his majesties royal letter to his privy council of scotland, concerning his indulgence scotland. sovereign (1685-1688 : james vii) 1687 approx. 3 kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from 1 1-bit group-iv tiff page image. text creation partnership, ann arbor, mi ; oxford (uk) : 2009-03 (eebo-tcp phase 1). a46595 wing j382 estc r224136 99834575 99834575 39077 this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text creation partnership. this phase i text is available for reuse, according to the terms of creative commons 0 1.0 universal . the text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. early english books online. (eebo-tcp ; phase 1, no. a46595) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set 39077) images scanned from microfilm: (early english books, 1641-1700 ; 1813:01) his majesties royal letter to his privy council of scotland, concerning his indulgence scotland. sovereign (1685-1688 : james vii) james ii, king of england, 1633-1701. 1 sheet ([1] p.) printed at holy-rood-house, by james watson, [printer to his most sacred majesties royal family and houshould, edinburgh : 1687] advising the privy council that no presbyterian be allowed to preach except with the council's permission, but that with such permission the oath of supremacy and allegiance is no longer required. at end of text: given at our court at whitehall the thirty one day of march 1687. and of our reign the third year. by his majesties comman. melfort. reproduction of the original in the aberdeen university library. created by converting tcp files to tei p5 using tcp2tei.xsl, tei @ oxford. re-processed by university of nebraska-lincoln and northwestern, with changes to facilitate morpho-syntactic tagging. gap elements of known extent have been transformed into placeholder characters or elements to simplify the filling in of gaps by user contributors. eebo-tcp is a partnership between the universities of michigan and oxford and the publisher proquest to create accurately transcribed and encoded texts based on the image sets published by proquest via their early english books online (eebo) database (http://eebo.chadwyck.com). the general aim of eebo-tcp is to encode one copy (usually the first edition) of every monographic english-language title published between 1473 and 1700 available in eebo. eebo-tcp aimed to produce large quantities of textual data within the usual project restraints of time and funding, and therefore chose to create diplomatic transcriptions (as opposed to critical editions) with light-touch, mainly structural encoding based on the text encoding initiative (http://www.tei-c.org). the eebo-tcp project was divided into two phases. the 25,363 texts created during phase 1 of the project have been released into the public domain as of 1 january 2015. anyone can now take and use these texts for their own purposes, but we respectfully request that due credit and attribution is given to their original source. users should be aware of the process of creating the tcp texts, and therefore of any assumptions that can be made about the data. text selection was based on the new cambridge bibliography of english literature (ncbel). if an author (or for an anonymous work, the title) appears in ncbel, then their works are eligible for inclusion. selection was intended to range over a wide variety of subject areas, to reflect the true nature of the print record of the period. in general, first editions of a works in english were prioritized, although there are a number of works in other languages, notably latin and welsh, included and sometimes a second or later edition of a work was chosen if there was a compelling reason to do so. image sets were sent to external keying companies for transcription and basic encoding. quality assurance was then carried out by editorial teams in oxford and michigan. 5% (or 5 pages, whichever is the greater) of each text was proofread for accuracy and those which did not meet qa standards were returned to the keyers to be redone. after proofreading, the encoding was enhanced and/or corrected and characters marked as illegible were corrected where possible up to a limit of 100 instances per text. any remaining illegibles were encoded as <gap>s. understanding these processes should make clear that, while the overall quality of tcp data is very good, some errors will remain and some readable characters will be marked as illegible. users should bear in mind that in all likelihood such instances will never have been looked at by a tcp editor. the texts were encoded and linked to page images in accordance with level 4 of the tei in libraries guidelines. copies of the texts have been issued variously as sgml (tcp schema; ascii text with mnemonic sdata character entities); displayable xml (tcp schema; characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or text strings within braces); or lossless xml (tei p5, characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or tei g elements). keying and markup guidelines are available at the text creation partnership web site . eng loyalty oaths -scotland -early works to 1800. oaths -scotland -early works to 1800. presbyterian church -scotland -early works to 1800. 2007-11 tcp assigned for keying and markup 2008-01 spi global keyed and coded from proquest page images 2008-02 elspeth healey sampled and proofread 2008-02 elspeth healey text and markup reviewed and edited 2008-09 pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion his majesties royal letter to his privy council of scotland , concerning his indulgence . james r. right trusty and right wel-beloved cousin and counsell right trusty and right wel-beloved counsellors , right trusty and entirely beloved cousins and counsellors , right trusty and right wel-beloved cousins and counsellors , right trusty and wel-beloved cousins and counsellors , right trusty and wel-beloved cousins and counsellors , right trusty and wel-beloved counsellors , and trusty and wel-beloved . counsellors . we greet you well . whereas by our letter of the first 〈◊〉 of this instant , amongst other things , we did recommand to you , to take care , that any of the presbyterians , sho●●… not be allowed to preach , but such only , as should have y●… allowance for the same ; and that they , at receiving the ●…dulgence therein mentioned , should take the oath contain●… our proclaimation , bearing date , the twelfth day of february last past : these are there to let you know , that thereby we mean't such of them as did not formerly take the test ●…y other oath ; but if nevertheless , the presbyterian preachers does scruple to take the oath , or any other oath whatsoever , and that you shall find it reasonable or fit to grant th●… our indulgence , so as they desire it upon these terms : it is now our will and pleasure , we do hereby authorize and require you , to grant them , or any of them our said indulg●… without being oblieged to take , or swear the oath in our said proclaimation mentioned , of other oath whatsoever , with power unto them , or any of them respectively , to enjoy the be of the said indulgence , ( during our pleasure only , ) or so long as you shall find that they be themselves regularly and peaceably , without giving any cause of offence to us , or any in au●●● rity and trust under us in our government : ) for doing whereof , these presents shall be to 〈◊〉 and them , and all others respectively , who may be therein respectively any way concerned sufficient warrant . and so we bid you heartily farewel . given at our court at whitehall the thirty one day of march 1687 , and of our reign the third year . by his majesties command . melfort . edinburgh , printed at holy-road-house , by james wa●●… the humble address of the presbyterians, presented to the king by mr. hurst, mr. chester, mr. slater, mr. cox, mr. roswell, mr. turner, mr. franklin, mr. deal, and mr. reynolds with his majesties gracious answer. alsop, vincent, 1629 or 30-1703. 1687 approx. 3 kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from 5 1-bit group-iv tiff page images. text creation partnership, ann arbor, mi ; oxford (uk) : 2003-11 (eebo-tcp phase 1). a25210 wing a2912 estc r8059 11639216 ocm 11639216 47960 this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text creation partnership. this phase i text is available for reuse, according to the terms of creative commons 0 1.0 universal . the text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. early english books online. (eebo-tcp ; phase 1, no. a25210) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set 47960) images scanned from microfilm: (early english books, 1641-1700 ; 5:8) the humble address of the presbyterians, presented to the king by mr. hurst, mr. chester, mr. slater, mr. cox, mr. roswell, mr. turner, mr. franklin, mr. deal, and mr. reynolds with his majesties gracious answer. alsop, vincent, 1629 or 30-1703. hurst, henry, 1629-1690. england and wales. sovereign (1685-1688 : james ii) 8 p. printed for j.w., [london] : 1687. attributed to vincent alsop. cf. dnb. place of publication from wing. reproduction of original in yale university library. created by converting tcp files to tei p5 using tcp2tei.xsl, tei @ oxford. re-processed by university of nebraska-lincoln and northwestern, with changes to facilitate morpho-syntactic tagging. gap elements of known extent have been transformed into placeholder characters or elements to simplify the filling in of gaps by user contributors. eebo-tcp is a partnership between the universities of michigan and oxford and the publisher proquest to create accurately transcribed and encoded texts based on the image sets published by proquest via their early english books online (eebo) database (http://eebo.chadwyck.com). the general aim of eebo-tcp is to encode one copy (usually the first edition) of every monographic english-language title published between 1473 and 1700 available in eebo. eebo-tcp aimed to produce large quantities of textual data within the usual project restraints of time and funding, and therefore chose to create diplomatic transcriptions (as opposed to critical editions) with light-touch, mainly structural encoding based on the text encoding initiative (http://www.tei-c.org). the eebo-tcp project was divided into two phases. the 25,363 texts created during phase 1 of the project have been released into the public domain as of 1 january 2015. anyone can now take and use these texts for their own purposes, but we respectfully request that due credit and attribution is given to their original source. users should be aware of the process of creating the tcp texts, and therefore of any assumptions that can be made about the data. text selection was based on the new cambridge bibliography of english literature (ncbel). if an author (or for an anonymous work, the title) appears in ncbel, then their works are eligible for inclusion. selection was intended to range over a wide variety of subject areas, to reflect the true nature of the print record of the period. in general, first editions of a works in english were prioritized, although there are a number of works in other languages, notably latin and welsh, included and sometimes a second or later edition of a work was chosen if there was a compelling reason to do so. image sets were sent to external keying companies for transcription and basic encoding. quality assurance was then carried out by editorial teams in oxford and michigan. 5% (or 5 pages, whichever is the greater) of each text was proofread for accuracy and those which did not meet qa standards were returned to the keyers to be redone. after proofreading, the encoding was enhanced and/or corrected and characters marked as illegible were corrected where possible up to a limit of 100 instances per text. any remaining illegibles were encoded as <gap>s. understanding these processes should make clear that, while the overall quality of tcp data is very good, some errors will remain and some readable characters will be marked as illegible. users should bear in mind that in all likelihood such instances will never have been looked at by a tcp editor. the texts were encoded and linked to page images in accordance with level 4 of the tei in libraries guidelines. copies of the texts have been issued variously as sgml (tcp schema; ascii text with mnemonic sdata character entities); displayable xml (tcp schema; characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or text strings within braces); or lossless xml (tei p5, characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or tei g elements). keying and markup guidelines are available at the text creation partnership web site . eng presbyterian church -england -history -sources. 2003-04 tcp assigned for keying and markup 2003-05 spi global keyed and coded from proquest page images 2003-08 jonathan blaney sampled and proofread 2003-08 jonathan blaney text and markup reviewed and edited 2003-10 pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion the humble address of the presbyterians , presented to the king by mr. hvrst , mr. chester , mr. slater , mr. cox , mr. roswell , mr. tvrner , mr. franklin , mr. deal , and mr. reynolds . with his majesties gracious answer . printed for i w. in the year 16●● . the humble address of the presbyterians , presented to the king . may it please your most sacred maj●sty , to believe the thankfulness of our hearts , beyond any expressions of our lips or pens , for your most gracious declaration for liberty for us , in the worship of god , which we trust we shall ever value above our property , as that without which we could enjoy nothing which we could call our own , without the greatest uneasiness imaginable : but your majesty having in the same declaration also secured that unto us , both by your royal word and act : what could your majesty have done more for us ? or what is left for us further to ask of the king ? and forasmuch as it hath pleased your most excellent majesty , to give this safe port to your poor subjects , so long tossed with tempests , and justly to believe , that loyalty is not intailed to a party , as we hope we shall ever justifie the credit , which your majesties charity in that point hath given us ; so we shall not cease to bow our knees to the god whom we serve , and by whom kings reign , beseech●ng him to recompense this royal favour to your majesty , with length of days , uninterrupted health , felicity in your royal relations , success in your great councils and affairs , and finally , with the most glorious liberty of the sons of god , heartily crying , as with one voice , let the king live for ever . subscribed on the behalf of our selves , and the rest of our persuasion . the kings answer . gentlemen , i have already found two good effects of my declaration ; the easing and , pleasing my subjects you spake of , and my restoring to god the empire over conscience : it has been my iudgment a long time , that none has or ought to have any power over the conscience but god. i understand there are some iealousies among my subjects , that i have done this in a design : but you look like gentlemen of too great ingenuity to entertain any such suspition . gentlemen , i protest before god , and i desire you to tell all manner of people of all persuasions , as you have opportunity to converse with them , that i have no other design than that i have spoke of . and gentlemen , i hope to live to see the day when you shall as well have magna charta for the liberty of conscience , as you have had for your properties . and now gentlemen , do you so preach to your hearers as they may be good christians , and then i do not question but they will be good subjects . finis . advertisement be [sic] agnes campbel relict of the deceast master william guthrie, minister of the gospel, unto whose hands some printed papers called sermons, bearing the said master william his name, may come. campbel, agnes. 1666 approx. 3 kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from 1 1-bit group-iv tiff page image. text creation partnership, ann arbor, mi ; oxford (uk) : 2007-01 (eebo-tcp phase 1). a26426 wing a608 estc r28928 10776331 ocm 10776331 45841 this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text creation partnership. this phase i text is available for reuse, according to the terms of creative commons 0 1.0 universal . the text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. early english books online. (eebo-tcp ; phase 1, no. a26426) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set 45841) images scanned from microfilm: (early english books, 1641-1700 ; 1413:3) advertisement be [sic] agnes campbel relict of the deceast master william guthrie, minister of the gospel, unto whose hands some printed papers called sermons, bearing the said master william his name, may come. campbel, agnes. l broadside. s.n., [edinburgh? : 1666?] imprint suggested by wing. refutation of published sermons which were attributed to william guthrie. reproduction of original in the edinburgh university library. created by converting tcp files to tei p5 using tcp2tei.xsl, tei @ oxford. re-processed by university of nebraska-lincoln and northwestern, with changes to facilitate morpho-syntactic tagging. gap elements of known extent have been transformed into placeholder characters or elements to simplify the filling in of gaps by user contributors. eebo-tcp is a partnership between the universities of michigan and oxford and the publisher proquest to create accurately transcribed and encoded texts based on the image sets published by proquest via their early english books online (eebo) database (http://eebo.chadwyck.com). the general aim of eebo-tcp is to encode one copy (usually the first edition) of every monographic english-language title published between 1473 and 1700 available in eebo. eebo-tcp aimed to produce large quantities of textual data within the usual project restraints of time and funding, and therefore chose to create diplomatic transcriptions (as opposed to critical editions) with light-touch, mainly structural encoding based on the text encoding initiative (http://www.tei-c.org). the eebo-tcp project was divided into two phases. the 25,363 texts created during phase 1 of the project have been released into the public domain as of 1 january 2015. anyone can now take and use these texts for their own purposes, but we respectfully request that due credit and attribution is given to their original source. users should be aware of the process of creating the tcp texts, and therefore of any assumptions that can be made about the data. text selection was based on the new cambridge bibliography of english literature (ncbel). if an author (or for an anonymous work, the title) appears in ncbel, then their works are eligible for inclusion. selection was intended to range over a wide variety of subject areas, to reflect the true nature of the print record of the period. in general, first editions of a works in english were prioritized, although there are a number of works in other languages, notably latin and welsh, included and sometimes a second or later edition of a work was chosen if there was a compelling reason to do so. image sets were sent to external keying companies for transcription and basic encoding. quality assurance was then carried out by editorial teams in oxford and michigan. 5% (or 5 pages, whichever is the greater) of each text was proofread for accuracy and those which did not meet qa standards were returned to the keyers to be redone. after proofreading, the encoding was enhanced and/or corrected and characters marked as illegible were corrected where possible up to a limit of 100 instances per text. any remaining illegibles were encoded as <gap>s. understanding these processes should make clear that, while the overall quality of tcp data is very good, some errors will remain and some readable characters will be marked as illegible. users should bear in mind that in all likelihood such instances will never have been looked at by a tcp editor. the texts were encoded and linked to page images in accordance with level 4 of the tei in libraries guidelines. copies of the texts have been issued variously as sgml (tcp schema; ascii text with mnemonic sdata character entities); displayable xml (tcp schema; characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or text strings within braces); or lossless xml (tei p5, characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or tei g elements). keying and markup guidelines are available at the text creation partnership web site . eng guthrie, william, 1620-1665. presbyterian church -sermons. sermons, english -17th century. 2006-06 tcp assigned for keying and markup 2006-06 aptara keyed and coded from proquest page images 2006-07 derek lee sampled and proofread 2006-07 derek lee text and markup reviewed and edited 2006-09 pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion advertisement be agnes campbel , relict of the deceast master william gvthrie , minister of the gospel , to such , vnto whose hands some printed papers , called sermons bearing the said master willam his name , may come . christian reader . being much afflicted with the sight of some printed papers , or sermons , to which the name of my worthy husband ( now with the lord ) is prefixed , by these that have published them , because i found many things therein injurious , not onlie to his memorie , but to the truth : i was therefore at the pains to cause compare them with his notes i have beside me ; and likewise to interrogate some of his most judicious and conscientious ordinarie hearers , yet living , anent the same : and after due and serious consideration of the whole , i dare verie confidently declare , that they are not the genuine works and sermons of my foresaid husband ; which may be very evident to all that knew him , considering the perplexed stile , the confusion , and want of connexion , and a multitude of vain repetitions that are oft-times to be found therein ; as also want of that clear method familiar to him , together with the un soundness sometimes of the matter , which was known to be farr from him , being well instructed in the form of sound words , which in all his discourses to the people he held fast . moreover there be many things therein clear non-sense , and not intelligible by the reader a fault very farr from his way in preaching . and this is to be the less wondred , at seeing , that when he was yet alive , some made bold to print some sermons of his without his knowledge , which he would not own , and therefore was necessitate to emit these few sermons himself , intituled , the tryall of a saving interest in christ , to the advantage of the truth , which had been otherwise wronged . it is hoped therefore that every conscientious person will be so farr tender of the truth , and of the fame of such a faithful minister of the gospel , who is not now to speak for himself , that they will not look upon these printed sermons as his workes , seing they have been put forth to the publict viewe , without the knowledge or consent of any of his relations or brethren of the ministry , who were particularly acquaint with him , and his way of doctrine , and to whom , if he had minded any thing for the press , he would have left the charge or the oversight thereof . the world hath already had a taste of his gift , and of the spirit that appeared in him in the foresaid useful litle book published by himself , and blessed of god to the edification of many , which i hope will easily move the observing and judicious reader to have these lately printed under his name in suspition . i shall add no more , but for the future intreat that nothing bearing his name may be looked upon as his , that is not attested by his nearest relations , and his brethren of the ministrie . i am thy well-wisher a. c. heads of agreement assented to by the united ministers in and about london, formerly called presbyterian and congregational 1691 approx. 20 kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from 12 1-bit group-iv tiff page images. text creation partnership, ann arbor, mi ; oxford (uk) : 2005-10 (eebo-tcp phase 1). a43183 wing h1282a estc r16201 12858893 ocm 12858893 94645 this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text creation partnership. this phase i text is available for reuse, according to the terms of creative commons 0 1.0 universal . the text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. early english books online. (eebo-tcp ; phase 1, no. a43183) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set 94645) images scanned from microfilm: (early english books, 1641-1700 ; 383:12) heads of agreement assented to by the united ministers in and about london, formerly called presbyterian and congregational howe, john, 1630-1705. [7], 16 p. printed by r.r. for tho. cockerill ... and john dunton ..., london : 1691. largely the work of john howe. cf. dnb. "licensed and entred according to order" reproduction of original in huntington library. created by converting tcp files to tei p5 using tcp2tei.xsl, tei @ oxford. re-processed by university of nebraska-lincoln and northwestern, with changes to facilitate morpho-syntactic tagging. gap elements of known extent have been transformed into placeholder characters or elements to simplify the filling in of gaps by user contributors. eebo-tcp is a partnership between the universities of michigan and oxford and the publisher proquest to create accurately transcribed and encoded texts based on the image sets published by proquest via their early english books online (eebo) database (http://eebo.chadwyck.com). the general aim of eebo-tcp is to encode one copy (usually the first edition) of every monographic english-language title published between 1473 and 1700 available in eebo. eebo-tcp aimed to produce large quantities of textual data within the usual project restraints of time and funding, and therefore chose to create diplomatic transcriptions (as opposed to critical editions) with light-touch, mainly structural encoding based on the text encoding initiative (http://www.tei-c.org). the eebo-tcp project was divided into two phases. the 25,363 texts created during phase 1 of the project have been released into the public domain as of 1 january 2015. anyone can now take and use these texts for their own purposes, but we respectfully request that due credit and attribution is given to their original source. users should be aware of the process of creating the tcp texts, and therefore of any assumptions that can be made about the data. text selection was based on the new cambridge bibliography of english literature (ncbel). if an author (or for an anonymous work, the title) appears in ncbel, then their works are eligible for inclusion. selection was intended to range over a wide variety of subject areas, to reflect the true nature of the print record of the period. in general, first editions of a works in english were prioritized, although there are a number of works in other languages, notably latin and welsh, included and sometimes a second or later edition of a work was chosen if there was a compelling reason to do so. image sets were sent to external keying companies for transcription and basic encoding. quality assurance was then carried out by editorial teams in oxford and michigan. 5% (or 5 pages, whichever is the greater) of each text was proofread for accuracy and those which did not meet qa standards were returned to the keyers to be redone. after proofreading, the encoding was enhanced and/or corrected and characters marked as illegible were corrected where possible up to a limit of 100 instances per text. any remaining illegibles were encoded as <gap>s. understanding these processes should make clear that, while the overall quality of tcp data is very good, some errors will remain and some readable characters will be marked as illegible. users should bear in mind that in all likelihood such instances will never have been looked at by a tcp editor. the texts were encoded and linked to page images in accordance with level 4 of the tei in libraries guidelines. copies of the texts have been issued variously as sgml (tcp schema; ascii text with mnemonic sdata character entities); displayable xml (tcp schema; characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or text strings within braces); or lossless xml (tei p5, characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or tei g elements). keying and markup guidelines are available at the text creation partnership web site . eng presbyterian church -relations -congregational churches. christian union -england -london. congregational churches -relations -presbyterian church. 2004-10 tcp assigned for keying and markup 2004-11 spi global keyed and coded from proquest page images 2005-01 judith siefring sampled and proofread 2005-01 judith siefring text and markup reviewed and edited 2005-04 pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion heads of agreement assented to by the united ministers in and about london : formerly called presbyterian and congregational . licensed and entred according to order . london : printed by r. r. for tho. cockerill , at the three legs , and iohn dunton at the raven , in the poultrey . mdcxci . the preface to the reader . endeavours for an agreement among christians , will be grievous to none who desire the flourishing state of christianity it self . the success of these attempts among us , must be ascribed to a presence of god so signal , as not to be concealed ; and seems a hopeful pledg of further blessings . the favour of our rulers in the present established liberty , we most thankfully acknowledg ; and to them we are studious to approve our selves in the whole of this affair . therefore we declare against intermedling with the national church-form : imposing these terms of agreement on others , is disclaimed : all pretence to coercive power , is as unsuitable to our principles , as to our circumstances : excommunication it self , in our respective churches , being no other than a declaring such scandalous members as are irreclaimable , to be incapable of communion with us in things peculiar to visible believers : and in all , we expresly determine our purpose , to the maintaining of harmony and love among our selves , and preventing the inconveniences which humane weakness may expose to in our use of this liberty . the general concurrence of ministers and people in this city , and the great disposition thereto in other places , persuade us , this happy work is undertaken in a season designed for such divine influence , as will overcome all impediments to peace , and convince of that agreement which has been always among us in a good degree , tho neither to our selves nor others so evident , as hereby it is now acknowledged . need there any arguments to recommend this vnion ? is not this what we all have prayed for , and providence by the directest indications hath been long calling and disposing us to ? can either zeal for god , or prudent regards to our selves remissly suggest it , seeing the blessings thereof are so important , and when it 's become in so many respects even absolutely necessary ; especially as it may conduce to the preservation of the protestant religion , and the kingdoms weal ; a subserviency whereto , shall always govern our vnited abilities , with the same disposition to a concurence with all others who are duly concerned for those national blessings . as these considerations render this agreement desirable , so they equally urge a watchful care against all attemps of satan to dissolve it , or frustrate the good effects thereof so manifestly destructive to his kingdom . therefore it's incumbent on us , to forbear condemning and disputing those different sentiments and practices we have expresly allowed for : to reduce all distinguishing names , to that of united brethren : to admit no uncharitable jealousies , or censorious speeches ; much less any debates whether party seems most favoured by this agreement . such carnal regards are of small moment with us , who herein have used words less acurate , that neither side might in their various conceptions about lesser matters be contradicted , when in all substantials we are fully of one mind ; and from this time hope more perfectly to rejoice in the honour , gifts , and success of each other , as our common good . that we as united , may contribute our utmost to the great concernments of our redeemer , it 's mutually resolved , we will assist each other with our labours , and meet and consult , without the least shadow of separate or distinct parties : whence we joyfully expect great improvements in light and love , through the more abundant supplies of the spirit ; being well assured we herein serve that prince of peace , of the increase of whose government and peace , there shall be no end . this agreement is already assented to by above fourscore ministers , and the preface approved of . heads of agreement assented to by the united ministers , &c. the following heads of agreement have been resolved upon , by the united ministers in and about london , formerly called presbyterian and congregational ; not as a measure for any national constitution , but for the preservation of order in our congregations , that cannot come up to the common rule by law established . i. of churches and church-members . 1. we acknowledge our lord jesus christ to have one catholick church , or kingdom , comprehending all that are united to him , whether in heaven or earth . and do conceive the whole multitude of visible believers , and their infant-seed ( commonly called the catholick visible church ) to belong to christ's spiritual kingdom in this world : but for the notion of a catholick visible church here , as it signifies its having been collected into any formed society , under a visible human head on earth , whether one person singly , or many collectively , we , with the rest of protestants , unanimously disclaim it . 2. we agree , that particular societies of visible saints , who under christ their head , are statedly joined together for ordinary communion with one another , in all the ordinances of christ , are particular churches , and are to be owned by each other , as instituted churches of christ , tho differing in apprehensions and practice in some lesser things . 3. that none shall be admitted as members , in order to communion in all the special ordinances of the gospel , but such persons as are knowing and sound in the fundamental doctrines of the christian religion , without scandal in their lives ; and to a judgment regulated by the word of god , are persons of visible godliness and honesty ; credibly professing cordial subjection to jesus christ. 4. a competent number of such visible saints ( as before described ) do become the capable subjects of stated communion in all the special ordinances of christ , upon their mutual declared consent and agreement to walk together therein according to gospel rule . in which declaration , different degrees of expliciteness , shall no way hinder such churches from owning each other , as instituted churches . 5. tho parochial bounds be not of divine right , yet for common edification , the members of a particular church ought ( as much as conveniently may be ) to live near one another . 6. that each particular church hath right to chuse their own officers ; and being furnished with such as are duly qualified and ordained according to the gospel rule , hath authority from christ for exercising government , and of enjoying all the ordinances of worship within it self . 7. in the administration of church power , it belongs to the pastors and other elders of every particular church ( if such there be ) to rule and govern : and to the brotherhood to consent , according to the rule of the gospel . 8. that all professors as before described , are bound in duty , as they have opportunity , to join themselves as fixed members of some particular church ; their thus joining , being part of their professed subjection to the gospel of christ , and an instituted means of their establishment and edification ; whereby they are under the pastoral care , and in case of scandalous or offensive walking , may be authoritatively admonished or censured for their recovery , and for vindication of the truth , and the church professing it . 9. that a visible professor thus joined to a particular church , ought to continue stedfastly with the said church ; and not forsake the ministry and ordinances there dispensed , without an orderly seeking a recommendation unto another church . which ought to be given , when the case of the person apparently requires it . ii. of the ministry . 1. we agree , that the ministerial office is instituted by jesus christ , for the gathering , guiding , edifying , and governing of his church ; and to continue to the end of the world . 2. they who are called to this office , ought to be endued with competent learning , and ministerial gifts , as also with the grace of god , found in judgment , not novices in the faith and knowledg of the gospel ; without scandal , of holy conversation , and such as devote themselves to the work and service thereof . 3. that ordinarily none shall be ordained to the work of this ministry , but such as are called and chosen thereunto by a particular church . 4. that in so great and weighty a matter , as the calling and chusing a pastor , we judg it ordinarily requisite , that every such church consult and advise with the pastors of neighbouring congregations . 5 : that after such advice , the person consulted about , being chosen by the brotherhood of that particular church over which he is to be set , and he accepting , be duly ordained , and set apart to his office over them ; wherein t is ordinarily requisite , that the pastors of neighbouring congregations concur with the preaching-elder , or elders , if such there be . 6. that whereas such ordination is only intended for such as never before had been ordained to the ministerial office ; if any judge , that in the case also of the removal of one formerly ordained , to a new station or pastoral charge , there ought to be a like solemn recommending him and his labours to the grace and blessing of god ; no different sentiments or practice herein , shall be any occasion of contention or breach of communion among us . 7. it is expedient , that they who enter on the work of preaching the gospel , be not only qualified for communion of saints ; but also that , except in cases extraordinary , they give proof of their gifts and fitness for the said work , unto the pastors of churches of known abilites to discern and judge of their qualifications ; that they may be sent forth with solemn approbation and prayer ; which we judge needful , that no doubt may remain concerning their being called to the work ; and for preventing ( as much as in us lieth ) ignorant and rash intruders . iii. of censures . 1. as it cannot be avoided , but that in the purest churches on earth , there will sometimes offences and scandals arise by reason of hypocrisie and prevailing corruption ; so christ hath made it the duty of every church , to reform it self by spiritual remedies , appointed by him to be applied in all such cases ; viz. admonition , and excommunication . 2. admonition , being the rebuking of an offending member in order to conviction , is in case of private offences to be performed according to the rule in mat. 18. v. 15 , 16 , 17. and in case of publick offences , openly before the church , as the honour of the gospel , and nature of the scandal shall require : and if either of the admonitions take place for the recovery of the fallen person , all further proceedings in a way of censure , are thereon to cease , and satisfaction to be declared accordingly . 3. when all due means are used , according to the order of the gospel , for the restoring an offending and scandalous brother ; and he notwithstanding remains impenitent , the censure of excommunication is to be proceeded unto ; wherein the pastor and other elders ( if there be such ) are to lead , and go before the church ; and the brotherhood to give their consent , in a way of obedience unto christ , and unto the elders , as over them in the lord. 4. it may sometimes come to pass , that a church-member , not otherwise scandalous , may sinfully withdraw , and divide himself from the communion of the church to which he belongeth : in which case , when all due means for the reducing him , prove ineffectual , he having hereby cut himself off from that churches communion ; the church may justly esteem and declare it self discharged of any further inspection over him . iv. of communion of churches . 1. we agree , that particular churches ought not to walk so distinct and separate from each other , as not to have care and tenderness towards one another . but their pastors ought to have frequent meetings together , that by mutual advice , support , encouragement , and brotherly intercourse , they may strengthen the hearts and hands of each other in the ways of the lord. 2. that none of our particular churches shall be subordinate to one another ; each being endued with equality of power from jesus christ. and that none of the said particular churches , their officer , or officers , shall exercise any power , or have any superiority over any other church , or their officers . 3. that known members of particular churches , constituted as aforesaid , may have occasional communion with one another in the ordinances of the gospel , viz. the word , prayer , sacraments , singing psalms , dispensed according to the mind of christ : unless that church with which they desire communion , hath any just exception against them . 4. that we ought not to admit any one to be a member of our respective congregations , that hath joined himself to another , without endeavours of mutual satisfaction of the congregations concerned . 5. that one church ought not to blame the proceedings of another , until it hath heard what that church charged , its elders , or messengers , can say in vindication of themselves from any charge of irregular or injurious proceedings . 6. that we are most willing and ready to give an account of our church proceedings to each other , when desired ; for preventing or removing any offences that may arise among us . likewise we shall be ready to give the right hand of fellowship , and walk together according to the gospel rules of communion of churches . v. of deacons and ruling elders . we agree , the office of a deacon is of divine appointment , and that it belongs to their office to receive , lay out , and distribute the churches stock to its proper uses , by the direction of the pastor , and the brethren if need be . and whereas divers are of opinion , that there is also the office of ruling elders , who labour not in word and doctrine ; and others think otherwise ; we agree , that this difference make no breach among us . vi. of occasional meetings of ministers , &c. 1. we agree , that in order to concord , and in any other weighty and difficult cases , it is needful , and according to the mind of christ , that the ministers of several churches be consulted and advised with about such matters . 2. that such meetings may consist of smaller or greater numbers , as the matter shall require . 3. that particular churches , their respective elders , and members , ought to have a reverential regard to their judgment so given , and not dissent therefrom , without apparent grounds from the word of god. vii . of our demeanour towards the civil magistrate . 1. we do reckon our selves obliged continually to pray for god's protection , guidance , and blessing upon the rulers set over us . 2. that we ought to yield unto them not only subjection in the lord , but support , according to our station and abilities . 3. that if at any time it shall be their pleasure to call together any number of us , or require any account of our affairs , and the state of our congregations , we shall most readily express all dutiful regard to them herein . viii . of a confession of faith . as to what appertains to soundness of judgment in matters of faith , we esteem it sufficient , that a church acknowledge the scriptures to be the word of god , the perfect and only rule of faith and practice ; and own either the doctrinal part of those commonly called the articles of the church of england , or the confession , or catechisms , shorter or larger , compiled by the assembly at westminster , or the confession agreed on at the savoy , to be agreeable to the said rule . ix . of our duty and deportment towards them that are not in communion with us . 1. we judge it our duty to bear a christian respect to all christians , according to their several ranks and stations , that are not of our persuasion or communion . 2. as for such as may be ignorant of the principles of the christian religion , or of vicious conversation , we shall in our respective places , as they give us opportunity , endeavour to explain to them the doctrine of life and salvation , and to our uttermost persuade them to be reconciled to god. 3. that such who appear to have the essential requisites to church-communion , we shall willingly receive them in the lord , not troubling them with disputes about lesser matters . as we assent to the forementioned heads of agreement so we unanimously resolve , as the lord shall enable us , to practice according to them . ; finis . advertisement . the reasonableness of reformation , and the necessity of conversion ; the true methods of making all men happy in this world , and in the world to come ; seasonably discoursed , and earnestly pressed upon this licentious age. by j. f. a sincere lover of his native countrey , and the souls of men. printed for tho. cockerill , at the three legs in the poultrey . in twelves , price bound , one shilling . vniformity examined whether it be found in the gospel or in the practice of the churches of christ / by wil. dell ... dell, william, d. 1664. this text is an enriched version of the tcp digital transcription a37500 of text r21430 in the english short title catalog (wing d936). textual changes and metadata enrichments aim at making the text more computationally tractable, easier to read, and suitable for network-based collaborative curation by amateur and professional end users from many walks of life. the text has been tokenized and linguistically annotated with morphadorner. the annotation includes standard spellings that support the display of a text in a standardized format that preserves archaic forms ('loveth', 'seekest'). textual changes aim at restoring the text the author or stationer meant to publish. this text has not been fully proofread approx. 22 kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from 5 1-bit group-iv tiff page images. earlyprint project evanston,il, notre dame, in, st. louis, mo 2017 a37500 wing d936 estc r21430 12260007 ocm 12260007 57849 this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text creation partnership. this phase i text is available for reuse, according to the terms of creative commons 0 1.0 universal . the text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. early english books online. (eebo-tcp ; phase 1, no. a37500) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set 57849) images scanned from microfilm: (early english books, 1641-1700 ; 179:18) vniformity examined whether it be found in the gospel or in the practice of the churches of christ / by wil. dell ... dell, william, d. 1664. [8] p. printed by j. coe for henry overton ..., london : 1646. "published according to order" reproduction of original in yale university library. eng presbyterian church -controversial literature. a37500 r21430 (wing d936). civilwar no vniformity examined: whether it be found in the gospel, or, in the practice of the churches of christ. by wil. dell, minister of the gospel. dell, william 1646 4265 29 5 0 0 2 0 127 f the rate of 127 defects per 10,000 words puts this text in the f category of texts with 100 or more defects per 10,000 words. 2004-03 tcp assigned for keying and markup 2004-03 aptara keyed and coded from proquest page images 2004-04 emma (leeson) huber sampled and proofread 2004-04 emma (leeson) huber text and markup reviewed and edited 2004-07 pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion vniformity examined : whether it be found in the gospel , or , in the practice of the churches of christ . by wil . dell , minister of the gospel . 2 cor. 4. 13. we having the same spirit of faith , according as it is written , i beleeved and therefore have i spoken : wee also beleeve , and therefore speake . published according to order . london , printed by j. coe for henry overton in popes head alley . 1646. vniformity examined . observing that our brethren of scotland , together with the assembly of divines , and the rest of the preshyterian judgement , do often both in their discourse and writings , exceedingly presse for vniformity ; i have been urged in my spirit , to think upon the matter , and to consider whether there could be any such thing found in the word of the new testament , or in the practice of the churches of christ . and for my part , i ingenuously professe i cannot yet discover it , and would be glad if any would instruct me further in this particular , so he do it from the word . now vniformity what is it , but an unity of form ? and the form they mean , no doubt , is outward : for the inward form , as it cannot be known by the outward senses ; so neither can it be accomplished by outward power . and therefore ( till i know their meaning better ) i conceive that by uniformity they understand an unity of outward form in the churches of god : yea some of them do declate so much , calling the thing they would have , externall uniformity . now such a thing as this ▪ ( after so much meditation and recollection , as my other imployments , and the many distractions that necessarily attend my present condition , will permit me ) i cannot discern in the word of the gospell . for christ speaking of the church of the new testoment , saith , iohn 4 ▪ 23. the hour cometh and now is , when the true worshippers shall worship the father in spirit and truth , for the father seeketh such to worship him . god is a spirit , and and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and truth . in which words it is most evident , that the worship of god in the time of the new testament , is inward and spirituall , consisting in faith , hope , love , and prayer , the op●ration of the three former , &c. and so , is so far from vniformity as hath been explicated , and as they understand it , that it is not at all capable of it . and therefore i cannot but wonder at the strange workings of darknesse in the mindes of men , who would have an externall vniformity in a worship that is inward and spirituall , and of which the outward form is no part at all , but is meerly accidentall , and so absolutely various . again , as i finde not this uniformity in the doctrine of the gospel , so neither in the practice of the saints , who had the spirit of the gospel , as that practice is represented to us in the word . in acts 1. 14. i read how the apostles being together with the women , and mary the mother of jesus , & his brethren , continued with one accord in prayer and supplication : and acts 2. v. 44. & 46. how all that believed were together , and continued daily with one accord in the temple , and did break bread from house to house , &c. and in all this there was unity , but no externall vniformity , neither name nor thing . again , acts 4. 23. peter and iohn being let go by the magistrates , went to their own company ( which many of our clergy would term a conventicle ) and reported all that the chief priests and elders had said to them ; and when they heard it , they lift up their voice to god {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} , with one accord , and prayed . here was inward unity , in faith , and love , and joy , and spirituall prayer , bur no externall uniformity : and vers. 32. the multitude of them that believed were of one heart , and one soul . unity still , but nothing of externall uniformity . further , we read acts chap. 7. and chap. 8. that stephen and philip , who by the church were ordained deacons and were to serve only for the ministery of the table , yet by vertue of the anointing , preached the word of god freely , and powerfully : and how all the members of the church of ierusalem , who were neither ministers nor deacons , being scattered abroad by persecution , went preaching the word every where , where they came , in that case of necessity : the unction of the spirit , of which all believers partake alike , being one fundamentall ground of such ministery , where there are no believers to call to the office : and in all this , though there was unity of faith , spirit , and doctrine , yet i am sure they will say , there was no such uniformity as they would have . again , acts 20. paul the first day of the week , preached to the disciples of macedonia , from the evening till midnight ( which dr. pocklington in a printed sermon saith , was out of order , that is , out of prelaticall order , or presbyteriall uniformity ) and after brake bread and did eat , and talked with them a long while , till break of day : and going from thence , he arrived at ephesus , and there called the elders of the church together , and appeals to them after what manner he had been with them , to wit , serving the lord with all humility of minde , ( i wish the assembly would mark that , and mark it again ) and with many tears and temptations , &c. and how he had held back nothing profitable for them , but had taught them publikely , and from house to house ( which i wish were more in use now-a-dayes , if it might obtain so much leave from uniformity ) and had preached to them r●pentance towards god , and faith towards our lord jesus christ , our chief work toward god since our fall and corruption being repentance , which is the change of the creature towards god , through gods own work in the creature , and this is not done without the sorrow of the flesh ; and our chief work towards christ , who is given to us as a head , being faith or union . and in the end , exhorts the presbyters to take heed to themselves ( who according to the church principles of this age , want no admonition themselves , seeing they are become a peremptory rule to all others ) and to the flocks over which the holy ghost ( and not patrons ) hath made them overseers , to feed the church of god which he had purchased with his own bloud , &c. but in all this neither practices himselfe , nor preaches to them , nor commands them to preach to others , or impose upon others any such kind of thing as externall vniformity . and so surely they that so vehemently urge this thing , that they make it all in all in their reformation , have some other teacher then the apostle , who being taught of christ as christ was taught of god , yet knew no such thing at all in the worship of god , as vniformity . and yet further , that the world ( if it be possible ) may be the more convinced , observe a little more seriously the practice of christ and the saints , in reference to this poynt , and you shall see nothing lesse then externall uniformity . see this in the prayer of christ , ( prayer for the duty it felf being nothing but so much spirituall worship as being the voyce of the spirit in the flesh , both in head and members ) this christ sometimes performed with his eyes lifted up to heaven , sometimes being prostrate with his body on the earth , and so severall times severall wayes : and as he , so the saints have some prayed standing , and lifting up their hands , as moses , some kneeling and lifting up their hands , as solomon , some standing and not lifting up their eyes , as the publicans , &c. and what externall uniformity in all this ? and as for praying so for preaching , christ sometimes preached in a ship , sometimes on the shore , sometimes in the city of ierusalem , someimes in the temple , sometimes in the desart , sometimes early , sometimes late , as if he intended on purpose to witnesse against that piece of the mystery of iniquity which in after ages should be called vniformity . so paul preached sometimes on the jews sabbath , sometimes on the first day of the week , sometimes each day of the week , sometimes in the day , sometimes in the night , sometimes prayed in the house , sometimes on the shore ; he circumcised timothy among the weak , refused to circumcise titus among the perverse , became as a jew to the jews , as a greek to the greeks , to the weak as weak , to the strong as strong , all things to all men , that he might win some : and what externall uniformity was here ? and then for the sacraments , christ administred the sacrament of the supper immediately after supper , paul at midnight , and it may be others in the morning , or at noone : and what externall uniformity in all this ? and for government ; sometimes the apostles met together into a councell and in that councell ordered things not of their own heads , or by plurality of voyces , but by the word and spirit , and what they ordered by the word and spirit , they put in execution by the power of the word and spirit , and not by the power of the world . at other times ministers and believers did things by the word and spirit among themselves , by the mutuall consent of both ; or else believers alone among themselves , if there were no ministers present . and where the number of believers were more , they stood in need of more officers , and where fewer , of fewer officers , and all these things are the free ordering of the churches , who have christ , the spirit , and the father among them and in them , and so are taken out of the bondage of men into the freedome of god . that truly i see not the gospel more setting its spirit against any thing of antichrist , then against this point of externall uniformity . for if we have one lord , christ , spirit , faith , baptisme , god , all other things are free to the churches , as god shall order by them , and no otherwise ; and the reason , and wisdome , and prudence of man , have no place in this world , where the sun of righteousness shines as the onely light . but against this that hath been said , do lie some objections : as first , the prophet foretold that the lord should be one , and his name one , and doth not this imply externall uniformity ? i answer , nothing lesse : for the apostle explicates plainly and clearly , whar it is to have the lord one , and his name one among believers , eph. 4. ch. 4. 5. 6. where he saith , there is in the spirituall church , one body , and one spirit , one hope of our calling , one lord , one faith , one baptisme , one god and father of all , who is above all , through all , and in all . whereby you see , that among believers there is a manifold unity , but no externall uniformity ; yea , the prayer of christ the son for the church , unfolds clearly the promise of god the father to the church , iohn 17. christ prayes , that they all ( who are many among themselves according to the flesh ) may b● one , as thou father art in mee , and i in thee , ( that is , according to the unity of the spirit , not externall uniformity ) that after this manner they also may be one in us . but againe it is objected out of 1 cor. 14. that the apostle requires that all things may be done in the church decently and in order : and doth not this imply externall uniformity ? i answer , that they will hardly admit in their parish churches such a decency and order as the apostle there means , neither are they capable of it . for he saith before , when the whole church is come together into some place , that all may prophesie one by one , that all may learne and all be comforted : and that during this exercise of prophesying , if any thing be revealed to another , the former is to give place ; and he must speak that hath the clearest light , seeing the spirit , to whomsoever it is given to profit withall . and that though all may prophesie one by one , yet all may not prophesie at once , for t●en it would not be order , but confusion , which the apostle would have avoyded , saying , let all things be done decently and in order . and this decency too he perswades to by the word , he doth not in force by secular power . and if they will call this uniformity , for church-members to prophesie one after another , according to the variety of the gifts of the spirit , and not many or two o● three at once or the same time , we willingly agree with them : but how farre this thing is from their sence , every one knowes . thus you see these objections answered , and i am confident there are no more can be brought but may as clearly and easily be answered as these . and therefore , i say , i wonder and wonder againe , that we having covenanted and agreed together solemnly , to endeavour for a government most agreeable to the word of god , should in the meane time be left so void of the spirit and light of the gospel , as to fall upon externall uniformity , which is no where to be found in the gospel , nor in the practise of primative christians . yea , while i consider more seriously of the matter , me thinks externall vniformity is a monstrous thing ( how glorious soever in their eyes ) and not to be found either in nature or in grace , either in christs kingdome , or the kingdomes of the world . in nature is no externall vniformity extended to all the workes of nature , for looke into the world and see if there be not variety of forms ; heavenly and earthly bodies having severall formes ; and in the earth each bird , beast , tree , plant , creature , differs one from another in outward form . if the whole creation should appeare in one form , or externall vniformity , what a monstrous thing would it be , nothing differing from the first chaos ? but the variety of forms in the world is the beauty of the world . so that though there be a most admirable unity among all the creatures , yet there is nothing lesse then externall vniformity . againe , as there is no externall vniformity spread over the great world , so nor yet over the little world , or man . for looke upon a man consisting of ●ead and members , unto which the apostle compa●es the church , and you shall not finde all the members like one another , neither in regard of their outward forms , nor operations : for the hand doth not move as the foot , nor the foot act as the hand ; and if all the members should appear and act in one form , what a monster would a man bee ? and yet among the members though there be no externall vniformity , yet there is admirable unity . and yet again , look in to the kingdomes of the world , and you shall see no such thing in them as externall vniformity : here in england you shall observe that york is not governed as hull , nor hull as hallifax , nor that as bristoll , &c. neither is one county governed uniformly as another ; there is no vniformity in the government of kent and essex , nor one town governed like another ; in godmanchester , the youngest son inherit , in huntington the eldest , nor one corporation governed like another , nor one company in the citie governed as another ; and yet between all counties , cities , towns , corporations companies , there is unitie , though no externall vniformity . yea , look upon the famous citie of london , and there are , it may be , an hundred thousand families , or more in it , and each one gove●n●d after a severall manner , and among all these families there is no externall vniformity , and yet they all agree well enough into the unity of a city . nay further , to bring but one man to an vniformity of life and practice , by an outward law , would be the most absolute tyranny in the world , and make his life worse then death . to compell every man by a law every day in the week , or every munday , tuesday , &c. in the week , to an uniformity of life , that he shall rise at the same time , use the same postures , speak the same words , eat the same food , receive the same physick , sit , and stand , and walk , and lye down at the same set times , who ever heard of such a cruel bondage ? what an absurd and intollerable thing then is uniformity in the life of a man , taking away all freedome of the soule ? but how much more evill and intollerable is uniformity in the life of a christian , or of true churches of christ , taking away all freedome of the spirit of god , who being one with god , works in the freedome of god , and is not to be bound with any authoritative or coercive power , of poor , dark , ignorant , vain , foolish , proud , and sinfull men . what now then do the presbyters mean by vniformity ? would they have the word preached , and the sacraments administred , and the name of god called on , and all this done in spirit and truth in the churches of christ ? this truly is vnity and not vniformity , and such an unity as no man can compell . but would they have the word preached , the name of god called on , sacraments administred , the spirituall discipline of the spirituall church managed , the vertues of christ , and graces of the spirit in the saints exercised , and all this in one and the same outward form , or uniformity ? this is the burden of the saints , the bondage of the church , the straitning the spirit , the limiting of christ , and the eclipsing the glory of the father . and how wise soever these men may be in naturall and carnall things , yet their wisedome is but foolishnesse in spirituall things , in which there is no more uniformity , then in the workings of the spirit , who works severally in severall saints , and severally in the same saints at severall times . and therefore they that would tye the church to an uniformity which works not of it s●lf , but as the spirit works in it , let them first tye the spirit to an uniformity , and we are contented . but these men seem to run a sad hazard , who would thus reduce the workings of the spirit in christians and churches , to an outward uniformity , according to their own minde and fancy , and so would rule and order , and enlarge and straiten the spirit of god by the spirit of man ; seeing it is worse to sin against christ in the spirit , then against christ in the flesh . and therefore till i be otherwise taught by the word , i cannot conceive that there ought to be or is possible to be any such externall uniformity in the churches of christ , as these men strive , wrastle , sweat , contend for , i will not say are ready to fight for , but that severall churches of christ having unity of doctrine , faith , the spirit , ordinances , &c. may have divers forms of outward administrations , as god and christ by the spirit shall lead them ; and that every church is in these things to be left free , and no church forced by any outward power to follow or imitate another church against its will , not being freely led unto it by the spirit of god . neither do i think that god hath set up any company of men , or synod in the world , to shine to a whole nation , so that all people shall be constrained to follow their judgement , and to walk by their light , seeing other ministers and christians may have more light and spirit then they . neither hath christ promised his presence and spirit to ministers more then to believers , nor more to an hundred then two or three : and if two or three christians in the country being met together in the name of christ , have christ himself with his word and spirit among them , they need not ride many miles to the assembly at london , to know what to do , or how to carry and behave themselves in the things of god . and therefore for any company of men of what repute soever , to set up their own judgement in a kingdome , for a peremptory rule from which no man must vary , and to compell all the faithfull people of god , who are the very members of jesus christ himself , to fall down before it , upon pain of being cast into the burning fiery furnace of their indignation , heated seven times more hot th●n ordinary , through the desired accesse of secular power to their power , is a far worse work in my eyes , then that of king nebuchadnezzar , setting up a golden image , and forcing all to fall down before it ; seeing spirituall idolatry is so much worse then corporall , as the spirit is better then the flesh . and therefore i do think ( let them teach me better by the word that can ) that uniformity ( the great diana of the presbyterians , and the image that falls down from the brain and fa●cy of man ) hath no footing in the scriptures , or in the practice of the churches of christ : and that the presbyterian uniformtty is near a kin to prelati●all co●fo●mity , and is no other ●hen the same thing under another word , after ●●e manner of prelacy and presbytery ; and do conclude that vnity is chri●●ia● , vniformity antic●●●●●●an . and 〈◊〉 i have 〈…〉 among many occas●ons , to discover to 〈…〉 me still prevail and 〈…〉 very name of ref●●mation and al●o to give occasion 〈…〉 discourse more fully 〈…〉 power of the word . 〈…〉 ●inis a few vvords of truth from the spirit of truth to all who are convinced of the truth, and stand in opposition to the cross ... also a few words to all the litteral professors, who can own the ministration of christ without them but deny him within them and to those that have their dependance upon the teaching of men, in oppostion to the ministration of the spirit within : together with a short discovery of the presbyterian government, and some reasons of dissenting from it / william dundas. dundas, william, fl. 1665-1673. 1673 approx. 45 kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from 12 1-bit group-iv tiff page images. text creation partnership, ann arbor, mi ; oxford (uk) : 2007-10 (eebo-tcp phase 1). a36890 wing d2612 estc r17235 13646717 ocm 13646717 100928 this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text creation partnership. this phase i text is available for reuse, according to the terms of creative commons 0 1.0 universal . the text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. early english books online. (eebo-tcp ; phase 1, no. a36890) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set 100928) images scanned from microfilm: (early english books, 1641-1700 ; 786:11) a few vvords of truth from the spirit of truth to all who are convinced of the truth, and stand in opposition to the cross ... also a few words to all the litteral professors, who can own the ministration of christ without them but deny him within them and to those that have their dependance upon the teaching of men, in oppostion to the ministration of the spirit within : together with a short discovery of the presbyterian government, and some reasons of dissenting from it / william dundas. dundas, william, fl. 1665-1673. 22 p. s.n.], [london : 1673. largely autobiographical; includes description of quaker activities in scotland and france. place of publication from wing. reproduction of original in cambridge university library. created by converting tcp files to tei p5 using tcp2tei.xsl, tei @ oxford. re-processed by university of nebraska-lincoln and northwestern, with changes to facilitate morpho-syntactic tagging. gap elements of known extent have been transformed into placeholder characters or elements to simplify the filling in of gaps by user contributors. eebo-tcp is a partnership between the universities of michigan and oxford and the publisher proquest to create accurately transcribed and encoded texts based on the image sets published by proquest via their early english books online (eebo) database (http://eebo.chadwyck.com). the general aim of eebo-tcp is to encode one copy (usually the first edition) of every monographic english-language title published between 1473 and 1700 available in eebo. eebo-tcp aimed to produce large quantities of textual data within the usual project restraints of time and funding, and therefore chose to create diplomatic transcriptions (as opposed to critical editions) with light-touch, mainly structural encoding based on the text encoding initiative (http://www.tei-c.org). the eebo-tcp project was divided into two phases. the 25,363 texts created during phase 1 of the project have been released into the public domain as of 1 january 2015. anyone can now take and use these texts for their own purposes, but we respectfully request that due credit and attribution is given to their original source. users should be aware of the process of creating the tcp texts, and therefore of any assumptions that can be made about the data. text selection was based on the new cambridge bibliography of english literature (ncbel). if an author (or for an anonymous work, the title) appears in ncbel, then their works are eligible for inclusion. selection was intended to range over a wide variety of subject areas, to reflect the true nature of the print record of the period. in general, first editions of a works in english were prioritized, although there are a number of works in other languages, notably latin and welsh, included and sometimes a second or later edition of a work was chosen if there was a compelling reason to do so. image sets were sent to external keying companies for transcription and basic encoding. quality assurance was then carried out by editorial teams in oxford and michigan. 5% (or 5 pages, whichever is the greater) of each text was proofread for accuracy and those which did not meet qa standards were returned to the keyers to be redone. after proofreading, the encoding was enhanced and/or corrected and characters marked as illegible were corrected where possible up to a limit of 100 instances per text. any remaining illegibles were encoded as <gap>s. understanding these processes should make clear that, while the overall quality of tcp data is very good, some errors will remain and some readable characters will be marked as illegible. users should bear in mind that in all likelihood such instances will never have been looked at by a tcp editor. the texts were encoded and linked to page images in accordance with level 4 of the tei in libraries guidelines. copies of the texts have been issued variously as sgml (tcp schema; ascii text with mnemonic sdata character entities); displayable xml (tcp schema; characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or text strings within braces); or lossless xml (tei p5, characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or tei g elements). keying and markup guidelines are available at the text creation partnership web site . eng dundas, william, fl. 1665-1673. church of scotland -controversial literature. presbyterian church -controversial literature. society of friends -scotland -early works to 1800. society of friends -france -early works to 1800. 2006-10 tcp assigned for keying and markup 2006-10 aptara keyed and coded from proquest page images 2006-11 emma (leeson) huber sampled and proofread 2006-11 emma (leeson) huber text and markup reviewed and edited 2007-02 pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion a few vvords of truth from the spirit of truth to all who are convinced of the truth , and stand in opposition to the cross . by one who remained in that estate above seven years , before he was brought to the true obedience of truth : and was whipped to it by the merciful rod of the lord ; for no less could do it . also a few words to all the litteral professors , who can own the ministration of christ without them , but deny him within them . and to those that have their dependance upon the teachings of men , in opposition to the ministration of the spirit within . together with a short discovery of the presbyterian government ; and some reasons of dissenting from it . william dundas . before i was affl●cted i went astray ; but now i have kept thy word , psal . 119. 67. peri-issem nisi peri-issem . peri-issem . i called upon the lord in distress ; the lord answered me , and set me in a large place . the lord is on my side ; i 〈◊〉 not fear : what can man do unto me ? psal . 118. 5. 6. vnless the lord had been my help , my soul had almost dwelt in silence , psal . 94. 17. printed in the year , 1673. a few vvords of truth from the spirit of truth to all who are convinced of the truth , and stand in opposition to the cross . friends , it is from a deep sense of a clear and through exerience that i am moved to lay before you , having fresh in my thoughts your conditions ; for upon that ground did i set up my tent for many years , and was most unwilling to remove it , till the lord by fire and sword did pursue me , and did turuble me out of all my false rests ; and whilst i was settling upon my lees , he poured me from vessel to vessel , where i never had a settled peace nor comfort , till the lord settled the ark of my soul upon the mountains of ararat ; then i did see all the world ( i mean those of that spirit ) lying as so many dead corps , swimming upon the waters ; and then my soul was refreshed with the sense of god's love , who had pulled me like a brand out of the fire , who was walking from hill to mountain , and running after the lo here , and lo there , and seeking the living amongst the dead , and the pearl abroad , that was lying hid within my own breast ; i was feeding upon husks , and the inventions of man , seeking the law from his mouth , and treading upon the light which was within , which shined in darkness , but darkness could no comprehend it ; and thus did i live in the night of darkness : but that it was a day of love that the lord visited me from on high , when i was wallowing in my blood , with my navil-string uncut , nor salted ; and notwithstanding the setting of my feet in opposition to the light , after so many years conviction , and that i had gone near to sin out my day , and that before the candle of the lord was put out in my spirit , he did of mercy shine upon me ; and though late i coming to the vineyard to work , he gave me the wages of those that came first . o the unexpressible love of a merciful , loving , tender and long-suffering god ; which did not cut the thread of my life betwixt the conviction and being brought to the obedience of the truth ; it was only the free love and mercy of the lord that preserved me , and the more that i ponder it the deeper sense i have of it , even to the bowing of me down , so that i had no peace till that i should make my condition known to those who are where i was ; and that i may be set up as a beac●n to those who are travelling sion-ward , lest that they split upon the same rocks , shelves and sands , from which the lord hath very narrowly delivered and brought me into the s●fe harbour , where my anchor is cast , within the vail ; and now being come to my rest , it is the more with me to shew to others the pilgrimage of my warfare , which is thus . it was the lord's free grace that brought me to this port ; for else-where i found no place my soul for to support . whilst i was in my young and tender years , i was brought up in a family , and families , where the lord was worshipped according to the worship of that nation of scotland ; but as i grew more in years the lord was pleased to give me more and more the light of his presence , and did offer me more plenty of his grace then i was willing to receive ; and if i hàd gone any further then the form of the national church ( so called ) did allow , i was counted a sectary , and so disowned ; and my looking one step further then their publick faith did allow should become a brand of schism and heresie , notwithstanding as to their law i was as strict a pharisee as many of my equals , and brought up at the feet of gamaliel : for , since i entered into the covenant with that people , i came to see a little clearer , and that the covenant did tye so my conscience to their form of presbytery , my spirit did begin to fail me in the thing ; and when there was an order from the general assembly , for all the nation to take the covenant the second time , in that interim the lord had cleared the fogs and mists , partly by opening the eyes of my understanding , so that i refused to take the covenant the second time upon the day appointed for that end , which was to be done upon a first-day , called sunday . a dear friend of mine ( whose name i will omit , because now removed by death ; one whom i believe laid down the body convinced of the truth ; for a little before his death he said to an eminent friend of truth at his own house , when some were slighting the quakers , he said , that he wisht all the nation were quakers ) this friend , i say , and i went from the place where we were expected to take the covenant that day , to hear a country-man preach by orders publickly at the town of linlithg●w , one who was never at schools nor colledges , nor knew no language● but his mother tongue ; and as himself said to me , he was brought up a herdsman , with keeping of sheep at home , which was a rare thing in the nation of scotland in these times ; and they were come one step nearer to the quakers principles , especially having discharged the wearing of ribbands : and if they had continued faithful to the measure they had received then , and not run retrograde , they had not so much stood in opposition to them now : but as i have said , we going to eschew the covenant-taking , to hear the preacher , who was called from his sheep-keeping to preach , we escaped the taking of the covenant the second time . this was like the covenant of old , that could not all perform ; so neither could we live as we would in things that are enorm . yet not so , but that i was taken notice of ; and when i came to receive the sacrament ( so called ) at the preparation , the day before it , in the queen's ferry , the minister ( so called ) of that town , told me , that i must not come to morrow to their sacrament , except that i would take the covenant ; which i refused to do , nor never did after the first time : and that same person with several others of that denomination , seeing me to look further then their publick faith did allow me , did labour to keep me still under bondage to their ecclesiastical law , seeing me not matter much the hearing of them ; for i having in measure entered the promised land , their manna became loathsome to me ; and they expostulated so with me , why i did not frequent their assemblies so much as formerly ? i told them , that there was a thing beyond that , which i looked for : to which they replyed , that i must take heed to that , for that was a sectarian and dangerous principle : and i told them plainly , that i was not to receive the law from the mouth of man : then the said ( called ) minister said , that i tempted god : and when i told him , that god could not be tempted ( that is , to evil ) his anger was raised against me , so that he left any more meddling with me in matters of religion . but that which first began to nausuate me , and make me to loathe that sort of government was , to see the domineering pride of the priests of that nation , that they could force some that were not one with them in their principles , to come and take with them their sacraments , as that of bread and wine , and sprinkling of their children , whereof neither precept nor president can be produced from holy scripture ; and if the parents will not bring their children to them to be sprinkled , they will do it in their absence without , their consent . how inconsistent this is with the rule of the gospel , and the scriptures of truth , i leave it to all that have the right eye open to judge of it : for they say . that the children are saved by the faith of their parents , and yet the parents have not that liberty to use their own freedom in that thing : and the prophanest wretch that lives shall not be refused that priviledge of sprinkling , but rather proceeded against by their law , if they imbrace it not , and by what sort of members these laws are constituted , i shall instance one particular , and then ye may judge ( exu● que leonem ) the lion by his paw . the general assembly consists of some out of every presbytery , and according as that prebytery is affected with the love of a religion these commissioners are chosen : and what a mingle mangle mungrel galimasray of omnigatherums is in that assembly , i leave the discerning and juditious eye to consider , what may be the product of such a compesition , composed of so many spotted individuals and party-coloured simples . i might produce several instances , which might enervate the same procedure of such hodge podge acts , but that i am not willing to burthen the reader 's patience with such unpleasant entertainment : do men gather grapes of thorns , or figs of thistles ? and what other miscarriages of that government did alienate my spirit from it , as the pride of the covetous clergy , and their going from one benefice to another , as they call it , majus bonum ecclesiae ; but i say , ventri ; that is , not for the more good of the church , but for the fatter benefice of the belly : and this is evidenced , that seldom any of them go from a bigger to a less stipend or sallary , but to a bigger , and so to sell them that they have covenanted with for the bigger sallary ; and some i have seen that would not come till they had their bargain made , for so much a year , as one would buy a horse in a market ; and if he be not paid , he will not preach ; and then when he is settled parish priest , he is ordinarily commander in chief , and all his parishioners must stoop to him ; and if they pay not duely what they covenanted for , he will by process of the law , pursue them , and strain their goods . farewel ye watch-men of the night ; who love in darkness for to dwell ; and hates the shining of the light : which is the path to the dark cell . there was another practice of that national church of scotland , which did estrange my affection from them , their sticking so close to their rigidity of persecution , so that if christ himself should appear in the flesh to them out of their own form , they would have refused him ; and if truth , not clothed in their garb , did speak among them , it was presently put to silence . i shall instance only one particular of one called wood , who had some charge in the custom-house of leith , who for the maintaining of the truth ( was cited , i do not well remember whether it was before the commission of the general assembly , or before the synodical assembly of lothian , but one of them it was ) he , the said wood was cited before them , because he said , that christ was the word , and that the letter was not the word ; and all the arguments that they could produce could not convince the man ( for i was witness to it ) for still he stood upon these words , that the word was made flesh , and dwelt among us , so that they could not resist the power of his assertion , nor deny the scriptures , they did fall a threatning him with their thunder-bolt of their excommunication , so that he could not get so much time as to consider upon it , and to give in his answer for his defence so much as till the next assembly : and about two or three monehs after that , i meeting him in the street of edinbrough pid ask him , whether or no be had come to a clearer resolution of the word ? but he not knowing me , did become a little shie of me , till that i told him my name ( for i was known to him by that , i being in process of excommunication ) then he told me , that he had gotten no satisfaction , and that he was forced to how to the assembly against his light : for if he had been excommunicated he had lost his livelihood , so that within a year or two he dyed ; and i am sure that they were not clear of his blood. all these that do the truth deny of the word made flesh indeed , they are of antichrist his fry , and on the husks of truth do feed . by this time the priests were become so jealous of me , that they said , i would infect the whole nation : they watched at the post-house for my letters , to know with whom i corresponded in england , where they found several letters of mine , when they opened them ( whether it was by order of the committee of estates i know not ) and if they did find any thing they could wrest to their turn , they did keep my letters ; and if they found nothing that , could touch me , they caused to seal up my letters again , and to be delivered to me ; i knowing nothing what they had done , till some of themselves confessed it to me : in the mean time my correspondent gawen lawry merchant of london , according to orders , sent me a box with about three pound sterling worth of books , and to give me notice of it to call for them in a ship of the preston pannes , for the which end he writ me a letter by the post , which they getting in their hands , i never knòwing any thing of it , till i going to visit my cousin preston grange ; his wife told me , that their priest ( called a minister ) one john oswald , had taken a fox full of books from a ship of that town of preston panne● , which was directed for me ; which did a little surprize me , i never hearing of it ; yet it behoved me to content my self , knowing . that what once cometh into their hands ( which is called th● kirk ) is not easily recovered : so that i sent for the same books again , which were also seized upon by one boswell , a earmer of the excise office , whereof i hearing , did make application to him ; and i being a stranger to him , and he not knowing the difference that was betwixt the priests and me , nor what acts had been emitted against those which they called sectary books i did so capitulate for them , that i had them again : but in the process of time the lord ordered it so , that when the english came into scotland , i did demand my books from the said oswald the priest , which did not a little sc●re him ; and he , to save his own head , told me , that warriston had them by order of the comm●ssion of the general assembly ; from whom i desired one of his friends to require them ; to whom he reply'd , that they were in his closet , and he durst not deliver them me without an order ; yet if i would send some souldiers for them , they might have them ; which i did : but when i had the box , i found many of them wanting , and knew not whom to challenge , they passing through so many corrupted channels ; but as they began with s●btil and undermining falshood , so they ended with theft ; though it is like that these bab●●onish merchants by trading with them books , were helpt to spin out their hour-glass upon my charges , though they were well paid otherwise . all this did so vex the serpent , that he knew not how to be avenged of me , but by thrusting forth his venemous sting of excommunication against me , though it was but like a dog , that shews his teeth when he cannot bite but only bark ; and this vexed them the more , seeing m● so to slight it , and tread upon it , by my letter to the commission of the general assembly ; and seeing none to regard their sentence , by keeping a distance from me , made their act the more contemptible , so as they were willing to heal up the wourd again , as they said to my dear friend john swinton , whom they intreated , that he would desire the sentence of excommunication to be taken off again : to whom he replyed , that as he was passive in laying of it on , he should be so in bearing of it : to whom they replyed , if ●e will not be active in seeking it , we wi● be active in doing it . and so i standing in this case , they did only with me , as their fore-fathers the priests did to the blind man , who , though naturally blind , yet spiritually he had more sight then themselves . so i being cast out by them , christ did hold me up ; and they remain in their blind condition to this day , in their egyptian-state , where i leave them groping after their dark principles and blind imaginations of their persecuting spirit ; and i to remain in the land of goshen , enjoying christ , the light and life of man , who enlightens every man that comes into the world : for they have eyes , and see not ; for the light shineth in darkness , and they comprehend it not : ears they have , but hear not ; but to the sweet enchantings of the serpent do they hearken and bow , who creeping upon his belly , feeding upon the dust of the earth ; though i do not include all under this predicament and category , for i have more charity to some of them . yet though in all this time i had a further sight of the light then themselves , yet there was a gulf botwixt the elest children of the lord called quakers , and me ; for i saw further then i was willing to embrace ; for there was such a high principle of the world in me , that the noble principle of light and life was looked over by me ; yea , i lived in my own will , wit and wisdom , which was accursed ; preferring that wisdom before that wisdom of god , which would have made me a child , and a fool to the world , thinking that i might gain two kingdoms at once , to keep the possession of the earth , and the kingdom of heaven also : and i being out of the pure will , and out of the cross to my own wisdom , i was judged by the eternal spirit of truth , and stood as condemned out of the life , because i being out of the obedience ; and insomuchas i could not lose my life , i did choose death ; for mans life in this world is in visibles , unwilling to be separated from the world's fashions , and customs , and vain religions , honour and profit , and all things which i stood upon was a false corrupt ground , whilst i thus stood in the alienation . upon the consideration of all this , the lord was pleased to dart in upon my prodigal spirit , to call me home from the husks that i was feeding upon , to my father's house ; and whilst the door of mercy was open , he put a stop to the unlimitted pleasures of the flesh ; and then i came to hear the calm and still voice of the spirit , that was stirring in that contemned people called quakers ; and the first stirring in me of that nature , which i did eminently take notice of , was , as i was riding from edinbrough in a winter evening to my own house , i did hear a noise of some men , as it were fighting , so that i bid my man ride up in haste to see what it was , which my man doing , he called to me , and said , that there was two men on horse-back beating of another man going on foot ; so that i ridingup to them , i did see them beatiug him , and he still keeping them off , saying , what did i say to you , but bid you fear god ? so that presently i did perceive , that it was a quaker , reproving sin in the other two ; so i asking his name , which he telling me , i knew the man by name , though not by sight ; and i was so offended with the other two , that i fell to beat them with my rod , and ordered those that were with me to carry them to the next prison ; but he , the said quaker did intreat me to let them go , which ( after taking notice of their names and places of abode ) i did let them go . and a week after the said quaker was telling a relation of mine what a curtisie i had done to him in a manner to save him ; yet said he , i found that same spirit in him that was in the other two men who beat me ; and my relation telling ▪ me simply the word ; as he spoke them , the words did so reach me , that i meeting the said quaker again , i did desire him , that as he passed that way he would make my house his lodging-place ; the light in darkness it did shine , though i did not it comprehend , till that god did my heart encline his word made flesh for to attend . which he seeing the witness in me reached , he was the more free to do ; yet though the witness was so far reached in me , that i could discern spirits , as betwixt the spirit of meekness and rashness , yet there was still that mind unbrought down , that stood in my way to hinder my obedience , so that the lord was pleased to stick closer to me with his rod ; for first , he stripped me naked by removing of my children , which was by piece-meal , to fit me to yoke my self under the cross , and then by separating me and my wife for several years , so that i was wholly turned out of my estate also , as to this day i am to live in a wilderness condition , so that i was forced to leave my native country , and go to france ; where then the lord began to work upon my spirit , to bring me the nearer to himself ; for when all visibles failed me , and those to whom my wife and i most trusted did become my subtilest enemies ; yet the lord did so commiserate my condition , that in the bowels of mercy he made me to take up the cross to my own will , and to resign my self fully over to him , seeing all visibles failed me ; and he used that way of mercy to bring me nearer to him , which nothing else could ; and thus closing with the visitation of the lord , i found more sweetness and contentment then ever i had in my fullest delight and pleasure of the world , and thus i do witness , and the lord is my witness , that i never came to my rest till then ; and i would have done any thing never so hard and unpleasing to the flesh , to bear a testimony to the truth that the lord had revealed in me ; and shortly there was an oportunity cast into my hands to try me , and that was this , there came a woman friend out of england to the town of diep , ( where i was then ) together with a maid , to bear a testimony to the truth against the protestants of that nation , and brought with them several books of friends translated into french , and distributed in the town , and gave me also to distribute , which were writ by george fox and william dewsbury , and several others , and some papers they gave forth themselves , which i translated into french , they not knowing the language ; but in all this they never did manifest to me their intentions ; for it is like that in that frame of spirit that i then was in , and fore-seeing the danger , and not so fully come to the obedience of truth , as i thought i was before the tryal came ; yet so it was , that they went the next first-day ( called sunday ) to the meeting-house of the protestants , where there were many thousands of people , and there did place themselves in the most conspicuous place of the meeting , just over-against the then called minister , the said friend having clothed her self in sack-cloth , and her hair hanging down sprinkled with ashes , was covered with her mantle and hood , and when the said called minister was in the highest of his devotion , she did stand up , with the other maid , who did take from the said woman her m●ntle and hood , she appearing all in her sack-cloth and ashes , her hair hanging down , and turning her self round several times , that all the people might see her , did strike such a consternation both upon the ca●ed minister , and the people , that they were all at a stand ; the said minister's wife having confessed to a friend since , that her spirit was so affected with that sight , that she said , this is of a deeper reach then i can comprehend ; for the witness in some was so reached at that time : and a little while after they both did fall down upon their knees , and prayed , and then went out of the meeting , where a great many following of them , to whom they distributed of their books , and spoke in the market-place , and then came to their lodging , which was in a scotch-man's house , who kept a victualling-house , but no entry there was for them , and they being destitute came to my lodging , i knowing nothing of this all this time , i not going to that meeting , and when they came to me they did show to me , that their work was d●ne that they came for to that nation , and now wanted lodging till they went away : and i asked them , what they had done ? and they told me : so i went to some other victualling-houses to get them lodging , which was promised for them , so as i kept them at my lodging till bed-time ; and then i went with them to that place as was promised me , and when we came entry was refused there also , so that at that time of night lodging could not be had for them , the protestants had so stopped their entry and where ; so that i took them back to my lodging again , and offered them my bed , and would shift for my self , i being better acquainted in the town , but they refused to put me out of my chamber ; then i dealt with my landlady of the house , to let them stay in any of her rooms for that night to sit up in , but she refused it , saying ; she durst not , for fear of giving offence to others ; all that i could prevail with her at that time of the night , was to let them have an out-house to stay in for that night , which was an hen-house , so that i gave one of them my night-gown , and to the other my furred-coat , to save them from the cold that night , and the next day i brought them to my chamber again ; and after that we had broken fast , i went to the key to look for a passage-boat to carry them to england again , and in my returning back i saw so many people of all sorts standing about my lodging , that i did pass by it , but immediately one came running to me , saying , that the king's advocate was at my chamber , waiting for me ; and when i came in he told me , that i had transgressed the laws of the nation , by receiving persons of another religion to my lodging ; for the king tollerated only two religions , viz. the papists and the protestants : then i told him , that i had not transgressed the law of hospitality , and i was forced to it , so as i could not let them lie in the street , where they were in danger of their lives by the rude multitude : so they took them away with serjeants to the judicatory , where , after they had judged them , they sent them to prison , & they not knowing the language , they wanted food , and other outward necessaries , none looking after them ; so that i went to the judge criminal , and sought leave to provide for them , which i did , by bringing to them both bread and drink , fireing , and all other necessaries so long as they were there : and the said judge sent for me , and whilst i was with him to be examined , he sent to my chamber to search what of theirs they could find with me ; so that they found some books , and the sack-cloth , and some ashes , which they sent to the parliament of roan , from whom they had received an order to read a paper to them , that they should be transported forth-with back to england with the first passage-boat ( and all their papers and books to be burnt at the market cr●ss ) and themselves , if they or any of that religion should come to that nation again : and so a passage boat being made ready , they were put into it , in the night time , but would not suffer me to go along with them to it , yet did i provide such things as were necessary for their voyage ; and i told them , that they were not to pay any thing for their passage ; but the judge told them , that they were to pay for their passage ; to whom i replyed , that if i had the liberty to choose a passage-boat , and time allowed me , i would pay for their passage , otherwise let the same boat bring them back again . so they were forced to pay their passage . after they were gone , they intended to pursue me , as one of their judgment ; but i ( willing to eschew the cross ) told them . that i was there before they came to france , and they could prove nothing against me , only the protestants had informed them , that i did not come to their meeting , yet this they could not make a crime ; as also , i told them , if they persecuted me , i being a merchant , and trafficking there , they might expect the like to be done to their merchants in england : then the judge sent to the custom-house , to see if my name was in their custom-books , which they finding , did go no further against me . yet for all this i was not so sensible of the hollowness of my heart , as afterwards i was ; for when the judge affirmed , that i was of their judgment ; i told him , that i loved them , but they were better then i , but that their way was too strait for me to walk in . there were two things remarkable that fell out within the year upon these inhospital refusers of lodging to these two friends of truth . the one was , that the said scottish-man , who shut them out , dyed within the twelve moneths . and the woman , my landlady , that refused them a chamber to fit in , that same time twelve moneths her house was burnt , and never yet known whence the fire came ▪ and though it was in the middle of the town , yet there was none burnt besides , but it alone . but afterwards i having sent for several hundreds of the said friends books , and did distribute them to the country and city , so many of them , so that they intended to search after me just as i was upon my leaving of that town : having done my service there , did return to roan ; whereupon one night that i could get no rest , and was somewhat indisposed in my body , so that it did arise in the night time in my heart , to get up , and send some of these said books by post , as some to the judge criminal of diep , and some of them to the jesuits colledge there , and some of them to the jesuits colledge and the scottish colledge at paris , directing them after the french stile , otherwise they could not have been received at the post-house ; and then i had much rest in my spirit , and my body returned to a right temper . and after that i had sojourned a while at roan , i found that there was some service for the truth by me to be done at caen , because it was a town where most protestants were , and there i did distribute so many of friends books there , and the protestants there retaining so much of the presbyterian principles ( as most part of the protestants of france do ) having a greater inclination to persecute those who differ from them , then to suffer for religion ; for they were the greatest enemies i had ( right presbyterians ) and they fearing that my books might bring them to suffer , because they spoke against the papists : and i not coming to their meeting , did complain of me to the lievtenant general of that town , so that they forced me to leave that place . all you that are of cain's race , are thirsty after blood. but those that stand in abel's place do follow after what is good. and after my service done there , i went to alencon , where many protestants live , where i stayed all that winter ; and when i was in my service , the judge ▪ criminal sent for me , and after a long discourse he and i agreed so well together , that he invited me to come and see him oftner , and we should not speak in matters of religion , and if i would that he should send for some of the jesuits , and they and i might have free inter-communing together : to whom i replyed , that i being a stranger i was not willing to dispute with any , it not being permitted to a stranger ; yet i would not be afraid to maintain my principles against all the jesuits of the nation : which words did so exasperate ( it seems ) them against me , that it did raise a new persecution against me , which did fall out , that when my wife and i was walking in the fields , at my returning it was told me , that there was some searching at my lodging , and had broken up my chamber door , so that i sent my wife home , and i did go strait to the judge criminal , to know what the searching meaned ; but he told me , he knew nothing of it ; and if there was anything , it did proceed from the jesuits because of my confidence against them : and some probability i had of the thing , for i found my letters broken up at the post-house several times ; and when i challenged the post-master , he said , that they came to him so . so the time drawing near to go from that place , and that i had done my service in alencon , i told the judge criminal , that i was to go to the great fair of caen within fourteen dayes ; then the said judge said , that he would protect me so long : and so at the time appointed i went to caen , where i was not long but my correspondent at alencon did write me word , that the day after i came from it , the governour of the town had been at my lodging , to seek for me , but i was gone : and so after that all my service was done that i had then in france , and that war was declared betwixt england and france in the year 1666. i returned to diep in order to my return to england , and so i staid there for passage , which i could not get in the time of war , till the ( so called ) lord holli● , embassador from england , was returning for england , of whom i desired passage in his company , which he freely granted me , and so came to england with his convoy . but i have omitted all this time to shew you , that the high places as yet were unbroken down in me , but that some groves were as yet left standing , notwithstanding all the wonderful mercies the lord had bestowed upon me , in carrying me and my wife upon the wings of his providence in our wilderness condition , which would spend more time to relate then some ( it may be ) would bestow upon the reading of it ; yea , and i dare say , that none could well understand nor believe , but those who have trod in the same pathes as we did : but i being so long in egypt , and i so habituated and leavened to their fashions and customs , i was like joseph , that could swear by the life of pharoah , and had not come to that plainness of language which god doth require , but could complement with their fashions and words : and i had thoughts that all was well with me , till i came to a tryal in england again , so that the face of friends did strike a dread and terror in my heart , when i thought that all was well , till the spirit of the lord running through others of his vessels did awaken me ; for i was upright in my own judgment ; but the lord searched me : for i could come with confidence to meetings , and frequent the assemblies of the lord , yet i durst not own the name of quaker , i not being faithful to the measure which i had receiv'd ; for now it was become so far high for me , as before my obedience i had esteemed it low ; and after that , i would willingly by wisdom have made void the obedience into such things as matters of indifferency , and accounted them but circumstantials , and foolish to put any weight upon the doing or not doing , it became so burthensome to me , that i could have undergone the greatest strait imaginable rather then omitted it ; and as i became obedient , there i felt strength and power , and a more real content did spring up in me ; and in this light and power of the spirit , that hath visited me , did i feel strength to wait and know further his will and mind ; for in the height of this exercise i found my self overcome ; and my self not my own , but the lord's , to do with me what he pleased to require of me , what service he would , i should be willing to obey in his strength ; and if the lord never show me any more , i feel contentment in his will , earnestly desiring , that i may never stop the course of his spirit ; for i find , that there is nothing can , nor is able to satisfie my thirsty soul short or beneath the lord of life . in the fire , as gold , tryed i was , till consumed was the tin and dross ; and then i knew what was come to pass , that i did not suffer any loss . postscript . friends , there are a few words , which i have to add to you ; the litteral professors , who can own the ministration of christ without you , but deny him within ; and who raise up jealousies and prejudices against us , as if we denyed the scriptures and ordinances of god , and christ that dyed at jerusalem ; professing him in words , but denying him in reallity and substance ; and you to be the only owners of christ , and yet ye forget your own principles , who have been all your time praying for the spirit of the lord , and now when he comes to you in his spirit , ye will not only be shie , and scare off him , but ye will persecute all that will not own him after your form , though we really in our hearts own that christ in the flesh , which in the fulness of time did offer up that body prepared to do the will of the father , according as it is expressed in the scriptures of truth : neither do we hold any thing for christ , but him who appeared , and was made manifest in the flesh . i cannot believe that doctrine of you the litteral professors , who recede from your own principles of the literal profession of the letter , which saith , is not christ within you , except you be reprobates ? and christ in you the hope of glory . i know that some of you will say , that it is the vertues and graces of christ : but i would willingly know of you , how christ's vertues and graces are separated from himself ? this seems a setting up of your own conceivings , or an image in your mind , of the mind of the spirit , and miss the thing it self , which alone is known by the spirit : for we find experimentally a clear distinction betwixt the searching out by the reasonings of the carnal mind , and scriptures opened by the spirit , and felt in the life . therefore it were better for you , to examine really your knowledge of christ , your faith and knowledge of the scriptures , and your prayers also , lest ye miss of the substance , and meet with a shaddow , which is only able to please the natural part , but justifieth not the soul , i desire that you let not this my christian-expostulation with you displease you , but rather set you home , to sink down to that which is only able to make you clearly discern , whether you or we are the truest owners of christ , seeing ye cannot make it appear by scripture , which ye say is your rule to walk by , that the outward application of christ bringeth salvation , without the inward manifestation of the spirit . o! blessed be the day forever , that it pleased the lord to come , me from the world to sever , unto the state of some , who have past through the seas unto the high and glorious state of all that have the spirit of these , that pass by tophet's gate unto the port of heaven , where all the saints have rest , which the only lord has given to the seed that he has blest . for when i was in egypt's land , wanting straw , i did make brick ; and ready at the command of the ( so called ) kirk , to work all the length of the day , without the sense or sight of ( which i ever should obey ) the shining of the light , that would have taught me the way from dead formal duties , that 's without , unto the light within , i say , who lives in life , and has no doubt the promise to obtain , which none at all can have in the state that i have been , and would not truth receive . oh! that all those as do this read , would come and feel the same , that they may know , with all the seed , the true abode of the i am ; who is the only great jehovah , and rules in the hearts of men ; praises , honour and halelujah to him be sung of all the seed , amen . given forth the 10th of the 3d moneth , by a lover of the souls of all men , but especially to the faithful of the infallible and only everlasting truth , william dundas . the end . a true representation of presbyterian government wherein a short and clear account is given of the principles of them that owne it, the common objections against it answered, and some other things opened that concern it in the present circumstances / by a friend to that interest. rule, gilbert, 1629?-1701. 1690 approx. 45 kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from 12 1-bit group-iv tiff page images. text creation partnership, ann arbor, mi ; oxford (uk) : 2005-03 (eebo-tcp phase 1). a57861 wing r2228 estc r28113 10409875 ocm 10409875 44974 this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text creation partnership. this phase i text is available for reuse, according to the terms of creative commons 0 1.0 universal . the text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. early english books online. (eebo-tcp ; phase 1, no. a57861) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set 44974) images scanned from microfilm: (early english books, 1641-1700 ; 1389:11) a true representation of presbyterian government wherein a short and clear account is given of the principles of them that owne it, the common objections against it answered, and some other things opened that concern it in the present circumstances / by a friend to that interest. rule, gilbert, 1629?-1701. 18 p. printed at the society of stationers printing house ... for george mosman, edinburgh : 1690. "licensed aprile the 18th, 1690."-colophon. attributed by wing to gilbert rule. reproduction of original in the harvard university library. created by converting tcp files to tei p5 using tcp2tei.xsl, tei @ oxford. re-processed by university of nebraska-lincoln and northwestern, with changes to facilitate morpho-syntactic tagging. gap elements of known extent have been transformed into placeholder characters or elements to simplify the filling in of gaps by user contributors. eebo-tcp is a partnership between the universities of michigan and oxford and the publisher proquest to create accurately transcribed and encoded texts based on the image sets published by proquest via their early english books online (eebo) database (http://eebo.chadwyck.com). the general aim of eebo-tcp is to encode one copy (usually the first edition) of every monographic english-language title published between 1473 and 1700 available in eebo. eebo-tcp aimed to produce large quantities of textual data within the usual project restraints of time and funding, and therefore chose to create diplomatic transcriptions (as opposed to critical editions) with light-touch, mainly structural encoding based on the text encoding initiative (http://www.tei-c.org). the eebo-tcp project was divided into two phases. the 25,363 texts created during phase 1 of the project have been released into the public domain as of 1 january 2015. anyone can now take and use these texts for their own purposes, but we respectfully request that due credit and attribution is given to their original source. users should be aware of the process of creating the tcp texts, and therefore of any assumptions that can be made about the data. text selection was based on the new cambridge bibliography of english literature (ncbel). if an author (or for an anonymous work, the title) appears in ncbel, then their works are eligible for inclusion. selection was intended to range over a wide variety of subject areas, to reflect the true nature of the print record of the period. in general, first editions of a works in english were prioritized, although there are a number of works in other languages, notably latin and welsh, included and sometimes a second or later edition of a work was chosen if there was a compelling reason to do so. image sets were sent to external keying companies for transcription and basic encoding. quality assurance was then carried out by editorial teams in oxford and michigan. 5% (or 5 pages, whichever is the greater) of each text was proofread for accuracy and those which did not meet qa standards were returned to the keyers to be redone. after proofreading, the encoding was enhanced and/or corrected and characters marked as illegible were corrected where possible up to a limit of 100 instances per text. any remaining illegibles were encoded as <gap>s. understanding these processes should make clear that, while the overall quality of tcp data is very good, some errors will remain and some readable characters will be marked as illegible. users should bear in mind that in all likelihood such instances will never have been looked at by a tcp editor. the texts were encoded and linked to page images in accordance with level 4 of the tei in libraries guidelines. copies of the texts have been issued variously as sgml (tcp schema; ascii text with mnemonic sdata character entities); displayable xml (tcp schema; characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or text strings within braces); or lossless xml (tei p5, characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or tei g elements). keying and markup guidelines are available at the text creation partnership web site . eng presbyterian church. presbyterianism -apologetic works. 2004-05 tcp assigned for keying and markup 2004-07 spi global keyed and coded from proquest page images 2004-11 judith siefring sampled and proofread 2004-11 judith siefring text and markup reviewed and edited 2005-01 pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion a true representation of presbyterian government wherein a short and clear account is given of the principles of them that owne it . the common objections against it answered , and some other things opened that concern it in the present circumstances . by a friend to that interest . edinburgh , printed at the society of stationers printing house in harts-close over against the trone church , for george mosman bookseller in the parliament-close , anno dom 1690. a true representation of presbyterian government . that any of the truths or ordinances of god should need an apology to be made for them , should be for a lamentation : for it proceedeth either from the ignorance or perverseness of men. the principles , and way of presbyterians , have undergone the common fate of other of the parts of that religion that christ hath taught : it is the sect every where spoken against ; and there hath been no small stir about that way : and this hath proceeded partly from the enmity against that curb of mens lusts , and enormities that is in ungodly men : and partly , from want of knowledge of that way , which even they may be under , whose studies and thoughts are imployed about things of another nature , and not about these matters , though they be otherwise knowing and thinking men : or from prejudice that their interest may fill them with , to the hiding of truth in this , from their eyes ; wherefore we think it our duty to endeavour the vindication of this our profession , ( with as much brevity and clearness as we can attain ) by first giving a plain account of what we hold . 2 dly , taking off the most material objections , and these that are most common , or reproaches that are used against us ; for we have to do not only with men otherwise sober and judicious , who differ from us : but with many whose temper , practices , and designs ; are not such as becometh the gospel . we desire as to approve our selves to our blessed lord and master jesus christ ; so to satisfy the minds of all inquirers after truth , but especially to stand right in the opinion of his majesty , our gracious soveraign , of his grace the kings high commissioner , and of the noble , and honourable estates of parliament ; who we hope , as nursing fathers to the church , will own us in those ways that the lord owneth us in . our principles we lay down in a few propositions . f●rst . we own christ the mediator , as the only head over , and lawgiver , to his church ; and we disown any visible governing head over the church , however pretending to act in subordination to him : because we know none that he hath given such commission to . 2 dly . christ as head of the church hath given forth laws , whereby the affairs of his house should be managed ; and hath not left any nomothetick power in the church to make laws for her self ( her work being to declare and execute the laws of christ ) and the laws of the magistrate are not to appoint new ordinances , or officers in the church ; though he ought to give his civil sanction to what christ hath appointed ; and may make laws about these things that are external to the church , that is , which are common to her with other societies . 3 dly . christ hath appointed officers in his house , and declared , how they should be qualified , and what should be their work : as in the beginning of the gospel , he was pleased to appoint several extraordinary and temporary officers , that were immediately called and extraordinarily gifted by himself , as apostles , prophets and evangelists , &c. the apostles by divine direction , did immediately choose some by themselves for itinerant work ( either from amongst the ordinary , or extraordinary officers of the church ) to exercise hic & nunc . their extraordinary power ; ( which officers we commonly call evangelists ) so we do not find that he appointed any ordinary and perpetual officers , except elders , ( called also bishops ) and deacons . phil 1 1. of these elders some were to rule the church , and also to teach her , heb 13 7. 17. others only to rule , 1 tim. 5. 17. which also was the practice of the first antiquity , and it s desuerude complained of by ambrose in the end of the fourth century : and there are few of the fathers in the first three centuries , but they mention sentores ecclesiae , that represented the people in the government of the church with the ministers . 4 ly how the officers of gods house should be qualified , is at length set down , 1 tim. 3. 2. under the name of bishops ( which was the name of all church rulers ) and deacons , and tit. 1. 6. 5 ly . their work is fully set down , both negatively , that they should not be intangled with worldly affairs , 2 tim. 2. where having mentioned ordination of ministers vers 2. he requireth them , vers 3 , and 4. as souldiers to endure hardness , and to be abstracted from worldly business , which is to be understood , as much as their necessity doth permit . also positively it is told us in general , that they are directed in this 1 tim. 3. 14 , 15 and particular directions are given about preaching , and that in all the parts of it , 2 tim. 4. 1 , 2. censures , 1 cor. 5 4. 5. 2 thess. 3. 14. ordination , 2 tim 2. 2. ii tim. 5. 22. 6 ly . in all these , ministers and elders have no lordly authority over the people , but must act as christs servants , and theirs , ( in order to their salvation ) 1 pet. 5. 3. 2 cor. 4. 5. yet they have real and proper ( though ministerial ) authority under christ. 7 ly . it is not only of divine authority natural ; that there be a government in the church ( anarchy and confusion in any society being contrary to the dictates of natural reason ) but the lord jesus hath positively revealed his will in this : he having expresly committed the keyes of the kingdom of heaven to his servants , and that for binding and loosing ; retaining , and remitting of sins : the authoratative inflicting of censures , whereby the man is declared to be free from guilt , and that his sin is pardoned so far as men can discern . 8 ly . what should be the species of this government is not left indifferent to men ( whether the magistrate or the church ) to chuse , but is determined by christ and revealed in the new testament : in that he hath appointed what officers should be in his house , how they should be chosen and authorized , viz. by election and ordination : what should be their qualifications and work : how they should manage their work , and rule the church in common : that the apostles committed the ordination of ministers to the presbytery , 1 tim 4. 14. and the censures of the church to a community , 1 cor , 5 2 cor. 2. and not to one person , even in their own time ; is an unanswerable argument for this ; their example being declarative of the mind of god , where no peculiar reason appeareth for their action . 9 ly . this government the lord hath not committed to magistrates , who have no power to ordain , nor deprive ministers , or elders ; nor to excommunicate , or to relax from that sentence : nor to administer , or manage any part of that work that is peculiar to the church , as it is a religious society ; nor to appoint how the church should be governed : but he hath committed it to the church guides . ministers and ruling elders ; for to them are all the directions about it given in the word , not to the magistrates ; they are to give an account of it . heb. 13 17. they did manage it for diverse hundreds of years , when there was no magistrate that did own , or countenance christianity : and there is no hint in scripture , nor principle of reason that can evince , that this power should devolve into the hands of the magistrate , when he should become christian ; neither are any directions given to the magistrate how he should administer any of the ordinances of christ. 10 ly . yet we own the civil magistrate as nursing father of the church and custos utriusque tabulae legis upon which account he is not only to provide 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for the church , and to procure her peace and unity by all good means ( as repressing of heresie , schism , and other disorders , wherein he is to use a judgement of discretion ; and not blindly to execute the sentence of the church ) but also may require all the officers and members of the church to do what is their duty : and that he may ( when the case requireth ) convocat synods , and indict times of fasting and thanskgiving : though for these we assert an intrinsick power in the church ; to which that of the magistrate is not privative but cumulative : for we maintain a twofold kingdom of christ , one , as god over all men , in which the magistrate is his vicegerent ; another as mediator over the church as such , in which he hath deputed no magistratical , but only ministerial power : we hold also , that the persons and actions of church-men are subject to the civil magistrate , and that they may be punish'd when they transgress the laws . 11 ly . this ministerial governing power in the church , the lord hath not committed to all the members ; nor to all the males thereof : but hath made a manifest distinction between rulers and ruled , in the scriptures mentioned already . 12 ly . the lord hath equally intrusted all his servants the ministers , not only with the power of dispensing the word , and sacraments , but also with the power of governing the church : which by his appointment , and acoording to the practice of the first and best ages of the churches , ought to be , and was done in common by ministers acting in parity , and not by a single prelate set over the rest . this is accknowledged by most , and the most eminent of our prelatick brethren : and must be so by all of them who do not plead for a divine right of episcopacy . besides that , neither names , directions , or reproofs given to church guides in scripture , do import any such imparity of power , nor is their any footstep of the exercise of it in scripture ; to infer this disparity of power from that of the apostles , is most inconsequential : they being universal , extraordinary , unfixed , and temporary officers ; whom the lord immediatly called , and abrogated their office with their death ; in that he neither called others to succeed in that power , nor gave any hint that it should be done by the church . it is as if one should say the church was once governed monarchically by a visible head ( viz. while christ was on earth ) ergo , it should be so still : which no protestant will aver . the argument in timothy and titus is of the same kidney , they being extraordinary and unfixed officers , and so no precedent for after times . neither can any argument be drawn from the angels of the churches ; words not being often used properly in that mystical book ; and we know that theologia symbolica non est argumentativa . besides that the angel of thyatyra was certainly a community , being spoken to in the plural number . revel . 2. 24. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . 13 there being no disparity of power amongst ministers , by christs grant of power to them : no man can make this disparity by setting one over the rest : neither can they devolve their power on one of themselves . for christ hath given no such warrant to men to dispose of his ordinance as they see fit . and power being delegated to them by him , they cannot so commit it to another to exercise it for them , as to deprive themselves of it . also , it being not a license only , but a trust , of which they must give an account , they must perform the work by themselves , as they will be answerable . but we must contract , not being now disputing , but asserting what we shall be ready to defend as occasion shall be offered . 14 we assert presbyterial government to be so of divine right as we can make no composition with men about it ( though none shall be more condescending to them that are otherwise minded in what is consistant with truth and necessary duty then we . yet it is not alike so in all the parts of it . for some parts of it are of christs institution ; as the officers of the church the laws , and censures of it . and others of the dictates of natural reason ( which is also a beam of divine light ) as that there be a government and meeting , for managing of it ; that one preside in them , that lesser and greater parts of the church had their meetings , as congregational , classical , provincial , and national assemblies for government ; that there be a subordination and appeals amongst these . to require positive assertions of scripture warranting every one of these ( though there want not scripture examples and other hints to countenance severals of them ) is as unreasonable as if we should be called to bring a text to prove that we should come in to the publick assemblies cloathed and not naked : in an usual and not in an antiquat garb 15 whether the moderator , or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of rulei●g church meetings should continue for one or more diets or for how long a time is not determined by any institution of christ , not by any general dictate of natural light : yet we judge a constant moderator , highly inconvenient , and by all means to be shuned : for it he be imposed on the meeting it is an encroachment on their intrinsick power of governing themselves in such things as are peculiar to them . and though chosen by themselves , fatal ; and constant examples together with the inclinanations of men to usurpation , do shew it to have so violent tendency to lordly prelacy , as rately doeth it fail or the bad effects , nor can be expected , not to issue in it . we maintain that no church judicature ought to cognosce of affairs of state nor of mens civil rights , or interests ; except their advice should be sought by the magistrat concerning sin or duty in any such matter : as if the thing be manifestly scandalous , and evidently dangerous to the interest of religion and the souls of men. neither do they inflict any punishment save spiritual censures . their work is to enquire into , and declare controverted truths ; to censure scandalous sinners : to try and ordain ministers : to absolve the penitent , by applying the comforts of the gospel to them and such like : wherefore there is no ground of fear that they should clash , or cope with the magistrate , unless they go beyond their line ; in which case they fall under the magistrats coercive power . 16 the way how men come into any office or power in the church , is by election of the people , which designeth the person ( in which election as in other things they are to be under the conduct and regulation of the church guides ) and ordination by laying on of the hands of the presbytery , which is the meane of communicating authority to him : and the former of these ought to preceed the latter : for we find no warrand for a ministerium vagum in the church , seeing even in times of great trouble and persecution we read of none ordained by the apostles , but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , with the suffrages of the people . 17 though superintendency , that is a power of inspection delegated from the church to one , used in case of necessity when a qualified minister could hardly be had in a province : he might for a time be appointed to oversee them who could do little more then read the word publickly , that is no warrant for bringing qualified ministers under that subjection in a constituted church , where there are ( through the mercy of god ) competent number of ministers . if our principle be rightly understood , we confidently hope they will sugest grounds of answer for most of the objections made against us , to the minds of the intelligent and unbyassed : yet we shall endeavour to afford some farther light this way also . 1 it is objected ( or rather we are reproached with ) by some , that presbyterial church government is inconsistant with civil government . answ. 1. a simple denial is enough to stop the mouth of such bold asserters : neither hath the world yet seen any topick ( except calumnies ) whereby this could be pretended to be proved . 2 experience proveth the contrary , civil government is advantageously managed in several of the most eminent of the reformed churches , with that discipline of christs house that we plead for . and our own land is a confounding instance that might stop the mouth of impundence it self ; wherein presbytery commenced with the reformation from popery , and continued with much peace , till an bitious men by labouring to unsettle it , did disturb , and at last overturn the state. 3. we have already shewed how we give to caesar that which is caesar's , and to god that which is gods ; neither can our adversaries make any power appear to be due to the magistrate , but what we allow him : indeed errastians do require for the magistrate some power that the presbyterians cannot approve of : but this is not peculiar to us , but common to all that assert a government in the church distinct from that of the state : which is the principle of papists , prelatists ( that are only such ) and independents , as well as it is ours . 4 our obedience to magistrates in all their lawful commands , and our peaceful sufferings of unjust violence are no●●our to all that can behold us with an unprejudiced eye . and if instances can be given to the contrary , the disloyalty of some is not to be impured to all ( for what party of men hath not afforded such instances ) and where the peace was broken by men of our way ( which were but a few ) it was the fruit of such insupportable severities and hardships , as even they could not have born who blame others for that practise : as late instances do make manifest . 2 it is next objected that presbytery and monarchy are inconsistant , no bishop , no king ; at least it is not so adapted to monarchy as pre ▪ lacy is ; and the government of the church should be so moulded as it may best sure that of the state. answ. 1 the falshood of the assertion , and maxim , is evident from what hath been said : presbytery and monarchy have well consisted in our own land , and in france 2 none maintaine more loyal principles towards kings then presbyterians do , who think themselves oblidged to feare god and honour the king : and were alwayes ready to obey him in the lord. 't is true they cannot give him unlimited obedience : but this is not as they are presbyterians , but as they are men of conscience , and will obey god rather than man , which i hope the objecters will not say is peculiar to presbyterians , if they do , and plead for the publick conscience ( as some of them have done ) to the laying aside the use of particular consciences in the actions that are moral , ( which is to introduce practical atheism ) they do not hurt our cause but their own . 3. our practice hath also been loyal in abhoring the murder of king charles the first , and in contributing the most effectual endeavours to restore his son : and in owning and submitting to a king of a contrary religion , so long as our religion and liberties were in any tolerable safety ; or the laws that were the measure of our obedience were any way regarded ; and what was then done , was not by us alone , 4 it is boldly alledged but not proved , that the church government should be fram'd according to that of the state , for that may be various , but this is one : and was so under the old testament , though the civil government varied . 3 't is said that presbyterians encroach on the authority of the magistrate , by medling with state affairs . answer . 1 our principle in this is already declared . and whatever instances of former times , this allegation may seem to be built on had their rise from statesmen taking the advice of church men in their assemblies : who sometimes gave advice contrary to the inclination of the leading men of the state : and if their zeal for a good interest led them at any time to press their advice with reasons and threatnings from the word of god : and if some excess did happen this way , the blame lay on them who gave the first rise to it . besides this when the actings of rulers have a manifest and direct tendency to lead people into sinful courses , ( such as imposing of unlawful oaths , and engaging people in a false religion ) who could be silent without unfaithfulness to god , and cruelty both to to the souls of rulers and people ? another answer may be , by retorting this argument on the prelatick clergy : do not bishops fit in the counsels , and interpose directly and formally in affairs of state , which presbyterians never pretended to . 4 the rigidity of presbyterians is objected . answ. 1 can any man have the brow to compare the rigidity of presbyterians , with that of either papists or prelatists , either in bearing with no dissent from their way , even in the least matters , and which themselves count indifferent , or in the bloody and cruel way of persecuting such as dissent ; by massacres , inquisitions , horrid tortures , imprisonment , fining , and strange severities : is there any thing that can be alledg'd against presbyterians that can be once compared with the persecutions that many in the west of scotland , and elsewhere , have lately endured ? yea independents cannot compare with the moderation of presbyterians ; for they ( most of them ) will not communicate with any but of their own way ; and so with none but those of their own congregation ; which is far from our way . as for anabaptists and quakers , they own none for members of the church but men of their own stamp : so that it may be on good ground said . that presbyterians are the most moderate of any party that pretend to religion . 2. that which men call rigidity in presbyterians is mostly against men's immoralities , that are unquestionable such : if other men be gentle to these , it may recommend them to wicked men's good liking , but will not render them acceptable to god : this strictness of discipline against scandalous sins , is injoined in scripture , and we go not beyond the bounds there set ; we rebuke such before all ; we do not punish them in their bodies or purses ; and our strictness falleth very far short of that of the primitive times ; as every one who hath read any thing of the history of the ancient church knoweth , both their catechumeni were detained from church priviledges ; and their penitents put to long and hard pennance , at another rate then any thing that we do . 3. wherein lyeth the regidity of our discipline ? do not our ministers deale with them who fall into scandalous sins , with all meekness and tenderness , admonishing them , laying before them the evil and danger of their way , the necessity of repentance , the hope of mercy through christ that there is to the penitent . it is our way , even where the sinner is most obstinate and rejecteth all advice , to wait for many weeks , before we proceed to excommunication , that , that dreadful sentence , if possible , may be prevented . we give publick admonition three several lords dayes , and sometimes oftner : we poure out prayers to god , not only in secret , but with the congregation as long ; that the sinner may be turned from his evil way : and after all this we use to wait patiently for the mans repentance : if he appear penitent , the sentence doth not pass against him ; and after sentence is past upon the hardned sinner , if afterward he shew any signs of repentance , how readily is he received into the church again , and we chearefully confirme our love to him and where church censures are used , it is not for worldly matters ( not paying church dues , as is the practice of some others ) not for small offences , but for gross and scandalous sins , 4. for their severity toward such as differ from them in principles , they think it their duty not to bear them that are evil , and to try them that say they are apostles , and are not ; they have a zeal against errour , disorders and usurpations in the church , and cannot understand how they who do not own presbyterial government , should be the managers of it : yet can use that moderation ( and resolve to do so when opportunity shall be put in their hand ) as not to deny church communion to any sober and religious person , though of a contrary sentiment to them , in these inferior points of truth . 5 ly . another objection , is from the indiscretion of the present ministers of this way : their want of that learning , prudence , and other good parts that may fit them to manage so great a trust , as is the government of the church . answ. we know these are the diminutive thoughts that our adversaries have of us : and we have not such high thoughts of our selves , as to magnifie our selves : we have cause to be humbled , ( as we hope we are , in some measure ) for our imperfections , both in gifts , and grace : yet we may , and must ( being thus put to it ) say , that there want not men amongst us , who fall not short in ministerial qualifications , of them who have lately had the rule of the church ; and for the generality of us , it is the opinion of the world , and of unbyassed men ; ( yea even of some , that are not of our way ) that these of the other party have no cause in their glorying over us in this . 2 church government doth not require any great degree of politick accomplishment : a plain man who understandeth the laws of christ , and the scripture directions concerning censures , is fitter to govern the church , than a great statesman is . 3. any indiscretion that of late years hath appeared in our conduct , may and should be imputed to our want of liberty to govern the church : every one ( among ministers and people ) did what was right in his own eyes , and we do not deny , but there are some indiscreet persons among us , as there are in all parties : and even wise men in our circumstances , could not shon some acts that might seem indiscreet , either to adversaries , or to less considering persons . 6 ly . the divisions of presbyterians are objected . answ. 1. where are these not to be found ; neirher bishop , nor pope have been able to keep them out of the church ; or from among their own party . 2 our divisions we do not deny , or approve ; we are men of like passions with others ; we labour to shun divisions as much as is possible , and through grace have come to more unity than they who reproach us with our divisions . 3. the divisions that were among us , as we deny not that our mistakes and corruptions had a hand in them , so we knew that enemies were active to promote and heighten them : which though it excuse not us a toto , yet it doth a tanto , and put our enemies in mala fide to reproach us with them . 4. the unity that the prolatick party made in the church , was like that of a conquering tyrant , who beholdeth all that oppose him , slain before him ; there was peace to the king and haman , when there was none to the people of god ; the unity of some , is a combination in errour , and the result of a conquest over mens consciences , that now dare not mutter against the 〈◊〉 of their imposing task-matters : we think contending about truth , more desirable than such peace : it is known that our church enjoyed such unity for many years after the reformation , as was celebrated by churches abroad , as is evident from the preface to corpus confessionum till ambitious men began to trouble her with their innovations , and usurpations , and so were the cause of division . 7. many object that if presbyterians get power , they will force all to make public , repentance who have owned bishops , taken the test , or other oaths that they dislike . ans. our principle is that , that publick scandals ought to be publickly rebuked ; yet there are cases in which the strickness of discipline in this matter , may and must be relaxed : i shall name two . 1. when the matter of offence is controverted , and the sinful practice is from the mis-information of the conscience : where the matter is not of the highest moment , and the person appeareth conscientiously to follow his light , church discipline may then be forborn . 2. when the fault is universal , either the whole , or the greater part , or a great part of the church is guilty : the rigour of censure ( that otherwise might be due ) is to be abated , even the primitive church , though very severe in discipline used a great 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in this case : when many , or most had fallen in persecution ; though the crime was of the highest nature , even denying the faith a general humiliation of the whole church may be in stead of particular application of censures ; i hope there is no cause of fear from men of such moderate principles . if in this , or any thing else , we have been chargeable with excess , ( as who can clear himself of all blame ) i hope our riper thoughts . studies , and sufferings , ( by the blessing of god on them ) hath taught us , and will engage us to let our moderation be known to all men ; considering that the lord is at hand : and though we have been severely beaten by our fellow servants ; yet we will stand in awe , and be loath that the lord , when he cometh , should find us so doing to them . 8 ly some object . that in this way , ministers may domineer over people , even the greatest men , at their pleasure . answ. beside that they must walk by the rule set down in the word ; and if they exceed that bounds , they may be curbed by superior judicatories : or if their insolence amount to the disturbing of the peace , the magistrate may restrain them : we say , beside this , the ministers do nothing alone , but with the peoples representatives , the elders , who may be of the nobles , or any other rank , as they are qualified for that work , and chosen to it by the church . some other objections are tossed among men that talk of these things , which do not so much concern presbyterial government in general , as some parts of it , or things about it , that are now in agitation . the 9 th . objection then , may be framed against the taking away the election of ministers by patrons , viz. that if that be done , men of note , and interest in parishes may be over-ruled by the multitude ( which often is ignorant , and heady ) and have ministers imposed on them . answ 1 that patronages are an intolerable grievance , and yoak of bondage on the church , and have alwayes been the cause of pestering the church with a bad ministry ; and a temptation to intrants please the patron ( farther than to his edification ) rather than to please god : beside the simoniacal buying and selling of gospel ordinances , that frequently , and in all times have attended this device of men : but ( which is worst of all ) that it is a direct crossing christ's institution , and a robing his people of the priviledge he hath bequeathed to them : these things , i say , are fully proved elsewhere . and therefore if it be supposed that the incovenience mentioned should follow from taking away of patronages , yet it will not ( i hope ) move them who regard christ's institutions ; or the good of his church , the salvation , and edification of souls , to be for their continuance . 2 the same inconvenience was apt to follow on popular election in other ages of the church ; and yet in the apostles times , and in the first and best ages , till the seventh or eight century , or later , patronages were not settled in the church ; they came in among the latest antichristian corruptions and usurpations ; the primi●ive christians were not so tender of their grandeur , and such priviledges as their rank in the world gave them , nor so little tender 〈◊〉 the liberties of the church , and the interest of christians , as such and if any such pretensions appeared to be owned by the grand●●● of these times , they met with a severe check , and that in lesser matters than acclaiming a power of choosing ministers for the whole church● as appeareth by the apostles reproving the distinction even in 〈◊〉 seats in their assemblies , that was made between the man with the gold ring and gay cloathing ; and the man in vile raiment : we are content to allow great men all due respect , but not to complement them with what is christs legacy to his people . and therefore we hope that they who are willing to subject themselves to the laws of christ , will be content to stand on equal ground ( tho we be far from aiming at the leveling principle in other things ) with their poor brethren in the church , with respect to church priviledges , which belong not to men as poor or rich , as great or small ; but as they are christs disciples . 3. it is carefully to be observed that the election of a minister is not to be left to the management of the confused rabble ( tho' the meanest adult male member of the church hath a right to assent or dissent ) but it is to be ordered by the eldership and that under the inspection of the presbytery ( and by the presbytery where no congregational elderships is ) in the number of which elders it is to be supposed , that he●etors and men of interest in the paroch will be , if they be tolerably qualifyed for , and will undertake , such an office , and then they have a special hand in the election , and cannot complain of being imposed upon : and the eldership is to exclude from having an hand in the election , them that are scandalous grosly ignorant , heady and scismatick , or any way disorderly . and if divisions fall in , the elders are judges of the difference between the two parties ; and are to consider the reasons on both hands ; and to ponder and weigh , as well as to number the votes . they ought also to exclude from voting in such elections all such as are not fixed members of the congregation . and to lay more weight on the suffrages of them that are more fixed , and less on them that are otherwise ; caeteris paribus . for though christianity maketh one a member of the church catholick , yet a fixed abode is needful to make one a member of , and to give a share in the priviledges of that particular flock . but how to limit this fixation is not easie : for though some be manifestly unfixed as servants ; and others are manifestly fixed , as ancient inhabitants who are like to continue long in that place ; yet there may be a midle sort who cannot be determined by general rules , but it must be left to the prudence of the church to judge in this . if these things be duely considered . great men need not fear having a minister obtruded on them ; especially if we add that men of interrest usually are able to influence those that live under them , or that do depend upon them . 4. in the times wherein patronages were taken away by law men of interest and respect found no cause to complaine of being ●●●●osed upon , but the church laid down such directions ( as may b● 〈◊〉 in the acts of the general assembly august . 4. 1649. sess 4● and the constant practice of the church was to give such deference to ●●em as they were generally satisfyed with the elections : and they may still be perswaded that it will be the care of elderships and presbytries to do nothing that they can justly complaine of . besides that it may be presumed that no minister , who regardeth his being useful , or his own peace and comfort , will enter into a place with the dislike of any considerable part of the people , either for number or quality . if it be objected that there were great divisions and tumults about elections , in and about the year . 1650. answer . 1. so there were in the primitive church , which the advocats for patronages use as an argument against our opinion , and yet that church did not think of such a remedy as puting the election in the hand of one single person , nor of taking it from the people . 