice, which the scripture affirms to act of have been the fmit of Gods love to the world, and '"^ * transacted for the sins and salvation of all men, to have been rather a testimony of God's lorath to the world, and one of the greatest judgments, and severest acts of God's indignation towards mankind, it being only ordained to save a very few, and for the harden- ing and augmenting the condemnation of the far greater number of men, because they believe not truly in it ; the cause of which unbelief again, as the divines [so called] above assert, is the hidden counsel of God :* certainly the coming of Christ was never to them a testimony of God's love, but rather of bis implacable wratli ; and if the world may be taken for the far greater number of such as live in it, God never loved AND SAVING LIGHT. Ill ^ the world, according to this doctrine, but rather hated it greatly, in sending his Son to be crucified ] in it. ] §. V. Sixthly, This doctrine is highly injurious ^oe.it renders \ mankind; for it renders them in a far worse condi- ™^"J^'^°/^^". I tion than the devils in hell. For these were sometime aitioa than in a capacity to have stood, and to suffer only for ^^^ *^*^' """ "^ their own guilt ; whereas many millions of men are \ for ever tormented, according to them, for Adam's 1 sin, which they neither knew of, nor ever were acces- I sary to. It renders them worse than the beasts of j the field, of whom the master requires no more than they are able to perform ; and if they be killed, death to them is the end of sorrow ; whereas man is for ever ' tormented for not doing that which he never was able to do. It puts him into a far worse condition than —Than the Pharaoh put the Israelites ; for though he withheld u^jW pL- \ straw from them, yet by much labour and pains they ^^^^' \ could have gotten it : but from men they make God to withhold all means of salvation, so that they can by no means attain it; yea, they place mankind in ,\ that condition which the poets feign of Tantalus, who, Tantaias's i oppressed with thirst, stands in water up to the chin, «""^»^'""- \ yet can by no means reach it with his tongue; and being tormented with hunger, hath fruits hanging at i his very lips, yet so as he can never lay hold on them •] with his teeth ; and these things are so near him, not j to nourish him, but to torment him. So do these ^ men : they make the outward creation of the works ] of Providence, the smitings of conscience, sufficient to j convince the heathens of sin, and so to condemn and | judge them : but not at all to help them to salvation. \ They make the preaching of the gospel, the offer of ^ salvation by Christ, the use of the sacraments, of f prayer, and good works, sufficient to condemn those i they account reprobates within the church, serving \ only to infoim them to beget a seeming faith and vain i hope ; yet because of a secret impotency, which they had from their infancy, all these are wholly ineffec- \ 112 OF UNIVERSAL PROP. V. Vf. tual to bring them the least step towards salvation ; and do only contribute to render their condemnation the greater, and their torments the more violent and intolerable. Having thus briefly removed this false doctrine which stood in my way, because they that are desir- ous may see it both learnedly and piously refuted by many others, I come to the matter of our proposition, which is. That God, out of his infinite love, who de- lighteth not in the death of a sinner, but that all should live and be saved, hath sent his o)dy begotten Son into the world, that whosoever believeth in him might be saved ; which also is again affirmed in the sixth pro- chriit tMt- position, in these words, Christ tlien tasted death for ed death for ^^yy man, of all kinds. Such is the evidence of this truth, delivered almost wholly in the express words of scripture, that it will not need much probation. Also, because our assertion herein is common with many others, who have both earnestly and soundly, accord- ing to the scripture, pleaded for this, universcdj^sdeiiv^ tion, I shall be the more brief in it, that I may come to that which may seem more singularly and pecu- liarly ours. Christ's re- ^. VI. This doctriuc of universal redemption, or, nni^eila", Chrisfs dying for all men, is of itself so evident from contrarj to thc scripturc testimony, that there is scarcely found !!f*ab8oiatr ^^y other article of the Christian faith so frequently, reproba- so plainly, and so positively asserted. It is that which maketh the preaching of Christ to be truly termed the gospel, or an amnmciation of glad tidings to all. Thus the angel declared the birth and coming of Christ to the shepherds to be, Luke ii. 10 : Behold I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people : he saith not to a fete. Now if this coming of Christ had not brought a possibility of sal- vation to all, it should i-ather have been accounted bad tidings of great sorrow to most people ; neither should the angel have had reason to have sung, Peace on earth, and good will towards wi€W, if the greatest AND SAVING LIGHT. 113 part of mankind had been necessarily shut out from \ receiving any benefit by it. How should Christ have ' ^ sent out his servants to preach the gospel to eve?y ' i creature, Mark xvi. 15, (a very comprehensive com- j mission) that is, to every son and daughter of mankind, \ without all exception ? He commands them to preach ^ salvation to all, repentance and remission of sins to I all ; wanting every one, and exhorting every one, as \ Paul did, Col. i. 28. Now how could they have The gospel I preached the gospel to every man, as became the mi- J'^ 1^'//^^^^^ ] nisters of Jesus Christ, in much assurance, if salva- man. ^1 lion by that gospel had not been possible to all? What ! if some of those had asked them,, or should now ask any of these doctors, who deny the univer- \ sality of Christ's death, and yet preach it to all pro- \ miscuously. Hath Christ died for me 1 How can they, \ with confidence, give a certain answer to this ques- ■ tion ? If they give a conditional answer, as their prin- \ ciple obligeth them to do, and say. If thou repent, \ Christ hath died for thee ; doth not the same question j still recur ? Hath Christ died for me, so as to tnake :\ repejitance possible to me ? To this they can answer ' nothing, unless they run in a circle ; whereas the feet < of those that bring the glad tiditigs of the gospel of ^ \ peace are said to be beautiful, for that they preach the j common salvation, repentance unto all ; offering a I door of mercy and hope to all, through Jesus Christ, 1 who gave himself a ransom for all. The gospel in- j vites all : and certainly by the gospel Christ intended ■ not to deceive and delude the greater part of man- \ kind, when he invites, and crieth, saying. Come unto me, all ye that are weary and heavy laden, and I tvill ': give you rest. If all then ought to seek after him, ; and to look for salvation by him, he must needs have ^ made salvation possible to all ; for who is bound to seek after that which is impossible ? Certainly it were j a mocking of men to bid them do so. And such as | deny, that by the death of Christ salvation is made j possible to all men, do most blasphemously make God I 114 OF UNIVERSAL PROP. ^ . V[. mock the world, in giving his servants a commission to preach the gospel of salvation unto all^ while he hath before decreed that it shall not be possible for The •bsni- them to rcccivc it. Would not this make the Lord di^trileoV ^^ ^^"^ ioiih his servants with a lie in their mouthy absolute re. (wliich wcrc blasphcmous to think), commanding probauon. ^^^^^ ^^ ^jj ^^^ ^^^ ^^,^^^ ^^^ bclieve that Christ died for them, and had purchased life and salvation ; whereas it is no such thing, according to the fore- mentioned doctrine. But seeing Christ, after he arose and perfected the work of our redemption, gave a commission to preach repentayice, rcitiission of sins, and salvation to all, it is manifest that he died for all. For He that hath commissionated his servants thus to preach, is a God of truth, and no mocker of poor mankind ; neither doth he require of any man that which is simply impossible for him to do : for that no tnan is bound to do that which is impossible, is a prin- ciple of truth engraven in every man's mind. And seeing he is both a righteous and merciful God, it cannot at all stand, either with his justice or mercy, to bid such men repent or believe, to whom it is im- possible. §. VII. Moreover, if we regard the testimony of the scripture in this matter, where there is not one scripture, tEat I know of, which affirmeth, Christ not to die for all, there are divers that positively and ex- Toprajfor pressly asscrt, He did; as 1 Tim. ii. 1, 3, 4, 6: / cbiiit* died ^^^hort, therefo7'e, that first of all, supplications, prayers, for all— intejressiofis, and giving of thanks, be made for all men, &c. For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Saviour, ivho will have all men to be saved, and to come to the knowledge of the truth ; who gave himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due time. Except we will have the apostle here to assert quite another thing than he intended, there can be nothing more plain to confirm what we have asserted. And this scripture doth well answer to that maimer of "arguing which we have hitherto used : for, first, the AND SAVING LIGHT. 115 apostle here recommends them to ^9r^j/ for all men ; and to obviate such an objection, as if he had said with our adversaries, Christ prayed not for the icorld^ neither willeth he us to pray for all; because he willeth not that all should be saved, but hath ordained many to be damned, that he might show forth his justice in than; he obviates, I say, such an objection, telling them, that it is good and acceptable in the sight of God, who will have all men to be saved. I desire to —And win know what can be more expressly affirmed? or can^^i^^^jj^ any two propositions be stated in terms more contra- saved. dictory than these two? God willeth some not to be saved; and God willeth all men to be saved, or God will have no man perish. If we believe the last, as the apostle hath affirmed, the first must be destroyed ; seeing of contradictory propositions, the one being placed, the other is destroyed. Whence, to conclude, he gives us a reason of his willingness that all men should be saved, in these words, Who gave himself a ransom for all ; as if he would have said, Since Christ died for all, since he gave himself a ransom for all, therefore he will have all men to be saved. This Christ himself gives as a reason of God's love to the world, in these words, John iii. 16 : God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life; compared with 1 John iv. 9. This [whosoever'] is an indefinite term, from which no man is excluded. From all which then I thus argue : For whomsoever it is lawful to pray, to them salva- Arg. i. tion is possible: But it is lawful to pray for every individual man in the whole world : Therefore salvation is possible unto them. I prove the major proposition thus ; No man is bound to pray for that which is impos- Arg. 2. sible to be attained : But every man is bound and commanded to pray for all men : i2 • 110 OF UNIVERSAL PROP. V. VI. Therefore it is not impossible to be obtained. I prove also this proposition further, thus ; Arj. 3. No man is bound to pray, but in faith : But he that prayetli for that, which he judges sim- ply impossible to be obtained, cannot pray in faith : Therf fore, &c. Again, Arg. 4. That which God willeth is not impossible : But God willeth all men to be saved : Therefore it is not impossible. And lastly ; Ai^; i Those for whom our Saviour gave himself a ran- som, to such salvation is possible : But our Saviour gave himself a ransom for all : Therefore salvation is possible. Proof 1. §. VIII. This is very positively affirmed, Heb. ii. 9, in these words, But we see Jesus, who was juade a little lower than the afigels, for the suffering of death, crowned luith glory and honour, that he hxf the grace of God might taste death for every man. He that will but open his eyes, may see this truth here asserted : if he tasted death for everi/ man, then certainly there is no man for whom he did not taste death ; then there is no man who may not be made a sharer of the benefit of it : for he came not to condemn the world, but that the world through him inight he saved, John iii. 17. He came not to judge the world, but to save OnraJrer- thc worUl, Johu xii. 47. Whcrcas, according to the doctHnI*!? doctrine of our adversaries, he rather came to con- a Rreat part dcmu tlic woHd, and judge it ; and not that it might being pVe-^ bc savcd by him, or to save it. For if he never came ordained for to bring salvatiott to the greater part of mankind, but refa"ed!°°' ^^^^ his coming, though it could never do them good, yet shall augment their condemnation ; from thence it necessarily follows, that he came not of intention to save, but to judge and condemn the greater part of the world, contrary to his own express testimony ; and as the apostle Paul, in the words abovecited, doth assert affirmatively, That God willeth the salvatimi of AND SAVING LIGHT. 117 all, so dotli the apostle Peter assert negatively, ThatProoCi. he willeth not the perishing of any, 2 Pet. iii. 9. The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness, but is long-suffering to usward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. And this is correspondent to that of the prophet Ezekiel, xxxiii. 11: As I live, saith the Lord, I have no pleasure in the death of the ivicked, but that the wicked turn from his way and live. If it be safe to believe God, and trust in him, we must not think that he intends to cheat us by all these expressions through his servants, but that he was in good earnest. And that this will and desire of his hath not taken effect, the blame is on our parts, as shall be after spoken of; which could not be, if we never were in any capacity of salvation, or that Christ had never died for us, but left us under an impossibi- lity of salvation. What mean all those earnest invi- tations, all those serious expostulations, all those re- gretting contemplations, wherewith the holy scrip- tures are full ? As, Why will ye die, O house of Israel! Whyivill ye not come unto me, that ye might have life'i I have waited to be gracious unto you : 1 have sought to gather you : I have knocked at the door of your hearts : Is not your destruction of yourselves ? I have called all the day long. If men who are so invited be under no capacity of being saved, if salvation be impossible unto them, shall we suppose God in this to be no other but like the author of a romance, or master of a comedy, who amuses and raises the various affections and passions of his spectators by divers and strange accidents; sometimes leading them into hope, and sometimes into despair; all those actions, in effect, being but a mere illusion, while he hath appointed what the conclusion of all shall be? Thirdly, This doctrine is abundantly confirmed by Proof 3. that of the apostle, 1 John, ii. 1, 2 : A^id if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. And he is the propitiation for our sins ; 1 18 OF UNIVERSAL PROP. V. VI. sifis ; and not for ours o?ih/, but also for the sins of AdrtrMTie* the ivholc tcoHd. The way which our adversaries 117ZI^*^ take to evite this testimony Is most foolish and ridi- the whole culous : the [world^ here, say they, is the loorld of he- ^'*'*** lievers: for this commentarif we have nothing but their own assertion, and so while it manifestly de- stroys the text, may be justly rejected. For, first, let them show me, if they can, in all the scripture, where the [whole world] is taken for believers only ; I shall show them where it is many times taken for the quite contrary ; as. The world hiows nie not : The world receives me tiot; I am fiot of this world: besides all these scriptures. Psalm xvii. 14 ; Isai. xiii. 11 ; Mat. xviii. 7 ; John, vii. 7; and viii. 26; and xii. 19; and xiv. 17; and xv. 18, 19; and xvii. 14; and xviii. 20; 1 Cor. i. 21; and ii. 12; andvi. 2; Gal.vi. 14; James, i. 27 ; 2 Pet. ii. 20; 1 John, ii. 15; and iii. lii and iv. 4, 5 ; and many more. Secondly, The apostle in this very place contradistinguisheth the loorld from the saints thus ; And not for ours only, but for the sins of the whole world: What means the apostle by [ours] here? Is not that the sins of be- lievers ? Was not he one of those believers 1 And was not this a universal epistle, written to all the saints that then were ? So that, according to these men's com- ment, there should be a very unnecessaiy and foolish redundancy in the apostle's words ; as if he had said, He is a propitiation not only for the sins of all be- lievers, but for the sijis of all believers : Is not this to make the apostle's words void of good sense? Let them show us wherever there is such a manner of speaking in all the scripture, where any of the pen- men first name the believers in concreto with them- selves, and then contradistinguish them from some other whole world of believers ? That [whole mnid] if it be of believers, must not be the world we live in. But we need no better interpreter for tli tie than himself, who uses the very same r, i >u and phrase in the same epistle, ch. v. 19, saying. We know AND SAVING LIGHT. 119 that we are of God, and the whole wo?id lieth in wick- edness. There cannot be found in all the scripture two places which run more parallel ; seeing in both, the same apostle, in the same epistle to the same per- sons, contradistinguisheth himself, and the saints to whom he writes, from the whole world ; which, ac- cording to these men's commentary, ought to be un- derstood o^ believers : as if John had said, We know particular believers are of God; but the whole world of believers lieth in wickedness. What absurd wrest- ing of scripture were this? And yet it may be as well pleaded for as the other ; for they differ not at all. Seeing then that the apostle John tells us plainly, That Christ not only died for him, and for the saints and members of the church of God, to whom he wrote, but for the ivhole world, let us then hold it for a cer- tain and undoubted truth, notwithstanding the cavils of such as oppose. This might also be proved from many more scrip- ture testimonies, if it were at this season needful. All the fathers, so called, and doctors of the church, for the first four ccmturies, preached this doctrine ; according to which they boldly held forth tlie gospel of Christ, and efficacy of his death ; inviting and en- The hea- treating the heathens to come and be partakers of the ^Jl^^dtosai- benefits of it, showing them how there was a door vation ; open for them all to be saved through Jesus Christ ; destln^a'ied not telling them that God had predestinated any oftpdamna- them to damnation, or had made salvation impossible to them, by withholding power and grace, necessary to believe, from them. But of many of their sayings, which might be alleged, I shall only instance a few. Augustine on the xcvth Psalm, saith, ^' The blood Proof 4. of Christ is of so great worth, that it is of no less ^^^^H^^i value than the whole world." the doctors Prosper ad Gall. c. 9. "The Redeemer of the Jnhe Vr^s" world gave his blood for the world, and the world ^^J^'JJ^J'/j^^' would not be redeemed, because the darkness did not for au. 120 OF UNIVERSAL PROP. V. VI. receive the light. He that saith, the Saviour was not crucified for the redemption of the whole world, looks not to the virtue of the sacrament, but to the part of infidels ; since the blood of our Lord Jesus Christ is the price of the whole world ; from which redemp)- tion they are strangers, who either delighting in their captivity would not be redeemed, or after they were redeemed returned to the same servitude." The same Prosper, in his answer to Vincentius's first objection : " Seeing therefore because of one common nature and cause in truth, undertaken by our Lord, all are rightly said to be redeemed, and nevertheless all are not brought out of captivity ; the property of redemption without doubt belongeth to those from whom the prince of this world is shut out, and now are not vessels of the devil, but members of Christ ; whose death was so bestowed upon mankind, that it belonged to the redemption of such who were not to be regenerated. But so, that that which was done by the example of one for all, might, by a sin- gular mystery, be celebrated in every one. For the cup of immortality, which is made up of our infirmity and the divine power, hath indeed that in it which may profit all ; but if it be not drunk, it doth not heal." The author de vocat. gejitiuju, lib. ii. cap. 6. " There is no cause to doubt but that our Lord Jesus Christ died for sinners and wicked men. And if there can be any found, who may be said not to be of this number, Christ hath not died for all ; he made himself a redeemer for the whole world." Chrysostom on John i. "If he enlightens every man coming into the world, how comes it that so many men remain without light ? For all do not so much as acknowledge Christ. How then doth he enlighten every man ? He illuminates indeed so far as in him is; but if any of their own accord, closing the eyes of their mind, will not direct their eyes unto AND SAVING LIGHT. 121 the beams of this light, the cause that they remain in The caase ] darkness is not from the nature of the light, but jJIYJ^^/;" ^ through their own malignity, who willingly have ren- \ dered themselves unworthy of so great a gift. But ■{ why believed they not ? Because they would* not : ] Christ did his part." J The Arelatensian synod, held about the year 490, ; " Pronounced him accursed, who should say that I Christ hath not died for all, or that he would not have j all men to be saved." ] Ambr. on Psalm cxviii. Serm. 8. " The mystical I Sun of Righteousness is arisen to all ; he came to all ; he suifered for all ; and rose again for all : and there- i fore he suffered, that he might take away the sin of \ the world. But if any one believe not in Christ, he ; robs himself of this general benefit ; even as if one by ^ closing the windows should hold out the sunbeams. The snn- { The sun is not therefore not arisen to all, 'because ^u^Teai"* such a one hath so robbed himself of its heat : but not.' the sun keeps its prerogative ; it is such a one's im- j prudence that he shuts himself out from the common ; benefit of the light." J The same man, in his 1 1th book of Cain and Abel, j cap. 13, saith, "Therefore he brought unto all the ^ means of health, that whosoever should perish, may \ ascribe to himself the causes of his death, who would I not be cured when he had the remedy by which he \ might have escaped." §. IX. Seeing then that this doctrine of the uni- J versality of Christ's death is so certain and agreeable j to the scripture testimony, and to the sense of the purest antiquity, it may be wondered how so many, \ some whereof have been esteemed not only learned, j but also pious, have been capable to fall into so gross 'i and strange an error. But the cause of this doth evidently appear, in that the way and method by which the virtue and efficacy of his death is commu- ■ nicated to all men, hath not been riglitly understood, \ 122 OF UNIVERSAL PROP. V. VI. PeUgian or indeed hath been erroneously taught. The Pela- errors. giaus, asciibiug all to man's will and nature, denied man to have any seed of sin conveyed to him from Adam. And the Semi-Pelagians, making grace as a gift* following upon man's merit, or right improving of his nature, according to the known principle, Fa- cienti quod in se est^ Deus non dcnegat gj^atiam. Extremes This gavc Augustine, Prosper, and some others by'»."me*° occasion, labouring, in oppo dtion to these opinions, making God to maD^nifv the arrace of God, and paint out the cor- ihe author x- r ^ x / \\ \^ ' r ^\ of sin. ruptions ot mans nature (as the proverb is ol those that seek to make straight a crooked stick) to incline to the other extreme. So also the reformers, Luther and otliers, finding among other errors the strange expressions used by some of the Popish scholastics concerning free will, and how much the tendency of their principles is to exalt man's nature and lessen God's grace, having all those sayings of Augustine and others for a pattern, through the like mistake run upon the same extreme : though afterwards the Lu- therans, seeing how far Calvin and his followers drove this matter (who, as a man of subtle and pro- found judgment, foreseeing where it would land, re- solved aboveboard to assert that God had decreed the means as well as the end, and therefore had ordained men to sin, and excites them thereto, which he labours earnestly to defend), and that there was no avoiding the making of God the author of sin, thereby received occasion to discern the falsity of this doctrine, and disclaimed it, as appears by the latter writings of Melancthon, and the Mompelgartensian conference, Bpit. Hitt. where Lucas Osiander, one of the collocutors, terms o.hlnd!"*'" ^^ impious ; calls it a making God the author of sin, ^ Cent. 16. and a horrid and horrible blasphcjmi. Yet because . cap. 32. ^Q^^ of those who have asserted this universal redemp- tion since the reformation have given a clear, distinct, and satisfactory testimony how it is communicated to all, and so bave fallen short of fully declaring the AND SAVING LIGHT. 123 perfection of gospel dispensation, others have been thereby the more strengthened in their errors ; which . I shall illustrate by one singular example. . : The Arminians, and other assertors of universal grace, use this as a chief argument. ; That which every man is bound to believe is true: \ But every man is bound to believe that Christ died for him ; ''\ Therefore, &c. ; Of this argument the other party deny the assump- tion, saying ; That they ivho never heard of Christ 1 are not obli^red to believe in him : and seein<^ the Re- Remon- monstrants (as they are commonly called) do gene- ^^^^J"** *^'' "; i^ally themselves achiiowledge, that without the outward sirengtbens I knowledge of Christ there is no salvation, that gives a^ec/^e^ofrt- i the other party yet a stronger argument for their pre- probation. .| cise decree of reprobation. For, say they, seeing we \ all see really, and in effect, that God had withheld •! from many generations, and yet from inany nations, \ that knowledge which is absolutely needful to salvation, \ and so hath rendered it simply impossible unto them ; why may he not as well ivithhold the grace necessary \ to make a saving application of that knowledge, where '^ it is preached 1 For there is rw ground to say. That this were injustice in God, or partiality, more than his \ leaving those others in utter ignorance ; the 07ie being \ but a withholding grace to apprehend the object of \ faith, the other a tcithdrawing the object itself For \ answer to this, they are forced to draw a conclusion | from their former hypothesis of Christ's dying for all, \ and God's mercy and justice, saying, That // these \ heathens, ivho live in these remote places, ivhcre the ; outward knoicledge of Christ is not, did improve that common knotoledge they have, to whom the outward \ creation is for an object of faith, by ivhich they may \ gather that there is a God, then the Lord ivould, by some providence, either send an angel to tell them of . Christ, or convey the scriptures to them, or bring them \ some way to an oppo?tunity to meet with such as I 124 OF UNIVERSAL PROP. V. VI. might inform them. Which, as it p^ives always too much to the power and strength of man's will and nature, and savours a little of Socinianism and Pela- gianism, or at least of Semi-Pelagianism, so, since it is only built upon probable conjectures, neither hath it evidence enough to convince any strongly tainted with the other doctrine ; nor yet doth it make the equity and wonderful harmony of God's mercy and justice towards all so manifest to the understanding. So that I have often observed, that these assertors of universal grace did far more pithily and strongly overturn the false doctrine of their adversaries, than they did establish and confirm the truth and certainty of their own. And though they have proof sufficient from the holy scriptures to confirm the universality of Nooe. by «ii Christ's death, and that none are precisely, by any de!rre''elr- iiTevocablc dccrec, excluded from salvation, yet I find cia(!ed'frora whcn they are pressed in the respects abovemention- saivaiioii. ^^^ ^^ show how God liath so far equally extended the capacity to partake of the benefit of Christ's death unto all, as to communicate unto them a sufficient way of so doing, they are somewhat in a strait, and are put more to give us their conjectures from the certainty of the former presupposed truth, to wit, that because Christ hath certainly died for all, and God hath not rendered salvation impossible to any, there- fore there must be some way or other by which they may be saved ; which must be by improving some common grace, or by gathering from the works of creation and providence, than by really demonstrating, by convincing and spiritual arguments, what that way is. §. X. It falls out then, that as darkness, and the great apostacy, came not upon the Christian world all at once, but by several degrees, one thing making way for another ; until that thick jind gross veil came to be overspread, wherewith tlie nations were so blindly covered, from the seventh and eighth, until the sixteenth century ; even as the darkness of the AND SAVING LIGHT. 125 night comes not upon the outward creation at once, but by degrees, according as the sun declines in each horizon ; so neither did that full and clear light and knowledge of the glorious dispensation of the gospel of Christ appear all at once; the work of the hrst witnesses being more to testify against and discover the abuses of the apostacy, than to establish the truth in purity. He that comes to build a new city, must first remove the old rubbish, before he can see to lay a new foundation ; and he that comes to a house greatly polluted and full of dirt, will first sweep away and remove the filth, before he put up his own good and new furniture. The dawning of the day dispels the darkness, and makes us see the things that are most conspicuous : but the distinct discovering and discerning of things, so as to make a certain and per- fect observation, is reserved for the arising of the sun, and its shining in full brightness. And we can, from a certain experience, boldly affirm, that the not waiting for this, but building among, yea, and with, the old Popish rubbish, and setting up before a full purgation, hath been to most Protestants the founda- tion of many a mistake, and an occasion of unspeak- able hurt. Therefore the Lord God, who as he seeth The more meet doth communicate and make known to man the ver/of?he more full, evident, and perfect knowledge of his ever- gospel re- lasting truth, hath been pleased to reserve the more thiVoar 8°ge. full discovery of this glorious and evangelical dispen- sation, to this our age ; albeit divers testimonies have thereunto been borne by some noted men in several ages, as shall hereafter appear. And for the greater augmentation of the glory of his grace, that no man might have whereof to boast, he hath raised up a few despicable and illiterate men, and for the most part mechanics, to be the dispensers of it ; by which gos- pel all the scruples, doubts, hesitations, and objec- tions abovementioned are easily and evidently an- swered, and the justice as well as mercy of God, according to their divine and heavenly harmony, are 126 OF UNIVERSAL PROP. V. VT. exhibited, established, and confirmed. According to which certain light and gospel, as the knowledge thereof has been manifested to us by the revelation of Jesus Christ in us, fortified by our o%vn sensible ex- perience, and sealed by the testimony of the Spirit in our hearts, we can confidently affirm, and clearly evince, according to the testimony of the holy scrip- tures, the following points : Prop. 1. §. XI. First, That God, who out of his infinite love sent his Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, into the world, A daj of vi- who tasted death for every man, hath given to every siiationto ^^^^^ whether Jew or Gentile, Turk or Scythian, In- dian or Barbarian, of whatsoever nation, country, or place, a certain day or time of visitation ; during which day or time it is possible for them to be saved, and to partake of the fruit of Chris fs death. Prop. II. Secondly, That for this end God hath conimuni' A measure catcd and givcu luito cvcry man a measure of the light of light 10 Qj' ii'i^ Q>n^ji ,yon, a measure of grace, or a measure of the Spirit, which the scripture expresses by several names, as sometimes of the seed of the kingdom. Matt, xiii. 18, 19. the Light that makes all things manifest, Eph. V. 13. the Word of God, Rom. x. 17, or mani- festation of the Spirit given to profit withal, 1 Cor. xii. l.a talent. Matt. xxv. 1 5. a little leaven. Matt. xiii. 33. the gospel preached in every creature. Col. i. 23. Pbop. III. Thirdly, That God, in and by this Light and Seed, invites, calls, e.vhorts, and strives with every man, in order to save him ; which, as it is received and not 6od*t«ai- resisted, works the salvation of ^//, even of those who wVon"ht br ^'^^ ignorant of the death and sufferings of Christ, and the light in of Adam's fall, both by bringing them to a sense of their own misery, and to be sharers in the si; ^ of Christ inwardly, and by making them partaiM i.^ of his resurrection, in becoming holy, pure, and righte- ous, and recovered out of their sins. By which also are saved they that have the knowledge of Christ outwardly, in that it opens their understanding rightly to use and apply the things delivered in the scrip- AND SAVING LIGHT. 127 tures, and to receive the saving use of them : but that this may be resisted and rejected in both, in ivhicJi then God is said to be resisted and pressed down, and Christ to be again crucijied, and put to open shame in and among men. And to those who thus resist and refuse him, he becomes their condemnation. First then, According to this doctrine the mercy of coaseq. i. God is ei'cellently well exhibited, in tliat none are ne- cessarily shut out from salvation; and his justice is demonstrated, in that he condemns none but such to whom he really made offer of salvation, affording them, the means sufficient thereunto. Secondly, This doctrine, if well weighed, will be Conseq. 2. found to be \he foundation of Christianity, salvation, and assurance. Thirdly, It agrees and answers with the whole tenor con»eq. 3. of the gospel promises and threats, and with the nature of the ministiy of Christ ;^SiCcor ding to which, the gospel, salvation, and repentance are commanded to be preached to every creature, without respect of na- tions, kindred, families, or tongues. Fourthly, It magnijies and commends the merits Comeq. 4. and death of Christ, in that it not only accounts them sufficient to save all, but declares them to be brought so nigh unto all, as thereby to be put into the nearest capacity of salvation. Fifthly, It exalts above all the grace of God, to Conseq. 6. which it attributeth all good, even the least and/ smallest actions that are so ; ascribing thereunto not J only the first beginnings and motions of good but also the whole conversion and salvation of the soul. Sixthly, It contradicts, overturns, and enervates the Conseo. 0. false doctrine of the Pelagians, So ni- Pelagians, So- cinians, and others, who exalt the light of nature, the liberty of man's will, in that it wholly excludes the natural man from having any place or portion in his own salvation, by any acting, moving, or working of his own, until he be first quickened, raised up, and actuated by God's Spirit. 128 OF UNIVERSAL PROP. V. VI. CoDseq. 7. Seventhly, As it jnakes the whole salvation of man solely and alone to depend upon God, so it makes his condemnation wholly and in every respect to he of him- self in that he refused and resisted somewhat that from God wrestled and strove in his heart, and forces him to acknowledge God's just judgment in rejecting and forsaking of him. Conseq. 8. Eighthly, It takes away all ground of despair, in that it gives every one cause of hope and certain assurance that they may be saved; neither doth feed any in security, in that none are certain how soon their day may expire : and therefore it is a constant incitement and provocation, and lively encourage- ment to every man, to forsake evil, and close with that which is good. Conseq. u. Ninthly, It wonderfully commends as well the cer- tainty of the Christian religion among infidels, as it manifests its own verity to all, in that it is confirmed and established by the experience of all men ; seeing there was never yet a man found in any place of the earth, however barbarous and wild, but hath acknow- ledged, that at some time or other, less or more, he hath found somewhat in his heart reproving him for some things evil which he hath done, threatening a certain horror if he continued in them, as also pro- mising and communicating a certain peace and sweet- ness, as he has given way to it, and not resisted it. Conseq. 10. Tcnthly, It wonderfully showeth the e.vcelknt wis- dom of God, by which he hath made the means of salvation so universal and comprehensive, that it is not needful to recur to those miraculous and strange ways ; seeing, according to this most true doctrine, the gospel reacheth all, of whatsoever condition, age, or nation. Coweq. 11. Eleventhly, It is really and effectively, though not in so many words, yet by deeds, established and con- firmed by all the preachers, promulgators, and doctors of the Christian religion that ever were, or now are, even by those that otherways in their judgment oppose AND SAVING LIGHT. 129 this doctrine, in that they all, whatever they have been or are, or whatsoever people, place, or country they come to, do preach to the people, and to every individual among them, that they may be saved ; en- treating and desiring them to believe in Christ, who hath died for them. So that what they deny in the general, they acknowledge of every particular ; there being no man to whom they do not preach in order to salvation, telling him Jesus Christ calls and icills him to believe and be saved: and that if he refuse, he shall therefore be condemned, and that his condem- nation is of himself. Such is the evidence and vir- tue of Truth, that it constrains its adversaries even against their wills to plead for it. Lastly, According to this doctrine the former argu- Comeq. 12. ment used by the Arminians, and evited by the Cal- vinists, concerning every man's being bound to be- lieve that Christ died for him, is, by altering the assumption, rendered invincible ; thus, That which every man is bound to believe^ is true : But every man is bound to believe that God is mer- ciful unto him : Therefore, &c. This assumption no man can deny, seeing his mer- cies are said to be over all his works. And herein the scripture every where declares the mercy of CM to be, in that he invites and calls sinners to repent- ance, and hath opened a way of salvation for them : so that thouofh those men be not bound to believe the history of Christ's death and passion who never came to know of it, yet they are bound to believe that God will be merciful to them, if they follow his ways; and that he is merciful unto them, in that he reproves them for evil, and encourages them to good. Neither ought Oar adFcr- any man to believe that God is unmerciful to him, or ^erdf^^as- that he hath from the beginning ordained him to come senion of into the world that he might be left to his own evil inclinations, and so do wickedly, as a means ap- pointed by God to bring him to eternal damnation; K 130 OF UNIVERSAL PROP. V. VI. ^ which, were it true, as our adversaries affirm it to be \ of many thousands, I see no reason why a man might not believe; for certainly a man may believe the truth. As it manifestly appears from the thing itself, that ] these good and excellent consequences follow from i the belief of this doctrine, so from the proof of them it will yet more evidently appear ; to which before I come, it is requisite to speak somewhat concerning the state of the controversy, which will bring great ' light to the matter : for from the not right under- ! standing of a matter under debate, sometimes both arguments on the one hand, and objections on the other, are brought, which do no way hit the case; and hereby also our sense and judgment therein will be more fully understood and opened. QnEs.i. ^, XII. First then, by this dai/ and time ofvisita- Inhe^quef- ^'^'^ which we say God gives unto all, during which | <'on- they may be saved, we do not understand the whole time of every mans life ; though to some it may be ■ extended even to the very hour of death, as we see in the example of the thief converted upon the cross ; < but such a season at least as sujjicientli/ ejvonerateth God of every mans condem fiat ion, which to some may he sooner, and to others later, according as the Lord ThatiDBDv in his wisdom sees meet. So that many men may ; tbe^daj^or outlive this day, after which there may be no possi- '• God's visi- bility of salvation to them, and God justly suffers I tation. them to be hardened, as a just punishment of their unbelief, and even raises them up as instruments of \ wrath, and makes them a scourge one against ano- 1 ther. Whence to men in this condition may be fitly ! applied those scriptures which are abused to prove that God incites men necessarily to sin. This is nota- bly expressed by the apostle, Rom. i. from verse 17, | to the end, but especially verse 28. And eveti as they . i did not like to retain God in their knoirledoe, God ] gave them over to a reprobate mnid, to do those things which are not convenient. That many may outlive AND SAVING LIGHT. 131 this day of God's gracious visitation unto them, is ; shown by the example of Esau, Heb. xii. 16, 17, who sold his birthright: so he had it once, and was capa- ' ble to have kept it ; but afterwards, when he would ' - have inherited the blessing, he was rejected. This appears also by Christ's weeping over Jerusalem, *] Luke, xix. 42, saying. If thou hadst known in this thy day the things that belong unto thy peace ; but now ^ they are hid from thine eyes. Which plainly imports i a time when they might have known them, which ] now was removed from them, though they were yet \ alive ; but of this more shall be said hereafter. \ §. XIII. Secondly, By this seed, grace, and wo7'dQvEs.2, of God, and light luherewith we say every one is en- \ lightened, and hath a measure of it, which strives with \ him in order to save him, and which may, by the \ stubbornness and wickedness of man's will, be quench- ed, bruised, wounded, pressed down, slain, and cru- \ cified, we undtrdand not the proper essence and nature \ of God precisely taken, which is not divisible into parts \ and measures, as being a most pure, simple being, void of all composition or division, and therefore can \ neither be resisted, hurt, wounded, crucified, or slain j \ by all the efforts and strength of men ; but we under- The light J \ stand a spiritual, heavenly, and invisible principle, in ^„']f |,!,*pJo. ^ which (jrod, as Father, Son, and Spirit, dwells; a mea- r«rtie» de- ' sure of which divine and glorious life is in all men as ''°'^'**®*^* j a seed, which of its own nature draws, invites, and ; inclines to God ; and this ^ome call vehiculum Dei, Cani. m. 9, \ or the spiritual body of Christ, the flesh and blood of i Christ, which came down from heaven, of which all the saints do feed, and are thereby nourished unto ! eternal life. And as every unrighteous action is wit- 1 nessed against and reproved by this light and seed, so by such actions is it hurt, wounded, and slain, and flees j from them ; even as the flesh of man flees from that ■ which is of a contrary nature to it. Now because it \ is never separated from God nor Christ, but where- 1 Tim. v\, \ ever it is God and Christ are as wrapped up therein, ^^' | k2 1 132 OF UNIVERSAL PROP. V. VI. therefore and in that respect as it is resisted, God is said to be resisted ; and where it is borne down, God is said to be pressed as a cart under sheaves, and Christ is said to be slain and crucified. And on the contrary, as this seed is received in the heart, and suf- fered to bring forth its natural and proper effect, Christ comes to be formed and raised, of which the scripture makes so much mention, calling it the new man, Chiist within, the hope of glori/. This is that Christ within, which we are heard so much to speak and declare of, every where preaching him up, and exhorting peo- ple to believe in the light, and obey it, that they may come to know Christ in them, to deliver them from all sin. But by this, as we do not at all intend to equal our- selves to that holy man the Lord Jesus Christ, who was born of the Virgin Mary, in whom all the fulness TJiat the of the Godhead dwelt bodily, so neither do we des- [^°%Ia- l^^^y l^^ reality of his present e.visie?ice, as some have Lead dwells falscly calumuiatcd us. For though we affirm that bodiijr&c. Christ dwells in us, yet not immediately, but medi- ately, as he is in that seed, which. is in us; whereas he, to wit, the Eternal Word, which was witli God, and was God, dwelt- imuiediately in that holy man. He then is as the head, aVid we as the members ; he . the vine, and we the branches. Now as the soul of man dwells otherwise and in a far more immediate manner in the head and in the heart than in the hands or legs ; and as the sap, virtue, and life of the vine lodgeth far otherwise in the stock and root than in the branches, so God dwelleth otherwise in the man Jesus, than in us. We also freely reject the heresy of Apollinarius, who denied him to have any soul, but said the body was only actuated by the God- head. As also the error of Eutyches, who made the manhood to be wholly swallowed up of the Godhead. Wherefore, as we believe he was a true and real man, so we also believe that he continues so to be glorified in the heavens in soul and body, by whom AND SAVING LIGHT. 133 God shall judge the world, in the great and general day of judgment. §. XIV. Thirdly, We understa?id not this seed, light, ques. 3. * or grace to be an accident, as most men ignorant li/ j[^^J ^^\ do, but a real spiritual substance, which the soul of spiritual man is capable to feel and apprehend, from which 'vtS^liiay that real, spiritual, inward birth in believers arises, be feit in the called the new creature, the new man in the heart, prehended! This seems strange to carnal minded men, because they are not acquainted with it ; but we know it, and are sensible of it, by a true and certain experience. Though it be hard for man in his natural wisdom to comprehend it, until he come to feel it in himself; and if he should, holding it in the mere notion, it would avail him little; yet we are able to make it appear to be true, and that our faith concerning it is not without a solid ground : for it is in and by this inward and substantial seed in our hearts as it comes to receive nourishment, and to have a birth or geni- ture in us, that we come to have those spiritual senses raised by which we are made capable of tasting, smelling^ seeing, and handling the things of God : for a man cannot reach unto those things by his natural spirit and senses, as is above declared. Next, We know it to be a substance, because it subsists in the hearts of wicked men, even while they are in their wickedness, as shall be hereafter proved more at large. Now no accident can be in a subject without it give the subject its own denomination ; as where whiteness is in a subject, there the subject is called white. So we distinguish betwixt holiness, as The degrees it is an accidejit, which denominates man so, as the ;'/**''."'T"'' seed receives a place in him, and betwixt the holi/ ^oai of mun. substantial seed, which many times lies in mans heart as a naked grain in the stony ground. So also as we may distinguish betwixt health and medicine ; health cannot be in a body without the body be called healthful^ because health is an accident ; hut medicine may be in a body that is most unheal thful, for that it is 134 OF UNIVERSAL PROP. V. VI. a substance. And as when a medicine begins to work, the body may in some respect be called healthful, and in some respect unhealthful, so we acknowledge as this divine medicine receives a place f« mans heart, it may denominate him in some part holy and good, though there remain yet a corrupted unmortified part, or some part of the evil humours unpurged out ; for where two contrary accidents are in one subject, as health and sickness in a body, the subject receives its denomination from the accident which prevails most. So many men are called saints, good and holy men, and that truly, when this holy seed hath wrought in them in a good measure, and hath somewhat leavened them into its nature, though they may be yet liable to many infirmities and weaknesses, yea and to some iniquities : for as the seed of sin and ground of cor- ruption, yea and the capacity of yielding thereunto, and sometimes actually falling, doth not denominate a good and holy man impious ; so neither doth the seed of righteousness in evil men, and the possibility of their becoming one with it, denominate them good or holy. g. IS. 4. §. XV. Fourthly, We do not hercbi/ intend any ways to lessen or derogate from the atonement and sacrifice of Jesus Christ ; but on the contrary do magnify and exalt it. For as we believe all those things to have been certainly transacted which are recorded in the holy scriptures concerning the birth, life, miracles, sufferings, resurrection, and ascension of Christ; so we do also believe that it is the duty of every one to believe it to whom it pleases God to reveal the same, and to bring to them the knowledge of ij:<* yea we be- lieve it were damnable unbelief not to believe it, when so declared ; but to resist that holy seed, which as minded would lead and incline every one to believe it as it is offered unto them, though it revealeth not in every one the outward and explicit knowledge of it, nevertheless it always assenteth to it, ubi declara- tur, where it is declared. Nevertheless as we firmly AND SAVING LIGHT. 135 believe it was necessary that Christ should come, that by his death and sufierings he might offer up himself a sacrifice to God for our sins, who his own- i self bare our sins in his own body on the tree ; so we .; believe that the remission of sins, which any partake That remis- \ of, is only in and by virtue of that most satisfactory f^''"^^^ '^'°^ sacrifice, and no otherwise. For it is by the obedience alone bj i of that one that the free gift is come upon all to just i-^^""^^^' Jication. For we affirm, that as all men partake of , , \ the fruit of Adam's fall, in that by reason of that evil \ seed, which through him is communicated unto them, ^ they are prone and inclined unto evil, though thou- '\ sands of thousands be ignorant of Adam's fall, nei- j ther ever knew of the eating of the forbidden fruit ; so also many may come to feel the influence of this holy and divine seed and light, and be turned from evil to good by it, though they knew nothing of * \ Christ's coming in the flesh, through whose obedience \ and sufferings it is purchased unto them. And as we | affirm it is absolutely needful that those do believe \ the history of Christ's outward appearance, whom it pleased God to bring to the knowledge of it; so we do freely confess, that even that outward knowledge j is very comfortable to such as are subject to and led " by the inward seed and light. For not only doth the \ sense of Christ's love and sufferings tend to humble d them, but they are thereby also strengthened in their j faith and encouraged to follow that excellent pattern "\ which he hath left us, who suffered for us, as saith the apostle Peter, 1 Pet. ii. 21, leaving us an example \ that we should follow his steps : and many times we j are greatly edified and refreshed with the gracious ^ sayings which proceed out of his mouth. The history The hisioi j \ then is profitable and comfortable with the mystery, j^iS^lSlT'''' ? and never without it ; but the mystery is and may be mystery. profitable without the explicit and outward know- ledge of the history. - But Fifthly, This brings us to another question, ques. 5. ■ to wit, Wliether Christ be in all men or no? Which ^^.^^'Zn. 136 OF UNIVERSAL PROP. V. VI. sometimes hath been asked us, and arguments brought against it ; because indeed it is to be found in some of our writings that Christ is in all men ; and we often are heard, in our public meetings and declara- tions, to desire every man to know and be acquainted with Christ in them, telling them that Christ is in them ; it is fit therefore, for removing of all mistakes, to say something in this place concerning this matter. We have said before how that a divifie, s-piritual, and supernatural light is in all men ; how that that divifie supernatural light or seed is vehiculum Dei ; how that God and Christ dwelleth in it, and is never sepa- rated from it; also how that as it is received and closed within the heart, Christ comes to be formed and brought forth ; but we are far from ever having said that Christ is thus formed in all men, or ifi the wicked: for that is a great attainment, which the apostle tra- vailed that it might be brought forth in the Galatians. Neither is Christ in all men by way oi union, or indeed, ' to speak strictly, by way of inhabitation; because this inhabitation, as it is generally taken, imports union, or the manner of Christ' s being in the saints: as it is writ- ten, I will dwell in them, and walk in them, 2 Cor. vi. 1 6. But in regard Chnst is in all men as in a seed, yea, and that he never is nor can be separate from that holy pure seed and light which is in all men ; there- fore may it be said in a larger sense, that he is in all, even as we observed before. The scripture saith, Amos, ii. 13 : God is pressed down as a cart U7ider sheaves, and Christ crucified in the ungodly ; though to speak properly and strictly, neither can God be pressed down, nor Christ, as God, be crucified. In this respect then, as he is in the seed which is in all men, we have said Christ is in all rnen, and have preached and directed all men to Christ in them, who chri»t era- Ucs cRicified iu them by their sins and iniquities, that mM'bv"ini. ^^^y "^^y ^^^^ "P^^^ ^^'^^^ whofu thct/ huvc picrccd, and quitiei. repent : 'whereby he that now lies as it were slain and buried /;/ them, may come to be raised, and have AND SAVING LIGHT. 137 dominion in their hearts over all. And thus also the apostle Paul preached to the Corinthians and Galatians, 1 Cor. ii. 2, Christ crucified in them, kv vfMv, as the Greek hath it. This Jesus Christ was that which the apostle desired to know in them, and make known unto them, that they might come to be sensible how they had thus been crucifying Christ, that so they might repent and be saved. And foras- much as Christ is called that light that enlightens every man, the light of the world, therefore the light is taken for Christ, who truly is the fountain of light, and hath his habitation in it for ever. Thus the lis^ht of Christ is sometimes called Christ, i. e. that in which Christ is, and from which he is never separated. §. XVI. Sixthly, It will manifestly appear by what is above said, that we understand not this divine prin- ' ciple to he any part of mans nature, nor yet to be any relics of any good which Adam lost by his fall, in that we make it a distinct separate thing from man's soul, and all the faculties of it : yet such is the rnalice of our adversaries, that they cease not sometimes to calumniate us, as if we preached up a natural light, or the \\or\ii of man's natural conscience. Next there are that lean to the doctrine of Socinus and Pelagius, who persuade themselves through mistake, and out of no ill design to injure us, as if this which we preach up were some natural power and faculty of the soul, and that we only differ in the wording of it, and not in the thing itself; whereas there can be no greater difference than is betwixt us in that matter : for we certainly know that this light of which we speak is not only distinct, but of a different nature from the soul of man, and its faculties. Indeed that The facai- man, as he is a rational creature, hath reason as a rg^ason?^" * natural faculty of his soul, by which he can discern things that are rational, we deny not; for this is a property natural and essential to him, by which he can know and learn many arts and sciences, beyond what any other animal can do by the mere animal 1^ OF tJSlVllRSAL PKOP. V. VI. principle. Neither do we deny but by this rational principle man may apprehend in his brain, and in the notion, a knowledge of God and spiritual things ; yet that not being the right organ, as in the second proposition hath more at length been signified, it can- not profit him towards salvation, but rather hinder- eth ; and indeed the great cause of the apostacy hath been, that man hath sought to fathom the things of God in and by this natural and rational principle, and to build up a religion in it, neglecting and overlook- ing this principle and seed of God in the heart ; so that herein, in the most universal and catholic sense, Antirbrist hath A)itichrist hi every man set up himself, and sit- pie'of God ^^^^^ ^'^ ^^'^ temple of God as God, and above every thing that is called God, For men being the temple of the Holy Ghost, as saith the apostle, 1 Col. iii. 16, when the rational principle sets up itself there above the seed of God, to reign and rule as a prince in spi- ritual things, while the holy seed is wounded and bruised, there is Antichrist in every man, or some- what exalted above and against Christ. Neverthe- less we do not hereby affirm as if man had received his reason to no purpose, or to be of no service unto him ; in no wise : we look upon reason as fit to order Ti.e divine aud rulc man in things natural. For as God gave "f?^;*'"^"*" two ffreat liarhts to rule the outward world, the sun tural reason o ^ iiiii distinguish- and moon, the greater light to rule the day, and the **** lesser light to rule the night ; so hath he given man the light of his Son, a spiritual divine light, to rule him in things spiritual, and the light of reason to rule him in things natural. And even as the moon borrows her light *from the sun, so ought men, if they would be rightly and comfortably ordered in natural things, to have their reason enlightened by this divine and pure light. Which enlightened reason, in those that obey and follow this true light, we confess may be useful to man even in spiritual things, as it is still subservient and subject to the other ; even as the animal life in man, regulated and ordered by his reason, helps him in AND SAVING LIGHT. 139 | going about things that are rational. We do further The light i rightly distinguish this from man's natural conscience ; ^^^5-3"'*' ^ for conscience beinor* that in man which ariseth from mao's nata- • j the natural faculties of man's soul, may be defiled and encr°^°*' \ corrupted. It is said expressly of the impure, Tit. i. ] 15 : That even their mind and conscience is defiled ; I but this light can never be corrupted nor defiled; neither did it ever consent to evil or wickedness in ' any : for it is said expressly, that it makes ail things ] manifest that are 7xprovahle, Eph. v. 13 ; and so is a j faithful witness for God against every unrighteous- ness in man. Now conscience^ to define it truly, i comes from [conscire,'] and is that knowledge which Conscience \ ariseth in man's heart, from what agreeth, co7itradict- '^^fi"e«J- eth, or is contrary to any thing believed by him, where- \ by he becomes conscious to himself that he transgresseth ^ by doing that which he is persuaded he ought not to do. ' \ So that the mind being once blinded or defiled with a wrong belief, there ariseth a conscience from that belief ] wliich troubles him when he goes against it. As for Example of i example : A Turk who hath possessed himself with a ^ ^ "'^'^* false belief that it is unlawful for him to drink wine, if he do it, his conscience smites him for it; but j though he keep many concubines, his conscience i troubles him not, because his judgment is already - defiled with a false opinion that it is lawful for him 5 to do the one, and unlawful to do the other. Whereas \ if the light of Christ in him were minded, it would | reprove him not only for committing fornication, but j also, as he became obedient thereunto, inform him 1 that Mahomet was an impostor ; as well as Socrates \ was informed by it, in his day, of the falsity of the | heathen's gods. \ So if a Papist eat flesh in Lent, or banot diligent Example oi enough in adoration of saints and images, or if he ^ ''^p'*^- should contemn images, his conscience would smite i^ him for it, because his judgment is already blinded \ with a false belief concerning these things : whereas ; the light of Christ never consented to any of those *. 140 OF UNIVERSAL PROP. V. VI. abominations. Thus then man's natural conscience is sufficiently distinguished from it; for conscience followeth the judgment, doth not inform it ; but this light, as it is received, removes the blindness of the judgment, opens the understanding, and rectifies both the judgment and conscience. So we confess also, that conscience is an excellent thing, where it is rightly informed and enlightened : wherefore some Tbc natural of US havc fitly comparcd it to the lanthorn, and the compi'rerto ^'g^* of Christ to a candle : a lanthorn is useful, when a lanthorn, a clcar caiijlle burns and shines in it ; but otherwise ugilt^of of no use. To the light of Christ then in the con- cbristtoa scicucc, and not to man's natural conscience, it is that we continually commend men ; that, not this, is it which we preach up, and direct people to, as to a most certain guide unto life eternal. Lastly, This liglit, seed, &c. appears to be no power or natural faculty of man's mind ; because a man that is in his health can, when he pleases, stir up, move, and exercise the faculties of his soul ; he is absolute master of them; and except there be some natural cause or impediment in the way, he can use them at his pleasure : but this light and seed of God in man he cannot move and stir up when he pleaseth ; but it moves, blows, and strives with man, as the Lord seeth meet. For though there be a possibility of sal- vation to every man during the day of his visitation, yet cannot a man, at any time when he pleaseth, or The waiUng hath somc scnsc of his misery, stir up that light and upon the prrace, SO as to procure to himself tenderness of heart ; movingsof p ^ ' ^. p . , . , „ ' the light but he must wait lor it : which comes upon all at cer- aod grace, ^.^j^^ timcs and seasons, wherein it works powerfully upon the soul, mightily tenders it, and breaks it ; at which time, if man resist it not, but close with it, he comes to know salvation by it. Even as the lake of Bethesda did not cure all those that washed in it, but such only as washed first after the angel had mov^ upon the waters ; so God moves in love to mankind, in this seed in his heart, at some singular times,'setting AND SAVING LIGHT. 141 his sins in order before him, and seriously inviting him to repentance, offering to him remission of sins and salvation ; which if man accept of, he may be saved. Now there is no man alive, and I am confi- dent there shall be none, to whom this paper shall come, who, if they will deal faithfully and honestly with their own hearts, will not be forced to acknow- ledge that they have been sensible of this in some measure, less or more; which is a thing that man cannot bring upon himself with all his pains and in- dustry. This then, O man or woman ! is the day of God's gracious visitation to thy soul, which if thou resist not, thou shalt be happy for ever. This is the day of the Lord, which, as Christ saith, is like the Aiatt. xxiv. lightning, which shineth from the east unto the west: *^^- and the wind or spirit, which bloivs upon the heart, Joha/nis, and no man knoios whither it goes, nor ivhence it comes. \. XVII. And lastly. This leads me to speak cou-ques. 7. cerning the manner of this seed or light's operation ui the hearts of all men, which will show yet more mani- festly, how widely we differ from all those that exalt a natural power or light in man ; and how our principle leads above all others to attribute our whole salvation to the mere power, Spirit, and grace of God. To them then that ask us after this manner, How do ye differ from the Pelagians and Arminians? For if two men have equal sujflcie?it light and grace, and the one be saved by it, the other not; isjt not because the one improves it, the other 7iot? Is not then the will of man the cause of the ones salvation beyond the other ? I say, to such we thus answer : That as the The light's grace and light in all is sufficient to save all, and of ?f ^^^"^'""^ its own nature would save all ; so it strives and salvation, wrestles with all in order to save them ; he that resists its striving is the cause of his own condemnation ; he that resists it not, it becomes his salvation : so that in him that is saved, the working is of the grace, and not of the inaji; and it is passiveness rather^han an 142 OF UNIVERSAL PROP, V. VI. iact ; though afterwards, as a man is wrought upon, ^here is a will raised in him, by which he comes to be a coworker with the grace ; for according to that of Augustine, He that made us without us, icill ?iot save us without us. So that the first step is not by man's working, but by his not contrary working. And we believe, that these singular seasons of every man's visitation abovementioned, as man is wholly unable of himself to work with the grace, neither can he move one step out of the natural condition, until the grace lay hold upon him ; so it is possible for him to be passive, and not to resist it, as it is possible for him to resist it. So we say, the grace of God works in and upon man's nature ; which, though of itself wholly corrupted and defiled, and prone to evil, yet is capable to be wrought upon by the grace of God ; even as iron, though a hard and cold metal of itself, may be warmed and softened by the heat of the fire, and wax melted by the sun. And as iron or wax, when removed from the fire or sun, retumeth to its former condition of coldness and hardness ; so man's heart, as it resists or retires from the grace of God, returns to its' former condition again. I have often had the manner of God's working, in 'order to salva- tion towards all men, illustrated to my mind by one or two clear examples, which I shall here add for the information of others. Tbe exam- Thc first is, Of a man heavily diseased; to whom I eMe"d ma" comparc man in his fallen and natural condition. I andtbepiiy. supposc God, who is the great physician, not only to '"'""• give this man physic, after he hath used all the indus- try he can for his own health, by any skill or know- ledge of his own ; as those that say, If a man im- prove his reason, or natural faculties, God will super- add gi^ace; or, as others say, that he cometh and maketh offer of a remedy to this man outwardly, leav- ing it to the liberty of mans will either to receive it or reject it. But He, even the Loi-d, this great physi- cian, cometh, and poureth the remedy into his mouth, AND SAVING LIGHT. 143^ and as it were layeth him in bis bed ; so that if the sick man be but passive, it will necessarily work the effect : but if he be stubborn and untoward, and will needs rise up and go forth into the cold, or eat such fruits as are hurtful to him, while the medicine should operate; then, though of its nature it tendeth to cure him, yet it will prove destructive to him, because of those obstructions which it meeteth with. Now as the man that should thus undo himself would certainly be the cause of his own death ; so who will say, that, if cured, he owes not his health wholly to the physi- cian, and not to any deed of his own ; seeing his part was not any action, but a passiveness ? The second example is. Of divers men lying in a The exam- dark fit together, where all their senses are so stupi- f^'|ng*^rupl jied, that they are scarce sensible of their own misery, fied in a To this I compare man in his natural, corrupt, fallen ^^ ^^{^ condition. I suppose not that any of these men, deliverer, wrestling to deliver themselves, do thereby stir up or engage one able to deliver them to give them his help, saying within himself, / see one of these men willing to be delivered, and doifig to hat in him lies, therefore he deserves to be assisted; as say the Soci- nians, Pelagians, and Semi-Pelagians. Neither do I suppose that this deliverer comes to the top of the pit, and puts down a ladder, desiring them that will to come up ; and so puts them upon using their own strength and will to come up : as do the Jesuits and Arminians ; yet as they say, such are not delivered without the grace ; seeing the grace is that ladder by which they were delivered. But I suppose that the deliverer comes at certain times, and fully discovers and informs them of the great misery and hazard they are in, if they continue in that noisome and pestiferous place ; yea, forces them to a certain sense of their misery (for the wickedest men at times are made sen- sible of their misery by God's visitation) and not only so, but lays hold upon them, and gives them a pull, in order to iift them out of their misery ; which, if they 144 OF UNIVERSAL PROP. V. VI. resist not, will save them; only they may resist it. This being applied as the former, doth the same way illustrate the matter. Neither is the grace of God frustrated, though the effect of it be divers, according to its object, being the viinisti^ation of mercy and love in those that reject it not, but receive it, John, i. 12, but the ministration of wrath and condemfiation in those that do reject it, John, iii. 19, even as the A simile of suu, by ouc act or operation, melteth and softeneth mdtbg'and ^^ ^^^» ^^^ hardeucth the clay. The nature of the hardening sun is to chcrish the creation, and therefore the living power. ^^ refreshed by it, and the flowers send forth a good savour, as it shines upon them, and the fruits of the trees are ripened ; yet cast forth a dead carcass, a thing without life, and the same reflection of the sun will cause it to stink, and putrify it ; yet is not the sun said thereby to be frustrated of its proper effect. So every man during the day of his visitation is shined upon by the sun of righteousness, and capable of being influenced by it, so as to send forth good fruit, and a good savour, and to be melted by it ; but when he hath sinned out his day, then the same sun hardeneth him, as it doth the clay, and makes his wickedness more to appear and putrify, and send forth an evil savour. All have §. XVIII. Lastly, As we truly affirm that God will- fienffwfai- ^^ ^^ "^^^ ^® pcrish, and therefore hath given to all vation given gracc sufficicut for salvation ; so we do not deny, but \^^ ° that in a special manner he worketh in some, in whom grace so prevaileth, that they necessarily obtain sal- vation ; neither doth God suffier them to resist. For it were absurd to say, that God had not far otherwise extended himself towards the virgin Mary and the apostle Paul, than towards many others : neither can we affirm that God equally loved the beloved disciple John and Judas the traitor ; yet so far, nevertheless, as none wanted such a measure of grace by which they might have been saved, all are justly inexcusa- ble. And also God working in those to whom this AND SAVING LIGHT. 145 j prevalency of grace is given, doth so hide liimself, to ) shut out all security and presumption, that such may I be humbled, and the free grace of God magnified, and \ • all reputed to be of the free gift ; and nothing from the strength of self Those also who perish, when they remember those times of God's visitation towards ^^ them, wherein he wrestled with them by his Light ] and Spirit, are forced to confess that there was a time ] wherein the door of mercy was open unto them, and , that they are justly condemned, because they rejected their own salvation. i Thus both the mercy and justice of God are estab- i lished, and the will and strength of man are brought down and rejected ; his condemnation is made to be i of himself, and his salvation only to depend upon God. Also by these positions two great objections, which often are brought against this doctrine, are I well solved. t The first is deduced from those places of scripture, object. - wherein God seems precisely to have decreed and \ predestinated some to salvation ; and for that end, to have ordained certain means, which fall not out to others ; as in the calling of Abraham, David, and ] others, and in the conversion of Paul ; for these being \ numbered among such to whom this prevalency is ] given, the objection is easily loosed. The second is drawn from those places, wherein Prede»tina- I God seems to have ordained some wicked persons to *'"" *" "*'; i n 1 11 il'l vation, and destruction ; and therefore to have obdured t^ieir hearts preordina- ; to force them unto great sins, and to have raised *,'°actiou^" \ them up, that he might show in them his power, answered. i who, if they be numbered amongst those men whose ■ day of visitation is passed over, that objection is also ; solved ; as will more evidently appear to any one that ' will make a particular application of those things, ! which I at this time, for brevity's sake, thought meet ■ to pass over. I §. XIX. Having thus clearly and evidently stated \ the question, and opened our mind and judgment in 146 OF UNIVERSAL PROP. V. \ 1. this matter, as divers objections are hereby prevented, so will it make our proof both the easier and the shorter. Prop. I. The first thing to be proved is, That God hath Pro? ed. gi'ijcn to cvcvy man a day or time of visitation^ wherein it is possible /of him to be saved. If we can prove that there is a day and time given, in which those might liave been saved that actually perish, the mat- ter is done : for none deny but those that are saved prooi I. have a day of visitation. This then appears by the regrets and complaints which the Spirit of God throughout the whole scriptures makes, even to those Those that that did perish ; sharply reproving them, for that they Tdi^^'o^f*'^ did not accept of, nor close with God's visitation and mercy offer- offcr of mcrcy to thcm. Thus the Lord expresses '^ '^'"'' himself then first of all to Cain, Gen. iv. 6, 7 : And Instances, the Lo7'd Said unto Cai?i, Why art thou wroth ? and 1. Cain. ^^^ ^^ ^i^y countenance fallen ? If thou dost well, shalt thou not be accepted ? If thou dost not tvell, sin lieth at the door. This was said to Cain before he slew his brother Abel, when the evil seed began to tempt him, and work in his heart ; we see how God gave warning to Cain in season, and in the day of his visitation towards him, acceptance and remission, if he did well : for this interrogation, Shalt thou not be accepted! imports an affirmative, Thou shalt be accepted, if thou dost well. So that if we may trust God Almighty, the fountain of all truth and equity, it was possible in a day, even for Cain to be accepted. Neither could God have proposed the doing of good as a condition, if he had not given Cain sufficient strength, whereby he was capable to do good. This the Lord himself also shows, even that he gave a day 2. The old of visitation to the old world, Gen. vi. 3 : And the world. ior^/ said, My Spiint shall not always strive in man ; for so it ought to be translated. This manifestly im- plies, that his Spirit did strive with man, and doth strive with him for a season ; which season expiring, God ceaseth to strive with him, in order to save him : AND SAVING LIGHT. 14? ■ for the Spirit of God cannot be said to strive with ; man after the day of his visitation is expired ; seeing ^ it naturally, and without any resistance, works its effect then, to wit, continually to judge and condemn ] him. From this dai/ of visitation, that God fiath given to every one, is it that he is said to wait to be gracious. God is long- \ Isa. XXX. 18; and to be longmffering, Exod. xxxiv. *^J[^,^'°^' ] 6; Numb. xiv. 18; Psal. Ixxxvi. 15; Jer. xv. 15. waiting to ^ Here the prophet Jeremy, in his prayer, lays hold ^^^f^^^ll"" t upon the longsuffering of God; and in his expostu- ; lating with God, he shuts out the objection of our ad- ' versaries in the 18 th verse ; Why is my pain perpetual, and my wound incurable, which refuseth to be healedt Wilt thou altogether be unto me as a liar, and as wa- ters that fain Whereas, according to our adversaries' ! opinion, the pain of the most part of men is perpe- j tual, and their wound altogether incurable ; yea, the ■ offer of the gospel, and of salvation unto them, is as ; a lie, and as waters that fail, being never intended to j be of any eflfect unto them. The apostle Peter says \ expressly, that this longsuffering of God waited in the \ days of Noah for those of the old world, 1 Pet. iii. 20, [ which, being compared with that of Gen. vi. 3, be- ; forementioned, doth sufficiently hold forth our propo- \ sition. And that none may object that this loyigsuf ! fering or striving of the Lord was not in order to —in order save them, the same apostle saith expressly, 2 Pet. ^^^'^ i iii. 15 : That the longsuffering of God is to be ac- \ counted salvation; and with this longsuffering, a \ little befDre in the 9th verse, he couples. That God is not willing that any should perish. Where, taking ; him to be his own interpreter (as he is most fit) he . \ holdeth forth, That those to whom the Lord is long- { suffering (which he declareth he was to the wicked \ of the old world, and is now to all, not willing that \ any should perish), they are to account this longsuf- \ fering of God to them salvation. Now how or in \ what respect can they account it salvation, if there be \ not so much as a possibility of salvation conveyed to \ ' l2 i 148 OF UNIVERSAL PROP. V. VI. them tlierein? For it were not salvation to them, if they could not be saved by it. In this matter Peter further refers to the writings of Paul, holding forth this to have been the universal doctrine. Where it is observable what he adds upon this occasion, how Some things thcrc art soTtie things in Paul's epistles hard to be un- epiruel' derstood, which the unstable and wilearned wrest to '"'d* *° ^\ their own destruction; insinuating plainly this of those . gjj.prgggjQjjg jj^ Paul's epistles, as Rom. ix. &c. which some, unlearned in spiritual things, did make to con- tradict the truth of Gods longsuffering towards ally in which he willeth not any of them should perish, and in which they all may be saved. Would to God many had taken more heed than they have done to this advertisement ! That place of the apostle Paul, which Peter seems here most particularly to hint at, doth much contribute also to clear the matter, Rom. ii. 4 : Despisest thou the riches of his goodness, and forbearance, and longsuffering, not knowing that the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance! Paul speaketh here to the unregenerate, and to the wicked, who (in the following verse he saith) treasure up wrath unto the dai/ of wrath ; and to such he com- mends the riches of the forbearance and longsuffer- ing of God ; showing that the tendency of God s goodness leadeth to repentance. How could it ne- cessarily tend to lead them to repentance, how could it be called riches or goodness to them, if there were not a time wherein they might repent by it, and come to be sharers of the riches exhibited in it ? From all which I thus argue. Arc. If God plead with the wicked, from the possibility cod'i Spirit of their being accepted; if God's Spirit strive in them the wfckU. ^^^ ^ season, in order to save them, who afterwards perish; if he wait to be gracious unto them; if he be longsuffering towards them ; and if this longsuf- fering be salvation to them while it endureth, during which time God willeth them not to perish, but exhi- biteth to them the riches of his goodness and forbear- AND SAVING LIGHT. 149 ance to lead tliem to repentance ; then there is a day , of visitation wherein such might have been, or some such now may be saved, who have perished ; and may perish, if they repent not : But the first is true ; therefore also the last. §. XX: Secondly, this appeareth from the prophet pr. ii. Isaiah, v. 4 : What could I have done jnore to my vineyard^. For in verse 2 he saith; He had fenced it, Thevine- and mtheixd out the stones thereof, and planted it ^^'^ p'*""*' -.1.1 I • ' J /'TIN 7 ^ed broai;ht With the choicest vme ; and yet (saith he) when /forth wild looked it should have brought forth grapes, it brought ^"p®** forth wild grapes. Wherefore he calleth the inhabi- tants of Jerusalem, and men of Judah, to judge be- twixt him and his vineyard, saying ; What could I have done more to my vineyard, than I have done in itl and yet (3,8 is S2iid) it brought forth wild grapes : which was applied to many in Israel who refused God's mercy. The same example is used by Christ, Matt. xxi. 33 ; Mark, xii. 1 ; Luke, xx. 9, where Jesus shows, how to some a vineyard was planted, and all things given necessary for them, to get them fruit to pay or restore to their master ; and how the master many times waited to be merciful to them, in sending servants after servants, and passing by many offences, before he determined to destroy and cast them out. First, then, this cannot be understood of the saints, or of such as repent and are saved ; for it is said ex- pressly, He will destroy them. Neither would the parable any ways have answered the end for which it is alleged, if these men had not been in a capacity to have done good; yea, such was their capacity, that Christ saith in the prophet. What could I have done morel So that it is more than manifest, that by this parable, repeated in three sundry evangelists, Christ holds forth his longsuffering towards men, and their wickedness, to w^hom means of salvation being afforded, do nevertheless resist, to their own condemnation. To these also are parallel these scrip- tures, Prov. i. 24, 25, 26 ; Jer. xviii. 9, 10 ; Matt, xviii. 32, 33, 34 ; Acts, xiii. 46. 150 OF UNIVERSAL PROP. V. VI. Pi. III. Lastly, That there is a day of visitation given \o the wicked, wherein they might have been saved, and which being expired, they are shut out from salva- chri«t'. u- tion, appears evidently by Christ's lamentation over "Tr j'°u Jerusalem, expressed in three sundry places, Matt. saiem. xxiii. 37 ; Luke, xiii. 34, and xix. 41, 42 : Atid when he was come neai\ he beheld the city, and wept over it, saying ; If thou hadst known, even thou, at least in this thy day, the things that belo?ig to thy peace ; but now they are hid from thine eyes! Than which no- thing can be said more evident to prove our doctrine. For, First, he insinuates that there was a day wherein the inhabitants of Jerusalem might have known those things that belonged to their peace. Secondly, That during that day he was willing to have gathered them, even as a hen gathereth her chickens. A familiar example, yet very significative in this case ; which shows that the offer of salvation made unto them was not in vain on his part, but as really, and with as great cheerfulness and willingness as a hen gathereth her chickens. Such as is the love and care of the. hen toward her brood, such is the care of Christ to gather lost men and women, to redeem them out of their corrupt and degenerate state. Thirdly, That because they refused, the things belonging to their peace were hid from their eyes. Why were they hid? Because ye would not suffer me to gather you ; ye would not see those things that were good for you, in the season of God's love towards you ; and therefore now, that day being expired, ye cannot see them : and, for a farther judgment, God suffers you to be hardened in unbelief. Codhar- So it is, after real offers of mercy and salvation rejected, that men's hearts are hardened, and not be- fore. Thus that saying is verified, To him that hath shall be given ; and from him that hath not, shall be taken away even that which he hath. Tliis may seem a riddle, yet it is according to this doctrine easily solved. He hath not, because he hath lost the season of using it, and so to him it is now as nothing; for dens, wh«o. AND SAVING LIGHT. 151 Christ uses this expression, Matt. xxv. 26, upon the ^ occasion of the taking the one talent from the slothful The one ta- ^ servant, and giving it to him that was diligent; which /afficTe^nt. talent was no ways insufficient of itself, but of the i^ same nature with those given to the others; and I therefore the Lord had reason to exact the profit of it i proportionably, as well as from the rest : so, I say, it \ is after the rejecting of the day of visitation, that the i judgment of obduration is inflicted upon men and \ women, as Christ pronounceth it upon the Jews out j of Isaiah, vi. 9, which all the four evangelists make mention of^ Matt. xiii. 14; Mark, iv. 12; Luke, viii. 10; John, xii. 40; and last of all the apostle Paul, \ after he had made offer of the gospel of salvation to ; the Jews at Rome, pronounceth the same. Acts, xxviii. 26, after that some believed not ; Well spake ] the Holy Ghost, by Isaiah the prophet, unto our ' i fathers, saying, Go unto this people, and say, Hearing \ ye shall hear, and shall not understand ; and seeing 1 ye shall see, and [shall not perceive. For the heart of ] this people is waxed gross, and their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes have they closed; lest they - should see with their eyes, a?id hear with iheir ears, and understand with their hearts, and should be con- \ verted, arul I should heal them. So it appears, that \ God would have them to see, but they closed their S eyes; and therefore they are justly hardened. Of 1 this matter Cyrillus Alexandrinus upon John, lib. vi. CjrHi. hUx. cap. 21, speaks well, answering to this objection: ^* But some say, If Christ be come into the world, \ that those that see may be blinded, their blindness is \ not imputed unto them; but it rather seems that Christ is the cause of their blindness, who saith, ] * He is come into the world, that those that see may be :\ blinded' But," saith he, " they speak not rationally, \ who object these things unto God, and are not afraid ^ to call him the author of evil. For, as the sensible \ sun is carried upon our horizon, that it may commu- nicate the gift of its clearness unto all, and make its \ 162 or UNIVERSAL PROP. V. VI. Tiie oaose light shinc upon all ; yet if any one close his eyelids, of man's re- Qj^ willineflv tum himself from the sun, refusing: the darkiiew, benefit of Its light, he wants its illumination, and re- [^•^^^""^ mains in darkness, not through the defect of the sun, but through his own fault. So that the true Sun, who came to enlighten those that sat in darkness, and in the region of the shadow of death, visited the earth for this cause, that he might communicate unto all the gift of knowledge and grace, and illuminate the inward eyes of all by a spiritual splendour : but many reject the gift of this heavenly light freely given to them, and have closed the eyes of their minds, lest / so excellent an illumination or irradiation of the eter- nal light should shine unto them. It is not then through defect of the true sun that they are blinded, but only through their own iniquity and hardness ; for, as the wise man saith. Wisdom, ii. their wick- edness hath blinded them."" From all which I thus argue : The obsii- If there was a day wherein the obstinate Jews w^IITkI. roig^it have known the things that belonged to their peace, which, because they rejected it, icei^e hid from their eyes ; if there was a time wherein Christ would have gathered them, who because they refused, could not be gathered ; then such as might have been saved do actually perish, that slighted the day of God's visi- tation towards them, wherein they might have been converted and saved. But the first is true ; therefore also the last. Prop. h. §. XXI. Secondly, That which comes in the second place to be proved is, That whereby God offers to work this salvation during the day of every nians visitation; and that is, That he hath given to evei^y man a mea- sure of saving, sufficient, and supernatm^al light and grace. This I shall do, by God's assistance, by some plain and clear testimonies of the scripture. Proof I. First, From that of John, i. 9, That was the true onitghfen- ^^^'/'^ whicli Ughtcth cvcry man that cometh into the inj •'•'j'^ world. This place doth so clearly favour us, that by AND SAVING LIGHT. 153 1 some it is called the Quaker's text ; for it doth evi- j dently demonstrate our assertion ; so that it scarce J needs either consequence or deduction, seeing itself is ] a consequence of two propositions asserted in the former verses, from which it followeth as a conclusion in the very terms of our faith. The first of these pro- ] positions is, The life that is in him is the light of \ men: the second, The light shineth in the darkness ; ' and from these two he infers, and He is the true light, which lighteth every man that cometh i7ito the '] world. ' '\ From whence I do in short observe, That this obseuv. i. ' divine apostle calls Christ the light of men, and giveth : us this as one of the chief properties, at least consi- derably and especially to be observed by us ; seeing ] hereby, as he is the light, and as we walk with him in that light which he communicates to us, we come j to have fellowship and communion with him ; as the i same apostle saith elsewhere, 1 John, i. 7. Secondly, j That this light shineth in darkness, though the dark- \ ness comprehend it not. Thirdly, That this true light -not to a \ enlighteneth even/ man that cometh into the world. ^'/„' J,'"^ ,,f Where the apostle, being directed by God's Spirit, meo, but : hath carefully avoided their captiousness, that would ^"^^^ "*"* \ have restricted this to any certain number: where every one is, there is none excluded. Next, should > they be so obstinate, as sometimes they are, as to say that this [every man] is only every one of the elect ; ^ these words following, every man that cometh into the world, would obviate that objection. So that it is \ plain there comes no man into the world, whom ] Christ hath not enlightened in some measure, and in J whose dark heart this light doth not shine ; though the darkness comprehend it not, yet it shineth there ; ] and the nature thereof is to dispel the darkness, I where men shut not their eyes upon it. Now for The ligiit ] what end this light is given, is expressed verse 7, ^^^^ \ where John is said to come for a witness, to bear wit- begets faith. j 164 OF UNIVJERSAL PROP. V. VI. neiis to the light, that all men through it might believe; to wit, througU the light, ^i uvth, which doth very well agree with ^wtoc, as being the nearest antece- dent, though most translators have (to make it suit with their own doctrine) made it relate to John, as if all men were to believe through John. For which, as there is nothing directly in the text, so it is con- trary to the very strain of the context. For, seeing Christ hath lighted every man with this light, is it not that they may come to believe through it ? All could not believe through John, because all men could not know of John's testimony ; whereas every man being lighted by this, may come there-through to believe. John shined not in darkness ; but this light shineth in the darkness, that having dispelled the darkiiess, it may produce and beget faith. And lastly. We must believe through that, and become be- lievers through that, by walking in which, fellowship with God is known and enjoyed ; but, as hath been above observed, it is by walking in this light that we have this communion and fellowship ; not by walk- ing in John, which were nonsense. So that this re- lative Si avTH, must needs be referred to the light, whereof John bears witness, that through that light, wherewith Christ hath lighted every man, all men might come to believe. Seeing then this light is the light of Jesus Christ, and the light through which men come to believe, I think it needs not to be The light is doubtcd, but that it is a supernatural, saving, and ^Havlrg, sufficient light. If it were not supernatural, it could und soffici-' not be properly called the light of Jesus ; for though '"** all things be his, and of him, and from him ; yet those things which are common and peculiar to our nature, as being a part of it, we are not said in so special a manner to have from Christ. Moreover, the evangelist is holding out to us here the office of Christ as mediator, and the benefits which from him as such do redound unto us. AND SAVING UGHT. 155 Secondly, It cannot be any of the natural gifts or observ 2. faculties of our soul, whereby we are said here to be ! enlightened, because this light is said to shine in I the darkness, and cannot be comprehended by it. Now this darkness is no other but man's natural con- The dark- ditron and state ; in which natural state he can easily II,"^'s uatu- comprehend, and doth comprehend, those things that rai state and ; are peculiar and common to him as such. That man *'°"*^**""'* I in his natural condition is called darkness, see Eph. ; V. 8: For ye were sometimes darkness, but now are ye \ light in the Lord. And in other places, as Acts, \ xxvi. 18; Col. i. 3; 1 Thess. v. 5; where the con- \ dition of man in his natural state is termed darkness: therefore, I say this light cannot be any natural pro- \ perty or faculty of man's soul, but a supernatural gift \ and grace of Christ. Thirdly, It is sufficient and saving. odserv. •>. j That which is given that all men through it may aro. 1. ! believe, must needs be saving and sufficient : that, by i walking in which, fellowship with the saints and the \ blood of Christ, which deanseth from all sin, is pos- \ sessed, must be sufficient : I But such is the Light, 1 John, i. 7. Therefore, &c. \ Moreover ; That which we are commanded to believe in that arc. 2. \ we may become the children of the Light, must be a \ supernatural, sufficient, and saving principle : | But we are commanded to believe in this light : Therefore, &c. \ The proposition cannot be denied. The assump- j tion is Christ's own words, John, xii. 36 : While ye \ have the light, believe in the light, that ye may be the children of the light. \ To this they object. That by [light] here is under- object. \ stood Christ's outward person, i?i whom he would have i them believe. \ That they ought to have believed in Christ, that is, answ. that he was the Messiah that was to come, is not 156 OF UNIVERSAL PROP. V. Vf. Whether denied; but how they evince that Christ intended wiidpcMon '^^^ ^^^^' ^ ^^^ "^* • ^^y ^^^^ P^^^^ ^^^^^ shows the wMthe contrary, by these words, Whi/e ye have the light; ^^^^' and by the verse going before, Walk while yc have the light, lest darkness come upon you : which words import, that when that light in which they were to believe was removed, then they should lose the capa- city or season of believing. Now this could not be understood of Christ's person, else the Jews might have believed in him ; and many did savingly believe in him, as all Christians do at this day, when the person, to wit, his bodily presence, or outward man, is The light of far removed from them. So that this light in which Christ's "''* ^^^^y w^re commanded to believe must be that inward outward spiritual light that shines in their hearts for a season, ITn" *"^ ^^^ even during the day of man's visitation ; which while it continueth to call, invite, and exhort, men are said to have it, and may believe in it ; but when men re- fuse to believe in it, and reject it, then it ceaseth to be a light to show them the way; but leaves the sense of their unfaithfulness as a sting in their con- science, which is a terror and darkness unto them, and upon them, in which they cannot know where to go, neither can work any ways profitably in order to their salvation. And therefore to such rebellious ones the day of the Lord is said to be darkness, and . not light, Amos, v. 18. From whence it appears, that though many receive not the light, as many comprehend it not, neverthe- less this saving light shines in all, that it may save Cjriiius them. Concerning which also Cyrillus Alexandri- niI«V"on' ^^^ ^^^*^ "weW, and defends our principle : " With John, lih. i. great diligence and watchfulness," saith he, " doth chap. II. ^i^g apostle John endeavour to anticipate and prevent the vain thoughts of men : for there is here a wonder- ful method of sublime things, and overturning of ob- jections. He had just now called the Son the true light, by whom he affirmed that every man coming into the world was enlightened; yea, that he was in AND SAVING LIGHT. 