2. at the time mentioned there was a lamentable schism in the church about other matters ; and therefore it was no wonder it appeared in this matter also , people were for choosing ministers that were of the same sentiment with them about the things then in controversie , and this schism was industriously kept up and promoted by the rulers that then had enslaved this nation by force of armes , and made use of our factions to wreath their yoake on our necks . it is a wide consequence to infer from this , that the priviledge of choosing their own pastors should alwise be taken from the people of god. 3. when divisions appear in this matter , the controversie is to be decided by the session . or presbytery , synod , or general assemblies ; and if it amount to the breach of the peace , the magistrate is to interpose his authority : these are the proper remedies of such divisions and not to deprive both parties of that which is their right and christs grant to them , because they cannot agree about it : it were a strange way of composing civil contendings about meum and tuum , if that which they con end about should be taken from both , and given to a third person ; the better way is , the judge competent is to decide in favour of him who is found to have the best right ( if arbitrators cannot compremise the matter ) so it is here . another objection ( the 10 ) is concerning a question that ariseth from the present circumstances of this church , under which it is judged necessary that the goverement of the church should be in its first setlement in the hands only of them who are known to be truely presbyterian . before we consider what is objected against this , it may be nedful to lay down the case and the grounds of the necessity of what we desire , resulting from it . it is then to be considered that the church of scotland hath almost ever been presbyterian : it received that government with christianity and retained it while the antichristian doctrine and government prevailed in other parts ; as hath been of late made appear . and after it had been overrun by popery , it was reformed by presbyters and that government as it is founded on scripture , so it hath continued in this church ever since the reformation , save that it had some short interruption which did alwayes breed disquiet in the minds of people , and troubles in the nation , and sufferings to some of the most sober and best of the ministers and people : and when in the yeare 1662 that government was suppressed ▪ and prelacy set up by an act of parliament , this deed was never consented to by the national church , but presbytery as it had been settled by the authority of the church and state , so continued , and doeth continue settled by the authority of the church : whence it may rationally be deduced , that the ministers that entred by and under prelacy , neither had nor have any right to be rulers in the presbyterian church ; they having had no call nor authority given them from her ( whatever they might have in another church that the state set up in the nation beside the church that then was in being , from which a great body of ministers and people did dissent , which authority they were never suffered to exercise even in their own church ) it is also to be considered that on this happy revolution the king and parliament have been pleased to abolish prelacy : and have declared their resolution by their authority to settle presbyterian government . from this it followeth that the prelatick clergy should not be admitted to a share in this government : except such of them as shall by the presbyterian church be found qualified for the ministry , and such from whom there is no hazard of overturning that government that now is intended to be established : for they being more in number than the presbyterians , is it to be imagined that presbyterian government can be safe in their hands , or that they will not erect a prelacy in the church , or something instead of it , or some way that is inconsistant with presbytery in its purity ? and there being many among them known to be insufficient , scandalous , or erroneous , it is not possible that the church can be purged of such , if they have the government , but rather there is an hazard that the best men should be cast out , and that by church authority , least they should stand in the way of their designs . wherefore as they have no just right to such power , so necessity ( which quicquid coegit , defendit ) doth barr their exercise of such power in the present juncture . mean while presbyterians do declare , that they do not desire that all these men should be restrained from the parochial exercise of their ministry . and that who ever among them ( as soon as the church can be in case to purge her self ) is not proved to be insufficient , scandalous , erroneous , or extremely negligent , shall be cordially received into her society , and have the full exercise of their ministry , and that where uncontroverted scandals cannot be charged on them , none shall be dealt with as scandalous , because of their having had a hand in this late publick defection . these things thus laid down , let us hear what is objected against this course . 1 st . this is to set up prelacy among ministers , even while it is so much decry'd , that a few should have rule of the churches and the rest excluded . answ. it is no prelacy , but a making distinction between ministers of one society , and th●se of another : though they be ministers , they are not ministers of the presbyterian church , they have departed from it ; we have continued in the good old way that they and we professed : it is not then unreasonable , that if they will return to that society , they should be admitted by it , and not be imposed on it , to overturn it . at the reformation from popery , was it a prelacy in the few protestant ministers , that they were not willing to let the popish priests govern the church ? or did nehemiah and the iews pretend to any power over tobiah , sanbaliat and their party , that they would not suffer them to build with them ? pardon these comparisons , they are not intended to parallel our brethen with either of these sorts of men , except in this , that they are not of the presbyterian church , more than those others were of the protestant , or iewish church ; and that there is hazard from them to our way , as well as there was from the other to their wayes . obj. 2. by this means the lesser party in the church of scotland shall exclude the greater from the government . ans this is not absurd , where the greater party have left the church they were of ; and the lesser hath abode in it , or rather , are left as the constituent members of it : and when that greater party hath set up another frame of a church , which they are now forced to part with , when they would return to the former way , they cannot incorporate again with them who abode in it , without their consent ; especially where this consent is ready to be given on any tolerable security for the way that the lesser party doth o●●e , and the other departed from . obj. 3. what warrant is there for leaving to these men the parochial exercise of their ministry , and to deprive them of the other part of if : seeing the exercise of the ministry in teaching and ruling is quid indivisum . answ. there are two reasons for this ; one is the necessity of the church , which for such a critical interim as our lot is fallen into , may warrant that , which out of such an exigence , and for a constant continuance in the church were unwarrantable : it is necessary on the one hand , that the parishes be not deprived of their labours , l●st a great part of the country should be destitute of all gospel ordinances : it is as necessary on the other hand , that they have not ruling power in the church with the p●esbyterians , left that government which christ hath instituted , and which is now designed to be settled , be over-turned : and we know , that many things may be done in turbato statu ecclesiae ( such as we now are in ) which ought not to be allowed in paccato ecclesiae statu . another reason is , we do neither deny their teaching , nor their ruling power : yet teaching being common to the one church way with the other , we may well allow to them the exercise of that among us , while ruling being different in their way and ours , and the principle that they hold in it being eversive of our way , it is rational to deny them a share among us . not to insist on farther objections , whatever inconveniences may seem to follow on this conduct , may be answered by the force of necessity already held forth , and objected by the speedy settling the church upon its right basis. finis . licensed , aprile , the 18. 1690. the trojan horse of the presbyteriall government vnbowelled wherein is contained, i. the power of the presbyterian government, ii. the persons in whom this power is placed, iii. the exercise of the presbyterian power in scotland, and the lawes there imposed on the peoples necks. parker, henry, 1604-1652. this text is an enriched version of the tcp digital transcription a56328 of text r5914 in the english short title catalog (wing p427). textual changes and metadata enrichments aim at making the text more computationally tractable, easier to read, and suitable for network-based collaborative curation by amateur and professional end users from many walks of life. the text has been tokenized and linguistically annotated with morphadorner. the annotation includes standard spellings that support the display of a text in a standardized format that preserves archaic forms ('loveth', 'seekest'). textual changes aim at restoring the text the author or stationer meant to publish. this text has not been fully proofread approx. 50 kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from 13 1-bit group-iv tiff page images. earlyprint project evanston,il, notre dame, in, st. louis, mo 2017 a56328 wing p427 estc r5914 13087435 ocm 13087435 97312 this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text creation partnership. this phase i text is available for reuse, according to the terms of creative commons 0 1.0 universal . the text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. early english books online. (eebo-tcp ; phase 1, no. a56328) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set 97312) images scanned from microfilm: (early english books, 1641-1700 ; 747:46) the trojan horse of the presbyteriall government vnbowelled wherein is contained, i. the power of the presbyterian government, ii. the persons in whom this power is placed, iii. the exercise of the presbyterian power in scotland, and the lawes there imposed on the peoples necks. parker, henry, 1604-1652. [2], 22 p. s.n.], [london : 1646. attributed to henry parker. cf. dnb, mcalpin coll. reproduction of original in huntington library. eng church of scotland -government. presbyterian church -government. a56328 r5914 (wing p427). civilwar no the trojan horse of the presbyteriall government vnbovvelled. wherein is contained, i. the power of the presbyterian government. ii. the per [no entry] 1646 9078 5 10 0 0 0 0 17 c the rate of 17 defects per 10,000 words puts this text in the c category of texts with between 10 and 35 defects per 10,000 words. 2005-01 tcp assigned for keying and markup 2005-03 spi global keyed and coded from proquest page images 2005-04 mona logarbo sampled and proofread 2005-04 mona logarbo text and markup reviewed and edited 2005-10 pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion the trojan horse of the presbyteriall government vnbovvelled . wherein is contained , i. the power of the presbyterian government . ii. the persons in whom this power is placed iii. the exercise of the presbyterian power in scotland , and the lawes there imposed on the peoples necks . printed in the yeere 1646. the trojan horse of the presbyteriall government unbowelled . of the scottish form of church-government , i have observed , that it hath been the studious endeavour of many men to procure the establishment of it amongst us , as appears by the importunity of divers petitions to that purpose presented to the parliament ; and that upon pretence , that they are thereto engaged by the solemne league and covenant . i note also , that the parliament hath artificially declined the establishment thereof , by ordaining commissioners in every county to superintend the proceedings of the presbyteries , and to receive appeals from them , and by reserving the supreme power of the last sentence , in themselves : and that they have so firmely adhered to this their ordinance , as that they could not be removed from their resolution by the most potent sollicitations . this great difference of judgement between persons so considerable , hath induced me to use my best diligence to understand the nature of that government , about which they doe so perniciously disagree . to that end , i have carefully informed my judgement , by considering the frame of it , an it is set downe in that modell of discipline which is contained in their psalme-book , and in the two bookes of discipline , and the confession of their faith : some of which i know , and all of them i beleeve to be now the muniments of that church . if they be , i think i have truly collected from them , that their church-government is pernicious to civill power , grievous to such as must live under it , and apt to disturb the common peace : and that therefore those that are so earnest for it , ( at the best ) doe but aske they know not what , and that the parliament have reason to deny their requests . if they be not , they are the more to blame that seek to obtrude that yoke upon us , and inforce it by the obligation of an oath , which they regard not before hand to acquaint us with , that we may knowingly ( as men and christians ) resolve what is fit for us to doe . howsoever , i have determined to put into this form , my collections concerning that government and discipline , together with the grounds from whence they are drawne , that they may be to my selfe a testimony , that i have not neglected the meanes of mine own information , & if any others shall happen to see them , that they ( beholding at once the inference and the evidence ) may pronounce as they shall find cause . and i shall observe this order , to consider severally , first , the power which the scots challenge as due to their form of church-government , and what bounds they set betweene it and the civill power . secondly , the persons in whom it is placed . thirdly , the manner how it is exercised , and the lawes which it imposeth on the people . of the power of the presbyterian government . there are but two wayes to bound it , that it overflow not all . the one , the subordination of the nationall assembly to an oecumenicall ; and though i know nothing to the contrary , but that they acknowledge this subordination , yet no use can be made of it , ( as things now stand ) because in these sad divisions of christendome , a generall councell cannot be called : the other , the sobordination thereof to the civill power , which being the onely meanes to keep them within their limits , it is necessary to consider what respect the presbyterians give unto it . they would seem to ascribe much to the civill magistrate , for they acknowledge , that the civill power is gods ordinance , which they that goe about to take away , or confound , are enemies of mankind , and of gods expresse will , that the civill magistrates are to be highly esteemed , that to them chiefly and principally the conservation and purgation of religion appertaineth : and therefore it is sinfull to resist them . large confes. of faith , artic. 25. they affirme , that the ministers and others of the ecclesiasticall estate are subject to the magistrate civill in externall things : and that the civill power may command the spirituall to doe their office , according to the word of god . 2. booke of discip. chap. 1. they say , it appertains to the office of a christian magistrate , to make lawes and constitutions agreeable to gods word for the advancement of the kirk , and policy thereof , without usurping the power of the keyes . 2 booke of dis. chap. 10. yet if the matter be well examined , it will be found that all these faire words are but like mercuries piping to bring argus asleep : for , 1 they challenge a power absolute and independent of the king , to convene in assemblies at their owne pleasure , and to appoint the time and place themselves . hear their own words . all the ecclesiasticall assemblies have power to convene lawfully together for treating of things concerning the kirk , and pertaining to their charge . they have power to appoint times and places to that effect , and at one meeting to appoint the diet , time and place for another . 2. booke of discipline , chap. 7. 2 they claime power to themselves to make constitutions ecclesiasticall , without the consent of the christian magistrate . for this orders cause , they may make certaine rules and constitutions , appertaining to the good behaviours of all the members of the kirk in their vocation . 2. book of discipline , chap. 7. 3 they claim power to abrogate the lawes of the land touching ecclesiasticall matters if they judge them hurtfull or unprofitable . for so they say , they have power also to abrogate and abolish all statutes and ordinances concerning ecclesiasticall matters , that are found noysome and unprofitable , and agree not with the time , or are abused by the people . 2. book of discipline , chap. 7. 4. they require the civil magistrate to be subject to this their power , to discipline must all the estates within this realme be subject , as well the rulers as they that are ruled . 1. booke of discipline , head 7. as the ministers and others of the ecclesiasticall state are subject to the magistrate civill , so ought the person of the magistrate be subject to the kirk spiritually , and in ecclesiasticall government . 2 book of dis. chap. 1. as ministers are subject to the judgement and punishment of the magistrate in externall things , if they offend , so ought the magistrates to submit themselves to the discipline of the kirk , if they transgresse in matters of conscience , and religion . ibidem . the nationall assemblies of this countrey called commonly the generall assemblies , ought alwaies to be retained in their own liberty , and have their owne place ; with power to the kirk , to appoint times and places convenient for the same : and all men , as well magistrates as inferiours , to be subject to the judgement of the same in ecclesiasticall causes , without any reclamation or appellation to any judge civill or ecclesiasticall within the realme . 2. booke of discipline , chap. 12. the princes and magistrates not being exemed , and these that are placed in the ecclesiasticall estate rightly ruling and governing , god shall be glorified , &c. 2. booke of discipline , chap. 13. if any man shall wonder how these insolent claimes can stand with their former expressions , in favour of the civill magistrate ; let him know , that there be two texts in their booke of discipline , that will open this mystery , and reconcile the contradiction . the first , the magistrate neither ought to preach , minister the sacraments , nor execute the censures of the kirke ; nor yet prescribe any rule how it should be done , but command the ministers to observe the rule commanded in the word , and punish the transgressors by civill meanes . the ministers exerce not the civill jurisdiction , but teach the magistrate how it should be exercised according to the word . chap. 1. by this it appeares , that all the power they allow the civill magistrate in church-affaires , is onely to be the executioner of their decrees . the second , although kings and princes that be godly , sometimes by their own authority when the kirk is corrupted , and all things out of order , place ministers , and restore the true servants of the lord , after the example of some godly kings of juda , and divers godly emperours and kings also in the light of the new testament : yet where the ministery of the kirk is once lawfully constitute , and they that are placed doe their office faithfully , all godly princes and magistrates ought to heare and obey their voice , and reverence the majesty of the son of god speaking in them . 2. booke of dis. chap. 10. this text ( i confesse ) is fast and loose . for who shall be judge whether the church be corrupted and all things out of order , or whether the ministery be lawfully constitute , and the office faithfully discharged ? shall the king ? their practise shewes that they will not allow that . shall the ministery be judge ? then the power given to princes in a corrupted church , is just nothing : for sure , the ministers will not condemne themselves . if any thing of certainty can be made out of this oracle , it is this : that the presbyterian government must be supposed to be the onely orderly government , and all the proceedings of it just : and kings and princes may claim a power to cast out any other government and set up that : but when that is once up , they must then bee content with what the assembly will allow them . 5 to their doctrine that it is unlawfull to resist the civill magistrate , they give these bounds , while he doth his duty , and governeth as he ought . to disobey or resist any that god hath placed in authority ( whilest they passe not over the bounds of their office ) — we confesse or affirme to be sin , large confes. art. 15. we confesse and avow that such as resist the supreame power , doing that thing which appertaineth to his charge , doe resist gods ordinance , and therefore cannot be guiltlesse . large confes. art. 25. from these premisses i thinke the inference is good , that if the supreame power passe the bounds of his office , if he doe not that thing which appertaineth to his charge , if he doe the contrary , if he mis-governe , then they hold resistance to be no sinne , nor the subjects that resist him to be guilty of resisting gods ordinance . it may be that the generall disaffection to regall power , in these distractions , may render some men lesse apprehensive of the dangerous consequences of this doctrine , and the former claimes ; as supposing them to have no other drift , then to clip the wings of royall prerogative . but this is a grosse and dangerous mistake : and whosoever shal be envested with that civill power which shal be taken from the king , be it the parliament , or whosoever else , must looke to succeed him in the heavy enmity which this presbyterian power will exercise against the civill power ( when it doth not comply with them ) in what hands soever it be placed . for , these incroachments of theirs are not upon the king , as distinguished from other magistrates , but upon the civill magistrate in common , whosoever he be , as appeares plainly by the former testimonies . so that if they have a minde to call a generall assembly , though the king and parliament finde it needlesse , or ( in regard of circumstances of time , place , or distempered affections in the ministers , or people ) inexpedient , or dangerous ; they will over-rule , though to the highest disservice of the state , and must be obeyed . if they agree upon any ecclesiasticall constitutions and canons , though the king and parliament judge them never so contrary to the lawes tending to the hurt of the kingdome , yet must they yeeld to this presbyterian power . if the king and parliament make any lawes concerning the affaires of the church , which are not to their liking , they may repeals them . the king and parliament must be subject not onely to their generall assembly , but ( in subordination to that ) to the dictates of every petty parochiall session where their personall residence and abode shall be . lastly , if the king and parliament will governe contrary to their will and pleasure , their principles will allow them to incite the people to resist them . after so rank a crop of weeds , pernicious to civill power , i know not what regard will be had to the gleanings : which ( yet ) would not be lost . 6 therefore if the civill migistrate punish not with death such as in their judgement deserve it , they order that the church may excommunicate the offender , not onely for his crime , but as suspect to have corrupted the temporall judge . if no remedy by them can be found , ( that is by the magistrates ) then justly may the church pronounce the offender excommunicate , as one suspect , besides his crime , to have corrupted the judges , revengers of blood . order of excommunication in the psalm booke . so that if the civill judges thinke not fit to proceed against every one whom they hold a capitall offender , not only the reputed offender shall be excomunicate , but in the publication of the sentence the judges shall be openly defamed as corrupt , and that upon a suspition thus weakly grounded . 7 they determine that the temporall magistrate is bound to punish adultery with death , by gods own law . it is cleerly knowne to us , that n. somtimes baptized in the name of the father , of the sonne , and of the holy ghost , and so reputed and counted for a christian , hath fearefully fallen from the society of christs body , by committing of cruell and wilfull murther , ( or by committing filthy adultery , &c. ) which crime by the law of god deserveth death . order of excom. in the psalm book . blasphemy , adultery , murder , perjury , and other crimes capital worthy of death , ought not properly to fall under censure of the kirk : because all such open transgressors of gods law ought to be taken away by the civil sword . 1. book of discip. head 7. marriage , once lawfully contracted , may not be dissolved at mans pleasure as our master christ jesus doth witnesse , unlesse adultery be committed : which being sufficiently proved , in presence of the civill magistrate , the innocent ( if they so require ) ought to be pronounced free , and the offender ought to suffer death , as god hath commanded , 1. booke of discip. head 9. sect. of marriage . if this be true , then ( for ought i see ) we are bound to all the judicialls of moses as well as to this which is one of them : as namely , to punish theft , not with death , but restitution ; besides many other touching inheritances , purchases and other temporal things ; which would cause infinit changes and confusions in our temporall lawes . 8. they hold it unlawfull for the civill magistrate to pardon capitall offenders . in the feare of god , we signifie unto your honours , that whosoever perswades you that ye may pardon where god commandeth death , deceives your soules , and provokes you to offend gods majesty . 1 booke of discip. head . 9. this puts such a tye upon princes , as robs them of the exercise of their noblest vertue , mercy ; inclines offenders to be desperate , and in such distracted times as this , may prove destructive to the kingdome . 9. they exact it as a duty of a christian magistrate , that if need require , hee maintaine the ministery with his owne rents . it pertaines to the office of a christian magistrate — to see that sufficient provision be made for the ministery , the schooles , and the poore : and if they have not sufficient to await upon their charges , to supply their indigence , even with their owne rents if need require . 2. booke of discipline , chap. 10. compare but this with the power which the presbyterians claime over the civill magistrate , and it will appeare , that their discipline will allow them to be judges , whether need require that the ministery should be maintained out of the kings rents : and if they finde that it doe , then to pronounce that it is his office and duty to make the allowance , and to compell him to doe his office by the churches censures , and warrant his subjects to take armes against him , if he shall obstinately refuse . this is a compendious way for them to cut themselves large cantells out of the kings revenues . 10. they distinguish the object of civill and ecclesiasticall power , not by the matter it selfe which may be the same in both ; but by the divers ends proposed by the severall powers . the magistrate commandeth externall things for externall peace and quietnesse amongst the subjects : the minister handleth externall things , onely for conscience-cause . 2. booke of discip. chap. 1. here both the minister and magistrate deale with the same externall things , and the difference is onely in the end . so that by their platform they may deal with all civil causes for a spirituall end , which the pope usually expresses with this clause , in ordine ad bonum spirituale , and these men ( to the same effect ) in ordine ad bonum ecclesiae . but both he and they doe by this distinction , usurp upon the civill magistrate . of the persons in whom this power is placed . this power is ( in the scottish platforme ) put into the hands , partly of the ministers of the parishes throughout the kingdom , who admit no superiority of one over another , but a parity and equality of all , and partly of lay-elders , who meddle not with the administration of the word and sacraments , but are chosen by the people out of every parish to joyne with the ministers in the government of the kirk : and all government and discipline , is exercised joyntly by them , by plurality of voices : in the severall parishes by the ministers and lay-elders of the same , who are subordinate to a classis made up of the ministers and elders of the parishes within the bounds thereof , as the severall classes are to the provinciall assembly , consisting of ministers and elders chosen out of every classis within the province , and provinciall assemblies are in like manner subordinate to the nationall assembly consisting of such a number of ministers and lay-elders as the same assembly shall thinke fit , chosen out of all the provinces of the kingdome : and this nationall assembly ( since oecumenicall councells cannot be hoped for ) acknowledgeth no superiour upon earth . all these points ( if things so much acknowledged need it ) are proved by these ensuing authorities . the parity of ministers , as to bishops , if the name {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} be properly taken they are all one with the ministers . 2. booke of dis. chap. 11. the conjunction of lay-elders with them in the government . it is not necessary that all elders be also teachers of the word . 2. booke of dis. chap. 6. their office is as well severally as conjunctly to watch diligently upon the flock committed to their charge , both publikely and privately , that no corruption of religion or manners enter therein . ib. their principall office is to hold assemblies with the pastors and doctors ( who are also of their number ) for establishing of good order and execution of discipline : unto the which assemblies all persons are subject that remaine within their bounds . ib. in assembling the people , neither they without the ministers , nor the ministers without them , may attempt any thing . psalm book tit. of the elders , &c. the pastors or ministers chiefe office standeth in preaching the word of god , and ministring the sacraments : so that in consultations , judgements , elections and other politicall affairs , his counsell rather then authority taketh place . ibid. titl . of the ministers office and duty . the elders being elected must be admonished of their office , which is , to assist the ministers in all publique affaires of the kirk , to wit , in determining and judging causes , in giving admonition to the licentious liver , in having respect to the manners and conversation of all men , within their charge . — yea the seniors ought to take heed to the like manners , diligence , and study of their ministers : if he be worthy of admonition , they must admonish him ; of correction , they must correct him , &c. 1 booke of discip. 8. head , of the election of elders , &c. their election by the people . men of best knowledge in gods word , and cleanest life , men faithfull , and of most honest conversation , that can be found in the kirk , must be nominate to be in election , and their names must be publiquely read to the whole kirk by the minister , giving them advertisement that from amongst them must be chosen elders and deacons . ibidem . if any man know other of better qualities within the kirk then these that be nominated , let them be put in election , that the kirk may have the choice . ibid. it pertaineth to the people , and to every severall congregation , to elect their minister . 1 booke of discipline , 4 head , of ministers , &c. and because this order which gods word craves , cannot stand with patronages and presentation to benefices , used in the popes kirk : we desire all them that truely feare god , earnestly to consider , that for as much as the names of patronages and benefices , together with the effect thereof , have flowed from the pope , and corruption of the canon law onely , in so far as thereby any person was intrusted or placed over kirks having curam animarum : and for as much as that manner of proceeding hath no ground in the word of god , but is contrary to the same , and to the said liberty of election , they ought not to have place in this light of reformation . 2. book of discip. chap. 12. the subordination of their elderships , and assembli●s , and how they share this power among them . elderships and assemblies are commonly constitute of pastors , doctors , and such as we commonly call elders , that labour not in the word and doctrine , 2 book of dis. chap. 7. assemblies are of foure sorts . for , either they are of particular kirks and congregations , one or moe ; or of a province , or of a whole nation , or of all and divers nations professing one jesus christ . ibid. the first kind and sort of assemblies , although they be within particular congregations , yet they exerce the power , authority , and jurisdiction of the kirk with mutuall consent , and therefore beare sometime the name of the kirk . when we speak of the elders of the particular congregations , we mean not that every particular parish-kirk can or may have their own particular elderships , specially in landward ; but we think three , four , more or fewer particular kirks may have one eldership common to them all to judge their ecclesiasticall causes . yet this is meet that some of the elders be chosen out of every particular congregation . ibid. it pertaines to the eldership to take heed that the word of god be purely preached within their bounds , the sacraments rightly ministred , the discipline rightly maintained , and the ecclesiasticall goods uncorruptly distributed . it belongs to this kind of assembly , to cause the ordinances made by the assemblies provinciall , nationall , and generall to be kept and put in execution . to make constitutions which concerns {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} in the kirk , for the decent order of these particular kirks where they governe , ( provided that they alter no rules made by generall or provinciall assemblies , and that they make the provinciall assemblies fore-seen of these rules that they shall make ) and abolish them that tend to the hurt of the same . it hath power to excommunicate the obstinate . the power of election of them who beare ecclesiasticall charges pertaines to this kind of assembly within their owne bounds , being well erected and constituted of many pastors and elders of sufficient ability . by the like reason their deposition also pertains to this kind of assembly ; as of them that teach erroneous and corrupt doctrine , that be of slanderous life , &c. ibidem . provinciall assemblies we call lawfull conventions of pastors , doctors , and other elders of a province gathered for the common affaires of the kirk thereof . ibidem . this assembly hath power to handle , order , and redresse all things committed or done amisse in the particular assemblies . ibidem . and generally their assemblies have the whole power of the particular elderships whereof they are collected , ibidem . the nationall assembly which is generall to us , is a lawfull convention of the whole kirks of the realm . ibidem . none are subject to repair to this assembly to vote , but ecclesiasticall persons to such a number as shall be thought good by the same assembly . ibidem . this assembly is institute , that all things either committed or done amisse in the provinciall assemblies , may be redressed and handled : and things generally serving for the weale of the whole body of the kirk within the realme , may be fore-seen , intreated , and set forth to gods glory . ibidem . now if the presbyterian power it selfe be so pernicious as it appears to be by what was said before , surely to put it into such hands as by this modell are to have it , must needs make all juditious and impartiall men much more averse from it . for first , that it admits of no superiority of one above another , but requires a parity of those that governe , is like to produce manifold inconveniences . the resolutions both in publique affaires , and private mens causes will be very slow ; because many men , will be of different judgements and affections : and such as are not soon brought to agree in one determination . the difference of opinions and interests is like to breed factions and contentions . the decisions are in danger to be often corrupt , because it is harder to find many men of skill and integrity then one . these inconveniences are like to be bred by a parity of many governours : and those that episcopacy is accused of , are not likely to be removed by this parity , but augmented rather , for both reason and experience may teach us , that amongst many equals , popularity will make some one the leader of the rest ; and he will offend more boldly then if he were indeed a bishop , because howsoever he do amisse , yet he can excuse himselfe , and lay the blame upon others . secondly the mixture of lay-men and ministers together in the exercise of this power is of very dangerous consequence . it is like to breed acmulations between the ministers and the laity , while each one sides with his own order against the other . men grossely ignorant in matters of divinity , must be judges of doctrine ; and they that cannot in a small time be taught what heresie is , much lesse how to discern heresie from truth , determine of it , and others be bound to submit to their judgement . men whose education and imployment is either in the field , or the shop , of whom a wise man once said , that they should not be sought for in publique councell nor sit on the judges seat , because they understand not the sentence of judgement ; men who neither know how to doe right if they would , nor would care for it if they knew it , ( for where the minde that should rule is weake , the corrupt passions that should be ruled , breake out into all disorder : ) these must be trusted with the making of church-lawes , and government even of those things that concern the precious souls of men for whom christ died ; to say nothing of their quiet , their reputation , and their purses , which will be all exposed to those injuries that may be expected from blind malice , revenge , envy , covetousnesse , partiality , and insolence . all these mischiefs are the more to be feared , in regard of the distempers of this sad time , in which this government is sought to be erected . for those that are slaves to their corrupt affections , and apt to be transported by them , though they be not provoked , will much more violently pursue their bad designs , if power be then put into their hands , when they are chafed to so high a decree of acrimony , this would the rather be thought of , because the entrance into any businesse of concernment as it is good or evill , lightly seasons the subsequent proceedings with the same relish : so that inconveniences brought in at the first setling of a government , can hardly ever after be rooted out . thirdly , let it be considered what kind of persons stand fairest to be chosen for lay-elders . if wee make our judgement herein , upon observation of those dispositions , which qualifie men for the peoples favour , we shall finde them to be , for the most part , either activenesse or greatnesse . in some parishes he can do most , who though he hath neither wealth , wit , nor honestly , is yet most active and busie : and if this be the choice , those will be trusted with the spirituall power that are aptest to bring all to ruine and confusion . but if greatnesse beare the sway , ( as in most places it is like to do ) then shall men of great estates and dealing in the world , great landlords , noble-men , and gentlemen , be lay-elders : who will use their power to enthrall their tenants , dependents , and inferiours to them , and bring the yeomanry and husbandmen of england to such a slaverie , and vassallage under them , as that sort of men groane under in scotland . fourthly , though appeals may seem to afford some remedy , yet is that of little use , being a matter of so much trouble and charge to go from the parish-session to the classis , and from thence to the provinciall assembly , and from thence to the generall assembly , before a man can come at the parliament : so that very few men can make use of it . wherefore since appeals leave the most men without remedy , it is a madnesse to make those men judges in the first instance , that are so like to judge amisse . fifthly , the constitution of generall assemblies for the number of ministers and lay-elders to be sent from the severall presbyteries , being at the will of the same assembly , is very uncertaine , and may surprise those that little dream of it , and take away all power from either the ministers or the layty before they be aware . for if in some one generall assembly practises shall prevaile to over-prise one part with a greater number of the other ; that part that then gets all the power into their hands , will keep the other under irrecoverably : and of this mischife scotland will affoord an instance . lastly ; in this forme of government such a multitude of men have a share , that if they shall be found to abuse their power to the prejudice of the state , it will hardly ever be possible to get it out of their hands again . for example , if church-government be put into the hands of the ministers and lay-elders of almost 10000. parishes , and thereby some inconveniences not yet fore-seen shal arise which shall induce the state to change it for another forme : how shall they be able to wrest the power out of the hands of a faction so numerous , who having found the sweet of rule will bee loath to part with it ? of the exercise of the presbyterian power in scotland , and the lawes there imposed on the peoples necks . it now remaineth that by considering their particular lawes we shew how grievous the exercise of this power wil be to all sorts of men that live under it . 1. it hath been shewed already that the presbyterian government requireth that all ministers be appointed by a popular election , and utterly dis-alloweth patronages of livings that have cure of soules : which will be prejudiciall to the nobility and gentry , despoiling them of their inheritance . and if any shall object that either in this or any other matter their practice differs from their rule , let him mark what caution is given in the preface to the bookes of discipline . to distinguish betwixt the kirks purpose and intention in every particular , and their possibility to performe and practise as circumstances concurred , or were contrary : and he shall find that the practise prevailes onely because they want power to alter it , and that they will never rest satisfied , till they obtain their purpose . 2. they are no better friends to the ministers , then to the nobles and gentry : for their lawes provide that they shall be kept poore enough , to make both them and their doctrine servile to the peoples humours . their benefices must be changed into stipends . that which is called the benefice , ought to be nothing else but the stipend of the ministers that are lawfully called , 2. book of discip. chap. 3. these stipends must be raised out of the rents of the tithes which are paid to the deacons by the owners , and out of them must the poore and the schooles be provided for , as well as the ministers . we think it a most reasonable thing that every man have the use of his owne tiends , provided that he answer to the deacons , and treasurers of the kirk , of that which in justice shall be appointed unto him . we require the deacons and treasurers rather to receive the rents then the ministers themselves ; because that of the tiends must not onely the minister be sustained , but also the poore and schools . 1 booke of discip. 6. head , of the rents , &c. yea the second book of discipline , chap. 12. goeth further , and will have the kirk rents divided in foure portions , whereof the minister must be content with one , the other three to be for the elders , deacons , and other kirk-officers , doctors , schooles , the poore , reparation of the kirks , and other extraordinary charges for the kirk and common-wealth : the words i omit for brevity . when all these collops are cut out , the ministers part is partly taxed , and partly left to the curtesie of the kirk . it is thought good that every minister shall have at least forty bolls meale , twenty six bolls malt , to find his house bread and drink , & more , so much as the discretion of the church finds necessary , besides mony for buying of other provision to his house , and other necessaries : the modification whereof is referred to the judgement of the kirk , to be made every yeare at the chusing of the elders and deacons of the kirk . 1. book of discip. 5. head , of the provision for the ministers , &c. their glebes if they exceed six acres , they are content shall be deteined . if any glebe exceed six acres of ground , the rest to remaine in the hands of the possessors till order be taken therein . 1. booke of discip. the 6. head . 3 in general this government insults upon the inslaved people with all sorts of heavy burdens and vexations . when they have brought the ministery into so poore a condition that few but the lowest of the people will willingly enter into it : then to supply that defect , they have lawes to compell men to take that function upon them , and parents to dedicate their children to it , by the censures of the kirk and the civill power . your honours with consent of the church are bound by your authority to compell such men as have gifts and graces able to edifie the church of god , that they bestow them where greatest necessity shall be knowne . 1. booke of discipline , 4. head . of admission . the rich and potent may not be permitted to suffer their children to spend their youth in vaine idlenesse , as heretofore they have done : but they must be exhorted , and by the censure of the kirk compelled to dedicate their sons by good exercises to the profit of the kirk and common-wealth . 1. book of discip. 5. head . sect. of the necessity of schools . and if any be found disobedient , and not willing to communicate the gifts and speciall graces of god with their brethren , after sufficient admonition , discipline must proceed against them : provided that the civil magistrate concur with the judgement and election of the kirk . 1. book of discip. 9. head , sect. for prophecying . with them it is not enough that the younger sort be catechised before their first admission to the communion , but all persons must be held as children all their life long , and once a yeare at least be examined in the principles of religion : which examination ( to use the phrase of their own book ) is like to be sharp enough , to those that know not the wayes of molifying their examiners . of necessity we judge that every yeare at the least , publique examination be had by the ministers and elders of the knowledge of every person within the kirk . 1. book of discip. 9. head . of policy . those that thought twenty six holy-dayes in a yeare a burthen if this government be brought in , must have one day in every week taken from them ( besides the sunday ) and set apart for sermons , and prayers , from labour both by masters and servants , at least during the time of the publique exercise . every week once let the congregation assemble to hear some place of the scriptures orderly expounded . psalm-book . sect. of the interpretation of the scriptures . in every notable town we require , that one day besides the sunday be appointed to the sermon , & prayers : wch during the time of sermon must be kept from all exercise of labour , as wel of the master as of the servant . 1. booke of dis. 9. head . of policy . those that complained of the bishops courts once in three weeks as an intolerable vexation ; if this government be set up , must be yoked with a consistory one day in every week : so that they shall have but foure dayes in seven free , to do their own businesse . it is ordained that every thursday the ministers and elders in their assembly or consistory , diligently examine all such faults & suspitions as may be espied , not onely amongst others , but chiefly amongst themselves . psalme-booke . sect. of the weekly assembly , &c. if a man be acquitted of homicide by the temporall judge , the presbytery holding him to be guilty , take upon them to impose satisfactions upon him at their discretion : which is both an affront to the temporal judge , and a grievous vexation to the party , who perhaps is innocent , and maybe a pretence for them to put their hands in the subjects purses , if they shal thinke fit , to require a pecuniary mulct for satisfaction . if the offender abide an assise , and by the same be absolved , then may not the church pronounce excommunication : bu● justly may exhort the man , by whose hand the blood was shed to e●ter into consideration with himselfe how precious is the life of man before god , and how severely god commandeth blood , howsoever it be shed except it be by the sword of the migistrate , to be punished : and so may injoyn unto him such satisfactions to be made publike to the church as may beare testification , of his obedience , and unfained repentance . psalm-book . in the order of excommunication . that this presumption of their putting their hands into mens purses is not groundlesse , may appear by another of their constitutions , wherein they take upon them to tax damages upon capitall offenders convict before the temporall judge , and to moderate between the offender and the party offended , in that point . the sentence of excommunication once pronounced , the church may not suddenly admit the murtherer or convict adulterer to repentance and society of the faithfull , albeit that pradon be purchased of the magistrate : but first ought inquisition to be taken , if the murtherer have satisfied the party offended , that is , the kin and friends of the man slain : which if he hath not done , neither is understood willingly so to doe , the church in no wise may heare him . but and if he be willing to satisfie , and the friends exceed measure and the possibilities of him that committed the crime , then ought the church to put moderation to the unreasonable , in case the civill magistrate hath not done so before . psalm book . in the order of excommunication . by their lawes they make such things punishable , as wil leave no man in safety with whom they have a mind to quarrel . if a man conforme not his words , his gestures , his expences , his diet , his apparell to their liking : nay , it they doe but suspect him to be inordinate in these things , they convent him , and admonish him , and if he obey not their admonitions , they thunder out the sentence of excommunication against him . wanton and vaine words , uncomely gestures , negligence in hearing the preaching , or abstaining from the lords table when it is publiquely ministred , suspicion of avarice , or of pride , superfluity , or riotousnesse in chear or rayment : these we say and such others that of the world are not regarded , deserve admonition amongst the members of christs body . — if he continue stubborne , then the third sunday ought he to be charged publiquely to satisfie the church for his offence and contempt , under the pain of excommunication , psalme-booke . in the order of publike repentance . this is an unheard of tyranny , when a man may neither order his estate , nor weare a garment , nor eat , nor spe●ke , nor looke , but at their liking : yet this is not the worst , for these lords paramount , take upon them to be judges not only of externall things , but even in mens inward thoughts and affections too , if they be by any means discovered to them . the magistrate handleth externall things onely , and actions done before men : but the spirituall ruler judgeth both inward affections , and externall actions in respect of conscience , by the word of god . 2. book of dis. chap. 1. the conclusion . out of that which hath been said , i conclude , 1 that this form of government would prove pernicious both to our king , parliament , ministery , and people : and that the relations that have been published of the presbyterians affronts done to regall power in scotland , their contests with parliaments , the confusions by them caused , and their injustice and tyrannie over the people : are very well consistent with their principles . 2 that those who are so earnest to set up here that government and discipline , are therefore zealous for it because they know it not . for otherwise it is hardly possible that any that will know a thing so unlovely , should be so far in love with it . especially if we consider , that this which yet appears is but the lions paw : his whole body is not yet seen , nor easie to be seen , but lies lurking ( a great part of it ) in the registers of their assemblies and sessions never yet published to the world , so that all the judgment we can make of it is , that by the badnesse of that little that we see , we may suspect more of the rest which we see not . for that there is yet much more unseen , let the preface of the books of discipline bear witnesse . under the name of discipline is to be understood , not onely the particulars expressed in these two books , but also the acts , constitutions , and practices agreed upon and recorded in the registers of the generall and provinciall assemblies , presbyteries and kirk-sessions . 3 that the forwardnesse of the scots to get it here established proceeds not ( in probability ) from any love they bear to the thing it self for its own sake : we may rather presume that themselves ( except them whose turns are served by it ) are weary of it . wherefore we have rather cause to suspect that there is something of vlysses in it : and that they would bring i● in upon us like the trojan-horse with the belly full of armed men , to take our troy-novant : that because they know it cannot here be setled without a war , nor that made without their assistance , they may use the help of our own hands to put their yoke upon our necks , and give law to our nation , which they of late so much disdained to receive from us . 10 that the parliament hath done very prudently in declining so constantly the erection of this government . i wish that their decree of election had been as provident as this of reprobation . for i consider , that in that mixt form of government which instead of it they have chosen for a time , they have not onely displeased the presbyterians in that which they have denyed ; but also the brethren of the congregationall assemblies in divers things which they have granted : as namely , in excluding from their voice in the election of elders , those that are not satisfied of the lawfulnesse of taking the covenant and servants , as if difference of opinion could deprive men of those priviledges whereto they have as good right as others that have no scruples , or as if in spirituall things there were any difference between bond and free : in forbidding any to be chosen an elder but where kis dwelling and most residence is , whereas perhaps he cannot consent to be of that congregation : in making those judges and tryers of elections which are not members of that congregation where the election is made : in appointing a subordination and subjection of congregationall elderships to the government of classicall , provinciall , and nationall assemblies , and making them judges of appeals from the other : in forbidding one congregation to admit him that is suspended from another without their certificate : in authorizing the civill power to judge spirituall causes , and in leaving the repentance and restoring of suspended persons wholly to the discretion of the presbyterian eldership . so , that this mixt forme set up by the parliament , may prove like the interim of charls the fifth , which being a middle way of religion between the protestants and papists made to reconcile them , and compose differences till a means of more perfect union might be found out , displeased both sides , and by alienating them both from him , stopped the growing greatnes of that mighty emperour . and the like effect may this english interim produce , discontenting both the sides , and provoking them to faile the parliament when they have most need of them . wherefore it would be considered , whether to avoid the difficulties , otherwise insuperable , it were not better to be content with that government , which was before ; which would certainly conciliate one side , and ( if their professions may be believed ) least displease the other two . for , as for the alienation of the bishops lands from the church ; the hope whereof may perhaps make some men resolute to persist in the endeavour to root out that order : let them but consider how the first book of the scots discipline , 6. head , requires them to bee retained in the use of the kirk ; how the second book 9. chapter determines , that the alienation thereof to prophane uses , is detestable sacriledge before god , how their psalme-booke appoints it in one of their formes of publique prayer to be confessed as a grievous sin , how the kirk of scotland in their declaration made since these times , renew their claime against the possessors : lastly , what power the presbyterian-preachers will have over the consciences & affections of the multitude if that government go up , and by the multitude against all that are not favoured by them : and they will easily conclude , that they cannot possesse them long in quiet . finis . a sermon preach'd to the societies for reformation of manners in the cities of london and westminster at salters-hall, aug 15, 1698 preached and published at the desire of the said societies / by vincent alsop. alsop, vincent, 1629 or 30-1703. 1698 approx. 67 kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from 33 1-bit group-iv tiff page images. text creation partnership, ann arbor, mi ; oxford (uk) : 2003-09 (eebo-tcp phase 1). a25217 wing a2920 estc r27105 09649598 ocm 09649598 43912 this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books 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(eebo-tcp ; phase 1, no. a25217) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set 43912) images scanned from microfilm: (early english books, 1641-1700 ; 1347:18) a sermon preach'd to the societies for reformation of manners in the cities of london and westminster at salters-hall, aug 15, 1698 preached and published at the desire of the said societies / by vincent alsop. alsop, vincent, 1629 or 30-1703. [8], 53, [1] p. printed by john lawrence, london : 1698. reproduction of original in the harvard university library. created by converting tcp files to tei p5 using tcp2tei.xsl, tei @ oxford. re-processed by university of nebraska-lincoln and northwestern, with changes to facilitate morpho-syntactic tagging. gap elements of known extent have been transformed into placeholder characters or elements to simplify the filling in of gaps by user contributors. eebo-tcp is a partnership between the universities of michigan and oxford and the publisher proquest to create accurately transcribed and encoded texts based on the image sets published by proquest via their early english books online (eebo) database (http://eebo.chadwyck.com). the general aim of eebo-tcp is to encode one copy (usually the first edition) of every monographic english-language title published between 1473 and 1700 available in eebo. eebo-tcp aimed to produce large quantities of textual data within the usual project restraints of time and funding, and therefore chose to create diplomatic transcriptions (as opposed to critical editions) with light-touch, mainly structural encoding based on the text encoding initiative (http://www.tei-c.org). the eebo-tcp project was divided into two phases. the 25,363 texts created during phase 1 of the project have been released into the public domain as of 1 january 2015. anyone can now take and use these texts for their own purposes, but we respectfully request that due credit and attribution is given to their original source. users should be aware of the process of creating the tcp texts, and therefore of any assumptions that can be made about the data. text selection was based on the new cambridge bibliography of english literature (ncbel). if an author (or for an anonymous work, the title) appears in ncbel, then their works are eligible for inclusion. selection was intended to range over a wide variety of subject areas, to reflect the true nature of the print record of the period. in general, first editions of a works in english were prioritized, although there are a number of works in other languages, notably latin and welsh, included and sometimes a second or later edition of a work was chosen if there was a compelling reason to do so. image sets were sent to external keying companies for transcription and basic encoding. quality assurance was then carried out by editorial teams in oxford and michigan. 5% (or 5 pages, whichever is the greater) of each text was proofread for accuracy and those which did not meet qa standards were returned to the keyers to be redone. after proofreading, the encoding was enhanced and/or corrected and characters marked as illegible were corrected where possible up to a limit of 100 instances per text. any remaining illegibles were encoded as <gap>s. understanding these processes should make clear that, while the overall quality of tcp data is very good, some errors will remain and some readable characters will be marked as illegible. users should bear in mind that in all likelihood such instances will never have been looked at by a tcp editor. the texts were encoded and linked to page images in accordance with level 4 of the tei in libraries guidelines. copies of the texts have been issued variously as sgml (tcp schema; ascii text with mnemonic sdata character entities); displayable xml (tcp schema; characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or text strings within braces); or lossless xml (tei p5, characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or tei g elements). keying and markup guidelines are available at the text creation partnership web site . eng presbyterian church -sermons. sermons, english -17th century. great britain -moral conditions -sermons. 2003-04 tcp assigned for keying and markup 2003-05 spi global keyed and coded from proquest page images 2003-06 marika ismail sampled and proofread 2003-06 marika ismail text and markup reviewed and edited 2003-08 pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion a sermon preach'd to the societies for reformation of manners , in the cities of london and westminster , at salters-hall , aug. 15. 1698. preached and published at the desire of the said societies . by vincent alsop . london : printed for iohn lawrence , at the angel in the poultry , mdcxcviii . to the worthy gentlemen engag'd in the societies for reformation of manners . honoured sirs ! the preaching , printing , publishing this discourse , is due both to god , and you : he gave the commission , you ministred the occasion : the authority is from heaven , the opportuity from your selves . it would therefore be a piece of impertinent modesty , and such whose sincerity you might well question , should i frame an excuse for doing that , for which i could have made no excuse had i not done it . what will iustify me , will vindicate you , for both of us owe a duty to god , and perishing souls , to pluck them like brands out of the fire , upon whom the wrath of god , and the malice of hell , have begun to kindle ; if at least our god will honour us , and use us as his instruments in so blessed a work : i know well that they who most need our help will least accept it ; nay , most desperately oppose it : but it 's a charitable severity to bind the hands of the distracted , though they rage at , and revile us , to prevent if possible their destroying themselves . i know also that the persons with whom you deal , will imperiously demand , by what authority you do these things , and who gave you this authority ? now tho' you might retort their question : by what authority do you curse , swear , blaspheme , and prophane the lord's day ? and who gave you this authority ? yet seeing the most notorius crimes committed against the laws divine and humane , ought to be punisht in a legal and regular way , however they be , illegal and irregular , you need not insist upon that answer : nor yet upon extraordinary examples to justify your ordinary proceedings ; you need not plead the zeal of phineas , or samuel ; your cause and practise need no such defences : that law which enacts that such an ossence shall be punished with such a penalty , limiting the conviction of the offender to the deposition of one or more witnesses is your clear warrant , and abundant iustification ; for if there were no witnesses , it would be the same as if there were no laws , no penalties : and because that which is every man's business is no man's business , you may honestly agree , that where any shall dare to transgress , you will dare to impeach the transgressor : it were a hard case if men might associate and combine for sinning , and none might unite in societies for reforming . i remember a time when the name of an informer suffered some disrepute : but it 's unjust that you should fall under their reproach , for a slender understanding is able to distinguish between praying to god , and blaspheming him ; between sanctifying the lords day and profaning it ; between setting up the devils kingdom , and pulling it down . there is a text , which having been sometimes abused in the pulpit , and oft-times exposed by the press , must not be quoted without some preface to remove prejudice , though it stands legible in our bibles to this day : t is iudg. 5.23 . curse ye meroz , ( said the angel of the lord ) curse ye bitterly the inhabitants thereof , because they came not out to help the lord , to help the lord against the mighty . say not , god needs none of our help : tho his enemies are mighty , yet in their closest confederacies , and strongest combinations , they cannot make up one almighty enemy , and god can plead his own cause , and avenge his own honour upon them without our over-officious assistance : 't is true , if we consider his absolute power , he needs no kings , nor princes , nor inferiour magistrates to come in as his auxiliaries ; he can with more ease kill the murderer , than he could his weaker brother : choak the blasphemer with his own blasphemies , and stifle the swearer with his own poisonous breath : but he has seen good to chuse other methods in which , other means by which to govern his own world : as kings reign by him , he governs by them by legislators and their laws ; iudges and their sentences , magistrates and their executions ; in a word , he governs the physical world in a physical way ; the moral world morally ; the spiritual world spiritually . but still you persist , and say : god needs none of our help : no more does christ need your relief : and yet god calls for our help , christ for our relief : and they both need what they call for ; god needs help in his despised cause : christ needs relief in his poor distressed members : and in these respects none needs help more than god : none relief more than christ. now as god calls for our help , he does it under a dreadful curse ; and i hope none of us will venture to stand in the line & rake of heavens artillery : for god sometimes steps out of the ordinary road , and punishes daring sinners by the immediate hand of heaven , that he may , by some few but notable instances , convince the world that he has not forsaken it , but regards mischief , and spight , with his eyes , to punish them with his hand . thus when nadab , and abihu , offer'd strange fire to god , which he commanded them not , he consumed them with strange fire which they expected not : levit. 10.2 . and when ananias and saphira dared to commit sacriledge , and palliate their sin with a lie , christ struck 'em both dead in a moment , acts 5. gentlemen , god needs your help , he bespeaks it , offer your selves willingly to his call : and yet your case is much the same with that of the disciples , matth. 14.24 . when the ship ( in which they were ) was in the mid'st of the sea , toss'd with the waves because the wind was contrary . you see they went to sea by christ's commission ; nay , by his compulsion , v. 22. he constrained them to get into a ship : they were in the clear way of their duty , and yet they met with a storm ; and the winds were not only high , but contrary ; and yet they had some great encouragements , first , that whil'st they were in the storm at sea , christ was praying in the mount , v. 23. and then that in the fourth watch of the night , jesus went unto them walking on the sea : when night was darkest , the storm highest , their fear greatest , and their faith weakest , then was the season for christ's coming : but their greatest trouble was , that christ came to deliver them walking upon the sea ; which though it might have been their greatest comfort , that their lord was above the waves , and had them under his feet , yet they cry'd out for fear : were more afraid of their deliverer , than of their danger : so true it is , that god comes sometimes to save us in such uncouth ways , that we are afraid of his way and means more than the tempest . but fear not the devil , though he roars and rages , i would hope his time is but short when he rages most : for thus when christ came to eject and disposses him , mark 9.20 . the evil spirit tare the young man. let me seriously advise you from what point of the compass you may expect the greatest danger , and i will conclude . your great danger will arise from those publick nurseries , and seminaries of debauchery : where fools make a mock of sin , and a mock at all sobriety ; who debauch more in one night than you reform in a year : you may prune off some few luxuriating branches of impiety , but till god shall cut up the tree by the roots , they will spring again thicker and stronger : pull up what you can , these nurseries will replenish all again : for here that art and mystery of sinning is taught , as if it were a science to be prophane ; and if the christian religion have not power and interest enough to suppress them , they will suppress all religion : but i must leave the blasting of these , and the blessing of you to him , who loves righteousness , and hates all iniquity . i am , gentlemen , your faithful servant in the work of the lord , v. a. october 31. 1698. a sermon preached to the societies for reformation of manners . isaiah 1.6 . from the sole of the foot to the head there is no soundness in it , but wounds and bruises , and putrifying sores , they have not been closed , nor bound up , nor mollified with oyntment . these words describe the dangerous , if not desperate state of iudah and ierusalem : 't is true , it was the case of a people some thousands years ago ; but whether it may agree , or how far it may agree to the present state of things among our selves , i must leave to your serious and impartial judgments . the evils here bewailed , and complained of , had these several aggravations to render them deplorable , and almost incurable . 1. that they had overspread the whole body from the sole of the foot to the head : and thus it is exprest , v. 5. the whole head is sick , and the whole heart is faint : now whether we may from the order of the words infer , that this corruption began at the foot , amongst the populacy , and from thence rose up to the nobler parts , the heart , and head , i shall not determin : most certain it is , that in the body natural , a vitiated stomach disturbs the head with vapours ; and that again pours down showers of rheums upon the stomach ; so the depravations of the inferiours will creep up amongst superiours , and the vitiousness of superiours will probably descend to the commonalty . 2. there was a concurrence and complication of all manner of evil , wounds , bruises , putrifying sores ; which though they be metaphorical terms , are yet so easy and natural that they interpret themselves : in a word ; evils political and moral ; sin and punishment ; a people breaking out upon god , and god breaking out upon them ; their lifting up their hand against god , and his laying a heavy hand upon them , sore provocations , and sore afflictions , are the things which fill up these expressions . 3. that which rendered the case most deplorable , was , that these wounds were not closed , nor bound up , nor mollified with oyntments , which implies ( 1. ) either that there was no private charitable hand , that would concern it self ; but a poor nation might bleed to death , and no good samaritan would do that office of love to bind up its wounds , or ( 2. ) that there was no hand of authority stretched out to apply more potent remedies , or ( 3. ) that they judged the case was desperate and the wounds incurable ; and therefore thought it more advisable , to let the patient die of its disease or wounds , than by its physician , or surgeon . or ( 4. ) whether they presumed the kingdom was of a sound constitution , and would work it self whole in time ; or ( 5. ) whether all means that had been used proved ineffectual , the evil would not obey any applications , but despised the most potent and proper remedies ; yet so it was , the wounds were become ulcers , the sores putrifying sores ; no oyntments would mollify them , or no gentle skilful hand would apply them . such was their case ; and it must be confess'd it was a deplorable one , and had been utterly desperate , but for some small hope , yet left upon one account ; v. 9. except the lord of hosts had left us a very little remnant , we should have been as sodom , we should have been like unto gomorrah ; like for sin , and like for punishment , but god had graciously left a remnant , a little , a very little remnant ; a praying remnant that yet solicited heaven for remedy when there was none on earth ; a sound sincere and uncorrupted remnant , that laboured to give some check to the growing corruptions , and such a remnant would have saved sodom , and might yet save iudah and ierusalem . the words thus opened , and cleared , afford us this observation . the case of a people is deplorable and almost desperate , when they are so universally corrupted , and their corruptions so obstinate that they will not obey the most proper and potent means of reformation . in all diseases of the natural body we account those the most fatal symptoms of death ; when the distemper defies the most soveraign remedies ; especially when it perverts all medicines in materiam , & fomitem morbi ; when physick becomes the food of the malady ; and the disease is so strong that it seduces the remedy to its own faction ; to which we may add , when the deluded patient cannot be perswaded he is sick , and needs the advice and help of the physician : how dangerous then , how desperate is the case of a political body , when profaneness grows more profane by corruption and correction ; when those rebukes which should reclaim the swearer , provoke him to swear the more ; which the prophet ( v. 5. ) declares to have been the case of iudah , why should ye be stricken any more , ye will revolt more and more ? this observation i will endeavour to manage in this method . i. i will shew when the case of a people may be said to be deplorable , and whence it is that their corruptions became so incurable . ii. what it is that renders the case of a people so deplorable , when their corruptions are become incurable . iii. what may further be done ( if any thing may be done ) when a peoples corruptions are become , or seem to become incurable ? which will lead us to the improvement of the whole . i. when the case of a people may be said to be deplorable , and whence it is that their corruptions become so incurable . ( 1. ) the corruptions of a people become incorrigible incurable by inveterate custom : when immoralities by long standing have taken deep root , as a green wound by neglect grows into an old obstinate ulcer : verecunda sunt scelerum initia ; the first beginnings of prophaneness are a little modest ; but frequent practise renders it impudent . as long custom in sin takes away the sense of it in the conscience , so it takes away the shame of it before men. those impieties which once sought the twy-light , nay the mid-night , in process of time will face the sun , and defy the mid-day . that text 1 thes. 5.7 . the that are drunk , are drunk in the night , was calculated for another meridian than that of ierusalem ; for men would then dare to be drunk in the open day ; of which the prophet complains , isa. 3.9 . the shew of their countenance doth witness against them , they declare their sin as sodom , they hide it not . and the prophet ieremiah bewails the same audaciousness of sinners , ier. 8.15 . were they ashamed when they had committed abomination ? nay , they were not at all ashamed , neither could they blush : their consciences were steel'd , and their faces were case harden'd ; they had lost all sense of sin in their own souls , and all shame of it before the world ; and that man , that people , which have lost all shame , are utterly lost as to any hope of reformation . those sins which at their first appearance would humbly plead for some mitigation of punishment , when they are flesh'd , and flush'd with long usage will insist upon justification of themselves , and their plea is from prescription . those immoralities which might easily have been crusht in the egg , when time has hatcht them , will break out into a cockatrice : those sparks which might with ease have been stifled ; by neglect and connivance will become a flame , and defy all our engins . the first breakin gs in of the sea , may be soon stopped , but when it has gotten head , will not be reduced without great labour , and charge , if it will be reduced by them . ( 2. ) the vniversality of the overspreading corruption renders the case yet more deplorable if not desperate . as when the pestilence first appears , the shutting up of one infected house , may probably secure thousands , but if it once becomes epidemical ; when it has invaded a whole city , when the sound are not able to govern the infected , and perhaps it s not known who are sound , who are infected , and so a promiscuous conversation is allowed , or cannot be hindred , the case is then hopeless and desperate . now in the case of universal degeneracy , if we attempt a reformation , it must either be by advice and reproof , or punishment : but 1. reproof and counsel give us little hope ; because the corrupt majority will easily scorn the mildest advice , and sharpest reproof of the sounder few : which was the wretched case of sodom . gen. 19.4 . the men of sodom compassed the house , both old and young , all the people from every quarter . here was a city universally debauched , all ages , all quarters were involved in the common villany , and when lot ventured to reprove them mildly , alas ! too mildly ; for his expedient was the same they use at rome , and upon the same ground , who allow or tolerate the stews to prevent a greater evil. now observe what success his counsel had upon these obstinate wretches , v. 9. they said stand back ; and they said again , this one fellow came to sojourn , and he will be a iudge ; now will we deal worse with thee than with them : whence you may easily note , i. that they thought it a justifiable plea , that there was but one single reprover against multitudes of transgressors : and a single reformer may as well hope to stemm the tide with his strength , or to repel the wind with his own breath , as to shock an universal deluge of prevailing abominations . 2. that the corrupt majority instead of submitting to the reproofs of the minority , will rather punish the reprovers : now will we deal worse with thee than with them . 3. that the greater number will defend it self well enough by keeping out of the way of conviction , for they that have too little grace to reform themselves , will have so much wit to keep out of the reach of the means of reformation ; if they can but keep themselves secure from the magistrates warrant being served upon their persons , they will keep themselves safe from the warrant of gods word ever being served upon their consciences : 2d . nor secondly can we hope for much success where the wickedness is universal from legal punishment , because the punishing the diffusive body , would be next to the depopulating a whole nation : sinners defend each other by their numbers , being closely united in a common confederacy against god , and their own souls . they are like the scales of the leviathan , job 41.15 , 16. whose scales are his pride , shut up together as with a close seal ; one is so near another that no air can come between them ; they are joined one to another , they stick together that they cannot be sundered : which was the observation of the satyrist : defendit numerus , janctaeque umbone phalanges . juven . ( 3. ) that which renders this universal and inveterate prophaneness more incurable , is when it s patroniz'd by great examples ; for as holy bernard observes , men will go , non qua eundum , sed qua itur , not which way god commands them , but which way their superiours examples lead them : if the master will swear , the servant thinks he has a good warrant for his swearing : if a minister will drink , his hearers will be drunk : if a magistrate will prophane the lord's day , the people will quote his example , and justify their practice by it ; for they live by precedent , not precept . the scandalous sins of superiours carry in them both a strong temptation to , and a plausible iustification of those sins . a strong temptation ; because most men , whose hearts are not established with grace , nor possessed with the fear of god , besides the humour of sinful compliance , and accommodating themselves to the vanities of great men , do study to insinuate themselves into their favour , in hopes of some notable advantage by their obsequiousness . thus haman when a great honour was but once mentioned by ahasuerus , esth. 6.6 . said in his heart , to whom would the king delight to do honour more than to my self ? for having wrought himself into the king's affections he concluded that the first preferment which fell , would certainly drop into his mouth . and so also it affords a fair iustification , shall i be wiser than my teachers ? holier than my governours ? more precise than my betters ? may-i not go as near the brink of the pit and never fall in , as my superiours ? shall i be a recisian when the grandees are latitudinarians ? can i think there can be poison in that dish that comes from my lord's table ? and why should i be stiff , and morose , when he that affrights me from sin by his preaching , invites me to it by his example ? let us never dream that reformation will make any considerable progress in a degenerate age , till god shall send us holy magistrates , who by their regular examples shall invite us to reform , as well as by the secular arm , punish those that transgress . for 1. how is it possible that person should heartily punish an offender for that crime of which his own conscience accuses him to be guilty , rom. 2.1 . for when he judgeth another he condemneth himself , for doing the same thing . 2. but if the law obliges him to punish an offender under a severe penalty to himself , which he would not willingly incur , and yet he cannot fairly avoid : his partiality will teach him to invent a thousand evasions , either by brow beating the witness , or finding some flaw in the evidence , or some creep-hole in the law , so that all endeavours for eformation shall be defeated , and made ineffectual . ( 4. ) that which renders debauchery incorrigible , is to punish it , meerly as a violation of a human law. the authority of god is infinitely greater than that of any human legislator , and so does his threatnings carry a greater terror , and strikes a greater awe upon the conscience : if therefore we wave the divine authority in the preceptive part , and conceal the divine sanction in the comminatory part , the offender has no more to contend with than the authority of man , and what punishments he can devise and inflict . the great end of human laws for reformation of offences against the moral law , is to apply the law of god , and set it home by punishment upon the conscience . suppose we would lay the penalty of the law upon one that profaneth the lord's day , in the mean time denying the morality of the fourth commandment , what a slender business should we make of it ? he that denys the ius divinum , does in effect repeal the ius humanum too , for thus the transgressor argues : if i can either escape the temporal penalty by secrecy ; or satisfy the law by a poor mulct , i need not tremble at the future judgment , or that i shall stand befor the tribunal of god for the breach of a law , which is not immediately his own . the apostle therefore in that great question about subjection to the higher powers , charges it upon the souls of men , rom. 13.5 . ye must needs be subject not only for wrath , but for conscience sake : that is , you are under an obligation to obey not only on the account of what man can threaten or inflict , but out of conscience of the authority which god has over you , and that dreadful penalty which he can lay upon you . and thus in a few particulars i have shewed whence it is that national corruptions become so incorrigible , 1. from inveterate customs . 2. universality of the contagion . 3. the patronage of great examples . 4. that humane laws are not seconded and back'd by the law of god. ii. what is it that renders the case of a people so deplorable when their corruptions are become incurable ? ( 1. ) it looks very black upon a people when profaneness grows very incorrigible , and scorns to obey the proper remedies , because god will soon be weary of using further means to reform them , and leave them to their own crooked and perverse inclinations . 't is the saddest threatnings when god will threaten no more : the forest punishment , when god will punish no more : and though the debauched world could be content , that he would spare both , and let 'em alone , they will soon find it had been their true interest to have continued under his discipline , and reclaiming methods than to have been left to themselves , and their own foolish ways . let us consult that terrible word : hosea 4.1 , 2 , 3 , 4. the lord hath a controversy with the inhabitants of the land , because there is no truth , nor mercy , nor knowledge of god in the land , by swearing , and lying , and killing , and stealing , they break out , and blood toucheth blood ; therefore shall the land mourn , &c. this is terrible , but the most terrible judgment is that of the 17 th v. ephraim is joined to idols , let him alone . 't is as if a chirurgeon when he sees an inveterate ulcer become obstinate , and will submit to no remedies , should say , what my art could promise or perform is done , but i see my skill is baffled , my patience wearied , my hope defeated , and the gangrened part must be cut off , or the patient perish . whilst god will practise upon a people , there 's some hope of a blessed issue at last : but if once he throws up his care , we may throw up the hopes of a cure ; & god is pleased sometimes to express himself , as if he despair'd of effecting a thoro ' cure , isa. 1.5 . why should you be smitten any more , ye will revolt more and more ? all my blows are but like those upon the anvil , which make it still harder : and this was the desperate case of israel , ps. 81.11 , 12. my people would not hearken to my voice , and israel would none of me , so i gave them up to their own hearts lusts , and they walked in their own counsels . how dreadful then is the case of a people when god shall cease to inflict temporal judgments , and leave them to their own hearts lusts and ways , which is the greatest of spiritual judgments , and the fore-runner of eternal judgments . ( 2. ) the case is deplorable when god's own servants , whom he imploys as his instruments to reform the degenerate age , shall meet with those discouragements , that they are ready to throw it up as desperate . and to this pass have the prophets been reduced , jer. 20.8 . i cried out violence and spoil , because the word of the lord was made a reproach to me , and a derision daily . then i said : i will not make mention of him , nor speak any more in his name . when the word of the lord , the preaching of it , and the preachers of it shall become a derision ; when sinners are got into the chair of the scornful , they can rise no higher : and when the ministers of that word shall resent this treatment so tenderly that they resolve to preach no more , and their faith can sink no lower , what must the end of these things be ? i would willingly look upon it as a token for good from god , that he has raised up such instruments , who out of zeal to his interest , have laid out themselves with unwearied diligence to reduce the prophane to some tolerable consistency with the profession of the christian religion , but if we should see them despond , their hearts faint and fail within them , because little or no success answers their pious endeavours , and to hear them cry out , lord what wouldst thou have us further to do ? for ps. 11.3 . if the foundations be destroyed , what can the righteous do ? why surely no more than , good fehoshaphat , 2 chro. 20.12 . we know not what to do , but our eyes are towards thee : either to tell us what thou wouldst have us do , or because we can do nothing more , to take thy work out of our hands into thy own and do it , who only canst do it effectually thy self . the servants of christ are sometimes reduced to that extremity to which the mariners were , acts 27.15 . when the ship was caught , and could no longer bear up into the wind , we let her drive : we may conceive the master of the vessel speaking to his passengers thus , friends , i had hoped to have weathered this storm , but i can do no more , and must now commit our selves and the vessel , to the merciless mercy of the winds , and waves , and let her run a drift ! such is the language of some of christ's faithful servants in the work of reformation ; holy lord , thou hast sent us forth upon thy work : no sooner were we lanched out into the deep , but a sore tempest fell upon us : we have laboured against the wind with what skill and resolutiion thou gavest us : but we are overset , and now commit the church , that vessel , in which all thy concerns in this world are ventured , to thy own conduct : yet will we not utterly give out , but in hope labour against hope , leaving the issue of all to thy holy will , and wisdom : the vessels are thine , thy concerns are in it , it cannot totally be ship-wreck'd ; howsoever we will not use the expedient of the cock-boat , except we abide in the ship we cannot be saved . ( 3. ) and it speaks the case more hazardous , and as to humane reason desperate , when the wise god has run through a course of means to reform a nation , and yet the symptoms are as threatning as ever , so that god is pleased to speak as if he were at a loss what further to do for their reformation . hos. 6.4 . o ephraim , what shall i do to thee ? o judah , what shall i do to thee ? i have proved thee with mercies , i have tryed thee with judgments , with war and peace , with plenty , with scarcity . when i indulged thee abundance of corn , and wine , and oil : it was perverted into luxury , riot , wantonness : when i humbled thee with a little scarcity , nothing was heard but repining and murmuring : when i let loose upon thee a dreadful war , thou wouldst not make peace with thy god. when i restored peace , thou still maintained a war with heaven : the drunkard would be a drunkard still , both in peace and war : the swearer would swear still whether in a storm or a calm : though god changed his providences , they were uniform in their provocations , so that it came at last to a trial , whether mercy and judgment , or sin and profaneness should have the victory : lev. 26.23 . we read there of a people that walked contrary to god in all his ways : and as they thwarted him in all his , he crossed them in all theirs : and it came at last to this push : if they would act seven times more contrary to him , he would try if he could not yet act seven times more contrary to them : and certainly the case must be deplorable when the question shall be , whether sinners can be more potent in sinning , or god in punishing ? 1 cor. 10.22 . do we provoke the lord to iealousie , are we stronger than he ? it was excellent counsel that solomon has given , eccles. 6.10 . that none should be so fool-hardy as to contend with one more mighty than himself : and our b. saviour , luke 14.31.32 . lays it down for an infallible maxime : that when a king goes forth to make war against another , he should first sit down , and consult whether he be able to meet him mith ten thousand that comes against him with twenty thousand : it deserves the consideration of all sinners to advise well with themselves , whether ten thousand sins will be able to stand against twenty thousand judgments ; and whether it be not more advisable , whilst god is yet afar off , to beg conditions of peace , to send god a blank that he may prescribe his own terms ? for how will the chaff contend with the whirlwind , or the dryed stubble with the consuming fire ? ( 4. ) the case of a people is deplorable when profaneness is incorrigible , and religion toward god fails , because all faithfulness towards man fails also : if conscience towards god ceases , confidence among men will expire : for religion is the foundation of all secure converse , all safe-dealing in the world. him whom the bonds of divine fear will not hold , nor covenants , nor contracts with his neighbour , will hold ; he that breaks with god , breaks with all the world. suppose we that a man makes no conscience of taking gods name in vain , but by swearing , vain-swearing , false-swearing , profanes that holy name of his god , shall any one persuade me to believe that he makes a scruple of murder , adultery , stealing , bearing false witness ; can i be so vain as to think he will be true to his neighbour that is false to his creator ? the prophet , hos. 4.2 . gives this as the reason why there was no truth in the land , because there was no knowledge of god in the land. this doctrine abraham was not afraid to justify to the king of gerar's face , gen. 20.11 . i thought surely the fear of god is not in this place , and they will kill me . and his thought was reasonable , that where there was no awe of god upon the conscience , such profligates would boggle at nothing . we may easily admit , that some extrinsick obligation may hold a man , where the fear of god has no hold upon his heart : he may perhaps accept a bill drawn upon him by consulting with his reputation : perhaps a double bond may advise him to make payment of the debt , because he dreads the forfeiture : yet could he be assur'd the bond were lost or burnt , or the witnesses dead , you should soon see that no religion bound him , and he would put the creditor upon the proof of the specialty ; and , if he can evade the law of man , he will easily give himself a discharge in the court of conscience . the psalmist crys out as in a desperate case , psal. 12.1 . help , lord , for the godly man ceaseth , the faithful fail from among the children of men : where godliness , and the godly man cease , faithfulness and faithful men will fail ; that is , where the duties of the first table are not regarded , there will be as little respect to those of the second . psal. 14.1 . the fool hath said in his heart , there is no god : and the next tidings you hear of our atheist is , they are corrupt , they have done abominable works ; there is none that doth good , no not one . if once this flood-gate be pluckt up to let atheism in , principle , and practice ; a deluge of all treachery and falshood breaks in with it : and as we may argue from the cause to the effect : if that unjust iudge fears not god , he regards not man , luke 18.2 . so may we from the effect to the cause , where there is no faithfulness to man , there is no fear of god , ps. 36.1 . the transgression of the wicked saith within my heart , there is no fear of god before his eyes . ( 5. ) i add one account more : it 's a deplorable case when profaneness is grown incorrigible , because god seems angry with his own instruments of reformation . it frowns most sadly upon a people that god should send his servants about his own work , and yet not be with them in their work ; and they are ready to argue : surely we have done the lord's work negligently , because we have done it so unsuccessfully . if the lord did send us , why is he not powerfully with us ? if he be not with us , why did he send us ? god's dealings with his servants in the success and reward of their service is very mysterious , and that on these accounts : 1. god is angry with his servants when they refuse to go when he calls , and sends them ; and yet sometimes he seems angry too , though they do go at his call and sending : if at least we may judge him angry by interpretation and construction , when he succeds them not in the thing he sends them about . exod. 4. god calls , and sends moses to bring israel out of aegypt : moses , whether from a sense of his own unmeetness for the work , or apprehension of the danger of the service , makes many excuses ; one while he pleads his own insufficiency , another time that there was some other person better qualified for the work : and though god refutes all his objections , yet still he is loath to engage , till v. 14. the anger of the lord was kindled against him : well! at last he addresses himself couragiously to the service , and yet v. 24. it came to pass , by the way in the inn , the lord met him , and sought to kill him . mysterious providence ! the lord is angry when his servant would not go , and god is more angry when he goes . but let us know that god will have his own work done in his own way . moses is sent upon an errand of reforming others , but moses must first reform his own family . could he be a meet person to bring israel into covenant , when his own children were out of covenant ? let it give a serious caution to all of us : the lord will be sanctified in all that draw nigh unto him , levit. 10.3 . and if he be not sanctified in our hearts , he will be glorified upon the heads . 2. it 's a mysterious providence that god should reward his servants for their work , when he denys them success in it . isa. 49.4 . then i said i have laboured in vain , and spent my strength for nought , and in vain , yet surely my judgment is with the lord , and my work with my god. here are two things that may bear up the spirtis of god's servants in undertaking and prosecuting his work , whatever the success be . 1. their iudgment is with the lord. man shall not be their judge , and their god will judge them , not by the success of their labours , but the integrity of their hearts in undertaking , and prosecuting it . 2. their work is with their god. that labour of love , that work of faith , wherein they have laid out themselves is with god , it lies before him , is laid up with him ; it shall not be lost ; it s gone before them to the throne ; it shall follow after them to judgment ; it shall meet them in the day of recompence . and this is their great encouragement to be stedfast , unmoveable , always abounding in the work of the lord , knowing that their labour shall not be in vain in the lord , 1 cor. 15.58 . iii. i am now come to the third and and last inquiry , what may be further done ( if any thing may yet be done ) when inveterate corruptions , universal degeneracy seems to have made the evils incurable : and this has brought me to the application . brethren ! i address my self to you , whom our gracious god , in mercy to a sinful nation , has raised up , and distinguisht by a spirit of holy zeal to appear against , and give some check to the daring spirit of profaneness which has over-spread the land ; iniquity is come in like a flood , and god has lifted up a standard against it , isa. 59.19 . we see you labouring against great oppositions , and under great discouragements from those oppositions , and you may justly complain with the prophet : ier. 6.28 , 29. they are grievous revolters , walking with slaunders , they are brass and iron , they are all corrupters , the bellows are burnt , the lead is consumed of the fire , the founder melteth in vain , for the wicked are not plucked a way . now as i pray that god would strengthen your hearts , so i will endeavour to strengthen your hands , and for this great end do exhort you . 1. to look inwards to your own hearts . 2. to look up towards your faithful god. 3. to look outwards to your discouragements . 4. to look upwards again to the divine encouragements . i. let me intreat you to look into your own hearts , and when you have narrowly made a scrutiny there , and found all right within , or set that right which was wrong , you may more comfortably look upwards to your god , and more couragiously outwards upon all the oppositions and discouragements , you shall meet with in your blessed work , from this wretched world. §. 1 . look inwards narrowly , search your hearts severely , whether they be right with god , and for god ; that is , whether the honour of god be the great commanding end which governs you in this great undertaking ? vvhether this be the main spring , the first wheel that gives motion to all your actions : tho' a good end will not justify an evil actions , yet an evil end will pollute and spoil a good one . the best heart , like the best vvatch , has need to be often set right , and besure you set 'em both right by the sun , and not by the example of other mens dials . and tho' i hope you did once set them true when you entered upon this good work , yet examine them whether they have not gone wrong in the prosecution of it . the heart of man is an intricate labyrinth , and without the clew of divine directions , we may easily lose ourselves , lose our way , lose our god , and the works that we have wrought in the many windings , and turnings , the secret recesses that are in it . when therefore you have searched your selves , while you are searching , and before you search , lift up david's prayer , ps. 139.23 , 24. search me , o god , and know my heart , try me , know my thoughts , and see if there be any evil way in me , and lead me in the way that is everlasting . § . 2. look again inwards , and examine your selves strictly , whether in subordination to the glory of god , you desire , design , and pursue in this good work the prosperity and flourishing estate of your native country ? it was the glory of nehemiah , though it was to the regret of his malignant enemies ; that there was a man come , a man to seek the welfare of the children of israel , nehem. 2.10 . do you proceed upon this generous principle ! knowing that righteoosness exalteth a nation , but sin is a shame to any people , prov. 14.34 . righteousness infuses courage and gallantry into a people ; but debauchery makes 'em cowards , effeminates , enervales , dispirits them : a good conscience is the best shield for a great confidence . prov. 24.1 . the wicked flee when none pursueth ; but the righteous are bold as a lion : and though the spirit of wine may inspire some men with a huffing , hectoring , a blaspheming valour , yet these debauchers , that dare god to his face , will turn their backs upon an armed man : holiness renders a people truly honourable ; but profaneness stains and tarnishes all their glory , renders them despicable in the eyes of judicious persons , deut. 4.7 . what people is there so great , who hath god so nigh unto them in all things that we call upon him for : holiness makes a nation wise , for the fear of the lord is the beginning of wisdom , a good understanding have all they that do his commandments , ps. 111.10 . but wickedness makes it little , foolish , silly , and ridiculous , and to make no figure in the world. there is nothing a nation should be more ambitious of , than to out-wit their subtle enemies , to countermine all their politicks , and it is holiness that infuses this holy policy , 119. 98. thro' thy commandments thou hast made me wiser than my enemies . let this ambition therefore fill your sails to recover the glory of a nation , which wickedness has eclipsed : to restore the valour of the nation , which profaneness has baffled , by the vigorous suppressing that which is the reproach of any people . § . 3. examine your selves further in this your work. have you cordially espoused the interest of christ in opposition to that of the wicked one , and the wicked world ? there are two great interests which divide the world : that of christ and holiness , that of the devil and profaneness . these two have been contending from the beginning , and whatever the specious pretences have been , all the wars , all the contentions that have been managed ever since , were nothing but the bickerings and skirmishes of that old enmity put between the two seeds , gen. 3.15 . these interests can never be reconcil'd , christ glories in the title of a saviour , and the devil in that of a murtherer and destroyer : the enmity of satan is founded in this ; he hates holiness , he envys the happiness of immortal souls , he therefore hates christ whose design it is to save those souls , and to deliver them out of his paws . the enemy understands thoroughly his true interest , and can never be mistaken in it : namely ; to draw over to his interest poor deluded souls , wherein , tho' he cannot hope to mitigate his own torments by the multitudes of those he draws to hell with him , yet he takes some pleasure in the revenge he supposes to have got upon christ , by robbing him of the glory of saving sinners . wonder not then that he is so unwearied in going up and down seeking whom he may seduce , for those whom he seduces he devours . his interest therefore lies in the wicked world , and in the wickedness of the world. for the whole world lies in wickedness , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , which may be render'd , the whole world lies in the devil : or the whole world as degenerated and gone off from god , has espoused the interest of the wicked one. set therefore your hearts true and right in this particular , to suppress that of the devil , and to advance the kingdom of the lord jesus christ ; and let not your zeal transport you against men , but against sin ; not against their persons , but their wickedness , the wickedness of the vvorld , and that wicked one. § . 4. look once more into your hearts ; and examine whether that reformation which you would carry on abroad , be begun , and proportionably carry'd on in your own hearts , and houses : that so you may give a good example of that reformation , to which you would draw others . assure your selves you will never be able to look the magistrate in the face , before whom you shall appear ; nor the offender in the face when he stands as a delinquent before the magistrate ; nor conscience in the face when you shall view your selves in that glass ; nor god , in the face before whom you must give an account of what you have done for him , as well as what you have done against him , if it may be retorted upon you . physician heal thy self , before thou pretendest to heal others : look therefore into your own hearts , into your own conversations : look into your families , to your children and servants , begin your reformation at home , and let david's rule and resolution be yours : psal. 101.2 . i will behave my self wisely in a perfect way , i will walk in the mid'st of my house with a perfect heart . read that whole psalm , and it will fully convince you , that the psalmist was not only a reforming king over reformed subjects : but a reforming master of a reformed family . ii. let me now encourage you to look upwards : which you may now comfortably and confidently do , when you have faithfully and impartially inspected your own hearts : and § . 1. vvhen you look up to god on high , lie very low , and be humbled that god has sent you about so excellent a vvork , his own vvork , and yet crown'd your endeavours with so slender success : the wicked will still do wickedly : it is an amazing dispensation that he should so little prosper a vvork so good in it self , of so great concern to his own glory , and wherein the interest of our lord jesus does so eminently lie : but yet i admire more that divine grace which has spirited you with so generous a principle , so noble zeal that you could go out , and still go on in the meer conscience of your duty towards god , expecting your recompence from him alone , whatever the success shall be . § . 2. look up again to him , and bless his name that he has honoured you in calling you to this service , fitting you in some good measure for it , and given some success in it : you will say , alas ! it is but little : account it so , and god will have you account it little till you have reformed the whole nation , till all impiety shall hide its face , and stop its mouth : but however little the success of your pious endeavours shall be , it has this great thing in it , that god graciously accepts and approves of your vvork , and has put his seal to it : thus christ owned the service of her , mar. 14.6 . let her alone ! why trouble ye the woman , she has done what she could . this was the excellent temper of that holy mans spirit , ezra 9.6 , 8. o my god i am ashamed , and blush to lift up my face to thee my god , for our iniquities are increased over our heads , and our trespass is gone up to the heavens ; yet now for a little space grace has been shewed us from the lord our god , to have a remnant to escape , and to give us a nail in his holy place , that our god may lighten our eyes . keep it therefore settled upon your hearts , that god's gleanings are better than the devil's vintage ; god's first fruits , than his harvest , and christ's small remnant more precious than his vast multitudes . § . 3. lift up your eyes , your hands , your voice , your hearts to god in the heavens , in most servent believing prayer ; and give me leave to recommend these few things as proper materials to fill up your prayer . 1. pray earnestly that god would strengthen your hearts and hands against all discouragements you may meet with in this difficult service : you shall find god more able to encourage , than the rage of men & devils is to discourage you : if ▪ he will be with you , & for you , no matter who is against you . david argu'd thus , ps : 41.11 . by this i know that thou favour'st me , because my enemy doth not triumph over me . either your enemies shall not fight against you , or if they will fight not conquer ; or if they conquer , not triumph , or if they seem to triumph , their triumph shall be short . he that would overcome the devil must first prevail with god : which was holy iacob's method , gen. 32.28 . who first prevail'd with the angel , and then easily persuaded esau : 2. pray again , and pray earnestly that god would put a spirit of zeal into the hearts of all those into whose hands he has put power and authority . david's complaint will suit your case , 2 sam. 3. 39. i am this day weak , and these men , the sons of zerviah , are too hard for me . you have the law of god , the laws of man for you , and yet the enemies of both , these cursing , swearing , sabbath-breaking wretches , are in many instances too hard for you : but when it shall once please the lord to stir up the magistrates more generally , and heartily to assist and abet you , your work will be more easy . it is a serious question , and not rashly to be determin'd , whether the corruptions and profanenesses , which abound at this day , may be justly call'd national sins ? of which i would give my opinion without any positive or peremptory determination . 1. it is too evident to be denied , or excused , that there is a general declining , of the power of practical religion ; and an increase of sin in one kind or other , amongst all sorts of men. 2. that it is thankfully owned that our legislators , by their good laws against the most prevailing abominations , have acquitted themselves of the guilt of these corruptions : all that the lawgivers can do , as they are such , and further they cannot go , than to appoint proportionable penalties for these crimes , and to enjoyn the magistrates respectively to put those laws in due execution : so that we must acknowledge they have approved themselves clear in this matter . 3. his majesty , by many and strict proclamations , has charg'd the magistrates to execute the laws with effect , and to proceed vigorously therein , so that the guilt will not lie there . 4. god has raised up a considerable number of faithful magistrates , who have appeared freely in this service : upon whom god will we hope put some distinguishing mark of honour as the reward of their zeal : for such as honour god will be honour , but they that despise him , shall be lightly esteemed . 5. you that have engaged in these hopeful societies for reformation , have contributed to prevent these immoralities which are too much national by their extent from becoming national by guilt and condemnation ; not only by willingly offering your selves as assistants to the magistrate ; not only by crying to god mighty to stir up men fearing god , men of courage to help you , but by bearing your open testimonies against those enormities which you are not able to suppress , or redress . 3. pray without ceasing , that god would pour out of his spirit upon all ministers of his word and sacraments , that by their unwearied labours the consciences of the profane may be strongly touched , and they brought to a sound and saving repentence : and i must say that in praying for them , you pray for your selves . this would supersede much of your great trouble , and give you a writ of ease from the fatigues of your difficult province , & i question not but you would rejoyce to see convinced sinners converted , rather than to have the stubborn punished : there is joy in heaven over one sinner that repenteth , and the rejoycing of holy ones on earth would eccho to theirs above , when the natures of such are changed , more than their hands are restrained , and chained up by poenal laws . iii. i shall not need to advise you to look outwards to that treatment you are to expect from those flagitious ones , whose crimes call for your most severe animadversion . i hope you have fate down and reckon'd it up with your selves what it might cost your before you enter'd upon , and engaged in this work , yet i will present you with a bill of fate of the entertainment which i believe you have found , and may further expect . § . 1. you will meet with a generation of men , who tho' they have been emptied from vessel to vessel , are yet settled upon their lees. a sort of sinners represented to the prophet in a vision , ez. 24.6 . by a pot which had long been on the fire , yet the scum remained in it : of whom another prophet speaks as a generation of intractable and incorrigible sinners , ier. 6.28 . they are all grievous revolters , walking with slaunders , they are brass and iron , they are all corrupters : now of these he tells us how little could be hoped , v. 29 . the founder melteth in vain : let him make never so strong a blast , the bellows shall sooner be burnt than their flinty hearts be made fusile : nay that they will sooner be consumed themselves , than their scorious parts separated from them : the lead is consumed of the fire . the prophet isaiah , ch . 48. v. 4. acquaints you in what part the inflexible iron , and the incorrigible brass doth lie : i know that thou art obstinate ; thy neck is an iron sinew , and thy brow brass . now what success can you hope for when you must practice upon such as these ? would you put the yoke of divine and humane laws upon them ? their neck is an iron sinew ! the sons of belial will never bend , or stoop to any yoak ; or ▪ do you fancy you may shame them out of their scandalous habits ? no , their brow is brass . upon these your arguments and reasonings are all lost , and your more rigid methods thrown away . § . 2. though your work is your honour , yet expect to be reproached for it . you shall be censured that it 's a pragmatical humour that engages you , popular applause that fills your sails ; you would make a figure , be some great thing in the world ▪ 't is your comfort that they who usurp a judgment over you in their day , shall not be your judges in the great day , 1 cor. 4 , 5. it 's a very small thing that i should be judged of you , or of mans iudgment — he that judgeth me is the lo . and in this hard case i know not w t you can obtend , but the shield of your own integrity , 2 cor. 1.12 . our rejoicing is this , the testimony of our conscience , that in simplicity and godly sincerity , we have had our conversation in the world. 3. expect to be ridicul'd by those who would pass for the witts of the present age : jesus christ has not a more pernicious enemy than unsactified wit : now this sort of men will dart many a sharp pointed scoff at your proceedings , and the success of them : which may pierce as deep in some ingenious breasts as the ruder blows of opprobrious language : this went as near the spirit of holy iob , and provoked his patience equally with mo e rustical entertainment , iob 17.2 . are there not mockers with me , and doth not mine eye continue in their provocation ? especially this affects the innocent soul , when scorn is mixed with a malicious indignation , psal. 35.16 . with hypocritical mockers in feasts they gnashed upon me with their teeth . and when nehemiah came to reform matters at ierusalem , he could not escape the virulent insults of tobiah , and s ballat , nehem. 4.2 , 3 , 4. what will these feeble iews do ? will they make an end in one day ? even that which they build , if a fox go up , he shall even break down their stone wall. poor reformers ! what a stir do you make about your fanatick models ? the edge of the laws will soon be turned , and your own zeal quickly cooled , and then when the restraint of these laws shall be a little relaxed , you will see all things run in their old channels , and nature for a while curbed , will return with more eagerness to its own inclinations ; to all these , and a thousand more of these scoffs , you have nothing better to return than what they then did , v. 4. hear o god , for we are despised , and turn their reproach upon their own heads . § . 4. and may you not reasonably apprehend a spirit of bitter and bloody revenge already boiling in the hearts of those whom the laws have met withal in their exorbitancies ? some sparks of that temper even now breaks out at the mouth of the furnace from when you may easily conjecture at the desperate heat that burns within : do they not watch for your haltings ? and more narrowly observe when you trip in any punctilio of the law , than you do when they scandalously fall , and lye wallowing in the mire ? assure your selves , if you record their convictions , they register all the errors of your prosecutions , and only wait for a happy day , and welcome juncture , when they may wreck their malice upon you : you have great need therefore , with the psalmist , to pray , ( ps. 5.8 . ) lord make thy waies straight before me , because of my observers . § . 5. nor is it a little part of your discouragement , that upon the matter you stand alone in this work : which was the sad case of david , ps. 94.16 . who will rise up with me against the wicked ; who will stand up for me against the workers of iniquity ? but be not afraid with any amazement , you are not alone , for god is with you . in a word : all the dissolute and flagitions are your declared enemies : the indifferent gallio's , the neuters in religion , cannot be numbred amongst your friends : whether you stand or fall , sink or swim , they are wholly unconcern'd : the men of politick principles , know not yet whether they are for you , or against you , the issue determines their judgments ; like those wary prudent ones , ( esther 3.4 . ) who waited to see how mordecai ' s matters would stand : the cooler sort of professors are rather , of the two , for you than against you , only the sincere of all persuasions and denominations wish you good success in the name of the lord , and god himself , who is more than all that are for you , or against you , will be with you , and bless you , and make you a blessing . iv. give me so much more of your patience , whilst i set before you the encouragements of god , against all these discouragements , and i will conclude . i. let god's call and commission for your work , afford you sufficient courage and confidence against all the discouragements of the work : it 's a notable evidence of sincerity , when we go on in the way of our duty , upon the security of god's authority , whatever difficulties we meet with in the way , or how little appearance of success there may be in the end : ezek. 2.6 . be not afraid of them , neither be afraid of their words , though briers and thorns be with thee , and thou dost dwell among scorpions ; be not afraid of their words , nor be not dismay'd at their looks , though they be a rebellious house . 2. when your fears begin to rise in your hearts , act your faith upon god : fear arises from the sense of your own weakness , and the apprehension of your enemies power : but faith knows how to set the strength of god against your own weakness , and the strength of enemies : ps. 56.3 . what time i am afraid , i will put my trust in thee . 3. let tender compassion to souls , that are destroying themselves , whet your zeal , if at any time the edge begins to turn ; it would move pitty in the heart of any one to see how contemptuously the devil insults over those souls he has got into his own power : 2 tim. 2.26 . they are taken captive by him at his will : as if he would adorn his victory by dragging them behind his triumphant chariot : mark 9.22 . he casts them into the fire , and into the water , as if he would make sport with immortal souls . let this lamentable sight engage all your zeal to rescue them : jude 21. others save with fear , pulling them out of the fire . 4. let the glorifying of god and your redeemer be enough to influence you to the highest endeavours to promote it : you cannot sacrifice your all to a more agreeable object : phil. 1.20 . as always , so now also christ shall be magnified in my body , whether it be by life , or by death . 5. if you take the counsels of god's word , you shall certainly have its comforts : let the precepts guide you , and the promises shall support you . ps. 119.24 . thy testimonies are my delight and my counsellors . 6. a good conscience , and its testimony , will be responsible for all the evil you may incur , all the good you may hazard or lose for the asserting it : this was the apostles practice of piety , acts 24.16 . herein do i exercise my self always , to keep a conscience void of offence towards god , and towards men. 7. lastly . the cause of god , the interest of christ makes up a powerful motive to the most difficult duties , and a sufficient security against the strongest temptations . go on therefore , brethren , as you have begun , in no wise terrified by your adversaries , and the god of all grace and peace shall be with you . to whom be the kingdom , the power , and the glory , for ever . amen . finis . books printed for , and sold by john lawrence , at the angel in the poultry . mr. pool's english annotations in two vol. folio . the works of the reverend mr. stephen chenock , b.d. in two vol. folio . the life of the reverend mr. richard baxter , written by himself . folio . mr. lorimer's apology for the ministers , who subscribed only to the stating of the truths and errors in mr. williams's book . in quarto . mr. lorimer's remarks on mr. goodwin's discourse of the gospel , proving that the gospel covenant is a law of grace , and answering the objections to the contrary . quarto . mr. samuel slater's earnest call to family religion , being the substance of eighteen sermons . octavo . mr. addy's stenographia : or , the art of short-writing compleated , in a far more compendious way than any yet extant . octavo . the bible is also printed in the same short-hand . mr. nath. taylor 's preservative against deism . octavo . the faithful rebuke to a false report , octavo . vindication of the faithful rebuke against mr. lob. octavo . mrs. williams funeral sermon by mr. calamy . octavo . mr. showers reformation sermon . octavo . mr. williams's reformation sermon . octavo . mr. showers funeral discourses . octavo . mr. woodhouse's sermon at mrs. papillons funeral . 8vo . mr. doolittle's saints convoy to , and mansions in , heaven , in two occasional discourses . octavo . manes presbyteriani, or, the monuments of the kirk the covenants confession : argyle's reliques : guthrey and giffan's passions : and gillespy's recantation : all compiled and laid together. 1661 approx. 72 kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from 28 1-bit group-iv tiff page images. text creation partnership, ann arbor, mi ; oxford (uk) : 2004-03 (eebo-tcp phase 1). a51762 wing m421 estc r14790 12940158 ocm 12940158 95853 this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text creation partnership. this phase i text is available for reuse, according to the terms of creative commons 0 1.0 universal . the text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. early english books online. (eebo-tcp ; phase 1, no. a51762) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set 95853) images scanned from microfilm: (early english books, 1641-1700 ; 988:13) manes presbyteriani, or, the monuments of the kirk the covenants confession : argyle's reliques : guthrey and giffan's passions : and gillespy's recantation : all compiled and laid together. argyll, archibald campbell, marquis of, 1598-1661. gillespie, patrick, 1617-1675. guthrie, james, 1612?-1661. giffan, mr. [6], 32 p. printed for the reverend c lasses ..., london : 1661. reproduction of original in union theological seminary library, new york. created by converting tcp files to tei p5 using tcp2tei.xsl, tei @ oxford. re-processed by university of nebraska-lincoln and northwestern, with changes to facilitate morpho-syntactic tagging. gap elements of known extent have been transformed into placeholder characters or elements to simplify the filling in of gaps by user contributors. eebo-tcp is a partnership between the universities of michigan and oxford and the publisher proquest to create accurately transcribed and encoded texts based on the image sets published by proquest via their early english books online (eebo) database (http://eebo.chadwyck.com). the general aim of eebo-tcp is to encode one copy (usually the first edition) of every monographic english-language title published between 1473 and 1700 available in eebo. eebo-tcp aimed to produce large quantities of textual data within the usual project restraints of time and funding, and therefore chose to create diplomatic transcriptions (as opposed to critical editions) with light-touch, mainly structural encoding based on the text encoding initiative (http://www.tei-c.org). the eebo-tcp project was divided into two phases. the 25,363 texts created during phase 1 of the project have been released into the public domain as of 1 january 2015. anyone can now take and use these texts for their own purposes, but we respectfully request that due credit and attribution is given to their original source. users should be aware of the process of creating the tcp texts, and therefore of any assumptions that can be made about the data. text selection was based on the new cambridge bibliography of english literature (ncbel). if an author (or for an anonymous work, the title) appears in ncbel, then their works are eligible for inclusion. selection was intended to range over a wide variety of subject areas, to reflect the true nature of the print record of the period. in general, first editions of a works in english were prioritized, although there are a number of works in other languages, notably latin and welsh, included and sometimes a second or later edition of a work was chosen if there was a compelling reason to do so. image sets were sent to external keying companies for transcription and basic encoding. quality assurance was then carried out by editorial teams in oxford and michigan. 5% (or 5 pages, whichever is the greater) of each text was proofread for accuracy and those which did not meet qa standards were returned to the keyers to be redone. after proofreading, the encoding was enhanced and/or corrected and characters marked as illegible were corrected where possible up to a limit of 100 instances per text. any remaining illegibles were encoded as <gap>s. understanding these processes should make clear that, while the overall quality of tcp data is very good, some errors will remain and some readable characters will be marked as illegible. users should bear in mind that in all likelihood such instances will never have been looked at by a tcp editor. the texts were encoded and linked to page images in accordance with level 4 of the tei in libraries guidelines. copies of the texts have been issued variously as sgml (tcp schema; ascii text with mnemonic sdata character entities); displayable xml (tcp schema; characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or text strings within braces); or lossless xml (tei p5, characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or tei g elements). keying and markup guidelines are available at the text creation partnership web site . eng presbyterian church -early works to 1800. 2003-04 tcp assigned for keying and markup 2003-05 apex covantage keyed and coded from proquest page images 2004-01 emma (leeson) huber sampled and proofread 2004-01 emma (leeson) huber text and markup reviewed and edited 2004-02 pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion manes presbyteriani : or the monuments of the kirk . the covenants confession . argyle's reliques . guthrey and giffan's passions . and gillespy's recantation . all compiled and laid together . ducitur iratis plaudendum funus amicis . juv. sic erit aeternum pontiliane vale. mar. london , printed for the reverend classes , in the year 1661. to the reader who can now deny , but that there is a jus divinum stampt upon presbytery , when we have seen such signal vindiciae of it in the fate and death of the most eminent and stontest assertors of it ? we will therefore give it leave to take praecedency of any schisme of which blood was never yet drawn . but whether sanguis draconis or sanguis ecclesiae scoticae be the better drug , and which will grow fastest , we leave to dr. trig and time. we have made a confection or miscellany out of it at a venture , and compounded the bitter ingredients of its death , and prescribe them you in a dose of mirth . the first place , as that which operated most , we give deservedly to the covenant , of a griping purging quality ; most of the town complain of its physick ; with groanings and strainings ; and they say it never work'd kindly since the time that alderman atkins bewrayed the militia , for now it works upwardly in vomits altogether : it is lately torn up by the roots , and hath fetcht such deep sighes , as a mandrake at its revulsion ; a relation whereof you have in the next pages . the next place the marquesse of arguile challengeth ; this was a great doctor and administerer of the covenant ; we present him to you like a mountebank on his scaffold , where he uttered a whole promptuary of kirk venome & readily swallowed it , wherefore we have next sent this zany with an antidote after him . if you say 't is too late , we can assure you from the mouth of a presbyterian patriarch , that death hath no power over a covenanter , no more then one gasp can kill a cat. room for st. guthrey , a name conformable and consonant to the legend , the precise moderns will make miraeles of him , and save us the labour to tell you how he was hanged . as for giffan he was but his sancho panca ; his story is bound up in this quixots ; and so they go together . the other appendix of gillespy , ( being like to beare a great influence on these worst and last times of presbytery , wherein scandals and offences are like to be given by revolts and desertions , ) we have subjoyned by way of parallel betwixt the case of him and mr. jenkins , it being like to be of exceeding use to the unstable remnant of giddy zealots . these are the onely remains of presbytery , and it cannot but comfort your hearts to hear such a word . root and branch of it are hewen down , and in the dead trunks of these furioso's , it lies still and quiet , and though you laugh never so loud at it , it will never wake and baul again . if there be any whiffling curs that grin and snarle ( such of whom it may be said , — non quies , non tumultus , quale magni metus , vel magnae irae silentium est , ) they know what hawks-meat is , at least the worming iron of pulpit silence will surely cure them . to the honest and loyall be this a gratulation , for the ultion and revenge the lawes and these happy times have taken on that accursed thing , and so let it go . farevvell . hominem malignum forsan esse ru credas ego esse miserum credo cui placet nemo . the groanes and last breathings of the covenant to its dear parent presbytery . my lamp is almost spent , and nothing but a stinking snuff left to light me to ashes ; i am all over seised with a sudden epilepsie , death is upon me , o speedily call hither some presbyter . presb. dear child , thou shall lack nothing , that lies within the power of art to preserve thee . i am here at hand . cov. o sick , sick . i have not one sound article in my whole frame and constitution ; the whole systeme of diseases lodge within me . 't is promethean fire consumes me , that which threw plagues , and all sorts of death throughout the world , when the author had boldly invaded heaven , and pretended it was a dose of reformation and cure from thence . presb. do not rave dear child , this is a sad distemper i must consesse , where does the pain lye most : cov. oh it lies all over , but most especially and grievously in my head . presb. i imagined so , that makes you talk so lightly . cov. no mother , 't is heavily , o my head , my head ; i know not what to do with it , i would i were fairly rid on 't . certainly mother you can tell me a way how to be without it , 't was a praeternatural ( if not monstrous ) excrescency you begot and brought me forth with , i have been troubled with it from the day of my birth to this instant , i had some ease for a while by the bleeding me in the jugular veine , but another head repullulated , and my pains increased . presb. dear child , you must know , that you were begot in the night of confusion , when another chaos was inverting the order and course of things ; the head was not intended to be the chief member , but subordinate to the shoulders of presbytery , which came into the world with its heels forward : and accordingly , though the head resisted , we maintained our authority , and laid that aside as uselesse and dangerous . good child be comforted , this is but another bustle , your appetite is not so fierce , nor your stomach so dogged as before , and fumes rise up and trouble you . cov. there is no fume without fire ; but i must confesse my digestion is vicious , and i cannot swallow as well as i did formerly , i am subject to vomit , and up come my bishops , deans , and chapters lands in whole mannors and houses : i have still a sickish longing after those dainties , but they will not stay with me , and therefore i can impute my languishing not to any thing within me , but to this troublesome head , whose gust and palate will not relish those sweet meats , nor let them down into my abysse of sacriledge . presb. i know not what to do , he 'l take no scotch physick any more , besides what 's good for you is nought for him , and we want power to sever you , you must endure it as the case stands . cov. is that all the comfort you afford me ? well , i shall not endure it long then . oh , now another fainting fit , a jenkinish qualme is upon me , o for a dram of parliament mercy ! presb. what think you of a cordial of london gold : cov. i have drunk it all up already , i have left but a scruple or 2 in some mens consciences , and they will never part with or be rid of it , besides it would come too late , some warm cloaths presently , i cannot continue . presb. what shall i do for my dear child , i 'le wrap thee up softly , and pray try if you can slumber a while . cov. what good will that do me ? oliver laid me in a sound sleep for seven years together , as long as the seven champions of christendome ; but when i wak't , i was as mad as them , raved worse then ever ; then , i had a short nap when the the rump awoke last , and when i started out of that , i was in such a maze with my rising glories , meer dreams and phantasms , as i became phrantick , and have continued so ever since . presb. i , dear child , we thought then to have espoused thee , and wedded the kings interest to thine , to which purpose , we new apparell'd thee , reprinted thee , and thou thy self wert read in the church instead of the baines ; thy sweet picture placed by his majesties arms in sign of embracing , how did i then rejoyce , with the comaedian ? omnes omnes bona dicere , & laudare fortunam meam , quae filiam haberem tali forma & ingenio praeditam ! but now thy beauty is withered , and thou lookest like an ore-ridden whore , and i like a careful undone baud , a shrove-tuesday baud. cov. mother now you rave , pray lay your head upon sweet mr. croftons cushion , that and a little whi●e ellebore will speedily cure you : oh me , oh me , what strange convulsion do i suffer , now my under parts begin to torment me presb. inded child i must confess , that cardinal richlieu had your maiden head , when you were tender , and it may be he left you the french kindness ; i did as a bawd should do , i withstood not my market . cov. did he never stand in the stool of repentance ? presb. no daughter , he left that for you and me . cov. well what ever it is , it afflicts me most acutely , when shall i be eased of these pains ; from top to toe , nothing but griefs and malanders ! certainly i have been the prostitute of every interest , for i have a whole hospital of aches about me . presb. as i said before you have been over-ridden , but i never made but 2 bargains of you , that was with the cardinal , and mr. pym : since that time oliver with his sectaries , like boisterous hectors made what use they would of you , without contenting me for their pleasure , and you took it all in good part . cov. what should i poor thing doe ! i was made of such a compliant temper , that i could serve any mans lust any designe against church and state ; to day i wore this fucus , to morrow that dresse , then another paint , i pleas'd all parties , what mode they liked for their turn that i was in ; the shy close independant , the debaucht atheist , made much of me , till i began to grow out of date , and then my lovers forsook me , and said i was a dissembling paltry baggage ; so i was forc'd to pack up my moveables , & with the spoils i had got march after my comrade blew-caps under leshley back aga●n to my nawn country of scotland . there i continued a good while in some outward esteeme , but that did me no good , i had no profit by it ; then as i said i was lullaby'd by cromwell there for a long time , afterwards i dreamt i came to england again with general monk , but it was but a dream . tresb . i staid here in england and truckt under the sects my very ill neighbours on one side , and the royalists on the other , they made me live a rigid mortified life , still expecting of you ; but when the general came hither as you say , i dreamt we met him and you together my dear child , but he left you behind him , though he promised to send for you with all speed , but no such matter . cov. i am sick of the dangerousest disease , a relapse ; i have gone to and fro backward and forward so many times , and now at last i am quite tyred . i sink and fall , and it will be the greater by reason of my advanced hopes in the beginnings of the last change . i was clearly on the devils pinacle , had a prospect of three kingdomes and no more . o lament mother my sore and grievous fall. presb. from that height i broke my neck , i have been up and down in the world , like a meteor in the ayre , and like a wandring fire end in a blaze . cov. that 's my comet fate . presb. mine is involved in yours child , the soul of presbytery is the covenant , that 's the ratio formalis of our kirk , synods , elders . thou art my daughter as pallas was to jupiter , when my brains akt with mischeif , out thou camest from thence , with plots and designes , ready armed , as she with wisdome ; i could have done nothing without thy help , thou wert the excellency of my strength ; and must i now be robb'd of thee ? i see all superlative births are short lived : i may cry out with my dear child guthrey , ichabod , ichabod . cov. nay i depart ( or rather am snatcht ) from you , with all the inglorious circumcumstances that could set me out ; o burst your hearts with sorrow , my dear friends , rid your selves out of the way , any way , rather then endure the triumphs and insultings of your enemies . presb. my neck is broke already i told you , my head lops like a gibleted goose , and i droop and disconsolately mourn , while the wicked taunt and say , thou hast the number of the beast inscribed on thee , being 666. cov. that 's three times over , sick , sick , sick , i am quite spent . presb. i am sure when thou wert young and pretty thou hadst dainty lineaments and features , not a line was drawn in thee but had such a strain of zeal and religion , that to the devout puritan , and to others not so curiously nice or deep sighted , thou seemedst an angel : now they make a beast of you indeed , a burnt offering as they term it , making me the idol to which it is sacrificed . cov. i have endured as much persecution almost as i caused , if bitter words could weigh with money ; pray mother do you persecute me no longer at second hand , let me be quiet . presb. how can i do so ? i have no authority , antiquity , fathers , or councils to alledge for me ; i must make a noise with something that 's equivalent . i silenced almost all the orthodox ministers in england with but citing you , no body durst dispute you , you were inviolable . cov. yes , yes the oxford reasons hit me in the heele , that wound was incurable , you never knew how to heal it to this day ; i went limping ever since , and ever since my parliaments crutches failed me , have been fain to set still , no body being willing or able to reply . presb. yes , yes they were sufficiently refuted , the reasoners were all turned out , and i sat in cuerpo there , and see the sneaking conformists baiser vostres mains and adore you . cov. those compliances or submissions were like the late addresses ; and the repute and honour i had by them , was as much as the usurpers got by those ; but trouble me not now dying and expiring with such vain things . presb. well i must and am bound to keep you , however i will now let you alone . cov. i am troubled at one thing , i am afraid i shall be served like the butcher , i shall be alive when i am buried , the faction and sedition i caused in the minds of men will not so soon be deaded , and i shall revive in the dark vaults of plots and contrivances against monarchy , though the more stirre they keep , the more they will bruise themselves , and the more gastly spectacles , and stinking sights will they lie . presb. pray do not trouble your head with these things ; you will very much weaken your self . cov. nay i shall never be well or at ease , pray let me speak my mind freely , you had the conceiving of me or licking me into what fashion of words you pleased , and now let me utter my self ( according to your injunction , when people swallowed me ) without any mental reservation or evasion whatsoever . presb. good daughter forbear , it will much accelerate your end , and do not foul your nest ; i have been at a great deal of care and trouble of bringing you up , and do not so ill requite me . cov. you 'l have the happiness , which better folks have wisht for , to see me fairly buried before you . 't is not i requite you unkindly : is it not the general gallows complaint , i may thank my friends for this ? i have the scandal and the injury . presb. well , i am not long lived , but do not you shorten my dayes with such undutiful expressions , will you lay all the fault upon me ? cov. alas i can never expiate them my self , you know better how to defend your enormous actions your self ; have you not the magick to raise another smectymnuus ? presb. no child , i am past disputing , my best argument was the two edged dilemma of the sword , bishops are bishops again , now the armed rage and madnesse of my possessed multitudes is quelled ; otherwise i would have buried thee in a military posture , as i have brought thee up , and the whole nation should again be in armes for thee . covenant . i , and such a deplorable war begin again , if ( fury as you are ) you could any way contrive it . presb. see then with what constant affection i prosecute your beloved interest . cov. well pray you cease from any further conspiracies , i like my end better then my beginning , i am resolved to unravel all . presb. pray daughter forbear . cov. i must discharge my self , i was white paper , wherein you might have as well written allegiance as rebellion . i detest my name , and my parents baseness , what am i obliged to you , but for an ill fame throughout the universe ? you have satisfied your self in the illegitimate generation of me , and then expose me to the shame of the world , to be branded to posterity ; but lo , this declaration of mine shall acquit me , and leave the guilt of all ( good beldam ) upon you , in this my last speech and confession . the speech and confession of the covenant , at its burning by the executioner . i come hither to suffer by the general consent and vote of both houses ; i am utterly a stranger to their legislative power : i will not question their authority , they that had power to give life and being , have doubtless the same to condemn and annihilate . howere i thank them they have sent me to a death worthy of my parentage , 't is roman like to be burned ; and 't is suitable also to my crimes ; paricide and witchery are punishable thus by our lawes , and besides i have northern chilnesse and coldness enough to endure it . i shall not speak much here , too much hath already been said for , and against me ; would this bright flame were the darkest cloud of oblivion , that ere covered foul guiltinesse , or that i might expire in a dark lanthorne . but i know you expect i should say something of my religion , truly i shall i fear very much disappoint you therein , i have not had time enough to be setled in it , nor have i any foundation whereon to bottom it . the roman catholicks have the popes infallibility ; the protestants the 39. articles , the highest i can derive my self from , is from a provincial synod , and they have made me a religion of my self , made up like the alchoran , of paganisme , scotti schisme , and some christianity , and at the best but like olivers instrument , or harry martins descant on the rumps act of oblivion , which pretended to save all at the beginning , but some in the middle , and none at all in the conclusion , as wofully appears this day . i know there is a claim laid by my faction to the geneva discipline and doctrine , i professe i do not own it . our presbytery and that is very different , they had no kings to make experiments on , or to try jurisdiction and power with ; ours is a tyrannical presbytery , their 's a more sober political church government ; we are but a ranting schism from them : and therefore dying i speak it , i do not arrogate to my selfe their ( though not justified , or so much as approved ) religion . for the cause of my death , i can here assign many . the first is natural — nullum violentum est perpetuum , nothing can be permanent that is violent , my fury soon wasted and consumed those spirits which might have protracted and prolonged my fate ; no abatement , no respiration allowed in my hast to the ruin of three kingdomes , till i had outrun my self and the constable : though the ingenious justice of that gentleman , who would have me whipt from tything man to tything man , till i came to the place of my birth , would have delivered me into his hands . the second is divine . i was first shown to the world as a copy of gods will to be done and obeyed in the new ordering of the world ; i was styled the second covenant of grace . a ray of the divinity ; what not ? whereas another herostratus was my parent . i frighted the first light that looked on me , till i had driven it into a gloomy dismal night , that overcast three kingdomes ; and is it not just with heaven , i should expiate those false fires , and that imprecation be heard on me , let fire come down from heaven and consume me ? the third is political . laws and government have made an universal league between mankind , other compacts are but inclosures of the peaceably enjoyed common : what a deluge of blood did the french catholick league draw from that kingdom , that it might have been said to have been a league with death , wherever was any potent rebellion maintained without some such confederation ? and the evils i have done , and the misery i have been the cause of , are little lesse then the most prevailing of them can boast of . 't is both security and satisfaction therefore to the laws , and established magistracy , solemnly to extinguish these flames of sedition by their justice in lighting me . other extrinsical causes there were , but being but subservient to these i shall passe them , lest i touch upon some jarring strings , in the late revolution . for this death i forgive all the world , though i expect not to be forgiven . i shall leave such a deep impression in the ruines of many families , that it will exceed their charity , or times oblivion to blot it out . i am not able to make restitution , the crown and the mitre will be i hope content with the reversions : private men must lick the dishes . i carry nothing out of the world with me , and yet must leave something behind me . a stinking name to posterity . that justice that condemned me to this punishment , might have been pleased to order a bonefire of all the presbyterian books , printed from the beginning of the troubles , and its first origine , for the booksellers could have afforded them for wast paper ; but since they saw it not good , i am content with this small rogus . i leave all my proselytes and adherers in a sad plight . i owe much to them for their ardent affection to me ; but they have a recompence in their bosome , in their very conscience , and therefore i am not very solicitous for them . if they will still pine and murmur at my usage , and do as children for a play thing or bawble , let the fools even do so . i shall not trouble you much longer , mr. executioner , ( i have been better attended formerly ) i see none but boys and prentices ( as malicious persecutors of me , as once of dr. lamb ) whom i cheated of their holydayes , and therefore i must addresse my self to them . beware i advise you of keeping your indentures , that 's a sort of covenant , which taken and observed in the strict rigid sense , will cause much tribulation to you . you cannot but observe how your masters are a●flicted by me , though taken voluntarily by them ; pray therefore restrain not any liberty you can give your selves ; vow and promise any thing to a girl , but beware of covenants and contracts , as long as you can be your masters oxiliaries . one word more to the publick faith men , i warn them not to trust to any solemn juramental engagement , 't is all one as to credit a damme cavalier ; it was clearly putting of their money to interest , or the lottery of the holy cheat , when they advanced such wonderful sums for my account . nothing was ever lesse meant in this my whole conscientious businesse then repayment , and with this i should wish them to be satisfied . i have just done , for i have no prayers to say , the spirit fails me , this is an extempore punishment ; i doubt not of nor need i to ask your curses , i believe you are all ready to mount me upwards — executioner stay while i give the sign . dun. i have stayed long enough already , i never got any of you within my clutches , i take you for a good handsell ; h'a done now . cov. so i will , let me say these words first , dubium vixi , anxium morior , nescio quo vadam . dun. you conjure ; the signe : cov. when the presbyterians hold up their right hand again to the most high — , &c. executioner do your office. the marquess of argyles last will and testament . in the name of smectymnnus and hocus pocus , so be it ; i archibald marquesse of argyle , the devils viceroy in the highlands , and the most sacred covenants protomartyr in the low , now a prisoner in the toll booth at edingborough ; calling to my mind , that my prefixed bargained terme of years is even expired , and knowing that all the town cann't save me : having recollected all my unparalleld rebellions , treasons , murders , rapine , plunderings , witchcraft , perjury , covetousness and sacriledge ; for which i do expect to receive good wages at the hands of my master , do make and ordain this my last will and testament in manner and form following . first , because it is of form to begin so , i believe with pythagoras that souls do transmigrate , i my self being that very matchiavil that lived in florence some two hundred years since ; and therefore i will , that mine do forthwith after my dissolution pass into one of his wild-soule , thence into a soland goose , thence into a scotch pedlar , thence into a man whom lilly by the stars prognosticated ( some ages to come ) to be made a notorious cuckold , so that by that means , it may be be sure at last to come to heaven . secondly , for my body ( since the parliament so detest that horrid babarisme committed on the marquesse of montrose , that they think it not fit to retaliate it upon me the prime author thereof ) it being at my own disposal , i request my executors hereafter named , to see it solemnly interred with the spels of the directory , and laid so shallow , that at the next trump of sedition , it may by the same raise-devil directory be conjured up again , and meet my exalted head , that bound mark of presbytery , its ne plus ultra , hitherto shall you go and no further : but i forbid then any such superstitious procession , as to my scandal and great offence of the brethren , was used to the gathered reliques of that late loyal martyr . as for my worldly goods and estate with which the covenant that goddess diana hath blest me , i say to 't presto jupiter , lightly come , lightly go , the wicked cavaleirs will divide the spoile ; what was got by oppression , will be booned way by the kings liberality , had mine been a mean fortune , it had not probably met with such extremes . nevertheless my dear brethren in affliction , i have also a portion for you ; as i had time and opportunity of getting , so i had the wisdome of hiding and concealing , and what i thus preserved , i give and bequeath in manner following . inprimis , for that great reverence and religion i owe to the solemn league and covenant , i give a thousand pounds to the pastors and ministers of the church of geneva towards the erecting a shrine or building a sanctuary for the covenant , now persecuted and driven out of these three kingdomes ; whose sacred ashes ( if they can be found ) i will also to be there deposited in a golden urne to be provided at the charge of my executors . streightly requiring that no tapors , lamps , torches , links , or other ligh●s , be used neer the said shrine or in the said sanctuary , it being popish , haeretical and impious , and most abhominable . and i do hereby lovingly request the said church ( since our kirk hath lost its keyes ) immediately to excommunicate the london hangman , and all other persons whatsoever who have had any hand in burning , or otherwise profaning that most holy thing . item , i give 2000 l. more for founding a colledge or fraternity there , to be christned by the name of the society of the covenant , and for founding a covenant reader in that university ; hoping that well disposed presby 〈…〉 ●ill so adde to this foundation , that in a short 〈◊〉 may rival for villany with that of the jesuists . item , whereas the sad case of dr. burges hath mightily affected the tender bowels of the sisters , who complain there is not a stone by a stone of all his late purchases , particularly the great loss he hath had by the fire of the covenant in his deanery of wells , to his utter undoing , and for which he is never likely to have a breif ; i bequeath to him the sum of five hundred pounds , it being a good competency to keep him in bedlam all the remainder of his life . item , i give to that little david of the covenant that champion of presbytery mr. zachary crofton an augmentation of an 100 l. per annum , as long st. peters bonds abide ; and that through any discouragement or restraint he may not faint and fall away , i add a noble a day for caudles and cordials , charging him to stand manfully for the cause , he being the cheif standerd bearer , in which this impress is written , tu patronus , si tu deseris nos perimus . item , as next in order i give to mr. jenkins not out of respect to his love of the covenant , for satan that buffeted him knows how weak he is in that point , but for his seditious preachments , for his turbulency of spirit , and restlesseness against the kings government five hundred pound ; i know that 's too much , for i detest a recanter with all my heart , and 't is not according to our strict discipline to revoke a tittle : but seeing how neer the brink presbytery is brought , all things must be done to support it , and therefore we must make use of renega● 〈◊〉 — hang him he shall have it , but the devil do him good with it if he recants again . item , i le give ten thousand pound for erecting a seminary of such rogues in eutopia , for i cannot perswade my self there will ever be the like in any of these three kingdom●s . item , not to forget dr. wilkinson , i give him twenty shillings to mend the bellows of his mouth and nose , against the next opportunity of blowing up the flames of a civil war ; and for his subdeanary of christ-church oxen , a fart . item , to mr. poole with the red head ( i like him the better for that ) i give three hundrad mark to buy him some manners , and five hundred mark to buy him more wit , else presbytery will soon lose a prating nonsensical cacafuego , and his parish a troublesome tythmonger . item , to all those old presbyterian serpents that have slipt their skins , and are winding themselves into favour , in the a la mode cassock , and in a submisse compliance lick the dust of the bishops foot , and yet keep their venome within their teeth , i bequeath to each a scotch thirteen pence half-peny for the use of squire dun , who shall shew them slip for slip . item , i give four hundred pound for the building of an alms-house for the entertaining of all antiquated exauthorated elders , who cannot sufficiently or quietly live in their own parishes . item , i give one one thousand mark for the building of an hospital or pest house , for all such as are or shall be infected with the scotch plague , that is such as want cloaths , money and friends . item , to the several sects of anabaptists , fifth monarchy men , quakers , &c. i give respectively ten groats to redeem their meeting-houses ; in condition they do not jeer that covenant in which they voluntarily perjured themselves . item , all my offices and preferments whatsoever , i give freely to those who are disabled to bear any in england . item , for perpetual memory of presbytery , i give a hundred pound for the casting the figure of the dog in brass that lay with the elders maid ; to be placed where the last provincial classis was held in london , as a desk for the directory . item , to any that can , or shall prove presbytery to be jure divine , i le give him three kingdomes ; for then they will not be worth the having , and the devils proffer , and my legacy , will be all one . item , i give to the wife of oliver cromwell , for his keeping the covenant in the right sense by murdering the king , a groat a day . item , i give to the late secretary thurloe , my debt due to me from his master and the rump for moneys expended by me for their use in scotland , which was to be repayed me out of the commission for discoveries , when i was last in london , by olivers direction . i understand , and i thank him he hath made so large a progress in discovering , that he can pay it now to himself — the de'l was in me to suffer such a pittiful fellow to whiddle before me . item , i give my debentures to captain george withers esq to purchase more bishops lands in lieu of those he sacrilegiously kept before : & that he may never cease scribling of rhymes , i le not leave him a farthing . item , i give to the independant gathered churches under the cure and teachings of cockain , brooks , &c. all the ill qualities of our gasping kirk , that by the impudence and deceit of their pastors , their ruine also may be expedited . item , i give to the clerk of mr. calamies church a ring to wear for my sake , for his great superlative zeal yet manifested to the covenant — item , to all the sons and daughters of presbytery , who now mourn and lament , i give a medal ( with my squint eyes in it leering after other times , and a better day ) to dry up their tears . all these legacies and bequests , i will and order my executors to perform and pay the morrow of the next puritan rèformation in england , or at st. tibs eve at farthest , without any covin or delay . as for mine own country , relations , and friends ; i do also dispose of my estate to them , as followeth . i will therefore first that the whole scotch nation be put into mourning in remembrance of those ruines , dishonour , conquest , and slavery , which my covenanting covetous designes have brought upon it ; though i would not have my brethren of the presbytery lay that so much to heart , as that they are like to do so no more . as to my sept so famous heretofore in this kingdome , as i never did them good in my life so they cannot expect otherwise at my death , they have a scotch priviledge now to beg or steal where they please , without any frustraneous dependance or expectance on my greatness ; if my name will do them any service they may make use of it and sterne , since they are i fear rejected of god and man. item , to my dear lady i give and bequeath her full and entire joynture , which was setleed firm enough by law before thanking her for all the kindness and benevolence i had from her , when my keeper was out of the way . item , to my hopeful son the lord lorne i give the inheritance of my qualities , leaving him an equal portion and share of estate and honour ; the first i forfeited from him , and the last he never had from me , nor is like to be capable of , since he must continue and preserve my hated nature : i give him my unnecessary blessing , as it is prescribed in that most exact sorm in the directory . item , to the rest of my sons and daughters , since i cannot be too indulgent a father , i advise them for their great consolation to read the spanish curate , and take what portions they please . item , to all my servants and retainers , who i doubt not have learnt from me their master to carve for themselves without bidding ; all they can cheat and purloyne from mine estate as well as from others , besides my pronsim of oat-meale for their lives , and hemp for their deaths . item , to my vassals of my seignory , i give their long desired freedome . item , to the poor of my parish , for every curse they give me , the sum of 000. and i do make and ordain my loving and intimate friends , archibald johnson , lard wareston , and william dundasse , sometime governour of edinborough castle executors of this my last will , to whom i freely give all the rest and residue of my whole estate not hereby disposed , requesting them by all the obligations of conscience and honesty , to compeere suddenly in this kingdome , and take upon them the execution of the premisses , no way doubting or mistrusting but that they shall be well rewarded . all this i ratifie and confirm by the mysteries of the stool of repentance , on which i devoutly set my breech , and having done sealed it with a — and i do hereby revoke all former wills by me made , as not being framed according to that holy pattern of the covenant , from which under damnation no man may recede a tittle ; and which i will further to be cut in brasse and laid upon my tomb-stone subscribed arguile . done in the presence of sir john chersly . david lesley . the character of the late marques of arguile . so many remarkable accidents , such alterations of government , affairs of such moment and intrigues of state , do fall in with this marquesses memoires , that it will rather seem a history then a character to speak him out . his birth rendred him very noble , and his education proffered him the advantage of making it nobler , though for that he was beholding to the first tempest of the times , being by his late majesty to oblige him from the rebellion then on foot , created a marquess . he was of stature something exceeding the mean , like his own country-men the highlanders , with a biggness proportionable to it , his face somewhat long , his cheeks wide , the haire of his beard red , his eyes very much a squint , so that he was nicknamed in scotland gleed arguile , which remembers me of that proverb — quem deus in oculo notavit hunc caveto . there will no more need to be said of h●s person , which the hands of the executioner have so lately profaned ; nor was there any thing in him that was good so remarkable , as to invite you to be curious , and it will be best for him that he sleep forgotten , lest the remarques of his face should fright fancifull people like a spectium . he was one of that wicked triumvirate , who began continued and lived to the end of our troubles . a most dexterous artist in that prime quality of a scot , dissimulation , which was the ground work of all the exploits he did after . if ever he seemed what he was ( though that be not to be over-believed ) 't was in the matter of the covenant , which he entred into so eager and resolutely , and left it and the world together so confidently and avowedly ; and yet the middle agreed with neither , when in the crisis of the sincerity , honesty , and loyalty of that libel which it so highly boasted of , as to the maintenance of the kings person dignity and authority ; by this marquesses counsel , his late majesty was delivered into the hands of the english at newcastle . but it is most evident , that the right spelling of covenant is covetousness , and according to that he very well kept it , having shared a good part of that 200000 l. given the scotch army for their departure . he was as versatile as a dy , and like that sometimes , was plaid alwayes with very lucky hands ( as those times were ) and was every way as square , stood firm on his own interest , and could oppose a broad-side to every emergency of fortune ( then adored by the name of providence ) he was in with all the several usurpers , and that not by a servile subjection , but as a petty princes interest , that could help them as well by informing and discovering as supplies and stores , though the latter to cromwell was a mere braga●ocio , and beyond the high mightiness of his highland soveraignty , where his baseness had lost him all respect and obedience . certainly he was the proteus of the age , and had not the sudden surprisal of our most happy resolution seized him sup●nely careless and at a great distance ( though he hurried up to london to wait on his majesty ) and then bound him fast , that he could have no liberty to assume any other shape then what he was then found in ( being denied accesse or audience at court ) he might have been a riddle still , whereas now death hath resolved him. all that ever he did handsomely was then , and yet that too was but a meer disguise , since so dissonant to the whole course of his life , a meer imitation , though so well personated that we may well let it passe for a bravery , and allow it to him as he was a gentleman . he was a great fomenter of war , yet cared not at all to endanger himself , like the monkey that took the cats foot to pull the chesnut out of the fire , nor was he much to be blamed , having been by the marquess of montrosse so often put to shift ( and that narrowly too ) for his life : what he wanted of the generosity of a war●ier , he supplied with the malice of a witch , being the most implacable revengeful enemy , loyalty ever met with in scotland . learned he was , and that not as a gentleman enough to set off and polish but to accomplish him ; and a most exellent way of speech he had ( if it be possible any thing can sound handsome in scotch ) very fluent and rhetorical . his speeches at his tryal ( which were said to have been spoken ex tempore , because they would not allow him his delays , but compelled him to present answer ) are very grave and sententious , yet polite and very cunning . he was a deep lawyer and was formerly lord cheif justice , i think not much taxed for bribery ( for i take all their lands , estates , and whatever scotland is worth not to be worth a suite , much lesse the overplus of a greazing ) yet all this while a bad nature predominated , like stinking oyle upon generous wine ; his potentiality to vertue never exerted it self , while his vices were most notorious and boyant . it is a truth undenyable that he died unpitied of all men , and the reason was this , the universality and complication of his vices could miss no mans eyes , and for one fault or other so many single observations hit him , as drew a general odium upon him ; excepting onely the presbyterian clergy , who alwayes had a particular respect for him , not from any other inducement but the necessity of dependance , the kirk rides while the lords hold the reines , and keep that people under the tyranny of that worse then turkish government . he was the first promoter of the discipline , and that with an earnestness extraordinary , wherein no doubt he served himself principally , and the large demeasnes he died possest of , will evidence , what religion he was of , and how beneficial a thing reformation is to the first projectors . he was at feud with all his superiours in scotland as well as his peers ; of four marquesses he procured the execution of three ; viz. hamilton , huntley , montrosse ; the other , douglasse , through his his impotency and infirmity escaped him , so that he was lord paramount there no doubt his abilities prompted him to cope with the greatness and authority of those noblemen , whose great and honourable families would soon have smothered and suppressed an ordinary envy , while his burned and flamed at their grave . he was a profound politician of a fine mercurial spirit , of whom it may be said dis-junctively , what his late majesty said of the earl of strafford . he was su●h a minister of state , that he might well be ashamed of himself ; and his prince as rightly fear him . there was nothing wanting in him but loyalty and honesty , two such dispensable things with presbytery , that they could hardly be afforded roome in their morals for one whole age together ; but it had been direct blaspemy to blend and incorporate them into their religion , however , for specious pretence sake they crept into the covenant he was a most indefatigable carrier on of his designes , and that with very great expedition , though his motions were eccentrick , but all turbulent , and violent efforts are usually very sudden : he thrice repaired , and recruited his broken forces by the marquess of montrosse , before there could be any thought of an enemy from him . he was never discouraged with any disappointment , but he would set the kirk to thunder out anathema's , and himself made proscriptions and levies together , fight with the pen and the sword at one and the same time : but his escripts were not julius caesars commentaries , but c. marius his publications and sentencings , betwixt whom there is in many things a neer parallel . to take a neerer view of him and put him altogether , he was absolutely master of all the arts of state ; it were no injury to him to say it was his religion , since the great successes of rebellion led him to a firm beleif that there was nothing but what was manageable by , and feasible to policy . but he so mixt them both in his affairs that it was not easily discernable to which he owed most ; by the first he secured his interest , and had not the excesses of the english usurpation out-run him , probably advanced his designes to that which hamilton was suspected of ; by the other he procured an awe and reverence to himself , being vogued up by the clergy , and rendred to the vulgar as a pattern of piety and zealous promoter of godliness , till such time as the vizor of the specious reformation was laid aside , and bold fac'd interest outstared the impudency of the kirk , and made them veile to , and worship the devil they had raised . in a word he was the right antithesis to that glorious marques of montrosse , so that whoever read or hath heard of his excellencies , may by opposition know the vileness of this . such is the order of the world , though there be no standing mean , yet that the extremes should ballance one another : otherwise it had been a most hard fate for scotland ( who can impute her dishonour and total conquest to name originally but arguile ) to have produced no renowned person his contemporary , such as was montrosse , whose glories and fame may fill up his chasmes in their history . finis . a dialogue between mr. guthrey & mr. giffan . guthrey . brother the time is come that we must glorify presbytery in , and therefore i would have you to cloath your self with resolution like as in a plad , that our ends may be like heroick to the righteous royalists , whom we sent before us in this way . giffan . i doubt we are not so well appointed , but sure we that durst do any thing , may dare to die , and therefore , good father confessor , give me your blessing that i may be armed with all the kirk ammunition and store necessary for this expedition . gut. i am to seek my self , the perplexities of my cause , and the treachery of a revolting party have begot the staggers ; but i will muster up and summon all the confidence of my life past to bear up with at my exit . giff. my crimes are complicated and of a larger extent then yours , and yet i doubt not but by the dram of the bottle and your good example , to face it out rarely . gut. well said , for who would pule , and sneak now ; that ought to have been done before , when some favour might have been expected from it . the kirk will canonize us . giff. besides what presbyterian is he that would desire life longer then he may have his will ? we should die of the sullens , if we were not offered this brave advantage ; but you must tell me what i must say , when i come to it , in honour of the cause , and by what epithete i shall stile it . gut. our case is novel , and there was never any thing said before by any in our condition upon this subject , save what was lately held forth by arguile , most cunningly : now it is not requisite for you and me to be so modest or mealy mouthed , but we will bounce up the covenant . giff. sir i am pretty well armed already , but if you teach me not now , when you have had so much time to digest it into a method , i shall shame you , and that will be little for your credit . gut. presbytery in a method ! i tell you you must rave at randome , never speak any thing appositely but what is direct treason , that you may be plainly understood , t is for our brethren of england who yet are troubled with little learning and great benefices , to speak indifferently . giff. sir i say still tell me the form , i le be hang'd in the presbyterian way . gut. i le assure you that 's the comfortablest , and i have studied for it ; as you live a rogue so you die a rogue , or contrarywise , and the hangman himself shall not dare to quarrel with you ; o the fear and terrour of excommunication ! giff. sir pray do not spare it , thunder it out , damn the whole town , leave nothing within a mile of a tree out of the devils reach , 't is as soon done by the kirk as by a witch . gu. that will not advantage me or you , there 's a consecrated place in the market within the lines of communication where we must expire , and i le trouble the devil no longer , i wont go a foot further , here we began and here we will end . giff. o edinborough ! o glascow ! and all the renowned places of our principal assemblies , thither shall the precise ones go a pilgrimage yearly , and devoutly worship . gu. well leave that to time , i shall now briefly instruct you what you are to do in this your last act. gif . i assure you i will not vary one jota , i know you have the infallibility of the kirk . gut. well then , first you must look as grim , and sowre as varges , speak not a pleasing word to any of the officers about you ; when you have thus composed your self , then you must with some vehement indignation declare and declaime against the licentiousness and loose living of the times , where you must by no meanes take any notice of the kings restauration , and his return to his kingdoms and government , unless a thing offer it self , wherein you may have an occasion to reflect an imputation upon him , there you may gird a little , but be sure you laugh but at one side of your mouth , else you spoil all . gif . i think there 's no necessity of laughter on any side , but i am sure there will be grinning on both ; but i shall never know how to bring a story in so artificially . gut. if you know but any common places of raillery , envy , calumnations , lies , forgeries or other , stick not to lay them on soundly , you know the presbyterian rule — calumniare fortiter , aliquid haerebit with such loud reproachful accusations the puritans first began their designes against church and state. gif . well sir proceed . guthrey . then you must set forth the excellency of our way , by shewing what a blessed change was wrought upon the people of the nation since the covenant was taken , and what signal tokens there were of approbation of it . giffan . you do not reckon this for one sure , do you ? gut. o yes , that 's the cream of the jest , you must own this as the greatest indulgence of providence in the world , it being an evident proof of the grouth of presbytery ; now it comes to be watered by the blood of its martyrs ; 't was before a dry plant , and cannot reckon one drop spilt before on it . gif . would it had been planted in affrica , where better vegetables grow without aid of any moisture : sir , i am sure mine will do it no good , it is not sound and wholesome , there are the faeces of other opinions in it , which will rather infect then propagate . gut. you must understand our modern synods make no distinction betwixt the cause and the person in martyrdome for presbytery , if the covenant be objected against you in observing any the least scruple thereof , either by sacriledge , rebellion , or other ways — i can assure you , you die their martyr . gif . it is all one to me , i am not so curious , nor am i solicitous of that honour ; nor yet would i die like hugh peters . gu. no he was manifestly and apparently besotted , or else so frighted with horrours and despairs within , that his after doom was begun before execution here . gif . sir , i must clap in a word , i do not see our case to be much different from his , and i begin to coole , my heart blood flutters and quakes , pray tell me what distinction the modern synods have made in this case . gu. i see you are carnal and consult with flesh and blood , i spoke those last words of him , as an independent , one whom the kirk had cast off and rejected , alass ! we have delivered them to satan ever since our project failed in england , they are no more to us then portugal to the papacy of rome , or a protestant to a papist . gif . they say they are of a nearer relation to you , your younger brothers and the wiser too . gu. i confess they did follow our pattern a long time , but it was with a designe to spoil our copy , and they supplanted us by the same artifice we used , a greater seeming austerity of life and conversation ; now i must deal ingenuously , what ever they did else was conformable enough to what we hold forth , but rivals and competitors were not endurable . gif . in short , i think you were all one , for i can guess shrewdly by my self ; after i had once taken the covenant , ( like a man who looks for no directions in the midst of the mire ) i cared not what i undertook , through thick or thin . to swear for nothing was the next employment to a knight of the post. i supposed we did not stretch forth our hands in vain ; so like other folks , i laid my clutches on what ever i met ; and to you my confessor may i tell , i stretcht out my hand ( by my consent and approbation , for you must know i aim'd at preferment ) against my lawful soveraign . gu. did you cut off his head , or were you personally present on the scaffold when it was done ? gif . no i was not , an advantage lay in my way , and my tongue tript over it , and so i gave out that i was a cheif instrument in that business . gu. push ! all your scruples are not worth a school-boys resolution ; first you are frighted with the president of hugh peters , one whos 's codpeice had wasted his head-peice ; and the thoughts of a butcher and his wife running in his mind just before the cleaver and fagots , may allow him a little despondency : but for the other , the bringing the king to the block , that 's the most impertinent case of conscience i ever heard of , for it is as commonly imputed to us covenanters , as our tautologies and wild excursions , bold and frivolous expressions in our prayers and sermons have been , and as justly . comfort thy self dear brother , i tell you as long as you were not the executioner , in oculis diaboli , you did nothing . i preacht that doctrine in effect some years before it was perpetrated , i thank god my presbyterian conscience had never the least compunction in the world for it . i have got into such a traine of it , that if it had not been for that anti-christian fashion of arch-bishop laud to make a sermon at my death . i would have preacht a sermon on that subject . however now i 'le do little less . gif . now your consolations reach me , pray go on . gu. for the rest i refer you to our remonstrances ; i profess i wonder they do not hang them about my neck : our exquisite malice serv'd moutrosse so , we took all his declarations and papers , and fastned them like a band to the collar , his halter . gif . if they put the covenant to your remonstrances t were but due justice , but the law and sober men ( it seems ) scorne such impotent and pitiful revenges . gu. i profess i should glory in them , as confidently as he did in his , nobly . i triumpht in the undeserv'd fate of that man , and my exasperating language when those loyal souls were sacrificed to our lusts , hath begot in me a relentless heart to mine own , much more ( dear brother ) your condition . gif . can you not weep crocodile for your self ? gu. no , no , you shall see me observe all these things i have directed you in , to a punctilio , without the least approaches to humanity . gif . do you mean you will be uncivil , or that you resolve to die roman like ? gu. i le do both , you shall hear me defie the king and all his parliaments , armies , and what ever comes within a royal , etc. gif . gods bread sir , you 'l e'ne say enough for us beeth , would your reverence might hang for us beeth , i's never speak a word more against my prince . gu. too late to repent brother , do you not remember of whom it was said by emphatical interrogation , did not — die like a fool ? gif . what do you deduce and infer out of this scripture . gu. that it is better to die like a knave , and but that my time is short i would insist upon reasons thereof , wherefore i will conclude with the application onely . my dearly beloved brethren of the covenant , stand fast in the perswasion to which you have sold your selves , body and soul ; and if there be any jenkinites among you , that can turn as often as a shrove tuesday pancake ( my ill boding spirit foretels me of a great apostacy ) have no conversation with them , but continue stedfast , that so the blessings of your scotch parents may be upon you and yours henceforth and for ever . the recantation of mr. patrick gillespy , &c. whereas i patrick gillespy , presbyter , being convened before the high court of parliament and the lord commissioner his grace , and there charged in due process with several treasonable and seditious speeches and papers against his majesties person , family , authority , and government , of which i ought justly to stand convict , the said crimes being manifestly found releivant against me ; yet through the undeserved clemency of my judges having obtained leave to consider and consult with my self , they desiring if by any means possible to reclaim or dispossess a presbyterian spirit ; do in satisfaction to their lordships , and out of a pressing fear of death ensuing , most humbly recant and retract ( saving to my self alwayes a power if occasion serve to deny them again ) these following errours , and dangerous tenets . first , whereas i have dogmatically and avowedly taught that princes if they will not be ruled tby he kirk , and in all things conform themselves to their dictates , as being his supream , and a power ordained over him , might by the said holy kirk be bound and manacled , or more plainly , imprisoned and deposed , and finally put to death . i do now truely and unfeignedly relinquish that fond opin●on , begot in me by the excess of our lordly domination over his present majesty , ( as also the necessitated condition of his glorious father ) when with us in scotland 1650 , my eyes through the multiplied terrours of death , seeing as through a glass the manifold danger of that principle : the rather for that the gude people of scotland will daunce no longer after our pipe ; when we thought the circe● incantations and charms of our kirk had transfor●●● and alienated them into everlasting rebellion . i do therefore heartily and resolvedly abjure that doctrine , which i know will never be believed again in scotland , under the danger of being next inslaved , whereas they scape for th●s time , by being but conquered . and this i do informed by reason of state , not complying altogether with it in my conscience . secondly , whereas i have often declared in the pulpit , that god had rejected his present majesty , together with his family ; for not owning the hand of providence against him , but pers●sting in the steps of his ancestors , who were enemies to reformation : i do freely confesse from my heart , that i never thought of his restauration by any visible means abroad ; and it was so farre from the intendments of this kirk , either to advance or defend him , that we would have made an easier bargain of him then of his father , had a chapman offered in time : and ( as learned coke , i mean the high court of justice solicitor said in the very same case , for his life also ) since it was crimen avaritiae non malitiae , covetousness not cruelty , i pray your lordships do not put a greedy presbyter to repent of that . and yet i will make bold a little further with your patience , while i repeat in an humble and submisse reverence , what a great rabby of our way in england , effectually and advantagiously said for himself in a most curious petition to the rump of the commonwealth of england , in the same words mutatis mutandis , about mr. loves business . i shall omit the title as no way serving my design , having declared already the powers to whom it was addrest . shemeth , that your petitioner being deeply sensible of your high displeasure into which by some late actings he is unawares fallen , hath made a greater research after the mind of god in these late dispensations of his providence in the great curns and changes of state in this common-wealth , and is therein wholly convinced , that all powers are of god , and that he both dispose of them according to his own good will and pleasure , that he is also satisfied and convinced , that no person may presume under damnation to resist or withstand the said powers . and whereas your petitioner , by several failures of obedience to this authority p'aced over him by god , is become obnorious to your justice , and that accordingly he is to be tryed for the same , and unlesse your mercy mediate , and prevent the sentence , is like to suffer the severity of your just indignation . your petitioner in all humility prostrates himself before you , beseeching you favourably to remit his offences , he engaging to live in all due obedience to your government , and to pray for the prosperity and continuance thereof signed w. jenkins . this so well succeeded , that upon the return of those rotten members by lamberts resurrection to their place , and possession of the power again , he was the onely man thought fit to preach the congratulatory sermon , which he did very gravely and heartily , thankfully remembring their bringing him from life to death , to see a like miracle for them in that their happy day : and why may not i , my lord , be such an honest godly convert , if you please to try me but this once . thirdly , whereas it is objected and proved against me , that neither during the time his majesty was in scotland , nor since , i did ever so much as mention his majesty , ( unlesse with bitter taunts and reflections ) in my prayers , nay , have wholly discontinued praying for him after his defeat at worcester , besides my discontented preachments , since his return to his kingdoms ; i do freely acknowledge , that what i did was by the major vote of my fellow remonstrants , and in obedience to the usurping english , whom in all kirk policy and reason , and the general practise of our brethren in england ( ever since 1642 when the warre began , where they prayed for the king as gamesters for ill dice , with curse ye meroz , ) we were forced to comply-with , even in our private devotions ; so fear'd we were that any body , nay god alinighty himself should hear us to speak for the king. i must indeed herein acknowledge my weakness , for i cannot but confesse , that if we did not then excommunicate him 't was because we thought the english sectaries would not thank us , who were able enough to shut him out of this kingdome without our keyes . as for my malapertnesse since his restitution , i humbly pray your lordship to consider , how many inveterate diseases are grown upon presbytery in its declining age ; crazinesse and testinesse are inseparable companions of it now , as madnesse , rashnesse and hot zeal gave life and being to 't . but if your lordships suspect me incurable , deal with me as favourably as the english have done to philip nye , and i will learn and endeavour to frame my mouth ( with him ) to the thanksgivings of secret murmurs , whispers , obloquies and reproaches against the state and kingdome . item , whereas i stand charged with procuring and inciting the parliament of this kingdome , then sitting at edinborough , to take away the lives of the marquesse montrosse , and those other gentlemen then prisoners with him ; and that i did dispitefully , and maliciously traduce the memories of those persons after their death . as i cannot deny it , so i will not nor cannot make any defence to it : if your lord●hips be pleased to consider the kirk , whose motto from tomyr● was satia te sanguiue , and whose inexpletible cruelties have murdered more in one age , then all the tyrannies in the christian world have done in twenty ; you will find my particular case , like to one in a contagion , i did that in the height of the infection ; for then the tokens were on us , and we came to present destruction . a general malignancy and fury seized us , and we kill'd and slew those persons in our rage , whose courage , conduct and loyalty might haved the kingdome . my lords , you have confitentem reum to this particular . and so i say no more to it . to all the rest of the charge exhibited against me , as refractorinesse , rebellion , the businesse of the remonstrance , &c. i appear before your lordships with a clear and cleansed stomach to confesse them , i have vomited up the covenant , and have purged out the remonstrance ; i am swept clean , and if your mercy enter not speedily , the seven deadly devils of presbytery will soon return , and i shall be worse then i was at first . therefore i say make sure of me , lest like my brother crofton , i say one thing to night by way of submission , and the next morning boggle at it again , like an old womans arse at no certainty . just , just now i am in the humour , if you let this cold fit go off me , and remove the death-head , i shall unsay all again , and then the london elders will boast wonderfully , and some other fools will plague you with my example here , as well as some there , therefore be sure you record it , that there may be no exception against the verity of it , when ever i may have the opportunity of reneging . signed and delivered to be kept as a monument of the courage of sir john presbyter . patrick gillespy . the postscript . pray be pleased to communicate these sad dispensations upon this our late flourishing kirk to the morning lecture ; we are utterly divided here , such skipping and leaping from principles , such a variation and contrariety to the received discipline , that a hopping diversicoloured jack daw may be a fitter embleme for the covenant then a phaenix . you are never like to have any other newes but of scotland , and so gude brethren set your hearts at rest and be quiet . farewell . finis . notes, typically marginal, from the original text notes for div a51762-e6670 mr. jenkins an enquiry into the new opinions, chiefly propagated by the presbyterians of scotland together with some animadversions on a late book, entitled, a defence of the vindication of the kirk : in a letter to a friend at edinburgh / by a.m., d.d. monro, alexander, d. 1715? 1696 approx. 88 kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from 33 1-bit group-iv tiff page images. text creation partnership, ann arbor, mi ; 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(eebo-tcp ; phase 1, no. a51155) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set 100948) images scanned from microfilm: (early english books, 1641-1700 ; 795:35) an enquiry into the new opinions, chiefly propagated by the presbyterians of scotland together with some animadversions on a late book, entitled, a defence of the vindication of the kirk : in a letter to a friend at edinburgh / by a.m., d.d. monro, alexander, d. 1715? [12], 339, [1] p. printed for walter kettilby, london : 1696. attributed to alexander monro. cf. bm. errata: p. [11] advertisement on p. 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should bear in mind that in all likelihood such instances will never have been looked at by a tcp editor. the texts were encoded and linked to page images in accordance with level 4 of the tei in libraries guidelines. copies of the texts have been issued variously as sgml (tcp schema; ascii text with mnemonic sdata character entities); displayable xml (tcp schema; characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or text strings within braces); or lossless xml (tei p5, characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or tei g elements). keying and markup guidelines are available at the text creation partnership web site . eng rule, gilbert, 1629?-1701. -defence of the vindication of the church of scotland. presbyterian church -controversial literature. church of scotland -history. presbyterians -scotland -early works to 1800. 2005-05 tcp assigned for keying and markup 2005-07 aptara keyed and coded from proquest page images 2005-08 john cords sampled and proofread 2005-08 john cords text and markup reviewed and edited 2005-10 pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion an enquiry into the new opinions ( chiefly ) propagated by the presbyterians of scotland ; together also with some animadversions on a late book , entituled , a defence of the vindications of the kirk : in a letter to a friend at edinburgh . by a. m. d. d. jeremiah 6.16 . — ask for the old paths , where is the good way , and walk therein , and ye shall find rest for your souls : but they said , we will not walk therein . london : printed for walter kettilby , at the bishop's-head in st. paul ' s church-yard , 1696. the contents of this treatise . the introduction , inviting all the true sons of the church ( especially the afflicted clergy ) to the most serious exercise of true repentance and humiliation , p. 1 , 2 , 3 , 4 , 5 , &c. the doctrines and principles that we contend for against the later sectaries are primitive , catholic , and orthodox . p 9 , 10 , 11. chap. i. the insufficiency of those pleas and arguments managed by the presbyterians , against the catholic church , in defence of their new doctrine of parity , p. 12 , 13 , 14. their arguments reduc'd to three general heads , p. 15. 1. their pleas from the pretended immediate institution of our saviour , considered , p. 16 , 17 , 18 , 19 , 20 , 21. 2. their arguments from the confusion of names , observable in the new testament , proved to be vain and sophistical , p. 22 , 23 , 24 , 25 , &c. 3. their arguments from the testimony of ecclesiastical writters examined , p. 39 , 40. the testimony of st. clement the apostolical bishop of rome , vindicated from the wilful mistakes of presbyterians , p. 41 , 42 , 43 , 44 , &c. the testimony of st. polycarp bishop of smyrna and disciple of st. john the apostle , enquired into particularly , p. 49 , 50 , 51. the testimony from hermas impartially viewed , and the disingenuity of monsiour blondel reproved , p. 52 , 53 , 54 , &c. pope pius his epistle to justus viennensis censured as spurious ; and if it was genuine , cannot serve the presbyterian design , p. 56. the instance of marcion the heretic as unfit to support the new doctrine , as the former testimony from the spurious epistle of pope pius , p. 57. the testimony from justin martyr impertinently alledged by our adversaries , p. 58 , 59. the testimony of the gallican martyrs , p. 62 , 63. the testimony of st. cyprian , p. 64. the testimony from the authority of st. jerome , p. 65. the error of st. jerome discovered to be very different from the new doctrine of the presbyterians , p. 66. st. jerome never acknowledged any interval , after the death of the apostles in which ecclesiastical affairs were managed , communi presbyterorum consilio . ibid & seqq. st. jerome taught , that episcopacy was the apostolical remedy of schism , from p. 65. to p. 80. the testimony from the authority of saint austin , examined . saint austin reasoned from the succession of single persons governing the church of rome from the days of the apostles , and by this argument overthrew the doctrine and schism of the donatists , p. 81. to p. 94. chap. ii. of the succession of bishops from the apostles , p. 94. some presbyterian concessions preliminary to the true state of the controversie , p. 95 , 96. the apostolical office considered , with regard to its permanent and essential nature ▪ 2ly . as it was adorned with extraordinary and miraculous advantages . the first was to continue for ever in the church , the second was transient and occasional , with regard to the first plantations of christianity . the apostolical and episcopal office the same in its original nature , essence , and design , p 98 , 99 , 100 , 101 , &c. the true state of the controversie , whether the apostles left the government of particular churches to single successors , or to a college of presbyters acting in parity and equality , p. 105 , 106 , the first is affirmed by all records , whether we consider the inspired writings of the apostles , or the ecclesiastical histories of after ages , p. 107 , &c. the true notion of an evangelist altogether different from the permanent office of timothy or titus , p. 111. saint james the just , established bishop of jerusalem by the apostles , and he in that city was the centre of unity , and episcopal succession in that see , p. 112 , 113. the episcopal power lodged in his person , ib. the angels of the asiatic churches , bishops in the strictest sense , p. 114 , &c. the whole question reduced to three enquiries , p. 118 , &c. the force of the primitive argument against hereticks , from the succession of single persons , p. 123 , 124 , 125. the ancients could not be deceived in an affair of this nature , p. 128 , 129. the impossibility of changing the ecclesiastical government from parity to prelacy , in the primitive ages , all things duly considered , p. 136 , 137. this proved at length from the concessions of the learned presbyterians , salmasius , blondel , and bochartus , ibid. the peevishness of our adversaries in this controversie , p. 150. the epistles of st. ignatius overthrow the pretences of parity , even upon salmasius his own hypothesis , p. 152 , 153 , &c. the whole controversie reduced to nine plain queries , p. 157 , 158 , 159 , 160. the power of bishops over the subordinate clergy and lay-men , in the primitive ages , p. 161. the presbyterian exception against large diocesses discussed , p. 162 , 163 , 164. saint james the just , a diocesan bishop in the strictest sense , p. 164 , 165. chap. iii. of several other new opinions propagated by the presbyterians of scotland , p. 168. their doctrine concerning the holy-days of our saviour's nativity , resurrection , and ascension , ibid. anniversary solemnities not founded upon any divine or express institution observed in the jewish and christian church , p. 172 , &c. presbyterian exceptions removed , p. 175 , 176 , 177. this further prosecuted from several other considerations , p. 179 , 180 , &c. the festivity of christmas more particularly considered , p. 185. the vindicator's mistakes exposed , by the anniversary commemoration of the martyrs , celebrated by the first christians , p. 188 , &c. the new explications of the vindicator insisted on , p. 196 , &c. some other ridiculous fancies examined , viz , that christmas was observed in honour of julius caesar , p. 205. the testimony cited from buchanan cannot serve the presbyterian design , p. 207 , 208. chap. iv. of the presbyterian notion of schism , and their fabulous stories concerning a presbyterian church in scotland , in the first ages of christianity , p. 211. several considerations proposed to prove our scotish presbyterians schismaticks from the catholic church , in the strictest sense of that word , p. 213 , 214 , &c. a particular enquiry into that fabulous story propagated by our adversaries , viz. that there was a presbyterian church in scotland in the first ages of christianity , p. 228 , 229. the authors cited by the vindicator of the kirk , to support this dream , particularly considered , p. 230. the authority of prosper mistaken , and the testimony cited by our adversaries , from his chronicon consulare , more narrowly enquired into , p. 245 , &c. chap. v. the presbyterian doctrine concerning rites and ceremonies examined . p. 250 , 251. their notions contradict the practice of all civiliz'd nations , ibid. the frequent allusions to uncommanded significant ceremonies practised in the worship of god , that we meet with in the holy scriptures , prove such ceremonies lawful beyond all contradiction , p. 254 , &c. several exceptions , offered by the vindicator , removed , p. 256 , 257. the orthodox principle prov'd from an allusion to the ceremony of immersion , practis'd in the apostolical church of rome , proved from rom. 6.4 . pag. 265. of presbyterian ordinations , and how little can be said in their defence , p. 276 , &c. the doctrine of non-resistance , truly understood , is safe and christian in it self , and in all its tendencies , p. 284 , 285. the enthusiastic singularities of the later presbyterians , in rejecting all publick forms , in the solemn worship of god , reproved , p. 289 , 290 , 291 , &c. calvin's three arguments for publick liturgies are solid and unanswerable , p. 293 , 294 , 295. the vindicator's usual reproach , viz , that the clergy of our church are superstitious , examined , p. 295 , &c. the nature of superstition explain'd , and a parallel insisted on , between the superstitious usages of the ancient hereticks , and the modern practices of the later sectaries , p. 296 , 297 , 298 , &c. the vindicator's attempt to justifie his unaccountable paradox forc'd upon the words of st. jerome , from some expositions offered by the learned grotius , chastised and exposed , and the vanity of that comparison demonstrated , p. 305 , 306 , 307. the conclusion exhorting all the true sons of the church to pray for the peace and unity of its members . it is expected the reader will pardon some points and comma's that are misplac'd . the errors that disturb the sense most , are these following . page 16. l. 20. r. new. p. 20. marg . r. locum . p. 55. l. 20. r. praecipue . p. 60. marg . for hadriani , r. saturnini . p. 74. l. 21. r. genuine , p. 81. l. 26. r. needs . p. 84. l. 17. r. hieronymo . p. 92. l. 15. r. smectimnuus . p. 116. l. 3. after angel , add , as it is render'd by the septuagint . p. 138. l. 21. r. centesimum . p. 159. l. 2. r. a. p. 162. l. 5. r. saeculi , p. 182. l. 19. r. acuteness . p. 189. l. 7. r. accurate . p. 199. l 3. r. foppish . p. 253. l. 28. r. treatises . p. 255. l. 25. after unguarded , add , and not supported . p. 291. l. 13. after that , add , it . p. 319. l. 2. r. shadow . an enquiry into the new opinions , &c. sir , i thought that our enemies had made an end of their libels , but i see that it is not so easie for them to forbear the practices that we complain of . the malignity of faction is endless , and there is nothing so apt to be oppressed and reviled as truth and innocence . we must ( in these days of atheism and confusion ) arm our selves against calumnies and contradictions : and if we are not guarded by resolution and fortitude , we must desert ( not only the peculiar ministries of the priesthood , but ) the profession of christianity it self . we are surrounded on all hands by the most ungenerous and spiteful adversaries , the open and scandalous sensualities of some , and the spiritual raveries of others , lay siege to the foundations of our faith , and it is with great difficulty that the publick worship of god is not quite extinguished , as it is indeed despised and ridicul'd : so grievous is our present calamity , that the contending parties amongst us do impute our disasters to different causes , and therefore we are the further remov'd from out true cure. if we were so impartial as to acknowledge our iniquities with sorrow and remorse , we would quickly find the exercise of contrition and repentance more proper to remove the marks of god's anger , than the other methods that are most pleasing to flesh and blood. there is nothing more essential to natural religion than the belief of god's wise and watchful providence . it interposes in the meanest . accidents of humane life , and much more in the remarkable ruins and calamities of publick societies and churches : and if we do not hear the voice of the rod , and of him that hath appointed it , he hath still more terrible plaues in reserve for us than the spoiling of our goods , or the affronting of our persons . let us therefore draw near unto him by our fervent prayers , and ingenuous humiliations : for the most innocent amongst us may find in the view of his life several actions and omissions very displeasing to our heavenly father , as well as unsuitable to our baptismal vows and engagements ; therefore the hand of god is stretched out against us , and he is provoked to let loose amongst us a spirit of error and confusion : and though we may be very innocent as to the accusations of those who have wickedly combin'd to defame us , yet who of us can understand his errors ? if all things without us are in such disorder ; then is it high time for us to look within our selves , and to fix our thoughts on their true objects : if we are expos'd to the sadest toslings and uncertainties , we must endeavour to establish the tranquillity of our mind ? if we know not where to lay our head , if we have no property upon earth , the natural conclusion is , to seek those things that are above . if here we are persecuted and oppressed , we must carry our thoughts and desires to that invisible sanctuary that yields true ease and repose under all pressures and afflictions . it is worth our while to enquire why we , who have been dedicated to the services of the altar , are more particularly struck at than others . it is not so much our business to complain of our persecutors , as to look unto him that smites us : and if he ( by the discipline of so many crosses ) oblige us to consider more narrowly the frame of our souls , we may with greater ease part with our , former conveniencies . let every one of us retire into himself , and open up the several foldings of his own conscience , and endeavour hereafter to regulate our actions by true and christian principles knowing that all things are naked and open to the eyes of him with whom we have to do , and to whom we are shortly to give an account of our time and talents , and of all things that we have done in the body whether they be good or evil . if we must suffer , let us imitate the captain of our salvation : this is edifying to the church , and it establishes the composure of our own mind . let us canvass and examine the doctrines and practices for which we suffer , and enquire whether they be not the principles of the catholic and primitive church in her first and purest ages . we must not think that we are discharg'd from the peculiar offices of our ministry , because we are forc'd from our residence , and exposed to all sorts of indignities . we must firmly believe that all things work together for good to them that love god : and that our patience and meekness may be of greater use to the church than if we had been allow'd to continue in our former stations . we see how much holy things are contemn'd in our days , how triumphantly atheism and impiety lift up their banners every where . let us endeavour as much as is possible to preserve some remains of religion amongst the people . let us assert the ancient order and piety that made the christian church so beautiful in former ages . the apostle informs us , that the time would come when men could not endure sound doctrine , but after their own lust shall they heap to themselves teachers having itching ears , and they shall turn away their ears from the truth , and shall be turned unto fables . the great founder of our religion sent his apostles by found doctrine to enlighten the world , and they convey'd this spiritual authority unto others who should transmit it by an orderly succession ; and as their mission was heavenly in its original , so their doctrine was pure and holy in all its tendencies . they considered themselves as the ambas ▪ adors of jesus christ , and delivered their commission without any mixture or hypocrisy . they treated the people with all humility and tenderness , but in the mean time took great care to mortifie their lusts and their passions ; but when they grew wanton and headstrong , and thought themselves too wise to be led by their spiritual guides and rulers , then they would have teachers of their own , men chosen by themselves , such as were taught to calculate their doctrines to popular fancies and humours , such as would prostitute the gospel , to promote error and delusion , and make the kingdom of light subservient to that of darkness , and instead of serving our blessed saviour , they became slaves to the people , by whom they were originally employed : and because they were so unhappily successful as to gratifie their lusts , they were therefore voted the most edifying teachers . the primitive ministers of religion had their immediate commission from heaven , accordingly they endeavoured by all means to restore the image of god in the souls of men , to raise their thoughts and designs to that happiness and treasure which the world cannot give , which god truth promised and made sure by the resurrection of jesus christ from the dead . the other had their authority from men , and therefore they must needs please the people who sent them . they must reconcile the rules and morals of the gospel to the wicked practices and designs of the world : they must change the strictest maxims of the evangel into looser theorems , and the severe discipline of the ancient church unto all licence and luxury , the true faith that works by love unto airy notions and mistakes . thus the people were pleas'd , and the gospel was defeated , the church is ruin'd , and god dishonour'd . every man in his own station is obliged to contend for the faith once delivered to the saints . when the foundations of ecclesiastical unity are shaken loose , and the antient constitutions trampled upon with great insolence and impiety , then the hedge of t●●e religion is not only invaded but demolished , and without those sacred vehicles it must evaporate into giddiness and enthusiasm ; the extravagance of these last days is boundless as it sceptical , and christianity it self is more dangerously wounded by the delusions of some that are baptiz'd , than by the open blasphemies of infidels : the last may be assaulted by reason , ( at least in their more lucid intervals ) but the first are altogether inaccessible : we must not presume to instruct them who pretend to extraordinary illuminations , their errors are made strong by their vanity , they plead a divine right to every new opipinion , and if we approach them in the ancient paths of modesty and humility , they look down upon us with scorn and indignation ; nay , they are inflexible to the plainest and most convincing arguments . i have frequently , with grief and sorrow , considered the decays of religion , and the difficulties of our employment . we must pull down strong holds and lofty imaginations , and grapple with the rudest oppositions ; the avenues of mens souls are blockaded by passion and prejudices and they are fortified in their error , not only by the corruption of their nature , but by the artifice of seducers , their itching ears are pleased , their lusts are gratified , their passions are made more unruly , their envy , hatred , and malice are indulg'd ; and they are allow'd to distinguish themselves from all others by special titles of division and singularity , by which alone they think to make their calling and election sure . yet notwithstanding that we are thus resisted by the multitude of their follies and delusions , we must not give over by faintness and despondency . we must plead with them , who have left the unity of the church , by the words of truth and soberness , and exhort others to continue in that doctrine that was reveal'd by our saviour , taught by his apostles , and received by all churches in the first and best ages , that the present generation may not rise in judgment against us for our silence , nor posterity censure our cowardice . we must not be ashamed of the truth , even when it is contradicted with all possible violence and fury . i address this short treatise to you , with a design rather to assert the truth , than to reply to what hath been lately published by the vindicator of the kirk of scotland , against a certain book , entituled , apology for the clergy , &c. though i think it necessary to make some of his mistakes a little more apparent . there are certain practices and rituals received by the christian church , in all ages , which are not determin'd expresly in the holy scriptures in so many letters and syllables , yet by the plainest and most undeniable consequences , are agreeable to its general rules , and the uniform belief of all christians ; and they that deny those usages , or the lawfulness of those rituals , venture upon untrodden paths , and do foolishly condemn the wisdom of all former ages . the special providence of god hath so watch'd over the church , that , since the first plantations of christianity , we have preserved to us some records and monuments of its doctrine and practices . the books of such as have been learn'd in every age do plainly demonstrate that the first christians were agreed amongst themselves in the great articles of religion , and in the general rules of ecclesiastical discipline and order , and by this uniformity of doctrine and rituals they strengthened themselves against infidels and hereticks . there is nothing more opposite to the spirit of true religion than stubborness and petulance , and when we despise those constitutions that have been universally received amongst christians , we overthrow the foundations of peace and charity , and consequently we exclude our selves from the visible fellowship of christ's houshold and family . when we consider the schisms and tumults of particular churches , the confusions of so many revolutions , the shakings of so many nations , the boldness and activity of hereticks , we have reason to adore the goodness of god , that so many monuments of ecclesiastical antiquity are preserv'd ; and whatever is uniformly determin'd by the wisest and the best of christians ( their learn'dst bishops and presbyters ) must be received as the infallible truth of god , else we have no certain standard to distinguish the catholic church in former ages from the combinations of hereticks : these are new in their several errors and delusions , and upon that very account of their novelty were expos'd and refuted by the ancients : they neither agreed amongst themselves , nor with the orthodox . but the uniform voice of christendom in the first and purest ages , is the best key to the doctrine and practice of the apostles and their successors . if it appear then that the opinions which we oppose , and are propagated by the presbyterian societies are such as were never entertain'd in the christian church for fourteen hundred years after our saviour's incarnation , then i leave it to every sober christian to consider , whether he may safely continue in the communion of that party that despises the whole catholic church both ancient and modern . chap. i. the novelty and insufficiency of those pleas and arguments managed by the presbyterians in defence of their new doctrine of parity . the first opinion that i charge with error and novelty amongst our country-men , is this , that they affirm , upon all occasions , that our saviour hath appointed his church , under the new testament ( whether provincial , national , or oecomenic ) to be govern'd by the several classes of presbyters acting in perfect parity , and owning no subordination to any higher officer in the ecclesiastical senate above a presbyter in the modern and current notion of the word , such a doctrine must be of dangerous consequence , because it is altogether new , and never propagated in any part of the christian church until these last days of separation and singularity . in this opinion they differ , not only from the uniform testimony of antiquity , but also from the first presbyterians amongst ourselves , who declare in their confession of faith , that all church-polity is variable : so far they were at that time from asserting that indispensible , divine , and unalterable right of parity . all that the first presbyterians pleaded was , that their new form was allowable , and not repugnant to the oeconomy of the new testament and primitive institution ; and that it came very near to the original model of churches , but they never thought to advance such a bold and rash assertion as to affirm , that the christain church , by the original authority of our saviour and his apostles , ought to be govern'd in all ages by a parity of presbyters ; or that there was no other officer in the church could pretend to any share of ecclesiastical government above a presbyter . when a society of men set up for divine , absolute , and infallible right , they ought to bring plain proofs for what they say , else they must needs be look'd upon as impostors , or at least self-conceited and designing men. to propagate a doctrine under the notion of a probable opinion ( though it should happen to be an error ) is consistent with modesty , and the practice of learned men in all ages ; but to affirm a new notion to be established by divine right , and to require obedience to that scheme , as a thing that is due to supreme and infallible authority , is much worse than speculative enthusiasm . if a man only entertains himself with his visions and fancies , he alone suffers by it : but if i meet with a company of head-strong fellows , who must needs persuade me that they see so many armies in the air fighting , and with the exactest discipline of war ; nay , their banners , the shape and colour of their horses , their several squadrons , and the whole order of their encampment , and will certainly knock me in the head unless i take my oath upon it that i see all this , who never saw any such thing in my life . i think i have reason to complain that my circumstances , are very unlucky , i had certainly rather fall into the hands of high-way-men , than amongst those spiritual robbers , who divest me of my senses , and the exercise of my reason . if you inform our country men that their new doctrine is thus represented , they will tell you that none but wicked men oppose their government ; that it is establish'd upon the express institution of our saviour , that it hath been asserted and prov'd by several learned men of their party beyond contradiction . but if you ask by what particular argument you may be convinc'd of the truth of their new doctrine , then they begin to lead you into a labyrinth of dark and intricate consequences , obscure and perplext probabilities ; several texts of scripture they will alledge , but sadly wrested and distorted from their genuine meaning and design , and the uniform suffrages of all the ancients : and if you are not satisfied with such proofs as they advance , you must be contented to submit to their censure , and the new discipline must be obey'd where-ever their power is equal to their pretences . i can give you but a short history of their arguments by which they endeavour to establish their divine right of parity . when you read their books i think all their pleas of whatever kind or force may be reduc'd to these three heads . first , either they pretend that this parity of presbyters is expresly commanded by our saviour ; or , secondly , they endeavour to support it by consequences from several texts of scripture ; or thirdly , from the testimonies of the ancient writers of the church . first i say , they pretend that this parity of presbyters ( exclusive of the superiority or jurisdiction of a bishop ) is expresly commanded by our saviour . this indeed promises veryfair ; for if our saviour hath plainly and positively commanded that ecclesiastical affairs shall be managed in all churches and ages communi presbytero'um consilio , and by such a college of presbyters as excludes the authority and jurisdiction of a bishop , then , without all controversie , all christians are oblig'd to submit to it . the consequence is plain and undeniable ; and because our country-men do insist upon this more frequently than any of the foreign presbyterians , we ought to hear them calmly and deliberately ; and when they plead the authority of our blessed saviour we must view those texts with reverence and attention , and see if any thing can be inferred from them that may probably support the now scheme of presbytery . the parallel texts of scripture are , matth. 20. 25. but jesus called them unto him and said , ye know that the princes of the gentiles exercise dominion over them , and they that are great exercise authority upon them . v. 26. but it shall not be so great among you , but whosoever will be great among you , let him be your minister . v. 27. and whosoever will be chief among you , let him be your servant . v. 28 . even as the son of man came not to be ministred unto but to minister , and to give his life a ransom for many . see also mark 10. v. 42 , 43 , 44 , 45. and luke 22. 25. from these parallel places they plead , that the officers of chirist's house were by his own express . command establish'd in a perfect equality , even in such a parity as excludes the power and jurisdiction of any higher order than that of a presbyter in the modern notion . let us now examine , whether there be any foundation for their inference in the texts last mentioned . in the first place , we find that our blessed saviour supposes degrees of subordination amongst his own disciples , as well as all other societies , and therefore he directs the ecclesiasticks , who would climb to the highest places in the church , to take other methods than those that are most usual amongst the grandees of the world : he that deserved preferment in the church was to be the servant of all , so that this text refers to the method of promotion , and not to the extirpation of their jurisdiction . they were not to aspire to honour and dignity by force and violence , or the other arts that are so fashionable in secular courts , but rather by all the acts of modesty , humility , and self-denial . next , let me ask , whether the apostles understood this precept of our saviour in the sense of our adversaries or not . if they did , ( as it is alledg'd ) how came they to exercise jurisdiction over all subordinate ecclesiasticks , during their life time , in all the churches they planted ? did they go cross to the institution of our saviour , who perfectly understood his meaning , and to whom the precept was originally delivered . but that which baffles and exposes this argument to all intents and purposes , is this , that he did that himself among them , which now he commanded them to do to one another , and therefore the doing of this towards one another in obedience to the command now under consideration , could not infer a parity , unless they blasphemously infer that christ and his apostles were equal : for when you read the text with attention , you see that our saviour recommends what he enjoyns from his own constant and visible practice amongst them , viz. that he himself , who was their lord and master , was their servant , and therefore it became the greatest among them , in imitation of him , to be modest , calm , and humble towards all their subordinate brethren , and this qualify'd them more than any other thing for ecclesiastical promotions . it is very sad that any should be so much infatuated with their new schems of parity , as to alledge such texts , which ( if understood in their sense ) degrades our blessed saviour to the degree of one of his disciples ; for what he commanded the apostles , he practised among them himself . and this is the strongest motive to engage their obedience ; therefore i may reasonably infer , that whatever it was that our saviour commanded in those places of scripture , it must of necessity be toto coelo different from all parity and equality . he commanded them , that they should not exercise their jurisdiction as the lords of the gentiles did , by a spirit of pride and domination , but rather by the more christian and engaging behaviour of charity and humility . he that was to be the greatest among them , was to be their servant , in imitation of that heavenly patern that was set them by our blessed lord and saviour . s. paul thought himself oblig'd to answer his episcopal character after this manner , when the care of all the churches lay upon him , when he employ'd his apostolical power to promote the edification of all men : and all the fathers of the church , who were advanc'd above their brethren to ecclesiastical power and jurisdiction , had this evangelical notion of their dignity , that they were the servants of all others . from what hath been said one may easily see , that there is no ground , no not a shadow of any argument for the new doctrine in these texts of scripture . it is true , that salmasius glances at this way of reasoning in his walo messalinus , but he lays no great stress upon it . that which is most to our purpose is , that beza himself , in his larger notes upon the new testament , asserts , that all kind of jurisdiction is not forbidden in these texts , but that only which is joyn'd with imperious bitterness and domination . let it be further considered , that the hierarchy and subordination of priests was established by divine authority in the lewish church : and if our saviour had pull'd down that ancient polity , and commanded an equality amongst the presbyters of the new testament , he would not have stated the opposition between his own disciples and the lords of the gentiles , but rather between the priests of the mosaie oeconomy and the disciples of the new testament . when he reprov'd the corrupt glosses that were introduc'd into the church by the scribes and pharisees , and taught them purer and more heavenly strains of morality , he states the opposition between the current doctrine receiv'd amongst the jews , and that which he himself taught and recommended ; and there is no doubt to be made , if he had forbidden the several degrees and subordinations of priests , and established a perfect equality , he would have stated a plain opposition between the model of the temple , and the other plat-form that was to succeed in the christian church . as for the other text that is ordinarily cited to serve the same design , 1 pet. 5.2 , 3. it is but the apostle's commentary on our saviour's words and commandment , and it forbids the spirit of pride and insolence , as a thing very unsuitable to all power and authority in the church . thus such texts have been understood from the beginning , and it is one strong prejudice against the new exposition , that it was never heard of until these latter days . secondly , if the presbyterians cannot establish their divine right upon express texts of scripture , they will support it ( as they think ) by the clearest and most immediate consequence , and this is equivalent to the most positive command and institution . the argument from the identity of bishop and presbyter fill all their books from top to bottom : and if this be in it self lame and sophistical , they must despair to establish the pretended equality of presbyters in the ecclesiastical government . the argument most insisted on in favour of their parity , ( exclusive of episcopal jurisdiction ) is built upon the homonomy of bishop and presbyter in the language of the new testament , or because the clergy are dichotomiz'd only into bishops and deacons in some texts of scripture , and in some ancient writers of the primitive church . hence they exclude the authority of a bishop above a presbyter , though the offices themselves be as much distinguished as is possible in several texts of the new testament . and if this argument alone appear childish and sophistical , they have not another sanctuary to flee to ; so my present business is to examine the force of it . there is not one of their number with whom you engage in this controversie , but immediately he will tell you , that there is no distinction between bishop and presbyter in the scriptures , and therefore they conclude that their argument a confusione nominum against the superiority of a bishop is very solid and demonstrative . to this purpose they cite act. 20. 17. 28. philip. 1.1 . 1 tim. 3. and several other places . whether a bishop be of a higher order than a presbyter does not now fall under our enquiry , nor is it in it self very material . sometimes they might be consider'd of the same order with regard to the priesthood common to either , by which both bishops and presbyters were distinguish'd from the body of the people , and other subordinate officers of the church , though at other times , when authority and jurisdiction is nam'd , the bishop , ( with regard to his dignity and power ) is always reckon'd above a presbyter . here we are carefully to observe , that when the inspir'd writers dichotomiz'd the clergy into two orders , they but follow'd the dialect and example of the jews , who thus divided their ministers also into priests and levites , though the highest order was again subdivided both by the jews and the christians , when the priests were consider'd with regard to that subordination establish'd among themselves , and without any regard to the body of the people . this is very agreeable to the language of the ancient jews , as well as to the idiom of the hellenistical tribes of the apostolical age : the first confounded the name of the high priest with that of a priest , without any other distinguishing charcteristic or discrimination . for proof of this see levit. 1. 7 , 8. and the sons of aaron the priest shall put fire upon the altar , and lay the wood in order upon the fire . v. 8. and the priests aaron's sons shall lay the parts , the head and the fat in order upon the wood that is on the fire which is upon the altar . here we plainly find that in the first establishment of the mosaic oeconomy ( in which the patriarchal subordination of priests was still retain'd ) the high priest is nam'd by the same appellative ( without any distinction of order or jurisdiction ) that the other priests were nam'd by : and the title of a priest was promiseuously apply'd , without any distinction or marks of eminence to the high priest as well as to the subordinate . yet it was never question'd but that there were extraordinary privileges and dignities reserv'd to the high priest amongst the jews , though thus plac'd amongst the other priests without any nominal distinction : nor do we find the title of high priest ever affix'd to the particular name of aaron or eleazar in all the pentateuch , nor is the word high-priest it self mention'd in the books of moses , but either twice or thrice , and that only with regard to the administration of after days . yet this homonomy of names could not be reasonably pleaded then against the subordination of other priests to aaron , nor against the deference due to his pontifical character . was it then to be expected that the apostles or apostolical men ( when they occasionally mention'd the presbyters of the new testament ) might not make use of the currant language and pharaseology of their own country-men , who divided their clergy into priests and levites , as if there were no more but two orders , even when the meanest of the jews knew that the dignity of the high priest was very honourable and distinguish'd from all subordinate priests by all marks of eminence and authority ? it is true , that in the hagiographical and prophetical writings , the high priest is very frequently distinguish'd by his proper and special character ; yet in the beginning of the jewish oeconomy neither aaron nor eleazar were called high-priests when they are particularly nam'd , and if in those days any had been so mad as to have infer'd from this confusio nominum an equality between all priests , he would certainly have been expos'd : for the offices themselves were sufficiently distinguish'd by those special ministries and jurisdictions that were peculiarly appropriated to the one , and deny'd to the other , such as were visible to the observation of the meanest among the jews . we do not at all deny but that bishops might be call'd presbyters in the days of the apostles , and justly so too , though they had other presbyters under their government and inspection : for the use of the word presbyter was another thing then than now , if we consider it in its full latitude and extent ▪ with us it signifies such priests as assist the bishop in his ecclesiastical administrations , and are accountable to him for their performances : and though all presbyters are not bishops , yet all bishops are presbyters ; and to infer an equality of offices from the promiscuous use of names , i think , is neither good logick nor good history . we do not now plead , ( as some ignorant people may pretend ) that there ought to be bishop above presbyters because there was a high priest among the jews , but rather thus , that the hierarchy that obtain'd in the patriarchal and jewish oeconomy was never abrogated in the new ; and though we meet with the same dichotomies of the clergy in the new testament , as are frequently seen in the old , we ought not to conclude from thence , that there was an equality among them of the higher order in that division , no more than there was a parity amongst the priests of the old testment , for that same highest order , or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , was again divided into two , viz. the supream and subordinate . and not only they , but the jews also of the apostolical age divided their clergy into two classes when they spoke of them , only as in opposition to the people , they made no other distinction amongst them than that of priests and levites : but then again , upon other occasions they subdivided the priests into the highest and subordinate order , when they consider'd the hierarchy in it self , and distinguish'd every 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of the priesthood from one another , of this we have clear instances from philo the jew . was it not then reasonable , that the apostles should speak the language of the age in which they lived , and that of their predecessors ? whether then the clergy be divided into their several classes by a biparite or triparite division , both is very agreeable to the custom of the jews . if they compar'd the priests amongst themselves , and reckon'd up their distinctions and subordinations to one another , then they were divided by a tipartite division ; but if they spoke of them with regard to the people , then the bipartite division was more convenient so that the community of names was very observable when the offices themselves were as truly separated and distinguished a they could be . in like manner the first presbyter , or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , in the apostolical age , he that was vested with a prostasia , was a much above the subordinate presbyters as the high-priest among the jews was above other priests , with whom nevertheless he was frequently subordinate presbuyters as the high priest among the jews was above other priests , with whom nevertheless he was frequently ranked , without any nominal distinction or discrimination . nay salmasius himself grants , that even when the pretended equality prevail'd , there was a praeses to whom the protocathedria , or locus in cosessu primarius , was constantly due , and that during life . and there are such mainfest and palpable evidences of this peculiar honour and jurisdiction due to the one of the ecclesiastical senate in the apostolical age , that the learned'st sticklers for parity cannot deny it . the apocalyptic angels ( amongst whom we justly reckon s. polycarp bishop of smyrna ) the epistles to timothy and titus , and the catalogues of bishops suceeding the apostles in several sees , ( gathered at least towards the middle of the ( second century ) make it evident beyond all contradiction . it is impossible to let us see from any ancient record either genuine or suppositious , that there was ever any thing of moment canonically determin'd in the ecclesiastical meetings without their bishop his particular advice and authority . and since clemens romanus , origen , and s. cyprian do compare the evangelical priesthood and ministrations with the aaronical , how is it that we can pretend to conclude an equality amongst the presbyters of the new testament from the dichotomies us'd in christian writings , no more than we can dream of a parity among the jewish priests , because they are frequently dichotomiz'd , especially since the ancient who sometimes divide the clergy only into two orders , do again upon other occasions subdivide the highest order , and distinguish the bishop from all subordinate presbyters . it is true , that clemens romanus a writer of the apostolical age , divides the clergy into two orders , but so he divides also the jewish ministers of the sanctuary into priests and levites , which no man will allow as a proof of the equality of priests under the old testament ; but i shall have opportunity hereafter to consider the testimony alledg'd by blondel from s. clemens's epistle to the corinthians more particularly in its proper place . i have formerly said , that the most ancient writers , who dichotomize the clergy when they speak of them with regard to the laity , do yet distinguish them by a tripartite division , when the hierarchy is consider'd in it self , and with regard to that prostasia and jurisdiction which distinguishes one priest from another . tertullian in his book de baptismo , hath these words , jus quidem dandi baptismum habet summus sacerdos qui est episcopus , dehinc presbyteri & diaconi , non tamen sine episcopi authoritate , quâ salvâ salva pax est : yet monsieur blondel runs away with another testimony cited from his apologeticks , as if he had found there a perfect equality of presbyters , because the seniores are said to be in the government , than which there cannot be a more absurd consequence , for he neither affirm'd that those seniores were all equal among themselves , nor is it certain , whether by the seniores he understood all presbyters in general , or those only who were advanc'd to the episcopal dignity ; for it was no part of his business in an apology address'd to the heathens to insist on the subordinations of one priest unto another , for he only pleaded that there was nothing in the christian meetings contrary to the strictest rules of morality and decency , and that they were men of approv'd and exemplary lives , who were advanc'd to any share of the ecclesiastical government . clemens alexandrinus is brought as a witness to serve the same design , but then unluckily he reckons up the three orders of the clergy , and calls them imitations of the angelical glory , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . upon this occasion it is needless to name s. cyprian , who asserts the jurisdiction and prerogative of the episcopal power upon all occasions with great courage and assurance ; and s. polycarp the famous doctor of the asiatic church , bishop of smyrna , and disciple of saint john , who flourish'd long before s. cyprian , though he divides the clergy into two orders in his epistle to the philippians , yet he honourably mentions and recommends the epistles of s. ignatius , in which the apostolical hierarchy of bishop , presbyter , and deacon is so often and so expresly mention'd : and s. polycarp in the epigraphe of that epistle distinguishes himself from his subordinate presbyters , according to the modest and usual s●ile of those days , pelycarp and the presbyters that are with him , who , if he had stood on a level with those presbyters , would never have distinguish'd himself from the community of his brethren by his proper name plac'd at such a distance , yet with visible ( but very modest ) marks of distiction and precedence , according to the humble practice of those glorious martyrs . from what hath been said , it is very evident , that there can be nothing more foolish and extravagant than to conclude a parity among priests , because some ancient christians us'd the jewish phraseology , for even these upon other occasions frequently assert the jurisdiction of one bishop over many presbyters : and hermas , who was contemporary with clemens romanus , reproves the ambition of some in his own time , who strove for the first dignity and preferment . and if there was no such precedence then in the church , there was no ground for his reprehension . the sum of these reasonings amounts to this , that when the hellenist jews would distinguish the high-priest from the levites , they thought the common name of a priest was sufficient , * as is evident from several places in phylo the jew . and as it was unreasonable to conclued from thence that he had not a singular authority and jurisdiction over subordinate priests , so now-a-days an argument founded upon the same topic , is equally impertinent and sophistical . when the priests were compar'd among themselves one with another , then their dignities and subordinations might be seasonably mentioned . if we compare the priests of the new testament with the deacons , we need say no more than priests and deacons ; but when we compare the priests among themselves , we must acknowledge their several subordinations . the priests under the old testament were only allowed to offer the sacrifices , and by their offering of sacrifices , were distinguish'd from the levites : so under the new testament , the priests , both of the highest and subordinate order , offer the eucharistical sacrifice , and by so doing , are sufficiently distinguish'd from deacons ; yet this is no argument against the subordination of one priest unto another . thus we see there was the same reason for those dichotomies of the clergy , both under the old and new testament . from what hath been said we may easily see that the jews us'd such dichotomies of their clergy , both under the mosaic oeconomy , and in the apostolical age , when the superiority of the high-priest was past all contradiction : and there can be a very good account given of this phraseology , and way of speaking from the different considerations that engag'd both jewish and christian writers to use the bipartite or tripartite division of the clergy ; for the very same christian writers , who only mentioned two orders , do in other places reckon up the hierarchy of bishop , presbyter , and deacon , as plainly as is possible . from these considerations , i say , we may easily perceive , that the argument pleaded against episcopacy , founded upon such dichotomies , is not only weak , but very foolish and extravagant . yet blondel , salmasius , and daille , men of great learning and reputation , imploy'd much reading and artifice to support their new hypothesis by this argument , and to wrest so many places of the fathers , to promote an opinion which was never heard of before the days of aerius ; thô it must be confess'd , that men of extraordinary learning have been impos'd upon by the same fallacies , particularly our country-man , sir thomas craig , in his book de success . reg. angl. but if he had read the ancient monuments of ecclesiastical antiquity , with that accurate attention wherewith he perus'd the vast volums of civilians , canonists , and historians , he had certainly been of another mind . so visible is the confusion of names in the new testament , that apostle , bishop , and presbyter , are sometimes mentioned without any remarkable distinction , yet so as the government of one amongst many , is particularly demonstrated . our saviour himself is call'd an apostle , heb. 3.1 . sometimes the word seems to be restrain'd to the number of twelve , and matthias , upon the apostacy of judas , is chosen to fill up the number of the twelve apostles ; but in the same apostolical writings , the name of an apostle is bestow'd upon several others besides the twelve , as s. s. barnabas , paul andronicus , junias , epaphroditus , and others . our saviour is call'd a bishop , 1 pet. 2. 25. again the government of the apostles is called their episcopacy , 1 act. 20. sometimes the name of bishop is attributed to such priests as were of the first order , invested with apostolical power and jurisdiction , 1 tim. chap. 3. tit. 1. 7. these places are so understood by all the fathers . again the bishops mentioned , 1. philip. 1 are understood by st. chrysostom , oecumenius , theophilact , and theodoret , to be the priests of the second order ; for they concluded epaphroditus to have been then bishop of philippi , as may be reasonably collected from philip. 2. 25. our english version follows beza , and understands it as if epaphroditus had been a messenger sent by the philippians to s. paul ; but salmasius is much more ingenuous , and acknowledges , that the word apostle in the sacred scriptures never signifies any other than legatum dei ad homines . and this is very agreeable to the opinion of theodoret , who thought that when the bishops were named in the apostolic age , so as to be distinguished from subordinate priests , they were then called apostles , thô upon other occasions they were promiscuously named without any distinction . i only mention this transiently , not insisting upon it . my business at present is to prove that the community of names was so familiar in the language of the apostolical age , that no man can conclude from thence a community of offices . st. peter calls himself a presbyter , so st. john the apostle , and the presbytery mentioned in the first of timothy , 4. 14. was a senate compos'd of apostles and other presbyters , whether of the first or second rank is not certain , but that s. paul himself was one of them is evident from the second epist . to timothy , 1. 6. in the first , timothy is exhorted not to neglect the gift which was given him with the laying on of the hands of the presbytery . in the last he is put in mind to stir up the same gift which he received by the laying on of st. paul's hands . and in the beginning of christianity ( as s. chrysostom witnesseth ) both bishops and presbyters were sometimes call'd deacons , which may be justly concluded from coloss . 4. 17. and the apostles themselves are called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and in the first of the acts , their apostolical ministry , to which matthias was assumed , is called their deaconship , 1 act. 17. now i take it for granted , that if any man pretend to infer a community of offices , from the community of names , which we meet with in the holy scriptures ; he must needs confound the highest order of the church ( even the apostolical dignity ) with the lowest rank of ecclesiastical officers . yet this is certain that the several offices were carefully separated in those days ; thô the humility of such as were uppermost , taught them not to be very forward to distinguish themselves from their subordinate brethren , by titles of eminence and jurisdiction ; and the bishops in the second century transcribed the same copy in their behaviour , who , thô they were careful to preserve the necessary distinction between the priests of the first and second order , yet they studied the most modest expressions of humility and condescension , as may be seen from the forecited inscription of s. polycarp's epistle to the philippians , that apostolic martyr and prince of the asiatick church . i have consider'd this argument the more carefully , in that i find it over and over again in all the writings of our ecclesiastic levellers , as their first and last refuge to which they flee to ; and yet there is not any thing more frivolous and trifling ; for the names of the lowest officers in the christian church , were frequently assum'd by the highest , and distinction of offices is rather inferr'd from their practices , peculiar ministries , and acts of jurisdiction , than from any names that we can fix upon . thirdly , if they cannot establish their new doctrine of parity neither upon the express commandment of our saviour , nor upon the consequences they manage a confusione nominum , they endeavour to support it by some testimonies of the primitive fathers . when the government and revenues of the church were sacrilegiously invaded by atheists and enthusiasts under oliver cromwel , the learned blondel employed all his skill to make the ancients contradict themselves and all contemporary records . when his * book appeared , the presbyterians concluded ( before ever they read it ) that all was pure and undeniable demonstration ; and our country-men think they need return no other answer to any thing that is written against them , than to say that episcopacy , and all that may be said in its defence , is quite ruin'd and destroyed by monsieur blondel , and salmasius . and thô there are but very few of them that ever read them , and that every line of their writings , that hath the least colour of argument , was frequently answered and expos'd , yet such is the power of prejudice and partiality , that they shut their eyes against the clearest evidences that are produc'd by their adversaries . it 's enough for them to say that blondel hath written a book in their defence , of 549 pages ; and this in their opinion may bar all disputations of that nature . when we bid them name the place that they think proves their new doctrine most plausibly , they refuse any such close engagement ; they will tell you that jerome was of their opinion , and that their learned champion blondel has sufficiently prov'd that this antient monk was a presbyterian . i must not transscribe the accurate and unanswerable dissertations of several learned men , who have sufficiently expos'd the writings of blondel and salmasius on this head , particularly the incomparable bishop of chester , yet i may be allowed to examine some of the most remarkable testimonies from antiquity that are alleg'd by those men to support their doctrine of parity , that the reader may have a sample of their partialities and prepossessions , and if none of the first worthies of the christian church appear for the new doctrine of parity , we may safely infer , that there are little hopes to defend their cause by the suffrages of after ages . and in the next place i will particularly examine blondel's argument from the authority of st. jerome and demonstrate that he mistakes or ( which is much more probable ) hides and misrepresents the doctrine of that learned father ; and if st. jerome be not his friend , he and his associates may despair of any other . first , i will examine some of the most remarkable testimonies from antiquity , and the first that is nam'd is s. clement in his famous epistle to the corinthians . this is the celebrated s. clement , so honourably mentioned by s. paul himself , philip. 4. 3. together with some others , whose names are written in the book of life , who was fellow labourer with the apostles , and third bishop of rome by the testimony of irenaeus , and probably sat in the chair of rome from the year 64 , until the year 81 , or 83. he wrote his first epistle to the corinthians , to compose the scandalous divisions and schisms that had risen among them by the pride and vanity of some turbulent brethren , who valu'd themselves upon the miraculous gifts of the spirit , to the contempt of their ordinary ecclesiastical governors . it is thought by some , that this epistle was written towards the end of nero's persecution , before he was advanc'd to the see of rome . it is very observable that blondel before he produces any testimony from s. clement , acknowledges , that by the universal consent of the ancients this very s , clement succeeded s. peter in the government of the see of rome ; and thô they vary as to his order of succession , yet all of them agree as to the thing it self . his first argument for parity is founded on s. clement's inscription of his epist . to the corinthians . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . from this inscription he concludes that the church of rome was then govern'd by a colledge of presbyters , because the whole church of rome wrote to the whole church of corinth , not mentioning the distinction of the clergy from the laity ; when the learned blondel reasoned at this rate , he design'd ( it seems ) to please the independent party , ( who were then most numerous and potent in england ) rather than the presbyterians . for if his argument proves any thing , it proves too much , viz. that the laity hath an equal share of jurisdiction in the administration of ecclesiastical affairs ; with bishops and presbyters ? and thus he might conclude , that when s. paul wrote an epistle together with sosthenes , timotheus , sylvanus , and all the brethren that were with him , that he had no greater authority in the ecclesiastical senate , than the meanest of the laity . our learned country-man junius , gives a far more reasonable account of this ancient simplicity , of the writings of the apostolical age , than such childish reasonings ; and he tells us that st. clement did not prefix his name , ut modestiae & humilitatis posteris aetatibus exemplar imitandum proponeret , and this was very subservient to his design , that he might teach the corinthians , ( whom he exhorts to concord and humility ) by his own example , that true and undisguised modesty , which was then so visible in the practice of the first christians , when both clergy and laity were of one heart , and one mind . the next attempt that blondel makes to support his imaginary parity in the primitive church , is from st. clement's dividing the clergy into bishops and deacons , according to the current phraseology that prevail'd in the apostolical age. when they considered the clergy only , in opposition to the body of the people . i have answered this already , when i examined their argument , founded upon such dichotomies : but when we consider this particular place of s. clement , with regard to that latitude , and promiscuous use of names , that was very current in those days , the word deacon may be understood to comprehend all those ministers of religion ( whether presbyters in the modern notion , or deacons , who by the first institution , were obliged to attend upon tables , ) and then his argument vanishes into nothing ; nay rather it is a strong confirmation of that which he would most willingly destroy ; for by bishops and deacons , we may understand apostles , bishops , presbyters , and attendants upon tables ; for the word deacons in the language of the holy scriptures , is taken in the greatest latitude that may be , not only for such as were appointed by the apostles , particularly to the ministry of tables , but also the apostles themselves , the highest officers in the christian church , are called deacons . who then is paul , and who is apollos , but deacons , by whom they believed , even as the lord gave to every man ? and again , who hath made us able deacons of the new-testament , &c. and upon other occasions they are called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , &c. and those who were ordain'd to the special ministry or tables , were originally constituted , that the apostles themselves might not be diverted from the ministry of deaconship of the word . and tychicus is called a faithful deacon , as also timothy , so likewise . arthippus is commanded to take heed to his deaconship , thô it be not expresly determined , what room he held in the ecclesiastical hierarchy , weather he was bishop , presbyter , or deacons ; nay such was the latitude of the word deacon , in the apostolical age , that it was applyed promiscuously to all the three order of the christain hierarchy . so that if we understand st. clement according to the current extent of the word , we may safely judge him to have meant by bishops , the ecclesiastical governors , and by deacons , all subordinate ministers of religion , whether such as were promoted the priesthood , or the deacons who were confin'd to their attendance upon tables . what advantage then does monsieur blondel gain to his cause ; for though presbyters in the modern notion , are not perhaps the only persons who may be understood by the word deacon , yet they may be comprehended as well as other ministers of a lower rank . let it be observed also , that s. clement speaks not of the ecclesiastical polity , such as it was brought to perfection after wards by the apostles , but rather of the first beginnings of the christian church , immediatly after the resurrection of our saviour . for thô all the degrees and subordinations of the apostolical government , were founded upon divine right ; yet they were not in one moment established in their true and everlasting figure , but had their beginning , as the jewish church went on from lessen steps to that more perfect scheme that was to continue until the coming of the messiah . this is certain , that before the apostles left the world , they established such an ecclesiastical government as ought to continue in the church , until the second coming of our savioar . but let us suppose that where we meet with such dichetomies in other authors , such a parity as is intended by the presbyterians , may be understood ; yet when we view the text of st. clement more narrowly , we must not presume to make any such inference , for the very same st. clement dichotomizies the jewish clergy who are known to have had their high priest , chief priests , priests , and levites ; yet he comprehends them all in this short and bipartite division . for speaking of jacob he hath these words , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . and must we from hence conclude that there was a parity amongst the priests of the old testament , because they are thus distinguish'd from the laity without mentioning the several gradations of the hierarchy amongst themselves ? nay so little do our adversaries gain by straining the language of st. clement , contrary to the latitude and simplicity of the apostolical age ; that the same author comprehends all ministers of religion , under one general word , whether prophets , apostles , bishops , presbyters , or deacons , and not only does he thus speak of the priests of the true religion , but also of the * egyptian priests , who are known to have had their several subordinations . but that which is most material to our purpose , is that the same st. clement , when he exhorts the corinthians to christian order and harmony , sets before them the beautiful subordinations under the temple-service , how the high priest , priests , and levites , were distinguished by their 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , and immediatly recommends to the corinthians , that every one of them should continue 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . now when we consider the primitive method of reasoning from jewish precedents , st. clement had never talked at this rate , if the jurisdiction of one over many priests , had been abolish'd under the new testament , and jerome himself ( on whose writings m. blondel endeavours to establish his opinion ) in his epistle to evagrius , gives light to this place of st. clements , et ut sciamus traditiones apostolicas sumptas de veteri testamento quod aaron & filii ejus atque levitae in templo fuerunt , hoc sibi episcopi & presbyteri & diaconi vendicent in ecclesia . for without all controversie , those traditions descended from the jewish church to the christian , as their true inheritance . nay st. clement himself expresly distinguishes the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 from the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , and the last may signifie office and age , both together . nor can it be an objection of any weight , that the first ( who were there spiritual governors ) are mentioned in the plural number , since this was an encyclical epistle address'd to corinth , as the principal city , and from thence transmitted to its dependencies . how considerable the city of corinth was in those days , every body knows ; and s. chrysostom informs us , that it was populous and magnificent , in regard of its riches and wisdom , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 : so far was s. clement from intending a parity of priests , by his promiscuous use of words , that he himself distinguishes plainly the spiritual governors from the body of subordinate presbyters ; and it is surprising to observe how much men may be blinded with prejudice contrary to the universal suffrage of the ancients , who place s. clement so early in the apostolical succession of the chair of rome ; the reader may see them all in one view , prefixt to junius his edition of his epistle to the corinthians . a second witness made to appear an evidence for parity , is the venerable s. polycarp , bishop of smyrna , who by * ireneus bishop of lions , is said to have been taught by the apostles , to have convers'd with many who had seen our saviour , and that he himself saw him in his younger days , and that he knew him to have been constituted bishop of smyrna , by the apostles . this is he who by * s. jerome is called totius asiae princeps : one would think that when they name s. polycarp , they had discovered some clear testimony in his writings to build their hypothesis upon , but instead of this , nothing but a wretched consequence founded upon the bipartite division of the clergy , mentioned in his epistle to the philippians . and yet the epigraphe of s. polycarp's epistle clearly distinguishes him from his presbyters , who were then with him , which runs thus , polycarp and the presbyters that are with him to the church of god which is at philippi . and if he had not been vested with episcopal jurisdiction and eminence , amongst those presbyters , how was it agreeable to the primitive modesty and self denial , to have named himself only in the frontispiece of this epistle , and to mention none of his brethern , save only by the general name of presbyters ? this is mighty uneasie to blondel and the evidence of truth forces from him the following words , id tamen in s. martyris epistola peculiare apparet , quod eam pr. vatim suo & presbyterorum nomine ad philippensium fraternitatem dedit ac sibi quandam supra presbyteros 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , reservasse videtur ut jam tum in episcopali apice constitutum reliquos smyrnensium presbyteros gradu superasse conjicere liceat . there are two things that baffle this shadow of an argument brought from the epistle of s. polycarp . the first is that irenaeus , who was intimately acquainted with him , and knew him to have been taught by s. john the apostle , and by him ordained bishop of smyrna , does refute the heresies of the valentintans , from the unanimous doctrine preserv'd amongst the single successors of s. polycarp downwards to that very period in which he wrote . for if the ecclesiastical power of the church of smyrna , had been equally lodg'd in the college of presbyters , his argument against the hereticks , from the succession of single persons , teaching the same doctrine first delivered by s. john , and convey'd by s. polycarp to the following bishops ; i say such an argument so manag'd , could have no force , nor was it possible for irenaeus to have us'd it . the next is this , that in the same epistle of s. polycarp to the philippians , the epistles of s. ignatius are zealously recommended , and we need not inform the reader how much the divine institution , power , and jurisdiction of bishops above presbyters is asserted in those epistles of which i am to speak in due time . the question then concerning s. polycarp is , whether we are to believe s. irenaeus bishop of lions , who was fully acquainted with the manner of his education , apostolical doctrine , and promotion to the see of smyrna , rather than the dark and groundless conjectures of later ages . and from this single instance alone , we see how inflexible and stubborn the power of prejudice is , how far it drives men against light and conviction , and darkens all their intellectuals in defiance of common sense and reason . a third witness alledg'd by blondel is hermas , ( i only name some few of those that are nearest to the apostles ) i do not now enquire into the authority of this book . it is most probable that it was written towards the end of the apostolical age ; and some of the ancients of great authority make him to be the same that is mention'd by s. paul , rom. 16. 14. it is without all controversie , a book of great antiquity , as appears by the citations out of him , still preserv'd in some authentick monuments , particularly irenaeus , clemens alexandrinus , tertullian , and origen . there are two palpable evidences that episcopacy was the ecclesiastical government that obtain'd in the christian church , when this book was written . the first is from the second vision of the first book , where the sending of the encyclical epistle in exteras civitates , is insinuated to be the peculiar priviledge of s. clement , then bishop of rome . the other insinuation is from the second book , and 12th mandat . paragr . 2. where he reproves the preposterous ambition of such as would thrust themselves into the highest dignities , contrary to the evangelical methods of humility and self-denial , exaltat enim se , & vult primam cathedram habere . if there be no power , there can be no abuse of it , and therefore he reproves that insatiable thirst of preferment that puts some amongst them upon projects and designs , contrary to the command of our saviour who taught us , that he that deserv'd the ecclesiastical promotion was to be the servant of all , and therefore many of the primitive bishops fled and hid themselves upon the first motion of their being nam'd to the episcopal dignity . and the other citation from book the third , similitud 8. insinuates the very same thing that i intend , viz. , a principatus then established as the fixt government of the church which some were too too hasty to grasp . notes, typically marginal, from the original text notes for div a51155-e2450 2 tim. 4. 3 , 4. vid. dickson in matt. and answer to the irenicum , by g. r. vid. bez. in 〈◊〉 . vid. smectim . jus divin . minister anglican . the unbishoping timothy and titus . altare damascen . durh. dissert . on the revel . v. cotel . not. inpriorem epist s. clem. p. 96. in quibus fus● & solide dem●nstratur argumentum a confusione nominum nequaquam jurisdictionem & authoritatem episcoporum supra presbyteros labefactare posse . v. doctiss . bevereg . cod . canon eccles . primit lib. 2 . c. 11. vid. clariss . dodwell dissert . cypr. p. 205. walo mess . tertul. de baptismo . stromat . lib. 6. pastor herma . * apud clariss . dodwell . disertat : cyprian p. 205 ● cotel in prie● epist . clemen . ad corinth . 1 cor. 15. 7. w●●● m●● . * aplog . prosenten , hieronym . amstol . 1646. vind. st. ignat. adversus hereses , lib. 3. cap. 3. v. doctiss . cav . hist . liter . p. 18. blondel apolog . p. 9. plerique latinorum ( hieronymo teste ) secundumpost petrum fuisse putaverunt ; ut ante annum domini 65 , ad romanae ecclesiae clavum sedissenecesse sit . apol. pro sent hier. p. 9. page , 9. 10. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . vid. doctiss , bevereg . cod . can. eccles . prim. lib. 2. p. 314. 1 cor. 3. 5. 2. cor. 3. 6. acts. 6. 4. coloss . 4. 7. 1 thess . 3. 2. coloss . 4. 17. vid. etiam . bevereg . ubi supra . pag. ( mihi ) 40 , 41. pag. 10. edit . jun. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . p● ( mihi ) 52 , 53. v. cotel . not. in pr. s. clemen . epist . col . 95. apud jun. not. in clemen . p. 12. * iren. lib. 3. cap. 3. & polycarpus aut●●●non solum ab apostolis edoctus & conversatus cum multis excis , qui dominum nostrum viderunt , sed etiam ab apostolis in asia , in ea quae est smyrnis ecclesia constitututs episcopus , qurm & nos vidimus in prima nostra aetate . * catalog ●pt . eccles . apol. p. i● . vid. test . veterum ad frontem editionis , oxon . a funeral sermon preached upon the death of the reverend and excellent divine dr. thomas manton who deceas'd the 18th of october 1677 / by william bates. bates, william, 1625-1699. 1678 approx. 82 kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from 31 1-bit group-iv tiff page images. text creation partnership, ann arbor, mi ; oxford (uk) : 2005-03 (eebo-tcp phase 1). a26790 wing b1109 estc r26681 09523464 ocm 09523464 43454 this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text creation partnership. this phase i text is available for reuse, according to the terms of creative commons 0 1.0 universal . the text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. early english books online. (eebo-tcp ; phase 1, no. a26790) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set 43454) images scanned from microfilm: (early english books, 1641-1700 ; 1323:30) a funeral sermon preached upon the death of the reverend and excellent divine dr. thomas manton who deceas'd the 18th of october 1677 / by william bates. bates, william, 1625-1699. 59, [1] p. printed by j.d. for barbazon aylmer, london : 1678. reproduction of original in the british library. created by converting tcp files to tei p5 using tcp2tei.xsl, tei @ oxford. re-processed by university of nebraska-lincoln and northwestern, with changes to facilitate morpho-syntactic tagging. gap elements of known extent have been transformed into placeholder characters or elements to simplify the filling in of gaps by user contributors. eebo-tcp is a partnership between the universities of michigan and oxford and the publisher proquest to create accurately transcribed and encoded texts based on the image sets published by proquest via their early english books online (eebo) database (http://eebo.chadwyck.com). the general aim of eebo-tcp is to encode one copy (usually the first edition) of every monographic english-language title published between 1473 and 1700 available in eebo. eebo-tcp aimed to produce large quantities of textual data within the usual project restraints of time and funding, and therefore chose to create diplomatic transcriptions (as opposed to critical editions) with light-touch, mainly structural encoding based on the text encoding initiative (http://www.tei-c.org). the eebo-tcp project was divided into two phases. the 25,363 texts created during phase 1 of the project have been released into the public domain as of 1 january 2015. anyone can now take and use these texts for their own purposes, but we respectfully request that due credit and attribution is given to their original source. users should be aware of the process of creating the tcp texts, and therefore of any assumptions that can be made about the data. text selection was based on the new cambridge bibliography of english literature (ncbel). if an author (or for an anonymous work, the title) appears in ncbel, then their works are eligible for inclusion. selection was intended to range over a wide variety of subject areas, to reflect the true nature of the print record of the period. in general, first editions of a works in english were prioritized, although there are a number of works in other languages, notably latin and welsh, included and sometimes a second or later edition of a work was chosen if there was a compelling reason to do so. image sets were sent to external keying companies for transcription and basic encoding. quality assurance was then carried out by editorial teams in oxford and michigan. 5% (or 5 pages, whichever is the greater) of each text was proofread for accuracy and those which did not meet qa standards were returned to the keyers to be redone. after proofreading, the encoding was enhanced and/or corrected and characters marked as illegible were corrected where possible up to a limit of 100 instances per text. any remaining illegibles were encoded as <gap>s. understanding these processes should make clear that, while the overall quality of tcp data is very good, some errors will remain and some readable characters will be marked as illegible. users should bear in mind that in all likelihood such instances will never have been looked at by a tcp editor. the texts were encoded and linked to page images in accordance with level 4 of the tei in libraries guidelines. copies of the texts have been issued variously as sgml (tcp schema; ascii text with mnemonic sdata character entities); displayable xml (tcp schema; characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or text strings within braces); or lossless xml (tei p5, characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or tei g elements). keying and markup guidelines are available at the text creation partnership web site . eng manton, thomas, 1620-1677. presbyterian church -sermons. funeral sermons. 2004-09 tcp assigned for keying and markup 2004-09 aptara keyed and coded from proquest page images 2004-10 judith siefring sampled and proofread 2004-10 judith siefring text and markup reviewed and edited 2005-01 pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion a funeral sermon , preached upon the death of the reverend and excellent divine dr. thomas manton , who deceas'd the 18th of october , 1677. by william bates , d. d. london , printed by j. d. for brabazon aylmer , at the three pigeons in cornhil , over against the royal exchange , 1678. 1 thes : 4. 17. the last clause . — and so shall we ever be with the lord. the words are a consolation , brought by the apostle from the tbird heaven , where he was by extraordinary priviledg rais'd , and saw and understood how great a happiness it is to be with christ. and they are addrest to believers , to moderate and allay their sorrows for the death of those saints , who by their conjunction in blood or friendship were most dear to them . thus he speaks in the 13 verse , i would not have you be ignorant , brethren , concerning them which are asleep , that ye sorrow not as others , which have no hope . the heathens , that were strangers to a future state , and thought that after a short course through the world , mankind would be lost for ever in the dead sea , might with some pretence abandon themselves to the extremity of their passions . but christians , to whom life and immortality are reveal'd by the gospel ; who believe , that as jesus died and rose again ; so all that sleep in jesus , that persevere in faith and holiness to the end , god will bring with him , are forbid , upon the most weighty reasons , to indulge their grief in excess . the union between christ and believers is inviolable ; and from thence it follows , they shall be partakers with him in his glory . the soul immediately after death shall be with christ : vvhiles the body reposes in the grave , 't is in his presence who is life and light , and has a vital joyful rest in communion with him . and in the appointed time the bodies of the saints , those happy spoils , shall be rescued from the dark prison of the grave , and be sharers with their souls in immortal glory . this consummate happiness of the saints ▪ the apostle assures from the highest authority , the word of the lord ; and describes his glorious appearance , so as to make the strongest impression on our minds . for the lord himself shall descend from heaven , with a shout , with the voice of an arch-angel , and with the trump of god ; and the dead in christ shall rise first . then we which are alive , and remain , shall be caught up together with them in the clouds , to meet the lord in the air ; and so shall we ever be with the lord. then death , the last enemy , so fearful and feared by men , shall be destroyed . and the captive prince of the world , with all the powers of darkness , and all other rebellious sinners that obstinately joyn'd vvith him , shall be brought in chains before his dreadful tribunal : and after the great act of the universal judgment shall be compleated , then shall the saints make their triumphant entry with the captain of their salvation , into his kingdom , and shall ever be with the lord. the general proposition from the words is this ; the saints after the resurrection shall be compleatly and eternally happy in the presence of christ. to make this supernatural blessedness more easie and intelligible to us , the scripture describes it by sensible representations . for while the soul is cloath'd with flesh , fancy has such a dominion , that we can conceive of nothing but by comparisons and images taken from material things . 't is therefore set forth by a feast , and a kingdom , to signifie the joy and glory of that state. but to prevent all gross conceits ; it tells us that the bodies of the saints shall be spiritual , not capable of hunger and thirst , nor consequently of any refreshment that is caused by the satisfaction of those appetites . the objects of the most noble senses , seeing and hearing , the pleasure of which is mix'd with reason , and not common to the brutes , are more frequently made use of to reconcile that glorious state to the proportion of our minds . thus sometimes the blessed are represented plac'd on thrones with crowns on their heads ; sometimes cloathed in white , with palms in their hands ; sometimes singing songs of triumph to him that sits on the throne , and to their saviour . but the reality of this blessedness infinitely exceeds all those faint metaphors . heaven is lessened by comparisons from earthly things . the apostle who was dignifi'd with the revelation of the successes that shall happen to the church till time shall be no more , tells us , it does not appear what we shall be in eternity . the things that god has prepar'd for those that love him , are far more above the highest ascent of our thoughts , than the marriage-feast of a great prince exceeds in splendor and magnificence the imagination of one that has alwayes liv'd in an obscure village , and never saw any ornaments of state , nor tasted wine in his life . we can think of those things but according to the poverty of our understandings . but so much we know that is able to sweeten all the bitterness , and render insipid all the sweetness of this world. this will appear by considering that whatever is requisite to constitute the perfect blessedness of man , is fully enjoy'd in the divine presence . 1. an exemption from all evils , is the first concondition of perfect blessedness . the sentence of wise solon is true in another sense than he intended , — dicique beatus ante obitum nemo supremaque funera debet . no man can be named happy whilst in this valley of tears . but upon the entrance into heaven , all those evils that by their number , variety , or weight disquiet and oppress us , are at an end . sin , of all evils the most hateful , shall be abolisht . and all temptations that surround us , and endanger our innocence , shall cease . here the best men lament the weakness of the flesh , and sometimes the violent assaults of spiritual enemies . st. paul himself breaks forth into a mournful complaint , o wretched man that i am ! who shall deliver me from this body of death ? and when harrass'd with the buffets of satan , renews his most earnest addresses to god to be freed from them . here our purity is not absolute , we must be always cleansing our selves from the reliques of that deep defilement that cleaves to our nature . here our peace is preserv'd with the sword in our hand , by a continual warfare against satan and the world. but in heaven no ignorance darkens the mind , no passions rebel against the sanctified will , no inherent pollution remains . the church is without spot or wrinkle , or any such thing . and all temptations that war against the soul , shall then cease . the tempter was cast out of heaven , and none of his poison'd arrows can reach that purified company . glorious liberty ! here ardently desir'd , but fully enjoy'd by the sons of god above . and as sin , so all the penal consequences of it are quite taken away . the present life is an incurable disease , and sometimes attended with that sharp sense that death is desir'd as a remedy , and accepted as a benefit . and though the saints have reviving cordials , yet their joys are mixt with sorrows , nay , caused by sorrows . the tears of repentance are their sweetest refreshment . here the living stones are cut and wounded , and made fit by sufferings for a temple unto god in the new jerusalem . but as in the building of solomon's temple the noise of a hammer was not heard , for all the parts were fram'd before with that exact design and correspondence , that they firmly combin'd together . they were hew'n in another place , and nothing remain'd but the putting them one upon another in the temple ; and then , as sacred , they were inviolable . so god , the wise architect , having prepar'd the saints here by many cutting afflictions , places them in the eternal building , where no voice of sorrow is heard . of the innumerable company above , is there any eye that weeps , any breast that sighs , any tongue that complains , or appearance of grief ? the heavenly state is called life , as only worthy of that title . there is no infirmity of body , no poverty , no disgrace , no treachery of friends , no persecution of enemies . there is no more death , nor sorrow , nor crying , nor shall there be any more pain : for former things are past away . god will wipe away all tears from the eyes of his people . their salvation is compleat in all degrees . pure joy is the priviledg of heaven , unmixed sorrows the punishment of hell. a concurrence of all positive excellencies is requisite to blessedness . and these are to be considered with respect to the entire man. 1. the body shal be awak'd out of its dead sleep , and quickned into a glorious immortal life . the soul and body are the essential parts of man ; and though the inequality be great in their operations that respect holiness , yet their concourse is necessary . good actions are design'd by the counsel and resolution of the spirit , but perform'd by the ministry of the flesh. every grace expresses it self in visible actions by the body . in the sorrows of repentance it supplies tears , in fastings its appetites are restrain'd , in thanksgivings the tongue breaks forth into the joyful praises of god. all the victories over sensible pleasure and pain are obtain'd by the soul in conjunction with the body . now 't is most becoming the divine goodness not to deal so differently , that the soul should be everlastingly happy , and the body lost in forgetfulness ; the one glorified in heaven , the other remain in the dust . from their first setting out in the world to the grave they ran the same race , and shall enjoy the same reward . here the body is the consort of the soul in obedience and sufferings , hereafter in fruition . when the crown of purity , or palm of martyrdom shall be given by the great judg in the view of all , they shall both partake in the honour . of this we have an earnest in the resurrection of christ in his true body , who is the first fruits of them that sleep . he shall change our vile bodies , that they may be fashioned like to his glorious body , according to the working of his power , whereby he is able to subdue all things to himself . a substantial unfading glory will shine in them infinitely above the perishing pride of this world , that is but in appearance , like the false colours painted on the feathers of a dove by the reflection of the light , which presently vanish , when it changeth its posture , or the light is withdrawn . indeed what can be more glorious than to be conform'd to the humanity of christ , the seat of all beauty and perfection . this conformity shall be the work of his own hands . and when omnipotence interposes , nothing is difficult . the raising the body to an unchangeable state of glory , is as easy to the divine power , as the forming it at the first in the womb . as the sun labours no more in the mines in the forming gold and silver , the most precious and durable metals , than in the production of a poor short-liv'd flower . ii. the soul shall be made perfect in all its faculties . 1. the uuderstanding shall clearly see the most excellent objects . * now we know but in part . the naked beauty of divine things is vail'd , and of impossible discovery . and the weakness of the mind is not proportionable to their dazling brightness . but when that which is perfect is come , then that which is in part shall be done away . in that enlightned state , the glorious manifestation of the objects shall as much exceed the clearest revealing of them here , as the sun in its full lustre , one beam of light strain'd through a crevice in the wall. and the understanding shall be prepar'd to take a full view of them therefore the apostle compares the several periods of the church in respect of the degrees of knowledg , to the several ages of this life . when i was a child , i spake as a child , i understood as a child , i thought as a child : but when i became a man , i put away childish things . in children the organs , either from an excess of moisture , or their smalness , are indisposed for the vigorous exercise of the mind : some strictures of reason appear , a presaging sign what will be , but mixt with much obscurity . but when the organs are come to their just proportion and temperament , the soul displays its strength and activity . all things of a supernatural order shall then be clearly discovered . the contrivance of our salvation , the wayes of conducting us to blessedness , which are objects of a sublime nature , will afford an exquisite pleasure to the understanding . all the secrets of our redemption shall be unsealed . the great mystery of godliness , the incarnation of the eternal son , and his according justice with mercy , shall then be apparent . the divine counsels in governing the world , are now only visible in their wonderful effects either of mercy or of justice , and those most dreadful ; but the reasons of them are past finding out . but what our saviour said to peter , what i do , thou knowest not now , but shalt know hereafter , is applicable to these impenetrable dispensations . all the original fountains of wisdom , as clear as deep , shall then be opened . we shall then see the beauty of providence in disposing temporal things in order to our eternal felicity . we now see as it were the rough part , and knots of that curious embroidery : but then the whole work shall be unfolded , the sweetness of the colours , and proportion of the figures appear . there we shall be able to expound the perplexing riddle , how out of the eater came meat , and out of the strong came sweetness . for we shall know as we are known . we shall see god. our saviour tells us , this is life eternal , to know thee the only true god , and jesus christ whom thou hast sent . the beginning and perfection of our happiness consists in this knowledg . the deity is spiritual and invisible to the eye of the body , infinite and incomprehensible to the soul. but we shall then so clearly understand the divine perfections , that our present knowledg compar'd to that , is but as the seeing a dark resemblance in a glass , to the clear view of a person in the native beauty of his face . god is most gloriously present in heaven . for according to the degrees of excellence in the work , such are the impressions and discoveries of the vertues of the cause . now all sensible things in the low order of nature , are but weak resultances from his perfections , in comparison of their illustrious effects in the divine world. the glories of the place , and of the inhabitants , the angels and saints , clearly express his majesty , goodness and power . but in a transcendent manner he exhibits himself in the glorified mediator . he is stiled the brightness of the father's glory , and the express image of his person ; not only for his equal perfections in respect of the unity of their nature , but to signifie that god in the person of the incarnate mediator is so fully represented to us , that by the sight of him we see god himself in his unchangeable excellencies . this appears by the following words , that having purged us from our sins , he sate down on the right-hand of the majesty on high , for they respect the son of god as united to the humane nature , in which he perform'd the office of the priesthood , and took possession of his glorious kingdom . during his humble state , the divine vertues , wisdom , goodness , holiness , power , were so visible in his person , life , revelations , and miraculous works , that when philip so long'd for the sight of the father as the only consummate blessedness , shew us the father , and it suffices ; he told him , he that has seen me , has seen the father also . but how brightly do they appear in his triumphant exaltation . 't was his prayer on earth ; father , i will that they also whom thou hast given me , be with me where i am , that they may behold my glory . inestimable felicity ! whether we consider him in the respect of an object , that incomparably transcends all the created glory of heaven , or in the relation of our head , on a double account ; partly because he was debased into the form of a servant , and suffered all indignities and cruelties of sinners for us , has received the recompence of his meritorious sufferings , the triumph of his victory , being glorified with the father with the glory he had before the world was ; and partly because every member shall be conformed to him in his glory ; we shall be like him , for we shall see him as he is . and all felicity and glory is compriz'd in that promise . the sight of the face of moses when radiant , had no transforming efficacy ; for the light of it was not in him as its source , but by derivation . but god is light essentially , and the sight of his perfections will be productive of his likeness in us , so far as it may be in a restrained subject . when our saviour was upon the holy mount , and one vanishing beam of glory appear'd in his transfiguration , peter was so transported at the sight , that he forgot the world and himself . how ravishing then will the sight of him be in his triumphant majesty , when we shall be transfigured our selves ? 2. as they shall behold god's face , know his most amiable excellencies ; so they shall love him as perfectly as they know him . to the illustrations of the mind , there are correspondent impressions on the heart . in the present state our love is imperfect , and as fire out of its sphere , dies away , by our neglect to feed it with proper materials , enamouring considerations of god. but 't is not so in heaven : there the divine sun attracts every eye with the light of its beauty , and inflames every heart with the heat of his love. the continual presence of god is in different respects the cause and effect of our love to him . for there is no more powerful attractive to love him , than to see him ; and love keeps the thoughts undivided from him . god is love , and will kindle in us a pure affection that eternity shall never lessen . our affections that are now scattered on many things , wherein some small reflections of his goodness appear , shall joyn in one full current in heaven , where god is all in all . we shall then understand the riches of his love , that god who is infinitely happy in himself , should make man for such a glory , and such a glory for man. and that when for his rebellion he was justly expell'd from paradise , and under a sentence of eternal death , god should please to restore him to his favour , and give him a better state than was forfeited . we shall then understand our infinite obligations to the son of god , who descended from the heaven of heavens to our earth ; and which is more , from the majesty wherein he there reign'd , from the glory wherein he was visible to the angelical minds , and became man for men , redemption for the lost , to purchase immortal life for those who were dead to that blessed life . in short , then god will express his love to us in the highest degrees that a finite creature is capable to receive from love it self , and we shall love him with all the strength of our glorified powers . 3. compleat satisfaction flows from union with god by knowledg and love. in his presence is fulness of joy , at his right-hand are pleasures for ever . the causes and excellencies of the heavenly life are in those words exprest . the causes are the influxive presence of god , the revelation of his attractive perfections , the beholding his face , the declaration of his peculiar favour . this our blessed lord himself had a respect to , as the compleat reward of his sufferings : thou shalt make me full of joy with thy countenance . and his right-hand , his bounty , that dispenses , and power that secures that felicity . the excellencies of this state are fulness of joy , and that without diminution , or end . when the soul opens its eyes to the clear discoveries of the first truth , and its breast to the dear and intimate imbraces of the supream good , beyond which nothing remains to be known , nothing to be enjoy'd , what a deluge of the purest pleasures will overflow it ? we cannot ascend in our thoughts so high , as to conceive the excess of joy that attends those operations of the glorified soul upon its proper object . but something we may conjecture . those who are possest with a noble passion for knowledg , how do they despise all lower pleasures in comparison of it ? how do they forget themselves , neglect the body , and retire into the mind , the highest part of man , and nearest to god ? the bare apprehension of such things that by their internal nature have no attractive influence upon the affections , is pleasant to the understanding . as the appearance of light , though not attended with any other visible beauties , refreshes the eye after long darkness : so the clear discovery of truths , how abstract so ever , that were before unknown , is grateful to the intellective faculty . thus some have been strangely transported with the pleasure of a mathematical demonstration , when the evidence , not the importance of the thing was so ravishing ; for what is more dry and barren of delight than the speculation of figures and numbers ? solon when near his end , and some of his friends that visited him were speaking softly of a point of philosophy , by a sound of wisdom was awaken'd from the sleep of death that was just seizing on him , and opening his eyes , and raising his head to give attention ; being ask'd the reason of it ? answered , that when * i understand what you are discoursing of , i may die . such was his delight in knowledg , that a little of it made his agony insensible . but here are many imperfections that lessen this intellectual pleasure , which shall cease in heaven . here the acquisition of knowledge is often with the expence of health : the flower of the spirits , necessary for natural operations , is wasted by intense thoughts . how often are the learned sickly ? as the flint when 't is struck , gives not a spark without consuming it self ; so knowledge is obtain'd by studies that waste our faint sensitive faculties . but then our knowledge shall be a free emanation from the spring of truth , without our labour and pains . here we learn by circuit , and discern by comparing things ; our ignorance is dispell'd by a gradual succession of light : but then universal knowledg shall be infused in a moment . here after all our labour and toyl , how little knowledg do we gain ? every question is a labyrinth out of which the nimblest and most searching minds cannot extricate themselves . how many specious errors impose upon our understandings ? we look on things by false lights , through deceiving spectacles : but then our knowledge shall be certain and compleat . there is no forbidden tree in the celestial paradise , as no inordinate affection . but suppose that all things in the compass of the world were known yet still there would be emptiness and anguish in the mind : for the most comprehensive knowledg of things that are insufficient to make us happy , cannot afford true satisfaction . but then we shall see god in all his excellencies , the supream object and end , the only felicity of the soul. how will the sight of his glory personally shining in our redeemer , in the first moment quench our extream thirst , and fill us with joy and admiration ? 't is not as the naked conception of treasures , that only makes rich in ideas , but that divine sight gives a real interest in him . the angels are so ravish'd with the beauties and wonders of his face , that they never divert a moment from the contemplation of it . 2. the pure love of the saints to god is then fully satisfied . love considered as an affection of friendship is always attended with two desires ; to be assured of reciprocal love , and to enjoy the conversation of the person beloved , the testimony of his esteem and good-will . this kind of ‖ affection seems to be inconsistent with that infinite distance that is between god and the creature . but though 't is disproportionable to the divine majesty , 't is proportionable to his goodness . accordingly our saviour promises , he that loves me , shall be loved of my father , and i will love him , and will manifest my self unto him . and to confirm our belief of this astonishing condescention , repeats it , if a man love me , my father will love him , and we will come to him , and make our abode with him . in the present state , the signs of god's special favour are exhibited to his friends . now he bestows on them the honour of being his sons , the graces and comforts of his spirit , the precious earnests of his love , and seal of their redemption . but in eminency of degrees , the effects of his love are incomparably more glorious in heaven . here the saints are adopted , there crown'd . there he opens all the bright treasures of his wisdom , the riches of his goodness , the beauties of his holiness , the glories of his power , and by the intimate application of his presence makes his love most sensible to them . o the mutual delights between god and glorified souls ! god looks on them with an engaged eye , as his own by many dear titles , and is well pleased in his own goodness to them , and ravish'd with the reflex of his own excellencies shining in them . as the bridegroom rejoyces over the bride , ( 't is the language of divine love ) so their god rejoyces over them . and what a blessed rest do they find in the compleat fruition of their beloved ? all their desires quietly expire in his bosom . what triumphs of joy follow ? can we frame a fuller conception of happiness than to be perfectly loved by infinite goodness , and perfectly to love him ? 3. the most perfect joy of the saints is for the felicity and glory of god himself . for as the holy soul feels no more powerful motive to love god , than because he is most worthy of it , as he is god , a being of infinite excellencies , and therefore to be loved above the dearest persons and things , even it self ; so the highest joy it partakes of is from this consideration , that god is infinitely blessed & glorious . for in this the supream desire of love is accomplish'd , that the most beloved object is perfectly honour'd and pleased . in heaven the love of the saints to god is in its highest perfection , and they see his glory in the most perfect manner , which causes a transcendent joy to them . and this is one reason why the saints though shining with unequal degrees of glory , are equally content . for their most ardent love being set on god , that he is pleas'd to glorify himself by such various communications of his goodness , is full satisfaction to their desires . besides , in those different degrees of glory , every one is so content with his own , † that there is no possible desire of being but what he is . 4. the full joy of heaven shall continue without diminution , or end . the number of possessours cannot lessen it . the divine presence is an unwasted spring of pleasure , equally full and open to all , and abundantly sufficient to satisfy the immensity of their desires . envy reigns in this world , because earthly things are so imperfect in their nature , and so peculiar in their possession , that they cannot suffice , nor be enjoyed by all . but in heaven none is touch'd with that low base passion : for god contains all that is precious and desirable in the highest degrees of perfection , and all partake of the influence of his universal goodness without intercepting one another . in the kingdom above there is no cause for the elder brother to repine at the father's bounty to the younger , nor for the younger to supplant the elder , to obtain the birth-right . the heirs of god are all rais'd to sovereign glory . every one enjoys him as entirely and fully , as if solely his felicity . god is a good as indivisible as infinite , and not diminish'd by the most liberal communications of himself . we may illustriate this by comparing the price of our redemption , and the reward . the death of christ is a universal benefit to all the saints , yet 't is so applied to every believer for his perfect redemption , as if our saviour in all his agonies and sufferings had no other in his eye and heart ; as if all his prayers , his tears , his blood were offer'd up to his father only for that person . the common respect of it the apostle declares in those admirable words , that signify such an excess of god's love to us , he that spared not his own son , but deliver'd him up for us all , how shall he not with him also freely give us all things ? but to imagine that the * propriety of every believer is thereby prejudiced , is not only false , but extreamly injurious to the merit and dignity , and to the infinite love of christ. therefore the same apostle tells us , the life which i now live in the flesh , i live by the faith of the son of god ; who loved me , and gave himself for me : as if he were the sole object of christ's love , the end and reward of his sufferings . and this appropriating of it to himself , is no prejudice to the rights of all others . st. john describes himself by that truly glorious title , the disciple whom jesus loved . could he speak this of himself without the injury and indignation of the other disciples ? certainly he might . for if we consider that incomprehensible love of christ , exprest to them all at his last supper , after judas was gone forth ; as the father hath loved me , so i have loved you . we may easily understand , that every one of them might justly believe that he was singularly beloved of christ. they were all received in the heart , though ( with john ) they did not all lean on the breast of their divine master . thus in heaven god is the universal treasure of all the saints , and the peculiar portion of every one . as by his essence he equally fills the whole world , and every part of it ; and by his providence equally regards all and every particular creature ; so in heaven he dispenses the riches of his love to all , that they cannot desire more , if every one of them , were ( if i may so express it ) the only begotten of the only begotten himself , the sole heir of all the merits of his son. every saint may with the inflamed spouse break forth in that triumph of love ; my beloved is mine , and i am his . nay , the great number of the glorifi'd saints is so far from lessening their joy , that it unspeakably encreases it . the innumerable company of angels , and the general assembly of the church of the first-born , next to the happiness of enjoying god , are a chief part of heaven . an unfeigned ardent affection unites that pure society . our love is now kindled either from a relation in nature , or some visible excellencies that render a person worthy of our choice and friendship : but in heaven the reasons are greater , and the degrees of love incomparably more fervent . all carnal alliances and respects cease in that supernatural state . the apostle tells us , if i have known christ after the flesh , i know him so no more . by the resurrection and ascension of christ he was transported into another world , and had communion with him as an heavenly king , without low regards to the temporal priviledge of conversing with him on earth . the spiritual relation is more near and permanent than the strictest band of nature . the saints have all relation to the same heavenly father , and to jesus christ the prince of peace , and head of that happy fraternity . the principal motive of love here is for the inherent excellencies of a person . wisdom , holiness , goodness , fidelity are mighty attractives , and produce a more worthy affection , a more intimate confederacy of souls than propinquity in nature . david declares that all his delight was in the excellent . but there are allays of this noble love here . for , 1. there are reliques of frailty in the best men on earth , some blemishes that render them less amiable when discovered . here their graces are mixt infirmities , and but ascending to glory . accordingly our love to them must be regular , and serene ; not clouded with error , mistaking defects for amiable qualities . but in heaven , the image of god is compleat , by the union of all the glorious vertues requisite to its perfection . every saint there exactly agrees with the first exemplar , is transformed according to the primitive beauty of holiness . no spot or wrinkle remains , nor any such thing , that may cast the least aspect of deformity upon them . 2. in the present state the least part of the saints worth is visible . as the earth is fruitful in plants and flowers , but its riches are in the mines of precious metals , the veins of marble hidden in its bosom . true grace appears in sensible actions , but its glory is within . the sincerity of aims , the purity of affections , the impresses of the spirit on the heart , the interiour beauties of holiness , are only seen by god. besides , such is the humility of eminent saints , that the more they abound in spiritual treasures , the less they show . as the heavenly bodies when in nearest conjunction with the sun , and fullest of light , make the least appearance to our sight . but all their excellencies shall then be in view . the glory of god shall be revealed in them . and how attractive is the divine likeness to an holy eye ? how will it ravish the saints to behold an immortal loveliness shining in one another ? their love is mutual and reflexive , proportionable to the cause of it . an equal constant flame is preserv'd by pure materials . every one is perfectly amiable , and perfectly enamour'd with all . now can we frame a fuller conception of happiness , than such a state of love , wherein whatever is pleasant in friendship is in perfection , and whatever is distastful by mens folly and weakness is abolish'd ? the psalmist breaks out in a rapture , behold ●…ow good and pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity ! love is the beauty ▪ and strength of societies , the pleasure of life . how excellent is the joy of the blessed , when the prayer of christ shall be accomplish'd , that they all may be one ; as thou father art in me , and i in thee , that they also may be one in us . god is absolutely one in his glorious nature and will , and therefore unalterably happy ; and their inviolable union in love , is a ray of the essential unity between the sacred persons . there are no divisions of heart and tongues , as in this babel ; but the most perfect and sweetest concord , an eternal agreement in tempers and inclinations . there are no envious comparisons , for love that affectively transforms one into another , causes the glory of every saint to redound to the joy of all . every one takes his share in the felicity of all , and adds to it . such is the power of that celestial fire wherein they all burn , that it melts and mixes souls in such an entire union , that by complacence and an intimate joy , the blessedness of all is , as it were , proper to every one ; as if every one were plac'd in the hearts of all , and all in the heart of every one . if in the church of the first born christians in the earthly jerusalem , the band of charity was so strict that 't is said , the multitude of believers were of one heart , and one soul ; how much more intimate and inseparable is the union of the saints in jerusalem above , where every one loves another as himself ? 