157 \ the world, and the world was made by him. One may then object, If the word of God be the light, and : if this light enlighten the hearts of men, and suggest ] unto men piety and the understanding of things ; if | he was always in the world, and was the creator or ; builder of the world, why was he so long unknown unto the world ? It seems rather to follow because he ■ was unknown to the world, therefore the world was not enlightened by him, nor he totally light. Lest any \ should so object, he divinely infers [and the world knew him not]. Let not the world," saitli he, " accuse the word of God, and his eternal light, but its own The sun en- weakness ; for the sun enlightens, but the creature bJl'*^"^ 1 rejects the grace that is given unto it, and abuseth the througu \ sharpness of understanding granted it, by which it burilfHra- -i might have naturally known God ; and, as a prodigal, mination. ;. hath turned its sight to the creatures, neglecting to go | forward, and through laziness and negligence buried the illumination, and despised this grace. Which that the disciple of Paul might not do, he was commanded i to watch ; therefore it is to be imputed to their wick- .1 edness, who are illuminated, and not unto the light. For as albeit the sun riseth upon all, yet he that is ■ blind receiveth no benefit thereby ; none thence can justly accuse the brightness of the sun, but will ascribe ] the cause of not seeing to the blindness : so I judge ^ it is to be understood of the only begotten Son of ] God ; for he is the true light, and sendeth forth his \ brightness upon all ; but the god of this world, as '!■ Paul saith, hath blinded the minds of those that be- .) lieve not, 2 Cor. iv. 4, that the light of the gospel • shine not unto them. We say then that darkness is come upon men, not because they are altogether de- i prived of light, for nature retaineth still the strength of understanding divinely given it, but because man \ is dulled by an evil habit, and become worse, and ' i hath made the measure of grace in some respect to < I languish. When therefore the like befalls man, the i Psalmist justly prays, crying^ Open mine eyes, that I < 158 OF UNIVERSAL PROP. V. VI. 77iay behold the wonderful things of thy law. For the law was given that this light might be kindled in us, the blearedness of the eyes of our minds being wiped away, and the blindness being removed which de- tained us in our former ignorance. By these words then the world is accused as ungrateful and unsensi- ble, not knowing its author, nor bringing forth the good fruit of the illumination ; that it may now seem to be said truly of all, which was of old said by the prophet of the Jews, I expected that it should have brought forth grapes, but it brought forth wild grapes. For the good fruit of the Ulujnination was the knowledge of the only begotten, as a cluster hang- ing from a fruitful branch, &c." Grace no na- From whicli it appcars Cyrillus believed that a turui ifift. gfjyiyjg illumination was given unto all. For as to what he speaks of nature, he understands it not of the common nature of man by itself, but of that nature which hath the strength of understanding divinely given it : for he understands this uiiiversal illumina-^ Hon to be of the same kind with that gi^ace of which Paul makes mention to Timothy, saying. Neglect not the grace that is in thee. Now it is not to be believed that Cyrillus was so ignorant as to judge that grace to have been some natural gift. Prop. II. ^. XXII. That this saving light and seed, or a measure of it, is given to all, Christ tells us expressly in the parable of the sower, Matt, xiii* from verse 18 ; The»eed of Mark, iv. and Luke, viii. II, he saith. That this seed domV«7own sown in those several sorts of ground is the word of in sererai the kifigdom, whicli thc apostle calls the ivord of faith, groanda Rom. X. 8; Jamcs, i. 21 ; o Aoyoc f^^uroc, the im- tjrithoat planted engrafted word, which is able to save the soul ; the words themselves declare that it is that which is .*iavijig in the nature of it, for in the e^ood aromKl i< fructified abundantly. Let us then observe, that this seed of the kingdom, this saving, supernatural, and sufficient word, was really sown in the stony thorny ground, niid by tlie AND SAVING LIGHT. 159 wayside, where it did not profit, but became useless as to these grounds : it was, I say, the same seed that was sown in the good ground. It is then the fear of persecution and deceitfulness of riches, as Christ him- self interpreteth the parable, which hindereth this seed to grow in the hearts of many : not but that in its own nature it is sufficient, being the same with that which groweth up and prospereth in the hearts of those who receive it. So that though all are not saved by it, yet there is a seed of salvation planted and sown in the hearts of all by God, which would grow up and redeem the soul, if it were not choked and hindered. Concerning this parable Victor An- tiochenus on Mark iv. as he is cited by Vossius, in his Pelagian Histoiy, book 7, saith, " That our Lord Christ hath liberally sown the divine seed of the word, and proposed it to all, without respect of persons ; and as he that soweth distinguisheth not betwixt ground and ground, but simply casteth in the seed without distinction, so our Saviour hath offered the food of the divine word so far as was his part, although he was not ignorant what would become of many. Lastly, he so behaved himself, as he might justly say, What should I have done that I have not done?" And to this answered the parable of the talents, Matt. XXV. he that had two talents was accepted, as well as he that had^z;e, because he used them to his master's profit : and he that had one might have done so ; his talent was of the same nature of the rest ; it was as capable to have proportionably brought forth its in- terest as the rest. And so thouo^h there be not a like proportion of grace given to all, to some^ve talents, to some two talents, and to some but one talent ; yet there is given to all that which is sufficient, and no more is required than according to that which is given : For unto whomsoever much is given, from him shall much he required, Luke, xii. 48. He that had the two talents was accepted for ^wm^ four, nothing less than he that srave the ten : so should he also that 160 OF UNIVERSAL PROP. V. VI. gave the one, if he had given tivo ; and no doubt one was capable to have produced two, as well as Jive to have produced ten, or two four. Prop. III. §. XXIII. Thirdly, This saving spiritual light is the gospel, which the apostle saith expressly is The ligbt is preached in every creature under heaven; even that tbe S^we^r' ^^^1 gosp^l wkereof Paul was made a minister. Col. i. of God 23. For the gospel is not a mere declaration of good everf crta° thiu^s, bciug the pcTwer of God unto salvation to all tureander tlwsc that beUeve, Rom. i. 16. Though the outward ^*^*°* declaration of the gospel be taken sometimes for the gospel ; yet it is but figuratively, and by a metonymy. For to speak properly, the gospel is this inward power and>life which preacheth glad tidings in the hearts of alKmen, offering salvation unto them, and seeking to redeem them from their iniquities, and therefore it is said to be preached in every creature under heaven: whereas there are many thousands of men and women to whom the outward gospel was never preached. Therefore the apostle Paul, Romans, i. where he saith the gospel is the power of God unto salvation, adds, that therein is revealed the i^ighteousness of God from faith to faith ; and also the wrath of God against such as hold the truth of God in unrighteoustu^s : for this reason, saith he, because that which may be known of God is mafiifest in them ; for God hath shouted it unto them. Now that which may be known of God, is known by the gospel, which was manifest in them. For those of whom the apostle speaks had no outward gospel preached unto them ; so that it was by the ivLz ward manifestation of the knowledge of God in them, which is indeed the gospel preached in man, that the righteous?}css of God is revealed from faith to faith ; that is, it reveals to the soul that which is just, good, and righteous ; and that as the soul receiveth it and believes, righteousness comes more and more to be revealed from one degree of faith to another. For , though, as the following verse saith, the outward crea- tion declares the power of God ; yet that which may AND SAVING LIGHT. 161 be known of him is manifest within : by which inward manifestation we are made capable to see and discern the Eternal Power and Godhead in the outward crea- tion; so were it not for this inward principle, we could no more understand the invisible things of God by the outward visible creation, than a blind man can see and discern the variety of shapes and colours, or judge of the beauty of the outward creation. There- fore he saith, first, That which may be known of God is manifest in them, and in and by that they may read and understand the power and Godhead in those things that are outward and visible. And though any might pretend that the outward creation doth of itself, without any supernatural or saving principle in the heart, even declare to the natural man tjiat ther^ is a God ; yet what would such a knowledge avail, if it did not also communicate to me what the will of God is, and how I shall do that which is acceptable to^ him ? For the outward creation, though it may be- The out- let a persuasion that there is some eternal power or Z""'^ "^t' • 1 1-11 111 111' 1.. tionmaybe- virtue by which the world hath had its beginning ; get a per- yet it doth not tell me, nor doth it inform me of that 1^^? '° 11 1111 1 T ' which is just, holy, and righteous ; how I shall be eternal delivered from my temptations and evil affections, vhiul.°' and come unto righteousness ; that must be from some inward manifestation in my heart. Whereas those Gentiles of whom the apostle speaks knew by that inward law and manifestation of the knowledsfe of God in them to distinguish betwixt good and evil, as in the next chapter appears, of which we shall speak hereafter. The prophet Micah, speaking of man in- definitely, or in general, declares this, Mic. vi. 8, He hath showed thee, O man, what is good. And what doth the Lord require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God? He doth not say God requires, till he hath first assured that he hath showed unto them. Now because this is showed unto all men, and manifest in them, there- fore, saith the apostle, is the wrath of God revealed M Ite OF UNIVERSAL PROP. V. VI. as^ainst them, for that they hold the truth in imrighteous- iiess; that is, the measure of truth, the light, the seed, the grace in them : for that they hide the talent in the earth ; that is, in the earthly and unrighteous part in their hearts, and suffer it not to bring forth fruit, but to be choked with the sensual cares of this life, the fear of reproach, and the deceitfulness of riches, as by the parables above mentioned doth appear. But the apostle Paul opens and illustrates this matter yet more, Rom. x. where he declares, 'Fliat the word tvhich he preached (now the word which he preached, and the gospel which he preached, and whereof he was a minister, is one and the same) is not far off, but nigh ifi the heart and in the mouth ; which done, he frameth as it were the objection of our adversaries in the 14th and 15th verses, Haio shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard ^. And how shall they hear without a preacher'! This he answers in the 18th verse, saying. But, I say, have they 7iot heard 1 Yes verily, their sound went into all the eai^th, and their words unto the ends of the world; insinuating that ThcdiTine this divinc preacher had sounded in the ears and the word b^^rts of ull mm : for of the outtoai^d apostles that nigh, bath saying was not true, neither then, nor many hundred the earf and Y^ars after ; yea, for aught we know there may be yet hearts of all great and spacious nations and kingdoms that never have heard of Christ nor his apostles as outwardly. This inward and powerful word of God is yet more fully described in the epistle to the Hebrews, chap. iv. 12, 13 : For the word of God is quick and powerful, and shatper than any two-^dged sicord, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. The virtues of this spiritual word are here enumerated ; it is quick, because it searches and tries the hearts of all ; no man's heart 13 exempt from it : for the apostle gives this reason of Before its being so in the following verse. But all things are tbin^. are ^^kcd ttnd opcncd unto the eyes of him with whom we manirett. ANP SAVING LIGHT. 163 have to do : and there is not any creature that is not manifest in his sight. Though this ultimately and mediately be referred to God, yet nearly and imme- diately it relates to the word or light, which, as hath been before proved, is in the hearts of all, else it had been improper to have brought it in here. The apostle shows how every intent and thought of the And ererj heart is discerned by the word of God, because all |J°e°nfof the things are naked before God ; which imports nothing heart, else but it is in and by this word whereby God sees and discerns man's thoughts, and so it must needs be in all men, because the apostle saith, the?'e is no crea- ture that is not manifest in his sight. This then is that faithful witness and messenger of God that bears The faithfai witness for God, and for his righteousness in the ""'*""'• hearts of all men : for he hath not left himself without a witness, Acts, xiv. 17, and he is said to be given for a witness to the people, Isa. Iv. 4. And as this word beareth witness for God, so it is not placed in men only to condemn them : for as he is given for a wit- ness, so saith the prophet, he is given for a leader and ku^Atr commander. The light is given, that all through it ^^^^^' may believe, John, i. 7, for faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God, which is placed in man's heart, both to be a witness for God, and to be a means to bring man to God through faith and re- pentance : it is therefore powerful, that it may divide betwixt the so^d and the spirit : it is like a two-edged a two-edg. sword, that it may cut off iniquity from him, and ®^ '*°'^*** separate betwixt the precious and the vile ; and be- cause man's heart is cold and hard like iron naturally, therefore hath God placed this word in him, which is said to be like a^re, and like a hammer, Jer. xxiii. 29, a fire and a that like as by the heat of the fire the iron, of its own ''*""°^''* nature cold, is warmed and softened, and by the strength of the hammer is framed according to the mind of the worker ; so the cold and hard heart of man is by the virtue and powerfulness of this word of God near and in the heart, as it resists not, warmed M 2 164 OF UNIVERSAL PROP. V. VT and softened, and receiveth a heavenly and celestial impression and image. The most part of the fathers have spoken at large touching this toord, seed, light, and saving voice calling all unto salvation, and able to save. Clem. Alex. Clcmens Alexandrinus saith, lib. 2. Stromat. " The divine word hath cried, calling all, knowing well those that will not obey ; and yet, because it is in our power either to obey or not to obey, that none may have a pretext of ignorance, it hath made a righteous call, and requireth but that which is according to the ability and strength of every one." The selfsame, in his warning to the Gentiles ; " For as," saith he, " that heavenly ambassador of the Lord, the grace of God, that brings salvation, hath appeared unto all, &c. This is the new song, coming and manifesta- tion of the word, which now shows itself in us, which was in the beginning, and was first of all." And again, " Hear therefore, ye that are afar off; hear, ye who are near ; the word is hid from none, the light is common to all, and shineth to all. There is no darkness in the word: let us hasten to salvation, to The gather- the ucw birth, that we being many, may be gathered onr.nd **" into the one alone love." Ibid, he saith, " That there aioue lore, is iufiised iuto all, but principally into those that are trained up in doctrine, a certain divine influoice, rlq airoppoia 0eca." And again he speaks concerning the innate witness, worthy of belief, which of itself doth plainly choose that w}iich is most honest." And again he saith, "That it is not impossible to come unto the truth, and lay hold of it, seeing it is most near to us, in our own houses, as the most wise Moses declareth, living in three parts of us, viz. in our hands, in our mouth, and in our hearts. This," saith he, " is a most true badge of the truth, which is also ful- filled in three things, namely, in counsel, in action, in speaking." And ae^ain he saith also unto the un- believing nations, " Receive Christ, receive light, receive sight, to the end thou mayest rightly know AND 5AVING LIGHT. 165 both God and man. The word that hath enlightened The en- us is more pleasant than gold, and the stone of great '^ord?'"^ value." And again he saith, " Let ns receive the light, that we may receive God ; let us receive the light, that we may be the scholars of the Lord." And again he saith to those infidel nations, " The heavenly Spirit helpeth thee; resist and flee pleasure." Again, lib. 5. Strom, he saith, *^ God forbid that man be not a partaker of divine acquaintance, Otlag twotac, who in Genesis is said to be a partaker of inspiration." And Paed. lib. L cap. 3, *' There is," saith he, "some lovely and some desirable thing in man, which is called the in-breathing of God, Efitpvarifia Of 5." The same man, lib. 10. Strom, directeth men unto the light and water in themselves, who have the eye of the soul darkened or dimmed through evil education and learning : let them enter in unto their own do- mestic li^ht. or unto the lin'ht which is in their own house, irpog TO oiKHov (fttoQ (da^iUrw, unto the truth, which manifests accurately and clearly these things that have been written. Justin Martyr, in his first Apology, saith, " That j. Martjr. the word, which was and is, is in all ; even that very same word, which, through the prophets, foretold things to come." The writer of the Calling of the Gentiles, saith, lib. Aath. de i. cap. 2. " We believe according to the same (viz. ^°*'* ^*''' scripture), and most religiously confess, that God was never wanting in care to the generality of men ; who although he did lead by particular lessons a peo- ple gathered to himself unto godliness, yet he with- drew from no nation of men the gifts of his own goodness, that they might be convinced that they had received the words of the prophets, and legal com- mands in services and testimonies of the first princi- ples." Cap. 7, he saith, " That he believes that the help of grace hath been wholly withdrawn from no man." Lib. ii. cap. 1, " Because, albeit salvation is- far from sinners, yet there is nothing void of the pre- 166 OF UNIVERSAL PROP. V. VI. sence and virtue of his salvation." Cap. 2, " But seeing none of that people over whom was set both the doctrines, were justified but through grace by the spirit of faith, who can question but that they, who of whatsoever nation, in whatsoever times, could please God, were ordered by the Spirit of the grace of God, which although in foretime it was more sparing and hid, yet denied itself to no ages, being in virtue one, in quantity different, in counsel un- changeable, in operation multifarious?" Prop. III. §. XXIV. The third proposition which ought to ^d^g s,j. be proved is. That it is by this light, seed, or grace vation that God works the salvation of all men, and many IhTv^hi^l conie to partake of the benefit of Christ's death, and »"• salvation purchased by him. By the inward and effectual operations of which, as many heathefis have come to be partakers of the promises who were not of the seed of Abraham after the flesh, so may some now, to whom God hath rendered the knowledge of the history impossible, come to be saved by Christ. Having already proved that Christ hath died for all, that there is a day of visitatioji given to all, during which salvation is possible to them, and that God hath actually given a measure of saving grace and light unto all, preached the gospel to and in them, and placed the word of faith in their hearts, the mat- . ter of this proposition may seem to be proved. Yet shall I a little, for the farther satisfaction of all who desire to know the truth, and hold it as it is in Jesus, prove this from two or three clear scripture testimo- nies, and remove the most common as well as the more strong objections usually brought against it. 1 Part. Our theme then hath two parts ; First, That those that have the gospel and Christ outwardly preached unto them, ^re not saved but by the working of the grace and light in their heai^ts, 2 Part. Secondly, That by the working and operation of this, many have been, and some may be saved, to whom the gospel hath never been outwardly preached, and AND SAVING LIGHT. 167 , | who are utterly ignorant of the outward histo?y of Christ. j As to the first, though it be granted by most, yet i Part \ because it is more in words than deeds (the more full p'°''**^- \ discussing of which will occur in the next proposition ^ concerning Justification) I shall prove it in few I words. And first from the words of Christ to Nico- i demus, John, iii. 3, Verily, veiily, I say unto thee,^ | except a man be born again, he camiot see the king- ] dom of God. Now this birth cometh not by the out- The new • ward preachino^ of the 2:ospel, or knowledge of Chri^, ^''"^ °^ ''«■ 1 • . • 1 P^.^ ' ^ ' • °i 1 'generation » or historical laith in him ; seeing many have that, cometh noC and firmly believe it, who are never thus renewed, ^^/d Uow ^ The apostle Paul also goes so far, while he commends ledge of \ the necessity and excellency of this new creation^ as ^**"**' \ in a certain respect to lay aside the outward know- \ ledge of Christ, or the knowledge of him after the \ flesh, in these words, 2 Cor. v. 16, 17: Wherefore ] henceforth know we no man after the flesh ; yea, \ though we have known Christ after the flesh, yet ?iow henceforth know we him no more. Therefore if any \ man be in Christ, he is a new creature, old thiiigs are passed away, behold all things are become 7iew. Whence ,: it manifestly appears, that he makes the knowledge of \ Christ after the flesh but as it were the rudiments which young children learn, which after tliey are 'i become better scholars, are of less use to them, be- cause they have and possess the very substance of 1 those first precepts in their minds. As all compari- sons halt in some part, so shall I not affirm this to = hold in every respect ; yet so far will this hold, that as those that go no farther than the rudiments are 5 never to be accounted learned, and as they grow be- ; yond these things, so they have less use of them; even so such as go no farther than the outward knowledge \ of Christ shall never inherit the kingdom of heaven. j But such as come to know this new birth, to be in \ Christ indeed, to be a new creature, to have old thijigs passed away, and all things become new, may 168 OF UNIVERSAL PROP. V. VI. safely say with the apostle, Though we have known Christ after the fleshy yet now henceforth ktiow we bat by the km HO morc. Now this new creature proceeds from iTh^Md ^^ work of this light and grace in the heart : it is grace in the that word which we speak of, that is sharp and *'*"'*• piercing, that implanted word, able to save the soul, by which this birth is begotten ; and therefore Christ has purchased unto us this holy seed, that thereby " this birth might be brought forth in us, which is therefore also called the incinifestation of the Spirit, given to every one to profit withal; for it is written, that by one Spirit we are all baptized into one body. And the apostle Peter also ascribeth this birth to the seed and word of God, which we have so much de- clared of, saying, 1 Pet. i. 23 : Beijig born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever. Though then this seed be small in its appearance, so that Christ compares it to a grain of mustard seed, which is the least of all seeds. Matt. xiii. 31, 32, and that it be hid in the earthly part of man's heart ; yet therein is life and salvation towards the sons of men wrapped up, which comes to be revealed as they give The king- Way to it. And in this seed in the hearts of all men tiZ ?he^^ ^^ ^^ kingdom of God, as in capacity to be produced, seed in the or rather exhibited, according as it receives depth, is heart, of all nourished, and not choked : hence, Christ saith, that the kingdom of God was in the vei^ Pharisees, Luke, xvii. 20, 21, who did oppose and resist him, and were justly accounted as se?yents, and a generation of vipers. Now the kingdom of God could be no otherways in them than in a seed, even as the thirtyfold and the hundredfold is wrapt up in a small seed, lying in a barren ground, which springs not forth, because it wants nourishment : and as the whole body of a great tree is wrapped up potentially in the seed of the tree, and so is brought forth in due season; and as the capacity of a man or woman is not only in a child, but even in the very embryo, even so the kingdom of AND SAVING LIGHT. 169 j Jesus Christ, yea Jesus Christ himself, Christ within, i who is the hope of glory, and becometh wisdom, righ- \ teousness, sanctijication, and redemption, is in every man's and woman's heart, in that little incorruptible ^ seed, ready to be brought forth, as it is cherished and . received in the love of it. For there can be no men I worse than those rebellious and unbelieving Pharisees were; and yet this kitigdom was thus within them, \ and they were directed to look for it there : so it is " j neither lo here, nor lo there, in this or the other obser- ." vation, that this is known, but as this seed of God in ■ the heart is minded and entertained. And certainly . hence it is, even because this light, seed, and grace ; that appears in the heart of man is so little regarded, \ and so much overlooked, that so few know Christ \ brought forth in them. The one sort, to wit, the Cal- Caivinists, J vinists, they look upon grace as an irresistible power, ,^E''„^„^a' ' and therefore neglect and despise this eternal seed of socinians i the kingdom in their hearts, as a low, insufficient, n^^n" tte • \ useless thing as to their salvation. On the other ''g^ '° ^^ \ hand, the Papists, Arminians, and Socinians, they go **'""^* ; about to set up their natural power and will with one consent, denying that this little seed, this small ap- I pearance of the light, is that supernatural saving \ grace of God given to every man to save him. And ' so upon them is verified that saying of the Lord Jesus \ Christ, This is the conde7miation of the world, that j light is come into the world, but men love darkness ] rather than light ; the reason is added, because their \ deeds are evil. All confess they feel this ; but they ' \ will not have it to be of that virtue. Some will have ' it to be reason; some a natural conscience ; some, cer- 'J tain relics of God's image that remained in Adam, \ So that Christ, as he met with opposition from all ! kinds of professors in his outward appearance, doth \ now also in his inward. It was the meanness of his The outward man that made many despise him, saying, J,®^"^*.^" Is not this tlie son of the carpenter 1 Are not his ^re- pearance thr6n and sisters among us? Is not this a Galilean ? ^^^ ''"*'• mean- i i 8 ap- 170 OF UNIVERSAL PROP. V. VI. j And came there ever a prophet out of Galilee ? And ■ such like reasonings. For they expected an outward deliverer, who as a prince should deliver them with great ease from their enemies, and not such a Mes- siah as should be crucified shamefully, and as it were ' led them into many sorrows, troubles, and afflictions. : So the meanness of this appearance makes the crafty \ Jesuits, the pretended i-ational Socinians, and the learned Arminians overlook it ; desiring rather some- \ thing that they might exercise their subtilty, reason, | and learning about, and use the liberty of their own ' wills. And the secure Calvinists, they would have ! a Christ to save them without any trouble ; to destroy - all their enemies for them without them, and nothing or little within, and in the meanwhile to be at ease to ' live in their sins secure. Whence, when all is well The nature examined, the cause is plain ; it is because their deeds \ of the lighu ^^g evzY, that with one consent they reject this light: •. for it checks the wisest of them ail, and the leamedest ; of them all ; in secret it reproves them ; neither can all their logic silence it, nor can the securest among them stop its voice from crying, and reproving them ; within, for all their confidence in the outward know- ledge of Christ, or of what he hath suffered outwardly ' for them. For, as hath been often said, in a day it strives with all^ wrestles with all; and it is the unmor- ' tified nature, the first nature, the old Adam, yet alive ] in the wisest, in the learnedest, in the most zealous \ for the outward knowledge of Christ, that denies this, : that despises it, that shuts it out, to their own con- ; demnation. They come all under this description, \ Every one that doth evil, hateth the light, neither I Cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be i^roved^ \ John, iii. 20. So that it may be said now, and we ! can say, from a true and certain experience, as it was • of old. Psalm cxviii. 22; Matt. xxi. 42; Mark, xii. \ 10; Luke, xx. 17 ; Acts, iv. 11: The stofie which the ^ builders of all kinds have rejected, the same is becoine ; ' imto us the head of the corner. Glory to God for AND SAVING LIGHT. 171 ever ! who hath chosen us as first-fruits to himself in this day, wherein he is arisen to plead with the na- tions ; and therefore hath sent us forth to preach this everlasting gospel unto all, Christ nigh to all, the light in all, the seed sown in the hearts of all, that men may come and apply their minds to it. And we rejoice that we have been made to lay down our wisdom and learning (such of us as have had some of it) and our carnal reasoning, to learn of Jesus ; and sit down at the feet of Jesus in our hearts, and hear him, who there makes all things manifest and reproves all things by his light, Eph. v. 13. For many are wise and The wise learned in the notion, in the letter of the scripture, as *°^ '!""** the Pharisees were, and can speak much of Christ, Hod, cruci- and plead strongly against Infidels, Turks, and Jews, ^^^^-^l and it may be also against some Heresies, who in the meantime, are crucifying Christ in the small appear- ance of his seed in their hearts. Oh ! better were it to be stripped and naked of all, to account it as dross and dung, and become a fool for Christ's sake, thus knowing him to teach thee in thy heart, so as thou mayest witness him raised there, feel the virtue of his cross there, and say with the apostle, / glory in no- thing, save in the cross of Chvjist, whereby I am cru- cifiecl to the ivorlcl, and the world unto me. This is better than to write thousands of commentaries, and to preach many sermons. And it is thus to preach Christ, and direct people to his pure light in the heart, that God hath raised us up, and for which the None are wise men of this world account us fools ; because by J^rifnow- the operation of this cross of Christ in our hearts, weiedgeofthe have denied our own wisdom and wills in many b^^th^ipe" things, and have forsaken the vain worships, fashions, ration of the and customs of this world. For these divers cent u-cLisUn the ries the world hath been full of a dry, fruitless, and mystery- barren knowledge of Christ, feeding upon the husk, and neglecting the kernel; following after the sha- dow, but strangers to the substance. Hence the devil , matters not how much of that knowledge abounds, 172 OF L'NIVEKSAL PROP. V. VI. provided lie can but possess the heart, and rule in the will, crucify the appearance of Christ there, and so keep the seed of the kingdom from taking root. Contentions For hc has led them abroad, lo here, and lo there, and tlTrdobser-^^ made them wrestle in a false zeal so much one T.uon. and agaiust attothcr, contending for this outward observa- Lo here s. ^j^^^^ ^^^ £^j. ^^ other outward observation, seeking ChristJu this and the other external thing, as in bread and wine; contending one with another how he is there, while some will have him to be present therein this way, and some the other way ; and some in scrip- tures, in books, in societies, and pilgrimages, and merits. But some, confiding in an external barren faith, think all is well, if they do but firmly believe that he died for their sins past, present, and to come ; while in the meantime Christ lies crucified and slain, The call of and is daily resisted and gainsayed in his appearance Winded i"^ ^^^ir hearts. Thus, from a sense of this blindness Christen- and iguoraucc that is come over Christendom, it is that we are led and moved of the Lord so con- stantly and frequently to call all, invite all, request all to turn to the light in them, to mind the light in them, to believe in Christ, as he is in them : and that in the name, power, and authority of the Lord, not in school arguments and distinctions (for which many of the wise men of this world account us fools and madmen), we do charge and command them to lay aside their wisdom, to come down out of that proud, airy, brain-knowledge, and to stop that mouth, how eloquent soever to the worldly ear it may appear, and to be silent, and sit down as in the dust, and to mind the light of Christ in their own consciences; which, if minded, they would find as a sharp two-edged sword in their hearts, and as 2ijire and a hammer, that would knock against and burn up all that carnal, gathered, natural stuff, and make the stoutest of them all trem- ble, and become Quakers indeed : which those that come not to feel now, and kiss not the Son while the day lasteth, but harden their hearts, will feel to be a doo). AND SAVING LIGHT. 173 certain truth when it is too late. To conclude, as saith the apostle, All ought to ed'ami7ie themselves, whether they be in the faith indeed; and try their own- selves : for except Jesus Christ be in them, they are certainly reprobates, 2 Cor. xiii. 5. §. XXV. Secondly, That which remains now to be 2 Part proved is. That by the operation of this light and seed xJiaf manr some have been and may yet be saved, to whom the gos- bj the light pel is not outwardly preached, nor the history of Christ Ta^ed.^ihat outwardly known. To make this the easier, we have I'ave uo* the already shown how that Christ hath died for all men; knowledge and consequently these are enlightened by Christ, of^^'Ji'ist. and have a measure of saving light and grace ; yea, that the gospel, though not in any outward dispensa- tion, is preached to them, and in them : so that there- by they are stated in a possibility of salvation. From which I may thus argue : To whom the gospel, the power of God unto sal- aro. vation, is manifest, they may be saved, whatever out- ward knowledge they want : But this gospel is preached in every creature ; in which are certainly comprehended many that have not the outward knowledge : Therefore of those many may be saved. But to those arguments, by which it hath been prove*d, That all men have a measure of saving grace, I shall add one, and that very observable, not yet mentioned, viz. that excellent saying of the apostle Paul to Titus, chap. ii. verse 1 1 : The grace of God, that brings salvation, hath appeared to all men ; teach- ing us, that denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this pre- sent world: than which there can be nothing more clear, it comprehending both the parts of the contro- versy. First, It testifies that it is no natural principle or light, but saith plainly, It brings salvation. Se- condly, It says not, that it hath appeared to a few, but unto all men. The fruit of it declares also how efficacious it is, seeing it comprehends the whole duty The saving 174 OF UNIVERSAL PROP. V. VI. grace of of man : it both teacheth us, first, to forsake evil, to SMhe**^**" ^^'^y ungodliness and worldly lusts ; and then it whole dotj teacheth us our whole duty. First, to live Soberly ; of man. ^^^qX comprehends temperance, chastity, meekness, and those things that relate unto a man's self. Se- condly, Righteously ; that comprehends equity, jus- tice, and honesty, and those things which relate to our neighbours. And lastly. Godly ; which compre- hends piety, faithfulness, and devotion, which are the duties relating to God. So then there is nothing required of man, or is needful to man, which this grace teacheth not. Yet I have heard a public preacher (one of those that are accounted zealous men) to evite the strength of this text, deny this grace to be saving, and say, It was only intended of common favours and graces^ such as is the heat of the fire, and outward light of the sun. Such is the darkness and ignorance of those that oppose the truth; whereas the text saith expressly, that it is saving. Others, The absnr- that cauuot dcuy but it is saving, allege. This [all] dityofour comprehends not every individual, but only all kinds: adversaries , ^. , . /v • i_ comment but IS a bare negation sumcient to overturn the ^ZVail strength of a positive assertion? If the scriptures may denying' bc SO abuscd, what so absurd, as may not be pleaded Mvbg?m for from them ? or what so manifest, as may not be i'. 11. denied? But we have no reason to be staggered by their denying, so long as our faith is found in express terms of the scripture ; they may as well seek to per- suade us, that we do not intend that which we affirm (though we know the contrary) as make us believe, that when the apostle speaks forth our doctrine in plain words, yet he intends theirs, which is quite the contrary. And indeed, can there be any thing more absurd, than to say, where the word is plainly [all] few is only intended? For they will not have [all] taken here for the greater number. Indeed, as the case may be sometimes, by a figure [all] may be taken, of two numbers, for the greater number ; but let them sliow us, if they can, either in scripture, or profane or AND SAVING LIGHT. 175 J ecclesiastical writings, that any man that wrote sense j did ever use the word [alf] to express, of two num- i bers, the lesser. Whereas they affirm, that the far \ lesser number have received saving grace, and yet will they have the apostle, by [all] to have signified 1 so. Though this might suffice, yet, to put it further ' beyond all question, I shall instance another saying i of the same apostle, that we may use him as his own commentator, Rom. v. 18 : Therefoj^e as hy the offence of one, judgment came upon all men to condemnation^ even so by the righteousness of one, the free gift came \ upon all men unto justification of life. Here no man \ of reason, except he will be obstinately ignorant, will i deny, but this similitive particle [els'] makes the [all] l which goes before, and comes after, to be of one and \ tlie same extent ; or else let them show one example, either in scripture or elsewhere, among men that speak ^ proper language, where it is otherwise. We must then \ either affirm that this loss, which leads to condemna- tion, hath not come upon all; or say, that this free gift : is come upon all by Christ. Whence I thus argue : j If all men have received a loss from Adam, which arc. ^ leads to condemnation ; then all men have received a 1 gift from Christ, which leads to justification : But the first is true ; therefore also the last. . \ From all which it naturally follows, that all men, J even the heathens , may be saved: for CA mr was Even tbe j 2:iven as a lis^ht to enlisrhten the Gentiles, Isai. xlix. 6. •'*«^'l^°* ^ Now, to say that though they might have been saved, saved by the | yet none were, is to judge too uncharitably. I see^'^**^* \ not what reason can be alleged for it ; yea, though it ; were granted, which never can be, that none of the { heathens were saved ; it will not from thence follow | that they could not have been saved ; or tliat none \ now in their condition can be saved. For, A non ^ esse ad non posse non datur sequela, i, e. That conse- quence is false, that concludes a thing cannot be, be- ■ cause it is not. \ But if it be objected, which is the great objection, object. \ 17G OF LM VERSA L PROP. V. VI. That there is no 7iame under heaven, by ichkh salva- tion is known, but by the nanw Jesus : Therefore they (not knowing this) cannot be saved : answ. I answer; Though they know it not outwardly, yet if they know it inwardly, by feeling the virtues and power of it, the name Jesus indeed, which sig- The literal nifies a Saviour, to free them from sin and iniquity in knowledge ^|^g-j. ^garts, they are saved by it : I confess there is of Christ IS ' J 111 1 • T 1 not saving, no othcr name to be saved by : but saivatioiLlieth not XeHmen'*"^ the_ literal, but in the Jex'penmenfat] knowledge : tai. albeit, those that have the literal knowledge are not saved by it, without this real experimental knowledge : yet those that have the real knowledge may be saved without the external ; as by the arguments hereafter brought will more appear. For if the outward dis- tinct knowledge of him, by whose means I receive benefit, were necessary for me before I could reap any fruit of it ; then, by the rule of contraries, it would follow, that I could receive no hurt, without I had also the distinct knowledge of him that occasioned it; whereas experience proves the contrary. How many are injured by Adam's fall, that know nothing of there ever being such a man in the world, or of his eating the forbidden fruit ? Why may they not then be saved by the gift and grace of Christ in them, making them righteous and holy, though they know not distinctly how that was purchased unto them by the death and sufferings of Jesus that was crucified at Jerusalem; especially seeing God hath made that knowledge simply impossible to them ? As many men are killed by poison infused into their meat, though they neither know what the poison was, nor who in- fused it ; so also on the other hand, how many are cured of their diseases by good remedies, who know not how the medicine is prepared, what the ingre- dients are, nor oftentimes who made it? The like may also hold in spiritual things, as we shall hereafter prove, Tu* oat- §. XXVI. First, If there were such an absolute AND SAVING LIGHT. 177 ^ necessity for this outward knowledge, that it were ward know- ] even of the essentials of salvation, then none could essfnfi!a\o i be saved without it ; whereas pur adversaries deny salvation ; j not, but readily confess, that many infants and deaf |°f*^,J^^^5 I persons are saved without it : so that here they break M« conditions. Thus also the invention of saying mass ■ wbatitii. jg made a chief instrument oi justijication ; for in it ! they pretend to offer Christ daily to the Father a 'pro- pitiatory sacrijice for the sins of the living and dead ; j so that a man for money can procure Christ thus to \ be offered for him v^hen he pleases ; by which offer- j ing he is said to obtain remission of sins, and to ; stand justified in the sight of God. From all which, and much more of this nature which might be men- ; tioned, it doth appear, that the Papists place their i justification, not so much in any work of holiness i really brought forth in them, and real forsaking of iniquity, as in the mere performance of some ceremo- ^ nies, and a blind belief which their teachers have ; begotten in th^m, that the church and the pope \ having the absolute dispensation of the merits of \ Christ, have power to make these merits effectual for. I the remission of sins, and justification of such as will | perform those ceremonies. This is the true and real ^ method oi justification taken by the generality of the \ church of Rome, and highly commended by their ! public preachers, especially the nionks, in their ser- | mons to the people, of which I myself have been an ; ear and an eyewitness ; however some of their modern writers have laboured to qualify it in their controver- i Luther and sics. This doctriuc Luther and the Protestants then \ u^J'op ." had good reason to deny and oppose ; though many i pofing the of them ran into another extreme, so as to deny good \ frlne of^"*" works to bc neccssdry to justification, and to preach up \ works, fell ^ot only remission of sins, but justification by faith \ olhw e*x. alojie, without all works, however good' So that men i *ooTwo ks ^° ^^^ obtain ihm justification according as they are Jecessl^jto iuwardly sanctified and renewed, but are justified | ju.tifica- merely by believincr that Christ died for them ; and SO some may be perfectly justified, though they be j lying in gross wickedness ; as appears by the exam- j pie of David, who they say was fully and p)erfectly i justified while he was l)ring in the gross sins of mur- \ \ OF JUSTIFICATION. 191 i der and adultery. As then the Protestants have suf- ' ficient ground to quarrel and confute the Papists j concerning those many abuses in the matter ofjiistiji- ] cation, showing how the doctrine of Christ is thereby \ vitiated and overturned, and the word of God made void by many and useless traditions, the law of God \ neglected, while foolish and needless cereinonies are \ prized and followed, through a false opinion of being i justified by the performance of them ; and the merits . \ and sufferings of Christ, which is the only sacrifice i appointed of God for remission of sins, derogated j from, by the setting up of a daily sacrifice never j appointed by God, and chiefly devised out of covet- Papists' de- '] ousness to get money by; so the Protestants on the^^^J"^^^ i other hand, by not rightly establishing and holding ; forth the doctrine oi justification accoraing as it is delivered in the holy scriptures, have opened a door for the Papists to accuse them, as if they were neg- lecters of good works, enemies to mortification and j holiness, such as esteem themselves justified while \ lying in great sins : by which kind of accusations, for which too great ground hath been given out of the writings of some rigid Protestants, the reforma- i lion hath been greatly defamed and hindered, and ,^ the souls of many insnared. Whereas, whoever will : narrowly look into the matter, may observe these de- 1 bates to be more in specie than in genere, seeing both \ do upon the matter land in one; and like two men in a circle, who though they go sundry ways, yet meet at last in the same centre. i For the Papists say. They obtain remission of sins, Papists' be- j and are justified by the ??ierits of Christ, as the same ficltton"'*'' l are applied unto them in the use of the sacraments of^^^ets in the the church, and are dispensed in the performance o/^wTb the— ^ such and such ceremonies, pilgrimages, prayers, and performances, though there be not any inward renew- ing of the mind, nor knowing of Christ inwardly formed; yet they are remitted and made righteous ex opere operato, because of the power and authority same centric \ 192 OF JUSTIFICATION. PROP. VII. | accompanying the sacraments and the dispensers of \ them. j —Protest- The Protestants say, That they obtain ixmission of \ •nu' belief. ^/,;j^ (jjid stand justijied in the sight of God by virtue \ So saith the of the merits and sufi'erings of Christ, not by infusing \ ^rc^iife ^^ghteousness into them, but by pardonifig their sins^ \ sionof and by accounting and acceptmg their pe?'so?is as , ih'll*'ct*''i'** righteous, they resting on him and his y^ghteousncss 1 by faith ; which faith, the act of believing, is not im- \ puted unto them for righteous?iess. \ So X\\e justification of neither here is placed in any \ inward renewing of the mind, or by virtue of any spiritual birth, or formation of Christ in them ; but \ only by a bare application of the death and suftbrings ; of Christ outwardly performed for them : whereof the one lays hold on a faith resting upon them, and \ hoping to be justified by them alone ; the other by ; the saying of some outward prayers and ceremonies, which they judge makes the death of Christ effectual unto them. I except here, being unwilling to wrong , any, what things have been said as to the necessity ; of inward holiness, either by some modem Papists, or some modern Protestants, who in so far as they have j laboured after a midst betwixt these two extremes : have come near to the truth, as by some citations out of them hereafter to be mentioned will appear: though 1 this doctrine hath not since the apostacy, so far as ^ ever I could observe, been so distinctly and evidently ; held forth according to the scripture's testimony, as it \ hath pleased God to reveal it and preach it forth in j this day, by the witnesses of his truth whom he hath ; raised to that end; which doctrine, though it be \ briefly held forth and comprehended in the thesis 1 State of the itsclf, yct I shall a little more fully explain, and show ! ^u,ntrover- ^|^^ ^^^^ ^£ ^l^^ controvcrsy as it stands betwixt us ; and those that now oppose us. ; ExpL. 1. §. III. First then, as by the explanation of the ' former thesis appears, we renounce all natural power ^ and ability in ourselves, in order to bring us out of OF JUSTIFICATION. 193 our lost and fallen condition and first nature ; and confess, that as of ourselves we are able to do nothing ' that is good, so neither can we procure remission of ] sins or justification by any act of our own, so as to Justifica- \ merit it, or draw it as a debt from God due unto us ; J^",Jfi:"^ but we acknowledge all to be of and from his love, the love of \ which is the original and fundamental cause of our ^"**' j acceptance. \ Secondly, God manifested this love towards us, in expl. 2. \ the sendinof of his beloved Son the Lord Jesus Christ ^ into the world, who gave himself for us an offering \ and a sacrifice to God, for a sweet smelling savour ; and having made peace through the blood of his cross, that he might reconcile us unto himself, and by the Eternal Spirit offered himself without spot unto God, ] and suffered for our sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us unto God. Thirdly then, Forasmuch as all men who have expl. 3. | come to man's estate (the man Jesus only excepted) ] have sinned, therefore all have need of this Saviour, ! to remove the wrath of God from them due to their , offences ; in this respect he is truly said to have borne ' the iniquities of us all in his body on the tree, and i therefore is the onli/ Mediator, having qualified the j wrath of God towards us ; so that our former sins \ stand not in our way, being by virtue of his most satisfactory sacrifice removed and pardoned. Neither do we think that remission of sins is to be expected. The remis- sought, or obtained any other way, or by any works """ °^ '""• i or sacrifice whatsoever ; though, as has been said formerly, they may come to partake of this remission 1 that are ignorant of the history. So then Christ by The only j his death and sufferings hath reconciled us to God, "e^t^f^t" ^ even while we are enemies ; that is he offers recon- God and ciliation unto us; we are put into a capacity of""** ; being reconciled ; God is willing to forgive us our ; iniquities, and to accept us, as is well expressed by \ the apostle, 2 Cor. v. 19 : God was in Christ, recon- \ ciling the world unto himself, not imputing their tres- \ o ! J94 OF JTSTIFTCATION. PROP. VH. passes unto them, and hath put in us the tuord of reconcillatmi. And therefore the apostle, in the next verses, entreats them in Christ's stead to be reconciled to God; intimating that the wrath of God being removed by the obedience of Christ Jesus, he is will- ing to be reconciled unto them, and ready to remit i the sins that are past, if they repent. i A two-fold We consider then our redemption in a two-fold ] redemption, rggpect or statc, both which in their own nature are '■ perfect, though in their application to us the one is ; not, nor can be, without respect to the other. !• The First is the redemption performed and accom- ] 'e^miytioa of P^^shed by Christ for us in his crucified body without ; Christ with- us : the other is the redemption wrought by Christ i **"* "*• /;/ us, which no less properly is called and accounted i a redemption than the former. The first then is that i whereby a man, as he stands in the fall, is put into a capacity of salvation, and hath conveyed unto him a { measure of that power, virtue, spirit, life, and grace | that was in Christ Jesus, which, as the free gift of God, is able to counterbalance, overcome, and root ^ out the evil seed, wherewith we are naturally, as in the fall, leavened. II. The'^econd is that whereby we witness and know | Tbe re- (his purc and perfect redemption in ourselves, purify- \ wrought bj ing, cleansing, and redeeming us from the power of \ Christ in US. corruptiou, and bringing us into unity, favour, and ; friendship with God. By the first of these two, we . that were lost in Adam, plunged into the bitter and ] corrupt seed, unable of ourselves to do any good j thing, but naturally joined and united to evil, forward and propense to all iniquity, servants and slaves to j the power and spirit of darkness, are, notwithstand- ' ing all this, so far reconciled to God by the death of > his Son, while enemies, that we are put into a capa- ': city of salvation, having the glad tidings of the gos- ; pel of peace offered unto us, and God is reconciled | unto us in Christ, calls and invites us to himself; in I Eph.ii.i5. which respect we understand these scriptures: He f 10. slew the enmity in hwiself He loved usjirst ; seeing . OF JUSTIFICATION. 195 j US in aur bloody he said unto us, Live ; he who did not Ezek. xtI. ^ sin his ownsdf, bare our sins in his own body on the Jp^^ jj ^g tree ; and he died for our sins, the just for the unjust. 24 ; and iii. By the Second, we witness this capacity brought ^^' into act, whereby receiving and not resisting the pur- chase of his death, to wit, the light, spirit, and grace '^ of Christ revealed in us, we witness and possess a real, true, and inward redemption from the power and pre valency of sin, and so come to be truly and really ] redeemed, justified, and made righteous, and to a I sensible union and friendship with God. Thus ^exit. ii. u. j died for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity; ^^*'- '"• ^^* and thus we know him and the power of his resurrec- j tion, and the fellowship of his suffejings, being made \ conformable to his death. This last follows the first ' in order, and is a consequence of it, proceeding from ^ it, as an effect from its cause : so as none could have } enjoyed the last, without the first had been, such ^ being the will of God ; so also can none now partake of the first, but as he witnesseth the last. Where- i fore as to us, they are both causes of our justification ; I the first the procuring efficient, the other the formal ' cause. \ Fourthly, We understand not by \h\s justification Exri..4. j by Christ, barely the good works even wrought by the Spirit^f Christ ; for they, as Protestants truly affirm, *■ are rather an effect oi justification than the cause of it ; but we understand theforfnation of Christ in us, The fbrma- I Christ born and brought forth in us, from which good chris^Un as 5 works as naturally proceed as fruit from a fruitful begets good tree. It is this inward birth in us, bringing forth '""'''^' \ righteousness and holiness in us, that doth justify us ; \ which having removed and done away the contrary | nature and spirit that did bear rule and bring condem- nation, now is in dominion over all in our hearts. j Those then that come to know Christ thus formed in \ them, do enjoy him wholly and undivided, who is the \ LORD our RIGHTEOUSNESS, Jer. xxiii. 6. This is to be clothed with Christ, and to have put o2 , 196 OF JUSTIFICATION. PROP. VII. him on, whom God therefore truly accounteth righte- 6\Xs and just. Thi^' is so far from being the doctrine of Papists, that as the generality of them do not understand it, so the learned among them oppose it, and dispute against it, and particularly Bellarmine. Thus then, as I may say, the formal cause of justifi- cation is not the works, to speak properly, they being but an eftect of it ; but this inward birth, this Jesus brought forth in the heart, who is the well beloved, whom th^ Father cannot but accept, and all those who thus are sprinkled with the blood of Jesus, and washed with it. By this also comes that communi- cation of the goods of Christ unto us, by which we come to be made partakers of the divine ?iature, as saith Peter, 2 Pet. i. 4, and are made one with hini, as the branches with the vine, and have a title and right to what he hath done and suffered for us ; so Christ's that his obedience becomes ours, his righteousness ri*ghll*o°a7-' ours, his death and sufferings ours. And by this ness, death, ncamcss we comc to have a sense of his sufferings, in"gs'a"re^^ aud to suffcr with his seed, that yet lies pressed and ^'^ crucified in the hearts of the ungodly, and so travail with it, and for its redemption, and for the repentance of those souls that in it are crucifying as yet the Lord ♦ of Glory. Even as the apostle Paul, who by his suf- ferings is said io fill up that which is behind of the afflictions of Christ for his body which is the church. Though this be a mystery sealed up from all the wise men that are yet ignorant of this seed in themseWes, and oppose it, nevertheless some Protestants speak of this justification by Christ inwardly put on, as shall hereafter be recited in its place. ExpL.5. Lastly, Though we place remission of sins in the righteousness and obedience of Christ pej formed by him in the flesh, as to what pertains to the remote procuring cause, and that we hold ourselves /or;;/ j% justified by Christ Jesus formed ami brought forth in Good works US, yet cau we not, as some Protestants have unwarily do delude viorVs frmn justification. For though lificalioiu OF JUSTIFICATION. 197 properly we be not justified /or them, yet are we jus- tified in them ; and they are necessary, even as causa sine qua non, i. e. the cause, without tvhich none are justified. For the denying of this, as it is contrary to the scripture's testimony, so it hath brought a great scandal to the Protestant religion, opened the mouths , of Papists, and made many too secure, while they have believed to be justified without good works. Moreover, though it be not so safe to say they are meritorious, yet seeing they are rewarded, many of those called the Fathers have not spared to use the word [merit] which some of us have perhaps also done in a qualified sense, but no ways to infer the Popish abuses abovementioned. And lastly, if we had that notion oi good works which most Protestants have, we could freely agree to make them not only not necessary, but reject them as hurtful, viz. That the best works even of the saints are dejiled and pol- luted. For though we judge so of the best works performed by man, endeavouring a conformity to the outward law by his own strength, and in his own will, yet we believe that such works as naturally pro- ceed from this spiritual birth and formation of Christ in us are pure and holy, even as the root from which they come ; and therefore God accepts them, justi- fies us in them, and rewards us for them out of his own f?re grace. The state of the controversy being thus laid down, these following positions do from hence arise in the next place to be proved. §. IV. First, That the obedience, sufferings, and posit, i. death of Christ is that by which the soul obtains re- mission of sins, and is the procuring cause of that grace, by whose inward working Christ comes to be formed inwardly, and the soul to be made conformable unto him, and so just and justified. And that there- fore, in respect of this capacity and offer of grace, God is said to be reconciled ; not as if he were ac- tually reconciled, or did actually justify, or account 198 OF JUSTIFICATION. PROP. VII. any just, so long as they remain in their sins really impure and unjust^ Posit. 2. Secondly, 7 hat it is hy this inward birth of Christ in man that man is made just, and therefore so ac- counted by God: wherefore, to be plain, we are thereby, and not till that be brought forth in us, yb; - m^lii/y if we must use that word, justified in the sight of God ; because justification is both more properly and frequently in scripture taken in its proper signi- fication for making one just, and not reputing one merely such, and is all one with sancti/ication. Posit. 8. Thirdly, That since good works as naturally follow from this birth as heat from fire, therefore are they of Good works absolute necessity to justijication, as causa si fie qua '[ne"ur ^on, i- ^' though not as the cause for which, yet as ""0— ofjas- that in which we are, and without which we cannot be, justified. And though they be not meritorious, and draw no debt upon God, yet he cannot but ac- cept and reward them : for it is contrary to his nature to deny his own, since they may be perfect in their kind, as proceeding from a pure holy birth and root. Wherefore their judgment is false and against the truth that say, that the holiest wffrks of the saints are defiled and sinful in the sight of God : for these good works are not the works of the law, excluded by the apostle from justification. Posit. 1. §. V. As to the first, I prove it from Rom. iii. 25, Whom God hath sctfoHh to be a propitiation through Proof I. faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the ^i^^l^Wul\ remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance deaih to re- of God. Hcrc the apostle holds forth the extent and ont ouJi'i. efficacy of Christ's death, showing that thereby, and by faith therein, remission of sins that are past is obtained, as being that wherein the forbearance of God is exercised towards mankind. So tliat though men for the sins they daily commit deserve eternal death, and that the wrath of God shoidd lay hold u{«on tliem ; yet, by virtue of that most satisfactnnf OF JUSTIFICATIOy. 199 \ sacrifice of Christ Jesus, the grace and seed of God j moves in love towards them, during the day of their \ visitation ; yet not so as not to strike against the evil, for that must be burnt up and destroyed, but to redeem i man out of the evil. ^ Secondly, If God were perfectly reconciled with puoof ii. ^ men, and did esteem them just while they are ac- tually unjust, and do continue in their sins, then "! should God have no controversy with them* ; how ." comes he then so often to complain, and to expostu- late so much throughout the whole scripture with ] such as our adversaries confess to be justified, telling them that their sins separate betwLvt him and them ? \ Isa. lix. 2. For where there is a perfect and full reconciliation, there is no separation. Yea, from this | doctrine it necessarily follows, either that such for ^ whom Christ died, and whom he hath reconciled, v never sin, or that when they do so, they are still re- l conciled, and their sins make not the least separation from God : yea, that they are justified in their sins. \ From whence also would follow this abominable con- sequence, that the good works and greatest sins of \ such are alike in the sight of God, seeing neither the i one serves to justify them, nor the other to break their ^ reconciliation, which occasions great security, and \ opens a door to every lewd practice. \ Thirdly, This would make void the whole practi- proof hi. \ cal doctrine of the gospel, and make faith itself need- j less. For if faith and repentance, and the other con- i ditions called for throughout the gospel, be a qualifi- ■ cation upon our part necessary to be performed, then, before this be performed by us, we are either :; * I do not only speak concerning men before conversion, who ! afterwards are converted, whom yet some of our antagonists, called Antinomians, do aver were justified from the beginning; ] but also touching those who according to the common opinion of Protestants have been converted ; whom albeit they confess they persist always in some misdeeds, and sometimes in heinous '^ sins, as is manifest in David's adultery and murder, yet they J assert to be perfectly and wholly justified. ! 200 OF JUSTIFICATION. PROP. VII. fully reconciled to God, or but in a capacity of being reconciled to God, he being ready to reconcile and justify us as these conditions are performed ; which latter, if granted, is according to the truth we profess. And if we are already perfectly reconciled and justi- fied before these conditions are performed (which conditions are of that nature that they cannot be per- formed at one time, but are to be done all one's life- time), then can they not be said to be absolutely need- ful ; which is contrary to the very express testimony of scripture, which is acknowledged by all Chris- Heb. xi. 6. tians : For without faith it is impossible to please God. John iii. 18. yy^^ ^Ij^^ believe fiot are eondeimied already, because Kom. Tiii. they believe not in the only begotten oow of Uoa, At- ^** cept ye repent, ye cannot be saved : for if ye live after the fleshy ye shall die. And of those that were con- Apoc. ii. 6. verted ; / vnll 7xmove your candlestick from you, un- less ye repent. Should I mention all the scriptures that positively and evidently prove this, I might transcribe much of all the doctrinal part of the Bible. For since Christ said, It is finished, and did finish his work sixteen hundred years ago and upwards ; if he so fully perfected redemption then, and did actually reconcile every one that is to be saved, not A door of simply opening a door of mercy for them, ofi'ering the rdT/chHst sacrifice of his body, by which they may obtain re- apon re- missiou of their sins when they repent, and commu- pentance. j^i^^^^jj^g ^j^|^q thcm a mcasurc of his grace, by which they may see their sins, and be able to repent ; but really making them to be reputed as just, either be- Tbe Anti- forc they believe, as say the Antinomians, or after opiiion'lf ^^y *^^v^ assented to the truth of the history of Christ, reconciiiii- or ai*e sprinkled with the baptism of water, while tifioa't'ion."' nevertheless they are actually unjust, so that no part of their redemption is to be wrought by him now, as to their reconciliation and justification ; then the whole doctrinal part of the Bible is useless, and of no profit : in vain were the apostles sent forth to preach repentance and remission of sins ; and in vain do all OF JUSTIFICATION. 201 the preachers bestow their labour, spend their breath, and give forth writings ; yea, much more in vain do the people spend their money vy^hich they give them for preaching ; seeing it is all but actum agere, but a vain and ineffectual essay, to do that which is already perfectly done without them. But Lastly, To pass by their human labours, as proof iv. not worth the disputing whether they be needful or not, since (as we shall hereafter show) themselves confess the best of them is sinful; this also makes void the present intercession of Christ for men. What will become of that great article of faith, by which we affirm. That he sits at the right hand of God, chrhCudid' daily making intercession for us ; ^^id for ichich end^-^^^^^^^^}^^^ the Spitit itself maketh intercession for us tvith groan- for us. ijigs which cannot be uttered? For Christ maketh not intercession for those that are not in a possibility of salvation ; that is absurd. Our adversaries will not admit that he prayed for the world at all ; and to pray for those that are already reconciled, and per- fectly justified, is to no purpose : to pray for remission of sins is yet more needless, if all be remitted, past, present, and to come. Indeed there is not any solid solving of this, but by acknowledging according to the truthy That Christ by his death removed the wrath of God, so far as to obtain remission of sins for as many as receive that grace and light that he communicates unto them, and hath purchased for them by his blood; which, as they believe in, they come to know remission of sins past, and power to save them from sin, and to wipe it away, so often as they may fall into it by unwatchfulness or weakness, if, applying themselves to this grace, they truly re- pent ; for to as many as receive him, he gives power to become the sons of God: so none are sons, none are justified, none reconciled, until they thus receive him in that little seed in their hearts : And life eternal is offered to those roho, by patient continuance in well doing, seek for glory, honour, and immortality : for if the righteous man depart from his righteousness, his ^02 OF JUSTIFICATION. PROP. VII. righteousness shall be remembered 710 vio7^e. And therefore on the other part, none are longer sons of God, and justified, than they patiently continue in righteousness and well doing. And therefore Christ lives, always making intercession, during the day of every man's visitation, that they may be converted : and when men are in some measure converted, he makes intercession that they may continue and go on and not faint, nor go back again. Much more might be said to confirm this truth ; but I go on to take notice of the common objections against it, which are the arguments made use of to propagate the errors contrary to it. §. VI. The Jirst and chief is drawn from that say- ing of the apostle before mentioned, 2 Cor. v. 18, 19, God hath recoiciled us to himself by Jesus Christ : God ivas in Christ recojiciling the world unto him^lf not ifnputi7ig their trespasses unto them. Object. 1. From hence they seek to infer. That Christ fully perfected the work of reco7iciUatio7i while he was on earth, A NSW. I answer ; If by \reco7iciUation^ be understood the (removing of wrath, and the purchase of that grace ^ by which we may come to be reconciled, we agree (to it ; but that that place speaks no more, appears from tlie place itself; for when the apostle speaks in the perfect time, saying, He hath 7^eco7iciled us, he speaks of himself and the saints ; who having received The differ- the gracc of God purchased by Christ, were through ence be- £g^j^|^ jj^ j^jjjj actuallv reconcilcd. But as to the wo7'ld, conciied to hc saitli [reco7icili7ig] not [7XC07iciled] ; which recon- rcronciUDg. (^^^^'{^1 though it dcuotes a time somewhat past, yet it is by the imperfect fniie, denoting that the thing begun was not perfected. For this work of Christ began towards all in the days of his flesh, yea, and long before : for He was the Mediator fro77i the begifh- 7iing, and the Lamb slain /rowi the foundatio7i of the 7corld: but in his Hesh, after he had perfectly /w/- fillcd the lav), and the )ighteouJmess\)\ereoi', had rent the veil, and made wav for the more clear aTid uni- OF JUSTIFICATION. 203 versal revelation of the gospel to all, both Jew and Gentile ; he gave up himself a most satisfactory sacri- fice for si?i ; which becomes effectual to as many as receive him in his inward appearance, in his light in the heart. Again, this very place showeth that no other reconciliation is intended, but the opening of a door of mercy upon God's part, and a removing of wrath for sins that are past ; so as men, notwithstand- ing their sins, are stated in a capacity of salvation : for the apostle, in the following verse, saith. Now then we are ambassadors for Chjist, as though God did beseech you by us ; ive pray you in Chrisfs stead, be ye i^econciled to God. For if their reconciliation had already been perfecdy accomplished, what need any entreating then to be reconciled ? Ambassadors are not sent after a peace already perfected, and re- conciliation made, to entreat for a reconciliation; for that implies a manifest contradiction. Secondly, They object, verse 21 of the same chap- Object. 2. ter. For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin, that we might he made the righteousness of God in him. From whence they argue, That as our sin is imputed to Christ, who had no sin ; so Christ's righteousness is imputed to us, without our beiiig righteous. But this interpretation is easily rejected ; for though answ. Christ bare our sins, and suffered for us, and was among men accounted a siiiner, and numbered among transgressors ; yet that God reputed him a sinner is no where proved. For it is said, He was found be- Heb.Tii.26. fore him, holy, hai^mless, and undefiled, neither %vas ^^^^''''^^' there found any guile in his mouth. That we de- served these things, and much more for our sins, which he endured in obedience to the Father, and according to his counsel, is true ; but that ever God reputed him a sinner is denied : neither did he ever Mens im- die that we should be reputed righteous, though no p"^^*^ "§•"*" r e^ IP eoasness more really such than he was a sinner, as hereafter soiidiy re- appears. For indeed, if this argument hold, it might ^"'^**' 204 OF JUSTIFICATION. PROP. VII. be stretched to that length, as to become very pleas- ing to wicked men that love to abide in their sins : for if we be made righteous^ as Christ was made a sinner^ merely by imputation ; then as there was no sin J not in the least, in Christ, so it would follow, that there needed no more righteousness, no more holiness, 710 more inward sanctification in us, than there was sin in him. So then, by his [being made sin for us] must be understood his suffering for our sins, that we might be made partakers of the grace purchased by him ; by the workings whereof we are made the righteousness of God in him. For that the apostle understood here a being made really righteous, and not merely a being reputed such, appears by what follows, seeing in verses 14, 15, 16, of the following chapter, he argues largely against any supposed agreement of light and darkness, righteousness and unrighteousness ; which must needs be admitted, if men are to be reckoned ingrafted in Christ, and real members of him, merely by an imputative righteous- ness, wholly without them, while they themselves are actually unrighteous. And indeed it may be thought strange, how some men have made this so fundamen- tal an article of their faith, which is so contrary to the whole strain of the gospel : a thing which Christ in none of all his sermons and gracious speeches ever willed any to rely upon ; always recommending to us works, as instrumental in our justification. And the more it is to be admired, because that sentence or term (so frequently in their mouths, and so often pressed by them, as the very basis of their hope and Christ's im- confidence), to wit. The imputed righteousness of Itt^ltoi Christ, \s not to be found in all the Bible, at least is found in all to my obscrvation. Thus have I passed through the '!**• first part, and that the more briefly, because many, who ^s&esi ih\^justifiC£tionhy bare iruputatioD, do nevertheless corifcss, tHaLeven the elect 4ire not justi- lied until \\\v\ 1)( (oiiyerted ; that is^ not until thisoin- putative justification be applied to thcD3 by the^ifit. OF JUSTIFICATION. 205 §. VII. I come then to the second thing proposed posit. r. by me, which is ; That it is by this inward birth, or Bj chmt Christ formed within, that we are (so to speak) for- ^[t^fn^we mallij justified in the sight of God. I suppose I have are justi- said enough already to demonstrate how much we ^^^' ascribe to the death and sufferings of Christ, as that whereby satisfaction is made to the justice of God, remission of sins obtained, and this gi^ace and seed purchased, by and from which this birth proceeds. The thing now to be proved is, That by Christ Jesus formed in us, we are justified, or made just. Let it be marked, I usejusti/ication in this sense upon this occasion. First then, I prove this by that of the apostle Paul, proof i. 1 Cor. vi. 1 1 : And such were some of you ; but ye justified, are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye cire justified ^^l^^V^^^ in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of reaUj, not our God. First, This \justifiedr\ here understood, l^/J^^"'*' must needs be a being really made just, and not a being merely imputed such; else [sanctified^ and [washed^ might be reputed a being esteemed so, and not a being really so; and then it quite overturns the whole intent of the context. For the apostle showing them in the preceding verses, how the un- righteous cannot inherit the kingdom of God, and descending to the several species of wickedness, sub- sumes, That they were sometnnes such, but now are not any more such. Wherefore, as they are now washed and sanctified, so are they justified : for if this justification were not 7^eal, then it might be alleged that the Corinthians had not forsaken these evils ; but, though they still continued in them, were not- withstanding jW6"^i/f'e6?; which as in itself it is most absurd, so it very clearly overturneth the very import and intent of the place ; as if the Corinthians turning Christians had not wrought any real change in them, but had only been a belief of some barren notions, which had wrought no alteration in their affections, will, or manner of life. For my own part, I neither see any thing, nor could ever yet hear or read any 20G OF JUSTIFICATION. PROP. Vll. thing', that with any colour of reason did evince [jus- tijicd] in this place to be understood any otherways than in its own proper and genuine interpretation of The deriTa- bciu^ made just. And for the more clear under- wo?d°jul'iify standing hereof, let it be considered, that this word considered, [just'ify] is derived either from the substantive j*w*- tice^ or the adjective just : both which words import the substantive^ that true and real virtue in the soul, as it is in itself; to wit, signifies really, and not swp- positively, that excellent quality expressed and under- stood among men by the word [justice;^ and the adjective [^just^ as applied, signifies a man or woman who IS, just, that is, in whom this quality of justice is stated : for it would not only be great impropriety, but also manifest falsity, to call a man just, merely by supposition ; especially if he were really unjust. Now this word [justify^ formed from justice, or just, doth beyond all question signify a making just ; it being- nothing else but a composition of the verb facio, and the adjective J W6-///6', which is nothing else than thus, justijico, i. e. justu7n facio, I make just; and [justi- Jied] of Justus and //o, ^sjustusjio, I become just, and justi/icatus, i. e. Justus /actus, I am made just. Thus also is it with verbs of this kind, as sanctijico, from sanctus, holy, andyjsrc/o; honorijico, from honor idxA facio ; sacrijico, from sacer and facio : all which are still understood of the subject really and truly endued with that virtue and quality from which the verb is jastiHed derived. Therefore, as none are said to be sanctified whife'tife' ^^^ ^^^ really unholy, while they are such ; so nei- actoaiij re- ther cau any be truly said to hejustijied, while they mainunjast. actually remain unjust. Only this verh justify hath, in a metaphorical and figurative sense, been other- wise taken, to wit, in a law sense ; as when a man really guilty of a crime is freed from the punishment of his sin, he is said to he justified ; that is, put in the place as if he were just. For this use of the word hath proceeded from that true supposition, That none ought to be aajuitted, but the imiocent. Hence OF JUSTIFICATION. 207 also tliat manner of speaking, / will justify such a man, or / loill justify this or that, is used from the supposition that the person and thing is reaily justi- fiable : and where there is an error and abuse in the matter, so far there is also in the expression. This is so manifest and apjjarent, that Paraeus, a Paraens de chief Protestant, and a Calvinist also in his opinion, ^^^l{ [;""*; acknowledges this : " We never at any time said vii. p. 469. (saith he), nor thought, that the righteousness of Christ was imputed to us, that by him we shoidd be n^med fo7'ma lit/ just, and not be so, as we have divers times already showed ; for that would no less soundly fight with right reason, than if a guilty man absolved in judgment should say, that he himself was ybn;/^///j/ just by the clemency of the judge granting him his life." Now is it not strange, that men should be so facile in a matter of so great concernment, as to build the stress of their acceptance with God upon a mere borrowed and metaphorical signification, to the ex- cluding, or at least esteeming not necessary, that without which the scripture saith expressly, No man shall ever see God? For if holiness be requisite and Holiness necessary, of which this is said, then must good works [herefofe also ; unless our adversaries can show us a holy man good works without good icorks. But, moreover, [justified] in *'''• this figurative sense is used for approved ; and indeed for the most part, if not always in scripture, when the word [justifij] is used, it is taken in the worst part ; that is, that as the use of the word that way is a usurpation, so it is spoken of such as usurp the thing to themselves, while it properly doth not belong unto them ; as will appear to those that will be at the pains to examine these places. Exod. xxiii. 7 ; Job, ix. 20, and xxvii. 5; Prov. xvii. 15; Isai. v. 23; Jer. iii. 11; Ezek. xvi. 51, 52; Luke, x. 29, and xvi. 15; which are all spoken of men justifying the wicked, or of luicked men justifying themselves ; that is, approving themselves in their wickedness. If it be at any in this signification taken in good 208 OF JUSTIFICATION'. PROP. VII. part, it is very seldom, and that so obvious and plain by the context, as leaves no scniple. But the ques- tion is not so much of the use of the vx>rd^ where it is passingly or occasionally used, as where the very doc- trine of justijicatiofi is handled. Where indeed to mistake it, viz, in its proper place, so as to content ourselves with an imaginarii justijication^ while God requires a real, is of most dangerous consequence. For the disquisition of which let it be considered, that in all these places to the Romans, Corinthians, Galatians, and elsewhere, where the apostle handles this theme, the word may be taken in its own proper signification without any absurdity. As, where it is often asserted in the abovementioned epistles to the Justi6ed, in Romans and Galatians, That a man can?iot be jitsti- irnE" J^^^^ ^y ^^^^ ^^^ of Moses, nor by the works of the law; tion. there is no absurdity nor danger in understanding it according to its own proper signification, to wit, that a man cannot be madejw^^ by the law of Moses; seeing this so well agrees with that saying of the same apostle, That the law makes nothing perfect. And also where it is said, We are justified by faith, it may be very well understood of being inadejust; see- ing it is also said, ThoX faith purifies the heart; and no doubt the pure in heart are just ; and theju^t live by faith. Again, where it is said, We are justified by grace, we are justified by Christ, we are justified by the Spirit ; it is no ways absurd to understand it of being made just, seeing by his Spirit and grace he doth make men just. But to understand it universally the other way, merely for acceptajice and imputation, would infer great absurdities, as may be proved at large ; but because I judged it would be acknow- ledged, I forbear at present for brevity's sake. But further, in the most weighty places where this word justify is used in scripture, with an immediate rela- Juiifica tion to the doctrine o{ justification, our adversaries tion •igt.i- inust uccds acknowledge it to be understood of making ing ja>t. just, and not barely in the legal acceptation : as first, OF JUSTIFICATION. 209 in that of 1 Cor. vi. 11. But ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified, as I before have proved ; which also many Protestants are forced to acknow- ledge. " Neither diffide we," saith Thysius, '^ be- Tbysiu? cause of the most great and strict connexion, that ^a'sf^'Th^s. justification doth sometimes seem also to comprehend 3. sanctijicatio7i as a consequence, as in Rom. viii. 30 ; Tit. iii. 7 ; 1 Cor. vi. 11; And such sometimes were ye, but ye are ivashed, &c." Zanchius, having spoken zaudiias in concerning this sense of justification, adds, saying ; ^- J"- ^* 'f- ^' There is another signification of the word, viz. for locke Just. a man from unjust to be made j'i/^^, even as sanctified signifies from unholy to be made holy : in which sig- nification the apostle said, in the place abovecited, And such were some of you, &c. that is, of unclean ye are made holy, and of unjust ye are made just by the Holy Spirit, for Christ's sake, in whom ye have be- lieved. Of this signification is that, Rev. xxii. 11, Let him that is just be still just ; that is, really from just become more just, even as from unjust he became just. And according to this signification the Fathers, and especially Augustine, have interpreted this word.'' Thus far he, H. Bullinger, on the same place, 1 Cor. h. HhWw^, vi. speaketh thus ; '* By divers words," saith he, " the apostle signifies the same thing, when he saith, Ye are washed, ye are sanctifed, ye arejustijied."' Secondly, In that excellent saying of the apostle, pr. h. so much observed, Rom. viii. 30, Whom he called, them he also justijied, and whom he justified, them he also glorifed: this is commonly called the golden chain, as being acknowledged to comprehend the method and order of salvation. And therefore, if [justified] were not understood here in its proper signification of being made just, sanctification would be excluded out of this chain. And truly it is very worthy of observation, that the apostle, in this suc- cinct and compendious account, makes the word [jus- tified] to comprehend all betwixt calling and glorify- ing ; thereby clearly insinuating, that the being really 210 OF JUSTIFICATION. PROP. VII. Righieoa*. viglitcous is that only viedium by which from our 00?* me- calling we pass to glorification. Almost all do acknow- diuin by ledge the word to be so taken in this place ; and not Mr cainSg o"^y so, but most of those who oppose are forced to we pass to ackuowledgc, that as this is the most proper, so the fion! *^* most common signification of it : thus divers famous D. Cham, Protestants acknowledge. " We are not," saith D. Sanct'"'. 10. Chamierus, '* such impertinent esteemers of words, p. 1- as to be ignorant, nor yet such importunate sophists, as to deny, that the words justification and sanctijica- tion do infer one another; yea, we know that the saints are chiefly for this reason so called, because that in Christ they have received remission of sins : and we read in the Revelations, Let him that is just, be juJit still; which cannot be understood, except of the fruit of inherent righteousness. Nor do we deny, but perhaps in other places they may be promiscuously taken, espe- Beza in c. 3. cially by the Fathers." " I take," saith Beza," the name ad Tit. ver. q{ justijication largely, so as it comprehends whatso- ever we acquire from Christ, as well by imputation, as by the efficacy of the Spirit in sanctifying us. So likewise is the wordjustijication taken, Rom. viii. 30." Meianct. in Mclancthon saith, ^' That to be justified by faith, sig- Apoi- Conf. uifies in scripture not only to be pronounced just, but also of unrighteous to be made righteous." Also some chief Protestants, though not so clearly, yet in part, hinted at our doctrine, whereby we ascribe unto the death of Christ remission of sins, and the work of justification unto the grace of the Spirit acquired by Borha-us.in his death. Martinus Borhaeus, explaining that place cr*e"didit*^' ^^ *^*^ apostle, Rom. iv. 25 : Who was given for our Abraham, sius, uud rose again for our justijicatiori, saith : Deo, p. 161. « There are two things beheld in Christy which are necessary to our justification ; the one is his death, the other is his arising from the dead. By his death, the sins of this world behoved to be expiated : by his rising from the dead, it pleased the same goodness of God to give the Holy Spirit, whereby both the gos- pel is believed, and the righteousness, lost by the OF JUSTIFICATION. 211 fault of the first Adam, is restored." And afterwards be saith ; " The apostle expresseth both parts in these words, Who was given for our sins, &c. In his death is beheld the satisfaction for sin ; in his resurrection, the gift of the Holy Spirit, by which our justification is perfected." And again the same man saith else- where; " Both these kinds of righteousness are there- idem. lib. fore contained in justification, neither can the one '"* ^^^' . tj %j ^ _ cap. IX. V. l. be separate from the other. So that in the definition p. 68i. oi justification, the merit of the blood of Christ is included, both with the remission of sins, and with the gift of the Holy Spirit of justification and rege- neration." Martinus Bucerus saith ; " Seeing by Bacems, in one sin of Adam the world was lost, the grace of feTie! "** Christ hath not only abolished that one sin, and death which came by it; but hath together taken away those infinite sins, and also led into full justifi- cation as many as are of Christ ; so that God now Rigbtooa*- not only remits unto them Adam's sin, and their own, "^^*V^ ''""^ but also gives them therewith the Spirit of a solid and the image of perfect righteousness, which renders us conform unto ^ouen!*^* the image of the first-begotten." And upon these words \hy Jesus Christ] he saith ; " We always judge that the whole benefit of Christ tends to this, that we might be strong through the gift of righte- ousness, being rightly and orderly adorned with all virtue, that is, restored to the image of God." And lastly, William Forbes our countryman. Bishop ofw. Forbe* Edinburgh, saith ; " Whensoever the scripture makes 5^"o^est!*de mention of the justification before God, as speaketh Just. lib. ii. Paul, and from him (besides others) Augustine, it '**''^' ^' appears that the word [just if i/] necessarily signifies not only to pronounce just in a law sense, but also really and inherently to make just ; because that God doth justify a wicked man otherwise than earthly judges. For he, when he justifies a wicked or unjust iiow God man, doth indeed pronounce him as these also do ; J^"j^*^^^^//''® but by pronouncing him just, because his judgment is according to truth, he also makes him really of p2 212 OF JUSTIFICATION. PROP. VII. unjust to become just." And again, the same man, | upon the same occasion, answering the more rigid Protestants, who say, That God Jii^st justifies, and then makes just ; he adds : " But let them have a care, lest by too great and empty subtilty, unknown I both to the scriptures and the fathers, they lessen and diminish the weight and dignity of so great and j divine a benefit, so much celebrated in the scripture, \ to wity just ijicat ion of the wicked. For if to the for- mal reason o^ justification of the ungodly doth not at ' all belong his justiJicatio7i (so to speak), i. e. his being 1 made righteous, then in the justification of a sinner, I although he be justified, yet the stain of sin is not taken away, but remains the same in his soul as be- \ fore justification : and so, notwithstanding the benefit | of justification, he remains as before, unjust and a ; sinner ; and nothing is taken away, but the guilt and obligation to pain, and the offence and enmity of God through nonimputation. But both the scrij>- : tures and fathers do affirm, that in the justification of ■ a sinner, their sins are not only remitted, forgiven, covered, not imputed, but also taken away, blotted . out, cleansed, washed, purged, and very far removed ' from us, as appears from many places of the holy ; scriptures." The same Forbes shows us at length, ; in the following chapter, That this was the confessed [ judgment of the fathers, out of the writings of those | who hold the contrary opinion ; some whereof, out caiy. in.t. of him, I shall note. As first, Calvin saitli, "That | xi!'ieci?ir>. t^6 judgment of Augustine, or at least his manner of j speaking, is not throughout to be received ; who ] although he took from man all praise of righteous- \ ness, and ascribed all to the grace of God, yet he '] refers grace to sanctification, by which we are rege- j nerate tlirough the Spirit unto newness of life." ) chemnit. in Chemuitius saith, " That they do not deny, but that I cun"*Trid ^^^ fathers take the word \,justiftf\ for renetvingy by | d«^J"« kind, will appear, if we consider the occasion of the I apostle's mentioning this, as well here, as throughout ; his epistle to the Galatians, where he speaks of this ■ matter and to this purpose at large : which was this, { That whereas many of the Gentiles, that were not of \ the race or seed of Abraham, as concerning the flesh, were come to be converted to the Christian faith, ] and to believe in him, some of those that were of the Jewish proselytes, thought to subject the faithful and \ believing Gentiles to the legal ceremonies and obser- I vations, as necessary to their justification : this gave The occa- | the apostle Paul occasion at length, in his epistle to ^ °o°sUe's'^ ' the Romans, Galatians, and elsewhere, to show the speaking of \ use and tendency of the law, and of its works, and to %\^quI^ \ contradistinguish them from the faith of Christ, and wbich are \ the righteousness thereof : showing how the former ^^"^ " * * I was ceased and become ineffectual, the other re- i maining, and yet necessary. And that the works \ excluded by the apostle are of this kind of works of i the law, appears by the whole strain of his epistle to i the Galatians, chap. i. ii. iii. and iv. For after, in ] chap. iv. he upbraideth them for their returning unto \ the observation of days and times, and that, in the ,1 beginning of chap. v. he showeth them their folly, \ and the evil consequence of adhering to the ceremo- ; nies of circumcision, then he adds, verse 6 : For in \ Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision \ availeth, but faith, which loorketh by love; and thus he concludes again, chap. vi. 15 : For in Christ Jes^us \ neither circumcision availeth, nor uncircumcision, but \ a new creature. From which places appeareth that j distinction of works beforementioned, whereof the J one is excluded, the other necessary to justification. J For the apostle showeth here, that circumcision (which ; word is often used to comprehend the whole ceremo- \ nies and legal performances of the Jews) is not ne- 222 OF JUSTIFICATION. PROP. VI l. cessaiy, nor doth avail. Here then are the tvorks \ which are excluded, by which ?io man is justified; but faithy which worketh by love, but the fiew a^ea- titre, this is that which availeth, which is absolutely necessary : for faith, that worketh by love, cannot be j without works, for, as it is said in the same 6tli chap- j ter, verse 22 : Love is a work of the Spirit ; also the Tiew creatuj^e, if it avail and be necessary, cannot be ' without works; seeing it is natural for it to bring ^ forth works of righteousness. Again, that the apostle no ways intends to exclude such good works appears, in that in the same epistle he exhorts the Galatians to \ them, and holds forth the usefulness and necessity of 1 Tbe useful- them, and that very plainly, chap. vi. 7, 8, 9 : Be not \ ce"i*y tr deceived, saith he, God is not mocked; for whatsoever • woodworks. « man soweth, that shall he also reap: for he that ' soweth to the flesh, shall of the flesh reap corruption; ■ but he that soweth to the Spirit, shall of the Spirit \ reap life everlasting. And let us not be weaty of well ■ doing, for in due season we shall reap, if we faint ?7ot: : Doth it not hereby appear, how necessary the apostle ; would have the Galatians know that he esteemed good works to be ? To wit, not the outward ceremo- : nies and traditions of the law, but the fruits of the \ Spirit, mentioned a little before ; by which Spirit he ' would have them to be led, and walk in those good ; works : as also, how much he ascribed to these good ; works, by which he affirms life everlasting is reaped. Now, that cannot be useless to man's justification, ; which capacitates him to reap so rich a harvest. j answ.2. But lastly, For a full answer to this objection, and | for the establishing of this doctrine of good works, I ': shall instance another saying of the same apostle \ Paul, which our adversaries also in the blindness of j their minds makes use of against us ; to wit, Tit. iii. 5 : ! Justified not Not by works of righteousness which we have done, 3 perform*^ ^«^ accordlng to his mercy he saved us, by the wash- \ ance». hut ing of regeneration, and ?mewing of the Holy Ghost, '\ ibr spwt°' I^ ^^ generally granted by all, that [saved] is here all j one as if it had oeen said [justifie/i.] Now there are | i OF JUSTIFICATION. 