't is recorded of alexander , that entring with haephestion his favourite , into the pavilion of darius his mother , then his prisoner , she bowed to the favourite , as having a greater appearance of majesty , thinking him to be alexander : but advised of her errour , she humbly begg'd his pardon , to whom the generous king replied , you did not err mother , this is also alexander : such was their affection , that whoever was taken of them , the other was taken in him ; the less ascending in the greater , without degrading the greater in the less . this is a copy of the holy love of the blessed ; but with the same difference , as between the description of a star with a coal , and its beauty in its proper aspect . and where all is love , all is delight . o how do they enjoy and triumph in the happiness of one another ? with what an unimaginable tenderness do they embrace ? what reciprocations of endearments are between them ? o their ravishing conversation , and sweet entercourse ! for their presence together in heaven is not a silent show . in the transfiguration , moses and elias talk't with christ. with what excellent discourses do they entertain one another ? if david felt such inward pleasure from the sence of god's favours , that he could not restrain the expression of it , but invites the saints , come and hear , all ye that fear the lord , and i will tell you what he has done for my soul. certainly in heaven , the blessed with overflowing affections recount the divine benefits , the admirable methods , whereby the life of grace was begun , preserv'd and carried on in the midst of temptations ; the continual succession of mercies in the time of their hopes , and the consummation of all in the time of their enjoyment . how joyfully do they concur in their thanksgivings to god for the goodness of creation , in making them reasonable creatures , capable to know , love and enjoy him , when they might have been of the lowest order in the whole sphere of beings ; for his compassionate care and providence over them in this world. but especially for his sovereign mercy in electing them to be vessels of honour ; for his powerful grace , in rescuing them from the cruel and ignominious bondage of sin ; for his most free love , that justified them from all their guilt by the death of his only son , and glorified them with himself . they are never weary in this delightful exercise , but continually bless him for his mercy that endures for ever . we may judge by the saints here , when they are in a fit disposition to praise god , what fervours they feel in their united praises of him in heaven . the psalmist in an extasie calls to all the parts of the world to joyn with him ; the lord reigns , let the heavens rejoyce , and the earth be glad ; let the sea roar , let the fields be joyful , and all that dwell therein . he desires that nature should be elevated above it self , that the dead parts be inspir'd with life , the insensible feel motions of joy , and those that want a voice break forth in praises , to adorn the divine triumph . with what life and alacrity will the saints in their blessed communion celebrate the object of their love and praises ? the seraphims about the throne cryed to one another , to express their zeal and joy , in celebrating his eternal purity and power , and the glory of his goodness . o the unspeakable pleasure of this concert ! when every soul is harmonious , and contributes his part to the full musick of heaven . o could we hear but some eccho of those songs wherewith the heaven of heavens resounds , some remaines of those voices wherewith the saints above triumph in the praises , in the solemn adoration of the king of spirits , how would it inflame our desires to be joyn'd with them ? blessed are those that are in thy house , they always praise thee . 2. the fulness of joy in heaven is undecaying ; for the causes of it are always equal . and those are the beatifick object reveal'd , and the uninterrupted contemplation of it . whilest we are here below , the sun of righteousness , as to our perception and sence , has ascensions and declinations , accesses and recesses . and our earth is not so purified , but some vapours arise that intercept his chearful refreshing light. from hence there are alternate successions of spiritual comforts and sorrows , of doubts and filial confidence in the saints . 't is a rare favour of heaven , when an humble believer in his whole course is so circumspect as not to provoke god to appear displeased against him : when a christian ( as those tutelar angels spoken of in the gospel ) always beholds the face of his heavenly father , and converses with him with an holy liberty . and what a torment the hiding of god's face is to a deserted soul , only they know who feel it . external troubles are many times attended with more consolations to the spirit , than afflictions to sense ; but to love god with a transcendent affection , and to fear he is our enemy , no punishment exceeds , or is equal to it . as his loving-kindness in their esteem is better than life , so his displeasure is worse than death . how do they wrestle with god by prayers and tears , and offer , as it were , a holy violence to the king of heaven , to recover their first serenity of mind , the lost peace of heart ? how passionately do they cry out , with job , in the book of his patience , o that i were as in months past , as in the days when god preserved me : when his candle shin'd upon my head , and when by his light i walk'd through darkness : as i was in the days of my youth , when the secret of god was upon my tabernacle . and sometimes god delays the revealing himself even to his dearest children ; not that he does not see their necessities , and hears their prayers , or is so hard that till their extremities he is not moved with compassion , but for wise and holy reasons ; either that they may not return to folly , if by any presumptuous sin they forfeited their peace ; or if they have been careful to please him , yet he may deprive them of spiritual comforts for a time , to keep them humble , and that with an obedient resignation to his sovereign pleasure they may wait for his reviving presence . and then joy returns greater than before . for thus god usually renders with interest what he suspended only for tryal . but the saints above are for ever enlightned with the vital splendor , and dear regards of his countenance , always enjoy his beamy smiles . a continual effusion of glory illustrates heaven and all its blessed inhabitants . and their contemplation of god is fixed . if the object , though extraordinary glorious , were transient , or the eye so weak that it could only see it but by glances , the heighth of joy would not be perpetual . but the mind is prepar'd with supernatural vigour , to see the brightness of god's face , and by the most attentive application always converses with that blessed object , so that the joy of heaven is never intermitted for a moment . they always see , and love , and rejoyce , and praise him . 't is possible a carnal suspition may arise in some , as if the uniform perpetual vision of the same glory might lose its perfect delightfulness . for those who seek for happiness in the vanity of the creatures , are always desirous of change , and have their judgments so corrupted , that while they languish with a secret desire after an unchangeable good , yet they conceive no good as desirable , that is not changed . but to correct this gross errour of fancy , let us a little enquire into the causes of dissatisfaction , that make the constant fruition of the same thing here to be tedious . sensible things are of such a limited goodness , that not any of them can supply all our present wants , so that 't is necessary to leave one for another . and the most of them are remedies of our diseased appetites , and if not temperately used are destructive evils . eating and drinking are to extinguish hunger and thirst , but continued beyond just measure become nauseous . besides , the insufficiency of their objects , the senses themselves cannot be satisfied all at once . the ear cannot attend to delightful sounds , and the eye be intent on beautiful colours at the same time : the satisfaction of one sense defeats another of enjoying its proper good ; therefore the same object is not constantly pleasant , but the heart is distemper'd from as many causes , as there are desires unaccomplish'd . add further , all things under the sun afford onely a superficial delight , and miserably deceive the expectations raised of them : and many times there is a mixture of some evil in them , that is more offensive , than the good is delightful . the honey is attended with a sting , so that often those very things we sigh after through vehement desire , when they are obtain'd , we sigh for grief . now all these causes of dissatisfaction cease in heaven ; for * god is an infinite good , and whatever is truly desirable and precious , is in him in all degrees of perfection . and in his presence all the powers of the soul are drawn out in their most pleasant exercise , and alwayes enjoy their entire happiness . the fruition of him exceeds our most raised hopes , as much as he is more glorious in himself than in any borrowed representations . god will be to us incomparably above what we can ask or think . the compass of our thoughts , the depth of our desires are imperfect measures of his perfections . and as he is a pure good in himself , so he is prevalent over all evil. 't is evident therefore that nothing can allay the joys of saints when they are in god's presence . 2. novelty is not requisite to ingratiate every good , and make it perfectly delightful . ‖ god is infinitely happy , to whom no good was ever new . 't is indeed the sauce that gives a delicious taste to inferiour things . for men relish only what is eminent ; and the good things of this world are so truly mean , that they are feign to borrow a shew of greatness by comparison with a worse estate preceding . but an infinite good produces always the same pure equal compleat joy , because it arises from its intrinsick perfection , that wants no foil to commend it . the psalmist breaks forth , whom have i in heaven but thee ? this is no vanishing rapture , but a constant joyful height of affection . god , the essential happiness of the saints , is always perfectly lovely and delightful to them . 3. the glorified saints in every period of their happy state , have as lively a perception of it as in the beginning . to make this evident , we must consider that the pleasure of novelty springs from a quick sense of the opposite terms , between our condition in the want of some desired good , and after our obtaining it . now the mind is more intense on the advantage , and more strongly affected at first . one newly freed from the torments of a sharp disease , feels a greater pleasure than from a constant tenour of health . those who are rais'd from a low state to eminent dignity , are transported with their first change , but in tract of time the remembrance of their mean condition is so weakned and spent , that 't is like the shadow of a dream , and proportionably their joy is lessened . honours like perfumes , by custom are less sensible to those that carry them . but the saints above always consider and feel the excellent difference between their suffering and triumphant state . they never lose that ravishing part of felicity , the vivid sence of past evils . their reflections are always as strong on the misery from whence they were rais'd to the pitch of happiness , as in their first glorious translation . in what an extasy of wonder and pleasure will they be , from the fresh memory of what they were , and the joyful sence of what they are ? i was ( says the admiring soul ▪ ) poor , blind , and naked ; but o miraculous and happy alteration ! i am full of light , enrich'd with the treasures of heaven , adorn'd with divine glory . i was under the tyrannous power of satan , but he is bruised under my feet . i was sentenc'd to an everlasting separation from the presence of god , my only life and joy ; but now am possest of my supream good. ' o how transporting is the comparison of these wide and contrary extreams ? how beautiful and pleasant is the day of eternity , after such a dark tempestuous night ? how does the remembrance of such evils produce a more lively and feeling fruition of such happiness ? how strangely and mightily does salvation with eternal glory affect the soul ? this gives a spritely accent to their everlasting hallelujahs . this preserves an affectionate heat in their thanksgivings to their victorious deliverer . and thus their happiness is always the same , and always new . their pleasure is continued in its perfection . lastly ; the blessedness of the saints is without end . this makes heaven to be it self . there is no satiety of the present , no sollicitude for the future . were there a possibility , or the least suspicion of losing that happy state , it would cast an aspersion of bitterness upon all their delights : they could not enjoy one moments repose ; but the more excellent their happiness is , the more stinging would their fear be of parting with it . but the inheritance reserved in heaven , is immortal , undefiled , and fades not away . and the tenure of their possession is infinitely firm by the divine power , the true support of their everlasting duration . with god is the fountain of life . they enjoy a better immortality , than the tree of life could have preserved in adam . the revolutions of the heavens , and ages , are under their feet , and cannot in the least alter or determine their happiness . after the passing of millions of years , still an entire eternity remains of their enjoying god. o most desirable state ! where blessedness and eternity are inseparably united . o joyful harmony ! when the full chorus of heaven shall sing , this god is our god for ever and ever this adds an infinite weight to their glory . this redoubles their unspeakable joys with infinite sweetness and security . they repose themselves in the compleat fruition of their happiness . god reigns in the saints , and they live in him for ever . from what has been discoursed we should , i. consider the woful folly of men in refusing such a happiness , that by the admirable favour of god is offer'd to their choice . can there be an expectation , or desire , or capacity in man , of enjoying a happiness beyond what is infinite and eternal ? o blind and wretched world ! so careless of everlasting felicity . who can behold , without compassion and indignation , men vainly seek for happiness where 't is not to be found , and after innumerable disappointments fly at an impossibility , and neglect their sovereign and final blessedness ? astonishing madness ! that god and heaven should be despised in comparison of painted trifles . this adds the greatest contumely to their impiety . what powerful charm obstructs their true judging of things ? what spirit of errour possesses them ? alas , eternal things are unseen , not of conspicuous moment , and therefore in the carnal ballance are esteemed light , against temporal things present to the sense . it does not appear what we shall be : the vail of the visible heavens covers the sanctuary , where jesus our high-priest is entred , and stops the enquiring eye . but have we not assurance by the most infallible principles of faith , that the son of god came down from heaven to live with us , and dye for us , and that he rose again to confirm our belief in his exceeding great and precious promises concerning this happiness in the future state ? and do not the most evident principles of reason and universal experience prove , that this world cannot afford true happiness to us ? how wretchedly do we forfeit the prerogative of the reasonable nature by neglecting our last and blessed end ? if the mind be darkned , that it does not see the amiable excellencies of god , and the will so depraved that it does not feel their ravishing power ; the man ceases to be a man , and becomes like the beasts that perish . as a blind eye is no longer an eye , being absolutely useless to that end for which it was made . and though in this present state men are stupid and unconcern'd , yet hereafter their misery will awaken them , to discover what is that supream good wherein their perfection and felicity consists . when their folly shall be exposed before god , angels , and saints , in what extream confusion will they appear before that glorious and immense theatre ? our saviour told the unbelieving jews , there shall be weeping , and gnashing of teeth , when ye shall see abraham , and isaac , and jacob , and all the prophets in the kingdom of god , and you your selves turn'd out . they shall be tortur'd with the desire of happiness without possible satisfaction . 't is most just that those who err without excuse , should repent without remedy . 2. let us be excited seriously to apply our selves in the use of effectual means for the obtaining this happiness . indeed the original cause of it , is the pure rich mercy of god ; the meritorious , is the most precious obedience of our saviour , by whom we obtain plenteous redemption . his abasement is the cause of our exaltation . the wounds he received in his body , the characters of ignominy , and footsteps of death , are the fountains of our glory . eternal life is the gift of god through jesus christ our lord. but the gospel declares , that without holiness no man shall see god. an holy change of our natures , and perseverance in the course of universal obedience , are indispensibly requisite in order to our obtaining heaven . those who by patient continuance in well-doing , seek for glory , honour , and immortality , shall partake of eternal life . now were there no other reason of this constitution , but the sovereign will of god , it were sufficient . but the foundation of it is laid in the nature of the things themselves . therefore our saviour does not simply declare , that an unregenerate person shal not see the kingdom of god , but with the greatest emphasis cannot , to signify an absolute impossibility of it . besides the legal bar that excludes unsanctified persons from the beatifick vision of god , there is a moral incapacity . suppose that justice should allow omnipotence to translate such a sinner to heaven , would the place make him happy ? can two incongruous natures delight in one another ? the happiness of sense is by an impression of pleasure from a suitable object : the happiness of intellectual beings arises from an entire conformity of dispositions . so that unless god recede from his holiness , which is absolutely impossible , or man be purified , and changed into his likeness , there can be no sweet communion between them . our saviour assigns this reason of the necessity of regeneration in order to our admission into heaven : that which is born of the flesh , is flesh ; and that which is born of the spirit , is spirit . according to the quality of the principle , such is what proceeds from it . the flesh is a corrupt principle , and accordingly the natural man is wholly carnal in his propensions , operations , and end . the disease is turn'd into his constitution . he is dead to the spiritual life , to the actions and enjoyments that are proper to it : nay , there is in him a surviving principle of enmity to that life : not only a mortal coldness to god , but a stiff aversation from him , a perpetual resistance and impatience of the divine presence , that would disturb his voluptuous enjoyments . the exercises of heaven would be as the torments of hell to him , while in the midst of those pure joys his inward inclinations vehemently run into the lowest lees of sensuality . and therefore till this contrariety , so deep and predominant in an unholy person , be removed , 't is utterly impossible he should enjoy god with satisfaction . holiness alone prepares men for the possession of celestial happiness , that is against the corruption , and above the perfection of meer nature . let us then having such a joy set before us , lay aside every weight , and the sin which doth so easily beset us , and run with patience the race that is set before us , looking to jesus the author and finisher of our faith. methinks the sight of worldly men , so active and vigilant to prosecute their low designs , should quicken us to seek with the greater diligence and alacrity the kingdom of heaven , and the righteousness thereof . a carnal wretch urged by the sting of a brutish desire , with what impatience does he pursue the pleasure of sin , which is but for a season ? an ambitious person , with what an intemperate heighth of passion does he chase a feather ? a covetous man , how greedily does he prosecute the advantages of the present world that passes away , and the lusts thereof ? ah! how do they upbraid our indifferent desires , our dull delays , and cold endeavours , when such an high prize is set before us ? who is able to conceive the excesse of pleasure the soul feels when it first enters through the beautiful gate of paradise , and sees before it that incomprehensible glory , and hears a voice from him that sits upon the throne , enter into thy masters joy , for ever be happy with him ? the serious belief of this will draw forth all our active powers in the service of god. the feeding by lively thoughts on this supernatural food , will add new vigor and lustre to our graces , and make our victory easy over the world. if we believe indeed that our bodies shall be spiritual , and our souls divine in their perfections , it will make us resolute to subdue the rebel flesh , and rescue the captiv'd spirit from all intanglements of iniquity . having the promise of such an excellent reward , let us always abound in the work of the lord. 3. the lively hope of this blessedness is powerful to support us under the greatest troubles can befal us in this our mortal condition . here we are tost upon the alternate waves of time , but hereafter we shall arrive at the port , the blessed bosom of our saviour , and enjoy a peaceful calm : and so we shall ever be with the lord. words of infinite sweetness ! this is the song of our prosperity , and charm of our adversity : we shall ever be with the lord. well might the apostle add immediately after , therefore comfort one another with these words . more particularly , they are a lenitive to moderate our sorrows upon the departure of our dearest friends , who dye in the lord : for they ascend from this valley of tears , to the happy land of the living . what father is so deserted of reason , as to bear impatiently the parting with his son , that goes over a narrow part of the sea , to a rich and pleasant country , and receive the investiture and peaceable possession of a kingdom ? nay , by how much the stronger his love is , so much the more transporting is his joy : especially if he expects shortly to be with him , to see him on the throne , in the state of a king , and to partake of his happiness . if then it be impossible to nature to be grieved , at the felicity of one that is loved ; according to what principle of nature or faith do believers so uncomfortably lament the death of friends , of whom they have assurance that after their leaving our earth , they enter into an everlasting kingdom , to receive a crown of glory from christ himself ? our saviour tells the disciples , if ye loved me , ye would rejoyce , because i said i go to my father ; to sit down at his right-hand in majesty . a pure affection directly terminates in the happiness and exaltation of the person that is loved . i am not speaking against the exercise of tender affections on the loss of our dear friends ; and a pensive feeling of god's hand in it ; which is an natural and necessary duty . there is a great difference between stupidity and patience : but violent passion , or unremitting sorrow is most unbecoming the blessed hope assur'd to us in the gospel . chrysostom treating of this argument , and reflecting upon the custom of those times , wherein at funeral solemnities a train of mourning women attended the corps , tearing their hair and face , and crying out with all the expressions of desperate sorrow , breaks forth , ah christian faith and religion ! that was triumphant over thine enemies in so many battels and victories by the blood and death of the martyrs , how art thou contradicted by the practice of these who profess thee in words ? is this not to be sorrowful as those that have no hope ? are these the affections , the expressions , of one that believes the blessedness of immortal life ? what will the heathens say , how will they be induc'd to believe the promises of christ to his servants of a glorious kingdom , when those who are so in title , behave themselves as if they had no stedfast faith in them ? 4. the hopes of this blessed state , is able to free us from the fear of death . this last enemy gives an hot alarm to mankind , both as it deprives them of all that is pleasant here , and for the terrible consequences that attend it . to the eye of sense , a dead body is a spectacle of fearful appearance . he that a little before heard and discours'd , and with a chearful air convers'd and enjoy'd the world , now is dead , and all his senses in him : the eyes are dead to light , and the ears to sounds , the tongue to words , and the heart to feel any affections , and the countenance to discover them : nothing remains but silence , horrour , and corruption . besides , after death comes judgment , and a state of unrelenting torments to the wicked . but a true believer that has been obedient to his saviour , sees things by another light than that of sense , and has living hopes in his dying agonies . he knows that death to the saints is but a sleep : and while the body rests in the grave , the soul is as it were all act , continually exercising its most noble faculties on the best objects . does the soul sleep in that all-enlightned world , that sees with open face , the infinite beauty of god ? that hears and bears a part in the hymns of the angels & saints encircling his throne ? that drinks of the rivers of pleasure that flow from his presence ? that freely and joyfully converses with all the celestial courtiers , the princes of that kingdom , the favourites of god ? then it truly lives . this reconciles death to a christian , who has nothing more in his wishes than to be with christ ; and knows that diseases and pains , the forerunners of it , are but as the breaking down the walls of this earthly dark prison , that the soul may take its flight to the happy region , and for ever enjoy the liberty of the sons of god. and for his body , that shall be reunited to the soul in glory . methinks god speaks to a dying believer , as he did to jacob when he was to descend to egypt , fear not to go down into the grave , i will go down with thee , and i will bring thee up again . the same almighty voice that gave being to the world , shall awake those who sleep in the dust , and reform them according to the example of christ's glorified body . o how should we long for that triumphant day ! and with most ardent aspirings pray , thy kingdom come in its full power and glory ? i shall now come to speak of the mournful subject , the cause of my appearing here at this time , the deceased , reverend and excellent divine , dr. thomas manton : a name worthy of precious and eternal memory . and i shall consider him , both in the quality of his office , as he was an embassadour of christ , declaring his mind , and representing his authority , and in the holiness of his person , shewing forth the graces and vertues of his divine master . god had furnish'd him with a rare union of those parts that are requisite to form a minister of his word . a clear judgment , rich fancy , strong memory , and happy elocution met in him , and were excellently improved by his diligent study . the preaching of the word is the principal part of the minister's duty , most essential to his calling , and most necessary to the church . for this end chiefly , the several ‖ orders in the ministerial office were instituted , and upon our saviour's triumphant ascent and reception into heaven , an abundant effusion of the spirit in graces and abilities descended upon men. now in the performing this work , he was of that conspicuous eminence , that none could detract from him , but from ignorance or envy . he was endowed with extraordinary knowledg in the scriptures , those holy oracles from whence all spiritual light is derived : and in his preaching , gave such a perspicuous account of the order and dependance of divine truths ; and with that felicity applied the scriptures to confirm them , that every subject by his management was cultivated and improved . his discourses were so clear and convincing , that none without offering voluntary violence to conscience could resist their evidence . and from hence they were effectual not only to inspire a sudden flame , and raise a short commotion in the affections , but to make a lasting change in the life . for in the humane soul such is the composition of its faculties , that till the understanding be rectified in its apprehensions and estimations , the will is never induc'd to make an entire firm choice of what is necessary for the obtaining perfect happiness . a sincere persevering conversion is effected by weighty reasons that sink and settle in the heart . his doctrine was uncorrupt and pure , the truth according to godliness . he was far from a guilty vile intention , to prostitute that sacred ordinance for the acquiring any private secular advantage . neither did he entertain his hearers with impertinent subtilties , empty notions , intricate disputes , dry and barren without productive vertue : but as one that always had before his eyes the great end of the ministry , the glory of god , and the salvation of men , his sermons were directed to open their eyes , that they might see their wretched condition as sinners , to hasten their flight from the wrath to come , to make them humbly , thankfully and entirely receive christ , as their prince , and all-sufficient saviour . and to build up the converted in their most holy faith , and more excellent love , that is the fulfilling of the law. in short , to make true christians eminent in knowledg and universal obedience . as the matter of his sermons was designed for the good of souls ; so his way of expression was proper to that end . words are the vehicle of the heavenly light. as the divine wisdom was incarnate to reveal the eternal counsels of god to the world ; so spiritual wisdom in the mind , must be clothed with words , to make it sensible to others . and in this he had a singular talent . his stile was not exquisitely studied , not consisting of harmonious periods , but far distant from vulgar meanness . his expression was natural and free , clear and strong , quick and powerful , without any spice of folly , and always suitable to the simplicity and majesty of divine truths . his sermons afforded substantial food with delight , so that a fastidious mind could not disrelish them . he abhorr'd a vain ostentation of wit , in handling sacred things ; so venerable and grave , and of eternal consequence . indeed , what is more unbecoming a minister of christ , than to waste the spirits of his brain , as a spider does his bowels , to spin a web only to catch flyes ? to get vain applause by foolish pleasing the ignorant . and what cruelty is it to the souls of men ? 't is recorded as an instance of nero's savage temper , that in a general famine , when many perish'd by hunger , he ordered a ship should come from egypt ( the granary of italy ) laden with sand for the use of wrestlers . in such extremity to provide only for delight , that there might be spectacles on the theatre , when the city of rome was a spectacle of such misery , as to melt the heart of any but of nero , was most barbarous cruelty . but 't is cruelty of an heavier imputation for a minister to prepare his sermons to please the foolish curiosity of fancy with flashy conceits ; nay , such light vanities , that would scarce be endured in a scene , whiles hungry souls languish for want of solid nourishment . his fervour and earnestness in preaching was such , as might soften and make pliant the most stubborn obdurate spirits . i am not speaking of one whose talent was only in voice , that labours in the pulpit as if the end of preaching were for the exercise of the body , and not for the profit of souls : but this man of god was inflam'd vvith an holy zeal , and from thence such ardent expressions broke forth , as were capable to procure attention and consent in his hearers . he spake as one that had a living faith within him of divine truths . from this union of zeal with his knowledg , he was excellently qualified to convince and convert souls . the sound of words only strikes the ear , but the mind reasons with the mind , and the heart speaks to the heart . his unparallel'd assiduity in preaching , declar'd him very sensible of those dear and strong obligations that lie upon ministers , to be very diligent in that blessed work. what a powerful motive our saviour urged upon st. peter ? as thou lovest me , feed my sheep , feed my lambs . and can any feed too much , when none can love enough ? can any pains be sufficient for the salvation of souls , for which the son of god did not esteem his blood too costly a price ? is not incessant unwearied industry requisite to advance the work of grace in them to perfection ? in this the work of a minister has its peculiar disadvantage , that whereas an artificer how curious and difficult soever his work be , yet has this encouragement , that what is begun with art and care , he finds in the same state wherein 't was left : a painter that designs an exact piece , draws many lines , often touches it with his pencil to give it life and beauty ; and though unfinish'd , 't is not spoild by his intermission . a sculptor that carves a statue , though his labour be hard from the resistance of the matter , yet his work remains firm and durable . but the heart of man is of a strange temper , hard as marble , not easily receptive of heavenly impressions , yet fluid as water , those impressions are easily defac'd in it ; 't is expos'd to so many temptations that induce an oblivion of eternal things , that without frequent excitations to quicken and confirm its holy purposes , it grows careless , and all the labour is lost that was spent on it . this faithful minister abounded in the work of the lord ; and which is truly admirable , though so frequent in preaching , yet was alwas superiour to others , and equal to himself . in his last time when declining to death , yet he would not leave his beloved work ; the vigour of his mind supporting the weakness of his body . i remember when opprest with an obstinate hoarsness , a friend desiring him to spare himself ; he rejected the advice with indignation . he was no fomenter of faction , but studious of the publick tranquillity . he knew what a blessing peace is , and wisely foresaw the pernicious consequences that attend divisions . by peace , the bond of mutual harmony , the weakest things are preserved and prosper ; but where discord reigns , the strongest are near to ruine . the heavenly concent in the primitive church , was a principal cause of its miraculous encrease and flourishing ; but after dissentions prevail'd amongst christians , that was destroyed in a short time , which was built by the divine union and heroic patience of the primitive christians . and the glorious beginnings that promis'd the reformation of all europe , were more obstructed by the dissentions of some employed in that blessed work , than by all the power and subtilty , the arms and artifices of rome it self . how afflictive is the consideration of our divided church ? sweet peace , whither art thou fled ? blessed saviour , who didst by thy precious blood reconcile heaven and earth , send down thy spirit to inspire us with that wisdom that is pure and peaceable , that those who agree in the same principles of faith , in the same substantial parts of worship , in asserting the same indispensible necessity of holiness , may receive one another in love . i am affectionatly engaged in a matter that so nearly touches all those that value the protestant interest . briefly ; consider him as a christian , his life was answerable to his doctrine . 't is applicable to some ministers , what is observed of the carbuncle ; by its colour , lustre , and fiery sparklings it seems to be actually a fire , but it has only the name and appearance of it . thus some in the pulpit seem to be all on fire with zeal , yet their hearts are as cold as a stone , without holy affections , and their lives are unworthy their divine ministration . but this servant of god was like a fruitful tree , that produces in its branches what it contains in the root ; his inward grace was made visible in a conversation becoming the gospel of christ. his resolute contempt of the world secur'd him from being wrought on by those motives , that tempt low spirits from their duty . he would not rashly throw himself into troubles , nor spretâ conscientiâ avoid them . his generous constancy of mind in resisting the current of popular humour , declar'd his loyalty to his divine master . his charity was eminent in procuring supplies for others , when in mean circumstances himself . but he had great experience of god's fatherly provision , to which his filial confidence was correspondent . his conversation in his family was holy and exemplary , every day instructing them from the scriptures in their duty . i shall finish my character of him , with observing his humility . he was deeply affected 〈◊〉 the sence of his frailties and unworthiness . he considered the infinite purity of god , the perfection of his law the rule of our duty , and by that humbling light discover'd his manifold defects . he exprest his thoughts to me a little before his death ; if the holy prophets were under strong impressions of fear , upon the extraordinary discovery of the divine presence , how shall we poor creatures appear before that holy and dread majesty ? isaiah , after his glorious vision of god , reflecting upon himself ; as not retir'd from the commerce and corruption of the world , breaks forth , wo is me , for i am undone , because i am a man of unclean lips , and i dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips ; for mine eyes have seen the king , the lord of hosts . 't is infinitely terrible to appear before god the judge of all , without the protection of the blood of sprinkling , that speaks better things than the blood of abel . this alone reliev'd him , and supported his hopes . though his labours were abundant , yet he knew that the work of god , passing through our hands , is so blemish'd , that without an appeal to pardoning mercy and grace , we cannot stand in judgment . this was the subject of his last publick sermon . he languish'd many months , but presuming he should be too strong for his infirmity , neglected it , till at last it became insuperable and mortal . many pathetical aggravations heighten our great and dear loss , that such a faithful minister of christ should be taken away , whose preaching was so powerful to repair the woful ruines of godliness and vertue in a degenerate age : whose prudent pacifick spirit rendred him so useful in these divided times , when professors of the same religion are alienated from one another , as if they had been baptized with the waters of strife : that before our tears were dried up for the loss of other worthy ministers , the fountain of sorrow should be opened again by this afflicting stroke . but it becomes us to receive the dispensations of heaven with humble and quiet submission ; to reflect upon our sins with an holy grief , that provoke god to remove such an excellent instrument of his glory from us . let us pray to the lord of the harvest , that he will send forth faithful labourers into it . o that surviving ministers might be animated with a zeal more pure and fervent in their divine work : and that people would be wise , while a price is put into their hands , to improve it for their eternal advantage . the neglected gospel will at the last be a terrible witness against the disobedient , to justify and aggravate their condemnation . finis . some books printed for , and sold by brabazon aylmer , at the three pigeons , over against the royal-exchange in cornhill . the harmony of the divine attributes , in the accomplishment of man's redemption by the lord jesus christ : or discourses , wherein is shewed , how the wisdom , mercy , justice , holiness , power and truth of god , are glorified in that great and blessed work : by william bates , d. d. in 4to . considerations of the existence of god , and of the immortality of the soul , with the recompences of the future state. to which is now added , the divinity of the christian religion , proved by the evidence of reason , and divine revelation : for the cure of infidelity , the hectick evil of the times . by william bates , d. d. in octavo . sermons preached upon several occasions , by isaac barrow , d. d. late master of trinity-colledg in cambridg , and one of his majesties chaplains in ordinary . in octavo . the reconcileableness of god's prescience of the sins of men , with the wisdom and sincerity of his counsels , exhortations , and whatsoever means he uses to prevent them : in a letter to the honourable , robert boyle , esq. to which is added a postscript in defence of the said letter ; by john how , m. a. sometime fellow of magdalen colledge , oxon. in octavo . notes, typically marginal, from the original text notes for div a26790-e110 rev. 21. 4. 1 cor. 15. phil. 3. 1. * 1 cor. 13. * vt cu● istud quicquid est ● quo disput●tis perceper● moriar . va● max. ‖ aristot. † sic it●… habebit d●…num aliud lio minus , hic quoque●…num habe●…at ne velit amplius . aug. * et totum dedit uni●…ersis , et to●…um singulis . ●… per hoc ●…uicquid pas●…one sua sal●…ator praesti●…t , sicut to●…um ei debent ●…niversi , sic ●…nguli ; nisi ●…uod prope hoc ●…lus singuli ●…uam univer●… , quod totum ●…cceperunt ●…nguli , quan●…um universi . ●…alvian si audia multitudo●… lens , non in●… se particul tim comm●…nuunt son●… tanquam ●…bos : sed o●… ne quod so●… & omnibus totum est , singulis totum . augu●… in epist. a volusan . non 〈◊〉 , m●ter , num hic alexander est . curt. lib. 3. job 29. 2 , 3 , 4. * vitae nos ●…dium tenet , ●…mor mortis ●…itat omne ●…nsilium , nec ●…plere nos ●…lla faelicitas ●…test . causa ●…utem est , ●…od non per●…mimus ad ●…ud bonum ●…nmensum & superabile , ●…bi necesse est ●…sistat nobis●… luntas nos●…a , quia ul●…a summum ●…n est locus . ●…ence . epist. ●…4 . ‖ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 arist. ●…th 1. 7. ●… ult . ‖ ephes. 4. suet. si sudare●… aliter non po●…tes , est aliud●… john 21. the danger of prosperity discovered in several sermons upon prov. i. 27 / by william bates ... bates, william, 1625-1699. 1685 approx. 201 kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from 128 1-bit group-iv tiff page images. text creation partnership, ann arbor, mi ; 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(eebo-tcp ; phase 1, no. a26784) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set 52333) images scanned from microfilm: (early english books, 1641-1700 ; 856:31) the danger of prosperity discovered in several sermons upon prov. i. 27 / by william bates ... bates, william, 1625-1699. [8], 245, [2] p. printed for brabazon aylmer ..., london : 1685. reproduction of original in huntington library. errata: p. 245. "some books printed for brabazon aylmer in cornhil": p. 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't is otherwise with men born of the flesh , in whom there is a carnal heart ( the centre of apostacy and corruption ) that is easily enticed and overcome by charming complacencies . prosperity is a disguised poison , pleasant to the unwary sense , but deadly in the operation ; and the more pernicious in the effects , because less dangerous in the opinions of men. the temptations of prosperity are so frequent and favour'd by us , that they give vigour to the inward enemy , the sensual affections , and boldness to the malicious tempter . they foment the carnal appetites , that defile and debase the soul ; and are the more rebellious and exorbitant the more they are gratified . prosperity is the strongest obstacle against the conversion and reformation of sinners . whilst they are plying their various pleasures , they have neither will nor leisure to advert to the voice of conscience , so reproachful and stinging to them , and many times prosperity stupifies conscience , that men are fearless of divine judgments , involv'd in sensual security . they will not reverence and obey god's authority , till they feel his power ; they abuse his blessings to pride and vanity , idleness and luxury , and are hardned in their impenitence , dyed with the deepest tincture of ingratitude : they drive on through a course of sin , till death puts a period to their lusts. how destructive , how penal is prosperity to such graceless souls ? when god rains snares upon the wicked ; when the affluence of this world is abused to satisfy their vicious desires , 't is a sad forerunner of the shower of fire and brimstone , and the horrible tempest that shall overwhelm them at last . others in prosperity are not openly profane , and boldly vicious , yet are corrupted , and insensibly destroyed by it . they over-value and over-delight in the good things of this world , and please themselves in an opiniative felicity in their present state. they enjoy the world with more appearance of reason , and less sensuality than the riotous and luxurious ; but their conversation with so many charming objects , alienates them from god. they do not sanctify him in their hearts , placing their highest esteem upon his most amiable excellencies , and their dearest delight in communion with him . they look upon religion as a sour severity , and count nothing delightful , but what is suitable to the fleshly affections . a deceit like that of a sick person , who feeling no pleasure but in the easy intervals between his fits , and the remission of his distemper , should imagine that if he were freed from his disease , he should lose all pleasure : whereas the delights of health are more full and durable . the angels are uncapable of sensual pleasures ; their happiness arises from the perfection of good , not the allays of evil. the beasts are only capable of sensual pleasures , the remedies of natural evils , hunger , thirst , weariness , or accidental evils , diseases , and pains : and many are so sottishly deceived , as to prefer brutish pleasures that affect the senses , before angelical joys that arise from the fruition of god's favour , and obedience to his laws . this is a sad symptom of an unrenewed heart , and an heavy presage of future misery ; for god will not be our everlasting joy in heaven , if he be not our exceeding joy upon the earth . others surrounded with riches and honours , are neither thankful to their divine benefactor , nor careful to employ their prosperity and power for his glory . the law of mercy requires a solemn affectionate recognition of god's benefits : but the current of prosperity drowns their sense of the divine goodness : and incogitant practical atheism , is as destructive as absolute and speculative . and how many by the deceitfulness of riches , are apt to imagine , that they possess with dominion what they receive in trust : they might be rich in good works , and if their hearts were according to their ability , be fruitful as paradise , but are as barren as the sands of africa . they are in a mighty debt for so many received blessings , for which their account will be heavy and undoing with the highest lord. these and many other considerations , make it evident how dangerous prosperity is to the most that enjoy it here . 't is therefore a point of high and holy wisdom how to manage prosperity so , as to avoid the impendant evils that usually follow it , and to improve it for our eternal advantage . this is the design of the present treatise , and humbly recommended to the divine blessing , from one who most unfeignedly desires the salvation of mens souls . w. b. the danger of prosperity . prov . 1. 32. the prosperity of fools shall destroy them . in the former verses , the divine wisdom is introduc'd in a very elegant and pathetical manner , reclaiming men from their miserable errors , to partake of light and felicity . the address is directed to them with upbraidings and indignation at their folly , and with tender compassion for their ruin. how long ye simple ones will ye love simplicity ? and fools hate knowledg ? thus 't is said of our saviour , the incarnate wisdom of god , that * he look'd on the pharisees with anger , being grieved at the hardness of their hearts . we have also exprest , an earnest desire of their conversion , turn ye at my reproof . and that is seconded by a gracious promise , i will pour out my spirit upon you , to illuminate and conduct you in the way of life . but for their stupid obstinacy in despising the counsel , and rejecting the reproofs of wisdom , they are surprized with utter destruction . this is described with that train of killing circumstances , that are the most forcible excitations timely to prevent that evil , which neglected , will be remediless : because i have called , and ye refused , i have stretched out my hand , and no man regarded ; i will also laugh at your calamity , and mock when your fear cometh : when your fear cometh as a whirlwind , when distress and anguish cometh upon you , then shall they call on me , but i will not answer ; they shall seek me early , but they shall not find me : for that they hated knowledg , and despised the fear of the lord. in their distress they supplicate for mercy ; but as they were unchang'd , notwithstanding all the gracious calls of god to repentance , so he is not moved by all their mournful intreaties , and takes pleasure in his righteous judgments upon them . their final ruin is resolved into its proper cause ; the wilful hardness of sinners , and the abuse of those mercies that should have melted them into a compliance with the divine giver of them . for that they hated knowledg , and did not chuse the fear of the lord. for the turning away of the simple shall slay them ; and the prosperity of fools shall destroy them . the title of fool , is the usual character of the sinner in the language of wisdom ; and 't is with great reason and congruity attributed to him , in opposition to prudence , the universal vertue and supream director of humane life . for as by prudence a man so governs himself , and regulates his actions , as to avoid impendent evils ▪ and to obtain that good that is suitable to his necessities : so 't is the effect of folly , not to foresee evils to prevent them , and to neglect the season of obtaining what is good. and by how much the good is more valuable and desirable , and the evil is more pernicious and threatning ; in proportion , the folly is more unpardonable and woful , that loses the one , and exposes to the other . and this is justly charg'd upon every wilful impenitent sinner . prosperity comprehends all things in the order of nature , that are so much admir'd and desir'd by worldly men ; riches , honours , pleasures , health , strength , peace , plenty , and the abundant variety of what is grateful to the carnal mind and appetites . these blessings of god , abus'd and perverted by the folly of men , are turn'd into weapons of unrighteousness , to offend god , and wound their souls to everlasting death . the point i shall insist on , is this ; prosperity abused , is fatal and destructive to foolish sinners . in the treating on this argument , i will , 1 shew how prosperity is destructive to the wicked . 2. that 't is folly and madness above all wonder , when sinners abuse the blessings of god to their destruction . 3. how just , and certain , and heavy their destruction will be . 1. i will shew how prosperity is destructive to the wicked . in order to the explicating of this head , some things are to be premised . 1. this great world , with all the parts and creatures of which 't is compos'd , has an inherent goodness and perfection convenient to the end for which 't was form'd by the creator , and that was to be useful and comfortable to man in the service of god. there is no pestilence and contagion in the nature of things , that are pleasing to our faculties : they are dangerous , not as made by god , but as managed by satan . they do not pervert the minds of men from any noxious inherent qualities , but as they are corrupted by concupiscence . upon this account st. john dehorting christians from the love of the world , as inconsistent with the love of god , gives this reason of it , * for all that is in the world ▪ the lust of the flesh , the lust of the eyes , and the pride of life , is not of the father , but is of the world. he signifies the objects , riches , honours , and pleasures , by the vicious affections , that make them deadly to men. the poison is not in the flower , but in the spider . and the apostle speaking of the purifying vertue of the gospel , says , that * exceeding great and precious promises are given to us , that by these we may be partakers of the divine nature , having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust. this is evident by visible experience : for many holy men have enjoyed temporal blessings without the offence of god ; and have been more holy and heavenly in themselves , more beneficial and good to others by his mercies : whilst the sensual , like the ocean that changes the sweet showres of heaven into its salt quality , turn the divine blessings into provision for their brutish lusts. it appears therefore that this contrariety of effects is not to be attributed to the quality of worldly things that is always uniform and alike , but to the different dispositions of the persons that use them . as the same food is healthful or hurtful , as the stomach is clear or foul that receives it : in some it renews the blood and spirits , strengthens and preserves life ; in others it increases the sickly matter , feeds the disease , and brings death more painfully and speedily . 2. the primary design of god in his most free and rich benefits , is to endear himself to us , and bind us to his service : for they are the most proper and convincing expresses of his love and goodness , and powerful motives and perswasives to a grateful correspondence of love and obedience . i * drew them , saith god , with the cords of a man , with bands of love. goodness duly consider'd , engages to please the benefactor . 't is therefore said by st. paul , that the goodness of god leads sinners to repentance . 't is the most natural unconstrained consequence that the mind can regularly infer from his clemency and bounty . the hearts of men should be melted in tender resentments of their unworthy conversation towards him , and encouraged to return to their duty , since he will graciously receive those who unfeignedly repent of their sins : but the event does not usually answer god's aim . men are harden'd in sin by his mercies . 3. when the wicked abuse god's blessings , defeat his kindness , and frustrate the excellent ends of it , he most righteously and severely continues their prosperity , that foments their lusts , and renders them more wilful and incorrigible , and the more guilty of their own damnation . what was said by simeon , concerning the most glorious gift of god , our saviour , is applicable in this case ; behold , this child is set for the fall of many in israel , and for a sign that shall be spoken against . when the riches of grace offered in the gospel , are despised and neglected , the blessed saviour of souls is most justly ordained to be the occasion of their sorer punishment . so when the common benefits and mercies of god are ungratefully perverted by men , to the dishonour of the giver , they are by divine determination ordered , for the aggravating of their sins and sentence . prosperity is a fatal ambush for their surprizal and ruin , according to that heavy imprecation of the psalmist , * let their table become a snare to them : and that which should have been for their welfare , let it become a trap , an occasion of their falling . this judgment proceeds from the most terrible and inexorable displeasure : 't is better and more eligible to encounter all the storms of a raging world , than to enjoy the calm and security of a prosperous sinner . for the more afflicted we are by men , the more earnest are our addresses to god's propitious throne , to incline his mercy to regard and relieve us : but a sinner , the more full fruition he has of the world , the more he forsakes and provokes god , and the more he is abandon'd to his worst enemies , his lusts , and satan . this will be amplified more in the following parts of the discourse . this being premis'd , we come to shew how prosperity abus'd is destructive to sinners , both meritoriously , as it induces a deadly guilt , and makes them obnoxious to the revenging wrath of god ; and effectively as 't is opposite to the felicity and perfection of man , that consists in the renovation of the image of god in the soul , and in joyful communion with him for ever . this will appear by the following considerations . 1. prosperity is the continual incentive of the vicious affections , the fleshly lusts that war against the soul ; that deprive it of its beauty , order , freedom , and felicity . man is compounded of flesh and spirit ; by the one he communicates in nature with the beasts , by the other he confines with the angels . by the original law of union , the body was subject to the soul ; and tho taken from the earth , did not oppress it , and hinder its heavenly flight : the flesh did not lust against the spirit , nor the spirit against the flesh. but as the motion of the two eyes in the head is always uniform , and directed the same way ; so reason and sence accorded , the appetites were regular and concentrick with the mind . upon this established order , the internal peace and holiness of man depends . but by the rebellious sin of adam , the soul lost its regal power and freedom : and as in the first temptation the soul infected the body , so now the body infects the soul. the carnal appetite , the spring of lust and anger ( that infernal pair that reigns so universally ) over-rules the rational will , and gives law to men. the love of sensual pleasures is natural to men ; as temptations are more charming and increas'd , 't is more predominant . the senses , the fancy , and the passions , are in a conspiracy against the soul ; and there is a continual circulation in their working , they excite one another . by the sences pleasing things obtain an easy entrance into the fancy ; and fancy has a strange power to charm or terrify by false representations ; it amplifies the evil , and heightens the seeming good of things ; and by the inspiration of fancy , the passions are moved , and the passions being allured , bribe and seduce the mind , and draw the consent of the will by the actual pleasure that is mixt in the gratifying of them . and as adam lost his innocence and paradise by his compliance with the blandishments of his wife ; so the soul loses its purity and happiness , by yielding to the desires of the flesh that is in conjunction with it . for this reason , man in his fallen state is called flesh , as if there were no other principle in his nature , and of his operations . the spiritual and more noble faculties , that were made for delightful communion with god , are sunk into carnality . the description of men in their natural state , by the apostle , is a full proof of this : we all had our conversation in times past in the lusts of the flesh , fulfilling the desires of the flesh , and of the mind . 't is observable that the lusts of the flesh , that spring from the sensual part , are drawn forth into act by the concurrent wills of the flesh , and of the mind . the nobler faculties , the understanding and will are depraved , and freely indulge the carnal appetites in their pursuit of pleasures . prodigious degeneracy of the reasonable creature ! of this we have a resemblance in the marvellous transforming power of nature . if a cyon be grafted into a tree of another kind , the fruit that grows on it will not be according to the nature of the stock , but of the graft that over-rules the sap , and turns it to its own quality . thus the beast is grafted into the man , and the intellectual powers are corrupted and carnal . the mind is employed to disguise the ignominy and guilt that attend the lusts of the flesh ; and the will consents to a submission to those ignoble and unruly appetites . man has only this privilege , that he is a more ingenious brute , to spring new pleasures , to make provision for his sensual desires , and to accomplish them . now in prosperity , when the senses are entertained with variety of alluring objects , the fancy is more predominant and contagious : it has more force , vivacity , and extent , the more 't is conversant about sensible things : and the polluted imagination is the most active and general principle of corrupting the heart : for the mind transcribes a copy of what is written in the fancy , and presents it with a false gloss to the will , that is ready to chuse what brings actual pleasure . and the sensitive affections are excited by the fancy , so that the presence of a suitable object , foments the warmth into heat , and turns the heat into fire , and the fire into flame . and the more the carnal affections are indulg'd , the more they are inlarg'd , the more importunate and head-strong they become ; and the soul is utterly disabled from recovering it self from the besotted vile prostitution , to the ignoble and unruly appetites . millions had been less guilty and defiled , and less miserable for ever , if they had not been surrounded by pleasant temptations and intanglements of iniquity . 2. prosperity occasionally incenses the irascible appetite : for the usual incentives of anger , are the crossing the desires , and contempt ; and the stronger the desires , the more impatient they are to be controll'd ; and in proportion to the height of mind , is the indignation for any contempt that is offer'd . now prosperity makes the carnal desires more exorbitant , and consequently raging when frustrated . violent burning desires , when controll'd , provoke violent burning anger : and anger inflam'd , extinguishes the calm light of reason , becomes blind and furious in revenging apprehended injuries . 't is the inquiry joyn'd with conviction , by st. james , from whence come wars and fightings among you ? come they not from your lusts that war in your members ? the voluptuous , ambitious , covetous passions when disappointed , are the common and natural causes of all the bloody disorders in the world. the other cause of anger , is contempt , either real or suppos'd ; and that is more provoking to those , who rais'd by pro sperity , look with a distance of mind upon others below them . prosperity in any kind , swels men with a vain opinion of their worth and dignity ; and makes them insolent and intolerable . there is a strange distemper of the eyes in some persons , where-ever they look , their own image visibly encounters them . the reason of it is assign'd by an inquiring philosopher , ' that the visive faculty has not spirits and vigour to penetrate through the air to see other things , and the air as a glass makes the reflection of their own image . thus one of a shallow and weak understanding , is continually representing to himself his own conceited excellencies . and prosperity increases their esteem of themselves unmeasurably above their just value . 't is like a concave glass that breaks the rays , and dilates the visive angle ; and by a natural inchantment , makes an exorbitant figure , a dwarf to appear a giant . now as pride is the usual concomitant of prosperity , so there is no passion so inseparable from pride , and so proper to it , as anger . by pride comes contention ; 't is the observation of the wisest man , confirm'd by universal experience . pride makes men imperious and impatient , boisterous and stormy against all that offend them . pride , anger , and revenge , like serpents twine and wreath about one another . pride interprets an offence as an high contempt , and raises anger ; and anger provok'd , takes proportionable revenge to the conceived injury . we have a tragical instance of this recorded in scripture . * hazael when foretold by the mourning prophet , that he would stain himself with the innocent blood of the israelites , slay their young men with the sword , and dash their children , and rip up their women with child : he startled at it as an execrable cruelty : and hazael said , but what , is thy servant a dog that he should do this great thing ? and elisha answered , the lord hath shewed me , that thou shalt be king over syria . when advanc'd to empire , he devested humanity . pride armed with power is furious at opposition ; and the flaming passion , like a frightful comet , presages and produces terrible effects . thus 't is evident how the lusts of the flesh are fomented by prosperity . 2. prosperity inclines sinners to an impious neglect of god , that is a sin of the highest nature , and prolifick of innumerable evils . all sin is an irregularity , either in the excess or the defective extreme , either in overvaluing and loving the creature , or in the disesteem and indifference to the creator , and prosperity increases the aversion of the carnal heart from god , in the same degrees as it strengthens the propensity to the world. for the opening this , it will be necessary to consider the essential and eternal respects due from the reasonable creature to god. and they are four comprehensive of all the rest . ( 1. ) a solemn thankful recognition of him as the author of our beings , and all the comforts we enjoy . ( 2. ) supreme love to him . ( 3. ) an humble fear of his displeasure . ( 4. ) entire obedience to his will. as in this regular . universe , every kind of being has its proper end ; so it cannot be denied , without the most evident absurdity , that god in all these respects is the chief end of man. ( 1. ) a solemn thankful recognition of god , as the author of our beings , and all our comforts , is continually due to him . the neglect of this is so contumelious to the majesty and glory of god , and so contrary to those most binding obligations to his mercy and goodness , that 't is an offence infinitely provoking . in every transgression the authority of the lawgiver is despised ; but this immediatly reflects dishonour upon the deity . as a common felony is a breach of the king's laws , but treason not only violates his laws , but strikes immediatly at his person and dignity . now prosperity inclines sensual persons to this wretched neglect of god. the world , with all its desirable things has the dominion and full possession of the understandings , memories , and hearts of men , and serious thoughts , with warm affections towards god are banish'd from them . 't is the character of a wicked person , but most proper to him in his prosperity , god is not in all his thoughts . of this impiety there are several degrees : the highest is explicit atheism , a disbelief of god and his providence , of his being and bounty ; and this is sometimes occasioned by plentiful prosperity . and the consequences are , pride that blasts the mind , as it were , with lightning , and confidence in the things of this world. of this we have astonishing instances in the scripture . nebuchadnezzar transported in a vain-glorious flush of joy , at the view of his magnificent works , breaks forth in those lofty insolent expressions ; is not this great babel that i have built , for the house of my kingdom , by the might of my power , and the honour of my majesty ? as if he had been raised by his own power , and did not owe his greatness to the king of heaven . thus 't is charg'd against the prince of tyrus , thy heart is lifted up because of thy riches ; and thou hast said , i am a god , and sit in the seat of god ; and thou sets thine heart as the heart of god. he presum'd that his throne for glory and stability was like the divine kingdom , that cannot be shaken , and forgot that he was a frail man in a mutable world. plentiful prosperity is so strong a temptation to atheism , that a wise and holy saint earnestly deprecated it as a pernicious snare : give me not riches , lest i be full and deny thee , and say , who is the lord ? the carnal heart , in the full fruition of the world , is apt to ascribe all to the course of nature , or to humane contrivance and endeavours , without any serious acknowledgment of the divine liberality and beneficence . prodigious ingratitude , and equal folly ! as if one should imagine that a fountain of water had not its original from the sea , but from the marble stones , through which it immediatly and visibly springs . or as if it were requisite the hand of the giver should be as visible as his gifts . now altho few arrive to this heighth of impiety in actual thoughts and open words ; yet prosperous sinners are always guilty of an interpretative and virtual denial of god : they have not a solemn grateful remembrance of their benefactor and his benefits , and a due sense of their dependance upon him . it was the wise and holy counsel of moses to israel , when they should be possest of canaan , a place full of delight and profit , * when thou shalt have eaten , and art full , then beware lest thou forget the lord. the caution so enforc'd , intimates a sinful disposition in the carnal heart , in prosperity to neglect god. there may be a notional remembrance of him in the mind , a naked ascription of all good things to his providence , a complemental visit in exterior worship ; yet without an inward cordial sense of our dear obligations for his most free favours . the apostle charges the rich in this world , not to trust in uncertain riches , but in the living god. so foolishly are men prone to depend for protection , reputation , and provision of all things upon their estates , as if they were unconsumable , and neglect god their rock , who is the alone sufficient foundation of all our hopes and comfort . ( 2. ) supreme love to god is an indispensable duty from men upon the account of his most amiable excellencies and benefits . thou shalt love the lord with all thy heart , with all thy soul , with all thy strength , and with all thy mind ; this is the first and great commandment , and consequently a coldness and indifferency to god ▪ much more a strong aversion from him , is a sin of the most heinous nature : now prosperity has a special malignity to disincline the heart from god. the supreme love of god includes an act of the understanding , a transcendent esteem of his favour ; thy loving-kindness is better than life ; it inspires the soul with ardent desires after him ; my soul follows hard after thee ; it produces the most joyful satisfaction in communion with him . the thoughts of god are unspeakably precious and sweet ; the ordinances , the blessed means of conveying his grace , are highly valued ; and sin that displeases and separates from god , is hated as the greatest evil. now the soul must be refined to a heavenly temper , to some degrees of angelical purity , before 't is capable of light to see his spiritual excellencies , and love to enjoy them . and if the soul does not make the body heavenly and spiritual , the body will make the soul earthly and fleshly . from hence it is that the affluence of things pleasing to the senses , fastens the carnal heart to the world as its happiness and heaven ; it darkens the mind , and vitiates the affections , that the soul can neither taste nor see how good the lord is . 't is the universal character of men in the carnal state ; they are lovers of pleasure , more than lovers of god. and a remisser degree of love is comparative hatred . a sin of astonishing guilt , and not less odious to god , and damning in its nature , tho little observed and resented by carnal men : for the highest dishonour of god is complicated with disobedience in it . a sin that deserves and inflicts the sorest punishment ; for god alone , whose goodness is infinite , can make us perfectly and eternally happy ; and the spiritual separation from him is such an unvaluable loss , that when truly understood , is the foundation of the heaviest sorrow . ( 3. ) the fear of god , is a most distant affection from the heart of the foolish sinner in his prosperity . the fear of reverence , and the awful esteem of god , that proceeds from the reflection upon his glorious greatness , is a grace that remains in heaven : the angels in all their bright degrees of excellence cover their faces before his throne . the fear of circumspection that restrains from displeasing him upon the account of his justice and power , is a proper affection to men in the present state . the blessed in heaven are above this fear , being confirm'd in a state of unchangeable perfection and felicity : the damned in hell are below this fear , in that no change can make their condition worse : but 't is most useful and congruous in this middle state . this fear of god is the beginning of wisdom , the first and chiefest part of it in respect of order and dignity . for the true notion of wisdom , consists in the foresight of evils , in the choice and use of effectual means to avoid it , and it is the best wisdom that avoids the greatest danger . this fear is the principle of conversion from sin to holiness ; exciting us to make god our friend , who is so dreadful an adversary , so holy and just , that he will not connive at sin , and spare the guilty and impenitent ; and so powerful , that with one stroke he can utterly destroy his most stubborn enemies . carnal security is directly opposite to this fear of god , and nothing does more harden and fortify men in security , than a prosperous state. the voluptuous and sensual are without apprehension of danger , till imminent and in their view . because they have no changes , therefore they fear not god. uninterrupted prosperity tempted them to atheistical security : and as none are sollicitous and in anxiety , lest the sun , whose presence is the support and beauty of the world , should not arise in the morning , because its regular course is establish'd and constant ; and it would be a miracle contravening the order of nature if it should be stop'd ; thus the long enjoyment of plenty , and ease , and peace , renders men constantly secure and fearless , as if the tenor of their prosperity were invariable , and no evil could disturb it ; or at least they will set back the expectation of evil at a great distance , like those prophane scorners mentioned by the prophet , they say , the vision he sees is for many days to come , he pro phesies of the times afar off , and with a brutish stupidity , slight the divine threatnings . and from hence it follows , that none are so rebelliously and boldly disobedient , as the prosperous sinner ; which is the fourth thing to be considered . ( 4. ) entire obedience is due to the supreme lawgiver , who is able to save and destroy for ever : yet he is mercifully inclin'd to pardon the infirmities of men , and greater sins retracted by repentance . there are sins of ignorance , when a man dashes blindfold against the law ; and of suddain surreption , when there is no time to deliberate , and for recollection ; and the best are not exempted here from sins of this nature : there are sins of deadly malignity , when men are careless of god's commands , and indulge their lusts , tho not without some remorse . but the prosperous sinner is usually most presumptuous , he sins with a high hand , and incurrs a greater guilt , and shall be exposed to greater punishment . when the fear of god is extinguish'd , luxury takes the reins , and breaks through the hedg of the law , without feeling the wounding thorns , the fearful threatnings in it ; and drives on through all the degrees of sin. 't is the aggravation of the israelites ingratitude ; jesurun waxed fat , and kicked ; and lightly esteemed the rock of his salvation . they were like beasts high fed , that become fierce and untractable , will endure no yoke upon them . the prosperous sinner securely despises the commands of god , and by an implicit blasphemy dares his offended omnipotence , as if he were stronger than the lord. he concludes his safety from his present success , and says in his heart , i shall have peace , tho i walk in the imagination of mine heart , and add sin to sin : the lord will not spare him , but the anger of the lord shall smoke against that man to his destruction . 3. prosperity exposes dangerously to the tempting power of satan , whose subtilty , malice , and diligence , is always exercised in training men to perdition . his destructive power cannot make immediate impressions on the soul , but he tempts by objects without , and the affections within ; the world and the flesh that are in combination with him . he is accordingly stiled , the god of this world , as he reigns in the men of the world , by using the things of the world , to obtain and establish his kingdom . he blinds their eyes by glittering temptations , deceives and surprizes them by his fallacies . and altho 't is difficult to conceive and unfold his internal agency , and pernicious operations ; and 't is certain he cannot make a forcible entry into the soul , and tempt with prevalency and success , without the consent of the will , yet we are told , that he is a prime mover in the sins of men. he entred into judas , and by putting a lustre on the silver , exciting his covetous desires , prevail'd with him to betray the lord of glory . he works powerfully in the children of disobedience . they are as it were possess'd and acted by his strong incitations . they are said to be taken captive by him at his will. 't is an allusion to the catching of beasts ; when by the address and craft of the hunters , they are drawn or urg'd into the toil prepared for them . now prosperity furnishes him with the materials whereof he weaves the most fatal snares : for his strength and art to destroy principally lie in specious representations , and fallacious promises of happiness in the enjoyment of worldly things . this will appear , by considering , 1. that pleasant temptations are most apt to seduce the souls of men to ruin . as in sowing the earth , when there is a congruity between the soil and the seed , 't is nourish'd and springs up to a plentiful harvest . so when temptations are suitable to the heart , they are entertain'd with complacency , and are productive of actual sins . every man is tempted ( cum effectu by satan ) when he is drawn away by his own lust , and enticed : the sensual appetite is drawn forth by things grateful to it : then when lust hath conceived , it bringeth forth sin ; and sin , when 't is finish'd , bringeth forth death . when the appetite has obtain'd the consent of the will , the compleat act of sin follows ; and sin habitually indulg'd , ends in death . some temptations of satan are of such a black complexion , and so terrible to humane nature , that the soul resists them , till by violence and restless importunity 't is overcome : but by the attractives of pleasure he easily prevails . as in cutting of ' timber , if on strikes cross the grain , there is strong resistance ; but if the blow follows the vein of the wood , it easily cleaves asunder . the temptations of riches , honour , and pleasures , are so delightful , that the devil commands or perswades men to a compliance with them . besides , his malice in pleasant temptations is less discernible ; and consequently men do not by circumspection , and prayer for divine grace , preserve themselves from the mischief of them . if we are fiercely assaulted by unnatural temptations that cause extraordinary agonies of spirit , we seek for supernatural assistance , and fortify our selves with holy resolutions against the open enemy . but by the pleasures of sin , he insinuates into mens hearts , and feeds the deadly disease so gratefully , that they discover not their danger till past recovery . therefore he destroys more by his serpentine suggestions , by winning charms , than by fiery rage . indeed he is never more a devil , than when he deceives ; and we are divinely warn'd of his guile , devices , and wiles , that we may not be surpris'd and ruin'd by our invisible adversary . 2. plentiful prosperity affords variety of temptations , which he makes use of to prevent the satiety and dislike that the same repeated temptations would cause . since man was divided from god , the true center of the soul , he breaks into a thousand irregular desires ; and in the apostle's phrase , serves divers lusts and pleasures : and the vanities of the world do rather cloy than satisfy ; that which brings transporting joy at first , by continuance becomes nauseous and insipid . now the tempter , with the abundance of prosperity , so orders his temptations , as to take off the weariness of one pleasure by another , and keeps his slaves in the magical circle of variety . as a rich epicure provides a universe of luxury , commands the four elements to make a show , * the earth , the air , the water , of their treasures , and the fire of its art to dress them , thereby to excite the languishing appetite , to give a relish to intemperance , and satisfy the greedy eye , as well as the blind belly . thus satan , the architect of pleasure , brings out of his storehouse several kinds of delightful temptations , to reinflame the carnal appetite when sated : without variety desire often fails the man , and pleasure fails the desire . voluptuaries are dissolv'd in the changing streams of pleasure . 3. idleness , that is often the concomitant of prosperity , gives him a tempting opportunity , and makes men more receptive of his temptations . the sin and destruction of sodom was from hence . this was the iniquity of sodom , pride , fulness of bread , and idleness was in her , and her daughters . the idle person prevents the devil , beckens the tempter to do his office. when the house is empty , the mind not exercis'd with better employments , and the heart is loose and unguarded , the tempter is invited to take possession . idleness is directly opposite to life , as well as felicity . to live , is to be in action . inanimate things are only bound with a dead rest . and amongst inanimate bodies , as they ascend in perfection , they are more active . the heavens that excel in scituation and qualities all things that are without life , are in continual motion . and man's felicity consists in the most perfect actions of the most perfect life ; in the vision and enjoyment of the blessed god. now man naturally being avers from a state contrary to life and felicity , if he is not employed in business becoming the reasonable immortal soul , rather than languish in idleness , is active in making provision for the flesh , to fulfil the lusts thereof . time is tedious , and that it may pass away pleasantly , men seek for diversions that are usually either sinful in their own nature , or connext with sins . a lawful employment , is a double security against temptations : partly divine , as it entitles us to god's providence over us ; for whilst we are obeying his command , we are encouraged by his promise , that he will keep us in all our ways ; either prevent temptations , or afford us assistance to vanquish them : and partly natural ; for whilst we are diligently exercis'd in a lawful calling , the mind is not at leisure to attend the temptation , and the senses do not so easily admit those objects that betray the soul. and 't is observable , that god , who is merciful in his chastisements , orders that fallen man should obtain the fruits of the earth to support his life by the sweat of his brows , that his uncessant labour might preserve him from idleness ; which to corrupt nature is the seminary of so many vile lusts. 4. as the temptations of prosperity make men an easy prey to satan , so they keep them in the most perfect and miserable bondage under his power . when he has taken hold of their affections , he leads them captive at his will. they are freely drawn by the pleasing force of his temptations : they are voluntary slaves , and in love with their captivity . 't was the cruel and crafty advice offer'd to the athenians , to keep the subdued inhabitants of egina from rebelling , to cut off their thumbs , that they might be * uncapable to manage a spear , and by war obtain a victorious rescue from their tyranny , but be fit to pull the oar in the gallies . 't is an emblem of satan's dealing with his slaves ; for by the pleasures of sin , their hearts are weak , disabled from vigorous and holy resolutions to resist his power ; they cannot make use of the armor of god for their defence : and their lusts are strong , they are patient of his drudgery , constant at the oar , and faithful to their chains . and from hence 't is evident that men are never more dangerously under the destructive power of satan than when they enjoy prosperity . 3. prosperity is destructive to many , in that it affords them advantages to corrupt others , and reciprocally exposes them to be corrupted by others . persons in dignity , wealth , and power , when depraved in their inclinations and actions , are like publick fountains poison'd , that convey a spreading ruin abroad . * their evil example has a pernicious influence , and more commanding efficacy as a rule , than their laws they ordain as rulers . the manners of princes are as current as their mony , that being stamp'd with their image and superscription , tho the metal be base , passes freely among the people . the reason of it is evident , for without the restraints of shame and fear , the sensual passions are riotous and licencious . shame , is a displeasure at evils that are attended with dishonour and infamy , especially at sinful evils that are so shameful in their own nature , that the most sordid things in comparison are less ignominious . now foul vices when practis'd by men of conspicuous eminence , do not seem with that turpitude and deformity as is inherent in their nature . as a muddy vapour drawn up by the sun , and enamel'd with the rays of light , appears amiable to the eye , not dreggy and foul as 't is in it self . innumerable miscarry by the vicious examples of persons in honour ; for when sins are gilded over with creditableness , many think it necessary to be unholy , that is , truly vile , that they may be fashionably noble . and when those that are in power abuse it , as a privilege for licenciousness in sin , inferiors are viciously bold , expecting facility and indulgence in the pardoning those faults of which their superiors are guilty : and those who do not fear to be punish'd , do not fear to sin . thus amongst the heathens , lasciviousness was lawless , because they ascribed their vicious passions to their supposed deities , and did not fear their revenging justice for what was practis'd by them . besides , prosperity exposes the rich and great to be more corrupted by others . servile spirits will be cruelly obsequious to the humors and lusts of those upon whom they depend , and the ready instruments of accomplishing their irregular desires . 't is their interest to please them , from whom they receive favours and benefits . and how few have so firm a vertue , as to break the twisted temptations of pleasure and profit ? the rich and great in the world , are usually attended with a train of dependents , or vicious associates , whose compliance is very influential to harden a vicious disposition into a corrupt habit. these are underworkers to satan the mastertempter , and feed the double element of infernal fire , lust and rage , in the breasts of those with whom they converse . 't is the peculiar misery of men in a high and flourishing condition , that they have many * flatterers , and few friends . few or none dare faithfully represent their sins and danger , lest the sight of their guilt in its true reflexion , should offend them . as love is blind to others , so especially to one's self ; and mercenary wretches , by the most vile flattery , endeavour to make them believe of themselves , what is pleasing to them to believe . such to ingratiate , will commend the mere shadows of vertue , as substantial vertue ; and excuse real gross vices , as but the shadows of vice. by deceitful arts they colour and conceal the native ugliness of sin , under a thin appearance and name of * vertue . the arrogant and revengeful , they call generous ; the covetous , frugal ; the lascivious , gentile ; the prodigal , magnificent ; the malicious , wary and cautious ; the brutish and secure , couragious . the conversation of such is infinitely dangerous and corrupting : for under the disguise of friendship they are the most deadly enemies . what greater danger of being poison'd can there be , than when by art the taste of poison is taken away from the poison , and there is no suspicion of the traitor that gives it ? thus 't is further evident , that prosperity is very dangerous to the souls of men. 4. the prosperity of sinners usually renders the means of grace ineffectual , that should reclaim and reform them , and consequently their destruction is remediless . the means of grace are internal or external : internal , the motions of the holy spirit , and the convictions and excitations of conscience : external , the ministry of the word , and the counsels of faithful friends ; all which are usually made frustrate and inefficacious by the vices and lusts of the prosperous . 1. prosperity makes sinners more uncapable of receiving the heavenly impressions of the spirit , and obstinate in resisting his gracious working . the flesh and the spirit are contrary : and accordingly as the carnal appetite has dominion and over-rules in men , such is their opposition to his restraints from evil , or his motions to what is holy and good . the sensual have not the spirit . they wilfully refuse to give admission to him , when by inward impulses he sollicits them ; and have a stubborn and active contrariety to his attributes and gracious operations . he is stiled the spirit of power , and love , and a sound mind . he communicates a sacred sovereign vertue to the soul , whereby the irregular passions are reduc'd to the obedience of the sanctified mind , and the reigning power of sin is dissolv'd . he is a free spirit , and restores the soul to true and perfect liberty , by inlarging the will , and making it commensurate with the divine will : and from hence it is the inseparable character of a converted person , he is willing to do what god will have him do , and to be what god will have him be . but sensual persons , by the pleasant infusions of servility from the tempter , and carnal objects , have lost their power and * desire of spiritual liberty , and resist the holy spirit , when he offers to break the bands of their lusts. the spirit in converting the soul , inspires it with heavenly love to god for the ever-satisfying beauty of his perfections ; and from love proceeds intellectual delight in communion with him , in affectionate ascents to him , and his gracious descents to the soul : but the sensual are fastned in the mire of their sordid pleasures , and can take no heavenly flight , and relish no divine comforts . the spirit produces a sound mind , to judg sincerely of things as they are . and from hence the corrupting vanities of the world lose their attractive charms , and eternal things appear in their reality and excellency , and are chosen and sought with persevering diligence . but the sensual heart is a perpetual furnace , whose smoke darkens the mind , that it cannot discover sublime and heavenly excellencies ; and whose impure heat fires the will , that 't is earnest in the pursuit of fleshly pleasures . briefly , nothing does more quench the spirit in his illuminating , quickning , and attractive operations , than sensuality : and nothing more heightens sensuality , and increases the aversness of carnal men to the holy law of god , and makes their conversion more difficult than prosperity . indeed , the spirit of god can by effectual grace convert the most unprepared habituate sinner , the most obstinate enemy of holiness ; he can melt the most rocky stubborn heart , into a holy softness and compliance with its duty ; for creating power is of infallible efficacy ; and there are some objects and miracles of divine grace , that are the everlasting monuments of its glorious power in subduing the most fierce violence of rebellious sinners . but the spirit of god does not work as natural agents , that are active to the extent of their power . the winds blow with all their force , and the sun inlightens the air with all its luster . the holy spirit is an intelligent and voluntary agent , whose power in working is regulated by his will , and directed by his wisdom . there are some things repugnant to the divine attributes , ' that 't is impossible god should do them : the apostle saith , that god cannot lye , for 't is contrary to his truth , one of his essential perfections . and 't is as impossible that he should do any thing unbecoming his wisdom . he threatned the sensual world , my spirit shall not always strive with man , for he is flesh ; that is , corrupt and indulgent to his fleshly appetites , and alway opposing and controuling the pure motions of the spirit . we read that our saviour could do no mighty works in his own country , because of their unbelief : not as if their infidelity abated his divine power , but they were unprepared to receive benefit by them , his miracles would have been cast away upon such inconvincible persons . who will sow the barren sands , or water dead plants , or give a rich cordial to a furious patient that will spill it on the ground ? and 't is an act of justice to deprive sinners of those inspirations which they have so long resisted . those who are tender and tractable , and unfeignedly resign up themselves to his conduct in the ways of life , shall receive more powerful influences to perfect the blessed work begun in them : he will give more grace to the humble : but those who are so far from valuing his graces and comforts , that should be received with the highest respect , that they ungratefully despise them , and rebel against his motions and counsels , he righteously deserts . st. stephen in his charge against the jews , to compleat the aggravation of their sins , reproaches them ; ye stiff-necked , and uncircumcised in heart , and ears , ye always resisted the holy ghost . the obstinate sinner rebels against his authority , and contemns his mercy . the tempter with his charms is presently entertain'd , as the devils easily enter'd into the swine ; but the holy spirit with his gracious offers is rejected . wretched indignity ! rather to obey a slave and an enemy , than the lawful soveraign . if the saints grieve the spirit of god , by a wilful neglect of his assisting grace , and fall into presumptuous sins , altho from the perfection of his nature he is not capable of passionate grief , yet he infinitely dislikes their sins . and as grief when 't is oppressing , causes the spirits to retire to the heart , and nature is as it were shut up in its springs , and obstructed from communicating agility and vivacity in the ordinary operations of the senses : thus the holy spirit when grieved withdraws , and there follows a disconsolate eclipse and interruption of his reviving quickning presence . but the indulgent habituate sinners , provoke him finally to leave them to their own lusts. 't is true , his deserting them is usually gradual , as in a consumptive person the stomach , the colour , the strength , decline by degrees , till nature sinks irrecoverably under the disease ; so the motions of the spirit in those who have often repell'd them , are not so frequent and vigorous as before ; his after calls are weaker , wasting , and dying every day , till his total withdrawing from them . how fearful and hopeless is the state of such a sinner ? this spiritual judgment always proceeds from inexorable severity , and ends in the eternal ruin of sinners . for without the spirit 's supernatural working , they can never be renewed to repentance , never reconciled to god. they may for a time live in a voluptuous course , or follow the business of the world ; and a little breath may separate between them and hell , but they shall at last die in their sins , in an impardonable state for ever . 't is said of the jews , they rebell'd and vexed his holy spirit , therefore he turned to be their enemy , and fought against them . 2. the convictions and excitations of conscience are prevented , or made ineffectual by the prosperity of sinners . conscience is the applicative mind that respects practice ; it directs in our duty , both by inhibitions from what is evil , and by instigations to what is good ; and by comparing our actions with the rule , testifies our innocence or guilt , and approves or condemns us . this intellectual ray was planted in us by the wise god in out creation , and extended to the divine law , the object and end of it , to keep us to our duty . and since our revolt , 't is being enlightned and sanctified the vital principle of conversion to god , the powerful means of rescuing the lapsed soul from its prostitution to the flesh , and recovering it to a temper of purity becoming its original excellence , and relation to the father of spirits . 't is true , the love of god is the primary rule of our duty , and the holy spirit is the efficient of our renovation ; but the inlightned conscience is the immediate rule , and the immediate mover of us to return to our duty . and if conscience , which is the eye of the soul , be covered with a film of ignorance , if it be blear'd with the false glitterings of the world , if it totally neglects its office , or makes but a cold application of saving terrors that may controul the licentious appetites , if it be disregarded , when it suggests and excites to our duty , the sinner is hardned and setled in his lost state . now prosperity foments the sensual affections , that obscure the light of conscience , that corrupt its judgment , that smother and suppress its dictates , or despise and slight them , that 't is powerless , tho constituted god's deputy to order our lives . 1. affected ignorance is the usual concomitant of sensual lusts : for the enlightned conscience will convince , and condemn men for their pollutions , and force them here to feel the beginning of sorrows , and thereby make them apprehensive what the issues and consummation will be hereafter , and this will cast an aspersion of bitterness upon their sweet sins , and lessen the full pleasure of them . from hence our saviour tells us , every one that loves to do evil , hates the light , neither cometh to the light , lest his deeds should be reproved ; that is , by the instructed and awakned conscience . men love darkness to cover their nakedness and foul deformity . they are averse from knowing their duty , and will not search , lest they should discover such terrible truths that cross their sensual humour . the apostle foretells , that scoffers should come in the last days , who are willingly ignorant of the beginning and end of the world , as if there were no divine maker of all things , who has power to destroy them , and consequently no judg to whom men must be accountable for their disobedience to his laws : they assent to the most evident absurdity , that all things were and shall continue in the same tenor : and the cause of their willing ignorance is insinuated in the character that describes them , that they might walk after their own lusts , more securely , freely , and joyfully . 2. sensual lusts do not only hinder mens search after knowledg , but obscure the light of conscience , and corrupt its judgment . there is such an intimate communion between the soul and the body , that interchangably they corrupt one another : the sins of the flesh sink into the spirit , and corrupt the moral principles , from whence the sensible conscience springs of good and evil. and the sins of the spirit , infidelity , incogitancy , error , security , break out in the deeds of the body , and make the flesh more outragious in its desires . st. paul declares , that unto the defiled and unbelieving , nothing is pure ; but even their mind and conscience is defiled . a purged heart is requisite for a clear mind ; but where lust dwells , it taints and perverts the practical judgment ; from whence so many disorders follow in the life . the natural conscience in many cases , in its simple judgment of things , sincerely declares what is to be done , and what to be avoided ; but when compounded and stain'd with a tincture of sensuality ; it judges according to the desires . the rebellious israesites in the wilderness are described , it is a people that do err in their hearts : the heart was the erroneous fountain of all their miscarriages , and forty years instruction could do them no good . those who are given up to carnal delights , and are in a confederacy with the gross senses , even their directive and judging faculty is carnal in its apprehensions . a reprobate mind , and vile affections , are naturally and judicially the cause and effect of one another . even natural truths that are plain and bright , as the essential distinction between moral good and evil , between vertue and vice , and the belief of a judgment to come , that is inseparably connext with it ; yet through the perversness and crookedness of mens hearts , are strangely darkned . men wish according to their carnal interest ; and what they wish , they would fain believe ; and as when there was no king in israel , every one did what was good in his own eyes : so if there were no after-reckoning , men would , without the check of conscience , follow the wills of the flesh , therefore they are atheists in desire , and if not scared by the pangs of a throbbing conscience , will be so in their thoughts . the heathens cancell'd the law of nature , and transgress'd all the rules of duty and decorum ; they securely indulg'd those lusts that are a derogation and debasement to the reasonable creature , and make men below men. the reason of this prodigious degeneracy was , their manners corrupted their minds . st. paul charges the ephesians , not to walk as the other gentiles , in the vanity of their minds , having the understanding darkned , being alienated from the life of god , through the ignorance that is in them , because of the blindness of their heart ; who being past feeling , have given themselves over to lasciviousness , to work all uncleanness with greediness . a dead conscience , and a dissolute life , are inseparable . and how many that are surrounded with the celestial beams of the gospel , are as impure and impenitent , as those in the black night of paganism ? they stand at the entrance of the bottomless pit , yet do not smell the brimstone that inrages the fire there : the flames of their lusts , have feared their consciences to a desperate degree of hardness and insensibility . of such the apostle speaks , but these , as natural brute beasts , made to be taken and destroyed , speak evil of the things they understand not , and shall utterly perish in their own corruption ; and shall receive the reward of unrighteousness , as they that count it pleasure to riot in the day time ; spots they are , and blemishes , sporting themselves with their own deceivings , while they feast with you . they violated all the prescriptions and restraints of natural reason , they had lost all the ingenuous bashfulness of the humane nature , and pleas'd themselves in their false licentious principles , whereby they endeavoured to justify their enormous actions , and set a superficial gloss upon their foul deformities . now a seduced and seducing mind , make the conversion of a sinner most difficult . whilst the judgment condemns what the affections approve , men are not so invincibly and irrecoverably lost ; the inlightned conscience is an earnest of their return to their duty . but when the spirit is deceived , the flesh always prevails ; and men are most dissolute , corrupt , and desperately wicked . our saviour says , if the light that is in us be darkness , how great is that darkness ? how disorderly and ruinous will the course be ? if the salt hath lost its savour , wherewith shall it be salted ? if the conscience , that should be as salt to preserve the soul from tainting pleasures , be corrupted , wherewith can it be restored ? 3. fleshly lusts smother and suppress the dictates and testimony of the enlightned conscience , that they are not influential upon the life . the dictates of conscience are in a direct line , instructing and advising men in their duty : the testimony is by reflexion upon their errors from the divine rule , and condemning them for their guilt . 1. the dictates of the inlightned conscience are supprest . 't is the observation of * the philosopher , concerning sensual persons , that they have reason in the faculty and habit , but not in the use and exercise . the practical understanding declares our duty , that 't is absolutely necessary to obey god ; and men assent to it in the general : but when this principle is to be applied to practice in particulars that are ungrateful to the corrupt will , lust draws a veil over it , that it may not appear to check the sensual inclinations . whilst the mind seduc'd by the senses , is intent upon the pleasing object , it does not actually and strongly consider the divine command ; and conscience is brought under the controul of the impetuous passions . the light of reason , as well as of divine revelation , discovers , that the blessed beginning , and the happy end of man , is to be like god , and to enjoy his love ; but when there is a competition between his favour , and the things of the world , the carnal heart suppresses the dictates of the mind , and makes a blindfold choice of things present and sensible , as if man were all earth , and there were no spark of heaven within him . the heathens are charged by st , paul , — that they with held the truth in unrighteousness . the notion of god as the supream law-giver , and to be obeyed according to his law imprest upon conscience , was a natural truth , and should have reign'd in their hearts and lives ; but they would not suffer it to exert its power in ordering their actions . there is a natural miracle seen in egypt every year ; when the river nilus overflows the plains : many living creatures are half form'd , and part remains slimy earth , without life or motion . altera pars vivit , rudis est pars altera tellus . such monsters were the ungodly and unrighteous heathens ; half men in their understandings , and half mud in their filthy affections . and there are innumerable such monsters in the christian world . 2. the testimony of conscience is supprest and neglected by the prosperous sinner . if conscience be in some degree righteous , and faithful in its office , and reproves him , and sets his sins in order before his eyes ; he will not regard its earnest warnings . he is as unwilling to hear that sincere witness in his bosom , as ahab was the inflexible prophet micaiah ; of whom he said , i hate him , for he doth not prophesie good of me , but evil. prosperity affords many diversions , whereby the sinner shifts off conversing with conscience , and remains ingaged in his sinful state . i hearkned , and heard , saith the prophet jeremy , but they spake not aright ; no man repented of his wickedness , saying , what have i done ? what foul ignominious acts , how defiling and debasing my soul , how offensive to the pure eyes of god , who is so glorious in majesty , and dreadful in power ? such a sight of sin would make the conscience boil , and chill the passions , and urge sinners to return to their duty . but whilst they prosper , they are obstinate in rebellion ; every one turn'd to his course , as the horse rushes into the battel . as the horse when inflam'd , by the noise and other accidents of war , furiously rushes to his own destruction : thus sinners when they encounter alluring objects that divert the mind from serious consideration , either they do not discern , or will not observe the dangers before them , and with as little consideration , and as much fierceness as the beasts venture upon their own destruction . conversion is the product of the most serious and sad thoughts , from which a prosperous sinner is most averse . 2. the external means for converting sinners , are usually ineffectual upon them whilst they enjoy prosperity . 1. the gospel is the power of god to salvation to them that believe ; and the preaching of it is by divine institution the ordinary means of conversion . god could by the immediate illumination of the mind , and influence upon the will and affections , convert sinners from the errors of their ways ; but his wisdom and condescending goodness makes use of the ministry of men to convey the word of truth and life to the world. this way is very congruous , both to the compounded nature of man , by the senses to work upon the soul , and to the native freedom of his will : for tho the supernatural agent infallibly changes the heart , yet the instrument can only direct and perswade men , as those who are endowed with intellectual and elective faculties ; and thus the efficacy of divine grace is insinuated , in a way suitable to the reasonable nature . the ministers are stiled the light of the world , to discover to men their undone condition by sin , and to point out the way to their everlasting peace . our blessed redeemer saves the lost remnant of mankind by the sacred ministry ; and where there are no evangelical preachers sent , or only a doleful succession of blind guides , what * tertullian says of scythia , a country that by the extremity of the cold , is hard and dry , and perpetually barren , but the residence of fierce cruelty , is applicable to a nation , the hearts of men are frozen to their sins , there is no melting in the tears of true repentance , no holy heat , only their brutish lusts are ardent and active . but where the embassadors of christ are faithful and zealous to induce sinners to break off their sins by repentance , and to be reconciled to god , there are none more uncapable of the sanctifying power of the gospel , than sinners in prosperity . 1. pride , the vice of prosperity , makes them fierce and stubborn against the holy and strict rules of the word . we will not hearken to thee , but will certainly do whatsoever goes out of our own mouth . if a faithful minister represents the inside of their foul souls , their uncomely passions are rais'd against him : if he recommends the earnest study of holiness and godliness , they entertain his counsels with derision and disdain . those to whom the dearest and most affectionate honour is due , being spiritual fathers and physicians , are despised in their persons and office , by fools in their prosperity . they condemn what they do not understand , and affect not to understand what condemns them . they hear sermons to censure , and censure that they may not be troubled by them . what hope is there of reducing haughty scorners to the obedience of the gospel ? even the miracles and ministry of our saviour was without success upon the pharisees , who heard and derided him . if such are convinc'd in their minds , and not disarm'd of their pride and self-will , they refuse to yield themselves to the lord. meekness is a requisite qualification for receiving the word with its saving vertue . we are directed to lay aside all filthiness , and superfluity of naughtiness ; and with meekness to receive the ingrafted word , that is able to save our souls . we are prepared for divine grace , by a serious sense of our want of it , and earnest desire to obtain it . he fills the hungry with good things , and the rich he sends empty away . none are so insensible of their spiritual wants , and avers from the humble acknowledgment of them , as the prosperous sinner ; and none more unlikely to obtain spiritual riches . 2. infidelity , that is occasion'd and confirm'd by prosperity in sin , renders the gospel ineffectual to the salvation of men. the word preached did not profit the jews , not being mixt with faith in them that heard it . a stedfast belief of divine revelations , is the principle of obedience : without it , motives of the highest strain are ineffectual . eternal things are not within the prospect of sense , and tho set forth with the clearest evidence of reason , and enforced with the greatest earnestness of affection , yet the sons of darkness sleep profoundly in their sins . if heaven with its joys and glory be revealed in the most affecting manner , it has no more efficacy to move them , than charming musick to awaken one out of a lethargy : only violent remedies , bleeding , scarrifying , and burning , are proper and powerful for his recovery . if they are warned , that the everlasting king will shortly open the clouds , and come with terrible majesty to the universal judgment , and require an account for his abused mercies : their hearts are apt to reply , as the priests did to judas , what is that to us ? see ye to it . the terrors of the lord no more affect them , than thunder does the deaf , or lightning the blind . in short , tho charged and adjured by all the threatnings of the law , and the neglected gospel , tho intreated by all the precious promises of mercy , they continue hardned in their voluptuous sins : they despise the eternal rewards of holiness and wickedness , as incredible and impertinent , and ministers as men of vain talk and imaginations . for the infidel senses are not affected with things future , and sinners , whilst prosperous , are under their dominion . 3. suppose in preaching the word , a sharp ray of truth darts through the deep and setled darkness of the heart , yet 't is soon dampt , and without saving effect upon sinners in their prosperity . they may be terrified , but are not subdued by the armour of light ; for they presently take sanctuary in the world , to escape the strokes of it . the carnal passions dare not appear before such objects as awaken the conscience ; the senses strongly apply the mind to things that touch them ; the fancy is the spring of of distraction in the thoughts , and these reign in their full power in prosperous sinners , so that they do not by serious consideration apply things of eternal consequence to themselves . the heart of man with difficulty changes its end ; the outward actions may be suspended or over-ruled for a time , but the love that is natural and predominant in the heart to the present world , cannot be purified and raised to heaven , without the divine efficacy of the word , applied by most solemn and frequent thoughts . how plain and convincing are the words of our saviour ; what will it profit a man , if he gain the whole world , and lose his own soul ? but how few in hearing them , have found their souls that were lost in the corrupting vanities of this world ? the most seem not to know they have immortal souls , whilst they live as if they had none . the reason is , they will not consider duly their unvaluable worth , and the woful folly in neglecting them . when the bird often straggles from the nest , the eggs are chil'd and unprolific , for want of its warming incubation . divine truths are without life and vigour , when they only lie in the memory , without serious and frequent reflections on them . many are enlightned , but not affected ; or affected , but not resolved ; or resolved , but their resolutions are not prevailing and permanent , because the word does not sink into their minds , by deep consideration . 2. the other external means of recovering a sinner from the snares of death , is private admonition , either authoritative , or meerly charitative , by shewing him his sins , and the fearful consequences that attend them . the neglect of this duty , is a sign and effect of the greatest hatred ; as the command of it implies , thou shalt not hate thy brother in thy heart , and suffer sin to lie upon him . the performance of it , with prudence and meekness , with dear and earnest love , has a special advantage and efficacy , being directly applied to the person whose soul is concern'd . the reproofs of a preacher are levell'd in common against the sins of men , but not applied in particular to every sinner . 't is the office of conscience , to bring home to every man's bosom , what is proper to his case ; and singularly to observe in himself , what is spoken in the general . but in private admonition , the superior or friend supplies the part of conscience . and ( in this sense ) wo be to him that is alone ! that wants a faithful friend to supply the duty of conscience , either to preserve him from falling into sin , or to raise him when down . now a prosperous sinner is most unlikely to receive the benefit design'd by admonition . if the patient does not assist the cure , by receiving holy counsels with humility , respect , and thankfulness , they prove ineffectual , and much more if they be rejected with aversness and contempt . when a superiour , ( like a father that holds a child over a pit , to make him fear where there is danger ) with solemnity admonishes him of his guilt and approaching judgments , he is apt to slite his person as censorious , and his admonition as impertinent . when a friend by faithful reproof endeavours to save his soul from sin and hell , he entertains his reproof with scorn , or with conviction and indignation . thus the wise observer of men declares the careless wretched disposition of sinners in their prosperity , by their sorrowful reflections in adversity : thou shalt mourn at the last , when thy flesh and thy body are consumed , and say , how have i hated instruction , and my heart despised reproof ? and have not obeyed the voice of my teachers , nor inclined mine ear to them that instructed me ? instruction to prevent sin , reproof to correct sin , were disregarded with an implicit hatred , or rejected with absolute and express hatred . to conclude this part of the argument ; experience sadly proves that sinners are never reclaimed from their stubborn folly but by sharp afflictions . they will not believe the evil of sin , till by a real and sensible conviction they take a measure of the evil they have done ▪ by the evil they suffer . affliction tames the stubborn heart , and makes it humble and relenting . even pharaoh that was a bold atheist in his prosperity , and stood upon high terms with moses , saying , who is the lord , that i should obey him ? yet was an humble suppliant in his distress : and pharaoh sent , and called for moses and aaron , and said unto them , i have sinned : the lord is righteous , and i and my people are wicked . intreat the lord that there be no more mighty thundrings , and hail . this is set forth in a true and lively comparison by the prophet jeremy : as a wild ass used to the wilderness , that snuffs up the wind at her pleasure : in her occasion , who can turn her away ? when fir'd with lust , she ranges about swiftly , without a rider to guide , and a curb to restrain her . all they that seek her , will not weary themselves ; but in her mouth they shall find her : 't is in vain to pursue her then , but when she is bagg'd and heavy , they will tame her . thus when sinners are prosperous , the call of god , and conscience , and of teachers , do not stop them in their voluptuous course , but affliction confines and reduces them to obedience . 5. prosperity renders men averse from suffering for the sake of christ , when they are called to give testimony to his truth , and support his cause . self-denial , with respect to the present life , and all the ornaments , comforts , and endearments of it , is absolutely necessary by the law of christianity , when the preserving of it is contrary to the glory of christ , and inconsistent with our duty to him . then said jesus to his disciples , if any man will come after me , let him deny himself , and take up his cross and follow me . the cross implies all kinds and degrees of suffering , from the least afflicting evil , to death with ignominy and torment . and how just is it , if we expect to be glorified by his sufferings , that we should willingly suffer for his glory . at the first preaching of the gospel , many were offended at the cross of christ : they esteemed it folly , to expect eternal life from one that was put to death , and that he should bring them to the highest glory , who suffered in the lowest weakness . our saviour was conceal'd from their carnal eyes , by the overshadowing train of his afflictions . and the cross of christ , that is to be voluntarily and obediently taken up by his disciples , is a greater offence to the world , than that to which he was nail'd . 't is a harder lesson , that we must obtain glory by our own sufferings , than that it was purchased by our saviour's . the mind more willingly assents to the reasons of his sufferings , than of ours : in the first , it only encounters with false prejudices , and vain shadows that darken that mighty mystery ; but in the second , it must overcome the natural love of this life , and the pleasures of it , which is so predominant in men. the alliance to the body , and the allurements of the world , are the causes of forsaking religion , when the owning of it will cost us dear . and those who enjoy prosperity , are most easily terrified from their duty to christ ; the account of which is open to reason , both from some general considerations , and from special , that respect sufferings for religion . the general considerations are two . 1. the living in pleasures and soft delicacy , enervates the masculine vigour of the spirit , and damps resolution , that it presently faints when assaulted with difficulties . the spirit of a man , encouraged by just , and wise , and generous reasons , will stand firmly under heavy troubles : but fear breaks the native strength of mind , and like a secret suddain palsy , that slackens the nerves , and loosens the joints , causes a trembling and incapacity of bearing evils . the least glimpse of danger , makes the fearful to retire : like some , that apprehensive of the rising winds , will not venture any further in a boat , than that one oar may be on the shore , whilst the other strikes in the water . the timerous , when afflictions attend the faithful profession of the gospel , usually are treacherous to god , to their souls , and to the truth . to god ( whose servants they are by the dearest titles ) by contradicting their duty , which is to suffer chearfully for his gospel and his glory , when called forth : and by revolting from his service , they occasion such dishonourable unworthy conceptions of him , as if he were regardless of his suffering servants , and would not gloriously reward those who are faithful to the death , the seal of their loyalty and perseverance : they are treacherous to their souls , by preferring the interest of the perishing flesh , before the happiness of the immortal part : they betray the truth , by exposing it to a suspicion of falshood ; for as the confirming religion by sufferings , doth most effectually recommend it to the belief and affections of others ; so the denial of it , or the withdrawing our testimony in times of danger , will incline others to judg that it is not the truth , or at least of no great moment , that the professors of it do not think worth their sufferings . how many faint-hearted persons have thus betrayed the son of god again , and their consciences , and their religion ? their faith that sparkled in prosperous times , when troubles come , is a quencht cole , rak'd up in the cold pale ashes of distrustful fears , without any divine light or heat . 2. prosperity makes men unthoughtful and careless of evils that may happen . i said in my prosperity , i shall never be moved . carnal joy ( the affection of prosperity ) and folly are nearly allied , and flatter men as if their ease and calm would never be disturbed : and by supine negligence , they are unprovided for the encountring with evils . according to our circumspection in prosperity , such is our courage in adversity ; and by how much the less affliction is expected , so much the more are we perplex'd when it seises upon us . the last day , that shall strangely surprize the world in its deep security , is compar'd to lightning for its suddenness and terror . our saviour therefore plainly has foretold , that the cross is the appendix of the gospel , that 't is the property of error to persecute , and the lot of truth to be persecuted : he counsels his disciples to imitate a wise builder , that computes the expence before he begins the fabrick , lest having laid the foundation , and not being able to finish it , he be exposed to the just censure of folly. so christians are to forecast the injuries and troubles they are likely to suffer for religion , lest when the tempest threatens , they shamefully desert it . and how heavy will their doom be ? the fearful , that are not storm-proof , and the lyars , that openly renounce what they believe , and profess what they do not believe , shall be with infidels , idolaters , and murderers , cast into the lake that burns with fire and brimstone . 2. the special reasons why prosperity makes men so dispos'd to quit the truth in times of danger , are , because it weakens the principles from whence christian magnanimity springs ; and those are unfeigned faith , and divine love. as in natural things the formative virtue determinates the matter to such a being , and disposes to such operations in proportion to the principles from which it results : so in moral things , the soul is disposed and regulated in its actings correspondently to its principles , and is either carnal or spiritual . the universal principle of carnal persons is to be happy here : their eyes are ever engaged upon , and their desires ever thirsting after sensual satisfaction : who will shew us any good ? and by consequence their main care is , to obtain and secure temporal things , the materials of their happiness . the supernatural principle of a saint is to please god , and enjoy his favour . as men believe they love , and as they love they live . 1. unfeigned faith of the rewards of the gospel , is necessary to keep a christian steady in his course , through all the storms and tides of this mutable world. it is a faithful saying , if we die with him , we shall also live with him . if we suffer with him , we shall reign with him . the apostle usually prefaces with that strong assurance , it is a faithful saying , when the truth is of eminent importance , and contrary to the sentiments of carnal nature , if we die with him , we shall also live with him . our saviour dedicated martyrdom in his own person : his death was a ransom for us to god , and a sealing testimony of the gospel to men : he witnessed before pontius pilate a good confession . the terror of the roman tribunal , nor the rage of the jews , could not make him retract the divine truth which he had so often declared , that he was the son of god , come from heaven to save the world : and when the cross with its infamy and horrour was in his view , he avowed his heavenly kingdom . and all those who suffer with him , for his truth , and in conformity to his pattern , with his meekness and patience , his charity and constancy , shall reign with him . and what is more powerful for the consolation and establishment of christians , than that their sufferings for christ shall end in glory . this is the victory that overcometh the world , even our faith. this did miracles in the first ages of the church , conquering all that was terrible to flesh and blood. the heathens despised the hopes of christians as wretched illusions , and with impious scorn upbraided them for their constancy under persecutions : where is the god that can raise the dead , and not rescue the living ? unbelief is blind , and cannot see beyond this world to the eternal state. but faith in the blessed redeemer , opens a prospect into the world to come , so full of glory , that no person that has an understanding and will to discourse and choose , if he stedfastly believes it , but must despise all the evils that the wit and strength of persecutors can inflict in comparison of it . i reckon , saith the apostle , that the sufferings of the present life , in all their kinds and degrees , are not to be compared with the glory that shall be reveal'd . inlightned christians esteemed their sufferings for the cause of god , no arguments of his weakness , but his wisdom , to exercise and try their loyalty and cordial obedience before he rewarded them ; and had reason to admire his providence , not to suspect his power and love. they knew that the power of tyrants could only reach the body , the vile , frail , and mortal part of man ; but the precious soul was entirely exempted from their rage ; and faith assur'd them of a glorious resurrection after death . the body of a martyr shall be revived as a phaenix out of its ashes ; when the body of a persecutor shall be quickned , as a serpent out of a dunghil , the one to be glorified , the other tormented for ever . the belief of this made them extremely valiant in the face of all their threatning cruel enemies . but the evil heart of unbelief , causes a departure from the living god. he that suspects god's fidelity in his promises , will suspend his own : nature will shrink at the first sight of imminent dangers . an infidel , that lives as if he were all body , and no immortal soul , judges the loss of the present life , and the comforts of it , as his utter undoing and total perishing . he has an appearance of reason to secure his present possessions , what-ever becomes of religion ; for he expects no future good , that will infinitely more than countervail his present loss : and that prosperity inclines men to atheism and infidelity , has been proved before . 2. the love of god inspires believers with a heavenly fortitude , to endure the worst evils that may befal them for his sake . perfect love casts out fear ; keeps its supremacy inviolate in the midst of the greatest dangers . love is an active invincible affection , as strong as death , that none can vanquish . the love of god is a never-dying flame in the hearts of the saints , because it depends upon the unchangeable love of god to them . we love him , because he first loved us . love esteems god as the greatest reward . a saint does not so much love god for heaven , tho a place of inconceivable glory , as heaven for god , because he there reveals his perfections to his people . this holy love , makes the christians faithful and obsequious to christ , and to prefer his honour incomparably before the present world. the martyrs of the divinest courage , were animated by this holy affection : they loved not their lives unto the death , but chearfully offered them as a sacrifice to his praise . love kindled in them a sacred vehemence , in despising all the glittering temptations of the world. love inspir'd them with a victorious patience , to blunt the edg of cruelty . they never repented the choice of his religion , but rejoiced when his glory was set forth by their ignominy , and when their love to christ appear'd in its radiancy and vigor through their sufferings . love is the principle of constancy , by which religion reigns on earth , and is crown'd in heaven . on the contrary , when riches , honours , and pleasures , are the idols of mens heads and hearts , the chief objects of their esteem and affections , they will sacrifice their souls rather than lose the world , their dear felicity . therefore st. john earnestly dehorts christians , love not the world , neither the things that are in the world. if any man love the world , the love of the father is not in him : they are utterly inconsistent ; partly because the heart cannot be entirely set upon contrary objects , and partly because love to the one requires what is directly contrary to love to the other . from hence st. james vehemently upbraids carnal professors , ye adulterers , and adulteresses , know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with god ? whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world , is the enemy of god. the world is the powerful star , whose aspect he regards , and tho with the dishonour and displeasure of god , he will by irreligious compliance secure his temporal interests . the pure refined truth of the gospel , that has past the fiery trial , he will corrupt and embase by carnal temperaments : the precious truth so dearly bought by the blood of the martyrs , he will vilely sell for the things of this world. nay of a professor , he will by degrees turn persecutor of those who stedfastly own the truth . the love of the world so strangely inchants & infects the mind , that a false religion which a man did abhor from , yet when recommended by secular advantages , will appear tolerable , then eligible , then necessary ; and consequently the divine truth must be supprest that contradicts it . there are such frequent examples of this in every age , that to insist upon many particular instances , were to tell great numbers of the dead to prove that men are mortal . the young man that so earnestly addrest himself to christ for his direction how to obtain eternal life , when commanded to give all his estate to the poor , and to follow christ : he would not gain at so dear a rate celestial treasures , but went away sorrowful . whereupon our saviour declares with solemnity to his disciples , verily i say unto you , that a rich man shall hardly enter into the kingdom of heaven . we read of two tribes of the israelites , that chose their inheritance on this side jordan , and would not have a share in the land of canaan : thus the earthly-minded prefer the present world , the object of their choice and love , before the heavenly canaan . the ecclesiastical historian relates , that in the time of persecution by decius , the rich men among the christians , were most easily and miserably foil'd : the love of the world was a dangerous earnest in their hearts , of their revolting back to pagan idolatry , and the bondage of satan . and in the time of the arian persecution , how many who by their titles and office were specially obliged to be valiant for the truth , and to contend earnestly for the faith ; yet did accommodate their profession to their aspiring ambition and greedy ▪ avarice ? the standard of their religion was the pitch of the state : they had a politick faith , and appear'd either orthodox or arian , as the publick favour shin'd upon truth or heresy . they rob'd our saviour of the honour of his deity ( o astonishment ! ) rather than part with their beloved dignities and riches ▪ so powerful are humane respects in those who mind earthly things . great force is requisite to pluck up a tree that has its roots spread and deeply fastned in the earth ; and it cannot be so entirely separated , but that part of the roots will be broken : thus when the affections are deeply set in the world , and by pleasures and riches fastned to it , how hardly is it rent from it ! every fibre of the heart is broken with sorrow . as lot's wife , when by an angel forc'd out of sodom , yet cast a lingring affectionate look after it , and was turn'd into a pillar of salt. the separation is as bitter as the possession is sweet : and none are more unwillingly divorc'd from the world , than those who enjoy the confluence of earthly happiness . now when secular interest outweighs duty , when apparent danger induces to deny the truth of christ ; how terrible and unavoidable will be the punishment of that disloyalty ? our saviour's threatning is universal ; whosoever shall deny me before men , him will i deny before my father which is in heaven . a most righteous and dreadful retribution ; they denied him as their lord , and he denies them as his servants . they usurp'd the title of christians , the relation of his disciples , and in the last day he will publickly disown them . when that sad sentence shall come from their judg , depart ye cursed , i know you not ; what confusion , what anguish will seize upon them ! they shall be banish'd from his glorious kingdom , excommunicated from his blessed society , and tormented with the rebellious angels for ever . 't is true , this universal and peremptory threatning ▪ must be understood with an exception of those who after their falling away are restor'd ▪ by repentance . sometimes a christian that has deliberately and entirely devoted himself to christ ▪ that has sincerely resolved rather to part with his life , than that for which life is worthy the enjoying ; yet by strong temptations has been faint-hearted and denied the truth : like one that disannuls in the heighth of a fever , the will he made in his composed mind : but afterward such have resumed new courage , and have , by enduring the sharpest sufferings , confirm'd the truth , and ascended to heaven in a fiery chariot . lastly , the prosperity of sinners is the great temptation to delay repentance till their state is desperate . nothing fills hell with so many lost souls , as the putting off repentance till hereafter . how many diseases would be cur'd in time , if they threatned present death ? but their malignity being of a slow operation , they are despised as not worth the trouble of a cure , till they are desperate . 't is in spiritual diseases , as 't is in those of the body : for sin that is a sickness unto death , might be prevented by speedy repentance ; but many , not apprehending present danger , neglect the precious remedy till they are desperately ruin'd . to day if you will hear his voice , harden not your hearts . the command respects the season as well as the duty : as our obedience must be entire without reserves , so it must be present without delay , even in our early age , and continued in the whole tenor of our life . the worm of conscience sometimes nips security , and there is a strange union of contrarieties in the breast of a sinner , that makes him inexcusable and incurable . he complains of the bondage to his lusts , yet takes pleasure in it : he is convinc'd 't wil be destructive , yet voluntarily continues in that sweet captivity . if conscience be troublesome , he pacifies it with an intention to reform hereafter , and thinks that a future repentance will be sufficient to prepare for a future judgment . and none are so easily and willingly deceived to their everlasting ruin by this pretence , as those who enjoy the present world. prosperity makes them forgetful of the grave , and humane vicissitudes , and hardens them in deep security . 't was the divine prayer of moses , so teach us to number our days , as to apply our hearts unto wisdom ; implying , that the great cause of mens destructive folly , is from not reflecting upon the shortness and uncertainty of their time here . death is certain to the old , and life uncertain to the young. there are many back doors to the grave , and men are led surprisingly thither . the time of their residence here is fixed by the divine determination , and concealed from their eyes . how many in their youth and prosperity have presum'd upon a long life , yet unexpectedly have returned to their earth ; as a wall covered with ivy , that falls on a suddain with its green ornaments , by its weight and weakness . the hour of death , is the hour of mens destiny for ever . there is no space of repentance in the interval between death and judgment ; but the soul immediately after its departure , receives a decisive irrevocable doom ▪ that is in part executed ▪ and shall be publick and entirely executed at the last day . yet men boldly venture to continue in their pleasant sins , upon the forlorn hope of a season to repent hereafter . astonishing enormous folly ! as if they were assured of time , and the divine grace . and thus 't is fully proved how fatal and destructive prosperity is to the wicked . the second thing to be consider'd , is the folly of prosperous sinners . folly is the cause of their abusing prosperity , and the effect of their prosperity abused . the most proper notion of folly is , that the understanding mistakes in judging and comparing things ; from whence the will slides into error , and makes an unworthy choice : and according to the weight and consequence of things , the more remarkable is the degree of folly in not discerning their differences . now when men value and are delighted in temporal prosperity as their happiness , and heaven with its glory & joys is neglected and vilified in the comparison , 't is folly above all wonder ; folly of so rare and singular a nature , that if the judicative faculty were not corrupted , it were impossible they should be guilty of it . this will appear by considering the essential and inseparable properties of man's felicity ; 't is perfective and satisfying of man in his supream faculties . 1. the perfection of man does principally consist in the excellencies of his spiritual & immortal part : as in the various kinds of creatures , there is something that is their proper excellency , for which they were made , and accordingly are valued : as strength or beauty , swiftness or courage : so , the first and chief and proper excellency of man , is the rational mind , that distinguishes him from the brutes , and gives him a natural and regular dominion over them . 't is the highest and divinest faculty of the soul ; and from hence the deduction is clear , that our felicity consists in the perfection of the mind . if the excellencies of all other creatures were united in man , they could derive no true worth to him , because they cannot adorn and perfect what is his proper excellence . now , according to the quality of the objects , about which the mind is conversant , 't is either tainted and depreciated , or purfied and exalted . to apply it to sensual worldly things , how to increase riches , and make provision for the flesh , to fulfil its lusts , is more truly vilifying , than if a prince should employ his counsellors of state , and the judges of his courts , in the offices of his kitchin , or to dig in the cole-pits . the mind is corrupted and debased by application to inferior perishing things , as gold and silver are allayed , and lose of their purity and value , by a mixture with copper and tin. god alone is the sovereign object of the mind , with respect to its dignity and capacity , its superior and noblest operations : and by contemplating his glorious attributes and excellencies , who is best in himself , and best to us ; the mind is inlightned and enlarged , renewed and raised , made holy and heavenly , full of beauty , order , and tranquillity , and transformed into the likeness of the divine perfections . 2. all the prosperity in the world cannot bring true satisfaction to him that enjoys it : for 't is disproportionate to the spiritual and immortal nature of the soul. this is so clear by reason , that it may seem as needless and impertinent to insist on it , as to use arguments to prove that gold and diamonds are not proper food for the body : but the self-deceiving folly of the carnal heart , so enamour'd of the vanity of this world , ( that like the pleasure of a charm , is counterfeit and deadly ) makes it necessary to inculcate known truths , that men may timely prevent the sad consequences of such folly , and not be accessaries to their tormenting conviction by experience . 't is true , carnal and material ▪ things , pleasantly affect the outward man ; yet such a vanity is in them , that they are neither a pure nor a prevalent good , with respect to the natural and civil state of man here . riches , and honours , and sensual pleasures , are not without a mixture of bitterness , that corrupt the content that men expect in them ; they are not efficacious to remove or allay the evil to which all are exposed in this open state . a sharp disease makes all the joys of the world insipid and despicable . but suppose them in their elevation , they cannot supply the wants and exigencies , nor satisfy the desires of the soul. they cannot restore men to the favour of god , and blessed communion with him ▪ nor renew the image of his holiness in them . they are but a vain name , a naked shadow of felicity , and entirely depend upon the simplicity and fancies of men for their valuation . the apostle therefore tells us , that they that will be rich , fall into temptation , and a snare , and into many foolish lusts . those who resolve and labour to get riches , thinking to find felicity in them , are misled by as gross folly , as those who presume by their costly preparations to turn brass or lead into gold. for if it be folly to desire and attempt what is impossible , 't is equally so in those who seek for joyful satisfaction in wealth , and in any other secular things , as in the alchymists , that waste their real estates for imaginary treasures . besides ; the happiest condition here , as 't is like the moon , that at the brightest is spotted and imperfect ; so eclipses are not less strange to it than to that planet . the world is at the best of a transient use , and the pleasant error of the carnal mind , will be of short continuance . within a little while , that which was declar'd with such solemnity by the angel in the revelation ; he lifted up his hand to heaven , and swore by him that lives for ever , that time shall be no more ; will be true of every mortal person . the rich man that was surveying his estate with carnal complacency , and extending his hopes of voluptuous living to many years , was surpriz'd with the fatal sentence ; thou fool , this night shall thy soul , be required of thee : then whose shall those things be which thou hast provided ? now , can that be our happiness that is of such an uncertain tenure , that every hour may be snatch'd from us , or we from it ? if one should with great expences build a mansion-house , and plant gardens in a place subject to frequent earthquakes , that would overturn all into confusion ; would not his folly be conspicuous ? yet how many practise themselves what they would deride in others ? they set their heart upon the things of the world , that are liable to a thousand changes , and must shortly be parted with for ever . the slaves of honour , that are so swell'd with airy titles of greatness , and the flattering respects of others , must shortly be devested of all ; and when laid in their tombs , the trophies of vanity , will be insensible of the renown and applauses of the world. * alexander the great is long since dead to the pleasure of his immortal man. and death will make a final separation between the rich and their treasures , and put an end to all the delights of men. now what folly is it to prefer a felicity , that is deceitful in the enjoyment , and leaves the soul empty when it most fills it , that is so vain and transitory , before an eternal heaven ; a blessedness that surpasses our hopes , that secures our fears , that satisfies our immense ▪ desires ; a blessedness that the humane understanding in all the capacity of its thoughts is not able to comprehend ; a blessedness becoming the majesty and magnificence of god that bestows it . what madness , to despise heaven , as if the eternity of the next world were but a moment , and to love this world , as if this momentary life were an eternity . the full aggravation of this , dyes the love of the world with the deepest tincture of folly : as will appear by considering , 1. 't is a voluntary chosen folly . thus the divine wisdom with passion reproaches wretched sinners , how long ye simple ones , will ye love simplicity ? this heightens their character to love so obstinately , what is so unlovely and unbecoming the reasonable nature . the light of reason and revelation discovers the vanity of the world : 't is not for want of evidence , but for want of using the light , that men do not discern their wretched mistake . god complains in the prophet , my people doth not consider . the means of restoring men to a sound mind , is by due consideration . the soul retires from the world , and makes a solemn enquiry ; for what end am i created ? for what do i consume my time ? if my endeavours are all for the earth , what remains for heaven ? what do i prepare , what shall attend me , what shall i meet in the next state ? how long will it be before i must leave this visible world , and after the irrevocable step into the next , immediately appear before the inlightned tribunal of god , whose judgment is so strict , that the righteous are scarely saved , and so heavy , that the strongest sinners cannot endure ? can the world prevent my doom to hell , or release me from it ? will the remembrance of the enjoyments here , afford any refreshment in everlasting burnings ? by such sad and frequent soliloquies , the vicious sensual affections are eradicated , and the heart is transplanted from earth to heaven . if men would wisely ponder things , if conscience , the sincere and unsuspected judg did hold the ballance , and put into one scale the glory , the riches , and pleasures of this world ; and into the other , the promises that belong to godliness here , and hereafter , how despicably light will they be found ? 't was truly said , that false scarlet appears with lustre , till compared with the rich and true ; so the fictitious felicity of this world is very specious , and ravishes the minds of men , till compared with coelestial felicity . worldly honour is counterfeit , because 't is no certain argument of inherent worth : vain-glory and real infamy , often meet in the same person : yet 't is admir'd , and ambitiously sought , till compar'd with the honour of the saints . what is a reputation and honour with the worms and moles of the earth , compared with the honour that comes from the esteem of god , and angels , and other blessed spirits above , who incomparably exceed all mortals in number , and infinitely in understanding ? what is a vanishing shadow of reputation , against an eternal inestimable weight of glory ? what are the riches of this world , gold , and silver , and jewels , for gaining of which so many lose their souls , but vile trash compared with the sacred treasures of heaven , the graces of the saints ? what are the empty delights of the senses , compared with the peace of conscience , and joy in the holy ghost , that can sweeten all our sorrows here , and the fulness of joy that springs from god's presence in heaven ? if men would make judicious comparisons , their affections would cool towards perishing vanities . but they will only look upon what is pleasant and attractive in the world , without regarding its miserable defects , without considering what is infinitely better , and most worthy of their ardent desires and vigorous endeavours . they are so pleas'd with their error , so ingaged in the sweet captivity of the world , that they cannot extricate themselves if they would , because they will not if they could . 2. 't is a culpable and guilty folly. when children prefer things of lustre before things of value , their childish toys , before real treasures ; when they chuse a little present enjoyment , before a future good that is incomparably better , their folly is innocent , because reason cannot display its operations in them : but when men , who are capable to distinguish between the things that are seen and temporal , and the things that are not seen and eternal ; when they sottishly prefer sensible things before spiritual , notwithstanding the vast difference between them , both in the quality and duration , their choice is so criminal , as deserves an everlasting hell. if esau had been a child when he sold his birthright for a mess of pottage , his folly had been excused ; for he was compelled by hunger ; and the glorious dignity of the birthright was disproportionate to his appetite and understanding : but in his mature age , when capable to understand his interest , to part with so sacred and precious an advantage , for a little sensual satisfaction , was so profane an act , that he was justly deprived of the divine blessing that was annext to the birthright . that beasts are wholly led by their sensual appetities , is natural and regular , their voracity and crue●ty , folly and filthiness , envy and fury , are not vicious passions , because sense is the superior faculty in them . but when men are so brutish , that the objects that please their eyes , and carnal senses , are the only attractives of their affections , 't is unnatural and monstrous ; because reason should have the supremacy in them . if a woman remain in a single state , she has power over her actions , and may freely govern her self ; but if married , is subordinate to her husband : and disobedience to his authority and prudent counsels , is culpable . the body considered as the seat of the senses , has natural appetites , and might enjoy what is suitable to them according to their capacity ; but united with an immortal spirit , that is stampt with the living image of god , its desires must be limited and directed by the mind , and the pleasing of sense in actions forbidden by the mind , is rebellion against the ruling faculty . if one be under a disease that wine inflames and increases , and the physician forbids it as deadly , yet the patient will judg only by his pallate whether wine be good for him ; were it not a kind of brutishness worthy of the evil that attends it ? such perverse folly are men guilty of in their sensual satisfactions , whereby the soul is unspeakably wronged , and god highly dishonoured , who has given to man a more excellent spirit , than to the fowls of the air , that he may judg of things , not as they appear , but as they are . 3. 't is the most ignominious folly. shame arises from the sense of a debased excellence : the understanding is the most excellent faculty in man ; and nothing brings a greater disreputation to him , than when he is deceived by the ignorance or inconsiderateness of his mind . and the delusion is most shameful in matters of great moment . now for a man to exchange his soul , that is of angelical eminence , for transitory vanities ; o folly ! how enormous , how astonishing ! the lord jesus , who as the creator and redeemer of souls , perfectly knew their worth , puts the question , so as to imply the strongest denial , what is a man profited , if he shall gain the whole world , and lose his own soul ? or , what shall a man give in exchange for his soul ? the vanity of the purchase , and the value of the loss , is such , that no man , conscious of his immortality in the next state , but must acknowledg that he is an infinite loser , and prodigious fool , that gains the world by the loss of his soul. 