223 two kinds of worths here mentioned : one by which \ we are not saved, that is, not justified ; and another by j which we are saved, or justified. The first, the works of \ righteousness which we have wrought, that is, which ] we in our first fallen nature, by our own strength, ^ i have wrought, our own legal performances, and there- fore may truly and properly be called ours, whatever \ specious appearances they may have. And that it I must needs and ought to be so understood, doth ] appear from the other part. By the washing of rege- \ neration, and renewing of the Holrj Ghost ; seeing \ regeneration is a work, comprehensive of many good \ works, even of all those which are called the fruits of i the Spirit. \ Now in case it should be objected, That these may object. | aUo be called ours, because ivrought in us, and also by ^ us many, times as instruments ; - I answer ; It is far otherwise than the former : for Answ. i in the first we are yet alive in our own natural state, j unrenewed, working of ourselves, seeking to save ' ourselves, by imitating and endeavouring a confor- mity to the outward letter of the law ; and so wrest- ling and striving in the carnal mind, that is enmity to God, and in the cursed will not yet subdued. But in this second we are crucified with Christ, we are ; become dead with him, have partaken of the fellow- \ ship of his sufferings, are made conforjnable to his • \ death ; and our first man, our old man with all his ] deeds, as well the openly wicked as the seemingly \ righteous, our legal endeavours and foolish wrest- ^ lings, are all buried and nailed to the o^ss of Christ; i and so it is no more we, but Christ alive in us, the Not we, but ; worker in us. So that though it be w;e in a sense, C'the work- \ yet it is according to that of the apostle to the same erof righte- ^ Galatians, chap. ii. 20 : I am crucified, yet neverthc- °"^"^"' \ less I live, yet not I, but Christ liveth in me : not /, \ but the grace of Christ in me. These works are I especially to be ascribed to the Spirit of Christ, and \ the grace of God in us, as being immediately thereby \ acted and led in them, and enabled to perform them. ; 224 OF JUSTIFICATION. PROP. VI K And this manner of speech is not strained, but fami- liar to the apostles, as appears, Gal. ii. 8 : For lie that wrought effectually in Peter to the apostleship of the circumcision, the same was mighty in me, kc. Phil, ii. 13 : For it is God which worketh in you, both to will and to do, &c. So that it appears by this place, that since the washing of regeneratio7i is necessary to justification, and that regetieration comprehends works, works are necessary ; and that these works of the law that are excluded, are different from those that are necessary and admitted. Object. 3. §. XL Thirdly, They object that no works, yea, not the works of Christ in us, can have place in justi- fication, because nothing that is impure can be useful in it ; and all the works wrought in us are impure. For this they allege that saying of the prophet Isaiah, Ixiv. 6 : All our righteousnesses are as fdthy rags; adding this reason. That seei)ig we are impure, so must our works be; which though good in themselves, yet as performed by us, they receive a tincture of im- purity, even as clean water passing through an unclean pipe is defiled. aksw. 1. That no impuix works are used to justification is confessed ; but that all the works wrought in the* saints are such is denied. And for answer to this, the former distinction will serve. We confess, that the first sort of works abovementioned are impure ; but not the second : because the first are wrought in the unrenewed state, but not the other. And as for that of Isaiah, it must relate to the first kind ; for wiiat nort thougli hc saith. All our righteousnesses are as filthy oasnewTs ^^^^*' y^^ ^^^* ^^^^ ^^^ comprchcud the righteousness as fiiihjr of Christ /// us, but only that which we work of and "*'• by ourselves. For should we so conclude, then it would follow, that we should throw away all holiness and righteousness ; since that which is 2ls filthy rags, and as a menstmious garment, ought to be thrown away ; yea, it would follow, that all the fruits of the Spirit, mentioned Gal. iv. were zsfilthy rags: whereas on the contrary, some of the works of the saints are OF JUSTIFICATION. 225 said to have a sweet savour in the nostrils of the Lord; are said to be an ornament of great price in the sight of God; are said to prevail with him, and to be ac- ceptable to him ; which filthy 7^ags and a mensti^uous garment cannot be. Yea, many famous Protestants have acknowledged, that this place is not therefore so to be understood. Calvin upon this place saith, '' That Caivin nnd it is used to be cited by some, that they may prove "'^ers, their , . Ti •• 1 1 1 sense con- there IS SO little merit in our works, that they are ceming isa. before God filthy and defiled : but this seems to me ^o^l\\'^^^. to be different from the prophet's mind," saith he, ousness. " seeing he speaks not here of all mankind." Mus- Mascuius. cuius upon this place saith, " That it was usual for this people to presume much of their legal righte- ousness, as if thereby they were made clean ; never- theless they had no more cleanness than the unclean garment of a man. Others expound this place con- cerning all the righteousness of our flesh ; that opi- nion indeed is true ; yet I think that the prophet did rather accommodate these sayings to the impurity of the people in legal terms'' The author (commonly supposed Bertius) speaking concerning the true sense Beniua. of the 7th chapter of the epistle to the Romans, ^fl^^^^^,^ ■ hath a digression touching this of Isaiah, saying ; dissert, ano. '' This place is commonly corrupted by a pernicious wresting ; for it is still alleged, as if the meaning thereof inferred the most excellent works of the best Christians, &c." James Coret, a French minister in Ja. Coret the church of Basil, in his Apology concerning Jus- ^f^l^ '™J. tification against Alescales, saith ; " Nevertheless ac- ris, ann. cording to the counsel of certain good men, I must ^^^^'^•^®' admonish the reader, that it never came into our minds to abuse that saying of Isaiah, Ixiv. 6. against good wo7'ks, in which it is said, that all our righte- ousnesses are as filthy rags, as if he would have that which is good in our good works, and proceedeth from the Holy Spirit, to be esteemed as a filthy and unclean thing." §. XII. As to the other part. That seeing the best of men are still impure and imperfect, therefore their Q 226 OF JUSTIFICATION. PROP. VII. works must be so ; it is to beg the question, and de- pehds upon a proposition denied ; and which is to be ) discussed at farther length in the next proposition. But though we should suppose a man not thoroughly perfect in all respects, yet will not that hinder, but good and perfect works in their kind may be brought forth in him by the Spirit of Christ: neither doth the example of water going through an unclean pipe hit the matter ; because though water may be capa- ble to be tinctured with uncleanness, yet the Spirit of God cannot, whom we assert to be the immediate author of those works that avail in Justification : and therefore Jesus Christ's works in his children are pure and perfecty and he worketh in and through that pure thing of his own forming and creating in them. Moreover, if this did hold, according to our adversaries' supposition, lliat no man ever was or can Were the be perfccl, it would follow, that the very miracles and miracles works of the apostlcs, which Christ wrouo^ht in them, and works r » G . . » of the apos- and they wrought m and by the power, opirit, and Urtbrpo^w! grace of Christ, were also impure and imperfect ; er of Christ such as their converting of the nations to the Chris- potewd^^ ^/flr;2 faith ; their gathering of the churches, their perfect? Writing of the holy scj^iptui^es ; yea, and their offer- ing up and sacrificing of their lives for the testimony of Jesus. What may our adversaries think of this argument, whereby it will follow, that the holy scrip- tures, whose perfection and excellency they seem so much to magnify, are provied to be impure and imperfect, because they came through impure and imperfect vessels 1 It appears by the confessions of Protestants, that the Fathers did frequently attribute unto works of this kind that instrumental work, which we have spoken of in Justification, albeit some igno- rant persons cry out it is popery ; and also divers, and those famous Protestants, do of themselves confess it. A. PoUn. Amandus Polanus, in liis Symphonia Catholica, cap. Our doc- xxvii. de Remissione Peccatorum, p. 651, places this *[^J*j?[j"*' thesis as the common opinion of Protestants, most ud works agreeable to the doctrine of the Fathers : " We ob- OF JUSTIFICATION. 227 tain the remission of sins by repentance, confession, is not po- prayers, and tears, proceeding from faith, but do not p^*^^* merit, to speak properly; and therefore we obtain . remission of sins, not by the merit of our repentance and prayers, but by the mercy and goodness of God." Innocentius Gentiletus, a lawyer of great fame among Gentiieias Protestants, in his Examen of the Council of Trent, ceiTsie!' p. QQ, 67, oi justification, having before spoken of faith and works, adds these words : " But seeing the one cannot be without the other, we call them both conjunctly instrumental causes.'' Zanchius, in his Zanci.ius. fifth book, De Natura Dei, saith ; " We do not sim- ply deny, that good works are the cause of salvation, to wit, the instrumental, rather than the efficient cause, which they call [sine qua ;w;l"] And after- wards, " Good works are the instrumental cause of the possession of life eternal; for by these, as by a means and a lawful way, God leads unto the pos- session of life eternal^ G. Amesius saith, " That g. Ames, in our obedience, albeit it be not the principal and xbet?ogi»! meritorious cause of life eternal, is nevertheless a i. ii. c. i. ' cause in some respect, administering, helping, and ^*'*''** ^^' advancing towards the possession of the life." Also Richard Baxter, in his book above cited, p. 155, R. Baxter. saith, " That we are justified bj/ works in the same kind of causality as by faith, to wit, as being both causes sine qua non, or conditions of the new covena7it on our part requisite to justification." And p. 195, he saith, " It is needless to teach any scholar, who hath read the writings of Papists, how this doctrine differs from them." But lastly. Because it is fit here to say something or the me- of the merit and reward of works, I shall add some- "l^a tf * thing in this place of our sense and belief concerning works, that matter. We are far from thinking or believing, that man merits any thing by his works from God, all being oi free grace ; and therefore do we, and always have denied that popish notion of meritum ex condigno. Nevertheless we cannot deny, but that God, out of his infinite goodness wherewith he hath q2 228 OF JUSTIFICATION. 1»R0P. VIT. loved mankind, after he communicates to him his holy grace and Spimt, doth, according to his own God re- will, Fccompense and reward the good woi^hs of his ^"*'t children; and therefore this merit of comridty or good works / ^ b J ^ ofhi.cbii- rewara, m so tar as the scripture is plain and posi- *""• tive for it, we may not deny ; neither wholly reject the work, in so far as the scripture makes use of it. For the same Greek ahov which signifies [jiierii] is also in those places where the translators express it worth, or Worthy, as Matt. iii. 8; 1 Thess. ii. 12; 2 Thess. i. 5, 11. Concerning which R. Baxter saith, in the book above cited, p. 8, "But in a larger sense, as promise is an obligation, and the thing pro- niised is said to be debt, so the performers of the conditions are called worthy, and that which they perform merit; although properly all be of grace, and not of debty All those, who are called the fathers of the church, frequently used this word of vierit, whose sayings concerning this matter I think not needful to insert, because it is not doubted, but evident, that many Protestants are not averse from this word, in the sense that we use it. Tlie Apology for the Augustan Confession, art. xx. hath these words ; " We agree that works are truly meritorious, not of remission of sins, or justification ; but they are meri- torious of other rewards corporal and spiritual, which are indeed as well in this life, as after this life." And further, "Seeing works are a certain fulfilling of the law, they are rightly said to be meritorious; it is rightly said, that a reward is due to them." Conference In the acts of tlic confercncc of Oldenburgh, the burgh*" electoral divines, p. 1 10 and 265, say, " In this sense our churches also are not averse from the word \jnerit^ used by the fathers ; neither therefore do they defend the Popish doctrine of merit'' G. Vogiiat G. V< oj^theword ^^^ ^^^^i^3 ventured to condemn the word [fnerit] wholly, as being that which both many of the ancients use, and also the reformed churche^s have used in their confcs- ossius in his Theological Thesis concerning t its of good works, saith ; " We have not ad- !J J OF JUSTIFICATION. "229 sions. Now; that God judgeth and accepteth men according to their works, is beyond doubt to those that seriously will read and consider these scriptures/' Matt. xvi. 27; Rom. ii. 6, 7, 10; 2 Cor. v. 10; James, i. 25; Heb. x. 35; 1 Pet. i. 17; Rev. xxii. 12. §. XIII. And to conc\\xdie\\i\s proposition, let none be so bold as to mock God, supposing themselves justified and accepted in the sight of God, by virtue of Christ's death and sufferings, while they remain unsanctified and unjustified in their own hearts, and polluted in their sins, lest their hope prove that of tke hypocrite, which perisheth. Neither let any job viii. 13. foolishly imagine, that they can by their own works, or by the performance of any ceremonies or traditions, or by the giving of gold or money, or by afflicting their bodies in will worship and voluntary humility, or foolishly striving to conform their way to the out- The iiope of ward letter of the law, flatter themselves that they crUeS merit before God, or draw a debt upon him, or that perish, but any man or men have powder to make such kind of f^g'^^^^^J*^ things effectual to their justification, lest they be found foolish boasters, and strangers to Christ and his righteousness indeed. But blessed for ever are they, that having truly had a sense of their own un- worthiness and sinfulness, and having seen all their own endeavours and performances fruitless and vain, and beheld their own emptiness, and the vanity of their vain hopes, faith and confidence, while they remained inwardly pricked, pursued, and condemned by God's holy witness in their hearts ; and so having applied themselves thereto, and suffered his gi^ace to work in them, are become changed and 7'enewed in the spirit of their minds, passed from death to life, and know Jesus arisen in them, working both the will and the deed; and so having put on the Lord Jesus Cnrist, in effect are clothed with him, and partake of his righteousness and nature ; such can draw near to the Lord with boldness, and know their acceptance m, and by \\\m; in whom, and in as many as are found in him, the Father is well pleased. 230 PROPOSITION VIII. CONXERNING PERFECTION. In whom this pure and holy birth is fully brought forth, the body of death and sin comes to be crucified and removed, and their hearts united and subjected to the truth ; so as not to obey any suggestions or temptations of the evil one, but to be free from actual sinning and transgressing of the law of God, and in that respect />6// p 1 ' p 11' 1 *^^° talents make four of them, pertected his work, and was so was notiung accepted of his Lord as to be called a good and faith- Jable^ihar ful servant, nothing less than he that made Mi^five he with the ten. Even as a little gold is perfect gold in its kind, ^^'^' as well as a great mass, and a child hath a perfect body as well as a man, though it daily grow more and more. Thus Christ is said, Luke, ii. 52, to have increased in wisdom and stature, arid in favour with God and man ; though before that time he had never sin)ied, and was no doubt perfect, in a true and pro- per sense. 232 OF PERFECTION. PROP. VIII. IV. Fourtbly, Though a man may witness this for a season, and therefore all ought to press after it ; yet we do not affirm but those that have attained it in a wiie« of the measure may, by the wiles and temptations of the enemj. enemy, fall into iniquity, and lose it sometimes, if they be not watchful, and do not diligently attend to that of God in the heart. And we doubt not but Erery sin many good and holy, men, who have arrived to ever- mln in"his l^stiug life, have had divers ebbings and tlowings of spiritual this kind : for though every sin weakens a man in butdo'ih"' bis spiritual condition, yet it doth not so as to des- not destroy \^Qy {jj^i altogether, or render him uncapable of rising t'lier. ^^ again. v. Lastly, Though I affirm, that after a man hath arrived Righteous- j^|. such a State, in which he may be able not to sin, vet ness be- . ' . ' i • 1 1 rr ^ come natu- he may sm : nevertheless, 1 will not ainrm that a state ^^' is not attainable in this life, in which to do righteous- 7iess may be so natural to the regenerate soul, that in the stability of that condition he cannot sin. Others may speak more certainly of this state, if they have arrived at it. With respect to myself, I speak mo- destly, because I ingenuously confess that I have not yet attained it ; bat I cannot deny that there is such a state, as it seems to be so clearly asserted by the apostle, 1 John, iii.'9. He that is born of God s'mnetk 7iot, neither can he, became the seed of God ronaineth in him. Part II. The Controversy being thus stated, which will serve Sect. 1. to obviate objections, I shall proceed. First, to show the absurdity of that doctrine that pleads for sin for term of life, even in the saints. Sect. 2. Secondly, To prove this doctrine of pafection from many pregnant testimonies of the holy scripture. stcT. 3. And, Lastly, To answer the arguments and objec- tions of our opposers. Sect. I. §. IIL First then, This doctrine, viz. That the Proof I. saints nor can nor ever will be free of sinning in this Jrine^of' ^ifs*^ ^^ iuconsistcnt with the wisdom of God, and witfi i.i.-ading for his glorious power and majesty, who is of purer ei/es OF PERFECTION". 233 than to behold iniquity^ ; who having purposed in sin for term himself to gather to him, that should worship him, °^Jj^® ***' and be witnesses for him on earth, a chosen people, *Hab.i.i3. doth also no doubt sanctify and purify them. For God hath no delight in iniquity, but abhors trans- gression; and though he regard man in transgres- sion so far as to pity him, and afford him means to come out of it ; yet he loves him not, neither delights in I'im, as he is joined thereunto. Wherefore if man musi be always joined to sin, then God would always vbe at a distance with him; as it is written, Isaiah, lix. 2. Your iniquities have separated betiveen you and your God, and your sins have hid his face from you ; whereas on the contrary, the saints are said to par- take, even while here, of the divine nature, 1 Pet. i. 4, and to be one spirit with the Lord, 1 Cor^ vi. 17. ^ Now no unclean thing can be so. It is expressly written, That there is no communion betwixt light and darkness, 2 Cor. vi. 14. But God is light, and every sin is darkness in a measure : What greater stain then can there be than this upon God's wisdom, as ifHathGod'» he had been wanting to prepare a means whereby his beenTant- children might perfectly serve and worship him, oringiopre- liad not provided a way whereby they might serve Jfeiis to him in any thing, but that they must withal still »e"e«nd serve the devil no less, yea more than himself? For peTfecUy?"" he that sinneth is the servant of sin, Rom. vi. 16, and every sin is an act of service and obedience to the devil. So then if the saints sin daily in thought, ivord, and deed, yea if the very service they offer to God be sin, surely they serve the devil more than they do God : for besides that they give the devil many intire services, without mixture of the least grain to God, they givfe God not the least service in which the devil hath not a large share : and if their prayers and all their spiritual performances be sinful, the devil is as much served by them in these as God, and in most of them much more, since they confess that many of them are performed without the lead- 234 OF PERFECTION. ings and influence of God's Spirit. Now who would j not account him a foolish master among men, who '> being able to do it, and also desirous it might be so, ; yet would not provide a way whereby his children ; and servants might serve him more entirely than his I avowed enemy; or would not guard against their | serving of him, but be so imprudent and unadvised i in his contrivance, that whatever way his servants and children served him, they should no less, yea i often much more, serve his enemy ? What may we ; then think of that doctrine that would infer this folly i upon the Omnipotent and Only Wise God? \ Proof II. §. IV. Secondly, It is inconsistent with the justice of Ls'tMcj" ^^* ^^^ since he requires purity from his children, \ with the jas- and commands them to abstain from every iniquity, -j ticeofGod. g^ frequently and precisely as shall hereafter appear, and since his wrath is revealed against all u7igodUness ; ajid unrighteousness of men^ it must needs follow, \ that he hath capacitated man to answer his will, or ■ else that he requires more than he has given power ; to perform ; which is to declare him openly unjust^ ' and, with the slothful servant, to be a hard master, \ We have elsewhere spoken of the injustice these men j ascribe to God, in maJcing him to damji the wicked, to \ whom they allege he never afforded any means of '\ being good; but this is yet an aggravation more irra- j tional and inconsistent, to say, that God will 7iot < afford to those, whom he hath chosen to he his own i (whom they confess he loveth), the means to please him. \ What can follow then from so strange a doctrine? | This imperfection in the saints either proceeds \ from God, or from themselves : If it proceeds from j them, it must be because they are short in improving \ or making use of the power given them, whereby \ they are capable to obey; and so it is a thing possi- \ ble to them, as indeed it is by the help of that power : \ but this our adversaries deny : they are then not to be j blamed for their imperfection and continuing in sin, since it is not possible for them to do otherwise. If OF PERFECTION. 235 it be not of themselves, it must be of God, who hath not seen meet to allow them grace in that degree to produce that effect : and what is this but to attribute to God the height of injustice, to make him require his children to forsake sin, and yet not to afford them sufficient means for so doing ? Surely this makes God snore unrighteous than wicked men, who if (as Christ saith) their children require bread of them, will not who wiii give them a stone ; or instead of a Jish, a serpent, chndlen*a But these men confess we ought to seek of God power stone in- to redeem us from sin, and yet believe they are never breldf to receive such a power; such prayers then cannot be in faith, but are all vain. Is not this to make God as unjust to his children as Pharaoh was to the Israelites, in requiring brick, and not giving them straw ? But blessed be God, he deals not so with those that truly trust in him, and wait upon him, as these men vainly imagine ; for such faithful ones find of a truth that his grace is sufficient for them, and know how by his power and Spirit to overcome the evil one. §. V. Thirdly, This evil doctrine is highly inju- p«. iir. rious to Jesus Christ, and greatly derogates from the andpnnd- power and virtue of his sacrifice, and renders his pai f nd of coming and ministry, as to the great end of it, inef- com?ng\nd fectual. For Christ, as for other ends, so principally appearance he appeared for the removing of sin, for the gather- Temoving of ing a righteous generation, that might serve the ""' *°^ *° Lord in purity of mind, and walk before him in fear, from aii ini- and to bring in everlasting righteousness, and that 'i'"*^' evangelical perfection which the law could not do. Hence he is said. Tit. ii. 14, to have given himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works. This is certainly spoken of the saints while upon earth ; but, contrary thereunto, these men affirm, that we are never r^edeemed from all iniquity, and so make Christ's giving of himself for us void and inef- fectual, and give the apostle Paul the lie plainly, by 236 OF PEIUtCTION. PROP. VIII. \ denying that Christ puri/ieth to himself a peculiar \ people^ zealous of good works. How are tliey zealous of good works, who are ever committing evil ones ? How * are they a purified people, that are still in impurity, as • they are that daily sin, unless sin be accounted no i impurity ? Moreover it is said expressly, 1 John, iii. ! 5, 8, That/or this puipose the Son of Ood was matii- y fested, that he might destroy the works of the devil; : and ye know that he was manifested to take away our \ sins. But these men make this purpose of none < eflGset; for they will not have the Son of God to . destroy the works of the devil in his children in this . world, neither will they at all believe that he was - manifest to take away our sins, seeing they plead a necessity of always living in them. And lest any ' should wrest this place of the apostle, as if it were ^ spoken only of taking away the guilt of sin, as if it ; related not to this life, the apostle, as if of purpose • to obviate such an objection, adds in the following \ verses. Whosoever abideth in him, sinneth ?iot, &c. I hope then they sin not daily in thought, word, and deed. Let ?2o man deceive you; he that doth rightc- \ ousness, is righteous, even as he is righteous ; he that committeth sin, is of the devil; but he that sinneth daily in thought, word, and deed, committeth sin; how comes such a one then to be the child of God? And if Christ was manifest to take away sin, how strangely do they overturn the doctrine of Christ that deny that it is ever taken away here! And how i injurious are they to the efficacy and power of Christ's \ appearance ! Came not Christ to gather a people ^ out of sin into righteousness ; from the kingdom of Satan into the kingdom of the dear Son of God? And i are not they that are thus gathered by him his ser- ; vants, his children, his brethren, his friends? who ; as he tvas, so are they to be in this worUI, holy, pure, j and undejiled. And doth not Christ still watch over ^ them, stand by them, pray for thera, and preserve \ them by his power and Spirit, walk in them, and Ij 1 \ OF PERFECTION. 237 dwell among them ; even as the devil on the other The devii hand doth amono^ the reprobate ones? How comes *^"'^"%. o 1 _ II' among the it then that the servants of Christ are less his servants reprobates. than the devil's are his ? Or is Christ unwilling to have his servants thoroughly pure? Which were gross blasphemy to assert, contrary to many scrip- tures. Or is he not able by his power to preserve and enable his children to serve him ? Which were no less blasphemous to affirm of him, concerning whom the scriptures declare. That he has overcojne sin, death, hell, and the grave, and triumphed over them openly, and that all power in heaven and earth is given to hi?n. But certainly if the saints sin daily in thought, word, and deed, as these men assert, they serve the devil daily, and are subject to his power ; and so he prevails more than Christ doth, and holds the servants of Christ in bondage, whether Christ will or not. But how greatly then doth it contradict the end of Christ's coming ? as it is expressed by the apostle, Eph. v. 25, 26, 27 : Even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it, that he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word: that he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle, or any such thing, but that it should be holy, and ivithout blemish. Now if Christ hath really thus answered the thing he came for, then the members of this church are not always sinning in thought, word, and deed, or there is no difference betwixt being sancti- fied and unsanctified, clean and unclean, holy and unholy, being daily blemished with sin, and being without blemish. §. VI. Fourthly, This doctrine renders the work of fr.w. the ministry, the preaching' of the word, the writing of the sci^ipture, and the prayers of holy men altoge- ther useless and ineffectual . As to the first, Eph. iv. 11, Pastors and teachers are said to be given for Pas\orn, the perfection of the saints, &c. until we all come ?^? anT scrf'>- the unity of the faith, and of the knoioledge of the Son tures are of God, mito a perfect man, unto a measure of the ^^"^'^^''^ 23ft OF PERFECTION. PROP. VI 1 1. perfecting statujx of the fulncss of Christ. Now if there be a ofibesainu. ^ecessity of sinning daily, and in all things, then there can be no perfection ; for such as do so cannot be esteemed perfect. And if for effectuating this perfection in the saints the ministry be appointed and disposed of God, do not such as deny the possi- bility hereof render the ministry useless, and of no profit ? Seeing there can be no other true use assign- ed, but to lead people out of sin into righteousness. If so be these ministers assure us that we need never expect to be delivered from it, do not they render their own work needless? What needs preaching against sin, for the reproving of which all preaching is, if it can never be forsaken ? Our adversaries are exalters of the scriptures in words, much crying up their usefulness and perfection : now the apostle tells us, 2 Tim. iii. 17, That the scriptures are for making the man of God perfect ; and if this be denied to be attainable in this life, then the scriptures are of no profit ; for in the other life we shall not have use for them. It renders the prayers of the saints altogether useless, seeing themselves do confess they ought to pray daily that God would deliver them from evil, and free them from sin, by the help of his Spirit and grace, while in this world. But though we might suppose this absurdity to follow, that their prayers are without faith, yet were not that so much, if it did not infer the like upon the holy apostles, who prayed earnestly for this end, and therefore no doubt believed it attainable. Col. iv. 12. Labouring fer- vently for you in prayers, that ye may stand perfect, &c. iThess. iii. 13, and v. 23, &c. PR. V. §. VII. But Fifthly, This doctrine is contrary to ^'d r°*h* common reason and sense. For the two opposite t\Ti%nAx\^\x' principles, whereof the one rules in the children of teoasneM durkness, the other in the children of light, are sin together, and righteou.vicss ; and as they are respectively lea- vened and actuated by them, so they are accounted Pro? . xTu. either as reprobated or justified, seeing it is abomina- "• tion in the sight of God, either to justify the wicked, OF PERFECTION. 239 or condemn the just. Now to say that men cannot be so leavened by the one, as to be delivered from the other, is in plain words to affirm, that sin and righte- ousness are consistent ; and that a man may be truly termed righteous, though he be daily sinning in every thing he doth; and then what difference betwixt good and evil ? Is not this to fall into that great abo- mination of putting light for darkness, and calling good evil, and evil good? Since they say the very best actions of God's children are defiled and polluted, and that those that sin daily in thought, word, and deed are good men and women, the saints and holy servants of the holy pure God. Can there be any thing more repugnant than this to common reason? Since the subject is still denominated from that accident that doth most influence it ; as a wall is called white when there is much whiteness, and black when there is much blackness, and such like; but when there is more unrighteousness in a man than righteousness, that man ought rather to be denominated unrighte- ous than righteous. Then surely if every man sinifaiiddij daily in thought, word, and deed, and that in his ^^"'hrrTgb- sins there is no righteousness at all, and that all his teous man righteous actions are polluted and mixed with sin, of®^ '^orip " then there is in every man more unrighteousness than ta«"e? righteousness ; and so no man ought to be called righteous, no man can be said to be sanctified or washed. Where are then the children ofGodl Where are the purified ones ? Where are they who were some- times unholy, but now holy: that sometimes were dark- ness, but now are light in the Lordl There can none such be found then at this rate, except that unrighte- ousness be esteemed so : and is not this to fall into that abomination abovementioned o^ justifying the ungodly ? This certainly lands in that horrid bias- The blas- phemy of the Ranters, that affirm theie is no differ- {'^e'Ranfe^ ence betwixt good and evil, and that all is one in the ox Liber- sight of God. I could show many more gross iabsur- *'°^*' dities, evil consequences, and manifest contradictions 240 OF PERFECTION'. PROP. VIII. implied in this sinful doctrine ; but this may suffice at present, by which also in a good measure the proof of the truth we affirm is advanced. Yet nevertheless, for the further evidencing of it, I shall proceed to the second thing proposed by me, to wit, to prove this from several testimonies of the holy scriptures. Sect. II. §. VIII. And First, I prove it from the peremptory Proof 1. positive command of Christ and his apostles, seeing this is a maxim engraven in every man's heart natu- / rally, that no man is bound to do that which is impos- Be ye per- siblc .' siucc then Christ and his apostles have com- fect, &c. manded us to keep all the cojnmandments, and to be K.eep DiT *■ command- pcrfcct iu this rcspcct, it is possible for us so to do. menu. ^Qyf that this is tlius commaudcd without any com- mentary or consequence, is evidently apparent from these plain testimonies, Matt. v. 48; and vii. 21; John, xiii. 17; 1 Cor. vii. 19; 2 Cor. xiii. 11; 1 John, ii. 3, 4, 5, 6; and iii. 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10. These scriptures intimate a positive command for it ; they declare the absolute necessity of it ; and therefore, as ^ if they had purposely been written to answer the ob- jections of our opposers^ they show the folly of those that will esteem themselves children or friends of Gody while they do otherwise. PRtfoF 2. Secondly, It is possible, because we receive the gos- buff ^of'h P^^ ^^^ ^^^ thereof for that effect ; and it is expressly promised to us, as we are under grace, as appears by these scriptures, Rom. iv. 14. Sin shall not have domi- nion over you; for ye are not under the law, but under grace: and Rom. viii. 3. For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son, &c. that the righteousness of the law The differ- might bc fulfilled in us, &c. For if this were not a *J*^*J^**J^^ condition both requisite, necessary, and attainable pel. under the gospel, there were no difference betwixt the bringifig in of a better hope, and the law which made nothing perfect ; neither betwixt those which are under the gospel, or who under the law enjoyed and walked in the life of the gospel, and mere legalists. Whereas OP PERFECTION. 241 1 the apostle, throughout the whole sixth to the Romans, j argues not only the possibility, but the necessity of I being free from sin, from their being under the gospel, and under grace, and not under the law ; and there- fore states himself and those to whom he wrote in that ■ condition in these verses, 2 — 7, and therefore in the J 11 — 13, 16 — 18 verses he argues both the possibility \ and necessity of this freedom from sin almost in the i same manner we did a little before ; and in the 22d ' he declares them in measure to have attained this con- J dition in these words. But now being made free from 'i sin, and become servants to God, ye have your fruit ] unto holiness, and the end everlasting life. And as Perfection j this perfection or freedom from sin is attained and f^ ^l^^' 'i made possible where the gospel and mward law of the sin attained l Spirit is received and known, so the ignorance hereof ^'^'^^^,1^®^ has been and is an occasion of opposing this truth, tiie gospel. ] For man not minding the light or lazv within his heart, i which not only discovers sin, but leads out of it, and ' so being a stranger to the new life and birth that is | born of God, which naturally does his will, and cannot j of its own nature transgress the commandments of God, doth, I say, in his natural state look at the com- \ mandments as they are without him in the letter; and The letter ] finding himself reproved and convicted, is by the let- ij,*",^*; "** ] ter killed, but not made alive. So man, finding him- aiive. ! self wounded, and not applying himself inwardly to that which can heal, labours in his own will after a i conformity to the law as it is without him, which he 1 can never obtain, but finds the more he wrestles, the 1 more he falleth short. So this is the Jew still in eflfect, ' with his carnal commandment, with the laiv without, in the first covenant state, which makes not the comers i thereunto perfect, as pertai?iing to the conscience, Heb. ix. 9, though they may have here a notion of Chris- j tianity, and an external faith in Christ. This hath i made them strain and wrest the scriptures for an im- \ putative righteousness wholly without them, to cover their impurities ; and this hath made them imagine ] 242 OF PERFECTION. PROP. VIII. an acceptance with God possible, though they sup- pose it impossible ever to obey Christ's commands. But alas ! O deceived souls ! that will not avail in tlie day wherein God will judge every man accoPduig to his worky whether good or bad. It will not save thee to say, it was necessary for thee to sin daily in thought, word, and deed ; for such as do so have cer- tainly obeyed unrighteousness : and what is provided for such, but tribulation and anguish, indignation and wrath ; even as glory, honour , and peace, invnortality and eternal life to such as have done good, and pa- tiently continued in well doing. So then, if thou d^ sirest to know this perfection and freedom from sin possible for thee, turn thy mind to the liglit {tnd spi- jHtual law of Christ if I the heart, and suffer the reproofk thereof; bear the judgment and indignation of God upon the unrighteous part in thee as therein is re- vealed, which Christ hath made tolerable for thee, and so suffer judgment in thee to be brought forth How we into victoyy, and thus come to partake of the fellow- chrbt's suf- ^^^P ^^ Christ" s sufferings, and be made conformable ferings and unto Ms dcuth, that thou mayest feel thyself crucified conform-^ ^/7A hiM to the world by the power of his cross in able unto thcc ,* SO that that life that sometimes was alive in '• *** ' thee to this world, and the love and lusts thereof, may die, and a new life be raised, by which thou mayest live henceforward to God, and not to or for thyself; and with the apostle thou mayest say. Gal. ii. 20, It is 710 more I, but Christ alive in me; and then thou wilt be a Christian indeed, and not in name only, as too many are ; then thou wilt know what it is to haVe put off the old jnan with his deeds, who indeed sins daily in thought, word, and deed ; and to have put on the new man, that is j^enewed in holiness, after the image of him that hath created him, Eph. iv. 24, and thou wilt witness thyself to be God^s worhnanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, and so not Matt.xi.3o. to sin always. And to this new man Christ s yoke is I Jobo T.3. ^^^ ^^^^1 ^^ burden is light; though it be heavy to OF PERFECTION^. %43 the old Adam; yea, the commandments o/Godsire not unto this man grievous; for it is his meat and drink to be found fulfilling the will of God. Lastly, This perfection or freedom from sin is pos- proof 3. sible, because many have attained it, according to ^J^^JI^^'j""® the express testimony of the scripture ; some before perfection. the law, and some under the law, through witnessing and partaking of the benefit and effect of th^ gospel, and much more many under the g:ospel. As first, It is written of Enoch, Gen. v. 22, 24, that he walked ^noch with God. which no man while sinning can : nor doth ^P',''^,*! ^ "L • 1 PI r»i-T witli trod, the scripture record any failmg of his. It is said of and was Noah, Gen. vi. 9, and of Job i. 8, and of Zacharias ^"'''''• and Elizabeth, Luke, i. 6, that they were 'perfect ; but under the gospel, besides that of the Romans above mentioned, see what the apostle saith of many saints in general, Eph. ii. 4, 5, Q: But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wfierewith he hath loved us, even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ ; by grace ye are saved; and hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus, &c. I judge while they were sitting hi these heavenly places, they could not be daily sinning in thought, word, and deed ; neither were all their works which they did there as filthy rags, or as a menstruous garment. See what is farther said to the Hebrews, xii. 22, 23 : Spirits of just men made perfect. And to conclude, let that of the Revelations, xiv. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, be considered, where though their being found without fault be spoken in the present time, yet it is not without respect to their innocency while upon earth ; and their being redeemed from among men, and no guile found in their mouth, is expressly mentioned in the time past. But I shall proceed now, in the third place, to sec. lu. answer the objections, which indeed are the arguments of our opposers. § IX. I shall begin with their chief and great object. 1. argument, which is the words of the apostle, 1 John, r2 244 OF PERFECTION. PROP. VI IT. | i. 8 : If we say that tee have no sin, rve deceive our- ^ selves, and the truth is not in us. This they think ; invincible. answ. 1. But is it not strange to see men so blinded with par- tiality ? How many scriptures tenfold more plain do ; they reject, and yet stick so tenaciously to this, that \ If we sty can receive so many answers? As first, [If we say we \ we have no j^^^^ ^^^ ^^ -| ^^'jj ^^^ imoort the apostle himself ! iin, &c. ob- 1 . 1 T 1 -• IP, . S • 11- jected. to be mcluded. bometimes the scripture useth this manner of expression when the person speaking can- \ not be included ; which manner of speech the gi^am- \ marians call nietaschematis7)ius. Thus James, iii. 9, ; 10, speaking of the tongue, saith, Theretvith bless we • God, and thcreivith curse we men; adding, Ihese i things ought not so to be. Who from this will con- clude that the apostle was one of those cursers ? But Answ. 2. Secondly, This objection hitteth not the matter; he i saith not, We sin daily in thought, word, and deed ; \ far less that the very good works which God works in ] us by his Spirit are sin : yea, the very next verse ' clearly shows, that upon confession and repentance \ we are not only forgiven, but also cleansed; He is • faithful to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse upfront j all unrighteousness. Here is both a forgiveness and ; removing of the guilt, and a cleansing or removing ' of the filth ; for to make forgiveness and cleansing to I belong both to the removing of the guilt, as there is ; no reason for it from the text, so it were a most violent j forcing of the words, and would imply a needless* tautology. The apostle having shown how that not; the guilt only, but even the filth also of sin is removed, : subsumes his words in the time past in the 10th verse, j If we say wc have not sinned, we inakc him a liar, | ANsw.s. Thirdly, As Augustine well observed, in his Exposi-j tion upon the Epistle to the Galatians, // 'is one thing] iti.one not to sin, and another thing not to have sin. Thej Ihl^Jn^anl- apostlcs words are not, if we say we sin not, or commit\ iberihinK not siu duUy ; but, ifive say ive have no sin : and be-; twixt these two there is a manifest difference ; for m\ But to have sin. OF PERFECTION. 245 ] respect all have sinned^ as we freely acknowledge, all \ may be said in a sense to have sin. Again, sin may \ be taken for the seed of sin, which may be in those ' J that are redeemed from actual sinning ; but as to the \ temptations and provocations proceeding from it being : resisted by the servants of God, and not yielded to, they are the devil's sin that tempteth, not the man's ■ that is preserved. Fourthly, This being considered, Answ. 4. \ as also how positive and plain once and again the \ same apostle is in that very epistle, as in divers places | above cited, is it equal or rational to strain this one \ place, presently after so qualified and subsumed in ; the time past, to contradict not only other positive expressions of his, but the whole tendency of his \ epistle, and of the rest of the holy commands and | precepts of the scripture ? ; Secondly, their second objection is from two places ohjlct. 2. of scripture, much of one signification : the one is, | 1 Kings, viii. 46 : For there is no man that sinneth \ not. The other is, Eccles. vii. 20 : For there is not \ a just man upon earth, that doth good, and sinneth not. \ I answer. First, These affirm nothing of a daily answ. and continual sinning, so as never to be redeemed j from it ; but only that all have sitined, or that there - is none that doth not sifi, though not always, so as < never to cease to sin ; and in this lies the question. j Yea, in that place of the Kings he speaks within two \ verses of the returning of such with all their souls and \ hearts ; which implies a possibility of leaving off sin. ; Secondly, There is a respect to be had to the seasons Diversity of seasons and pensa- and dispensations ; for if it should be granted that in Jt Solomon's time there was none that sinned not, it will tions re- not follow that there are none such now, or that it is ^p^^^^*^- a thing not now attainable by the grace of God under the gospel : For A non esse ad non posse non valet sequela. And Lastly, This whole objection hangs upon a false interpretation ; " for the Hebrew word Nion» may be read in the potential mood, thus. There is no man who may not sin, as well as in the indica^ 246 OF PERFECTION. PROP. VIII. j tive : so both the old Latin, Junius and Tremellius, and Vatablus have it ; and the same word is so used Psalm cxix. 11:/ have hid thy word m my hearty \ :-f7 ^*lO^^* ^b ]VOb that is to say, That I may not sin \ against thee, in the potential mood, and not in the j indicative ; which being more answerable to the uni- I versal scope of the scriptures, the testimony of the truth, and the sense almost of all interpreters, doubt- | less ought to be so understood, and the other inter- \ p^etation rejected as spurious. Object. 8. Thirdly, They object some expressions of the apos- \ tie Paul, Rom. vii. 19 : For the good that I would, I ] do not ; but the evil ichich I would 7iot, that I do. And verse 24 : O wretched man that I am ! who shall de- liver me from the body of this death ? < Ahsw. I answer. This place infers nothing, unless it were apparent that the apostle here were speaking of his j own condition, and not rather in the person of others, ; or what he himself had sometimes borne ; which is ■ frequent in scripture, as in the case of cursing, in ! James before mentioned. But there is nothing in the , text that doth clearly signify the apostle to be speak- ing of himself, or of a condition he was then under, i or was always to be under ; yea, on the contrary, in < the former chapter, as afore is at large shown, he de- ^ clares, they were dead to sin ; demanding how such ; Paul per.o- should yct Uvc uvy longer therein ? Secondly, It ap- j wVeTcbed P^sirs that the apostle personated one not yet come to man to a Spiritual condition, in that he saith, verse 14, But the Re-*" ^ ^^ carnal, sold under sin. Now is it to be ima- deemer. gined that the apostle Paul, as to his own proper \ condition, when he wrote that epistle, was a carnal ] man, who in chap. i. testifies of himself, That he was \ separated to be an apostle, capable to impart to the [ Rojnans spiritual gifts ; and chap. viii. ver. 2 : That ^ the law of the Spirit of Life in Christ Jesus had 7nade I him free frmn the law of sin and death .^ So then he | was not carnal. And seeing there are spiritual men \ ID this life, as our adversaries will not deny, and is \ OF PERFECTION. 247 i intimated through the whole viiith chapter to the i Romans, it will not be denied but the apostle was one \ of them : so then as his calling himself carnal in ] chap. vii. cannot be understood of his own proper j state, neither can the rest of what he speaks there of ' that kind be so understood : yea after, verse 24, where I he makes that exclamation, he adds in the next verse, 1 I thank God, through Jesus Christ our Lord ; signi- ] fying that by him he witnessed deliverance ; and so ] goeth on, showing how he had obtained it in the next i chapter, viz, viii. verse 35 : Who shall separate us I from the love of Christ? And verse 37 : But in all \ these things we are more than conquerors : and in the i last verse, Nothing shall be able to separate us, Sec. 1 But wherever there is a continuing in sin, there is a i separation in some degree, seeing every sin is con- trary/ to God, and avofjLia, i. e. a transgression of the j law, 1 John, iii. 4, and whoever committeth the least l sin is overcome of it, and so in that respect is not a Whom sin conqueror, but conquered. This condition then, which qutrTd" he ^ the apostle plainly testified he with some others had »s no con- obtained, could not consist with continual remaining **"^''°''- 1 and abiding in sin. 1 Fourthly, They object the faults and sins of several object. 4. I eminent saints, as Noah, David, &c. I answer, That doth not at all prove the case : for answ. \ the question is not whether good meti may not fall into \ sin, which is not denied ; but whether it be not possible ^ for them not to sin? It will not follow because these j men sinned, that therefore they were never free of sin, can thej but always si?ined : for at this rate of arguing, it might J^*'^^ be urged, according to this rule (Contrainorurn par from siai ratio, i. e. The reason of contraries is alike) that if, ' because a good man hath sinned once or twice, he \ can never be free from sin, but must always be daily \ and continually a sinner all his life long ; then by the i rule of contraries, if a wicked man liave done good \ once or twice, he can never be free from righteous- .; ness, but must always be a righteous man all his life- 248 OF PERFECTION. PROP. VIII. time : which as it is most absurd in itself, so it is contrary to the plain testimony of the scripture, Ezek. xxxiii. 12 to 18. Object. Lastly, They object. That if perfection oi^ freedom from sin be attainable, this will render mortification of sin useless, and make the blood of Christ of no service to us, neither need we any more pray for forgiveness , of sins. AN8W. I answer, I had almost omitted this objection, be- cause of the manifest absurdity of it : for can mortifi- cation of sin be useless, where the end of it is ob- tained? seeing there is no attaining of this perfection Who fights but by mortification. Doth the hope and belief of ho^^erto" overcoming render the fight unnecessary? Let rational overcome men judgc whicli hath most sense in it, to say, as our **** fo" • adversaries do. It is necessary that we fight and wrestle, but we must never think of overcoming, we must re- solve still to be overcome; or to say, Let us fight, be- cause we may overcome^. Whether do such as believe they may be cleansed by it, or those that believe they can never be cleansed by it, render the blood of Christ most effectual ? If two men were both grievously diseased, and applied themselves to a physician for remedy, which of those do most commend the physi- cian and his cure, he that belie veth he may be cured by him, and as he feels himself cured, confesseth that he is so, and so can say. This is a skilful physician, this is a good medicine, behold I am made whole by it; or he that never is cured, nor ever believes that he can Prating for SO loug as lic Hvcs ? As for praying for forgiveness, oTSii?"*" ^^ ^^"y ^^ ^^* ' ^"^^ ^^^ ^^^ ^^^^ sinned, and therefore all need to pray that their sins past may be blotted out, and that they may be daily preserved from sin- ning. And if hoping or believing to be madey/Te from sin hinders praying for forgiveness of sin, it would follow by the same inference that men ought not to forsake murder, adultery, or any of these gross evils, seeing the more men are sinful, the more plenti- ful occasion there would be of asking forgiveness of OF PERFECTION. 249 sin, and the more work for mortification. But the apostle had sufficiently refuted such sin-pleasing cavils in these words, Rom. vi. 1,2: Shall we continue in sin that grace may aboundl God forbid. But lastly, It may be easily answered, by a retor- tion to those that press this from the words of the Lord's prayer, forgive us our debts^ that this militates no less against perfect justification than against per- fect sanctification : for if all the saints, the least as well as the greatest, be perfectly justified in that very hour wherein they are converted, as our adversaries will have it, then they have remission of sins long be- fore they die. May it not then be said to them. What need have ye to pray for remission of sin, who are already justified, whose sins are long ago forgiven, both past and to come ? § X. But this may suffice: concerning this possi- Testimo. bility Jerom speaks clearly enough, lib. 3, adver. Pe- J?,',*','^"^ 'j;,*„. lagium, " This we also say, that a man may not sin, cerningper- if he will, for a time and place, according to his bodily Jjeidom**'^ weakness, so long as his mind is intent, so long as the f'""* »»"• cords of the Cithara relax not by any vice ;" and again in the same book, " Which is that that I said, that it Jerom. is put in our power (to wit, being helped by the grace of God) either to sin or not to sin." For this was the error of Pelagius, which we indeed reject and abhor, and which the Fathers deservedly withstood, " That man by his natural strength, without the help of God's grace, could attain to that state so as not to sin." And Augustine himself, a great opposer of the Pela- AagosUoe. gian heresy, did not deny this possibility as attainable by the help of God's grace, as in his book De Spiritu et Litura, cap. 2, and his book De Natura et Gratia against Pelagius, cap. 42, 50, 60, and 63, De Gestis Concilii Palsestina, cap. 7, and 2, and De Peccato Originali, lib. 2, cap. 2. Gelasius also, in his dispu- GeUsins. tation against Pelagius saith, " But if any affirm that this may be given to some saints in this life, not by the power of man's strength, but by the grace of God, he 250 OF PERFECTION. PROP. Vlll. doth well to think so confidently, and hope it faith- Th»t by the fully ,* foF by this gift of God all things are possible." *i['h^^°** That this was the common opinion of the Fathers •re posii- appears from the words of the Aszansic Council, canon '*'''• the last, " We believe also this according to the Ca- tholic faith, that all who are baptized through grace by baptism received, and Christ helping them, and coworking, may and ought to do whatsoever belongs to salvation, if they will faithfully labour." Conclusion. § XI. Blcsscd thcu are they that believe in him, who is both able and willing to deliver as many as come to him through true repentance from all sin, and do not resolve, as these men do, to be the devil's sei^ vants all their lifetime, but daily go on forsaking un- righteousness, and forgetting those things that are Phii.iii.i4. behind, fress forward toward the mark, for the prize war" to7he ^f '^'^ ^^^^ Calling of God in Christ Jesiis ; such shall mark, for not find their faith and confidence to be in vain, but Ind o"er- ^^ ^^^^ ^imc shall be made conquerors through him in coming. whom they have believed ; and so overcoming, shall be established as pillars in the house of God, so as they shall go no more out, Rev. iii. 12. 251 PROPOSITION IX. CONCERNING PERSEVERANCE, AND THE POSSIBILITY OF FALLING FROM GRACE. Although this gift and inward grace of God be sufficient to work out salvation, yet in those in whom it is resisted, it both may and doth become their condemnation. Moreover, they in whose hearts it hath wrought in part to purify and sanctify them in order to their further perfection, may, by disobedi- ence, fall from it, turn it to wanionnesSy .Tude 4, 7nake ship- wreck of faith, 1 Tim. i. 19, and after having tasted the hea- venly gift, and been made partakers of the Holy Ghost, again fall away, Heb. vi. 4 — 6; yet such an increase and stability in the truth may in this life be attained, from which thfere can be no total apostacy. §. 1. The first sentence of this proposition hath al- ready been treated of in the Fifth and Sixth Proposi- tions, where it hath been shown that that light which is given for life and salvation becomes the condemna- tion of those that refuse it, and therefore is already proved in those places, where I did demonstrate the possibility of man's resisting the grace and Spirit of God ; and indeed it is so apparent in the scriptures, that it cannot be denied by such as will but seriously consider these testimonies, Prov. i. 24 — 26; John, iii. 18, 19; 2 Thess. ii. 11, 12; Acts, vii. 51 ; and xiii. 46; Rom. i. 18. As for the other part of it, that thei/ i?i whom this grace may have wrought in a good measure in order to purify and sanctify them, tending to their fyrther perfection, may afterwards, through disobedience, fall away, See. the testimonies of the scripture included in the proposition itself are sufficient to prove it to men of unbiased judgment ; but because as to this part our cause is common with many other Protestants, I shall be the more brief in it ; for it is not my design to do that which is done already, neither do I covet to appear knoiving by writ- ing much ; but sin) ply purpose to present to the world 252 OF PERSEVERANCE. PROP. IX. a faithful account of our principles, and briefly to let I. them understand what we have to say for ourselves. A raiiiDg §. II. From these scriptures then included in the b^diSJT proposition, not to mention many more which might dieooe be urged, I argue thus : At^^i. JJ ^neu may turn the grace of God into wantonntsSy then they must once have had it : But the first is true, therefore also the second. Arg. 2. If men may make shipwreck of faith, they must once have had it; neither could they ever have had true faith without the grace of God: But the first is true, therefore also the last. Arg. 3. If 7)icn may have tasted of the heavenly gift, and been made }mr takers of the Holy Spirit, and afterwards fall away, they must needs have known in measure the operation of God's saving grace and Spirit, without which 710 man could taste the heavenly gift, nor yet partake of the Holy Spirit: But the first is true, therefore also the last. II. Secondly, Seeing the contrary doctrine is built The doc- upon this false hypothesis. That grace is not given cVeTiion and/^^^* salvution to uuy, but to a certain elect number, reprobation whick cunnot losc it, and that all the rest of mankind, iistenrwith by an absolute decree, are debarred from grace and Md*dalr^ Jfl/^;flr^^o;^ ; that being destroyed, this falls to the exhorta- gTound. Now as that doctrine of theirs is wholly ^°^' inconsistent with the daily practice of those that preach it, in that they exhort people to believe and be saved, while in the mean time, if they belong to the decree of reprobation, it is simply impossible for them so to do ; and if to the decree of election, it is need- less, seeing it is as impossible to them to miss of it, as hath been^before demonstrated ; so also in this matter of perseverance, their practice and principle are no less inconsistent and contradictory. For while they daily exhort people to he faithful to the end; showing them if they continue not, they shall be cut off, and fall short of the j^eward; which is very true, but no less inconsistent with that doctrine that aflSrms there OF PERSEVERANCE. 253 is no hazard^ because no possibilitij of departing from j the least measure of true grace ; which if true, it is to j no purpose to beseech them to stand, to whom God I hath made it impossible to fall. I shall not longer \ insist upon the probation of this, seeing what is said \ may suffice to answer my design : and that the thing is also abundantly proved by many of the same judg- \ ment. That this was the doctrine of the primitive »' Protestants thence appears, that the Augustine Con- \ fession condemns it as an error of the Anabaptists to say, That they who once are justified, cannot lose the \ Holy Spirit. Many such like sayings are to be found \ in the common places of Philip Melancthon. Vos- sius, in his Pelagian History, lib. 6, testifies, that this The opinion ; was the common opinion of the Fathers. In the con- the?s^on- ; firmation of the Twelfth Thesis, page 587, he hath cerning these words : '•' That this which we have said was the ^"'J^^ ^''"" ! common sentiment of antiquity, those at present can j only deny, who otherways perhaps are men not un- \ learned, but nevertheless in antiquity altogether strangers, &c." These things thus observed, I come : to the objections of our opposers. ^ §. III. First, They allege, That those places men- object, i. \ tioned of making shipwreck of faith, ai^e only to be un- derstood of seeming faith , and not of a real true faith . \ This objection is very weak, and apparently con- answ. j trary to the text, 1 Tim. i. 19; where the apostle add- eth io faith a good conscience, by way of complaint ; a ^ood and ' j whereas if their faith had been only seeming and gcieil^ \ hypocritical, the men had been better without it than with it ; neither had they been worthy of blame for \ losing that which in itself was evil. But the apostle ] expressly adds [and of a good conscience,'] which shows it was real ; neither can it be supposed that men I could truly attain a good conscience without the ope- \ ration of God's saving grace ; far less that a good con- ' science doth consist with a seeming false and hypocri- tical faith. Again, these places of the apostle being \ spoken by way of regret, clearly import that these 264 or PERSFV^ERANCE. PROP. IX. attainments they have fallen from were good and real, not false and deceitful, else he would not have re- gretted their falling from them ; and so he saith posi- tively, They tasted of the heavenly gift, and were made partakers of the Holy Ghost, &c. not that they seemed to be so, which showeth this objection is very frivolous. Object. 2. Secondly, They allege, Phil. i. 6. Being confident of this twry thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ, &c. ; and 1 Pet. i. 5. Who are kept by the power of God thj^ough faith unto salvation. answ. These scriptures, as they do not aflBrm any thing positively contrary to us, so they cannot be understood otherwise than as the condition is performed upon our Salvation is part, sccing salvatian is no otherways proposed tliere Ton^cer- ^^* upou Certain necessary conditions to be performed tain condi- by US, as hath been above proved, and as our adver* tlTbeX"' ^^^^^^ ^^so acknowledge, as Rom. viii. 13. For if ye formed. Uvc uftcr thcfiesh, ye shall die ; but if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live. And Heb. iii. 14. We are made partakers of Christ, if we hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast ufito the end. For if these places of the scripture upon which they build their objections were to be admitted without these conditions, it would mani- festly overturn the whole tenor of their exhortations throughout all their writings. Some other object io?is there are of the same nature, which are solved by the same answers, which also, because largely treated of by others, I omit, to come to that testimony of the truth which is more especially ours in this matter, and is contained in the latter part of the proposition in these words : Vet such an increase and stability in the t)iith may in this life be attained, fiwn which there cannot be a total apostacy. §. IV. As in the explanation of the Fifth and Sixth Proposition I observed, that some that had denied the errors of others concerning reprobation, and affirmed the universality of Chrisfs death, did notwithstand- OF PERSEVERANCE. 255 ing fall short in sufficiently holding forth the truth, and so gave the contrary party occasion by their de- fects to be strengthened in their errors, so it may be said in this case. As upon the one hand they err The two who affirm that the least des!:ree of true and savim ^^*'"®'°®* 11 1 some ran grace cannot oejaUenjrom, so do they err, upon the intobj as- other hand that deny any such stability to be attained fi"Ji'"ffin„ fi'om which there cannot he a total and final apostacy. or not faii- And betwixt these two extremes lieth the truth appa- grl/e*im. rent in the scriptures, which God hath revealed unto possible, us by the testimony of his Spirit, and which also we are made sensible of by our own experience. And even as in the former controversy was observed, so also in this, the defence of truth will readily appear to such as seriously weigh the matter ; for the argu- ments upon both hands, rightly applied, will as to this hold good ; and the objections, which are strong as they are respectively urged against the two oppo- site /^/^e opinions^ are here easily solved, by the estab- lishing of this truth. For all the arguments which these allege that affirm there can be no falling awayy may well be received upon the one part, as of those who have attained to this stability and establishment, and their objections solved by this confession ; so upon the other hand, the arguments alleged from scripture testimonies by those that affirm the possibility of fall- ing away may well be received of such as are not come to this establishment, though having attained a mea- sure of true grace. Thus then the contrary batterings of our adversaries, who miss the truth, do concur the more strongly to establish it, while they are destroy- ing each other. But lest this may not seem to suf- fice to satisfy such as judge it always possible for the best of men before they die to fall aivay, I shall add, for the proof of it, some brief considerations from some few testimonies of the scripture. §. V. And First, I freely acknowledge that it is i. good for all to be humble, and in this respect not over Watch^i- confident, so as to lean to this, to foster themselves in diligence is 256 OF PERSEVERANCE. PROP. IX. of indispen- iniquity, or lie down in security, as if they had attained \ !u'''*tran* *^^*^ condition, seeing %catchfulness and diligoice is of hidispemahle necessity to all mortal men, so long as they breathe in this world ; for God will have this to be the constant practice of a Christian, that hereby he \ may be the more fit to serve him, and better armed \ against all the temptations of the enemy. For since i the wages of sin is death, there is no man, while he I sinneth, and is subject thereunto, but may lawfully suppose himself capable of perishing. Hence the j apostle Paul himself saith, 1 Cor. ix. 27 : But I keep under my body, and bri?ig it into subjection, lest that i by any means, when I have preached to others, I my- \ self should be a castaway. Here the apostle supposes \ it possible for him to be a castaway, and yet it may be judged he was far more advanced in the inward j work of regeneration when he wrote that epistle than many who nowadays too presumptuously suppose they ! cannot/?/// away, because they feel themselves to have I attained some small degree of true grace. But the : apostle makes use of this supposition or possibility of i his being a castaway, as I before obser\'ed, as an in- ducement to them to be watchful ; / keep under 7?iy i body, lest, &c. Nevertheless the same apostle, at another time, in the sense and feeling of God's holy \ power, and in the dominion thereof, finding himself a conqueror there through over sin and his soul's ene- i mies, maketh no difficulty to affirm, Rom. viii. 38. ^ For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, &c. ' which clearly showeth that he had attained a condi- i tion from which he knew he could not fall away. \ iL But Secondly, It appears such a condition is attain- ; A condition ^blc, bccausc wc are exhorted to it ; and, as hath been J attainable i i p i • i in this life, proved before, the scripture never proposeth to us tbeTels no ^^^^^^ impossiblc. Such an exhortation we have falling from the apostle, 2 Pet. i. 10. Wherefore the rather^ \ brethren, give diligence to make your calling and elec- \ tion sure. And though there be a condition here ! proposed, yet since we have already proved that it is ' •wav. OF PERSEVERANCE. 257 possible to fulfil tins condition, then also the promise annexed thereunto may be attained. And since, where assurance is wanting, there is still a place left for doubtings and despairs, if we should affirm it never attainable, then should there never be a place known by the saints in this world, wherein they might be free of doubting and despair; which as it is most absurd in itself, so it is contrary to the manifest experience of thousands. Thirdly, God hath given to many of his saints and iii. children, and is ready to give unto all, ^full and cer- ^ <'«•"♦«'" tain assurxince that they are his, and that no power and esta- shall be able to pluck them out of his hand. But this ''|'/^*'„'"^"' assurance would be no assurance, if those who are so God to assured were not established and cofT/irmed beyond all ™Jn[,°nd'* doubt and hesitation : if so, then surely there is no children, possibility for such to miss of that which God hath assured them of. And that there is such assurance attainable in this life, the scripture abundantly de- clareth, both in general and as to particular persons. As first, Rev. iii. 12, Him that overco??ieth will I make a pillar in the temple of my God, and he shall go no more out, &c. which containeth a general pro- mise unto all. Hence the apostle speaks of some that are sealed, 2 Cor. i. 22, Who hath also sealed us, and given the earnest of the Spirit in our hearts : where- fore the Spirit so sealing is called the earnest or pledge of our inheritance, Eph. i. 13, In whom ye were sealed by the Holy Spirit of promise. And therefore the apostle Paul, not only in that of the Romans above noted, declareth himself to have attained that condi- tion, but 2 Tim. iv. 7, he affirmeth in these words, / have fought a good fight, &c. which also many good men have and do witness. And therefore, as there can be nothing more evident than that which the manifest experience of this time showeth, and therein is found agreeable to the experience of former times, so we see there have been both of old and of late that have turned the grace of God into wantonness, and s 25B OF PERSEVERAKCE. PROP. IX. \i2iwe fallen from their faith and integrity ; thence we may safely conclude such a falling awai/ possible. We also see that some of old and of late have attained a certain assurance, sonie,time before they departed, that they should inherit eternal life, and have accord- ingly died in^that good hope, of and concerning whom the ^irit of God testified that they are saved. Where- fore \^e all see such a state is attainable in this life, from which there is not a falling away : for seeing the Spirit of God did so testify, it was not possible that tRey should perish, concerning whom He who cannot lie thus bare witness. PROPOSITION X. CONCERNING THE MINISTRY. As by the light or gift of God all true knowledge in things spiri- tual is received and revealed, so by the same, as it is mani- fested and received in the heart, by the strength and power thereof, every true minister of the gospel is ordained, prepared, and supplied in the work of the ministry; and by the leading, moving, and drawing hereof ought every evangelist and Chris- tian pastor to be led and ordered in his labour and work of the gospel, both as to the place where, as to the persons to whom, and as to the time wherein he is to minister. More- over, they who have this authority may and ought to preach the gospel, though without Auman commission or literatrtre; as on the other hand, they who want the authority of this divine gift, hoy. ever learned, or authorized by the commission of men and churches, are to be esteemed but as deceivers, and not trve ministers of the gospel. Also they who have received The gospel this holy and imspotted gift, as they have freely received it, so *o *»« are they freely to give it, without hire or bargaining, far less fred*'''*'** *** "^® *^ *^ * ^""^^^ ^^ S^* money by ; yet if God hath called Maiu'x. 8. ^"y ^"® ^""^"^ ^^*^*r employment or trades, by which they acquire their livelihood, it may be lawful for such, according to the liberty which they feel given them in the Lord, to receive such temporals (to wit, what may be needful for thoiu for meat and clothing) as are given them freely and cordially by those to whom they have communicated spirituals. §. 1. Hitherto I have treated of those things which relate to the Christian faithy and Christiutis, as they stand each in his private and particular condition, 1 OF THE MINISTRY. 259 and how and by what means every man may be a Christian indeed, and so abide. Now I come in order to speak of those things that relate to Christians, as they are stated in a joint fellowship and communion, and come under a visible and outward society, which society is called the church of God, and in scripture The cbarch compared to a body, and therefore named the bodtj sfll^^^J^l^^^ Christ, As then in the natural body there be divers ^od^v of members, all concurring to the common end of pre- ^''"'*** serving and confirming the whole body, so in this spiritual and mystical body there are also divers mem- bers, according to the different measures of grace and of the Spirit diversly administered unto each member; and from this diversity ariseth that distinction of per- sons in the visible society of Christians, as of apostles, pastors, evangelists, ministers, &c. That which in this proposition is proposed is. What makes or consti- tutes any minister of the church, what his qualifica- tions ought to be, and how he ought to behave himself^ But because it may seem somewhat preposterous to speak of the disfmct offices of the church, until some- thing be said of the church in general, though nothing positively be said of it in the proposition ; yet, as here implied, I shall briefly premise something thereof, and then proceed to the particular members of it. §. II. It is not in the least my design to meddle with those tedious and many controversies wherewith the Papists and Protestants do tear one another con- cerning this thing ; but only according to the truth manifested to me, and revealed in me by the testi- mony of the Spirit, according to that proportion of wisdom given me, briefly to hold forth as a necessary introduction both to this mutter of the ministry and of worship, which folio weth those things which I, together with my brethren, do believe concerning the church. The church then, according: to the orrammatical r. signification of the word, as it is used in the holy scripture, signifies an assembly or gathering of many \ 2 Tbeeljmo- logjr of tb« word the ciiurch, •od sif^nifi- catioo of it. No salva- tion without the church. What the church i$. Turks and Jews may become members of this church. 2G0 OF THE MINISTRY. PROP. X. | hito one place; for the substantive UKXeaia comes from the word UKaXiu) I call out of, and originally ' from Ka\i(jj I call; and indeed, as this is the gram- \ matical sense of the word, so also it is the real and proper signification of the thing, the church being no \ other thing but the society, gathering, or compam/ of such as God hath called out of the world, and worldly \ spirit, to ivalk in his light and life. The church then ' so defined is to be considered, as it comprehends all that are thus called and gathered truly by God, both , such as are yet in this inferior world, and such as i having already laid down the earthly tabernacle, are . passed into their heavenly mansions, whioh together do make up the one Catholic church, concerning which there is so much controversy. Out of which * church we freely acknowledge there can be no salva- \ tion ; because under this church and its denomination are comprehended all, and as many, of whatsoever ; nation, kindred, tongue, or people they be, though out- ] wardly strangers, and remote from those who profess \ Christ and Christianity in words, and have the bene- ' fit of the scriptures, as become obedient to the holy , light and testimony of God in their hearts, so as to ; become sanctified by it, and cleansed from the evils i of their ways. For this is the universal or Catholic '\ spirit, by which many are called from all the four corners of the earth, and shall sit down with Abraham, , Isaac, and Jacob: by this the secret life and virtue of Jesus is conveyed into many that are afar off, even as j by the blood that runs into the veins and arteries of j the natural body the life is conveyed from the head i and heart unto the extreme parts. There may be mem- \ bers therefore of this Catholic church both among - heathens, Turks, Jews, and all the several sorts of { Christians, men and women of integrity and simpli- | city of heart, who though blinded in some things in ■ their understanding, and perhaps burdened with the ' superstitions and formality of the several sects in j whicli they are ingro.sscd, yet being upright in thgir i j OF THE MINISTRY. 2GI hearts before the Lord, chiefly aiming and labouring to be delivered from iniquity, and loving to follow righteousness, are by the secret touches of this holi^ light in their souls enlivened and quickened, thereby secretly united to God, and therethrough become true members of this Catholic church. Now the church in this respect hath been in being in all generations ; for God never wanted some such witnesses for him, though many times slighted, and not much observed by this world ; and therefore this church, though still in being, hath been oftentimes as it were invisible, in that it hath not come under the observations of men of this world, being, as saith the scripture, Jer. iii. 14, one of a city, and two of a family. And yet though the church thus considered may be as it were hid from wicked men, as not then gathered into a visible fellowship, yea, and not observed even by some that are members of it, yet may there notwithstand- ing many belong to it, as when Elias complained he was left alone, 1 Kings, xix. 18, God answered unto him, / have 7'eserved to myself seven thousand men, who have not bowed their knees to the image of Baal; whence the apostle argues, Rom. xi. the being of a 7xmnant in his day. §. III. Secondly, The church is to be considered n. as it signifies a certain number of persons gathered j^^ ^^^!^^- by God's Spirit, and by the testimony of some of his church of servants raised up for that end, unto the belief of the JjerecTinfo true principles and doctrines of the Christian faith, a visible who through their hearts being united by the same ^^"'*''*'"i'- love, and their understandings informed in the same truths, gather, meet, and assemble together to wait upon God, to worship him, and to bear a joint testi- mony for the truth against error, suffering for the same, and so becoming through this fellowship as one family and household in certain respects, do feach of them watch over, teach, instruct, and care for one another, according to their several measures and at- tainments : such were the churches of the primitive 262 OF THE MINISTRY. PROP. X. ' times gathered by the apostles; wliereof we have divers mentioned in the holy scriptures. And as to the visibility of the church in this respect, there hath been a great interruption since the apostles' days, by reason of the apostacy, as will hereafter appear. How to be- §. |V. To be a member then of the Catholic church, n?e"mber of thcrc is Hced of the inward calling of God by his light that church, in the heart, and a being leavened into the nature and spirit of it, so as to forsake unrighteousness and be turned to righteousness, and in the inwardness of the mind to be cut out of the wild olive tree of our own first fallen nature, and ingrafted into Christ by his Word and Spirit in the heart. And this may be done in those who are sti-angers to the history (God not having pleased to make them partakers thereof), as in the Fifth and Sixth Propositions hath already been proved. The oat- To be a member of a particular church of Christ, ^"? J"'°f as this inward work is indispensably necessary, so is the mem- also the outward profession of, and belief in, Jesus t«echu?ch.^hi'ist, and those holy truths delivered by his Spirit in the scriptures ; seeing the testimony of the Spirit recorded in the scriptures, doth answer the testimony of the same Spirit in the heart, even as face answer- eth face in a glass. Hence it follows, that the inward work of holiness, and forsaking iniquity, is necessary in every respect to the being a member in the church of Christ ; and that the outward profession is neces- sary to be a member of a particular gathered church, but not to the being a member of the Catholic church ; yet it is absolutely necessary, where God affords th^ opportunity of knowing it : and the outward testi- mony is to be believed, where it is presented and re-' vealed ; the sum whereof hath upon other occasions been already proved. The mera- ^. V. But Contrary hereunto, the devil, that work- A*nUc*iiris.'' cth and hath wiought in the mystery of inujuity, hath ilTtiifa"'!!- ^^"?^*^ ^^^'^ followers to affirm. That no man, hmvetJcr ttoj their' holy, is a member oftlve church of Christ without the OF THE MINISTRY. 263 outward prof ession ; and unless he be initiated there- empiy pto- into by some outward ceremonies. And again, That ^^'''"**"* men who have this outward prof ession, though inwardly unholy, may be members of the true church of Christ, yea, and ought to be so esteemed. This is plainly to put light for darkness, and darkness for light ; as if God had a greater regard to words than actions, and were more pleased with vain professions than with real holiness : but these things I have sufficiently refuted heretofore. Only from hence let it be ob- served, that upon this false and rotten foundation Antichrist hath built his Babylonish structure, and the Antichristian church in the apostacy hath hereby reared herself up to that height and grandeur she hath attained ; so as to exalt herself above all that is called God, and sit in the temple of God as God. For the particular churches of Christ, gathered in The decaj the apostles' days, soon after beginning to decay as to ^^^J^^^ the inward life, came to be overgrown with several errors, and the hearts of the professors of Christianity to be leavened with the old spirit and conversation of the world. Yet it pleased God for some centuries to preserve that life in many, whom he emboldened with zeal to stand and suffer for his name through the ten persecutions: but these being over, the meekness, gentleness, love, longsuffering, goodness, and temper- ance of Christianity began to be lost. For after that When men the princes of the earth came to take upon them that cwLs profession, and that it ceased to be a reproach to be a by birth, Christian, but rather became a means to preferment ; coaverlion, men became such by birth and education, and not Christianity by conversion and renovation of spirit : then there Io*sr was none so vile, none so wicked, none so profane, who became not a member of the church. And the teachers and pastors thereof becoming the companions of princes, and so being enriched by their benevo- lence, and getting vast treasures and estates, became puffed up, and as it were drunken with the vain pomp and glory of diis world : and so marshaled themselves / 264 OF THE MINISTRY. PROP. X. in manifold orders and degrees ; not without innu- merable contests and altercations who should have the precedency*. So the virtue, life, substance, and kernel of the Christian religion came to be lost, and nothing remained but a shadow and image ; which dead image, or carcass of Christianity (to make it take the better with the superstitious multitude of heathens that were engrossed in it, not by any inward conversion of their hearts, or by becoming less wicked or superstitious, but by a little change in the object of their superstition), not having the inward ornament and life of the Spirit, became decked with many out- ward and visible orders, and beautified with the gold, silver, precious stones, and the other splendid orna- ments of this perishing world : so that tlus was no more to be accounted the Christian religion, and Christian church, notwithstanding the outward pro- fession, than the dead body of a man is to be accounted a living man ; which, however cunningly embalmed, and adorned with ever so much gold and silver, or most precious stones, or sweet ointments, is but a In the dead body still, without sense, life, or motion. For RomVare ^^^^ apostatc church of Rome has introduced no fewer no less 80- ccremouics and superstitions into the Christian ''pro- Md'ceremo- ^ssiou, than wcrc either among Jews or heathens ; Die« intro. aud that there is and hath been as much, yea, and daced, than . , , , i f • were either morc pridc, covetousucss, uncleanness, luxury, forni- ^"°^|''®'*'' cation, profaneness, and atheism among her teachers ihens. and chief bishops, than ever was among any sort of people, none need doubt, that have read their own authors, to wit, Platina and others. Whether, Now, though Protcstauts have reformed from her diffcTe'n'Je ^^ somc of the most gross points and absurd doctrines there !• be- relating to the church and ministry, yet (which is to pTolL^Mts ^^ regretted) they have only lopped the branches, but and Papists retain and plead earnestly for the same root, from Uolif*"^' which these abuses have sprung. So that even among • As were betwixt the Bishop of Rome and thc^ Bishop of CoDtttaiitinoplc. OF THE MINISTRY. 2(55 them, though all that mass of superstition, ceremo- nies, and orders be not again established, yet the same pride, covetousness, and sensuality is found to have overspread and leavened their churches and ministry, , and the life, power, and virtue of tj^ue religion is lost among them : and the very same death, barrenness, dryness, and emptiness, is found in their ministry. So that in effect they differ from Papists but in form and some ceremonies ; being with them apostatized from the life and power the true primitive church and her pastors were in : so that of both it may be said truly (without breach of charity) that having only. a form of godliness (and many of them not so much as that) they are deniers of, yea, enemies to \\\q power of it. And this proceeds not simply from their not walking answerably to their own principles, and so degenerating that way, which also is true; but, which is worse, their laying down to themselves, and adher- ing to certain principles, which, naturally, as a cursed root, bring forth these bitter fruits : these therefore shall afterwards be examined and refuted, as the con- trary positions of truth in the proposition are explained and proved. For as to the nature and constitution of a church* • i. e. na- (abstract from their disputes concerning its constant Tiirprotes- visibility, infallibility, and the primacy of the church tant church of Rome), the Protestants, as in practice, so in prin- ^ZomV ciples, differ not from Papists ; for they engross within members the compass of their church whole nations, making their infants members of it, by sprinkling a little water upon them ; so that there is none so wicked or profane who is not a fellow member ; no evidence of holiness being required to constitute a member of the church. Nay, look through the Protestant nations, and there will no difference appear in the lives of the generality of the one, more than of the other; he, who ruleth in the children of disobedience, reigning in both ; so that the reformation, through this defect, is cbrisiianiij only in holding some less gross errors in the notioDj s^^'hitEe" 266 OF THE MINISTUV. PROP. X. renewbg of but Dot ill having the heart reformed and renewed, in^ \ the heart, ^j^j^jj mainly the life of Christianity consisteth. A popish §. VI. But the popish errors concerning the minis- ^""**liii" ^^» which they have retained, are most of all to be , evij* follow, regretted, by which chiefly the life and power of j Christianity is barred out among them, and they kept ; in death, barrenness, and dryness : there being no- '1 thing more hurtful than an error in this respect. For i where a false and corrupt ministry entereth, all man- i ner of other evils follow upon it, according to that | Litopeo- scripture adage, Like people, like priest: for by their \ mies'u " influence, instead of ministering life and righteous- | Uoseaiv.9. ness, they minister death and iniquity. The whole backslidings of the Jewish congregation of old are I hereto ascribed : The leaders of mif people have \ caused theni to err. The whole writings of the pro- ; phets are full of such complaints ; and for this cause, under the New Testament, we are so often warned \ and g-uarded to beware of false prophets, and false j teachers, &c. What may be thought then, where all, i as to this, is out of order ; where both the founda- > tion, call, qualifications, maintenance, and whole dis- j cipline are diflierent from and opposite to the ministry i of the primitive church ; yea, and necessarily tend to ' the shutting out of a spiritual ministry, and the bring- 1 ing in and establishing of a carnal ? This shall ap- ! pear by parts. \ QuEs. I. ^. VII. That then which comes first to be ques- I tioned in this matter, is concerning the call of a mi- nister: to wit, What viakcth, or how conieth a man ' to be a mimstcr, pastor, or teacher in the church of \ Christ 1 \ ANsvr. We answer : By the imoard potver and virtue of \ the Spirit of God. For, as saith our proposition, w The call of Iluving Tcccived the true knowledge of things spiritual \ Hudtherl- h ^he Spirit of God, without which they cannot be initcoDhiM- known, and being by the same in measure purified and j *'**'• sanctified, he comes thereby to be called and nun^cd to I minister to others; being able to speak, from a living/]* OF THE MINISTRY. 267 experience, of what he himself is a witness; and thei'cfore knowing the terror qf the Lord, he is Jit to persuade men, &c. 2 C^r. v. 1 1 ; and his words and ministry, proceeding from the inward power and vir- tue, reach to the heart of his hearers, and make them approve of him, and be subject unto him. Our ad- object. versaries are forced to confess, that this were indeed desirable and best ; but this they will not have to be absolutely necessary. I shall first prove the necessity of it, and then show how much they err in that which they make more necessary than this divine and hea- venly call. First, That which is necessary to make a man a arg. Christian, so as without it he cannot be truly one, J^s^ji® "?«„ must be much more necessary to make a man a minis- inward caii ter of Christianity ; seeing the one is a degree above n"a'narlris- the other, and has it incjuded in it: nothing less than tian. he that supposeth a master, supposeth him first to have attained the knowledge and capacity of a scholar. They that are not Christians cannot be teachers and ministers among Christians. But this inward call, power, and virtue of the Spirit of God is necessary to make a man a Christian : as we have abundantly proved before in the Second Pro- position, according to these scriptures, He that hath not the Spirit of Christ, is none of his. As many as are led by the Spirit of God, are the sons of God : Therefore this call, moving, and drawing of the Spirit, must be much more necessary to make a mi- nister. Secondly, All ministers of the New Testament 2. The mi- ought to be ministers of the Spirit, and not of the let- JJ'^^^^t re-*"^ ter, according to that of 2 Cor. iii. 6 ; and as the old quires the Latin hath it. Not by the letter, but by the Spirit. ""^^Cix^^Zno- But how can a man be a minister of the Spirit, who ny of the is not inwardly called by it, and who looks not upon ^"" " the operation and testimony of the Spirit as essential to his call ? As he could not be a minister of the letter who had thence no ground for his call, yea, who was and iniois teri. 268 OF THK MINISTRV. PROP. X. altogether a stranger to, and unacquainted with it, so neither can he be a minister of Uie Spirit who is a . stranger to it, and unacquainted with the motions thereof, and knows it not to draw, act, and move him, and go before him in the work of the ministry. 1 would willingly know, how those that take upon them to be ministers (as they suppose) of the gospel, merely from an outward vocation, without so much as being any ways sensible of the work of the Spirit, or any inward call therefrom, can either satisfy themselves or others that they are ministers of the Spirit, or wherein they differ from the miuisters of the letter? For, 3. Under Thirdly, If this inward call or testimony of the ""o'lir^*** Spirit were not essential and necessary to a minister, needed not tlicu the ministry of the New Testament would not wbo°shouid ^"^y ^^ ^^ ways preferable to, but in divers respects be priests far worsc than that of the law. For under the law there was a certain tribe allotted for the ministry, and of that tribe certain families set apart for the priest- hood and other offices, by the immediate command of God to Moses ; so that the people needed not be in any doubt who should be priests and ministers of the holy things : yea, and besides this, God called forth, by the immediate testimony of his Spirit, seve- ral at divers times to teach, instruct, and reprove his people, as Samuel, Nathan, Elias, Elisha, Jeremiah, Amos, and many more of the prophets : but now under the new covenant, where the ministry ought to be more spiritual, the way more ce?iain, and the access more easi/ unto the Lord, our adversaries, by denying the necessity of this inward and spiritual vocation, make it quite otherwise. For there being now no certain family or tribe to which the ministry is limited, we are left in uncertainty, to choose and have pastors at a venture, without any certain assent of the will of God ; having neither an outward rule nor certainty in this affair to walk by: for that the scripture caimot give any certain rule in this matter, hath in the Third Proi>osition concerning it been already shown. OF THE MINISTRY. 2G9 Fourthly, Christ proclaims them all thieves and i. Christ robbers, that enter 7wt by him the door into the sheep- ^^"^ ^*''"^' fold, but climb up some other way ; whom the sheep JoUn x. i. ought not to hear : but such as come in without the call, movings, and leadings of the Spirit of Christ, wherewith he leads his children into all truth, come in certainly not by Christ, who is the door, but some other way, and therefore are not true shepherds. §. VIII. To all this they object the succession of the Succession church: alleo^ino^, That since Christ mve a call to^}''''f^,^^^ his apostles and disciples, they have conveyed that call cimrcii nom to their successors, having power to ordain pastors and his apLsiUs. teachers ; by which power the authority of ordaining and making ministers and pastors is successively con- veyed to us ; so that such, who are ordained and called by the pastors of the church, are therefore true and lawful ministers ; and others, who are not so called, are to be accounted but intruders. Hereunto also some Protestants add a necessity, though they make it not a thing essential; That besides this calling of the churxh, every one, being called, ought to have the imvard call of the Spirit, inclining him so chosen to his work : but this they say is subjective, and not ob- jective ; of which before. As to what is subjoined of the inward call of the answ. Spirit, in that they make it not essential to a true call, but a sepererogation as it were, it showeth how little they set by it : since those they admit to the ministry are not so much as questioned in their trials, whether they have this or not. Yet, in that it hath been often mentioned, especially by the primitive Pro- Thecaii of testants in their treatises on this subject, it showeth p^efg^^ed to how much they were secretly convinced in their minds, anj other that this inward call of the Spirit was most excellent, prot"lu?ii7. and preferable to any other; and therefore in the most noble and heroic acts of the reformation, they laid claim unto it; so that many of the primitive Pro- testants did not scruple both to despise and disown this outward'^' call, when urged by the Papists against ♦ succes- 270 OF THE MIXISTHV. PROP. X. Modern thciTi. But now Protestants, having gone from the dcDvlnl* the testimony of the Spirit, plead for the same succession; ciiof ihe and being pressed (by those whom God now raiseth ^**'"'' up by his Spirit to reform those abuses that are among them) with the example of their forefathers' practice against Rome, they are not at all ashamed utterly to deny that their fathers were called to their work by the inward and immediate vocation of the Spirit; clothing themselves with that call, which they say their forefathers had, as pastors of the Roman church. For thus (not to go further) affirmeth Nicolaus Ar- noldus*, in a pamphlet written against the same pro- positions, called, A Theologick Exercitation, sect. 40, averring, Tliat they pretended not to an immediate act of the Holy Spirit ; but reformed by the virtue of the ordinary vocation which they had i?i the church, as it then was, to wit, that of Rome, &c. §. IX. Many absurdities do Protestants fall into by deriving their ministry thus through the church of Rome. As, first. They must acknowledge her to be Absurdities a true church of Christ, though only erroneous in f^irinto^T ^^"^^ things ; which contradicts their forefathers so deriving frequently, and yet truly, calling her Antichrist. Se- try' through condly. They must needs acknowledge, that the priests the church and bishops of the Romish church are true ministers of Rome. ^^^ pastors of the church of Christ, as to the essen- tial part ; else they could not be fit subjects for that power and authority to have resided in ; neither could they have been vessels capable to receive that power, and again transmit it to their successors. Thirdly, It would follow from this, that th^ priests and bishops of the Romish church are yet really true pastors and teachers : for if Protestant ministers have no authority but what they received from them, and since the church of Rome is the same she was at that time of the reformation in doctrine and manners, and she has the same power now she had then, and if the power • Who gives himself out Doctor and Professor of Sacroil Thc<>iogy at Franequer. OF THE MINISTRY. 