't is said of the ancient * germans , that in their commerce with the romans , receiving silver for their amber , that has no virtue but to draw straws to it , they were amazed at the price . and certainly the great tempter cannot but wonder at the foolish exchange that men make , in giving their immortal souls to him for perishing vanities ; and having this scornful advantage , will much more upbraid them hereafter , than ever he allur'd them here . the shame that attends this folly , is sometimes felt by sinners in this world ; when they are shaken out of their stupifying slumber , and fully awak'd to discover their evil choice . thus the apostle speaks , what fruit had you of those things whereof you are now ashamed , for the end of those things is death ? when the memory of sin is revived , with a true judgment of it , that which has emptiness in the beginning , and death in the issue , must have shame in the middle . the prophet tells us , he that getteth riches , and not by right , shall leave them in the midst of his days , and at his end shall be a fool. he was a fool all along in his deceiving of others , tho reputed ▪ worldly wise ; but in the issue , when that which he gained cannot be kept ; and the soul being lost , can never be recovered ; by the conviction of his conscience , he is a fool , and reflects upon his past folly with confusion . but at the last day , the shame of foolish sinners shall be displayed before the eyes of the whole world. 't is foretold , that some shall rise to shame and everlasting contempt . obscurity is the mask of shame , but to be exposed a spectacle of scorn before a thronged theatre , is the aggravation & eminence of the shame . how confounding will the shame of sinners be in the universal confluence of angels and saints , and the presence of the glorious god , the judg of all ? the sense of their guilt and folly will sting them for ever . 4. 't is the most woful folly. here such mischievous effects proceed from it as deserve the saddest lamentation . the understanding , the highest faculty , the beauty and excellency of man is blinded , the will is fettered by corrupt passions , and the whole man miserably inslaved to satan . what a spectacle of compassion was sampson in the slavery of the philistines ? he that had been the general and judg of israel , was deprived of his sight , and divine strength : his warlike hands , that had been of equal power with an army , and perform'd such glorious atchievements , were imployed in turning a mill , the work of a beast : and his misery was pointed and made sharper by the insultation of his enemies . the true emblem of the degenerate state of men ; the soul that was created in the image of god , and had a peaceful soveraignty over the sensual appetites , a superiority over sensible things , is now inslaved and employed in the vile drudgery of sin , and become the derision of the devils . this is little thought of , or lamented , but therefore the more woful . the loss of the kingdom was not so dismal a judgment to nebuchadnezzar , as the loss of his understanding . when his reason was taken away , and the heart of a beast was given to him ; 't was the lowest and saddest degradation . but hereafter the misery of foolish sinners will be extream . the apostle tells us , that the love of the world causeth men to fall into temptation and a snare , and into many foolish and hurtful lusts , which drown men in destruction and perdition . the expressions are full to exaggerate the horror of their ruines , and to signify that 't is absolute and irrecoverable . the lusts of men are equally foolish and pernicious ; they please themselves in the enjoyments of the world , and are secure , as if bathing in the fountains of felicity , when ready to be swallowed up in the whirlpool of death . by sensual vanities they are estranged from god , careless of their duty , and are finally separated from his blessed presence . and as the enjoying god , without a possibility of losing him , is our consummate happiness ; so to lose him , without hopes of ever enjoying him , is extream misery . the foolish sinner is not affected with this now ; whilst he lives in pleasure , he is content to be without god in the world ; but hereafter , when he shall be deprived of these slight short-liv'd pleasures , and shall know the unvaluable loss of his happiness , sorrows will overwhelm him for ever . as it befel that infidel in the 2 kings 8. he saw the plenty , but was not suffered to taste of it ; so the damned shall see the glory of heaven shining in the saints , but shall not partake of it . this misery will be amplified under the following heads . 3. we are to consider the justice , the certainty and the heaviness of the destruction , that shall seize on foolish sinners that abuse prosperity . 1. to illustrate the justice of god in their destruction , i shall only insist on that reason that is so admirably amplified in this chapter for their conviction ; that is , their destruction is the fruit of their own choice . the divine wisdom allures and invites them , by all the most tender and powerful perswasives , to forsake their ruinous course , and the spirit of grace should be poured upon them , which is the earnest of glory ; but they would not be convinced and reformed ; they loved simplicity , the vain volatile pleasures of sin , though attended with perdition : they hated knowledg , godliness , though recommended by the assurance of a blessed eternal reward : therefore their destruction is resolved into their own choice . indeed no man can directly and absolutely chuse misery , or reject happiness , but vertually and by real consequence the most do . a prodigal that wastes his estate , does not intentionally and deliberately chuse poverty , but thus he thinks , this expence is for my honour , this for my pleasure , and proceeding to innumerable expences , he at last becomes poor , and his poverty is voluntary , because 't is the issue of his voluntary exorbitant profuseness . the evil of sin , though it be destructive , and in that respect not eligible by man , yet 't is pleasing to his corrupt nature : and the depraved will is so allured by the present pleasure , that it anticipates the reflections of the mind , and chuses to gratify the propensions of nature , with a brutish disregard of the terrible consequences of sin. and the present disconvenience of serious piety to the carnal heart , causes an averseness from it , notwithstanding the heavenly felicity that is promised to it . men prefer carnal sweets before communion with god ; and tho not ignorant of the issue , continue in their sins . and 't is the exactness of justice , to deprive sinners of that blessedness which they obstinatly refus'd , and to bring on them the misery they perversly chuse . and when at the last day the son of god shall charge upon sinners their neglect of his compassionate and repeated calls , that he often knock'd at the door to get an entrance into their hearts , but all in vain , the world was there , and barr'd it against him . the guilty graceless souls will be struck with a defenceless silence , not able to make a request for pardon , but with despairing tears must submit to their righteous condemnation . the equity of god's ways , and the iniquity of mens , will at the last be clear to every eye . then all the blessings they received will rise up in judgment against them , as proofs of their wickedness , that makes them more guilty , and deservedly miserable . then conscience , that is now stupified by sensuality , will make furious reflections upon the folly of their choice , and be more tormenting than the infernal fiends . when cresus , the rich king of lydia , was bound to the stake , and the fire kindled for his burning , he lamentably cried out , solon , solon , solon ; and being ask'd the reason of it , declared , that in the height of his prosperity , that wise grecian had advised him to prepare for a revolution from his glory and greatness into a miserable state , and his neglect of that counsel was more tormenting than the loss of his kingdom . how piercing will the remembrance be to lost souls of their despising the instructions , warnings , and gracious methods of the divine wisdom , to have prevented their ruin ? that mercy was so often and so rebelliously resisted ? this will be the hell of hell. 2. the certainty of their destruction is next to be considered . 't is unchangeably establish'd by the divine ordination , that the pleasures of sin shall end in the misery of obstinate sinners . this is declared in the word of god , if ye live according to the flesh , ye shall die : and as 't is founded in destributive justice , so it shall be executed from his truth . our saviour tells us , heaven and earth shall pass away , but one jot or tittle of the law shall not be unfulfilled . all the threatnings of it , in their fearful extent , shall be accomplish'd upon impenitent sinners , the proper objects of vengeance . god cannot deny himself in ceasing to be holy and true , and his power seconds his word , to inflict the full effects of it upon the guilty and impenitent ; for a time they are spared , that they might repent : for mercy is not only over all the works of god , but paramount to all his attributes , it suspends his power from acts of vengeance , it delays and mitigates his justice : we may appeal from justice to mercy in the court of heaven : but when god's mercy has been affronted and exasperated , by the continual abuse of his benefits , when 't is renounc'd and forfeited by sinners , their destruction is irreversible : for 't is mercy alone atones his righteous anger ; and this being so fearfully provok'd , there is no advocate in his bosom to plead for them . did he not expel from heaven the rebellious angels , spirits of a higher order , and more excellent endowments than men , and in their number perhaps exceeding the whole progeny of man ? now as the apostle , considering that the israelites , the chosen people of god , and dear to him above all others , yet when they became unfruitful , were broken off from the true olive tree , and the wild gentiles were grafted into it , leaves this caution in eternal memory , be not high-minded , but fear . for if he spared not the natural branches , take heed lest he spare not thee . we may strongly infer , if god spared not the angels that sinned in their first act of disobedience , but cast them down to hell , and delivered them into chains of darkness , to be reserved unto judgment . certainly he will not spare sinful men that hate to be reformed , and continue in the voluptuous course of sin to the last . the secure and foolish sinners , that now make a mock of sin , and have so far lost their innocence and ingenuity , that shame and request for their foul actions is counted a vicious infirmity , a degenerous humour , they shall understand in what degree sin is hateful to the holy god. they who now sleep out all the denunciations of the law , will find at last , they have to do with a terrible inexorable god : because i have called , and ye refused , i have stretched out my hand , and no man regarded ; but ye have set at nought all my counsel , and would have none of my reproof : i also will laugh at your calamity , and mock when your fear comes : when your fear comes as desolation , and your destruction comes as a whirlwind ; when distress and anguish come upon you . then shall they call upon me , but i will not answer ; they shall seek me early , but they shall not find me . for that they hated knowledg , and did not chuse the fear of the lord. this dreadful threatning is pointed against foolish sinners who abuse prosperity : when those who shut their eyes against danger , shall be constrained to open them , and see the fearful face of death attended with judgment , and judgment with an eternal hell : when diseases in the body , and anguish in the soul , shall assail them at once , like two clouds that by collision break forth in thunder , and they mournfully cry for mercy , their prayers will be rejected with scorn , and their ruin be remediless . the carnal conceit , that god will graciously receive sinners when the world has left them ; that when by calamitous constraint they are at last brought to confess their wickedness , and are only sorrowful for the evil consequences of it , the conceit that they shall find mercy , is atheism of as blasphemous a nature as the denial of a god : for to ascribe such a mercy to god , as is inconsistent with his wisdom , holiness , justice , and truth , is to deprive him of his purest perfections , and in effect to ungod him . in the rebellions of their lives , they exprest open enmity against god ; and their devotion at their death , is secret flattery in his account . for thus t is said by the psalmist of such sinners ; when he slew them , then they sought him : and they returned and enquired early after god. nevertheless , they did flatter him with their mouth , and lied to him with their tongues . for their heart was not right with him , and they were not stedfast in his covenant . 't is true , god is rich in mercy , and most willing to pardon returning sinners , when their contrition is sincere ; when they are truly sorrowful , that sin has made them unholy as well as unhappy , that they have abus'd the mercies of god , our gracious creator and preserver , compassionate redeemer , and blessed comforter , as well as provok'd his anger : and when the resolutions of amendment are so deeply rooted , as would prove effectual if they should be tried by the lengthning of their time in this world. but those who defer their repenting whilst god defers punishing , and like the unjust steward , never think of making provision for their souls , till they are cited to give an account of their unrighteous and ungrateful abuse of his blessings : those who renounce their sins when unable to commit them , and resolve to live well when they can live no longer , have great reason to suspect their own hearts , and to be fearful of their future state . if a minister be call'd to assist such in their dying hours , there is infinite reason he should be cautious of assuring them of pardon and salvation , lest natural sorrow be mistaken for godly sorrow , and the repentance declar'd by them , would be retracted upon new temptations : 't is safe to imitate a * discreet physician , that is unwilling to declare what he fears will be the issue of the disease , but modestly infinuates the danger to those that are about the sick person : the good god can do all things , he can revive the almost spent and expiring , o pray for him . 't is advice given by a skilful herbalist , that particular care is necessary in planting the seed of the cardus , for if they are not set upright , they degenerate and produce a wild herb. the gospel is compar'd to seed , and if the conditional promises of pardon and salvation are not received in the heart aright , if the comfort of them be not applied according to the qualifications that are requisite to give us an interest in them , they produce a vain presumption , a false hope , a delusive peace , instead of an unfeigned faith , a purifying hope , a solid peace . god declares it with the most sacred solemnity , as i live , saith the lord god , i have no pleasure in the death of the wicked ; if the carnal heart ( like the devil who abus'd scripture , by leaving out part of it ) shall not consider what follows , but that the wicked turn from his way and live , but shall harden and fortifie it self in sin , with hopes of impunity , god will rejoice in their just destruction . he tells us that a converted sinner shall be forgiven ▪ but that conversion must be uniform and lasting ; if the wicked turn from all his sins that he hath committed , and keep all my statutes , and do that which is lawful and right , he shall surely live and not die . he has promised to be found of those that seek him ; but we are commanded to seek the lord whilst he may be found : implying ▪ it is not in our power when we please to find him with his pardoning mercy and assisting grace . to apply the word of god against the mind of god , is injurious to his honour , and pernicious to deluded souls . 3. the heaviness of the destruction will be according to the aggravation of their sin , who abuse prosperity . 1. 't is a sin most contrary to the acknowledged duty of man , and unbecoming the reasonable nature . 't is an universal concession that springs from the purest light of reason , that we should return good for good : the heathens agreed in it . to be defective in observance , and thankful respects to a benefactor is unnatural , but to requite evil for good , is so direct a violation of the ingenuous principles of humanity , that one is prodigiously wicked in doing it : he ceases to be a man , and becomes a devil . now this black guilt cleaves to those who abuse prosperity . the blessings of god are strong and sweet obligations to love him , yet their perverse hearts are thereby alienated from him : his mercies engage and enable them to serve and glorify him , but are used to gratify their lusts , and to make them more capable and presumptuous to offend him . prosperity makes them luxurious and secure ; riches makes them sin at a higher rate ; the patient providence of god , that waits for their repentance , ( such is their desperate corruption ) fortifies them in their rebellion against him . this was the reason of that stinging reproach of moses to israel , do ye thus requite the lord , o foolish people and unwise ? 2. the abuse of prosperity is most injurious and provoking to god. to sin against his law , is an high affront to his majesty ; but to sin against his love and benefits is more contumelious to him . the apostle calls it , a despising of god's goodness : what is more contumelious , than to employ his benefits for the pleasing our dishonourable vile affections ? as the gift of a friend is slited that is put to a base use ; or as one that will not be reconciled by the presents of a friend , despises his gifts : thus when the favours of god do not melt the heart into kindly resentments , and endear him to us , they are despised . if a favorite , that were raised by a prince to the highest honour and trust , should betray his magazines , both arms and treasures to his enemy , could there be a fouler wickedness ? and of this heinous nature is their wickedness , who abuse the mercies of god in the service of sin , and implicitly betray them into the devil's hands , who maliously wars against god. what a contumelious indignity heightned with the basest ingratitude was jeroboam guilty of , who chang'd the glory of the uncorruptible god , into an image like a corruptible beast . * god advanc'd him to the throne , and he deprest the deity to the rank of stupid calves . what a hateful abuse of his bounty was it , that the israelites turned the jewels of gold wherewith he inricht them by the egyptians , into a detestable idol : of such wickededness are men deeply guilty , when the precious blessings that god bestows upon them , are made the idols of their heads and hearts , and rob him of the honour and love that is incommunicably due to him . what can more provoke the jealous god ? mercy is his dearest glory , in which he peculiarly delights ; 't is the attribute of which he is most tender , and the abuse of it is to stab him to the heart . from hence we may justly infer , the punishment of such sinners will be most heavy , in exact proportion to their most odious ingratitude . damnation is the recompence of every impenitent sinner , and is the most fearful effect of god's wrath. temporal judgments are but the smoke of his anger , the flaming coles are in hell. but there are degrees of torment in hell , according to the number and quality of mens sins . those who despise the goodness of god , treasure up wrath against the day of wrath. as they continually abuse his bounty and patience ▪ they increase his vengeance , which will be as terrible as his patience was admirable . the judgment of babylon was a strict proportion to her luxury : how much she hath glorified her self , and lived deliciously , so much troment and sorrow give her . justice will exact all the arrears of abused mercies . the lovers of this world shall pass from their good things , to the flames that live by the breath of god's revenging wrath. doleful exchange ! an hours feeling of that fire is more tormenting , than an ages enjoyment of this world in all its abundance is pleasing . but tho the word of god has discovered the swift and thick-coming sorrows that shall seize upon the wicked , yet so foolish and obstinate are sinners in prosperity , they will not be perswaded to fly from the wrath to come ! the light of reason , and illumination of faith , is too weak to make them sensible of their danger : they will not be convinc'd , till shut up in the darkness of hell. it now follows , that by application we should make this great doctrine more useful to our selves . in the general , 't is of excellent use to rectify our judgments about the things and men of the world. the most are miserably deluded , and live in a blindness so gross and misleading , that they are secure when near steep ruin . asclepius being blind , mournfully complain'd , that he was fain to be led by a child : but carnal men are voluntarily guided by sence and fancy the false lights that rule in children , and blindly follow , without considering who is their leader , and whether they are led . or like one in a slumber , is strongly affected with slight things : a scene of fancy in a dream transports him as a glorious reality : a prick of a pin makes him start as fearfully as if a viper bit him : thus carnal men are as deeply affected with temporal good and evil things , as if they were eternal , wherein their blessedness or misery consists . and there is nothing of greater use and defence to the soul , than to make a true judgment of things that greatly and nearly concern us . from thence proceeds a wise choice , a well-ordered conversation , and upon it our blessed end depends . for as the rudder is to a ship , the will is to man ; if it be duly turn'd , it conducts him safely to felicity . the particular just inferences from the doctrine are , 1. temporal prosperity is not a certain sign of god's special favour . there are some benefits disperst by a general providence to all , like the common benefits of a prince to all within his dominions : some are like special gifts to his favorites : of the first kind are riches and honours , and whatever is the support or comfort of the present life : of the second are spiritual and heavenly blessings , the graces and comforts of the holy spirit of god , the infallible seal of his love to us . the psalmist prays , remember me , o lord , with the favour thou bearest unto thy people : o visit me with thy salvation : there is a favour common to all men as his creatures , and the fruits of it are promiscuous to the evil and the good : but the favour from whence proceeds grace and glory , is the priviledg of his chosen . the temporal prosperity of the wicked , is consistent with god's hatred . when men turn his blessings into the fuel of their lusts , and his patience into an advantage of sinning more securely , how flourishing soever they are in the world , he looks on them with an avenging eye . he hates all the workers of iniquity . his seeming connivance is no argument that he is not highly provok'd by their sins , or that they may obtain an easy pardon . yet this is the inward principle of the gross and outward sins in the lives of men , tho unobserved by them . as the vital heat is not felt in the heart , that is the cause of all the heat that is felt in the outward parts of the body . these things hast thou done , ( saith god to the rebellious sinner ) and i kept silence , that is , suspended the terrible effects of justice , thou thoughts i was altogether such a one as thy self . astonishing blindness ! not to discern the apparent antipathy of such connexions . as if god's forbearance of the guilty were forgiveness : and rebellion against his commands , and the love of sin which is enmity to him , were consistent with the fruition of his favour . but we have the most clear and convincing assurance , god cannot be pleased with men , without their being made like him in righteousness and true holiness . he sees and hates sin , and abhors the sinners tho for a time they are spared . justice and patience are his attributes : he is slow to anger , and great in power , and will not acquit the guilty . he endures with much long-suffering the vessels of wrath , till they are fitted for destruction ▪ the presumptuous sinner that is encouraged and harden'd , as if sin were not so hateful to god , because he enjoys the world in abundance , and expects an easy remission at last , fearfully deceives his soul : he sows the wind , and shall reap the whirlwind . 3. the prosperity of the wicked is so far from being a sign of god's love , that it often proceeds from his deepest displeasure . 't is a curse candied over with a little vanishing sweetness , but deadly in the operation . it makes them careless of god and their souls , of heaven and eternity , and they become incorrigible in their perverse wills and wicked ways , and irrecoverable in their lost state. prosperity induces security , that presages and accelerates their ruin . 't is exprest as the most fearful and sorest judgment by the prophet , the lord hath poured out upon you the spirit of deep sleep , an insensibleness of the worst evils , their sins , and the infinite danger that attends them . this judgment is usually inflicted from the righteous god by the prosperity of the wicked , and extreamly provokes him , it being a sin of the greatest guilt , as well as a punishment of former high provocations . 't is a distinguishing judgment inflicted upon his enemies , from which his children are exempted . other judgments that cause grief and trouble to sinners , often incline his compassions to them ; but this judgment inflames his wrath. in short , the prosperity of the wicked here , is a fatal sign they are reserved for the severity of justice , for their abuse of the riches of his mercy : and of all judgments that is the most terrible , that insensibly destroys , and certainly brings damnation . 4. from hence we are instructed to look upon prosperous sinners with pity , not with envy and indignation . they please themselves , and triumph in their conceit and happiness , as the psalmist expresseth it , whilst he lived , ▪ he blessed his soul. but how contrary is the opinion of vain men to the judgment of christ ; he pronounces ( and upon his sentence depends eternity ) wo unto you that are rich , for ye have received your consolation ? wo unto you that are full , for ye shall hunger : wo unto you that laughnow , for ye shall mourn and weep . and we are told by the inspired prophet , man that is in honour , and understands not , ( that does not consider the vanity and frail tenure of his present flourishing state ; nor his duty and interest to imploy his riches , power , and greatness , for securing his everlasting felici●ty ) is like the beasts that perish , stupid and insensible of approaching ruin ; as the beast that was to be sacrificed , did not perceive that the guilding its horns , and adorning it with garlands , was a sign it was destin'd to death . they now live in ease and pleasures ; but they must shortly remove from their rich possessions , and splendid palaces , to the dark regions of woe , and death will be an entrance into endless sorrows . the laughter of fools is like the crackling of thorns under the pot , a short blaze soon damp'd and extinguish'd . 't is a dreadful imprecation of the holy psalmist ; let their way be dark and slippery ; and let the angel of the lord persecute them . to fly in the dark , and in slippery places , and so to fall into the mire and pits , is a fit emblem of their condition , who are prosperous and wicked . they are hood-wink'd by prosperity , in a voluntary darkness , and see not the precipices that surround them : and how slippery is their way by so numerous and insinuating temptations ? how easily , how frequently and dangerously do they fall , and both defile and wound themselves ? briefly , they are truly miserable here , even whilst they most pleasantly and contentedly enjoy the world , they are accumulating the treasures of wrath , and preparing new torments for their souls : they stand upon brittle ice , and hell is beneath ready to swallow them up in its deepest gulph . as 't is said by the apostle , concerning the saints darkend by sorrows here , that their glorious life is hid in god , and shall illustriously appear with christ at his second coming : so the terrible death of the wicked , whilst they flourish here ▪ is hid from the eyes of sense ▪ but shall be revealed in the day of wrath. and to a wise observer , to a serious believer , the prosperous sinner is the most unhappy and compassionable object in the world ; for he perishes by such a flattering kind of death , that he is neither apprehensive , nor affected with his danger . and when an illuminate christian sees the marks of damnation in sinners , whom prosperity deceives and hardens , he cannot but be tenderly moved , and is obliged most earnestly to pray to the merciful father of spirits , whose grace is omnipotent , that he would recover their lapsed souls , bleeding to eternal death . if there be any heavenly charity in our brests , it will melt our hearts , and dissolve us in tears to prevent , or at least to solemnize and lament their heavy destiny . 5. from hence we are instructed to judg truly and wisely of afflictions : they are the necessary and merciful dispensations of heaven to recover sinners corrupted by prosperity , and to return them to god. sense , tho its principal end is to preserve the body , is not always a fit judg of things beneficial to it : the appetites and aversions are sometimes pernicious : one in a dropsy drinks to quench his thirst , and increases his distemper . a bitter potion is rejected by a sick child , not considering that a medicine , not sweet-meats , can cure his disease . the pleasure of the taste , is no certain indication of what is wholsome for health : much more uncapable is sense to judg of what is useful for the soul. reason is entirely renounc'd , and fallacious sense is in the throne , when prosperity with its gaudy allurements is esteemed as our happiness , and adversity is abhorr'd as the worst misery . the wise man instructed by dear experience , tells us , it is better to go to the house of mourning ▪ than to go to the house of feasting : for that is the end of all men , and the living will lay it to heart . sorrow is better than laughter : for by the sadness of the countenance , the heart is made better . the heart of the wise is in the house of mourning , but the heart of fools is in the house of mirth . prosperity irritates and fortifies the sensual vile affections , the pleasing of which is fatal to the * soul. as 't is observed by the natural historian , that the sparkling colour and delicious relish of wine , tempts men to drinking without thirst ; and from intemperance , innumerable diseases flow . prosperity diverts the mind from considering the things that belong to our eternal peace , and the will from consenting to them . the thoughts are so scattered abroad , that few are left at home , duly to ponder the miserable effects of sin. now in this the rules of natural and spiritual medicine agree , that one extream is to be cured by another . the devil cruelly destroys the souls of men by the pleasures of sin ; and god , the wise and compassionate physician , recovers them by bitter sorrows , the most congruous and powerful means for that blessed effect . affliction makes us retire within our hearts , and shuts out the noisy throng of worldly distracting objects ; and then truth and conscience , that were under unrighteous restraints , will break the fetters , and speak loudly and terribly to the sinner . affliction fixes the mind upon those objects , that duly considered , are able to terrify the most determin'd and resolved sinner . there is no man so prodigiously bad , so perfectly a brute , but has at times some twinges of conscience , some workings in his spirit , some desires of salvation . even balaam , who in the judgment of the angel was more stupid than the ass he rode on , yet had some springings in his heart towards heaven ; o that i might die the death of the righteous , and my last end may be like his : but these are fleeting and variable , and so weak in comparison of the opposite desires of the flesh , while prosperity continues , that they prove abortive . now affliction deads the flaming edge of the affection to vanity . when the sinner feels the truth of the divine threatnings , then he is effectually convinc'd of the evil of sin , and understands , by the beginning of sorrows here , what the issues will be hereafter , and retracts his foolish choice . in the time of affliction , our sins find us out ; and 't is most likely we shall then find our sins out , and with repenting tears acknowledg them , and with hatred renounce them . now the consideration of the designed benefit by afflictions , should reconcile them to our wills , and perswade us , with patience and thankfulness , to accept of them as the testimonies of god's peculiar favour . our saviour declares , as many as i love , i rebuke and chasten ; be zealous and repent . god is often most angry , when he makes no sensible discovery that he is so : thus he threatens the rebellious jews , i will make my fury towards thee to rest , and my jealousy shall depart from thee , and i will be quiet , and will be no more angry : implying a final divorce , a leaving them to their impure idolatries , without more correction . if there be such a hardness of heart as the fire cannot melt , such a rust that the fire cannot purify , god will not waste his judgments on such desperate sinners . he withdraws his chastising hand , as hopeless of their amendment , and that desertion is a fatal signature of reprobation . and on the contrary , many times god's love is most tender and compassionate to us , when to sense there is the least evidence of it . even the heathens , in the twilight , between the darkness of idolatry , and the light of nature , discovered that afflictions were the privilege of those that are singularly beloved of god. and christians have a more sure word for their instruction , whom the lord loves he chastens , and scourgeth every son whom he receives . there is not a stronger evidence of his fatherly wise love , than the discipline of the rod ; and the afflicted returning sinner may , with an adoptive assurance come to the throne of grace . by afflictions the world is less enticing and hurtful to us , and heaven is more amiable and desirable : the things that are seen , are vilified and distasted ; and invisible things are sought with our highest esteem and respect , and zealous endeavours . those lusts that spring , and grow , and flourish in prosperity , are blasted and wither , and die in adversity . those who forget god when prosperous in the world , are taught by the voice of the rod to adore his majesty , obey his laws , imitate his holiness , and humbly to accept of his mercy . by afflictions the sensual appetites are sudu'd , and brought into order a low state , is a protection from many strong and destructive temptations . sickness that brings near the grave , and makes us feel how frail we are , renders the world despicable , that by their lusts so powerfully infatuates men to their ruin . sanctified affliction , is a happy preparative for the fulness of joy in the blessed presence of god. the first to whom our saviour promis'd the rest and joy of paradise , was the companion of his cross. let us therefore , with free judgments , and sincere affections , make an estimate of all sensible things , not judg our selves to be in the favour of god , by the good things received here , nor under his wrath by evil : let us not be surpris'd at the prosperity of the wicked , nor shaken at the afflictions of the godly , but regulate our thoughts by the unerring wisdom of god , so clearly revealed in his word . he is propitious , when he denies or takes from us those temporal enjoyments that we are apt to abuse ; and severe when he bestows them , and seems to indulge mens carnal affections . it is but a little while , and the pleasures of sinners ; and the afflictions of the saints , will end in a state directly contrary to what is enjoyed or suffered here . with god a thousand years are but as one day : the world is not of a weeks standing in the divine account : he measures all things by eternity : the vessels of mercy are by sanctified afflictions made fit for eternal glory . the vessels of wrath are by the abuse of his bounty and patience , fitted for eternal destruction . in the last place , from hence we should be warned to be always circumspect to avoid the evils that usually attend prosperity , to improve it to our eternal advantage . prosperity is not like an infected garment , that transfuses a contagious malignity into every one that wears it . a person that is rich and honourable , and in power , may not only be a saint , but the more a saint by his dedicating and employing the gifts of god to his glory , and the publick good. 't is a point of high and holy wisdom , and only taught in the school of heaven , how to manage the opposite states of the present life , so as not to be vainly swelling in prosperity , nor broken and flagging in adversity , but to preserve an aequanimity , a constant composed mind , the blessed imitation of the divine unchangeableness . st. paul saith , without vain arrogance , i know both how to be abased , and i know how to abound : every where , and in all things i am instructed , both to be full and to be hungry , both to abound and to suffer need . 't was a secret of spirit , not learn'd from men , but from the holy spirit of god. in some respects 't is a more difficult exercise to manage prosperity than adversity . many are like hannibal , victorious in arms , whilst conflicting with adversity , and vanquisht by enticing pleasures . 't is observed of the lamps in some of the roman tombs , that have burnt for many ages , and are bright whilst kept close ; that as soon as they are open'd to the air , a breath of wind extinguishes them : thus the vertues of some shine in a low retired condition , when there are no temptations , no occasion of quenching them : but when brought forth into the open world , and should appear in conspicuous operations , their vertues are of so weak and consumptive a spirit , that the light expires and dies . even the piety of david was chill'd by prosperity . 't is said , with an emphasis , concerning jehosaphat , that he walk'd in the first ways of his father david : intimating that his religion was not so exact when he was in the throne , as in his banishment . 't is equally excellent as difficult . to be holy and heavenly in the midst of sensual tempting objects , is the clearest discovery of the truth and power of divine grace , of the piety , ingenuity , and generosity of the christian spirit . humility and modesty in a low condition , are not so praise worthy , as the absence of them is odious : but humility in a state of honour , is more illustrious than the splendor of external dignity . temperance in a cottage , where are only supplies of hunger and thirst , seems rather the effect of necessity , than of wise choice : but to be temperate when abundance and variety tempt the sensual appetites , when the sparkling colour and delicious relish of the purest wines tempt the fancy and the pallate , is vertue in a height and excellency . to be pious , and weaned from the world in afflictions , is no wonder ; but in prosperity and power to be serious in religion , and despise the splendid vanities of the world , is vertue of a superior order . what is observed of the perfuming gums of arabia the happy , is applicable in this matter : those that distil freely from the tree , excel in purity , in fragrancy and value , what comes from it when the bark of it is cut . thus obedience that comes from the heart in love with god for his benefits , is more valuable and precious than what is the effect of compulsion , that comes from the heart wounded with terrors in adversity . i shall add farther ; the using prosperity aright is most comfortable . the love of god can sweeten afflictions , and make a dinner of green herbs as savory as if they grew in paradise : and it gives a quick and high taste to all our temporal blessings . when his love is conveyed and sealed to us by the gifts of his providence , we have the purest enjoyment of them . now when prosperity is made subservient to his glory , when it endears obedience to us , we have an infallible testimony 't is from his special favour to us . the rules how to manage prosperity for our everlasting good , are , 1. let us preserve an humble sense of our original meanness , continual frailty , and sinful unworthiness in the midst of prosperity . men are apt to be high-minded , and to cherish undue conceptions of their worth when rais'd in the world : as if they were not as inferior to the majesty of god , and as liable to his impartial justice as others : they lose the knowledg of themselves in a mist of vanity . this provokes the high and holy one that inhabits eternity , to blast them in their most fluorishing and secure state , and convince them how deceitful and insufficient the grounds of their pride are . he puts them in fear , that they may know themselves to be but men. there are such great and just allays of the vain mind , such correctives of pride , that it is strange that any temporal prosperity should occasion swelling arrogance . the psalmist considering the glory of god shining in the heavens , is in an extasy at his condescending goodness . what is man that thou art mindful of him ? or the son of man that thou regardest him ? his original is from the earth , the lowest element : all that he possesses , to supply his want and satisfy his desires , is from pure mercy : and the more eminent the advantage of some is above others in this world , the greater are their receits and obligations : and who would be proud that he is in a mighty debt ? rich and poor , honourable and mean , are distinctions among men ; but in respect to god all are equally mean and low . neither do these things give any inherent worth , and make persons more acceptable to god. poor lazarus who was a miserable spectacle , his body corroded with ulcers , yet had a precious soul under it : the glorious angels descended from heaven to receive it at the point of death , and convey it to the reviving presence of god : but the rich man was cast into hell. besides , how uncertain are all the admired things of this world ! is he truly rich whose whole estate lies in a ship abroad , that is to pass through seas exposed to tempests , and infested with pirats , and runs a double hazard of being rob'd or cast away ? and the consideration thereof , is a proper argument to cause us to keep a low mind in a high condition . 't is the apostle's counsel , let the rich , and the great in the world , rejoice in that he is made low : because as the flower of the grass he shall pass away : when the florid beauty is displayed , it presently withers . how many survive their estates and dignities , and by unforeseen revolutions become poor and low . many that were overflowing in riches and pleasures , are as dry and desolate as the desart . and is it not a disparagement to our reason to admire shadows , and be proud of transient vanities ? but suppose they continue with men here , can they preserve the body from diseases and death , or the soul from oppressing sorrows ? and is it not miserable folly to pride themselves in secular greatness , that is so insufficient to prevent the worst evils ? but especially the consideration how man is vilified by sin , should make him be abased and low in his own eyes . as that blessed martyr , bishop hooper says , lord , i am hell , thou art heaven ; i am a sinck of sin , thou art the fountain of holiness . and the more gracious and bountiful god is to men , the more sinful should they appear to themselves . humility discovers our native poverty , in the midst of rich abundance ; our true vileness in the midst of glittering honours , that nothing is ours but sin and misery ; and makes us say , with the spirit of that humble saint , we are less than the least of all god's mercies . now the more of humility , the more of heaven is in the soul : 't is that disposition that prepares it to receive the graces and comforts of the spirit in an excellent degree . god resists the proud ; the self-conceited and aspiring he is at defiance with , and abhors them ; he justly deprives them of spiritual treasures , who value themselves and bear it high for the abundance of this world : but he gives grace to the humble . the due sense of our wants and unworthiness , makes us fit to partake of divine blessings . 2. a meek temper and deportment , is an excellent preservative from the evil of prosperity . humility and meekness are always in conjunction , and most amiable in the eyes of god and men. a meek and quiet spirit , which is in the sight of god of great price . they are the brightest jewels that adorn humanity , and shin'd so gloriously in our blessed saviour , the supream pattern of perfection , and are propounded as signally imitable by us ▪ learn of me , for i am meek and lowly . when he came in his regal office , he is thus described , rejoice greatly , o daughter of sion : behold , thy king cometh unto thee : he is just , and having salvation , lowly ; the church is excited to rejoice in his mild monarchy . and christians , who in profession are his disciples , are commanded to be gentle , and to shew all meekness to all men. this especially concerns those who are in a superior order : for prosperity is apt to make men insolent and intollerable , and to treat with an haughty roughness those that are below them . but there is nothing more becoming men in prosperity and power , than a sweetness of spirit , not easily provok'd by injuries , and easily pardoning them ; a gracious condescension exprest in words and actions , even to all inferiors . and especially meekness is necessary in a submissive receiving reproofs for sin , whether by the ministry of the word , or by a faithful friend . prosperity is never more dangerous , than when sin takes sanctuary in it , when men think riches and power to be a privilege to free them from sound and searching reproof , and damn themselves with less contradiction . and an humble submission , with respect to the authority of god , and an ingenious tractableness ▪ with respect to the sincere affection of those who are faithful in their counsels for our souls , is an eminent instance of meekness , and preserves from the danger of prosperity . 3. solmn and affectionate thanksgiving to god for his mercies , sanctifies prosperity . this is the certain consequent of an humble disposition of soul. pride smothers the receits of god's favours : thankfulness is the homage of humility . this is infinitely due to god , who renews our lives as often as we breath , and renews his mercies every moment ; yet so unjust and ungrateful are men , especially in prosperity , that they strangely neglect it . from hence are those divine warnings so solemnly repeated to the israelites , when thou shalt have eaten , and art full , then beware lest thou forget the lord. and , lest when thou hast eaten and art full , and hast built goodly houses , and dwelt therein , then thy heart be lifted up , and thou forget the lord thy god. this was the wicked effect of their prosperity : according to their pasture so were they filled ; they were filled , and their heart was exalted : therefore have they forgotten me . there is a great backwardness in a carnal heart to thanksgiving for mercies . prayer in our distress , is a work of necessity , but thankful praise is an act of duty ; carnal love is the cause of the one , divine love of the other . even david how ardently does he excite his soul to the performing this duty ; bless the lord , o my soul , and all that is within me bless his holy name . bless the lord , o my soul , and forget not all his benefits . the earnest and repeated address to make a lively and fervent impression upon his soul , is a tacit intimation of the drowsy negligence he found in himself . this duty is spiritual , and to be performed by the soul that is our noble part , and capable to understand our obligations to the divine goodness . indeed , 't is often exprest in the * vocal praises of god , for there is a natural correspondence between the tongue and the heart , as between the hand of a clock , and the motion of the wheels within : but the chief part is performed in the soul , and is only of value and acceptance with god , who is the maker , the searcher , and the judg of our hearts . therefore the holy psalmist calls upon his soul , and all that is within him , every faculty to unite in the praises of god : the understanding to consider the several arguments of praise and thankfulness , to esteem and to admire the divine goodness , to ascribe the glory that is due to god for his mercies : the memory to register his benefits ; the will and affections to love him for his mercies , and above them . thankfulness implies a solemn recognition of the mercies of god , with all the circumstances that add a lustre to them , to affect us in as vigorous a manner in our praises for the blessings we enjoy , as we are in our prayers for what we need . not only signal mercies , but common and ordinary should be continually acknowledged by us . and since our memories are so slippery as to the retaining of favours , injuries are inscrib'd in marble , benefits written in dust : we should every day review the mercies we enjoy , to quicken our praises for them , and to make impressions not soon defac'd . thankfulness implies a due valuation of god's benefits : this will be raised , by considering the author , the great god : the meanest mercy from his hand , is a high favour . as the guilt of sin arises from the greatness of the object , tho some sins are comparatively small , yet none is in its intrinsic nature a small evil : so tho of mercies , some are in comparison eminent , and some are ordinary , yet every mercy is great with respect to the author from whence it comes : and the thankful esteem of mercies , will rise in proportion to the sense of our unworthiness . a constant poverty of spirit in reflecting upon our own vileness , that there is not meerly a want of desert in us , with respect to god's blessings , but a desert of his heavy judgments , will heighten our esteem of them . for this end it is very useful , that the prosperous would consider those below them , how many better than themselves are under oppressing wants , tormenting pains , heart-breaking sorrows , whom you may trace by their tears every day ; and what free and rich mercy is it , that they enjoy the affluence of all things : this distinguishing goodness , should be acknowledged with a warm rapture of affection to the divine benefactor . to compare our selves with those that excel us in grace , will make us humble , and with those who are below us in outward blessings , will make us thankful . the prosperous have special obligations to be most conversant in this celestial duty : there are various graces and duties that are only useful in this imperfect state , and shall expire with us : as repentance , faith , hope , patience , &c. the reward of them will be eternal , but the exercise is limited to present life ; but love and praise remain in heaven . the saints eternally admire , love , and bless god for his mercies . and the sincere and constant performance of this duty , is most pleasing to god , and profitable to us : for thankfulness to our blessed benefactor , engages his heart , and opens the treasures of his bounty more liberally to us . the way to obtain new benefits , is not to suffer former favours to be lost in ungrateful oblivion . in short , 't is the best and surest evidence of our thankfulness to god , when his mercies are effectual motives to please him . we cannot always make an actual commemoration of his benefits , but an habitual remembrance should ever be in our hearts , and influential in our lives . thy loving kindness is before mine eyes , ( saith holy david ) and i have walked in thy truth ; unfeignedly respected all thy commandments . 4. the fear of god , and a vigilant care to avoid the sins that so easily encompass us , is necessary in prosperity . the secure assist satan in his war against the soul : but watchfulness disarms the tempter . circumspection is never more a duty , than when pleasures without , and passions within , conspire to betray us . 't is useful to reflect upon the great numbers who have been corrupted and ruin'd by prosperity : that the vices of the dead may secure the vertues of the living . the fear of god is clean , effectively , as it preserves from sin. 't is solomon's advice to young men , that enjoy the world in its flower , and in the season of their sinning , that they would remember that god for all their vanities will bring them to judgment . this consideration will be powerful to prevent the risings of the corrupt affections , or to suppress their growth , and hinder their accomplishment . but with the excellently temper'd soul , an ingenuous fear from the consideration of god's mercies , is an effectual restraint from sin. 't is said , they shall fear the lord , and his goodness : fear to offend , and grieve , and lose his goodness . this fear does not infringe the comfort of the soul , but preserve and improve it : servile fear , when the soul is afraid to burn , not to sin , is a judicial forc'd impression , the character of a slave ; but an ingenuous grateful fear , that springs from the sense of the divine goodness , is a voluntary affection becoming a child of god , and cherish'd by him . the fear of the lord is his treasure . this watchfulness must be universal against all temptations to which we are incident by prosperity : otherwise we shall be guilty of a like folly with those that shut and fortifie one gate , and leave the other open to the enemy . and it must be as continual as our temptations . blessed is the man that feareth always . 5. a moderate use of worldly things , is an excellent preservative from the evil adhering to them . 't is a divine blessing , to partake of the gifts of god with contentment and tranquility , especially 't is sweet to taste his love in them . god gives to a man that is good in his sight , wisdom , and knowledg , and joy : that is , to use temperately and comfortably , outward blessings . but the flesh is the devil's sollicitor , and perswades men with a freer fancy , and looser affections , to enjoy the world , than is consistent with the prosperity of their souls . when diogenes observed with the many sick and languishing persons , the hydropick , consumptive , and other diseases , that came to the temple of esculapius for recovery , and that after their sacrifices they made a luxurious feast , he cried out , is this the way to recover health ? if you were sound , 't is the speedy and effectual way to bring diseases , and being diseased , to bring death to you . 't is applicable in a higher sense ; the intemperate use of sensual delights , weakens the life and vigour of the soul in a saint , and certainly brings death to diseased souls , that habitually indulge their corrupt affections . the apostle saith of the licentious woman , she that lives in pleasure , is dead while she lives : an allusion to a torch that is consum'd by its own flames . sensual . lusts are cherish'd and pamper'd by prosperity , and the carnal heart over-rules the whole man. our saviour charges his disciples to beware of surfeiting and drunkenness . the indulging the lower appetites , is natural to men , but chiefly incident to those in prosperity . the great care of such should be , to use worldly things with that modesty and measure , that the divine part , the soul , may be untainted by them : that it may neither overvalue nor overdelight in them . the first degeneracy of man is by sensual satisfaction . this expell'd him from paradise , and keeps him out ever since . the excess of pleasures darken the mind , stupify the conscience , extinguish the radiancy and vigour of the spirit . wine and women take away the heart . the apostle speaks of those who are abandon'd to pleasures , they are past feeling ; without a quick and tender sense of their sin and danger . that we may not in an unlawful degree use lawful things , we should always be ordered by the principles of fear and restraint , not indulging our selves to the utmost of what may seem allowed : for to be upon the confines of sin , exposes us to be easily overthrown by the next gust of a temptation . 't is a divine command , that christians should rejoice , as tho they rejoiced not , and buy as tho they possessed not ; and use the world as not abusing it . a christian should converse with the world , as a carnal person converses with heaven ; he prays for spiritual blessings with that coldness , as if he had no desire to obtain them ; he hears the word with that carelessness , as if he had no desire to profit by it : he performs other religious duties without a heart , as if he had no desire to be saved : such an indifferency of spirit in outward enjoyments , is our duty and safety . 't is a prodigious disorder , and the great * cause of the sins and miseries of men , that their affections are lavishly wasted upon trifles , their love , desires , and delights are let forth in their full vigour to the honours , riches , and pleasures of this world , but are wretchedly remiss to spiritual and eternal things . they would enjoy the world as their heaven and felicity , and use god for their necessity . and thus by embracing vanishing shadows , they lose the most substantial and durable good. 't is a point of great wisdom to consider the several respects of temporal things , as they respect our sensitive part , and the present life , and as they respect our souls and the future state : and to use them , that the outward man may be a more active and ready instrument of the soul in working out our own salvation . 6. let the favour of god , and communion with him be most precious and joyful to us in the midst of prosperity . the highest esteem and most ravishing apprehensions of god , the dearest delight in him as the most excellent suitable good , and in whom the soul has the most intimate propriety , is the honour due to his incomparable perfection . the holy psalmist often declares his transcendent valuation , and inflamed affection towards god ; how precious are thy thoughts unto me , o god! ( no artifice of words could fully express it ) how great is the sum of them ? if i should count them , they are more in number than the sand ; when i awake i am still with thee . as if he breathed not oftner than he thought of god with reverence and complacency . thus also he despises all that carnal men pursue with violent desires , in comparison of god's favour , there be many that say , who will shew us any good ? that is , a sensual good , for nothing is pleasant to them , but what appears in a fleshly fashion . lord , lift thou up the light of thy countenance upon us . thou hast put gladness in my heart , more than in the time that their corn and their wine increased . the carnal man , who is a stranger to spiritual joys , has a sweeter relish of carnal things , than a saint that has a new nature , that deads the appetite to dreggy delights : and in the vintage and harvest there is a spring-tide of carnal joy : yet david feels a more inward joy and cordial contentment in the fruition of god's favour , than a natural man has in the flower of his worldly felicity . nay , he prizes the favour of god before life it self , which is our most precious possession in this world. thy loving kindness is better than life , therefore my lips shall praise thee . communion with god , is the beginning of heaven , and differs from the fulness of joy that is in the divine presence above , only in the degrees and manner of fruition . as the blushes of the morning are the same light with the glorious brightness of the sun at noon-day . the natural man is averse from this heavenly duty , and most in prosperity . 't is the observation of holy job ; they spend their days in wealth ; therefore they say to the almighty , depart from us ; we desire not the knowledg of thy ways . 't is the malignant property of worldly things , to deface the notions , and cause a disrelish of sublime and spiritual things . the objects that pleasantly affect the carnal faculties , draw the soul from god. this is the principal and universal temptation of the present world , by the corruption of our hearts , and never so dangerous as in our prosperity . 't is a rule in building , that chief care must be taken for the contriving of windows , for the transmission of a liberal light to refresh the inhabitants . now to build in a plain where the heavens are open on all sides , and the pure light shines , 't is easy to make the house convenient : but to raise a luminous fabrick in a city thick set with houses , and straitned for room , requires art , and the building must be higher : thus a person that is surrounded with the honours , riches , and pleasures of the world , that are so apt to darken the soul , and to exclude the influences of heaven , has need of holy skill to preserve a free communication with god , and to be always receptive of his grace . then holy duties should be frequent and fervent , wherein the soul ascends to god by raised desires , and god descends into the soul , by the operations of his sanctifying and comforting spirit . and as we see in nature , the flowers of every kind open their leaves to the rising sun , to be reviv'd with his vital heat ; so we should every day open our hearts to god in prayer and praises . and since all his mercies invite and conduct us to the blessed author , and temporal benefits are sensible arguments of his love ; those who most richly enjoy them , are obliged infinitely more to value and delight in the giver , than in the gifts themselves . if the heart be set upon riches , which 't is very apt to be when they increase , or upon pleasures , god is neglected and vilified : and tho many are not openly vicious and profane , yet so pleasantly the things of the world insinuate into their affections , that they cannot taste how good the lord is ; a sad indication of their unregenerate state : for the divine nature in a saint , inclines him to god as his supream good , his only treasure and exceeding joy ; and as soon as he begins to breath the life of holiness , he dies to the vanities of the world. and when prosperity alienates the heart from god , 't is as surely destructive , as when it draws forth the sensual appetites into exorbitant and foul actions . a consumption kills as surely as a calenture . those who abuse the favours of god to impiety and luxury , throw themselves headlong into the bottomless pit ; and those who in their abundance are remiss and cold towards god , gradually descend thither : for god will not be our joy for ever in heaven , if he be not our exceeding joy upon the earth . but when in the midst of prosperity the soul is fill'd with a noble admiration of the divine excellencies , when it tastes incomparable more sweetness in the love of god , from whence outward blessings are derived , than in the things themselves , when the chief joy arises from the contemplation of his favour in christ , whereby we are pardon'd , and preferr'd to be his brethren , coheirs with him of the immortal and undefiled inheritance , then we know how to abound . our saviour commands his disciples not to rejoyce that spirits were subject to them , tho an admirable testimony of his favour , but that their names were written in heaven . much less should this perishing world be the matter of our joy , in comparison of our title , and the blessed hope of heaven . spiritual joy purifies and fortifies the soul against the insnaring and corrupting allurements of the world. the joy of the lord is their strength ; that of which he is the author and object , is both productive and preservative of the vigour of the soul , to resist the charms of the world. 't is said of orpheus , when he past by the syrens , who by their charming voices subdued men to sleep , and then destroyed them , that he played on his harp , and the sweet sound made him despise their singing , and prevented the danger . the fable is fitly moralized : joy in the lord , as our portion , and that infinite sweetness that is in communion with him , makes such an impression upon the soul , that the insnaring and destructive pleasures of the world are abhorr'd in comparison with them . that firm peace and pure joy , passes the understanding , our most comprehensive faculty ; whereas all the pleasures of the world do not satisfy our senses . 7. when riches and power are employed for the glory of god and the good of others , they are a happy advantage to those that possess them . all benefits are virtual obligations ; and the greater our receipts are , the greater our accounts will be . god has a soveraign right in all things we have , and they are not to be employed meerly for our pleasure or profit , but according to his will , and for his honour . 't is true , he enjoys his own eternity , his own glory and blessedness , to which there is no possibility of accession : his essential glory cannot be increas'd , but his declarative glory may be more manifested in the eyes of men : and he strictly requires that we should use his gifts , so as to shew forth his glory , to declare how highly we value his glory , and how ardently we desire and endeavour that others should bless and praise him . thus men in high dignity should govern their greatness so , as to make it subservient to this blessed end , that the wisdom , power , holiness , justice , and mercy of god , may be manifested in their administration . and those who enjoy a present abundance , should , according to their capacity , relieve the wants of others . the wise god has order'd several degrees in the society of men , the rich and poor ; that the inequality may be an occasion of the exercise of charity . and 't is a special favour , that he is pleased to make some his treasurers to dispense his benefits to his family . whilst others can only be charitable in their compassionate desires , he gives to some an ability os diffusive goodness : and 't is injustice mixt with foul ingratitude , not to pay that tribute of which he has appointed the poor to be his receivers , not to abound in good works , when from his most free and special favour , he enables men to imitate and honour him who is rich in mercy . 't is more blessed to give than to receive . the present reward is excellent : 't is our saviour's encouragement , give alms of such things as you have , according to your capacity , and behold all things are clean unto you . as under the law , by offering the first fruits in the temple , the whole harvest was consecrated and bless'd ; so by a charitable distribution , the rich have a pure and comfortable enjoyment of their estates . and the reward hereafter will be glorious by infinite degrees , exceeding the most costly and liberal charity . 't is the encouragement used by the apostle , charge them that are rich in this world , that they do good , that they be rich in good works , ready to distribute , willing to communicate ; laying up in store for themselves a good foundation for the time to come , that they may lay hold on eternal life . some by corrupt prodigality waste their estates , are profuse as the sea ; some heap up riches as the sand , and both must be responsible to the righteous lord , who will severely call them to an account for the abuse of his blessings . but those who according to their utmost ability honour him with their substance , and by their charity and beneficence open the hearts and lips of many in thanksgivings to god , shall be accepted and rewarded from the divine mercy . especially doing good to those whom god loves , who bear his image , who are peculiarly related to him , shall have an excellent reward . the apostle tells us , that some by entertaining strangers , received angels : the honour is incomparably greater , that in relieving the godly , jesus christ , the lord of angels , is fed and cloathed in his members . and at the last day he will publickly own those acts of mercy as done to himself : then he will give to the contented poor the crown of patience , and to the charitable rich the crown of liberality . in short , riches and honour , power and prosperity , are temptations to the carnal , that draw forth their lusts , and increase their guilt and misery ; but to wise and faithful christians , they are talents improved for their master's honour , and their own everlasting good. 7. a firm resolution to part with all possessions and dignities , when god's honour , and the testimony of his truth requires it , is an excellent antidote against the evil of prosperity . god doth sometimes call forth his servants to hard trials , to declare with more strength and evidence their love to his name , their zeal for advancing his glory : satan is an irreconcileable enemy to god and his saints ; and inspires the perverted world with his own malice against them . rage has no reason : the jews would excommunicate the blind man , because he saw , and ascribed the glory of the miracle to our saviour : and lazarus must die , because he was raised from the grave . now when a christian is prepared for this noble act of self-denial , to forsake all things when his duty to christ requires it ; this preserves him from the ensnaring temptations of prosperity . 't is observable , the same divine disposition of soul , makes us temperate in the use of present abundance , and patient in the loss of it . the low esteem of earthly things , joyn'd with the lively hope of heaven , renders the enjoyment of the world less delightful , and the loss of it more tolerable . the philosopher and courtier says of himself , that he always in his prosperity kept a great distance between his affections and riches with honours ; and in the change of his state , they were rather taken easily away , than rent from him . according to the temper of the mind , the difference is as sensible in the parting with outward things , as between clipping the hair , and tearing it off with violence . nay , the glory of heaven does so eclipse the faint and fading lustre of this world , that a believer not only patiently but chearfully makes the exchange of the one for other . moses preferred affliction with the people of god before the crown of egypt , because of the reward above that was in his view . and the christian hebrews took joyfully the spoiling of their goods , knowing that they had in heaven a better and an enduring substance . the blessed hope will preserve us from being foil'd by prosperity when it surrounds us , and from sinking in adversity . like mertyllus his shield , that secur'd him in the field , and sav'd him being shipwrack'd at sea , by wasting him to the shore . lastly ; earnest and constant prayer to god for divine grace , is a soveraign means to preserve those who are in prosperity from the danger that attends it . i know how to abound , says the apostle ; and immediatly adds , i can do all things through christ that strengthens me . supernatural strength in an eminent degree is requisite to keep us entire and upright in the dangerous conflict with the pleasant temptations of the world : and that strength is derived from christ , and obtain'd by humble prayer , 't is st. austin's observation , that elisha wanted a double portion of elijah's spirit , because he was in publick honour ; and exposed to a more dangerous trial , an extraordinary grace was necessary for him : but elias was under continual persecution . the trees that are expos'd to storms , are strong and firm ; but those in the sunny vallies are brittle and easily blown down . we are directed to ask wisdom of god for the governing of our selves in afflictions , that in patience we may possess our souls , and the turbulent passions may not cause rebellious disorders , but the sanctified mind may use afflictions for our spiritual and eternal good. and 't is as necessary to beg heavenly wisdom for governing our selves in prosperity , that when temptations are frequent , and favour'd by our joyful affections , which are equally vehement and exorbitant as the sad affections , reason may keep the throne , and manage prosperity , so as we may obtain our blessed end. such is the malice of satan , that he incessantly desires leave to tempt us , and love to our souls should make us pray continually for confirming grace against his temptations . briefly , if the good things of this world make us more humble and holy , more fearful to offend god , and careful to please him ; if they are motives to renew our homage and thankfulness to him , if they are used in subordination to his glory , they are the testimonies of his present favour , and the pledges of our future felicity . our blessed saviour keeps the best wine for his obedient friends till the last . finis . errata . page 68. line 10 , for love , read law. p. 134. l. 1. for man , r. name . p. 181. l. 12. for conceit and , r. conceited . some books printed for brabazon aylmer in cornhil . the harmony of the divine attributes , in the contrivance and accomplishment of man's redemption by the lord jesus christ. or , discourses , wherein is shewed , how the wisdom ▪ mercy , justice , holiness , power , and truth of god are glorified in that great and blessed work. by william bates , d. d. in quarte . considerations of the existence of god , and of the immortality of the soul , with the recompences of the future state. to which is now added , the divinity of the christian religion ▪ proved by the evidence of reason , and divine revelation● for the cure of infidelity the hectick evil of the times . by william bates , d. d. in octavo . the soveraign and final happiness of man , with the effectual means to obtain it . also the joys of heaven , and torments of hell are discoursed of ▪ by william bates , d. d. in octavo . several sermons upon death , and eternal judgment . by william bates , d. d. in octavo . the great duty of resignation to the divine will in afflictions , enforced from the example of our suffering saviour . by william bates , d. d. in octavo . notes, typically marginal, from the original text notes for div a26784-e360 * mark 3. 5. vers. 24 , 26 , 27 , 28 , 29. * 1 john 2. 16. * 2 pet. 1. 4. * hos. 11. 4. rom. 2. * psal. 69. 22. ephes. 2. james 4. 1. prov. 13. 10. 2 kings 8. 12 , 13. psal. 10. 4. ezek. 28. 2. prov. 30. 9. deut. 6. 12. an non paena satis est te non amare ? aug. conf. psal. 55. 19. deut. 32. 15 deut. 29. 19 , 20. 2 cor. 4. ephes. 2. 2. 2 tim. 2. l. james 1. 14 , 15. * nec mora , quod pontus , quod terra , quod educat aer , poscit . ezek. 16. 49. * ut remos agere possint , hastas tractare non possint . * haec enim conditio superiorum est ut quicquid faciunt praecipere videantur , & pernitiosissimus est malae rei maximus quisque author . quintil. ipsa vitia religiosa sunt , atque non modo non vitantur , sed coluntur . lact. * non me potes uti amico & adulatore . phocion antipatri . * nullis vitiis desunt pretiosa nomina . plin. gal. 5. jude . * nec te posse carere velim . gen. 6. mark 6. 5. acts 7. john 3. 20. 2 pet. 3. 5. titus 1. 15. psal. 57. 10. ephes. 4. 17 , 18 , 19. 2 pet. 2. 12 , 13. * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . arist. l. 7 , &c c. 3. * omnia torpent , omnia rigent , sola feritas calet . isa 44. 16 , 17. heb. 4. 2. prov. 5. 11 , 12 , 13. exod. 9. 27. 28. jer. 2. 24 ▪ mat. 6. 24. 1 cor. 1. 23. gal. 5. 11. rev. 21. 8. 2 tim. 2. 11 , 12. 1 tim. 6. 13. 1 joh. 5. min. fel. rom. 8. 18. heb. 3. 12. 1 joh. 4. 18. 1 joh. 4. 19. euseb. lib. 6. mat. 10. 33. heb. 3. 7. in cane sagacitas prima est , si investigare debet feras , cursus si consequi ; audacia si mordere & invadere . id in quoque optimum est , cui nascitur , quo censetur . in homine optimum quid est ? ratio . haec animalia antecedit , deos sequitur . senec. epist. 76. luk. 12. 20. * morto all piacer dell ' immortal suo nome . prov. 1. 22. isa. 1. * pretium mirantes accipiunt . tacit ▪ jer. 17. 11. dan. 12. 2. 1 tim. 6. 9. prov. 1. deut. 32. 6. rom. 11. mat. 5. rom. 11. 20 , 21. prov. 1. 24 , 25 , 26 , 27 , 28 , 29. psal. 78. 34 , 36 , 37. * stat anceps medicus , non videt bonum quod promittat ; timet malum pronunciare ne terreat : modestam tamen istam concipit sententiam , deus bonus omnia potest , orate pro illo . aug. ezek. 33. 11 ezek. 18. 21 mat. 5. 46. deut. 32. rom. 2. * deus illum ad solium evexit , & iste deum ad boves demisit . pet. mart. deut. 29. rev. 18. 7. psal. 106. 4. psal. 50. nahum 1. 3. rom. 9. 22. isa. 29. 10. psal. 49. eccles. 7. psal. 35. 6. horrenda via tenebrae , & lubricum . tenebras solum quis non horreat ? lubri cum solum quis non caveat ? in tenebris & lubrico qua is ? ubi pedem figis ? sunt istae magnae poenae hominum . aug. col. 3. eccles. 7. 2 , 3 , 4. * vino debimus quod etiam non sitientes bibimus . plin. nemo venenum temperat felle & elleboro , sed conditis pulmentis id mali injicit . ita diabolus letale quod conficie , rebus gratissimis & acceptissimis imbuit . tert. rev. 3. ezek. 16. 42 senec. de providentia . heb. 12. inter adversa melior . tacit. optimos nos esse dum infirmi sumus . plin. lib. 3. propitius deus cum male amamus , negat quod amamus : iratus autem dat amanti quod male amat . aug. phil. 4. 12. 2 chron. 17. 3. sponte manans pretiosior sudor est , elicitus corticis vulnere vilior judicatur . solin . psal. 9. jam. 1. 10. 1 pet. 3. 4. zach. 9. 9. tit. 3. 3. deut. 6. 11 , 12. deut. 8. 12. hos. 13. 6. ps. 103. 1 , 2. * psal. 34. 2. psal. 26. utentis modestia , non amantis affectu . hos. 4. 11. ephes. 4. 19. 1 cor. 7. 30 , 31. * omnis humana perversio fruendis uti velle , & utendis frui . aug. psal. 139. 17 , 19. psal. 4. 6 , 7. psal. 63. luk. 10. 20. 1 tim. 6. mat. 11. intervallum inter me & illa magnum habui : itaque abstulit illa non avulsit . senec. cons. ad helv. heb. 11. phil. 4. aelizaeus cum magno honore & seculi dignitate prophetiae donum habuit : elias profugus & persecutus . the smoke in the temple wherein is a designe for peace and reconciliation of believers of the several opinions of these times about ordinances, to a forbearance of each other in love, and meeknesse, and humility : with the opening of each opinion, and upon what scriptures each is grounded ... : with one argument for liberty of conscience from the national covenant ... : with a full answer to master ley ... against my late new-quere ... / by john saltmarsh. saltmarsh, john, d. 1647. this text is an enriched version of the tcp digital transcription a61133 of text r25538 in the english short title catalog (wing s499). textual changes and metadata enrichments aim at making the text more computationally tractable, easier to read, and suitable for network-based collaborative curation by amateur and professional end users from many walks of life. the text has been tokenized and linguistically annotated with morphadorner. the annotation includes standard spellings that support the display of a text in a standardized format that preserves archaic forms ('loveth', 'seekest'). textual changes aim at restoring the text the author or stationer meant to publish. this text has not been fully proofread approx. 281 kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from 49 1-bit group-iv tiff page images. earlyprint project evanston,il, notre dame, in, st. louis, mo 2017 a61133 wing s499 estc r25538 09011663 ocm 09011663 42211 this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text creation partnership. this phase i text is available for reuse, according to the terms of creative commons 0 1.0 universal . the text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. early english books online. (eebo-tcp ; phase 1, no. a61133) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set 42211) images scanned from microfilm: (early english books, 1641-1700 ; 1293:24) the smoke in the temple wherein is a designe for peace and reconciliation of believers of the several opinions of these times about ordinances, to a forbearance of each other in love, and meeknesse, and humility : with the opening of each opinion, and upon what scriptures each is grounded ... : with one argument for liberty of conscience from the national covenant ... : with a full answer to master ley ... against my late new-quere ... / by john saltmarsh. saltmarsh, john, d. 1647. this text is an enriched version of the tcp digital transcription a61133 of text r25538 in the english short title catalog (wing s499). textual changes and metadata enrichments aim at making the text more computationally tractable, easier to read, and suitable for network-based collaborative curation by amateur and professional end users from many walks of life. the text has been tokenized and linguistically annotated with morphadorner. the annotation includes standard spellings that support the display of a text in a standardized format that preserves archaic forms ('loveth', 'seekest'). textual changes aim at restoring the text the author or stationer meant to publish. this text has not been fully proofread 94 p. in various pagings. printed by ruth raworth for g. calvert, london : 1646. reproduction of original in the british library. eng ley, john, 1583-1662. -new quere and determination upon it. presbyterian church -government. a61133 r25538 (wing s499). civilwar no the smoke in the temple. wherein is a designe for peace and reconciliation of believers of the several opinions of these times about ordinan saltmarsh, john 1646 44775 75 5 0 0 0 0 18 c the rate of 18 defects per 10,000 words puts this text in the c category of texts with between 10 and 35 defects per 10,000 words. 2005-12 tcp assigned for keying and markup 2006-03 spi global keyed and coded from proquest page images 2007-04 ali jakobson sampled and proofread 2007-04 ali jakobson text and markup reviewed and edited 2008-02 pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion the smoke in the temple . wherein is a designe for peace and reconciliation of believers of the several opinions of these times about ordinances , to a forbearance of each other in love , and meeknesse , and humility . with the opening of each opinion , and upon what scriptures each is grounded . with the several exceptions which may be made against each opinion from the scriptures . with one argument for liberty of conscience , from the national covenant . with another argument to prove the gospel , or new testament of jesus christ the very word of god ; tendred to all the beleevers , to shew them how little we have attained , and that there is a more glorious fulnesse to be revealed . with a discovery of the antichristian way of peace , &c. for opinions . with a full answer to master ley one of the assembly of divines , against my late new-quere . with some spiritual principles drawn forth of the controversie . revel. 15.8 . and the temple was filled with smoke from the glory of god , and from his power : and no man was able to enter into the temple till the seven plagues of the seven angels were fulfilled . by john saltmarsh , preacher of the gospel at brasteed in kent . the second edition corrected . london , printed by ruth raworth for g. calvert , at the signe of the black spread-eagle at the west-end of pauls . 1646. to the right honourable the lord vicount say and seale , and lieutenant general cromwel . noble patriots , if i mistake not , you may here single out something of the lords from what is mine , and discern some beams of god amongst many things of man . i know the candle of the lord cannot shine anywhere with more snuff then in me ; however since the lord hath lighted it , i dare not but let it shine ( or rather glimmer ) before men . i have writ your names to my book that i may be one of your remembrancers amongst the rest to the advancement of truth ; not but that they who know ye , know ye to be acted by a spirit of truth in your selves . the lord remember ye according to all the good ye have done ( in your several ministrations ) to this people ; and do that for ye which gives you most , and yet takes most from ye , even filling ye with himself , till he hath emptyed ye of all but his own glory , and gathered ye up into the fulnesse and righteousnesse of himself in christ , where we are onely nothing in our selves , and every thing in him ; and surely the most , and best , and greatest thing he can do for the sons of men , is , thus to make them nothing in their own account , that he that glorieth may glory in the lord . i may seem strange to wish ye thus ; but i know it is not strange to ye , who know the mystery of the spirit , and of christ . my lord , and sir , go on still , yet still laying your designes in a glory above that of states and kingdoms , and involving all your counsels there , where there is most of heaven , and lest of the world . so prays your servant in the lord john saltmarsh . to the beleevers of several opinions for outward ordinances or dispensations , scandalously called independents , presbyterians , anabaptists , seekers . brethren , i have fairly set down how far each of you have attained in the mystery of truth ; and surely we are all short of the glory which shall be revealed in the temple or church of god ; and there are such clouds rolling about each opinion , that may darken it , or something of it . so as things are not so clear as they are commonly taken by each of us ; if any man think he knoweth any thing , he knoweth nothing yet as he ought to know . so as the common ignorance and infirmitie amongst us , may be a rise for a common vnitie amongst us : and seeing we all come out of babylon ( though in several wayes ) to the glorious temple or tabernacle which god hath sent down to be with men , and walk thus diversly thither ; yet our several and distinct goings are but like so many travellers to the citie of london ; some travel from the north , some from the south , and from the west , some from the east , yet all thither ; though too , there may be some mistaking of the way in each , because of the little light that is abroad . the gathering of the saints into the heaven , or kingdom below , in this day of revelation , is like the gathering at the last day , which shall be all into one glorious body , though the gathering shall be from the four winds or ends of the earth , by the several trumpets or angels . one thing i have more . let us seek for the spirit of wisdom and revelation , to open to us the mystery of the scriptures called the revelation ; for in that book is the prophecie of the churches laid up , and the seasons and times for truth revealed . let us search and seek out by the spirit of jesus , even that jesus which was in the vision , and gave it out to john ; for there is none found worthy to open the book with seals but the lamb . surely in the mystery of angels , vials , sea of glasse with fire , temple with smoke , the angel with the everlasting gospel , the angel enlightening the earth , the whore in skarlet and pretious pearls , the cup of abomination , the beast like a lamb , the image of the beast , the horns and kings of the earth , the mark in the forehead and in the right hand , the buying and selling , the tabernacle of god with men , the first and second resurrection , the throne of god , the pure crystal river of water , the holy jerusalem descending from god , &c. in these is much of the glory wrapped up , and from these shall the truth we contend for , appear to our further enlightening . yet one thing more . we that are thus contenders for ordinances , for the temple and the vessels in it , let us take heed we forget not him who is greater then the temple ; for one greater then the temple is here . it would be spiritually considered , that while we strive for the vessels and cups , we spill not the wine . and it ought to be so carried by all of us , that , because we are so much in opinion , we may not be thought to place religion there , as i fear too many do , making a christ of the very ordinance of christ , and pressing some outward ordinances of the gospel so legally ; as some hearing such a power of salvation put into them , and finding an outward dispensation more easily got then the spiritual , make haste thither onely , and then sit down as saved under a meer outward ordinance . the lord grant that we may neither undervalue an ordinance nor the least institution of jesus christ , nor raise it up into a jesus christ , and set up the law above or beside the law-giver . we must now learn to know jesus christ lesse after the flesh , and not to embody salvation in a meer outward dispensation , and so incarnate jesus christ over again from the glory and spirituality he is in . brethren , farewell : for my part i am fully assured from scriptures of the church of christ here , or gospel-fellowship of the saints ; and unto this fellowship with the father and the son , i endeavour ; and i have one way to reveal truth to me which i cannot conceal , nor yet cannot practice as i would , and that is this ; to see truth by living in the power of truth , and by first obtaining jesus christ to live in us in the power of his suffering , death , and resurrection ; for surely jesus christ must do all ( though more gloriously and spiritually ) over again in his , which he did in himself . if jesus christ the light be in us , the light by which every outward dispensation is seen , will flow in ; for where the sun is , there will be every beam with it . the contents . a way of peace , or a designe for reconciliation . 1 gods love the first and last glorious vnion to be considered , to draw us to vnity . page 1. 2 names of sect and division to be laid down . p. 2. 3 passions and railings forborn . ibid. 4 reviling each other for infirmities forborn . ibid. 5 the sins of any not to be laid on the cause . ibid. 6 liberty for printing and speaking . ibid. 7 let all subscribe their names to what they print . ib. 8 let all be severally accountable . p. 3. 9 free debates , and open conferences . ibid. 10 let us call beleevers , th●ugh of several opinions , if the name of brethren cannot be justly allowed . ibid. 11 no beleevers to esteem too highly of themselves for what they attain to . ibid. 12 no assuming infallibility over each other . p. 4. 13 no civil power drawn into advantages . ibid. 14 tendernesse in offending each other in things of an outward nature . ibid. 15 several opinions from the gospels first discovery , yet all beleevers . p. 5. 16 no despising for too much learning or too little . ib. 17 we be one in christ , though divers . ibid. 18 the spiritual persecution to be forborn . ibid. the unwarrantable way of peace , or the antichristian designe for reconciliation . 1 to beleeve as the church or councils . p. 6. 2 to set up one as the pope , for infallibility . ib. 3 to allow that all may be saved in their several wayes . p. 7. 4 to forbid interpretings and disputes . ibid. 5 by a compulsive power . ibid. the opinions of these times . presbystery so called , what it is , and what they hold . p. 8. exceptions against presbytery . p. 9. independency so called , what it is , and what they hold . ibid. exceptions against independency . p. 10. anabaptism so called , what it is , and what they hold . p. 12. exceptions against the grounds of the new baptism . ib. seeking , or seekers , so called ; what their way is , and what they hold . p. 16. exceptions against them . ibid. conclusion . p. 19. the gospel , or new testament , proved undeniably to be the very word of god . p. 20. one argument from the national covenant ( artic. 1. and 2. ) for liberty of conscience . p. 23. objections against it , answered . p. 25 , 26. spiritual principles drawn forth of the controversie . gospel-truth one and the same . p. 60. prudence and consequences , are the great engines of will-worship . ibid. the people are brethren and saints in christs church ; but in antichrists , parishioners and servants . p. 61. presbytery it self is founded on principles of separation , which yet they condemn for schism in other churches : nay , is the greatest separation . p. 62. none to be forced under christs kingdom , as in the kingdoms of the world . ibid. the power of a formal reformation , in a government , makes it not christs government . p. 63. the visible church or communion , is the image of the invisible or mystical . p. 64. how christ is a king of the nations and of the church , and how an head . ibid. the presbyterial government and the world's , of the same equal dominion . p. 65. the national , and congregational church-covenant , both lawful , or both unlawful . ibid. we receive and give out truth by parts . p. 66. all covenanters are bound to contribute to religion as well as state . p. 67. we are to try truth , and so receive it in its degrees . ib. no church-way independency . p. 68. a spirit of love and meeknesse becomes beleevers . ib. when a state-conscience is fully perswaded ; doubtful , and so sinning . ibid. a post-script . with salmasius his testimony against the present presbyterial way . p. 69. a way of peace , or a designe of reconciliation ; how the beleevers of several opinions , scandalously called presbyterians , independents , anabaptists , seekers , may be reconciled to forbear one another . ( 1 ) gods love the first and last glorious vnion to be considered , to draw us to vnity . one way , is to consider love as it is in god , and flowing from him upon the creature : god is love ; and he that dwelleth in love , dwelleth in god , and god in him . now the more love there is in any , the more of god there is in any . satan , the first fountain of sin , made the first schism in the glorious communion : all was one , and in one glory , till the first division , and till satan fell like lightening ; and he envying the whole creation , which was in love with it self , and him that made it , drew it into sin , and antipathies , and mutual persecutions ; and when it began to leave loving him that was pure and infinite love , it began to hate it self , and divide from it self : so as the lesse love , the more of satan , and sin . the consideration of gods love to himself which is infinite , of his love to his , which is no lesse infinite , because to sinners ; and of his sons love , spiritually uniting himself here , and gloriously hereafter , into one body and communion ; cannot but make us love one another . ( 2 ) names of sect and division to be laid down . let all names and notes of distinction taken up by way of scandal and reproach , be laid down and forborn ; names and notions are like standards and several colours in wars , whereby men are gathered into several orders , armies , and bodies of division , one against another ; one saith i am of paul , and i of apollo , and i of cephas ; is christ divided ? ( 3 ) passions and railings forborn . let a spirit of meeknesse run in the arterie of preaching and printing : let not passions , evil speaking , railings , which inflame and do not edifie , be heard amongst us : the angry stir up strife ; wherefore let all bitternesse , wrath , malice , with evil speaking , be put away from you . ( 4 ) reviling each other for infirmities forborn . let there be no rifling into each others infirmities , to the advantaging or disadvantaging the cause : what is any thing of the man to the thing it self ? what is ones darknesse to the light he professes ? any ones errours to a single truth ? there is rubbish enough everywhere if swept from every corner . ( 5 ) the sins of any not to be laid on the cause . let not the miscarriages , the failings , the sins , the hypocrisie , &c. of any that professe a truth , with others , be charged upon the truth he or they professe , making such sins to be the sins of the opinion , not of the person , as one of late who hath charged the unfortunate end of one , as a fruit of separation , whereas he might so argue against the very doctrine of christ , because of one judas who did the like to himself . ( 6 ) liberty for printing and speaking . let there be liberty of the presse for printing , to those that are not allowed pulpits for preaching : let that light come in at the window which cannot come in at the door , that all may speak and write one way that cannot another : let the waters of the sanctuary have issue , and spring up vallies as well as mountains . ( 7 ) let all subscribe their names to what they print . let all that preach or print , affixe their names , that we may know from whom : the contrary is a kinde of unwarrantable modesty at the best : if it be truth they write , why do they not own it ? if untruth , why do they write ? some such must either suppresse themselves for shame or fear ; and they that dare not own what they do , they suspect the magistrate , or themselves . ( 8 ) let all be severally accountable . let all that teach or print be accountable , yet in a several way ; if it be matter of immediate disturbance and trouble to the state , let them account for it to the magistrate , under whom we are to live a peaceable and quiet life ; if matter of doctrine , &c. let them be accountable to the beleevers and brethren who are offended by conference , where there may be mutual conviction and satisfaction . ( 9 ) free debates and open conferences . let there be free debates and open conferences and communication for all , and of all sorts that will , concerning difference in spirituals : where doors are not shut , there will be no breaking them open : so where debates are free , there is a way of vent and evacuation , the stopping of which hath caused more troubles in the states then any thing : for where there is much new wine in old bottles , the working will be such as the parable speaks on : still allowing the state to secure all tumults or disturbances . ( 10 ) let us call beleevers , though of several opinions , if the name brethren cannot be justly allowed . let all who pretend to come out of the antichristian state , be acknowledged as those several jews and christians , who came out of judaism and gentilism in the apostles times ; some were more and some lesse zealous of the law , yet all beleevers ; some made conscience of the idol , and sacrifice , some not . ( 11 ) no beleevers to esteem too highly of themselves for what they attain to . because we are but yet in our comings out of babylon , and the fall of babylon not yet , the smoke yet in the temple , the angels but powring out the vials , the angel that enlightens the earth with glory not yet flying through the heavens ; let not any account of themselves to have attained any thing yet as they ought , or to know there is not any church or beleevers , but if one see more of one truth , another may see more of another ; if one see one thing for a truth , another sees another thing for a truth , and yet all see short of the fulnesse of truth ; there is so much want , darknesse , and so little light or glory in each , as is rather matter of humiliation and praise , then glorying and exception one against another : if any man think he knoweth any thing , he knoweth nothing yet as he ought to know , 1 cor. 8.2 . ( 12 ) no assuming infallibility over each other . let us not , being under no further degree of the revelation of truth , and coming out of babylon , assume any power of infallibility to each other : so as to force up all to our light or degree of knowing or practising ; for there lies as much on one side for compulsion , as on another , respectively to one another ; for anothers evidence is as dark to me as mine to his , and mine to his as his to me , till the lord enlighten us both for discerning alike . so as when there is no power in us to make that appear to another which appears to us , there can be no reasonable equity for any enforcing or compelling in spirituals . the first great rent betwixt the eastern and western kingdoms , began when the bishop of rome would needs excommunicate the east , for not beleeving as they beleeved . ( 13 ) no civil power drawn into advantages . let not those beleevers who have the advantage of the magistrate , strive to make any unwarrantable use of it one against another , because scripture-principles are not so clear for it , and because they know not the revolution of providence , and we are to do as we would be done to : that very day which should have been a bloody day to the jews , was turned into the contrary ; esther and the jews had power over them . ( 14 ) tendernesse in offending each other , in things of an outward nature . let there be much tendernesse in not offending each other , but pleasing one another to edification : paul would not offend the idolatrous weak : the weakest and most superstitious makes most conscience of outward things ; and the strong should know , that idol or idol-temple is nothing : many a one are more offended at truth by the carriage of another , who sometimes reforms with as much superstition , as the other offends . it is as much below the glory of the gospel to think one place unholy , as holy : no place can defile now salomons temple is not standing ; yet let all truth be brought forth peaceably : truth and peace can offend nothing but that which may be justly offended ; which is the corruption , not the person . ( 15 ) several opinions from the gospels first discovery , yet all beleevers . consider the differences and several opinions from the first discovery of the gospel : some beleeved not christs sufferings and resurrection ; as the disciples whom yet christ took to him , and walked with , and counted as his : some beleeved not the holy ghost , nor christs baptism , and were zealous of the law , and yet the disciples counted them as beleevers . johns disciples would have followed john onely ; but john sent two of them to christ at one time , and told them again he must encrease , but himself must decrease . christ in his time would not forbid any that went about in his name ; there is none that doth any thing in my name , can lightly speak evil of me . when the spirit was given , the disciples bore one another out of the church , as the beleevers of johns baptism , and the zealots of the law , and one another in the church ; they that did eat , them that did not eat ; and they that regarded a day , them that regarded not a day ; walking together as far as they attained by the same rule . ( 16 ) no despising for too much learning , or too little . let not one despise another for gifts , parts , learning : let the spirit be heard speak in the meanest : let not the scribe or disputer of the law despise the fishermen , nor they despise them because scribes and disputers : the spirit is in paul as well as peter ; in both as well as one . ( 17 ) we may be in one christ , though divers . consider that we may be one in one christ , though we think diversly ; and we may be friends , though not brethren : and let us attain to vnion , though not to unity . ( 18 ) the spiritual persecution to be forborn . consider there is a two-fold persecution : there is a spiritual or that of beleevers , and a mixt persecution , or civilly ecclesiastical : the spiritual persecution is that of the spirit meerly ; and this kinde of persecution little thought on and studied ; this is when we cannot bear one anothers several opinions or soul-belief , in the same spiritual societie , or fellowship , but they must either be of us , or out of us ; and surely this kinde of persecution is as unreasonable as any other ; for what is this but soul compulsion , when another must onely beleeve as we beleeve , and not wait till the lord reveal even this ? this kinde of spiritual compulsion will in time break and dissolve the visible communion of saints , and body of christ exceedingly , if taken up or continued ; and it will be amongst christians , as amongst the antichristians where they divide and ●ubdivide , and some cast themselves into a monkery from all the rest : jerusalem and antioch were not of this way , to cast out one another upon such grounds , but to meet , reason , and counsel , and hear : and surely the churches can ill complain of a mixt persecution from without , if they persecute one another from within ; the magistrate may as justly whip them both , as they whip one another : such grudgings , complainings , dissolvings , spiritual enforcings , gives hint to the civil power to compel , while it beholds them but a little more spiritually compelling one another : let all church-rights , priviledges , boundaries be preserved ; all heresie and schism by the rule rebuked , but in all spiritual meeknesse and wisdom , and not call heretick and schismatick too suddenly , since we see but in part . the unwarrantable way of peace , or the antichristian designe of reconciliation . ( 1 ) to beleeve as the church or councils . that all should beleeve as the church beleeves ; and this church is the great councils of bishops , cardinals , &c. as if the souls of all were to be saved onely in the bundle of theirs , as if they could beleeve both enough for themselves and all others . ( 2 ) to set up one as the pope , for infallibility . because there may be difference amongst many , and all may not agree , therefore there shall be one ( say they ) with the vrim and thummim , one infallibly decreeing , and interpreting , and unerring , to whom the spirit of truth is successively derived ; and his determinations , interpretations , shall be final , conclusive ; and this that vicar of christ , the pope this one way in the antichristian state , and all reformed kingdoms were once under this peace . ( 3 ) to allow that all may be saved in their several wayes . because there be several beleevers , and several interpretations and opinions , one saying this is the way , and another that , therefore say some , all in all wayes may be saved , every one beleeving every thing . now this is one way to make peace , but not the way ; there is but one lord , one faith , one baptism . ( 4 ) to forbid interpretings and disputes . because several opinions arise by interpretings and disputings about scripture , therefore all openings of the word , all disputings must be forborn . because the sun-shine offends some weak sight in the house , shut up doors and windows and make all dark . thus the papists and prelats in forbidding scriptures and marginal notes , and thus fearing there may be something false , they will hear nothing that 's true . ( 5 ) by a compulsive power . some take the civil power in to make peace , reckoning a compulsive vniformitie for vnitie , peace , and truth . this is one way to deal with the body indeed , but not with the soul ; to mind the outward man , but not the inward . this way of civilly ecclesiastical peace is the antichristian designe , who having got the kings of the nations to give their strength and power and kingdom unto them , supplies that from the world which they want from the word , making the spiritual power of jesus christ to receive its honour , life , efficacy , power , from the power of men . this way of peace is such as hath by experience troubled nations , and troubled it self at length too ; and broken it self against that way which it aimed to break : for whosoever fals upon this stone shall be broken , and on whomsoever it shall fall it shall break , them to powder . the opinions of these times . with the exceptions each opinion may be charged withal ; being the great argument for love , meeknesse , and forbearance one to another , or of peace and reconciliation till the lord reveal more . presbyterie so called ; what it is , and what they hold . the presbytery is set up by an a alleadged patern of the eldership and presbytery of the apostles and elders in the first churches of the gospel , strengthened by such scriptures as are in the margin , and by allusion to the jewish government , and to appeals in nature . their churches are parochial , or parishes , as they are divided at first by the romish prelates and the statute-laws of the state . which parishes and congregations are made up of such beleevers as were made christians first by baptism in infancy , and not by the word : and all the parishes or congregations are under them , as they are a classical , provincial , and national presbytery : and over those parishes they do exercise all church-power and government b ; which may be called the power of the keys . exceptions . 1. the apostolical and primitive eldership were not so a authoritative over their congregations as these pretend , nor so compulsive or forcing their respective congregations . 2. the apostolical eldership and presbyterie were more b infallible ; they were more in the light , and the immediate way of the revelation of truth . 3. they took not in the power of the c magistrate to help them , nor did they clasp it as one with their own . 4. they consisted of d brethren as well as of the presbyterie , and both together had a joynt interest and concurrencie in all power . 5. the presbyteries were not as now , classical , provincial , national : these are no scripture-forms , but devices of men . e 6. the f presbyterie is of no more in the * greek then of a g metaphorical or figurative signification , signifying seniority or eldership : and the setting it up in a notion of power and office , is more then the scriptures will clearly bear : such notions in the word , are but notions of form and order , not of office . 7. the presbyteries now are not rightly constituted , because they consisted of a ministery from h antichrist , and the bishops of rome , ordaining one another by the same power they received from them . 8. their i congregations are not such as before , so constituted ; because parishes are of a popish and politick constitution . 9. baptism is not to be received by generation now , as circumcision was , but by k regeneration or visible profession , as at first : nor are the carnal seed now any more children of abraham , but the l faithful : and no ordinance is now to be administred upon legal consequence , but upon gospel-precept . independencie so called ; what it is , and what they hold . the people of god are onely a a church , when called by the word and spirit into consent or covenant , and saints by profession ; and all b church-power is laid in here , and given out from hence into c pastorship and elders , &c. and a just d distribution of interest betwixt elders and people . all spiritual government is here , and not in any power forreign or extrinsecal to the congregation or authoritative : their children are made christians first by infant-baptism , and after by the word : and they are baptized by a e foederal or covenant-holinesse , or birth-priviledges , as under the law : they may enjoy all f ordinances in this estate , and some may g prophesie . exceptions . 1. that there is not such a power radically or fundamentally placed in the church to make pastors and elders , &c. because there is , first , no such practice in the word , but rather of an apostolical or a ministerial power , which made or gathered churches first , not churches them . 2. the eldership and presbytery of apostles and elders did b principally act , and authoritatively act , and not the whole church or people ; they in a lower and lesse interest , in a way of choice or vote and consent . 3. that which is called ordination , &c. was by the apostles , and a power established in the c presbyterie , not in the church , as meer beleevers . 4. they that were baptized by an d antichristian power , are no right baptized members of churches ; and yet so are all of their churches as were baptized under prelacie ; the power of the dispenser being antichristian , and the subject or e infant no visible beleever for that ordinance . 5. their church consists not all of visible saints or beleevers , according to their own f principle : for their children being baptized , and in that condition , are no actual visible saints ; all their church are not living stones , nor visibly holy . and it may be more clearly proved that meer civil and moral men are rather to be admitted of their church-society then such as children are , who are but meerly naturally visible ; neither spiritually , civilly , nor morally visible . 6. that of foederal holinesse in * 1 cor. 7.14 . is onely to satisfie a scruple , that if unbeleeving made wife or husband unholy , it made children unholy too ; and so both , or none , must be put away . 7. there is no carnal seed now to be sealed , christ being come in the flesh ; which g flesh before , had a seal of circumcision ; but there is no such h external priviledge now , by any such right . 8. all consequences drawn from circumcision , are of no more force then from the i cloud and the k sea , and the rock , and noah's ark , and other typicall and figurative places in the word , nor can any legall or probable scriptures make any law or rule for any such gospel-administration , which is not directly and in l scripture-words to be found . 9. childrens baptism in the church is a way never to have a church of such m baptized beleevers as in the apostles times . 10. baptism being a n visible signe , cannot rationally be administred upon one that can neither see nor discern what is done , to whom the water can be no o signe , but they are onely told of it when they come to age : and how can it hold proportion with circumcision , when as that was a p mark remaining in the flesh when they came to age to signifie to them ? but water is like a flash of q lightening which must be taken by the beleever in that quick and r vanishing act , or else it hath no ſ sensible efficacy to which it was instituted ; nor doth the beleever thus any other way enjoy it but by way of history , or a thing past and done , which he never saw . baptism is as a flash of lightening , ( as is well observed by one ; ) circumcision was as a fixed star ; so much difference in these two rites . 11. institution of baptism is to t duty as well as grace , which children cannot perform , and so answer the signe . 12. institution of baptism is doctrinall in the very act of it , as is acknowledged by all of the present baptism , matth. 28. baptizing them in the name of the father , son , and holy ghost , &c. now this implies a capable and teachable subject . 13. their churches are not distinct from other societies antichristian , because there is no visible gifts by which their churches are u visibly qualified from any other societies , and according to the promises of gifts in ephes. 4.11 . nor no such church-gifts as in 1 cor. 12. &c. where there was the w gifts of the spirit powerfully and visibly spiritualizing that body , and making it to excell all other bodies civill or antichristian . and that prophesy was a more x extraordinary gift then is now anywhere in the churches . anabaptism so called ; what it is , or what they hold . the church of christ are a company of a baptized beleevers ; and whatsoever b disciple can teach the word , or make out christ , may baptize or administer other ordinances . that the church or body , though but of two or three , yet may enjoy the word and ordinances , by way of an c administrator , or one deputed to administer , though no pastor . that none are to be baptized but d beleevers . that those commonly called church-officers , as pastors , &c. are such as the church or body may be e without . that none are to be called brethren but baptized beleevers . all administrations of ordinances were given to the apostles as f disciples ; not so under the notion of church-power as is pretended . that none ought to communicate in the ordinances of christ till first g baptized . exceptions against the grounds of the new baptism . 1. that those places commonly taken for the commission for christs baptism , as matth. 28.18 . mark 16. and where they that now baptize ground their commission and practice , hath no such thing in it ; for the baptism there is a baptism in the name of the three persons , of father , son , and holy ghost ; and not the baptism of jesus christ alone , which the apostles onely baptized in by water , as in a act. 2.38 . act. 10.48 . act. 19.5 . act. 8.16 . rom. 6.3 . where it is still said , baptize in the name of the lord jesus , or of jesus christ ; and a name of any more persons is not the least mentioned . so as to baptize as they commonly baptize in the name of father , son , and holy ghost , for jesus christs baptism , is contrary to the full b practice of all that baptized by water , as they do , as in act. 2.38 . act. 10.48 . act. 19.5 . act. 8.16 . &c. and a confounding scriptures together , viz. several institutions and practicer . 2. that baptizing , in matth. 28.18 . cannot properly , nor in the word , and letter , be understood of baptizing by water , because there is no more mentioned in the letter , or scripture , then meerly the word baptizing ; and to expound it as they do , by a baptizing by water , is to put in a c consequence and interpretation of their own for scripture ; which way of consequences they condemn in all others , presbyterials , &c. as will-worship , and traditions of men , and justly too : now there being no water , nor any circumstance in the text to make out any sense of water , as in other places , it is an usurpation upon the spirit and the word , to put such a sense so infallibly and peremptorily upon the word which jesus christ himself uses in other d significations then that of water , as in matth. 20.22 , 23. matth. 3.11 . 1 cor. 12.13 . 1 cor. 10.2 . all these places are of baptism and baptizing ; yet not one of them of baptizing by water , but of metaphorical and figurative baptism by his sufferings , by the holy ghost , by the spirit , by the cloud and sea . 3. that matth. 28.18 . mark 16. &c. are rather and far more probably to be expounded of the spirits baptism , or the e baptism of the holy ghost , because it seems to be prophesied on by joel 2.28 . isai. 44.3 . where the holy ghosts baptism is promised to come by christ ; and in matth. 3.11 . act. 1.5 . joh. 1.33 . prophesied on to come by john , and christ himself to his disciples , and was fulfilled in christs institution , and power which he gave ; in matth. 28.18 . by baptizing with the holy ghost , which the apostles did accordingly practice , and by their ministery was given , as in f act. 8.17 . and mark 16.16 , 17. compared with matth. 28.18 . doth shew that the baptism in matth. 28.18 . is a baptism of gifts , as mark 16.15 , 16 , 17. 4. that the baptism of jesus christ by water , was onely in the name of jesus christ , as appears in all the places where such a g baptism was practised , as in act. 2.38 . act. 10.48 . act. 19.5 . act. 8.16 . rom. 6.3 . all which is a baptism onely in the name of jesus christ , of the person of the son , not of the father , son , and holy ghost , as they now practise , and which was never practised as appears in all the apostles and disciples practice . 5. that the form by which they baptize , viz. i baptize thee in the name of the father , son , and holy ghost , is a h form of mans devising , a tradition of man , a meer consequence drawn from supposition and probability , and not a form left by i christ , to lay over them at the dipping them in the water : if christ had said , when you baptize them , say this over them , i baptize thee in the name of the father , son , and holy ghost ; and unlesse jesus christ had left this form thus made up to their hands , they practise a thing made up by themselves , and drawn or forced out of jesus christs words in matth. 28.18 . 6. that to preach in the name of jesus christ , or to do things in the name of jesus christ , is not alwayes in that grosse manner as it is taken , viz. naming jesus christ , or the father , son , and holy ghost over them . but in the k power , vertue , efficacy , ministery of jesus christ , or the persons of the god-head of father , son , and holy ghost , as in these scriptures matth. 18.20 . mark 13.6 . joh. 14.3 . act. 19.15 , 16. joh. 17.6 , 11. act. 9.14 . revel. 11.18 . so here they are at some more losse . 7. that though i deny not but water is a signe , and one of the l witnesses that bear record ; and in the word though not yet clear , yet neither can christs institution of water , as his own baptism , in his own person , be made appear out of all the new testament ; nor can the apostles practice by water yet be fetched from such a particular institution , unlesse from john's : and if so , i am sure they are then at as great a controversie one with another concerning m john's baptism and jesus christ's , making them to be two several baptisms . 8. that every common disciple cannot so baptize as the first disciples did , because not gifted , or n qualified as they were . and there is as much necessity to make out the truth in the same power and way of evidence to an antichristian estate , as to a jewish and heathenish , and with a word written as well as preached ; speaking and writing lieing both equally open to question and exceptions , without a power o gloriously working in the behalf and to the reputation of it . nor is there any one disciple in all the new testament preaching and baptizing by way of authority , but he was able to make out the truth of his calling and dispensation , either by miracle or gifts . there are but three exceptions , and they have no weight in them . 1. p ananias was a disciple . i answer : yea , but he restored sight to saul , and had vision . 2. q philip did no miracle to the eunuch . i answer : we can neither conclude he did , nor he did not , from the word ; for it is silent : but he did miracles in samaria . 3. they that were scattered went every where preaching . i answer : who they were , or how they preached , or what power they manifested , is not laid down in the word neither for nor against : the word is silent . 9. that there is not such an officer as administrator in the whole word ; but apostles , evangelists , prophets , pastors , teachers , elders , rulers , deacons , &c. and therefore administrator is an unwholsome word . 10. none ought to give the baptism now , because there is none can give the gift of the holy ghost with it , to make up that glorious supplement of gifts which it alwayes had ; and they are joyned both in the word and practice , as in heb. 6.1 . doctrine of baptisms and laying on of hands : and in their practice they were joyned as in act , act. 8.14 , 15 , 16. and it will appear in the word that the apostles did not so reckon of them single , but together , as in act. 8.14 , 15 , 16. where it is said they were onely baptized in the name of the lord jesus ; but they prayed for them that they might receive the holy ghost . so as baptism by water , and by the holy ghost , being joyned together both in institution , doctrine , and practice , are not to be separated , nor given in such a time wherein that of the holy ghost is not given : for , what god hath joyned together , let no man put asunder . 11. that it is as unreasonable to take any such ordinance of jesus christ from any that is not distinctly , specially , spiritually , powerfully enabled as the first dispensers , as it is to take the word of any a common man charging us in the name of the parliament , and cannot visibly make out a visible excellency and supremacy of power by ordinance or commission . 12. that these churches who enjoy christs minde , as they think , most fully in the practice of ordinances , yet have no greater gifts in their b churches then there are in those called independent , or separatist ; prayer , teaching , prophesying being as fully and powerfully performed in the one as the other . and being so , whether must not the churches of christ be distinguished by some more visible glorious power and gifts as at first , c by which they may be discerned to excel all othe●societies ? 13. that the fulnesse of time is not yet come for ordinances : for as there were several d seasons for the givings out of truth before , so now . seeking , or , seekers so called ; what their way is , and what they hold . that there is no church nor ordinances yet . that if they did not end with the primitive or apostles times , yet they are to begin as in the primitive times , with a gifts and miracles ; and that there is as much reason for the like gifts to make out the truth of any of the gospel now to an antichristian estate , as formerly to a jewish or heathenish . that such a beleever as can dispense ordinances , must be qualified as the beleevers in mark 16. and as the former b disciples were . that there is a time and c fulnesse for the spirit , and for the latter pure spiritual dispensations , as there was formerly for the first dispensations : and whether this shall be while the angels are but powring out their vials or not , or when babylon is fallen . and whether there is not as much need for d new tongues to reveal the pure original to us , it being conveyed with corruptions and additionals in translations ; by which , truth may be more purely discovered , and the waters of life that now run muddily , may flow more clear and crystal-like from the throne e of god . the exceptions . 1. that jesus christ did promise to be ever with his a church , and therefore cannot be reasonably presumed to leave them without b church and ordinances . 2. that if c scriptures were not so pure and clear to us , as the word of life were not sufficiently there ; god were lesse d gracious to us now under grace , and christ come in the flesh , then before to the jews , who gave them a book of the law , which remained with them to the coming of the messiah . 3. that such gifts and miracles were rather for bringing the word into the world , and for glorifying christs first coming in the fl●sh , then for e after . 4. that if we must have miracles to make us beleeve , and not beleeve any truth till then ; we must have for every truth , as well as for one or two , a miracle to give it evidence : and so there must be a continual and new miracle-working for every new beleeving . 5. if there must be miracles for beleeving , truth is not of that excellent nature that it seems : for if it be not able to make it self evident , and cast a native and spiritual f shine or brightnesse upon that soul it comes into , it is but weak , dark , and insufficient . 6. if truth be not discernable in it self by its own glorious light-some nature , by beams from it self ; it is of a worse condition then many things b●low , as the sun , and stars , and candles , &c. which bring that light in their own nature and dispensation , by which they are discerned . 7. if every truth be a beam of g christ the truth , then every beam hath h light in it self , because it streams from the fountain of light , and so is discernable . 8. that it is more glorious to take evidences from the spirit , then from any thing without ; which can at farthest of it self but convince the outward man . 9. that all shall now in the last times be in a secret , invisible , inward , spiritual glory , no more in grosse , carnal , visible evidences and material beams , as gifts and miracles . and this is to know christ no more after the flesh . 10. no miracles can in their own nature make one beleeve , without a spiritual conviction from the spirit of christ going along with it ; so as we see when miracles were wrought , some beleeved , and some beleeved not : so as then there is no such reason for miracles as pretended , because that conviction which comes from the spirit through the work of a miracle , may come by any other instrumental or organical way . or , it is a more glorious operation , by how much more single , or by way of immediate revelation it works . 11. to beleeve meerly by the i spirit , is far more glorious then by any other outward means , though never so outwardly glorious : by how much the spirit is more excellent then any thing else , by so much more divine and spiritual are the impressions of it . 12. that when miracles are wrought , yet a pretender may work a miracle for the contrary ; like the sorcerers of egypt against moses : and antichrist is spoken on rather to come k with signes and wonders of the two , then christ . so as here shall be a losse to any that thinks to beleeve meerly by miracle . so as the spirit is that which must make us beleeve beyond all the power of miracle , which can give out its power but upon the sense at furthest , being meerly outward and visible . 13. that there is no such power for ordinances as is pretended ; but beleevers , as l disciples , may administer ; and so did the apostles and beleevers formerly , as they were disciples . 14. that the scriptures of the gospel , or new testament , are of such a m divine and even spiritual glory in the letter , as no other word : there is a power to discover the reason and secrets of the heart , which the reason and heart of man witnesses unto : there is a power to convince , and accuse , and terrifie , and comfort , clearly , and undeniably , and experimentally known . 15. these scriptures we have , as they are , do make a discovery of such a way of religion as reason never yet in any age attained to : the men of purest reason , as your old philosophers , never attained further then the knowledge of something infinite which they did not know , and a religion of humane or moral righteousnesse and purity , and some sacrifices of atonement , &c. and there is not any religion in the world , jewish or turkish , but they are made up of carnal principles , and are founded upon reason and nature ; but this gospel-religion hath opened a new way of righteousnesse in one that is both god and man in a most rational though infinite way of salvation , and a way of worship crosse to all methods and wayes of reason , and the world , opening new wayes by a new spirit , purifying natural reason into more divine and glorious notions then ever it yet attained , bringing in a way of b●leeving , and placing a religion upon a spiritu●l perswasion called faith , which is more proportionable to an infinite god , and an infinite way and depth of salvation , then reason ever invented , viz. for the soul to beleeve upon one , even jesus christ , in whom god hath laid up all love and fulness● ; and so for man to become one with him who is god and man : and there cannot be a more rational way for man to become one with god , then by one who is both god and man . 16. that though there be not such glorious powrings out of spirit , and such gifts as beleevers both may and shall have ; yet all beleevers ought to practice so far of the outward ordinance as is clearly revealed they may . 17. that the scriptures or gospel of the new testament being as many hundred yeers old as from the apostles , even in that original we have them , no very material differences in copies , as it seems ; and though they have passed through the great apostacy , yet they have not had the power to corrupt them materially in their original , to advantage their heresies and corruptions ; which very constant preservation of truth in the midst of the very enemies of truth , is both a constant and standing miracle of it self ; and so we need not stay for a ministery with miracle , being we have a word with miracle , which in its matter , subject , power , speaking of god , of his son , god and man , of his spirit the actor in man from both , by wayes of outward ordinances , of the depths , windings , and workings of reason , &c. is of as much efficacy to perswade as any thing else we can have ; and the way of the pure spirit is a more glorious way of operation then any other of a visible sensual nature : and god may be more glorified by quickening and spiritualizing a word , and using the spiritually glorious ministery of that , then of man : and they are far too low who look for their original teachings from man , and not from the word and spirit . conclusion . i have drawn out this map of each opinion , that your eye may travel over that in an hour , which otherwise you might be a yeer in going over . thus each are discovered in a narrow yet full discovery ; and i think all that are divinely rational , will see no such cause to think that each hath attained so far , that either they should presume in their degree , or look down from the pinnacle of an infallibility upon each other . i have set the strength and weaknesse of each opinion before it self , that on the one side as it may glory , so on the other side it may fear and be humble . all i wish now is that we be all so far one , at least in infirmity , and this common weaknesse , as may be a ground of common embodying and associating against the common enemy , or grand antichrist ; as in states , who when they are at lowest , have least factions ; and when weakest , are most peaceable with one another . the gospel , or new testament of jesus christ , proved undeniably to be the very word of god , without miracles , to assure us of the particular duties in it . because there are some men now of more reason then sound belief , i cannot but in a spiritual rationally way bear witnesse to our salvation in the written word . 1. if there were not a word or will of god revealed in laws and ordinances written , god were worse provided then the law-givers of nations and kingdoms , and the world were left to their own wills ; which is esteemed ridiculous in the eyes of all the nations of the world in their very politike condition . 2. the laws and ordinances contained in the word , or new testamens , bear onely the image of a god , in their holinesse , purity , righteousnesse , glory , infinitenesse , eternity , immortality , which are all , with many more things of like excellency , there , which are as the beams of light to the sun , or so many things of god , revealing god . 3. the word is so tempered into a middle nature betwixt god and man , as no word can be more revealing the most glorious , spiritual , infinite things from a god , in a mean , literal , figurative , comparative , significative way to man . 4. to have a standing word as the gospel is , is more for the glory and authority of a god then any ministery of man , though with miracles and signes ; because such a word , where none can joyn themselves as authors or parties , as in other wayes of dispensation by men , men may joyn themselves , doth undoubtedly hold forth most of god and of divine authority ; and thus to maintain or preserve a law or word in the world , is not so much with god as for kings and princes to maintain statutes and laws in their kingdoms . 5. a word as the new testament is , may be as well a way and dispensation to an infinite god to make out himself by , as any other , either of dream or vision , or revelation or oracle , all being but wayes of a natural strain and condition , no more then the word . 6. the very manner of dispensation or writing , is such as hath the authority , power , wisdom , couns●ls of a god , the whole businesse of it being a work discovered to be begun by god , and amongst men , to set forth the glory of god , the mercy , love , and wisdom of g●d , and the way by the son of god , and spirit of god , and all to be glorified with god ; and thus treating onely of things divine , and a work divine , in a way divine . 7. we must either give up our selves to this word wholly , or not at a●l ; and then let the world and experience judge what kinde of religion reason at large unbounded , or unenlightened , will bring forth , by the former paterns of heathenish and g●ntilish religion . 8. why should it not be thought the most clean and direct w●y for god , to manifest himself to man by word , gospel , and epistle , and so by an infinite and invisible power and hand commend and convey it from age to ag● , from generation to generation , as well as for men to make out their art , reason , knowledge , experience into books and words written , to their own and other generations ? 9. this gosp●l of jesus christ places religion upon a more glorious transcendent way , to sute with an infinite god , then ever any device of man , or reason could invent , viz. upon faith , upon a beleeving or spiritual perswasion wrought by the same god , by which men are carried out into depths of infinitenesse and glory , no way measurable nor discernabl● but by this way of beleeving ; and there could never have been an engine contrived which could have gone from man into god but this of faith by god himself ; nor more for the advantage of the glo●y of a god , taking all from the creature , employing it wholly upon a god . 10. there is more reason in this gospel , or new testament , in the way of r●ligion which it holds forth by jesus christ , then ever could be thought on by the reason of man ; as for instance , each mans internal conscience hath a light or law in it which condemns or accus●●h for murther , &c. now if there be accusations , against whom is the offence committed but against something infinite ? and what way is there more divinely rational to apply to the justice of such an infinit● , being on god offended , but by one who is both man and god , even j●sus christ ? so as the mystery of salvation is such as even reason it self cannot contradict or gainsay , though it cannot comprehend to leave the world inexcusable in their unbelief , because it commands them to believe in one whom in reason they cannot deny to be a way proportionable betwixt god and themselves for salvation . 11. it carries things in such a rare way of mercy , of justice , of love , of piety ; an● as it is a salvation from god to man , so it is a salvation managed by one who is god and man ; and every thing belonging to it , is accordingly mixed or tempered , of word and spirit , of power divine and outward dispensation , or ordinance ; and all this for man who is of a mixed nature of flesh and spirit : thus things are carried in a way of proportion and sutablenesse , so full , so sutable , and compleat , and serviceable , as the invention of men could never devise . 12. it discovers reason to it self in all its workings and wayes , in its purity and corruption , in its vertues and vices , conscience bearing witnesse to the laws and commandments of it ; it purifies and spiritualizeth reason , and brings it into such a way of communion with god , as the souls that read it , and are exercised in it , seem to be new born , to receive in another nature , an immortal and incorruptible seed . 13. it manages all the designe of salvation contrary to nature and the world , upon contrary principles , dispensations and hands , by a person poor , humble , and crucified for the good , by ministers and dispensers , mean and contemptible fisher-men , tradesmen , &c. yet inspired by graces contrary , as self-denial , humility , love to enemies ; by conditions contrary , as weaknesse , affliction , poverty , suffering , dying , carrying a treasure , a comfort , a riches , a life , a glory , under all these . 14. it is accompanied by continued or standing miracles , though miracles of a more spiritual nature , as discovery of the counsels and hearts of men , as conversion from sin , mortification of sin , changing natures from evil to good , planting in new dispositions , inclinations , affections into the soul . now , if such changes and conversions were in material or sensible things , as from water to blood , from water to wine , how would it astonish ? which in spirituals is more wonderful , though onely lesse discernable , and not to be so sensibly perceived , preserved by its very enemies , the roman cruelty of emperours , and antichristian traditions . 15. it refers the discovery of all truth in it self to the spirit of god , which no word but the word of god would do , and will not take in men into glory with it self which miracles do , which are done by the hand and ministery of man ; and the spirit in this way must needs be a more glorious interpreter of the will of god , then the meer ministery by man and miracles can be , by how much it is of a more spiritual nature ; and it is more excellent to seek things in the spirit , then in any out ward dispensation , which as it comes more immediately from god , so it comes in more immediately upon men ; and to take in truth by sense and sight , or miracle , is rather to know christ after the flesh . 16. yet after all , the word it self is the best way to bring in evidence and discovery in its own behalf to the souls of those that will come under the power , operation , and experiments of it , under the enlightening , convictions , impressions of it , in the reading , hearing , and meditating of it . these things are written that ye may beleeve : and they that are thus exercised , are above all miracle , and are perswaded enough by it self without the help of an outward work . 17. to these i adde the testimonies of the most ancient in witnesse of it . dionysius areopagita , thought to live in the times of the apostles , & not daring to take his divinity anywhere but from these scriptures . irenaeus , who was in the yeer 180. affirming the fulnesse of these gospel-scriptures , and accounted them the pillar of truth . so tertullian , who lived 1400 yeers since , doth accordingly witnesse to their perfection . origen , athanasius , chrysostome , constantine the great , in the first nicene-council , with thousands others all along to our own age . 18. the jews , whose very testament and condition answers to every prophesie and gospel-scripture . 19. the many of those most eminently ancient , learned , and godly , who have shed their blood in testimony of it . 20. the power of god going along with it . 21. the confessions of the most learned in that , confesse , that the original copies are not corrupted , but continued pure . one argument from the national covenant for liberty of conscience , yet with all subordinate and just obedience to the state . art . 1. the first branch of the covenant is , that we shall sincerely , really , and constantly , &c. endeavour , &c. the reformation of religion in the kingdoms of england , &c. in doctrine , worship , discipline , and government , according to the word of god , &c. art . 2. the second branch of the covenant , that we shall in like manner without respect of persons endeavour the extirpation of popery , &c. superstition , heresie , schism , &c. and whatsoever shall be found contrary to sound doctrine , &c. now from these i argue , 1. each one is personally and individually bound by the covenant , and in his own proper conscience is obliged to endeavour a reformation according to the word of god , and so far to the example of the best reformed churches as they are agreeable to that word ; i hope no further . now who shall be the judge and interpreter of this word of god , to each mans conscience in the things of god , but he who is lord of the conscience , in things immediately divine & spiritual ? the consciences of men are under a spiritual and immediate interpreter of the word , even the spirit of the lord , in all things of spiritual cognizance , as every scripture-truth , or truth , in the word is : and this is not onely strengthened and clear from the word , but from a testimony which some when they read , may know better then many others . by the clause , according to the word of god , we understand , so far as we do or shall in our consciences conceive the same to be according to the word of god . now each man standing thus ingaged in his own particular and in his own proper conscience by a covenant recommended and imposed , each is bound to bring forth the evidence of their consciences in particular , concerning this to which they are covenanted : so as i , or you , being covenanted against popery , heresie , and according to the word of god , you and i stand bound by our own private consciences to reveal to the state , who hath recommended such a covenant unto us , what our consciences interpret according to this word , against popery or heresie , unlesse there could be one universal or publike infallible interpreter of the word of god and truth , who might determine concerning heresie and the word of god , and whose determinations is as in the formerly inspired apostolic●l teachers we may rest . so being thus ingaged by covenant , we are at the same time , by one and the same act , bound to liberty of conscience , in these particulars of the things of god : and if there should be any persecution for the pious , modest , and peaceable liberty , so taken and practised , whether would it not clearly and undeniably follow , that our consciences are not under the lord jesus , and his spirit immediatly in the things of god , but under the interpretations of men . and surely that one clause , according to the word of god , is most providentially inserted ; for if we be so closely covenanted to the word of god , how tender ought we to be ? lest in this dark season of our discerning , we oppose something of the word , and so in ignorance , persecute what we covenant to maintain . i wish our assembly would presse this equally with the covenant in their sermons . object . but must every one be the interpreter of the covenant ? answ. nay , not every one , in every thing : the magistracy in all things of a civill cognizance , and in all spirituall things which go out from their meer spirituall condition into a morall offence , as injustice or evil transgression into tumult or disturbance of publike or private peace , actually and expressely , not interpretatively ; for so the nations interpreted the jews as troublers of the state ; and the jews , christ and his disciples , as movers of sedition : the papists and prelats interpreted the nonconformists or reproached puritans , as factious and tumultuous : so as in all things of moral , civil , or secular cognizance , which the magistrate hath clear rule for to walk by , he ought to interpret and proceed by ; partly , because he is the legislator , and so is the best interpreter , and can best resolve us in things of law and publike liberty ; and in morals , his duty lies out more clearly ; but in meerly divine and spiritual interpretations of truth and gospel-mystery , the lord jesus and the spirit of jesus christ are both the legislators , or law-givers , and interpreters to the conscience . object . but shall there be no power to compel consciences into uniformity ? answ. i shall give light to this by propounding a case . suppose the several godly parties , or beleevers , were equally principled for persecution or non-toleration , and were equally numbred , and were equally strengthened by parties of magistracy on their side , what would come forth according to such principles ? i sigh to consider : there would be edge against edge , authority against authority , power against power , and all the state or kingdom involved into blood and cofusion : so as we must consider things according to their principles , not according to their temporary or occasional advantages . object . but you give not enough to the magistrate . answ. yea , more then any . he that gives him that which god hath given him , gives more then any that pretend to give him the most . the pretenders that bid for the magistrate at this time are , 1. they that put him as an help and government in the church , as some , viz. they of the erastian way . 2. they that make use on him but as an help to the church extrinsecally , and by way of forrain assistance , as others , viz. they of the presbyterial way . 