271 lie in the succession, then these priests of the Romish church now, which derive their ordination from those bishops that ordained the first reformers, have the same authority which the successors of the reformed have, and consequently are no less ministers of the church than they are. But how will this agree with that opinion which the primitive Protestants had of the Romish priests and clergy, to whom Luther did not only deny any power or authority, but contrari- wise affirmed. That it was wickedlij done of them, to Luther af- assume to themselves only this authority to teach, and ^^Z^^^^^ he priests and ministerSy &c. For he himself affirmed, niigbt be a That every good Christian (not only men, but even i''^*^''*''- women also) is a preacher, §. X. But against this vain succession, as asserted The pre- either by the Papists or Protestants as a necessary lessfot ^7 thing to the call of a minister, I answer ; That such Papists and as plead for it, as a sufficient or necessary thing to the fxpUbedl* call of a minister, do thereby sufficiently declare their ignorance of the nature of Christianity, and how much they are strangers to the life and power of a Chris- tian ministry, which is not entailed to succession, as an outward inheritance ; ^and herein, as Jiath been often before observed, they not only make the gospel not better than the law, but even far short of it. For Jesus Christ, as he regardeth not any distinct parti- cular family or nation in the gathering of his children ; but only such as are joined to and leavened with his own pure and righteous seed, so neither regards he a bare outward succession, where his pure, immaculate, and righteous life is wanting ; for that were all one. He took not the nations into the new covenant, that he might suifer them to fall into the old errors of the Jews, or to approve them in their errors, but that he might gather unto himself a pure people out of the earth. Now this was the great error of the Jews, to The Jews' think they were the church and people of God, be- Abrahaiu's cause they could derive their outward succession from outward Abraham, whereby they reckoned themselves the chil- '*""*'"^'°"- 272 OF THF. MIXISTRV. PROP. X. dren of God, as being the offspring of Abraham, who \ was the Father of the Faithful. But how severely ' doth the scripture rebuke this vain and frivolous pre- i tence? Telling them, That God is able of the stones : to raise children unto Abraham; and that not the j outward seed, but those that were found in \}^e, faith I of Abraham, are the true children of faithful Abra- j ham. Far less then can this pretence hold among ' Christians, seeing Christ rejects all outward affinity j Mat.xii.48, of that kind: These, saith he, are my mother, bre- Mark iii thren, and sisters, who do the will of my Father which \ 33, &c. is in heaven : And again, He looked i^oiiml about him, \ and said. Who shall do the will of God, these, saith \ he, are my brethren. So then, such as do not the j commands of Christ, are not found clothed with his i righteousness, are not his disciples ; and that which I a man hath not, he cannot give to another : and it is .: . clear, that no man nor church, though truly called of ; God, and as such having the authority of a churcli \ and minister, can any longer retain that authority, \ than they retain the power, life, and righteousness of The form of Christianity ; for the form is entailed to the power ] l^lued'to* ^^^ substance, and not the substance to the form. So ; the power that whcu a man ceaseth inwardly in his heart to be ' rtatce.^and ^ Christian (where his Christianity must lie), by ' not the sab- tumiug to Satan, and becoming a reprobate, he is no \ tbe"form. Hiorc a Christian, though he retain the name and form, than a dead man is a man, though he hath the ; image and representation of one, or than the picture | or statue of a man is a man: and though a dead man \ may serve to a painter to retain some imperfect repre- \ sentation of the man, that once was alive, and so one i picture may serve to make another by, yet none of i those can serve to make a true living man again, nei- ; ther can they convey the life and spirit of the man ; \ it must be God, that made the man at first, that alone \ SooMKtion can revive him. As death then makes such interrup- j loterrapted. ^^^^ ^^ ^^ Qutward natural succession, that no art nor 1 outward form can uphold, and as a dead man, after \ OF THE MINISTRY. 273 he is dead, can have no issue, neither can dead images of men make living men : so that it is the living that are only capable to succeed one another ; and such as die, so soon as they die cease to succeed, or to transmit succession. So it is in spiritual things ; it is the life of Christianity, taking place in the heart, that makes a Christian; and so it is a number of The living such, being alive, joined together in the life of Chris- ^aki'tiie tianity, that make a church of Christ; and it is all church: those that are thus alive and quickened, considered chojcris*^* together, that make the Catholic church of Christ : ceased, therefore when this life ceaseth in one, then that one ceaseth to be a Christian ; and all power, virtue, and authority, which he had as a Christian, ceaseth with it ; so that if he hath been a minister or teacher, he ceaseth to be so any more : and though he retain the form, and hold to the authority in words, yet that sig- nifies no more, nor is it of any more real virtue and authority, than the mere image of a dead man. And as this is most agreeable to reason, so it is to the scripture's testimony ; for it is said of Judas, Acts, i. judas feii 25, That Judas f til from his mimstrij and apostlcship Jj^^^^J^'y by by transgression ; so his transgression caused him to tian«gres- cease to be an apostle any more : whereas, had the '"°"* apostleship been entailed to his person, so that trans- gression could not cause him to lose it, until he had been formally degraded by the church (which Judas never was so long as he lived) Judas had been as really an apostle, after he betrayed Christ, as before. And as it is of one, so of many, yea, of a whole church : for seeing nothing makes a man truly a Christian, but the life of Christianity inwardly ruling in his heart; so nothing makes a church but the gathering ^ of several true Christians into one body. Now where all these members lose this life, there the church ceas- eth to be, though they still uphold the form, and retain the name : for when that which made them a church, and for which they were a church, ceaseth, then they cease also to be a church : and therefore T 274 OF THE MINISTRY. PROP. X. The loke- warmness of the oh arch of Laodice*. Object. Answ. The Protet tanCs plead for a sDo- o«»«ioa io- bereot. the Spirit, speaking to the church of Laodicea, be- cause of her lukewarmiiess, Rev. iii. IG, threateneth to spue her out of his mouth. Now, suppose the church of Laodicea had continued in that lukavarm- ness, and had come under that condemnation and judgment, though she had retained the name and form of a church, and had had her pastors and ministers, as no doubt she had at that time, yet surely she had been no true church of Christ, nor had the authority of her pastors and teachers been to be regarded, be- cause of an outward succession, though perhaps some of them had it immediately from the apostles. From all which I infer, That since the authority of the Christian church and her pastors is always united, and never separated from the inward power, virtue, and righteous life of Christianity ; where this ceaseth, that ceaseth also. But our adversaries acknowledge, TTiat manxj^ if not most of those, by and through whom they derive this authority, were altogether destitute of this life and virtue of Christianity : therefore they could neither receive, have, nor transmit any Chris- tian authority. But if it be objected. That though the generality of the bishops and pfiests of the church of Ro?ne, during the apostacy, were such wicked men ; yet Protestants affirm, and thou thyself seemest to acknowledge, that there was some good mot among them, whom the Lord regarded, and who were true members of the Catholic church of Christ; might not they then have trans- mitted this authority ? I answer; This saith nothing, in respect Protes- tants do not at all lay claim to their ministry as trans- mitted to them by a direct line of good men ; which they can never show, nor yet pretend to : but gene- rally place this succession as inherent in the whole pastors of the apostate church. Neither do they plead their call to be good and valid, because they can derive it through a line of good men, separate and observably distinguishable from the rest of the OF THE MINISTRY. 275 bishops and clergy of the Romish church ; but they derive it as an authority residing in the whole : for they think it heresy, to judge that the quality or con- dition of the administrator doth any ways invalidate or prejudice his work. This vain and pretended succession not only mili- tates against, and fights with the very manifest pur- pose and intent of Christ in the gathering and calling of his church, but makes him (so to speak) more blind and less prudent than natural men are in conveying and establishing their outward inheritances. For where an estate is entailed to a certain name and family, when that family weareth out, and there is no An estate lawful successor found of it, that can make a just title ^°J^^y ^^, appear, as being really of blood and affinity to the voives to family ; it is not lawful for any one of another race I.one^TalL or blood, because he assumes the name or arms of»«.hat that family, to possess the estate, and claim the supe- reesTneet riorities and privileges of the family : but by the law ^o give it ; of nations the inheritance devolves into the prince, as ghip of life being: ultimus ha'res ; and so he giveth it a^ain im- '^ ^"J^r^^ iP 1 11 111 from Christ, mediately to whom he sees meet, and makes them tbe true bear the names and arms of the family, who then are ''®''■• entitled to the privileges and revenues thereof. So in like manner, the true name and title of a Christian, by which he hath right to the heavenly inheritance, and is a member of Jesus Christ, is inward righteous- ness and holiness, and the mind redeemed from the vanities, lusts, and iniquities of this world ; and a gathering or company, made up of such members, makes a church. Where this is lost, the title is lost ; and so the true seed, to which the promise is, and to which the inheritance is due, becomes extinguished in them, and they become dead as to it ; and so it retires, and devolves itself again into Christ, who is the righteous heir of life ; and he gives the title and . true right again immediately to whom it pleaseth him, even to as many as being turned to his pure light in their consciences, come again to walk in his righteous t2 The house of God is 276 OF THE MINISTRY. PROP. X. i and innocent life, and so become true members of his \ hodi), which is the church. So the authority, power, ' and heirship are not annexed to persons, as they bear i the mere names, or retain a form, holding the bare i shell or shadow of Christianity ; but the promise is | to Christ, and to the seed, in whom the authority is . inherent, and in as many as are one with him, and united unto him by purity and holiness, and by the i inward renovation and regeneration of their minds. Moreover, this pretended succession is contrary to ! scripture definitions, and the nature of the church of j I. Christ, and of the true members. For, first, The\ church is the House of God, the pillar ami ground of no poUated truth, 1 Tim. iii. 15. But according to this doctrine, rt"ei8t"nor ^^^ housc of God is a polluted nest of all sorts of' pretender wickcducss and abomiuatious, made up of the most \ there**' ^S^Jf defiled, dnd perverse stones that are in the earth ; where the devil rules in all manner of unrigh- teousness. For so our adversaries confess, and his— tory informs, the church of Rome to have been, as' some of their historians acknowledge ; and if that be ' truly the house of God, what may we call the house \ of Satan ? Or may we call it therefore the house of God, notwithstanding all this impiety, because they had a bare form, and that vitiated many ways also ; and because they pretended to the name of Christia- \ nity, though they were antichristian, devilish, and atheistical in their whole practice and spirit, and also \ in many of their principles ? Would not this infer yet : a greater absurdity, as if they had been something to \ be accounted of, because of their hypocrisy and deceit, | and false pretences? Whereas the scripture looks upon ' that as an aggravation of guilt, and calls it blasphemy, \ Rev. ii. 9. Of two wicked men, he is most to be ab- \ horred, who covereth his wickedness with a vain pre- j tence of God and righteousness: even so these ahomin-] able beasts, and fearful monsters, who looked upon i themselves to be bishops in the apostate church, were i never a whit the better, that they falsely pretended j i OF THE MINISTRY. 277 to be the successors of the holy apostles ; unless to lie be commendable, and that hypocrisy be the way to heaven. Yea, were not this to fall into that evil condemned among the Jews, Jer. vii. 4 : Trust ye not in lying words ^ sayings The temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord are these ; throughly amend your ways, Sec. as if such outward names and things were the thing the Lord regarded, and not inward holiness? Or can that then be the pillar and ground of truth, which is the very sink and pit of wickedness, from which so much error, super- stition, idolatry, and all abomination spring? Can there be any thing more contrary both to scripture and reason ? Secondly, The church is defined to be the kingdom n. of the dea^ Son of God, into which the saints are ^^^ad'^liV^^ translated, being delivered from the power of darkness, bod/unde- It is called the body of Christ, which, from him by ^'^^* joints and bands having nourishment ministet^ed and knit together^ increaseth with the increase of God, Col. ii. 19. But can such members, such a gather- ing as we have demonstrated that church and mem- bers to be, among whom they allege their pretended authority to have been preserved, and through which they derive their call ; can such, I say, be the body of Christ, or members thereof? Or is Christ the head of such a corrupt, dead, dark, abominable, stinking carcass? If so, then might we not as well affirm against the apostle, 2 Cor. vi. 14. That righteousness whatfei- hath fellowship with unrighteousness, that light hath ["Jh cList communion with darkness, that Christ hath concord yix^i^w^a^ with Belial, that a believer hath part with an infidel, and that the temple of God hath agreement with idols? Moreover no man is called the temple of God, nor of the Holy Ghost, but as his vessel is purified, and so be fitted and prepared for God to dwell in ; and many thus fitted by Christ become his body, in and among whom he dwells and walks, according as it is written, / will dwell in them, and walk in them, and I 278 OF THE MINISTRY. PROP. X. will be their God, and they shall be my people. It is therefore that we may become the temple of Christ and people of God, that the apostle in the following s Cor. y'u vcFse cxhorts, saying out of the prophet, Wherefore 17, 18. come out from among theyn, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing, and I will receive you ; aiul I will be a father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Al- mighty. But to what purpose is all this exhortation? And why should we separate from the unclean, if a mere outward profession and name be enough to make the true church ; and if the unclean and pol- luted were both the church and lawful successors of the apostles, inheriting their authority, and transmit- ting it to others ? Yea, how can the church be the kingdom of the Son of God, as contradistinguished from the kingdom and power of darkness ? And what need, yea, what possibility, of being translated out of the one into the other, if those that make up the king- dom and power of darkness be real members of the true church of Christ, and not simply members only, but the very pastors and teachers of it ? But how do they increase in the i?icrease of God, and receive spi- 7^itual nourishment from Christ the head, that are enemies of him in their hearts by wicked works, and openly go into perdition ? Verily as no metaphysical Prieits' fri- and uicc distiuctious (as that though they were prac- Unc°Uon'*of ^ically as to their own private states enemies to God enemies lo and Christ, and so servants of Satan ; yet they were, pracui, by virtue of their office, members and ministers of the andtnem- church, aud SO able to transmit the succession); I chu'rd. by say, as such invented and frivolous distinctions will office. not please the Lord God, neither will he be deluded by such, nor make up the glorious body of his church with such mere outside hypocritical shows, nor be beholden to such painted sepulchres to be members of his body, which is sound, pure, and undefiled, and therefore he needs not such false and corrupt mem- bers to make up the defects of it; so neither will such OF THE MINISTRY. 279 ^ distinctions satisfy truly tender an(f Christian consci- 1 ences; especially considering the apostle is so far < from desiring us to regard this, that we are expressly ; commanded to turn away from such as have a form \ of godliness but deny the pmner of it. For we may j well object against these, as the poor man did against 1 the proud prelate, that went about to cover his vain \ and unchristianlike sumptuousness, by distinguishing \ that it was not as bishop but as prince he had all that ] splendour; to which the poor rustic wisely is said to have answered. When the prince goeth to hell, what The answer ] shall become of the prelatel And indeed this were to ll^^f^^l^ ■ suppose the body of Christ to be defective, and that proud pre- j to fill up these defective places, he puts counterfeit *"**' and dead stuff instead of real living members ; like ] such as lose their eyes, arms, or legs, who make coun- \ terfeit ones of wood or glass instead of them. But we cannot think so of Christ, neither can we believe, \ for the reasons above adduced, that either we are to i account, or that Christ doth account, any man or : men a whit the more members of his body, because i though they be really wicked, they hypocritically and ] deceitfully clothe themselves with his name, and pre- ' tend to it ; for this is contrary to his own doctrine, ' where he saith expressly, John, xv. 1 — 6, &c. That he j is the vine, and his disciples are the branches; that e.v- ^ cept they abide in him, they cannot bear fruit ; and if j they be unfruitful, they shall be cast forth as a branch, | and withe/'. Now I suppose these cut and withered a withered ] branches are no more true branches nor members of Jj^^^*^^^*""" \ the vine ; they can^ no more draw sap nor nourish- noarish- i ment from it, after that they are cut off, and so have "alh*;,o°iife no more virtue, sap, nor life : What have they then nor virtue. i to boast or glory of any authority, seeing they want \ that life, virtue, and nourishment from which all au- j thority comes ? So such members of Christ as are \ become dead to him through unrighteousness, and so ; derive no more virtue nor life from him, are cut off , \ by their sins, apd wither, and have no longer any - 280 OF THE MIXISTRY. PROP. X. true or real authority, and their boasting of any is but an aggravation of their iniquity by hypocrisy and deceit. But further, would not this make Christ's body a mere shadow and phantasm ? Yea, would it not make him the head of a lifeless, rotten, stinking carcass, having only some little outward false show, A liring while inwardly full of rottenness and dirt ? And what a^HfeielT ^ monster would these men make of Christ's body, bodj, what by assigning it a real, pure, living, quick head, full J^"o"S'fhat of virtue and life, and yet tied to such a dead lifeless ^e • body as we have already described these members to be, which they allege to have been the church of Christ ? Again, the members of the church of Christ are specified by this definition, to wit, as being the sanctified in Christ Jesus, 1 Cor. i. 2. But this no- tion of succession supposeth not only some unsancti- fied members to be of the church of Christ, but even the whole to consist of unsanctified members ; yea, that such as were professed necromancers and open servants of Satan were the true successors of the apos- tles, and in whom the apostolic authority resided, these being the vessels through whom this succession is transmitted ; though many of them, as all Protestants and also some Papists confess, attained these offices in the (so called) church not only by such means as Simon Magus sought it, but by much worse, even by witchcraft, traditions, money, treachery, and murder, which Platina himself confesseth* of divers bishops of Rome. §. XI. But such as object not this succession of the church, whigh yet most Protestants begin now to do, distinguish in this matter, affirming, that in a great apostacy, such as was that of the church of Rome, God may raise up some singularly by his Spirit, who from the testimony of the scriptures perceiving the errors into which such as bear the name of Christians * In the Life of Benedict 4 ; of John 16 ; of Sylvester 3 ; of Boniface 8; of Steph. 6; of John 8. Also Onuphiius's Anno- tations upon this Papess (or Popess) towards the end. OF THE MINISTRY. 281 I are fallen, may mstruct and teach them, and then he- j come authorized by the people s joining with and accept- \ ing of their ministry only. Most of them also will i affirm, That the Spirit herein is subjective, arid not ■ objective. But they say, That where a church is reformed object. i (such as they pretend the Protestant churches are) j the?x an ordinary orderly call is necessary ; and that | of the Spirit, as extraordinary, is not to be sought \ after: alleging, that Res aider se habet in eccksid i constituenda, quam in cedes id cotistitutd ; that is, ; There is a difference in the constituting of a church, \ and after it is constituted. \ I answer. This objection as to us saith nothing, Answ. seeing we accuse, and are ready from the scriptures i to prove, the Protestants guilty of gross errors, and a difference needing reformation, as well as they did and do the ^wi'e'llcon-^ \ Papists; and therefore we may justly lay claim, ifstituUnga < we would, to the same extraordinary call, having the l^^l^ ^. \ same reason for it, and as good evidence to prove ours stituted. ^ as they had for theirs. As for that maxim, viz. That } the case is different in constituting a church, and a church constituted, I do not deny it; and therefore \ there may be a greater measure of power required to ; the one than to the other, and God in his wisdom dis- , \ tributes the same as he sees meet ; but that the same immediate assistance of the Spirit is not necessary for 1 ministers in a gathered church as well as in gathering i one, I see no solid reason alleged for it : for sure j Christ's promise was to be with his children to the \ end of the world, and they need him no less to pre- \ serve and guide his church and children than to \ gather and beget them. Nature taught the Gentiles • 1 this maxim, Non minor est virtus, quam quarere, parta tueri. ; To defend what we attain requires no less strength than what is ; necessary to acquire it. i I For it is by this inward and immediate operation of ] the Spirit, which Christ hath promised to lead his \ 282 OF THE MINISTRY. PROP. X. \ children with ifito all truth, and to teach them all \ things, that Christians are to be led in all steps, as \ well last as first, which relate to God's glory and their \ own salvation, as we have heretofore sufficiently It is a de- proved, and therefore need not now repeat it. And urfo/men ^^Y ^^^ dcvicc of Satan, whereby he has got people to pat the to put the immediate guidings and leadings of God's | feadilgs far ^piHt as au extraordinary thing afar off, which their \ off to for. forefathers had, but which they now are neither to \ mer time«. ^^^^ £^j. ^^^ expcct, is a great cause of the growing apostacy upon the many gathered churches ; and is ; one great reason why a dry, dead, barren, lifeless, : spiritless ministry, which leavens the people into the same death, doth so much abound, and is so much : overspreading even the Protestant nations, that their \ preaching and worships as well as their whole con- versation, is not to be discerned from popish by any ; fresh living zeal, or lively power of the Spirit accom- i panying it, but merely by the diiference of some j notions and opinions. ! Object. §. XII. Some unwise and unwary Protestants do sometimes object to us. That if ive have such an im- i mediate call as we lay claim to, we ought to confirm it i by miracles. answ. But this being an objection once and again urged | against the primitive Protestants by the Papists, we need but in short return the answer to it that they did ! wheiber to the Papists, to wit, That we need ?iot miracles, be- 1 "iw nece^* cflM^e wc prcttch uo ncw gospel, but that which is Bfirj to coa- already conjirmed by all the miracles of Christ and goTpd? ^'^ apostles; and that we offer 7iothing but that which ' we are ready and able to confirm by the testimony of\ the scriptures, which both ahrady acknowledge to be \ John Bap. true : and that John the Baptist and divers of the ! lert"ro^' prophets did none that we hear of, and yet were both \ pbeta did immediately and extraordinarily sent. This is the j common Protestant answer, therefore may suffice in * this place ; though, if need were, I could say more to 1 this purpose, but that I study brevity. §. XIII. There is also another sort of Protestants, OF THE MINISTRY. 283 ^ to wit, the English Independents, who differing from The consti- ; the Calvinistical Presbyterians, and denying the ne- Jhe7„depen. cessity of this succession, or the authority of any na- dent church. i tional church, take another way, affirming, That such \ as have the benejit of the scriptures, any company of \ people agreeing in the principles of truth as they find \ them there declared, 7nay constitute among themselves a church, without the authority of any other, and may choose to themselves a pastor, who by the church thus 1 constituted and consenting, is authorized, requiring i only the assistance and concurrence of the pastors of i the neighbouring churches, if any such there be ; not ; so much as absolutely necessary to authorize, as decent : for order's sake. Also they go so far as to affirm, j That in a church so constituted, any gifted brother, as Gifted bre- j they call them, if he find himself qualified thereto, *^'"®°* ; may instruct, e.vhort, and preach in the church; , though, as not having the pastoral office, he cajinot -y administer those which they call their sacraments. To this I answer. That this was a good step out of i the Babylonish darkness, and no doubt did proceed from a real discovery of the truth, and from the sense of a great abuse of the promiscuous national gather- > ings. Also this preaching of the gifted brethren, as \ they called them, did proceed at first from certain \ lively touches and movings of the Spirit of God upon i many; but alas! because they went not forward, Their ios« that is much decayed among them ; and the j/iotions *"*^ ^**^^* ; of God's Spirit begin to be denied and rejected among i them now, as much as by others. But as to their pretended call from the scripture, I The scrip- answer. The scripture gives a mere declaration oV^^^^^^^l^ \ true things, but no call to particular persons ; so that persons in- though I believe the things there written to be true, ^^' ° * . and deny the errors which I find there testified against, | yet as to those things which may be my particular \ duty, I am still to seek ; and therefore I can never I be resolved in the scripture whether I (such a one by ] name) ought to be a minister ? And for the resolving \ 284 OF THE MINISTRY. PROP. X. this doubt I must needs recur to the inward and im- mediate testimony of the Spirit, as in the proposition concerning the scriptures is shown more at large. §. XIV. From all this then we do firmly conclude, that not only in a general apostacy it is needful men be extraordinarily called, and raised up by the Spirit of God, but that even when several assemblies or churches are gathered by the power of God, not only into the belief of the principles of truth, so as to deny errors and heresies, but also into the life, spirit, and power of Christianity, so as to be the body and house of Christ indeed, and a fit spouse for him, that he who gathers them doth also, for the preserving them Trqe minw- iu a Hvcly, frcsh, and powerful condition, raise up JjYtioJ"*'*'^" and move among them, by the inward immediate call, and opcratiou of his own Spirit, ministers and teachers, to *'^'** instruct and teach, and watch over them, who being thus called, are manifest in the hearts of their brethren, and their call is thus verified in them, who by the feeling of that life and power that passeth through them, being inwardly builded up by them daily in the most holy faith, become the seals of their apostleship. And this is answerable to another saying of the same apostle Paul, 2 Cor. xiii. 3. Since ye seek a proof of Christ" s speaking in me, which to you-wards is not Their lay- wcak, but is 7nighty in you. So this is that which iiandTa"^ givcs a triic substantial call and title to a minister, mock to whereby he is a real successor of the virtue, life, and man '11* powcr that was in the apostles, and not of the bare keeping the name : and to such ministers we think the outward wbiirrt'iie ceremony of ordination or laying on of hands not ne- sobstance is ccssary, neither can we see the use of it, seeing our wanting, ^dvcrsarics who use it acknowledfi^e that the virtue and power of communicating the Holy Ghost by it is ceased among them. And is it not then foolish and ridiculous for them, by an apish imitation, to keep up the shadow, where the substance is wanting? And may not they by the same rule, where they see blind and lame men, in imitation of Christ and his apostles, OF THE MINISTRY. 285 bid them see and walk ? Yea, is it not in them a mock- ing of God and men, to put on their hands, and bid men receive the Holy Ghost, while they believe the thing impossible, and confess that that ceremony hath no real effect? Having thus far spoken of the call, I shall proceed next to treat of the qualifications and work of a true minister. §. XV. As I have placed the true call of a minister Ques. 2. in the motion of this Holy Spirit, so is the poiver, life, Ja^llon^of f and virtue thereof, and the pure grace of God that minister, comes therefrom, the chief 3.nd most necessary quali- fication, without which he can no ways perform his duty, neither acceptably to God nor beneficially to men. Our adversaries in this case affirm, that three things go to the making up of a minister, viz. 1 . Na- tural 'parts, that he be not a fool. 2. Acquired parts, that he be learned in the languages, in philosophy and school divinity. 3. The grace of God. The two first they reckon necessary to the being of Phiiosophj a minister, so as a man cannot be one without them ; 5i'vinu'*°°^ the third they say goeth to the well being of one, but win never not to the being ; so that a man may truly be a law- pe^'^mini^-' ful minister without it, and ought to be heard and ter. received as such. But we, supposing a natural capa- city, that one be not an idiot, judge the gi^ace of God indispensably necessary to the very being of a minis- ter, as that without which any can neither be a true, nor lawful, nor good minister. As for letter learyiing, we judge it not so much necessary to the well being of one, though accidentally sometimes in certain re- spects it may concur, but more frequently it is hurtful than helpful, as appeared in the example of Tauleru^, Apooriaick who being a learned man, and who could make an JJe^iearned eloquent preaching, needed nevertheless to be in-Tauieras. structed in the way of the Lord by a poor laick. I §hall first speak of the tiecessity of grace, and then ^ proceed to say something of that literature which they judge so needful. First then, as we said in the call, so may we much proof i. 286 OF THE MINISTRY. PROP. X. more here, if the grace of God be a necessary qiutU- Jication to make one a true Christian, it must be a qualification much more necessary to constitute a true minister of Christianity. That grace is necessary to make one a true Christian I think will not be ques- tioned, since it is by grace we are saved, Eph. ii. 8. Ood't grace It is the gracc of God that teaches us to deny ungodli- conTiUaie a ^'^'^*» ^^^^ ^^^ ^^^^ ^f ^^^^ worUI, aud to Hvc godiily tnieand and rightcously, Tit. ii. 11. Yea Christ saith ex- teacblr. prcssly, l^iat without him we can do ?iothing, John, XV. 5. and the way whereby Christ helpeth, assistetli, and worketh with us is by his grace : hence he saith to Paul, ?ny grace is sufficient for thee. A Christian without grace is indeed no Christian, but a hypocrite, and a false pretender. Then I say, If grace be 7ie- cessary to a private Christian, far more to a teacher among Christians, who must be as a father and in- structor of others, seeing this dignity is bestowed upon such as have attained a greater measure than their brethren. Even nature itself may teach us that there is more required in a teacher than in those that are taught, arul that the master must be above and before the scholar in that art or science which he teaches others. Si?ice then Christianity cannot be truly en- joyed, neither a?iy man denominated a Christian, with- out the true grace of God, therefore neither can any man be a true and lawful teacher of Christianity with- out it. Proof II. Secondly, No man can be a minister of the church mo first o^ Christ, which is his body, unless he be a member must be a of the body, and receive of the virtue and life of the member of i ^^ i . the body, head: and then But he that hath not true grace can neither be a ce^v'e'drand member of the body, neither receive of that life and t'^r^""* nourishment which comes from the head: Therefore far less can he be a minister to edify the body. That he cannot be a minister who is not a mem- ber is evident ; because he who is not a member is OF THE MINISTRY. 287 [ shut out and cut off, and hath no place in the bodi/ ; i whereas the ministers are counted among the most ^ eminent members of the body. But no man can be i a member unless he receive of the virtue, life, and | nourishment of the head; for the members that re- | ceive not this life and nourishment decay and wither, i and then are cut off. And that every true member doth thus receive nourishment and life from the head, \ the apostle expressly affirmeth, Eph. iv. 16. From i whom the whole body being fitly joined together, and \ \ compacted by that which every joint suppUeth, accord- ] ing to the effectual working in the measure of every ■ part, makes increase of the body unto the edifying of . : itself in love. Now this that thus is communicated, and which thus uniteth the whole, is no other than the grace of God ; and therefore the apostle in the ' same chapter, verse 7, saith, But unto every one of us \ is given grace according to the measure of the gift of | Christ; and verse 11, he showeth how that by this a grace and gift both apostles, prophets, evangelists, pas- tors, and teachers are given for the work of the minis- ^ try, and edifying of the body of Christ. And cer- tainly then no man destitute of grace is fit for this { work, seeing that all that Christ gives are so qualified; ] and these that are not so qual'fied, are not given nor \ sent of Christ, are not to be heard, nor received, nor I acknowledged as ministers of the gospel, because his The sheep | sheep neither ought nor will hear the voice of a nehheT' ^ stranger. This is also clear from ICor. xii. throughout; ousht nor for the apostle in that chapter, treating of the diversity sVrange"! * ^ of gifts and members of the body, showeth how by the ^"»ce* : workings of the same Spirit in different manifestations \ or measures in the several members of the body the \ whole body is edified, saying, verse 13, That we are ^ all baptized by the one Spirit into one body; and then, verse 28, he numbers up the several dispensations thereof, which by God are set in the church through ] the various workings of his Spirit for the edification i of the whole. Then if there be no true member of \ 288 OF THE MINISTRY. PROP. X. the body which is not thus baptized by the Spirit, neither any thing that worketh to the edifying of it, but according to a measure of grace received from the Spirit, surely without grace none ought to be admitted to work or labour in the body, because their labour and work, without this grace and Spirit, would be but ineffectual. §. XVI. Thirdly, That this grace and gift is a necessary qualification to a minister, is clear from that of the apostle Peter, 1 Pet. iv. 10, 11. As every man hath received the gift^ even so minister the same one to another, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God^ If any man speak, let him speak as the oracles of God : if any man nwiister, let him do it as of the abi- lity which God giveth ; that God in all things may be glorified through Jesus Christ ; to whom be praise and dominion for ever, Amen. From which it appears, The minis- that thosc that minister must minister according to the be"b Thf S^fi ^^^ grace received ; but they that have not such gift and a gift, cannot minister according thereunto. Secondly, I2ylir "^^ S^^^ stewards of the manifold grace of God: but how can a man be a good steward of that which he hath not? Can ungodly men, that are not gracious Good stew- themselves, be good stewards of the manifold grace of wS^of Cr(^^^^ And therefore in the following verses he makes God's an exclusive limitation of such that are not thus fur- gr^ce, '"*^ nished, saying. If any man speak, let him speak as the wi.ich is the oracles of God ; and if any man minister, let him do ste»i/rd?hip it as of the ability that God giveth: which is as much received, ^g jf j^g ^j^d Said, tlicy that cannot thus speak, and thus minister, ought not to do it: for this [i/*] denotes a necessary condition. Now what this ability is, is manifest by the former words, to wit, the gift received, and the grace whereof they are stewards, as by the immediate context and dependency of the words doth appear. Neither can it be understood of a mere na- tural ability, because man in this condition is said not to knotv the things of God, and so he caimot minister them to others. And the following words show this OF THE MINISTRY. 289 also, in that he immediately subjoineth, that God in all things may be glorified ; but surely God is not glorified, but greatly dishonoured, when natural men, from their mere natural ability, meddle in spiritual things, which they neither know nor understand. Fourthly, That grace is a most necessary qualifica- Pr. iv. tion for a minister, appears by those qualifications which the apostle expressly requires, 1 Tim. iii. 2 ; Tit. i. &c. where he saith, A bishop must be blameless, vigilant, sober, of good behaviour, apt to teach, patient, a lover of good men, just, holy, temperate, as the stew- ard of God, holding fast the faithful word as he hath been taught. Upon the other hand. He must 7ieither be given to wine, nor a striker, nor covetous, nor proud, nor self-willed, nor soon angry. Now I ask if it be How can « not impossible that a man can have all these above l^ese'lir-'^* named virtues, and be free of all these evils, without taes without the grace of Godl If then these virtues, for the pro- go/?'''*'^ *" ducing of which in a man grace is absolutely neces- sary, be necessary to make a true minister of the church of Christ according to the apostle's judgment, surely grace must be necessary also. Concerning this thing a learned man, and well skilled in antiquity, about the time of the Reforma- tion, writeth thus : " Whatsoever is done in the church, either for ornament or edification of religion, whether in choosing magistrates or instituting minis- ters of the church, except it be done by the ministry of whatso- God's Spirit, which is as it were the soul of the church, fj^he'' **°''* it is vain and wicked. For whoever hath not been church called by the Spirit of God to the great office of God n/jnislr^. o'* and dignity of apostleship, as Aaron was, and hath pod's spirit not entered in by the door, which is Christ, but hath JJieked. ' other ways risen in the church by the window, by the favours of men, &c; truly such a one is not the vicar of Christ and his apostles, but a thief and robber, and the vicar of Judas Iscariot and Simon the Samaritan. Who is ju- Hence it was so strictly appointed concerning the j," ^1^^'/? election of prelates, which holy Dionysius calls the 290 OF THE MINISTRY. PROP. X. sacrament of nomination, that the bishops and apostles who sliould oversee the service of the church should be men of most intire manners and life, powerful in sound doctrine, to give a reason for all thinirs." So also another*, about the same time, writeth thus : " Therefore it can never be, that by the tongues or learning any can give a sound judgment concerning the holy scriptures, and the truth of God. Lastly," saith he, " the sheep of Christ seeks nothing but the voice of Christ, which he knoweth by the Holy Spirit, wherewith he is filled : he regards not learning, tongues, or any outward thing, so as therefore to believe this or that to be the voice of Christ, his true shepherd ; he knoweth that there is need of no otlier thing but the testimo7iy of the Spirit of God. Object. 1. §. XVII. Against this absolute necessity ot grace they object, That if all jninisters had the saving grace of God, thefi all miiusters should be saved, seeing none can fall away from or lose savi??g grace. answ. But this objection is built upon a false hypothesis, purely denied by us ; and we have in the former pro- position concerning perseverance already refuted it. Object. 2. Secondly, It may be objected to us, That since we affirm that every man hath a measure of true and saving grace, there needs no singular qualification either to a Christian or minister ; for seeing evety man hath this grace, then no man needs forbear to be a minister for want of grace, Answ. I answer. We have above shown that there is neces- sary to the making a minister a special and particular call from the Spirit of God, which is something be- sides the universal dispensation of grace to all, ac- Heb. V. 4. cording to that of the apostle. No man taketh this honour unto hiinself but he that is called of God, as All b»Te was Aaron. Moreover we understand by grace as a ^h\ch^Jui\» ^^^^ifi(^^i^on to a minister, not the mere measure of * Franciscus Lambertus Avenionensis, in his book concern- ing Prophecy, Learning, Tongues, and the Spirit of Prophecy. Argent, excuse anno 1510, de prov. cap. 24. OF THE MINISTRY. 291 light, as it is given to reprove and call him to righte- to righte- ousness ; but we understand grace as it hath converted aiTare'not"* the soul, and operateth powerfully in it, as hereafter, so leavened concerning the wo7^k of ministers, will further appear, lore as tT St) we understand not men simply having grace in bring forth them as a seed, which we indeed affirm all have in a blameless measure ; but vre understand men that are gracious, ^^^^ ^'f®- leavened by it into the nature thereof, so as thereby to bring forth those good fruits of a blameless con- versation, and of justice, holiness, patience, and tem- perance, which the apostle requires as necessary in a true Christian bishop and minister. Thirdly, They* object the example of the false pro- object, s. phets, of the Pharisees, and of Judas, But First, As to \hQ false prophets, there can nothing answ. be more foolish and ridiculous ; as if because there vf ere false prophets, redWy false, without the grace of God, therefore grace is not necessary to a true Chris- tian minister. Indeed if they had proved that true prophets wanted this grace, they had said something; but what hdive false prophets common with ti^ue minis- The faUe ters, but that they pretend falsely that which they pj'pl.'e'tr* have not ? And because false prophets want true want ti>e grace, will it therefore follow, that true prophets |X" ought not to have it, that they may be true and not false 1 The example of the Pharisees and priests under the law will not answer to the gospel times, because God set apart a particular tribe for that service, and particular families, to whom it belonged by a lineal succession ; and also their service and work was not The service purely spiritual, but only the performance of some "J"^^ ^^^/ outward and carnal observations and ceremonies, not pureij which were but a shadow of the substance that was but^figara- to come : and therefore their work made not the comers ♦'"«' <"«•• *''« , ' - . . , . perform- thereunto perfect, as appertaining to the conscience, ance of seeing they were appointed only according to the laio ^^^'^''\^^ of a carnal commandment, and not according to the hoved to be poiccr of an endless life. Notwithstanding as in the '^^^^^\l^-^^ * So Nic. Arnoldus, Sect. 32, upon Thesis 4. outward u2 292 OF THE MINISTRY. PROP. X. poHotions, figure they were to be without blemish as to their out- teM ofTbe*" ward man, and in the performance of their work they go«p«i must were to be washed and purified from their outward wlthoiitbilK pollutions, so now, under the gospel times, the minis- ■wh. ters in the antitype must be inwardly without blemish in theii' souls and spirits, being, as the apostle requires, blameless, and in their work and service must be pure and undejiled from their inward pollutions, and so clean and holy, that they may offer up spiritual sacri- Jices acceptable to God by Jesus Christ, 1 Pet. ii. 5. The minis- As to Judas, the scason of his ministry was not wholly d^8o?pu/of evangelical, as being before the work yv^s finished^ Christ be. and while Christ himself and his disciples were yet work'was subject to the Jewish observances and constitutions, nnisbedwas and therefore his commission, as well as that which than*t!an- the rcst rcccivcd with him at that time, was only to geiicai. the house of Israel, Matt. x. 5, 6, which made that by virtue of that commission the rest of the apostles were not impowered to go forth and preach after the resurrection until they had waited at Jerusalem for the pouring forth of the Spirit: so that it appears Judas's ministry was more legal than evangelical. Secondly, JudEis's case, as all will acknowledge, was Judas was siugular and extraordinary, he being immediately ij raned^of ^^^^d by Christ himself, and accordingly furnished Christ, and aud impowcrcd by him to preach, and do miracles ; Vrlt\y^^ which immediate commission our adversaries do not whicii oar so much as pretend to, and so fall short of Judas, who tviu^'^tTo'; trusted in Christ's words, and therefore went forth aitboagh and preached, without gold or silver, or scrip for blm iTpat* his journey ; giving freely as he haAJfreely received; ^*a°cdels*" which our adversaries will not do, as hereafter ministry, shall bc obscrvcd : also that Judas at that time had badnot'tbe ^^^ ^^^ ^^^^ mcasurc of God's grace, I have not least mea- as yct heard proved. But is it not sad, tliat even GlJd°Krace P^otcstants should lay aside the eleven good and faith- AtibatUme. ful apostlcs, and ^the rest of the holy disciples and ministers of ChriS|rand betake them to that one, of whom it was testified that he was a devil, for a pattern OF THE MINISTRY. 293 and example to their ministry ? Alas ! it is to be re- \ gretted, that too many of them resemble this pattern ^ overmuch. \ Another objectmi is usually made against the ne- object. ] cessity of grace, * That in case it were necessary, then * ibid. nic. \ such as wanted it could not truly administer the sacra- A^oidus. ^ ments ; and consequently the people would he left in i doubts and infinite scruples, as not knowing certainly j whether they had truly received them, because not \ knowing infallibly whether the administrators were truly gracious men. \ But this objection hitteth not us at all, because the answ. 1 nature of that spiritual and Christian worship, which ' ! we according to the truth plead for, is such as is not { necessarily attended with these carnal and outward "\ institutions, from the administering of which the ob- ' jection ariseth ; and so hath not any such absurdity , following upon it, as will afterwards more clearly • appear. \ \ XVIII. Though then we make not human learn- what trae ; ing necessary, yet we are far from excluding true '®*"*°^ '** \ learning ; to wit, that learning which proceedeth from - the inward teachings and instructions of the Spirit, i whereby the soul learneth the secret ways of the Lord, becomes acquainted with many inward travails and exercises of the mind ; and learneth by a living ex- \ peHence how to overcome evil, and the temptations i o/it, hy following the Lord, and walking in his light, \ and waiting daily for wisdom and knowledge immedi- : ately from the revelation thereof; and so layeth up \ . these heavenly and divine lessons in the good treasure of the heart, as honest Mary did the sayings which she heard, and things which she observed : and also out of this treasure of the soul, as the good scribe, ] brings forth things new and old, according as the same \ Spirit moves, and gives true liberty, and as the glory 1 of God requires, for whose glory the soul, which is the temple of God, learneth to do atU things. This is ^ that good learning which we think necessary to a true '*: a trae mi- DMter. 294 OF THE MINISTRY. PROP. X. Th« good minister ; by and through which learning a man can which'?« ^^^^ instruct, teach, and admonish in due season, and necessary to testify for God from a certain experience : as did David, Solomon, and the holy prophets of old, and the blessed apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ, who testified of what they had seen, heard, felt, and handled of the wo7'd of life, 1 John, i. 1, Ministering the gift according as they had received the same, as good stew- ards of the manifold grace of God; and preached not the uncertain rumours of men by hearsay, which they had gathered m-^rely in the comprehension, -while they were strangers to the thing in their own experi- ence in themselves : as to teach people how to believe, while themselves were unbelieving ; or how to over- come sin, while themselves are slaves to it, as all ungracious men are ; or to believe and hope for an eternal reward, which themselves have not as yet arrived at, &c. Literature §. XIX. But Ict US cxamiue this literature, which is first the ^ijgy make so necessary to the bein^ of a minister ; knowledge - ^ n i ii iiri of Latin, as, m the first place, the knowledge ot the tongues, at HXew?"^ least of the Latin, Greek, and Hebrew. The reason of this is. That they may read the scripture, which is their only rule, in the original languages, and thereby be the more capable to comment upon it, and inter- pret it, &c. That also which made this knowledge be the more prized by the primitive Protestants, was indeed the dark barbarity that was over the world in the centuries immediately preceding the Reformation ; the knowledge of the tongues being about that time (until it was even then restored by Erasmus and some Before Uie othcrs) almost lost and extinct. And this barbarity Reform*- ^g^ g^ ^^uch the morc abominable, that the whole *«on tl»e , . « , I'll* prayer* of worship and prayers of the people were m the Lat\n wernn^ibe tonguc ; and among that vast number of priests, L«iin monks, and friars, scarce one of a thousand under- longoc. gtood his breviary, or that mass which he daily read and repeated : the scripture being, not only to ib^ people, but to the greater part of the clergy, ercll OF THE MINISTRY. 295 as to the literal knowledge of it, as a sealed book. I The zeai shall not at all discommend the zeal that the first Jourronte reformers had against this Babylonish darkness, nor first re- their pious endeavours to translate the holy scriptures : commend- I do truly believe, according to their knowledge, that ed. they did it candidly : and therefore to answer the The know- just desires of those that desire to read them, and for {angaages other very good reasons, as maintaining a commerce commenda- and understanding among divers nations by these schooh^ne- common languages, and others of that kind, we judge cessary. it necessary and commendable that there be public schools for the teaching and instructing such youth, as are inclinable thereunto, in the languages. And although that papal ignorance deserved justly to be abhorred and abominated, we see nevertheless, that the true reformation consists not in that knowledge ; because although since that time the Papists, stirred Therapists' up through emulsion of the Protestants, have more ^n^'kuow- applied themselves in literature, and it now more ledge, espe- flourisheth in their universities and cloisters, than Jg*"- J|*® before (especially in the Ignation or Jesuitic sect), they are as far now as ever from a true reformation, and more hardened in their pernicious doctrines. But all this will not make it a necessary qualification to a minister, far less a more necessary qualification than the grace of God and his Spirit ; because the Spirit and grace of God can make up this want in the most rustic and ignorant; but this knowledge can no ways make up the want of the Spirit in the most learned and eloquent. For all that which man The Spirit by his own industry, learning, and knowledge in the Jntl^rpJeJe'^ languages, can interpret of the scriptures, or find out, of the scrip- is nothing without the Spirit ; he cannot be certain, Iherfrrm^ but may still miss of the sense of it : whereas a poor the original man, that knoweth not a letter, when he heareth the oTwISt scriptures read, by the same Spirit, he can say. This t''*^"'- is true ; and by the same Spirit he can understand, open, and interpret it, if need be : yea, finding his ^ condition to answer the condition and experience of 296 OF THE MINISTRY. PROP. X. the saints of old, he knoweth and possesseth the truths there delivered, because they are sealed and witnessed in his own heart by the same Spirit. And this we have plentiful experience of in many of those illite- rate men, whom God hath raised up to be ministers in his church in this day ; so that some such, by his Spirit, have corrected some of the errors of the trans- lators, as in the Third Proposition concerning the A poor Scriptures I before observed. Yea, I know myself a fhrrrod" P^^^ shoemaker, that cannot read a word, who being not read, assaultcd with a false citation of scripture, from a profl?8or of public profcssor of divinity, before the magistrate of diirinitj's a city, when he had been taken up for preaching to t?oni from some few who came to hear him ; I say, I know such •criptaro. a ouc, and he is yet alive, who though the professor, who also is esteemed a learned man, constantly as- serted his saying to be a scripture sentence, yet affirmed,^ not through any certain letter-knowledge he had of it, but from the most certain evidence of the Spirit in himself, that the professor was mistaken; and that the Spirit of God never said any such thing as the other affirmed : and the Bible being brought, it was found as the poor shoemaker had said. 2. Logic §. XX. The second part of their literature is logic phj noi'°*^ and philosophy, an art so little needful to a true mi- needfui to a nistcr, that if one that comes to be a true minister preacher. ^^^^ \^^^ \^^ j|. jg safcst for him to forgct and lose it ; for it is the root and ground of all contention and de- bate, and the way to make a thing a great deal darker than clearer. For under the pretence of regulating man's reason into a certain order and rules, that he may find out (as they pretend) the truth, it leads into such a labyrinth of contention, as is far more fit to make a sceptic than a Christian, far less a minister of Christ : yea, it often hinders man from a clear un- derstanding of things that his own reason would give him; and therefore, through its manifold rules and divers Inventions, it often gives occasion for a man, that hath little reason, foolishly to speak much to no OF THE MINISTRY. 297 purpose; seeing a man, that is not very wise, may notwithstanding be a perfect logician. And then, if ye would make a man a fool to purpose that is not very wise, do but teach him logic and philosophy ; and whereas before he might have been fit for some- thing, he shall then be good for nothing, but to speak nonsense ; for these notions will so swim in his head, that they will make him extremely busy about nothing. The use that wise and solid men make of it, is, to see The use of the emptiness thereof; therefore saith one. It is «w'°^'V**** r . -' . •' see its emp- art of co?2te?itio?i and darkness, by which all other tiness. sciences are rendered more obscure, and harder to be understood. If it be urged. That thereby the truth may be main- tained arid confirmed, and heretics confuted; I answer. The truth, in men truly rational, needeth answ. not the help thereof; and such as are obstinate, this will not convince ; for by this they may learn twenty tricks and distinctions, how to shut out the truth : and the truth proceeding from an honest heart, and spoken forth from the virtue and Spirit of God, will have more influence, and take sooner and more effectually, than by a thousand demonstrations of logic ; as that a heathen heathen philosopher* acknowledged, who, disputing jl'^p^^^^J*^" with the Christian bishops in the council of Nice, w»ih the was so subtile, that he could not be overcome by the cTanc"n them; but yet by a few words spoken by a simple "^'^'^e, was old rustic, was presently convinced by him, and con- to theChris- verted to the Christian faith ; and being inquired how ^•*'! ^*'*^ ^y he came to yield to that ignorant old man, and not to oid'maT" the bishops, he said. That they contended with him in ^^^^^H his own way, and he could still give words for words ; but there came from the old man that virtue, which he was not able to resist. This secret virtue and power ought to be the logic and philosophy wherewith a true Christian minister should be furnished ; and * for which they need not be beholden to Aristotle. As Natural lo- to natural logic, by which rational men, without that ^"*^ "'^^° * * Lucae Osiandri Epit. Hist. Eccles. lib. ii. cap. v. cent. 4. TO8 OF THE MINISTRY. PROP. X. \ art and rules, or sophistical learning, deduce a certain \ conclusion out of true propositions, which scarce any I man of reason wants, we deny not tlie use of it ; and i I have sometimes used it in this treatise ; which also | 8. Ethics, may serve without that dialectic art. As for the other ■ **er-rair8*to P^'^ ^^ philosophy, which is called moral, or ethics. Christians it is uot SO ucccssary to Christians, who have the j «oi needful. j^|^ ^f ^j^^ j^^j^ scripturcs, and the gift of the Holy > Spirit, by which they can be much better instructed. 4. Ph)sic8, The physical and metaphysical part may be reduced 1 uli^Lr *^ ^^ ^^^ ^^ medicine and the mathematics, which i make no ' havc uothiug to do with the essence of a Christian \ Snle u"h. niinister. And therefore the apostle Paul, who well \ understood what was good for Christian ministers, \ and what hurtful, thus exhorted the Colossians, Col. j ii. 8 : Beware lest any maji spoil you thr.ough philo- | sophy and vain deceit. And to his beloved disciple Timothy he writes also thus, 1 Tim. vi. 20 : O Timo- \ thy, keep that which is committed to thy trust, avoiding '] profane and vain babblings, and opposition of science, \ falsely so called. III. The §. XXI. The third and main part of their litera- j ^^j^jj ture is school divinity, a monster, made up of some \ vinitj ob- scriptural notions of truth, and the heathenish terms \ moll\tx\ a ^^^ maxims; being, as it were, the heathenish phi- \ letter knU- losophy chnstiauized, or rather, the literal external ; thlJnLed* knowledge of Christ heathenized. It is man in his ; first, fallen, natural state, with his devilish wisdom, j pleasing himself with some notions of truth, and \ adorning them with his own sensual and carnal wis- dom, because he thinks the simplicity of the truth too \ low and mean a thing for him ; and so despiseth that • simplicity, wheresoever it is found, that he may set \ up and exalt himself, puffed up with this his mon- j strous birth. It is the devil, darkening, obscuring, j and veiling the knowledge of God, with his serpen- i tine and worldly wisdom ; that so he may the more \ securely deceive the hearts of* the simple, and make \ the truth, as it is in itself, despicable and hard to be ^ \ OF THE MINISTRY. 299 | known and understood, by multiplying a thousand difficult and needless questions, and endless conten- | tions and debates. All which, he who perfectly I knoweth, is not a whit less the servant of sin than he ] was ; but ten times more so, in that he is exalted, and - J proud of iniquity, and so much the farther from ■ receiving, understanding, or learning the truth, as it is in its own naked simplicity; because he is full, learned, rich, and wise in his own conceit : and so i those that are most skilled in it, wear out their day, i and spend their precious time about the infinite and j innumerable questions they have feigned and inventec? / concerning it. A certain learned man called it, ^Ks needless i twofold discipline, like the race of the Centaurs, partfy ^"J'enaLs ^ proceeding from divine sayings, partly from philoso- jangiings. phical reasons. A thousand of their questions they confess themselves to be no ways necessary to salva- • tion ; and yet many more of them they could never j agree upon, but are, and still will be, in endless jang- \ lings about them. The volumes that have been writ- \ ten about it, a man in his whole age can scarce read, \ though he lived to be very old ; and when he has 1 read them all, he has but wrought himself a great ; deal more vexation and trouble of spirit than he had j before. These certainly are the words multiplied with- \ out knowledge ; by which comisel hath been darkened, Job, xxxviii. 2. They make the scripture the text of all this mass ; and it is concerning the sense of it ■ \ that their voluminous debates arise. But a man of a \ good upright heart may learn more in half an hour \ and be more certain of it, by waiting upon God, and his Spirit in the heart, than by reading a thousand ' of their volumes ; which, by filling his head with many needless imaginations, may well stagger his faith, but never confirm it: and indeed those that 'j give themselves most to it are most capably to fall j into error, as appeareth by the example of Origen, ; who, by his learning, was one of the first, that failing j into this way of interpreting the scriptures, wrote so j X 300 OF THE M1MSTRV\ PROP. X. j many volumes, and in them so many errors, as very ! Whereby mucli' troubled the church. Also Arius, led by this I itto"err"r curioslty and human scrutiny, despising the simplicity ] mud schism, of the gospcl, fell iuto his error, which was the cause ; of that horrible heresy which so much troubled the i church. Methinks the simplicity, plainness, and bre- i vity of the scriptures themselves, should be a suffi- ' cient reproof for such a science; and the apostles, being honest, plain, illiterate men, may be better understood by such kind of men now, than with all that mass of scholastic stuff, which neither Peter, nor ^y^aul, nor John, ever thought of. \ Theaposta- §. XXII. But this invention of Satan, wherewith i diligerliM ^^ began the apostacy, hath been of dangerous con- coose- sequence ; for thereby he at first spoiled the simpli- quences. ^^^^^ ^^ trutli, by kccpiug up the heathenish learning, \ which occasioned such uncertainty, even among those j Many of the called Fathcrs, and such debate, that there are few \ J^^' ^^ of them to be found, who, by reason of this mixture, \ eontradict do uot ouly frequently contradict one another, but bufih^e m-"^' themselves also. And therefore, when the apostacy i selves also, grcw greater, he, as it were, buried the truth with ! and why. ^j^-g ^^^j ^^ darkucss, wholly shutting out people from > true knowledge, and making the learned (so accounted) , busy themselves with idle and needless questions; while the weighty truths of God were neglected, and went, as it were, into disuse. Now, though the grossest of these abuses be swept I away by Protestants, yet the evil root still remains, ' and is nourished and upheld ; and the science kept : up, as being deemed necessary for a minister : for, j while the pure learning of the Spirit of truth is de- j spised and neglected, and made ineffectual, mans fallen earthly wisdom is upheld ; and so in that he i labours and works with the scriptures, being out of ; the Life and Spirit which those that wrote them were ^ in, by which only they are rightly understood, and j made use of: And so he that is to be a minister Merchan- must Icam this art or trade of merchandizing with OF THE MINISTRY. 301 the scriptures, and be that which the apostle would dizing with not be, to wit, a trader with them, 2 Cor. ii. 17. That J|;',''Xt he may acquire a kna<;k from a verse of Scripture, by it is. adding his own barren notions and conceptions to it, 2^Peu7i. 3. and his uncertain conjectures, and what he had stolen out of books ; for which end he must have of neces- sity a good many by him, and may each Sabbath day, as they call it, or oftener, make a discourse for an hour long ; and this is called the preaching of the And ibis word : whereas the gift, grace, and Spirit of God, to ^^J ''*" teach, open, and instruct, and to preach a word in ing of the season, is neglected ; and so man's arts and parts, and ^°''^' knowledge and wisdom, which is from below, are set Thus Anti- up and established in the temple of God, yea, and ^^^^f^VeV^ above the little seed ; which in effect is Antichrist, above the working in the mystery. And so the devil may be kingdom!*^ as good and able a minister as the best of them ; for ^^^ ^^^ he has better skill in languages, and more logic, phi- devil maj losophy, and school divinity, than any of them ; and J'eVonbr knows the truth in the notion better than they all, priests' gos- and can talk more elegantly than all those preachers. *'^'* But what availeth all this ? Is it not all but as death, as a painted sepulchre, and dead carcass, without the power, life, and spirit of Christianity, which is the marrow and substance of a Christian ministry ? And he that hath this, and can speak from it, though he be a poor shepherd, or a fisherman, and ignorant of all that learning, and of all those questions and no- tions ; yet speaking from the Spirit, his ministry will have more influence towards the converting of a sinner unto God, than all of them who are learned after the flesh ; as in that example of the old man at the council of Nice did appear. §. XXIII. And if in any age, since the apostle's The power days, God hath purposed to show his power by weak ""^.^^^^^J instruments, for the battering down of that carnal and struments heathenish wisdom, and restoring again the (indent \^^''^'^K simplicity of truth, this is it. For in our day, God cii^roftrnth. hath raised up witnesses for himself, as he did fisher- 302 OF THE MINISTRY. PROP. X. men of old ; many, yea, m6st of whom ?-re^ labouring and mechanic men, who, altogether without that learn- ing, have, by the power and Spirit of God, struck at the very root and ground of Babylon; and in the strength and might of this power, have gathered thousands, by reaching their consciences, into the same power and life, who, as to the outward part, have been far more knowing than they, yet not able to resist the virtue that proceeded from them. Of which I myself am a true witness ; and can declare from certain experience, because my heart hath been The power- oftcu greatly broken and tendered by that virtuous oniTiterat? ^^^^ ^^^^ procccdcd from the powerful ministry of those men. illiterate men : so that by their very countenance, as well as words, I have felt the evil in me often chained down, and the good reached to and raised. What shall I then say to you, who are lovers of learning, and admirers of knowledge ? Was not I also a lover and admirer of it, who also sought after it, according to my age and capacity ? But it pleased God, in his unutterable love, early to withstand my vain endea- The time of vours, whilc I was yct but eighteen years of age ; and GMt^con"*^^ made me seriously to consider (which I wish also may vincement. bcfall othcrs). That without holiness and regeriey^ation Job xxviii. no man can see God ; and that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and to depart from ini- quity, a good imderstanding ; and how much knau)- ledge puffeth up, and leadeth away from that inward quietness, stilhiess, and humilitif of 7nind, where the Lord appears, and his heavenly wisdom is revealed. If ye consider these things, then will ye say with me, that all this learning, wisdom, and knowledge, ga- thered in this fallen nature, is but as d?\>ss and dung, in comparison of the cross of Chist; especially being destitute of that power, life, and virtue, which I per- ceived these excellent (though despised, because illi- terate) witnesses of God to be filled with : and there- fore seeing, that in and among them, I, with many others, have found the heavenly food that gives con- 28 OF THE MINISTRY. 303 JLentment, let my soul seek after this learning, and wait for it for ever. §. XXIV. Having thus spoken of the call and qua- Qhes. 3. lifications of a gospel minister, that which comes next to be considered is, What his proper work is, how, The work of unci by what rule he is to be ordered! Our adversaries * "'"'s*®"^- do ail along go upon externals, and therefore have certain prescribed rules and methods, contrived ac- cording to their human and earthly wisdom : we, on the contrary, walk still upon the same foundation, and lean always upon the immediate assistance and influ- ence of that Holy Spirit, which God hath given his The Holy children, to teach them all things, and lead them in splIU'o* all things : which Spirit, being the Spii^it of order, orJ^r, and and not of confusion, leads us, and as many as follow ]ll\lo!''^' it, into such a comely and decent order as becometh the church of God. But our adversaries, having shut themselves out from this immediate counsel and influ- ence of the Spirit, have run themselves into many confusions and disorders, seeking to establish an order in this manner. For some will have first a chief Popish or- bishop, or pope, to rule and be a prince over all ; and 0^*^^^"^^ under him, by degrees, cardinals, patriarchs, archbi- shops, priests, deacons, subdeacons ; and besides these, acoluthi, tonsorati, ostiarii, &c. And in their theo- logy (as they call it), professors, bachelors, doctors, &c. And others would have every nation indepen- dent of another, having its own metropolitan or patri- arch ; and the rest in order subject to him, as before. Others again are against all precedency among pas- tors, and constitute their subordination not of persons, but of powers : as first, the consistory, or session ; then the class, or presbytery ; then the provincial ; and then the national synod or assembly. Thus they tear one another, and contend among themselves con- cerning the ordering, distinguishing, and making their several orders and offices ; concerning which there hath been no less contest, not only by way of verbal dispute, but even by fighting, tumults, wars, Wars and 304 OF THE MfNISTRY. PROP. X. bloodshed devastations, and bloodshed, than about the conquer- •bout • j^g, overturning, and establishing of kingdoms. And cliurcb go- - O- . . P\ . /» 11 P 1 TeriHDeDt. the histOFies ot late times are as lull of the various tragedies, acted on account of this spiritual and eccle- siastical monarchy and commonwealth, as the histories of old times are of the vv^ars and contests that fell out both in the Assyrian, Persian, Greek, and Roman empires : these last upon this account, though among those that are called Christians, have been no less bloody and cruel than the former among heathens, concerning their outward empires and governments. The groaiid Now all this, both among Papists and Protestants, rherMf'* proceedeth, in that they seek in imitation to uphold a form and shadow of things, though they want the power, virtue, and substance ; while for many of their orders and forms they have not so much as the name in the scripture. But in opposition to all this mass of formality, and heap of orders, rules, and govern- ments, we say, the substance is chiefly to be sought aftei\ and the 'power ^ virtue, and spirit, is to be kriown and waited for, which is one in all the different names and offices the scripture makes use of; as appears by 1 Cor. xii. 4 (often before mentioned) : There are diversities of gifts, but the same Spiint. And after the apostle, throughout the whole chapter, hath shown how one and the selfsame Spirit worketh in and quickeneth each member ; then in verse 28, he show- eth how thereby God hath set in the church, first, apostles, secondly, prophets, teachers, &c. And like- wise to the same purpose, Eph. iv. 11, he showeth, how by these gifts he hath given some apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, some pastors, smne teachers^ &c. Now it never was Christ's purpose, nor the apos- tles', that Christians should, without this Spirit and heavenly gift, set up a shadow and form of these orders, and so make several ranks and degreeSa^to establish a carnal ministry of men's making, without The work of the Hfc, powcr, and Spirit of Christ : this is that work ^utmy^L ^^ Antichrist, and mystery of iniquity, that hath got OF THE MINISTRY. 305 up in the dark night of apostacy. But in a truerjofini- church of Christ, gathered together by God, not only '*°**^' into the belief of the principles of truth, but also into the power, life, and Spirit of Christ, the Spirit of God is the orderer, ruler, and governor ; as in each parti- cular, so in the general. And when they assemble together to wait upon God, and to worship and adore him; then such as the Spirit sets apart for the minis- Such as the try, by its divine power and influence opening their ^P^"**^®*4e mouths, and giving them to exhort, reprove, and in- ministry, struct with virtue and power, these are thus ordained [^^"^ Hl^ of God and admitted into the ministry, and their bre- tbem. thren cannot but hear them, receive them, and also honour them for their woi^lc^s sake. And so this is not monopolized by a certain kind of men, as theThedergy clergy (who are to that purpose educated and brought *"^ •«"*='''• up as other carnal artists), and the rest to be despised as laicks ; but it is left to the free gift of God to choose any whom he seeth meet thereunto, whether rich or poor, servant or master, young or old, yea, male or female. And such as have this call, verify Women the gospel, hy preaching not in speech only, but ^//^o "*^ p"^*''^' in power, and in the Holy Ghost, and in much fulness, 1 Thess. i. 5 ; and cannot but be received and heard by the sheep of Christ. §. XXV. But if it be objected here, That I seem object. hereby to make no distinction at all betwixt ministers and others ; which is contrary to the apostle's saying, 1 Cor. xii. 29, Are all apostles'? Are all prophets! Are all teachers'? Sec. From thence they insinuate, That I also contradict his comparison in that chapter, of the church of Christ with a human body; as where he saith, verse \1 ^ If the whole body were an eye, where were the hearing ? If the whole were hearing, where loere the smclUtig 1 Sec, ■ Also the apostle not only distinguishcth the ministers of the church in ge- neral from the rrst of the menibers, but also from- themselves ; as naming them distinctly and separately, apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, teachers, &c. X 306 OF THE MINISTRY. PROP. X. answ. 1. As to the last part of this objection, to which I S'LlSt? s^^^^^ ^^^* answer ; it is apparent, that this diversity makes no of nanies is not to distinguish separate offices, but to oificM ! but denote the different and various operations of the which raaj Spirit ; a manner of speech frequent with the apostle beTogetheV Paul, whcrciu he sometimes expatiates to the illus- in ooe per- tratiiig of the glory and praise of God's grace ; as in particular, Rom. xii. G : Having then gifts differing according to the grace that is given us, whether pro- phecy, let us prophesy, according to the proportion of faith; or ininistry, let us wait on our minister ing ; or he that teacheth, on teaching ; or he that exhorteth, on exhortation. Now none will say from all this, that these are distinct offices, or do not or may not coincide in one person, as may all those other things mentioned by him in the subsequent verses, viz. Of loving, being kindly affectioned, fervency of sjnrit, hospitality, diligence, blessing, rejoicing, &c. which he yet numbers forth as different gifts of the Spirit, and according to this objection might be placed as distinct and separate offices, which were most absurd. Secondly, In these very places mentioned it is clear that it is no real distinction of separate offices ; be- cause all acknowledge, that pastors and teachers, (which the apostle there no less separateth and dis- tinguisheth, than pastors and prophets, or apostles), are one and the same, and coincide in the same office and person ; and therefore may be said so of the rest. Prophecy For [p?vph€cy], zs it siguifics the foretelling of things sj^ng!"?]"* '^ come, is indeed a distinct gift, but no distinct office ; twofold sig. and therefore our adversaries do not place it among Dification. ^i^g-j. ggygrj^i orders : neither will they deny, but that it both may be and hath been given of God to some, that not only have been pastors and teachers, and that there it hath coincided in one person with these other offices, but also to some of the laicks : and so it hath been found, according to their own confession, with- To propiie- out the Hmits of their clergy. Prophecy in the other i7go*of"** sense, to wit, as it signifies a speaJctng from the Spirit OF THE MINISTRY. 307 of truth, is not only peculiar to pastors and teachers, teachers, and of all the saints. who ought so to prophesy ; but even a common pri- """^^ *'^ ^^^ vilege to the saints. For though to instruct, teach, and exhort, be proper to such as are more particularly called to the work of the ministry ; yet it is not so proper to them, as not to be (when the saints are met together, as any of them are moved by the Spirit), common to others : for some acts belong to all in such a relation; but not only to those within that relation ; competunt omfii, sed non soli. Tlius to see and hear are proper acts of a man; seeing it may be properly predicated of him, that he heareth and seeth : yet are they common to other creatures also. So to prophesy, in this sense, is indeed proper to ministers and teachers ; yet not so, but that it is com- mon and lawful to other saints, when moved there- unto, though it be not proper to them by way of relation ; because, notwithstanding that motion, they are not particularly called to the work of the ministry, as appears by 1 Cor. xiv. where the apostle at large declaring the order and ordinary method of the church, saith, verse 30, 31 : But ?/ any thing be revealed to another that sitteth by, let the first hold his peace; for ye may all prophesy one by one, that all may learn, and all be comforted: which showeth that none is here excluded. But yet that there is a subordination, according to the various measures of the gift received, the next verse showeth : And the spirits of the pro- phets are subject to the prophets : for God is not the author of confusion, but of peace. Now that prophe- sying, in this sense, may be common to all saints, appears by verse 39 of the same chapter, where, speak- ing to [aW] in general, he saith. Wherefore, brethren, covet to prophesy ; and verse 1, he exhorts them, say- ing. Desire spiritual gifts, but rather that ye may prophesy. Secondly, As to evangelists the same may be said ; wbo are for whoever preacheth the gospel is really an evan- and'whe-*^' gelist, and so consequently every true minister of the ther any x2 30B OF THE MINISTRY. PROP. X. may term gospcl is onc ; clsc wliat propcr office can they assign li*r***'^** to it unless they should be so foolish as to affirm that dajs. none were evangelists but Matthew, Mark, Luke, and Jolm, who wrote the account of Christ's life and suf- ferings ? and then it were neither a particular office, seeing John and Matthew were apostles, Mark and Luke pastors and teachers, so that there they coin- cided in one. And indeed it is absurd to think, that upon that particular account the apostle used the word [evangelist]. Calvin acknowledgeth, that such as pveach the gospel In purity, after some time of apos- tacy, may be truly called evangelists, and therefore saith, that there were apostles in his time ; and hence the Protestants, at their first coming forth, termed themselves evangeUci, or evangelicks. Who is an Lastly, An apostle, if we look to the etymology of •postie. ^^ word, signifies one that is sent; and in respect evei^y true inmister is sent of God, in so far he is an apostle ; though the twelve, because of their being specially sent of Christ, were tlierefore called apostles Kar k^oyrqvj or pcr emiuentiam, i. e. by way of excel- They were Icucy. And yet that there was no limitation to such to UTI*'' ^ number, as some foolishly imagine, appears, becaqse number, after that number was filled up, the apostle Paul was afterwards so called ; therefore we judge that these are no distinct separate offices, but only names used upon occasion to express the more eminent arising and shining forth of God's grace. And if any minis- ter of Christ should now proselyte and turn a whole nation to the Christian faith, though he had no dis- Whether tiuct officc, yct I doubt not but both Papists and Pro- JaUedVn''* tcstauts would judgc it tolerable to call such a one apostle at an apostlc, or an evangelist ; for on this account the '^* Jesuits call some of their sect apostles of India and of Japan ; and Calvin testifies that there were apostles and evangelists in his time, in respect to the Reforma- UpoD what tion ; upon which account also we have known John Joho'icnox ^^^^ often called the apostle of Scotland. So that waaodied wc couclude that ministers, pastors, or teachers do OF THE MINISTRY. 309 comprehend «//, and that the office is but one, and the apnstie therefore in that respect we judge there ought to be *>f ^«o*'*°d. no precedency among them : to prove which I sh^ll not here insist, seeing it is shown largely, and treated of by such as have denied the Diocesan Episcopacy, as they call it. §. XXVI. As to the first part of the objection, viz. answ. 2. That I seem to make no distinction betwixt the minis- ttr and people, I answer. If it be understood of a liberty to speak or prophesy by the Spirit, I say all Liberty to may do that, when moved thereunto, as above is f'^P^^y *" shown ; but we do believe and attirm that some are spirit, more particularly called to the work of the ministry, and therefore are fitted of the Lord for that purpose ; whose work is more constantly and particularly to instruct, exhort, admonish, oversee, and watch over their brethren ; and that as there is something more incumbent upon them in that respect than upon every common believer, so also, as in that relation, there is due to them from the flock such obedience and subjection as is mentioned in these testimonies of the scripture, Heb. xiii. 17; I Thess. v. 12, 13; 1 Tim. V. 17; 1 Pet. V. 5. Also besides these who are thus particularly called to the ministry, and constant labopr in the word and doctrine, there are also the elders, who though they be not moved to a frequent The eider* testimony by way of declaration in words, yet as [''|^*iu*'*!^i such are grown up in the experience of the blessed dows, tbe work of truth in their hearts, they watch over and f.XView. privately admonish the young, take care for the wi- dows, the poor, and fatherless, and look that nothing be wanting ; but that peace, love, unity, concord, and soundness be preserved in the church of Christ : and this answers to the deacons mentioned Acts, vi. That which we oppose, is the distinction of laiti/ The du- and clers^y, which in the scripture is not to be found, ^'"c*'"" <''" whereby none are admitted unto the work of the n^inis- laitj not to try, but such as are educated at schools on purpose, t^Jp^^T^J" and instructed in logic and philosophy, &c. and so are at their apprenticeship to learn the art and trade 310 OF THE MINISTRY. PKOP. X. of preaching, even as a man learns any other art, whereby all other honest mechanic men, who have not got this heathenish art, are excluded from having this privilege. And so he that is a scholar thus bred up must not have any honest trade whereby to get him a livelihood, if he once intend for the ministry, but he must see to get him a place, and then he hath Their garb, his sct hire for a livelihood to him. He must also be distinguished from the rest by the colour of his clothes, for he must only wear black ; and must be a master of arts: but more of this hereafter. §. XXVII. As this manner of separating men for the ministry is nothing like the church in the apos- tles' days, so great evils have and do follow upon it. For first, parents seeing both the honour and profit that attend the clergy, do allot their children some- times from their infancy to it, and so breed them up on purpose. And others come to age, upon the same account betake them to the same trade, and having these natural and acquired parts that are judged the necessary qualifications of a minister, are thereby ad- mitted, and so are bred up in idleness and pleasure, thinking it a disgrace for them to work with their The cier- hauds ; and so just study a little out of their books, to futV/"*'^ mri^e a discourse once or twice a week during the books, the running of an hourglass; whereas the gift, grace, and ifgu2t Spirit of God, to call and qualify for the ministry, is neglected and overlooked. And many covetous, cor- rupt, earthly, carnal men, having a mere show and form, but strangers to, and utterly ignorant of, the inward work of grace vrpon their hearts, are brought in and intrude themselves, and so through them death, barrenness, and darkness, and by consequence super- stition, error, and idolatry have entered and leavened the church. And they that will narrowly observe, shall find that it was thus the apostacy came to take place ; of the truth of which I could give many ex- amples, which for brevity's sake 1 omit. Thus the office, reverence, and respect due to it were annexed to the mere name, so that wlien once a man was or- OF THE MINISTRY. 311 ; I dained a bishop or a priest, he was heard and believed, : though he had nothing of the Spirit, power, and life j that the true apostles and ministers were in. And I thus in a short time tlic succession came to be of the I name and title, and the offica was thereto annexed ; \ and not of the nature, virtue, and life ; which in eflfect \ made them to cease to be the ministry and ministers of Christ, but only a shadow and vain image of it ; which also decaying, was in some ages so metamor- ^ phosed, that not only the substance was lost, but the ^ very form wholly vitiated, altered, and marred ; so Tiie marred i that it may be far better said of the pretended Chris- compared to ^ tian church, as was disputed of Theseus's boat (which Tiieseuss \ by the piecing of many new pieces of timber was ^^^^'^ ^'^^' , wholly altered), whether ijidecd it were the same or \ another? But in case that the first had been of oak, J and the pieces last put in but of rotten fir, and that \ also the form had been so far changed as to be no- 1 thing like the first, I think it would have suffered no ' M dispute, but might have easily been concluded to be \ quite another, retaining nothing but the name, and '[ that also unjustly. Secondly, From this distinction The abuse ; of laity and clergy this abuse also follows, that good, [he°distmc ^ honest, mechanic men, and others who have not <»"" oi uwj , learned the art and trade of preaching, and so are not ""^ ^ ^^^^' licentiated according to these rules they prescribe liiito \ themselves ; such, I say, being possessed with a false ; opinion that it is not lawful for them to meddle with the ministry, nor that they are any ways fit for it, be- \ cause of the defect of that literature, do thereby neg- j lect the gift in themselves, and quench many times ' \ the pure hixathings of the Spirit of God in their hearlS ; j which, if given way to, might prove much more for \ the edification of the church than many of the conned [ sermons of the learned. And so by this means the ■ apostle's command and advice is slighted, who ex- s horteth, 1 Thess. v. 19, 20, not to quench the Spirit, ^ nor despise prophesijings. And all this is done by j men pretending to be Christians, who glory that the { to formation. 312 OF THt MINISTRY. PROP. X. first preachers and propagators of their religion were Both Pro- such kind of plain mechanic men, and illiterate. And pl^ll ex*^ 6y^^ Protestants do no less than Papists exclude such ci^ide me- ^kiud of men from being ministers among them, and ch«ic men ^^^^ jj^j^ ^j^^ gp.^-^ ^^^^ ^-^^ ^^ q^^ . ^l^^^^^gj^ ^hcir preachinjt. Fathers, in opposition to Papists, asserted the con- "^ootnZTJ trary ; and also their own histories declare how that the Re- ]^ind of illiterate men did, without leaminer, by the Spirit of God, greatly contribute in divers places to the Reformation. By this it may appear, that as in calling and qualify- ing, so in preaching and praying, and the other par- ticular steps of the ministry, every true minister is to know the Spirit of God by its virtue and life to ac- company and assist him ; but because this relates to worship, I shall speak of it more largely in the next proposition, which is concerning Worship. The last thing to be considered and inquired into is, concerning the maintenance of a gospel m'whter ; but before I proceed, I judge it fit to speak something in short concerning the preaching ofwomtn^ and to ' declare what we hold in that matter. Women's Seeing male and female are one in Christ Jesus, public ^^^ ^1^^^ l^g grives his Spirit no less to one than to the preaching . f^ t i • r« • • • and praying othcr, whcu God movcth by his Spirit in a woman^ •>«erted. ^^ judgc it uo ways unlawful for her to preach in the assemblies of God's people. Neither think we that of Paul, 1 Cor. xiv. 34, to reprove the inconsiderate and talkative women among the Corinthians, who trou- bled the church of Christ with their unprofitable questiotis, or that, 1 Tim. ii. 11, 12, that women ought to learn in silence, not usmying authority over the man, anyways repugnant to this doctrine ; because it is clear that women have prophesied and preached in the church, else had that saying of Joel been ill aj> plied by Peter, Acts, ii. 17. And seeing Paul him- self, in the same epistle to the Corinthians, giveth rules how women should behave themselves in tlieir public preaching and praying, it would be a mani- OF THE MINISTRY. 313 fest contradiction if that other place were taken in a larger sense. And the same Paul speaks of a woman that laboured with him in the work of the gospel: and it is written that Philip had four daughters that pro- Acts, xxi. phesied. And Lastly, It hath been observed, that^* God hath effectually in this day converted many souls by the ministry of women ; and by them also fre- quently comforted the souls of his children ; which manifest experience puts the thing beyond all con- ques. 4. troversy. But now I shall proceed to speak of the ^'akte-"' maintenance of ministers. nance. §. XXVIII. We freely acknowledge, as the propo- Tiie minis. sition holds forth, that there is an obligation upon */„" tJ[°°^ such to whom God sends, or among whom he raiseth mainte- up a minister, that, if need be, they minister to his "*"^^ necessities. Secondly, That it is lawful fgr him to receive what is necessary and convenient. To prove this- 1 need fiot insist, for our adversaries will readily grant it to us ; for the thing we affirm is, that this is all that these scripture testimonies relating to this thing do grant. Gal. vi. 6; 1 Cor. ix. II — 14; I Tim. V. 16. That which we then oppose in this matter is. First, That it should be constrained and limited. Secondly, That it should be superfluous, chargeable, and sumptuous. And Thirdly, The manifest abuse thereof, of which I shall also briefly treat. As to the First, our adversaries are forced to recur i. to the example of the law : a refuo^e they use in de- ^ga""* « T P 1 • 1 • • 1-1 constrained lending most oi their errors and superstitions, which mainte- are contrary to the nature and purity of the gospel. °*"*'®* They say, God appointed the Levites the tithes, object. therefore they belong also to such as minister in holy things under the gospel. I answer, All that can be gathered from this is, answ. that as the priests had a maintenance allowed them under the law, so also the ministers and preachers Tithes were under the gospel, which is not denied ; but the com- Jo^r^he^Lt- parison will not hold that they should have the ve7'y ^ites, not same ; since, First, There is no express gospel com- p7efchTs. 314 OF THE MINISTRY. PROP. X. mand for it, neither by Christ nor his apostles. Se- condly, The parity doth noways hold betwixt the Levites under the law, and the preachers under the gospel ; because the Levites were one of the tribes of Israel, and so had a right to a part of the inheritance of the land as well as the rest of their brethren ; and having none, had this allotted to them in lieu of it. Next, The tenth of the tithes was only allowed to the priests that served at the altar, the rest being for the Levites, and also to be put up in storehouses, for entertaining of widows and strangers. But these preachers, notwithstanding they inherit what they have by their parents, as well as other men, yet claim the whole tithes, allowing nothing either to widow or stranger. But as to the tithes I shall not insist, be- cause divers others have clearly and learnedly treated of them apart, and also divers Protestants do confess them not to he jure divino ; and the parity as to the quota doth not hold, but only in general as to tlie obligation of a maintenance; which maintenance, reas. 1. though the hearers be obliged to give, and fail of freeij°tTbe their duty if they do not, yet that it ought neither to preached bc stiutcd, nor yet forced, I prove; because Christ, mach°a ^° wheu he sent forth his apostles, said, Freelif ye have year. rcceived, freely give, Matt. x. 8 ; and yet they had liberty to receive meat and drink from such as offered them, to supply their need. Which shows that they were not to seek or require any thing by force, or to stint, or make a bargain beforehand, as the preachers as well among Papists as Protestants do in these days, who will not preach to any until they be first sure of so much a year ; but on the contrary, these were to do their duty, and freely to communicate, as the Lord should order them, what they had received, without seeking or expecting a reward. Nic. Arnoi. The answcr given to this by Nicolaus Arnold us, «iw to ' Ex^rcit. Theolog. sect. 42, 43, is not to be forgotten, Freeijrje but indeed to be kept upon record for a perpetual remembrance of iiim and his bretlircn ; for he frankly havereoeiv ed, &ic. 1 OF THE MINISTRY. 