3. they that give him power over body , goods , over all moral and civil behaviours of men , professors and beleevers , of what sort soever , of what opinion soever , as i and the rest of our brethren do , praying with all manner of supplication that under them we may lead a peaceable , godly , and quiet life . object . but why dare you not ingage civil magistracy in religion over consciences , as some others do ? answ. yea , in all things morally good and evil , god hath ingaged them , and hath set the law and light of nature and conscience in all people to side with them , condemning and excusing what they and their law doth condemn and excuse , and thus to bear witnesse with their dominion and power . but in things of pure gospel-mystery and evangelically good or evil , i dare not ingage them ( whatever others do ) over consciences , because i give more to their just power , and because i dare not draw them into such principles , which hath broken more magistracy , then all the other plots and devices of men . for things of worship which are laid up in the pure simple mystery , in the light of the spirit , not of nature , as all meer gospel-mystery is , to ingage the magistrates sword into these , is rather a way to dash them against every mans conscience , and so in time to lay in a fatal power or a fatal suffering . we know that power which makes kingdoms soùndest in their dominion , and most lasting , is the truest and wholsomest ; and surely that which ingages them lest into that part of the soul , the conscience which can lest endure to be oppressed , is the safest and most peaceable . to my reverend learned friend master ley , one of the assembly of divines , at westminster , author of a book called the resolution of the new quere , published by master saltmarsh . sir , i shall give you a publike account according to your publike charge in your leafe concerning me , that i intended to make you my censor for some papers which i did not publish . pag. 1. sir , those papers were an answer to master fullers last book ; and the question about reformation betwixt him and me being so out of all question , as master herle observeth , and he as i heared , being dead , made me rather put up my arrows into their quiver , theen shoot them at such a mark . for my contending with you in this , i hope it is but as that of paul and barnabas , and paul and peter , a contention of brethren , not of enemies ; for i think you would oppose truth no more then my self ; but we both may be said to contend rather for the truth then against it , and rather with one anothers reason , then with truth . in this controversie you have much advantage of learning , and experience ; but there is a spirit and the inspiration of the almighty . which enlightens the young man and the old ; elihu as well as job or his friends . your other advantages are , the magistrate whom you have more on your side ; we onely are more on the magistrates side , then they are on ours ; yet we cannot but say , and blesse the lord for them , they are so far on ours , as we lead a peaceable and quiet life under them . your other advantage is an assembly of learned divines , yet not so wholly yours ; the way of truth we stand for , hath a party there ; and i hope when the vaile of prejudice is taken away , and truth is brought home to their souls in its nakednesse , power , and evidence , by a power more spirituall then is yet given out from heaven , our party there will be greater : i willingly presume so much of them . i have laboured that a spirit of love and meeknesse might run through all my reply unto you , though in my travelling over your paper i have met with some things in the way too sharp , and your way hath more briars and thorns in it then you promised in your first leafe : i had much ado not to be provoked , by how much your promise had removed all offence on your part from my expectation . if you finde any passions in my book , charge them on my unregenerate part ; for i finde that when i would do good , evil is present with me . you see my labours , deducting the time of their printing , are of about two weeks growth , younger by some six weeks ( if i mistake not ) then yours . i hope where you could not expect much , you will not look for more then i here return you in this time . sir , i salute you in the lord , and with all due respects to your self , your age , your learning , i begin my discourse with you ; and the lord let me see the failings on my part , while i seek to discover those on yours , that i may take out the beam from my own eye , as well as the mote from yours . you desired me in your book to enter upon a way of peace ; and i have accordingly presented my modell to be perfected and refixed by any that will set upon the work : i do not love in any thing i write , to fume out meerly in controversie ; but in something if it may be to edification . i rest your friend in the lord john saltmarsh . the smoke in the temple . wherein is the vindication of the new quere from master ley's resolution . master ley's resolution , page 2 , & 3. i put a question , whether he were an independent or no ? he told me , he was not ; but that he had a latitude of charity for them of that way . since that , i had a glimpse more of his inclination by his dawning of light : but a full discovery of his minde in his book , the opening of master prynns vindication . i will not entertain him as an enemy . to give him his due , in all that i have seen set forth in his name , i finde him rather opinionative then passionate . reply . your question was accordingly put by you , and accordingly answered by me . and for my appearing for truth not all at once in my treatises , you may see i was not hasty to beleeve , nor to write in the behalf of a truth before i saw it , nor to plunge my self into any way till i had examined it . the apostles waited for the full revelation of all truth by the spirit 's coming . the bereans searched daily to see whether the things were so , or no . apollos preached not christ clearly till he was instructed in the way of god more perfectly . we are bidden to try the spirits , and prove all things : so as i appeared in those degrees but by scripture-warrant . and i could name to you examples of another sort ; augustine , luther , both finding truth but in degrees ; and the latter sweetly acknowledging how he was enlightened by beam after beam . angels , who lie more naked towards god , and take in the things they know , by way of vision ; yet see not any of that will of god which gives laws to them , but as he reveals : much lesse such as we who dwell in houses of clay , and whose foundations are in the dust , and who come by the sight of things discoursively , and by spiritual reasoning ; god giving in the revelation of his truths in a natural , yet supernatural way . but for that notion of independency you speak on , i dare not own it , because i account my self both under a spiritual and civil supremacy ; under jesus christ and the magistrate severally , and exempt from neither . we are not of those that despise governments and speak evil of dignities , not are we under any such singular notion that i know on , to be called independents , &c. we all hold of the body of christ , and of the communion of sain●s below , and we hold one upon another , but not one over another . we dare not be classical , provincial , national ; these are no forms of wholsome words to which we are commanded , nor know we any such power ; but that of brethren , and ministery , and fellowship . we dare not take out a copy either from the states of the world , or the state of israel , to obey or rule by under the gospel . and if you call the churches of christ independent for this , we must suffer till the lord bring forth our righteousnesse as the noon-day . yet this you and we both know , that when truth would not embody or mingle at any time with corruptions , it had presently the name of sect , schism , faction ( all which are implyed in the name independency ) put upon it . thus were the reformed nations of england , germany , france , &c. scandalized by popish writers , and the old nonconformists by the prelatical ; the jews formerly by the nations , and the christians by the jews . we have heard enough of independency and presbytery ; such notes of distinction are now become names of reproach : and so i lay them down . and whereas you say you will not entertain me as an enemy ; it is more likely then in the end both you and i may prove a better friend to the truth . it is possible many in this age might have seen more , had they not cast so much dust in one anothers eyes by their strivings : it were well such a gospel-spirit would walk more abroad , and that spirit which casts men sometimes into the fire , and sometimes into the water , were not so stirring . well , since you will be no enemy to me , i shall not , i hope , contend with you , though i dare not but contend earnestly for the truth . and the truth it self which i write for , may ( i hope ) at length finde you no more an enemy to it then you are to me . i cannot but wish one of your experience and abilities , like paul , to preach for that truth which before he destroyed . our hearts desire and prayer should be for any of israel . and for that you say of me in your observation , that i am rather opinionative then passionate , i cannot take it so ill from you that will needs be no enemy to me : i interpret any thing from such a one on the better side of it . but i shall allow you your liberty at my self : and if the truth of god may more abound through my opinion ( as you take it ) unto his glory , i have enough . master ley's resolution , pag. 4 , & 5. i wonder he , who hath writ a whole book of policie , should be so unpolitick as to think it seasonable , since it tends to retard the establishment of government , whereto the parliament is so much ingaged by declaration , &c. by solemn league and covenant , art. 1. already setting it up in ordinance for ordination , &c. though the liberty of speaking lengthens the debates , and delays the votes , &c. and so much the more , because they are more in number then we , and because their determinations are final , as ours are not . answer . for some things in my book of policy , i praise the lord i can look on them as on part of the darknesse i was in : and i can freely joyn with any in censuring any unregenerate part in me , as i esteem much of my carnal reason to be . when i was a childe , i spake as a childe ; neither have i any fruit now ( as the apostle sayes ) of some of those things . nor would i have any go thither for direction , but so far as they find scripture or sound reason . i cannot but give a caution concerning this book , because i would have readers to look on any thing from me , as luther speaks of himself , as i receive in light . and methinks i scarce do any thing which i could not with augustine , when it is done , finde something to retract in it : either something is too dead , or too dark , or too carnal . thus you see i willingly help you against my self ; and i account it a part of my condition here , not to see all at once . for the unseasonablenesse of my quere , you alleadge the declaration of parliament , and the covenant in art. 1. wherein they are ingaged to endeavour reformation ; and the ordinances , &c. now where is my unseasonablenesse ? the parliament is endeavouring , &c. may i contribute my moneys , my vote , my pains , my informations to the civil ingagements , and not my notions to the spiritual ? are we not to bring in all our disoursements , either natural , civil , or spiritual , into that publike treasury ? though you of the assembly cast in of your aboundance , may not the poor ones cast in their mite ? are we not by the same covenant bound to discover anything against god and the state , and the glory and peace of both ? and if i finde my conscience perswading me such or such a thing is not accordingly , ought i not by all the obligations that are upon me , of gospel , parliament , and countrey , peaceably and meekly to speak a word ? may we discover any thing to the state we conceive of malignity or danger in civil things , and not in spirituals ? is not the spiritual or soul-liberty , the more glorious liberty of the subject ? we cannot but speak the things which we have seen and heard , saith the apostle : and , what you hear in the ear , that speak you on the house top , saith christ . we know who it was that said , prophesie not here ; for it is the kings chappel . and for things of a spiritual nature , we are allowed almost the fulnesse of time for season . be instant in season and out of season , saith paul . but , what better season could i come in , then such a one , wherein things were but ripening and moving towards establishment ? where nothing is setled , there can be nothing disturbed . where nothing is concluded , there can be nothing repealed . where nothing is established , there can be nothing disordered . but since you put me to a further account . i shall give it . my spirit was not my own so wholly then , but his ( i hope ) whose motion i obeyed , the lords . such breathings of heaven who dare safely quench ? it is as fire in the bon●● ▪ sayes the prophet : and like that of mordecai , if thou altogether hold thy peace at this time &c. and whereas you say , that the parliaments determinations are finall , that holds better for me , who might have spoken to much lesse purpose , had i stayed till all had been done , and the determinations ended , and become final ; sure it was time then to speak before determinations were final , or never , and by your own account too ; for you are pleased to reckon up the proceedings of state in the businesse of religion ; which are such , as had i stayed , i had had a worse season ; however , as the prophet says , i have delivered my soul : they were , you know , the foolish virgins that came not with their oil till the door was shut . whatever my oil or my lamp was , yet i think it not agreeable to the wisedom of that parable , to come and knock onely when the door is not open . master ley's resolution , pag. 6 , 7 & 8. the title of the quere is baited with truth and peace . he a private divine to put such a quere , both of state and religion , and to suggest such a suspition of haste , and to tax the ministers for putting in for a power not consonant to scriptures and prudence , &c. his rendring the original word metaphorically : his artificial colours , rhetorical , &c. and my marshalling his reasons in a right method . reply . i have gathered up into one bundle your pieces of a lighter concernment : i would not stay tything annise and cummin , but i hasten to the weightier matters of the law . a word onely to each . for baiting my quere with truth and peace , you allude to christ's allegory , that we are fishers of men : and if i have no worse things to bait with then these two , truth and peace , none need , i hope , be afraid of the hook . and for the proof of them both , argument and time will evidence . for me , a private divine , to put a quere of state and religion . what were john hus , wickliff , luther , paphnutius , who in their several ages gave out their testimonies ? they were but single men , compared with councils and synods . not that i would compare with them , who am lesse then the least of all the mercies of god ; yet they were but single , though singular men . and what if a private divine ? jesus christ may bid a private man stand and speak to the people . there is a law of the spirit commands to speak as well as the law of a state ; and though you speak by the later law , another may speak by the former . and what though a quere both of religion and state ? is not our covenant mixt accordingly of religion and state ? doth not the state it self mix with religion where churches are national ? and how can i speak properly but to both , where both are in interest ? for my suggestion of a suspition of haste ; you know , words and phrases are not the same to all : one may interpret thus , another thus . i had no thought of jehu's driving , as you imply , when i wrote . i must lay the supposed crime at your own doors ; for it is none of mine ; nor have i ( nor any ) reason to tax that honourable senate , whose counsels are grave , and serious , and deliberate . had i lookt for jehu , i should have lookt to another coast and quarter , where they drive more furiously . why deal you not more candidly ? why are you not more faithful in your interpretation to the original ? for that of my taxing the ministers for desiring power ; none have reason to speak but the guilty ; it concerns not the innocent . it is not strange for some ministers to affect government , or rather ruling : we have so much of prelacie yet left , and working in the countrey with us ; and if not in the city too , i refer you to master coleman . for the word rendred from the original metaphorically ; i quoted onely the text , to my remembrance , to the printer's hand ; and how he came by the metaphor , i know not ; but i finde fault as well as you : however , to make the best of it now , translations of scripture are not all grammatical , as you know ; nor to the letter , as i could wish them with you . for artificial colours , or rhetorical , &c. you make me guilty of such vernish as i have not laid on , to my knowledge ; nor have much to lay on , if i would : truth and peace , which were my subjects , are fair enough of themselves , without any colour of mine : and i desire not to bring forth either , but in the evidence and demonstration of the spirit ; and if there be any thing of their own beauty there , call it not artificial ; put not suspitions and jealousies into any , that such things as they see are not so , to make men sceptical . it is as much injury to truth and peace to misreport them , as to counterfeit them . and for your logical marshalling my reasons , i thank you ; you took more pains with them then i would do . i gave them out in that notional order i received them in . nor dare i be too logical and notional in things divine . systems and forms of art , have done our divinity some harm . such classes and methods of reason have been found too strait for the more spiritual enlargements of truth . yet i honour your learning , though i thus speak . master ley's resolution , pag. 9 & 10. his first reason taken from rules of faith , rom. 14.3 , 13 , &c. now he should have planted his reason directly against the imposing a government , rather then obedience to it ; as thus , &c. those that set up a government which they are not fully perswaded on , sin : but , they that now set up church-government with power , &c. do set up a government whereof they are not fully perswaded on : therefore in so doing , they sin . the major is true , but the minor not , because of their faithful learned counsellors , and scripture-discussings . reply . since you will help me to prove , you are welcome : you have furnished me with one argument more : you are a fair enemy , to lend out your own weapon . and now you have made your argument half for me , i shall make the other half my self . you say , what the imposers of government cannot do in faith , is sin : this is your half argument . but you take it for granted , our imposers of government are not such , but such as are fully perswaded , and can set up the government in faith ; and you prove it thus , from those of their counsellors so neer them , and from their scripture-discussions . first , i know not what counsellors you mean ; but they are too wise a senate to be carried by any interest but their own ; and i wish them no other counsellors then truth and peace : nor do i know that they are so fully perswaded of any such government . i believe some of them are not so fully principled for your way ; and then they all are not perswaded so of the government : nor have you yet been able to make out the evidence of every truth you presented them from clear scriptures , saving your art of deductions and consequences , and prudence : and if all cannot be perswaded that state conscience or publike conscience is not so wholly nor fully perswaded : then , as you imply , a state or publike conscience is like a particular conscience ; which if it doth not wholly consent , is doubtful , or weak : for it is not in spiritual things as in civil : votes of major parts make laws , and they stand good from any such forms of policie : but i never yet saw that rule in the gospel for any such proceedings in spiritual things : but that is a law in christ's kingdom , not that which is voted so , but that which is so in the truth of it : for else popery were the best ; for it hath most voices and counsels . so as unlesse you can prove the parliament to be of one minde in it , how can you prove a parliament so fully perswaded in minde as you imply ? let them prove a truth by most voices that please or can ; but i wish the businesse of a state-conscience , in a thing of this nature , were more enquired into then yet it hath been . but if the parliament were fully perswaded of the truth of the government , yet there would be a new question , yea , and is , very learnedly discussed by our worthy brethren master coleman and the commissioner , how they could be perswaded of the imposing , and power of setling . for my part , if there must be an imposing of government ( for i would have the state-consciences left to their liberty as well as particular , and yet truth to have the liberty of accesse unto them ) i would have the power of the parliament laid up there : we have had too sad experience when it hath been given out from thence , and trusted too far . paul referred himself thither , ( i stand , says he , at cesar's judgement-seat ) rather then to the council of the priests and elders . christ had more favour from pilate a romane governour , then from caiaphas the priest . one word more . how can the parliament properly be said to be fully perswaded , &c. unlesse they could freely signe it with a jus divinum , or divine right ? nothing but scripture and the word , can properly fully perswade . now if they cannot finde so much scripture as to warrant it for christ's government , how can there be a purely gospel-warrantable , a full perswasion , or faith , where there wants a word of faith to secure it ? and now i shall form your argument you half made to my hand thus , and return another with usury . your argument is this : those that set up a government which they cannot be fully perswaded on , cannot but sin . but , the parliament cannot be fully perswaded of this government : therefore , if they set it up , they cannot but sin . my proof is this , in behalf of your argument . that conscience which is not wholly consenting , is not fully perswaded . but , such is the state or publike conscience , viz. not fully consenting at this time : therefore , the state-conscience is not fully perswaded . note because some are more for it , some are lesse for it . i prove the state-conscience not fully consenting . that conscience which hath not scripture to secure it , cannot be fully consenting or perswaded : viz. as full perswasion is taken in the word . but , such is the publike conscience at this time concerning this present government : viz. not fully perswaded from scripture concerning it . therefore , the publike or state-conscience cannot be so fully consenting or perswaded . viz. in a scripture-sense . note . because they which cannot call it a government by divine right , are not secured concerning it by the word ; and then , by consequence , are not so fully consenting , nor perswaded . master ley's resolution , pag. 9 & 10. if we take his reason to stand immediately against obedience , and so consequently against commands , &c. it is more formal , but still as feeble ; repugnant to religion and reason , against former protestations , and the covenant ; for some will always scruple , &c. reply . some of this might have been spared . let us have as much reason , and as little reviling as may be . your reason is . because then neither protestations nor covenant of state can be administred ; for some will always scruple . so as here is the force of your reason ; because protestations and covenants in the state are put upon a people unwilling and malignant , therefore government should . first , a truth of government , and the establishment of it , is but indirectly , unsutably , and disproportionably proved from oaths and covenants . indeed , under the old testament , and in the state of israel , covenants were more agreeable to the way of that church ; they were part of the worship then ; and it was a way of obligation and engagement sitted more to the policie of that nation : they were a people or nation of themselves , singled out from the world , and marked by a carnal ordinance : and their discipline was sitted to the whole nation by god himself ; and so covenants , &c. gathered them up from the world into their national way of worship , &c. but now , the way of church and worship changing , and the laws of such kinde of external pedagogie ceasing , and a more inward and spiritual law coming in , you might have done well , ere you took things thus for granted , to clear the way of covenants under the gospel , and not to prove one probable thing by another . those of your way are against a little church-covenant , and why not a great one ? for the imposing of protestations now , &c. it is not my work here to discusse ; nor am i against any way of state-security that may consist with sound prudence : and for the spiritual part of them , wherein men covenant in the things of god , let every one be fully perswaded in his own minde : that is the apostle's rule , i am sure , whatever any say to the contray , and will stand . in civil things , i would have any way or designe of assurance that is fairly and justly politick : in spiritual things , onely such ways of assurance as are gospel-ways , and may sute with the new testament-believers . and now you are to prove more then perhaps you thought on ; that is , to clear a church-covenant , which many of your way are against : for though you condemn it in some churches , not of your way ; yet a national church-covenant you plead for . and how can this be both true and false , that a great church-covenant is lawful , and a little one unlawful ? a national church-covenant lawful , and a particular or congregational church-covenant unlawful ? this onely by the way : to shew you how one may mistake his way in a mist : you were proving a government , and now you are engaged to prove chuch-covenants , which you are both for and against . and yet , after all this of protestations and covenants , there is no fair proof of establishing a government , or imposing it in your way and designe from these . it is not safe going to the state for a patern for the church . if the state in certain seasons of unfaithfulnesse and unsettlement , contrive any way of security or assurance ( necessity is often a law-maker in states , yet not so in the church ) will you from hence argue for a liberty in the church ? will you make necessity your gospel , your law-giver there ? necessity is sometimes a suspender of laws in the gospel , but no law-maker . master ley's resolution , pag. 10. but i answer : i wonder an ingenuous man , as m. saltmarsh is , should make such an objection . reply . these are good words ; and i hope you shall have no worse then you bring : yet we must speak truth . master ley's resolution , pag. 10. i answer : the church-government is such as in the chief parts of it is from the word . reply . you grant then the government is but in some parts warrantable by the word : so was episcopacy and prelacy in some parts of it . there is not any false worship or way , but it hath some parts of truth in it . the great image had a head of gold , &c. the mystery of iniquity sits in the temple of god , &c. the whore of babylon sits in skarlet decked with gold , and precious stones , and pearls . truth must be all one and the same , and homogeneal , not in parts . the jews had the law , but then their own traditions mingled . there is one lord , one faith ; not two . master ley's resolution , pag. 10. things of lesser moment in it , though they are not directly from scripture , yet not repugnant ; they are of prudence , and agreeable to the best reformed churches . reply . but , why of lesser moment ? all things are of moment in spirituals . indeed if they be such as be not the gospel's , they are then , as you say , of lesser moment : and yet of moment too , in another sense ; for , traditions of men make void the commandments of god . nor are grounds of prudence any scripture-grounds to rule by . prudence hath let in more will-worship then any thing . prelacy had its prudence for every new additional in worship and government : and if presbytery take prudence too , let the reader judge what may follow . and what is that , not directly from scripture , yet not repugnant ? surely christ's rule is not such ; he opposes any tradition to the commandments of god . not directly from scripture , is repugnant to scripture : such is the onenesse , entirenesse , indivisibility , and essentiality of the truth . he that is not with me , is against me . and for the reformed churches as a rule ; that is to set the sun by the dyal , and not the dyal by the sun . we must set the churches by the word , and not church by church , and the word by the church . master ley's resolution , pag. 10 & 11. because the practice of the government belongs not to the peoples part , but to the ministers and elders . because , so far as concerns the peoples compliance , they are to be instructed before they yeeld submission . because if any remain unsatisfied , they are not to be put upon his dilemma of sin or misery , or to be ruled with the rod , but meeknesse , 2 cor. 4.21 . 2 tim. 2.25 . because the ignorance of the people generally , which he would have for a reason to suspend it , ought to be rather a reason for expedition , that they may practically know it : for while it is unknown , it is slandered , which might have been more amiable . because his two texts make not onely against the suspending for a time , but for ever . i wish he would preach such texts as these to his people ; 1 thess. 5.12 , 13. 1 tim. 5.17 . heb. 13.7 , 17. reply . to your first , it belongs not to the people , &c. it seems then the people must be kept out from all intermedling . but i would have the people mark well what kinde of government that is that sits upon the waters or people : i am sure christ's government takes in the people : and being once in a church-way , they lose their old capacity for a new , and are raised up from people to brethren , act. 15. it is a worthy saying of master goodwyn and master nye , that the clergie got the golden ball of government amongst them ; and i censure it is not much mended in the presbytery . but you say the people must be instructed , that is , they must onely know that they must obey . but are they called , and consulted with , and owned , as the scripture holds forth , wherever there is any church spoken of ? but what though instructed ? they are onely to be instructed and taught that this is the government to which they must submit . so the people under popery , prelacie , &c. were instructed , with that limitation and restriction . but shall they be thus instructed and taught in it ? people , here is a government which to some of us seemeth to be a government according to the word ; take it and examine it : if you be so perswaded , and that the word holds it forth clearly , embrace it ; if not , do not obey any thing in blinde and implicite obedience . this were fair dealing with conscience ; thus the churches of christ had their government among them . to that of the pe●ples compliancy you speak on , it is not my work here to dispute the interests of elders and people distinctly ; but to make answer , that the compliancy and submission which are the duties you set out for the people , are such as they may easily see the interest you allow them : viz. an interest of compliance onely , and submission or obedience to what is done already ; not any liberty to examine and refuse . and when people are instructed , still your work remains to prove your presbytery over congregations , or a church gathered out of a church to be over a church ; which may upon the presbytery more justly be recriminated then where you do so often recriminate , upon gathered churches . and methinks to me it is unreasonable to tax any for church-gathering , when your very presbytery is maintained by such a kinde of principle . what is your classical , your provincial , your national presbytery , but a church gathered out of the rest , call it a virtual , or representative , or what you please ? for that of meeknesse ; how meek i● will prove , and how meekly they shall be dealt with under it , we are not to judge by any promises of meeknesse , but by principles . are the principles such as naturally bring forth meeknesse , or rather such as invest the ministers and elders with a power supreme and of dominion ? but what if such as your self , and some other godly meek of your way , may propound nothing but wayes of meeknesse to your selves ? can you undertake to secure the people for hereafter , and for all of the way , and for the way in its own nature ? there are things of meek appearances , as the presbytery may be , yet prove not so . the lamb in the revelation had two horns , though a lamb . hazael could say , am i a dog , that thou shouldest think so harshly of me , that i should kill the children in the womb , 2 king. 8 ? he as little suspected his own cruelty which the prophet foresaw in his nature would come to passe , as you do in your presbytery , which some , seeing into the nature of it , cannot but prophesie accordingly . you know episcopacy began in meeknesse , and bishops were brought in first for good and for peace : but how proved they ? tyranny had ever a countenance of meeknesse and love , till it got seated in the throne . so absalon was very fair spoken in the gate ; but how was he in the throne ? for that of my dilemma of sin and misery , which you say people shall not be put upon ; it may be some in your or another classis may finde more meeknesse , a spirit of more love and ingenuity : but what is this to the nature of the government , that some in it are well natured ? and for that of sin and misery ; surely , if the presbytery be set on with power , many a one will be in that snare , partly in fear , and partly in an easie compliancy : for there are whole parishes and counties of this constitution : and you your self say , the wilfully weak must have the rod . and who will this be ? such as are so in the judgement and interpretation of the classis ? or how ? i would this were well cleared . and for your scriptures of 1 cor. 4.21 . 2 tim. 2.25 . shall i come to you with a rod , &c. and in meeknesse instructing , &c. these are full scriptures for ordering any church-government : these are good laws ; but then men must be rightly in commission for ruling by them , and people rightly ordered and disposed for such rules , as in all other laws and kingdoms . but what is this to your purpose , till your government appear to be all christs ? to that of the ignorance of the people , which you would have for a reason of expedition rather then suspension , that they may practically know it ; i answer : in practical godlinesse , the scripture-way is not so : things must first be known , before practically known , or else the obedience can be but mixt , blinde , and popish . who can practically obey , taking practically in a scripture-sense , that is , with knowledge , till they know and be perswaded ? indeed in things civil , &c. or moral , practice may bring in knowledge ; habits may be acquired and gotten by acts ; a man may grow temperate by practising temperance , and civilly obedient practising civil obedience : but it is not so in spirituals ; there , habits go before acts , spiritual infusions before practices . and for the amiablenesse of it , look into other reformed kingdoms , and see what power of godlinesse is there by reason of it . do we not see the huge bodies of nations very sinful , corrupt , formal ? for scotland , our brethrens preaching and watchfulnesse , it may be more powerful in a reformation upon them , then their government . and further , i deny not but a government of that nature may much reform the outward man : so may a meer prudential government , a meer civil government , if sincerely executed . the romans had a very moral people under their yoke , when their laws were well executed . prelacy and bishops had a government which was antichristian , yet by an exact execution , could chastise the outward man in some measure . for your other reason , that my texts make against not onely the suspending for a time , 〈◊〉 for ever ; i answer : it is true , principles and circumstances considered : for if neither the government be christs , nor the people nationally a church , when can you settle it ? and if there be no gospel-promises that people shall fall in so nationally as the jews did , excepting some that concern the world in general , as isai. 49.22 . then how or when will you settle , or what will you settle , or upon whom ? and for the texts you commend to me for preaching , 1 thes. 5.12 , &c. they all concern peoples obedience to their elders and rulers ; they are very material and pertinent to that : and i shall in requital commend some other back to you ; as those of not lording it over the heritage : against preeminence ; as helpers of your faith ; of service , and ministery : we are your servants ; we intreat you , and beseech you , not seeking our own things , not for filthy lucre , but of a ready minde , &c. we must consider , scripture must be taken in the wholenesse and entirenesse of it ; and we must not onely minde people of their obedience , but elders and ministers of their service , duty , ministery , humility , self-denial , &c. and thus in a just distribution , deal out both to ministers and people their measure . master ley's resolution , pag. 12. strange that he should plead for a delay in establishment of reformation from the covenant , wherein we are bound to endeavour it sincerely , really , &c. and more strange , under the title of popery too , which in the next article of popery is disavowed . reply . not so strange as you make it ; for we are covenanted to endeavour a setting up the government , not a government ; that is , as it is expounded in the article , the government , or reformation according to the word of god , &c. not a government or reformation of any other sort . so as i plead for a delay onely in setting up a discipline , not the discipline : or more plainly , that the discipline be such , that the covenanters may not violate that article , wherein they are bound to do every thing according to the word , and so prove unfaithful in their covenant , while they are most zealous for it . there was such a kinde of mistake in the jews , who would have stoned the lord of the sabbath in zeal to the sabbath , and following after righteousnesse , yet did not attain to the righteousnesse of god . and for the title of popery which i put upon such obedience ; which you say cannot be , because discovered in the next article of the covenant : i answer , the popery is not in the covenant , but in the interpretations upon it , and the mistaken practice of it , which is the thing which i onely aver . o! how soon may we be popish under a covenant against it ! what are the maintenance of ministers by tythes ? jewish and popish undeniably , and yet no notice of this at all . i had as great a tythe once as another , but i could not hold it so , neither by covenant nor gospel . nor do i tax the parliament , but those who are betrusted to commend spiritual grievances to their senate , &c. brethren , let us lay down these grievances : countreys and families are burdened : let not the ministers have their hooks abroad in every thing of the peoples , like elies sons . we know the kingdomes of scotland and the netherlands take their tythes to maintaine their wars , and wil not let their preachers live by decimation , but by pension . and methinks you that professe ingenuity , should be so candid to distinguish where you see i distinguish , and not to force on constructions of this nature , which neither any thing of mine nor the covenant will bear . and for what you say concerning the composers and penners of the covenant , i am willingly silent : i would not aggravate any thing against a brother , as you are , which might be onely a failing in your pen . master ley's resolution , pag. 12. & 13. for that he saith of peoples implicite obedience , &c. of their being devoted to any thing the state sets up by statutes , cannot be , for these reasons : because , as in the former reason , instruction must go before . because , for that of their being devoted , it makes against setting up doctrine as well as discipline , and authority of parliament as well as authority of ministers : they , not ministers , make statutes . reply . to your first , that instruction must go before , i have answered to this before , as you propounded it before : one word more will suffice . what kinde of instruction is it you mean , but authoritative compulsive instruction , such as the schoolmasters , even your own instance , and here most pertinent , who teaches and whips every one of those that will not understand as well as he ? something an unreasonable way of correction in matters of pure beleef & conscience , and best among boys , as your instance implies : men of scripture-consciences cannot bear it . and for that you say it makes against doctrine as well as discipline : yea , in some sort it is granted ; for neither doctrine nor discipline ought to be forced but in a gospel-way . and for that you say it makes against the parliament , because they make statutes : i answer , nothing makes against a legislative power , which reduces it to purer , and clearer , and freer principles : and thus the parliament very justly argues in all their remonstrances touching the king , while they go about to reduce him to his just rights , from those exorbitancies he suffers himself to be brought into . for instance : he that wishes the parliament might onely proceed in a way , not grieving the spirit , nor hazarding the persecution of truth , nor oppressing any gospel-principles , to which they are covenanted , not keeping on in any sin of former parliaments , of severe imposing in matters of religion so controvertible : is not he , i say , that so wishes , a better friend to parliaments , laws and statutes , then those of contrary principles ? nay , i must professe that to me that very one article of reforming to the word of god , most providentially inserted , is an article of caution , both against imposing and punishing , lest through want of a clear discerning , we be found violaters of that we covenant to maintain , and ought to be sadly considered by all . master ley's resolution , pag. 12 , & 13. his second reason of experience , that the speedy setling , &c. takes little root but in the outward man , &c. concluding pathetically , why , do not dayes speak , and multitude of yeers teach knowledge ? in answer , 1. that the fault was not in the over-speedy setling , but in the choice of a wrong government . 2. because doctrine goeth on with discipline , and so the power of the word may go deep into the conscience , as a schoolmaster who teaches and corrects . 3. because the discipline is an hedge or wall about the doctrine , a goad to the means of grace , a curb to licentious courses ; though with many it go but to the outward man , that is not to be imputed to the discipline , but their corruptions , &c. 4. because where the discipline hath been rightly chosen and setled , god hath blessed it with better fruits ; as in scotland , where there is no heresie nor schism , &c. 5. for that of elihu in job , why , do not dayes speak , &c. it makes not for his purpose ; but that wisdom is with the ancient , and gray-headed to be heard before young or green-headed counsellors , &c. reply . to your first , that the fault was in the choice of a wrong government , &c. i answer , that is the fear now , lest there should be a choice of a wrong government , and so the same fault should be committed again : and this very government hath no image of divine right upon it , nor hath it warrant in all things from the word , as your self acknowledge . to your second , that doctrine and discipline go together &c. yea , pure doctrine and pure discipline go rightly together : and if either be impure or unsound , there is so much the more danger : so as this is an argument rather against you , because where doctrine opens the conscience , and lets in any thing of discipline but that of the pure word , there is one evil onely mended with another . and for your instance of a schoolmaster , who both teaches and corrects : you know we are not to prove , but to illustrate by similitudes : and that of a schoolmaster is a fitter illustration for the pedagogy of the law and that discipline then the gospels : you know the apostle uses it onely to that ; the law was our schoolmaste , &c. gal. 3. to that of your description of the government that it is a curb , a goad , &c. i answer , there is nothing you say of government in these words , but may be said of any civil government , nay , of prelacy , when it was in its primitive form : but that onely which you ought to say , and which onely differences it from all devised forms of men , as your covenant binds you , and ought to be your onely reason for erecting and setting it up , is this : is it the scriptures form or model ? is the people so in the exercise and capacity of it as in the gospel times ? if so , then you prove something . and further : all this you say is true in a kinde too of christs government ; but yet , in some sort communicable with devised governments . the only distinguishing and essential marks are not to be a curb and goad , but the scriptures onely mark , and image , and some spiritual operations , &c. which no other devised form of man hath . to your other , of the blessings and blessed fruits in scotland , that there is no heresie nor schism there , let master coleman ( our learned and pious brother ) speak for us both , from his experiences . and for that kingdom , time will shew whether it will prove to be a blessing or no , to want that which you call heresie and schism . surely to be free from heresie and schism , in a scripture sense , it is such a blessing as the whole gospel cannot patern . what ? no heresie in a whole kingdom ? no schism in a whole kingdom ? never such a pure church heard on ? corinth , ephesus , colosse , jerusalem , antioch , all not comparable ? the worst i wish our brethren there , is , that all were so pure as we hear on . indeed scotland had the honour to awaken us first in the work of reformation and liberty ; but lest scotland should be puffed up , england shall have the glory ( i hope ) to improve that liberty to a fuller light , which some would close up too soon , in the narrownesse of a presbytery . methinks there is something of this nature considerable in the lutherans , who though they follow the first light in germany , yet the lord hath suffered them to stick there without a fuller reformation , that the first may be last , and the last first ; for if a state be covenanted so close to the word , they had need be favourable and free to all that are accordingly covenanted ; for each mans conscience is the interpreter in himself of what makes for or against the covenant he takes ; and by this very covenant , you are all to be tender to consciences , because the spirit of god ( not power of men ) can interpret the will of god ; but in their civil and prudential things onely , they may intrepret themselves . to that of job , that with the ancient is wisdom , and with the gray-headed ; which you apply in way of reproach to the younger , whom you call as it were green-heads : i answer , that the elder i esteem as fathers , and the younger we know are such in whom the lord speaks more gloriously , as he himself saith , your young men shall see visions , and upon your sons and daughters i will powre out my spirit , your old men shall dream dreams . now whether is it more excellent to dream dreams , or to see visions ? the lord delivered israel by the young men of the provinces . surely we may more safely hearken to the younger that see visions of reformation , then to the elder that dream dreams of it onely . master ley's resolution , pag. 15 , & 16. there is great disproportion of times . men were then converted from paganism , and while they were so , they were uncapable . our congregations in england are professed christians ; and though there be many not so wrought on by the word , &c. that is rather a reason for the establishment of it , ezek. 22.26 . 1 cor. 4.21 . prov. 23.13 , 14. nor can sabbath nor sacraments be administred without i● . reply . to that of the disproportion ( you speak on ) of times , and conversion , &c. i answer ; the apostle's and primitive times are the times we are to look at for a patern and model . t is true , there is great disproportion ; for they were apostles who gave the government then ; yet are but private divines , as you say by me , if you be compared with them . for that of the conversion from paganism to christianity ; there is no such disproportion there neither , but that very proportion which our saviour hath himself foretold , and set forth : for how doth a iewish and antichristian state differ ? nay , how doth a heathenish or paganish state , differ from an antichristian or parochial state , as parochial or parish is in that notion ? christ hath put them that are out of the church under that very notion , matth. 19.17 . and the spirit in the revelation makes the antichristian state to be as unlawful as a paganish , and calls out equally from that as from the other , as by comparing 2 cor. 6.17 . revel. 18.4 . together will appear . so , as speaking of things and notions , i cannot but speak in a scripture way ; nor am i uncharitable in this neither , though i thus speak ; i look on thousands in this state as godly beleevers : it is not the pastors i write against , but the way . there may be a moses in pharaoh's court ; a ioseph in potiphar's house ; a cornelius , or devout man , though out of the church ; a luther even in rome , till the lord enlighten . so as government and discipline is a churches right , and priviledge , not the worlds and nations priviledges , as so and then . where are all your quoted texts which are applied ? surely that of corinth , is the churches ; and that of ezekiel , and proverbs , makes not for the discipline of a church at all . master ley's resolution , pag. 16 , & 17. he makes a comparison betwixt material and spiritual buildings , as stone and timber should not be clapt together in the one , so one in the other . 1. similitudes may illustrate , but not prove any thing . 2. conformity betwixt material and spiritual things is not to be carried too far . 3. in material buildings , or the temple , there is not onely squared stones , but peeces and rubbish which have their use ; not so in the spiritual ; all things there are homogeneal , and square , and living stones , &c. 4. those that he accounts rough and unsquared , are in some conformity , though not so polished as others . 5. the best stones are not to be taken from the rest , to make up a building by themselves , as in separated congregations . 6. let him shew any such example in the new testament where when there was a mixture of holy and profane , as in corinth , 1 cor. 11.21 . the apostles gathered out the holy part . 7. that of axes and hammers hath a mysterious truth in it , but not to his purpose , viz. that the spirituall building is built of the soft and secret whispers and motions of the spirit . reply to that of the similitudes ; i fully agree with you , they illustrate better then they prove . to that of not carrying a conformity betwixt materialls and spiritualls too high ; i agree with you in that too , yet not so fully ; for iesus christ the great prophet of the gospel preached the glory of the kingdom in materiall comparisons , in salt , water , leven , mustard seed , sowers , husbandmen , vines , vineyards , &c. to that of spirituall buildings , which you say are to be made up only of squared living stones ; i agree with you ; and here the controversy might be ended : if your temples shall be of living stones ; the controversy is granted : but because i will not seem to mistake you , i beleeve the spirituall building you mean , and i , are not the same here : you mean as it appears , the invisible spirituall , or church mysticall ; and yet there , all is not so homogeneall and of the same kinde neither : the head of the body is both god and man , and one member like one star differs from another in glory . but , we are speaking of the spirituall building or church here which is the image of the church above ; and as that is of true , reall , essentially spirituall living stones ; so the church below is to consist at least of such as visibly and formally appear so ; and therefore the apostle calls them in his epistles saints , and called to be saints . and to that of your peeces of rubbish in the materiall building ; it is true ; but what is that to solomons temple , which my comparision drives up to ? how much rubbish can you prove in that type , nay , square stones , pure cedar , gold , &c. to figure out the gospel-building or temple , as in heb. 9. so as your rubbish is only in your own allusion , not in mine to that of your unpolished stones in your parishes , which may fit the temple now ; i answer : it must be then onely such a building as the materiall one you speak on , which is made up of rubbish and broken pieces : and if that be according to christs patern , let these scriptures in the margin , with many more , determine . and for their submitting in deed , there is a national , blinde , traditional obedience in them , i cannot call it gospel-submission . to that of the best stones not to be taken out to make up a building , i answer , i am sure we are to take in no ill , unhewn , unpolished ; and the scripture cautions and practice are clear , &c. then judge you what the stones must be . nor do we so pick and chuse as if all stones were to be square alike , or equally polished ; that is not in any materiall building : though we would take in no rubbish , yet we take in stones differently squared . as in the body one member differs from another ; the eye , and hand , and foot , &c. and members lesse honourable , 1 cor. 12. so in the body of the church , every one according to his measure , and as every one hath received . nor do we stand so for the first polishing as you pretend . you make as if we set up such degrees of perfection as were onely the degrees of the invisibl or mystical body , when it is meerly in the degrees of visible gospel-perfection . by this you would make the carnall to abhor , and the weaker to stumble and be offended ; as if the door of our churches were not open for any such whom you imply , were of a temper meerly spirituall , and of a size of our own , not the scriptures . let the doors of our churches be as strait as you imply , i am sure your doors are set open , or rather cast off the hinges : but a pure gospel-entrance is neither too wide nor too narrow . we know there is smoking flax and bruised reeds , measures of grace ; if they can willingly submit to jesus christ their law-giver , and walk as members of the body , there they may receive polishing , and have honour , and building up , and many other degrees of perfection which the saints of god obtain when they are in fellowship with the father and the son . to that of your chalenge that i should shew any such example in the new testament of taking out the best , when there was a mixture of holy and profane ; i answer , those were gospel-churches gathered by the word and spirit into gospel-fellowship : and when you make your parishes to appear such churches , then i shall tell you more : till then , i suspend your chalenge . the world , and an antichristian nation , are both under christs fan for gathering them out . to that of a mysterious truth you speak on in the axes and hammers ; i agree with you in that ; and because of the mystery i therefore quoted it . and whereas you sum up all the mystery into the soft whisperings and motions of the spirit , you can hardly warrant us , or secure us that your interpretation is the whole minde of the spirit , and that very interpretation of yours is part of it the very same i aim at , viz. to shew how the gospel-building is softly gathered and made up by the ministery of the word and spirit , and not with axes and hammers , tools of a compulsive , forcing , sharp , and authoritative nature , as , &c. master ley's resolution , pag. 17 , 18 , 19. for that of his , &c. where he makes christs description of himself , &c. to be against the establishment , and the sutablenesse christ presses for ; i answer : 1. if his reason be of force against a speedy government , it is as well against a government at any time . 2. that christ in his own nature , and his government , differ exceedingly . christ came to suffer , phil. 2.7 . 3. neither is christ so remisse as not to take upon him a government . the head must govern the body . nor so meek : he hath an iron rod as well as a golden scepter , psal. 2.9 . esth. 5.2 . and though he was sometimes a servant , &c. yet sometimes a lord too , joh. 2.14 . and though he be a lamb , yet he hath a formidable mouth too , &c. revel. 8.15 . 4. for his scriptures produced , matth. 12.19 . 1 joh. 5.3 . they make nothing against a speedy , but against a grievous government . and though his yoke be easie , yet not easie to flesh and bloud , matth. 5.29 . and 16.24 . &c. as in self-deniall . 5. nor hath his other place any sober sense in it , matth. 9.17 . nor makes it against government at this time , but any time . the wine will be alwayes new at the first ; and the longer delayed , the older will the bottles be . reply . to that if against a speedy government , then against a government at any time , i answer , how do you infer that ? nothing of those makes against the government of christ rightly constituted , and ordered and setled upon those called to be saints . indeed they make against any other government at all times as well as now . nor will there be alwayes such a people under christs yoke as you think on . but you look further abroad then i , and in that we mistake one another . you look that whole kingdomes and nations should submit , and i look only for one of a tribe , two of a city , &c. your horizon and the scripture's , for government , are not equall . to that of christs nature and government differing so much , and therefore my text prove nothing ; i answer : every thing of christ's , bears the image of christ . every truth of his hath something of himself in it , who is truth it self by way of excellency : i am the truth , saith he . every beam of light is light : then how can christ and his government differ so as you pretend ? surely , if we observe well , there is not any truth but it partakes of him who is the truth , and is a beam or sparkle of him . truth is homogeneal , and not so unlike and contrary dispositioned and natured as you pretend . and for your expounding the text he shall not strive , &c. as a prophecie ; you do well in part : but you know prophecies have a latitude ; and scriptures have not onely one main and principall , but many subordinate aims : so as though this scripture concern his sufferings principally , yet it doth in a latitude set forth the nature of him who is truth ; and in him we may see how those things which are pretended for truth hold proportion . to that of christ the head , and taking the government of his body , &c. i answer . it is true , christ is a head , but he is not a head to every body . he will have a body proportionable to his head . is a nation of all sorts a fit body for such a head ? is he not a pure , holy , glorious head in his gospel-dispensation ? and is a body so leprous , so wicked , so formal , so traditionally and antichristianly corrupted , a fit body ? shall i take the members of my body , saith paul , and joyn them to an harlot , to make one flesh ? god forbid . what then shall the head do with such members ? to that of his ruling with a rod of iron as well as a golden scepter , psal. 2. esth. 5. i answer . and doth he rule any in his church with his rod of iron , who were not called in first by his golden scepter ? and for that of his iron rod in psal. 2. that is spoken of christ , not as king of his church , but of nations . and that of esth. 5. what is that golden scepter to christs ? unlesse you bring a text only to prove that there is such a thing as a golden scepter in the scriptures . for your other texts of christs being a servant and a lord , a lamb and terrible ; you only prove what i grant , that he is more a king and a lord in his government then in any other of his gospel-dispensations : but all this will not prove the lordship of such a presbytery or government . certainly you intend it a terrible government , because you bring in those texts that have all the judgement and severity in them which christ threatens to the nations and kings of the earth , not to his churches . will you make christ rule in his church as he doth in the world ? well , let your presbytery enjoy the iron scepter , while the churches of christ enjoy the golden ; and try if you ruine not more then you rule , and break not more then you bow . to that of matth. 12.19 . 1 john 5.3 . the yoke easie , &c. they make not against a speedy , but a grievous government ; i answer , i cannot expresse my self better then in your own words , they make against a grievous government , which is all i aim at in the quotation . and whereas you say the yoke is not easie to flesh and bloud , so say i too ; it is very burdensom , and the commandements grievous to the unregenerate ; and therefore i prove from hence , that it is onely a fit and sutable yoke for the saints , and a commandement for them . and there is the same proportion of the outward government to the outward man that there is of the other spirituall laws in the gospel to the inward man , and none but the saints can delight in either . men are to be spiritually moulded and framed to the law of gospel-discipline : that kind of discipline is not like your civil discipline : this way of discipline you would have , is too politick and nationall ; it takes in a people to subdue as the laws of civill policie , which finding a people unsubdued , subdues them : so doth not christ as we read of ; the dispensation of the word ( not the government ) subdues . and thus with much ado , you only prove them to be as i intended them , no commandements for the mixed and unregenerate , or in a word , christs government no nationall government . to that where you say , nor hath his place any sober sense in it . matth. 9.17 . the new wine will be alwayes new , and the longer delayed , the older the bottles will be . i answer : i wonder that one of your experience in the majesty of the word , should be so pleasant with a scripture allegory , because the scripture is of wine . you jest on it , as if it had made the sense lesse sober , i am sorry my younger pen should reprove the aged for jesting , which the apostle sayes is not convenient . and truly it is not comely for the servants to play upon the master of the feast , or any thing in his house , especially upon his wine , which alludes so to his blood , and which he hath promised to drink with us new in his fathers kingdom . nor will the wine be alwayes new to those that are renewed as they ought to be indeed ; for your parishes which you call old bottles , i am sure the wine , or pure government , is too new for them . nor will the bottles be older , as you say , the longer the government is delayed , if the power of the word be there for renewing them . but you say , what sense is this ? what logicall connexion ? i answer , that shall appear there is sense enough , and connexion enough , and logike enough , though i had rather have more scripture and lesse logike ; for all i aim at , is what the scripture aims at , that the bottles should be fit for the wine , the necks for the yoke , and the subjects for the commands . master ley's resolution . pag. 23. & 24. to that of his , that jesus christ could as easily have set up his government by miracle , had there been such a primary &c. necessity , &c. 1. the acts and times for divine providence towards his church are various . god had his church at first and no written word for it till the law was write , and moses wrote , &c. and god added to the morall lawes , ceremoniall and judiciall , divers of which were not executed till forty yeeres after , at their coming into canaan ; so far was god beforehand . 2. whereas he saith , christ could as easily have setled the government by miracle ; we grant it , yea , and more ; without a miracle ; and yet more that he did so , in matth. 16.19 . joh. 10.23 . matth. 18.15 , 16 , 17. 3. if christs delay of government must be our example , then as well for the anabaptisticall delay of baptism till his age luke 3.23 . nor was it johns office to set up a government , but to prepare the way , &c. and christs publike ministery lasted but four yeers , or three yeers and a half , and he began then to set up government . reply . all your proof reaches but to this : 1. that god delt variously with his church . they had first no written word , and after , a written word . 2. that christ could have setled his government by miracle , but did not . 3. that christs delay of government must be no more our example then his baptism . my proof was to shew there was no such morall necessity of the setling , because it was not setled . now , what have you overthrown here ? not that christ suspended his government , and the setling of it ; for , that you grant with me , and prove it more at large then i did : so as all your rest will be answered in two particulars . 1. to that of gods church and government before his word , &c. which you would insinuate as some advantage to your setling , &c. what is that to gods dispensation now ? if there wanted a word , there was a supplement of vision and dreams , &c. and i hope you will not go before the law , so much as you do for a patern : you go too far when you go to the times of the law : you have a prophet now to hear in all things , act. 3.22 . 2. to that of baptism to be delayed as well as government from christs example : i cannot dispute that here , master tomes will satisfie you at large in his learned examen , where he hath made work for a whole assembly , that he knowes not but it may be delayed till they be of yeers . but , to answer you in your scope : you bring this to prove , that christ is not to be imitated in all things . i grant it . but what is that to prove that christ setled not his government when he began his ministery , or johns ? for the busines on your part is to find out , either that the government was setled before , or with the ministery ; or there was as much necessity of it as of the word ; but for some reason ; and not from any thing in the nature of the government , but some other extrincicall reason ; it was delayed : which ought not to take place now . and this is yet to prove ; al your proof summed up , reaches not to this but you imply , the will of god in his dispensations was the cause . but the wil of god in his dispensotions carries a rule of righteousnesse along with it , and of spirituall reason . and in gospel dispensations and extrincicall proceedings of gods will , you will find a rule and golden reed of righteousnesse measuring the temple ; and every dispensation , and even this of suspending government , hath its rule in the gospel , that a word of obedience must precede and go before a form of obedience , and a word of faith before the obedience of faith , and living stones before a living temple . master ley's resolution . pag. 24. & 25. whereas he saith the gifts for government were not given till christ ascended , it is answered : 1. that he ascended 43. dayes after his ministration ; and that added to the yeer forementioned , makes but small difference , &c. 2. he put his apostles upon neither of these offices , preaching or governing , without competent gifts and qualifications . 3. for the modell of it , which he saith people fell under as they were capable ; if he mean the written modell in the word , though it were young in christs time or his apostles , yet not now , we have had 1500. yeers since . why should that which is so old in constitution , be thought too soon for execution ? and besides scripture directions , we have had many yeers the paterns of it i● ma●y reformed churches . 4. it hath by fast and slow degrees been brought in , as both in debates of assembly , parliament , &c. and so for execution too , first an ordinance for ordination , and then a directory , &c. reply . you prove here , 1. that christ gave gifts when he ascended , and not any long time in all his ministration and sending gifts . 2. that he qualified his apostles for government and preaching . 3. that the government of christ now so old , should be seen set up as in other kingdoms . 4. that it proceeded by degrees in its setting up here . now all this thus gathered up , proves not any thing against my assertion , that christ proceeded by degrees in his ministery , and giving out his government ; but rather strengthens my assertion . and for your arguments for setling implyed in these particulars : 1. that christs government was but a while in bringing forth , the ye●rs considered . 2. that the government in the gospel being now so old , ought to be soon executed . 3. that the paterns of it are in other reformed churches . i answer to all these in as few words : 1. prove your argument first to be christs , the particulars , and entirenesse accordingly , and then i shall allow you your argument ; but you grant it to be but partly christs , and partly the assemblies , or of prudence . 2. you must prove but the same again , that the government you have , is the government , there withall gospel-necessaries take in ; else , though the gospel-government be never so old , yours is but new ; and this argument is no better then the first . 3. prove the other reformed kingdoms to be reformed churches , as churches are taken in the gospel , and their paterns pure gospel-paterns , which by your own you acknowledge to be in part prudentiall or human as well as evangelicall and divine ; and then your reason may have some force in it . till then , you see with all you can do , you cannot prove but christs government was divers yeers in bringing forth by himself and his apostles ; and so by your own account , you ought not to be before them , unlesse you assume fuller revelations of truth then they did . let the reader judge whether any of these makes for the setting up your government , or the taking down my reasons . to your last ; that this reformation hath proceeded by slow paces and degrees . what ? would you prove it by its slow proceeding to be christs government , and therefore to be setled ? that were a strange kinde of reasoning : because christ proceeded by degrees in giving out the glory of his kingdom here , therefore everie thing that proceeds by degrees , is christs government . here is some kind of logick indeed , as you say , but no scripture : as for instance ; he that saies such a one is a living creature , saies tru●ly ; he that saies such a one is a beast , sayes he is a living creature : therefore will it follow , he that sayes such a one is a beast , sayes truly ; so , he that sayes christs government proceeded slowly , saies truly ; he that sayes your government proceeded slowly , saies truly ; therefore , he that saies your government is christs government , sayes truly . what have you got now by your logick ? whereas you say in your second , christ gave gifts and qualifications for government ; i answer , if you and your parishes have such gifts and qualifications as in ephes. 4. 1 cor. 12. set it up when you please ; if not what haste ? master ley's resolution . pag. 26 , & 27. now to his rules and considerations of prudence ; the more time ( saith he ) for trying spirits , the lesse danger to that state , &c. i answer 1 it is the dutie of a state not only to try spirits , but to rule them . and rather to rule them , than to try them , prov. 29.15 . and the longer they live without the yoke of discipline , the more enormous . and for trying all things , there is a due proportion of time to be observed . though it hath been the ill hap of our church , &c. to have the government fluttering on the lime-twig at westminster , when it should be on the wing of actuall execution in all over the kingdome . 2. he makes it a dangerous matter for the state to involve it selfe into the designes of ecclesiasticall power . but unseasonably applyed to presbyteriall-government , because both popish and prelaticall power is abjured by i● by covenant . 3. whereas he saith , there can be no danger in the not too sudden incorporating &c. since moses is not aliv●&c . a new star may arise . it is a groundlesse conceit refuted already ; and for that of moses &c. he bewrayeth his d●signe to debarre the government for ever ; and for that of a new star arising , it prepares the way for some barchochebas , who pre●ending to be j●cobs star mislead th●j●wes , and was called ●sword● the son of a i●e . reply . you prove against me , 1. that people ought to be ruled rather then tried , &c. 2. that some time is to be allowed for triall . 3. that the government hath been fluttering too long at westminster . 4. that there is no danger to feare the presbyteriall government , which hath abjured popery &c. dominion by covenant . 5. that some of this is refuted already . 6. that my designe is to debarre it for ever . 7. that a new star is a misleading star . to your first i reply ; it is true in civill government , rule there rather then try : but what is that to church-government , or discipline ? the rule there , is the will of god , which is the onely rule in government , and legislative power in the church ; and that is , try all things before either you rule or be ruled . to your second ; some time you will allow ( i see ) for triall ; but you ought not to measure and deal out time but by the standard of the word ; and before you call for such quick obedience as you do , and as the apostles did , prove your power , and truth , and conclusions , and by such apostolicall and infallible evidence , and then it is our sin if we submit not . and let the time you deal out not be like that of states and armies in their treaties , who are finall and peremptory in the seasons they set : you cannot set such time ; the spirit breaths when & where it lifteth . to your third ; what is that to the present discipline what the covenant abjures ? covenant and discipline are two distinct things ; a covenant may abjure in word , what yet a government may practice indeed . nor is it enough to abjure popery in grosse , but in every part and parcell . and now having abjured , it is not enough to sit downe in that satisfaction that we have sworn against popery ; but to search out , lest we be forsworn in the practice of it . such a duty begins from the time of abjuring ; and it lies not only upon the state to find out popery ; but every one in his own particular is ingaged , you and i , and every covenanter : and therefore seeing you have ingaged thousands by conscience against popery and to endeavour &c. you are bound to give the same conscience liberty to bring in its result and enquiry ; els you make it a snare and trouble to israel , and not a covenant . and now i professe here a just and undeniable liberty by covenant to bring forth all of popery , prelacy , or truth they know . to your other ; why should ye speak of the governments fluttering on a lime-twig at westminster ? sure the state or parliament may deserve better of any of the assembly , then to be thought their retarders or lime-twigs : how have they honoured them above their brethren , printing their ingagements to the world before every sermon , calling them into so neer a capacity with themselves ? though divines have been unfortunate before , and their predecessours raised in the curtesie and piety of former states and parliaments into a law and power above their brethren ; which i hope our brethren will remember and beware of . but because i would not wholly interpret you into so dangerous a sense against the state , it may be you may call your dissenting brethren the lime-twig ; which if you do , you are contrary to your own argument ; for you argued but lately the slow proceeding into a very warrantable and scripture way : and will you now mar all , and defile your argument with a lime-twig , and bewray rather your slow proceeding to have been of constraint then conscience ? to your other ; that this is already refuted : i say no more ; but as you have formerly refuted , so i have formerly answered . to your other ; that my designe by that of moses is to debar it for ever . i answer : yea for ever would i debar a government not clear from the word , and not one haire would i debar a government that had the name of christ in scripture-letters engraven upon it , pure gospel-principles and proceedings . to your other , that a new-star is to prepare for a misguider , and your story of barchochebas upon it , it hath more lightsomnesse then light in it . but why should you be so pleasant with my expression of truth by a star ? it is the very allegory of the spirit . christ calls himselfe the morning-star , the light which springs from above . the spirit is called the day-star arising in our hearts ; and the spouse is attired in a crown of twelve stars . nor do i call to any to look for a new created star of truth , but an old , yet new appearing star to us ; one of those stars in the gospel-firmament , which the clouds of tradition and ignorance hinder us from seeing : and now , what of your story ? but what way is most likely to misle●d ? that which bids you prove and try all things , and accordingly follow ? or that which saith , this is the way , compell them to come in , not only as the gospell compells in the parable by a spirit of power , but by a civill power ; not a power of word only , but of state too : and so twisting the gospell with the law , and humane authoritie with divine ? master ley's resolution , pag. 27 , 28 , 29. to his other prudentiall rule , which is , that hee makes the civill and eccesiasticall power so linked that if there be motions in the one , there will be no quietnesse in the other ; i answer , 1. he aimes at the perpetuall prohibition , not at a temporall forbearance onely . he carries it on so , as if we must allow him the authority of a politick dictator . 2. what if they reciprocate interests ? must the civill state leave everie man or congregation to be governed ? judg. 17.6 . 3. because disturbances are communicated , therefore the civill state ought to settle the ecclesiasticall , that it may enjoy its own peace . and for that he saith of the toleration of the protestants of france ; henry the fourth being a protestant , though a revolter , and recovering his rights by the arms of protestants , he could do no lesse in humanity then allow them their religion ; though now tolerated , because the trustiest friends to the crown of france . for that of the state being most free where the conscience is least straitned : if free in indulgence to all religions , he complies with the author of the bloudy tenet : if free from commotions , experience in severall ages and countreyes prove the contrary . for that of his parable of the tares and the wheat : if there must be such mixtures tolerated , what warrant have they to pluck the wheat from the tares , nay , wheat , from wheat , in their new gathering churches ? reply . you prove against my reason the compliance and nearnesse of the civill and eccesiasticall power , occasioning motions in each other . 1. by the authoritie i assume of a politike dictator . but what doth my assuming prove against the compliancy and motions of the two powers ? this is no proofe against the two powers of church and state , but against me . i hope you conceive not they are concentred in me a private divine , as you call me ; nor would i give any thing out in way of magistrality , but evidence : you and i , and assemblies of men , are not infallible . 2. by my aiming at the perpetuall prohibition . but what doth this prove against the compliancy and motions in the two powers ? this is still against me , not against my reason . and further , because i suggest a reason of not embodying the civill and ecclesiasticall powers too suddenly , therefore , saith he , i aim at a perpetuall prohibition . how doth this follow ? i aime to prohibit it , rebus sic stantibus , therefore for ever ? i aim to prohibit it , because as yet neither the discipline appears to be all christs , nor the parishes fit matter for churches ; therefore i prohibit it for ever . is this good reasoning ? they that do over-desire the enjoying any thing , do measure time by eternity , and weeks by ages , and take a little deferring for everlasting . why is his charets , saith sisera's mother , so long in coming ? 3. because they reciprocate interests , therefore is everie congregation to be left at liberty ? yea , at liberty in spiritualls ? and not as they will , but as the gospel perswades the will . yea , and because they reciprocate interests , therefore to be left at liberty , say you . rather , because they reciprocate interests , to be cautious how they mingle and incorporate interests too soon . and if any just liberty may arise to the people of god from such state-pauses , why not such a liberty ? should the churches bee ever persecuted , and have no rest ? it was not so under the first persecution , then had the churches rest . because , say you , disturbances are communicated , therefore settle the ecc●●si●sticall , that the civill may enjoy peace . but can you secure the civil from the ecclesiastical in peace ? ought you to have a state-being or a church-being first ? is this good reasoning ? because disturbances are communicated , therefore order it so , that the civil may be within the line of communication , or of ecclesiasticall disturbances , by clasping and incorporating them together . so as it followes better thus : because they reciprocate interests , therfore take heed how you establish , because the state cannot but establish a way something of its own , in the ecclesiasticall . to that of henry the fourth's humanity which you presse , because the protestants helpt him by arms : i answer ; let but the same humanity be copied out by the state here , and presse for it here as you do there , and we are agreed . surely you have the same and greater ingagements . your brethren whom you call schismaticks and hereticks , have not been sparing of arms and blood in the high places of the field , and in a cause more glorious , with successe more admirable , with cou●age as gallant : and sure they have been found as trusty friends to this state , as the protestants to the state of france . you say , that state is rather free in indulgence , as the bloody tenet , then free from commotions , &c. for the freedome contended for by the bloudy tenet , when i undertake to prove his freedom at large , then put us together ; till when , deale fairly . i could as easily draw something of yours under the line of prelacie ; but i would not force any mans notions , much lesse yours . you see of what stamp the libertie is i contend for . and for commotions , let the world judge , if all the broyles and combustions kindled not from the coals on the altar , and from the flame of an ecclesiasticall interest , such as you contend for . for that of the tares and wheat , &c. where you charge us with mixture tollerated , or rather with plucking up wheat from the tares , &c. in church-gathering : i answer , wee tollerate no mixture , but in the world where christ himselfe tollerates , as in the same parable ; not in the church . and for our plucking , it is not plucking , but gathering and calling out : your words are of more violence then the word will bear ; that is , more properly plucking which is a destructive pulling ou● a bloudy separation , a plucking of persecution ; such a plucking as some contend for , and would requite our gathering with plucking , and take us all not for a mixture of tares and wheat , but all for tares . you say we gather out the wheat ; it is well you observe that wee have wheat amongst us , which some of your brethren will scarce allow us ; and you verie hardly . master ley's resolution , pag. 29 , 30 , 31. his other politike consideration is this , our parties , or dissenting brethren now together , and clasped by interest , &c. i answer . 1. no clasping in the camp must loose us to division in the citie . 2. mr. saltmarsh in his politikes adviseth to represse factions , &c. 3. the delay hath occasioned a multiplication of heresies & schisms . 4. many disposed to division , heighten their spirits to contumacie and contempt . to that other of his , it is possible while time is given , opinions may be sooner at peace . i answer . 1. possibilitie is no plea against probabilitie , nay , cleare experience , that by the brethrens amiable carriage , they have driven on their designe with a politike activitie , and gained more by their adversaries slownesse , than the goodnesse of their cause . to that of his fire let alone under wood , and so to dye out , &c. i answer . 1. will fire under drie wood quench it selfe , or the setling of a government be as the bellows ? 2. the contrarie is plaine by examples of anabaptists and other sectaries in germany , whom luther at first mediated for with frederick duke of saxony ; but after he was glad to stir up the princes and people of germany for extinguishing a common combustion . to that of his , &c. the contentions of brethren are like the bars of a castle , prov. 18.19 . i answer . 1. this is his seal to his politike aphorism : but will the bars of a castle be taken by letting alone ? we have not found it so in our wars , &c. reply . to your first , that we must not clasp in the camp , and divide in the citie . you say well ; we are to agree , or clasp , both in camp and citie , and to divide in neither . to your second , mr. saltmarsh in his politikes , i told you before , i dare not allow my selfe the priviledge of an aphorism of light then , when it was rather night than day with me , as i told you . you know pauls regenerate part or law of his mind , quarrelled with the law of his members ; so doth mine ; so luther , augustine , &c. to that of delay occasioning heresies , whether may not your setling things thus , be as great an heresie as you complaine against ? be sparing . you may call these truths , which you now call heresies ; paul preached that doctrine after , which before he destroyed , to that of many heightning their spirits into contempt . do not aggravate against your brethren ; remember your owne professed ingenuitie , in these words , i would not excite authoritie to needlesse severitie . to that of the brethrens politike advantage on your slow pace , and amicable carriage , as you say . give not over your amicablenesse for that , their policie is no warrant against your dutie ; and if they be politike , blame them in print : for my part , i hate to see in any too much of man in the businesse of god ; but if some of the brethren be politike , what is that to the rest , who wait for the spirit in the simplicitie of their owne ? but it may be you mistake the advantages , and put their encreasing upon brethrens policie , which is the power of the gospell . you know in christs time many beleeved on him , and the people went after him ; and yet not policie , but his power gathered them . to that of your fire and dry wood , and that your setling a government would be no bellows . who are the dry wood you mean ? and what fire ? and what by the bellows ? if it be this , that the setling a government will quench our contentions ; yea , and it may quench more then it ought , even something of the spirit may be quenched by it : persecution may put out many a candle of the lords lighting , and many a coale kindled from his altar . but take heed there be not more fire in the bellowes then in the wood . to that of the anabaptists and sectaries , quenched by luthers mediation : i dare not believe your historian , nor take all against them from the pen of an enemie . he that takes the parliaments battells from an oxford pen , shall read nothing but rebellion , rather then religion , and me thinks i observe much here in your observation to the contrarie : we may rather think that germany is a field of bloud to this day for shedding the blood of so many consciences for some points of diff●rence . and for luthers mediation against them ; look well , and tell me how much the lutherans there have advanced in the reformation : have they not rather stood like ioshua's sun , where he left them ? let england take warning by germany . to that of the brethrens contentions , which are like bars of a castle ; and must not then be let alone ( you say ) as in our wars : yea go on , take these offended brethren , these castles , in your militarie way ; but then , let your warfare be spirituall , your weapons not carnall ; put on the armour of light , &c. and take them by a gospelsiege , and we are satisfied . but if you take them with the power of the magistrate , with sword and staves , as they took christ ; if you come in this gospel-controversie to take them as the parliament takes in their townes and cities , by force of arms and compulsive artillerie , as your instance seems to imply ; take heed lest you shed more spirituall blood to that under the altar that never ceases to cry how lo●g , lord , how long ? master ley's resolution . pag 32. to that he saith , we have not yet any experience of our new clergie . answ . how can there be experience of them , if there be no government to try them withall ? reply . so as you will have an hazard run both in state and church for a new experiment upon the ministers : but sure , your statists will tell you , it is not safe trying experiments with states ; they are too vast bodies for that . what think you of that physitian that will cast his patient into a disease , to try a cure on him ? you know the old morall adagie , turpiùs ●jicitur quàm non admittitur hospes : one is sooner kept out , then cast out . master ley's resolution . pag. 32. to that , it is not safe trusting a power too far into those hands . answer . he need not much feare , the government will be so qualified , so disposed for the persons that manage it , &c. reply . these are faire promises . it is pity that government should ever be set up , that cannot tell beforehand how well it will carry it selfe . oh i saith absolon , if i were king , it should not be thus . but , what is a qualified government that is not christs ? i can never hope to gather grapes of thorn●s , or figs of thistles . sure it can never be well for the trees of the forrest when the bramble will reigne . master ley's resolution . pag. 33. there are many of note who affirme the best way to suppresse the multiplicaity of sects is to let them have scope , and they will run themselves out of breath ; but i cannot give my vote , false teachers are not be tolerated , no , not for an houre , gal. 2.5 . reply . i would there were more such , of that minde ; i am sure it is safest and soundest . it is safest , there is no such danger in that of crucifying christ in ignorance , of fighting against god . and soundest , for so they die out most naturally by their owne unsoundnesse , without noise and commotion . sometimes the cure makes the greater disease , when the cure is not naturall but violent . for that of pauls withstanding peter to the face , i allow you all such gospel-wayes of contention , so you onely withstand them to the face , and doe not as the high priest did command them to be smitten on the face . oppose with words as paul did , but not with swords , taking and turning the edge of authority against us . master ley's resolution . pag. 33. we experience , saith he . but where reads this writer this phrase ? reply . you criticise on words ; i cannot take time to do so ; i wonder you ( an assembly-man ) have leasure for that ; this is logomac●ice , or word-fighting : and why not we experience ? you know our times have found out such wayes of elegancy in t●e english , though i thought not any such thing when i wrote : but why doe i triffle too ? to your matter . master ley's resolution , pag. 33. but it appeareth by his &c. whether it be safe to commit the power , &c. that to commit any power or establish any government , especially the presbyteriall , is too soone or suddenly done , if done at all . reply . yea , and it is not too suddenly if done at all , and not done as it ought , or in christs way ; i am for any thing of christs , when , and where , and how soon you will . master ley's resolvtion . pag. 34. we may say as he , some may like be the ten yet others like the two brethren . for two ambitious presbyterians , there may be ten more modest . reply . but how come you by such plenty of the better sort ? it is not thought by most of your way . i am sure some of your way were taking care how to furnish their presbytery , their 10000 parishes . and this i know , that if there were such plenty , why do you make shift with so many of the episcopall stamp , who keep their parishes , and resolve while they live , to try out all turns of government , rather then turn off a tythe of two hundred per annum ? but i beleeve the english presbytery and prelacy are well agreed in that . master ley's resolution . pag. 34. besides , the presbyteriall government is framed directly according to the resolution of our saviour . reply . not so directy neither . it is rather directly according to the prudentiall designe of your ass●mbly , as you say : so as all yet is but so you say , and we say the contrary ; there is you say , and we say authority , not scripture and evid●nce , carries it on your side : and let the reader judge betwixt us . indeed you are able to prove by the magistrate that your presbytery is some of it christs way : that is an argument of power , not of scripture . master ley's resolution , pag. 34.35 , & 36. to that he saith , the controversie is hottest abou government , &c. it may be so without fault in those that are for it , but not without crime in those that oppose it . to that of his , is it good parting with the stakes ? the question presupposeth evennesse betwixt parties , whereas the difference is betwixt government and no government . the high court of parliament and all the orthodox churches &c. on the one side , and a small inconsiderable party on the other . nor is it so much injury to resolve for government against them , as the bishops , who had possession of prelacy by a prescription legally , &c. to that of his , it is to be feared there is too much of man : it is likewise to be in those who despise government , &c. and if the bias run most to this truth of government ( as he saith . ) it is but as it should be . the bishops government being put downe , it is necessary some other should be set up , and before all the presbyteriall . and if ( as he saith ) some other truths are wholly set by , it may be the fault of those who set themselves too much against government , i am sure not in such as are for the presbytery . and for his caution as he concludes with , i wish he had had more caution in his minde , and his paper ; he had had few faults , and a shorter refutation would have served . reply . you say , the controversie may be hottest , yet no fault in those that are for it , but against it . but , is all the heat in those that oppose it ? nay sure . witnesse the importunity , the petitioning of your party , &c. we silent all the time . you say , the difference is not so equall but betwixt government and no government ; parliament and all orthodox-divines against an inconsiderable party . indeed it is unequall : it is betwixt a government of man of prudence , as you confesse , and a scripture-government ; betwixt an huge nationall government , and christs little flocke , or church . nor is it a controversie with the high court of parliament ; we contend not with them , but humbly petition and represent the truth unto them : but this is the old way to winde in under the wing of authority , and to engage them . but they are wise to discern , and not to be engaged as their predecessors were by the church-men , as they called them ; there are too many sad stories . but what of our inconsiderable party ? we had rather be a few with truth , then a multitude against it . and how inconsiderable soever we are in number , the stone cut out without hands may fill the earth : the kingdome of christ , and the worlds , are not so one as you would make them . vnus homo totius orbis impetum fustinuit ; it was said of luther ; he was but one against a world . your non-conformists were but inconsiderable to the kingdom of prelacy almost . a pebble in the hand of david , may doe more then a mighty speare in the hand of goliah . you say , the bishops had a better prescription even by law for their government then we . but how is this ? is a legall prescription better hold then a gospel prescription ? is it more priviledge to be founded upon a statute , or act of parliament , then scripture ? you say , if too much of man be in this controversie , it is in those that oppose and despise government . but what is that to our controversie ? we are not of those that speak evil of dignities , or despise governments , unlesse you count your presbytery to be that government and digniny spoken on by the spirit ; and that remaines to be proved : that which cannot be proved to be a scripture-government , cannot challenge a scripture-law to defend or secure it . you say , if the byas run most towards government , it is but as it should be . yes , if towards a scripture-government ; else it is as it should not be , and not as it should be . you say , the bishops government 's put downe , some must be set up ; and that is presbytery . but there is one set up already , a civill parliamentary government ; and will you set up another above that ? or cordinate with that ? will you set up one government to rule another ? or tutour another ? and must you needs set up as large a dominion as the civill power hath ? must our presbytery be full as ample , as high , and supreame , as our parliament ? will no lesse territory or kingdome serve it but all england ? whole nations ? must christs government be just as broad and long as the worlds ? you find not the golden read for the temple of that length . now reader , judge , which government affects dominion ? which brings in whole nations under the scepter of it ? poor scripture-government can be content to sit downe in a village ; to the church in thy house , saith the spirit ; in a city as corinth ; and over but a few there , the saints onely in fellowship ; to the church in corinth : in a country , not over a country : to the seven churches in asia , not to the church of asia , or the church asia , a church taking in halfe part of the world . sure if christ would have had such a nationall comprehensive church , he could have converted kings and princes first , and they should have given up their scepters and kingdoms to jesus christ , in the way of a presbyterian : nay , it ought to have been so ; iesus christ was bound in the way of righteousnesse , to have begun the practice and modell●o us , over whole kingdoms , having not left it in precept in the whole gospel ; and we ought either to have had practice or precept to order and command us in what we obey . you say , if other truths be set by , it is by those that so oppose government , and not by the presbyterial . i see the presbytery must be in no fault : happy men ! that have nothing but truth on their side . you wish i had more caution in my minde and paper , and a shorter refutation had served . cautions are not amisse both for you and me ; and i think you had need of more caution of the two , by how much more vast and national the government is you manage . you that put yoaks upon whole nations in a day , had need to have the cautions of a yeers provision laid in beforehand . and for your refutation of my paper ; doe not beare witnesse of your self ; let truth judge betwixt us , and let the reader pray for a spirit of discerning to judge both what is truth , & which is truth ; that which you , or i , affirme . nor will i say i have made here a refutation of yours . if i have done well , what have i that i have not received ? and if i have not , the lord enlighten and enable me to refute my selfe . master ley's resolvtion , pag. 36.37.38 . to that of his , that the material temple was more clearly left and knowne then the gospel patern ; &c. answer , 1. he would not be thought to side with sanballat and tobijah , and so endeavours to shew some considerable difference . 2. if it be too soone now for the goverment , will he set a time for it when it will be seasonable ? or will he have it stay till it be a material building , or till we have inspired prophets ? 3. it cannot be of too quick dispatch , if we set it up by the dictates of the holy ghost in the new testament ; nor the determination sudden , if after consideration with scriptures , with the best divines , and collation of the exactest paterns , after long debates in the assembly of divines , where the dissenting and liberty to object ; and lastly , recived by parliament . 4. by the builders , speciall regard hath beene had to iesus christ for foundation , &c. and now by master saltmarsh his consent the work may go on , &c. reply . you say , i would not seeme to side with sanballat and tobijah . you say true , i would not . but every building is not temple-work . and though i would not with knowledge hinder the temple of the living god , yet if another kinde of frame were in building , i would do my best to hinder , and be no sanballat neither . but they are sanballats , not whom man , but whom the lord counts so . but surely they hinder more , that set up another kinde of temple then christs , then he that advises to look well that all be right and temple-worke that is set up . to the difference i made of the material and gospel-paterns , you say nothing ; and that is the onely considerable . it may be , as you said you said by me , you are best able to deale with the other . you say i should set a time then for the setting it up . yea , i shall set you a time , yet not in mine owne authority but cerist's : when your patern is all gospel , and your people all qualified that in ▪ gospel-patern , then is my time for setting up , and then is christ's time too . nor would i stay you for a material building , as you say . you know i call you on to the gospel : i am very far from turning you back to the law . i call you on to christ ; i would not turne you back to solomon . and for the inspired prophets you tell me i stay for , and would have you stay too : is not that a very gospel-way to stay for the spirit 's comming into the servants of the lord ? take heed of denying inspired disciples . you know it is part of the fulfilling of the great prophecie , acts 2. indeed some of the prelates , many of them being uninspired themselves , & having little of the spirit , or none , would needs say therfore all inspirations and spiritual enligthnings , &c. were ended in the church , because ended in them : and because they were so carnall themselves , they thought none was spiritual . and you remember how they made laws even against the spirit in prayer . i speake thus , onely to remember you who spoke most against inspiration and the spirit , lest you may let fall some words which may be taken up by some of that way , to countenance them in their invectives . not but that i esteeme of you as one inspired your selfe in a measure , and having the spirit of god in you ; and herefore i know the spirit will be very tender in opposing the stpirit . you say you ought to dispatch the government , because you have followed the dictates of the holy ghost , of the assembly , and parliament . then let me put one question ; why is it not called christs government ? why hath it not a jus divinum , a divine right put upon it , if all be of the holy ghost in it ? but i would not mistake you ; you say onely that all is by the dictate of the holy ghost , of the assembly and parliament . so it is but part then , by your owne confession , of the holy ghost ; the rest is of the assembly and parliament . you say the builders have had special regard to jesus christ the foundation . i will not suspect the counsels and debates of any of the builders . i know the disciples of christ were true disciples , though they had not all of the spirit at one time which they had at another . i hope and i pray that the lord will make up to the builders what of the spirit he hath not given them , that they may both see to build right , and see where they have builded wrong ; and so pull downe againe , as well as set up . and whereas you say the building may go on , by master saltmarsh his owne consent : i say your building will goe on , it seemes , whether master saltmarsh consent or no . master ley , in his capacity , is better able to put it on at this time then master saltmarsh is to put it off to another time , unlesse the lord who is above all , and hath the mighty , even the princes of the earth to command , work for his own glory above all that we can or think . master ley's resolution , pag. 38 , 39.40 . to the second objection and answer of heresies and schisms , and so they might have done from iohn's first sermon , he saith , 1. why doth he begin at iohns first sermon ? were not the esseans , &c. hereticks and schismaticks ? see epiphanius , &c. 2. he makes paul's epistles the terminus ad quem , which from iohn's first sermon to the last , make up twenty nine yeers . after the epistles , he brings in the sending the spirit , &c. which was but five yeeres after the first sermon of iohn baptist . 3. before the end of the epistles , that government was not which we finde in scripture ; and if so , the church-government was not long suspended . 4. nor would it prejudice our expedition : people of that age could not be so easily gathered as with us they may be . 5. what was long in establishing in primitive times , cannot be said to be hastily done now , after so many discussions and delibrate resolutions . reply . you say first , why begin i for hereticks and schismaticks from iohn's first sermon : i begin there , because there began the mystery of the gospel . and yet i shew you that no government began with that gospel manifestition ; by which i made appeare that if government had been of such moral necessity , why was it not given out with the gospels first giving out ? now you prove in a chronologicall discourse the space of time from iohns sermon to pauls epistle , to make the time appeare for government . and , after you have summed up all the time and periods , and finde it no two or three yeers work , you conclude people of that age could not be so easily gathered as now : nor the long establishing then to be an hasty establishing now . and now , after all this discourse and ravellings out of time from iohns sermon , &c. what have you gained ? not that the government was soone setled . then you have proved ( much to my advantage , and in a clearer and fuller computation then i did ) the contrary . so as you have onely beene taking some learned paines , if you well observe , and the reader well observe you , to prove that the government at first was not suddenly cast into modell nor brought forth in practice , which is the very thing i aimed at ; and truely your paines in it have beene more exact then mine ; and i thank you for it . but you say , it ought not to be so now ; nor can it be said to be hastily done now , that was done so long ago . you say true in that : but you know the same spirit must reveale it that formed it ; and it formed it at first by degrees : and the way of revelation hath beene more yeeres then the first forming ; reckon but your antichristian yeeres as exactly as you have done your first christian and primitive yeeres , and you may be more satisfied . so as all , both the first revelation of it from prophesies , and the latter from antichristianism , makes all for the not hastening , which i aimed at . indeed if you can as infallibl assurey us this forme and model is the very forme then given out , it were very true that you say , that it cannot be said to be hastily done now , what was done so long ago : viz. if it be that very one which was done so long ago . for your exception against me , concerning my placing the giving of the spirit so late , if you interpret sense by the strict order of words , you will lose many a scripture truth in the words , as you well know . master ley's resolution . pag. 40. & 41. to that of heresies , &c. he saith ; what if they do not stir up their patrons against the state , &c. but they busily poyson the souls of the people ; and shall they ( if as paul best ) be suffered to blaspheme , and reproach , and perturb the publike peace ? an indulgence much like old elies , &c. if truth be not more precious then peace , why doth our saviour say , he came not to send peace ? and why do the fathers contend so against the arrians about a letter ? and why we so with the romish religion rather then be at peace with them ? for that of morall transgressions , he would have the magistrates set on . set on ? by whom ? we have not such mean thoughts of the magistrate as to make mention of him in such terms of disparagement . and for all his disciplines regulating men for religious walking , there will be worke enough for the magistrate to bring them under civill tryall for contumacy , &c. reply . you say , what ? if heresies stir not up , they poyson souls . if they poyson , let the gospel antidote be applyed then , and no other way which the gospel will not bear nor allow ; there is the sword of the spirit , and weapons not carnall , but mighty and spirituall . for that of old elies indulgences which you speak on , you are still looking upon moses , though you tell us of christ . make the kingdome of israel and of england the same ; a iewish and christian state the same ; and then we shall allow you both elies sin , and his sons maintenance by tythes and offerings . you say , truth is more precious then peace ; yet there is a peace precious as well as truth , even the peace of christ as well as the truth of christ . but to the businesse ; you would prove truth to be precious , to the disadvantage of peace ; and therefore you bring in the fathers against the arrians , and us against the papists , and christ against peace : but what would you prove ? would you prove that truth ought to be established against peace ? and peace to be no way to truth ? surely truth and peace do meet together ; nay , they are so much one , as there is even a truth in peace . he that was truth it self could say , my peace i leave with you . but , what of the contentions spoken on of the fathers and us , &c. if there be any quarrelling for truth either by the fathers or us , but in a gospel-way , we are not excusable ; neither doth christ speak of truths drawing swords , but of swords drawn against truth ; which is no argument for you . when peter would draw a sword in the defence of truth , christ bid him put it up . so far is he against your way of defending truth . you say , by whom should magistrates be set on ? and that you cannot speak in such disparaging words . by whom be set on ? by the legislative power , by the parliament : the parliament can set on their respective committees , justices , &c. and is this any disparagement ? i speak of subordinate magestrates , not of the supream . you say , there will be work for the magistrate enough , to punish the contumacious , &c. that is in english , the presbytery will keep the magistracy doing : and now who disparages the magistrate ? who set them on work ? who makes them their deputy-punishers ? nay , who is the sathan to whom the excommunicate are delivered ? it is an expression not much besides your principles : and who disparages the magistrate in that ? master ley's resolution . page 41 , & 42. to that of truth being otherwise armed from heaven , i answer . we think it not meet to divide the subservient means from the supream power , nor the exercise of discipline from his assistance who can make it effectuall , the sword of god and gidion . to that of the imputation of jealousie , &c. there is a godly jealou●●e , which would set up as many securities as may be against heresie and impiety . the faulty jealousie is theirs that would stifle the government : but there is a fear which we professe of gods anger for connivence and communion with hereticall men &c. there is in some an aversenesse to heresie in a true zeal and love of god . there be many other causes of jealousie , but i will take but that one of the lords and commons , p. 43. if master saltmarsh had well considered who were engaged , &c. he would not have under-valued their piety and prudence , to compare them with papists and prelates . i will conclude with a peece of his own politick advice , &c. vpon such principles is church-government ordained ; for his text out of the revelation , revel. 18.1 . as he began , so he ends with mis-application of scripture . reply . you say you cannot divide discipline from his assistance , who can make it effectuall . that is from the magistrates . this is a signe without further argument , that you do not hold your government for christs , because it cannot be effectuall of it selfe , without help from below , and the world , and to another power then its own ; nor is the sword of god , and gideon any fair and just proof for joyning presbytery and magistracy ; it joyns onely god and the magistates . you say , your godly jealousie will set up as many securities as may be . but then they are warrantable and gospel-ways of security . that is no godly jealousie which sets up other wayes ; as herod killing all the children to secure his kingdome ; david dissembling to escape ; jacob to get a blessing : there is jealousie , but no godly jealousie nor warrantable security . so to secure any way , though of truth , by a power not allowed on in the gospel , as no such compulsive power is in your way , is not to be jealous with a godly jealousie ; though i deny not but some of those may be godly who are so jealous , but not in that . you say that some fear gods anger for their communion with hereticks , &c. you know all such fear is onely warrantable in the church , not in the world : it is not so with the nations now as with the iews . now if we have not communion with them in the nation , we must go out of the world . but , what communion is this you mean that will bring gods anger ? you have your liberty to withdraw , to separate , as they from you : if it be nationall or civill communion , then you pluck up the tares before the time of harvest . but whom you esteem hereticks , they it may be think they have as good scriptures to esteem you so ; and this is heretick for heretick , interpretation against interpretation . and since there is onely a sufficiency but no infallibility now as before ; since there is no apostles for interpretation as at first , for revelation , why do we thus cry out hereticks , hereticks ; the sword , the sword ? let me put one question here . suppose those you call hereticks , were of equal number to you , and both of you equally numbered with magistrates , and both of you equally principled for persecution , and both equally calling out for the magistrates sword ; what clashing of swords would there be ! what edge against edge , what authority against authority , what power against power ! what bloody doings , what sad workings , what confusion would there be ! this is an image of your incorporation of your two powers that you so plead for in this kinde . if we were equally principled and armed for persecution , as you are , and acted by your spirit ; ah what a kingdome would here be ! you say some have aversnesse to heresy in a true zeale to god . these are but generall notions of heresy . every thing is not heresie that is called so . and for true zeal to god in that aversenesse , all this is granted , if that be heresie indeed . but how if it be such a zeale as paul saith the iewes had , a zeale , but not according to knowledge ? how if it be such a zeale to god as crucified the sonne of god ? and such a zeal there hath been , we know . the iewes did much in zeale to truth , even against truth . but you close up with that of the lords and commons in an ordinance , &c. i am afraide these are such proofes as you intend most in your presbytery , to make your supplement to scripture from authority , and so to make us beleeve what you cannot perswade us to beleeve , and to make it out by an ordinance what you want by scripture . but i hope that honourable senate will rather let you argue from the scripture against us then from their authority . but i have not to do here with answering ordinances of parliament . i contend not , but submit to them in every ordinance for the lords sake ; nor doth my argument lie against any thing of theirs , but yours . i dare not undervalue them to count them as parties , but iudges in our difference . i appeal to the parliament , as to caesar : nor in it a fair proof of truth , to draw the magistrates sword out of the scabbard . you say you wonder , considering who was engaged , i would so undervalue them to compare them with papists and prelates . i did consider who was engaged , a parliament , &c. and had i not highly valu●d them , i had not ventured so far in my quaere . i considered the sad and fatal troubles which attended the magistrates engagements with the ministers ; the blood which hath been poured out by national compulsion of tender consciences ; and like a spiritual watchman i could not but blow my trumpet , and give warning . and for my comparison of papists and prelates , i appeal to the world if there be any reproach ; whether it be not in the interpreter rather then in the author . but i know no such thing by my paper : and if it be lawfull to draw in consequent conclusions , and then father them , i could prove you to speake treason , blasphemy , idolatry , atheisme , heresie , nay , independency , which some of your way think worse , anabaptisme , separation , which would seeme to be as hatefull to you : but i judge you not in any such sort ; nor had i spoken so far now , but in a just vindication . you say you will conclude with my politicks ; and upon such principles as mine , church-govenment is ordained . i have told you my politicks were written by my dimmer light . and if your government be built upon no better principles then mine , i cannot but be out of conceit with that government , being so farre out of conceit with mine own principles ; and it makes me thinke the worse of it , because my former principles fit it so well . those principles you speak on , are partly of civill power and the sword ; and the dominion or scepter in the gospel , is more spiritual . you say of my text in the revelation , revel. 18.1 . that as i began , so i end , with misapplication of scripture . misapplication is a word soon●r writ then proved ; and my reasons were rath●● crowded then ordered in my paper . the scripture was this : for the angel that came down from heaven hath great power , and the earth is lightned with his glory . which scripture there applyed , doth hint to any that wil not rather cavil then interpret , that my only reason for delay of government was in this : an angel was yet to come with power and glory ; or , the gospel would fill the earth with more light ; so as we should not shut up our selves too soon in the dark . and now reader , judge whether it be my misapplication , or his mis-interpretation . spirituall principles drawn forth . gospell-truth is one and the same . that which is onely in some parts of it warrentable by the word , is not purely , nor in a scripture-way warrantable : for there is not any will-worship but it hath something from the patern of the true . the samaritaine-worship was copied after the iewish ; and the iewish , when christ came , had priests , and temple , and sacrifices , and was copied by the law : but then there was traditions and commandments of men . that is pure gentilism , which hath no image of gospel nor legal truth . antichrist sits in the very temple of god , though rather upon it . false christs call themselves christs as well as the true . the great image had a head of gold , though feet of iron and clay . every heresie hath a scripture-word in it . but truth must be all one and the same , and homogeneal ; not in parts so , but all so . there is but one lord , one faith , &c. prudence and consequences , are the great engines of will-worship . things of prudence meerly , are not to be admitted into the spirituall way and gospel-designe . prelacy had its prudence for every new additionall in worship and government . and once let prudence open a door , and then will more of man crowd in , then the law of god can keep out . nor is that to be admitted which is so received a maxime , though not directly , yet not repugnant to the word . christs rule is not such : he opposes any tradition to the commandements of god . not direct from scripture , is indirect and repugnant though not to the very letter of such words , yet to the form and analogy of truth to the generall scripture-law , viz. the will of god that nothing shall be added nor diminished ; and ye are onely my friends , saith christ , if ye do what i command you ; and the lord will raise you up a prophet , him shall ye hear . for if any thing of prudence is to be let in , then something of tradition ; for prudence can make nothing higher , nor purer , nor better ; man can but give his own image to the things he makes himself : though he make them up of divine materials from scriptures , yet the form none but the lord himself can give ; and the form is that which stamps christs image upon every truth . every thing in the word hath a form ; that is , it is such a thing of truth , and not another . nothing but gods power and will can make a thing truth : his power creates it , and his will creates it such a truth . nothing is agreeable to the will of christ , but the very will of christ . the will of christ is the onely legislative power in the gospel . nothing is agreeable to his will but what he wills ; and every thing is repugnant to his will but what he wills : so as this will is the supream generall law , and indeed the very form or essence of scripture and the word of god . and whatsoever is devised by prudence , though upon scripture-materials , yet being not the work of this will , nor having the stamp or image upon it , is none of christs , but as repugnant as any other trad●tion or invention of men . and here let us look to that new , though old design against truth , the most subtill undiscernable , and divinest kinde of will-worship in the world : that which some call scripture-consequence , an unwholsome word as it hath been used : for under colour of consequence , what conclusions may be promoted ! what may not reason draw from scripture , and what may it not fashion like a truth ! but consider , in parliament laws , or ordinances , or commissions , is it lawfull to take them , and from every part of them to draw out results of our own ; and when there is but one law , make many subordinate laws of our own ; and frame laws out of laws , and ordinances out of ordinances , and commissions out of commissions ? no sure : but we must keep to that one , generall , entire litterall law and will of the parliament . is it thus in laws humane , and not much more in ordinances divine ? yea ●here is the same onenesse , entirenesse , indivisibility , and essentiality of the truth . nor do i here disapprove any scripture-consequence , if meerly consequent and not formed up into a law by meer reason ; for then man makes laws from the laws of god ; and this is not the least engine that antichrist hath wrough● with . the people are brethren and saints in christs church ; but in antichrists , parishioners and servants . what kinde of government is marked out in scriptures for sitting on the waters , or people ? christ governs by the people ministerially , not over the people authoritatively onely ; and the people being once in his church-way , lose their old capacity for a new , and are raised up from people to brethren , to churches . it is a saying of master goodwins and master nye , not so pleasant as true , the clergy had at first the golden ball of government amongst themselves , and it is not much mended anywhere but in that church where the people have their interests as well as others ; they are the clergy properly , a notion which the ministers got onely to themselves till of late : the interest of the people in christs kingdome is not onely an interest of compliancy , and obedience , and submission ; but of consultation , of debating , counselling , prophesying , voting , &c. and let us stand fast in that liberty wherewith christ hath made us free . presbytery it selfe is founded on principles of separation , which yet they condemn for schism in other churches ; nay , is the greatest separation . what is a presbytery over congregations or a congregation , but a church gathered out of a church ? nay is not that the onely church ; and the remainder of people made but an accessory , or something of another kinde , or rather the nation or kingdome which is only subject to this power supream ? and though presbytery be but a very church-gathering , and founded on a principle of seperation , yet do they not disapprove , and condemn separation and semi or half-separation and church-gathering for schism , & c ? when their own power is a schism respectively to the parishes that are distinct ; and whatever distinction is formed to make them appear as part of their congregations , yet is it indeed so . is not their whole power defended to be entirely , essentially , dispensatively in the presbytery called by themselves the church , and by the very authority of one whom i name with reverence to his learning and moderation , master herle ? so as i wonder why there should be such envyings , rayilngs , accusings , dissentings , betwixt us that are beleevers , though of severall wayes , when as each is principled , founded , administred upon the same ground and way of schism , separation , and church-gathering ; nay , the presbytery hath more schism and separation in it then the rest , by how much it is constituted from the people and brethren , and acts in its ministration apart too , viz. over the people , rather then with them . none to be forced under christs kingdome as in the kingdoms of the world . in a spirituall government the ignorance of people which some would have for expedition , that they may practically know it , is no scripture way of knowing : in practicall godlinesse , things must be knowne before practically known ; and practice is to begin from faith , and faith from knowledge ; else the obedience can be but blind , mixt , and popish . indeed in things civill or morall , practice may bring in knowledge , habits may be acquired and gotten by acts ; a man may grow temperate by practising temperance , and civilly obedient by practising civill obedience ; but it is not so in spirituals there , habits go before acts , spirituall infusions before practices . indeed the lawes of states and kingdomes and civill policy , teach men best by ruling them practically ; but it is not so in the church ; men are not to be forced into christs kingdome as into the kingdomes of the world ; the kings of the nations exercise their dominion ; it shall not be so among you . the power of a formall reformation in a government makes it not christs government . a government , though not purely christs , may be made up of such scripture and prudentiall materials as may much reform the outward man , even as a meer prudentiall civill-government may do , if severely executed . the romanes by how much they excelled other nations in laws , so much the more they excelled them in a people reformed , moralized , ●nd civilized ; in many civill states , meerly from their wholesome policy and administration , excellent and pretious flowers spring up , many morall vertues , as prudence , temperance , obedience , meeknesse , love , justice , fortitude : yet all this makes not a government to be christs ; but only that which is meerly the discipline of christ , and policy of christ . prelacy in its primitive time did reforme ; the beast like a lamb , which compelled the nations to worship , and made even fire to come down from heaven , or was religious in the eyes of men , and did miracles ; yet was no true nor heavenly power neither . there are certain parts and degrees of reformation common and communicable with the government of christ & other governments ; but then , there is a form and image of christ in it which no others have , and some certain spirituall operations and workings which exceed the power of all other governments ; and this makes the difference and puts on the essentiall , true , and individuall form upon it ; so as in choice of governments they are not to be chosen by some summer-fruit in the outward man , but by the word and spirit . the visible church or communion , is the image of the invisible or mysticall . the invisible or mysticall church is made up of pure living stones ; all is spirituall , and yet all not spirituall in the like kinde , nor degree ; iesus christ the corner stone is both god and man ; and some of his differ in glory as one star differs from another : and as it is here , in this spirituall , invisible , glorious building ; so it is in the outward , visible communion below , or building here , which is the image of that above : the temple here is according to the patern there ; and as that is of true , reall , essentially spirituall living stones , so the church here is to consist of such as visibly , formally , and outwardly appear so , and therfore called saints , and golden candlesticks , and holy nation , &c. and though all the materials in this building are to be proportionable , & pure , to make up a representative of the church above , yet all is not of one square , and measure , and polishing ; some are greater , and some lesse ; some babes and children in christ : some smoaking flax , and bruised reeds : and as this church bears the image of the heavenly , so the materiall one bore the image of this ; there was pure stones , gold , and cedar ; so as there is roome in the church now for any small stone or the lest peece of timber , if it be but lively or squared , if cedar or firr . how christ is a king of the nations and of the church , and how an head . christ is a king to the nations , and to the church ; nor doth he rule the nations as the church , nor the church as the nations ; he rules ministerially in his church , and monarchically in the nations ; he rules with a golden scepter in his church , with an iron rod in the nations ; nor doth christ rule as the kings of the nations , who finding people rude , barbarous , uncivill , subdue them into obedience and civility ; but so doth not christ in his church , that we know on ; the dispensation of his word ( not of the government ) first subdues . and it is true , christ is an head , but not an head to every body ; he will have a body proportionable to his head both here and hereafter , in earth as well as in heaven ; he is a pure , holy , glorious head in his gospel dispensation , and well have a body suteable pure . not onely is the visible body of christ thus pure , but every truth of christ bears the image of christ ; every truth of his hath something of himselfe in it who is truth it selfe ; i am the truth , saith christ ; every beam of light is light ; every truth is a sparkle of truth it self . thus we may judge of truth , by what of christ we see in it . they who break a crystall , may see their face in every peece and parcell ; so in every thing of christ there is an image of christ , either of his purity , or holinesse , or love , or humility , or meeknesse , &c. the presbyteriall government , and the worlds , of the same equall dominion . what kinde of church-government is that , which will set up it selfe with the civill and state-government , even co-ordinate with it , if not to the ruling and tutoring of it ? which hath as large a dominion as the other ? which is as full , as ample , as high , and as supream ? which no lesse territory then a kingdome will serve , then a whole nation ? must christs government be just as large as the worlds , which government affects dominion ? which brings in whole nations under the scepter of it ? this , or that little one in the scripture which sits down sometimes in a house , to the church in thy house ; sometimes in a city as corinth , and over a few there , to the church in corinth ; in a countrey , not over a countrey ; to the seven churches in asia , not to the church of asia , or the church asia , a church a fourth part of the world . sure if this nationall and comprehensive church were the patern we should walk by , why did not christ begin first at kings and princes and so bring nations & kingdomes , and make churches of them ? but we see no such thing ; he begins lower , at the base and weak , and foolish , and few ; and raises up his kingdome from the bottom of the world , and not from the top or pinacle of princes , kingdoms , and nations . the nationall , and congregationall church covenant , both lawfull ; or both unlawfull . how can a church-covenant be unlawfull if the nationall covenant be warrantable ? and why do any plead against that , who are for this ? a covenant is condemned in the congregationall church , & yet commended in the nationall . now , how can a church-covenant be both true and false ? is a great church-covenant lawfull , & a little one unlawfull ? a nationall church-covenant warrantable , and a congregationall unwarrantable ? but covenants in their nature were a dispensation more of the old testament-strain ; a nationall church had a covenant to gather them up into their nationall way of worship , and were under the laws of an externall pedagogie ; and now the spiritual dispensation being come , even the gospel of jesus christ , there is a fulnesse of spirit let out upon the saints and people of god , which gather them up more closely , spiritually , and cordially , then the power of any former dispensation could : the very covenant of god himself , of which the former were typicall , and propheticall , comes in nakedly upon the spirits of his , and draws them in , and is a law upon their inward parts , sweetly compelling in the consciences with power , and yet not with force ; with compulsion , and yet with consent ; and surely where this covenant of god hath its kindly and spirituall operation , there would need no such externall supplement as before ; but because of the hardnesse of our hearts , it is thus ; from the beginning it was not so ; the spirit tyed up thousands together then . let states then have any prudential security , any designe of sound wisdome , to consorate people together ; but let the church only be gathered up by a law of a more glorious and transcendent nature , by the pure covenant of god himself with the souls of his . wee receive and give out truth by parts . men are to be judged and followed according to the degrees of light they receive ; and if any have some light , that light is not to be used as an advantage to all their other darknesse , as if all their darknesse might passe under that one beam of light . the light rises upon the prophets , as the sun upon the earth , it is dawning , and morning , and noon with them , thus came the gospel ; iohn preached repentance , iesus christ faith and repentance ; iohn came with water , christ with the spirit , and first in parables , and after in power : the apostles they knew first christ for messiah ; then that he should suffer , and die , and rise again ; and then the kingdome of god . luther knew first that indulgences were unwarrantable ; and after , that popery was antichristianism , and rome was babylon , and works could not justifie ; and after , conscience was not to be compelled in spirituals , thus we grow from faith to faith , to the fulnesse of stature in christ , to a perfect man in him , growing with the encreasings of god : the kingdome of god is like a little leven , like a grain of mustard-seed . so as wh●le we see but things in degrees , we are neither to be too suddenly admired by others , nor our selves . all covenanters are bound to contribute to religion as well as state . whosoever hath covenanted , is bound to assist the publike to his utmost in every condition , and calling , and place , and way accordingly ; from naturall abilities to his relations , from one relation to another , even to all : to that of christian and spirituall ; his prayers , counsel , notions , with contributions of all sorts , civill , natural , temporal , spiritual : he is bound by covenant to discover malignity in state , in church ; enemies to god as well as man ; endeavours to any thing of popery and prelacy , under what visage , habit , form of words , of doctrine , discipline , be it presbytery or whatever , if repugnant to the word of god , as we are perswaded in conscience who have personally covenanted . the breathings and speakings of the spirit , are not to be quenched : every season is for the lords service ; in season and out of season : watchman , watchman , what of the night ? the spirit is poured upon sons and daughters . synods of men are not infallible : not because more men , more of the spirit . the liberty of the subject is that of soul as well as body ; and that of soul more dear , precious , glorious , the libery wherein christ hath made us free . be not ye then the servants of men in the things of god . we are to try truth , and so receive it in its degrees . enquiries for truth ought to be according to scripture-rule ; and that rule lights us on to the trial of all things , and prooving spirits , and judging between the precious and the vile . the water that is mingled with the wine , the tares with the wheat , will require sound trial , lest we make but an exchange of one error for another . the apostles waited for the spirit , the bereans searched the word : we are bidden to try and prove . the prophecies of seducers , false christs , antichrist with lying wonders , are as real cautions given out by the spirit . the examples of former ages , luther . &c. were enlightned by degrees . angels , who see by vision , see but as god reveals ; much lesse men who take in truths by spiritual reasoning as well as revelation . arise , why tarriest thou , is a text only for him who had such a vision as paul to obey by , and such a vision as ananias had to preach by . no church-way independency . the beleevers for the church-way falsly called independents , they hold on christ for a spiritual head , on the magistrate for their civil head , on the body of christ above and below in the communion of saints here : their dependency is spiritual , ministerial , communicative ; not classical , provincial , national : their power is for one another , not over one another . they cannot mingle or embody with those in a way not of truth . their separation is not from men but manners ; not from believers themselves , but their practises and corruptions . nor go they out , but they are called out : come out of her , my people , &c. and thus the iews were independent to the nations , the christians to the iews , the reformed to the papists , the non-conformists to the prelatical , and these to the nonconformists . a spirit of love and meeknesse becomes beleevers . they that write not as enemies , are likely to prove better friends to the truth , because they raise not so much dust with their striving as others , to blinde one anothers sight . those spirits which cast men sometimes into the fire , sometimes into the water , are not from christ ; it were happy the lord would cast out those , and let a more gospel-spirit walk amongst us ; we might then sooner attaine to that of the apostle , to walk by the same rule so far as we have attained together , till the lord reveale , and the stronger to beare with the weake ; and to please one another to edification , rather then our selves , in all things wherein the lord may not be displeased in the way of his dispensation . i know no advantages we have got , but the reviling our selves before our enemies as well as one another . and oh ! why doe we tell it gath , and publish it in the streets of askalon , to make the uncircumcised triumph ? was the lord in the winde , or in the fire , or in the still small voice , when he spake to the prophet ? onely in the stil voice . how was the lord heard in the time of his indignation . man heard the voice of the lord god walking in the garden in the coole of the day . oh! could we finde out the coolest times to speake and write one to another in , and not in the heat of the day , as we do . when a state-conscience is fully perswaded ; doubtful , and so sinning . it is with a publike or state-conscience , as it is a personal or particular conscience : what is done , must be done in faith , or else there is weaknesse , doubting , and sin . now where there is not a full consent and perswasion from the word of faith , there cannot be faith properly ; and where there is not a word of faith for that conscience to be grounded upon , there cannot be a purely and ●piritually full perswasion . and one may question whether in spirituals , as in civils , votes & voices are to make laws ; for in the gospel we finde that divine lawes have their subsistance there , without the vote of any : and that is onely to be a law or truth in the church and kingdom of saints , not what is so in the common consent or voice , but what is a law in the very gospel-truth of it . if the laws of truth were founded as the lawes of civel states , in a meer legislative power ; then popery hath had as good assurance as any ; they have had most voices , most counsels : and so arrianism , when the world went after it . post-script . the testimony of salmasius the approoved german writer of the presbyteriall way , and employed by the states of holland to write . that the baptisme in the name of the father , son , and holy ghost , is not that way of baptisme practiced by the apostles . the baptisme of apostolicall use and institution , is in the rivers not with invocation of the three persons , seeing the apostles baptized onely in the name of the lord jesus christ . in his owne latine thus baptisma in aquis perennibus apostolici instituti & moris sed non invocatio trinitatis super baptizatum , cum apostoli in solo nomine iesu baptizarent . salmasius in apparatu ad libros de primatu papae , fol. 193. salmasius his testimony against the present presbyterial-way . dvobus modis hac independentia ecclesiarum accipi , si vel respectum non habeant ad vicinas ullas ecclesias , aut si non pendeant ab authoritate aliquot ecclesiarum simul in unam classem vel synodum conjunctarum unius conventus cujus partem & ipsae faciant . prior modus similior reperitur primitivae ecclesiae praxi consuetudini ac usui quo voluntina haec communio inter ecclesias fuit . posterior magis convenit cum instituto quod postea a juris humani dispositione introductum est . hoc posteriore modo libertas perticularium ecclesiarum magis imminuta videtur quam priore . sed quod ab initio fuerit voluntatis b postea factum est juris . hoc jus sane positivum atque ecclesiasticum humanumque , non divinum : juris est quidem divini ut una sit ecclesia christo , unitas autem ejus non gregalium aut c concorporalium plurium adunate collectione consistat sed in fidei ac doctrinae unanimi consensione . pag. 265.266 . in apparatu . in english thus : this independency of churches may be taken two waies ; either as not having respect to any neghbour churches , or as not depending on the authority of some churches that are joyn'd in some classis or synod , of which the churches themselvs may make a part ; the former way is found to be more like the practise , custome , and use of the primitive church , whereby this voluntary communion was among the churches . the latter way doth more agree with the institution which afterwards was introduced by a humane authoritie . by this latter way the liberty of particular churches seem to be less diminished then by the former . but that which from the beginning was arbitrary afterwards is made necessary [ as a law . ] this law truly is positive and ecclesiasticall and humane , not divine . 't is by a divine law that the church of christ should be one , but the unity of it doth not consist in the union [ or collection ] of many that are of the same flock or body , but in the unanimous consent agreement in faith and doctrine . page 265.266 . in apparatu . fjnjs notes, typically marginal, from the original text notes for div a61133e-890 1 cor. 8.2 . if any man will do his will he shall know of the doctrine , joh. 7.17 . notes for div a61133e-3480 1 john 4.1 . 1 john 4.16 luke 10.18 . matth. 24.12 . 1 john 4.8 . 1 john 3.6 . john 13.1 . 1 cor. 1.12 , 13. prov. 6.28 . phil. 1.15 , 16 , 17 , 18. luke 22.58 , 60. gal. 2.12 , 13 , 14. see master bayly his dissuasive . acts 1.25 . 1 thess. 5.19 . prov. 28.1 . 1 tim. 2.2 . gal. 2.11 . act. 21.20 . 1 cor. 8.7 , 8 , 10. revel. 5.6 . revel. 18.1 . matth. 7.1 , 2. 1 cor. 9.20 . rom. 15.2 . 1 cor. 8.9 . rom. 14.17 . john 20 9. luke 24.26 . john 3.25 . acts 21.20 . matt. 11.1 , 2 , 5. mark 9.38 . luke 9.49 . acts 19.2 , 3. 1 thess. 5.20 . phil. 3.2 , 5 , 16. acts 15.3 , 4. 1 cor. 13.12 . col. 3.13 . 1 cor. 8.2 . revel. 17.17 . luke 28.18 . a matt. 18.15 . act. 15.19 , 28 , 31. and 16.4 . 1 tim. 4.14 . tit. 1.5 . 1 tim. 1.2 . tit. 1.6 . acts 13.1 . 1 cor. 12.17 . b acts 6.6 . 2 tim. 2.2 . 1 tim. 4.14 . eph. 4.11 , 12. heb. 13.17 . act. 20.28 , 29. revel. 2.14 , 20 a act. 15.21 , 25 , 29. 2 cor. 1.24 . 1 pet. 5.3 . 1 tim. 5.1 . matth. 20.25 . b acts 15.29 . joh. 16.13 . gal. 1.12 . acts 2.43 . c mark 10.42 . luke 22.25 . joh. 18.36 . d acts 1.15 . & 15.22 . & 14.23 . e 1 tim. 6.3 . matth. 15.9 . f acts 20.17 . and 15.4 . * {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} . g matth. 16.11 . and 13.3 . joh. 6.12 . h revel. 13.16 . matt. 7.14 , 15 , 16 , 17. joh. 10.1 , 5. acts 19.15 . i 1 cor. 14.23 . acts 6.3 . 1 cor. 1.2 . k joh. 3.5 . acts 2.31 . l gal. 3.7 . ephes. 2.15 . acts 3 22. a 1 pet. 2.5 . 1 cor. 1 2 , 9. col. 1 2. 2 cor. 6.16 , 17 act. 2.41 , 42. revel. 3 1 , 17. act. 9.26 . b matt. 18.15 , 16 , 17 , 18 20. matt. 16.18 , 19 c 1 cor. 12.28 . ephes. 4.11 . d act. 6.3 , 5. & 15.22 . 1 tim. 3.15 . e 1 cor. 7.14 . act. 2.39 . rom. 11.16 . f act. 2.42 . 1 tim. 3.15 . g 1 cor. 14.22 , 6 , 11 , 4. a matth. 28.18 . & 18.18 , 19. acts 14.21 , 22 , 23. b acts 15.6 . & 14.23 . 1 tim. 4.14 . acts 6.2 , 6. c acts 14.23 . 1 tim. 4.14 . d revel. 13.16 . joh. 10.1 , 5. matt. 7.14 , &c. e matth. 28.18 , 19. & 3.6 , 9. acts 8.37 . f 1 cor. 1 , 2. 1 pet. 2.5 . &c. joh. 3.6 . * 1 cor. 7.14 . g gal. 3.16 . rom. 4.16 . joh. 3.6 . h matth. 3.9 . i 1 cor. 10.1 , 2 , 3 , 4. k 1 cor. 10.1 , 2 , 3 , 4. 1 pet. 3.21 . l joh. 15.14 . acts 3.22 . m matth. 3 5 , 6. acts 2.41 . and 8.12 . & 10.48 . ephes. 5.26 . n rom. 4.11 . 1 cor. 14.22 . o act. 22.16 . p rom 4.11 . gen. 17.11 . q matth. 24.27 . r jam. 1.23 . ſ rom. 6.3 , 4. acts 22.16 . t acts 2.38 . rom. 6.3 , 4. gal. 3.27 . coloss. 2.12 . matt. 28.18 , 1● heb. 6.2 . mark 16.15 , 16. u ephes. 4.11 , 12. w 1 cor. 12.8 , 9 , 10. acts 2.38 . and 2.34 . x 1 cor. 12.10 , 29. & 14.29 . a heb. 12.22 . acts 10.48 . & 2.41 . & 16.32 , 33. b matth. 10.1 . compar'd with matth. 28.18 . joh. 4.1 . joh. 8.31 . isai. 1.16 . acts 9.10 . and 1.15 . c 1 cor. 12.5 . d act. 2.38 . & 10.48 . matth. 28.18 . mark 16.16 . act. 8.37 . e act. 1.15 . and 2.42 . f matth. 10.1 . compar'd with 1.28.18 . isai. 8.16 . acts 9.10 . g acts 2.41 , 42 and 16.31 . a acts 2.38 . & 10 48. and 19.5 . and 8.16 . rom. 6.3 . b acts 2.38 . & 10.48 . & 19.5 . & 8.16 . c acts 3.22 . joh. 15.14 . matth. 15.9 . revel. 22.10 . d matth. 20.22 , 23. and 3.11 . 1 cor. 12.13 . and 10.2 . e joel 2.28 . isai. 44.3 . with matth. 3.11 . acts 1.5 . joh. 1.33 . f act. 8.17 , 18 , and 10.44 . and 11.15 . g acts 2.38 . & 10.48 . & 19 5. and 8.16 . rom. 6.3 . h matth. 9.15 . revel. 22.19 . joh. 15.14 . i acts 3.22 . k matt. 18.20 . mark 13.6 . joh. 14.13 . acts 9.15.16 . joh. 17.6 , 11. acts 9.14 . l 1 joh. 7.7 . m joh. 1.26 . mark 1.4 . matth. 11.30 . acts 19.3 , 4. n mark 16.17 . acts 2.3 , 4. and 16 , 17. o joh. 1.25 . matth. 21.25 . heb. 5.4 . p acts 8.6 . q acts 9.17 . 1 cor. 12.29 , 30. ephes. 4.11 . matth. 39.6 . a joh. 1.25 . heb. 5.4 . matt. 10.1 , 5 , 8 ▪ mark 16.16 . b revel. 15.8 . 1 cor. 8.2 . c 1 cor. 12. d acts 1.4 . and 7.17 . gal. 4 4. m●rk 1.15 . revel. 15.8 . & 16. and 18.1 . acts ● 6 , ● . a matth. 10.1 . mark 16.16 . 1 cor. 12. b acts 8.6 . and 9.17 . c revel. 15.8 . and 18.1 . d acts 2.4 . mark 16.17 . acts 19.6 . 1 cor. 14.22 , 39. e revel. 22.1 . a matth. 28.20 . and 16.18 . b joh. 14.16 . c revel. 22.18 , 19. d heb. 7.22 . e joh. 20.29 , 30 , 31. f ephes. 5 . 1● . g joh. 8 . 1● . and 9 5. h revel. 22.5 . i joh. 20.29 , 30 , 31. k matt. 23.24 . l matth. 10.1 . compar'd with matth. 28.18 . joh. 8.31 . isa. 8.16 . acts 9.10 . m 2 cor. 3.6 , 8 , 9. rom. 1.16 . 2 tim. 3.16 , 17. heb. 4.12 . ● pet. 1.19 . phil. 13.16 . 1 cor. 8.2 . john 20. de divinis n●min . c. 2. iren. lib. 3. c. 1. tertullian . lib. contra hermogen . 1 cor. 2.28 . acts 1. & 1● . 1 joh. 4.1 . 1 thess. 5.21 . acts 4.20 . 1 cor· 2.9 . ephes. 2.19 , 20 , 21 . 22· 1 pet. 2.9 , &c. the beginning of this post-script witnesses to page 13. exception 4. the presbyterian and independent visible churches in new-england and else-where brought to the test, and examined according to the doctrin of holy scriptures ... : more particulary directed to those in new-england, and more generally to those in old england, scotland, ireland, &c. : with a call and warning from the lord to the people of boston and new-england, to repent, &c. : and two letters to the preachers in boston, and an answer to the gross abuses, lies and slanders of increase mather and nath. morton, &c. / by george keith. keith, george, 1639?-1716. 1691 approx. 384 kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from 120 1-bit group-iv tiff page images. text creation partnership, ann arbor, mi ; oxford (uk) : 2007-10 (eebo-tcp phase 1). a47164 wing k191 estc r21261 12179730 ocm 12179730 55597 this keyboarded and encoded edition of the 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(eebo-tcp ; phase 1, no. a47164) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set 55597) images scanned from microfilm: (early english books, 1641-1700 ; 892:27) the presbyterian and independent visible churches in new-england and else-where brought to the test, and examined according to the doctrin of holy scriptures ... : more particulary directed to those in new-england, and more generally to those in old england, scotland, ireland, &c. : with a call and warning from the lord to the people of boston and new-england, to repent, &c. : and two letters to the preachers in boston, and an answer to the gross abuses, lies and slanders of increase mather and nath. morton, &c. / by george keith. keith, george, 1639?-1716. [8], 230 p. printed bor thomas northcott ..., london : 1691. reproduction of original in union theological seminary library, new york. created by converting tcp files to tei p5 using tcp2tei.xsl, tei @ oxford. re-processed by university of nebraska-lincoln and northwestern, with changes to facilitate morpho-syntactic tagging. gap elements of known extent have been transformed into placeholder characters or elements to simplify the filling in of gaps by user contributors. eebo-tcp is a partnership between the universities of michigan and oxford and the publisher proquest to create accurately transcribed and encoded texts based on the image sets published by proquest via their early english books online (eebo) database (http://eebo.chadwyck.com). the general aim of eebo-tcp is to encode one copy (usually the first edition) of every monographic english-language title published between 1473 and 1700 available in eebo. eebo-tcp aimed to produce large quantities of textual data within the usual project restraints of time and funding, and therefore chose to create diplomatic transcriptions (as opposed to critical editions) with light-touch, mainly structural encoding based on the text encoding initiative (http://www.tei-c.org). the eebo-tcp project was divided into two phases. the 25,363 texts created during phase 1 of the project have been released into the public domain as of 1 january 2015. anyone can now take and use these texts for their own purposes, but we respectfully request that due credit and attribution is given to their original source. users should be aware of the process of creating the tcp texts, and therefore of any assumptions that can be made about the data. text selection was based on the new cambridge bibliography of english literature (ncbel). if an author (or for an anonymous work, the title) appears in ncbel, then their works are eligible for inclusion. selection was intended to range over a wide variety of subject areas, to reflect the true nature of the print record of the period. in general, first editions of a works in english were prioritized, although there are a number of works in other languages, notably latin and welsh, included and sometimes a second or later edition of a work was chosen if there was a compelling reason to do so. image sets were sent to external keying companies for transcription and basic encoding. quality assurance was then carried out by editorial teams in oxford and michigan. 5% (or 5 pages, whichever is the greater) of each text was proofread for accuracy and those which did not meet qa standards were returned to the keyers to be redone. after proofreading, the encoding was enhanced and/or corrected and characters marked as illegible were corrected where possible up to a limit of 100 instances per text. any remaining illegibles were encoded as <gap>s. understanding these processes should make clear that, while the overall quality of tcp data is very good, some errors will remain and some readable characters will be marked as illegible. users should bear in mind that in all likelihood such instances will never have been looked at by a tcp editor. the texts were encoded and linked to page images in accordance with level 4 of the tei in libraries guidelines. copies of the texts have been issued variously as sgml (tcp schema; ascii text with mnemonic sdata character entities); displayable xml (tcp schema; characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or text strings within braces); or lossless xml (tei p5, characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or tei g elements). keying and markup guidelines are available at the text creation partnership web site . eng mather, increase, 1639-1723. -remarkable providences illustrative of the earlier days of american colonisation. morton, nathaniel, 1613-1685. -new-englands memoriall. presbyterian church -controversial literature. society of friends -controversial literature. congregational churches -controversial literature. 2005-05 tcp assigned for keying and markup 2005-12 spi global keyed and coded from proquest page images 2006-12 ali jakobson sampled and proofread 2006-12 ali jakobson text and markup reviewed and edited 2007-02 pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion rev. 2.2 . thou hast tryed them , which say , they are apostles , and are not , and hast found them liars . rev. 3.9 . behold , i will make them of the synagogue of satan , ( which say , they are jews , and are not , but do lie ; ) behold , i will make them to come and worship before thy feet , and to know , that i have loved thee . rev. 18.4 , 5 , 6. and i heard another voice from heaven , saying , come out of her my people , that ye be not partakers of her sins , and that ye receive not of her plagues ; for her sins have reached unto heaven , and god hath remembred her iniquities . reward her , even as she rewarded you , and double unto her double , according to her works ; in the cup which she hath filled , fill to her double . the presbyterian and independent visible churches in new-england and else-where , brought to the test , and examined according to the doctrin of the holy scriptures , in their doctrin , ministry , worship , constitution , government , sacraments , and sabbath day . more particulary directed to those in new-england , and more generally to those in old-england , scotland , ireland , &c. with a call and warning from the lord to the people of boston and new-england , to repent ; &c. and two letters to the preachers in boston ; and an answer to the gross abuses , lies and slanders of increase mather and nath. morton , &c. by george keith . london : printed for thomas northcott , in george-yard in lombard-street , 1691. a friendly epistle to these people called presbyterians and independents . friends , in true love and good will i have writ the following treatise unto you , hoping it may find entertainment with some among you , to give it the reading , and seriously to consider what you read ; and my earnest exhortation and advice is unto you , that in all your reading , whether in this or any other book , ye turn your minds to that light of christ within you , wherewith he hath enlightned you , and all men , as the holy scriptures declare ; and that ye may believe in christ , the light , and life , in you , who is the wisdom and power of god , and who was in all the holy prophets and apostles , and whose spirit that was in them that gave forth the holy scriptures , both of the old and new testament ; and the same spirit only doth , and only can give to all readers of the holy scripture , a true and right understanding of them , and of all other books , that treat of doctrins and matters of religion , whether they have proceeded from a measure of the same holy spirit : and if ye believe in christ the light , the life , the wisdom and power of god in you , and joyn your minds to his inward divine illumination , he will anoynt the eyes of your understanding , with his spiritual eye-salve , and then your eyes shall be opened to see and understand what ye read ; and through your faith in him he will also open and circumcise your inward ears , and cause you still more and more to be acquainted with his living voice and words in you , all which are spirit and life ; and this will give you a spiritual savour and taste , whereby ye shall be able to try and judge of things that differ , whether men , or books , whether spirits , or doctrins , what are of god , and what are not of him ; for although the scriptures are the best outward test or touchstone , or rule whereby to try all doctrins of men , or books , yet it is the holy spirit of christ , and his light inwardly shining and enlightning the dark hearts and vnderstandings of men , that gives them ability rightly to understand the scriptures , otherwise the scriptures are as a sealed book , both to the learned and unlearned : for though the jews had the scriptures of the old testament , which prophecied of christ , and of the time and manner of his coming , and how he was to suffer death for the sins of men , and to rise again and ascend into glory , yet none of them had that understanding , but such only as were turned to his divine illumination in their hearts , and were acquainted with his holy spirit , light and life in them . and the like grave and wholsom advice i recommend unto you , which a certain ancient christian gave unto justin martyr , before his conversion to the christian faith , to wit , that he should diligently read and search the holy scriptures , which should give him more content than all heathen authors ; but withal , that he should mind the gate , the light , by which only he could enter into the true understanding and knowledge of them . the which passage the said justin relateth in his works , and john fox hath it also in his martyrology taken out of him . and though in this treatise i have affirmed and sufficiently demonstrated , that your visible churches are no true churches of christ , yet i do not say nor conclude , that none of you belong to christs true church in any true regard : but on the contrary , i have that true charity , faith and hope concerning a remnant among you , who have in the least measure true hungerings and thirstings after righteousness , and a great inward longing and panting of heart and soul after the lord jesus christ , to know him and enjoy him , more nearly than by all hear-say or report of him , and whose souls are sick of love for him , and feel your need and want of him , as the sick that need the physician , that ye do indeed , even all such of you , belong to christ , and are the real members of his body , which is his church ; for where any living desire is after christ , and where any true sense or feeling of the want and great need of him is raised in any soul , there is somewhat of the life of christ in that soul , and there is christ himself present , who hath begot it , and that soul is in some measure a living member of christ , and to such it will be glad tidings , to hear that christ is so near unto it , as really to be within it , even really and livingly present ; and where the least true measure of sincerity , tenderness , meekness , gentleness , humility , uprightness of heart and soul hath place in any , there is christ present in that soul , who hath already begun his good work in the same , and the beginning of his work is to quicken and make alive the soul unto him . and every soul that is thus quickned and made alive unto him , as it doth hold fast this beginning , and doth continue still hungering and thirsting after him , to know , and enjoy , and receive of his fulness more plentifully , doth really belong to him , and is in a state of salvation e'en so far ; and as it here abideth , it is impossible that it can perish . but yet tho such belong to christ , and to his church , it doth not follow , that the visible church , which they are outwardly , and by some outward form or practice joyned unto , is the true church of christ ; for they themselves distinguish of the church visible and invisible , and do affirm , that hypocrites are members of their visible church , but that only the true saints and children of god , belong to the invisible church . and again , tho such who have true desires , and true living breathings raised in them after the lord , may be said , as such , to belong to him , and be of his sheep , yet they are still but as scattered and driven from the true fold , and as wandering , for most part , upon the barren mountains , and the dry and desolate hills , seeking the living among the dead , until they come to be gathered into the true and living way of god , and of christ , so as to know , and be acquainted with the lord , and his inward leadings , rule and government in them , and to be able to distinguish his voice , and inward appearance in them , from that of a stranger , and to worship him in spirit and in truth , and serve him in the newness of the spirit , and in pure holy fear and love , as sons and children in his house : and this state ye are generally strangers unto , and therefore tho some of you may be allowed in true charity , to be the sheep of christ , yet ye are but scattered until ye are returned unto christ , the shepherd and bishop of your souls , and know him revealed in you , to lead , rule and guide you , and feed you with the living bread , and give you the living water to drink , which he himself is , inwardly revealed , and that ye be turned away from all false teachers and shepherds , which is the earnest breathing and cry of my soul unto god for you . g.k. heads or principles of christian doctrin . chap. i. concerning the holy scriptures . 