315 answers after this manner, We have not freely received, and therefore are not bound to give freely. The an- swer I confess is ingenuous and good ; for if those ; that receive freely are to give freely, it would seem \ to follow by the rule of contraries, that those that \ receive not freely ought not to give freely, and I shall ■ grant it ; only they must grant me, that they preach i not by and according to the gift and grace of God received, nor can they be good stewards of the mani- fold grace of God, as every true minister ought to be ; \ or else they have gotten this gift or grace by money, \ as Simon Magus would have been compassing it, simon Ma- since they think themselves not bound to give it with- s«»- out money again. But to be plain, I believe he in- \ tended not that it was from the gift or grace of God | they were to preach, but from their acquired arts and ■ studi^, which have cost them much labour, and also 1 some money at the university ; and therefore, as he ^ that puts his stock into the public bank expects inter- \ est again, so these scholars, having spent some money in learning the art of preaching, think they may \ boldly say they have it not freely ; for it hath cost j them both money and pains, and therefore they ex- \ pect both money and ease again. And therefore, as ^ Arnoldus gets money for teaching his young students \ the ^rt and trade of preaching, so he intends they I should be repaid before they give it again to others. ] It was of old said, Oinnia vcnalia Romce, i. e. All k\\\Vw^% \ thins^s are set to sale at Rome ; but now the same "7 '*♦ ^^ ' 1 1 T T-1 All * proverb may be applied to Franequer. And there- Rome, lo i fore Arnoldus's students, when they go about to ^S^*^ \ preach, may safely seek and require hereby, telling \ their hearers their master's maxim, Nos gratis non \ accepimus, ergo neque gratis dare tenemnr. But then ■ they may answer again. That they find them and their i master to be none of his ministers, who, when he sent ' forth his disciples, gave them this command, Freely : ye have received, freely give ; and therefore we will ' have none of your teaching, because we perceive you Isaulri. 11 RSAS. 2. Mere vo- laotarjr deeds oo man c«d stiot tbem. Object. AN8\f. Panri la- bour was that the gospel might be witboat charge. 316 OF THE MIXISTKV. PROP. X. to be of the number of those that look for their gain from their quarter. §. XXIX. Secondly, The scripture testimonies that urge this are in the same nature of those that press charity and liberaliti/ towards the poor, and command hospitality/, &c. ; but these are not nor can be stinted to a certain quantity, because they are deeds merely voluntary, where the obedience to the command lieth in the good will of the giver,* and not in the matter of the thing given, as Christ showeth in the example of the widow's inite. So that though there be an ob- ligation upon Christians to minister of outward things to their ministers, yet there can be no definition of the quantity but by the giver's own consent, and a little from one may more truly fulfil the obligation than a great deal from another. And therefore as acts of charity and hospitality can neither be limited nor forced, so neither can this. If it be objected. That ministers may and ought to exhort, persuade, yea, and earnestly press Christians, if they find them defective therein, to acts of charity and hospitality, and so may they do also to the giving of maintenance ; I answer, All this saith nothing for a stinted and forced maintenance, for which there cannot so much as the show of one solid argument be brought from scripture. I confess ministers may use exhortation in this as much as in any other case, even as the apostle did to the Corinthians, showing them their duty ; but it were fit for ministers that so do (that their testi- mony might have the more weight, and be the freer of all suspicion of covetousness and self-interest) that they might be able to say truly in the sight of God that which the same apostle subjoins upon the same occasion, 1 Cor. ix. 15 — 18: But 1 have used none of these things ; neither have I written these things, that it should be so done unto me : for it were letter for me to die, than that any man should make my glo- rying void. For though I preach the gosjiel, 1 have OF THE MINISTRY. 317 nothing to glory of ; for iiecessity is laid upon me, yea, woe is unto me if I preach not the gospel. For if I do this thing willingly, I have a reward; but if against my will, a dispensation of the gospel is com- mitted unto me, what is my reward then! Verily that when I preach the gospel, I may make the gospel of Christ without charge, that I abuse not my power in the gospel. Thirdly, As there is neither precept nor example Reas. s. for this forced and stinted maintenance in the scrip- ture, so the apostle, in his solemn farewell to the pas- tors and elders of the church of Ephesus, guards them against it, Acts, xx. 33 — 35. But if the thing had been either lawful or practised, he would rather have exhorted them to be content with their stinted hire, and not to covet more ; whereas he showeth them, first, by his own example, that they were not to covet p«ui coret- or eapect any maiUs silver or gold; secondly, that ^*]^"J^^''°**^'' they ought to work with their hands ior an honest gold, livelihood, as he had done ; and lastly, he exhorts them so to do from the words of Christ, because it is a more blessed thing to give than to receive ; showing that it is so far from a thing that a true minister ought to aim at, or expect, that it is rather a burden to a true minister, and cross to him, to be reduced to the necessity of wanting it. §. XXX. Fourthly, If a forced and stinted main-REAs.4. tenance were to be supposed, it would make the minis- ters of Christ just one with those hirelings whom the No hireiinjc prophets cried out against. For certainly if a man ''"'"f/^f make a bargain to preach to people for so much a Christ. year, so as to refuse to preach unless he have it, and seek to force the people to give it by violence, it can- not be denied that such a one preacheth for hire, and so looks for his gain from his quarter, yea, and/^re- mic. iii. 5. pares war against such as put not into his mouth ; but this is the particular special mark of a false prophet and a hireling, and therefore can noways belong to a true minister of Christ. 318 OF THE MINISTRY. PROP. X. Moderate' Ncxt, that a supcrfluous maintenance, that is, more Pwtesunts ^j^^j^ -jj reason is needful, oug^ht not to be received by and fapistf -^,.. -n i i n • exclaim Christian ministers, will not need much proof, seeing MceVi ** *^^ more moderate and sober, both among Papists the oiergj's and Protestants, readily confess it, who with one voice exclaim against the excessive revenues of the clergy ; and that it may not want a proof from scrip- ture, what can be more plain than that of the apostie to Timothy? 1 Tim. vi. 7 — 10, where he both shows wherewith we ought to be content, and also the hazard of such as look after more ; and indeed, since that very obligation of giving maintenance to a minister is founded upon their need, and such as have oppor- tunity to work are commended rather in not receiving than in receiving, it can noways be supposed lawful for them to receive more than is sufficient. And indeed, were they truly pious and right, though ne- cessitous, they would rather incline to take too little, than be gaping after too much. II. §. XXXI . Now that there is great excess and abuse Inhr*'^" hereof among Christians, the vast revenues which the priests' and bisliops and pricsts have, both Papists and Protes- tI'iIIim! '* tants, do declare ; since I judge it may be said with- out any hyperbole, that some particular persons have more paid them yearly than Christ and his apostles made use of in their whole lifetime, who yet wanted not what was needful as to the outward man, and no doubt deserved it far better than those that enjoy that fulness. But it is manifest these bishops and priests love their fat benejices, and the pleasure a»d honour that attend them, so well, that they purpose neither to follow Christ, nor his apostle's example or advice in this matter. Object. But it is usually objected. That Christians are become so hardhearted, and generally so little heed spiritual things, that if ministers had not a settled and stifjted maintenance secured them by law, they and their families might starve for want of bread. amw. I answer, This objection might have some weight OF T3E MINISTRY. 319 as to a caraal ministry, made up of natural men, who have no life, power, nor virtue with them, and so may- insinuate some need of such a maintenance for such a ministry; but it saith nothing as to such as are called Thej want- and sent of God, who sends 7i(r man a wayfaring upon ^^J^^goI his own charges; and so go forth in the authority and sent; they power of God, to turn people from darkness to light ; wlirtheir for such can trust to him that sendeth them, and do i»ands. believe that he will provide for them, knowing that he requireth nothing of any but what he giveth power to perform ; and so when they return, if he inquire, can say they wanted nothing. And such also when they stay in a place, being immediately furnished by God, and not needing to borrow and steal what they preach from books, and take up their time that way, fall a working at their lawful employments and labour with their hand|, a^ Paul did when he gathered the church at Cqrinm. And indeed if this objection had any weight, the apostles and primitive pastors should never have gone forth to convert the nations, for feai* of want. Doth not the doctrine of Christ teach us to venture all, and part with all, to serve God? Can they then be accounted ministers of Christ who are afraid to preach him lest they get not money for it, or will not do it until they be sure of their payment? What serves the ministry for but to perfect the saints, and so to convert them from that hardheartedness ? But thou wilt say, I have laboured and preached to object. them, and they are hardhearted still, and will not give me anything : Then surely thou hast either not been sent to them answ. of God, and so thy ministry and preaching hath not been among them in the power, virtue, and life of Christ, and so thou deservest nothing; or else they have rejected thy testimony, and so are not worthy, and from such thou oughtest not to expect, yea, nor yet receive, any thing, if they would give thee, but thou oughtest to shake off the dust from thy feet, and leave Matt.x. i4. them. And how frivolous this objection is appears, L^uhj tes- 320 OF THE MINISTRY. PROP. X. timony in tliat in the darkest and most superstitious times the dutt from priests' revenues increased most, and they were most off ibj feet, richly rewarded, though they deserved least. So that he that is truly sent of God, as he needs not, so nei- ther will he, be afraid of want, so long as he serves so good a master ; neither will he ever forbear to do his work for that cause. And indeed such as make this objection show truly that they serve not the Lord Christ, but their own belly, and that makes them so anxious for want of food to it. II. §. XXXII. But lastly, As to the abuses of this IbusM*"^ kind of maintenance, indeed he that would go through priests' them all, though he did It passingly, might make of Mnc^ ^* alone a huge volume, they are so great and nume- brings. rous. For this abuse, as others, crept in with the apostacy, there being nothing of this in the primitive times : then the ministers claimed no tithes, neithet* sought they a stinted or forced maintenance ; but such as wanted had their necessity supplied by the church, and others wrought with their hands. But the persecutions being over, and the emperors and princes coming under the name of Christians, the zeal of those great men was quickly abused by the covetousness of the clergy, who soon learned to change their cottages with the palaces of princes, and rested not until by degrees some of them came to be princes themselves, nothing inferior to them in splendour, luxury, and magnificence ; a method of living that honest Peter and John the fishermen, and Paul the tent-maker, never coveted ; and perhaps as little imagined that men pretending to be their suc- cessors should have arrived to these thinofs. And so * soon as the bishops were thus seated and constituted, forgetting the life and work of a Christian, they went usually by the ears together about the precedency and revenues, each coveting the chiefest and fattest benefice. It is also to be regretted to think how soon Tiie Pro- this, mischicf crept in among Protestants, who had ^•J*^"I*.^ scarce well appeared when the clergy among them covet- oasoess. OF THE MINISTRY. 321 began to speak at the old rate, and show that though «aken the they had forsaken the bishop of Rome, they were not [^3d^ffo\ resolved to part with their old benefices ; and there- forsake the fore so soon as any princes or states shook off the Je'v^enaTs?^ Pope's authority, and so demolished the abbeys, nun- neries, and other monuments of superstition, the .reformed clergy began presently to cry out to the magistrates to beware of meddling with the church's patrimony, severely exclaiming against making a lawful use of those vast revenues that had been super- stitiously bestowed upon the church, so called, to the good and benefit of the commonwealth, as no less than mcrUege. But by keeping up of this kind of maintenance for i. Thecier- the ministry and clergymen, so called, there is first a ^J^* bait laid for covetous ness, which is idolatry, and of all things most hurtful ; so that for covetousness sake, many, being led by the desire o^Jilthy lucre, do apply themselves to be ministers, that they may get a live- lihood by it. If a man have several children, he will allot one of them to be a minister ; which if he can get it to be, he reckons it as good as a patrimony : so that a fat benefice hath always many expectants ; and then what bribing, what courting, what industry, and shameful actions are used to acquire these things, is too openly known, and needs not to be proved. The scandal that by these means is raised among Christians is so manifest, that it is become a proverb, that the kirk is always greedy. Whereby the gift The greedj and grace of God being neglected, they have for the ^"^^ * p""" most part no other motive or rule in applying them- selves to one church more than another but the greater benefice. For though they hypocritically pretend, at their accepting of and entering into their church, that they have nothing before them but the glory of God and the salvation of souls ; yet if .j| richer bene- fice offer itself, they presently find it more for God's glory to remove from the first, and go thither. And thus they make no difficulty often to change, while 322 OF THE MINISTRY, PROP. X. notwithstanding tliey accuse us that we allow minis- ters to go from place to place, and not to be tied to one place ; but we allow this not for the gaining of money, but as moved of God. For if a minister be called to minister in a particular place, he ought not to leave it, except God call him from it, and then he ought to obey : for we make the will of God inwardly revealed, and not the love of money and more gain, the ground of removing. 2.Thecier- Secondly, From this abuse hath proceeded that ^^'^'^^^^^' liLvury and idleness that most of the clergy live in, even among Protestants as well as Papists, to the great ' scandal of Christianity. For not having lawful trades^ to work with their hands, and being so superfluously and sumptuously provided for, they live in idleness and liLvujy ; and there doth more pride, vanity, and worldly glory appear in their wives and children than in most others, which is open and evident to all. $. Thecier- Thirdly, They become hereby so glued to the love gy« cruelty. ^^ jnoucy, that there is none like them in inalice, rage, and cruelty. If they be denied their hire, they rage like drunken men, fret, fume, and as it were go mad. A man may sooner satisfy the severest creditor than them ; the general voice of the poor doth confirm this. For indeed they are far more exact in taking up the tithes of sheep, geese, swine, and eggs, &c. and look more narrowly to it than to the members of their' flock: they will not miss the least mite; and the Poor wi- poorest widow cannot escape their avaricious hands, tarnof"'.*-* Twenty lies they will hear unreproved ; and as many cape the oaths a man may swear in their hearing without grie*dV offending them ; and greater evils than all this they bands. can overlook. But if thou owest them aught, and refusest to pay it, then nothing but war will tliey thunder against thee, and they will stigmatize thee with the horrible title of sacrilege, and send thee to hell without mercy, as if thou hadst committed the sin against the Holy Ghost. Of all people we can The work of bcst bear witness to this ; for God having shown U3 ututyT ^^*^ corrupt and Antichristian ministry, and called us OF THE MINISTRY. 323 out from it, and gathered us^nto his own power and envy, ma- life, to be a separate people, so that we dare not join '"^^* with, nor hear these Antichristian hirelings, neither yet put into their mouths, or feed them ; oh ! what malice, envy, and fury hath this raised in their hearts against us ! That though we get none of their wares, neither will buy them, as knowing them to be naught, yet will they force us to give them money : and because we cannot for conscience sake do it, our sufferings upon that account have been unutterable. Yea, to give account of their cruelty and several sorts of inhumanity used against us, would make no small history. These avaricious hirelings have come to that degree of malice and rage, that several poor labouring men have been carried hundreds of miles from their own dwellings, and shut up in prison, some two, some three, yea, some seven years together, for the value of one pound sterling, and less. I know a widow for myself a poor widow, that for the tithes of her ofeese, **»«*»<''« ''f i-i ^ 1 p i-iT IP geese about which amounted not to hve shiihngs, was about lour four years years kept in prison, thirty miles from her house. Yea, '" p''"''"' they by violence for this cause have plundered of men's goods the hundredfold, and prejudiced as much more; yea, hundreds have hereby spilt their innocent blood, by dying in the filthy noisome holes and prisons. Some lost And some of the priests have been so enraged, that Jn^'naitr* goods thus ravished could not satisfy them ; but they holes, some must also satisfy their fury by beating, knocking, and ^.e^prlesis^ wounding with their hands innocent men and women, &c- for refusing (for conscience sake) to put into their mouths. The only way then soundly to reform and remove all these abuses, and take away the ground and occa- sion of them, is, to take away all stinted and forced maintenance and stipends. And whoever call or wi.oso appoint teacliers to themselves, let them accordingly ^^^p^^^^^^JJ^". entertain them : and for such as are called and moved skives, let to the ministry by the Spirit of God, those that receive I'Sde theTr them, and taste of the good of their ministry, will no stipend. doubt provide things needful for them, and there will y2 324 OF THE MINISTRY. be no need of a law to force a hire for them : for he \ that sends them, will take care of them ; and they also, having food and raiment, will therewith be content. The differ- §• XXXIII. The sum then of what is said is, That •"c« *»*-^ the ministfy that we have pleaded for, and which also \ nlinfrtr^ of thc Lord httth raised np among us is, in all its parts, \ Ind^hei^*" ///ic the true ministry of the apostles and primitive adveriaries. chuTch. Whcrcas the vmiistry our adversaries seek to \ uphold and plead for, as it doth in all its parts differ from them, so, on the other hand, it is veiy like the false prophets and teachers testified against arid con- donned in the scripture, as may be thus briefly illus- trated. The true I- The ministry and ministers we plead for are ministers' suck as urc immediately called and sent forth by Christ arid his Spirit unto the work of the ministry: so were the holy apostles and prophets, as appears by these places, Matt. x. 1 — 5 ; Eph. iv. II; Heb. v. 4. 1. But the ministry and ministers our opposers , plead for are such as have no immediate call from Christ, to whom the leading and motion of the Spirit is 7iot reckoned necessary ; but who are called, sent forth, and ordained by wicked a?id ungodly men: such were of old the false prophets and teachers, as appears by these places, Jer. xiv. 14, 15, itern, chap, xxiii. 21, and xxvii. 15. True minis- II. The ministcrs we plead for are such as are (ers guide, ^(^ii^^f^d ^^^ j^^ j^y Qgd's Spirit, ttud by the power and operation of his grace in their hearts, are in some • measure converted and regenerate, and so are good, ' holy, and gracious men : such were the holy prophets , and apostles, as appears from 1 Tim. iii. 2 — 6 ; Tit. i. ' 7—9. \ 2. But the ministers our adversaries plead for are such to whom the grace of God is no needful qualifi- \ cation; and so may be true ministet^s, according to them, though they be ttngodly, unholy, and profligate ; men: such were the false prophets and apostles, as < appears from Mic. iii. 5, 1 1 ; 1 Tim. vi. 5 — 8, v^c. ; 2 Tim. iii. 2 ; 2 Pet. ii. 1—3. OF THE MINISTRY. 325 III. The ministers we plead for are such as act, Trne minis move, and labour in the work of the ministry, not from *"*' ^'"'^' their own mere natural strength and ability, but as they are actuated, moved, supported, assisted, and in- fluenced by the Spirit of God, and minister according to the gift received, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God: such were the holy prophets and apostles, 1 Pet. iv. 10, 11 ; 1 Cor. i. 17 ; ii. 3, 4, 5, 13 ; Acts, ii. 4 : Matt. x. 20 ; Mark, xiii. 1 1 ; Luke, xii. 12 ; 1 Cor. xiii. 2. 3. But the ministers our adversaries plead for are such as wait not for, nor edpect, 7ior need, the Spirit of God to actuate and move them in the work of the ministry ; but what they do they do from their own mere natural strength and ability, and what they have gathered and stolen from the letter of the scripture, and other books, and so speak it forth in the ^strength of their own wisdom and eloquence, and not in the evi- dence and demonstration of the Spirit and power: such were the false prophets and apostles, as appears, Jer. xxiii. 30, 3 1 , 32, 34, &c. ; 1 Cor. iv. 1 8 ; Jude, 1 6. IV. The ministers we plead for are such as, being True holy and humble, contend not for precedency and ptio- ^^"' ^ rity, but rather strive to prefer one another, and serve '^ -one another in love ; neither desire to be disfmguished from the rest by their garments and large phylacteries, nor seek greetiiigs in the marketplaces, nor the tipper- most places at feasts, nor the chief seats i?i the syna- gogues ; nor yet to be called of men master, &c. such were the holy prophets and apostles, as appears from Matt, xxiii. 8—10; and xx. 25—27. 4. But the ministers our adversaries plead for are such as strive and contend for superiority, and claim precedency over one another ; affecting and ambiti- ously seeking after the forementioned thi)igs ; such were the false prophets and apostles in times past. Matt, xxxiii. 5 — 7. V. The ministers we plead iox are such as having Trae minis freely received, freely give ; who covet no mans silver, ^^J' " gold, or garments ; ivho seek no man's goods, but seek inis- lomi- ters' free 326 OF THE MINISTRY. PROP. X. than, and the salvation of their souls : whose hands supply their own necessities^ working homstlxffor bread to themselves and their families. And, if at any time they be called of God, so as the ivork of the Lord hinder them from the use of their trades, take what is freely given them by such to whom they have commu- nicatcd spirituals ; and, having food and raiment, are therewith content : such were the holy prophets and apostles, as appears from Matt. x. 8 ; Acts, xx. 33 — 35 ; 1 Tim. vi. 8. 5. But the ministers our adversaries plead for are such as not having freely received, will not freely give; but are covetous, doing that which they ought not, for filthy lucres sake ; as to preach for hire, and divine for money, and look for their gain from their quarter, and prepare war against such as put not into their mouths, &c. Greedy dogs, which can never Jiave enough. Shepherds who feed themselves, and not the jiock; eating the fat, and clothing themselves with the wool; makiiig merchandise of souls ; and following the way of Balaa?n, that loved the wages of unrighte- ousticss: such were the false prophets and apostles, Isai. Ivi. 1 1 ; Ezek. xxxiv. 2, 3, 8 ; Mic. iii. 5, 1 1 ; Tit. i. 10, 11 ; 2 Pet. ii. 1, 2, 3, 14, 15. Trae minis- And in a word, We are for a holy, spiritual, pure, Ind qudifi- ^^^^ living ministry, where the ministers are both cation. called, qualified, and ordered, actuated and influenced in all the steps of their ministry by the Spirit of God ; which being wanting, we judge they cease to be the ministers of Christ. But they, judging this life, grace, and Spirit no essential part of their ministry, are therefore for the upholding of a human, carnal, dry, barren, fruitless, and dead ministry ; of which, alas ! we have seen the fruits in the most part of their churches : of whom that saying of the Lord is certainly verified, Jer. xxiii. 32. — / sent them 7iot, 7ior commanded them, therefore they shall not profit this people at all, saith the LORD, 327 PROPOSITION XI. CONCERNING WORSHIP. All true and acceptable worship to God is offered in the inward What the and immediate moving and drawing of his own Spirit, which true wor- is neither limited to places, times, nor persons. For though ?^'P '*^' ^''** we are to worship him always, and continually to fear before big to^Cod him ; yet as to the outward signification thereof, in prat/ers, praises, or preachings, we ought not to do it in our own willAioyf to he where and when we will ; but where and when we are movefS performed. thereunto by the stirring and secret inspiration of the Spirit of God in our hearts ; which God heareth and accepteth of, and is never wanting to move us thereunto, when need is; of which he himself is the alone proper judge. All other worship then, both praises, prayers, or preachings, which man sets about in his own will; and at his own appointment, which he can both begin and end at his pleasure, do or leave undone as himself seeth meet, whether Ihey be a prescribed form, as a liturgy, &c. or prayers conceived extempore by the natural strength and faculty of the mind, they are all but superstition, Supersti- will worship, and abominable idolatry in the sight of God, t'O" «»"<* which are now to be denied and rejected, and separated from, ^*j* ^T"""" in this day of his spiritual arising: however it might have ^ "'^"' ' pleased him (wJio winked at the times of ignorance, with a respect to the simplicity and integrity of some, and of his own innocent seed, which lay as it were buried in the hearts of men under that mass of superstition), to blow upon the dead and dry hones, and to raise some breathings of his own, and answer them; and that until the day should more clearly dawn and break forth. §. I. The duty of man towards God lieth chiefly in these two generals. \. In a holy conformity to the pure law and light of God, so as both to forsake the evil, and be found in the practice of those perpetual and moral precepts of righteousness and equity. And 2. In rendering that reverence, honour, and adoratio7i to God, that he requires and demands of us ; which is comprehended under Worship. Of the former we have already spoken, as also of the different relations of Christians, as they are distinguished by the several measures of grace received, and given to every one ; and in that respect have their several offices in the 328 OF WORSHIP. PROP. XI. bodif of Christ, which is the church. Now I come to speak of Worship, or of those acts, whether pri- vate or public, general or particular, whereby man renders to God that part of his duty which relates immediately to him : and as obedimce is better than sacrifice, so neither is any sacrifice acceptable, but that which is done according to the will of him to whom it is offered. But men, finding it easier to sacrifice in their own wills, than obey God's will, have Trae wor* heaped up sacrificcs without obedience ; and think- ship and •j-/-ii i ^ i .,. duty to mg to deceive God, as they do one another, give him co°rtriJted. ^ show of reverence, honour, and worship, while they are both inwardly estranged and alienated from his holy and righteous life, and wholly strangers to the pure breathings of his Spirit, in which the acceptable sacrifice and worship is only offered up. Hence it is, tliat there is not any thing relating to man's duty to- wards God, which among all sorts of people hath been more vitiated, and in which the devil hath more prevailed, than in abusing man's mind concerning this thing : and as among many others, so among those called Christians, nothing hath been more out of order, and more corrupted, as some Papists, and all Protestants, do acknowledge. As I freely approve whatsoever the Protestants have reformed from Pa- pists in this respect; so I meddle not at this time The Popish with their controversies about it : only it suffices me btr/dl° ^^^^ them to deny, as no part of the true worship of iiied.witb God, that abominable superstition and idolatry the r!Iiraj^'[y. Popish mass, the adoration of saints and angels, the veneration of relics, the visitation of sepulchres, and all those other superstitious ceremonies, confraterni- ties, and endless pilgrimages of the Romish syna- gogue. Which all may suffice to evince to Protes- tants, that Antichrist hath wrought more in this than If Protes- in any other part of the Christian religion ; and so it tants have coucems them narrowly to consider, whether herein made a per- ,, ^ "^ t n o f.fct refer- tliey have made a clear and perfect reiormation ; as "••'OD.' ^^^ which stands the controversy betwixt them and us. OF WORSHIP. 329 S For we find many of the branches lopped off by them, 1 but the root yet remaining : to wit, a worship acted \ in and from man's will and spirit, and not by and from the Spirit of God : for the true Christian and J spiritual worship of God hath been so early lost, and i man's wisdom and will hath so quickly and thoroughly ] mixed itself herein, that both the apostacy in this \ respect hath been greatest, and the reformation here- i from, as to the evil root, most difficult. Therefore I let not the reader suddenly stumble at the account of I our proposition in this matter, but patiently hear us I explain ourselves in this respect, and I hope (by the | assistance of God), to make it appear, that though 1 our manner of speaking and doctrine seem most sin- 1 gular and different from all other sorts of Christians ; ] yet it is most according to the purest Christian reli- gion, and indeed most needful to be observed and fol- ^ lowed. And that there be no ground of mistake (for ; that I was necessitated to speak in few words, and ! therefore more obscurely and dubiously in the Propo- | sition itself), it is fit in the first place to declare and explain our sense, and declare the state of the con- troversy. ' - §. II. And first, let it be considered, that what is i. here affirmed is spoken of the worship of God in w^at wor- ] these gospel times, and not of the worship that was »poke'n of.'* i under or before the laiv : for the particular commands I of God to men the?i are not sufficient to authorize us ] ?iow ti) do the same things ; else we might be sup- pose,, at present acceptably to offer sacrifice as they \ did, v/hich all acknowledge to be ceased. So that i what might have been both commendable and ac- i ceptable under the law, may justly now be charged with superstition, yea, and idolatry. So that imper- ■ tincntly, in this respect, doth Arnoldus rage against this proposition [Exercit. Theolog. sect. 44], saying, i That I deny all public worship, and that according to \ me, such as in Enoch's time publicly began to call ; upon the name of the Lord; and such as at the com- \ 330 OF M'ORSHIP. PROP. XI. nmnd of God went tlirkt up to Jerusalem to worship ; and that Anna^ Shneon, Alary, 8^c, were idolators, because they used the public worship of those times ; such a consequence is most impertinent, and no less foolish and absurd, than if I should infer from Paul's expostulating with the Galatians for their returning to the Jewish ceremonies, that he therefore condemned Moses and all the prophets as foolish and ignorant, because they used those things : the forward man, not heeding the different dispensations of times, ran Ceremonies into this impertincncy. Though a spiritual worship ra"w were** flight havc bccn, and no doubt was practised by noteMentJai many uudcr the law in great simplicity ; yet will it Ihip."*' ""^"^ liot follow, that it were no superstition to use all those ceremonies that they used, which were by God dis- pensed to the Jews, not as being essential to true worship, or necessary as of themselves for transmit- ting and entertaining a holy fellowship betwixt him and his people ; but in condescension to them, who were inclinable to idolatry. Albeit then in this, as in most other things, the substance was enjoyed imder the law by such as were spiritual indeed ; yet was it veiled and surrounded with many rites and ceremo- nies, which it is no ways lawful for us to use'^now under the gospel. II. §. III. Secondly, Albeit I say, that this toorship is Trae wor- neither limited to times, places, nor persons ; yet I limited to would uot bc uudcrstood, as if I intended the p^'tting ^!^^6on! away of all set times and places to worship 1- God forbid I should think of such an opinion. N^p we are none of those that forsake the assembling (^ our- selves together; but have even certain times and places, in which we carefully meet together (nor can we be driven therefrom by the threats and persecu- tions of men), to wait upon God, and worship him, Necewit^ of To meet together we think necessary for the people of meetingH. q^^ , ^jg^j^usc, SO long as we are clothed with this outward tabernacle, there is a necessity to the enter- taining of a joint and visible fellowship, and bearing OF WORSHIP. 331 of an outward testimony for God, and seeing of the faces of one another, that we concur with our persons as well as spirits : to be accompanied with that in- ward love and unity of spirit, doth greatly tend to encourage and refresh the saints. But the limitation we condemn is, that whereas i. wm the Spirit of God should be the immediate actor, ^^^h limit mover, persuader, and influencer of man in the parti- the spirit cular acts of worship, when the saints are met toge- ° ther, this Spirit is limited in its operations, by setting up a particular man or men to preach or pray in man's will ; and all the rest are excluded from so much as believing that they are to wait for God's Spirit to move them in such things : and so they neg- lecting that in themselves which should quicken them, and not vra-iting to feel the pure breathings of God's Spirit, so as to obey them, are led merely to depend upon the preacher, and hear what he will say. Secondly, In that these peculiar men come not 2. Tme thither to meet with the Lord, and to wait for the [hetorVof inward motions and operations of his Spirit ; and so God. to pray as they feel the Spirit to breathe through them, and in them ; and to preach, as they find themselves actuated and moved by God's Spirit, and as he gives utterance, so as to speak a word in season to refresh weary souls, and as the present condition and state of the people's hearts require ; suffering God by his Spirit both to prepare people's hearts, and also give the preacher to speak what may be fit and seasonable for them : but he (viz. the preacher), hath hammered together in his closet, according to his own will, by his human wisdom and literature, and by stealing the words of truth from the letter of the scriptures, and patching together other men's writings and observa- tions, so much as will hold him speaking an hour, - while the glass runs ; and without waiting or feeling Priests the inward influence of the Spirit of God, he declaims J^p^b^^^J^ that by hap-hazard, whether it be fit or seasonable for iheir sta- the people's condition, or not ; and when he has ended ^ons"^ 332 OF WOIISHIP. PROP. XI. bis sermon, he saith his prayer also in his own will ; and so there is an end of the business. Which cus- tomary worship^ as it is no ways acceptable to God, so how unfruitful it is, and unprofitable to those that are found in it, the present condition of the nations doth sufficiently declare. It appears then, that we are not against set times for worship, as Amoldus against this proposition, sect. 45, no less imperti- nently allegeth ; offering needlessly to prove that which is not denied : only these times being appointed for outward conveniency, we may not therefore think with the Papists, that these days are holy, and lead people into a superstitious observation of them ; being Whether pcrsuadcd that all days are alike holy in the sight of bd/.*" Got/. And although it be not my present purpose to make a long digression concerning the debates among Protestants about ihe first day of the week, commonly called the Lord's Day, yet forasmuch as it comes fitly in here, I shall briefly signify our sense thereof. Of the first §. IV. We, not seeing any ground in scripture for teekf com- ^t, caunot bc so superstitious as to believe, that either monijr call- thc Jcwish sabbath now continues, or that the first itrdt day. day of the week is the antitype thereof, or the true Christian sabbath ; which with Calvin we believe to have a more spiritual sense : and therefore we know no moral obligation by the fourth command, or else- where, to keep the first day of the we^ more than any other, or any holiness inherent in it. But first, forasmuch as it is necessary that there be some time set apart for the saints to meet together to wait upon God ; and that secondly, it is fit at some times they be freed from their other outward affairs; and that thirdly, reason and equity doth allow that servants and beasts have some time allowed them to be eased from their continual labour ; and that fourthly, it ap- pears that the apostles and primitive Christians did use the first day of the week for these purposes ; we find ourselves sufficiently moved for these causes to do so also, without superstitiously straining the scrip- OF WORSHIP. 333 tures for another reason ; which, that it is not to be there found, many Protestants, yea, Calvin himself, upon the fourth command, hath abundantly evinced. And though we therefore meet, and abstain from working upon this day, yet doth not that hinder us from having meetings also for worship at other times. §. V. Thirdly, Though according to the knowledge of God, revealed unto us by the Spirit, through that more full dispensation of light which we believe the Lord hath brought about in this day, we judge it our duty to hold forth that pure and spiritual worship which is acceptable to God, and answerable to the testimony of Christ and his apostles, and likewise to testify against and deny not only manifest supersti- tion and idolatry, but also all formal will-worship. The wor- which stands not in the power of God ; yet, I say, we "'"p.'" **'• do not deny the whole worship of all those that have borne the name of Christians even in the apostacy, as if God had never heard their prayers, nor accepted any of them : God forbid we should be so void of charity ! The latter part of the Proposition showeth the contrary. And as we would not be so absurd on the one hand to conclude, because of the errors and darkness that many were covered and surrounded with in Babylon, that none of their prayers were heard or accepted of God, so will we not be so unwary on the other, as to conclude, that because God heard and pitied them, so we ought to continue in these errors and darkness, and not come out of Babylon, when it is by God discovered unto us. The Popish mass and The Popish vespers I do believe to be, as to the matter of them, '""" ''»'* abominable idolatry and superstition, and so also be- ^^*'''*"^** lieve the Protestants; yet will neither I or they affirm, that in the darkness of popery no upright-hearted men, though zealous in these abominations, have been heard of God, or accepted of him : who can deny, but that both Bernard and Bonaventure, Taulerus, Tho- Bernard mas a Kempis, and divers others have both known JgJtfr"'"*" and tasted of the love of God, and felt the power and Tauien/s, 334 OF WOBSHIP. PROP. XI. Tho.kKem- virtuc of God's Spirit working with them for their sal- fwted^Jnhe vation ? And yet ought we not to forsake and deny love of God. those superstitions which they were found in? The Calvinistical Presbyterians do much upbraid (and I say not without reason) the formality and deadness Thebiihop*' of the Episcopalian and Lutheran liturgies ; and yet, ***"^^* as \hey will not deny but there have been some good men among them, so neither dare they refuse, but that when that good step was brought in by them, of turning the public prayers into the vulgar tongues, though continued in a liturgy, it was acceptable to God, and sometimes accompanied with his power and pr^ence : yet will not the Presbyterians have it from thence concluded, that the common prayers should still continue ; so likewise, though we should confess, that, through the mercy and wonderful condescension of God, there have been upright in heart, both among Papists and Protestants, yet can we not therefore ap- prove of their way in the general, or not go on to the upholding ot that spiritual worship, which the Lord is calling all to, and so to the testifying against what- soever stands in the way of it. Assemblies ^. VL Fourthly ; To come then to the state of tlie frpubiTc*"^ controversy, as to the public worship,%e judge it the described, duty of all to be diligent in the assembling of them- selves togethefJ(and what we have been, and are, in this matter, our enemies in Great Britain, who have used all means to hinder our assembling together to worship God, may bear witness),(and when assembled, the great work of one and all ougEt to be to wait upon God ; and retiring out of their own thoughts and imaginations, to feel the Lord's presence, and know a gathering into his mime indeed, where he is in the midst, according to his promise. And as every one is thus gathered, and so met togetlier inwardly in their spirits, as well as outwardly in their persons, there the secret power and virtue of life is known to refresh the soul, and the pure motions and breath* of God's Spirit are felt to arise ; from which, as >n * m 3 OF WORSHIP. . 335. of declaration, prayers, or praises arise, the acceptable worship is known, which edifies the church, amd is | well pleasing to God. And no man here limits'^the Spirit of God, nor bringeth forth his own conned e^nd ; gathered stuff; but every one puts that forth whicJi the Lord puts into their hearts : and it is uttered fortU its giorions not in man's will and wisdom, but i?i the evidence firwj/, which notwithstand- ing their malice we enjoyed, and powerftilly to de- clare, in the evidence and demonstration of the Spirit, against their folly and wickedness ; so as the power of truth hath brought them to some measure of quiet- ness and stillness, and stopped the impetuous streams The rod of of their fury and madness : that even as of old Moses JIded'the by bis rod divided the waves of the Red Sea, that the «ea: the Israclitcs might pass ; so God hath thus by his Spirit eth way " made a way for us in the midst of this raging wicked- through the ncss, pcaccably to enjoy and possess him, and accom- waTcs. plish our worship to him : so that sometimes upon such occasions sevei*al of our opposers and interrup- ters have hereby been convinced of the truth, ,anld gathered from being persecutors to be sufferers with us. And let it not be forgotten, but let it be inscribed and abide for a constant remembrance of the thing. What bra- that iu thcse beastly and brutish pranks, used to di'd roTlhat n^olest us in our spiritual meetings, none have been joung frjr of more busy than the young students of the universi- loramtt?^ tJ6s, who wcrc learning philosophy and divinity (so called), and many of them preparing themselves for the ministry. Should we commit to writing all the abominations committed in this respect by the young fry of the clergy, it would make no small volume; as the churches of Christ, gathered into his pure worship in OF woKsuiP. 357 j Oxford and Cambridge in England, and Edinburgh ;| and Aberdeen in Scotland, where the universities are, can well bear witness. \ §. XIV. Moreover, in this we know, that we are How tbe partakers oi the new covenant's dispensation, and (lis- °ant-wor- ciples of Christ indeed, sharing with him in that ship doth ■ spiritual worship, which is performed in the Spirit 'l^^l^^^ ^ and in truth ; because as he was, so are we in this \ world. For the old covenant-worship had an out- ] ward glory, temple, and ceremonies, and was full of , outward splendour and majesty, having an outward ■ tabernacle and altar, beautified with gold, silver, and i precious stones ; and their sacrifices were confined to ' \ a particular place, even the outward Mount Sion; ] and those that prayed were to pray with their faces towards that outward temple : and therefore all this \. was to be protected by an outward arm. Nor could '\ the Jews peaceably have enjoyed it, but when they ] were secured from the violence of their outward ene- i mies : ' and therefore when at any time their enemies \ prevailed over them, their glory was darkened, and i their sacrifices stopped ; and the face of their worship i marred : hence they complain, lament, and bewail the '\ destroying of the temple, as a loss irreparable. But The new i Jesus Christ, the author and institutor of the ncw^'^l^^^^]^ j covenant-worship, testifies, that God is neither to be inward- ... i worshiped in this nor that place, but in the Spirit 36.'" *^"'' and in Truth : and forasmuch as his kingdom is not of this world, neither doth his worship consist in it, \ or need either the wisdom, glory, riches, or splendour \ of this world to beautify or adorn it ; nor yet the out- ; ward power or arm of flesh to maintain, uphold, or protect it ; but it is and may be performed by those \ that are spiritualli/-7nmded, notwithstanding all the opposition, violence, and malice of men ; because it being purely spiritual, it is out of the reach of natu- i ral men to interrupt or obstruct it. Even as Jesus \ Christ, the author thereof, did enjoy and possess his \ sj)iritual kingdoni, while oppressed, persecuted, and \ 358 OF WORSHIP. PKOP. XI. Injected of men ; and as, in despite of the malice and (..i.i. ij. rage of the devil, he spoiled principalities and powers, triinnphing over them, and through death destroyed him that had the power of death, that is, the devil; so also all his followers both can and do worship him, not only without the arm of flesh to protect them, but cnruri »or. cvcn whcn oppressed. For their worship being spi- MiltlnA ^'^'^A ^s ^y the power of the Spirit defended and ^vithoui the maintained ; but such worships as are carnal, and ■'""^ "'**''• consist in carnal and outward ceremonies and ohsei'- vatiojis, need a carnal and outward arm to protect and defend them, else they cannot stand and subsist. And therefore it appears, that the several worships of our opposers, both Papists and Protestants, are of this kind, and not the true spiritual and new-covenant •worship of Christ ; because, as hath been observed, they cannot stand without the protection or counte- nance of the outward magistrate, neither can be per- formed, if there be the least opposition : for they are not in the patience of Jesus, to serve and worship him with sufferings, ignominies, calumnies, and re- proaches. And from hence have sprung all those wars, fightings, and bloodshed among Christians, while each by the arm of flesh endeavoured to defend and protect their own way and worship : and from this also sprung up that monstrous opinion of perse- cution ; of which we shall speak more at length hereafter. IV- §• XV. But Fourthly; The nature of this worship, Ji,7p®io°spi. which is performed by the operation of the Spirit, rit e«t»b- the natural man being silent, doth appear from these c^rui.''^ words of Christ, John, iv. 23, 24 : But the hour comet h, and notu is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in Spirit and in Truth : for the Father seeketh such to worship him. God is a Spirit, and they that wo7\ship him must worship him in Spirit and in Truth. This testimony is the more specially to be observed, for that it is both the first, chiefest, and most ample testimony, which Christ gives us of OF woRsHir. 359 ) his Christian worship, as different and contradistin- | guished from that under the law. For first, he show- / ; eth that the season is now come, wherein the worship \ must he in Spirit and in Truth ; for the Father seek- I eth such to worship him: so then it is no more a i worship consisting in outward observations, to be i performed by man at set times or opportunities^ which he can do in his own will, and by his own natural 1 strength ; for else it would not differ in matter, but only in some circumstances from that under the law. \ Next as for a reason of this worship, we need not The reason \ give any other, and indeed none can give a better ^'j"**/^'^'" \ than that which Christ giveth, w^hich I think should ship in Spi- \ be sufficient to satisfy every Christian, to wit, GOD "** IS A SPIRIT, and they that icorship him, must worship him in Spirit and in Truth. As this ought to be received, because it is the words of Christ, so ; also it is founded upon so clear a demonstration of reason, as sufficiently evinceth its verity. For Christ ' excellently argues from the analogy that ought to j be betwixt the object, and the worship directed there- X unto : ; God is a Spirit ; arg. I Therefore, he must be woi^shiped in Spirit. \ This is so certain, that it can suffer no contradic- \ tion ; yea, and this analogy is so necessary to be ) minded, that under the law, when God instituted and j appointed that ceremonial worship to the Jews, be- i cause that worship was outward, that there might be ^\ an analogy, he saw it necessary to condescend to them ] as in a special manner, to dwell betwixt the cheru- \ bims within the tabernacle, and afterwards to make the temple of Jerusalem in a sort his habitation, and j cause something of an outward glory and majesty to The giorj of , appear, by causing fire from heaven to consume the [gmpk^"^ \ sacrifices, and filling the temple with a cloud : through and by which mediums, visible to the outward eye, ^ he manifested himself proportionably to that outward I worship which he had commanded them to perform. \ 360 OF WORSHIP, PKOP. XI. So now under the new covenant^ he seeing meet in his heavenly wisdom to lead his children in a path more heavetili/ and spiritual, and in a way more easy . and familiar, and also purposing to disappoint carnal and outivard observations, that his may have an eye more to an inward glory and kingdom than to an out- wa?^d, he hath given us for an example hereof the appearance of his beloved Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, AiMoses who (as Moscs delivered the Israelites out of their oi'tIa°rd. so outward bondage, and by outwardly destroying their chrUt dtii- enemies) hath delivered and doth deliver us by suf- from inward faring, and dying by the hands of his enemies ; there- •i«?erj. by triumphing over the devil, and his and our inward enemies, and delivering us therefrom. He hath also instituted an inward and spiritual worship: so that God now tieth not his people to the temple of Jeru- salem, nor yet unto outward ceremonies and observa- tions ; but taketh the heart of every Christian for a temple to dwell in ; and there immediately appeareth, and giveth him directions how to serve him in any outward acts. Since, as Christ argueth, God is a Spirit, he will now be worshiped in the Spirit, where he reveals himself, and dwelleth with the contrite in heart. Now, since it is the heart of man that now is become the tanple of God, in which he will be wor- shiped, and no more in particular outward temples (since, as blessed Stephen said, out of the prophet, to the professing Jews of old. The Alost High dwelleth not in temples made with hands), as before the glory of the Lord descended to fill the outward temple, it behoved to be purified and cleansed, and all polluted stuft' removed out of it ; yea, and the place for the tabernacle was overlaid with gold, the most precious and cleanest of metals ; so also before God be wor- shiped in the inward temple of the heart, it must also be purged of its own filth, and all its own thoughts and imaginations, that so it may be fit to receive the Spirit of God, and to be actuated by it. And doth not this directly lead us to that inward silence, of OF WORSHIP. 361 which we have spoken, and exactly pointed out? And further, This worship must be in truth ; intimating, that this spiritual worship, thus actuated, is only and properly a true worship ; as being that which, for the reasons above observed, cannot be counterfeited by the enemy, nor yet performed by the hypocrite. §. XVI. And though this worship be indeed very different from the divers established invented worships among Christians, and therefore may seem strange to many, yet hath it been testified of, commended and practised, by the most pious of all sorts, in all ages, as by many evident testimonies might be proved. So that from the professing and practising thereof, the name of Mysticks hath arisen, as of a certain sect, a certain generally commended by all, whose writings are full tfcks^^^oL'' both of the explanation and of the commendation of the Papists, this sort of worship; where they plentifully assert ^^^yg^er- this inward introversion and abstraction of the mind, c>se. see as they call it, from all images and thoughts, and the phla, prinT- prayer of the will: yea, they look upon this as the edAn.Oom. height of Christian perfection ; so that some of them, though professed Papists, do not doubt to aflirm, That such as have attained this method of worship, or are aiming at it (as in a book called Sancta Sophia, put out by the English Benedictines, printed at Doway, The English Anno 1657. tract, i. Sect. ii. cap. 5.) need not, nor ^^^lf\ll^^, ought to trouble or busy themselves with frequent and monj for unnecessary confessions, ivith e.vercising corporal la- ^^l^^\^^^^ hours and austerities, the using of vocal voluntary againsttheir prayers, the hearing of a number of masses, or set ""devo" devotions, or exercises to saints, or prayers for the t'^""- dead, or having solicitous and distracting cares to gain indulgences, by going to such and such churches, or adjoining ones self to confraternities, or entangling ones self with vows and promises ; because such kind of things hinder the soul from observing the operations of the Divine Spirit in it, and from having liberty to follow the Spirit whither it would draw her. And yet who knows not that in such kind of observations 362 OK WORSHIP. PROP. X[. the very substance of the Popish religion consisteth ? Yet nevertheless, it appears by this, and many other passages, which out of their My stick writers might be mentioned, how they look upon this worship as excelling all other ; and that such as arrived here- unto had no absolute need of the others: yea (see the Life of Balthazar Alvares, in the same Sancta Sophia, Tract, iii. Sect. i. cap. 7.), such as tasted of this, quickly confessed, that the other fonns and cere- monies of worship were useless as to them ; neither did they perform them as things necessary, but merely for order or example's sake. And therefore, though some of them were so overclouded with the common darkness of their profession, yet could they affirm that this spiritual worship was still to be retained and sought for, even though it should be become necessary BeroAfd to omit their outward ceremonies. Hence Bernard, The Spidf ^s i" many other places, so in his Epistle to William, above Po- abbot of thc same order, saith. Take heed to the rule pi. or crs. gj-Qg^. fj^^ kiugclom of God is tcithinyou: and after- wards, saying, That their outward orders and rules should be observed, he adds ; But otherwise^ when it shall happen that one of these two must be omitted, in such a case these are much rather to be omitted than those former: for by how much the Spirit is more cvcellent and noble than the body, by so ynuch are spi- ritual e.vercises more profitable than corporal. Is not that then the best of worships, which the best of men in all ages, and of all sects, have commended, and which is most suitable to the doctrine of Christ? I say. Is not that worship to be followed and pei^ formed ? And so much the rather, as God hath raised a people to testify for it, and preach it, to their great refreshment and strengthening, in the very face of jhe world, and notwithstanding much opposition; Who Those Mj»- do uot, as tlicsc Mysticks, make of it a mystery, on^y roMfinc'ihat *^ ^^ attained by a few men or women in a cloister^ iii.viteryto or, as their mistake was, after wearying themselves oisier. ^-^1^ many outward ceremonies and observations, as OF WOKSHIP. . 363 if it were the consequence of such a labour ', but who in the free love of God (who respects not persons, and was near to hear and reveal himself, as well to Cornelius, a centurion and a Roman, as to Simeon and Anna ; and who discovered his glory to Mary, a poor handmaid, and to the poor shepherds, rather than to the high priest and devout proselytes among the Jews) in and according to his f7re love, finding that God is revealing and establishing this worship, and making many poor tradesmen, yea, young boys and girls, witnesses of it, do entreat and beseech all to lay aside their own will- worships, and voluntary acts, performed in their own wills, and by their own mere natural strength and power, without retiring out of their vain imaginations and thoughts, or feeling the pure Spirit of God to move and stir in them ; that they may come to practise this acceptable worship, which is in Spirit and in Truth. But against this worship they object ; §. XVII. First, It seems to be an unprojitabk eaer- object, i. cise for a man to be doing or thitiking nothing ; and that one might be much better employed, either in me- ditating upon some good subject, or otherwise praying to or praising God. I answer; That is not unprofitable, which is ofANsw. absolute necessity before any other duty can be ac- ceptably performed, as we have shown this waiting to be. Moreover, those have but a carnal and gi'oss apprehension of God, and of the things of his king- dom, who imagine that men please him by their own workings and actings : whereas, as hath been shown, the first step for a man to fear God, is to cease from his own thoughts and imaginations, and suffer God's Spirit to work in him. For we must cease to do eviluai. \. le, ere we learn to do well ; and this meddling in things ^'^ ^^^^ spiritual by man's own natural understanding is one cease to do ,,of the greatest and most dangerous evils that man is'ie.;"toTo incident to : beina: that which occasioned our first ^eii. parents' fall, to wit, a forwardness to desire to know Object. 2. Set times aod placet for meet- ings. Answ. Poblio meetingA, their use and reason asserted. Pror.xivii, 17. 364 OF WOllSHlP. PROP. \I. things, and a meddling with them, both without and contrary to the Lord's command. Secondly ; Some object, If your worship merely consist 171 inwardly reluming to the Lord, and feeling of his Spirit arise in you, and then to do outward acts as ye are led by it, what need ye have public nieetings at set times and places, since every one may enjoy this at home ? Or should ?iot every one stay at home, until thty be particularly moved to go to such a place at such a time ; since to meet at set times and places seems to he an outward observation and cerenwny, contrary to what ye at other times assert } I answer, first; To meet at set times and places is not any religious act, or part of worship in itself; but only an outward conveniency, necessary for our seeing one another, so long as we are clothed with this out- ward tabernacle : and therefore our meeting at set times and places is not a part of our worship, but a preparatory accommodation of our outward man, in order to a public visible worship ; since we set not about the visible acts of worship when we meet toge- ther, until we be led thereunto by the Spirit of God. Secondly, God hath seen meet, so long as his children are in this world, to make use of the outward senses, not only as a means to convey spiritual life, as by speaking, praying, praising, Sec. which cannot be done to mutual edification, but when we hear and see one another ; but also to maintain an outward, visible tes- timony for his name in the world : he causeth the inward life (which is also many times not conveyed by the outward senses), the more to abound, when his children assemble themselves diligently together to wait upon him ; so that as iron sharjyeneth i?'on, the seeing of the faces one of anotlier, when both are inwardly gathered unto the life, giveth occasion for the life secretly to rise, and pass from vessel to vessef. And as many candles lighted, and put in one place, do greatly augment the light, and make it more to shine forth, so when many are gathered together into OF WORSHIP. 365 the same life, there is more of the glory of God, and his power appears, to the refreshment of each indivi- dual ; for that he partakes not only of the light and life raised in himself, but in all the rest. And there- fore Christ hath particularly promised a blessing to such as assemble together in his name, seeing he will be in the midst of them, Matt, xviii. 20. And the author to the Hebrews doth precisely prohibit the neglect of this duty, as being of very dangerous and dreadful consequence in these words ; Heb. x. 24 : And let us consider one another, to provoke unto love, and to good works; not forsaking the assembling o/' Assembling ourselves together, as the manner of some is; — For if isHWt'he we sin wilfully, after that we have received the know- neglected. ledge of the truth, there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins. And therefore the Lord hath shown that he hath a particular respect to such as thus assemble themselves together, because that thereby a public testimony for him is upheld in the earth, and his name is thereby glorified ; and therefore such as are right in their spirits are naturally drawn to keep the meetings of God's people, and never want a spiritual influence to lead them thereunto : and if any do it in a mere customary way, they will no doubt suffer con- demnation for it. Yet cannot the appointing of places and times be accounted a ceremony and observation, done in man's will, in the worship of God, seeing none can say that it is an act of worship, but only a mere presenting of our persons in order to it, as is abovesaid. Which that it was practised by the primitive church and saints, all our adversaries do acknowledge. Lastly, Some object, 2'haf this manner of worship object, s. in silence is not to be found in all the scripture: I answer ; We make not silence to be the sole mat- answ. ter of our worship ; since, as I have said above, there in waiting are many meetings, which are seldom altogether silent ; f^g'^Jnid?*' some or other are still moved either to preach, pray, ance.siience or praise : and so in this our meetings cannot be but ** ^"pi^"'*" • like the meetings of the primitive churches recorded 366 Of WORSHIP, PROP. xi. in scripture, since our adversaries confess that they did preach and pray by the Spirit. And then what absurdity is it to suppose, that at some time the Spirit did not move them to these outward acts, and that then they were silent? Since we may well conclude they did not speak until they were moved ; and so no doubt had sometimes silence. Acts, ii. 1 , before the Spirit came upon them, it is said, — They were all with ofie accord in one place; and then it is said. The Spirit suddenly canie upon them ; but no mention is made of any one speaking at that time ; and I would willingly know what absurdity our adversaries can infer, should we conclude they were a while silent ? Inst. But if it be urged, That a whole silent meeting can- 7iot be found in scripture: answ. I answer ; Supposing such a thing were not re- corded, it will not therefore follow that it is not law- siient meet- ful ; siucc it naturally followeth from other scripture *"roteTfroni pi*6cepts, as wc havc proved this doth. For seeing siripture thc scripturc commands to meet together, and when ■lid reasou. ^^^^^ ^|^g scripture prohibits prayers or preachings, but as the Spirit moveth thereunto ; if people meet toge- ther, and the Spirit move not to such acts, it will necessarily follow that they must be silent. But fur- ther, there might have been many such things among the saints of old, though not recorded in scripture ; and yet we have enough in scripture, signifying that such things were. For Job sat silent seven days with his /fiends together ; here was a long silent meeting: see also Ezra, ix. 4 ; and Ezekiel, xiv. 1 , and xx. 1 . Thus having shown the excellency of this worship, proving it from scripture and reason, and answering the objections which are commonly made against it, which, though it may suffice to the explanation and proof of our Proposition, yet I shall add somethinir more particularly o{ preachings praying, and sing/f^^, and so proceed to the following Proposition. I. §. XVill. Preachings as it is. used both among Tewbio i. Papists and Protestants, is for one man to take some OF WORSHIP. 367 ^ place or verse of scripture, and thereon speak for an uHb the j hour or two, what he hath studied and premeditated ^^p^^st*. ] in his closet, and gathered together froni his own in- a studied ] ventions, or from the writings and observations of [f^ ^^^o. '""^ ' others ; and then having got it by heart (as ^ school- ] boy doth his lesson), he brings it forth, and repeats it i before the people : and how much the more fertile and strong a man's invention is, and the more indus- i trious and laborious he is in collecting such observa- \ tions, and can utter them with the excellency of speech ; and human eloquence, so much the more is he ac- 1 counted an able and excellent preacher. \ To this we oppose, that when the saints are met True '! together, and eveiy one gathered to the gift and grace bv^'the'spi- \ of God in themselves, he that ministereth, being ac- ^''- , . tuated thereunto by the arising of the grace in him- , self, ought to speak forth what the Spirit of God fur- ^; nisheth him with ; not minding the eloquence and I wisdom of words, but the demonstration of the Spirit '\ and oi power : and that either in the interpreting sortie ; part of scripture, in case the Spirit, which is the good remembrancer, lead him so to do, or otherwise words S of exhortation, advice, reproof, and instruction, or the '\ sense of some spiritual experiences : all which will still be agreeable to the scripture, though perhaps not j relative to, nor founded upon any particular chapter i or verse, as a text. Now let us examine and consider | which of these two sorts of preaching is most agree- i able to the precepts of Christ and his apostles, and S the primitive church recorded in scripture? For, first, | as to their preaching upon a text, if it were not merely ; customary or premeditated, but done by the imme- j diate motion of the Spirit, we should not blame it ; - \ but to do it as they do, there is neither precept nor ' \ practice, that ever I could observe, in the New Testa- ■ ment, as a part of the instituted worship thereof. ' \ But they allege. That Christ took the book of Isaiah, object. ' and read out of it, and spake therefrom; and that Peter preached from a sentence of the prophet Joel. ' I answer, That Christ and Peter did it not but as answ. j 36S OF WOUSHIP. PKOP. XI. 1. chrin't immediately actuated and moved thereunto by tbe aad Peter*, ji^pirit of God, and that without premeditation, which •peaking ^ ^ . -ii ^ • i • i wMnotbj I suppose our adversaries will not deny: m which UoT'**'** ^^^^ ^^ willingly approve of it. But what is this to their customary conned way, without either waiting for or expecting the movings or leadings of the Spirit? Moreover, that neither Christ nor Peter did it as a settled custom or form, to be constantly practised by all the ministers of the church, appears, in that most of all the sermons recorded of Christ and his apostles in scripture were without this, as appears from Christ's sermon upon the mount. Matt. v. 1, Ike; Mark, iv. 1, &c. ; and Paul's preaching to the Athenians, and to the Jews, &c. As then it appears that this method of preaching is not grounded upon any scripture pre- cept, so the nature of it is contrary to the preaching of Christ under the new covenant, as expressed and recommended in scripture ; for Christ, in sending forth his disciples, expressly mentioneth, that they are not to speak of or from, themselves, or to forecast beforehand, but that which the Spirit in the same hour shall teach them, as is particularly mentioned in the three evangelists. Matt. x. 20 ; Mark, xiii. 1 1 ; Luke, xii. 12. Now if Christ gave this order to his disci- ples before he departed from them, as that which they were to practise during his abode outwardly with them, much more were they to do it after his depar- ture, since then they were more especially to receive the Spirit, to lead them in all things, and to brifig all things to their remembrance, John, xiv. 26. And if they were to do so when they appeared before the magistrates and princes of the earth, much more in the worship of God, when they stand specially before him ; seeing, as is above shown, his worship is to be performed in Spirit ; and therefore after their receiv- ing of the Holy Ghost, it is said, Acts, ii. 4 : They spake as the Spirit gave them utterance, not what they had studied and gathered from books in their closets in a premeditated way. FrtDoiacus Franciscus Lambertus, before cited, speaketh well OF WORSHIP. 369 and slioweth their hypocrisy, Tract. 5, of Prophecy, Lamber- chap. 3, saying, Where are they now that glory in J^o^y**"^ their inventions, who say, a fine invention ! a fine in- against the vention! This they call invention, which themselves ^^^^tin^^l'. have made up ; but what have the faithful to do with »i«n« a«d such kind of i?iventions ? It is not figments, nor yet ^™^" *' inventions, that we will have, hut things that are solid, invincible, eternal, and heavenly ; not which men have invented, but which God hath revealed: for if we believe the scriptures, our invention profiteth nothing, but to provoke God to our ruin. And afterwards. Be- ware (saith he) that thou determine not precisely to speak what before thou hast meditated, whatsoever it be; for though it be lawful to determine the text which thou art to expound, yet not at all the interpretation ; lest if thou so dost, thou take from the Holy Spirit that which is his, to wit, to direct thy speech, that thou mayest prophesy in the name of the Lord, void of all learning, meditation, and experience, and as if thou hadst studied nothing at all, committing thy heart, thy tongue, and thyself wholly unto his Spirit, and trust- ing nothing to thy former studying or meditation ; hut saying with thyself, in great confidence of the divine promise, The Lord will give a word with much power unto those that preach the gospel. But above all things be careful thou follow not the manner of hypo- crites, who have written almost word for word what they are to say, as if they were to repeat some verses upon a theatre, having learned all their preachiyig as they do that act tragedies. A7ul afterwards, when they are in the place of prcyphesying, pray the Lord to direct their tongue ; but in the meantime, shutting up the way of the Holy Spirit, they determine to say no- thing but what they have written. O unhappy kind of prophets, yea, and truly cursed, which depend not upon God's Spirit, but upon their own writings or meditation ! Why prayest thou to the Lord, thou false prophet, to give thee his holy Spirit, by which thou mayest speaJk things profitable, and yet thou repelkst B B 370 OF WORSHIP. PROP. XI. the Spirit? Why preferrest thou thy meditation or study to the Spirit of God ? Otherwise why committest thou not thyself to the Spirit ? 1. The §. XIX. Secondly, This manner of preaching as Zr/dom*'" ^sed by them (considering that they also affirm that brings be- it may be and often is performed by men who are fiUih?* wicked, or void of true grace), cannot only not edify the church, beget or nourish true faith, but is destruc- tive to it, being directly contrary to the nature of the Christian and apostolic ministry mentioned in the scriptures : for the apostle preached the gospel not in the wisdom of words, lest the cross of Christ should be of none effect, 1 Cor. i. 17. But this preaching not being done by the actings and movings of God's Spirit, but by man's invention and eloquence, in his own will, and through his natural and acquired parts and learning, is in the wisdom of words, and there- fore the cross of Christ is thereby made of none eflbct. The apostles' speech and preaching was not with en- ticing words of mans wisdom, but in demot?stration of the Spirit and of power, that the faith of their hearers should 7wt stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God, 1 Cor. ii. 3, 4, 5. But this preaching having nothing of the Spirit and power in it, both the preachers ^nd hearers confessing they wait for no such thing, nor yet are oftentimes sensible of it, must needs stand in the enticing words of man's wisdom, since it is by the mere wisdom of man it is sought after, and by the mere strength of man's eloquence and enticing words it is uttered ; and therefore no wonder if the faith of such as hear and depend upon such preachers and preachings stand in the wisdom of men, and not in the power of God. The apostles declared, That they spake not in the words which mans wisdom teach^ cth, but which the Holy Ghost teachcth, 1 Cor. ii. 13. But these preachers confess that they are strangers to the Holy Ghost, his motions and operations, neither^ do they wait to feel them, and therefore they speak in the words which their own natuml wisdom and OF WORSHIP. 37 1 learning teach them, mixing them in, and adding them to, such words as they steal out of the scriptures and other books, and therefore speak not what the Holy Ghost teacheth. Thirdly, This is contrary to the method and order 3. Tme of the primitive church mentioned by the apostle, ^''e'thoVwas 1 Cor. xiv. 30, &c. where in preaching every one is to speak bj to wait for his revelation, and to give place one unto ^^^^^^*^'°"- another, according as things are revealed ; but here there is no waiting for a revelation, but the preacher must speak, and not that which is revealed unto him, but what -he hath prepared and premeditated before- hand. , Lastly, By this kind of preaching the Spirit of God, 4. Tbe Spi- which should be the chief instructor and teacher of ^^^J ''^"^ God's people, and whose influence is that only which priests from makes all preaching effectual and beneficial for the I'e^acben* edifying of souls, is shut out, and man's natural wis- dom, learning, and parts set up and exalted ; which no doubt is a great and chief reason why the preach- ing among the generality of Christians is so unfruit- ful and unsuccessful. Yea, according to this doc- trine, the devil may preach, and ought to be heard also, seeing he both knoweth the truth, and hath as much eloquence as any. But what avails excellency of speech, if the demonstration and power of the Spirit be wanting, which toucheth the conscience? We see that when the devil confessed to the truth, yet Christ would have none of his testimony. And as these pregnant testimonies of the scripture do prove this part of preaching to be contrary to the doctrine of Christ, so do they also prove that of ours before affirmed to be conformable thereunto. §. XX. But if any object after this manner, Have object. not many been benefited, yea, and both converted and edified by the ministry of such as have premeditated their preaching 1 Yea, and hath not the Spirit often concurred by its divine influence with preachings thus bb2 J72 OF WORSHIP. PROP. xr. prefneditatedj so as they have been powerfully borne in upon the souls of the hearers to their advantage ? Ahsw. I answer, Though that be granted, which I shall not deny, it will not infer that the thing was good in Paoi perse- itself, morc than because Paul was met with by Christ *°nve*rud* *^ ^^^^ convcrting of his soul riding to Damascus to k therefore pcrsccutc the saiuts that he did well in so doing. goST***'"^ Neither particular actions, nor yet whole congrega- tions, as we above observed, are to be measured by the acts of God's condescension in times of ignorance. But besides, it hath oftentimes fallen out, that God, having a regard to the simplicity and integrity either of the preacher or hearers, hath fallen in upon the heart of a preacher by his power and holy influence, and thereby hath led him to speak things that were not in his premeditated discourse, and which perhaps he never thought on before ; and those passing ejacu- lations, and unpremeditated but living exhortations, have proved more beneficial and refreshing both to preacher and hearers than all their premeditated ser- mons. But all that will not allow them to continue in these things which in themselves are not approved, but contrary to the practice of the apostles, when God is raising up a people to serve him, according to the primitive purity and spirituality ; yea, such acts of God's condescension, in times of darkness and igno- rance, should engage all more and more to follow him, according as he reveals his most perfect and spiritual way. II. §. XXI. Having hitherto spoken of preaching, now Of prajer, jt is fit to speak of vravins^, concerniner which the like how the . *^ • xi: r\ * 1 • ^ 1 r ' outward is coutroversy ariseth. Our adversaries, whose religion dist^iogaish- is all for the most part outside, and such whose acts inward. are the mere product of man's natural will and abili- ties, as they can preach, so can they pray when they please, and therefore have their set particular prayers. I meddle not with the controversies among themselves, concerning this, some of them being for set prayers, as a liturgy, others for such as are conceived extern- OF WORSH«». 373 pore ; it suffices me that all of them agree in this, > That the motions and influence of the Spirit of God ] are not necessary to be previous thereunto; and there- i fore they have set times in their public worship, as The priests j before and after preaching, and in their private devo- ^^g^^^"^„^° \ tion, as morning and evening, and before and after praj, deny j meat, and other such occasions, at which they pre- *^® ^^"^^' ] cisely set about the performing of their prayers, by l speaking words to God, whether they feel any motion 5 or influence of the Spirit or not ; so that some of the '\ chiefest have confessed that they have thus prayed without the motions or assistance of the Spirit, ac- ] knowledging that they sinned in so doing; yet i they said they looked upon it as their duty so to j do, though to pray without the Spirit be sin. We • freely confess that prayer is both very profitable, and a necessary duty commanded, and fit to be practised ; frequently by all Christians ; but as we can do no- thing without Christ, so neither can we pray without : the concurrence and assistance of his Spirit. But that the state of the controversy may be the better t. understood, let it be considered, first, that prayer is twofold, inward and oulicard. Inward prayer is that What in- ' secret turning of the mind towards God, whereby, j^af'^P'^J^'^ | being secretly touched and awakened by the light of * Christ in the conscience, and so bowed down under j the sense of its iniquities, unworthiness, and misery, '\ it looks up to God, and, joining with the secret shin- | ings of the seed of God, it breathes towards him, and = is constantly breathing forth some secret desires and ^ \ aspirations towards him. It is in this sense that we 1 are so frequently in scripture commanded to pray \ continualli/, Luke, xviii. 1 ; 1 Thess. v. 17 ; Eph. vi. 1 18; Luke, xxi. 36; which cannot be understood of \ outward prayer, because it were impossible that men i should be always upon their knees, expressing words \ of prayer ; and this would hinder them from the exer- cise of those duties no less positively commanded. j Outivard prayer is, v/hen as the spirit, being thus in what oot- the exercise of inward retirement, and feeling the|^"^P"^*' ^ 374 OF WOKSHIP. PROP. XI. breathing of the Spirit of God to arise powerfully in the soul, receives strength and liberty by a superadded motion and influence of the Spirit to bring forth either audible sighs, groans, or words, and that either in public assemblies, or in private, or at meat, &c. Inward As then biward prayer is necessayy at all times, so, Mss^rVat ^^ \oiig as the day of every man's visitation lasteth, all times, hc Hcver wants some influence, less or more, for the practice of it ; because he no sooner retires his mind, and considers himself in God's presence, but he finds himself in the practice of it. Outward The outward exercise of prayer, as needing a Je'Jdrel"^** greater and superadded influence and motion of the saperadded Spirit, as it cauuot be continually practised, so nei- 10 aenoe. ^^^ ^^^ .^ ^^ ^^ readily, so as to be effectually pei^ formed, until his mind be some time acquainted with the inward; therefore such as are diligent and watch- ful in their minds, and much retired in the exercise of this inward prayer, are more capable to be frequent in the use of the outward, because that this holy influ- ence doth more constantly attend them, and they being better acquainted with, and accustomed to, the motions of God's Spirit, can easily perceive and dis- cern them. And indeed, as such who are most dili- gent have a near access to God, and he taketh most delight to draw them by his Spirit to approach and call upon him, so when many are gathered together in this watchful mind, God doth frequently pour forth the Spirit of prayer amonor them and stir them there- unto, to the edifying and building up of one another in love. But because this outward prayer depends upon the inward, as that which must follow it, and cannot be acceptably performed but as attended with a superadded influence and motion of the Spirit, We oaoDot therefore cannot we prefix set times to pray outwardly, to.pVal'Tnd ^^ ^ ^^ ^^y ^ necessity to speak words at such and praj. ' such times, whether we feel this heavenly influence and assistance or no ; for that we judge were a tempt- ing of God, and a coming before him without due preparation. Wc think it fit for \x% to present our- OF WORSHIP. 375 selves before him by this inward retirement of the mind, and so to proceed further, as his Spirit shall help us and draw us thereunto ; and we find that the Lord accepts of this, yea, and seeth meet sometimes to exercise us in this silent place for the trial of our patience, without allowing us to speak further, that he may teach us not to rely upon outward perform- ances, or satisfy ourselves, as too many do, with the saying of our prayers ; and that our dependence upon him may be the more firm and constant, to wait for the holding out of his sceptre, and for his allowance to draw near unto him, w^ith greater freedom and enlargement of Spirit upon our hearts towards him. Yet nevertheless w^e do not deny but sometimes God, upon particular occasions, very suddenly, yea, upon the very first turning in of the mind, may give power and liberty to bring forth words or acts of outward prayer, so as the soul can scarce discern any previous motion, but the influence and bringing forth thereof may be as it were simul et semel : nevertheless that saying of Bernard is true, that all pi'cnjer is lukewarm^ which hath not an inspiration preceding it. Though we affirm that none ought to go about prayer without this motion, yet we do not deny but such sin as neg- Sach sin %% lect prayer ; but their sin is in that they come not to "^ p^Jer!" that place where they may feel that which would lead them thereunto. And therefore we question not but many, through neglect of this inward watchfulness and retiredness of mind, miss many precious oppor- tunities to pray, and thereby are guilty in the sight of God; yet would they sin, if they should set about the act until they first felt the influence. For as he grossly a forward offisnds his master that lieth in his bed and sleeps, j'"^/g^*'*/^*j and neglects to do his master's business ; yet jf such answers not a one should suddenly get up, without putting on his ^'* ^'*^^* clothes, or taking along with him those necessary tools and instruments, without which he could no^ possibly work, and should forwardly fall a doing to no purpose, he would be so far thereby from repairing 376 OF WORSHIP. PROP. XI. his former fault, that he would justly incur a new censure: and as one that is careless and otherways busied may miss to hear one speaking unto him, or even not hear the bell of a clock, though striking hard by him, so may many, through negligence, miss to hear God oftentimes calling upon them, and giving them access to pray unto him ; yet will not that allow them, without his liberty, in their own wills to fall to work. And lastly. Though this be the only true and pro* per method of prayer, as that which is alone accept- in times of able to God, yet shall we not deny but heu)ftentimes God^hiof- answered the prayers and concurred with the desires ten bear of somc, cspccially in times of darkness, who have ^heir pr«j- greatly erred herein ; so that some that have set down in formal prayer, though far wrong in the matter as well as manner, without the assistance or influence of God's Spirit, yet have found him to take occasion therethrough to break in upon their souls, and won- derfully tender and refresh them ; yet as in preaching and elsewhere hath afore been observed, that will not prove any such practices, or be a just let to hinder any from coming to practise that pure, spiritual, and acceptable prayer, which God is again restoring and leading his people into, out of all superstitions and mere empty formalities. The state of the contro- versy, and our sense thereof, being thus clearly stated, will both obviate many objections, and make the an- First.spiri- swcr to othcrs more brief and easy. I shall first prove *roved from ^^^^ Spiritual prayer by some short considerations •cripture. from scripturCy and then answer the objections of our opposers, which will also serve to refute their method and manner thereof. J. §. XXII. And First, That there is a necessity of ^*^t*b%it ^^^^ ifitvard retirement of the mind as previous to to move the prat/ery that the Spirit may be felt to draw thereunto, ^!»Vr^ appears, for that in most of those places where prayer is commanded, watching is prefixed thereunto, as ne- cessary to go before, as Matt. xxiv. 42 ; Mark, xiii. OF WORSHIP. ' 377 33, and xiv. 38 ; Luke, xxi. 36 ; from which it is evident that this watching was to go before prayer. Now to what end is this watching, or what is it, but a waiting to feel GocTs Spirit tp draw unto prayer, that so it may be done acceptably ? For since we are to pray always in the Spirit, and cannot pray of our- Eph. vi. is selves without it acceptably, this watching must be for this end recommended to us, as preceding prayer, that we may watch and wait for the seasonable time to pray, which is when the Spirit moves thereunto. Secondly, This necessity of the Spirit's moving and u. concurrence appears abundantly from that of the apos- We know tie Paul, Rom. viii. 26, 27 : Likewise the Spirit also jlray b^t L helpeih our injirmities : for we know not what we J*^® ^p'"^ should pray for as ice ought ; but the Spirit itself ^ ^'" maketh intercession for us with groanings which can- not be uttered. And he that searcheth the hearts know- eth what is the mind of the Spiiit, because he inaketh intercession for the saints according to the ivill of God. Which first holds forth the incapacity of men as of themselves to pray or call upon God in their own wills, even such as have received the faith of Christ, and are in measure sanctified by it, as was the church of Rome, to which the apostle then wrote. Secondly, It holds forth that which can only help and assist men to pray, to wit, the Spirit, as that without which they cannot do it acceptably to God, nor beneficially to their own souls. Thirdly, The manner and way of the Spirit's intercession, ivith sighs and groans which are unutterable. And Fourthly, That God receiveth graciously the prayers of such as are presented and offered unto himself by the Spirit, knoicing it to be according to his ivill. Now it cannot be conceived but this order of prayer thus asserted by the apostle is most consistent with those other testimonies of scrip- ture, commending and recommending to us the use of prayer. From which I thus argue. If any man knoio not how to pray, neither can do arg. it without the help of the Spirit, then it is to no pur- 378 ^ or woKSHip. PROP. xi. pose for him, but altogether unprofitable, to pray with- out it. - But thejirst is true, therefore also the last. III. Thirdly, This neqessity of the Spirit to true prayer r?/*lrv* appears from Eph. vi. 18, and Jude, 20, where the in the Spi- r^i^ r » • 1 f. • •. J rit, and apostle comiiiands to pray always in the cspint, ana uierewnto. ^^^tchijig thcfxuf^to / which is as much as if he had said, that we were never to pray without the Spirit, or watching thereunto. And Jude showeth, that such prayers as are in the Holy Ghost only, tend to the building up of ourselves in our most holy faith. IV. Fourthly, The apostle Paul saith expressly, 1 Cor. !!!iTchr8r ^"* ^' ^^^^ ^^ ^'^'^ ^^^^ ^^^ ^^'^^ Jesus is the Lord Lord but b? but by the Holy Ghost : if then Jesus cannot be thus Gbo^°'^ rightly named but by the Holy Ghost, far less can he be acceptably called upon. Hence the same apostle declares, 1 Cor. xiv. 15, that he will pray with the Spirit, &c. A clear evidence that it was none of his method to pray without it. V. But Fifthly, All prayer without the Spirit is abomi- ^o'Ara" 'nation, such as are the prayers of the wicked, Prov. the prajer* xxviii. 9. And the confidence that the saints have wicked. *^^^ ^^^^ ^^^^ ^^^^^ them is, if they ask any thing ac- cording to his will, 1 John, v. 14. So if the prayer be not according to his will, there is no ground of confidence that he will hear. Now our adversaries will acknowledge that prayers without the Spirit are not according to the will of God, and therefore such as pray without it have no ground to expect an an- swer: for indeed to bid a man pray without the Spirit is all one as to bid one see without eyes, work without hands, or go without feet. And to desire a man to fall to prayer ere the Spirit in some measure less or more move him thereunto, is to desire a mam to see before he opens his eyes, or to walk before he rises up, or to vvork with his hands before he moves them. VI. §. XXIII. But Lastly, From this false opini^ttof fJl""ift" P^'^y^^? without the Spirit, and not judging it neces- oflT.ired bj SETy tO bc Waited for. n« l)»'»f \v Uifh ni:iv hv felt to tb« .Spirit. OF WORSHIP. 379 move us thereunto, hath proceeded all the supersti- tion and idolatry that is among those called Chris- tians, and those many abominations wherewith the Lord is provoked, and his Spirit grieved; so that many deceive themselves now, as the Jews did of old, thinking it sufficient if they pay their daily sacrifices, and offer their customary oblations ; from thence thinking all is well, and creating a false peace to themselves, as the whore in the Proverbs, because they have offered up their sacrifices of morning and evening prayers. And therefore it is manifest that their constant use of these things doth not a whit influence their lives p,nd conversations, but they re- main for the most part as bad as ever. Yea, it is frequent both among Papists and Protestants, for them to leap as it were out of their vain, light, and profane conversations at their set hours and seasons, and fall to their customary devotion ; and then, when it is scarce finished, and the words to God scarce out, the former profane talk comes after it ; so that the same wicked profeyae spirit of this world actuates them in both. If there be any such thing as vai7i oblations, or prayers that are abomi)iatio7i, which God heareth not (as is certain there are, and the scripture testifies, Isa. Ixvi. 3 ; Jer. xiv. 12;) certainly such prayers as are acted in man's will, and by his strength, without God's Spirit, must be of that number. §. XXIV. Let this suffice for proof. I shall now proceed to answer their objections, when I have said something concQvmn^ jpining in prayer with othe?*s. concerning Those that pray toerether with one accord use not only J°'"'"K •". . .^ 1 . ^ . . 1 f . 1 •' prajer with to concur m their spirits, but also m the gesture oi others, their body, which we also willingly approve of. It becometh those who approach before God to pray, that they do it with bowed knees, and with their heads uncovered, which is our practice. But here ariseth a controversy. Whether it be law- object, i. fiil to join with others by those cMernal signs of reve- rcnce, albeit not in heart, who pray formally, not wait- • ^ 380 OF WORSHIP. PROP. XI. big for the motion of the Spirit, nor judging it neces- sary, answ. We answer, Not at all ; and for our testimony in this thing, we have suffered not a little. For when it The rewon hath fallen out, that either accidentally, or to witness TannoTjoin ^gaiust their worship, we have been present during io prater, the Same, and have not found it lawful for us to haw with them thereunto, they have often persecuted us, not only with reproaches, but also with strokes and cruel beatings. For this cause they used to accuse us of pride, profanity, and madness, as if we had no respect or reverence to the worship of God, and as if we judged none could pray, or were heard of God, but ourselves. Unto all which, and many more re- proaches of this kind, we answer briefly and modestly. That it suffices us that we are found so doing, neither through pride, nor madness, nor profanity, but merely lest we should hurt our consciences ; the reason of which is plain and evident : for since our principle and doctrine oblige us to believe that the prayers of those who themselves confess they are 7iot actuated by the Spirit are abominations, how can we with a safe conscience join with them? Object. 1. If they urge, That this is the height of uncharita- bleness and arrogancy, as if we jmlged ourselves always to pray by the Spirit's motion, but they never; as if we were never deceived by praying without the motions of the Spirit, and that they were never actuated by it, seeing albeit they judge 7iot the motion of the Spirit always necessary, they confess nevertheless that it is very profitable and comfortable, and they feel it often influencing them ; which that it sometimes falls out we cannot deny; answ. To all which I answer distinctly, If it were their known and avowed doctritie not to pray without the motion of the Spirit, and that, seriously holding there- unto, they did not bind themselves to pray at certain prescribed times precisely, at which times they deter- mine to pray, though without the Spirit, then indeed OF WORSHIP. 381 we might be accused of uncharitableness and pride, if we never joined with them ; and if they so taught shaii we and practised, I doubt not but it would be lawful for ««nfi™ *''« 111111 T hypocrites US so to do, unless there should appear some maniiest when pray- and evident hypocrisy and delusion. But seeing they *"^' confess that they pray without the Spirit, and seeing God hath persuaded us that such prayers are abomi- nable, how can we with a safe conscience join with an abomination 1 That God sometimes condescends to them, we do not deny ; although now, when the spiritual worship is openly proclaimed, and all are invited unto it, the case is otherwise than in those old times of apostacy and darkness ; and therefore, albeit any should begin to pray in our presence, not expect- ing the motion of the Spirit; yet if it manifestly appear that God in condescension did concur with such a one, then according to God's will we should not refuse to join also ; but this is rare, lest thence they should be confirmed in their false principle. And although this seems hard in our profession, ne- vertheless it is so confirmed by the authority both of scripture and right reason, that many convinced there- of have embraced this part before other truths, which were easier, and, as they seem to some, clearer. Among whom is memorable of late years Alexander Skein, a magistrate of the city of Aberdeen, a man very modest, and very averse from giving offence to others, who nevertheless being overcome by the power of truth in this matter, behoved for this cause to separate himself from the public assemblies and prayers, and join himself unto us ; who also gave the reason of his change, and likewise succinctly, but yet substantially, comprehended this controversy concern- ing worship in some short questions, which he offered to the public preachers of the city, and which I think meet to insert in this place. 1. Whether or not should an act of God's worship soimx^net- he gone about without the motions, leadings, and act- stefn^pro- ings of the Holy Spirit 1 posed to ihe 2. If the motions of the Spirit be necessary to every AbeTdee"'" 382 OF WORSHIP. PROP. XI LCT. XTI. particular duty, whether should he be waited upon, that all our acts and words may be according as he gives utterance and assistance ? 3. Whether every one that bears the name of a Christian, or professes to be a Protestant, hath such an unuiterrupted measure thereof, that he may, with- out waituig, go immediately about the duty ? 4. If there be an indisposition and unfitness at some times for such exercises, at least as to the spiritual and lively performance thereof, whether ought they to be performed in that case, and at that time ? 5. If any duty be gone about, under pretence that it is in obedience to the external com??iand, without the spiritual life and motion 7iecessary, whether such a duty thus performed can in faith be expected to be accepted of God, and not rather reckoned as a bringing of 1- strange fire before the Lord, seeing it is performed at best by the strength of natural and acquired parts, and not by the strength and assistance of the Holy Ghost, which was typified by the fii^e that came doum from heaven, which alone behoved to consume the sacrifice, and no other ? 6.' Whether duties go7ie about in the mere strength of natural and acquired parts, whether in public or private, be ?iot as really, upon the matter, an image of maris inventioji as the popish worship, though not so gross in the outward appearance ? And therefojr tvhe- ther it be not as real superstition to countenance any worship of that nature, as it is to countenance popish worship, though there be a difference in the degree? 7. Whetha^ it be a ground of offence or just scandal to countenance the worship of those whose professed principle it is neither to speak for edification, nor to pray, but as the Holy Ghost shall be pleased to assist them in some measure less or more; without which they rather choose to be silent, than to speak without this influence? Unto these they answered but very coldly and faintly, whose answers likewise long ago he refuted. W6»tt»t Seeing then God hath called us to his spiritual OF WORSHIP. 383 worship, and to testify against the human and volun- not lose our taiy worships of the apostacy, if we did not this way J*r God "^ stand immovable to the truth revealed, but should join with them, both our testimony for God would be weakened and lost, and it would be impossible stea- dily to propagate this worship in the world, whose progress we dare neither retard nor hinder by any act of ours ; though therefore we shall lose not only worldly honour, but even our lives. And truly many Protestants, through their unsteadiness in this thing, for politic ends complying with the popish abomina- tions, have greatly scandalized their profession, and hurt the Reformation ; as appeared in the example of the Elector of Saxony ; who, in the convention at Elector of Augsburgh, in the year 1530, being commanded ^ylUn^^y* the Emperor Charles the Fifth to be present at the s'ven to mass, that he might carry the sword before him, ac- ^'^*'^"**"*^- cording to his place ; which when he justly scrupled to perform, his preachers, taking more care for their prince's honour than for his conscience, persuaded him that it was lawful to do it against his conscience. Which was both a very bad example, and great scan- dal to the Reformation, and displeased many ; as the Secondly, author of the History of the Council of Trent, in his l^J^rA'^pl fi rst book, well observes. But now I hasten to the niuai objections of our adversaries against this method of ^^Yred.*"" praying. §. XXV. First, They object. That if such particu- OBiEcj. i. lav influences were needful to outward acts of worship, then they should also be needful to inward acts, to wit, desire and love to God. But this is absurd; There- fore also that from whence it follows, I answer ; That which was said in the state of the answ. controversy cleareth this ; because, as to those gene- ral duties, there never wants an influence, so long as the da,y of a man's visitation lasteth ; during w^hich time God is always near to him, and wrestling with him by his Spirit, to turn him to himself; so that if he do but stand still, and cease from his evil thoughts, , 384 OF WORSHIP. PROP. XI. the Lord is near to help him, &c. But as to the out- ward acts of prayer, they need a more special motion and influence, as hath been proved. Object. 2. Secondly, They object, That it might be also alleged, that men ought not to do moral duties, as children to honour their paixnts, men to do right to their neigh" hours, e.vcept the Spirit move them to it, Answ. I answer ; There is a great difference betwixt these general duties betwixt man and man, and the parti- cular express acts of worship towards God : the one is merely spiritual, and commanded by God to be performed by his Spirit ; the other answer their end, as to them whom they are immediately directed to and concern, though done from a mere natural prin- ciple of self-love ; even as beasts have natural affec- tions one to another, and therefore may be thus per- formed. Though I shall not deny, but that they are not works accepted of God, or beneficial to the soul, but as they are done in the fear of God, and in his blessing, in which his children do all things, and therefore are accepted and blessed in whatsoever they , do. Object. 3. Thirdly, They object. That if a wicked man ought 7iot to pray without a motion of the Spirit, because his prayer would be sinful; neither ought he to plow by ProT. xx'i. the same i^eason, because the plowing of the wicked, ^' as well as his praying, is sin. arsw. This objection is of the same nature with the for- mer, and therefore may be answered the same way ; How «ct« of seeing there is a great difference betwixt natural acts, fe^r from 'the ^^^^^ ^ cating, dnjiJiing, sleeping, and seeking suste- Spirit's, nance for the body (which things man hath common with beasts) and spiritual acts. And it doth not fol- low, because man ought not to go about spijitual acts without the Spirit, that therefore he may not go about natural acts without it. The analogy holds better thus, and that for the proof of our affirmation, That as man for the going about natural acts needs his natural spirit ; so to perform spiritual acts he needs OF WORSHIP. 385 the Spirit of God. That the natural acts of the wicked and unregenerate are sinful, is not denied ; though not as in themselves, but in so far as man in that state is in all things reprobated in the sight of God. Fourthly, They object, That wicked men 7)iai/, ac- object, ^x. co7^di7ig to this doctrine, forbear to pray for years together, alleging, they want a motion to it. I answer ; The false pretences of wicked men do answ. nothing invalidate the truth of this doctrine ; for at ' that rate there is no doctrine of Christ, which men might not set aside. That they ought not to pray without the Spirit, is granted ; but then they ought to come to that place of watching, where they may be That wick- capable to feel the Spirit's motion. They sin indeed itcuh" mol in not praying ; but the cause of this sin is their not tions of the watching : so their neglect proceeds not from this p^*^^'^ *** doctrine, but from their disobedience to it ; seeing if they did pray without this, it would be a double sin, and no fulfilling of the command to pray : nor yet would their prayer, without this Spirit, be useful unto them. And this our adversaries are forced to ac- knowledge in another case : for they say, It is a duty incumbent on Christians to frequent the sacramoit of the Lord's Supper, as they call it ; yet they say, No man ought to take it unworthily: yea, they plead, that such as find themselves unprepared, must ab- stain ; and therefore do usually excommunicate them from the table. Now, though according to them it be necessary to partake of this sacrament ; yet it is also necessary that those that do it do first examine themselves, lest they eat and drink their own condem- nation : and though they reckon it sinful for them to forbear, yet they account it more sinful for them to do it without this examination. Fifthly, They object. Acts, viii. 22, tvhere Peter onncj, 5, commanded Simon Alagus, that wicked sorcerer, to pray; from thence inferring, That wicked men may and ought to pray, I answer ; That in the citing of this place, as I answ. c c 386 OF WORSHIP. PROP. XI. have often observed, they omit the first and chiefest The (.orcer- part of the versc, which is thus, Acts, viii. 22 : Re- bax^Jot^^' P^^'^ ^^^^^^fi^^ ^f ^^''* ^f^H wickedness^ and praj/ God, wiihoQtre- if perhaps the thought of t hi fie heart may be forgiven penitoce. ^y^^^ . g^ j^^^.^ ^le bids him first Repent. Now the least measure of true repentance cannot be without somewhat of that inward retirement of the mind which we speak of : and indeed where true repentance ^oeth first, we do not doubt but the Spirit of God will be near to concur with, and influence such to pray to, and call upon God. Object, c. And Lastly, They object. That manypraijers begun without the Spii^it have proved effectual; and that the prayers of wicked men have been heard, and found acceptable, as Ahab's. ansvv. This objection was before solved. For the acts of God's compassion and indulgence at some times, and to some persons, upon singular extraordinary occa- sions, are not to be a rule of our actions. For if we should make that the measure of our obedience, great inconveniences would follow ; as is evident, and will be acknowledged by all. Next, We do not deny, but wicked men are sensible of the motions and ope- rations of God's Spirit oftentimes, before their day be expired ; from which they may at times pray accep- tably ; not as remaining altogether wicked, but as entering into piety, from whence they afterwards fall away. III. §. XXVI. As to the singing of psalms, there will Of singing not be need of any long discourse; for that the case psa m». .^ j^^^ ^^^ same as in the two former oi preaching and prayer. We confess this to be a part of God's wor- ship, and very sweet and refreshing, when it proceeds from a true sense of God's love in the heart, and arises from the divine influence of the Spirit, which leads A sweet souls to breathe forth either a sweet harmony, or io3."'°"' words suitable to the present condition ; whether they be words formerly used by the saints, and recorded in scripture, such as the Psalms of David, or other words ; as were the hymns and songs of Zacharias, Simeon, OF WORSHIP. 387 and the blessed Virgin Mary. But as for the formal But formal customary way of sing;inp\ it hath no foundation in '^'''S'"- *'f scripture, nor any ground m true Christianity: yea, insciiptare. besides all the abuses incident to prayer and preach- ing , it hath this more peculiar, that oftentimes great and horrid lies are said in the sight of God : for all Profane manner of wicked profane people take upon them to ^af id^*"*^ personate the experiences and conditions of blessed conditions David ; which are not only false, as to them, but also '■^^°^^'^- as to some of more sobriety, who utter them forth : as where they will sing sometimes, Psalm xxii. 14, My heart is like wax\ it is melted in the midst of my bowels: and verse 15, My strength is dried up like a potsherd^ and my tongue cleaveth to my jaws ; and thou hast brought me into the dust of death : and Psalm vi. 6, / am weary with my groaning, all the night make I my bed to swim : I water my couch with my tears : and many more, which those that speak know to be false, as to them. And sometimes will confess just after, in their prayers, that they are guilty of the vices opposite to those virtues, which but just before they have asserted themselves endued with. Who can suppose that God accepts of such juggling? And indeed such singing doth more please the carnal ears of men, than the pure ears of the Lord, who abhors all lying and hypocrisy. That si7iging then that pleaseth him must proceed from that which is PURE in the heart (even from the Word of Life therein) in and by which, richly dwelling in us, spiritual songs and hymns are returned to the Lord, according to that of the apostle, Col. iii. 16. But as to their artificial music, either by organs, or Artificial other instruments, or voice, we have neither example "'°'"°* nor precept for it in the New Testament. §. XXVII. But Lastly, The great advantage of this true worship of God, which we profess and practise, is, that it consisteth not in man's wisdom, arts, or in- dustry ; neither needeth the glory, pomp, riches, nor No spien- cc2 388 OF WORSHIP. PROP. XI. door of this splendour of this world to beautify it, as being of a ^nd^ihu spiritual and heavenly nature ; and therefore too sim- inwtrd WON pie and contemptible to the natural mind and will of *'"P* man, that hath no delight to abide in it, because he finds no room there for his imaginations and inven- tions, and hath not the opportunity to gratify his out- ward and carnal senses : so that this form being observed, is not likely to be long kept pure without the power ; for it is of itself so naked without it, that it hath nothing in it to invite and tempt men to dote upon it, further than it is accompanied with the The carnal powcr. Whcrcas the worship of our adversaries, pie'a^wseif. ^^^^g performed in their own wills, is self-pleasing, as in which they can largely exercise their natural parts and invention : and so (as to most of them) having somewhat of an outward and worldly splen- dour, delectable to the carnal and worldly senses, they can pleasantly continue it, and satisfy themselves, though without the Spirit and power; which they make no ways essential to the performance of their worship, and therefore neither wait for, nor expect it. Thewor- §. XXVIII. So that to conclude. The worship, QuaLerf * P^Gachiug, praying, and singing, which we plead for, is such as procecdeth from the Spirit of God, and is always accompajiied with its iiiflmnce^ being begun by its motion, and carried on by the power and ^rength thereof; and so is a worship purely spiritual: such as the scripture holds forth, John, iv. 23, 24 ; 1 Cor. xiv. 15; Eph. vi. 18, &c. onr adver- But the worship, prcachiug, praying, and singing, ■hi>* ^^^ which our adversaries plead for, and which we oppose, is a worship which is both begtai, carried on, and con- cluded in mans own natural will and strength, without the motion or influence of God's Spirit, which they Judge they need jwt wait for; and therefore may be truly performed, both as to the matter and manner, by the wickedest of men. Such was the worship and vain oblations which God always rejected, as appears from Isa. Ixvi. 3 ; Jer. xiv. 12, &c. ; Isa. i. 13 ; Prov. XV. 29; John, ix. 3J. 389 PROPOSITION XII. I CONCERNING BAPTISM. \ As there is one Lord, and one faith, so there is one baptism; Eph.iv. 5, ■ which is not the putting away the filth of the flesh, but the 1 ?«*• »'•• answer of a good conscience before God, by the resuiTcction of'L' . Jesus Christ. And this baptism is a pure and spiritual thing, q^^ jjj 27*^ ? to wit, the baptism of the Spirit and fire, by which we are Col. ii. 12. \ buried with him, that being washed and purged from our sins, John iii. 30. j we may walk in newness of life: of which the baptism of 1 Co'"'^' l'^* \ John was a figure, which was commanded for a time, and not \ to continue for ever. As to the baptism of infants, it is a J mere human tradition, for which neither precept nor practice ] is to be found in ail the scripture. \ i §. I. I DID sufficiently demonstrate, in the explana- ; tion and proof of the former proposition, how greatly j the professors of Christianity, as well Protestants as I Papists, were degenerated in the matter of worship, | and how much strangers to, and averse from that true \ and acceptable worship that is performed in the Spi- I lit of truth, because of man s natural propensity in \ his fallen state to exalt his own tuoentions, and to in- *i termix his own ivork and product in the serv^ice of ; God :' and from this root sprung all the idle worships. From i idolatries, and numerous superstitious inventions J^J^^.^^Ynd*' among the heathens. For when God, in condescen- iieatheu sa- •; sion to his chosen people the Jews, did prescribe to Jl^'ipJS^. j them by his servant Moses many ceremonies and ob- i servations, as types and shadows of the substance, ] which in due time was to be revealed ; which con- ^ sisted for the most part in washings, outward purifi- cations and cleansings, which were to continue until \ the time of reformation, until the spiritual woi^ship \ should be set up ; and that God, by the more plen- j tiful pouring forth of his Spirit, and guiding of that ] anointing, should lead hi^ children into all truth, and | teach them to worship him in a way more spiritual I and acceptable to him, though less agreeable to the \ i i The Pliari- sees the chiefest •mong the Jews. Manj tilings in Christen- dom are borrowed from the Jews and Gentiles. Of Mcra- meiits 8» many con- troTersieii. 390 OF BAPTISM. PROP. XII. carnal and outward senses; yet, notwithstanding God's condesceiision to the Jews in such things, we see that that part in man, which delights to follow its own ifiventhns, could not be restrained, nor yet satis- fied with all these observations, but that oftentimes they w ould be either declining to the other supersti- tions of the Gentiles, or adding some new observations and ceremonies of their own ; to which they were so devoted, that they were still apt to prefer them before the commands of God, and that under the notion of zeal and piety. This we see abundantly in the ex- ample of the Pharisees, the chiefest sect among the Jews, whom Christ so frequently reproves y(?r making void the commandments of God by their traditions, Matt. XV. 6, 9, &c. This complaint may at this day be no less justly made as to many bearing the name of Christians, who have introduced many things of this kind, partly borrowed from the Jews, which they more tenaciously stick to, and more earnestly contend for, than for the weightier points of Christianity ; be- cause that self, yet alive, and ruling in them, loves their own inventipns-^ better "than God's commands. But if they can by~a(ny ^eans stretch any scripture practice, or conditional precept or pennission, fitted to the weakness or capacity of some, or appropriate to some particular dispensation, to give some colour for any of these their inventions; they do then so tenaciously stick to them, and so obstinately and obstreperously plead for them, that they will not pa- tiently hear the most solid Christian reasons against them. Which zeal, if they would but seriously exa- mine it, they would find to be but the prejudice of education, and the love of self more than that of God, or his pure worship. This is verified concern- ing those things which are called saauuoaits, about which they are very ignorant in religious controver- sies, who understand not how much debate, conten- tion, jangling, and quarrelling there have been among those called Christians : so that I may safely say the OF BAPTISM. 391 controversy about them, to wit, about their number, nature, virtue, efficacy, administration, and other things, hath been more than about any other doctrine of Christ, whether as betwixt Papists and Protestants, or among Protestants betwixt themselves. And how great prejudice these controversies have brought to Christians is very obvious; whereas the things con- tended for among them are for the most part but empty shadows, and mere outside things : as I hope hereafter to make appear to the patient and unpreju- dicate reader. §. II. That which comes first under observation, is The name of the name \sacrament\ which it is strange that Chris- (not^foond tians should stick to and contend so much for, since it »« scrjp- is not to be found in all the scripture ; but was bor- rowerfrom rowed from the military oaths among the heathens, the heathen, from whom the Christians, when they began to apos- tatize, did borrow many superstitious terms and ob- servations, that they might thereby ingratiate them- / selves, and the more easily gain the heathens to their religion ; which practice, though perhaps intended by ^ them for good, yet as being the fruit of human policy, and not according to God's wisdom, has had very pernicious consequences. I see not how any, whe- ther Papists or Protestants, especially the latter, can in reason quarrel with us for denying this term, which it seems the Spirit of God saw not meet to inspire the penmen of the scriptures to leave unto us. But if it be said. That it is not the name, hut the object, i. thing they contend for ; I answer ; Let the name then, as not being scrip- answ. tural, be laid aside, and we shall see at first entrance how much benefit will redound by laying aside this traditional term, and betaking us to plainness of scrip- ture language. For presently the great contest about the number of them will vanish ; seeing there is no term used in scripture that can be made use of, whe- ther we call them institutions, ordinances, precepts, commandments, appointrnetits, or laivs, &c. that would 392 OF BAPTISM. PROP. XII. afford ground for such a debate ; since neither will Papists affirm, that there are only seven, or Protes- tants only two, of any of these aforementioned. Object. 2. If it be said. That this controversy arises from the difuiitmi of the thing, as well as from the name; answ. It will be found otherwise : for whatever way we Uon of w- *^^ ^^^^^ definition of a sacrament, whether as an crament outwurd visibk sign, whereby inward grace is coii- man"other f^^rcd, or Only signified, this definition will agree to tbings. many things, which neither Papists nor Protestants will acknowledge to be sacrainents. If they be ex- pressed under the name of sealing ordinances, as by some they are, I could never see, either by reason or scripture, how this title could be appropriate to them, more than to any other Christian, religious perform- Wbat «eai- aucc : for that must needs properly be a sealing ordi- nan^Jdoth naucc, which makes the persons receiving it infallibly mean. Certain of the 'promise or thing sealed to them. Object. 3. If it be Said, It is so to them that are faithful; Answ. I answcr ; So is praying and preaching, and doing of every good work. Seeing the partaking or per- forming of the one gives not to any a more certain title to heaven, yea, in some respect, not so much, there is no reason to call them so, more than the other. Besides, we find not any thing called the seal and pledge of our inheritance, but the Spirit of God. It is by that we are said to be sealed, Eph. i. 14, and iv. 30, which is also termed the earnest of our inherit- ance, 2 Cor. i. 22, and not by outward water, or eat- ing and drmking ; which as the wickedest of men may partake of, so many that do, do, notwithstand- That oat- ing it, go to pcrditiou. For it is not outward washing h"dorh"o"t "^'^^^ water x\\?l maketh iheJieart dean, by which cleanse the mcu are fitted for heaven : and as that which goeth ***■'*• into the mouth doth ?iot defile a man, because it is put forth again, and so goeth to the dunghill ; neitoer doth any thing which man eateth purify him, or fit him for heaven. What is said here in general, may OF BAPTISM. '393 serve for an introduction, not only to this proposition, but also to the other concerning the supper. Of these sacraments (so called) baptisju is always first num- bered, which is the subject of the present proposition ; in whose explanation I shall first demonstrate and prove our judgment, and then answer the objections, and refute the sentiments of our opposers. As to the first part, these things following, which are briefly part r. comprehended in the proposition, come to be proposed and proved. §. III. First, There is but one baptism, as well as prop. i. but one Lord, one faith, &c. Secondly, That this one baptism, which is the bap- pr. ii. tism of Christ, is not a washing with, or dipping in water, but a being baptized by the Spirit. Thirdly, That the baptism of John was but a figure pr. hi. of this ; and therefore, as the figure, to give place to the substance; which though it be to continue, yet the other ceaseth. As for the first, viz. That there is but one baptism, prop. r. there needs no other proof than the words of the text, 9"® ^^^' T\ ^ • /-^ -r J tisin prov- Eph. IV. 5, One Lord, 07ie faith, one baptism: where ed. the apostle positively and plainly aflftrms, that as there is but one body, one Spirit, one faith, one God, &c. so there is but one baptism. As to what is commonly alleged by way of expla- object, i. nation upon the text. That the baptism of water and of the Spirit make up this one baptism, by virtue of the sacramental union ; I answer; This exposition hath taken place, notANsw. because grounded upon the testimony of the scripture, but because it wrests the scripture to make it suit to their principle of water baptism ; and so there needs no other reply, but to deny it, as being repugnant to the plain words of the text ; which saith not, that Whether there are two baptisms, to wit, one of water, the other Jrsms make of the Spirit, which do make up one baptism ; but ap the one. plainly, that there is one baptism, as there is one faith, and one God. Now as there go not two faiths, nor 394 OF BAPTISM. PROP. XI I. two Gods^ nor two Spirits, nor two bodies, whereof the one is outward and elementary, and the other spiritual and pure, to the making up the one faith, the oue God, the one body, and the one Spirit; so neither ought there to go two baptisms to make up the one baptism. Object. 2. But Secondly, If it be said, The baptism is but one, whereof loater is the one part, to wit, the sign ; and the Spirit, the thing signified, the other ; answ. I answer ; This yet more confirmeth our doctrine : theTjrpe,''^ for if water be only the sign, it is not the matter of the sab-' the one baptism (as shall further hereafter by its defi- 8tance most ^j^j^jj jj^ scripture appear) and we are to take the o)ic baptism for the matter of it, not for the sign, ox figure and type that went before. Even as where Christ is called the one offering in scripture, though he was typified by many sacrifices and offerings under the law, we understand only by the 07ie offering, his offer- ing himself upon the cross ; whereof though those many offerings were signs and types, yet we say not that they go together with that offering of Christ, to make up the one offering : so neither, though water baptism was a sign of Christ's baptism, will it follow, that it goeth now to make up the baptism of Christ, If any should be so absurd as to affirm, That this one baptis?n //ere was the baptism of water, and 7iot of the Spirit ; that were foolishly to contradict the positive testimony of the scripture, which saith the contrary ; as by what followeth will more amply appear. Pk. II. Secondly, That this one baptism, which is the bap- tism of Christ, is not a washing with water, appears, Proof I. first, from the testimony of John, the proper and pecu- Tbe differ- Har administrator of water baptism. Matt. iii. 11, / tween *^ ij^deed baptize you with water unto repentance ; hut he John", bap- that Cometh after me is mightier than I, whose shoes I cmsVb, ttfn not worthy to bear ; he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost and with fire. Here John mentions two manners of baptizing, and two different baptisms ; the one with water, and the other with the Spirit ; OF BAPTISM. 395 i the one whereof he was the minister of; the other ] whereof Christ was the minister of: and such as were baptized with the first were not therefore bap- tized with the second : / indeed baptize you, but he ■ shall baptize you. Though in the present time they \ were baptized with the baptism of water; yet they i were not as yet, but were to be, baptized with the \ baptism of Christ. From all which I thus argue : ^ If those that were baptized with the baptism of arg. i. \ water, were not therefore baptized with the baptism ] of Christ ; then the baptism of water is not the bap- tism of Christ : I But the first is true ; Therefore also the last. \ And again, ] If he, that truly and really administered the bap- arg. 2. 1 tism of water, did notwithstanding declare, that he ] neither could, nor did baptize with the baptism of ) Christ ; then the baptism of water is not the baptism ' of Christ: ' \ But the first is true ; ' i Therefore, &c. ' And indeed to understand it otherwise would make \ John's words void of good sense: for if their baptisms had been all one, why should he have so precisely | contradistinguished them ? Why should he have said, I that those whom he had already baptized should yet ^ be baptized with another baptism ? If it be urged. That baptism with water was the object. one part, and that with the Spirit the other part, or | effect only of th e former ; \ I answer ; This exposition contradicts the plain answ. \ words of the text. For he saith not, / baptize you ] with water, and he that cometh after me shall produce one bap- \ the effects of this my baptism in you by the Spirit, &c. pa"'*o°°ef. j or he shall accomplish this baptism i?i you; but //(Effect of the ; shall baptize you. So then if we understand the words °^^^'"- j truly and properly, when he saith, I baptize you, as 1 consenting that thereby is really signified that he did ] 396 OF BAFHSM. PROP. XII. baptize with the baptism of water; we must needs, unless we offer violence to the text, understand the other part of the sentence the same way ; viz. where he adds presently. But he shall baptize you, &c. that he understood it of their being truly to be baptized with another baptism, than what he did baptize with : else it had been nonsense for him thus to have contra- distinguished them. PR. II. Secondly, This is further confirmed by the saying of Christ himself, Acts, i. 4, 5, But wait for the pro- mise of the Father, which, saith he,- ye have heard of Who were Vie .* for Johu truly baptized with water, but ye shall John were^ ^c baptized with the Holy Ghost not many days hejice. «uii to wait There can scarce two places of scripture run more blpUsm'* ' parallel than this doth with the former, a little before- witb the mentioned ; and therefore concludeth the same way *""** as did the other. For Christ here grants fully that John completed his baptism, as to the matter and substance of it : John, saith he, truly baptized with tvater ; which is as much as if he had said, John did truly and fully administer the baptism of water ; But ye shall be baptized with, &c. This showeth that they were to be baptized with some other baptism than the baptism of water ; and that although they were for- merly baptized with the baptism of water, yet not with that of Christ, which they were to be baptized with. PR. III. Thirdly, Peter observes the same distinction, Acts, xi. 16 : Then remembered I the word of the Lord, how The bap- that he said, John indeed baptized with water ; but ye 11711^1^' ^//«// be baptized with the Holy Ghost. The apostle Gho»t and malccs tliis application upon the Holy Ghost's falling ^^^L7d\l ^pon them; whence he infers, that they were then f^r. baptized with the baptism of the Spirit. As to what is urged from his calling afterwards for water, it shall be spoken to hereafter. From all which three sentences, relative one to another, first of John, secondly of Christ, and thirdly of Peter, it doth evidently fol- low, that such as were truly and really baptized with OF BAPTISM. 397 the baptism of water, were notwithstanding not bap- tized with the baptism of the Spirit, which is that of Christ : and such as truly and really did administer the baptism of water did, in so doing, not administer the baptism of Christ. So that if there be now but one baptism, as we have already proved, we may safely conclude that it is that of the Spirit, and not of water; else it would follow, that the one baptism, which now continues, were the baptism of water, i. e. John's baptism, and not the baptism of the Spirit, i. e. Christ's ; which were most absurd. If it be said further, That though the baptism of object. John, before Chrisfs was administered, was differ erit from it, as being the figure only ; yet now, that both it as the figure, and that of the Spirit as the substance, is necessary to make up the one baptism ; I answer. This urgeth nothing, unless it be granted also that both of them belong to the essence of bap- tism ; so that baptism is not to be accounted as truly administered, where both are not ; which none of our adversaries will acknowledge : but, on the contrary, account not only all those truly baptized with the bap- tism of Christ, who are baptized with water, though Water bap- they be uncertain whether they be baptized with the Jjfe'",,'*^""* Spirit, or not ; but they even account such truly bap- baptism of tized with the baptism of Christ, because sprinkled, *^'*'''=*** or baptized with water, though it be manifest and most certain that they are not baptized with the Spirit, as being enemies thereunto in their hearts by wicked works. So here, by their own confession, baptism with water is without the Spirit. Wherefore we may far safer conclude, that the baptism of the Spirit, which is that of Christ, is and may be without that of water ; as appears in that of Acts, xi. where Peter testifies of these men, that they were baptized with the Spirit, though then not baptized with water. And indeed the controversy in this, as in most other things, stands betwixt us and our opposers, in that they often- times prefer the form and shadow to the power and 398 OF BAPTISM. PROP. XII. substance ; by denominating persons as inheritors and possessors of the thing, from their having the form and shadow, though really wanting the power and substance ; and not admitting those to be so denomi- nated, who have the power and substance, if they want the form and shadow. This appears evidently, in that they account those truly baptized with the one baptism of Christ, who are not baptized with the Spirit (which in scripture is particularly called the baptism of Christ) if they be only baptized with water, which themselves yet confess to be but the sha- The bap- dow or figurc. And moreover, in that they account sprJit" nfed- ^0^ those who are surely baptized with the baptism of eih no the Spirit baptized, neither will they have them so nr"!pp?n| denominated, unless they be also sprinkled with, or ill water, dipped iu, water : but we, on the contrary, do always prefer the power to the form, the substance to the shadow ; and where the substance and power is, we doubt not to denominate the person accordingly, thousrh the form be wanting:. And therefore we al- ways seek first, and plead for the substance and power, as knowing that to be indispensably necessary, though the form sometimes may be dispensed with, and the figure or type may cease, when the substance and antitype come to be enjoyed, as it doth in this case, which shall hereafter be made appear. PR. IV. §. IV. Fourthly, that the one baptism of Christ is not a washing with water, appears from 1 Pet. iii. 21 : •Or. as it The like Jiguve* ivhereinito, even baptism^ doth also traTJuted, ^^^^ ^^^^ ^^ ' ^^^^ ^^^^ putting uwaif of the filth of the wjuist mo- flesh, but tlie answer of a good conscience towards God, doe$lLT' ^y the resurrection of Jesus Christ. So plain a defi- noiTMreiu. nition of baptism is not in all the Bible; and there- LuefTni" ^*^^^» seeing it so plain, it may well be preferred to all tion of the the coined definitions of the schoolmen. The a[X)stle arriitTn^aii ^^^^^ US first ucgativcly what it is not, viz. AW a put- the Bible, ting away of the filth of the flesh : then surely it is not a washing with water, since that is so. Secondly, Jie tells us affirmatively what it is, viz. The oiswer of OF BAPTISM. 399 ; a good conscience towards God, by the resurrection of Jesus Christ ; where he affirmatively defines it to be the answer (or confession, as the Syriac version hath it), of a good conscience. Now this answer cannot ' | be but where the Spirit of God hath purified the soul, j and the fire of his judgments hath burned up the unrighteous nature ; and those in whom this work is '\ wrought may be truly said to be baptized with the ^ baptism of Christy i. e. of the Spirit and of fire. Whatever way then we take this definition of the apostle of Christ's baptism, it confirmeth our sentence : "\ for if we take the first or negative part, viz. That it is \ not a putting awaij of the filth of thefiesh, then it will follow that water baptism is not it, because that is a w^ater bap- ■ putting away of the filth of the flesh. If we take the 1,'yJ'fro''^*,,^ ; second and affirmative definition, to wit. That it is bactism of the answer or confession of a good conscience, Sec. then ^^'"'*** water baptism is not it ; since, as our adversaries will j not deny, water baptism doth not always imply it, 1 neither is it any necessary consequence thereofl More- \ over, the apostle in this place doth seem especially to \ guard against those that might esteem water baptism \ the true baptism of Christ ; because (lest by the com- parison induced by him in the preceding verse, be- \ twixt the souls that were saved in Noah's ark, and us i that are now saved by baptism ; lest, I say, any should i have thence hastily concluded, that because the former ! were saved by water, this place must needs be taken to speak of water baptism), to prevent such a mistake, • j he plainly affirms, that it is not that, but another ^ thing. He saith not that it is the water, or the put- ^ ting away of the filth of the flesh, as accompanied with \ the answer of a good conscience, whereof the one, viz. i water, is the sacramental element, administered by the - \ minister; and the other, the grace or thing signified, j conferred by Christ ; but plainly. That it is not the '1 putting away, &c. than which there can be nothing ' \ more manifest to men unprejudicate and judicious. \ 'Moreover Peter calls this here which saves avrirvTrov, ' 400 OF BAPTISM. PROP. XII. the antitype, or the thing figured ; whereas it is usually translated, as if the like figure did now save us ; thereby insinuating that as they were saved by water in the ark, so are we now by water baptism. But this interpretation crosseth his sense, he presently after declaring the contraiy, as hath above been ob- served ; and likewise it would contradict the opinion The Protes- of all our opposcrs. For Protestants deny it to be ing wate7 absolutely necessary to salvation ; and though Papists bapUsm its say, none are saved without it, yet in this they admit cenlry^to* an exception, as of martyrs, &c. and they will not say men's »aiva- that all that havc it are saved by water baptism ; which iiiouih the they ought to say, if they will understand by baptism Papists saj (by which the apostle saith we are saved), water bap- none can be \ "^ t« • l l. xi* 1, j.* saved with-tism. ror seeing we are saved by this baptism, as out it, jet jjj those that were in the ark were saved by Water, it ceptioDs. would then follow, that all those that have this bap- tism are saved by it. Now this consequence would be false, if it were understood of water baptism ; be- cause many, by the confession of all, are baptized with water that are not saved ; but this consequence holds most true, if it be understood, as we do, of the baptism of the Spirit; since none can have this answer of a good conscience, and, abiding in it, not be saved by it. PR. V. Fifthly, That the one baptism of Christ is not a washing with water, as it hath been proved by the Theeflects dcfinitiou of the one baptism, so it is also manifest 'be ba7)li»m ^^^"^ the ucccssary fruits and effects of it, which are of Christ, three times particularly expressed by the apostle Paul ; as first, Rom. vi. 3, 4, where he saith. That so many of them as were baptized into Jesus Christ, were bap- tized into his death, buried with him by baptism into death, that they should walk in Jiewness of life. Se- condly, to the Galatians, iii. 27, he saith positively, For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ, And thirdly, to the Colossians, ii. 12, he saith, That they were buried with him in baptism, and risen with him through the faith of the OF BAPTISM. 401 operation of God. It is to be observed here, that the \ apostle speaks generally, without any exclusive term, but comprehensive of all. He saith not, some of you : that were baptized into Christ, have put on Christ, but as many of you ; which is as much as if he had i said, Every one of you that hath been baptized into i Christ, hath put on Christ. Whereby it is evident which ef- \ that this is not meant of water baptism, but of the {fa'^^Vm*^*' ^ baptism of the Spirit ; because else it would follow, wants. , that whosoever had been baptized with water baptism j had put on Christ, and were risen with him, which all acknowledge to be most absurd. Now supposing i all the visible members of the churches of Rome, Ga- latia, and Colosse had been outwardly baptized with \ water (I do not say they were, but our adversaries \ will not only readily grant it, but also contend for it), suppose, I say, the case so, they will not say they had all put on Christ, since divers expressions in these i epistles to them show the contrary. So that the \ apostle cannot mean baptism with water ; and yet i that he meaneth the baptism of Christ, i. e. of the \ Spirit, cannot be denied ; or that the baptism where- with these were baptized (of whom the apostle here testifies that they had put on Christ), was the one i baptism, I think none will call in question. Now I admit, as our adversaries contend, that many in these ,< churches who had been baptized with water had not put on Christ, it will follow, that notwithstanding that water baptism, they were not baptized into Christ, \ or with the baptism of Christ, seeing as many of them I that weix baptized mio Christ, had put on Christ, See. \ From all which I thus argue : If the baptism with water were the one bajjtism, ^^o^\. | i. e. the baptism of Christ, as many as were baptized \ with tvater would have put on Christ : \ But the last is false, j Therefore also the first. j And again : 4 Since as many as are baptized into Christ, i. e. with aro. 2. D D I 402 OF BAPTISM. PROP. XII. the one baptism^ which is the baptism of Christ, have put on Christ, then water baptism is not the one bap- tism, viz. the baptism of Christ, But the first is true, Therefore also the last. Pro. III. §. V. Thirdly, Since Johns baptism was a figure, Proved. Qjj^ seeing the figure gives way to the substance, al- though the thing figured remain, to wit, the one bap- tism of Christ, yet the other ceaseth, which was the baptism of John, I. That John's baptism was a figure of Christ^s bap- john'8 bap- \\sm, I judge will not readily be denied ; but in case figure of it should, it can easily be proved from the nature of Christ's, j^ John's baptism was a being baptized with water, but Christ's is a baptizing with the Spirit ; therefore John s baptism must have been a figure of Christ's. But further, that water baptism was John's baptism, will not be denied : that water baptism is not Christ's baptism, is already proved. From which doth arise the confirmation of our proposition thus : There is no baptism to continue now, but the one baptism of Christ. Therefore water baptism is not to continue now, because it is not the one baptism of Christ, ir. That John's baptism is ceased, many of our adver- john's bap- saries confess ; but if any should allege it is otherwise, ceased onr it may bc casily proved by the express words of John, Sew" ^^^ ^^y ^ being insinuated there, where he contra- distinguisheth his baptism from that of Christ, but particularly where he saith, John, iii. 30 : He [Christ] must increase, but I [John] inust decrease. From whence it clearly follows, that the increasing or taking place of Christ's baptism is the decreasing or abolish- ing of John's baptism ; so that if water baptism wad a particular part of John's ministry, and is no part of Christ's baptism, as we have already proved, it will necessarily follow that it is not to continue. aro. Secondly, If water baptism had been to continue a perpetual ordinance of Christ in his church, he would OF BAPTISM. 403 either have practised it himself, or commanded his apos- tles so to do. But that he practised it not, the scripture plainly affirms, John, iv. 2. And that he commanded his disciples to baptize with water, I could never yet read. As for what is alleged, that, Matt, xxviii. 19, &c. where he bids them baptize, is to be understood of water baptism, that is but to beg the question, and the grounds for that shall be hereafter examined. 7 her ef ore to baptize with water is no perpetual ordinance of Chinst to his church. This hath had the more weight with me, because I find not any standing ordinance or appointment of Christ necessary to Christians, for which we have not either Christ's own practice or command ; as to obey all the commandments, which comprehend both our duty towards God and man, &c. and where the gospel requires more than the law, which is abundantly sig- nified in the 5th and 6th chapters of Matthew, and elsewhere. Besides, as to the duties of worship, he exhorts us to meet, promising his presence : commands to pray, preach, watch, &c. and gives precepts con- cerning some temporary things, as the washing of one another's feet, the breaking of bread, hereafter to be discussed ; only for this one thing of baptizing with water, though so earnestly contended for, we find not any precept of Christ. §. VI. But to make water baptism a necessary in- in. stitution of the Christian relig-ion, which is pure and '^''f sosp^' spiritual, and not carnal and ceremonial, is to derogate to camai from the new covenant dispensation, and set up the of<*'"»"*="' legal rites and ceremonies, of which this of baptism, or washing with water, was one, as appears from Heb. ix. 10, where the apostle speaking thereof saith, that it stood only in meats and drinks, and divers baptisms, and carnal ordinances, imposed until the time of refor- mation. If then the time of reformation, or the dis- pensation of the gospel, which puts an end to the shadows, be come, then such baptisms and carnal D d2 OflJKCT. 1. Answ. Object. 2. Answ. Men are no more now thtn before by water baptism ia- wtrdly cleansed. 404 OF BAPTISM. PROP. XII. ordinances are no more to be imposed. For how baptism with water comes now to be a spiritual ordi- nance, more than before in the time of the law, doth not appear, seeing it is but water still, and a washing of the outward man, and a putting away of the filth of the flesh still : and, as before, those that were so washed were not thereby made perfect, as pertaining to the conscience, neither are they at this day, as our adversaries must needs acknowledge, and experience abundantly showeth. So that the matter of it, which is a washing with water, and the effect of it, which is only an outward cleansing, being still the same, how comes water baptism to be less a carnal ordinance now than before? If it be said. That God cmifers i7iward gi^ace upon some that are now baptized ; So no doubt he did also upon some that used those baptisms among the Jews. Or if it be said, Because it is commanded by Christ, note, under the 7iew covenant ; I answer, First, That is to beg the question; of which hereafter. But Secondly, We find that where the matter of ordinances is the same, and the end the same, they are never accounted more or less spiritual, because of their different times. Now was not God the author of the purifications and baptisms under the law ? Was not water the matter of them, which is so now ? Was not the end of them to signify an inward purifying by an outward washing ? And is not that alleged to be the end still? And are the necessary effects or consequences of it any better now than before, since men are now by the virtue of water baptism, as a necessary consequence of it, no more than before made inwardly clean? And if some by God's grace that are baptized with water are inwardly purified, so were some also under the law ; so that this is not any necessary consequence or effect, neither of this nor that baptism. It is then plainly repugnant to right OF BAPTISM. 405 reason, as well as to the scripture testimony, to affirm that to be a spiritual ordinance now, which was a carnal ordinance before, if it be still the same, both as to its author, matter, and end, however made to vary in some small circumstances. The spirituality of the new covenant, and of its worship established by Christ, consisted not in such superficial alterations of circumstances, but after another manner. There- fore let our adversaries show us, if they can, without begging the question, and building upon some one or other of their own principles denied by us, where Christ ever appointed or ordained any institution or observation under the new covenant, as belonging to the nature of it, or such a necessary part of its wor- ship, as is perpetually to continue ; which being one in substance and effects (I speak of necessary, not accidental effects), yet, because of some small differ- ence in form or circumstance, was before carnal, not- withstanding it was commanded by God under the law, but now is become spiritual, because commanded by Christ under the gospel ? And if they cannot do this, then if water baptism was once a carnal ordi- nance, as the apostle positively affirms it to have been, it remains a carnal ordinance still; and if a carnal ordinance, then no necessary part of the gospel or new covenant dispensation ; and if no necessary part of it, then not needful to continue, nor to be practised by such as live and walk under this dispensation. But in this, as in most other things, according as we have often observed, our adversaries judaize, and re- nouncing the glorious and spiritual privileges of the new covenant, are sticking in and cleaving to the rudiments of the old, both in doctrine and worship, as being: more suited and ag^reeable to their carnal apprehensions and natural senses. But we, on the contrary, travail above all to lay hold upon and cleave unto the light of the glorious gospel revealed unto us. And the harmony of the truth we profess in this may The Uw tappear, by briefly observing how in all things we fol- ^jf f^'j^J^ gospel. 406 OF BAPTISM. PROP. XII. low tlie spiritual gospel of Christ, as contradistin- guished from the carnality of the legal dispensation ; while our adversaries, through rejecting this gospel, are still labouring under the burden of the law, which neither they nor their fathers were able to bear. The ooi- For the law and imle of the old covenant and Jews iTtm**wo^- ^^^ outward, written in tables of stone afid parch- •hip,' law. ?nent ; so also is that of our adversaries. But the ed from the ^^^' of the 7i€w covcnufit is Inwaj^d and perpetual, writ- inward. tcH in thc hcttrt ; so is ours. The worship of the Jews was outward and carnal, limited to set times, places, and persons, and perfo7ined according to set prescribed forms and observations; so is that of our adversaries. But the worship of the new covcjiant is neither limited to time, place, nor per- son, but is perfortned in the Spirit and in truth ; and it is not acted according to set forms and p rescript iofis, but as the Spirit of God immediately actuates, moves, and leads, whether it be to preach, pray, or sing; and such is also our worship. So likewise the baptism among the Jews under the law was an outward washing with outward water, only to typify an inward purification of the soul, which did not fiecessarily follow upon those that were thus bap- tized ; but the baptism of Christ under the gospel is the baptism of the Spirit and of fire ; 7iot the putting away of the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience towards God ; and such is the baptism that we labour to be baptized withal, and contend for. Arc. §. VII. But again. If water baptism had been an ordinance of the gospel, then the apostle Paul would have been sent to administer it; but he declares posi- tively, 1 Cor. i. 1 7, That Christ sent him not to bap- tize, but to preach the gospel. The reason of that IV. consequence is undeniable, because the apostle Paul's bapu.m' u^ commission was as large as that of any of them ; and no badge of conscquctttly he being in special manner the apostle Hkedrcum- ^f ChHst to the Gcutiles, if water baptism, as our ei»ioaofihe advcrsarics contend, be to be accounted the badge of Jew», ^ OF BAPTISM. 407 ( Christianity, he had more need than any of the rest to be sent to baptize with water, that he might mark the Gentiles converted by him with that Christian j sign. But indeed the reason holds better thus, that \ since Paul was the apostle of the Gentiles, and that 1 in his ministry he doth through all (as by his epistles . \ appears) labour to wean them from the former Jewish j ceremonies and observations (though in so doing he \ was sometimes undeservedly judged by others of his I brethren, who were unwilling to lay aside those cere- .; monies), therefore his commission, though as full as i to the preaching of the gospel and new covenant dis- ' pensation as that of the other apostles, did not require .\ of him that he should lead those converts into such ' Jewish observations and baptisms, however that prac- I tice was indulged in and practised by the other apos- i ties among their Jewish proselytes, for which cause i Cor. i. i-i. ] he thanks God that he had baptized so few : intimat- \ ing that what he did therein he did not by virtue of Paui was i his apostolic commission, but rather in condescension "°\':^"* •« ] 1. ' 1 • 1 . baptize. i to their weakness, even as at another time he circum- cised Timothy. j Our adversaries, to evade the truth of this testi- object, i. ; mony, usually allege, That by this is only to be un- j det^stood, thai he ivas not sent principally to baptize, \ not that he was 7iot sent at all. \ But this exposition, since it contradicts the positive answ. ^ ! words of the text, and has no better foundation than 1 the affirmation of its assertors, is justly rejected as I spurious, until they bring some better proof for it. He j saith not, / was not sent principally to baptize, but / I was not sent to baptize. ■] As for what they urge, by way of confirmation, confir. from other places of scripture, where [not] is to be so ■ taken, as where it is said, I will have mercy and not Mait.ix.is.^ i sacrifice, which is to be understood that God requires **"''• ""* ^- ■ principally mercy, not excluding sacrifice : I I say this place is abundantly explained by the fbl- RErux. l lowing words [a?2d the knowledge of God more than ] 408 OF BAPTISM. VROP. XII. burnt offerings;'] by which it clearly appears tliat burnt ofterings, which are one with sacrifices, are not excluded ; but there is no such word added in that of Paul, and therefore the parity is not demonstrated to be alike, and consequently the instance not sufficient, unless they can prove that it ought to be so admitted here ; else we might interpret by the same rule all other places of scripture the same way, as where the apostle saith, 1 Cor. ii. 5: That your faith might not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God, it might be understood, it shall not stand principally so. How might the gospel by this liberty of inter- pretation be perverted ? Object. 2. If it be said, That the abuse of this baptism among the Corinthians, in dividing themselves according to the persofis by whom they were baptized, nuide the apostle speak so ; but that the abuse of a thing doth not abolish it ; A NSW. I answer. It is true, it doth not, provided the thing be lawful and necessary :• and that no doubt the abuse abovesaid gave the apostle occasion so to write. But let it from this be considered how the apostle excludes baptizing, not preaching, though the abuse [mark] proceeded from that, no less than from the other. For these Corinthians did denominate themselves from those different persons by whose preaching (as well as from those by whom they were baptized), they were converted, as by the 4th, 5th, 6th, 7th, and 8th verses Thtt of chap. iii. may appear : and yet to remove that r/nund- abuse the apostle doth not say he was not sent to ingordi- preach, nor yet doth he rejoice that he had only norto be preached to a few; because preaching, being a stand- forborne. ing ordinance in the church, is not, because of any abuse that the devil may tempt any to make of it, to be forborne by such as are called to perform it by the Spirit of God : wherefore the apostle accordingly, chap. iii. 8, 9, informs them, as to that, how to re- move that abuse. But as to water baptism, for that it was no standing ordinance of Christ, but only prac- OF BAPTISM. 409 tised as in condescension to the Jews, and by some apostles to some Gentiles also, therefore, so soon as the apostle perceived the abuse of it, he let the Co- rinthians understand how little stress was to be laid upon it, by showing them that he was glad that he had administered this ceremony to so few of them ; and by telling them plainly that it was no part of his commission, neither that which he was sent to admi- nister. Some ask us. How we know that baptizing here z^qderv. meant of water, and not of the Spirit ; which if it be, then it will exclude the baptism of the Spirit, as well as of water. I answer. Such as ask the question, I suppose, answ. speak it not as doubting that this was said of water baptism, which is more than manifest. For since the That which apostle Paul's message was, to turn people from dark- ch"rirusiie ness to light, and convert them to God; and that as baptism of many as are thus turned and converted (so as to have ^^^ ^'^'"'* the answer of a good conscience towards God, and to have put on Christ, and be risen with him in newness of life), are baptized with the baptism of the Spirit. But who will say that only those few mentioned there to be baptized by Paul were come to this ? Or that to turn or bring them to this condition was not, even ad- mitting our adversaries' interpretation, as principal a part of Paul's ministry as any other ? Since then our adversaries do take this place for water baptism, as indeed it is, we may lawfully, taking it so also, urge it upon them. Why the word baptism and baptizing is used by the apostle, where that of water and not of the Spirit is only understood, shall hereafter be spoken to. I come now to consider the reasons alleged for part ii. such as plead for water baptism, which are also the objections used against the discontinuance of it. §. VIII. First, Some object. That Christ, who had object, i. the Spirit above measure, ivas notivithstanding baptized •'o^''''''-^'*- with water. As Nic. Arnoldus against this Thesis, Sect. 46, of his Theological Exercitation. 410 OF BAPTlSxM. PROP. XII. An8w. I answer, So was he also circumcised : it will not follow from thence that circumcision is to continue : Wb^chrisifor it behoved Christ to fulfil all righteousness, not iiMd*b'* ®^^y *^^ ministry of John, but the law also, therefore John. did he observe the Jewish feasts and rites, and keep the passover. It will not thence follow that Chris- tians ought to do so now; and therefore Christ, Matt, iii. 15, gives John this reason of his being baptized, desiring him to suffa^ it to be so now ; whereby he sufficiently intimates that he intended not thereby to perpetuate it as an ordinance to his disciples. Object. 2. Secondly, They object. Matt, xxviii. 19 : Go ye therefore and teach all iiations, baptizing them in the name of the Father^ and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. ANiw. This is the great objection, and upon which they build the whole superstructure ; whereunto the first and general sound answer is, by granting the whole; What bap- but putting them to prove that water here is meant, *""^'"'"* since the text is silent of it. And thousrh in reason doth mean . „ . » in Matt, it DC suihcient upou our part that we concede the »*▼"'• whole expressed in the place, but deny that it is by water, which is an addition to the text, yet I shall premise some reasons why we do so, and then consi- der the reasons alleged by those that will have water to be here understood. Arc. 1. The first is a maxim yielded to by all. That ive ought not to go from the literal sigiiification of the text, except some urgent necessity force us thereunto. But no urgent necessity in this place forceth us thereunto : Therefore we ought not to go from it. Arc. 2. Secondly, That baptism which Christ commanded his apostles was the one baptism, id est, his own ba[> tism : But the one baptism, which is Christ's baptism, is not with water, as we have already proved : Therefore the baptism commanded by Christ to his apostles was not water baptism. OF BAPTISM. 411 Thirdly, That baptism which Christ commanded arg. 3. his apostles was such, that as many as were therewith baptized, did put on Christ : But this is not true of water baptism ; Therefore, &c. Fourthly, The baptism commanded by Christ to arg. 4. his apostles was not John's baptism : But baptism with water was John's baptism : Therefore, &c. But First, They allege. That Chrisfs baptism, alle. i. though a baptism with water, did differ from Johns, because John only baptized with water unto repent- ance, but Christ commands his disciples to baptize in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost; ixckon- i7ig that in this form there lieth a great difference be- twijct the baptism of John and that of Christ. I answer. In that John's baptism was unto repent- ance, the difference lieth not there, because so is Christ's also ; yea, our adversaries will not deny but' that adult persons that are to be baptized ought, ere they are admitted to water baptism, to repent, and confess their sins : and that infants also, with a re- spect to and consideration of their baptism, ought to repent and confess ; so that the difference lieth not here, since this of repentance and confession agrees as well to Christ's as to John's baptism. But in this our adversaries are divided ; for Calvin will havfe Christ's and John's to be all one, Inst. lib. 4, cap. 15, sect. 7, 8, yet they do differ, and the difference is, that the one is by water, the other not, &c. Secondly, As to what Christ saith, in commanding them to baptize in the name of the Father, Son, and Spirit, I confess that states the difference, and it is great ; but that lies not only in admitting water bap- tism in this different form, by a bare expressing of these words : for as the text says no such thing, nei- ther do I see how it can be inferred from it. For the oniiename Greek is hq to ovo^a, that is, ijito the name : now the ^ow laktn** name of the Lord is often taken in scripture for some- in scripture. Tbe bap- tism into tbe name, what it is. Whether Christ did prescribe a form of baptism io Matt. 412 OF BAPTISM. PROP. Xll. thing else than a bare sound of words, or literal ex- pression, even for his virtue and power, as may ap- pear from Psal. liv. 3 ; Cant. i. 3 ; Prov. xviii. 10; and in many more. Now that the apostles were by their ministry to baptize the nations i)ito this name, virtue, and power, and that they did so, is evident by these testimonies of Paul above mentioned, where he saith. That as many of them as were baptized into Christ, have put on Christ ; this must have been a baptizing into the name, i. e. power and virtue, and not a mere formal expression of words adjoining with water bap- tism ; because, as hath been above observed, it doth not follow as a natural or necessary consequence of it. I would have those who desire to have their faith built upon no other foundation than the testimony of God's Spirit, and scriptures of truth, thoroughly to consider whether there can be any thing further al- leged for this interpretation than what the prejudice of education and influence of tradition hath imposed. Perhaps it may stumble the unwary and inconside- rate reader, as if the very character of Christianity were abolished, to tell him plainly that this scripture is not to be understood of baptizing with water, and that this form oi baptizing in the name of the Father, Son, and Spirit hath no warrant from Matt, xxviii. &c. For which, besides the reason taken from the sig- nification of [the name] as being the virtue and power above expressed, let it be considered, that if it had been a form prescribed by Christ to his apostles, then surely they would have made use of that form in the administering of water baptism to such as they ba|>- tized with water; but though particular mention be made, in divers places of the Acts, who were baptized, and how ; and though it be particularly expressed that they baptized such and such, as Acts, ii. 41; and viii. 12, 13, 38; and ix. 18; and x. 48; and xvi. 15 ; and xviii. 8 ; yet there is not a word of this form. And in two places, Acts, viii. IG, and xix. 5, it is said of some that they were baptized in the name OF BAPTISM. 413 of the Lord Jesus ; by which it yet more appears, that either the author of this history hath been very defective, who having so often occasion to mention this, yet omitteth so substantial a part of baptism (which were to accuse the Holy Ghost, by whose guidance Luke wrote it), or else that the apostles did no ways understand that Christ by his commission, Matt, xxviii. did enjoin them such a form of water baptism, seeing they did not use it. And therefore it is safer to conclude, that what they did in adminis- tering water baptism, they did not by virtue of that commission, else they would have so used it ; for our adversaries, I suppose, would judge it a great heresy to administer water baptism without that, or only in the name of Jesus, without mention of Father or Spirit, as it is expressly said they did, in the two places above cited. Secondly, They say. If this were not understood of alle. 2. ivater baptisniy it would be a tautology, and all one with teaching. I say. Nay : Baptizing with the Spirit is some- answ. what further than teaching, or informing the under- standing ; for it imports a reaching to, and melting How teacb- the heart, whereby it is turned, as well as the under- ijfin"dirt'l^ standing informed. Besides, we find often in the scripture, that teaching and instructing are put toge- ther, without any absurdity, or needless tautology; and yet these two have a greater affinity than teach- ing and baptizing with the Spirit. Thirdly, They say. Baptism in this place must be allk. 3. understood with water, because it is the action of the apostles ; and so cannot be the baptism of the Spirit, which is the work of Christ, and his grace; not of man, &c. I answer; Baptism with' the Spirit, though not answ. wrought without Christ and his grace, is instrumen- '^^^^^^^ tally done by men fitted of God for that purpose ; and the Spirit therefore no absurdity follows, that baptism with the godi'y men" Spirit should be expressed as the action of the apos- as instra- 414 OP BAPTISM. PROP. XI I. ties. For though it be Christ by bis grace that gives spiritual gifts, yet the apostle, Rom. i. 11, speaks of HIS imparting to them spiritual gifts ; and he tells the Corinthians, that he had begotten them through the gospet^ 1 Cor. iv. 15. And yet to beget people to the faith is the work of Christ and his grace, not of men. To convert the heart is properly the work of Christ; and yet the scripture oftentimes ascribes it to men, as being the instruments : and since Paul's commission was, To turn people from darkness to light (though that be not done without Christ coope- rating by his grace), so may also baptizing with the Spirit be expressed, as performable by man as the instrument, though the work of Christ's grace be needful to concur thereunto. So that it is no absur- dity to say, that the apostles did administer the bap- tism of the Spirit. AiLE. 4. Lastly, They say, That since Christ saith here, that he will be with his disciples to the end of the world, therefore water baptism must continue so long. answ. If he had been speaking here of water baptism, then that might have been urged ; but seeing that is denied, and proved to be false, nothing from thence can be gathered ; he speaking of the baptism of the Spirit, which we freely confess doth remain to the end of the world : yea, so long as Christ's presence abideth with his children. Object. 3. §. IX. Thirdly, They object the constant practice of the apostles in the prif?iitive church, who, they say, did always administer water baptism to such as they converted to the faith of Christ ; and hence also they further u?ge that of Matt, xxviii. to have been jueant of water : or else the apostles did 7iot understand it, because in baptizing they used water; or that in so doiyig they walked ivithout a commission, Ai«w. I answer ; That it was the constant practice of the apostles is denied ; for we have shown, in the exam- ple of Paul, that it was not so ; since it were most absurd to judge that he converted only those few, OF BAPTISM. 415 \ even of the cliurcli of Corinth, whom he saith he bap- . ;- tized ; nor were it kss absurd to think that that was a constant apostolic practice, which he, who was not j inferior to the chiefest of the apostles, and who de- ^ clares he laboured as much as they all, rejoiceth he \ was so little in. But further ; the conclusion inferred How tie I from the apostles' practice of baptizing with water, to ba"tilea ^ evince that they understood Matt, xxviii. of water ' baptism, doth not hold : for though they baptized j with water, it will not follow that either they did it I by virtue of that commission, or that they mistook j that place ; nor can there be any medium brought, that will infer such a conclusion. As to the other : insinuated absurdity. That thti/ did it without a com- \ mission ; it is none at all : for they might have done ; it by a permission, as being in use before Chrisf s \ death ; and because the people, nursed up with out- ,| ward ceremonies, could not be weaned wholly from ] them. And thus they used other things, as circum- j cision and legal purifications, which yet they had no commission from Christ to do : to which we shall \ speak more at length in the following Proposition , ' concerning the Supper. \ But if from the sameness of the word, because object. Christ bids them baptize, and they afterwards in the { use of water are said to baptize, it be judged probable I that they did understand that commission^ Matt, xxviii. j to authorize them to baptize with water, and accord- t ingly practised it ; \ Although it should be granted, that for a season answ. \ they did so far mistake it, as to judge that water be- i longed to that baptism (which however I find no ne- i cessity of granting), yet I see not any great absurdity ; would thence follow. For it is plain they did mistake \ that commission, as to a main.part of it, for a season ; | as where he bids them. Go, teach all nations ; since ] some time after they judged it unlawful to teach the \ GeMiles ; yea, Peter himself scrupled it, until by a The apos- i vision constrained thereunto ; for which, after he had ^'j^^'ipie the I 41G OF BAPTISM. PROP. XII. leaching the (lonc it, he was for a season (until they were better G«Btu«». informed), judged by the rest of his brethren. Now, if the education of the apostles as Jews, and their propensity to adhere and stick to the Jewish religion, did so far influence them, that even after Christ's resurrection, and the pouring forth of the Spirit, they could not receive nor admit of the teaching of the Gentiles, though Christ, in his commission to them, commanded them to preach to them; what further absurdity were it to suppose, that, through the like mistake, the chiefest of them having been the disci- ples of John, and his baptism being so much prized there among the Jews, they also took Christ's bap- tism, intended by him of the Spirit, to be that of water, which was John's, and accordingly practised it for a season ? It suffices us, that if they were so mistaken (though I say not that they were so), they did not always remain under that mistake : else Peter would not have said of the baptism which now saves. That it is not a putting away of thejilth of the flesh, which certainly water baptism is. But further. They urge much Peter's baptizing Cornelius ; in which they press two things. First, That water baptism is used, even to those that had re- ceived the Spirit, Secondly, That it is said positively, he commanded them to be baptized, Acts, x. 47, 48. But neither of these doth necessarily infer water baptism to belong to the new covenant dispensation, nor yet to be a perpetual standing ordinance in the Whether church. For first, all that this will amount to was, Petersbap- ^]^^^ Petcr at that time baptized these men ; but that tisiog some , ti«i • n \ •• n/r with water hc did it by Virtue ot that commission, Matt, xxviii. "■^JV*'^_ remains yet to be proved. And how doth the bap- dinanceto tiziug with watcr, after the receiving of the Holy the church. QjjQst^ provc the case, more than the use of circumci- sion, and other legal rites, acknowledged to have been performed by him afterwards? Also, it is no wonder if Peter, who thought it so strange (notwitlistanding all that had been professed before, and spoken by OF BAPTISM. 417 Christ) that the Gentiles should be made partakers of the gospel, and with great difficulty, not without an extraordinary impulse thereunto, was brought to come to them, and eat with them, was apt to put this cere- mony upon them ; which being, as it were, the par- ticular dispensation of John, the forerunner of Christ, seeming to have greater affinity with the gospel, than the other Jewish ceremonies then used by the church ; but that will no ways infer our adversaries' conclusion. Secondly, As to these words. And he commanded them to he baptized; it declareth matter of fact, not of right, and amounteth to no more than that Peter did at that time, pro hie et nunc, command those persons to be baptized with water, which is not denied : but it saith nothing that Peter commanded water baptism to be a standing and perpetual ordinance to the church ; neither can any man of sound reason say, if he heed what he says, that a command in matter of fact to particular persons, doth infer the thing commanded to be of general obligation to all, if it be not other- wise bottomed upon some positive precept. Why doth Peter's commanding Cornelius and his house- hold to be baptized at that time infer water baptism to continue, more than his constraining (which is more than commanding) the Gentiles in general to be circumcised, and observe the law ? We find at that time, when Peter baptized Cornelius, it was not yet determined whether the Gentiles should not be cir- cumcised; but on the contrary, it was the most general sense of the church that they should : and therefore no wonder if they thought it needful at that time that they should be baptized ; which had more affinity with the gospel, and was a burden less grievous. §. X. Fourthly, They object /row the signijication object. of the word [baptize] ichich is as much as to dip and wash with water ; allegiiig thence, that the very word imports a heiyig baptized with water. This objection is very weak. For since baptizing Answ. with water was a rite among the Jews, as Paulus E E 418 OF BAPTISM. PROP. XII. Baptizing Riccius sboweth, even before the coming of John ; dlMbVor ^^^ ^^^* ^^^ ceremony received that name from the wMhing nature of the practice, as used both by the Jews and Willi waier. ^^ j^j^^ . ^^^ ^^ g^^ ^l^^^ Chrlst and his apostles frequently make use of these terms to a more spiritual signification. Circumcision was only used and under- stood among the Jews to be that of thejlesh ; but the apostle tells us of the circumcision of the heart arid spirit made without hands. So that though baptism was used among the Jews only to signify a washing with water, yet both John, Christ, and his apostles, speak of a being baptized with the Spirit, and with fire ; which they make the peculiar baptism of Christ, as contradistinguished from that of water, which was John's, as is above shown. So that though baptism among the Jews was only understood of water, yet among Christians it is very well understood of the Spirit without water : as we see Christ and his apostles spiritually to understand things, under the terms of what had been shadows before. Thus Christ, speaking of his body (though the Jews mistook him), said. Des- troy this temple, and in th?xe days I will raise it up ; and many more that might be instanced. But if the etymology of the word should be tenaciously adhered to, it would militate against most of our adversaries, Ba7rn;'« as wcll as against us : for the Greek Bottti^w signifies l^tbgorto i^nmergo, that is, to plunge and dip in ; and that was pianRe aod the propcr use of water baptism among the Jews, and '^ '"' also by John, and the primitive Christians, who used it ; whereas our adversaries, for the most part, only sprinkle a little water upon the forehead, which doth Those that uot at all auswcr to the word [baptism]. Yea, those Jlfatltbr^ of old among Christians that used water baptism, tismwere thought this dipping or plunging so needful, that piSngedT^ they thus dipped children : and forasmuch as it was and tbow judged that it might prove hurtful to some weak con- Id*j Tp'rlnk- stitutions, sprinkling, to prevent tliat hurt, was intro- led, were duccd ; yct thcu it was likewise appointed, tliat such ie°d to M j as were only sprinkled, and not dipped, should not be office ia the admitted to have any office in the church, as not being OF BAPTISM. 419 sufficiently baptized. So that if our adversaries will church, and stick to the word, they must alter their method of *'^- sprinkling. Fifthly, They object, John, iii. 5, Except a man he object. 5. horm of water, and of the Spirit, &c. hence inferring the necessity of water baptism, as well as of the Spirit. But if this prove any thing-, it will prove water answ. baptism to be of absolute necessity ; and therefore Protestants rightly affirm, when this is urged upon The water them bv Papists, to evince the absolute necessity of ^''f ^ '■^^^'"'' I'lr H- 1 1 1 rates, is water baptism, that [tvater] is not here understood of mistical outward water; but mystically, of an inward cleans- *"'^"'"*'^'^* ing and washing. Even as where Christ speaks of being baptized with fire, it is not to be understood of outward material fire, but only of purifying, by a metonymy; because to purify is a proper effect of fire, as to wash and make clean is of water; where it can as little be so understood, as where we are said to be saved by the washing of regeneration, Tit. iii. 5. Yea Peter saith expressly, in the place often cited, as Calvin* well observes. That the baptism which saves, ♦rnthe4Ui is not the putting away of tliejilth of the flesh. So ^."tulJs* that since [water] cannot be understood of outward water, this can serve nothing to prove water baptism. If it be said, that [tvater'] imports here necessitatem object. proecepti, though not medii ; I answer ; That is first to take it for granted that answ. outward water is here understood ; the contrary whereof we have already proved. Next, water and the Spirit are placed here together [E.vcept a man be Necessitas born of water and the Spirit] where the necessity of ^1^'*;^^^^^ the one is urged as much as of the other. Now if urged, the Spirit be absolutely necessaiy, so will also water; and then we must either say, that to be born of the Spirit is not absolutely necessary, which all acknow- ledge to be false ; or else, that water is absolutely necessary ; which, as Protestants, we affirm, and have proved, is false : else we must confess, that water is not here understood of outward water. For to say, E e2 420 OF BAPTISM. PROP. XII. that when water and the Spirit are placed here just together, and in the same manner, though there be not any difference or ground for it visible in the text, or deducible from it, That the necessity of water is here prcecepti, but not niedii, but the necessitif of the Spirit is both medii and prcecepti, is indeed confi- dently to affirm, but not to prove. Object. 6. Sixthly and lastly, They object. That the bavtis)n of water is a visible sign or badge to distinguish Chris- tians from Infidels, even as circumcision did the Javs. answ. I answer ; This saith nothing at all, unless it be proved to be a iiecessary precept, or part of the 7iew covenant dispensation ; it not being lawful for us to impose outward ceremonies and rites, and say, they circumci- will distiuguisli us from infidels. Circumcision was ■ion a seal positively commauded, and said to be a seal of the of llie first 1 . J ' , , . ^ . covenant. Jirst covtiittnt ,' but as we have already proved that Water bap- thcrc is uo sucli commaud for baptism, so there is not caTed'^l'"''^ any word in all the New Testament, calling it a badge badi;e of of Christianity, or seal of the nav covenant : and there- ^^ ns lani- ^^^^ ^^ concludc it is so, because circumcision was so (unless some better proof be alleged for it), is misera- which is bly to beg the question. The professing of faith in of cbrtftla- ^li^^^ly ^f^d a holy life answering thereunto, is a far nit^. better badge of Christianity than any outward tcash- ing ; which yet answers not to that of circumcision, since that affixed a character in the flesh, which this doth not: so that a Christian is not known to be a Christian by his being baptized, especially when he Wbat the was a child, unless he tell them so much : and may Fathers sajr ^^^ ^j^^ professingr of fuith in Christ sigiiify that as of water ^r o J n ^ \^ ^ ^ bapUsm, well f 1 know there are divers ot those called the Ihrli oVt*h*e Fathers, that speak much of water baptism, calling cross. it Characterem Christianitatis : but so did they also of the sign of the cross, and other such things, justly Heathenish rejcctcd by Protestants. For the mystery of iniquity, inYrodScid ^^*c^^ began to work in the apostles' days, soon spoiled inioibe the simplicity and purity of the Christian worship;^ wwi'bi" insomuch that not only many Jewish rites were re- OF BAPTISM. 421 tained, but many heathenish customs and ceremonies introduced into the Christian worships as particu- larly that word [sacrament]. So that it is a great folly, especially for Protestants, to plead any thing of this from tradition or antiquity ; for we find that nei- 'ther Papists nor Protestants use those rites exactly as the ancients did ; who in such things, not walking by the most certain rule of God's Spirit, but doting too much upon externals, were very uncertain. For most of them all, in the primitive times, did wholly plunge and dip those they baptized, which neither Papists, nor most Protestants, do : yea, several of the Fathers accused some as heretics in their days, for holding some principles common with Protestants concerning it ; as particularly Augustine doth the Pelagians, for saying that infants dying unbaptized may be saved. And the Manich^es were condemned for denying ^'dX grace is universally given by baptism; and Julian the Pelagian by Augustine, for denying exorcism and insufflation in the use- of baptism : all Exorcism or which things Protestants deny also. So that Protes- a^^J^^^a^'O"- tants do but foolishly to upbraid us, as if we could not show any among the ancients that denied water baptism ; seeing they cannot show any, whom they acknowledge not to have been heretical in several things, that used it ; nor yet, who using it, did not also use the sign of the crvss, and other things with Tbe sign of it, which they deny. There were some nevertheless *^* *''°"* in the darkest times of Popery, who testified against Many in for- water baptism. For one Alanus, page 103, 104, 107, Hl^^H' speaks of some in his time that were burnt for the against wa- denying of it: for they said, That baptism had ;2o »«' baptism. efficacy, either in children or adult persons ; and there- fore men were not obliged to take baptism : particu- larly ten canonics, so called, were burnt for that crime, by the order of king Robert of France. And P. Pi- thseus mentions it in his Fragments of the History of Guienne, which is also confirmed by one Johannes 422 OF BAFnSM. PROP. XII. Floracensis, a monk, who was famous at that time, in his epistle to Oliva, abbot of the Ausonian church : / willy saith he, give you to understajid comer Jiing the Ten cMo- hcres}/ that was in the city of Orleans on Childermas- r! oHeIni ^^^ » /^'' '^ '^^^ ^^^^ ^fy^ ^^^'^^ heard any thing, that •nd vrbj? ' king Robert caused to be burnt alive near fourteen of that city, of the chief of their clergy, and the more noble of their laicks, who were hateful to God and abo- miimble to heaven and earth ; for tlwy did stiffly deny the grace of holy baptism, and also the consecration of the Lords body and blood. The time of this deed is noted in the^e words by Papir. Masson, in his Annals of Fmnce, lib. iii. in Hugh and Robert, Actum Aure- liae publice anno Incamationis Domini 1022. Regni Roberti Regis 28. Indictione 5. quando Stephanus Haeresiarcha et Complices ejus damnati sunt et exusti Aurelise. Now for their calling them Heretics and Manichees, we have nothing but the testimony of their accusers, which will no more invalidate their testimony for this truth against the use of water baptism, or give more ground to charge us, as being one with Manichees, than because some, called by them Manichees, do agree with Protestants in some things, that therefore Protestants are Manichees or Heretics, which Pro- testants can no ways shun. For the question is. Whether, in what they did, they walked according to the truth testified of by the Spirit in the holy scrip- tures ? So that the controversy is brought back again to the scriptures, according to which, I suppose, I have already discussed it. The bap- As for the latter part of the thesis, denying the use fanTs'lf ha- ^^ mfunt buptisM, it necessarily follows from what is mantradi- abovc Said. For if water baptism be ceased, then ''°"* surely baptizing of infants is not warrantable. But those that take upon them to oppose us in this matter will have more to do as to this lattef part : for after they have done what they can to prove water baptism, OF BAPTISM. 423 it remains for them to prove that infants ought to be baptized. For he that proves water baptism ceased, proves that infant baptism is vain : but he that should prove that water baptism continues, has not thence proved that infant baptism is necessary ; that needs something further. And therefore it was a pitiful subterfuge of Nic. Arnoldus against this, to say, That the denying of hifant baptism belonged to the gangrene of the Anabaptists^ without adding any further proof. 1 PROPOSITION XIII. CONCERNING THE COMMUNION, OR PARTICIPATION OF THE BODY AND BLOOD OF CHRIST. '\ The communion of the body and blood of Christ is inward and lCor.x.16, spiritual, which is the participation of his flesh and blood, by ^"^^ . i which the inward man is daily nourished in the hearts of those 30 3!'* \ in whom Christ dwells. Of which things the breaking of {^^^'y g^ 5 bread by Christ with his disciples was a.Jigure, which even j they who had received the substance used in the church for a | time, for the sake of the weak ; even as abstaining from things Acts xv. 20. j strangled, and ^rom blood, the washing one another's feet, and ^^^'^ ^"*' the anointinq of the sick with oil: all which are commanded .' , , \ . X !!• 11 I !/• James T.14» With no less authority and solemnity than the former; yet seeing they are but shadows of better things, they cease in i such as have obtained the substance. 1 §. I. The co7nmnnion of the body and blood of Christ \ is a mystery hid from all natural men, in their first ] fallen and degenerate state, which they cannot under- j stand, reach to, nor comprehend as they there abide ; J neither, as they ihere are, can they be partakers of it, \ nor yet are they able to discern the Lord's body. And .^ forasmuch as the Christian world (so called) for the . ] most part hath been still labouring, working, con- \ ceiving, and imagining in their own natural and unrenewed understandings, about the things of God and religion ; therefore hath this mystery been much hid and sealed up from them, while they have been ; contending, quarrelling and fighting one with ano- 424 OF THE BODY AND PROP. XIII. ther about the mere shadow, outside, and form, but strangers to the substance, life, and virtue. The body §. II. The body then of Christ, which believers *'[^^|'?^°^ partake of, is spiritual, and not carnal; and his hlood^ spirUaai. wliicli they drink of, is pure and heavenly, and not human or elementary, as Augustine also affirms of the body of Christ which is eaten, in his Tractat. Psal. xcviii. E.vcept a man eat my flesh, he hath not in him life eternal : and he saith. The words which I speak unto you are Spirit and life ; mider stand spiritually what I have spoken. Ye shall not eat of this body which ye see, and drink this bbod which they shall spill, which crucify me — / am the living bread, who have descended from heaven. He calls himself the bread, who descended from heaven, exhorting that we might believe in him, &c. Object. If it be asked then. What that body, what that flesh ajul blood is ? answ. I answer ; It is that heavenly seed, that divine, spi- ritual, celestial substance, of which we spake before What the in the Fifth and Sixth Propositions. This is that seedu^ ^ spiritual body of Christ, whereby and through which whereby hc cominunicatcth life to men, and salvation to as ^HDdlul' ^i^^fiy f^s believe in him, and receive him ; and whereby now, life also man comes to have fellowship and communion tionwal and with God. This is provcd from the 6th of John, is communi- from versc 32 to the end, where Christ speaks more at large of this matter than in any other place : and indeed this evangelist and beloved disciple, who lay in the bosom of our Lord, gives us a more full account of the spiritual sayings and doctrine of Christ than any other; and it is observable, that though he speaks nothing of the ceremony used by Christ of breaking bread with his disciples, neither in his evan- gelical account of Christ's life and sufferings, nor in his epistles ; yet he is more large in this account of the participation of the body, flesh, and blood of Christ, than any of them all. For Christ, in this chapter, perceiving that the Jews did follow him foe BLOOD OF CHRIST. 425 love of the loaves, desires them (verse 27) to labour not for the meat which perisheth, hut for that meat which endureth for ever: but forasmuch as they, being carnal in their apprehensions, and not under- standing the spiritual language and doctrine of Christ, did judge the manna, which Moses gave their fathers, to be the most excellent bread, as coming from hea- ven ; Christ, to rectify that mistake, and better inform them, affirmeth. First, That it is not Moses, but his Father, that giveth the true bread from heaven, verse 32 and 48. Secondly, This bread he calls himself, verse 35. / ajji the bread of life : and verse 51, / am the living bread, which came down from heaven. Thirdly, He declares that this bread is his flesh, verse 51. l^he bread that I will give, is my flesh; and verse The origin, ^^. For my flesh is meat indeed, and my blood is drink "S-lc'tt'oT** indeed. Fourthly, The necessity of partaking thereof, the body, verse 53. E.vcept ye eat the flesh of the Son of man, ^xloA^oi and drink his blood, ye have no life in you. And Christ. Lastly, The blessed fruits and necessary effects of this communion of the body and blood of Christ. Verse 33. This bread giveth life to the world. Verse 50: He that eateth thereof, dieth not. Verse 58. He that eat- eth of this bread, shall live for ever. Verse 54. Whoso eateth this flesh, and drinketh this blood, shall live for ever. Verse 56. And he dwelleth in Christ, and Christ in him. Verse 57. And shall live by Christ. From this large description of the origin, nature, and effects of this body, flesh, and blood of Christ, it is apparent that it is spiritual, and to be understood of a spiritual body, and not of that body, or temple of Jesus Christ, which was born of the Virgin Mary, and in which he walked, lived, and suffered in the land of Judea; because it is said, that it came down from heaven, yea, that it is he that came down from heaven. Now all Christians at present generally acknowledge, that the outward body of Christ came not down from heaven ; neither was it that part of Christ which came down from heaven. And to put the matter out of doubt, 426 OF THE BODY ANP PROP. XIII. when the carnal Jews would have been so under- standing it, he tells them plainly, verse 63, It is the Spirit that quickeneth, but the Jlesh prt^teth Jiothing. Solid re«-C This is also founded upon most sound andsolfd rea- fsTis Hpiri- ^^^ J because it is the soul, riot the body, that is to taai body be nourished by this flesh and blood. Now outward •pwiksof. fl^sh cannot nourish nor feed the soul; there is no proportion nor analogy betwixt them ; neither is the communion of the saints with God by a conjunction and mutual participation of flesh, but of the Spirit : 1 Cor. Ti. He that is joined to the Lord is one Spirit, not one ^^' flesh. ) For the flesh (I mean outward flesh, even such as wds that wherein Christ lived and walked when upon earth ; and not flesh, when transformed by a metaphor, to be understood spiritually) can only par- take of flesh, spirit of spirit : as the body cannot feed upon spirit, neither can the spirit feed upon flesh. And that the flesh here spoken of is spiritually to be understood, appears further, inasmuch as that which feedeth upon it shall never die : but the bodies of all men once die ; yea, it was necessary that the body of Christ himself should die. That this body, and spi- ritual flesh and blood of Christ, is to be understood of that divi?ie and heavenly seed, before spoken of by us, appears both by the nature and fruits of it. First, It is said. It is that which cometh down from heaven, and giveth life unto the world: now this answers to that light and seed, which is testified of, John, i. to This spiri- be the light of the tvorld, and the life of men. For Inds'eed*!* *^^* Spiritual light and seed, as it receives place in as bread to mcu's hcarts, and room to spring up there, is as bread Iouk""^'^^ to the hungry and fainting soul, that ^s (as it were) buried and dead in the lusts of the world; which receives life again, and revives, as it tasteth and par- taketh of this heavenly bread ; and they that partake of it are said to come to Christ ; neither can any have it, but by coming to him, and believing in the appear-* ance of his light in their hearts ; by receiving which, and believing in it, the participation of this l)ody BLOOD OF CHRIST. 427 and bread is known. And that Christ understands the same thing here shy his body, flesh, and blood, which is understood, John, i. by the light enlightening je>very man^ and the life^ &c. appears ; for the light 4iild life spoken ofr John, i. is said to be Christ ; He is the true light: and the bread 'd.vAjlesh^ &c. spoken of in John, vi. is called Christ ; I am the bread of life, saith he. Again, They that receive that light and life, John, i. 12, obtained 'power to become, the sons of God, by believing in his name : so also here, John, vi. 35, He that cometh unto this bread of life shall not hunger ; and he that believes in him, who is this bread, shall 7iever thirst. So then, as there was the Christ's ont- outward visible body and temple of Jesus Christ, J^^f^ *°i^ which took its origin from the Virgin Mary ; there is bodjdisUn- ' also the spiritual body of Christ, by and through s'*"''*^- which he that v/as the Word in the beginning with God, and was and is GOD, did reveal himself to the sons of men in all ages., and whereby men in all ages come to be made partakers of eternal life, and to have communion and fellowship with God and Christ. Of which body of Christ, and flesh and blood, if both Adam, and Seth, and Enoch, and Noah, and Abra- The patri- ham, and Moses, and David, and all the prophets ^af^nlfe and holy men of God, had not eaten, they had not body of had life in them ; nor could their inward man have ^''"*** been nourished. Now as the outward body and temple was called Christ, so was also his spiritual body, no less properly, and that long before that outward body was in being. Hence the apostle saith, 1 Cor. x. 3, 4, that the Fathers did all eat the same spiritual meat, and did all drink the same spiri- tual drink : (for they drank of that spiritual rock that followed them, and that rock was Christ.) This cannot be understood otherwise than of this spiritual body of Christ ; which spiritual body of Christ, though it was the saving food of the righteous both before the law and under the law; yet under the law it was veiled and shadowed, and covered under divers types, 428 OF THE BODY AND PROP. XIII. ceremonies, and observations ; yea, and not only so, ^but it was veiled and hid, in some respect, under the outward temple and body of Christ, or during the contiimance of it ; so that the Jews could not under- stand Christ's preaching about it while on earth : and not the Jews only, but many of his disciples, John Ti. 60, judging it a hard saying, murmured at it ; and many ^* frohi that time went hack from hi?n, and walked no more with him. I doubt not but that there are many also at this day, professing to be the disciples of ^ Christ, that do as little understand this matter as those did, and are as apt to be offended and stumble at it, while they are gazing and following after the out>vara body, and look not to that by which the saints, are daily fed and nourished. For as Jesus Christ, in obedience to the will of the Father, did by the eternal Spirit offer up that body for a propitiation The divine for the remission of sins, and finished his testimony CLH8t*doth ^P^^ earth thereby, in a most perfect example of make the patieucc, resignation, and holiness, that all might be ukels ofhis n^ade partakers of the fruit of that sacrifice ; so hath tody. he likewise poured forth i7ito the hearts of all jnen a measure of that divine light and seed wherewith he is clothed ; that thereb)r, reaching unto the consciences of all, he may raise them up out of death and dark- ness by his life and lights and they thereby may be made partakers of his body, and therethrough come to have fellowship with the Father and with the Son. QoEST. §• in. If it be asked. How and after what mantier man comes to partake of it, and to be fed by it? A NSW. I answer in the plain and express words of Christ, John vi.35, lam the bread of life, saith he ; he that cometh to me ^^* shall never hunger; he that believeth in me shall never thirst. And again. For my^ flesh is meat indeed, and my blood is drink indeed. So whosoever thou art that askest this question, or readest these lines, whether thou accountcst thyself a believer, or really feelest, by a certain and sad experience, that thou art BLOOD OF CHRIST. 