1. the holy scriptures of the old and new testament being generally and worthily acknowledged by all christians , to be writ by divine inspiration , without any mixture of error , are a sufficient outward rule and standard , whereby to examin and try all doctrins of men . 2. they contain a full and intire declaration of all christian doctrin ; and therefore whatever doctrins or principles of christian religion men presume to teach , which they cannot prove and demonstrate from the holy scriptures , they lay no obligation upon any to believe them . 3. the scriptures are only sufficiently and savingly believed and understood by the inward illumination and revelation of the holy spirit , which is the same in kind to that which god gave to the saints of old. 4. although they contain a full and sufficient declaration of all christian doctrin , yet they do not contain the whole mind , will and counsel of god , as some say they do . because there are many things , wherein god doth reveal of his counsel to his children , which are not in scripture either expresly , or consequentially , altogether necessary to their peace and comfort ; as to instance in some particulars : first , it is a part of the counsel of god , for a christian to know his inward calling , and whether he be indeed one of god's called and chosen ones ; whether in favour with god , and justified and sanctified ? and though the scripture doth give infallible signs and marks of such an estate , yet no scripture , nor scripture-consequence can infallibly assure any man that he hath these marks ; but it is the spirit of god that only can and doth give them this assurance , rom. 8.16 . 2 dly , all true preachers and ministers of christ ought to know the mind and will of god , whether they be called of god to the work of the ministry , which call is an inward call , that is altogether necessary to their faithful discharge of so great a work ; but this they cannot know simply by the scripture . 3 dly , every true christian should know his inward call , to pray , or give thanks , or perform any religious duty or service unto god , as david said , when thou said'st , seek my face ; my heart answered , thy face , o lord i will seek ; hide not thy face from me , psal . 27.8 . again , 4 thly , it is commonly granted , that it is a duty belonging to every christian , to enquire the mind and counsel of god in every weighty matter and concern of our life ; as if we be visited with any great affliction inward or outward , to enquire with job , shew me , o lord , why thou contendest with me . and as rebecca , when the twins strugled in her womb , enquired at the lord , and said , why am i thus ? and the lord answered her . also in the case of marriage , every true christian man and woman , ought to enquire and wait for god's counsel , with whom to be joyned in marriage , that they may know indeed the lord's joyning of them , and that they marry in the lord : but this cannot be known by any scripture , or consequence from scripture , but the spirit of the lord must reveal it , even the same that led abraham's servant to take a wise to his son isaac . and every christian should know the will and counsel of god in his outward vocation , that it is of god , and so abide therein , as the scripture saith , let every man abide in the calling wherein he is called of god. and as the servants of god in days past , in traveling and sojourning from place to place , received the counsel of god , so do these now that wait for it in uprightness of heart , as really as holy men did of old ; and as philip received the word of god , which he could not find in the scripture , either expresly or consequentially , when the spirit said unto him , joyn thy self to this chariot , when he was sent to preach christ to the eunuch ; and as peter was sent to cornelius , and ananias to saul , and many other the like instances ; and as james declareth , men ought not to be rash or hasty to say , to day , or to morrow we will go into such a city , &c. for that ye ought to say , if the lord will , james 4.13 , 15. now how can a man know what the lord willeth in such a case , unless it be given him by the spirit of the lord inwardly , to feel either a command or permission to do such a thing ? for whereas too many make the outward passages of providence their rule , as to say , if sickness , or some outward impediment hinder not ; they constitute that to be the will of god : and whereas many remove from one place to another , and divine providence doth not hinder them , and yet in that removal they have not had god's approbation , and it hath not had a blessing to follow it , but on the contrary ; for leaving their place , they have been exposed to sad temptations , and have fallen under them . and lastly , there are many precious living soliloquies and intercourses betwixt the lord and the souls of his dear children , while he answers the returns of their prayers in living testimonies , and words of his holy spirit ; which though they are agreeable to scripture , yet are not express scripture words , but are the real words and dictates of the holy ghost , speaking peace and consolation to them , beyond all utterance or demonstration of speech , and wonderfully quickning and strengthning them in the inward man , as we find in the psalms , and in the song of solomon , and other places of holy scripture ; for by the living word of god , as they come freshly and newly , or immediately from the mouth or spirit of god , the souls of god's children are quickned and kept alive , as christ said , the words that he did speak unto his disciples were spirit and life ; and man liveth not by bread alone , but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of god. and david waited for the coming of the word of god to quicken him , to wit , that god might speak unto him ; and he said , i will hear what the lord will speak , for he will speak peace to his saints , and to his people . so here is god's promise to all his saints and people to speak peace unto them ; and as he promised to his israel in hosea , chap. 14. i will allure or perswade her , and bring her into the wilderness , or a solitary place , and there i will speak comfortably unto her , or ( as the hebrew hath it ) i will speak to her heart . and this is an inward speech : and the scripture promises , when god is pleased by his spirit to apply them to the souls of his children , is as real and proper an inward voice and speaking of god unto them , as he spoke to the prophets of old . 5. and therefore the scripture doth not contain either all the word , or words of god , as some say , but many thousands of words of god have been livingly spoke and utter'd by the spirit of god , to the inward ears of his dear children , since the writing of the scripture , and daily are and will be to the end of the world. and as it was said in the apostles days , the word of the lord grew and multiplied , acts 12.24 and 19 , 20. so ever since the apostles and writing of the scriptures , the word of god hath grown and multiplied , and still shall and must to the end of the world ; and yet no new doctrin or gospel to be preached , but the same which the prophets , and christ and the apostles have already preached . 6. and as christ and the apostles expounded the scriptures of the old testament by divine inspiration and revelation of the same spirit ; without propounding any new doctrin or object of faith unto people ; so why may it not be so now ? yea , it is so , that some at this day by the same spirit , do expound and open places of scripture both of the old and new testament , and yet bring no new doctrin : and it is a far better way to have such preachers and expounders , who open and expound the scriptures by the inspiration and revelation of the holy spirit , as the apostles did , than for men to presume to open and expound them without all new revelation or inspiration , and who plainly confess , they neither preach nor write by any infallible spirit . and such mens exposition , who declare they have no infallible spirit , can neither be the word or words of god , which are infallible , but only the fallible word and words of man , and human imaginations . 7. and as for the term [ word ] the greek of it being 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i find it variously used and translated in the new testament , as first , to signifie christ , joh. 1.1 . 2dly , to signifie treatise , acts 1.1 . 3dly , communication , mat. 3.7 . 4thly , vtterance , 1 cor. 1.5 . & 2 cor. 8.7 . & ephes . 6.19 . & col. 4.3 . 5thly , word of talk or discourse , 1 thes . 1.5 . 6thly , reason , 2 pet. 3.15 . & acts 18.14 . 7thly , preaching or doctrin , 1 cor. 1.18 . 8thly , account or business , as to have to do , heb. 4.13 . and 9thly , the hebrew word in the old testament is translated , order , psal . 110.4 . 10thly , matter , psal . 45.1 . 11thly , speech , psal . 19.2 . and 12thly , the same greek word is used by paul to signifie , the empty and dead preaching of false teachers , 1 cor. 4.19 . and therefore whether the scriptures may be called or are called the word in scripture , rarely or improperly , is not the proper state of the question ; for it cannot be denyed , and is not denyed , but that rarely and improperly , the word is used to signifie scripture or scripture words , either written or spoken ; and sometimes the words of evil men are rendred by the same greek word in scripture , as ephes . 4.29 . and 2 tim. 2. ●7 . but the true state of the question is , wheth●r first , the scripture doth contain all the word or words of god ? and this i justly deny , for the reasons already given ; and indeed as the word and words of god are compared in scripture ( deut. 32.2 . ) to the dew and rain that falleth upon the dry ground to refresh it , and make it fruitful ) and the drops of the dew and rain are so many that they cannot be numbred ) which god hath been pleased to speak to the souls of his people , and still doth , so nor can the words of god be numbred by men ; and therefore they are of a greater extent than all these set down in scripture , which may be numbred ; and also they are compared in scripture to bread that is eaten , as jeremiah said , cap. 15.16 . thy words were found , and i did eat them ; and as none can number the small grains of flower that make up a cake of loaf of bread , so none can number the words of god. secondly , whether the scriptures only , as they are outwardly written , or spoken by the mouths of natural men , or heard by the outward ears , or conceived only by the bare natural thoughts and understanding , be properly , and without all figure , the word or words of god ? i say , nay ; for the words of god are spiritual , and of an inward nature , as god himself is ; for the words of god are first , and properly , spoke to the mind and spirit of man , and the outward words , whether spoke or writ , are but the signs of them , as all outward words are but the signs of the inward thoughts of the mind , which are the words of the mind or heart of man within it self . thirdly , vvhether he who only talketh scripture words , and hath not the true sense of them , doth truly and properly speak the vvord of god ? and whether he that only heareth them from man , and hath not received the true sense of them , hath properly heard the vvord of god ? i say , nay ; for it is not the bare letter , without the sense , that is the word of god properly understood . nevertheless , the letter of the scripture in a figurative sense may be called the vvord , as the map of england is called england , moses his books are called moses , and isaiah his book is called his vision , and john his book is called his revelation . chap. ii. concerning new divine revelations and inspirations . 1. the places of scripture , which they commonly bring against all new divine revelations and inspirations of the spirit of god , prove no such thing , as will easily appear to any that are impartial and unbyassed in their understanding , if they will but read and consider them , which places are these following , as they are alledged and quoted by them called the assembly of divines at vvestminster , in their confession of faith , cap. 1. sect . 1. prov. 22.19 , 20 , 21. isa . 8.9 , 10. which places , if they prove now , that all new revelation is ceased , they do as much prove , that it ceased in the days of christ and the apostles , yea , in the days of the prophets that did succed them . is it not admirable blindness that these men did not see how impertinent these citations are ? and as for all the places of the new testament cited by them , as luke 3.4 . rom. 15.4 . mat. 4.4 , 7 , 10. 2 tim. 3.15 . heb. 1.1 , 2. 2 pet. 1.19 . they do no more prove what these intend than the former ; for by their own confession , divine revelation and inspiration continued after all these places of scripture were writ , for divers intire books of scripture were writ after them here alledged : and if they say , that all new revelation did cease , as soon as all these books of scripture were in being , then they must also affirm , that all new revelation did cease to divers of the apostles , long before they deceased , because divers of them , and particularly john survived after he wrote his book of the revelation . 2. it is most readily granted , that god in his infinite wisdom and goodness was pleased , that there should be oracles and testimonies of his truth and gospel committed to writing , according to which the doctrins and words of men , however so holy , that should come in after ages , should be tryed and examined ; for the spirits of the prophets are subject to the prophets ; but this doth not prove in any wise , all ceasing of prophecy , or divine revelation , or inspiration by the same spirit . the apostles doctrin and preaching was tried by the noble bereans , whether it was according to the scriptures of the old testament ; but it doth not therefore follow , that the apostle paul did not preach by divine revelation and inspiration . and both christ and the apostles proved their doctrin generally out of the scriptures of the prophets ; but that doth not argue that they did not preach by new divine revelation . 3. but for the further clearing of the matter , we are to distinguish betwixt new revelation of new doctrin , and new revelation of ancient doctrin . the apostles had a new revelation , yet not of any new doctrin , but the very same that christ and the prophets preached before them , and all agreed in the same doctrin for substance , and yet had their own peculiar visions and revelations , which were new to them , to wit , new , though not in kind or specie , yet in particular or individual unto them . and so it is , as to us , we plead not for any new revelation of any new doctrin , faith or gospel , differing from what christ , and the prophets , and apostles have taught before us , and is largely and fully declared in the holy scriptures ; but for a new revelation of the same doctrin , faith and gospel which was revealed unto them : for as the faith of the prophets and apostles is not enough to us , but we must also have the like precious faith with them , 1 john 1.2 . and we must see with our spiritual eyes , and hear with our spiritual ears , and handle with our spiritual handling the word of life , as they did , so it must be newly revealed to us , and in us . 4. and if all new divine revelation and inspiration be ceased , then all spiritual seeing and hearing is ceased , and neither god nor christ is , or hath been heard or seen spiritually , as the saints did see and hear formerly , nay , not in the least degree , and all inward spiritual sensation and feeling is gone , and all use or exercise of spiritual series , which is sad tidings to poor souls . but if any grant that there is any true and real spiritual hearing , seeing , tasting , and other spiritual sensations of god , and divine things , they must also grant true divine revalation the same in kind and nature with what the saints had of old ; for what is the proper object of the inward hearing , and seeing , and tasting , and feeling ; is it not god and christ ? as david invited others saying , o taste and see that god is good . and as the spouse said in the song , i sate down under his shadow with great delight , and his fruit was sweet unto my taste ; his , left-hand is under my head , and his right hand doth embrace me ; he hath brought me to his banqueting house , &c. and again , the king hath brought me into his wine-cellar . and can these sweet and heavenly experiences be witnessed without divine revelation , or inspiration ? and whereas some say , it is revelation by the word and spirit going along together , but not by the spirit alone without the word . i answer , granting it to be so in a true sense ; for the prophets and apostles had both the word and the spirit going along together in their divine revelations , according to isa . 50.21 . and that did not hinder them to be real and proper in their kind . but that god hath limited and confined himself so , as never to give any inward enjoynment of himself to the souls of his dear children , by any inward sense , sight or hearing , but what is conveyed unto them always by means of scripture words , is a most extravagant presumption to affirm , without all scripture proof ; for besides that , the soul may hear god speaking other words to it inwardly , than express scripture words , though not contrary or disagreeing ; it oft falls out , that the inward and spiritual seeing , tasting and feeling may be enjoyed and witnessed , without all words composed of letters or syllables , even in a deep inward stillness and quietness , according to these words , be still , and know that i am god. and as the outward seeing , tasting , smelling and feeling may be used without the present use of the outward hearing , so may the inward and spiritual seeing , tasting , smelling and feeling be used at times and seasons , without the inward and spiritual hearing of any words formally composed of letters and syllables , or scripture words , or so much as inwardly thought or conceived , which men of spiritual experience , who have their spiritual senses cannot but readily grant . we find by common experience , that words fall short to give us a sufficient and satisfactory knowledge of outward and natural things ; and therefore we desire rather to see , taste and handle them , than to hear the best or most true report of them . we love rather to see a pleasant country , than to hear of it only ; and every good child loveth to see his parents , rather than to hear a report , or talk of them ; so every loving wife loveth rather to see her husband , and hear himself , and be imbraced by him , than to hear others tell of him : and the loving subject is more glad to see his prince , or king , of whom he hath received so many favours , and to hear himself , than to hear others tell of him ; and thus it is with every soul , that truly loveth god , they much rather desire to hear himself , and see him , than to hear others tell of him , as one well said , it is little to see christ in a book , but to see him , and hear him , and feel his most lovely embraces , as his children have witnessed , that is very precious . it is not the report , or discourse of bread , however so true and large , that can satisfie an hungry man , or the report of good drink that can satisfie a thirsty man ; but to taste and eat of bread , that only satisfieth him that is hungry , and to taste and drink of water , beer , wine , or any other refreshing liquor , only satisfieth the thirsty man : and so to eat of christ , and feed upon him who is the soul 's proper food and nourishment , doth , and only can satisfie and content the hungry soul , as christ said , john 6.57 . he that eateth me , shall live by me . and christ is not only the soul's meat , but its drink also ; and therefore david said , as the hart panteth after the water-brook , so panteth my soul after thee , o god ; my soul thirsteth for god , for the living god , psal . 42.1 , 2. and surely , this so near and inward enjoyment of god and christ cannot be without an inward and intimate , or immediate revelation of him . and if words fall short to give to men a sufficient and satisfactory knowledg of natural and outward things , how much more then to give a sufficient and satisfactory knowledg of god and chirst , and divine things , as his love , his life , his peace , and that inward comfort and consolation that is in his presence ? for the scripture saith , 1 cor. 2.9 , 10. ear hath not heard , nor eye hath not seen , nor hath the heart of man conceived the good things that god hath prepared for them that love him , and wait for him : where we see all words fall short to discover these things ; but god hath revealed them to us ( said paul ) by his spirit . and this god did promise as a general priviledg to all his people , of all nations , even to bring them to his holy mountain , and to destroy the face of the covering spread over them , and make unto them a feast of fat things , full of marrow , and of wines upon the lees well refined : and what is this but the enjoyment of himself , seen and tasted by them ? and do not all true believers eat the same spiritual bread , and drink the same spiritual drink , the rock that followed israel of old ? which rock was christ ? and surely this is beyond all words or declaration , and according to this the joy of god's people is called a joy unspeakable , even such as words cannot express ; and the peace of god is said to pass vnderstanding , and the love of christ , that it passeth knowledg , because no words , either spoken or conceived by men , can give the knowledg of these so great and divine and profound mysteries , but only the spirit of god , that searcheth the deep things of god , can discover them . again , we find by common experience , that all outward teaching of men , presuppose certain principles of knowledg of natural things , which they profess to teach , which principles are partly known ( without men's teaching ) by the outward sense of them , and partly by inward notions of knowledg , innate in the minds of men ; and therefore it were altogether in vain , for a master of architecture or navigation , to teach a man these arts , who is altogether blind , and senseless , and stupid , and hath not any inward clearness of his natural judgment ; and even so it is , as to spiritural and divine things , all outward teaching of them doth pre-suppose some principles of knowledg of these very things , and some inward divine and spiritual sense of them , or at least some inward ground and capacity , whereby that divine sense may be excited in them . and therefore when paul preached to the athenians , that professed themselves ignorant of god , he preached him , acts 17.16 , 27 , 28. near unto them , yea , so near , as the stock or root of a tree is unto the bud or off-spring that groweth upon it ; and this he proved from some of their own poets , who said of men , that they are god's off-spring ; and he told them plainly the way to seek him , and find him , was by feeling him ; so that he joyneth these three together , to wit , seeking , feeling and finding ; for as a man in a dark room , or having his eyes shut , being perswaded that the thing he desireth to have , is at hand , or near to him , doth grope , and feel after it , and by feeling , doth within a little time find it ; even thus did paul teach these ignorant athenians how they might find god , and how all men , however so ignorant , have a time or opportunity given them to find him , god having determined the times before-appointed , and bounds of habitation , wherein they may find him : and so from this inward ground , or principle of knowledg in these athenians , which they had before paul preached unto them , as a wise master-builder or teacher , he proceedeth to preach christ , and the resurrection , and eternal judgment unto them , as a good master or teacher of natural science beginneth with the first principles of knowledg , not to teach them , but presupposing them , and only calling the minds of the scholars to remember , or take notice of them , and then from these principles he proceedeth to teach them the mysteries of the science . 5. but whereas many who deny all new revelations of the spirit , yet grant the necessity of the inward illumination of the spirit of god , to give the saving knowledg and vnderstanding of god and divine things , as these who gave forth the westminster confession of faith , being an assembly made up of presbyterian and independent teachers , met at vvestminster about forty years ago ; see cap. 1. sect. ● . surely , if these men had been rightly acquainted with the inward illumination of the spirit of god , they would never have writ or given forth such non-sense and contradiction in the face of the world , as to grant the necessity of inward illumination , and at the same time , yea , in the same section or paragraph , and within a line or two , to deny all new revelation ; for indeed inward illumination is revelation , and inward revelation is illumination , the thing is one , though the names be distinct , as oft the same thing is expressed by variety of names ; and the places of scripture they bring to prove , the necessity of the inward illumination of the spirit , do prove the inward revelation of the spirit , both which are one , as john 6.45 . and 1 cor. 2.9 , 10 , 11 , 12. it is written in the prophets , they shall all be taught of god ; every man therefore that hath heard and learned of the father , cometh unto me . and that other place in 1 corinth . 2.9 , 10 , 11 , 12. as it is written , eye hath not seen , nor ear heard , neither have entred into the heart of man , the things which god hath prepared for them that love him : but god hath revealed them to us by his spirit ; for the spirit searcheth all things , even the deep things of god. for what man knoweth the things of a man , save the spirit of a man which is in him ? even so the things of god knoweth no man , but the spirit of god. now we have received not the spirit of the vvorld , but the spirit which is of god , whereby we know the things that are freely given us of god. there cannot be brought out of the whole scripture more suitable places , to prove the necessity of divine revelation than these are , the one plainly implying it , the other plainly expressing it . for to be taught of god , to hear and learn of the father , as the prophets and apostles did , what is it , but to be taught by divine inward revelation ? or if they will say nay , then the prophets and apostles were not taught of god , by the same argument . and whereas they bring paul's words , saying , god hath revealed them to us , to wit , these deep things of god , to prove the inward illumination of the spirit of god to all saints , as well as to paul ; the same proveth divine revelation , as it is expresly so called by paul in this very place ; for they must needs grant , that the divine illumination which paul had , was revelation , properly so called , and what he had he holdeth it forth , as common in kind to all saints and believers . and as for the word revelation , as signifying an inward operation of the holy spirit in the heart and understanding , we find it to be a phrase more frequently used in scripture , than the word illumination , or illuminated , or enlightned , or to enlighten ; yea , i find the word illuminated out once used in all the english translation of the whole bible , but revelation frequently is used in our english translation , and reveal , revealed ; see isa . 40.5 . and 53.1 . and 56.1 . jer. 33.6 . mat. 11.27 , 25. luke 10.21 , 22. rom. 8.18 . 1 cor. 2 10. gal. 1.16.3.23 . phil. 3.15 . ephes . 1.17 . beside many other places . so that it is very strange , why these faith-makers at westminster should have such a grudge and prejudice at all new revelation , a word so frequently used in scripture , and yet pretend so great kindness to new inward illumination , which is the same ; for it passeth their skill , or any man 's else , to divide or separate the one from the other . 6. but the great knack , nicety or mystery of this distinction lieth in this , that inward illumination is only revelation , subjective or effective ; and in that sense , some of that sort of men , say , they own the necessity of inward revelation , and hold it to be all one with illumination . but they deny all inward objective illumination , or revelation , that is to say , any inward revelation of any inward object , inwardly proposed to the eye or ear , or other inward spiritual sense and faculty of the soul , the alone object of the souls whole kowledge , faith , fruition , enjoyment of god , and communion with him , being the scriptures , or god , christ and divine things not in themselves seen , or enjoyed , but as they are to be seen and known , or revealed in the words of scripture : hence they who use this distinction , say , the inward light , or illumination of the spirit , being only effective , or subjective , but not objective , i● medium incognitum assentiendi , or principium incognitum cognoscendi , that is to say , an unknown principle , or mean of knowing and assenting , which may be illustrated by this similitude , that there is an inward vigour of life , and natural spirits , that are necessary to enable the outward eye to see outward things and objects ; but that inward vigor of natural life and spirits , is not the object of the eye , nor seen by it ; or otherwise some may , or do understand by subjective inward revelation , or revelation on the part of the subject , the soul 's inward knowledge , or perception , as in the outward sight of things of this world there is the vision of the eye , or its sight and perception , and the object seen , and perceived by the eye : also , in hearing , there is the hearing , or perception of the ear , and the thing heard , be it voice , or sound of man , beast or bird , or musical instrument . and thus , according unto these mens doctrin , the alone adequate formal object of all faith , knowledge , fruition , enjoyment , sight and sense of the souls of the most excellent saints , either now living , or that have lived in all ages past since the apostles lived , is the scripture-words . but this is all meerly begged , and taken for granted , without all proof , and altogether contradictory to the experience of all the true saints of god , who have an inward sight , knowledge and enjoyment of god , far surpassing all words or writings ; and thus , according to these mens doctrin , all the knowledge or sight that the saints have of god in this life , is but as one that seeth england in a map : but never saw the land it self ; or as an hungry man , heareth and readeth good words of meat , but neither seeth , nor tasteth it ; and as a woman heareth of a husband she is married unto , or seeth his picture on a table , or on paper , or readeth a book that describeth his beauty and personage , but is never admitted to see him , or hear himself , nor to touch , handle or embrace him ; all which are sad tydings to souls that love god and christ ; but the best is , they are utterly false , and the experience of the saints abundantly prove them to be false ; and such dark ignorant blind doctrin , proveth sufficiently what dark ignorant blind men these have been , or are , who have published their own shame and folly to the face of the world , and as blind and ignorant are these teachers , who have since received and published the same blind doctrin . but if the inward light , or illumination be altogether an unknown principle to him that hath it , having no evidence , or light , or demonstration of its own , whereby to discover it , how shall any man be sure , or know surely that he hath any inward divine light or illumination ; for no scripture can tell him that he hath it , or that he hath the works of one that is divinely illuminated . one would think the bear naming , or mentioning such doctrin , is enough to refute it , as to say , god and christ is , and can only be known by words , or report and hear-say , whereas the scripture saith , ear hath not heard , nor eye seen , what these things are , which god hath prepared for his children : and yet all scripture words the ear doth hear , and the eye doth see , 7. but to come to the conclusion of the matter , it is to be noticed , or considred that there is a doctrinal and sensible knowledge of god , or discursive and intuitive ; as for the doctrinal and discursive knowledge of god , it is granted , that it cannot be without words , either of scripture , or some other words given by the same spirit ; and also it is granted , that scripture words , in god's ordinary way , are necessary to give to men the said doctrinal knowledge of god and christ , and many deep and mysterious things of the christian faith and religion ; but this doth not prove the ceasing of new divine revelation , but rather indeed establisheth it ; for the prophets and apostles , who had divine revelation , were profited , taught and edified by their fellow-prophets and apostles ; and especially the latter prophets , were much helped by the words and writings of the fore-going prophets , as daniel confessed , he understood by books , to wit , by jeremiah his prophecy , the number of the years of the captivity , dan. 9.2 . and christ opened the understanding of the apostles , to understand the scriptures of the old testament , what they did declare of him ; and paul freely confesseth , that the scriptures of the prophets were writ for his learning , as well as of other men , and yet he had great plenty of divine revelation , beyond what many of them had ; and david said , he had more knowledge than his teachers , and yet no doubt profited by them , and especially by the prophet samuel , and others that lived with him , and before him . next , as to the sensible and intuitive knowledge of god , it can be , and oft is without all words , either outwardly heard , or inwardly conceived , i mean words consisting of letters or syllables , such as are not the things , but signs of things , even as we have a sensible and intuitive knowledge of a land , by seeing it , and eating the fruit of it , and drinking the good wine or milk of it , tho' we are not hearing or reading of it , nor thinking of any words that ever we read or heard of it . and so , often the souls of god's people enjoy a sweet sight , taste , and repast of him in a deep inward quiet and stillness of mind , having no words of any sort , that can be expressed in letters or syllables , so much as in their present thoughts or remembrance ; and this is the most excellent degree of knowledge , and as far excelleth and transcendeth the other sort , as the sight taste and feeling of a thing doth the report or hear-say of it . it is also acknowledged , that oft it pleaseth god , to joyn of his life to scripture words , as promises , prophecies , or any others , as we hear , read , or meditate on them , and make them as conduits , pipes or cisterns , or as cups and flaggons , to convey the divine influences of his life , and living spirit of life , and love to our souls , but then they hinder not our revelation , to be real , and true , and proper revelation , as well objective , as subjective ; for as in drinking of outward wine in a glass , or cup , we not only see the glass or cup , that revealeth the wine , but also the wine it self , and the wine is the most desirable , and pleasant and acceptable object of both our sight and taste , and feeling , so that we regard the glass or cup little or nothing for it self , but for its use and service to us ; and if there be no wine , or other refreshing liquor in the cup , we care not to use it , it hath no taste unto us , nor service , but as the wine is in it : and thus it is with the living soul , that thirsts after the living god , and to drink of his spirit , that quickens and refresheth the soul , when it seeth or perceiveth any divine vertue or life ( as god is pleased , when , how , or by whom to joyn of the same to it ) in scripture words , either preached , read , or meditated , it is very glad , and most gladly maketh use of them , and giveth god thanks for his great mercy ; but without life be joyned unto them , it is no more wisdom , nor discretion to use them , than for a man to put an empty flaggon or cup to his mouth to drink at it . 8. but if they say , there is no sensible or intuitive knowledge of god in this life , at least since the apostles days ; as indeed it is most , yea , altogether most agreeable to their doctrin , who say , all new revelation of the spirit is ceased ; then i say unto them , they are miserable comforters , yea , miserable and sad gospellers to poor sion ; they bring not glad , but sad tydings ; they cannot say , behold , o sion , thy king cometh unto thee ; they cannot say , taste , and see that god is good ; they cannot say , the life was manifested , and we have seen it , and declare it unto you , that ye may have fellowship with us ; they cannot declare the great kindness and love that christ the soul's husband and bridegroom hath to his bride , but rather , their doctrin preacheth him to be most unkind , and unnatural , never to let his bride see him once all her life , here in this world , nor yet once to hear himself , or taste , or touch , or handle him , or be embraced by him . they preach altogether an absent christ , as some of them say , christ is not really and properly in his people , or if present , a christ altogether either dumb or silent , that being so near to the soul , as to be in it , never speaketh one word in it , and always hideth his face , and never giveth to the soul one glance or shine of his countenance . but if they be ashamed of this doctrin , which yet is the very purport of it , who deny all inward nèw revelation , and new visitations of the lord's love unto the souls of his people , then let them be ashamed to preach , teach , or write , that there is no new revelation of god and christ , nor no immediate or inward teaching , no inward and immediate calling , or sending to the ministry ; and let them be ashamed to own themselves to be the successors of the ancient protestants , who did acknowledge immediate teaching , and calling unto the ministry , and the spirit of prophecy ; and some of them had it , as george wishard , and others , whose prophecies fox in his book of martyrs hath recorded . 9. and whereas these faith-publishers at westminster , one while deny all new revelation , another while seem only to deny extraordinary revelation , as they term it , cap. 18. section 3. is another piece of non-sense , or contradiction ; for if all new revelation be ceased , as they expresly affirm , cap. 1. sect . 1. and 6. then there is neither ordinary nor extraordinary revelation remaining , according unto their doctrin . but the distinction of ordinary and extraordinary revelation , may in a true sense , be well admitted by them who believe , that divine inward revelation is not ceased ; for among the prophets , numb . 12.6 , 7 , 8. moses's revelation far exceeded the revelation of the other prophets , as is clear from scripture , and in that respect was extraordinary : and we now plead for new divine revelation , we mean not extraordinary , beyond what god was pleased to give to his saints and children , in an ordinary and usual way , from the beginning of the world , more or less , nor do we compare our revelations with either the prophets or apostles , by way of equality , either in degree , or in all the various manners and ways which they had then : but we say , in that one way and manner , which was by god's inward appearance , and speaking in their hearts , in the divine seed and birth , we do plead for divine revelation , as the ordinary and common allowance and priviledge of all god's saints and people , and not only to saints , but to men and women , in order to their becoming saints , they need god and christ inwardly to speak unto them ; for it is the inward voice and speaking of christ , that quickneth the dead souls of men , according to the words of christ , the dead shall hear the voice of the son of god , and they that hear shall live , john 5.25 . chap. iii. of the supream judge and rule of controversies , of religion . it hath been already acknowledged in the first chapter , that the holy scriptures are a sufficient outward rule and standard , whereby to try all doctrins of men , however so holy or wise they may be , or however much indued with the holy spirit , because the spirit of the prophets is subject to the prophets ; and as the holy spirit of truth is one , so the words of it do all agree , in all the true prophets , apostles , evangelists , pastors and teachers ; and as is already said , the noble bereans were commended in scripture , for searching the scriptures to see and examin , whether the apostles doctrin was according to the doctrin of the ancient prophets that wrote the old testament ; and until the apostles doctrin was generally received , they did appeal to the scriptures of the old testament , for a proof of their doctrin , although that was not their only proof ; for they had a greater proof than that outward was , even the inward witnéss and testimony of the holy ghost , that made both them , and their doctrin manifest in the hearts and consciences of their hearers , whose hearts god was pleased to open . 2. and therefore in respect of any outward rule and standard , the scripture is sufficient , and to be preferred in all respects to any other latter writings , or testimonies , or records whatsoever ; first , because writ from a greater measure and depth of divine wisdom ; for though the spirit be one , yet it hath diversity of gifts and operations , and administrations ; and all men divinely inspired , had not the same clearness of divine knowledge , numb . 12.6 , 7 , 8. moses exceeded the prophets generally , david and solomon exceeded many of them ; and isaiah and jeremiah exceeded others of them ; and among the prophets some were as fathers , some as sons ; hence we read in scripture , that god is the father of lights , and of these lights , as to us , some are higher , and some lower , which some mystick writers , both among jews and christians , have taken notice of , out of the scripture it self ; hence they say , moses drank at the fountain , samuel , david , solomon , and some others , drank at the streams ; and others of an inferior degree , at the pond or cistern : and they further say , moses had his revelations from binah , abraham from gedulah , a step lower ; isaac from geburah , yet lower ; jacob from tipheret , yet lower , but partaking of both , signified by his dwelling in tents , betwixt the tents of abraham and isaac ; david sometimes from tipheret , and sometimes from nezah and hod ; hence we read some of the inscriptions of his psalms to nezah ; and sometimes from mulcuth ; and they say that the ordinary prophets had their revelations from these two divine measures , nezah and hod , called exod. 38.8 . the looking-glasses of the lords hosts that assemble at the door of the tabernacle , ( see the heb. text ) but moses had liberty to go into the heavenly tabernacle it self , and so had some others . and that god did make himself more known to moses , than to abraham , isaac , and jacob , is clear from these words of his to moses at the bush , i appeared to abraham , isaac and jacob by the name of god almighty , but by my name jehovah , was i not known to them , exod. 6.3 . and concerning this distinction of divine gifts and illuminations , paul declareth , saying , to one is given the word of wisdom , to another the word of knowledge , to another faith , all by the same spirit . hence we read in the proverbs , wisdom , understandang and knowledge distinguished , wisdom buildeth the house , vnderstanding establisheth it , and knowledge filleth the chambers with all precious and pleasant riches , prov. 24.3 , 4. therefore wisdom is a degree above understanding , and understanding a degree above knowledge , all which divine measures are set in order , as the parts of a tree , with root , branches and tops , or as the members of a mans body , by way of allegory and analogy , cochmah , binah and daath , belonging to the head , gedulah , geburah to the right and left hand and arm , tipheret to the body , nesah , hod and jesod to the thighs and legs , &c. and mulcuth lowest of all ; all which make up , by way only of allegory and analogy the parts and members of the son of man , or heavenly adam , as both ezekiel and john saw him upon his throne . the english names of these hebrew words , all which are found in scripture , in their true order , are these following , cochmah , i e. wisdom , binah , i. e. understanding or prudence , daath , i. e. knowledge , ( see 1 chron. 29.11 ) gedulah , i. e. magnificence , geburah , i. e. power , tipheret , i. e. beauty , nesah and hod , i. e. victory and glory , jesod , i. e. foundation , and mulcuth , i. e. the kingdom . and secondly and most especially , we give the preheminence to the scriptures beyond all latter writers , because we are well assured that the scriptures throughout are pure , without all mixture of error or mistake ; and this is generally granted by all christians , that the scriptures are really so , being duly and rightly translated , but we are not assured that any mans or mens writings since , are altogether pure and free of all mixture of error and human weakness , until they be duly examined and found to agree to the holy scriptures , and to the inward testimony of the holy spirit ; for altho' whatever the spirit of god inwardly revealeth , is infallible and pure from all mixture of error , and whatever any man saith or writeth , as he hath receiv'd it from that , his testimony is pure , and without mixture ; yet we are not assured that any man or men are in that state of perfection , that they may not by human frality , in some measure or way , more or less , decline or depart from the pure and infallible teachings of the spirit of god ; for as it is possible they may purely and chastely keep unto them , so for want of due watchfulness and holy care , they may more or less depart from them , and so there may be a mixture of truth and error , both in their understandings and words ; and therefore they are not to be taken on trust , but both their doctrin in all things is to be tryed by the scripture , and their spirit by the spirit of truth , as every one is able , according to what he hath received . all which doth not hinder but that the spirit of god in our day both teacheth and leadeth infallibly , although the disciples and professed followers of it at times , by weakness , may be liable to mistakes . 3. and as concerning that phrase or expression that some use , that the spirit of god speaking in the scriptures , is the supream judge of all controversies of religion , although it is no scripture phrase , nor proper , but figurative , as when a man is said to speak in his books or writings ; yet in a figurative sense it might be allowed , if they did not confine all the speaking of the spirit of god to his only and alone speaking in the scriptures , so as that the spirit speaketh not at all , as they would have it , in the souls and hearts of men , as he used to do in the prophets and apostles . and because they have a wrong sense of it , and that it is not proper , but figurative , it is better not to use it . and in the room of it , i say , the spirit of god speaking in some measure in the heart of every true believer and spiritual man , opening and expounding the scripture unto him , in the due and diligent use of reading , hearing , and meditation of scripture words , or any other means of god's appointing for our institution , and especially in the frequent use of fervent and earnest prayer , praying earnestly with david , who was richly indued with divine revelation , open my eyes , that i may see the wonderful things of thy law ; and most especially in our being found in the way of righteousness , and faithful obedience , to what is already revealed unto us ; for as we are found here , we have good warrant to expect that where any doubt , or controversie in doctrin , or in the meaning of a place of scripture doth arise , that god's holy spirit , whom christ hath promised to his disciples , to teach them all things , and to lead them into all truth , will indeed judge and decide the matter in question , in their hearts , by his secret light , and teaching or revelation . and let it be noted , that i say , it is not the spirit abstractly considered from the scriptures , or our due use of them , or the duty that god requireth of us , but it is the holy spirit opening , or expounding the scriptures unto us , in reading , hearing , meditation , prayer , waiting , and obedience to what we already know , that it is the judge of all controversie in matter of doctrin . 4. next , as to the rule , as the scripture is the best and only external or outward rule and standard , it is worthily preferred to all other outward records and testimonies ; yet because we both believe the scriptures not simply for their own testimony , but for the inward witness and testimony of the spirit , and also because we can only understand the scriptures but by the said inward witness and testimony of the holy spirit ; therefore the inward witness of the spirit , or the spirit inwardly witnessing both to the truth , and true sense of scripture , is the greatest and primary rule , as john plainly testified , saying , if we receive the testimony of men , the testimony or witness of god is greater ; and he that believes hath the witness in himself , and hath set to his seal that god is true . and therefore paul recommended his doctrin to the witness of the spirit in the hearts and consciences of the hearers , and told the thessalonians , 1 thess . 1.5 . that his gospel came unto them not in word only , but in power , and in the holy ghost , and in much assurance : and he told the corinthians , that their faith was to stand in the power of god ; and therefore not in the bare words that he preached , for he did not preach himself , nor his words , but christ to be the foundation of their faith. chap. iv. concerning ministerial gifts and qualifications , and the call to the ministry ; the nature and manner of true preaching , and praying , and singing , and the true gospel-maintenance to the ministry . 1. because of the near and close connexion and dependance , that the things mentioned in the title of this chapter , have with the truth of what is delivered in the preceeding chapters , therefore i do see it meet to treat of them in this place . the common doctrin and opinion of these , who deny all new revelation of the holy spirit , is , that natural and acquired parts of letter-learning , without divine inward revelation or inspiration , is sufficient to qualifie a man to be a minister of the gospel , and is necessary to his esse or being of a minister , and grace or true piety and holiness , is only accidental , and doth but only contribute to his bene esse , or making him the better . by letter-learning , they do not only mean human arts and sciences , and the knowledge of greek , hebrew and latin , but especially a letter-knowledge of the scripture , without any saving grace , or illumination of the spirit , as being essential to a minister : and indeed they say agreeable enough to their own doctrin ; for if all new revelation of the spirit is ceased , what is left behind to qualifie a man to be a minister , but only natural and acquired parts of letter-learning ? nor can they with any reason , affirm , according to their doctrin , that true piety and holiness is essential to a minister , otherwise no man is a minister without it , and then it doth follow , that no man can infallibly be known whether he be a real minister , yea or nay ; for if divine inward revelation be ceased , then all infallible discerning of mens spirits , and spiritual estates is ceased , and no man can know another infallibly , whether he be a saint or hypocrite ; for they grant that a hypocrite may have all the outwards of a true christian , as the pharisees that made clean the outside , but their inward was full of rottenness and uncleanness . and if a man cannot be known to be a true minister , according to their doctrin , the people are in a woful case , as concerning that they call their sacraments , and especially that called the supper , which they say cannot be administred but by a true and real minister ; and if any that is not a true minister , should presume to do any such thing , as to bless , or consecrate , and set apart the bread and wine from common use , it would be no sacrament at all , as some , or most of them affirm . 2. now that divine revelation and inspiration , is necessary to the being or essential constitution of a minister of christ , is evident from the doctrin already delivered ; because it is necessary to the being or essential constitution of every true christian . no man is , or can be a true christian without inward divine revelation or inspiration , and therefore without the same , no man can be a true christian , or gospel-minister , for that which is absolutely necessary to constitute a true christian , or believer , is absolutely necessary to constitute a true christian minister , otherwise it might be said , a man may be a true christian minister , and yet no true christian . but every true minister of christ , as he ought to be a true christian , so he ought to be more than an ordinary christian , so as to exceed or excel them , both in spiritual knowledge , and other spiritual gifts , even as in natural teaching , the master or teacher should exceed the scholar ; for if divine inward revelation , and inspiration , together with other spiritual gifts , are the common priviledg of all true christians , in some degree , more or less , according to their several growth and capacity , much more are they to be found in the true ministers of christ , who are both to feed the babes with milk , and the strong men with meat , and to be , rom. 2.19 , 20. the guide of the blind , a light of them which are in darkness , and instructors of the foolish , and teachers of babes , and also who can speak wisdom among them that are perfect ; according to which christ said to his apostles , ye are the light of the world , and the salt of the earth . 3. but more particularly , it is apparent from the scripture , that there is a peculiar ministerial gift or gifts , that god giveth to all his true ministers , to fit or qualifie them for that great work , whereby to make them able ministers of the new-testament , not of the letter , but of the spirit ; the which gifts are the purchase of christ , and the fruits and effects of his death , resurrection and ascension , as is clear from ephes . 4.8 , 11 , 12. when he ascended on high , he led captivity captive , and gave gifts unto men , and he gave some apostles , and some prophets , and some evangelists , pastors and teachers . where altho' it may be granted , that some of these are extraordinary , as namely , apostles , and some ordinary , yet all are given to the church by christ , as the fruit and effect of his purchase ; and that therefore all ordinary ministers , who are indeed true ministers of christ , are indued with some measure of spiritual gifts , in more or less , according to the good pleasure of god. and as concerning the spiritual peculiar gifts of the holy spirit ( besides these that were common to all , such as faith , love , hope , knowledge , meekness , temperance , patience , brotherly-kindness , charity ) the scripture doth expresly mention them in divers places , 1 cor. 12.8 . to one is given by the spirit , the word , i. e. speech or utterance of wisdom , to another the vvord of knowledg ( that is , some degree inferior ) to another faith , that is , some peculiar degree of faith , for some peculiar service , besides the faith common to all believers ; and all these are ordinary , and have still remained in the true church ; but together with these in the apostles days , there were extraordinary gifts ; which god may give , or with-hold , as he pleaseth ; as not being essential to a true minister of christ ; such were gifts of miracles , gifts of healing , gifts of tongues , and the like . and as concerning prophecying , it was either extraordinary , or ordinary ; extraordinary was a fore-telling of particular things to come , as was that of agabus , his fore-telling that paul should be bound at jerusalem ; ordinary , was the ordinary and usual manner of preaching by the inspiration and motion of the holy ghost , in doctrin , exhortation , correction , &c. moreover concerning this diversity of spiritual gifts , paul saith , rom. 12.6 . having then gifts , differing according to the grace that is given to us , whether prophecy , let us prophecy according to the proportion of faith ; or ministry , let us wait on our ministry , or he that teacheth , on teaching , or he that exhorteth , on exhortation . and likewise peter , concerning these spiritual gifts , saith , 1 pet. 4.10 , 11. as every man hath received the gift , even so minister the same one to another , as good stewards of the manifold grace of god. if any man speak , let him speak as the oracles of god : if any man minister , let him do it as of the ability ( or vertue ) which god giveth , that god in all things may be glorified through jesus christ . and as touching spiritual gifts , that were not common to all christians , but peculiar to some , paul exhorted the believing corinthians , saying , 1 cor. 14.1 . desire spiritual gifts , but rather that ye may prophecy . and he declareth what that prophecying was , vers 3. he that prophesieth speaketh unto men , to edification , and exhortation , and comfort . and vers . 5. greater is he that prophesieth , than he that speaketh with tongues , except he interpret , that the church may receive edifying . and concerning the great power and virtue of prophecying , he said further , vers . 24 , 25. if all prophesie , and there come in one that believeth not , or unlearned , he is convinced of all , he is judged of all : and thus are the secrets of his heart made manifest , and so falling upon the person , to wit , ( that did prophesie ) for so the words may be better translated ) he will worship god , and report that god is in you of a truth . 4. now in the true church , and among the true believers , there was a spiritual discerning or judgment that they had , whereby they did know who had these spiritual gifts , and who had them not , who spoke , and preached by the spirit , and who did pray and sing by the spirit , and who did not , and who not only had the words , but the power , and who had only the words , and had not the power ; and these were false apostles , and false teachers , and hypocrites , that had good words , which they did take or receive from other men , but had not that good power and spirit that was in the true ministers of christ , and because they had not that good power , their ministry and words were dead , dry and barren ; and such the scripture compareth to clouds without rain , and wells or cisterns without water ; and of such paul said , he would know not the speech of them which are puffed up , but the power , 1 cor. 4.19 . the which spiritual discerning or judgment , as it was in some measure given in common to all true believers , as the sense of taste is given in common to beasts & mankind , whereby to relish things sweet or bitter , and meats and drinks , that have the true nourishing virtue in them , so it was given in some greater measure to some than to others , according to their growth , experience , and exercise or use of their spiritual senses , even as both among men and beasts , some do far excell others in the sagacity of the taste of outward things , and so in the smell of things , as flowers , spices , &c. and according to this spiritual discerning and judgment , paul said to the corinthians , 1 cor. 14 , 29. &c. let the prophets speak two or three , and let the other judge : if any thing be revealed to another that sitteth by , let the first hold his peace ; for ye may all prophecy one by one , that all may learn , and all may be comforted , and the spirits of the prophets are subject to the prophets : for god is not the author of confusion , but of peace , as in all the churches of the saints . so , we see here was good order , where in one meeting two or three might speak one after another , or more , if they had any motion of the spirit so to do , and in that case , the first speaker was to give place to him : but nothing of this is to be found among these churches who deny all inward new revelation of the spirit , but one man must take up all the time , and preach over the people one year , after another , and the people ever learning , and yet never able to come to the knowledge of the truth , as was the manner of false teachers in days past , who had the form of godliness , but denyed the power thereof , who were to be turned from , 2 tim. 3.5 , 6 , 7. and concerning the trying and knowing of spirits , as well as doctrins , the apostle john writ in his general epistle , 1 john 2.1 . believe not every spirit , but try the spirits , whether they are of god. now this ability to try spirits , is greater than barely to try whether a man's doctrin be true or false ; for it is possible a man may preach for an hour , or more , words of doctrin that may be true , and yet his spirit not be of god. and that which gave them this ability , to try all spirits , as well as doctrins , was the vnction , or anointing from the holy one which they had received , 1 john 2.20 , but ye have an vnction , from the holy ' one , and ye know all things . and vers . 26 , 27. these things have i written unto you , concerning them that seduce you , i. e. seek to seduce you ) but the anointing which ye have received of him , abideth in you , and ye need not that any man teach you , but as the same anointing teacheth you of all things , &c. 5. but because it is taken for granted , and laid down for a fundamental among presbyterians and independent teachers , as well as many others , that all inward divine revelation and inspiration , such as believers had in the time of the apostles , is ceased , therefore they lay no claim to any of these spiritual gifts , and plainly confess they have them not , and also that they have no infallible discerning or knowledge what men are truly gracious , and holy , and living members of christ's body , and what not . and therefore when these and other places of scripture are brought , that declare how true ministers of christ had spiritual gifts of ministration , some in a lesser degree , and some in a greater , they alledge , all these gifts are now ceased ; and the reason they give , is , because all inward divine revelation and inspiration , such as the saints formerly had , is altogether ceased . whereas if they did grant , that inward divine revelation did continue , they would also readily grant , that these spiritual gifts of ministry did continue , and a spiritual discerning and ability , whereby to know infallibly who were indeed indued with the spirit of god , and who did preach and pray by the spirit , or sing by the spirit , and who not . and the like concerning the ministerial call , if they did grant , that divine inward revelation and inspiration did continue in the church , as the common priviledge of all true and sound believers , as being given to all and every one of them , to lead them into all truth , they would readily enough grant , that ministers had an inward call to preach , and exercise other ministerial services and performances , as these ministers did of old . so that indeed this their doctrin , that inward divine revelation is ceased in the church , and in believers , is the foundation of many other false and pernicious doctrins , yea , almost of all the false and erroneous doctrins they have among them . and since it is so , that they have no belief of having the spirit of god inwardly inspiring them , and revealing in them the things of god , and inwardly teaching them the mysteries of the kingdom , what is their ministry , or church or ordinances ? all made things of mans making , and inventing , and setting up ; a man-made church , man-made ministry , man-made ordinances , and a man-made worship . and though they say , they hope they have the spirit , and seem at times to lay great stress and weight upon it , and the need of it , not only to believe , but to do all good and acceptable works and performances , yet their blind doctrin and unbelief , that all inward divine revelation is ceased , doth so blind and darken them , generally , and make them so spiritually stupid , senseless and benummed , that they plainly confess , they have no infallible assurance , or infallible knowledge that they have the spirit of god , or any of these gracius motions and operations of the holy spirit . for according to their blind doctrin and faith , all the motions and operations of the spirit are only effective , but none of them objective , and any illumination that they have is only effective , and not objective , that is to say , is no immediate object of their knowledge , or feeling , or spiritual perception , the spirit only works in them , so to speak , as fire or heat works in stone , or iron , or wood , but the stone , iron or wood hath not any inward sense or perception of it ; for if they did grant , true spiritual sense and spiritual feeling or perception , they would grant infallible knowledge of these things , even as our outward senses , when sound and duly qualified , and within due circumstances , give us an infallible knowledge of outward things ; for is not every sensible child infallibly sure that it both seeth its mother , and feeleth her , when the mother is handling the child , and feeding it ? and doth not the suckling on the breast surely know the milk that it sucketh , and can well distinguish the breast that hath milk in it , from that which is dry and empty ? but as the epistle to the hebrews saith , things made , ( to wit , the things of mans making , without the spirit and power of god inwardly revealed ) are all to be removed , heb. 12.26 , 27. yet once more i shake not the earth only , but also heaven . and this word yet once more , signifieth , the removing of these things , that may be shaken , as of things that are made , that those things which cannot be shaken may remain . let them consider this , who seem to themselves to have a church constitution , ministry , discipline , worship , far above others , as heaven is above earth , as the presbyterian church thinks she is above the episcopal , the independent church thinks she is above the presbyterian , the baptists think themselves above both , and yet all these , as well as others , are open and declared enemies to the holy spirit , his inward revelation and inspiration , by which alone the true church is a living church , and the ministry a living ministry , and every true member a living member , and all truly religions , duties and services are living . but made things of mans making , are all dead things , and therefore must all be shaken and removed , not the made earth only , but the made heavens also , of mans making , made faiths , made worships , made ministers , made covenants , all things of mens making without the spirit and power of god inwardly revealed , must all be removed , and every plant that is not of the heavenly fathers planting , must be plucked up . but if any of them say , our churches , our ministry , our faith , our worship , our covenant is not so , for we have the spirit of god assisting us , and working together with us . this answer is but a meer presumption or conjecture , seeing they deny all inward revelation and inspiration of the spirit , which gave the believers and saints in former ages , an infallible kowledge and assurance that they had the spirit of god ; for the spirit that they claim unto , as they say , doth only work in them effectively , but not by way of object ; it is altogether an unknown mean or principle of operation , it hath no proper light , or evidence , or demonstration of its own , such as the spirit that was in the apostles is no infallible spirit , that they have , but fallible , and therefore their faith is fallible , their knowledge fallible , their hope fallible , and every thing in them fallible , dubious , conjectural and uncertain , and they only think that they have the spirit of god , and a spiritual knowledge of things ; and when asked , they dare not say , their thought hath any infallible assurance in it ; as all true assurance is infallible ; yea , some of them are so dark , ignorant and blind , that to me in my hearing , have affirmed , that the apostle paul was not infallibly sure that he had the spirit of god , bringing paul's words , 1 cor. 7.40 . i think also , that i have the spirit of god. but according to his blind argument , the holy ghost is not infallibly sure , for the same greek word is applied to the holy ghost , acts 15.28 . it seemed good to the holy ghost ; but this is blasphemous to think or affirm , and i see not how they can clear their doctrin of blasphemy , to say , that they have the spirit of god , and yet to affirm , that they have no infallible spirit : the plain english of which is , that the spirit of god and god himself is fallible . 6. but the great cause and reason , why all true ministers and preachers of the gospel should not only be truly godly and holy men , but also should be indued with some more than ordinary power of the holy spirit , and communications thereof , not common to all christians , at least in degree , though one spirit in all , is , that the ministry of every true minister of christ , is a ministration of grace , of spirit , of life and power , which doth emanate or flow forth from or through the minister or preacher , as living waters that emanate and flow from a living spring or fountain , which reach and flow into the hearts and inward parts of the hearers , such as are sensible , and whose hearts god is pleased to open to receive them , and sometimes to the opening and making alive the dead souls and hearts of many hearers , whereby not only many that are spiritually dead , are made alive , but the living are made more living , and livingly refreshed and strengthened ; and though this can hardly , or not at all be received by many , yet thousands can witness it from living experience , that they have felt streams of divine life , power and vertue to spring and flow forth , from the spirit of christ , in faithful preachers , into their souls and inward parts , to their exceeding refreshing , and strengthning in the inward man ; and the scriptures abundantly confirm it , that so it was in the primitive times , the ministers of christ , were the ministers of the spirit and power of god , and the outward and audible words that reached the outward ears , were only as a conduit of conveyance , to convey and transmit that heavenly virtue that flowed through them ; and therefore the ministers of god are called in scripture flames of fire , and their words and preaching have a divine and spiritual fire , and heat in them , that exceedingly warm and melt the cold and congealed hearts of many hearers , and that fire is a living fire , or power of life to quicken them . and this was it that made the two disciples , going to emaus , say , how did not our hearts burn within us , while he spoke to us by the way , and opened the scriptures unto us ? and when christ preached to the people , it is said , he spoke with authority , that is , power , and not as the scribes ; and so did the apostles , as paul declared , that his preaching was in demonstration of the spirit , and of power . and christ and the holy spirit spake in him to the people , when he preached ; and so did it in all the other apostles and ministers of christ , and the hearers , who had and knew christ in their own hearts , had a proof sufficient that christ spoke in paul , by what they felt of that spiritual vertue and power that did flow forth through him in his ministry . and according to this , peter exhorted , that he who ministers , should minister of the power that god giveth , as good stewards of the manifold grace of god : so they ministred not only words , but grace , and power , and life to the hearers . and thus there is a communication of the grace , and graces of god , not only betwixt ministers and hearers , but among all the faithful , who are as one living body , but many members , and every member a living member , and ministring life one to another , as it is in the natural body ; and this is that communion of the saints that the scripture testifieth , that they had together in the spirit , which did knit their hearts together in love , unto all riches of the full assurance of understanding , col. 2.2 . and with such living instruments , that are spiritually made alive unto god , doth god work , to make their ministry effectual and fruitful , to convert and beget souls unto god , and when begotten , to nourish and feed them with the sincere milk of the word , which milk is not the outward words , but the life that is in the words : for as in the outward , god doth not work with a dead man , to beget outward and natural children , but with the living ; so it is with men spiritually living , with whom god worketh , to beget sons and daughters spiritually unto god , where god only properly and principally is the father , and men but instruments with , and by whom he worketh ; and in order to this spiritual begetting of sons and daughters unto god , by the ministry of faithful preachers , god giveth unto them a spiritual and divine seed , which they convey in their words into the hearts and souls of their hearers , according to 1 cor. 9.10 . he that ministreth seed to the sower . and isa . 55.10 . that it may give seed to the sower . so that there is a divine and spiritual seed in the words and preaching of a true minister of christ ; for the words are living words , and are not his , but the words of christ , and of the holy spirit that speaketh in him . but he that speaketh words , as suppose scripture-words , and not by the spirit of christ speaking in him , there is no divine seed in the words , there is the form or body of the words , but there is no soul or life in them , as he speaks them . and these men are like that harlot which took hold of josephs garment , but himself she could not enjoy : so many get the outward form of the words of truth , but the spirit of truth they have not , and who have it not , cannot minister it : and therefore paul imputeth all the good fruit and success of his ministry not to himself , but to the grace of god that was with him , and in him , 1 cor. 15.10 . how then can a graceless man have any fruit or success in his ministry , seeing all fruit and success belongeth not to the man , however so well furnished with natural or acquired parts , but to the grace of god ? it is grace , grace , that maketh a man's preaching effectual to the hearers , and that grace is in the minister , and worketh both in him , and with him in the hearts of the hearers , where god is pleased to concur , and give the blessing and increase ; and thus the grace of god is like a good seed and plant , that not only bringeth forth fruit in that little spot of earth , where it was first planted , but spreadeth abroad , and filleth many other parts and places with it , and hath new roots and seeds continually encreasing and multiplying . 7. and as concerning the call to the ministry , it is worthy of great observation , how they are pinched and narrowed to give any colourable account of their call , who deny all inward and immediate calling to the ministry , and especially such of them , who say , the church of rome is no true church , but a harlot , and the pope is antichrist ; as the westminster cenfession of faith doth expresly call him , cap. 25. sect . 6. and yet the presbyterian ministers generally derive their call from him ; and i have heard divers of them expresly affirm it , being questioned about their call , whether immediate or mediate ? they have answered mediate , from the apostles ; and then being urged to shew the line of succession , through which that mediate call is conveyed unto them , they have plainly said , the popes of rome , as one lately , a preacher in new-england said , before some hundreds of people , that their call to preach , was by the popes of rome ; and so according to their own doctrin , by antichrist . surely these men do not believe that christ is in them , either to call , or furnish them in their ministry , who must go so far as rome to bring it , and from him too whom they call antichrist . but they think rome , and the pope however much distant from them , is much nearer than christ and heaven , from whom the true ministers have their call. 8. and as all true preaching ought to be by the inspiration and moving of the spirit of god , so all true praying and singing , both in private and in publick ; for still that is it which the scripture enjoyneth , ephes . 6.18 . to pray always with the spirit , or in the spirit ; and no man can say that jesus is the lord , either in preaching or praying , but by the holy ghost . and i charge them to produce one instance , where praying without the spirit is commanded any where in scripture , or was ever practised by any of the saints , without the inspiration of the spirit . do they not grant , that all the prayers recorded in scripture , did proceed from divine inspiration and revelation ? and if their prayers do not , they are quite of a bastard kind ; for the true worshippers worship the father in spirit and in truth , and the father seeketh such to worship him , and none else . and whereas some say , then men who neglect prayer , are excusable , because they have not the spirit to move them to prayer . i answer ; not , they are not in the least excusable , for as he that oweth a sum of mony to his prince , though he hath not wherewith to pay his debt , is still debtor , and yet must not pay with false coyn , but true ; so he , who hath not the spirit 's assistance and help to pray , is still obliged to pray , but not without the spirit ; and that he hath not the spirit 's help at all seasonable and requisite times for prayer , it is his own default , who hath resisted the spirit , and provoked him to with-draw his necessary assistance from him ; for the spirit of the lord is ready to give his seasonable help to all men , to help them both in prayer , and thanksgiving , and all other commanded duties and performances . and as for singing on a book , and with artificial musick , and notes or tones , it is no part of gospel-worship , being no where either commanded , or practised in the new-testament . and it is strange , that these men should be against praying on a book , and yet sing on a book , for if the one be not spiritual , the other is not . 9. there are others , such as these called independents and baptists , who deny all immediate call to the ministry , and yet betake themselves to as poor and shiftless evasion about their call , as the former . they say , they have the call of the church . but still the question is , whence had the church her power , either immediately or mediately ? and then the former difficulty returneth : for they cannot say , their church hath been visible from the apostles days ; and besides , the church is posterior to the ministry , for by true preachers and ministers , people come to be converted , and so to be made fit members of a church , and therefore the ministers , by whom their church was first raised , or gathered , cannot have their call from the same , for that were to put the effect before the cause ; or to say , the church called the ministers , and the ministers called the church , is to run into a circle ; as to say , the egg bringeth forth the hen , and the hen bringeth for the egg , to wit , first of all , which is impossible . 10. and as concerning true gospel-maintenance to the ministry ; any maintenance that may be necessary , to any that are poor , and have not of their own , according to the scripture , it ought to be free and voluntary , without force of human law and compulsion ; for the scripture saith , he that preacheth the gospel , should live by the gospel . it doth not say , by human laws , and straining of mens goods and cattle , as the preachers both of old and new-england have done ; and they ought to relie upon the gracious care and providence of god , that never suffered his ministers to want : for when christ sent forth his disciples without bag or scrip , at their return they said , they wanted nothing . secondly , there should be no bargaining in the case betwixt the minister and the people , for that is altogether mercenary , and proveth them to be hirelings , and the servants of men , who have so hired them . thirdly , they should receive only to supply their present necessities , and labour with their hands , as honest paul did , that he might make the gospel of christ without charge , who would not abuse his power in the gospel , 1 cor. 9.18 . and 2 cor. 11.9 . i was chargeable to no man. and 1 thes . 2.9 . because we would not be chargeable , and 2 thes . 3.8 . for why may not ministers , when they do not preach , or otherwise labour in the ministerial work , work with their hands to supply their necessities , to live honestly and worthily , as many preachers at this day ( as well as formerly ) do , both work and preach by turns , and as they have freely received , so they give freely ; and these no man can charge them , that they have made their gospel chargeable , as the preachers both of old and new-england have done , who have put the people to great charge of many thousand pounds yearly , and yet the people is not profited under them ; and they have by force taken , or caused to be taken , from many who did not hear them , nor own them to be ministers of christ , for which they have no president either in the old or new testament . 11. and whereas they who plead , that true piety is not essential to a gospel-minister : first , bring judas for a president , to which it is easily answered ; first , that it is said , judas fell from his ministry by transgression , and therefore some time he stood ; and it is more than ever they can prove , that judas never had any measure of true piety or sanctification , when christ did first send him forth ; for although he might have covetous and evil inclinations , that doth not argue that he had nothing of true sanctification , according to their own doctrin , who affirm , that a man may have true sanctification , and yet have not only strong evil inclinations , but very evil practices . but 2 dly , when judas was called , the pure gospel dispensation had not taken place , and did not until christ rose from the dead , and gave the holy ghost . next they say , christ told the people , that the pharisees sate in moses chair , and he did not forbid them , but rather encouraged them to hear them , saying , do what they say , but do not as they do . to this it is answered , the pharisees and scribes teaching belonged to the law ; and so they pass from the true state of the question , which is , whether ministers of the gospel need not true holiness to make them true ministers ? 3 dly . they object paul's words concerning some that preached christ not sincerely , and yet he said , christ was preached , and therein he rejoyced . to which i answer , that doth not justifie their preaching , but it holdeth forth the great power and wisdom of god , that causeth all things to work together for his own glory , and the good of his , as when by persecutions , and reproaches , and slanders , and false accusations , and contending against the truth , the truth doth the more spread and flourish , as hath oft been known , and therein god's servants have rejoyced ; yet this doth not justifie these persecutors , lyers , and false accusers . chap. v. concerning god , his decrees , and election and reprobation , and the general state of mankind by means of adam's fall , and the way of restoration by christ . 1. it hath been a common thing among both presbyterian and independent teachers , in old and new-england , to accuse the honest people , called in derision quakers , of being guilty of blasphemy against god and christ , and the holy ghost , for no other cause , but that they express their faith of the great mystery of the father , the son , and the holy ghost , in scripture words , and have not freedom to use the words of man's wisdom , and that come only from the spirit of man , and have not proceeded from the spirit of god , whereby to express and declare their faith of so great and glorious mystery : and by means of this so great accusation , and others as false and injurious , they prevailed with the magistrates of new-england , to cause to be put to death three dear and precious men-servants of the lord , and one dear and precious maid-servant of the lord , beside many other cruel sufferings inflicted upon others , for which great cruelty and barbarity , the hand of the lord hath been manifestly stretched out against them , in manifest judgments and plagues , that divers among them have since acknowledged . and therefore let all men know , to whose hands this may come , that the people called quakers , never denyed , but on the contrary , faithfully believed , and do still faithfully believe whatever is recorded in the holy scriptures , of that great mystery , to wit , that god is one , and that the father , the son , and the holy ghost is that one only , true and living god , the creator and upholder of all , and lord and king of all visible and invisible things , and that the father is begotten of none , the son is begotten of the father , from everlasting , and before all time ; and the holy ghost hath proceeded from the father , and from the son , from everlasting , and before all time ; and that the son is god manifest in flesh , who came in the flesh , in the fulness of time , as the scripture declareth ; and that the lord jesus christ whom the apostles preached , that dyed for our sins , and rose again for our justification , and is ascended and gone into heaven , is that alone son of god , and the only begotten of the father , in whom the fulness of the god-head dwelleth bodily , and the lord jesus christ in the intire and perfect nature of man , consisting of soul and body , is gone into heaven , and is in heaven ; and that his body that was crucified , and buried , did not see corruption , but was raised on the third day , and after forty days did ascend , and was glorified , according to which glorious body of the lord jesus christ , we believe that at the resurrection of the dead our bodies shall be changed , and be made like , or conform . acts 1.11 . and that the same jesus , who is ascended , and was taken up into heaven , shall so come in like manner as they did see him go into heaven . 2. and as concerning god , we believe , that he is a spirit , infinite , unchangeable and incomprehensible , omniscient , omnipotent and omnipresent , infinitely wise , holy , powerful , good , merciful and gracious , just and righteous , that he is light and love ; and whatever the scripture doth declare of him , we faithfully believe ; although this name of him , to wit , light , the faith-publishers at westminster have altogether omitted in their confession , whether heedlesly or designedly , that i leave ; but it seemeth they knew little of him , if any thing at all , by that name ; and yet it was the message that the apostles heard from him , and declared unto men , that god is light , and that he is in the light , to wit , in christ , who is the light of men ; and that if we walk in the light , as he is in the light , we have fellowship one with another , and the blood of his son jesus christ cleanseth us from all sin , 1 john 1.5 , 6 , 7. and indeed it suits most with their doctrin , that all inward divine revelation is ceased , either to conceal , or deny that god is light , as to us , and in us , or in any of his saints , or that christ is light to and in his saints ; for the nature of the light , yea , of all true light , is to reveal , and make it self manifest by it self , as well as other things ; and this description the apostle paul giveth of it , ephes . 5.13 . whatever maketh manifest , is light , according to the english translation ; or as it may be as well translated , the light is that which maketh manifest every thing , to wit , both it self , and all other things : and this description of light belongeth only to god and christ , and the holy spirit , in the full extent of it ; for no created light , visible or invisible , can manifest or reveal all things , the outward light of the sun can only manifest some outward things , but not all , it cannot let us see what is under the earth , or in the bottom of the seas , but god can , and doth search all deeps , and can reveal or make manifest every thing , however so hid ; and therefore the name light doth more properly belong to god , the father of lights , and to christ , and to the holy ghost , than to any created light , visible or invisible ; and yet a publick preacher in new-england , in the town of hampton , before some hundreds of people , most of them his common hearers , did affirm , that god was not properly light , but only by a figure borrowed from the outward light of the sun : and to say , god was light , and christ was light , was the fundamental error of the quakers . and though some of his brethren have blamed his rashness , yet it cannot be denyed , but he said that which was most consequential and agreeable to his brethren's doctrin , and the westminster confession of faith , which the church of new-england hath espoused to be her confession of faith also ; for if god do not at all reveal himself immediately , or any other things , he is not light at all unto his saints now on earth ; as we may well say , if the outward sun should with-draw his beams altogether from the eyes of men , or that some dark body should be interposed always betwixt the sun's light and men's eyes , the sun should not be light unto men ; for it is the nature and property of all light , to reveal it self immediately to every one , or else not at all , and always to be its own messenger , and to discover , teach and direct men by its own light and evidence , and not by any other thing . for to say , the sun doth not lighten us immediately , when it giveth us its illumination , is a great contradiction that the assertion carrieth to it self ; for whatever means or mediums the sun's light passeth through to our eyes , as the air , glass , and the tunicles of our eyes , or suppose some lattise or thin vail , or cloathing , yet it s still immediate ; or if it be reflected from a looking-glass , or any other object , yet the light it self coming to our sight through all these means , or mediums , and not stopping or staying by the way , nor employing some other messenger in its room , to carry the tydings of it to us , it is still immediate , & the light hath a self-evidence , whereby to make it self known , without any other help or instrument , whereby to make it known . and thus god is light , and thus not only the saints knew god to be light , but also divers of the gentiles , who had not the scriptures , knew god to be light ; as plotinus , who said , as we see & know the sun by his own light : so we see and know god by his own light : and pythagoras and plato declared god to be light ; and it was one of pythagora's rules , let none presume to speak or teach of god , without his light , wherein he saw further and better into the true mystery of preaching and teaching , than these blind faith makers at westminster , and new-england preachers , who have espoused that blind and dark thing called their confession of faith. and plato taught , that god created the soul of man in a region of divine light , and then it conversed with the true substance of light , and of every other thing ; but by its sin , it was thrust down into a cave , or dungeon , where it only conversed with shadows and figures , or images of things , which are the things of this outward and perishing world. and this doth well agree with the scripture , that saith , god drove out the man from the garden : and thus the mind of man losing the inward enjoyment of god , the true light , did joyn it self to the perishing things of this world , where it can find no true rest , for they are but figures and shadows ; and the scripture calleth this world a fashion or figure , and scheme , 1 cor. 7.31 . and why is christ called the true light , and the true bread in scripture , and the truth , but to signifie unto us , that he is indeed more truly and properly , and satisfyingly the soul 's true light and food , than the outward light and bread is unto the body , or outward man ? and therefore in comparison of god , all created things of heaven and earth , are said to be nothing , and less than nothing , and the nations are as nothing , and less than nothing before him , isa . 40.17 . and therefore as the name being , and good doth most properly belong to him , as christ said , there is none good , but god so the names light , life and love , do most properly belong to him , though it is most readily granted , that he doth infinitely surpass and excel all that men can either speak , or think of him , and that he hath a name that none knoweth , but he himself ; but since it hath pleased god to call himself by the name light , speaking unto men in the language of the sons of men ; i say , in the language of men , the name light doth most properly , and without all figure , belong to god and christ , and this the saints in light well knew ; but they who know not the light , and believe not in it , it is no wonder that they think that god or christ is light only by a figure or metaphor , from the outward light : for indeed the animal or natural man , that only followeth his natural thoughts and apprehensions , doth not know god , but by figures and shadows : and though i plead for the immediate revelation of god and christ in the hearts and spirits of his saints , who is their light and life , yet the means are owned and acknowledged in their place , as good men are means , good books , and especially the scriptures are means whereby to transmit the light of god and christ unto us , as he is pleased to make use of them , and not otherwise ; even as the air , or glass of the window , cannot convey any light of the sun unto us but when the sun shineth ; for when the sun withdraweth , and hideth his face , the air and the glass hath no light to convey unto us : and thus it is as to all men , and books , and means , they can convey no light to us , but what , how , and when god , the father of lights , is pleased to send forth through them unto us ; and this david well knew , when he prayed , saying , o send , forth thy light , and thy truth , to lead me and guide me to thy holy hill , and lift up the light of thy countenance upon us , psal . 43.3 . psal . 4.6 . and as it pleaseth god often , to transmit the beams of his divine light , life and love into our souls , through means and instruments , as good men , and good books , and especially in reading or meditating in the scriptures , and also good angels , who are ministring spirits , and do minister to the heirs of salvation , so many times it pleaseth him to bring them into a solitude , or solitary place , hos . 2.14 . and there to speak unto them , and reveal himself , to the unspeakable satisfaction of their souls , without all means whatsoever , save only that great , and always most necessary and desirable mean , the lord jesus christ , in and through whom the father doth always speak , and reveal his glory to his dear children , even as christ declared , saying , no man knoweth the father , but the son , and he to whom the son reveals him . for none of all the prophets or apostles did know , or converse with god , but as the son did reveal him , who is that most lovely and aimable skreen , cloathing or vail , through which the glory of the father shineth forth into our souls , meekly , and gently , and yet most sweetly , according as every one is able to receive . 3. and they who deny all inward divine revelation of god in his saints , ever since the apostles days , and would wholly exclude the saints from all inward enjoyment of god and christ , in their own immediate light , glory and brightness , may be justly charged with blasphemy against the great love and kindness of god to his people : and such of the priests of new-england , who have blasphemously called the light of god in his people , a stinking vapour from hell ; and do blaspheme against the light of god and christ in all men , in a day of visitation , that is given to lead and bring them unto god , a meer human and natural light , corrupt and dark , as some of them have called it , and as they generally esteem of it . and yet for this their blasphemy , we would not have the magistrate to hang them , or any way to punish them , but our desire , and prayer unto god is for them , if it be his good will , that such of them , who have not out-lived the day of visiation , may find mercy to repent , and believe , and acknowledge the truth they have so long gain-sayed . and whereas these faith-publishers at westminster in old-england , and at cambridge and boston in new-england , do say in their confession , cap. 26. sect 3. this communion which the saints have with christ , doth not make them in any wise partakers of the substance of his god-head , and that to affirm it is impious , and blasphemous . it deserveth our serious consideration , and to examin where the impiety and blasphemy lieth , whether at their door who deny it , or theirs who affirm it ? even that the saints are partakers of the substance of his god-head . and first , as to their proof from scripture , they cite col. 1.18 , 19. and he is the head of the body , the church , who is the beginning , the first-born from the dead , that in all things he might have the preheminence ; for it pleased the father , that in him should all fulness dwell . but this place of scripture saith not that the saints are not partakers of the substance of the god-head of christ , but the contrary may be proved from this very place , which calleth him , the head of the body , the church . for as it is the same substance of life , that is in the head , and in the body , and every member of it : so it is the same divine life and spirit , that is in christ , the head , and all his members , and that spirit is the holy spirit , and that life is the word , and the word and the spirit are one substance and being with god , as the same confession saith , cap. 2. sect . 3. and that the saints are partakers of the divine nature , and of the holy ghost , the scripture expresly declareth it , 2 pet. 1.4 . and heb. 6.4 . so that it is marvelous blindness , or inadvertency in these men , so to contradict the express scripture testimony : and for the word substance , with respect to the inward enjoyment of god and christ , the scripture hath it expresly in several places , prov. 8.21 . that i may cause those that love me to inherit substance ; and i will fill their treasures . and heb. 10.34 . knowing that in your selves ( for so the greek doth bear it ) ye have in heaven a better , and more enduring substance . for as they had it in heaven , so they had an earnest of it on earth , in their hearts ; and that all fulness dwelleth in christ , doth not prove that his saints enjoy none of that fulness , but on the contrary . out of her fulness , as said john , we have all received , and grace for grace , john 1.16 . and not only the saints receive gifts and graces from christ , but they receive him , and the father in him , and with him , to live and dwell in them , according to john 17.23 . i in them , and thou in me . and yet this doth not infer that the saints are equal with christ , that they have the same spirit and life with him , and through him , and by and from him , as it doth not prove that the foot is equal with the head , because the same soul or spirit that is in the head , is in the foot ; and the same life that is in the root of a tree , is in the branches ; and as christ said , i am the vine , ye are the branches . and if the saints do no wise partake of the substance of the godhead of christ , i ask them , what do they partake of him ? do they partake only of the substance of his manhood without the godhead , or of neither ? if the first , then the manhood of christ , as they partake of it , is without the godhead , which is blasphemy indeed ; or if the second , that is to say , the saints do neither partake of the substance of his godhead , nor of the substance of his manhood , then they partake nothing of christ at all substantially , according to their doctrin . o miserable teachers ! what then do they partake of him , if nothing substantially ? of his accidents , as they commonly say , all graces are nothing but accidents . then here is a new sort of doctrin of transubstantiation , as these of rome say , the consecrated wafer or cake , hath the accidents of bread in it , as the colour , taste and smell of bread , but nothing of the substance of bread is there . so say these faith-makers , the saints that did see , smell , taste and feel of christ in ancient times , that which they did spiritually see , smell , taste and feel with their souls and hearts , is only accidents , and no substance . this is more strange than that other , that there is no substance of bread in the cake , but only the accidents . but why was not your reverend brother , as ye called him , john owen , taxed with blasphemy , for affirming , that the holy ghost doth well in believers really ( and as he worded it personally ) together with his graces . and samuel rutherfold , a great presbyterian , who said in one of his printed epistles , he will have none of the graces of christ without himself , and if the graces did come unto him without christ , he would send them away the gate ( or way ) they came . and as for the other scriptures they cite , they prove indeed that the lord jesus christ is but one , and there is none else , nor is any man , or men , or angels equal to him , which we most cordially believe ; but they say , not in the least , nor by any just consequence , can it be gathered , that the saints do not partake substantially of god. and to shew the great inequality betwixt christ and the saints , not only in the measure and degree but in the manner or kind of partaking of the holy spirit , which is one substance with god. christ , the son , hath god , and the holy spirit , without any middle , or mediator betw●●t the father and him , but the saints only have , and enjoy the father , and the holy spirit , through christ the mediator , and together with him , and in him : and this i hope will satisfie all sober and impartial men , to clear the doctrin of the quakers , that it is according to scripture . 4. next , as concerning the decrees of god , these faith-publishers say , that god hath unchangeably ordained whatsoever comes to pass , yet so as neither is god the author of sin , nor is violence offered to the will of the creatures : whereby it plainly appeareth , they hold that god hath ordained and decreed all manner of sins and blasphemies , adulteries , thefts , robberies , homicides , regicides , &c. which is abominable and blasphemous doctrin , with a witness . they need not blame the ranters , seeing they are so fully one with them in doctrin ; for that is one of the worst doctrins that the ranters have , that god doth all , and hath unchangeably ordained and decreed all things , both good and bad ; for certainly whatever god hath ordained and decreed to come to pass , he is the doer of it , for he executeth ( that is , bringeth to pass ) all his own decrees , as they confess in their large catechism , ans . to quest . 14. and that they say , yet so , as god is not the author of sin ; they say it indeed , and so many of the worst sort of ranters , but how they clear their doctrin of so unavoidable consequence , they have not told the world , nor ever can they sufficiently clear it . and for the scriptures they bring , as especially ephes . 1.11 . that god worketh all things after the counsel of his own will ; here is nothing mentioned of the sins of men and devils : it is plain both from reason , and scripture , that by all things must needs be understood all his own works , and not the sins of men and devils , which he is not the author of ; as when we say , every wise man doth all things by wisdom , and wise counsel ; none is so foolish as to put this gloss upon it . that he doth all foolish things . it is an approved maxim and rule , verba sunt intelligenda , secundum subjectam materiam , i. e. words are to be understood according to the subject matter . it is worthily granted and acknowledged , that god worketh all good things , all virtue and goodness is of him , all good thoughts , words and works , &c. but all sin is of the devil , and evil men ; as john said , whosoever committeth sin , is of the devil , and the lust of the flesh , the lust of the eye , and the pride of life , is all of the devil , and not of the father . and as christ said , the devil when he speaketh a lye , he speaketh of his own . it is also granted , that when any commit sin , the power whereby they act , is of god ; but when they sin , they abuse that power ; and also whatever sin cometh to pass , is not without god's permission , and that is not a bare permission , but a most holy and wise ordering , and bounding of it to his own glory . and as to acts 2.23 . a main place , that ranters , and presbyterian and independent teachers abuse and wrest , ( as they do other scriptures , to their own destruction , if they repent not ) it giveth them no strength at all . for it saith , him ( to wit , christ ) being delivered by the determinate counsel and fore-knowledg of god , ye have taken , &c. so we see , that he was delivered , or exposed unto them by the determinate counsel of god , but that they did kill him by the determinate counsel of god , the scripture saith not . for to deliver is one thing , and to slay is another . our worthy friends that were put to death at boston in new-england , they delivered up their lives freely into the hands of these murtherers , and so did many of the martyrs , not accepting deliverance ; and yet they did not kill themselves , as these bloody persecutors use to alledge . and that it s said , god hardneth whom he will. his hardning , is not the making their hearts hard , with infusing any evil spirit into them , but that he justly with-draws his good spirit from them , for great sins formerly committed , and so leaveth them to harden their own hearts . as it is said , that pharoah hardned his heart . and thus do many sober and judicious protestants understand the words . 5. again , as concerning election and reprobation , first , as to the election and predestination of the saints unto eternal glory , and happiness , whatever the scripture saith of it , or of any other doctrin , we do readily believe and acknowledge it , as , that god hath chosen the saints in christ jesus before the foundation of the world , that they should be holy and unblamable before him in love , ephes . 1.4 . and rom. 8.29 . for whom he did fore-know , he also did predestinate , to be conform to the image of his son , &c. and whom he did predestinate , them he called , and whom he called , them he justified . and what christ said to the disciples , ye have not chosen me , but i have chosen you , and appointed you , to bring forth fruit , and that your fruit should remain , joh. 15.16 . and 1 john 4.10 . herein is love , not that we loved god , but that he loved us , and sent his son to be the propitiation for our sins ; and vers . 19. we love him , because he first loved us . a most sweet and comfortable testimony , as all the other . but we no where find in all the scripture , that god hath reprobated any part of mankind , before the foundation of the world ; nor is it said , that men hate god , because he first hated them ; and because god hated them , he made them , on purpose to damn or destroy them , and decreed and ordained them to sin , that he might take occasion thereby to damn them . no such thing at all is found in the holy scriptures , nor can be gathered from them by any just consequence ; for although it be allowed , that gods purpose and holy will concerning them that finally perish , is from before the foundation of the world ( for there is no new will or purpose in god , the thoughts and counsels of his heart being from everlasting , as himself is ) yet that will of god regardeth and considereth them that shall finally perish , not simply as men , nor yet simply as sinners , either for adam's sin , or other sins that they have formerly committed , before that great sin of final vnbelief and impenitency , but it doth regard and consider them , as having a day of visitation , and a call to repent , and a tender of grace , love and mercy from god the father , and the lord jesus christ , and as having resisted and rejected the same , and hardning their hearts against it , and that finally , until the day of their visitation be over , whereby they declare themselves unworthy of eternal life , and that they are none of christ's sheep , but goats , to be put at the left hand ; and if any say , if these men were not elected before the foundation of the world , it will follow that they were reprobated before it . i answer ; it doth not follow ; for elected and reprobated are not contradictory terms , being both positive , and election signifieth a preference of some before others , but that doth not argue a total reprobation of others , when god did elect some . but at the end of the world , and in the conclusion it is granted , that all who are not elected , are but reprobates , to wit , when all god's elect seed every where , are gathered out , selected and separated from others , as so many grains of pure gold from all the dross , tin and lead that they have been mingled with for a time , here in this world , that then nothing will remain but that which is reprobate , and which the scripture calleth reprobate silver , the pure being wholly separated and selected from the impure , the gold and silver from the dross , the wheat from the tares , the sheep from the goats , and the good fish from the bad , and the children of the kingdom , from the children of the wicked one ; he who hath ears to hear , let him hear , and the wise in heart let them understand , for unto them it is given , but unto others , as christ said , in parables , that seeing they may not see , and hearing that they may not hear , nor understand . and also it is readily granted , that there is a special and peculiar , and singularly gracious care and providence of god , towards all that shall be saved from the beginning of the world to the end , and the number of them is most infallibly known unto god , and every one of that number shall certainly be saved , and none of them shall finally perish , but in the proper season and time shall be graciously visited , called , converted , justified , sanctified , and last of all glorified , and this without any violence done to their rational faculties or free-will ; for god doth well know how to gain and prevail upon the understanding , and will , and inclinations of his people , by such gentle , and yet prevalent and overcoming perswasions and allurements , and motions of his holy spirit of grace , of light and life , as shall infallibly gather them unto himself . and it is also granted , that as god hath provided that grace , whereby some shall certainly be saved , so by the same all are put under a capacity or possibility of salvation : and therefore that any are not saved in this world , is not because of any want , or defect in the sufficiency , or efficacy in the grace in its own nature ; but because of them , whom god in his infinite justice and counsel permits finally to resist it , even as in the parable of the sower , the seed was one and the same in all the four grounds , but the grounds differed one from another , and that one ground was good , was of god , but that others were bad , was of themselves ; and the word election doth properly enough signifie , selection , seperating and setting a part or refining , as when gold or silver is separated in the furnace from the dross . and this separation hath had its various degrees and progress , from first to last , as when gold or silver is purified or purged in the sire seven times , and then in the seventh time , it hath no mixture , but is all pure , or as when liquor is poured from vessel to vessel several times , or as wheat is winnowed again and again , until all the chaff be separated . and in this sense we find the word election used in scripture divers times . isa . 14.1 . for the lord will have mercy on jacob , and will yet chuse israel . and isa . 49.7 . and he shall chuse thee . and zach. 1.17 . and the lord shall yet comfort zion , and shall yet chuse jerusalem . and zach. 2.12 . he shall chuse jerusalem again . and isa . 48.10 . i have chosen thee in the furnace of affliction . and in this sense of the word , as it signifieth a selecting or separating the pure from the impure , election doth go before reprobation , and is not co-evous with it . but whether that election in christ before the foundation of the world , doth in some sort signifie a selection or setting apart in christ the head , who was before the foundation of the world , and is said to be the lamb slain from the foundation of the world , as some mystick writers affirm , it is not my present business to determine , neither is it necessary at this present occasion . 6. but the place of scripture which they mainly abuse and wrest , to prove this reprobate doctrin of theirs , of an absolute reprobation of the greatest part of mankind , even before they are born , and that not only babes and sucklings on the mothers breasts , but in the womb are absolute reprobates and cast-aways , and that some , yea , many infants die in a state of reprobation , and perish eternally ( only for adams sin imputed unto them ( as they say , without any knowledge or eonsent of theirs ) and corrupt nature derived into them ) and that all such reprobates never had , or ever shall have any opportunity of saving grace , whereby it was possible to them at any time to be saved . the place of scripture , i say , they mainly abuse and wrest , to favour this evil and pernicious doctrin , is that in rom. 9.11 , 12 , 13. but for the opening and vindicating of this place of scripture , let it be considered , that here is only a preference mentioned of jacob before esau , how that the elder shall serve the younger , but this saith nothing of esau his being absolutely reprobated . the great design of the apostle paul , being to shew that god had chosen the line of jacob before the line of esau , and given unto that line and posterity of jacob , a preference and dignity over the line and posterity of esau , and that the reason of this preference was not any works that they had done , but for some other cause hid in the secret counsel of god ; and this preference did appear , first , in chusing the line and posterity of jacob , to be his church in that peculiar dispensation of the mosaical law , and giving them many prophets , and other excellent men , to be raised up among them , and honouring them with many great and signal appearances , signs and wonders ; whereas the posterity of esau was not so highly favoured , and yet they had a divine dispensation among them , which did suffice unto that present time and state . secondly , in that god did chuse the line of jacob , and his posterity , out of whom christ should be born after the flesh , and also the apostles , and that out of jacob the gospel should go forth and be preached to all the world. 3dly . that the nation that should come of esau should really become servants , and tributaries to the nation of israel ; and this was fulfilled in david's time , and was also a figure of another thing to be spiritually fulfilled . and therefore this election doth not infer any reprobation of esau , or his posterity , as to their eternal estate , no more than when david said , 1 chron. 28.4 , 5. the lord god of israel chose me before all the house of my father , for he hath chosen judah to be the ruler , and of the house of judah , the house of my father , and of the sons of my father , he liked me to make me king over all israel ; and of all my sons , he hath chosen solomon my son. so here are divers elections ; first , judah out of all the tribes ; secondly , the family of jesse , out of the tribe of judah ; thirdly , david out of all the sons of jesse ; and fourthly , solomon out of all the sons of david , and yet no absolute reprobation of any that were not so chosen , as to their eternal state . and because many of the people of israel were proud , because of this choice and preference that god made of their nation , above the nation of esau , so as to make them a church to himself , when the nation of esau was not so favoured , for reasons best known unto god , and for that cause did conclude , that they were always to remain a people singularly favoured of him above all other people , from first to last . to beat down this vain conceit of theirs , paul telleth them , first , that they are not all israel , which are of israel . secondly , that as god did prefer , and make choice of the nation of israel , to be a gathered people and church unto him , before the nation of esau , and that without any regard to their works , or to the works of their fathers , but for some other hid cause and reason in the depth of gods secret counsel ; so god could as freely , yea , and would prefer the poor gentiles , who were no people , to be a people unto him , and a gospel-church , to become true believers in the lord jesus christ , when in the mean time the bulk and body of the nation of israel should be rejected , and cast off , at least for some time , from having any such dignity and favour ( a remnant only being reserved , according to the election of grace , rom. 11.5 . ) and this paul proveth at large , from verse 25. of that 9th . chapter , to verse 33. and doth further prosecute it in the two following chapters . verse 25. &c. as he saith also in o see , i will call them my people , which are not my people , and her beloved , which was not beloved . and verse 30. what shall we say then ? that the gentiles which followed not after righteousness , have attained to righteousness , even the righteousness of faith ; but israel , which followed after the law of righteousness , hath not attained to the law of righteousness , because they sought it not by faith , &c. so , we see how paul maketh the parallel , that as god once preferred , or chused jacob's nation , before the nation of esau , so again he preferred and chused the gentiles ( that had no good works to recommend them , and to move god to make that choice ) out of his free mercy , before the people of israel ; and of these gentiles , no doubt , many of them did belong to the posterity of esau , and also of ishmael , yea , of cain ; for there is an express promise made to the remnant of edom , and of all the heathen , upon whom his name is or shall be called , amos 9.12 . and it is but a remnant also of israel that is saved , until the fulness of the gentiles come in , and then all israel ( to wit , the true israel , which is not all who are of israel after the flesh ) shall be saved ; see rom. 9.27 . and 11.5.25 , 26. and lastly , it is to be again considered , that what god spoke unto rebecca , before the children were born , not having done good or evil , did not so much regard the singular persons of jacob and esau , as their posterities , as is clear from gen. 25.23 . and the lord said unto her , two nations are in thy womb , and two manner of people shall be separated from thy bowels ; and the one people shall be stronger than the other people , and the elder shall serve the younger . so we see here , the words are said of the nations of jacob and esau , and not the persons of them ; for we read not any where that ever esau in person served jacob , but only in his posterity , as was fulfilled in david's time , when the edomites became tributaries to the people of israel : nor was it said before the children were born , jacob have i loved , and esau have i hated , as it is commonly alledged , but many hundred years after he was deceased . and if it had been so said , it could not prove an absolute rejection either of esau , or his posterity , as to their eternal state ; for god is said in scripture to hate all evil-doers , and yet many evil-doers repent , and obtain salvation , and therefore hatred doth not signifie absolute and final hatred , either in god or men : for it is said , jacob loved rachel , and hated leah ; that is , he loved rachel more : and christ said , he that hateth not father , and mother for my cause , is not worthy of me ; that is , he that loveth me not more than father and mother . and therefore to conclude , this whole passage in rom. 9.11 , 12. doth not prove the absolute reprobation of either esau , or of his posterity , because many of esau's posterity had a promise of salvation , as is already proved from amos 9. and if esau had been an absolute reprobate , the scripture would never have said , that isaac by faith blessed jacob and esau concerning things to come , heb. 9.20 . and that faith was the substance of things hoped for , and had a regard to the spiritual blessing of esau , and of his posterity ; for though jacob got the first blessing , yet esau got the second , and their two blessings did not differ in substance , but in some weighty circumstances of order and time ; and isaac prophesied in esau's blessing , that he should have the fatness of the earth , and dew of heaven ( the same but the order inverted with jacob's blessing ) and that in process of time he should be a free people , to wit , in gospel days , signified by these words , gen. 27.40 . and it shall come to pass , when thou shalt have dominion , to wit , in christ , in gospel days , in thy posterity , that thou shalt break his yoke from off thy neck . and so we find that divers ( mark 3.8 . ) idumeans , that were of esau , followed jesus ; and jacob's putting on esau's goodly rayment , signified how in gospel days , the true believers of jacob , and esau , should become one body of a gospel-church , and in this body they of esau should be as hands , but the voice is jacob's , that is , the word of god , in the preaching of the gospel , should be sounded out of jacob's line , to wit , from the prophets and apostles , who were of jacob. and there is no ground from scripture , that esau , as to his person , was not saved ; yea , luther , and moller , and oecolampadius , all famous protestants in their day , judge rather that he was saved ; and the whole passage of jacob and esau , beside , that it hath its historical fulfilling , is a figure of two inward seeds and births , none of which are reprobated , but the other preferred . but if some alledge heb. 12.17 . to prove that absolutely esau was rejected , and did perish , because it s said , he found no place of repentance , though he sought it carefully with tears . i answer , that doth not prove his final rejection , but only that he could not be heard to have that first blessing recalled , which was already given to jacob. 6. where now shall these men find any place in scripture to prove , that there are any reprobate infants ? or that any infants dying in infancy go to hell , and perish eternally , only for adam's sin , although that sin was forgiven to adam , and thousands more equally guilty , by their own confession ? if they shall alledge , as some do , that place in 1 cor. 7.14 . for the unbelieving husband is sanctified by the wife ( viz. that believeth ) and the unbelieving wife is sanctified by the husband , else were your children unclean , but now are they holy . yet this cannot prove their intention : for they dare not confidently say , that all infants of believing parents are elected , otherwise they must say , that esau was elected , both whose parents were bellevers . although some in church-covenant have gloried , that none of their children , while infants , were reprobates , because they were in covenant , and yet at that same time pleading that esau was a reprobate in his mother's belly , forgetting that both esau's parents were more holy than they . and if any further urge , if there be no reprobate infants , that then all infants are sanctified and holy , both the children of unbelieving parents , as well as of believers . i answer ; it doth not follow by any necessary consequence , although to admit of that consequence , is much more tollerable , than to say , that any infants perish eternally , only for adam's sin. and as for the general state of infants , and how they are particularly disposed of immediately after death , who die in infancy , seemeth a great depth , and is a great mystery , and is best known unto the lord : for it is generally granted , that god hath his way to reach to infants , and deal with them , both in the womb , and upon the mothers breasts ; and therefore let us leave secret things unto god , until he reveal them , and be satisfied with what he hath revealed . now this is plainly revealed , and declared in the scriptures , that the condemnation is not simply that adam sinned , or his posterity in , and with him , but that light is come into the world , and men love darkness more than light : and as by the offence of one , to wit , the first adam , judgment is come upon all to condemnation ; even so by the righteousness on one , to wit , christ the second adam , the free gift is come upon all to justification of life . and tho' men generally are by nature , children of wrath ( if it should be granted or allowed , that by nature , signifieth their natural condition , as they are born into the world ) yet by the great mercy , grace and favour of god , they all have an opportunity or possibility to be converted , and become the children of god. and what that holiness or cleanness is , that the children of one , or both the believing parents have , is a great mystery , i am sure to many who have that scripture place oft in their mouths , and greatly glory in it , that they are in church-covenant , and therefore they are holy , and their children ; also some call it federal or covenant holiness , but what is it they know not , whether it be any real thing , or principle of holiness , lodged or placed in their children , more than in the children of others that are not in their church-covenant , they dare not affirm ; for many , yea , very many children of professed christians of all sorts , when they grow up to youth , are as unholy , and sometimes worse , as the children of unbelievers . but that children generally either of believers , or unbelievers , are actually sanctified from the womb , or in the womb , cannot be proved from scripture , or any observation that we can make . it is recorded as a rare and great thing , that john the baptist was sanctified from the mother's womb , and the like of jeremiah , and so perhaps may be gathered of moses , or some others , but these rare and singular examples , rather prove , that children are not in general , actually and de facto holy from the womb ; and therefore that holiness of children , mentioned 1 cor. 7. must only signifie some more near capacity in them , than in others , to become actually holy in time to come , and that not of all children after the flesh , but the children of promise , as paul distinguisheth these two sorts of children of the same parents , rom. 9.8 . but who are the children of the flesh , and who are the children of the promise ? tho' it be well known unto god from the beginning , yet commonly it is not known unto men , until they discover themselves by their works and fruits . 7. as concerning the general state of mankind by means of adams fall , what the scripture saith of it , is readily believed and granted , and it is safest in all things , to keep to scripture words , especially in all cases and matters that are in controversie . for the scripture is a rich treasury or store-house , sufficient to afford us words whereby to express our faith in all matters of christian doctrin ; and it is not safe to leave the scripture-words , and go to words of mans wisdom , and thereby to declare our faith of christian doctrin . now the scripture saith that in adam all die , 1 cor. 15.22 and rom. 5.12 . that by one man sin entred into the world , and death by sin , and so death passed upon all men ; for that all have sinned : and that christ hath died for all men , proveth that all men were dead , as paul argueth the case . and david , though he was the son of a good father , yet bewailed the state wherein he was conceived and born , psal . 51.5 . behold i was shapen in iniquity , and in sin did my mother conceive me . and that under moses law , an offering was to be offered up for the mother and the child , ( levit. 12.4 , 5 , 6. ) when it was born , and that the mother should be unclean so many days after the birth of the child , doth certainly signifie a seed , or principle of sin and corruption , to be conveyed from the parents to the children , in the ordinary way of generation , and that the menstruous humour was held in scripture to be such a filthy and unclean thing , which is called , the fountain of her blood , levit. 20.18 . hath the same signification ; also , the circumcision of children on the eighth day . and it s said in job 25.4 . how can man be justified with god , or how can he be clean , that is born of a woman ? to wit , in the ordinary way of generation . and here the natural state of man is declared , before his spiritual regeneration in christ jesus : and though that was said by bildad , one of job's friends , yet it is confirmed by job himself , chap. 14.4 . who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean ? not one . but this seed , or principle of sin and corruption , is not charged or imputed unto men , until they joyn and consent unto it , and actually obey it , as is clear from rom. 5.13 . for until the law , sin was in the world , but sin is not imputed when there is no law. now , when is it that there is no law , but in the time of infancy , wherein children are not capable of any law , or of doing good or evil , any more than when in the womb ? for until children begin to have the use and exercise of their reasonable understanding , so as to know the right hand from the left ( according to jonah 4.11 . ) they cannot be understood to be under the law. but to say , that any infants are eternally damned for that first sin , and without any actual sin , or transgression of theirs committed in their own body , is expresly contrary to scripture , that saith , the soul that sinneth shall die ; and every one shall receive according to the deeds done in the body , good or evil ; and he that soweth to the flesh , shall reap corruption , as he that soweth to the spirit shall reap incorruption , and life eternal . and therefore none shall finally perish , or be lost , for that first sin , according to scripture , but for their actual disobedience here in this world , and their final unbelief and impenitency . for as concerning the judgment and punishment of the first sin , it was immediately inflicted after the fall , to wit , the death of all in adam . but christ the second adam , by his death , for all that died in adam , doth give unto all his free gift , that cometh upon all unto justification of life ; and thus the plaister is as broad as the sore , and the medicine as universal as the disease ; and it is not simply the sin or disease , but the refusing and rejecting the medicine and physician , that is the cause of any mans final destruction . and how , or in what manner adam's children and posterity were concerned in that first sin , whether only by imputation , as some say , or by real participation , as others say , the wise in heart may easily judge : let it suffice at present , to say , that adam's children , being his branches , and he their root , they do really partake with him both in the defilement , and also in the promised seed , in order to their restoration ; for when god said to adam , in the day thou eatest thereof , thou shalt surely die ; his children and posterity were included . so when god said , i will put enmity between thee ( to wit ; the serpent ) and the woman , and between thy seed and her seed , it shall bruise thy head , and thou shalt bruise his heel : their children and posterity are equally included ; for adam , after his fall , being restored and made an holy root , as is generally acknowledged , as paul declareth , if the root be holy , so are the branches ; and if the first fruit be holy , the lump is also holy . and as god promised unto noah , and to his sons , gen. 9.8 . and behold i establish my covenant with you , and with your seed after you . his branches are holy with him , to wit , not actually , but by having a seed , or principle of holiness put in them , derived from christ the second adam , who is that promised seed , whereby they are made capable of becoming holy , by improving the same ; and this is that federal holyness which all the children of adam and noah have , that is , all mankind , which is more encreased or diminished ( but not totally abolished in any ) as the immediate parents are found more or less actually holy ; for the more that any sin , that noble seed and principle of holiness both in them , and in their children , is the more clouded and vailed , every sin that a man committeth , until it be purged and done away , being a vail over that noble seed . and god renewed the promise to abraham , to make him the father of all nations and families of the earth , and that in him they all should be blessed , and in his seed ; not that this should be fulfilled by his being their father , according to the flesh , or in the way of carnal generation ; but through christ , who is the seed of abraham , by whom the blessing and grace of god was to come upon all . ( rom. 4.16 , 17. ) and in this respect abraham is called the father of us all , as it is written , i have made thee a father of many nations , before him whom he believed , god quickening the dead , and calling the things which were not , as though they were ; to wit , the dead in adam , are all in due time quickned by christ , the promised seed of abraham , that they may all become the children of abraham , through faith in christ jesus ; for by virtue of christ's death , and the promise made to adam , noah and abraham , these three general fathers , all adam's posterity , are holy in a scripture sense , not actually , but in capacity to become actually holy , through the holy seed given unto them , and put into them , as they come to close and joyn with it in true faith and obedience : and this doth well answer to peter's vision , whereby all manner of four footed beasts of the earth , and wild beasts , and creeping things , and fowls of the air , which god had cleansed , all nations of adam are understood , acts 10.12 , 13 , 14 , 15. chap. vi. more particularly and largely concerning the way of restoration by jesus christ , his dying for all , and giving unto all sufficiency of grace , and means of salvation , whereby they may be saved . according to the testimony of the holy scriptures , jesus christ is the saviour of all men , but especially of them that believe 1 tim. 4.10 . and he is called the saviour of the world , john 4.42 . and the saviour of the body , ephes . 5.23 . and that he hath dyed for all men , is the express testimony of the holy scriptures in divers places , 2 cor. 5.14 , 15. for the love of christ constraineth us , because we thus judge , that if one dyed for all , then were all dead ; and that he dyed for all , that they which live , should not henceforth live unto themselves , but unto him which died for them , 1 tim. 2.4 , 5 , 6. god will have all men to be saved , and to come unto the knowledge of the truth ; for there is one god , and one mediator between god and men , the man christ jesus , who gave himself a ransom for all , to be testified in due time , heb. 2.9 . that he by the grace of god should taste death for every man , 1 john 2.2 . he is the propitiation for our sins , and not for ours only , but for the sins of the whole world. but it is commonly alledged by the adversaries of truth , that by all in these places is understood , not all particulars , but some of all sorts , or all the elect . to this i answer ; the word all must needs be as full and universal , with respect to christs death , and the benefit of it , as it is with respect to adam's fall , because the scripture maketh a plain parallel betwixt all that die in adam , and all that christ died for , as in that fore-cited place , 2 cor. 5.14 . if one dyed for all , then all were dead : now if all only signifie some , in the first part of the verse , the sense must run thus , if one dyed for some or a few , then all were dead : this quite maketh void the apostles inference ; for if christ only dyed for some , then only some were dead , and not all . again , in rom. 5.18 . the parallel is very plain , as by the offence of one , judgment is come upon all , unto condemnation , even so by the righteousness of one , the free gift is come upon all , unto justification of life ; not that all are actually justified , but the free gift is come upon them , that they may be justified ; and so it is , that the two sides or parts of parallels are of equal extent . beside that , the word ( all ) in scripture doth most commonly signifie all particulars ; and therefore to restrict it , in respect of gods grace and mercy through christ , savours of a narrow spirit , and this narrowness of spirit in presbyterians and independents is a great evil in them , and maketh them so peevish , uncharitable and cruel . 2. and whereas they object against christ his dying for all men , because he said , he did not pray for the world , and therefore he did not die for the world , john 17.9 . i pray for them , i pray not for the world. it may be very well granted , that he dyed not for the world which he doth not pray for : but what world is that ? it is not any part of mankind , as they are considered , when first born into the world , and having had a time to live in the world , and a day of visitation , wherein they might have repented , and have been converted unto god ; but as having finally rejected the great mercy and grace of christ , after many tenders and offers of it , until that the lord hath wholly left striving with him , by his spirit in their hearts , and then they become reprobates , and that world whereof christ spoke when he said , he prayed not for the world. and therefore it ought to be well noted and considered , that when it is said , christ dyed for the sins of the world , it is only with respect to sins past , or any other sins that men may commit before the precise time and period of gods leaving them , and ceasing any more to strive with them , when they are become perfected , so to speak in sin and evil , and are as the ripe tares , fit for burning , having nothing remaining in them of any tenderness , simplicity or sincerity , or true love to god or man ; no grain of goodness or virtue , nay , not the least seed , but are wholly become as dross , after all the precious mettal , to the least grain , is extracted or separated from it ; for such , i say , christ hath neither dyed nor prayed . and thus it may be with many , and is with many before they die ; and concerning these , john declared , saying , there is a sin unto death , i do not say that he shall pray for it , 1 joh. 5.16 . and this is that sin of final unbelief and obstinate impenitency , wherein men may be permitted to live , some considerable time , before they die . and this is no contradiction , nor inconsistency , but serveth greatly to clear the understanding of this weighty matter , how christ hath dyed for all men , within a day or time of grace , and yet hath dyed for none of these men , after they have wilfully neglected that day of grace , and resisted the spirit of grace , until he did altogether leave and forsake them . and also it is to be considered , that though christ hath dyed for all men , within a day or time of grace and mercy , beyond which time they have not the benefit of his death , and there remaineth no more sacrifice for sin unto them ; yet he hath not died with the same equal intention and degree of love , kindness and good-will , for them who finally perish , as for them who are saved ; nor are the gracious providences of god , and his dealings both inwardly and outwardly after the same way and manner towards all : and therefore all who shall be saved at the end of the world , have very great and unspeakable cause to praise god , for his more abundant mercy , grace and love towards them in christ jesus , and that he , and not they , did make them to differ from others ; & yet none that perish , can have any just cause to complain against god ; for when that that is sufficient is given to them , they have no cause to complain . but all who are saved , god is pleased at one time or another , that suiteth with his infinite wisdom and good pleasure , so to draw , perswade , move and incline them to come unto him , and when come , so to preserve them with him , and in him , or if at any time he suffer them to depart , infallibly to reclaim them , before the end , that they shall certainly be saved ; and this the lord can well do , so as to put a difference betwixt cattel and cattel , or men and men , without their observation , and so as neither to give unto the one any occasion of presumption , nor unto the other , of despair , and without giving any greater measure of inward grace , ( although he may and oft doth give a greater measure to one than to another ; for he is free to give of his own , as he pleaseth ) but only by suitable providences and dispensations , and means of his own chusing ; the one may be taken , and the other left , the one gained and saved , and the other not , the inward grace being the same , both in kind and degree , in some that are saved , and in some that are not , as the parable of the pounds and marks plainly declare , every servant had his pound or mark , which is an equal sum , and some improved it , and some not . and of this more abundant love of god towards paul , he himself taketh special notice , with great thanksgiving unto god , 1 tim. 1.14 , 16. and the grace of our lord was exceeding abundant , with faith and love , which is in christ jesus — howbeit , for this cause i obtained mercy , that in me first jesus christ might shew forth all long-suffering , for a pattern to them ; which should hereafter believe on him to life everlasting . and the like notice he taketh of the great love of god towards the believing ephesians and thessalonians , for his chusing them , and so for all other believers of all other churches and people , that god had chosen them from the beginning ; and for this , he said , he laboured , and endured all things , even for the sake of the elect , that they might be saved , 2 tim. 2.10 . and as it is the great work and end of all faithful ministers , to gather gods elect , every where scattered , so of the angels , mat. 24.31 . and so also of christ jesus according to john 6.39 . cap. 10.27 , 28 , 29. isa . 43.5 , 6 , 7 , 8. rom. 11.7 . and thus we find a great difference betwixt some that were invited to come to the supper , who when they refused , were no more called , but sentence passed against them , that they should not taste of the supper , and others that were compelled to come in , luke 14.23 , 24. not by using any violent compulsion , but by infallible perswasions and motions of his spirit of love and grace , that shall infallibly prevail with them . nor doth this give to any man the least occasion either to presume or despair , as by saying , either i am elected , or not ; if not elected , i cannot be saved , for that doth not follow ; and yet it is most true , that either a man shall be saved , or he shall not , being contradictory propositions , whereof the one is always true , and the other not . but this doth not infer , that he who shall not be saved , could not be saved . and seeing no man certainly knoweth , that he shall not , before he discover it by his final impenitency , therefore it is the wisdom of every man to improve , with all diligence , that inward grace , and all outward means and helps afforded him , the which if he do , according to his ability , he shall infallibly be saved . and though it is most true , that there is a certain number elected in christ jesus , the elect head and foundation , and corner stone , living and precious , that is infallibly known unto god , which make up a compleat , intire and perfect body ; yet seeing none knoweth that great mystery , who is in any danger to abuse it , it is great folly for any man to presume , that he is safe , or upon a bare supposition , which can infer no positive conclusion , to resolve to be in any respect negligent : and he that by the grace of god , doth know both his calling and election , that knowledge hath its proper tendency to make him the more diligent , to abound in all due obedience and thankfulness , which is the only way to retain the knowledge of it , after it is once obtained : and the said above-mentioned dilemma is as idle and foolish , as who would argue , i shall live for a month or year to come , or i shall not ; if i shall not , i need take no care to save my life , seeing i shall die ; if i shall , i need take no care , for without taking care i shall live ; for seeing both these parts of the argument are but hypothetical , they can infer no positive conclusion . but as to a mans salvation , the only safe and sure way of arguing is this , if i use the grace and means that god hath given me , i shall infallibly be saved ; and if i do not use them , i have no ground to expect that i shall , and therefore let me with all diligence that is possible make use of them . but the doctrin of absolute reprobation , that maketh salvation , or the effectual use of the means absolutely impossible to many thousands , yea , as they say , to the greatest part of mankind , is a most woful and miserable discouragement unto people . 3. the lord jesus christ , by means of his death , hath procured unto all men , both jews , and gentiles , as the fruit and effect of his death , an inward principle of divine grace , light , life and power , that is the free gift of god unto them , in the hearts of all men , together with subordinate and concurring outward means and helps , more or less , but sufficient unto all men , whereby they may be saved one time or another , before the end of the world ; and the ordinary outward means of salvation is the preaching of the gospel of our lord jesus christ , even jesus of nazareth , that was crucified for our sins , and rose again for our justification , by qualified men ; or failing of them , by reading , or hearing read the holy scriptures , by which , after a sort , the prophets & apostles preach unto all men ; or failing of these outward means , god supplying them by his inward teachings and revelations in mens hearts , and some other secret ways and manners of his divine providences , dealings and dispensations unknown to most men : for the proof of the first part , see rom. 5.18 . therefore as by the offence of one , judgment came upon all men , to condemnation ; even so by the righteousness of one , the free gift is come upon all men unto justification of life : the which righteousness of one , is the active and passive obedience of our lord jesus christ , by which the free gift is come upon all . the which free gift is called grace , and the gift of righteousness , and is expressed in this chapter by four sundry greek words in the greek text , as charis , charisma , dorea dorema , all very significant ; see further john 1.9 . he was that true light that lighteth every man that cometh into the world. and he is called , the light of men , john 1.4 . and john 8.12 . i am the light of the world , he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness , but shall have the light of life . and tit. 2.11 , 12. for the grace of god that bringeth salvation hath appeared unto all men , teaching us to deny vngodliness , &c. and verse 13. looking for that blessed hope , and the glorious appearing of that great god , and our saviour jesus christ . ephes . 3.6 . that the gentiles should be fellow . heirs , and of the same body , and partakers of his promise in christ , by the gospel . col. 1.26 , 27. the mystery which hath been hid from ages and generations , but now is made manifest to his saints , to whom god would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery in the gentiles , which is christ in you , the hope of glory . and rom. 10.8 . the word is nigh thee , in thy mouth , and in thy heart ; and that is the word of faith which we preach . and verse 6 , 7. he understandeth it of christ , which moses preached in the people of israel , deut. 30.14 . and because this great mystery , which was in the gentiles , was much hid in the time of the law , and in all ages of the world , until christ came in the flesh both in jews and gentiles , as paul called it , the mystery hid from ages and generations ; therefore the psalmist , psal . 67.2 . prayeth , saying , that thy way may be known upon earth , thy saving health ( or thy jesus , hebr ) in all nations . for he saw that it was in them , but as it were hid , and vailed , according to the weakness and darkness of that dispensation ; and therefore he prayed unto god , that it might be made known ; and therefore as the grace or gift of christ is in all men , so he , who is the fountain and root of it , from whom his grace cannot be separate , is in all men , to save them , within a day of visitation , or salvation ; for christ is in all men but reprobates , according to 2 cor. 13.6 . and none are reprobates , until christ have left them , and given them up to final impenitency and hardness of heart . and for a proof of the second part , see 1 cor. 1.21 . for after that , in the wisdom of god , the world by wisdom knew not god ; it pleased god by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe : see further , verse 22 , 23 , 24 , 25. and rom. 16.26 . john 20.31 . 4. and because of this universal grace and love of god to all men , and that christ is freely given of the father to be a saviour unto all men ; therefore christ hath commanded that his gospel should be preached unto all nations , without exception of any ; and did also prophecy and fore-tell , that the gospel of the kingdom should be preached in all the world , for a witness unto all nations , before the end of the world ; and because he , who cannot lie , hath said it , we are bound to believe , it shall be fulfilled , that so all mankind may be accountable to the man christ jesus , at the day of judgment , either to be rewarded , or punished by him , as they shall be found having obeyed , or disobeyed his glorious gospel , that hath been preached unto them , both inwardly and outwardly unto many , if not unto all , but inwardly , to be sure unto all . 5. this divine grace of our lord jesus christ , in the hearts of all men , hath had its various dispensations and manifestations , according to the several ages of the world , and the several states and conditions of men in it , both among jews , gentiles and christians ; and especially both in the gentiles , and in the body of the jews and people of israel ( excepting the prophets , and others peculiarly favoured of god ) the principle it self was but little made known , or revealed , in respect of the great worth of it , and the great virtue , power and glory that was in it , god in his infinite wisdom reserving the more full discovery and revelation of it to the time after christ his coming in the flesh , and death , resurrection , and ascension ; yet so much was discovered of it , and so much good fruit it brought forth , in the true lovers and improvers of it , as by means whereof , they were accepted of god in that day through christ jesus . 6. whoever were perfectly justified , and saved in any place or family of the world , or nation , people , or faculty , they were saved only and alone by the lord jesus christ of nazareth , even the man christ jesus , who dyed for them , & rose again ; for there is no other name given under heaven , whereby men can be saved , but by that name , to wit , by the lord jesus christ of nazareth , who was crucified and raised again , acts 4.10 , 11 , 12. but here some will readily object , how could any of the gentiles be justified or saved by the man christ jesus , and by virtue of his death and resurrection , who never heard of him , & never had the mystery of it revealed unto them , & consequently had not faith in christ crucified , and risen again ? and upon this head the adversaries of truth , both presbyterian , independent and baptist teachers , have taken great occasion , to cry out against the people , called in scorn quakers , that their religion is only paganism , and not christianity , because they say , that heathens or pagans can be saved by their giving obedience to the light within them , without having christ crucified , and raised again , outwardly preached unto them . but these adversaries of truth little consider what hypocrites they discover themselves to be , in this very charge , when they make that a crime in others , which they judge no crime in themselves ; for they themselves hold , that there are not only elect infants , dying in infancy , who are regenerated , and saved by christ through the spirit , who worketh when , where , and how he pleaseth ; but other elect persons , regenerated and saved by christ , who are uncapable of being outwardly called by the word ; citing luke 18.15 , 16. john 3.3 , 5. john 3.8 . john 5.8 . see cap. 10. sect. 3. of the westminster-confession , owned by the new-england churches , and printed by them at boston . and what they say of infants , and other elect persons , who are uncapable of being outwardly called by the word , that they are regenerated , and saved by christ through the spirit , who worketh when , where , and how he pleaseth ; the same , these called quakers say , concerning the honest and faithful gentiles , who were obedient to the light of christ in them , and were not outwardly called by the word , or by outward preaching ; yea , and were uncapable of being outwardly called , when living in such remote places and ages of the world , where the outward preaching never came within their reach . for as a deaf man is uncapable of hearing a mans voice , so is a man that hath his hearing ( to wit , the faculty or sense of hearing ) uncapable of hearing the voice of a man , that is at a greater distance than his hearing can reach it . and seeing they plainly confess , that there are such elect persons in the world , not only infants , but these come to age , who are regenerated , and saved by christ through the spirit , who worketh when , where , and how he pleaseth , as their words are , ( and the words are true , and a good use can be made of them against themselves , who have confessed them ) then let them forever be ashamed to cry out any more against the honest people , called quakers , for saying , these honest gentiles , who have not heard of christ outwardly preached unto them , belonging to god's election , are saved by christ , and regenerated through the spirit of christ . and if the spirit work when , where , and how he pleaseth , to wit , both in infants , and persons at age , who are not outwardly called by the word , or uncapable of being so called , then let them recal and condemn their false doctrin , that saith , god hath committed his counsel wholly to writing ; and the former ways of god's revealing his will unto his people are now ceased , and there is no new revelation : as they have expresly , and without any reserve or exception , affirmed , cap. 1. sect . 