429 yet in the unbelief, and findest that the outward body and flesh of Christ is so far from thee, that thou canst y not reach it, nor feed upon it ; yea, though thou hast often swallowed down and taken in that which the Papists have persuaded thee to be the real flesh and blood of Christ, and hast believed it to be so, though all thy senses toM thee the contrary ; or ^eing a Lu- The Lnthe- theran), hast tai^n that bread, in and with and under crwinTsts' which the Lutherans have assured thee that the flesh opinions of and blood of Christ is; or (being a Calvinist), hast bioorof*" partaken of that which the Calvinists say (though a^**"**'"*^® figure only of the body), gives them who take it sl real cSed! ^** participation of the body, flesh, and blodd of Christ, though they never knew how nor what way ; I say,^ if for all this thou findest thy soul yet barren, yea, hungry, and ready to starve, for want -'of something thou longest for ; know that that light that discovers thy iniquity to thee, that shows thee thy barrenness, thy nakedness, thy emptiness, is that bodij which thoii must partake of, and feed upon : but that till by for- saking iniquity thou turnest to it, comest unto it, re- ceivest it, though thou mayest hunger after it, thou canst not be satisfied with it ; for it hath no commu- 1 Cor. tL nion with darkness , nor canst thou drink of the cup of^^' the Lord, and the cup of devils : and be partaker of the hordes table, and the table of devils, 1 Cor. x. 21. But as thou sufferest that small seed of righteousness to arise in thee, and to be formed into a birth, that new substantial birth, that is brought forth in the How the in- soul, supernaturally feeds upon and is nourished by noMished." this spiritual body ; yea, as this outward birth lives not but as it draws in breath by the outward elemen- tary air, so this new birth lives not in the soul, but as it draws in and breathes by that spiritual air or vehicle. And as the outward birth cannot subsist with- ouFsome outward body to feed upon, some outward flesh, and some outward drink, so neither can this inward birth, unless it be fed by this inward flesh and blood of Christ, which answers to it after the same 430 OF THE BODY AND PROP. XIII. manner, by way of analogy. And this is most agree- able to the doctrine of Christ concerning this matter. For as without outward food the natural body hath John ?i. 53. not life, so also saith Christ, Eacept ye eat the Jlesh of the Son of rnan, and drink his blood, ye have no life in you. And as the outward body, eating outward joho vi.57. food, lives thereby, so Christ saith, that he that eateth him shall live by him. So it is this inward partici- pation of this ifiward man, of this ijnvai^d and spiri- tual body, by which man is united to God, and has fellowship and communion with him. He that eateth John vi. 5G. my flesh, and drinketh my blood, saith Christ, dwelleth in me, and I in him. This cannot be understood of outward eating of outward bread ; and as by this the soul must have fellowship with God, so also, so far as all the saints are partakers of this 07ie body and one blood, they come also to have o. joint communion. Hence the apostle, 1 Cor. x. 17, in this respect saith, that they, being many, are one bread, undone body; and Verse iG. to the wisc amoug the Corinthians he saith. The bread which we break is the communion of the body of Christ. Ti.e true This is the true and spiritual supper of the Lord, spiritual which men come to partake of, by hearing: the voice supper oi , -i^ ' ./ ^ o ibe Lord, of Christ, and opening the door of their hearts, and so letting him in, in the manner abovesaid, according to the plain words of the scripture, Rev. iii. 20 : Behold, I stand at the door and knock; if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will cojne in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me. So that the sup- per of the L(n^d, and the supping with the Lord, and partaking of his flesh and blood, is no ways limited to the ceremony of breaking bread and drinking wine at particular times, but is truly and really enjoyed, as often as the soul retires into the light of the Lord, and feels and partakes of that heavenly life by which the inward man is nourished ; which may be and is often witnessed by the faithful at all times, though more particularly when they are assembled together to wait upon the Lord. BLOOD OF CHRIST. 431 §. IV. But what confusion the professors of Chris- tianity have run into concerning this matter, is more than obvious ; who, as in most other things they have done, for want of a true spiritual understanding, have Man is not sought to tie this supper of the Lord to that ceremony J,^^^*^^^ ^^^^jf used by Christ before his death, of breaking bread hresikiag ^ and drinking wine with his disciples. And though ^^f^*^j^°** they for the most part agree generally in this, yet wine which how do they contend and debate one against ano- asJwith'his ther ! How strangely are they pinched, pained, and difcipies; straitened to make the spiritual mystery agree 10*^*,°°]^- that ceremony ! And what monstrous and wild opi- dow. nions and conceptions have they invented, to enclose or affix the body of Christ to their bread and wine ? From which opinion not only the greatest, and fiercest, and most hurtful contests, both among the professors of Christianity in general, and among Protestants in particular, have arisen ; but also such absurdities, what irrational and blasphemous consequences have ensued, cbri!tia.r as make the Christian religion odious and hateful religion to Jews, Turks, and Heathens. The professors of jg^" Christianity do chiefly divide in this matter into three Tur^s. and . . "^ '' Heathens. opinions. The first is of those that say, The substance of the The Pa- ^ bread is transubstantiated into the very substance o/'Sf chri!t's that same body, fleshy and blood of Christ, which was flesh. born of the^ Virgin Mary, and crucified by the Jews; so that after the words of consecration, as they call them, it is no rmre bread, but the body of Christ, The second is of such who say, The substafice of The unhe- the bread remains, but that also that body is in, and '*"' ^*'^ * with, and under the bixad ; so that both the substance of bread, and of the body, flesh, and blood of Christ, is there also. The third is of those, that, denying both these, doTheCaivin- affirm, That the body of Christ is ^lot there corporally ''^'' *"*'^^* or substantially, but yet that it is really and sacramen' tally received by the faithful in the use of bread and ivkie : but how or what way it is there, they know not, 432 OF THE BODY AND PROP. Xlll. nor can they tell; only we must believe it is there, yet so that it is only propeiiy in heaven. It is not my design to enter into a refutation of these several opinions ; for each of their authors and assertors have sufficiently refuted one another, and are all of them no less strong both from scripture and reason in refuting each their contrary parties' opinion, than they are weak in establishing their own. For I often have seriously observed, in reading their respec- tive writings, and so it may be have others, that all of them do notably, in so far as they refute the con- trary opinions; but that they are mightily pained, when they come to confirm and plead for their own. Hence I necessarily must conclude, that none of them had attained to the truth and substance of this mys- • last. lib. tery. Let us see if Calvin*, after he had refuted the ir. cap. 17. ^^Q former opinions, be more successful in what he affirms and asserts for the truth of his opinion, who, after he hath much laboured in overturning and refuting the two former opinions, plainly confesseth, that he knows not what to affirm instead of them. J. Calvin's For after he has spoken much, and at last concluded ci.Hst'^8 ^^'^^ ^^'^ ^^^^y 9f ^f^i^isl is there, and that the saints flenh and must needs partake thereof, at last he lands in these certain." words, scct. 32 ! But if it be asked me how it is ? I shall not be ashamed to confess, that it is a secret too high for me to^ comprcheyid in my spirit, or cvplain in words. Here he deals very ingenuously; and yet who would have thought that such a man would have been brought to this strait in the confirming of his opinion ? considering that a little before, in the same chapter, sect. 15, he accuseth the schoolmen among The like the the Papists, and I confess truly, in that they neither Papists, understand nor explain to others how Christ is in the eucharist, which shortly after he confesseth himself he cannot do. If then the schoolmen among the Pa- pists do neither understand, nor yet explain to others their doctrine in this matter, nor Calvin can compre- hend it in his spirit, which I judge is as much as not BLOOD OF CHRIST. 433 to understand it, nor express it in words, and then surely he cannot explain it to others, then no certainty is to be had from either of them. There have been great endeavours used for reconcilement in this mat- ter, both betwixt Papists and Lutherans, Lutherans and Calvinists, yea, and Calvinists and Papists, but all to no purpose ; and many forms and manners of expressions drawn up, to which all might yield ; which in the end proved in vain, seeing every one under- stood them, and interpreted them, in their own way ; and so they did thereby but equivocate and deceive one another. The reason of all this contention is, because they had not a clear understanding of the mystery, and were doting about shadows and exter- nals. For both the ground and matter of their con- test lies in things extrinsic from, and unnecessary to, the main matter. And this hath been often the po-satanbasies licy of Satan, to busy people, and amuse them with JJuiJ^^a^rd" outward signs, shadows, and forms, making them signs, sha- contend about that, while in the mean time the sub- f,°^^,' *" stance is neglected ; yea, and in contending for these whilst tber shadows he stirs them up to the practice of malice, "uLtalice.* heat, revenge, and other vices, by which he esta- blisheth his kingdom of darkness among them, and ruins the life of Christianity. For there have been more animosities and heats about this one particular, and more bloodshed and contention, than about any other. And surely they are little acquainted with the w hat i.adi state of Protestant affairs, who know not that their ^^l',''"^''^!'^^' contentions about this have been more hurtful to the Reforma- Reformation than all the opposition they met with from their common adversaries. Now all those un- certain and absurd opinions, and the contentions there- Two errors from arising, have proceeded from their all agreeing onhrc"oa- in two general errors concerning this thing ; which tention being denied and receded from, as they are by us, supper, there would be an easy way made for reconciliation, and we should all meet in one spiritual and true un- derstanding of this mystery ; and as the contentions, F F 434 OF THE BODY AND PROP. XIII. SO would also the absurdities which follow from all the three forementioned opinions, cease and fall to the ground. The first of these errors is, in making the commu- nion or participation of the body, flesh, and blood of Christ to relate to that outward body, vessel, or tem- ple, that was bom of the Virgin Mary, and walked and suffered in Judea ; whereas it should relate to the^ spiritual body, flesh, and blood of Christ, even that heavenly and celestial light and Ufe^ which was the food and nourishment of the regenerate in all ages, as we have already proved. The second error is, in tying this participation of the body and blood of Christ to that ceremony ured by him with his disciples in the breaking of bread, &c. as if it had only a relation thereto, or were only enjoyed in the use of that ceremony, which it neither hath nor is. For this is that bread which Christ in his prayer teaches to call for, terming it r^v aprov rov iwi8aiovy i. e. the supersubstantial bread, as the Greek hath it, and which the soul partakes of, without any . relation or necessary respect to this ceremony, as shall be hereafter proved more at length. These two errors being thus laid aside, and the contentions arising therefrom buried, all are agreed Believers' iu thc maiu positions, viz. First, that the hody, Ji^^ih, reai'ijl-eed ^'^^^^ ^^^^^ ^f Chvist is tiecessavy for the nourishing upon the of the soul. Sccoudly, that the souls of believers do Wood*of f^c^lly and truly partake and feed upon the body, flesh, Christ. and blood of Christ. But while men are not content with the spirituality of this mystery, going in their own wills, and according to their own inventions, to strain and wrest the scriptures to tie this spiritual communion of the flesh and blood of Christ to out- ward bread and wine, and suchlike carnal ordinances, no wonder if by their carnal apprehensions they run into confusion. But because it hath been generally supposed that the communion of the body and blood of Christ had some special rel?ition to the ceremony BLOOD OF CHRIST. 435 of breaking hread^ I shall first refute that opinion, and then proceed to consider the nature and use of that ceremony, and whether it be now necessary to conti- nue ; answering the reasons and objections of such as plead its continuance as a necessary and standing ordinance of Jesus Christ. §. V. First, It must be understood that I speak of a i. necessary and peculiar relation otherwise than in a general respect : for inasmuch as our communion with That tie Christ is and ought to be our greatest and chiefest ^f^Tod" work, we ought to do all other things with a respect and blood to God, and our fellowship with him ; but a special Sas^n"spe- and necessary respect or relation is such as where the ciai relation two things are so tied and united together, either o/'mon/oT'^ thtir own nature^ or by the commaM of God, that the i>reaking one cannot be enjoyed, or at least is not, except very therbyna- extraordinarily, without the other. Thus salvation ^"""^ ""*" hath a necessary respect to holiness, because without holiness no man shall see God ; and the eating of the flesh and blood of Christ hath a necessary respect to our having life, because if we eat not his flesh, and drink not his blood, we cannot have life; and our feeling of God's presence hath a necessary respect to our being found meeting in his name by divine pre- cept, because he has promised where two or three mx met together in his name, he will be in the midst of them. In like manner our receiving benefits and blessings from God has a necessary respect to our prayer, because if we ask, he hath promised we shall receive. Now the communion or participation of the flesh and blood of Christ hath no such necessary re- lation to the breaking of bread and drinking of wine ; for if it had any such necessary relation, it would either be from the nature of the thing, or from some divine precept ; but we shall show it is from neither ; therefore, &c. First, It is not from the nature of it ; because to partake of the flesh and blood of Christ is a spiritual exercise, and all confess that it is by the soul and F F 2 436 OF THE BODY AND PROP. XIII. Spirit that we become real partakers ^f it, as it is the soul, and not the body, that is nourished by it. But \ to eat bread and drink wine is a natural act, which in .: itself adds nothing to the soul, neither has any thing i that is spiritual in it ; because the most carnal man \ that is can as fully, as perfectly, and as wholly eat ; bread and drink wine as the most spiritual. Se- condly, Their relation is not by nature, else they i would infer one another; but all acknowledge that many eat of the bread and drink of the wine, even that which they say is consecrate and transubstantiate into the very body of Christ, who notwithstanding ! have not life eternal, have not Christ dwelling in J them, nor do live by him, as all do who truly partake j of the flesh and blood of Christ without the use of \ The pairi- this ccrcmouy, as all the patriarchs and prophets did pronhel's^ before this ordinance, as they account it, was insti- i witbout ' tuted. Neither was there any thing under the law \ inonv'Yuse, ^^^^ ^^^ ^^7 ^ircct or ucccssary relation hereunto ; ', were trne though to partake of the flesh and blood of Christ in ch'^4!it's"° all ages was indispensably necessary to salvation. For i flesh and as fdr the paschal lamb, the whole end of it is signi- '; The paschal A^d particularly, Exod. xiii. 8, 9, to wit. That the Jews j lamhits mio^ht thereby be kept in remembrance of their deli- verance out ot bgypt. , Secondly, It hath not relation by divine precept; for if it had, it would be mentioned in that which | our adversaries account the institution of it, or else in j the practice of it by the saints recorded in scripture ; ' but so it is not. For as to the institution, or rather j narration, of Christ's practice in this matter, we have j it recorded by the evangelists Matthew, Mark, and ! Luke. In the first two there is only an account of the Matt. xxni. matter of fact, to wit, That Chiist brake bread, and iiirk, xi». ^^^^^^ '^ '^ ^^^ disciples to eat, saying. This is my body; 22. and blessing the cup, he gave it them to drink, saying, 19. *'**"' This is my blood; but nothing of any desire to them The inati. to do it. In the last, after the bread (but before the the wpiLr. blessing, or giving them the wine), he bids them do BLOOD OF CHllIST. 437 it in remembi^ance of him. What we are to think of or narration this practice of Christ shall be spoken of hereafter, p^.^f'^f * But what necessary relation hath all this to the be- thtrei;.. liever's partaking of the flesh and blood of Christ ? The end of this for which they were to do it, if at all, is to remember Christ; which the apostle yet more particularly expresses, 1 Cor. xi. 26, to show forth the Lord's death ; but to remember the Lord, or de- clare his death, which are the special and particular ends annexed to the use of this ceremony, is not at all to partake of the flesh and blood of Christ ; neither have they any more necessary relation to it than any other two different spiritual duties. For though they that partake of the flesh and blood of Christ cannot but remember him, yet the Lord and his death may be remembered, as none can deny, where his flesh and blood is not truly partaken of. So that since the very particular and express end of this ceremony may be witnessed, to wit, the remembrance of the Lord's death, and yet the flesh and blood of Christ not par- taken of, it cannot have had any necessary relation to it, else the partaking thereof would have been the end of it, and could not have been attained without this participation. But on the contrary, we may well infer hence, that since the positive end of this cere- mony is not the partaking of the flesh and blood of Christ, and that whoever partakes of the flesh and blood of Christ cannot but remember him, that there- fore such need not this ceremony to put them in re- membrance of him. But if it be said, That Jesus Christ calls the bread here his body^ and the wine his blood, therefore he seems to have had a special relation to his disciples partaking of his flesh and blood in the use of this thing ; I answer. His calling the bread his body, and the answ. wine his blood, would yet infer no such thing ; though it is not denied but that Jesus Christ, in all things he did, yea, and from the use- of all natural things, took 438 OF THE BODY AND PROP. XIII. occasion to raise the minds of his disciples and hearers The woman to Spirituals. Hence from the woman of Samaria her of s»m»ria, Jrawing water, he took occasion to tell her of that living water, which whoso drinketh of shall 7iever thif'St ; which indeed is all one with his blood here The well, spoken of; yet it will not follow that that well or the bread ' ^atcr had any necessary relation to the living water, and wine, Of thc Uving watcr to it, &c. So Christ takes occa- ^'"cMion^" sion, from the Jews following him for the loaves, to from, to tell them of this spiritual bread 2ind Jlesh of his body, J,^7rdfeed. wluch was morc necessary for them to feed upon ; it '^f' will not therefore follow that their following him for the loaves had any necessary relation thereunto. So also Christ here, being at supper with his disciples, takes occasion, from the bread and wine which w^as before them, to signify unto them. That as that bread which he brake unto them, and that wine which he blessed and gave unto them, did contribute to the preserving and nourishing of their bodies, so was he also to give his bodi/ and shed his blood for the salva- tion of their souls. And therefore the very end pro- posed in this ceremony to those that observe it is, to be a memorial of his death. . But if it be said, 77iat the apostle, 1 Cor. x. 16, calls the bread which he brake thc conwuinion of the body of Christ, and the cup the communion of his blood; ' I do most willingly subscribe unto it ; but do deny that this is understood of the outward bread, neither can it be evinced, but the contrary is manifest from the context : for the apostle in this chapter speaks not one word of that ceremony ; for having in the begin- ning of it shown them how the Jews of old were made partakers of the spiritual food and water, which was Christ, and how several of them, through disobedi- ence and idolatry, fell from that good condition, he exhorts them, by the example of those Jews whom (iod destroyed of old, to flee those evils; showing them that they, to wit, the Corinthians, are likewise BLOOD OF CHRIST. 439 partakers of the body and blood of Christ ; of which communion they would rob themselves if they did evil, because they could not dr'mk of the cup of the Lord and the cup of devils, and partake of the Lords table and the table of devils^ verse 21, which shows that he understands not here the using of outward bread and wine ; because those that do drink the cup of devils, and eat of the table of devils, yea, the wick- The wick- edest of men may partake of the outward bread and '^^^^!^l^ outward wine. For there the apostle calls the bread outward one, verse 17, and he saith, We being many, are Ofie^^^l'^^ bread, and one body ; for we are all partakers of that one bread. Now if the bread be ojie, it cannot be the outward, or the inward would be excluded ; whereas it cannot be denied but that it is the partaking of the inward bread, and not the outward, that makes the saints truly one body and one bread. And whereas they say, that the one bread here comprehendeth both The sacra- the outward and the inward, by virtue of the sacra- If,fi"n"pre- mental union ; that indeed is to affirm, but not to tended, a prove. As for that figment of a sacramental union, I 's™^°*- find not such a thing in all the scripture, especially in the New Testament ; nor is there any thing can give a rise for such a thing in this chapter, where the apostle, as is above observed, is not at all treating of that ceremony, but only, from the excellency of that privilege which the Corinthians had, as believing Christians, to partake of the flesh and blood of Christ, dehorts them from idolatry, and partaking of the sa- crifices offered to idols, so as thereby to offend or hurt their weak brethren. But that which they most of all cry out for in this object. ) matter, and are always urging, is from 1 Cor. xi. where the apostle is particularly treating of this mat- ter, and therefore, from some words here, they have the greatest appearance of truth for their assertion, as verse 27, where he calls the cup the cup of the Lord; and saith, That they ivho eat of it and drink it unwor- thily, are guilty of the body and blood of the Lord ; and verse 29, Eat and drink their oimi damnation ; 440 OF THE BODY AND PROP. XIII. intimating hence, that this hath an immediate or ne- cessary relation to the body, flesh, and blood of Christ. Though this at first view may catch the unwary Answ. reader, yet being well considered, it doth no ways evince the matter in controversy. As for the Corin- thians being in the use of this ceremony, why they were so, and how that obliges not Christians now to the same, shall be spoken of hereafter : it suffices at this time to consider that they were in the use of it. Secondly, That in the use of it they were guilty of and committed divers abuses. Thirdly, That the apostle here is giving them directions how they may do it aright, in showing them the right and proper use and end of it. These things being premised, let it be observed, that the very express and particular use of it, accord- ing to the apostle, is to show forth the Lord's death, &c. But to show forth the Lord's death, and partake of the flesh and blood of Christ, are diflerent things. He saith not. As often as ye eat this bread, ami drink this cup, ye partake of the body and blood of Christ : but, ye show forth the Lord's death. So I acknow- ledge that this ceremony, by those that practise it, hath an immediate relation to the outward body and death of Christ upon the cross, as being properly a memorial of it ; but it doth not thence follow that it hath any inward or immediate relation to believers communicating or partaking of the spiritual body and blood of Christ, or that spiritual supper spoken of Rev. iii. 20. For though, in a general way, as every religious action in some respect hath a common rela- tion to the spiritual communion of the saints with God, so we shall not deny but this hatli a relation as others. Now for his calling the cup the cup of the Lord, and saying, They are guilty of the body and blood of Christ, and eat their own damnation in not discerning the Lord's body, &c. I answer. That this infers no more necessary relation than any other religious act, and amounts to no more than this. That since the Corinthians were in the use of this cere- BLOOD OF CHRIST. 441 mony, and so performed it as a religious act, they ought to do it worthily, or else they should bring con- demnation upon themselves. Now this will not more infer the thing so practised by them to be a necessary religious act obligatory upon others, than when the apostle saith, Rom. xiv. 6, He that regarcUth the day, regardeth it unto the Lord, it can be thence in- ferred that the days that some esteemed and observed did lay an obligation upon others to do the same. But yet, as he that esteemed a day, and placed con- science in keeping it, was to regard it to the Lord, and so it was to him, in so far as he dedicated it unto the Lord, the Lord's Day, he was to do it worthily ; and if he did it unworthily, he would be guilty of the Lord's Day, and so keep it to his own damnation ; so also such as observe this ceremony of bread and wine, it is to them the bread of the Lord, and the cup of the Lord, because they use it as a religious act ; and for- asmuch as their end therein is to show forth the Lord's death, and remember his body that was crucified for them, and his blood that was shed for them ; if, not- withstanding they believe it is their duty to do it, and make it a matter of conscience to forbear, if they do it without that due preparation and examination which every religious act ought to be performed in ; then, instead of truly remembering the Lord's death, and his body and his blood, they render themselves guilty of it ; as being in one spirit with those that crucified him, and shed his blood, though pretending with thanksgiving and joy to remember it. Thus the Scribes and Pharisees of old, though in memory ofThePhari- the prophets, they garnished their sepulchres, yet are *f^he^bioid said by Christ to be guilty of their blood. And that of the pro- no more can be hence inferred, appears from another ^'^^*'* saying of the same apostle, Rom. xiv. 23 : He that doubteth is damned if he eat, &c. ; where he, speaking of those that judged it unlawful to eat flesh, &c. saith, If they eat doubting, they eat their own damnation. Now it is manifest from ail this, that either the doing 442 OF THE BODY AND PROP. XIII. or forbearing of this was to another, that placed no conscience in it, of no moment. So I say, he that eateth that which in his conscience he is persuaded it is not lawful for him to eat, doth eat his own dam- nation : so he also that placeth conscience in eating bread and wine as a religious act, if he do it unpre- pared, and without that due respect wherein such acts should be gone about, he eateth and drinketh his owfi damnation^ Jiot discerning the Lord's hody^ i. e. not minding what he doth, to wit, with a special re- spect to the Lord, and by way of special commemo- ration of the death of Christ. §. VI. Having now sufficiently shown what the true communion of the body and blood of Christ is, how it is partaken of, and how it has no necessary relation to that ceremony of bread and wine used by II. Christ with his disciples; it is fit now to consider Whether ^^ nature and constitution of that ceremony (for as to thw cere- , » . i i i . "^ ^ , mony be a the propcr use ot it, we have had occasion to speak part oHbe ^cforc), whcthcr it be a standing ordinance in the new cove- church of Christ obligatory upon all, or indeed whe- obUgatoi. ^^^^ ^* ^ ^^y necessary part of the worship of the new covenant dispensation, or hath any better or more binding foundation than several other ceremonies ap- pointed and practised about the same time, which the riiost of our op posers acknowledge to be ceased, and now no ways binding upon Christians. We find this ceremony only mentioned in scripture in four places, to wit, Matthew, Mark, and Luke, and by Paul to the Corinthians. If any would infer any thing from the frequency of the mentioning of it, that will add no- thing ; for it being a matter of fact, is therefore men- tioned by the evangelists ; and there are other things less memorable as often, yea, oftener mentioned. Malt. xxti. Matthew and Mark giva only an account of the raat- Miirk, xir. ^r of fact, witliout any precept to do so afterwards ; iSk • ^^"^P^y declaring, that Jesus at that time did desire 19. ' ^"* them to eat of the bread, and drink of the cup ; to 1 Cor. xi. vvhich Luke adds these words, This do in remembrance 23, ac. ' BLOOD OF CHRIST. 443 ] of me. If we consider this action of Christ with his \ apostles, there will appear nothing singular in it for a ; foundation to such a strange superstructure as many ] in their airy imaginations have sought to build upon \ it ; for both Matthew and Mark express it as an act ] done by him as he was eating. Matthew saith, And The break- as they were eating, and Mark, And as they did eat, |"fs°no sln^ \ Jesus took bread, &c. Now this act was no singular guiar thing, - thing, neither any solemn institution of a gospel ordi- amoVg^the" \ nance ; because it was a constant custom among the Jews. \ Jews, as Paulus Riccius observes at length in his Ce- p. Riccins. lestial Agriculture, that when they did eat the pass- over, the master of the family did tEike bread, and i bless it, and breaking it, gave of it to the rest; and likewise taking wine, did the same ; so that there can \ nothing further appear in this, than that Jesus Christ, ivho fuljilled all righteousness, and also obsei*ved the i Jewish feasts and customs, used this also among his ] disciples only, that as in most other things he laboured \ to draw their minds to a further thing, so in the use ] of this he takes occasion to put them in mind of his j death and sufferings, which were shortly to be ; which i he did the oftener inculcate unto them, for that they '1 were averse from believing it. And as for that ex- | pression of Luke, Do this in rxmembrance of vie, it will what it \» amount to no more than this, that being: the last time !° **" **"* ! that Christ did eat with his disciples, he desired them, brance of \ that in their eating and drinking they might have^^'"** regard to him, and by the remembering of that oppor- i tunity, be the more stirred up to follow him diligently through sufferings and death, &c. But what man of j reason, laying aside the prejudice of education, and \ the influence of tradition, will say, that this account | of the matter of fact given by Matthew and Mark, or \ this expression of Luke, io* do that in remembrance \ of him, will amount to these consequences which the '\ generality of Christians have sought to draw from it ; ; as calling it Augustissimum Eucharistici: Sacramen- \ turn ; venerabile altar is Sacramentum : the principal ■ 444 OF THE BODY AND PROP. XIII. seal of the covenant of grace, by which all the bene- fits of Christ^s death are sealed to believers; and such like things ? But to give a further evidence, how these consequences have not any bottom from the practice of that ceremony, nor from the words following. Do this, &c. let us consider another of the like nature, as it is at length expressed by John, chap. xiii. 3, 4, 8, cfcrirt's 13, 14, 15 : Jesus riseth up from supper, and laid f^etl"a"nd^u ^-^^^^ his garments, and took a towel, and girded him- nianner re- self: after that, he poureth water into a bason, and began to wash the disciples feet ; and to wipe them with the towel wheravith he was girded : Peter said unto him, Thou shalt never wash my feet ; Jesus answered him, If I wash thee not, thou hast no part with me. So after he had washed their feet, — he said, Know ye what I have done to you 1 If I then your Lord and Master have washed your feet, ye also ought to wash one another s feet : for I have given you an exajuple, that ye should do as I have done to you. As to which, let it be observed, that John relates this passage to have Compared bccu douc at the same time with the other of break- br'eaking of ^^g bread ; both being done the night of the passover, bread. after suppcr. If we regard the narration of this, and the circumstances attending it, it was done with far more solemnity, and prescribed far more punctually and particularly than the former. It is said only, ^4* he was eating, he took bread; so that this would seem to be but an occasional business : but here he rose up, he laid by his garments, he girded himself, he poured out the water, he washed their feet, he wiped them with a towel: he did this to all of them; which are cir- cumstances surely far more observable than those noted in the other. The former was a practice com- mon among the Jews, used by all masters of families upon that occasion ; but this, as to the manner, and person acting it, to wit, for the master to rise up, and wash the feet of his servants and disciples, was more singular and observable. In the breaking of bread, and giving of wine, it is not pleaded by our adversa- BLOOD OF CHRIST. 440 ries, nor yet mentioned in the text, that he particu- larly put them into the hands of all ; but breaking it, and blessing it, gave it the nearest, and so they from hand to hand : but here it is mentioned, that he washed not the feet of one or two, but of many. He saith not in the former, that if they do not eat of that bread, and drink of that wine, they should be preju- diced by it : but here he saith expressly to Peter, that if he wash him not, he hath no part with him ; which being spoken upon Peter's refusing to let him wash his feet, would seem to import no less, than not the continuance only, but even the necessity of this cere- mony. In the former he saith, as it were passingly, T>o this in remembrance of me ; but here he sitteth down again, he desires them to consider what he hath done, tells them positively, that as he hath done to The wash- them, so ouQ-ht they to do to one another: and y et if ^ ?"^ *"•" • 1 1111 1 11- 1 7 tliersfeet agam, he redoubles that precept, by teihng them, he was left as has given them an example, that they should do so like- *" ^'''""p'*- wise. If we respect the nature of the thing, it hath as much in it as either baptism or the breaking of bread ; seeing it is an outward element of a cleansing nature, applied to the outward man, by the command and the example of Christ, to signify an inward puri- fying. I would willingly propose this seriously to men, who will be pleased to make use of that reason and understanding that God hath given them, and not be imposed upon, nor abused by the custom or tradition of others : Whether this ceremony, if we respect either the time that it was appointed in, or the circumstances wherewith it was performed, or the command enjoining the use of it, hath not as much to recommend it for a standing ordinance of the gospel, as either water baptism, or bread and wine, or any other of that kind ? I wonder then what reason the Papists can give, why they have not numbered it among their sacraments, except merely Voluntas Eccle- sia et Trad it io Fat rum. But if they say, That it is used among them, in that object. 446 OF THE BODY AND PROP. XIII. the Pope, a?id some other persons among them, use to do it once a year to some poor people ; answ. I would willingly know what reason they have why this should not be extended to all, as well as that of the eucharist (as they term it) or whence it appears from the text, that* [Do this iii remembrance of me] should be interpreted that the bread and wine were every day to be taken by all priests, or the bread every day, or every week, by the people ; and that that other command of Christ, Ve ought to do as I have done to you, &c. is only to be understood of the Pope, or some other persons, to be done only to a few, and that once a year ? Surely there can be no other reason for this The Pro- difference assigned from the text. And as to Protes- Iio*ubl* "'* tants, who use not this ceremony at all, if they will wwbing of but open their eyes, they may see how that by custom ^^^' and tradition they are abused in this matter, as were their fathers in divers popish traditions. For if we look into the plain scripture, what can be thence inferred to urge the one, which may not be likewise pleaded for the other ; or for laying aside the one, which may not be likewise said against the continu- ance of the other ? If they say. That the former, of washing the feet, was only a ceremony ; what have they, whence they can show, that this breaking of bread is more ? If they say. That the former was only a sign of humility and purifying ; what have they to prove that this was more? If they say. That one was only for a time, and was no ermngelical ordinance ; what hath this to make it such, that the other wanted ? Surely there is no way of reason to evade this; nei- ther can any thing be alleged, that the one should cease, and not the other; or the one continue, and not the other ; but the mere opinion of the affirmers, which by custom, education, and tradition hath be- gotten in the hearts of people a greater reverence for, and esteem of the one than the other ; which if it had fallen out to be as much recommended to us by tradition, would no doubt have been as tenaciously BLOOD OF CHRIST. 447 pleaded for, as having no less foundation in scripture. But since the former, to wit, the washing of one ano- ther's feet, is justly laid aside, as not binding upon Christians; so ought also the other for the same reason. §. VII. But it is strange that those who are so The break- clamorous for this ceremony, and stick so much to it, J^"^ nser^** take liberty to dispense with the manner or method now in the that Christ did in it ; since none that ever I could ^e^asCbrist hear of, except some Baptists, who now do it, use it did. in the same way that he did : Christ did it at supper, while they were eating ; but the generality of Pro- testants do it in the morning only by itself What rule walk they by in this change ? If it be said, These are but circumstances, and not object. the matter ; and if the matter he kept to, the alteratmi of circumstances is but of small moment ; What if it should be said the whole is but a cir- answ. cumstance, which fell out at that time when Christ eat the passover ? For if we have regard to that which alone can be pleaded for an institution, viz. these words. Do this in remembrance of me ; it doth as properly relate to the manner as matter. For what may or can they evince in reason, that these words, T)o this, only signify cat bread, and drink wine, but it is no matter when ye eat, nor how ye eat it ; and not as ye have seen me eat it at supper with you, who take bread, and break it, and give it you ; and take the cup, and bless it, and give it you ; so do ye likewise ? And seeing Christ makes no distinction in those words. Do this, it cannot be judged in reason but to relate to the whole ; which if it do, all those that at present use this ceremony among Christians, have not yet obeyed this precept, nor fulfilled this institution, for all their clamours concerning it. If it be said. That the time and manner of doing object. it by Christ was but accidentally, as being after the Jewish passover, which was at supper; Besides that it may be answered, and easily proved, Answ. I 448 OF THE BODY AND PROP. XIII. that the whole was accidental, as being the practice The brMk- of a Jcwish ccremony, as is above observed ; may it wM°a je*w? not the same way be urged, that the dri f iking of wine ith oeremo- IS accidental^ as being the natural product of that ■^' country ; and so be pleaded, that in those countries where wine doth not grow, as in our nation of Scot- land, we make use of beer' or ale in the use of this ceremony ; or bread made of other grain than that which Christ used ? And yet would not our adver- saries judge this an abuse, and not right performing of this sacrament? Yea, have not scruples of this kind occasioned no little contention among the pro- Contestsbe- fessors of Christianity ! What great contest and strife iTr^ek ami ^^^^ ^^^^ bctwixt tlic Grcck and Latin churches con- Latin cerning the bread ! While the one will have it im- concernbR leavcncd, reckoning, because the Jews made use of the leaven- unleaveucd bread in the passover, that it was such Teavrtied kiud of bread that Christ did break to his disciples ; bread in the (he othcr leavcncd I therefore the Lutherans make use "^*'*'' of unleavened bread, the Calvinists of leavened. And this contest was so hot, when the Reformation was Fareiius. beginning at Geneva, that Calvin and Farellus were forced to fly for it. But do not Protestants, by these uncertainties, open a door to Papists for their exclud- ing the people from the cup: Will not \T>o this] infer positively, that they should do it in the same manner, and at the same time, as Christ did it; as well as that they should use the cup, and not the bread only ? Or what reason have they to dispense with the one, more than the Papists have to do with the other ? Oh ! what strange absurdities and incon- veniences have Christians brought upon themselves, by superstitiously adhering to this ceremony ! Out of which difticulties it is impossible for them to extricate themselves, but by laying it aside, as they have done The ciergj othcrs of the like nature. For besides what is above- bre'ad*! do "mentioned, I would gladly know how from the words bieas and they cEn bc certainly resolved that these words [X)o Wxxj mi»\ * ^his] must be understood to the clergy, Take, bless, BLOOD OF CHRIST. 449 and break this bread, and give it to others ; but to the take and laity only, Take and eat, but do not bless, &c. hI'^T)!. If it be said, That the clergy were only present ; object. Then will not that open a door for the popish argu- answ. ment against the administration of the cup to the people ? Or may not another from thence as easily infer. That the clergy only ought to partake of this ceremony ; because they were the apostles only then present, to whom it was said, Do this ? But if this [Z)o this^ be extended to all, how comes it all have not liberty to obey it, in both blessing, breaking, and distributing, as well as taking and eating? Besides all these, even the Calvinist Protestants of Great Bri- fiot con- tain could never yet accord among: themselves about ^f^^'' ^'"'"^ ■1 r I ' • 1 ^ • ' T ^"^ manner the manner oj taking it, whether sittmg, standmg, or of taking it, kneeling ; whether it should be given to the sick, and ^"fo^°,o those that are ready to die, or not ? Which contro- give it. versies, though they may be esteemed of small mo- ment, yet have greatly contributed, with other things, to be the occasion not only of much contention, but also of bloodshed and devastation ; so that in this last respect the Prelatick Calvinists have termed tlie Presbyterians schismatical and pertinacious ; and they them again superstitious, idolatrous, and papis- tical. Who then that will open their eyes, but may see that the devil hath stirred up this contention and zeal, to busy men about things of small moment, that greater matters may be neglected, while he keeps them in such ado about this ceremony ; though they lay aside others of the like nature, as positively com- manded, and as punctually practised ; and from the observation of which half so many difficulties will not follow ? §. VIII. How then? Have we not reason, not find- ing the nature of this practice to be obligatory upon us, more than those others which our adversaries have laid aside, to avoid this confusion ; since those that use it can never agree, neither concerning the nature, efficacy, nor manner of doing it? And this proceeds, 450 OF TlIK BODY AND PROP. XIII. com moo, remember ing the Lord. because they take it not plainly, as it lies in the scrip- ture ; but have so much intermixed their own inven- tions. For would they take it as it lies, it would import no more than that Jesus Christ at that time did thereby signify unto them, that his body and blood was to be offered for them ; and desired them, that whensoever they did eat or drink, they might do it in remembrance of him, or with a regard to him, whose blood was shed for them. Now that the primi- tive chtirch, gathered immediately after his ascension, did so understand it, doth appear from their use and practice, if we admit those places of the Acts, where Bj break- breaking of bread is spoken of, to have relation here- thf °htd"u ^^' which as our adversaries do, so we shall willingly tbiDgsin agree to: as first. Acts, ii. 42, A)2d they contbiued steadfastly in the apostles' doctrine and fellowship, and in breaking of bread, &c. This cannot be understood of any other than of their ordinary eating; for as nothing else appears from the text, so the context makes it plain ; for they had all things in common : and therefore it is said, verse 46, And they continuing daily with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, did eat their meat with gladness and singleness of heart. Those who will not wilfully close their eyes may see here, that the breaking being joined with their eating, shows, that nothing else is here expressed, but that having all things in common, and so continuing together, they also did break their bread, and eat their meat toge- ther: ill doing whereof, I cannot doubt but they remembered the Lord; to follow whom they had, with so much zeal and resignation, betaken them- selves. This is further manifest from Acts, vi. 2 ; for the apostles, having the care and distribution of that money, which the believers, having sold tlieir possessions, gave unto them, and finding themselves overcharged with that burden, appointed deacons for that business, that they might give themselves eonti- nually to prayer, and to the ministry of the word ; Deacons appointed for serviog tablet. BLOOD OF CHRIST. 451 not leaving that, to serve tables. This cannot be meant of any sacramental eating, or religious act of worship; seeing our adversaries make the distributing of that the proper act of ministers, not of deacons : and yet there can be no reason alleged, that that breaking of bread, which they are said to have con- tinued in, and to have done from house to house, was other than those tables which the apostles served ; but here gave over, as finding themselves overcharged with it. Now as the increase of the disciples did incapacitate the apostles any more to manage this ; so it would seem their further increase, and dispers- ing in divers places, hindered the continuance of that practice of having things in common : but notwith- standing, so far at least to remember or continue that ancient community, they did at certain times come together, and break bread together. Hence it is said, Acts, XX. 7, on Paul's coming to Troas, that upon the first day of the week, when the disciples came together At Tr< ris to break bread, Paul preached unto them, ready to ief.'rjr.um depart on the morrow, and continued his speech u?2til midm^hu midnight. Here is no mention made of any sacra- mental eating ; but only that Paul took occasion from their being together to preach unto them. And it seems it was a supper they intended (not a morning- bit of bread, and sup of wiiie) else it is not very proba- ble that Paul would from the morning have preached until midnight. But the 1 1th verse puts the matter out of dispute, which is thus : When he therefore was come up again, and had broken bread, and eaten, and talked a long while, even till break of day, so he de- parted. This shows, that the breaking of bread was deferred till that time ; for these words \and when he had broken bread, and eaten] do show, that it had a relation to the breaking of bread beforementioned, and that that was the time he did it. Secondly, These words joined together [and when he had broken bread, and eaten, and talked] show, it was no religi- G G 2 462 OF THE BODY AND PROP. XI 11. Tbej onlj did eat for refresbiog the bod jr. Bj some called a lore feast. The Chris- tians began bj degprees to depart from the primitive purity. 1 Cor. xi. 17. Conceroiog the sapper of the Lord (so called) explained. ous act of worship, but only an eating for bodily re- freshment, for which the Christians used to meet together some time ; and doing it in God^sfeai^ and shfgitness of heart, doth notwithstanding diti'erence it from the eating or feasting of profane persons. And this by some is called a love-feast, or ^ being together, not merely to feed their bellies, or for outward^ends ;: but to take thence occasion to eat and drink together,* in the dread and presence of the Lo|^d, as his people; which custom we shall not condemn. But let it be observed, that in all the Acts there is no other nor further mention of this matter. But if that ceremony had been some solemn^sacrifice, as some will have it, or such a special sacrament as others pleaa it to be, it is strange that that history, which in many less things gives a particular account of the Christians' behaviour, should have been so silent in the matter : only we find, that they used sometimes to meet' toge- ther to break bread and eat. Now as the early Chris- tians began by degrees to depart from that primitive purity and simplicity, so did they also to accumulate superstitious traditions, and vitiate the innocent prac- tices of their predecessors, by the intermixing either of Jewish or Heathenish rites ; and likewise in the use of this, abuses began very early to creep in among Christians, so that it w^as needful for the apostle Paul to reform them, and reprove them for it, as he doth at large, 1 Cor. xi. from verse 1 7 to the end : which place we shall particularly examine, because our ad- versaries lay the chief stress of their matter upon it ; and we shall see whether it will infer any more than we have above granted. First, Because they were apt to use that practice in a superstitious mind beyond the true use of it, so as to make of it some mystical supper of the Lord, he tells them, verse 20, That their coming together into one placQ, is not to eat the LoriTs supper ; he saith not, This is not the right manner to eat; but, This is not to eat the Lord's supper; be- cause the supper of the Lord is spiritual, and a ;wy.v- BLOOD OF CHRIST. 453 tery. Secondly, He blames them, in that they came together for the worse, and not for the better ; the reason he gives of this is, verse 21, Fo)^ in eating every one hath taken before his own supper ; and one is hungry, and another is drunketi. Here it is plain that the apostle condemns them in that (because this AVhy the custom of supping in general was used among Chris- suppTnVin tians to increase their love, and as a memorial of common Christ's supping with the disciples) they had ^o^^^^^^^^ vitiated it, as to eat it apart, and to come fil'H', whoJ^ii"stians. had abundance ; and hungry, who had little at home; j r whereby the very use and end of this practice was lost and perverted:* and therefore he bdames them, that they did not either eat this in common at home, or reserve their eating till they came all together to the public assembly. This appears plainly by the following, verse 22, Have ye ?wt houses to eat and drink in ? Or despise ye the church of God, ami shame them that have not 1 Where he blames them for their irregular practice herein, in that they despised to eat orderly, or reserve their eating to the public assem- bly ; and so shaming such as not having houses, nor fulness at home, came to partake of the common table ; who being hungry, thereb3^ were ashamed, when they observed others come thither full and drunken. Those that without prejudice will look to the place will see this must have been the case among the Corinthians : for supposing the use of this to have . been then, as now used either by Papists, Lutherans, or Calvinists, it is hard making sense of the apostle's V words, or indeed to conceive what was the abuse the ^Corinthians committed in this thinof. Having^ thus , observed what the apostle said above, because this custom of eating and drinking together some time The rise of had its rise from Christ's act with the apostles thejjj^l*'"" night he was betrayed ; therefore the apostle proceeds, verse 23, to give them an account of that : For I have received of the Lord that ivhich also I delivered unto you^ that the Lord Jesus, the same night in which 454 OF THE BODY AND PROP. XI 11. he teas betrayed, took bread, &c. Those that under- stand the difference betwixt a narration of a thing and a command, camiot but see, if they will, that there is no command in this place, but only an account of matter of fact ; he saith not, / received of the Lord, that as he took bread, so I should command it to you to do so likewise ; there is nothing like this in the place : yea, on the contrary, verse 25, where he repeats Christ's imperative words to his apostles, he placeth them so as they import no command; That [as This do xjc, Gs oft as ye drink it, in remembratice of no/isV" ^^^ •' ^^^ *^^" ^^^ adds. For as often as ye eat this command brcad, und drink this cup, ye do show the Lord's death ouiiissup. ^-^^ 1^^ come: but these words [as q/'/ew] .import no more a command, than to say. As often as thou goest to Rome, see the Capitol, will infer a command for men to go thither. Object. But whereas they urge the last words. Ye show forth- the Lord's death till he come; insinuating, That this imports a necessary continuajice of that ceremony y until Christ come at the end of the world to judgment ; answ. I answer; They take two of the chief parts of the controversy here for granted, without proof. First, that [as often] imports a command ; the contrary whereof is shown ; neither will they ever be able to Christ's prove it. Secondly, That this coming is to be under- andlSward ^^^^^ ^^ Chrisf s last outward coming, and not of his coming. inward and spiritual, that remains to be proved ; whereas the apostle might well understand it of his inward coming and appearance, which perhaps some of those carnal Corinthians, that used to come drunken together, had not yet Known ; and others, being weak among them, and inclinable to dote upon externals, this might have been indulged to them for a season, and even used by those who knew Christ's appear- ance in Spirit (as other things were, of which we shall speak hereafter) especially by the apostle, who became weak to the toeak, and all to all, that he might save Toremeui. sojnc. Now those Weak and carnal Corinthians might BLOOD OF CHRIST. 455 be permitted the use of this, to show forth or remem- ber Christ's ber Christ's death, till he came to arise in them; for ^g^^jj J^'^^, though such need those outward things to put them arise in the in mind of Christ's death, yet those who are dead with Christ, and not only dead w^ith Christ, but buried, and also arisen with him, need not such signs to remember him : and to such therefore the apostle saith. Col. iii. 1, If ye then he risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God : but bread and wine are not those things that are above, but are things of the earth. But that this whole matter was a mere act of indulgence and condescension of the apostle Paul to the weak and carnal Corinthians, appears yet more by the Syriac* copy, which, veTse 17, in his entering upon this matter hath it thus : In that concerning which I am about to command you (or instruct you) I commend you not, because ye have not gone forward, but are descended unto that which is less, or of less consequence: clearly importing that the apostle was grieved that such was their condition, that he was forced to give them instructions concerning those outward things ; and doting upon which, they showed they were not gone forward in the life of Christianity, but rather sticking in beggarly elements. And there- fore, verse 20, the same version hath it thus. When then ye meet together, ye do not do it, as it is just ye should do in the day of the Lord, ye eat and drink it : thereby showing to them, that to meet together to eat and drink outward bread and wine, was not the labour and work of that day of the Lord. But since our adversaries are so zealous for this ceremony, because used by the church of Corinth (though with how little ground is already shown), how come they to ^ pass over far more positive commands of the apostles, as matters of no moment? As first. Acts, xv. 29, where the apostles peremptorily command the Gen- * And likewise the other oriental versions, as the Arabic and yEthiopic, have it the same way. 456 OF THE BODY AND PROP. XI II. tiles, as that which was the mind of the Holy Ghost, To abstain 7o ahstuui froiu tli'ings strangled, and from blood: luauKi'eT' and James, v. 14, where it is expressly commanded, Tbe anoint- Tlict tkc s'lck bc anointcd with oil in the name of the inRwitboil.^^^.^/ OBJECT. If they say, These wej^e onlj/ temporary things ; but not to continue ; answ. What have they more to show for this; there being no express repeal of them I Object. If they Say, lyie repeal is implied, because the apos- tle saithy We ought not to be judged in meats and drinks ; ANhw. I admit the answer; but how can it be prevented from militating the same way against the other prac- tice ? Surely, not at all : nor can there be any thing urged for the one more than for the other, but custom and tradition. Object. As for that of James, they say. There followed a miracle upon it, to wit, The recovery of the sick ; but this being ceased, so should the ceremony. Answ. Thougli this might many ways be answered, to wit. That prayer then might as well be forborne, to which also the saving of the sick is there ascribed ; A cerenionj yet I shall acccpt of it, because I judge indeed that cease. h» ccrcmouy is ceased ; only methinks, since our adver- yittuefaii- sarics, and that rightly, think a ceremony ought to '"^* cease where the virtue fails, they ought by the same Thas lajring rulc to forbcar the laying on of hands, in imitation of on of bands. ^|j^ apostles, siucc the gift of the Holy Ghost cloth not follow upon it. §. IX. But since we find that several testimonies of scripture do sufficiently show, that such external rites are no necessary part of the new covenant dis- pensation, therefore not needful now to continue, however they were for a season practised of old, I shall instance some few of them, whereby from the nature of the thing, as well as those testimonies, it The cere- may appear, that the ceremony of bread and wine is Tread aud ccascd, as well as those other things confessed by our BLOOD Of CHRIST. 457 adversaries to be so. The first is Rom. xiv. 17. For wine is t/w kingdom of God is not meat and drink, but righte- ««*««**• OLimess and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost: here the apostle evidently shows, that the kingdom of God, or gospel of CJirist, stands not in meats and drinks, and such like things, but in righteousness, &c. as by the context doth appear, where he is speaking of the guilt and hazard of judging one another about meats and drinks. So then, if the kingdom of God stand not in them, nor the gospel, nor work of Christ, then tlie eating of outward bread and wine can be no neces- sary part of the gospel worship, nor any perpetual ordinance of it. Another of the same apostle is yet more plain, Col. ii. 16; the apostle throughout this whole second chapter doth clearly plead for us, and against the formality and superstition of our opposers : for in the beginning he holds forth the great privi- leges which Christians have by Christ, who are in- deed come to the life of Christianity ; and therefore he desires them, verse 6, As they have received Christ, so to walk in him ; and to beware, lest they be spoiled through philosophy and vain deceit, after the rudi- ments or elements of the xoorld; because that in Christ, whom they have received, is all fulness : and that they are circumcised with the circumcision made without hands (which he calls the circumcision of Christ), and being buried with him by baptism, are also arisen with him through the faith of the operation of God, Here also they did partake of the true baptism of Christ ; and being such as are arisen with him, let us see whe- ther he thinks it needful they should make use of such meat and drink as bread and wine, to put them in remembrance of Christ's death ; or whether they ought to be judged, that they did it not; verse 16, Let no man therefore judge you in meat and drink : Is not bread and wine meat and drink ? But why ? Which are a shadow of things to come: but the body is of Christ. Then since our adversaries confess, that their "fis but a bread and wine is a sign or shadow ; therefore, ac- slf^dow cording to the apostle's doctrine, we ought not to be tJ^^y ^jon- 458 OF THE BODY AND PROP. XIII. judged in the nonobservation of it. But is it not fit for those that are dead with Christ to be subject to And which such ordinances ? See what he saith, verse 20, Where- whrthe** /^^^' ^fy^ ^^ ^^^^ ^^^^ Christ from the rudiments of «»ing. the world, why, as though living in the tvorld, are ye subject to ordinances (Touch not, taste Jiot, hanidle ?iot : which all are to perish with the using) after the commajuhnents and doctrines of men ? What can be more plain? If this serve not to take away the abso- lute necessity of the use of bread and wine, what can serve to take it away? Sure I am, the reason here given is applicable to them, which all do pe?'ish with the using; since bread and wine perish with the using, as much as other things. But farther, if the use of water, and bread and wine, were that wherein the very seals of the new covenant stood, and did pertain to the chief sacraments of thp gospel and evangelical ordinances (so called), then would not the gospel differ from the law, or be preferable to it. Whereas the The law apostlc shows the difference, Heb. ix. 10, in that such was meats ]^[j^^ ^f obscrvatious of the Jews were as a sig^n of the and drinks > , ^ , , . ~, not 80 the gospel, for that they stood only in meats and drinks, gospel. ^^^^ divers washings. But if the gospel worship and service stand in the same, where is the difference ? Object. If it be said, Thcsc under the gospel have a spiri- tual signification ; A NSW. So had those under the law ; God was the author of those, as well as Christ is pretended to be the author of these. But doth not this contending for the use of water, bread, and wine, as necessary parts The law has of the gospcl worship, destroy the nature of it, as if the'^golpei ^^ gospel were a dispensation of shadows, and not bring* the of the substaucc? Whereas the apostle, in that of the Colossians abovementioned, argues against the use of these tilings, as needful to those that are dead and arisen with Christ, because they are but shadows. And since, through the whole epistle to the Hebrews, he argues with the Jews, to wean them from their old worship, for this reason, because it was typical, and figurative; is it agreeable to right reason to bring BLOOD OF CHRIST. 459 them another of the same nature? What ground from scripture or reason can our adversaries bring us, to evince that one shadow or figure should point to ano- ther shadow or figure, and not to the substance? And yet they make the figure of circumcision to point to water baptism, and the paschal lamb to bread and wine. But was it ever known that one figure was the anti- type of the other, especially seeing Protestants make not these their antitypes to have any more virtue and efficacy than the type had ? For since, as they say, and that truly, That their sacraments confer not Their sacra- grace, but that it is conferred according to the faith J^r"not*^°" of the receiver, it will not be denied but the faithful grace, among the Jews received also grace in the use of their figurative worship. And though Papists boast that their sacraments confer grace ex opere operato, yet experience abundantly proveth the contrary. §. X. But supposing the use of water baptism and opposers bread and wine to have been in the primitive church, '^q^^^^'Jo as was also that of abstaining from things strangled, give their and from blood, the use of legal purification, Acts, f,^o",*™^°^'' xxi. 23 — 25, and anointing of the sick with oil, for whence do the reasons and grounds beforementioned ; yet it re-|tP mains for our adversaries to show us how they come by power or authority to administer them. It cannot - be from the letter of the scripture, else they ought also to do those other things, which the letter declares also they did, and which in the letter have as much foundation. Then their power must be derived from the apostles, either mediately or immediately ; but we have shown before, in the Tenth Proposition, that they have no mediate power ^ because of the interrup- tion made by the apostacy; and for an immediate power or command by the Spirit of God to administer these things, none of our adversaries pretend to it. We know that in this, as in other things, they make a noise of the constant consent of the church, and of Christians in all ages ; but as tradition is not a suflfi- Tradition no cient ground for faith, so in this matter especially it g"fi,*;|d"for ought to have but small weight ; for that in this point faith. 460 OF THE BODY AND PROP. XIII. of ceremonies and superstitious observations the apos- tacy began very early, as may appear in the epistle of Paul to the Galatians and Colossians ; and we have no ground to imitate them in those things, whose entrance the apostle so much withstood, so heavily regretted, and so sharply reproved. But if we look to antiquity, we find that in such kind of observances and traditions they were very uncertain and change- able; so that ^neither Protestants nor Papists do ob- serve this ceremony as they did, both in that they The sapper gavc it to youug bo7/s, and to little children : and for they Rave »o auffht cau bc Icamed, the use of this and infant bap- and cbii- tism are of a like age, though the one be laid aside ^'^°' both by Papists and Protestants, and the other, to wit, baptism of infants, be stuck to. And we have so much the less reason to lay weight upon antiquity, for that if we consider their profession of religion, especially as to worship, and the ceremonial part of it, we shall not find any church now, whether Popish or Protestant, who differ not widely from them in DaiijBus. many things, as Dallaeus, in his treatise concerning the Use of the Fathers, well observeth and demon- strateth. And why they should obtrude this upon us because of the ancients' practice, which they them- selves follow not, or why we may not reject this, as well as they do other things no less zealously prac- tised by the ancients, no sufficient reason can - be assigned. Nevertheless I doubt not buf many, whose ,under- standings have been clouded with these ceremonies, have notwithstanding, by the mercy of God, had some secret sense of the mystery, which they could not clearly understand, because it was sealed from them by their sticking to such outward things ; and that, through that secret sense, diving in .their com- prehensions, they ran themselves into these carnal apprehensions, as imagining the substance of the bread was changed, or that if the substance was not changed, yet the body was there, &c. And indeed CtiTin'* in- 1 am inclinable very favourably to judge of Calvin in BLOOD OF CHRIST. 461 this particular, in that he deals so ingenuously to gennous confess he neither comprehends it, nor can express it co^'j^'^e^^" in words : but yet by a feeling experience can say, The ed. Lord is spiritually present. Now as I doubt not but Calvin sometimes had a sense of his presence with- out the use of this ceremony, so as the understanding given him of God made him justly reject the false notions of transubstantiation and consubstantiation, though he knew not what to establish instead of them, Epb. v. is. if he had fully waited in the light . that makes all things manifest, and had not laboured in his own comprehension to settle upon that external ceremony, by affixing the spiritual presence as chiefly or princi- pally, though not only, as he well knew by experience, there, or especially to relate to it, he might ha^'.3 fur- ther reached unto the knowledge of this mystery than many that went* before him. §. XI. Lastly, If any now at this day, from a true in tender- tenderness of spirit, and with real conscience towards "^" °' *^°°" ^^ 1 T 1 • ' 1 • • 1 science, (jrod, did practise this ceremony in the same way, God wink- method, and manner as did the primitive Christians iVnorlnc" recorded in scripture, I should not doubt to affirm but they might be indulged in it, and the Lord might regard them, and for a season appear to them in the use of these things, as many of us have known him to do to us in the time of our ignorance ; provided they did not seek to obtrude them upon others, nor judge such as found themselves delivered from them, or that they do not pertinaciously adhere to them. For we certainly know that the day is dawned, in which The day is God hath arisen, and hath dismissed all those cere- <^^^"^.*^ Wll6r61ll monies and rites, and is only to be worshiped in Spirit, God is risen and that he appears to them who wait upon him ; and *^f ^j°[^ that to seek God in these things is, with Mary at the spirit, sepulchre, to seek the living among the dead : for we know that he is risen, and revealed in Spirit, leading his children out of these rudiments, that they may walk with him in his light : to whom be glory for ever. Amen. 4lKL OF THE POWER OF PROPOSITION XIV. . CONCERNING THE POWER OF THE CIVIL MAGISTRATE IN MATTERS PURELY RELIGIOUS, AND PERTAINING TO THE CONSCIENCE. Since God hath assumed to himself the power and dominion of the conscience, who alone can rightly instruct and govern it, Loke'ix.55, therefore it is not lawful for any whosoever, by virtue of any J®* .. authority or principality they bear in the government of tliis 12 13 29. world, to force the consciences of others; and therefore all Tit. iii. 10. killing, banishing, fining, imprisoning, and other such things which are inflicted upon men for the alone exercise of their conscience, or dift'erence in worship or opinion, proceedeth from the spirit of Cain the murderer, and is contrary to the truth; providing always, that no man, under the pretence of conscience, prejudice his neighbour in his life or estate, or do any thing destructive to, or inconsistent with, human society ; in which case the law is for the transgressor, and Justice is to be administered upon all, without respect of persons. §. 1.' Liberty of conscience from the power of the civil magistrate hath been of late years so largely and learnedly handled, that I shall need to be but brief in it; yet it is to be lamented that few have walked answerably to this principle, each pleading it for themselves, but scarce allowing it to others, as here- after I shall have occasion more at length to observe. It will be fit in the first place, for clearing of mis- takes, to say something of the state of the controversy, that what follows may be the more clearly under- stood. By conscience then, as in the explanation of the Fifth and Sixth Propositions I have observed, is to be What con- uudcrstood t/iot persuasiou of the mind which arises from the understanding's being possessed with the belief of the truth or falsity of any thing ; which though it may be false or evil upon the matter, yet if a man should go against his persuasion or conscience, he would commit a sin ; because what a man doth con- trary to his faith, though his faith be wrong, is no jioience is. THE CIVIL MAGISTRATE. 463 ways acceptable to God. Hence the apostle saith, Whatsoever is ?iot of faith, is sin; and he that doubt- f^^- '^i^- eth is damned if he eat ; though the thing might have been lawful to another ; and that this doubting to eat some kind of meats (since all the creatures of God are good, and for the use of man, if received with thanks- giving), might be a superstition, or at least a weak- ness, which were better removed. Hence Ames, de Cas. Cons. The conscie7ice, although erring, doth ever- more bind, so as that he sinneth who doth contrary to ^ his conscience^, because he doth contrary to the will of*\.e. Ashe God, although not materially and truly, yet formally *"pi*"^«^''- and interpretatively . So the question is First, Whether the civil magis- trate hath power to force men in things religious to do contrary to their co7isjoience ; and, if they will not, to punish them in their goods, liberties, and lives ? This we hold in the negative. But Secondly, As we would have the magistrate to avoid this extreme of encroach- ing upon men's consciences, so on the other hand we are far from joining with or strengthening such liber- tines as would stretch the liberty of their Consciences to the prejudice of their neighbours, or to the ruin of human society. We understand therefore by matters of conscience such as immediately relate betwixt God and man, or men and men, that are under the same persuasion, as to meet together and worship God in that way which they judge is most acceptable unto him, and not to encroach upon, or seek to force their neighbours, otherwise than by reason, or such other means as Christ and his apostles used, viz. preaching and instructing such as will hear, and receive it ; but not at all for men, under the notion of conscience, to do any thing contrary to the moral and perpetual sta- tutes generally acknowledged by all Christians ; in which case the magistrate may very lawfully use his authority ; as on those who, under a pretence of con- science, make it a principle to kill and destroy all the wicked, id est, all that differ from them, that they, to 464 OF THE POWER OF PROP. XIV. wit, the saints, may nile, and who therefore seek to make all things common, and would force their neigh- bours to share their estates with them, and many such w^ild notions, as is reported of the Anabaptists of Munster; which evidently appears to proceed from pride and covetousness, and not from purity or con- science ; and therefore I have sufficiently guarded against that in the latter part of the Proposition. But the liberty we lay claim to is such as the primitive church justly sought under the heathen emperors, to wit, for men of sobriety, honesty, and a peaceable conversation, to enjoy the liberty and exercise of their conscience towards God and among themselves, and to admit among them such as, by their persuasion and influence, come to be convinced of the same truth with them, without being therefore molested by the civil magistrate. Thirdly, Though we would not have men hurt in their temporals, nor robbed of their privileges as men and members of the commonwealth because of their inward persuasion ; yet we are far from judging that in the church of God there should not be censures exercised against such as fall into error, as well as such as commit open evils ; and therefore we believe it may be very lawful for a Chris- tian church, if she find any of her members fall into any error, after due admonitions and instructions according to gospel order, if she find them pertina- cious, to cut them offfvom her fellowship by the s^vord of the Spirit, and deprive them of those privileges which they had as fellow members ; but not to cut them off from the world by the temporal sword, or rob them of their common privileges as men, seeing they enjoy not these as Christians, or under such a fellow- ship, but as men, and members of the creation. Hence Chrysostom saith well (de Anath.) Wc must condemn and reprove the evil doctrines that proceed from here- tics : but spare the men, and praxffor their salvation. §. II. V But that no man, by virtue of any power or principality he hath in the government of this world, THE CIVIL MAGISTRATE. 465 hatli power over the consciences of men, is apparent, because the conscience of man is the seat and throne Conscience of God in him, of which God is the alone proper and ^f q^o^^^ infallible judge, who by his power and Spirit can alone rectify the mistakes of conscience, and therefore hath reserved to himself the power of punishing the errors thereof as he seeth meet. Now for the magis- trate to assume this, is to take upon him to meddle with things not within the compass of his jurisdic- tion ; for if this were within the compass of his juris- diction, he should be the proper judge in these things; and also it were needful to him, as an essential qua- lification of his being a magistrate, to be capable to judge in them. But that the magistrate, as a magis- trate, is neither proper judge in these cases, nor yet that the capacity so to be is requisite in him as a magistrate, our adversaries cannot deny ; or else they must say. That all the heathen magistrates were either no lawful magistrates, as wanting something essential to magistracy ; and this were contrary to the express doctrine of the apostle, Rom. xiii. or else (which is more absurd) that those heathen magistrates were proper judges in matters of conscience among Chris- tians. As for that evasion that the magistrate ought to punish according to the church censure and deter- mination, which is indeed no less than to make the magistrate the Church's hangman^ we shall have occa- sion to speak of it hereafter. But if the chief mem- bers of the church, though ordained to inform, in- struct, and reprove, are not to have dominion over the faith nor consciences of the faithful, as the apostle expressly affirms, 2 Cor. i. 24 ; then far less ought they to usurp this dominion, or stir up the magistrate to persecute and murder those who cannot yield to them therein. Secondly, This pretended power of the magistrate is both contrary unto, and inconsistent with the nature of the gospel, which is a thing altogether extrinsic to the rule and government of political states, as Christ H H 466 OF THE POWER OF PROP. XI V. expressly signified, saying, His kingdom was not of this world ; and if the propagating of the gospel had had any necessary relation thereunto, then Christ had not said so. But he abundantly hath shown by his example, whom we are chiefly to imitate in matters of that nature, that it is by persuasion and the power of God, not by whips, imprisonments, banishments, and murderings, that the gospel is to be propagated ; and that those that are the propagators of it are often to suffer by the wicked, but never to cause the wicked to suffer. When he sends forth his disciples, he tells BiAtt.x.16. them, he sends them forth as lambs among wolves, to be willing to be devoured, not to devour : he tells them of their being whipped, imprisoned, and killed for their conscience ; but never that they shall either whip, imprison, or kill : and indeed if Christians must be as lambs, it is not the nature of lambs to de- stroy or devour any. It serves nothing to allege, that in Christ's and his apostles' times the magistrates were heathens, and therefore Christ and his apostles, nor yet any of the believers, being no magistrates, could not exercise the power ; because it cannot be denied but Christ, being the Son of God, had a true Matt. right to all kingdoms, and was righteous heir of the xxviii. 18. gj^j.|.)^ Next, as to his power, it cannot be denied but he could, if he had seen meet,'have called for legions of angels to defend him, and have forced the princes and potentates of the earth to be subject unto him, Matt. xxvi. 53. So that it was only because it was contrary to the nature of Christ's gospel and ministry to use any force or violence in the gathering of souls to him. This he abundantly expressed in his reproof to the two sons of Zebedee, who would have been calling for fire from heaven to burn those that refused to receive Christ: it is not to be doubted but this was as great a crime as now to be in an error con- cerning the faith and doctrine of Christ. That there was not power wanting to have punished those re- fusers of Christ cannot be doubted ; for they that THE CIVIL MAGISTRATE. 467 could do other miracles, mioflit have done this also. And moreover, they wanted not the precedent of a holy man. under the law, as did Elias; yet we see what Christ saith to them, Ve know not what spirit ye are of, Luke ix. 5^. For the Son of Man is not come to destroy mens lives, but to save them. Here Christ shows that such kind of zeal was no ways ap- proved of him ; and such as think to make way for Christ or his gospel by this means, do not understand what spirit they are of. But if it was not lawful to call for fire from heaven to destroy such as refused to receive Christ, it is far less lawful to kindle fire upon earth to destroy those that believe in Christ, because they will not believe, nor can believe, as the magis- trates do, for conscience sake. And if it was not law- ful for the apostles, who had so large a measure of the Spirit, and were so little liable to mistake, to force others to their judgment, it can be far less lawful now for men, who, as experience declareth, and many of themselves confess, are fallible, and often mistaken, to kill and destroy all such as cannot, because other- wise persuaded in their minds, judge and believe in matters of conscience just as they do. And if it was not according to the wisdom of Christ, who was and is King of kings, by outward force to constrain others to believe him or receive him, as being a thing incon- sistent with the nature of his ministry and spiritual government, do not they grossly offend him, who will be needs wiser than he, and think to force men against their persuasion to conform to their doctrine and wor- ship ? The word of the Lord said, Not by power and by might, but by the Spirit of the Lord, Zech. iv. 6 : , But these say. Not by the Spirit of the Lord, but by might and carnal power. The apostle saith plainly, We wrestle not with flesh and blood ; and the weapons 2 Cor. x a. of our warfare are not carnal, but spiritual : but these men will needs wrestle with flesh and blood, when they cannot prevail with the Spirit and the under- standing ; and not having spiritual weapons, go about H H 2 468 OF THE POWER OF PROP. XIV. with carnal weapons to establish Christ's kingdom, which they can never do : and therefore when the matter is well sifted, it is found to be more out of love to self, and from a principle of pride in man to have all others to bow to him, than from the love of God. Psd. ex. s. Christ indeed takes another method ; for he saith, He will make his people a willing people ifi the day of his power ; but these men labour against men's wills and consciences, not by Christ's power, but by the out- ward sword, to make men the people of Christ, which they never can do, as shall hereafter be shown. But Thirdly, Christ fully and plainly declareth to us his sense in this matter in the parable of the tares, Matt. xiii. of which we have himself the interpreter, verse 38, 39, 40, 42, where he expounds them to be the children of the wicked one, and yet he will not have the servants to meddle with them, lest they pull up the wheat therewith. Now it cannot be denied but heretics are here included ; and although these servants saw the tares, and had a certain discerning of them ; yet Christ would not they should meddle, lest they should hurt the wheat : thereby intimating, that that capacity in man to be mistaken, ought to be a bridle upon him, to make him wary in such mat- ters ; and therefore, to prevent this hurt, he gives a positive prohibition. But he said. Nay, ver§e 29. So that they who will notwithstanding be pulling up that which they judge is tares, do openly declare, that they make no scruple to break the commands of Christ. Miserable is that evasion which some of our adversa- ries use here, in alleging these tares are meant of hypocrites, and not of heretics ! But how to evince that, seeing heretics, as well as hypocrites, are chil- dren of the wicked one, they have not any thing but their own bare affirmation, which is therefore justly rejected. Object. If they say, Because hypocrites cannot be discerned, but so may heretics ; AN8W. This is both false, and a begging of the question. THE CIVIL MAGISTRATE. 469 For those that have a spiritual discerning can dis- cern both hypocrites and heretics ; and those that want it cannot certainly discern either. Seeing the question will arise, Whether that is a heresy luhich the magistrate saith is so? and seeing it is both possi- ble, and confessed by all to have often fallen out, that some magistrates have judged that heresy which was not, punishing men accordingly for truth, instead of error ; there can be no argument drawn from the ob- viousness or evidence of heresy, unless we should conclude heresy could never be mistaken for truth, nor truth for heresy ; whereof experience shows daily the contrary, even among Christians. But neither is this shift applicable to this place; for the servants did discern the tares, and yet were liable to hurt the wheat, if they had offered to pull them up. §. III. But they object against this liberty of cow- object. science, Deut. xiii. 5, where false prophets are ap- pointed to be put to death ; and accordingly they give example thereof The case no way holds parallel ; those particular answ. commands to the Jews, and practices following upon them, are not a rule for Christians ; else we might by the same rule say, It were lawful for us to borrow of our neighbours their goods, and so cany them away, because the Jews did so by God's command ; or that it is lawful for Christians to invade their neighbours' kingdoms, and cut them all off without mercy, be- cause the Jews did so to the Canaanites, by the com- mand of God. If they urge. That these commands ought to stand, object. except they be repealed in the gospel; I say, the precepts and practices of Christ and his answ. apostles mentioned are a sufficient repeal : for if we should plead, that every command given to the Jews is binding upon us, except there be a particular re- peal ; then would it follow, that because it was law- ful for the Jews, if any man killed one, for the nearest kindred presently to kill th| murderer, without any 470 OF THE POWER OF PROP. XIV. order of law, it were lawful for us to do so likewise. And dofh not this command of Deut. xiii. 9, openly order him who is enticed by another to forsake the Lord, though it were his brother, his son, his daugh- ter, or his wife, presently to kill him or her? Thou shalt surely kill h'lm^ tliy hand shall be first upon him, to put him to death. If this command were to be fol- lowed, there needed neither inquisition nor magis- trate to do the business ; and yet there is no reason why they should shuffle by this part, and not the other ; yea, to argue this way from the practice among the Jews, were to overturn the very gospel, and to set up again the carnal ordinances among the Jews, to pull down the spiritual ones of the gospel. Indeed we can far better argue from the analogy betwixt the figurative and carnal state of the Jews, and the real and spiritual one under the gospel ; that as Moses delivered the Jews out of outward Egypt, by an out- ward force, and established them in an outward king- dom, by destroying their outward enemies for them ; so Christ, not by overcoming outwardly, and killing others, but by suffering and being killed, doth deliver his chosen ones, the inward Jews, out of mystical Egypt, destroying their spiritual enemies before them, and establishing among them his spiritual kingdom, which is not of this world. And as such as departed from the fellowship of outward Israel were to be cut off by the outward sword, so those that departed from the inward Israel are to be cut off by the sword of the Spirit : For it answers very well. That as the Jews were to cut off their enemies outwardly, in order to establish their kingdom and outward worship, so they were to uphold it the same way : but as the kingdom and gospel of Christ was not to be established or pro- pagated by cutting off or destroying the Gentiles, but by persuading them, so neitlier is it to be upheld otherwise. Object. But Secondly, They urge, Rom. xiii. where the magistrate is said not to bear the smrd in vain, be- I THE CIVIL MAGISTRATE. 471 cause he is the minister of God, to execute wrath upon such as do evil. But heresy, say they, is evil. Ergo. But so is hypocrisy also; yet they confess he ought answ. not to punish that. Therefore this must be under- stood of moral evils, relative to affairs betwixt man and man, not of matters of judgment or worship ; or else what great absurdities would follow, consider- ing that Paul wrote here to the church of Rome, which was under the government of Nero, an impious heathen, and persecutor of the church? Now if a power to punish in point of heresy be here included, it will necessarily follow, that Nero had this power ; yea, and that he had it of God ; for because the power was of God, therefore the apostle urges' their obedience. But can there- be any thing more absurd than to say that Nero had power to judge in such cases ? Surely if Christian magistrates be not to punish for hypo- crisy, because they cannot outwardly discern it ; far less could Nero punish any body for heresy, which he was uncapable to discern. And if Nero had not power to judge or punish in point of heresy, then no- thing can be urged from this place ; since all that is said here, is spoken as applicable to i\ero, with a particular relation to whom it was written. And if Nero had such a power, surely he was to exercise it according to his judgment and conscience, and in doing thereof he was not to be blamed ; which was enough to justify him in his persecuting of the a{k)s- tles, and murdering the Christians. Thirdly, They object that saying of the apostle to oejEct. the Galatians, v. 12 : I would they were even cut off ivhich trouble you. But how this imports any more than a cutting off answ. from the church, is not, nor can be shown. Beza upon the place, saith, We cannot understand that othenvise than of excommunication, such as was that of the incestuous Corinthian. And indeed it is mad- ness to suppose it otherwise ; for Paul would iiot have these cut off otherwise than he did Hymenceus and 472 OF THi. POW tK OF PROP. XIV. Pliiletus, who were blcuiphemers ; which teas by giving them over to Satan, fiot by cutting off their heads. The same way may be answered that other argu- ment, drawn from Rev. ii. 20, where the church of Thyatira is reproved for suffering the woman Jezebel : which can be no other ways understood, than that they did not excommunicate her, or cut her off by a church censure. For as to corporal punishment, it is known that at that time the Christians had not power to punish heretics so, if they had had a mind to it. ob«ct. Fourthly, They, allege, that heresies are immbered among the works of the Jiesh, Gal. v. 20. Ergo, &c. Answ. That magistrates have power to punish all the works of the flesh is denied, and not yet proved. Every evil is a work of the flesh, but ev^ry evil comes not under the magistrate's cognizance. Is not hypo- crisy a work of the flesh, which our adversaries con- fess the magistrates ought not to punish ? Yea, are not hatred and envy there mentioned as works of the flesh? And yet the magistrate cannot punish them, as they are in themselves, until they exert themselves in other acts which come under his power. But so long as heresy doth not exert itself in any act destruc- tive to human society, or such like things, but is kept within the sphere of those duties of doctrine and wor- ship which stand betwixt a man and God, they no ways come within the magistrate's power. §. IV. But Secondly ; This forcing of men s con- sciences is contrary to sound reason, and the very law of nature. For man's understanding cannot be forced by all the bodily sufferings another man can inflict upon him, especially in matters spiritual and super- natural : Tis argument, and evident demonsti ation of reason, together with the power of God reucliing the heart, that can change a man's mind from one opinion to another, and not knocks and blows, and such like things, which may well destroy the body, but never can inform the soul, which is a free a^^ut, and must either except or reject matters of opinion as THE CIVIL MAGISTUATE. 473 they are borne in upon it by something proportioned j to its own nature. To seek to force minds in any \ other manner is to deal with men as if they were ; brutes, void of understanding ; and at last is but to i lose one's labour, and as the proverb is, To seek to j wash the blachnoor white. By that course indeed \ men may be made hypocrites, but can never be made Christians ; and surely the products of such compul- \ sion (even where the end is obtained, to wit, an out- ) ward assent or conformity, whether in doctrine or j worship), can be no ways acceptable to God, who de- sireth not any sacrifice, except that which cometh j throughly from the heart, and will have no constrained ; ones : so that men, by constraining force, are so far * from being members of the church, that they are made \ ten times more the servants of Satan than before ; in ' that to their error is added hypocrisy, the worst of \ evils in matters of religion, and that which above all i things the Lord's soul most abhors. \ But if it be said. Their error notwithstanding is object. | thereby suppressed, and the scandal removed; \ I answer; Besides that this is a method no ways answ. ^ allowed by Christ, as is above proved, surely the church can be no ways bettered by the accession of hypocrites, but greatly corrupted and endangered ; { for open heresies men may be aware of, and shun . '\ such as profess them, when they are separated from * ' • the church by her censures : but secret hypocrites may putrify the body, and leaven it, ere men be aware. i And if the dissenters prove resolute, and suffer boldly ^ I for the opinions they esteem right, experience show- j eth that such sufferings often tend to the commenda- i tion of the sufferers, but never of the persecutors. For J such suffering ordinarily breeds compassion, and be- \ gets a curiosity in others to inquire the more dili- ] gently into the things for which they see men suffer \ such great losses so boldly ; and is also able to beget an opinion, that it is for some good they do so suffer : i it being no ways probable that men will venture all 1 474 OK THE POWER OF PROP. XIV. \ merely to acquire fame ; which may as well be urged to detract from the reputation of all the martyrs, unless j some better arguments be brought against it than J a halter or a faggot. But supposing this principle, 1 'J 'hat the magistrate hath power to force the conscietwes of his subjects, and to punish them if they will not comply, very great inconveniences and absurdities will follow, and even such as are inconsistent with the nature of the Christian religion, For First, It will naturally follow that the magis- trate ought to do it, and sinneth by omission of his duty, if he do it not. Will it not then hence be in- j ferred that Christ was defective to his church, who ! having power to force men, and to call for legions of ' angels so to do, did notwithstanding not exert that ' power, but left his church to the mercy of the wicked, | without so necessary a bulwark ? Secondly, Seeing every magistrate is to exercise \ his power according to the best understanding he | hath, being obliged so to do, for the promoting of I what he in conscience is persuaded to be truth, will \ not this justify all the heathen emperors in their per- secutions against Christians? Will not this justify the \ Spanish inquisition, which yet is odious not only to | Protestants, but to many moderate Papists ? How can i Protestants in reason condemn the Papists for perse- \ outing them, seeing they do but exercise a lawful ■ power according to their conscience and best under- standing, and do no more to them than the sufferers j profess they would do to them, if they were in the j like capacity ? Which takes away all ground of com- \ miseration from the sufferers : whereas that was the ground which of old gained reputation to the Chris- tians, that they, being innocent, suffered, who neither had, nor by principle could, hurt any. But there is j little reason to pity one that is but dealt by according | as he would deal with others. For to say. They have no reason to persecute us, because they are in the wrong, ■ and we in the right, is but miserably to beg the ques- ! THE CIVIL MAGISTRATE. 475 tion. Doth not this doctrine strengthen the hands of persecutors every where, and that rationally, from a principle of self-preservation : For who can blame me for destroying him that I know waits but for an occa- sion to destroy me, if he could ? Yea, this makes all suffering for religion, which of old was the glory of Christians, to be but of pure necessity; whereby they are not led as lambs to the slaughter, as was the cap- tain of their salvation ; but rather as wolves catched in the snare, who only bite not again because they are not able ; but could they get force, would be as ready to lead those the same way that led them. Where is the faith and patience of the saints ? For indeed it is but a small glory to make a virtue of necessity, and suffer because I cannot help it. Every thief and murderer would be a martyr at that rate : experience hath abundantly proved this in these last centuries ; for however each party talk of passively obeying the magistrate in such cases, and that the power resides in him, yet it is apparent, that from this principle it naturally follows, that any party, supposing them- selves right, should, so soon as they are able, endea- vour at any rate to get uppermost, that they might bring under those of another opinion, and force the magistrate to uphold their way, to the ruin of all others. What engine the pope of Rome used to make of his pretended power in this thing, upon any pre- tence of dislike to any prince or state, even for very small heresies in their own account, to depose princes, and set up their subjects against them, and give their dominions to other princes to serve his interest, they cannot be ignorant who have read the life of Hilde- brand ; and how Protestants have vindicated the liberty of their consciences after this same manner is apparent. They suffered much in France, to the great increase and advantage of their party ; but as soon as they found themselves considerable, and had gotten some princes upon their side, they began to let the king know, that they must either have the liberty of their 476 OF THE POWER OF PROP. XIV. consciences, or else they would purchase it ; not oy suffering, but by fighting. And the experience of other Protestant states shows, that if Henry the IVth, to please the Papists, had not quitted his religion, to get the crown the more peaceably, and so the Protes- tants had prevailed with the sword, they would as well have taught the Papists with the faggot, and led them to the stake : so that this principle of persecu- tion on all hands is the ground of all those miseries and contentions. For so long as any party is per-' suaded that it is both lawful for them, and their duty, if in power, to destroy those that differ from them, it naturally follows they ought to use all means possible to get that power, whereby they may secure them- selves in the ruin of their adversaries. And that Pa- pists judge it not unlawful to compel the magistrate, if they be strong enough to do it, to effect this, expe- rience shows it to be a known popish principle. That the pope may depose an heretic prince, and absolve the people from the oath of jideUtxj : and the Pope, as is abovesaid, hath done so to divers princes ; and this doctrine is defended by Bellarmine against Barclay. The French refused Henry the Fourth till he quitted his religion. And as for Protestants, many of them scruple not to affirm, That wicked kings and magis- trates may be deposed, and killed : yea, our Scotch Presbyterians are as positive in it as any Jesuits, who would not admit king Charles the Second, though otherwise a Protestant prince, unless he would swear to renounce episcopacy ; a matter of no great differ- ence, though contrary to his conscience. Now how little proportion these things bear with the primitive Christians, and the religion propagated by Christ and his apostles, needs no great demonstration ; and it is observable, that notwithstanding many other super- stitions crept into the church very early, yet this of persecution was so inconsistent with the nature of the gospel, and liberty of conscience, as we have asserted it, such an innate and natural part of the Christian THE CIVIL MAGISTRATE. 477 religion, that almost all the Christian writers, for the first three hundred years, earnestly contended for it, condemning the contrary opinion. §. V. Thus Athanasius ; It is the property of piety Athan. in not to force, but to persuade, in imitation of our Lord, goUt! ^h. who forced no body, .but left it to the will of every one ag. ibid. to follow him, &c. But the devil, because he hath nothing of truth, uses knocks and axes, to break up the doors of such as ixceive him. But our Saviour is meek, teaching the truth ; whosoever will come after me, and whosoever will be my disciple, &c. but con- straining none; coming to us, and knocking rather, and saying. My sister, my spouse, open to me, &c. And entereth when he is opened to, and retires if they delay, and will 7iot open unto him, because it is not with swords, nor darts, nor soldiers, nor armour, that truth is to be declared, but with persuasion and counsel. And it is observable, that they were the impious Arians who first of all brought in this doctrine, to persecute others among Christians, whose successors both Papists and Protestants are in this matter, whom Athanasius thus reproveth further : Where (saith he) have they learned Athan. to persecute 1 Certainly they cannot say they have^l^^l'J^^ learned it from the saints ; but this hath been given tom. i. ' them, and taught them of the devil. The Lord com- manded indeed sometimes to flee, and the saints some- times fled ; but to persecute is the i?ivention and argu- ment of the devil, which he seeks against all. And after he saith. In so far as the Arians banish those that will not subscribe the decrees, they show that they are contrary to Christians, and friends of the devil. But now, O lamentable I (saith Hilar ius), they are Hii. contra the suffrages of the earth that recmnmend the religion ^"*' of God, and Christ is found naked of his virtue, while Umbition must give credit to his name. The church rep7wes and fights by banishment and prisons, and forceth herself to be believed, which once was believed because of the imprisonments and banishments herself suffered. She that once was consecrated by the terrors 478 OF THE POWER OF PROP. XIV. of her persecutors^ depends now upon the dignity of those that are in her communion. She that once was propagated by her banished priests, now banisheth the priests. And she boasts ?iow, that she is loved of the world, who wH)uld not have been Christ's, if she had not been hated of the woiid. Hieron. Thc church (saith Hierom) was founded by shed- Id The ^ ^iw^ of blood, and by suffering, and not in doing of hurt. The church increased by pei^secutions, and wot crmvned by martyi^dom. Amb. epist. Ambrose, speaking of Auxentius, saith thus, Whom 32, torn. 3. ^^ ^^^ Auxentius) could not deceive by discourse, he thinks ought to be killed with the sword, making bloody laws with his mouth, writing them with his own hands, and imagining that an edict can command faith. Arab, epist. And the same Ambrose saith. That going into ^^' France, he would not communicate with those bishops that required that heretics should be put to death. Mart, epist. The empcroF Martianus, who assembled the coun- waif/.*'&c. ^^^ ^^ Chalcedon, protests, That he would Jiot force nor Mon. Eg. co7istrain any one to subscribe the council of Chalcedon ionTiK against his will. chaiced. Hosius*, bishop of Corduba, testifies, That the em- cone. gen. pcjvr Coustufis would uot coustrain any to be orthodox. •Hosi.epist. Hilarius'' saith further. That God teachcth, rather Coosiit. than exacteth, the knowledge of himself; and autho- *nE^»fad ^'^^^'to ^^^ com?nands by the miracles of his heavenly fioViu vit. works, he wills not that any should confess him with a i°2ii!i. 1. forced will, &c. He is the God of the whole universe, •d Conat. hc iiceds not a forced obedience, nor requires a con- strained cmfession. « Ambr. Christ"" (saith Ambrose) sent his apostles to sow faith ; not to constrain, but to teach ; 7wt to exercise coercive power, but to extol the doctrine of humility. 4 cjpr. Hence Cyprian**, comparing the old covenant with *piaL«2. ti^g jjg^^ saith, Then were they put to death with the outward sword ; but now the proud ajul contumacious are cut off with the spiritual sword, by being cast out of the church. And this answers very well that ob- comm. in Lao. 1. 7. THE CIVIL MAGISTRATE. 479 ] jection before observed, taken from the practice of the ^ Jews under the law. i ^ See (saith Tertullian to the heathens) if it be not « xertai. • j to contribute to the renown of irreligion, to seek to take ^^°'* °* ^'** away the liberty of religion, and to hinder men their choice of God, that I may not be admitted to adore whom '[ I will, but must be constrained to serve him whom I ' j will not. Thei^e is none, nay, not a man, that desires \ to be adored by any against their will. And again, id. Apoi. It is a thing that easily appears to be unjust, to con- '^' ^^* \ strain and force men to sacrifice against their wills ; seeing to do the service of God there is inquired a wil- \ ling heart. And again, It is a human right and idem ad i natural power that every one worship what he esteems; s<^«p"'' ''•2« ' . and one man's religion doth not profit nor hurt ano- : ther. Neither is it any peace of 7xligio?i to enforce reli- gion ; which must be undertaken by consent, and not \ by violence, seeing that the sacrifices themselves are 7iot \ ixquired, but from a willing mind. ^ Now how either Papists or Protestants, that boast of antiquity, can get by these plain testimonies, let \ any rational man judge. And indeed I much ques- \ tion if in any one point owned by them, and denied \ by us, they can find all the old fathers and writers so \ exactly unanimous. Which shows how contrary all 1 of them judged this to be to the nature of Christianity, \ and that in the point of persecution lay no small part i of the apostacy ; which, from little to more, came to \ that, that the pope, upon very small discontent, would ? excommunicate princes, absolve their subjects from ' obeying them, and turn them in and out at his plea- 1 sure. Now if Protestants do justly abhor these things ; among Papists, is it not sad that they should do the j like themselves ? A thing that at their first appear- ance, when they were in their primitive innocency, . they did not think on, as appears by that saying of ^ \ Luther ; Neither pope nor bishop, nor any other man, Lath. lib. 1 hath power to oblige a Christian to one syllable, ex- f^^j^ *^^b *' \ cept it be by his own consent. And again, I call boldly ion. to all Christians, that neither man nor angel can i 480 OF THE POWER OF PROP. XTV. impose any law upon them, but so far as they will ; for we are free of all. And when he appeared at the diet of Spires, before the emperor, in a particular conference he had before the archbishop of Triers and and Joachim elector of Brandenburgh, when there seemed no possibility of agreeing with his opposers, Hi.toryof they asking him, What remedy seemed to him most IfVrenr'' ^^' ^^ answered. The counsel that Gamaliel pro- posed to the Jews, to wit, That if this design was of God, it would stand; if not, it would vanish; which he said ought to content the pope : he did not say, because he was in the 7ight he ought to be spared. For this counsel supposeth, that those that are tole- rated may be wrong ; and yet how soon did the same Luther, ere he was well secure himself, press the elector of Saxony to banish poor Carolostadius, be- cause he could not in all things submit to his judg- ment? And certainly it is not without ground reported, that it smote Luther to the heart, so that he needed to be comforted, when he was informed, that Carolos- tadius, in his letter to his congregation, styled himself A man banished for conscience, by the procurement of Martin Luther. And since both the Lutherans and Calvinists not admitting one another to worship in those respective dominions, showeth how little better they are than either Papists or Arians in this particu- Cair. in«t. lar. And yet Calvin saith. That the conscience is •ict H*^' ^^^^ ^^^^ ^^^^ power of all men : if so, why then did he cause Castellio to be banished because he could not, for conscience sake, believe as he did. That God had ordained man to be damned ? And Servetus to be burned for denying the divinity of Christ, if Cal- vin's report of him were to be credited? Which opinion, though indeed it was to be abominated, yet no less was Calvin's practice in causing him to be burned, and afterwards defending that it was lawful to bum heretics ; by which he encouraged the Papists to lead his followers the more confidently to the stake, as having for tlieir warrant the doctrine of their own sect-master ; which they omitted not, frequently, to THE CIVIL MAGISTRATE, 481 ^. remind them of, and indeed it was to them unanswer- i able. Hence, upon this occasion, the judicious author | of the History of the Council of Trent, in his fifth j book, where giving an account of several Protestants ] that were burned for their religion, well and wisely J observeth it, as a matter of astonishment^ that those of \ the new Keformation did offer to punish in the case of - religion. And afterwards, taking notice that Calvin justifies the punishing of heretics, he adds. But since ■ the name of heresy/ may be more or less restricted^ yea, \ or diver sly taken, this doctrine may he likewise taken in divers senses, and may at one time hurt those, whom ^ J at another time it may have benefited. '^****- So that this doctrine of persecution cannot be main- Protestant ^^ tained by Protestants, without strengthening the ['^^^"^^''^'1^^^°° ^^ hands of popish inquisitors ; and indeed in the end the popish lands in direct popery ; seeing, if I may not profess "^q""'^'""- and preach that religion, which I am persuaded in '^ my own conscience is true, it is to no purpose to ; search the scriptures, or to seek to choose my own '\ faith by convictions thence derived ; since whatever \ I there observe, or am persuaded of, I must either I subject to the judgment of the magistrate and church \ of that place I am in, or else resolve to remove, or . .\ die. Yea, doth not this heretical and antichristian \ doctrine, both of Papists and Protestants, at last re- solve into that cursed policy of Mahomet, who pro- hibited all reason or discourse about religion, as occasioning factions and divisions ? And indeed those \ that press persecution, and deny liberty of conscience, \ do thereby show themselves more the disciples of ■ Mahomet than of Christ ; and that they are no ways followers of the apostle's doctrine, who desired the \ Thessalonians to prove all things, and hold fast that \ ivhich is good, 1 Thess. v. 21. And also saith, Unto i such as are othenvise minded, God shall reveal it, i Phil. iii. 15, not that by beatings and banishments it must be knocked into them. §. VI. Now the ground of persecution, as hath been The ground I I i 482 OF THE POWER OF PROP. XIV. ofperteca- abovc shown, is an unwillingness to suffer; for no *'°°* man, that will persecute another for his conscience, would suffer for his own, if he could avoid it, seeing his principle obliges him, if he had power, by force to establish that which he judges is the truth, and so to force others to it. Therefore I judge it meet, for the information of the nations, briefly to add some- thing in this place concerning the nature of true Christian suflbrings, whereunto a very faithful testi- mony hath been borne by God's witnesses, which he hath raised up in this age, beyond what hath been generally known or practised for tliese many genera- tions, yea, since the apostacy took place. Yet it is not my design here in anywise to derogate from the sufferings of the Protestant martyrs, whom I believe to have walked in faithfulness towards God, accord- ing to the dispensations of light in that day appearing, and of which many were utter enemies to persecution, as by their testimonies against it might be made appear, whattrae But the truc, faithful, and Christian suffering is, suHeriug is. ^^^ ^^^^^ ^^ profcss what they are persuaded is right, and so practise and perform their worship towards God, as being their true right so to do ; and neither to do more in that, because of outward encouragement from men ; nor any whit less, because of the fear of their laws and acts against it. Thus for a Christian man to vindicate his just liberty with so much bold- ness, and yet innocency, will in due time, though through blood, purchase peace, as this age hath in some measure experienced, and many are witnesses of it ; which yet shall be more apparent to the world, as truth takes place in the earth. But they greatly sin against this excellent rule, that in time of perse- cution do not profess their own way so much as they would if it were otherwise ; and yet, when they can get the magistrate upon their side, not only stretch their own liberty to the utmost, but seek to establish the Same by denying it to others. THE CIVIL MAGISTRATE. 483 But of this excellent patience and sufferings, the The inno- witnesses of God, in scorn called Quakers, have given ?^^l if^H' a manifest proof: for so soon "as God revealed his people truth among them, without regard to any opposition Quakers. whatsoever, or what they might meet with, they went up and down, as they were moved of the Lord, preach- ing and propagating the truth in market-places, high- ways, streets, and public temples, though daily beaten, whipped, bruised, haled, and imprisoned therefore/ And when there was any where a church or assembly gathered, they taught them to keep their meetings openly, and not to shut the door, nor do it by stealth, that all might know it, and those that wouj^ might enter. And as hereby all just occasion of fear of plotting against the government was fully removed, so this their courage and faithfulness in not giving over their meeting together (but more especially the presence and glory of God manifested in the meeting- being terrible to the consciences of the persecutors) did so weary out the malice of their adversaries, that oftentimes they were forced to leave their work undone. For when they came to break up a meeting, they were obliged to take every individual out by force, they^not being free to give up their liberty by dissolving at their command : and when they were haled out, un- less they were kept forth by violence, they presently returned peaceably to their place. Yea, when some- times the magistrates have pulled down their meet- ing-houses, they have met the next day openly upon the rubbish, and so by innocency kept their possession and ground, being properly their own, and their right to meet and worship God being not forfeited to any. So that when armed men have come to dissolve them, it was impossible for them to do it, unless they had killed every one; for they stood so close together, that no force could move any one to stir, until vio- lently pulled thence : so that when the malice of their opposers stirred them to take shovels, and throw the rubbish upon them, there they stood unmoved, being I i2 484 OF THE POWER OF PROP. XIV. willing, if the Lord should so peniiit, to have been there buried alive, witnessing for him. As this patient but yet courageous way of sufi'ering made the perse- cutors' work very heavy and wearisome unto them, so the courage and patience of the sufferers, using no resistance, nor bringing any weapons to defend themselves, nor seeking any ways revenge upon such occasions, did secretly smite the hearts of the persecutors, and made their chariot wheels go on heavily. Thus after much and many kind of suffer- ings thus patiently borne, which to rehearse would make a volume of itself, which may in due time be published to the nations (for we have them upon record) a kind of negative liberty has been obtained ; so that at present for the most part we meet together without disturbance from the magistrate. But on the contrary, most Protestants, when they have not the allowance and toleration of the magistrate, meet only in secret and hide their testimony ; and if they be discovered, if there be any probability of making their escape by force (or suppose it were by cutting off those that seek them out) they will do it ; whereby they lose the glory of their sufferings, by not appear- ing as the innocent followers of Christ, nor having a testimony of their harmlessness in the hearts of their pursuers, their fury, by such resistance, is the more kindled against them. As to this last part, of resist- ing such as persecute them, they can lay claim to no precept from Christ, nor any example of him or his apostles approved. Object. But as to the first part, for fleeing and meeting secretly, and not openly testifying for the truth, they usually object that saying of Christ, Matt. x. 23; W/ie)i they persecute you in this city, flee ye into ano- ther. And Acts, ix. 4. That the disciples met secretly for fear of the Jews, And Acts, ix. 25. That Paul was let out of Damascus in a basket down by the wall. ak«w. To all which I answer, First, As to that saying of THE CIVIL MAGISTRATE. 485 Christ, it is a question if it had any further relation ; than to that particular message with which he sent ] them to the Jews ; yea, the latter end of the words I seems expressly to hold forth so much ; jPor 2/e shall not have gone over the cities of Israel till the Son of man he come. Now a particular practice or command for a particular time will not serve for a precedent to ; any at this day to shun the cross of Christ. But sup- \ posing this precept to reach farther, it must be so • imderstood to be made use of only according as the Spirit giveth liberty, else no man that could flee might suffer persecution. How then did not the apos- \ ties John and Peter flee, when they were the first time Fleeing in | persecuted at Jerusalem? But, on the contrary, went *'™y,°J/,"' ^ the next day, after they were discharged by the coun- allowed. \ cil, and preached boldly to the people. But indeed ] many are but too capable to stretch such sayings as I these for self-preservation, and therefore have great j ground to fear, when they interpret them, that they ] shun to witness for Christ, for fear of hurt to them- | selves, lest they mistake them. As for that private ; meeting of the disciples, we have only an account of ] the matter of fact, but that suffices not to make of it ] a precedent for us ; and men's aptness to imitate them J in that (which, for aught we know, might have been : an act of weakness) and not in other things of a con- | trary nature, shows that it is not a true zeal to be \ like those disciples, but indeed a desire to preserve \ themselves, which moves them so to do. Lastly, As \ to that of Paul's being conveyed out of Damascus, \ the case was singular, and is not to be doubted but j it was done by a special allowance from God, who '{ having designed him to be a principal minister of his \ gospel, saw meet in his wisdom to disappoint the \ wicked counsel of the Jews. But our adversaries have no such pretext for fleeing, whose fleeing pro- ceeds from self-preservation, not from immediate reve- \ lation. And that Paul made not this the method of ^ ^ his procedure, appears, in that at another time, not- - | 4M OF THE POWER, ETC. PROP. XIV. withstanding the persuasion of his friends, and cer- tain prophecies of his sufferings to come, he would not be dissuaded from going up to Jerusalem, which according to the forementioned rule he should have done. But Lastly, To conclude this matter, glory to God, and our Lord Jesus Christ, that now these twenty- five years, since we were known to be a distinct and separate people, hath given us faithfully to suffer for his 7mme, without shrinking or fleeing the cross ; and what liberty we now enjoy, it is by his mercy, and not by any outward working or procuring of our own, but it is He has wrought upon the hearts of our opposers. Nor was it any outward interest hath procured it unto us, but the testimony of our harmlessness in the hearts of our superiors : for God hath preserved us hitherto in the patient suffering of Jesus, that we have not given away our cause by persecuting any, which few if any Christians that I know can say. Now against our unparalleled yet innocent and Christian cause our malicious enemies have nothing to say, but that if we had power, we should do so likewise. This is a piece of mere unreasonable malice, and a privilege they take to judge of things to come, which they have not by immediate revelation ; and surely it is the greatest height of harsh judgment to say men would do con- trary to their professed principle if they could, who have from their practice hitherto given no ground for it, and wherein they only judge others by themselves: such conjectures cannot militate against us, so long as we are innocent. And if ever we prove guilty of persecution, by forcing other men by corporal punish- ment to our way, then let us be judged the greatest of hypocrites, and let not any spare to persecute us. Amen, saith my soul. 487 PROPOSITION XV. CONCERNING SALUTATIONS AND RECREATIONS, ETC. Seeing the chief end of all religion is to redeem men from the Eph. v. 11. spirit and vain conversation of this world, and to lead into 1 P^*- i- 1^* inward communion with God, before whom if we ybar always ^ ^'^^' we are accounted happy ; therefore all the vain customs and ^"g ^ ^Q. habits thereof, both in word and deed, are to be rejected and Matt. xv. forsaken by those who come to this fear ; such as taking off 13. the hat to a man, the bowings and cringings of the body, and ^"*- "• ^' such other salutations of that kind, with all the foolish and superstitious formalities attending them ; all which man hath invented in his degenerate state, to feed his pride in the vain pomp and glory of this world : as also the unprofitable plays, frivolous recreations, sportings, and gamings, which are invented to pass away the precious time, and divert the mind from the witness of God in the heart, and from the living sense of his /ear, and n^om that evangelical Spirit wherewith Christians ought to be leavened, and which leads into sobriety, ^ gravity, and godly fear ; in which as we abide, the blessing of the Lord is felt to attend us in those actions in which we are necessarily engaged, in order to the taking care for the sustenance of the outward man. §. I. Having hitherto treated of the principles of reli- gion, both relating to doctrine and worship, I am now to speak of some practices which have been the pro- duct of these principles, in those witnesses wliom God hath raised up in this day to testify for his truth. It will not a little commend them, I suppose, in the judgment of sober and judicious men, that taking them generally, even by the confession of their adver- saries, they are found to be free of those abominations which abound among other professors, such as are swearing, drunkenness, whoredom, riotousness, &c. and that generally the very coming among this people doth naturally work such a change, so that many vicious and profane persons have been known, by com- ing to this truth, to become sober and virtuous ; and many light, vain, and wanton ones to become grave and serious, as our adversaries dare not deny : Yet 488 OF SALUTATIONS PROP. XV. that they may not want something to detract us for, ceiase not to accus(j us for those things which, when found among themselves, they highly commend * ; thus our gravity they call sullenness, our seriousness melancholy, our silence sottishness. Such as have been vicious and profane among them, but by coming to us have left off those evils, lest they should com- mend the truth of our profession, they say, that whereas they were profane before, they are become worse, in being hypocritical and spiritually proud. If any before dissolute and profane among them, by coming to the truth with us, become frugal and diligent, then they will charge them with covetousness : and if any eminent among them for seriousness, piety, and discoveries of God, come unto us, then will they say, they were always subject to melancholy and to enthu- siasm; though before, when among them, it was esteemed neither melancholy nor enthusiasm in an evil sense, but Christian gravity and divine revela- tion. Our boldness and Christian suffering they call obstinacy and pertinacy ; though half as much, if among themselves, they would account Christian cou- rage and nobility. And though thus by their envy they strive to read all relating to us backwards, count- ing those things vices in us, which in themselves they would extol as virtues, yet hath the strength of truth extorted this confession often from them. That we are generally a pure and clean people as to the outward conversation. But this, they say, is but in policy to commend our heresy. But such policy it is, say I, as Christ and his apos- tles made use of, and all good Christians ought to * After this manner the Papists used to disapprove the sobriety of the Waldcnses.of whom Reinerus, a Popish author, so writeth. *• But this sect of the Leonists hatli a great show of truth; for that they live righteously before men, and believe all things well of (iod, and all the articles which are contained in iim Creed ; only they blasphtiue and hate the church of Rome." AND RECREATIONS. 489 do ; yea, so far hath truth prevailed by the purity of its followers, that if one that is called a Quaker do but that which is common among them, as to laugh and be wanton, speak at large, and keep not his word punctually, or be overtaken with hastiness or anger, they presently say, O this is against your profession ! As if indeed so to do were very consistent with theirs; wherein though they speak the truth, yet they give away their cause. But if they can find any under our name in any of those evils common among them- selves (as who can imagine but among so many thou- sands there will be some chaff, since of twelve apos- tles one was found to be a devil), O how will they insult, and make more noise of the escape of one Quaker, than of a hundred among themselves ! §. II. But there are some singular things, which most of all our adversaries plead for the lawfulness of, and allow themselves in, as no ways inconsistent with the Christian religion, which we have found to be no ways lawful unto us, and have been commanded of the Lord to lay them aside ; though the doing thereof hath occasioned no small sufferings and buf- fetings, and hath procured us much hatred and malice from the world. And because the nature of these things is such, that they do upon the very sight dis- tinguish us, and make us known, so that we cannot hide ourselves from any, without proving unfaithful to our testimony ; our trials and exercises have here- through proved the more numerous and difficult, as will after appear. These I have laboured briefly to comprehend in this proposition ; but they may more largely be exhibited in these six following proposi- tions. I. That it is not lawful to give to men such flatter- Flattering ing titles, as Your Holiness, Your Majesty, Your Emi- ^*'^^'' nency. Your Excellency, Your Grace, Your Lordship, Your Honour, &c. nor use those flattering words, commonly called [Compliments.] 490 OF SALUTATIONS PUOP. XV. Hat and II. That it is not lawful for Christians to kneel, or kntc. prostrate themselves to any man, or to bow the body, or to uncover the head to them. Apparel. HI. That it is not lawful for Christians to use superfluities in apparel, as are of no use, save for ornament and vanity. Gaming. IV. That it is not lawful to use games, sports, plays, nor, among other things, comedies among Christians, under the notion of recreations, which do not agree with Christian silence, gravity, and sobriety : for laughing, sporting, gaming, mocking, jesting, vain talking, &c. is not Christian liberty, nor harmless mirth. Swearing. V. That it is uot lawful for Christians to swear at all under the gospel, not only not vainly, and in their common discourse, which was also forbidden under the Mosaical law, but even not in judgment before the magistrate. Fighiiug. VI. That it is not lawful for Christians to resist evil, or to war or fight in any case. I Degrees of Bcforc I enter upon a particular disquisition of precedency ^hcsc thiugs, I shall first prcmisc some general con- aiiowed. siderations, to prevent all mistakes; and next add some general considerations, which equally respect all of them. I would not have any judge, that hereby ^we intend to destroy the mutual relation that either is betwixt prince and people, master and servants, parents and children | nay, not at all : we shall evi- dence, that our principle in these things hath no such tendency, and that these natural relations are rather better established, than any ways hurt by it. Next, Let not any judge, that from our opinion in these things,|any necessity of levelling will follow, or that ^ all men must have things in common Jk Our principle leaves every man to enjoy that peaceably, which either- his own industry, or his parents have purchased to him ; only he is thereby instructed to use it aright, both for his own good, and that of his brethren ; and AND RECREATIONS. 491 all to the glory of God : in which also his acts are to be voluntary, and no ways constrained. And further, we say not hereby, that no man may use the creation more or less than another : for we know, that as it hath pleased God to dispense it diversly, giving to some more, and some less, so they may use it accordingly. The several conditions, under which men are diversly Education stated, together with their educations answering there- cifdbgw! unto, do sufficiently show this : the servant is not the same way educated as the master ; nor the tenant as the landlord ; nor the rich as the poor ; nor the prince as the peasant. Now, though it be not lawful for any, however great abundance they may have, or whatever their education may be, to use that which is merely superfluous; yet seeing their education has accus- tomed them thereunto, and their capacity enables them so to do, without being profuse or extravagant, they may use things better in their kind, than such whose education hath neither accustomed them to such things, nor their capacity will reach to compass them. For it is beyond question, that whatever thing The lawful the creation affords is for the use of man, and the "jj'of^tbe"* moderate use of them is lawful ; yet, per accident, creation, they may be unlawful to some, and not to others. As for instance, he that by reason of his estate and edu- cation hath been used to eat flesh and drink wine, and to be clothed with the finest wool, if his estate will bear it, and he use it neither in superfluity, nor immoderately, he may do it; and perhaps, if he should apply himself to feed, or be clothed as are the peasants, it might prejudice the health of his body, and nothing advance his soul. But if a man, whose estate and education had accustomed him to both coarser food and raiment, should stretch himself be- yond what he had, or were used to, to the manifest prejudice of his family and children, no doubt it would be unlawful to hitn even so to eat or be clothed as another, in whom it is lawful ; for that the other may be as much mortified, and have denied himself 492 OF SALUTATION'S PROP. XV. as much in coming down to that, which this aspires to, as he, in willing to be like him, aspires beyond what he either is able, or hath accustomed to do. The safe place then is, for such as have fulness, to The ricb to watcli ovcr thcmsclves, that they use it moderately, poon**** and rescind all superfluities ; being willing, as far as they can, to help the need of those to whom Provi- dence hath allotted a smaller allowance. \Let the ^brother of high degree rejoice, in that he is abased ; and such as God calls in a low degree^ be content with their condition, ?iot envying those brethren who have greater abundance, knowing they have received abun- \ dance, as to the inward man ; which is chiefly to be regarded .'And therefore beware of such a temptation, as to use their calling as an engine to be richer, know- ing, they have this advantage beyond the rich and noble that are called, that the truth doth not any ways abase them, nay, not in the esteem of the world, as it doth the other ; but that they are rather exalted thereby, in that as to the inward and spiritual fellow- ship of the saints, they become the brethren and com- panions of the greatest and richest; and in this respect, Let him of low degree rejoice that he is exalted. These things premised, I would seriously propose unto all such as choose to be Christians indeed, and that in nature, and not in name only, whether it were not desirable, and would not greatly contribute to the commendation of Christianity, and to the increase of the life and virtue of Christ, if all superfluous titles of honour, profusencss and prodigaliti/ in ineat and apparel, gaming, sporting, and playing were laid aside and forborne ? And whether such as lay them aside, in so doing, walk not more like the disciples of Christ and his apostles, and are therein nearer their example, than such as use them ? Whether the laying them aside would hinder any from being good Chris- tians ? Or if Christians might not be better without them than with them ? Certainly the sober and seri- ous among all sorts will say, Yea. Then surely such AND RECREATIONS. 493 as lay them aside, as reckoning them unsuitable for Christians, are not to be blamed, but rather com- mended for so doing : because that in principle and practice they effectually advance that, which others acknowledge were desirable, but can never make eifec- tual, so long as they allow the use of them as lawful. And God hath made it manifest in this age, that by discovering the evil of such things, and leading his witnesses out of them, and to testify against them, he hath produced effectually in many that mortification and abstraction from the love and cares of this world, who daily are conversing in the world (but inwardly redeemed out of it) both in wedlock, and in their law- ful employments, which was judged could only be obtained by such as were shut up in cloisters and monasteries. Thus much in general. §. III. As to the first we affirm positively. That it is 7iot lawful for Christians either to give or receive these titles of honour, as. Your Holiness, Your Ma- jesty, Your Excellency, Your Eminency, &c. First, Because these titles are no part of that obe- TiUes. dience which is due to magistrates or superiors ; neither doth the giving them add to or diminish from that subjection we owe to them, which consists in obeying their just and lawful commands, not in titles and designations. Secondly, We find not that in the scripture any Under the such titles are used, either under the law or X\\q, gospel: '^J^^^^so*- but that in the speaking to kings, princes, or nobles, they used only a simple compellation, as O King ! and that without any further designation, save perhaps the name of the person, as, O King Agrippa, &c. Thirdly, It lays a necessity upon Christians most Ljringtiii«». frequently to lie ; because the persons obtaining these titles, either by election or hereditarily, may frequently be found to have nothing really in them deserving them, or answering to them : as some, to whom it is said. Your Excellency, having nothing of excellency in them; and he who is called, Your Grace, appears 494 OF SALUTATTOKS PROP. XV. to be an enemy to ^race ; and he who is called, Your Honour, is known to be base and ignoble. I wonder Patent* do what law of man, or what patent ought to oblige me ro°«*ii*e'^* to make a lie, in calling good, evil ; and evil, good ? I wonder what law of man can secure me, in so doing, from the just judgment of God, that will make me account for every idle word ? And to lie is something more. Surely Christians should be ashamed that such laws, manifestly crossing the law of God, should be among them. Object. If it be said. We ought 171 charity to suppose that they have these virtues, because the king has bestcnved those titles upon them, or that they are descended of such as deserved them ; A NSW. I answer, Charity destroys not knowledge: I am not obliged by charity, either to believe or speak a lie. Now it is apparent, and cannot be denied by any, but that those virtues are not in many of the persons expressed by the titles they bear ; neither will they allow to speak so to such, in whom these virtues are, unless they be so dignified by outward princes. So that such as are truly virtuous must not be styled by their virtues, because not privileged by the princes of this world ; and such as have them not must be so called, because they have obtained a patent so to be : and all this is done by those who pretend to be his followers, that commanded his disciples, Not to be called of men, Master ; and told them, such could not believe, as received honour 07ie from another, and sought not the honour which cometh from God only. This is so plain, to such as will indeed be Christians, that it needs no consequence. Yoar Hoii- Fourthly, As to those titles of Holiness, Eminency, Grtcey&" *"^ Excellency, used among the Papists to the Pope and Cardinals, &c. and Grace, Lordship, and Wor- ship, used to the Clergy among the Protestants, it is a most blasphemous usurpation. For if they use Ho- liness and Grace, because these things ought to be in a Pope or in a Bishop, how come they to usurp that AND RECREATIONS. 495 peculiarity to themselves? Ought not holiness and grace to be in every Christian ? And so every Chris- tian should say, Your Holiness, and Your Grace, one to another. Next, how can they in reason claim any more titles than were practised and received by the apostles and primitive Christians, whose successors they pretend they are, and as whose successors (and no otherwise) themselves, I judge, will confess any honour they seek is due to them ? Now if they neither sought, received, nor admitted such honour nor titles, how came these by them ? If they say they did, let them prove it if they can : we find no such thing in the scripture. The Christians speak to the apostles without any such denomination, neither saying, If it please Your Grace, Your Holiness, Your Lordship, nor Your Worship ; they are neither called. My Lord Peter, nor My Lord Paul ; nor yet Master Peter, nor Master Paul ; nor Doctor Peter, nor Doctor Paul ; but singly Peter and Paul ; and that not only in the scripture, but for some hundreds of years after: so that this appears to be a manifest fruit of the apostacy. For if these titles arise either from the office or worth of the persons, it will not be denied, but the apostles deserved them better than any now that call for them. But the case is plain, the apostles had the holiness, the excellency, the grace ; and because they were holy, excellent, and gracious, they neither used, nor admitted of such titles : but these having neither Hypocrites holiness, excellency, nor grace, will needs be so called, ''^"^ **^'^** to satisfy their ambitious and ostentatious minds, which is a manifest token of their hypocrisy. Fifthly, As to that title of Majesty, usually ascribed to princes, we do not find it given to any such in the holy scripture ; but that it is specially and peculiarly ascribed unto God, as 1 Chron. xxix. 1 1 ; Job, xxxvii. 22 ; Psalm xxi. 5 ; and xxix. 4 ; and xlv. 3 ; and cxiii. 1; and cxvi. 6; Isa. ii. 10; and xxiv. 14; and xxvi. 10; Heb. i. 3 ; 2 Pet. i. 16; and many more places. Hence saith Jude, verse 25 : To the only 496 OF SALUTATIONS PROP. XV. wise God our Saviour^ be glo?y mid iiiajesty^ &:c. not to men. We find in scripture the proud king Nebu- chadnezzar assuming this title to himself, Dan. iv. 30, who at that time received a sufficient reproof, by a sudden judgment which came upon him. Therefore in all the compellations used to princes in the Old Testament, it is not to be found, nor yet in the New. Paul was very civil to Agrippa, yet he gives him no such title : neither was this title used among Chris- tians in the primitive times. Hence the Ecclesiasti- cal History of the Reformation of France, relating the speech of the Lord Rochefort, at the assembly of the Eccies. estates of France, held under Charles the Ninth, in Hist. 1.4. p. ^^ y^^j. j5gQ^ saith, " That this harangue was well Your Ma- remarked, in that he used not the word [Majesty] in- u?ed;"how vented by flatterers of late years." And yet this taken no- autlior miudcd not how his master Calvin used this 'iTm. '" flattering title to Francis the First, King of France; and not only so, but calls him Most Christian King, in the epistle to his Institutions ; though, by his daily persecuting of the reformers, it was apparent, he was far from being such, even in Calvin's own esteem. Surely the complying with such vain titles, imposed and introduced by antichrist, greatly tended to stain the reformation, and to render it defective in many things. Lastly, All these titles and styles of honour are to be rejected by Christians, because they are to seek the honour that comes from above, and not the honour that is from below : but these honours are not that honour that comes from above, but are from below. For we know well enough what industry, and what pains men are at to get these things, and what part it The proud is that sccks after them, to wit, the proud, insolent, tiiTel °^^* haughty, aspiring mind. For judge, is it the meek and innocent Spirit of Christ that covets that honour ? Is it that Spirit that must be of no reputation in this world, that h€is its conversation in heaven, that comes Phil. ui. 20. to have fellowship with the som of God? Is it that 30. AND RECREATIONS. 497 ] Spirit, I say, that loves that honour, that seeks after that honour, that pleads for the upholding of that honour, that frets, and rages, and fumes, when it is t denied that honour ? Or is it not rather the lordly insulting spirit of Lucifer, the prince of this world, he Lncifer's J that of old affected and sought after this honour, and '»""^* . i loved not to abide in the submissive low place ? And i so all his children are possessed with the same am- ^ bitious proud mind, seeking and coveting titles of ho- \ nour, which indeed belong not to them. For let us \ examine, * Who they are that arc honourable indeed 1 \ Is it not the righteous man ? Is it not the holy man ? i Sam. ii Is it not the humble-hearted man, the meek-spirited man ? And are not such those that ought to be ho- noured among Christians ? Now of these, may there not be poor men, labourers, silly fishermen ? And if so, how comes it that the titles of honour are not be- stowed upon such ? But who are they that generally receive and look for this honour? Are they not the rich ones, such as have abundance of the earth, as be like the rich glutton, such as are proud and ambiti- ous, such as are oppressors of the poor, such as swell with lust and vanity, and all superfluity of naughti- ness, who are the very abomination and plague of the nations? Are not these they that are accounted ho- nourable, that require and receive the titles of honour, proud Hamans ? Now whether is this the honour that comes from God, or the honour from below ! Doth God honour such as daily dishonour him, and disobey him ? And if this be not the honour that comes from God, but the honour of this world, which the children of this world give and receive one from another ; how can the children of God, such as are Christians in- * Hierom, in his epistle to Celant, admonisheth her, That she was to be preferred to none for her nobility, for the Christian religion admits not of respect of persons ; neither are men to be esteemed because of their outward condition, but according to the disposition of the mind to be esteemed either noble or base ; he that obeyeth not sin, is free ; who is strong in virtue, is noble. Let the Epistle of James be read. K K 498 OF SALUTATIONS PROP. XV. deed, give or receive that honour among themselves, without coming under tlie reproof of Christ, who saith, that such as do camiot believe 1 But further, if we respect the cause that most frequently procures to men these titles of honour, there is not one of a thou- sand that shall be found to be, because of any Chris- tian virtue ; but rather for things to be discommended among Christians : as by the favour of princes, pro- cured by flattering, and often by worse means. Yea, the most frequent, and accounted among men most honourable, is fighting, or some great martial exploit, which can add nothing to a Christian s worth : since, sure it is, it were desirable there were no fightings among Christians at all ; and in so far as there are, it shows they are not right Christians. And James tells us, t\i2djig/itifig proceeds fro7?i the lusts. So that it were fitter for Christians, by the Sword of God's Spirit, to fight against their lusts, than by the preva- lency of their lusts to destroy one another. Whatever honour any might have attained of old under the law this way, we find under the gospel Christians com- mended for suflTering, not for fighting; neither did any of Christ's disciples, save one, offer outward vio- lence by the sword, in cutting off Malchus's ear; for which he received no title of honour, but a just re- proof. Finally, if we look either to the nature of this honour, the cause of it, the ways it is conveyed, the terms in which it is delivered, it cannot be used by such as desire to be Christians in good earnest. §. IV. Now besides these general titles of honour, what gross abuses are crept in among such as are called Christians in the use of compliments, wherein not servants to masters, or others, with respect to any such kind of relations, do say and write to one another at every turn, Vour humble servant, Vour most obe- diejit servant, &c. Such wicked customs have, to the great prejudice of souls, accustomed Christians to lie; and to use lying is now come to be accounted civility. O horrid apostacy ! for it is notoriously known, that AND RECREATIONS. 499 the use of these compliments imports not any design of service, neither are any such fools to think so ; for if we should put them to it that say so, they would not doubt to think we abused them ; and would let us know they gave us words in course, and no more. It is strange, that such as pretend to scripture as their rule should not be ashamed to use such things ; since Elihu, that had not the scripture, could by the light within him (wLich these men thii.k insufficient), say, Job, xxxii. 21, 22 : Let me not accept any mails per- son, neither let nie give flattering titles unto men. For I know not to give flattering titles ; in so doing my Maker would soon take me away. A certain ancient devout man, in the primitive time, subscribed himself to a bishop. Your humble servant; wherein I doubt not but he was more real than our usual complimenters ; and yet he was sharply reproved for it*. But they usually object, to defend themselves. That Luke saith, Most Llvcellent Theophilus ; and Paul, Most Noble Festus. I answer ; Since Luke wrote that by the dictates of the infallible Spirit of God, I think it will not be doubted but Theophilus did deserve it, as being really endued with that virtue : in which case we shall not condemn those that do it by the same rule. But it is not proved that Luke gave Theophilus this title, as that which was inherent to him, either by his father, or by any patent Theophilus had obtained from any of the princes of the earth ; or that he would have given it him, in case he had not been truly excellent : and without this be proved (which never can), there * This history is reported by Casaubonus, in his book of Manners and Customs, p. 160. In this last age he is esteemed an uncivil man, who will not either to his inferior or equal sub- scribe himself Sci-vant. But Sulpitius Severus was heretofore sharply reproved by Paulinus, bishop of Nola, because in his epistle he had subscribed himself his Sei'vant, saying. Beware thou subscribe not thyself his servant y who is thy brother; for flattery is sinful, not a testimony of humility to give those honours to men, which are only due to the One Lord, Master, and GOV, K K 2 500 OF SALUTATIONS PROP. XV. Concerning Can nothing hence be deduced against us. The lilce ^e tide j^jjy be said of that of Paul to Festus, whom he would to Fetio«. not have called such, if he had not been truly noble ; as indeed he was, in that he suffered him to be heard in his own cause, and would not give way to the fury of the Jews against him ; it was not because of any outward title bestowed upon Festus, that he so called him, else he would have given the same appellation to his predecessor Felix, who had the same office ; but being a covetous man, we find he gives him no such style. The singu- §. V. It will uot bc uufit iu this place to say some- lar number i\^[^cr Concerning: the using: of the sing^ular number to to one per- o /?^ i • i • • i son used in One pcrsou ; of this there is no controversy m the the Latin. Lg^^j^. For whcu we speak to one, we always use the pronoun [TU,] and he that would do otherwise, would break the rules of grammar. For what boy, learning his rudiments, is ignorant, that it is incon- gruous to say [vos a mas, vos leg is], that is [t/ou lovest, you reddest], speaking to one ? But the pride of man, that hath corrupted many things, refuses also to use this simplicity of speaking in the vulgar languages. For being puffed up with a vain opinion of themselves, as if the singular number were not sufficient for them, they will have others to speak to them in the plural. Hence Luther, in his plays, reproves and mocks this manner of speaking, saying, Alagister, vos es iratus : which corruption Erasmus sufficiently refutes in his book of writing Epistles : concerning which likewise James Howell, in his epistle to the nobility of Eng- land, before the French and English Dictionary, takes notice, " That both in France, and in other na- tions, the word [THOU] was used in speaking to one; but by succession of time, when the Roman common- wealth grew into an empire, the courtiers began to magnify the emperor (as being furnished with power How ihe to confer dignities and offices), using the word [You], o>me to^^be Y^a, and deifying him with more remarkable titles ; nied to % concemins: which matter we read in the Epistles of tingle per- . ° ' - AND RECREATIONS. 501 Symmachus to the Emperors Theodosius and Valen- tinianus, where he useth these forms of speaking, ves- tra cEternitas, your eternity; vestrum Numen, your Godhead ; vestr^a serenitas, your serenity ; vestra de- mentia, your clemency. So that the word [You] in the plural number, together with the other titles and compel! ations of honour, seem to have taken their rise from monarchical government ; which afterwards, by degrees, came to be derived to private persons." The same is witnessed by John Maresius, of the French academy, in the preface of his Clovis : " Let none wonder (saith he), that the word [Thou] is used in this work to princes and princesses ; for we use the same to God : and of old the same was used to Alex- anders, Caesars, queens, and empresses. The use of the word [You], when one person is spoken to, was only introduced by the base flatteries of men of latter ages, to whom it seemed good to use the plural num- ber to one person, that he may imagine himself alone to be equal to many others in dignity and worth ; from whence at last it came to persons of lower qua- lity." To the same purpose speaketh also M. Godeau, in his preface to the New Testament translation : "I had rather (saith he), faithfully keep to the express words of Paul, than exactly follow the polished style of our tongue ; therefore I always use that form of calling God in the singular number, not in the plural ; and therefore I say rather [Thou] than [You]. I confess indeed, that the civility and custom of this world requires him to be honoured after that manner; but it is likewise on the contrary true, that the original tongue of the New Testament hath nothing common with such manners and civility ; so that not one of these many old versions we have doth observe it. Let not men believe, that we give not respect enough to God, in that we call him by the word [Thou], which The word is nevertheless far otherwise; for I seem to myself g]!'^''^"'^,,^. (may be by the effect of custom), more to honour his nour to One ^ J J ^' than You. 502 OF SALUTATIONS PROP. XV. Divine Majesty, in calling him after this manner, than if I should call him after the manner of men, who are so delicate in their forms of speech." See how clearly and evidently these men witness, that this form of speaking, and these profane titles, derive their origin from the base flattery of these last ages, and from the delicate haughtiness of worldly men, who have invented these novelties, that thereby they might honour one another, under I know not what pretence of civility and respect. From whence many of the present Christians (so accounted), are become so perverse, in commending most wicked men, and wicked customs, that the simplicity of the gospel is wholly lost ; so that the giving of men and things their own names is not only worn out of custom, but the doing thereof is accounted absurd and rude by such kind of delicate parasites, who desire to ascribe to this flattery, and abuse the name of civility. More- over, that this way of speaking proceeds from a high and proud mind, hence appears ; because that men commonly use the singular number to beggars, and to their servants; yea, and in their prayers to God. Thus the superior will speak to his inferior, who yet will not bear that the inferior so speak to him, as judg- ing it a kind of reproach unto him. So hath the pride of men placed God and the beggar in the same category. I think I need not use arguments to prove to such as know congruous language, that we ought to use the singular number speaking to one ; which is the common dialect of the whole scripture, as also the most interpreters do translate it. Seeing there- fore it is manifest to us, that this form of speaking to men in the plural number doth proceed from pride, as well as that it is in itself a lie, we found a neces- sity upon us to testify against this corruption, by using the singular equally unto all. And although no rea- son can be given why we should be persecuted upon duiect'the ^^^^^ account, especially by Christians, who profess to pUin Inn- follow the rulc of scripture, whose dialect this is ; yet AND RECREATIONS. 503 it would perhaps seem incredible if I should relate how much we have suffered for this thing, and how these proud ones have fumed, fretted, and gnashed their teeth, frequently beating and striking us, when we have spoken to them thus in the singular number : whereby we are the more confirmed in our judgment, as seeing that this testimony of truth, which God hath given us to bear in all things, doth so vex the serpentine nature in the children of darkness. •§. VI. Secondly, Next unto this of titles, the other Bowing to part of honour used among Christians is the kneelhig, "®°' ^*'- bow'mg, and uncovering of the head to one another. I know nothing our adversaries have to plead for them in this matter, save some few instances of the Old Testament, and the custom of the country. The first are, such as Abrahams bowing himself to the children of Heth, and Lot to the tivo angels^ &c. But the practice of these patriarchs, related as mat- ter of fact, are not to be a rule to Christians now ; neither are we to imitate them in every practice, which has not a particular reproof added to it ; for we find not Abraham reproved for taking Hagar, &c. And indeed to say all things were lawful for us which they practised would produce great inconveniences obvious enough to all. And as to the customs of the The custom nations, it is a very ill argument for a Christian's JioJ,'^^n"*uie practice : we should have a better rule to walk by to chris- than the custom of the Gentiles ; the apostles desire *"^"'* us not to be conformed to this world, &c. We see Rom. xi;. 2. how little they have to say for themselves in this mat- ter. Let it be observed then, whether our reasons for laying aside these things be not considerable and weighty enough to uphold us in so doing. First, We say. That God, who is the Creator of man, and he to whom he oweth the dedication both of soul and body, is over all to be worshiped and adored, and that not only by the spirit, but also with Bowing is the prostration of body. Now kneeling, bowing, and a^d""^;^,^ uncovering of the head, is the alone outward signifi- due to God. 504 OF SALUTATIONS PROP. XV. cation of our adoration towards God, and therefore it is not lawful to give it unto man. He that kneeleth, or prostrates himself to man, what doth he more to God? He that boweth, and uncovereth his head to the creature, what hath he reserved to the Creator ? Now the apostle shows us, that the uncovering of the head is that which God requires of us in our wor- shiping of him, 1 Cor. xi. 14. But if we make our address to men in the same manner, where lieth the difference? Not in the outward signification, but merely in the intention ; which opens a door for the popish veneration of images, which hereby is neces- sarily excluded. Secondly, Men being alike by creation (though their being stated under their several relations requires from them mutual services according to those respec- tive relations), owe not worship one to another, but all equally are to return it to God : because it is to him, and his name alone, that every knee must bow, and before whose throne the four and twenty elders prostrate themselves. Therefore for men to take this one from another, is to rob God of his glory : since all the duties of relation may be performed one to another without these kind of bowings, which there- fore are no essential part of our duty to man, but to God. All men, by an inward instinct, in all nations, have been led to prostrate and bow themselves to God. And it is plain that this bowing to men took place from a slavish fear possessing some, which led them to set up others as gods; when also an ambitious proud spirit got up in those others, to usurp the place of God over their brethren. Thirdly, We see that Peter refused it from Corne- lius, saying. He was a man. Are then the popes more, or more excellent than Peter, who suffer men Peierand daily to fall down at their feet, and kiss them? This refawr' T^proof of Pctcr to Cornelius doth abundantly show, bowing, that such manners were not to be admitted among Christians. Yea, we see, that the angel twice refused AND RECREATIONS. 505 \ this kind of bowing from John, Rev. xix. 10; and j xxii. 9, for this reason, Because I am thy fellow ser- ■ 1 vant, and of thy br^etkren; abundantly intimating i that it is not lawful for fellow servants thus to pros- ■ trate themselves one to another : and in this respect 1 all men are fellow servants. ] If it be said, John intended here a religious worship, object. 1 a77d not a civil : \ I answer ; This is to say, not to prove ; neither ansvt. ^ can we suppose John, at that time of the day, so ill instructed as not to know it was unlawful to worship ' angels ; only it should seem, because of those great . and mysterious things revealed to him by that angel, J he was willing to signify some more than ordinary j testimony of respect, for which he was reproved. ] These things being thus considered, it is remitted to i the judgment of such as are desirous to be found ' Christians indeed, whether we are worthy of blame ] for waving it to men. Let those then that will blame 1 us consider whether they might not as well accuse | Mordecai of incivility, who was no less singular than •\ we in this matter. And forasmuch as they accuse us To forbear ' herein of rudeness and pride, thougrh the testimonv of """"^'P^ *° 1 our consciences m the sight ot God be a sufhcient incivility, i guard against such calumnies, yet there are of us ""[ ^"^^_' : known to be men of such education, as forbear not "ess. '' these things for want of that they call good breeding; i and we should be very void of reason, to purchase j that pride at so dear a rate, as many have done the | exercise of their conscience in this matter ; many of ■ us having been sorely beaten and buffeted, yea, and ] several months imprisoned, for no other reason but because we could not so satisfy the proud unreason- j able humours of proud men, as to uncover our heads, I and bow our bodies. Nor doth our innocent prac- | tice, in standing still, though upright, not putting off i our hats, any more than our shoes, the one being the covering of our heads, as well as the other of our feet, j show so much rudeness, as their beating and knock- J 506 OF SALUTATIONS I'ROP. XV. ing us, &c. because we cannot bow to them, contrary to our consciences : which certainly shows less meek- ness and humility upon their part, than it doth of rude- ness or pride upon ours. Now suppose it were our weakness, and we really under a mistake in this thing, since it is not alleged to be the breach of any Chris- tian precept, are we not to be indulged, as the apos- tle commanded should be done to such as scruple to eat flesh ? And doth not persecuting and reviling us upon this account show them to be more like unto proud Haman than the disciples or followers of the meek, self-denying Jesus 1 And this I can say boldly in the sight of God, from my own experience, and that of many thousands more, that however small or foolish this may seem, yet we behoved to choose death rather than do it, and that for conscience sake : and that in its being so contrary to our natural spirits, there are many of us, to whom the forsaking of these bowings and ceremonies was as death itself; which we could never have left, if we could have enjoyed our peace with God in the use of them. Though it be far from us to judge all those to whom God hath not shown the evil of them, ujider the like hazard ; yet nevertheless we doubt not but to such as would prove faithful witnesses to Christ's divine light in their consciences, God will also show the evil of these things. Apparel in §. VII. The third thing to be treated of, is the w/ftup/r- '^^fi^ly find superfluity of appareL In which, first, fluitjr disai- two thinofs are to be considered, the condition of the ^"^^ • person, and the country he lives in. We shall not say that all persons are to be clothed alike, because it will perhaps neither suit their bodies nor their estates. And if a man be clothed soberly, and with- out superfluity, though they may be finer than that which his servant is clothed with, we shall not blame him for it : the abstaining from superfluities, which his condition and education have accustomed him to, may be in him a greater act of mortification than the AND RECREATIONS. 507 abstaining from finer clothes in the servant, who never was accustomed to them. As to the country, what it naturally produces may be no vanity to the inhabi- tants to use, or what is commonly imparted to them by way of exchange, seeing it is without doubt that the creation is for the use of man. So where silk abounds, it may be worn as well as wool ; and were we in those countries, or near unto them, where gold or silver were as common as iron or brass, the one might be used as well as the other. The iniquity lies then here. First, When from a lust of vanity, and a desire to adorn themselves, men and women, not content with what their condition can bear, or their country easily affords, do stretch to have things, that from their rarity, and the price that is put upon them, seem to be precious, and so feed their lust the more ; and this all sober men of all sorts will readily grant to be evil. Secondly, When men are not content to make a true use of the creation, whether the thino^s be fine or coarse, and do not satisfy themselves with what need and conveniency call for, but add thereunto things merely superfluous, such as is the use of ribands and lace, and much more of that kind of stuff, as painting the face, and plaiting the hair, which are the fruits of the fallen, lustful, and corrupt nature, and not of the new creation, as all will acknowledge. And though sober men among all sorts will say, that it were better these things were not, yet will they not reckon them unlawful, and therefore do admit the use of them among their church members: but we do account them altogether unlawful, and unsuitable to Chris- tians, and that for these reasons : First, The use of clothes came originally from the The proper fall. If man had not fallen, it appears he would not "J^^^l^ have needed them ; but this miserable state made them necessary in two respects : I. To cover his na- kedness ; 2. To keep him from the cold\ which are both the proper and principal use of them. Now for 508 OF SALUTATIONS PROP. XV. man to delight himself in that which is the fruit of his iniquity, and the consequence of his sin, can be no ways lawful for him : so to extend things beyond their real use, or to superadd things wholly superflu- ous, is a manifest abuse of the creation, and therefore not lawful to Christians. Secondly, Those that will needs so adorn them- selves in the use of their clothes, as to beset them with things having no real use or necessity, but merely for ornament sake, do openly declare, that the end of Not to it is either to please their lusts (for which end these f«u* ^^^" things are chiefly invented and contrived), or other- wise to gratify a vain, proud, and ostentatious mind ; and it is obvious these are their general ends in so doing. Yea, we see how easily men are puffed up with their garments, and how proud and vain they are, when adorned to their mind. Now how far these things are below a true Christian, and how unsuita- ble, needs very little proof. Hereby those who love to be gaudy and superfluous in their clothes, show they concern themselves little with mortification and self-denial, and that they study to beautify their bo- dies more than their souls ; which proves they think little upon mortality, and so certainly are more nomi- nal than real Christians. Contrary to Thirdly, The scripture severely reproves such prac- 8criptare. ticcs, both commcudiug and commanding the con- trary ; as Isa. iii. how severely (ioth the prophet re- prove the daughters of Israel for their i'mkling oma- ments^ their cauls ^ and their round tires ^ their chains and bracelets, &c. and yet is it not strange to see Christians allow themselves in these things, from whom a more strict and exemplary conversation is required ? Christ desires us not to be anxious about our clothing. Matt. vi. 25 ; and to show the vanity of such as glory in the splendour of their clothing, tells them, That even Solo7?io?i, in all his glory ^ was not to be compared to the lily of thejicld, which to-day isy and to-morrow is cast into the oven. But surely AND RECREATIONS. 609 ' they make small reckoning of Christ's words and doc- j trine that are so curious in their clothing, and so in- j dustrious to deck themselves, and so earnest to justify it, and so enraged when they>are reproved for it. The apostle Paul is very positive in this respect, 1 Tim. ii. I 9, 10: I will therefore in like manner also that women \ adorn themselves i7i modest apparel, with shamefaced- \ ness and sobriety, and riot with broidered hair, or \ gold, or pearls, or costly array, but (which becometh \ women professing godliness) with good works. To the same purpose saith Peter, 1 Pet. iii. 3, 4 : Whose j adorning let it not be that outward adorning of plait- \ ing the hair, and weari?ig of gold, or of putting on of \ apparel; but let it be the hidden man of the heart, in \ that which is not corruptible, even the ornament of a , , 7neek and quiet spirit, &c. Here both the apostles do | very positively and expressly assert two things. First, \ That the adorning of Christian woman (of whom it is particularly spoken, I judge, because this sex is most naturally inclined to that vanity, and that it i seems that Christian men in those days deserved not ,J in this respect so much to be reproved), ought not to j be outward, nor consist in the apparel. Secondly, That they ought not to use the plaiting of the hair, Plaiting the \ or ornaments, &c. which was at that time the custom '""'"' ^'^' ' \ of the nations. But is it not strange, that such as \ make the scripture their rule, and pretend they are \ guided by it, should^not only be so generally in the j use of these things, which the scripture so plainly ' ; condemns, but also should attempt to justify them- \ selves in so doing? For the apostles not only com- i mend the forbearance of these things, as an attain- \ ment commendable in Christians, but condemn the i use of them as unlawful ; and yet may it not seem | more strange, that in contradiction to the apostles' j doctrine, as if they had resolved to slight their testi- ' mony, they should condemn those that out of con- j science apply themselves seriously to follow it, as if j in so doing they were singular, proud, or supersti- | 510 OF SALUTATIONS PROP. XV. tious ? This certainly betokens a sad apostacy in those that will be accounted Christians, that they are so offended with those who love to follow Christ and his apostles, in denying of, and departing from, the lying vanities of this perishing world ; and so doth much evidence their affinity with those who hate to be re- proved, and neither will enter themselves, nor suffer those that would. Sports. &o. §. VIII. Fourthly, Let us consider the use of games, warttr^"* sports, comedies, and other such things, commonly go«pei. and indifferently used by all the several sorts of Chris- tians, under the notion of divertisement and recrea- tion, and see whether these things can consist with the seriousness, gravity, and godly fear, which the gospel calls for. Let us but view and look over the notions of them that call themselves Christians, whe- ther Papists or Protestants, and see if generally there be any difference, save in mere name and profession, from the heathen ? Doth not the same folly, the same vanity, the same abuse of precious and irrevocable time abound ? The same gaming, sporting, playing, and from thence quarrelling, fighting, swearing, rant- ing, revelling? Now how can these things be reme- died, so long as the preachers and professors, and those who are the leaders of the people, do allow these things, and account them not inconsistent with the profession of Christianity ? And it is strange to see that these things are tolerated every where ; the inquisition lays no hold on them, neither at Rome, nor in Spain, where in their masquerades all manner of obscenity, folly, yea, and atheism, is generally practised in the face of the world, to the great scan- dal of the Christian name : but if any man reprove them in these things, and forsake their superstitions, and come seriously to serve God, and worship him in the Spirit, he becomes their prey, and is immediately exposed to cruel sufferings. Doth this bear any rela- tion to Christianity ? Do these things look any thing like the churches of the primitive Christians ? Surely AND RECREATIONS. 511 not at all. I shall first cite some few scripture testi- monies, being very positive precepts to Christians, and then see whether such as obey them can admit of these forementioned things. The apostle com- mands us, That whether we eat or dfink, or whatever we do, we do it all to the glory of God. But I judge none will be so impudent as to affirm. That in the Bj sports use of these sports and games God is glorified : if any GoluHot should so say, they would declare they neither knew glorified. God, nor his glory. And experience abundantly proves, that in the practice of these things men mind nothing less than the glory of God, and nothing more than the satisfaction of their own carnal lusts, wills, and appetites. The apostle desires us, 1 Cor. vii. 29, 31 : Because the time is short, that they that buy should he as though they possessed not : and they that use this world, as not abusing it, &c. But how can they be found in the obedience of this precept, that plead for the use of these games and sports, who, it seems, think the time so long, that they cannot find occasion enough to employ it, neither in taking care for their souls, nor yet in the necessary care for their bodies ; but invent these games and sports to pass it away, as if they wanted other work to serve God in, or be useful to the creation? The apostle Peter de- sires us, To pass the time of our sojourning here in fear, 1 Pet. i. 17. But will any say, That such as use dancing and comedies, carding and dicing, do so much as mind this precept in the use of these things? Where there is nothing to be seen but lightness and vanity, wantonness and obscenity, contrived to draw men from the fear of God, and therefore no doubt calculated for the service of the devil. There is no duty more frequently commanded, nor more incum- bent upon Christians, than the fear of the Lord, to stand in awe before hiin, to walk as in his presence ; but if such as use these games and sports will speak from their consciences, they can, I doubt not, experi- mentally declare, that this fear is forgotten in their 512 OF SALUTATIONS PROP. XV. gaming : and if God by his light secretly touch them, or mind them of the vanity of their way, they strive to shut it out, and use their gaming as an engine to put away from them that troublesome guest; and thus make inerry over the Just One, whom they have slain a?id crucijied in themselves. But further, if Christ's reasoning be to be heeded, who saith, Matt, xii. 35, 36 : That the good man, out of the good trea- sure of the heart, bringeth forth good things; and an evil man, out of the evil treasure, brmgeth forth evil things, and that of every idle word we shall give an account in the day of judgment, it may be easily gathered from what treasure these inventions come ; and it may be easily proved, that it is from the evil, and not the good. How many idle words do Comedies a they ncccssarily produce ? Yea, what are comedies com 'lex of ^"^ ^ studicd complcx of idle and lying words ? Let idieijing men that believe their souls are immortal, and that '*°'**'' there will be a day of judgment, in which these words of Christ will be accomplished, answer me, how all these will make account in that great and terrible day, of all these idle words that are necessarily made use of about dancing, gaming, carding, and comedies acting ? And yet how is it that by Christians not con- demning these things, but allowing of them, many that are accounted Christians take up their whole time in them, yea, make it their trade and employ- ment? Such as the dancing masters and comedians, &c. whose hellish conversations do sufficiently declare what master they serve, and to what end these things contribute. And it cannot be denied, as being obvi- ously manifest by experience, that such as are masters of these occupations, and are most delighted in them, if they be not open atheists and profligates, are such at best as make religion or the care of their souls their least business. Now if these things were discounte- nanced by Christians, as inconsistent with their pro- fession, it would remove these things ; for these wretches would be necessitated then to betake them- AND RECREATIONS. 513 selves to some honest livelihood, if they were not fed and upholden by these. And as hereby a great scan- ^ dal and stumbling-block v^ould be removed from off I the Christian name, so also vrould that in part be ^ taken out of the way which provokes the Lord to with- 1 hold his blessing, and by occasion of which things ^ the minds of many remain chained in darkness, and \ drowned in lust, jensuality, and worldly pleasures, j without any sense of God's fear, or their own soul's \ salvation. Many of those called fathers of the church, and other serious persons, have signified their regret i for these things, and their desires they might be re- medied ; of whom many citations might be alleged, 1 which for brevity's sake I have omitted. i §. IX. But they object. That mens spirits could object. i not subsist, if they were always intent upon serious \ and spiritual matters, and that therefore there is need \ of some divertiseynent to recreate the mind a little, \ whereby it being refreshed, is able with greater vigour to apply itself to these things. i I answer ; Though all this were granted, it would Answ. j no ways militate against us, neither plead the use of ' these things, which we would have wholly laid aside. • \ For that men should be always in the same intentive- \ ness of mind, we do not plead, knowing how impos- \ sible it is, so long as we are clothed with this taber- \ nacle of clay. But this will not allow us at any time j so to recede from the remembrance of God, and of -\ our soul's chief concern, as not still to retain a certain \ sense of his fear ; which cannot be so much as ration- The fear of \ ally supposed to be in the use of these things which ^[^orea- 1 we condemn. Now the necessary occasions in which tion in the , all are involved, in order to the care and sustentation ^""^ * \ of the outward man, are a relaxation of the mind from \ the more serious duties ; and those are performed in :\ the blessing, as the mind is so leavened with the love i of God, and the sense of his presence, that even in \ doing these things the soul carrieth with it that divine ! influence and spiritual habit, whereby though these '\ 1 514 OF SALUTATIONS PROP. XV. acts, as of eating, drinking, sleeping, working, be upon the matter one with what the wicked do, yet they are done in another spirit; and in doing of them we please the Lord, serve him, and answer our end in the creation, and so feel and are sensible of his blessing : whereas the wicked and profane, being not come to this place, are in whatsoever they do cursed, and their ploughing as well as praying is sin. Now if any will plead, that for relaxation of mind, there may be a liberty allowed beyond these things, which are of absolute need to the sustenance of the outward man, I shall not much contend against it ; provided these things be not such as are wholly superfluous, or in their proper nature and tendency lead the mind into lust, vanity, and wantonness, as being chiefly contrived and framed for that end, or generally expe- rienced to produce these eflects, or being the common engines of such as are so minded to feed one another therein, and to propagate their wickedness, to the impoisoning of others : seeing there are other inno- cent divertisements which may sufficiently serve for juwfui di- relaxation of the mind, such as for friends to visit one another ; to hear or read history ; to speak soberly of the present or past transactions ; to follow after gar- dening ; to use geometrical and mathematical expe- riments, and such other things of this nature. In all which things we are not so to forget God, in whom we both live, and are moved, Acts, xvii. 28, as not to have always some secret reserve to him, and sense of his fear and presence, which also frequently exerts itself in the midst of these things by some short aspi- ration and breathings. And that this may neither seem strange nor troublesome, I shall clear it by one manifest instance, answerable to the experience of all men. It will not be denied but that men oup:ht to be more in the love of God than of any other thing ; for we ought to love God above all things. Now it is plain, that men that are taken with love, whetlier it be of women, or of any other thing, if it hath taken a ▼ertise nieuts. AND RECREATIONS. 515 deep place in the heart, and possess the mind, it will be hard for the man so in love to drive out of his mind the person or thing so loved ; yea, in his eating, drinking, and sleeping, his mind will always have a tendency that way; and in business or recreations, however intent he be in it, there will but a very short time be permitted to pass, but the mind will let some ejaculation forth towards its beloved. And albeit The lore such a one must be conversant in those things that the b*l7oTed '** care of this body and such like things call for ; yet shuns it» will he avoid as death itself to do those things that °^®"''*' may offend the party so beloved, or cross his design in obtaining the thing so earnestly desired : though there may be some small use in them, the great design, which is chiefly in his eye, will so balance him, that he will easily look over and dispense with such petty- necessities, rather than endanger the loss of the greater by them. Now that men ought to be thus in love with God, and the life to come, none will deny ; and the thing is apparent from these scriptures, Matt. vi. 20 : But Lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven. Col. iii. 2 : Set your affectioji on things above, 8ic. And that this hath been the experience and attain- ment of some, the scripture also declares, Psalm Ixiii. 1,8; 2 Cor. v. 4. And again, That these games, sports, plays, danc- Sports and ing, comedies, &c. do naturally tend to draw men Hlg^^f^^^^,^'"" from God's fear, to make them forget heaven, death, the rear of and judgment, to foster lust, vanity, and wantonness, and therefore are most loved, as well as used, by such kind of persons, experience abundantly shows, and the most serious and conscientious among all will scarcely deny : which if it be so, the application is easy. §. X. Fifthly, The use of sivearing is to be consi- dered, which is so frequently practised almost among all Christians ; not only profane oaths among the pro- fane, in their common discourses, whereby the Most HOLY NAME of GOD is in a horrible manner ll2 516 OF SALUTATIONS PROP. XV. daily blasphemed ; but also solemn oaths, with those that have some show of piety, whereof the most part do defend swearing before the magistrate with so great zeal, that not only they are ready themselves to do it upon every occasion, but also have stirred up the magistrates to persecute those, who, out of obedience to Christ, their Lord and Master, judge it unlawful to swear ; upon which account not a few have suffered imprisonment, and the spoiling of their goods. All sweai^ But Considering these clear words of our Saviour, biddw- Matt. V. 33, 34 : Again, ye have heard that it hath been said by them of old time, Thou shalt not forswear thyself but shalt perform unto the Lord thine oaths. But I say unto you, Swear not at all, neither by heaven, Sec. But let your communication be yea, yea; nay, nay ; for whatsoever is more than these, cometh of evil. As also the words of the apostle James, v. 12: But above all things, my brethren, swear 7iot, neither by heaven, 7ieither by the earth, neither by any other oath ; but let your yea be yea, and your nay, nay, lest ye fall into condemnation. I say, considering these clear words, it is admirable how any one that professeth the name of Christ can pronounce any oath with a quiet conscience, far less to persecute other Christians, that dare not swear, because of their mas- ter Christ's authority. For did any one purpose seri- ously, and in the most rigid manner, to forbid any thing comprehended under any general, can they use a more full and general prohibition, and that without any exception ? I think not. For Christ, First, pro- poseth it to us negatively. Swear ?iot at all, neither by heaven, nor by the earth, nor by Jerusalem, nor by thy head. See. And again, Sivear not by heaven, nor by earth, nor by any other oath. Secondly, he presseth it affirmatively, But let your communication be yea, yea, and nay, nay ; for whatsoever is more than these cometh of evil. And saith James, Lest ye fall into comleinnation. wiihoat Which words, both all and every one of them, do exception. AND RECREATIONS. 517 make such a full prohibition, and so free of all excep- ^ tion, that it is strange how men that boast the scrip- - \ ture is the rule of their faith and life, can counterfeit j any exception ! Certainly reason ought to teach every | one, that it is not lawful to make void a general pro- ^ hibition coming from God by such opposition, unless j the exception be as clearly and evidently expressed ] as the prohibition : neither is it enough to endea- \ vour to confirm it by consequences and probabilities, \ which are obscure and uncertain, and not sufficient to bring quiet to the conscience. For if they say, i that there is therefore an exception and limitation in ] the words, because there are found exceptions in the other general prohibition of this fifth chapter, as in ' the forbidding of divorcement, where Christ saith, It hath been said, Whosoever shall put away his wife, let ■] him give her a writing of divorcement : but I say unto you, That whosoever shall put away his wife, saving j for the cause of fornication, causetk her to commit \ adultery ; if, I say, they plead this, they not only " \ labour in vain, but also fight against thetnselves, be- i cause they can produce no exception of this general ^ \ command of not swearing, expressed by God to any under the new covenant, after Christ gave this pro- hibition so clear as that which is made in the prohi- \ bition itself. Moreover, if Christ would have excepted Also oaths ; oaths made before magistrates, certainly he had then ^agLVate. 1 expressed, adding, except in judgment, before the magistrate, or the like ; as he did in that of divorce- j ment by these words, saving for the cause offornica- \ tion : which being so, it is not lawful for us to except or distinguish, orj- which is all one, make void this ^ general prohibition of Christ; it would be far less i agreeable to Christian holiness to bring upon our •] heads the crimes of so many oaths, which by reason j of this corruption and exception are so frequent \ among Christians. i Neither is it to be omitted that without doubt the The concur- ] most learned doctors of each sect know, that these [^e''a»cient 51& OF SALUTATIONS PROP. XV. fathers foremeiitioned words were understood by the ancient therein. fathers of the first three hundred years after Christ to be a prohibition of all sorts of oaths. It is not then without reason that we wonder that the Popish doc- tors and priests bind themselves by an oath to inter- pret the holy scriptures according to the universal exposition of the holy fathers; who nevertheless understood those controverted texts quite contrary to what these modern doctors do. And from thence also do clearly appear the vanity and foolish certainty (so to speak) of Popish traditions ; for if by the writings of the fathers, so called, the faith of the church of those ages may be demonstrated, it is clear they have departed from the faith of the church of the first three ages in the point of swearing. Moreover, because not only Papists, but also Lutherans and Calvinists, and some others, do restrict the words of Christ and James, I think it needful to make manifest the vain foundation upon which that presumption in this matter is built. OBiECT. <^. XI. First, They object. That Christ only forbids these oaths that are made by creatures, and things created ; and they prove it thence, because he num- bers some of these things. Secondly, All rash and vain oaths in familiar dis- courses ; because hesaith, Let your communication be yea, yea, and nay, nay, aksw. 1. To which I answer, First, That the law did forbid all oaths made by the creatures, as also all vain and rash oaths in our common discourses, commanding, That men should only swear by the name of God, and that neither falsely nor rashly ; for that is to take his name in vain. Axsw.2. Secondly, It is most evident that Christ forbids somewhat that was permitted under the law, to wit, to To tweir swcar by the name of God, because it was not lawful hfraseif for- ^^"^ ^^Y "^^^ ^^ swcar but by God himself. And be- bidden bj cause he saith, Neither hy heaven, because it is the throne of God; therefore he excludes all other oaths, AND RECREATIONS. 519 even those which are made by God; for he saith, chap, xxiii. 22. He that shall swear by heaven^ swea?'- eth by the throne of God, and by him that sitteth thereon : which is also to be understood of the rest. Lastly, That he might put the matter beyond all answ. 3. controversy, he adds, Neither by any other oath : therefore seeing to swear before the magistrate by God is an oath, it is here without doubt forbidden. Secondly, They object. That by these words oaths object. by God's name cannot be forbidden, because the Hea- venly Father hath commanded them ; for the Father and the Son are one, which could not be, if the Son had foj^bid that which the Father commanded. I answer. They are indeed one, and cannot contra- answ. diet one another : nevertheless the Father gave many things to the Jews for a time, because of their infir- mity under the old covenant, which had only a sha- Oaths under dow of good things to come, not the very substance co^^enant. of things, until Christ should come, who was the sub- stance, and by whose coming all things vanished, to . wit, sabbaths, circumcision, the paschal lamb : men used then sacrifices, who lived in controversies with God, and one with another, which all are abrogated in the coming of the Son, who is the Substance, Eter- nal Word, and Essential Oath, and Amen, in whom the promises of God are Yea and Amen : who came that men might be redeemed out of strife, and might make an end of controversy. Thirdly, They object, But all oaths are not cere- object. monies, nor any part of the ceremonial law. I answer. Except it be shown to be an eternal, im- answ. mutable, and moral precept, it withstands not ; neither are they of so old an origin as tithes, and the offering Tithes, &c. of the first fruits of the ground, which by Abel and ^^';;^°^ Cain were offered long before the ceremonial law, or the use of oaths ; which, whatever may be alleged against it, were no doubt ceremonious, and therefore no doubt unlawful now to be practised. Fourthly, They object, That to swear by the name, opject. 520 OF SALUTATIONS PROP. XV. of God is a moral precept of contrnual duration, be- cause it is marked with his essential aud moral luorship, Deut. vi. 13, and x. 20. Thou shaltfear the Lord thy God, arid serve hiin alone : thou shalt cleave to him, and swear by his name. answ. I answer, This proves not that it is a moral and eternal precept ; for Moses adds that to all the pre- cepts and ceremonies in several places ; as Deut. x. 12, 13, saying. And now, Israel, what doth the Lord thy God require of thee, but to fear the Lord thy God, to walk in all his ways, and to love him, and to serve the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul; to keep the commandments of the Lord, and his statutes, which I command thee this dayl And chap. xiv. 23, the fear of the Lord is mentioned together with the tithes. And so also Levit. xix. 2, 3, 6, the sabbaths and regard to parents are mentioned with swearing. Object. Fifthly, They object, That solemn oaths, which God commanded, cannot be here forbidden by Christ ; for he saith, that they come from evil: but these did not come from evil; for God never commanded any thing that was evil, or came from evil. answ. I answer. There are things which are good because commanded, and evil because forbidden ; other things are commanded because good, and forbidden because Oaih« are cvil. As circumcision and oaths, which were good, e»ii, be- vfY^QXi and because thev were commanded, and in no cause for- i *^ • i i i i • bidden. Other respect ; and agam, when and because prohi- bited under the gospel, they are evil. And in all these Jewish constitutions, however ceremonial, there was something of good, to wit, in their season, as prefiguring some good : as by cir- cumcision, the purifications, and other things, the holiness of God was typified, and that the Israelites ought to be holy, as their God was holy. In the like manner oaths, under the shadows and ceremonies, signified the verity of God, his faithfulness and cer- tainty ; and therefore that we ought in all things to AND RECREATIONS. 521 speak and witness the truth. But the witness of truth Truth was j was before all oaths, and remains when all oaths are l^H^^ *'^ 1 abolished ; and this is the morality of all oaths ; and so long as men abide therein, there is no necessity i nor place for oaths, as Polybius witnessed, who said, ' " The use of oaths in judgment was rare among the ; ancients ; but by the growing of perfidiousness, so grew also the use of oaths." To which agreeth Gro- i tins, saying, " An oath is only to be used as a medi- 1 cine, in case of necessity : a solemn oath is not used i but to supply defect. The lightness of men, and their Oatbs sup- ■! inconstancy, begot diffidence ; for which swearing was sipp^o'sx'd -l sought out as a remedy." Basil the Great saith,