1. and sect . 6. for if god hath committed his counsel wholly to writing , then nothing of his counsel is extant , where that writing is not extant . and if all divine revelation be ceased , then neither infants , nor other persons , who are uncapable of being outwardly called by the word , have any divine revelation , or inward call by the spirit : or if infants , and other persons belonging to god's election , be inwardly called , and renewed by the spirit , then god hath not committed his counsel wholly to writing , nor are all the ways of god's revealing his will to men ceased : for by their own confession , it is revealed to all elect persons , who are uncapable of being outwardly called by the word , the spirit working in them , when , where , and how he pleaseth . 7. but whether any are , or can be saved or justified , without the express knowledge and faith of christ crucified , and risen again , is one question ; and whether without all outward hearing of christ crucified , outwardly preached unto them , is another question : for without all outward preaching of men , the mystery of christ crucified can be revealed , and preached inwardly to men by the spirit of god , and by the same spirit , faith can be wrought in them by that inward hearing , as these men confess . and though it may seem hard and difficult , to prove that all honest gentiles , who did by nature ( to wit , by the principle of the divine nature implanted into the true nature of men ) the things contained in the law , had that express knowledge and faith of christ crucified , and raised again ; yet it is more hard and difficult unto them , who affirm they had it not , to prove it , seeing the spirit , who worketh when , and where , and how he pleaseth , might reveal it unto them ; and that they grant , the spirit doth work in all elect persons , who are not outwardly called by the word , and doth regenerate and save them by christ. and to the further clearing of this matter we are to consider , that the work of salvation is not a thing that is commonly done in an instant , but hath its gradual steps , its beginning , progress and finishing , even as faith it self hath ; for as at the first instant of a man's sincere believing , he is en●●ed into a state of salvation , so as his faith groweth , his salvation doth gradually encrease and grow with it , the which salvation is not only a salvation from wrath to come , or from hell fire and torment , but is a salvation from sin , and from under the power of darkness , and from all ignorance , and error , and darkness of understanding , and a thorow renewing into the image of god , and bringing man into conformity unto the image of the son of god , the heavenly and second adam : and the true knowledge of christ , and of god the father , being a part of the image of god , that is to be renewed in them that are to be saved , according to col. 3.10 . and have put on the new man , which is renewed in knowledge , after the image of him that created him . therefore it doth necessarily follow , that perfect salvation , in the full extent of it , cannot be had without the full and perfect knowledge of christ , the which full and perfect knowledge of christ , is to know him , both as he is that eternal word , and son of god , the only begotten of the father , who was with the father before the world was , by whom all things were made , and as he is god manifest in the flesh , justified in the spirit , &c. to wit , christ crucified and raised , which paul calleth the great mystery of godliness : and that both salvation and faith is gradual , and hath its steps and progress , beginning , growth and perfection , is very clear , both from the scriptures testimony , and the saints experience ▪ for paul writing to the believing philippians , exhorted them to work out their salvation with fear and trembling , 2 philip. 12. so , though they were entred into a state of salvation , through faith in christ , yet it was not perfected in them , but was to be further wrought out ; and to encourage them in this great work , he told them , it was god which worketh in them , both to will and to do of his own good pleasure . and paul encouraged the believing romans , and also himself , saying , now is our salvation nearer than when we believed , rom. 13.11 . and the perfect salvation of souls is called the end of faith , 1 pet. 1.9 . and verse 10. of which salvation the prophets have enquired , and searched diligently , who prophecyed of the grace that should come unto you . verse 11. searching what , or what manner of time the spirit of christ , which was in them did signifie , when it testified before-hand the sufferings of christ , and the glory that should follow . and verse 13. wherefore gird up the loins of your mind , be sober , and hope to the end , for the grace that is to be brought unto you in the revelation of jesus christ ( so the greek hath , viz. enapokalepsei ) and philip. 1.6 . being confident of this very thing , that he which hath begun a good work in you , will perform it unto the day of jesus christ . and as the work of the outward creation , is distinguished into six days , and that a day of sabbath , or rest , which is the perfection : so the work of the inward creation , which is the creating men anew in christ jesus , by way of analogy , may be said to have its six days , and then the spiritual sabbath , or rest , according to heb. 4.9 . there remaineth therefore a sabbath to the people of god. and verse 11. for he that is entred into his rest , hath ceased from his own works , as god did from his . and verse 11. let us labour therefore to enter into that rest , &c. where its plain , the writer doth hint at the said analogy . now though it ought to be granted , that the knowledge and faith of christ crucified and raised again , doth belong to the finishing and perfecting of the saints salvation , yet it is most clear and plain from scripture , that it doth not universally belong to the beginning of it . for we can prove most clearly from scripture , that the good work of god , even the work of salvation was begun in them , who had not that knowledge and faith of christ crucified ; as first , to instance in nathaniel , of whom christ gave a noble testimony , behold an israelite indeed , in whom is no guile , john 1.47 . and yet at that time he had not faith in jesus of nazareth , as being come in the flesh , but reasoned or questioned , saying , can any good thing come out of nazareth ? philip saith unto him , come and see , &c. next , to instance in the disciples of christ , who for sometime , after they had followed him , and that peter had confessed to him , that he was the son of god , and that christ had told him , his father had revealed it to him ; yet the mystery of his death and resurrection was for all that hid from him , and the rest of them : for this , see mark 9.31 . for he taught his disciples , and said unto them , the son of man is delivered into the hands of men , and they shall kill him , and after that he is killed , he shall rise the third day . and verse 32. but they understood not that saying , and were afraid to ask him . see again , luke 9.43 . but that instance of cornelius is a most manifest and clear demonstration of this truth : for this cornelius was a gentile , and uncircumcised , and therefore no proselite of the covenant to be sure ; and though some alledge , that he was a proselite of the gate ( according to that distinction that was among the jews of a two fold sort of proselites , one of the covenant , that received circumcision and the law , another of the gate , that did not receive circumcision ) yet this is but barely alledged without all proof . but if he was a proselite of the gate , it is certain at that time , when the angel was sent unto him , he had no express knowledge , nor faith of christ crucified , for that was the thing , which peter was sent to preach unto him , by hearing of which he was to receive the holy ghost , and be saved ; for the angel told him , that peter should speak words to him , by which he and all his house should be saved ; see acts 11.14 . now altho' at that time , when the angel appeared unto him , cornelius had no knowledge nor faith of christ crucified , yet he was in a good estate ; and well were it for many called christians , that they were in as good estate as he then was in : when the angel appeared to him , he told him , that his prayers , and his alms were come up for a memorial before god , acts 10.4 . and it is said of him , verse 2. he was a devout man , and one that feared god , with all his house , which gave much alms to the people , and prayed unto god alway . and with respect to this , peter began his preaching , saying , acts 10.34 , 35. of a truth , i perceive that god is no respecter of persons , but in every nation he that feareth him , and worketh righteousness , is accepted of him . now who dare be so bold to say , cornelius at this time had no real and true beginning of salvation , or of saving grace and faith , before peter did preach christ crucified & raised again unto him ? for although cornelius had not at that time faith in christ crucified , yet he had ( without all question ) faith in god , and in the word of god that was in his heart , and that word was christ in him , though the mystery of christ was not fully revealed unto him at that time , and in that state he was accepted of god , & yet not for his works sake , but for christ . and therefore , men may have a beginning of true faith , and of a true work of salvation begun in them , when the mystery of christ crucified , and raised again , is not revealed unto them . for that mystery ( being so great as it is ) was not in that day , to wit , before christ came and suffered in the flesh , preached , as one of the first and most necessary things to be first known and believed , as without the faith and knowledge of which no man could be in any degree blessed , otherwise , when christ began to preach , he would have preached it as one of the first things ; and when he sent his disciples to preach the gospel , before he suffered death , he would have given them an express commission to preach it to all people , how he was to be crucified , and raised again the third day , but the mystery of it at that time they knew not , and therefore could not preach it then : nor did he preach it himself , when he began his ministry , nor for a considerable time afterward● until the time drew near that he was to suffer . in all that excellent sermon of his on the mount , not one title or word doth he mention of his death and resurrection expresly , but he taught the law and the prophets , and expounded the spirituality of the law , in its extent , far beyond the reach and conception which the people had of it at that time , and withal dropped some evangelical precepts unto them , and taught them the right way of prayers , fasting and alms , and pronounced them blessed , that hungred and thirsted after righteousness , and were poor in spirit , that were merciful , that were meek , and peace-makers , and that mourned , &c. and suffered for righteousness sake . and therefore it may be very safely concluded , that the express knowledge and faith of christ crucified , is not of absolute and indispensible necessity ( especially where it hath not been preached , nor revealed ) unto the beginning of a man's salvation , although it is really of absolute and indispensible necessity unto the finishing and perfecting of it , because , as hath been already said , our inward renewing unto god , when perfected , in us , is a renewing us perfectly , and not in part only , into the image of god ; and a part of that perfect image , is the perfect knowledge of god , and of jesus christ , whom to know is life eternal ; and that perfect knowledge requireth men to know him , as he came in the flesh , and died , and rose again , which is that great mystery of godliness , as paul called it , 1 tim. 3.16 . but if these men , who own that said confession of faith , enquire , whether all these honest gentiles that lived in the world , or do now live in the world , who have not had christ crucified , outwardly preached unto them , but were diligent to frame their lives , according to the light that was in them , died in a state of salvation ? i say , yea , they did ; and this i may the rather say , according to their own doctrin . for what if they had not the perfect knowledge and faith of christ crucified , when they lived ? yet they might have it at their death , to wit , in the passing through the valley of the shadow of death , according to psal . 23.4 . even when they are not able to demonstrate unto the living , what is then revealed unto them ? and as it is in job 33.22 , 23 , 24. when a mans soul draweth near unto the grave , and his life to the destroyers , there may be a messenger with him , an interpreter , one of a thousand , to show unto man his vprightness , then he is gracious unto him , and saith , deliver him from going down to the pit ; i have found a ransom , or attonement ; see the hebr. or margin of the english bible . or if i should say , they receive this perfect knowledge of christ after death , it is according to your doctrin , who say , the souls of the righteous ( generally or universally ) after death ( note , after death ) being then made perfect in holiness , are received into the highest heavens , &c. these are the express words of your catechism , cap. 32. sect . 1. but when , and how , or at what precise time these honest gentiles , who used their greatest diligence to frame their lives according to the light that is in them , and yet have not had the death , and resurrection of christ outwardly preached unto them , when they then lived in the world , is not my present business to determine : it doth suffice , that i have demonstrated from scripture , that men have been in a state of salvation , and acceptance with god , who have not had the mystery of christ , his death and resurrection , made known unto them ; and surely , these men continuing faithful to what they had received , when they died , could not perish . for it is impossible that any man , who hath the work of salvation really begun in him , though but as a child in knowledge , that holdeth fast the beginning of his confidence firm unto the end , can perish , heb. 3.14 . 8. and as concerning the diversity of the dispensations of the divine grace given unto men , in the several ages and places of the world , according to the several states and capacities of men in the world , the scriptures testimony is very plain and clear , which declareth both of the manifold grace , and manifold wisdom of god , 1 pet. 4.10 . ephes . 3. and ephes . 1.10 . paul mentioneth the dispensation of the fulness of time , as being the greatest , wi●h respect to the fore-going dispensations , before that fulness of time came ; and they may be distinguished , as paul doth distinguish them very plainly into three , to wit , diversity of operations , but one god ; and diversity of administrations , but one lord ; and diversity of gifts , but one spirit , 1 cor. 12.4 , 5 , 6. the operations belonging to the law , as inwardly dispensed , the administrations to the prophets , and to christ's coming in the flesh , and to the apostles , their preaching , both before and after christ was crucified , and rose again , and afterwards the gifts to the holy spirit , as they were the effect , and fruit of the apostles preaching , and the end of it : and according to the scripture , the first is that divine dispensation proper to men , as children , in the knowledge of god , and in virtue ; the second , to that which is proper to men , as in youth , or middle age ; the third as proper to men of full , or ripe age. and each of these dispensations may be said to have their proper and peculiar inward baptism , or spiritual washing ; the first being the baptism of the father ; the second being the baptism both of the father , and of the son ; the third being the baptism of the father , the son , and the holy ghost , which christ commanded his disciples to administer , after he rose from the dead , and gave the holy ghost , matth. 28.19 . which is not to be so understood , as if the three , to wit , the father , the son , and the holy ghost , did not work together in all these three dispensations ; for certainly they did ; but because in the first dispensation , god only was known as creator , and father of all mankind ; in the second , both the father and the son were known ▪ and in the third , the father , the son , and the holy ghost are known , and the mystery of the three , and of the more abundant divine grace that accompanieth this knowledge , largely opened and revealed . and though i say the first belonged to the law , as inwardly dispensed , yet that very dispensation of the law was not meerly legal , but had grace and mercy mixed with it : for no dispensation , without the grace and mercy of god , could have been in any respect serviceable unto men ; therefore the law , both as outwardly and inwardly administred , had always some measure of divine grace mixed with it ; and therefore in the second commandment , the substance of all the ten commandments , being commonly acknowledged to have been delivered by god himself to the gentiles , who had not the written law , god did reveal himself to be a gracious and merciful god , visiting the iniquities of the fathers upon the children , unto the third and fourth generation , but shewing mercy to thousands of them that love him , and keep his commandments . and as i have already proved from the express testimony of the holy scripture , by the obedience of one , to wit , the lord jesus , who dyed for all , the free gift and grace of god is come upon all unto justification of life , rom. 5.18 . and christ himself is the mystery hid in the gentiles , being that word of faith which moses preached in the jews , and paul in the romans , chap. 10. 9. and since it is so , that christ is really that light that doth lighten the gentiles , and is light in them , who have not heard him outwardly preached unto them , it is no less than real blasphemy ( though pardonable upon repentance ) to say , as the presbyterian and independent teachers of both old and new-england have said in their confession of faith , that the light in men , ( which they call , the light of nature ) that doth so far manifest the goodness , wisdom and power of god , as to leave men inexcusable , yet is not sufficient to give that knowledge of god , which is necessary unto salvation ; as they expresly affirm cap. 1. sect . 1. and cap. 10. sect . 4. they say expresly , men not professing the christian religion ( to wit , the faith of christ's death and resurrection ) cannot be saved , be they never so diligent to frame their lives according to the light that is in them ; which here again they call the light of nature . and as for the expression , the light of nature , it may be safely enough owned ( in a true scripture sense ) though not in the sense of them , who do so call it . for as christ is called the light of men in scripture , ( john 1.4 . in him was life , and the life was the light of men ) so he may be very well called the light of nature , to wit , lightning the dark nature of man ; and not only so , but quickning and sanctifying nature in all men , who joyn thereunto , and the word of god in the heart , james calleth it , ton emphuton logon , the innate word , i. e. put into the nature of men , which is able to save their souls . but the presbyterian and independent teachers of old and new-england , by the light of nature , mean only that it is some natural faculty of man's soul , as to say , his natural understanding , or his natural mind & conscience : and according to them , there is no other light , or principle of knowledge or virtue in man , generally and universally , nay , not in any who profess not the christian religion , though ever so diligent to frame their lives according to the light that is in them , as they expresly affirm ; and yet in manifest contradiction to their own doctrin , they have confessed , that persons elected , are saved by christ , and regenerated through the spirit , who are uncapable of being outwardly called by the word , cap. 10. sect . 3. 10. but that light that is in men generally ( within their day of visitation ) is not any natural faculty of man's soul , as to say his natural understanding or conscience is manifest ; 1 st because they do confess , that man by his fall is become dead in sin , and wholly defiled in all the faculties and parts of soul and body ; and indeed so he is , and his understanding is so darkned naturally , that he is called darkness ; and therefore he hath not any light that is left in him , as some call it the reliques of light left in him since the fall ; for if he did fall wholly , then no light was left in him , nor virtue , nor goodness , as they confess , cap. 9. sect . 3. that man is altogether averse from good . 2 dly , they confess , that all sin is a transgression of the righteous law of god , cap. 6. sect . 6. and therefore the gentiles , who have not the law outwardly delivered unto them , seeing they are sinners , do transgress against the righteous law of god ; now where is this righteous law , but in their hearts ? and this righteous law cannot be any natural faculty of fallen man , which they confess is wholly defiled and corrupted , and unholy , and unrighteous . 3 dly , they confess , that it is sufficient to leave men unexcusable , sect . 1. cap. 1. and therefore it is also sufficient to make men excusable , who are diligent to frame their life according to it ; and to say the contrary , is to contradict the very instinct of common justice that god hath put into mens hearts . 4 thly , the scripture saith , that some of the gentiles their thoughts did excuse them in well doing , as it did accuse them in evil doing , rom. 2.15 . 5 thly , the apostle paul doth plainly distinguish it from the conscience , rom. 2.15 . the true translation being , their conscience co-witnessing or bearing a joynt witness with that righteous law or principle . 6 thly , he calleth it the truth , and that which may be known of god , which god hath shewed unto them , which gave them the knowledge of god , and shewed them the goodness of god that leadeth to repentance ; and also gave them to know the judgment of god , and revealed the wrath of god from heaven against them : and because that many of them , who knew god , did not glorifie him as god , nor were thankful , therefore god gave them over to a reprobate mind ; and therefore they were not reprobates from the beginning , far less from all eternity , as these men alledg . and therefore any light or illumination that these gentiles had in them , or that any men have in them , is a new gift and grace of god , and gracious visitation of god unto them , as the apostle calleth it , rom. 5.18 . moreover , that god himself doth inwardly speak to men generally in their hearts , both in good men and bad , and is their teacher , and doth warn them , yea , and fore-warn them of evil and wrath to come , and doth reprove and convince them of sin , is the testimony of the holy scripture in many places ; see psal . 94.10 . psal . 50.1 , 16 , to 22. amos 4.13 . micah 6.8 . prov. 8.1 , 2 , 3 , 4. job 28.28 . chap. 24.13 . and 21.14 . and it is a place greatly worth noticing , luke 12.20 . god said unto him , thou fool , this night thy soul shall be required of thee . and where did god say thus to him , but in his heart ? and therefore it hath been the way of god , and ever will be to speak to men in their hearts , to call them , and warn , and fore-warn them of evil and danger , and to perswade and incline them to that which is good : and they who deny this , as they belye god , and say , it is not the lord that speaketh , and calleth to men in their hearts ; so they do a great injury and wrong unto men , who instead of turning them to god's teachings in their hearts , turn them away from them ; and they do ill deserve so great wages of the people , so to turn away the ears of the people from god's inward teachings in their hearts , and from the word of his grace , which is able to save their souls . and to conclude , although the dispensations of the divine grace be various , and may be variously distinguished into a more or less number , yet god and christ , and the holy spirit are one , and the one author of all these various dispensations ; and who-ever is faithful unto god in any of them , is accepted in christ , and for christ's sake , and not otherwise . and though the last , which is the pure and perfect christian and gospel dispensation , is far more excellent , and far surpassing either that among the gentiles , who had not the outward law , or that among the jews and people of israel , who had the outward law , and the prophets , yet every one of them had their glory in their day , and that inward divine dispensation that is now among the gentiles , who have not christ as yet outwardly preached unto them , hath its glory and great service and blessing to them who are faithful to god in it ; and such who continue faithful therein to the end , shall never perish ; and though it be not purely and throughly christian and evangelical , but rather more legal , yet it is also partly christian and evangelical , and the pure gospel dispensation is hid within it , as a wheel within a wheel , or as the most holy place was hid within the outer court , and there , to wit , in that first dispensation , christ , as it were , lieth as in swadling cloathes : and though the jews do not know him as he is there , yet such as the wise men from the east , do both know and honour him , as the king of the jews , yea , as king and lord , both of heaven and earth , who is in all , and through all , and over all , blessed forever , amen . chap. vii . concerning justification , and the nature of true faith , whether assurance is of the nature of it . 1. when the scripture saith , god justifieth the vngodly , rom. 4.5 . it is not to be understood that he doth justifie them in their ungodliness , but from it ; as the like manner of speech is used , acts 13.39 . and by him all that believe , are justified from all things , from which ye could not be justified by the law of moses . for seeing , according to the law of god , he that justifieth the wicked is an abomination to the lord , prov. 17.15 . god himself can do no such thing , as to justifie a wicked or ungodly man in his ungodliness . 2. as it is only the true believer , who hath faith in christ jesus , whom god justifieth ; so it is only he who is truly sanctified , and regenerated or born again of the spirit of god , whom god doth justifie , who are called the seed of israel , isa . 45.25 . in the lord shall all the seed of israel be justified , and shall glory . for as a rich man , when he dyeth , by his will or testament , leaveth his goods or riches not to strangers , but to his own kindred , as his brethern , or children , and to his wife ; so our lord jesus christ hath left by his will and testament , when he dyed , his spiritual goods , to wit , remission of sin , justification , adoption , and eternal life , only to his true spiritual kindred , to wit , his brethren , who are born from above , and spiritually related unto him , who are the true children of god , by spiritual regeneration , and renewing of the holy ghost , and who are his true church , and body , and of his flesh and bones , according to ephes . 5.30 . 3. and therefore not only faith , but true inward sanctification , and a thorow inward renewing into the image of god , and conformity of the whole man , unto the image of the son of god , is a condition and qualification necessarily required , in order unto mens being perfectly justified in the sight of god ; and as no man is justified , but who is sanctified , so no man is any more , or further justified than he is sanctified . 4. according unto which , god doth justifie men , not only by faith in christ , but by a real inward righteousness or holiness , which he doth beget in them by his holy spirit , and not only faith , but love , hope , true righteousness , and holiness , meekness , temperance and humility , and all other evangelical virtues , and fruits of the holy spirit , are the instruments and means whereby men obtain free justification through christ jesus , and whereby they are enabled , and fitted or qualified to apply christ jesus , and his righteousness unto them , so as to have the same imputed unto them , and made theirs , to wit , christ , and all his spiritual blessings , gifts and benefits , and his death , and sufferings , and obedience , with all the blessed effects and fruits of it . for as a line that is straight cannot be applyed unto another line that is crooked , but unto a line that is straight ; so cannot the lord jesus christ , who is the righteousness of god , be applyed unto men for justification , unless these men be made righteous , as he is in likeness , or conformity unto him , although not equal unto him : and therefore john did seasonably give the warning and caution , fore-seeing that many would claim to be righteous , or justified , when they were not really doers or workers of righteousness , 1 john 3.7 . little children , let no man deceive you ; he that doth righteousness , is righteous , even as he is righteous . and the same john said , rev. 22.14 . blessed are they that do his commandments , that they may have right to the tree of life , &c. which is equivalent to their being justified , seeing justification doth include in its nature , a right , or interest in christ , who is that tree of life . 5. it is therefore a gross error , and a false and antichristian doctrin , in these faith-publishers at westminster , espoused by the presbyterians and independant teachers in new-england , that god doth justifie men , not by infusing righteousness into them , but by pardoning their sins , and accepting them as righteous , &c. cap. 11. sect . 1 , 2. and also , that , they say , faith receiving and resting on christ , and his righteousness , is the alone instrument of justification , is another great error . for as faith may well be compared to one hand of the soul , whereby it receiveth and embraceth the lord jesus christ ; so love , which is an inward evangelical grace and virtue , that is shed abroad or infused into the soul , by the holy ghost , may be compared to another hand and arm , whereby it doth receive and embrace him . and all the inward evangelical divine virtues and graces that are wrought and begot in the soul , by the holy spirit of christ , are , so to speak , as a whole intire body , consisting of many members , whereby the soul doth embrace and cleave unto the lord jesus christ ; and thus a perfect union cometh to be witnessed betwixt the faithful soul , and the lord jesus christ , when it is joined unto him , receiveth him , and cleaveth unto him , not by one single grace or virtue , called faith , but by all other divine graces and virtues , which make up a whole intire body , having many members and joynts , whereby the soul cleaveth to him , as one streight line is joyned to another , or as one streight body to another , not in part only , but in all parts . and thus also doth the lord jesus christ embrace the whole soul in all its spiritual and divine powers and virtues , that he hath freely conferred upon it : and hence it is , that true believers are said to put on the lord jesus christ , as a man putteth on a garment . now he that putteth on a compleat or intire garment , every part of his body cleaveth to it ; even so the soul that putteth on christ , cleaveth to him by all its spiritual members , which are the divine evangelical virtues , wrought in it by the holy spirit of christ , even as the sins and evil lusts are called the members on earth , col. 3.5 . 6. but though real inward holiness and righteousness , as well as faith , be the instruments , whereby men are justified , yet they are not the foundation and ground of justification , but the lord jesus christ alone , even jesus of nazareth , who dyed for our sins , without the gates of jerusalem , and rose again in his intire and perfect obedience and righteousness , is the alone and only foundation and ground of justification , on which the souls of all the faithful are to rest for justification , and remission of all sin ; and therefore no man is to rest or relie upon the best works , or righteousness , or obedience , that he doth or can do , even when helped to perform the same , by the help of the holy spirit : for this were to put good works in the room of christ , which ought not to be ; for no works of righteousness or holiness done by us , even by the help of the holy spirit , is the foundation of the saints faith , or justification , but christ alone , and the free love , mercy , grace and favour of god the father revealed in him , and by him , through the holy spirit . for seeing all men generally have sinned , no mans best obedience for sin formerly committed , can be a ransom unto god , but christ alone is the ransom , even he who was crucified , and rose again , ( 1 pet. 3.18 . ) the just having suffered for the vnjust , that he might bring us unto god. and as no man can redeem the soul of his brother , so , nor can he redeem his own soul ; for the redemption of the soul is precious , and ceaseth forever , psal . 49.8 . viz. to be the work of man , but it is only and alone the work of him , who is both god and man , according to verse 15. but god will redeem my soul from the power of the grave , for he shall receive me , selah . see further these other scriptures , ephes . 1.7 . col. 1.14 . heb. 9.12 , 15. gal. 3.13 . 1 pet. 1.18 . rev. 5.9 . mat. 20.28 . 1 tim. 2.6 . job . 33.23 , 24. 7. and seeing remission and pardon of sin for christ's sake , is a part or branch of justification , as these faith-publishers do acknowledg , and that repentance is of such necessity , that none may expect pardon without it , as they confess , cap. 15. sect . 3. is it not very manifest , by their own confession ( though in plain contradiction to their own doctrin ) that repentance is a necessary instrument and condition whereby to obtain justification . and indeed the scripture layeth equal weight upon repentance and conversion , as it doth upon faith , in order to obtain remission or pardon of sins , acts 3.19 . repent ye therefore , and be converted , that your sins may be blotted out . acts 26.18 . to turn them from darkness unto light , and from the power of satan unto god , that they may receive forgiveness of sins , &c. and when the scripture saith , titus 3.5 . not by works of righteousness , which we have done , but according to his mercy he saved us . it is clear , that works before , or without true faith are understood , and not the inward work of sanctification , as is clear from the following words , by the washing of regeneration , and renewing of the holy ghost . and if the real inward work of sanctification and obedience had not been necessary to salvation , the scripture would not have said , work out your salvation with fear and trembling : and if ye through the spirit do mortifie the deeds of the body , ye shall live . and therefore when paul doth so earnestly plead that men are not justified by the works of the law , it is evident , he doth only exclude these legal performances and observations that the jews rested in , who had not faith in christ . and that no works , however so good or holy , being performed by men , ought to be rested in , as a foundation or ground of justification , for that were to exclude christ , and make his death of no effect . and again , when james doth plead so earnestly , that men are justified by works , and not by faith only , giving an instance in abraham and rahab , he only placeth faith and works together ( viz. such works as accompany true faith , and work together with it ) as necessary instruments and conditions , whereby to obtain justification , but not to be the foundation thereof . 8. and whereas paul generally so much useth that manner of speech , of justification by faith , it is manifest that by faith , he doth not mean only that single virtue called faith , but as by way of synecdoche , the most eminent , or noted part , is put for the whole , as when in scripture as well as in common speech , the head of a man is put for the whole man , ezek. 33.4 . ezek. 17.9 . even so by faith , the apostle in these places doth mean the whole complex or systeme , or intire body of the evangelical virtues and graces , whereof faith is as it were the head , and is first in order of nature , at least , in respect of the other ; and sometimes also by faith he understandeth , the whole evangelical dispensation and doctrin , as especially in that noted place , gal. 3.23 . but before faith came , we were kept under the law , &c. and verse 5. but after that faith is come , &c. where certainly paul doth not mean only that single virtue , called faith , but the whole evangelical dispensation , with all the spiritual gifts and graces of it . and again , gal. 3.2 . received ye the spirit by the works of the law , or by the hearing of faith ? which hath the same signification . and thus in common speech among christians , and christian writers , the christian faith doth signifie the whole christian religion and obedience ; and so unbelief in scripture is put for all other sin that men generally are under , before they believe , as rom. 11.32 . 9. true faith in christ jesus , ( on whom alone the soul resteth , as on the true foundation for justification , and all other divine and spiritual gifts & blessings ) is not only a believing in him , as he is the word , which was in the beginning with god , and is god , by whom all things were made , and which was in all the prophets , and faithful and holy men in all ages , but as the same word did take flesh , and was god manifest in the flesh , justified in the spirit , &c. 1 tim. 3.16 . which paul called , the great mystery of godlinss , to wit , christ crucified , and risen again , made of a woman , made under the law , the son of god , that did come in the likeness of sinful flesh , made like unto us in all things , sin excepted ; who being in the form of god , and thought it no robbery to be equal with god , humbled himself , and took upon him the form of a servant ; and was found in the true form and nature of a man , the seed of abraham and david , conceived by the holy ghost , and born of the virgin mary , at bethlem , in the land of judah . and thus the true faith doth not divide christ , but receiveth him , and joyneth the soul unto him entirely , to wit , the whole and intire christ , both as he did come outwardly in the flesh , and as he did , and doth inwardly come in the spirit ; and as the said true faith doth not divide him , so nor doth it divide his offices , but taketh or receiveth him in all his offices , as king , priest and prophet , shepherd , physician , husband , &c. and as he is called ( jerm . 23.6 . ) the lord our righteousness , in scripture ; so as none can have him to be their righteousness and justification , but who have him to be their lord , king and ruler in them , and their sanctification , wisdom and redemption . and thus every truly believing soul , is as the true mother of the child , who would not have the child divided ; but she who was not the true mother of the child , she would have the child divided ; a true figure of all false christians , who would have christ divided , and say , they believe in christ without them , but do not believe and receive christ within them , as god the father doth inwardly reveal him ; or as ranters , and other high notionists , who pretend to believe in christ , as he is the word and light in them , but slight and blaspheme against christ that was crucified without them . whereas the true believer doth both believe in christ , and receive christ , as he came in the flesh , and was crucified for our sins , and rose and ascended into heaven , and is now in heaven glorified , in the intire and perfect nature of man , in soul and body , appearing in the presence of god for us , our advocate with the father , and also doth believe in him , and receive him spiritually , to live and dwell in his heart , as he is the lord that spirit , and the second adam , or heavenly man , the quickning spirit , who is the true spiritual meat and drink to every believing soul , even as christ said , i am the true bread of life , he that eateth me , shall live by me . 10. and this true faith , in the least true measure of it , as it is an act or exercise , hath assurance in it , of the love and mercy of god revealed in christ jesus ; and true infallible assurance is of the very nature and being of true faith , as it is exercised on christ , its true and proper object and foundation , and upon the love and mercy of god the father revealed in christ ; hence paul said , that his gospel came unto these to whom he preached , not in speech only , but in power , and in the holy ghost , and in much assurance , or as the greek hath it , much full assurance , 1 thes . 1.5 . and he said further , his preaching was in the demonstration of the spirit , and of power , 1 cor. 2.4 , 5. that their faith ought not to be in the wisdom of man , but in the power of god : and this was sure footing , and had assurance in it , as the building on the sure rock . but they who deny all inward new revelation of the spirit , it s no wonder they deny that faith hath assurance in the being and nature of it . but without divine inward revelation , which begetteth assurance , there is no true faith , but only opinion , or conjecture , seeing there is no midst betwixt assurance and opinion , or conjecture ; and therefore these faith-publishers , have denyed the true faith of god's elect , when they say , it may be without assuranee , and that infallible assurance doth not belong so to the essence of faith , but that a true believer may wait long , and conflict with many difficulties , before he be partaker of it ; see chap. 18. sect. 3. and it is yet as strange , that they affirm , that a man without divine new revelation ( which here they call extraordinary , although in their first chapter , they have denyed all new divine revelation , even since the apostles ) can be infallibly assured , that he is in favour with god ; the which assurance they seem to ground upon the inward evidences of the graces of god , and the testimony of the spirit of adoption , witnessing with our spirits that we are the children of god. but whether this be not a manifest contradiction , one while to assert the necessity of the inward evidence of grace , and the testimony of the spirit witnessing with our spirits , that we are the children of god ; and another while , yea , with the same breath , to deny all inward revelation of the spirit ; and to say , the spirit worketh only effectively , and not objectively , and therefore is only medium incognitum assentiendi , to wit , an unknown principle of assenting , let the wise in heart consider and judge . for seeing no place of scripture , telleth us , that we have these infallible marks of god's children , and yet the spirit doth tell , or witness it , to or together with our spirits ; this certainly is a novum effatum , or new truth , or saying , no where either expresly or consequentially contained in the scripture ; or if they say it is contained in scripture , at least consequentially , to wit , that j.d. or j.c. hath the infallible marks of a child of god , let him produce it , or any for him , which they shall never be able to do . it is wonderful , that these men have such inveterate prejudice against divine inward revelation , that rather than assent to so blessed and comfortable doctrin , they will run into the most palpable non-sense and contradiction . and when they start from the testimony of the spirit , as implying divine inward revelation , they run at last to the testimony of a man 's own heart and conscience , not well considering that the bare testimony of a man's heart and conscience cannot infallibly assure him , or if it could , it is no divine testimony , but only human , and therefore no true object of divine faith. 11. but as the least true measure of faith , as it is lively acted or excercised upon christ inwardly revealed , hath an infallible assurance in it ; so this assurance doth only reach to the present state of faithfulness , as it is continued in , until it please god to reveal to the soul , that it shall be preserved faithful to the last , which so high degree of assurance , many true believers have not attained unto , god reserving that to such as he counteth worthy to reveal the same . but the first degree of assurance , to wit , whereby the soul is infallibly assured , that for the present , it is in the way and state of salvation ; and as it abideth , and continueth to walk in that living way and path it hath begun in , it shall be eternally saved , is a very blessed and comfortable degree , and such as for which every soul that hath it , has great cause to praise god. nor doth this degree of assurance hinder , but that the enemy of the soul's peace may raise up clouds and fogs of doubting and unbelief , which may for some time obscure that assurance , if the soul be not duely watchful , and diligent to retain the same . chap. viii . whether true beginnings of sanctification can be fallen from totally ? and whether it is true , that no man by any grace of god given him , or to be given him in this life , can perfectly keep the commandments of god , but doth daily break them , in thought , word and deed ? 1. that real and true beginnings of faith , and sanctification , or true and real righteousness may be fallen from , is clear from many testimonies of the holy scripture , especially heb. 6.4 , 5 , 6 , 7 , 8. where , first , is described the state of some , who do fall away , what it was before they so do ; as 1 st . that they were enlightned , so as to have tasted of the heavenly gift ; 2 dly . to have been made partakers of the holy ghost ; 3 dly . to have tasted the good word of god , and the powers of the world to come ; and surely , all this could not be without some real beginning of true sanctification . secondly , the state of such is described , when , or after they do so fall away , that they crucifie to themselves the son of god afresh , and put him to an open shame ; and also the great danger they are in ; so that it is impossible to renew them again unto repentance : but how far this impossibility doth extend , whether to a simple impossibility , or only in some respect , is not the present business to determin , and to the same purpose the author writeth , heb. 10.26 , 27 , 28. thirdly , the apostle paul in his epistle to the romans , chap. 11. doth not only affirm , that many jews and people of israel , who were the natural branches , were broken off from the root ( which root is christ ) by unbelief , but warneth the believing gentiles , of their great danger , also to be cut off , if they did not keep in holy fear and watchfulness , see verse 20.21 , 22. fourthly , the apostles , peter and jude set before the christians , the fearful examples of the fallen angels , and of the old world , and also of the people of israel , who were saved out of egypt , to be a warning and caution unto them , lest they should fall after the same manner . now the fall of the angels , was a total falling away , and so was that of israel in the wilderness , who though they did eat that spiritual meat and drink that spiritual drink , to wit , the rock that followed them , and that rock was christ , as paul expresly declared , 1 cor. 10. yet were overthrown in the wilderness for their idolatry , fornication , and other great sins , they were destroyed of the destroyer ; so that in that day , god did swear against them , they should not enter into his rest ; see 2 pet. 2. throughout , compared with jude , and 1 cor. 10. throughout . fifthly , the parable of the seed that was sown in the stony and thorny ground , that sprang up , and afterwards whithered , did signifie ( as christ expresly did expound it ) some that believed for a time , and afterwards did fall away . and this faith was not altogether a false faith , otherwise it had not been blame-worthy in them , to have left it , or cast it away ; for it is rather commendable , than reproveable , to cast away what is false and hypocritical , and not real : nor doth it argue , that their faith was not true or real , that it sprang up in the stony and thorny ground . for many that are real and sincere believers , at their first believing , feel their hearts to be both stony and thorny ground , and yet with diligence and labour , through the power and grace of god , come to get their hearts in process of time , so changed and renewed , that they become good ground , and bring forth good fruit to the end : so the more stony and thorny that the heart is , the more labour is to be used to make it good , which by the grace of god may well be done . sixthly , the parable of the ten virgins , five whereof were foolish , hath the same signification , for these five foolish virgins had some oyl in their lamps , but not being wise to get enough , they spent what they had , and so their lamps went out ; for though they had oyl in their lamps ( otherwise their lamps could not have gone out ) yet they had not in their vessels , as the wise virgins had , and so when they were called at midnight , to meet the bride-groom , they had no oyl at all , neither in their lamps , or vessels ; see mat. 25. from verse 1. to 12. seventhly , it is expresly said , ezek. 18.24 . and 26 , 27. when a righteous man turneth away from his righteousness , and committeth iniquity , he shall die . and again , when the wicked man turneth away from his wickedness , and doth that which is lawful and right , he shall live . and eighthly , the example of david is a most clear instance , who fell from his integrity , by these two great and capital sins of adultery and murther , and brought death upon him ; and had not god renewed him again by repentance , and restored him , he had dyed in his sins , and perished ; and this fall of his was total , though not final , because god restored him before he dyed . but to say , as these faith-publishers say and affirm , that no men once sanctified in the least measure , can fall totally from their sanctification , though committing murder and adultery , as was the case of david ( see cap. 17. sect. 1. and cap. 11.5 . of their confession ) nor from their justification , is not only a most false and pernicious doctrin , but a most wonderful piece of confusion . for if he that is both murderer and adulterer in the very act , and remaining in that or these sins , without repentance for some time , are really saints , and justified ; then who may be said not to be saints ? or what difference is there betwixt the saints , and no saints , betwixt the godly and the wicked , good men and evil men ? if a man that is both murderer and adulterer , be a real saint , and a justified man , then the worst of men may generally believe they are true and real saints , and ye cannot convince them of the contrary ? for by what means can they be convinced thereof ? tell them of their sins , lying , stealing , drunkenness , swearing , murther and adultery , none of all this , according to this wicked doctrin , doth prove them to be no saints , or that they have not true faith ; and therefore if they die in these gross sins , they must go to heaven immediately ; because they shall die in faith , they shall die sanctified and justified men ; than which i know no greater confusion , and daubing with untempered morter , and sewing pillows under peoples arm-holes , like the false teachers of old , and prophecying smooth things unto people in their sins , and flattering them , yea , imboldning and encouraging them to sin : and no doubt , many are wofully imboldned and encouraged to run into sin , and excess of sin by such poysonous doctrin , that these false teachers feed them with , that is like sweet poyson , that though it be sweet to the flesh , yet it kills the soul : doth not the scripture say , the soul that sinneth shall die , and the wages of sin is death ? and as every sin doth in some measure kill the soul , so great sins , such as murder and adultery , than which we can hardly suppose any greater ( unless that unpardonable sin of blasphemy against the holy ghost ) do wholly kill and destroy the soul , insomuch that if any such soul ever be saved , it must be by a new creation , and renewing ; and of this david was well sensible , when , after god was pleased spiritually to visit and awaken him again , he prayed unto god , saying , create in me a clean heart , o god , and renew a right spirit within me , psal . 51.10 . and thus according to these false teachers , there is no mortal sin , that any soul once quickned in the least degree , can commit ; and the same sin that is mortal in the unbeliever , is not mortal in him that once was a believer , as murder , adultery , yea , incest , or worse , is no mortal sin , in one , and yet is a mortal sin in the other . doth not this loose the reins to all sorts of wickedness , and make god a respecter of persons , and faith a sort of proof , that though men , once having faith , commit the worst sort of sins , as murder , adultery , incest , rapine , yet their faith is a sort of proof unto them , that none of these sins doth or can kill them ? they are still saints for all this , and justified in the sight of god ; and if saints , then good enough to be your church-members , yea , members of the independent or congregational church . why ? what doth hinder , but they are as real and lawful members of the church as any others ? and if murderers and adulterers , while such , are still saints , and qualified to be your church-members , it is no wonder that your church be large , and have a great number of members . it is no great difficulty to be a member of that church , when a murderer , an adulterer can be a member of it . is this your pretence to reformation ? and why , ye estimate your church more holy than the church of rome ? but is not your church and doctrin in this respect much more unholy ? for the church of rome saith , all gross , or great sins , as fornication , adultery , murder , and the like , are really mortal sins , in all that commit them , without respect of persons ; and whoever commit such sins are fallen from their state in grace . and so saith the scripture , 1 cor. 6.9 , 10. be not deceived , neither fornicators , nor idolaters , nor adulterers , &c. shall inherit the kingdom of god. the which kingdom of god is a state of grace , as well as of glory . and here we see the apostle paul maketh no distinction betwixt one that hath formerly believed , and one that hath not believed , but without distinction , or respect of persons , he concludeth in general against them all , that while such , they cannot inherit the kingdom of god. but according to this westminster and new-england confession of faith , fornicators , and murderers , and adulterers , that have at any time once believed , do still inherit the kingdom of god , to wit , a state of grace , which is , in a true sense , the kingdom of god , and is frequently so called in scripture . and thus it doth most evidently appear , that their doctrin in this particular is antichristian , and contrary to the doctrin of the holy scriptures . and to say , that murder or adultery in him that hath once truly believed , is not a mortal , or killing sin , but is a mortal sin in him that hath not believed , is not only to make god a respecter of persons in the worst sense , but to extenuate the sin in the believer , and to aggravate it in the unbeliever , contrary to the scriptures testimony , which doth aggravate any sin , that men having once believed , fall into , more than in unbelievers , as is clear from 2 pet. 2.20 , 21. 2. and as for the scriptures , they bring in their said confession , to prove their false doctrin , let them be impartially examined , and they will be found to prove no such thing ; some of them being expresly conditional , as that in 2 pet. 1.10 . for if ye do these things , ye shall never fall . here it is only promised conditionally , but not absolutely , that they shall not fall , to wit , if they give all diligence to add to their faith virtue , &c. verse 5. and this serveth them not only from falling totally , but from falling indefinitly or universally , so as not at all to fall ; for he saith not , ye shall not fall totally , but , ye shall not fall . and there are many other scriptures , that though they do not expresly mention the condition , yet do imply it , and are to be expounded by other scriptures that do express it . 3. it is readily and willingly granted , that there is a state in holiness , or sanctification , that may be attained and grown up into , wherein men cannot fall away totally from a state of grace ; but as they cannot fall away totally , so they cannot commit any gross or great sin , which in the scripture phrase , is commonly called sin , to wit , a hainous sin , or crime , which john calleth , a sin unto death , 1 john 5.16 , 17. and here he distinguisheth betwixt a sin unto death , and a sin that is not unto death , viz. that doth not totally slay the soul's life , but woundeth it , and killeth only in part , as some small wandring or evagation of mind , or giving way ( through slackning the watch ) unto a vain thought , for some small time ; something of anger , or passion , upon some sudden occasion ; something of glorying in sufferings , or services , or knowledge , or in spiritual attainments ; something of too forward and hasty zeal , and divers like sudden motions , that a gracious and godly soul may be tryed and afflicted with , that are as thorns in the flesh-and do wound and afflict the soul , but are not suffered to proceed so far , as to carry it forth into any secret or open gross crime , either inwardly in the heart , or outwardly in word or deed. hence both in the old and new testament , we find divers kinds and degrees of sin , more or less heinous , and these expressed by divers both hebrew and greek words : the more heinous are called , iniquities , vngodliness , impiety , vnrighteousness , perverseness , rebellion ; and others of an inferiour nature , are called , trespasses , debts , omissions , faults , &c. now the least kind or degree of sin doth weaken and wound , yea , kill in part the soul 's spiritual life , as when in the natural body some member is mortally wounded , and killed , and yet the whole person is not slain thereby ; but all gross sins , such as fornication , adultery , murder , theft , robbery , &c. make havock , waste and destroy the soul's life , and kill the whole man , whom , notwithstanding , god in his infinite mercy may and doth , at times , restore . for we read of no sin unpardonable , but that of blasphemy against the holy ghost , and doing despite to the spirit of grace . and such who are come to this noble degree and state of sanctification , are described , psal . 119.2 , 3. blessed are they that keep his testimonies , and that seek him with the whole heart , they also do no iniquity , they walk in his ways . and such have their calling and election made sure unto them ; such are not meerly or barely servants , nor sons of the bond-woman , but sons of the free-woman , and throughly renewed and born of god , who doth not commit sin , for his seed remaineth in them , 1 john 3.9 . and he cannot sin , because he is born of god. for indeed to him that is born of god , sin is contrary to his new nature , as much as holiness or righteousness is contrary to the devil's nature , or as one contrary thing can be to another , as it is contrary to a fish to live on dry land , or for a sheep or dove to live in the bottom of the seas . but whoever commit any gross thing , as fornication , murder , adultery , theft , robbery , perjury ; &c. never arrived to this pure and perfect state of sonship , were but servants , and not purely and perfectly sons ; and yet the state of the servant is a true and good state in its place , and as faithfully improved , leadeth on infallibly to the state of pure and perfect sonship ; and such who have attained to this pure and perfect state of sonship , can say with paul , gal. 4.31 . so then brethren , we are not children of the bond-woman , but of the free. and with john , 1 john 2.19 . they ( to wit , such who were not true sons , but at best only servants ) went out from us , but they were not of us , &c. to wit , sons and children of the free-woman , or the children of the new covenant , they were only of hagar , that signifieth the law , or first covenant . and to conclude , the righteousness and holiness of the first covenant , may be totally fallen from , such as was that of the angels , who fell , and adam the first man , he fell totally , and so may they who are not further advanced , than to bear the image of him , the earthly adam ; but the righteousness and holiness of the new covenant , ( such as they attain unto , who are throughly born of god , and are made overcomers and conquerors , yea , more than conquerors , as the scripture phraseth it , and are made conform to the image of christ , the second adam , the lord from heaven , heavenly ) cannot be fallen from , or lost ; such having overcome , are made pillars in the house of god , so as no more to go out , rev. 3.12 . and to this state only do all these places of scripture relate , that hold forth and imply a sure and absolute stedfastness in holiness and righteousness . but who are thus far advanced , and who are not , although infallible signs and marks of distinction may be given of these two so differing states , god only infallibly knoweth , and they to whom he doth reveal it : for it is god that must make known by the inward revelation of his holy spirit , who hath these marks , otherwise men may presume to have them , when they have them not . and of these infallible signs and marks , some of them are to love god with the whole heart , to love him purely and perfectly , to love him for himself , and to desire to enjoy him , as he is a god of holiness , purity and righteousness , more than for gifts , or comforts , or rewards , that are of an inferiour nature ; to hate and fear sin , more than all punishment for sin ; to have no inward inclination , or desire to revenge injuries , but most willingly and heartily to forgive and bear them ; to love enemies , from the very inward ground and bottom of the heart , and always to render good for evil , and blessing for cursing . now he that is in the state of a meer servant , or son of the bond-woman , may endeavour to practice all these things in word and deed , as outwardly , and may have many inward wrestlings , and endeavours inwardly to bring his heart to the inward conformity of this most holy and spiritual law ; but until he be more inwardly changed and renewed , and born again by a second inward birth , he cometh not up in heart and soul to this inward purity , but feels a secret defect within him , of this so perfect righteousness , that is wholly evangelical . 4. next as to that other question mentioned in the title of this chapter , viz. whether it is true , that no man by any grace of god given him in this life ( which includes all grace given at present , or to be given at any time hereafter in this life ) can perfectly keep the commandments of god , but doth daily break them , in thought , word and deed. the faith publishers of westminster and new-england do positively & expresly affirm it , in answer to question 149. larger catech. and cap. 16. sect. 5. they farther say , that the best works of the saints , which proceed from the spirit of god , as they are wrought by them , are defiled . the which assertions have seemed so gross to divers of their church-members , that they could not believe , that their catechism and confession of faith said any such thing , until i have got the book , and both read & caused them to read the same in their said catechism & confession with their own eyes , and then they were amazed and ashamed ; and indeed it is an astonishing doctrin , especially to say , that the good works of god's holy spirit are defiled in or by the saints . it is such a chimera , or contradiction , as to say , one and the same thing can have the perfect shape of a man , in all his parts and members , without any defect or redundancy , as to say , a perfect man , and yet also have the shape of a dog , ass or hog , at the same instant . for they say , as it is the work of god , it is perfect ; and as it is the work of man , it is imperfect and sin , and that totally . for they do not mean , that one part of the work is god's , and that is perfect , and another part is man's , and that is imperfect ; but that the whole work , as it is god's , is perfect , and as it is man's , even the same whole work is defiled and imperfect , yea , sin : what greater piece of nonsense and contradiction can be imagined ? as who would say , the snow is perfectly white in one sense , and yet black in another sense , or the fire is hot in one sense , but cold in another ? and another as great an absurdity they have affirmed , that these defiled and sinful works of the saints , god doth accept them , looking upon them in his son , though in god's sight , they are defiled and reproveable . is not this to represent god ( to speak with reverence ) as looking with a deceiveable eye , as one that looks upon an object , through a green or red glass , it seemeth green or red , although it be not really so ? and is it not to make christ a meer cloak to sin , or blind to hide it from god's all-seeing eye , or if not to hide it , yet for god to accept that for good and holy , which is not really so , and so to give a false judgment , and to call evil good , which god abhorreth ? and is not this antimonian like , who say , god seeth no sin in them , though they lye , swear falsly , drink , drunk , steal , whore , & c. ? yea , ranter like , for they say , god seeth no sin in them , because he looks upon them in christ . but surely , in whomsoever sin is , god and christ seeth it , and cannot accept it , and christ himself judgeth and condemneth all sin. and as for their alledged proofs from scripture , they are meerly wrested and abused , as the impartial reader may perceive , with small examination . the first place they cite in their larger catechism , answ . to quest . 149. is james 3.2 . for in many things we offend all . but to this i answer , 1 st . he doth not say , in all things , as these faith-makers say , that all the best works of the saints are defiled , and they sin in them all . 2 dly , he doth not say , we shall , and must always offend , and can do no otherwise by any grace of god , so long as we live . 3 dly , it is to be considered , that the apostle james writes this epistle in general to the twelve tribes , who were not generally come to a state of perfection , and of such it may be said , they offend in many things , to wit , such as are weak in faith ; and though he use the first person of the plural number , saying , we , this doth not prove that he doth understand himself , more than when he saith , verse 9 , therewith ( to wit , the tongue ) curse we men. for james , to be sure , was no such man , both to bless and curse with the same tongue or mouth ; for thus he expostulates with them , my brethren , these things ought not so to be ; doth a fountain send forth at the same place sweet water and bitter ? the next place they cite , is john 15.5 . for without me ye can do nothing . this proveth indeed , that no man without the grace of christ can do any good ; but it proveth not , that by the grace of god he cannot do that which is good . surely paul was not of these mens faith , who said , he was able through him that strengthned him , viz. christ to do all things . the next place they cite , is ecclesiastes 7.20 . there is no man that doth good , and sinneth not . to this it is answered ; first , the translation doth as well bear it in the potential mood , and may not sin ; the hebrew word being in the future , which is at times put for the potential mood , as psal . 22.17 . the word in the hebrew is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the future : secondly , it is readily granted , that there is a time or state wherein men generally do sin , until a state of perfection be attained , which was not generally attained in the time of the law , or old testament , for the law made nothing perfect , and it is said to be weak , although no doubt , there were some excellent and perfect men in that time , but they did not attain to that perfection by the law , but by faith in christ . another place they cite , is gen. 6.5 . and god saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth , and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually . answer , this is very impertinently here alledged , for it speaketh only of that generation of men in the old world , that were so exceedingly degenerated , that god was provoked to drown them with the deluge of waters . but this doth not prove that it is so with the saints ; yea , noah is expresly excepted , verse 8. but noah found grace in the eyes of the lord. and vers . 9. noah was a just man , and perfect in his generation ; and noah walked with god. another place they cite , rom. 3.9 . answ . this place is as impertinently alledged as the former ; for it is plain , that paul there describeth the condition of men , both jews and gentiles , as they are generally under the law , and before they have faith in christ , as is clear from verse 19. now we know , that what things soever the law saith , it saith to them who are under the law. but no where can it be found in scripture , that there are none of these who are under grace , that are righteous men , and made free from sin ; but the contrary is manifest , which expresly testifieth of many righteous and perfect men , in their generation , both before and after christ came in the flesh , who pleased god , and were men of good hearts , and good lives , and especially enoch is recorded , to have walked with god by faith , of whom nothing blame worthy is mentioned in any one particular . and christ speaking of good men , saith , a good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit ; and a good man out of the good treasure of his heart bringeth forth good things . but to apply these words , rom. 3.9 . and the following words , to the saints generally , as these faith publishers do , sutes more with ranters than sober christians ; see and well consider the words , from verse 10. to verse 19. there is none righteous , no , not one ; there is none that understandeth , there is none that seeketh after god ; they are gone out of the way , they are together become unprofitable ; there is none that d●th good , no , not one : their throat is an open sepulchre , with their tongues they have used deceit ; the poyson of asps is under their lips , whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness ; their feet are swift to shed blood , destruction and misery are in their ways , and the way of peace they have not known : there is no fear of god before their eyes . o ye presbyterian and independent . teachers of new-england and old ! how are ye not ashamed to apply these words to all god's true saints ? yea , to the best that ever lived in the best state ; and to bring them as a proof against the possibility of the saints perfection in this life : for if these words do hold forth the best condition of the saints , that ever they were in upon earth , ye may as well say , all men , yea , the worst of men are saints , or the saints are the worst of men , and there is no difference of men at all , but all are equally wicked , equally ungodly , unholy , unrighteous , which is indeed the plain and express language of ranters , libertines , atheists , some of whom to the wounding and loathing of my soul , i have heard so affirm : but we cannot grant unto you , that any of god's saints are in that state and condition described by paul in that place , rom. 3. from verse 9. to verse 19 , and 20. which words he citeth out of some of the psalms of david , describing the state of men , as they are in the fallen state , and before the new birth and spiritual regeneration in christ . but thus to confound these so differing states , is to confound heaven and earth , yea , rather heaven and hell , and to soppose a concord betwixt light and darkness , god and belial , christ and antichrist . but let it be known unto you , we can allow none of god's true saints to be such as are there described by paul , rom. 3. from verse 9. to 19. but it doth too much sute and quadrate with many of your supposed new-england saints , who have most bitterly and falsly accused god's servants , called in scorn quakers , and most cruelly whipped , imprisoned and robed many of them , and hanged some of them . it may be well enough said of them indeed , their throat is an open sepulchre ; with their tongues they have used deceit ; the poyson of asps is under their lips , whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness ; their feet are swift to shed blood , destruction and misery are in their ways , &c. take this home to you , and blame not me for the application , seeing ye make it your selves , and judge it to be your own condition . 5. and that the said doctrin , viz. the best of the saints by the greatest grace of god given in this life , cannot perfectly keep the commandments of god , but doth daily break them in thought , word and deed , and cannot be free from sin for term of life , but must sin so long as they live , and are only set free from sinning after death , as they expresly word it , in answer to quest . 89. larger catechism , is not only warranted by any place of scripture , but is most expresly contrary to scripture in many places , and is quite opposite to the very nature of the new covenant and gospel dispensation , and highly injurious to the lord jesus christ , tending to make void , and of none effect , the very end of his coming , and to frustrate his exceeding rich grace ; and also , it is most wofully injurious to mens souls , not only discouraging men to press after perfection in holiness , and freedom from sin , but tending to encourage them in sloath and neglect , to live and die in their sins , and yet for all this be saints , and immediately go to heaven , although they both live and die in their sins . and first , that the said doctrin is expresly contrary to scripture , see rom. 6.18 . being then made free from sin , ye became the servants of righteousness . and chap. 8.2 , 3 , 4 , 5. and verse 9. and chap. 6.6 , 7 , 8. john 8.32 , 33 , 34 , 35 , 36. ephes . 4.13 . coloss . 1.28 . heb. 7.19 . next , god did promise in the new covenant , that he would pour clean water upon his people , and they should be clean from all their filthiness ( ezek. 36.25 , &c. ) and he would write his law in their hearts , ( jer. 31.33 . ) and put his spirit in their inward parts , and give them a heart of flesh , and a new heart , and a new spirit , and put his fear in their hearts , that they shall not depart from him . and surely all this doth plainly hold forth a freedom from a total sinning , and that daily in thought word and deed. thirdly , the very end of christ's coming was to save his people from their sins , and not in their sins , to put an end to sin , and to finish transgression , and bring in everlasting righteousness , ( dan. 9.24 . ) and to do or effect that which the law could not do , viz. to destroy sin , and him who hath the power of death , to wit , the devil , that the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us , who walk not after the flesh , but after the spirit , rom. 8.4 . and the lord said unto paul , 2 cor. 12.9 . my grace is sufficient for thee . but if it cannot preserve any soul , one day , or hour , or moment , from sinning actually in thought , word and deed , it cannot be understood to be sufficient ; and paul said , where sin did abound , grace hath much more abounded , and he was able through christ that strengthened him , to do all things : and christ said , his yoke was easie , and his burden was light : and john said , his commandments are not grievous . but according to these faith-publishers , christ's yoke is so heavy , that none can bear it ; for what is it to bear his yoke , but to keep his commandments ? and if they cannot be fulfilled by men , and yet many thousands cast into hell-fire for not fulfilling them , they are very grievous , which god forbid we should think . and to say , that god requireth perfect obedience from any part of mankind , and yet giveth them no ability to perform it , and punish them with hell-fire , for not doing that which is utterly and absolutely impossible for them do , doth wofully reflect upon the justice of god , and rendereth him not only severe and hard , but most cruel and tyrannical , worse than pharoah , to the poor israelites , who required of them the tale of brick , but gave them no straw , and yet punished them for not performing their task . and lastly , it is wofully injurious to men , to discourage them to press after perfection , or a perfect freedom from sin , to tell them , they cannot attain to it while they live . as if a physician should tell his patient , for all the physick i give thee , thou must still remain diseased , and never be healed , till death heal thee . or as if one should say to a traveller , that is going to such a city , thou shalt never reach to it whilst thou livest in this world. would not this greatly discourage them ? and also it doth greatly encourage people to live in sloath , and neglect to tell them , that though they live and die in their sins , they shall be saved , if they have at any time once in all their life believed in christ jesus , that faith will save them , though they live and die in their sins . but we find that christ fore-warned people , that if they died in their sins , they should not come whither he did go , john 8.21 . and it was a fearful threatning that god denounced against that people , isa . 22.14 . surely this iniquity shall not be purged from you , till ye die , saith the lord god of hosts . but this false doctrin of your teachers telleth you , it is no matter , though ye die in your sins , yet ye shall immediately after death go into heaven , if ye have once believed . and the scripture saith , where the tree falleth , there it shall be , whether towards the south , or towards the north , eccles . 11.3 . but according to this evil and corrupt doctrin , though the tree falleth north , it shall lie south . it is a fearful thing to teach or believe such doctrin in a matter of so great moment , so to smooth and daub with untempered morter , and to flatter people , to tell them , they not only may , but must live and die in their sins , and yet immediately after death , they shall go into heaven , if once they have believed , their faith secureth them , though they sin daily in thought , word and deed , and break all god's holy commandments every day , and that there be no health , nor soundness in them . and indeed it is the great love that people have to sin and iniquity , that maketh them plead so earnestly for it ; for if they were weary of sin , and did hate it , as a most cruel tyrant , they would be glad to hear of a possibility of deliverance from sin here in this world. and they that plead so much for sin , to live and die in it , they plead for the devil's kingdom , and are his servants and ministers in that respect , and not the servants and ministers of christ . 6. but to clear the doctrin of perfection , as it is believed and preached by the people called quakers , take these following considerations , ( 1st . ) it is not an absolute perfection that we plead for , as attainable in this life , as many of you have falsly accused us , and particularly nath. morton , in his new-england memorial , pag. 157. as in many other things he doth most falsly charge that people in his said book ; for we say , that the highest degree of perfection attainable in this life ought not to be sit down and rested in by any , but there ought to be a continual progress , by the best , in holiness , and in conformity to the image of the son of god , until the very last moment of their life ; for christ himself , who was free from all sin , yet was perfected further , as he was man , and did grow both in grace and stature ; and adam in the innocent state , was still to have increased in virtue and goodness , and then he would not have fallen , as he did . ( 2 dly . ) this perfection or freedom from sin , and possibility by the grace of god , to keep his commandments , we do not say it is attained by every one , at their first conversion or entrance into the true faith ; but on the contrary , we say , many true believers , and who have a true measure of sincerity towards god , are yet short of that state of a sinless perfection ; and that it is not attained , but by great diligence , and wrestling against sin , through the ability of the grace of god , and much watching and praying , and using all the means appointed of god , both inwardly and outwardly , to attain to that blessed conquest and victory over sin . ( 3 dly . ) the most perfect in this life , have need to watch and pray , that they enter not into temptation ; for as adam , in innocency , and in the garden , did sin , and by his sin lost his innocency , so may men that are inwardly come to this state , if they be not duly watchful , sin against the lord ; therefore it is not the impossibility of sinning in all respects , that we plead for , but the possibility of not sinning , and that by the grace of god , and not otherwise . altho' some may arrive to that state in holiness , in conformity to the second adam , that they neither sin , nor can sin , in that sense as the scripture doth intend it , 1 john 3.19 . which doth at least hold forth , that such who are attained to this noble degree of holiness , they cannot commit any gross sin ( although in some things , not for want of love , but not having a full and perfect knowledge in all things , they may a little fall short , as a most loving child , not perfectly understanding the fathers mind in all things , may do a thing amiss , and yet without breach of true love to his father , and therefore his father doth not charge it upon him as a crime ; and the like example may be of a most loving wife , to her husband , who retaineth her chaste and perfect love to her husband , and yet may do some things not according to his mind ; for as the scripture saith , love is the fulfilling of the law ; and he that faileth not in his love , and transgresseth not against the law of love , though in some case he may fall short in understanding , god doth not impute it to be a crime unto him . ( 4 thly ) it is not temptations or motions unto sin , that may arise either from the devil , or the world without them , or from the natural and mortal part in them , that we plead a freedom from ; for it is readily granted that such temptations may and do follow the best men , and therefore they ought to watch against them , and resist them , the which if they do , and that they no wise joyn and consent to temptation , it is not sin unto them , according to that saying of an ancient , non nocet sensus , si desu consensus , i. e. the sense of the temptation doth not hurt , if the consent be not given unto it . ( 5 thly . ) the seed or principle of evil , tho' it remain in the mortal , or natural part , & at times move to evil thoughts and desires , &c. yet not being in any wife joyned nor consented unto , neither outwardly in word or deed , nor inwardly in the least thought or desire , or delight and love of the heart yielded unto , nor obeyed , is not imputed to be sin unto men , who do not joyn to it , nor obey it , even as the seed and principle of god's grace , of truth , holiness , and righteousness , that is in the hearts of wicked men , and oft moveth in them to turn and convert them unto god from the evil of their ways , yet not being consented , or yielded unto , nor obeyed by them , it is not in that case their righteousness , nor doth it make them in any respect righteous , unless they joyn and yield unto it , in true obedience . ( 6thly . ) it is not the same degree and stature of perfection , that god requireth of every one , but according to that measure and degree of grace and light that god hath imparted to every one , to some more , to others less , but to every one sufficient to the present time and state . for he that was faithful in the improving his two talents to make them four , was accepted , although he made them not ten , as he that was faithful in his five , and made them ten , and they were both proportionally rewarded ; hence we read of good and holy men , who are said to be perfect in their generation , according to the light and grace that god gave them , in their day and age. and the high priest that had on his breast the vrim and thummim , that signifieth lights and perfections , was a type of christ , our great and only high priest , who hath the vrim , that is lights , and the thummim , that is perfections , and distributeth of these lights and perfections variously towards his saints and children , but to all sufficiently . and so the degree of perfection , and perfect obedience ought to answer to the degree of light and grace that god giveth through christ unto every one , and he who is faithful in that degree , though he hath not the same equal degree and measure that another hath , is perfect in that respect ; and the child in the child's state is perfect , being faithful to the grace and light that is given him ; and if he die in that state , he is safe , and cannot perish , as well as he that is a man in christ , and is come up to the spiritual stature and growth of a spiritual man. so that faithfulness in the work and service of god , is that which doth render a man perfect in the sight of god , according to the ability of light and grace received , whether in the state of a child , young-man , or elder in christ . and thus i have gone through all the twelve particulars , which i charged on the four teachers , whether presbyterian or independent , at boston , and have given them not only my assertions , but my arguments against their false and pernicious doctrins , that do not feed , but starve and kill the souls of them that believe and receive them . chap. ix . of the constitution and government of their visible church , who are called presbyterians and independents , or gathered churches . 1. the visible church they define to be , or to consist of all those throughout the world , that profess the true religion , together with their children ; see confession , cap. 25. sect. 2. where it doth plainly appear , that they require no other qualification , to constitute or make the members of their visible church , but a profession of the true religion : so that nothing of true piety or holiness , nothing of the spirit of god , nothing of an inward possession of christ , or his life , and power , or grace , or heavenly presence and appearance , is requisit to constitute any members of their visible church ; and thus though all the members of their visible church were gross and notorious hypocrites , and meer empty formalists , having only a form of godliness , without the power of it , they are sufficiently qualified to be their church-members ; yea , notoriously slanderous persons , notoriously lyars , deceivers , drunkards , adulterers , thieves , murderers , are qualified members of their church ; for all these and the worst of men may profess the true religion . it is strange , that independents so called , require no more , but to profess the true religion , to make people members of their church ! why did they formerly separate , and set up churches apart , not only from the popish and episcopal , but from the presbyterian churches , so called , if a profession of the true religion be enough , to qualifie persons to be church-members of their church ? do not those profess the true religion as well as these called independents ? yea , do not the presbyterians profess the same religion in all parts , with these called independents , and differ nothing from them , but in some small circumstances of discipline , government , and the like ? 2. we find no such church in all the scripture , owned to be a church of god , or christ , that the outward form or profession of true religion doth make a church of god or christ . but on the contrary , these who have the form of godliness , but have not the power of it , and deny the power , the scripture bids , turn away from them : for of this sort are they which creep into houses , &c. see 2 tim. 3.5 , 6. and consequently these can be no true church of christ . and as for the distinction of the church , visible and invisible , it may be owned in a sense , but not in that sense given by them , as if to profess the true religion was sufficient to make a people to be a true visible church of christ . for the invisible church , and the visible , do not differ in substance or nature , but in some circumstances of time , places , and outward actions . and it may be well allowed , that a company , or assembly of truly holy men and women , meeting together at certain times and places , that are known to people among whom they dwell , and calling together upon the name of the lord , and teaching , and instructing , and edifying one another , every one using his spiritual gift of ministration , whether in praying or prophecying , to the edification of the whole , may be called a visible church , insomuch that they appear in external or outward and bodily works and actions that are visible . but as the body without life or spirit is dead , and cannot properly be called a man , so a church or assembly of people , only professing the true religion ( but having nothing of the true life and spirit of christ , and whose outward and bodily services and works have no inward and spiritual virtue and life in them , which is that salt that maketh them savoury , and doth recommend them unto god , so that he savoureth a sweet savour in them ) cannot be truly and justly accounted a true church of christ : for we no where find in scripture any society , or company of people called the church of christ , who had nothing but the profession of the true religion ; and although hypocrites , and meer formalists did outwardly at times mingle or mix with sincere christians , and did assume the same outward profession with them in former ages , as such were among the churches of corinth and gulatia , &c. yet these hypocrites and meer formalists , who had only the form , but had nothing of the power and life of true religion , were no part of the true church , no more than chaff or tares , that are mixed with wheat , are any part of the wheat , or dross that is mixed with silver , is any part of the silver , or old leaven that is mixed with the new dough , is any part of it . and therefore it ought to be the work of all the true members of the true church , to purge out the old leaven , and to be a separate people from all these that have only a form and profession of religion , but have nothing of the power of it . 3. the church of christ is called his body , frequently in scripture , and every member thereof is called a member of christ , and his body is a living body , and every member a living member ; and that which maketh both the whole body , and every member thereof living , is christ jesus the life , living and indwelling in every member , and together with christ , both the father and the holy spirit do dwell in every member of the true church , even as christ promised it should be , john 14.23 . if a man love me , he will keep my words , and my father will love him , and we will come unto him , and make our abode with him . and this we , is the father , the son , and the holy spirit , who are three , and one , indwelling in every true member of the church of christ ; and according to this , paul said to the believing corinthians , know ye not , that your bodies are the temples of the holy ghost , which dwelleth in you . and the holy ghost which dwelt in them , together with the father and the son , did work every good work in them , and move them in all holy and religious services and performances , whether to preach , pray , or give thanks , or to meditate and wait upon the lord in silence : and they knew by the inward teaching and revelation of god's holy spirit , the proper and fit times , when to speak , and when to be silent , when to preach , and when to pray , and when to begin , and when to make an end ; they had no hour-glass to measure out the time unto them , nor an outward bell hanging in a steeple , to call them together , but the gospel-bell did ring and sound in their hearts , and this gathered them together in a living way and manner ; and of this the outward bells , ( ex. 28 34 , 35 ) that did hang at the high-priest's garment , with the pomegranats , were types : and this is the living word , even christ whose inward voice and call in the soul and heart , giveth a joyful sound to that ear which is opened to hear it ; and of such it is written , blessed are they that know the joyful sound , they shall walk , o lord , in the light of thy countenance , psal 89.15 . 4. moreover the true church , and every member thereof , is said to be of christ's flesh , and of his bones , and they two are one flesh , ephes . 5.30 , 31. and they are one spirit , 1 cor. 6.17 . for christ he is both the head and life of the church , which is his body , from whom the whole body fitly joyned together , and compacted by that which every joynt supplyeth , according to the effectual working ( the greek hath it , energia ) in the measure of every part , maketh increase of the body , unto the edifying of it self in love , ephes . 4.16 . and that which thus knitteth all the members both unto christ , the head , and one unto another , is the spirit , and the unity of the spirit is the bond of peace ; for by one spirit they are all baptized into one body , and do all drink into one spirit : and this is the true gathering of a church , or churches of christ , that is far beyond all profession of true religion , or outward signs , or ceremonies , as that of water baptism , which presbyterians and others use to initiate or enter people into their church , or outward covenants , and contracts or bonds , which these called independents use to initiate or enter people into their church , all which outward things are but mens inventions , as they are now used , whereby to gather , and make up churches : and all this is but mans gathering and work , made things , likenesses and graven images of heavenly things , which the lord hath forbidden , saying , thou shalt not make to thy self any graven image , nor the likeness of any thing in heaven above , &c. exod. 20. for whatever men make , or set up , whether it be church , ordinance , or service , without the spirit and power of god , inwardly moving , assisting , teaching , leading , guiding and ordering them so to do , is but man's work , a thing of man's making ; and all such made things , made faiths , made churches , made worships , made ordinances , without the spirit and power of god inwardly revealed , are to be abolished , shaken and removed , and the voice of god will do it , whose voice of old did shake mount sinai , and the lord hath said , yet once more i shake not the earth only , but the heavens also . and this voice of the lord uttered from heaven , hath both shaken , abolished , and removed many things of mens making already , and in the lords due time , will remove them all ; and every plant that is not of the father's planting , he will pluck it up and throw it away . and this is a warning unto you , o ye churches and people of new-england , altho' babylon like , ye sit as a queen , or have at least so sate some few years ago , and did say in your heart , ye shall see no widdowhood , and have preached it as doctrin , that the sounding of god's voice from heaven , is althogeter ceased in these days : let this be told unto you , it hath not ceased to sound , but still doth , and shall , and the sound of it shall not only shake , but utterly remove , undo , and destroy all your babylonish buildings : and this the lord will do , not by might , nor power ( viz. of man ) but by his own spirit ; and the time hastneth , and blessed shall he be who receiveth warning , and hearkneth unto the counsel of the lord ; he who hath ears to hear , let him hear . 5. and the true church is in god the father , and in the lord jesus christ , 1 thes . 1.1 . and it is built upon christ , that sure foundation , and rock of ages , whom peter confessed unto , which flesh and blood hath not revealed unto him , but the father in heaven : and upon this rock so confessed , and so known and understood , which flesh and blood hath not revealed , but the father in heaven , is the true church built . and this is more than a profession of the true religion : for it is not every one that professeth the true religion , to whom the father in heaven hath revealed the lord jesus christ , as he did unto peter , and as he doth unto every true and faithful believer , and confessor of christ . and the true church that is built on this rock , and every member thereof , they are not only hearers and professors of the words and doctrin of christ , but they are doers of them : but they who do not , although they both hear and say , they are foolish builders , and build upon the sand ; and such are all these visible churches , who have no other thing to qualifie them , but to profess the true religion . now , to profess the true religion , carrieth a two-fold sense , one is , that the religion which people profess , they call , or profess it to be the true religion ; and in this sense , every one that professeth any religion at all ( if he be in earnest ) professeth the true religion ; that is , he esteemeth or professeth his religion to be such . the other sense is , that the religion that is professed , is indeed the true religion , and is not only so called , or professed : and according to this sense , your visible churches , whether presbyterian or independent , are no true churches : for the religion ye profess , is not the true religion of christ jesus , which he , and the prophets , the evangelists , and apostles did teach , as i have already proved in many weighty particulars , yea , in fundamentals , and in the very foundation it self , which is christ jesus , on which the true church is built , and every member thereof . but ye who say , all inward divine revelation of christ is ceased ; ye build not on christ , but on a meer hear-say , and historical report of him : for how can ye build on him , when ye have no belief that christ is nearer unto you , than in some remote place beyond the skies ? can the walls of the house be built on a foundation that is altogether remote from it ? must not the house and the foundation be immediately joyned together ? and must not this foundation be seen , and felt by every member ? and is not this incomparably more than the best profession of true religion ? o ye blind leaders of the blind ! how doth my soul pity you , and the poor people more especially , who are led by you , and whom ye are still seeking to lead , until both ye and they fall into the ditch ; and ye ill deserve your wages , and the many hundreds , yea , thousands of pounds , that poor people pay yearly unto you , and work sore and hard to feed you , and cloath you , and your wives and children , to luxury and wantonness , many of you , while in the mean time , under colour and pretence of feeding the souls of the people , ye famish and starve , yea , poyson and kill them with your false doctrin , as i have , through god's assistance sufficiently made appear , and i hope yet more to make appear , as i have occasion given unto me . 6. and christ jesus , the living , elect , precious corner-stone , the sure foundation is laid in zion , and that zion is not only the heavenly zion above , but the church and people of god on earth ; and christ jesus is one both in heaven without us , and also within us , even the man christ jesus , the same that took hold of the seed of abraham , and is the son of abraham and david , according unto that seed , and he is exalted in heavenly glory in that same seed and nature , in the whole and intire and perfect nature of man , in soul and body , having put off nothing that he had upon earth ; but these weaknesses and infirmities which he did take on him for our sake , even jesus of nazareth , he who was crucified for our sins , and rose again for our justification , who was dead , and is alive , and lives for evermore ; and he who by true faith is joyned to the spirit of christ , by the same he is joyned both to christ in him , and also to christ in heaven , and also to all the saints in heaven , and the innumerable company of angels , and spirits of just men made perfect , and also unto the god and father of our lord jesus christ ; and both god and christ are not only in remote places , and heavens without us , but also in us , and in all his saints , as he hath said , jer. 23.23 , 24. am i a god at hand , saith the lord , and not a god afar off ? do not i fill heaven and earth ? saith the lord. 7. and as to the government , and governors , or rulers of your visible churches , both presbyterian and independent , it is of the same nature with your visible churches , the only qualification of them being an outward profession of christian religion , and an outward call ( which ye are all at a loss , where to begin it , as i have already proved , cap. 4. ) accompanied with some natural or acquired gifts and abilities of letter-learning , reaching no further than the letter of the scripture at best , and oft , or for most part not that ; for ye preach not the letter in the form of sound words of scripture , but have so mingled it with your glosses , and wrested senses and meanings , and words of men's wisdom and intentions , that it is but little of the very letter ye preach . but if ye did preach the letter , and have not that infallible and unerring spirit of christ , which was in the true ministers of christ in former ages , and is now in his true ministers in this age , ye are but at best ministers of the letter , and not ministers of the spirit , and therefore not ministers of the new-testament . and what is the use and end of your government but to keep poor people in bondage under you , and your false doctrin ? and if they do not believe it , but witness against it , then ye cast them out of your synagogues , and yet then will force maintenance from them , as many of you have done . and when ye had power with the magistrates to instigate and stir them up to persecute honest dissenters , to whip , stock , imprison , spoil goods , cut off ears , and also to put to death ( for testifying against your false doctrins ) from your false and fallible spirit , i say , both false and fallible : for seeing ye do not profess to be taught , led and guided by the infallible spirit of christ , which was in the prophets and apostles , and in all true christians , if ye have not this spirit , your spirit is not only fallible , but false , to wit , the spirit of this world ; for there are but two spirits that do teach , lead and guide all men on earth , the one is , that unerring , true and infallible spirit of christ , which leadeth all god's true children , and the other the spirit of this world , which is the very devil himself , the god of this world , that leadeth all unbelievers and ungodly persons in the world ; and this spirit is not only fallible , but false , continually leading into error , as the spirit of truth leadeth into all truth . 8. and how are ye not ashamed to cite ( see confes . cap. 30. sect . 1. ) isa . 9.6 , 7 , acts 20.17 . matth. 28.18 . for your government , and governors and elders of your churches ? because it is said , isa . 9.6 , 7. the government is upon his shoulders ; to wit , christ jesus ? doth it therefore follow it is upon yours ? or can any be governors or rulers in the church under him without he himself , and his holy spirit , power and life , which hath the heavenly authority in it , be known inwardly revealed , which ye deny ? was not the government in the apostles days altogether derived from the power and spirit of christ in them ? but yours is quite another thing ; by your own confession , ye have not that infallible spirit , nor the inward revelation of it . and if ye derive it from the letter , so may any body else , as well as ye , and say , because they have the letter , they are rulers and governors of churches . and as to these elders , mentioned acts 20.17 . they were such whom the holy ghost had made overseers , as is expresly affirmed of them , verse 28. but this ye cannot in truth say , who deny all pretence to inward divine revelation , which they had . nor doth matth. 28.18 . make any thing at all for you , but against you : christ said to the apostles , all power in heaven and in earth is given unto me ; go ye therefore and teach all nations . but when said he so unto you ? or when gave he you such commission ? or suppose ye had such commission , surely ye are very unfaithful unto it , who creep each of you into a house or town , and there only pretend to teach a few that come to hear you . so did not the apostles , but travelled from place to place , and from one nation , city and country to another , and had no certain dwelling-place by virtue of their said commission ; but so do not ye , but commonly keep to one place , unless a fatter benefice , or more yearly sallary and hire invite you to another . will nothing serve your turn but the same commission , which christ gave the apostles ? and if ye have the same commission , are not ye also apostles ? a charge which some of you have laid to us . but why do ye not mind the other part of the commission , and apply that unto you ? acts 1.4 , 8. and being assembled with them , he commanded , that they should not depart from jerusalem , but wait for the promise of the father , which ( he saith ) ye have heard of me , verse 8. but ye shall receive power after that the holy ghost is come upon you , and ye shall be witnesses unto me , both in jerusalem , and in all judea , and in samaria , and unto the uttermost part of the earth ? and though some of you in new-england , have made some show of preaching to the indians , and to have converted them , and got great sums of mony out of old england on that account . alas ! to what have ye converted them ? is it not very manifest , they are generally nothing better than when they were called heathens , but are for most part rather worse ? which of them all have ye turned from darkness to light , and from the power of satan to god , and to know god and christ by his power and spirit , to rule in them ? nay , alas ! ye know it not in your selves , and preach against it , and therefore ye are not like to be instruments to bring others to know it . and if ye say , ye are the successors of the apostles , and therefore the same call , which he gave unto them , he doth give unto you . ye must first prove and demonstrate it , that ye succeed them in the same spirit , power , light and life , and in the same holiness and righteousness of life , as well as in profession , before ye ought to be believed ; but the contrary in all these respects is manifest . nor can ye shew your line of succession , but from the church of rome , and her popes and bishops , which ye have called antichrist , in your confession of faith , cap. 25. sect. 6. as is formerly observed in cap. 4. 9. and as concerning the visibility of the true church , as it hath been granted , that the true church is oft visible , and doth visibly appear in the face of the world , as a city set upon an hill , and doth make a visible and outward profession of her faith in christ jesus , and love to him , both in good words , and good works , yet it is not any thing meerly outward and visible , that doth infallibly prove or demonstrate her to be the true church , or can make her known to people : but it is the same inward light , spirit and power of god inwardly revealed , that doth make known both christ the head , and the true church , which is his body , and every true member thereof : and without the light and spirit of christ inwardly shining , and revealing , both christ and his church is unknown unto men , but by the same is well known , even as christ said unto his disciples , john 15.18 . if the world hate you , ye know that it hated me before it hated you . now , whence is it that the world both hateth christ , and his church ? because it knoweth them not . and paul said , 2 cor. 6.9 . as unknown , and yet well known ; to wit , well known to the children of the light , who dwell in the light , and see and judge of things , and men in the light ; but to them who are in darkness , and are darkness , unknown , and therefore hated and persecuted by them . chap. x. of their two sacraments , called baptism and the svpper . 1. as for the term , or word sacrament , it is no where to be found in all the english translation of the bible received among protestants , nor is there any word either in the hebrew , or greek , that doth properly answer unto it , unless they will translate the greek word that signifieth mystery , to signifie a sacrament , as the old latin hath it in ephes . 5.32 . hoc est magnum sacramentum , i. e. this is a great sacrament ; for which our english translation readeth more properly , this is a great mystery . but if sacrament signifie mystery , then there must be as many sacraments as mysteries ; and faith it self is a sacrament at that rate , and true preaching and prayer , and every other religious matter and thing , all which are holy mysteries . and they who say , there are two sacraments have borrowed these two out of the seven , professed by the church of rome , having cast off , and rejected five of the seven , for which the said church doth accuse these latter churches of sacriledge , and spiritual robbery , to abolish and take away five of the seven sacraments , or rather indeed the sixth also , seeing they believe it only to be but a figure , to wit , that called the eucharist : and to say the truth , they have not one whit more probability , but rather less , for the two sacraments that they have reserved , than for the other five that they have rejected : and they have no cause to accuse the people called quakers , of sacriledge , for denying these two , until they clear themselves of sacriledge for denying five , and give better grounds for reserving these two , than as yet they have given . 2. and as for infants baptism , and sprinkling a child of eight days , or more or less , on the fore-head , and call it baptism , it hath no footing in all the scripture , neither of precept nor practice , as will easily appear , by considering the places of scripture they cite for it . and first , for sprinkling on the fore-head , instead of dipping , they cite heb. 9.10 . to 22. but this sprinkling was not of water , but of blood ; and we do not read that it was only on the fore-head ; and the cups and vessels that were sprinkled with blood or water , were sprinkled all over , and not in one single place . and why did john baptize christ by dipping into water , and others that he baptized , if sprinkling on the fore-head was sufficient in that day ? next , as to the baptizing of infants , they cite for it , gen. 17.9 . where god commanded abraham that every man child of his posterity should be circumcised , and therefore every infant of one , or both the believing parents are to be sprinkled with water . but this consequence is meerly begged , but nothing proved . for the first , we find an express command to abraham : for the second , we find neither command nor practice in all the scripture , nor was the practice of baptizing infants in use , for an hundred of years , and more , after the apostles days , among professors of christianity . and let it be granted , that infants have a right to the grace signified by water baptism , it doth not therefore follow , that the figure or sign belongeth unto them , because they have also a right to christ's body and blood , and yet they confess , the supper is not to be administred unto them . the next place they cite , is coloss . 2.11 , 12. where circumcision and baptism are joyned together , but neither the circumcision , nor the baptism there mentioned , is outward , as is clear , especially of circumcision , that is said , to be made without hands ; and therefore it is not the outward of the flesh , but the inward of the heart ; and so is also the baptism there mentioned , verse 12. buried with him in baptism , wherein also you are risen with him , through the faith of the operation of god. ye see here is nothing of outward water : nor are all they who are baptized with outward water , either buried with christ , or risen with him , but many still alive in old adam , and that too generally . the next place they cite , is matth. 28.19 . but this saith nothing of water , and if it were granted that water-baptism is understood , as it neither is , nor ought to be granted , yet it will not prove that infants should be any more baptized than taught , seeing teaching and baptizing are joyned together . another place they cite , is luke 18.15 , 16. where christ biddeth to suffer little children to come unto him , and forbid them not , and that he blessed them , and laid his hands upon them , we read in scripture ; but that he baptized them either with dipping or sprinkling , we read not , but on the contrary it is expresly said , that jesus himself baptized none , to wit , with water , see joh. 4.2 . their last place they cite , is rom. 11.16 . if the root be holy , so are the branches ; but this doth not prove that infants are more to be baptized , than to have that called the supper administred unto them : and these branches mentioned by paul in that place , rom. 11.16 . were really the unbelieving jews , that because of their unbelief were broken off at that time , yet the root being holy , to wit , abraham , and the promised seed , paul had hope of their conversion , as many as did belong to god's election , as he expresseth it , verse 28. and these were not the immediate children of abraham , but forty generations after abraham , and isaac , and jacob ; and therefore this scripture saith as much for the aged unbelieving children of unbelieving parents , if they have descended from any of their fore-fathers , upwards of forty generations , that were believers ; and if up to forty , why not up to sixty , and further ? yea , to noah , who is the common father of all men , with whom god established his covenant , and with his seed after him , until the end of the world , that all his seed through christ , might receive the benefit of the same , unless they do wilfully reject it ; of which i have said something already in chap. 6. 3. and as for water-baptism in general , we say , it did only properly belong to john's ministry and dispensation , and is expresly contradistinguished from the baptism of christ , both by john , and also by christ himself ; for john did baptize with water unto repentance , but christ who cometh after john , and was before him , who is more worthy than john , he baptizeth with fire , and with the holy ghost ; and no doubt there was a spiritual blessing and grace conveyed unto people , by john's baptism , while it stood in force ; for god never ordained any outward thing , but as it was rightly done , in its day and season , it had some spiritual blessing accompanying it , as all the sacrifices and services of the law : and if any were raised up by the lord , as john was , and could prove , and instruct their being sent to baptize with water , as he was , these to whom they should be sent , ought gladly to receive it ; but to do it by bare imitation , or a meer pretended call , which they cannot prove to be either mediate or immediate , is great presumption , yea , superstition ; and to call that a command of god , which he hath given them no command to practise , is to set up the precepts of men in the room of god's commandments , as the pharisees did of old , and is a taking of his name in vain , for which he will not hold them guiltless . and they can never prove , by all their art and skill , that water-baptism is commanded by christ , mat. 28.18 , 19. for all god's commands and precepts , especially of publick institution , relating to the church , are express , in so many express words , and are not left to be gathered by uncertain and doubtful consequences . when god sent john to baptize with water , water was expressed ; but in the apostles commission to baptize , no mention is made of water , nor no words of institution commanded to be used , but the command is , go , teach and baptize all nations into the name of the father , the son , and the holy ghost . and the name of either the father , or the son , or the holy ghost , is most frequently , if not always used in scripture , to signifie power and life , as the name of the lord is a strong tower : thy name is as ointment poured forth , &c. and whereas they object , first , that the apostles could not baptize with the spiritual baptism . i answer , yea ; they could instrumentally and ministerially , as well as they could convert , and beget sons and daughters unto god ; for they were ministers of the spirit , and did minister of the spirit , both in preaching , and prayer , and laying on of hands , although god only was the principal worker and author . next , they object , that peter and paul , and some others , baptized some with water , and that christ was baptized with water . but none of these prove what they intend , for christ was baptized by john , and also he was circumcised according to the law , and paul circumcised timothy ; and the apostles generally in that day thought fit both to use , and tolerate the use of water-baptism , that belonged to john , and divers other things of the law , which by permission , for a time , and not by any gospel standing commission ; otherwise paul would never have said , he was not sent to baptize , but to preach the gospel ; nor would he have thanked god that he had baptized so few : for it were strange to think that paul would thank god , that he did not so fully obey a gospel precept . in short , if these who are so zealous for water-baptism , were cordially zealous , for the inward and spiritual baptism , they might be the more born with , as men bear with children , that use likenesses and figures of things , that sute most with the age and state of children , and charity might be allowed them in that case , to be as children or babes in christ , if they did hunger and thirst after righteousness , and did wait for the inward appearance and coming of christ's kingdom , and the revelation of it in their hearts , as some such there may be . but these , who altogether are for the outward baptism and supper , and deny wholly the inward and spiritual baptism and supper of christ , which is only known and received by the holy spirit 's inward revelation , no charity can be allowed unto them , to judge them true christians in any degree , not so much as babes , but altogether , for the time , hypocrites and formalists . 4. next , concerning the supper : we grant that christ had an outward supper with his disciples , when he did eat the pascal lamb with them ; and this was a real supper , and not like that which ye now use , that is neither substantial supper nor dinner , being only a little crumb of bread , scarce so big as a nut , and a spoonful of wine , or two , which hath little outward substance , and no inward and spiritual signification unto you , as ye use it , while ye altogether deny , that the saints are partakers of the substance of christ , or that christ really and substantially dwelleth in his saints ; and while ye also deny all inward revelation of him in these latter ages , your supper is a meer shadow , and none of christ's supper , nor of his institution . for when christ did sup with his disciples , in the night wherein he was betrayed , he began with the cup , and blessed , or gave thanks , and said , take this , and divide it among your selves . and next he took bread , and blessed , or gave thanks , and brake it , and gave unto them , saying , this is my body , this do in remembrance of me : likewise after supper he took the cup , saying , this cup is the new-testament in my blood , drink ye all of it , luke 22.14 . to 20. so we see , he used the cup twice , and began and ended with it , but so do not ye ; and though ye seem greatly to blame the church of rome , for not giving the cup to the people , but only the bread , and charge them with mutilating , or dismembring the institution ; if so , do not ye the same in part ? seeing ye use the cup but once , and christ used it twice , and began with it , but so do not ye . and seeing ye say ye have not that infallible spirit that christ had , and gave to the apostles ; and that we find you wholly ignorant of christ's body , and that ye have no discerning of it , nor no taste and savour of his flesh , which is meat indeed , nor of his blood , which is drink indeed , and know not the inward and spiritual supping with christ , we cannot believe , nor acknowledge , that ye presbyterian and independent teachers , have any power to bless either the bread , or the cup , as christ did , or to minister , or give of his body and blood to any people , which true ministers of christ have done , and do at this day , to my certain knowledge and joy , and to the certain knowledge and joy of many thousands with me , and that often in the use of outward eating and drinking , being sanctified and blessed by the word of god and prayer , as we have sat down together , whether many or a few , we have truly witnessed the fulfilling of that saying , luke 24.35 . and they told what things were done in the way , and how he was known of them in breaking of bread. and as it is , verse 30 , 31. and it came to pass , as he sate at meat with them , he took bread , and blessed it , and brake , and gave to them , and their eyes were opened , ( note , even as jonathan's eyes were opened , or lightned , when he did eat the honey ; and as isaac blessed jacob when he did eat what he had prepared of savoury meat for him ; and as the angel blessed abraham , when he did eat of the calf , and the cakes that were set before him ; and as melchizedeck blessed abraham , when he brought him bread and wine ; and divers other the like examples ) and they knew him , &c. even so can many say at this day , to god's praise , in the outward eating and drinking together , as they have sate together , and waited in true silence , until god has been pleased to move some one or other of his faithful servants and ministers of his word of life , and of his flesh and blood , which is spiritual , to pray unto the lord , or give thanks , their outward eating and drinking hath been so blessed unto them , that at one and the same time they have eat both the outward bread with the bodily mouth , and the inward bread , which is spiritual , with the inward & spiritual mouth ; and they have also drunk outwardly the outward cup , and inwardly the inward and spiritual : and so at the same time , they have fed at a two-fold table , and have been both inwardly and outwardly refreshed , nourished and strengthned ; and this also oftentimes , in the use only of inward prayer and thanksgiving , as well as of both inward and outward ; and yet we neither do , nor can limit the spiritual and inward eating of christ's body , and drinking of his blood , to any outward eating or drinking whatsoever . as neither did the ancient christians , who said , that all true believers eat christ's flesh , and drink his blood , daily and hourly ; and so we believe . and no doubt , christ did really give his body and blood unto his disciples at that time , and it was not a bare figure or sign that he gave them , but in the use of the bread and wine , he gave them at the same time , an inward enjoyment of him . and all this we own , and are very glad of such occasions , when we have them , to sit together , and eat and drink both outwardly and inwardly , enjoying a two-fold table and supper at one time , and finding the lord himself spiritually present , and blessing both unto us , and enabling us to receive both his spiritual and temporal blessings , with prayer and thanksgiving : and such breaking of bread we own , from house to house , even outwardly as well as inwardly , with singleness and gladness of heart , as the primitive christians did of old , sometimes in a lesser number , and sometimes in a greater : for at that supper above mentioned , luke 24.30 . there were only present these two disciples , besides christ himself ; so that it is not the number , whether greater or small , that is essential . and also we do believe , and say , that it is our duty , not only in these more solemn eatings and drinkings , to remember the lord's death , and what he hath done , and suffered for us , when we thus eat & drink together , perhaps many belonging to divers families , but also in all our other eatings and drinkings , and at all other times , as it doth please the lord to enable us ; and every true christian hath the lord's death , resurrection , and his great love , and what he hath done and suffered for us , printed as in capital letters , upon his very heart and soul , and writ as a living epistle , with the spirit of the living god , upon fleshly tables ; and that this ought to be done , not only to his more abundant inward and spiritual coming unto us , but to be perpetuated , and continued by all true christians , to the end of the world , and the last coming of christ . and now tell me , wherein we are behind you ? or wherein we fall short of you ? or what excellency , worth , or value hath your supper above , and beyond ours ? but on the contrary , hath not ours the advantage every way ? seeing we have more frequently , both the outward and inward eating and drinking together , than ye have the outward ; and alas , the many lean and dead souls among you , void of inward and spiritual discerning , taste or savour , too manifestly demonstrate , ye are generally strangers to the supper of the lord. and we also acknowledge the outward eating and drinking , is but a figure of the inward , and therefore ought not to be rested in ; but the substance that is invisible and eternal , ought to be minded , and sought after above all . and though we are not for holding up , or preaching of figures meerly institute , for to signifie and represent a thing to come , as were these under the law ; yet such a figure as is natural , and necessarily to be used by us all , as eating and drinking , we may not reject : for the outward eating and drinking is a natural and necessary figure of the inward , even as the whole outward world is a figure of the inward and spiritual , as paul doth expresly call it , 1 cor. 7.31 . see the ●reek . 5. and concerning that ye call your christian-sabbath , which ye say is the first day of the week ; and ye do positively affirm in your confession , that the sabbath was changed from the last day of the week , from the resurrection of christ , unto the first day of the week , and so to continue unto the end of the world ; see confess . cap. 21. sect . 7. but ye bring no sober proof for any such change , and the scriptures ye cite say no such thing , as gen. 2.2 , 3. rev. 1.10 . exod. 20.8 , 10. matth. 5.17 . that place in gen. 2.2 , 3. saith nothing of the first day , but of the seventh day : and what that seventh day is , ye cannot demonstrate . and as to the next scripture , rev. 1.10 . where john saith , he was in the spirit on the lord's day . although it is more than ye can prove from scripture , that the first day of the week is that lord's day ; yet taking it for granted , it doth not therefore follow that it was appointed to be the christian sabbath : but it might be so called , because christ rose upon that day , and honoured that day solemnly , not only with his rising upon it , but appearing at sundry times on that day to his disciples , betwixt his resurrection and ascension ▪ and that the christians did usually and more solemnly meet on that day for publick and religious worship , in honour of our saviour , than on other days , we readily grant ; and so also do we , according to the example of the ancient christians . and all true christians should employ more of their time in religious works and services , both in private and in publick , than the jews did , and ought not to fall short of them , but exceed them . and that beside other times set apart for the worship of god , both in publick and in private , it is commendable in christians to set apart the first day of the week from common and ordinary labour , not only for an ease to their servants and cattel , but also that they may with the more freedom , and cheerful readiness attend upon the lord , and his service , without all incumbrance . for experience doth prove it , that even bodily rest from toyl and labour , doth contribute to the ease of the mind , and is a help , being duly used , to disburthen it from divers weights . for if the body be over-charged with labour , it is a hurt and clog unto the mind in divers respects ? but all this doth not prove , that the first day of the week was appointed for a sabbath , and put in the room of the seventh day of the week , enjoyned to the jews , and people of israel ; for that outward sabbath that was enjoyned unto them , was a sign and figure , as all other outward sabbaths which they had , were , as of weeks , months , years , as well as of days . and when the pure gospel and christian dispensation did take place , all these figurative and shadowy sabbaths were changed to the substance , and that substance or body is christ , according to coloss . 2.17 . but to say , the jewish sabbath is changed into the first day of the week , is to put the first day of the week in the room of the lord jesus christ , which is a great dishonour unto him ; for he is the end and perfection of the law , and of all the shadowy and figurative ordinances thereof : and as the outward temple that the jews had , is not to be changed into another outward temple , but christ is the true temple of the christians , wherein they meet , so he is their sabbath , and not any outward day . next , as to exod. 20.8 , 10. it saith nothing of the first day of the week , nor of one day of seven : all this is but man's invention . but it mentioneth the seventh day , wherein the lord rested from all his works , and that rest signifieth the perfection or finishing of them ; although as it is said , heb. 4. the works were finished from the foundation of the world ; and therefore that seventh day doth signifie christ jesus , the first and the last , who is the alone true rest and sabbath of all the faithful , as he invited , saying , mat. 11.28 . come unto me all ye that labour , and are heavy laden , and i will give you rest . and concerning this spiritual and divine sabbath , or sabbatism , it is said in heb. 4.9 , 10. therefore there doth remain a rest unto the people of god : for he that is entred into his rest , he also hath ceased from his own works , as god did from his ; let us labour therefore to enter into that rest , &c. and verse 3. we which have believed , do enter into rest . by all which it doth plainly appear , that the new-testament understandeth the christian sabbath , not of any outward day , but of christ , which the outward sabbaths of the jews did by way of allegory signifie and hold forth . and lastly , as to matth. 5.17 . where christ saith , he came not to destroy the law , but to fulfil it ; it is not to be understood that he came to keep up , and perpetuate the types and figures of the law , but to put an end to them , and in the room and place thereof to fulfil all the righteousness , equity and justice , that they did signifie or hold forth , which is as the kernal : otherwise ye might argue , as much for upholding the outward circumcision , as the outward sabbath ; and that outward sabbath was not the first day , but the seventh day . and whereas some plead , that the 4th commandment is altogether moral , as well as the other nine that were given forth immediately by the mouth of the lord unto the people , and writ by his finger on the tables of stone ; and therefore is perpetual , and never to be abrogated . if all this be granted , it doth not prove that the first day of the week is there commanded , as these called presbyterians and independents would have it . nor can they who plead for the keeping of the seventh day of the week for the sabbath , prove that the said fourth commandment did enjoyn to the jews the keeping of any outward or natural seventh day of the week ; for their keeping the outward seventh day of the week was enjoyned to them among the other ceremonial laws and precepts , as is clear from exod. 16.23 . and chap. 31.13 , 14. where it is called a sign , to wit , of that spiritual , moral and perpetual sabbath . and therefore if it be granted , that the fourth commandment is altogether moral and perpetual , it doth not follow that the seventh day therein mentioned , is any outward day , or that it enjoyneth any outward day ( for it can all be spiritually understood very well ) as the tenth commandment , thou shalt not covet , doth not enjoyn any outward thing , but reacheth to the heart , and inward part , only , and is altogether spiritual . and as the last commandment of the second table is altogether spiritual , so why may it not be said that the last commandment of the first table is altogether spiritual ? and even the mystick writers among the jews do acknowledge , that not only the seventh day mentioned in the fourth commandment , but all the six days signifie spiritual days and mysteries , as well as the seventh ; of which i shall not particularly enlarge at present . a call and warning from the lord to the people of boston , and new-england , to repent , &c. the burden of the word of the lord that came unto me on the twenty first day of the fourth month , 1688. in the town of boston in new-england , to declare it unto boston its inhabitants , and to the inhabitants of new-england , who have been , or are concerned in opposing , and hardning their hearts against the inward appearance of god , and of his son christ jesus , in the hearts of his servants , and in the living testimonies they have born unto you , to call you to believe in the light of his son christ jesus , who hath enlightned you all , and every one of you , and to turn you from darkness to light , and from the power of satan unto god. oh! repent , repent for your great sins , and transgressions of all sorts , that ye have committed against the lord , and against his holy and divine light and gift in all your hearts , and especially repent of your great hypocrisie , all teachers and people of boston , and new-england every where , who call your selves christians , and have a name to live , but are dead , who draw near unto god with your mouths , and honour him with your lips , but have removed your hearts far away from him , and who have the name of christ oft in your mouths , and think to cover you with his imputed righteousness , while ye are ignorant of his life , and holy power & spirit , and divine nature in your hearts , and while ye are daily crucifying the lord of glory afresh , and putting him to open shame , and treading under foot the blood of the covenant , as the holy scripture declareth concerning some that professed christ jesus in former ages . and this is the state of many of you , yea , of the generality of you , both teachers and people of boston , and new-england , of all sorts , a few names excepted , whom the lord doth honour , and they shall walk with him in white , although ye have sought to dishonour them . and this i have seen from the lord in that pure light of his that maketh all things manifest , and before which all things are naked and bare , which light ye generally despise , and reject , and blaspheme , calling it , a meer natural light , and insufficient to lead unto god ; and the children of it ye have hated , reproached , and mocked with cruel mockings , whereby ye have sufficiently declared your selves to be born after the flesh , and not after the spirit . oh ye blasphemers against god , and his temple ( which is his light ) and them that dwell therein ! repent , repent of your blasphemies , and hard speeches , and hard thoughts against gods inward appearance , by his holy word , light and spirit in all your hearts : and repent of all your pride , vanity , folly , excess in meats , drinks , and apparel , who though ye profess your selves to be more pure , and more purely reformed , than other churches , so called , yet in the sight of god ye are nothing better , but many of you worse ; and the sin of sodom ; which was pride , and excess , and fulness of bread , is the sin of many of you , especially of the richer sort . oh , unthankful nation ! do ye thus requite the lord , who are jesurun like , that since ye waxed fat , have kicked against the lord , and are gone from that tenderness , sobriety , and simplicity that was among you , and your fathers sometime ago : oh! how quickly have ye degenerated , and departed from the lord , of whom ye have made , and still are making a great profession ! the anger of the lord is ready to break out against you yet more than formerly , unless ye repent : and though his hand hath been manifestly stretched out against you , in manifest judgments , and especially in blastings and unfruitful seasons , and other judgments , and plagues , and strokes upon you , yet ye have not seen nor regarded it , many of you , yea , most of you ; but ye are like unto them , concerning whom the prophet isaiah testified , saying , lord , when thy hand is lifted up , they will not see ; but they shall see , and be ashamed for their envy at the people . and this is the word of the lord unto you , all teachers , and people of all sorts , of boston and new-england , all such of you who are unbelievers , and have not faith in the light of god and christ within you , but place all your confidence , faith and reliance upon the imputed righteousness of christ without you , and what he did , and suffered for you unto justification , while in the mean time ye know not christ within you , and so are in the state of reprobation , or rejection , as such ; and while ye there remain , opposing christ without , to christ within , professing to own him without , but denying him within , and the revelation of him within in mens hearts , and crucifying him by your daily great sins and iniquities of all sorts . but is christ divided ? or can any have a right and sincere faith in christ , as he came and suffered death in the flesh , and rose again and ascended into glory , unless they believe in him , and own and witness him revealed in them , their king , priest and prophet , lord , judge , and lawgiver , their head and foundation laid in them , christ in them the hope of glory ? and all who sincerely own him within them , have the benefit and comfort of his death , and sufferings , and righteousness , that he accomplished without them , when he came in the flesh , and none others ; and this is unto you all the word of the lord , whether ye will hear , or forbear . and oh ! repent , repent of all your self-righteousness , and self-willings , and self-runnings and actings of all sorts , in that ye call your duties and performances , wherein ye are daily exercising your selves , without the lord 's holy spirit , and power , and life inwardly revealed , to which ye are strangers , and many of you wilfully ignorant , hating and refusing to be informed or instructed , even many or most of you . and all ye who have made light of the cruel sufferings of the lord's servants , called in derision quakers , and some of whom have been put to death at boston , by a most unrighteous and inhuman law , wherein they who either made or executed the same , have shewed themselves more inhuman , cruel and barbarous than many , or most of all sorts of mankind . oh! mourn before the lord for this great sin , and for shedding the blood of the innoccent , wherewith your land is still defiled , and the iniquity of it is not yet done away , nor shall , nor indeed can , but by deep repentance , mourning and contrition of soul , and godly sorrow , and unfeigned repentance , and turning unto the lord ; and let it not be an excuse unto you , that many of you were not the actors in that great sin , but ye have not mourned for it before the lord , many , yea , most of you , and therefore it lieth upon you : and this is the word of the lord unto you . g.k. a copy of this was set up in the most publick place , in the town of boston , the 21 st of the 4 th month , 1688. boston , the 12th of the 5th month , 1688. to james allen , joshua moody , samuel willard , cotten mather , preachers in the town of boston in new-england . friends and neighbours ; i being well assured , both by the spirit of god in my heart , and the testimony of the holy scriptures , that the doctrin ye preach to the people is false , and pernicious to the souls of people in many things , do earnestly desire and entreat you , and every one of you , the preachers in the town of boston , to give me a fair and publick hearing , or meeting with you , either in one of your publick meeting-houses , or in any other convenient place , where all who are desirous to come may have liberty , and let the time be as soon as may , as either to day in the afternoon , or to morrow in the fore-noon , but rather than fail , if ye will give me any assurance to have a meeting with you , i will attend your leasure for two or three days to come , providing once this day you send me your positive answer ; and if ye give me a meeting with you , i profer in true love and good-will , by the divine assistance , to shew and inform you , that ye teach and preach unto the people , many false and unsound principles ( contrary to the doctrin of christ , sufficiently declared in the holy scriptures ) your doctrin being according to the catechism and confession of faith of the church of boston and new-england , which i have diligently examined , and find it to be the same , with that published by the assembly of presbyterians and independents at westminster in old england , about forty years ago , excepting some few small things , wherein some of you may differ in church government and discipline , and if ye cannot receive my information , i profer to debate these things fairly with you , which i call false doctrin , and to vindicate our principles , who in scorn are called quakers , whom ye have falsly charged , for which some of our worthy friends have suffered death at boston , and let the scriptures testimony be the only external rule , test and touch-stone of our said debate . and the particular things i charge on you , as being false doctrin , and contrary to the doctrin of the holy scripture ( beside many others that i could mention ) are these following : 1. that god hath committed his counsel wholly to writing , even since the apostles days , the former ways of god's revealing his mind to his people being ceased . 2. that god hath fore-ordained what-ever cometh to pass . 3. that god hath not afforded , or provided sufficiency of grace and means of salvation unto all mankind , whereby they may be saved . 4. that there are reprobate infants , that die in infancy , and perish eternally , only for adam 's sin imputed unto them , and derived into them . 5. that the light that is in every man , that convinceth them of their sins , and calleth them to leave and forsake them , is only natural , and no ways sufficient to enable any man to do any work acceptable unto god. 6. that christ hath not dyed for all men. 7. that justification is only by christ's righteousness , without us , imputed unto us , and received by faith alone , and not by any righteousness of god or christ infused into us , or wrought in us . 8. that beginnings of true sanctification cannot be fallen from totally . 9. that no man in this life , by any grace of god given him , or to be given him , can perfectly keep the commandments of god , but doth daily break them in thought , word and deed. 10. that no man ever since the apostles days are assisted by any infallible spirit , to preach , pray or write ; and that to speak and pray by the moving of the holy ghost , as the prophets and holy men witnessed of old , is ceased . 11. that human and outward learning , without the saving grace of god , and the holy spirits inward revelation and inspiration , is sufficient to qualifie a man to be a preacher of the gospel . 12. that the scriptures ought to be believed only for their own outward evidence and testimony , and not for the inward evidence and testimony of the holy spirit in mens hearts . i expect your answer some time this day , and remain your friend , g.k. having received a blasphemous and heretical paper , subscribed by one george keith , our answer to it and him is , if he desires conference , to instruct us , let him give us his arguments in writing , as well his assertions : if to inform himself , let him write his doubts : if to cavil and disturb the peace of our churches ( which we have cause to suspect ) we have neither list nor leasure to attend his motions : if he would have a publick audience , let him print : if a private discourse , though he may know where we dwell , yet we forget not what the apostle john saith , ephes . 2.10 . july the 12th , 1688. james allen , joshua moody , samuel willard , cotten mather . to james allen , joshua moody , samuel willard , cotten mather , called preachers , in boston . i received yours , wherein ye give no satisfactory nor reasonable answer to my fair proposal ; ye call my letter unto you , a blasphemous & heretical paper : but wherein it doth contain either heresie or blasphemy , ye have not mentioned , far less demonstrated : i pity your ignorance , and i perceive ye are in the same darkness and blindness of mind that the jews were in , who accused the lord jesus christ of blasphemy ; and if he were now among you in the flesh , he would meet with the same entertainment from you ; for the measure of the same spirit of truth , which is in his servants ( that dwelt in him in all fulness ) ye blaspheme against . but it is well ye have not the magistrates sword now at command , which your brethren sometime ago had , and made a woful and miserable use of it , to turn it against the innocent . and now that ye have no carnal weapons to fight with , we can find no spiritual weapons that ye have : but by silly and frivolou excuses ye seek to lurk and hide in corners , when ye are fairly , and justly required to appear in open field , to defend your false doctrin . to whom shall i liken or compare you , but to night-birds , and beasts of prey , as they are described , psal . 104.20 , 21 , 22. thou makest darkness , and it is night , wherein all the beasts of the forest do creep forth , the young lyons roar after their prey , &c. the sun ariseth , they gather themselves together , and lay them down in their dens . for now that your sun of persecution is gone down , and the sun of peace is arisen , ye have no courage to appear in the open and fair field , to defend your evil cause , only in your dens , and houses into which ye have crept , where the honest people called quakers , have not occasion to hear you ; ye speak evil of things ye know not , and lie and rail against the truth . and that ye ( and not we the people called in scorn quakers ) are blasphemers , i have not only charged , but demonstrated in sundry particulars , in this treatise . and yet because i judge ye do so in ignorance , i believe it is pardonable , and if ye sincerely repent of it , it shall be forgiven you . but why are ye afraid of the light , to appear in publick , to try your spiritual strength and weapons , when your carnal are gone . is not that scripture fulfilled upon you , job 24 ▪ 16 , 17. in the dark they dig through houses , which they had marked for themselves in the day time , they know not the light ; for the morning is to them , even as the shadow of death ; if one know them , they are in the terrors of the shadow of death . i do say it in uprightness , i writ not this , boastingly , or glorying in my strength , as of self , my alone glorying is in the lord , and in his truth , which is the strongest of all , that god in his infinite mercy hath made known unto me , and the truth in the mouth or pen of the youngest child , is too strong for all the goliahs among you . remember that memorable passage of the barley-cake , that tumbled into the host of midian , as it was represented to one in a dream , which was the occasion of gideon's taking courage to go out against the midianites , who was prospered with great success , though he and his men were but a small company , judge 7. and also remember , how at the sounding of the rams horns , the walls of jericho fell down flat to the ground . men of an evil conscience are commonly afraid . or if ye fear your people , lest if any publick dispute should be , they might be in danger to change their mind : is it not the most effectual way to rescue your sheep , if they be in danger , suppose we be wolves ( as we thank god we are none ) to appear openly , and in a manly way against us , and not to suffer the wolves to hunt the shepherds , for that were a strange thing ; but that if ye be shepherds , ye hunt the wolves and seek them out every way , and by all means , and be glad of every occasion to find them ? and is your preaching to the people so little effectual that many years teaching them , is not sufficient to save them from the danger of two or three hours fair debating of things ? if your people were built on the rock , ye needed not fear that they would be so soon shaken . in your very short letter , ye have very many idle and frivolous suppositions . if this , and if that ; so that in six lines or seven , ye have five needless suppositions , and labour as men in a sweat , or at least seem so to do , to find out the design or intention of my writing unto you , the which is plain , without any enquiry ; for i told you very plainly , the end of my writing , was to inform you , that ye preach unto the people many false and unsound principles , pernicious to the souls of people . and if ye could not receive my information , i profered to debate these things fairly with you . and though i neither had , nor have the least mind to cavil , yet i most assuredly believe , that the peace of your churches is not the true peace of christ , but that both ye and they are set down in a false peace and rest . and therefore he , who at the command of christ jesus , and by the motion of his eternal spirit , doth proclaim a holy war , and soundeth an alarm in your ears , that christ himself is come , and more abundantly coming to take away your false peace , and to send a spiritual sword and fire unto you , is really your best friend , and such a friend i am unto you , whether ye will hear or forbear . for i came not unto you in my own will , but a necessity from the lord , by his living motion in my heart , and his living word , that was , and is as a sword and a fire , did lie upon me to clear my self among you . and seeing your churches are no true churches of christ , as i have sufficiently demonstrated in this treatise , their peace is no true peace , and therefore must and will be broken , and the sooner it be broken , the better it will prove to many poor souls among you , in order to their being gathered unto the lord. and whereas ye say in your letter , if he would have a publick audience , let him print : ye see how i have complyed with your proposal , yet not in your will , but in the will of the lord , who hath laid it upon me , and hath assisted me in this undertaking , to write this treatise , and direct it more particularly unto you , and more generally to all the presbyterian and independent teachers and people , both in new-england , or elsewhere , to whose hands by divine providence it shall come . and i require this reasonable demand of you , that seeing ye have said , let him print , that after it is come unto you , ye would seriously read it , and if it please god by it , as an instrument to convince you , through his eternal spirit , give god the glory , and confess to the truth : but if otherwise , that still ye think ye have truth on your side , then appear in print openly to defend your cause , not with railing and lies , but solid arguments , if ye can produce them . and if in some places i seem to have appeared sharp unto you , or your brethren , in this undertaking , i would have you to consider , that on a due examination , my arguments and reasons are full as sharp as my charges or conclusions ; and sharp premisses can well allow to have sharp conclusions . and what sharpness or tartness , or seeming severity i have used , true love and compassion to souls , as well as zeal to god's glory hath constrained it . sweet potions of physick are not always the most safe . the true prophets of god were generally led and moved of god , to reprove sharply the false prophets of old. and christ , and the apostles , and other true teachers , did sharply reprove false teachers in that day ; and there is the same cause now , and the same spirit of truth , and true zeal now that moveth in god's true servants in measure in this day . the precious souls of many thousands lie at stake , and therefore there ought to be plain dealing , and no daubing with untempered morter , or sowing pillows under arm-holes . i know the wrath of man doth not work the righteousness of god , and i have laboured to keep free from that human passion : and whether i have kept clear and free of it , i can , and do freely submit to the judgment of the spiritual man , who hath a spiritual discerning , and is able to judge ; but to the carnal man's judgment i have no reason to submit . and as i freely submit my spirit to be tryed , so the doctrin to him that is able , and above all , i appeal to the holy scripture , as the best outward test and touch-stone , and to the inward opening of the holy spirit , in all that are sensible of it , without which ye cannot but err , not knowing the scriptures , nor the power of god. ye decline my coming privately to your houses , citing for your warrant , john 2. verse 10. but i had no such design ; however , ye miserably misapply that place of scripture , as ye are wont to do many more . for ye take it for granted , that i bring another doctrin , than the doctrin of christ and the apostles , which i altogether deny . secondly , what john did write , was to a private woman , and therefore doth not quadrate to you , who reckon your selves publick men , and rulers as well as teachers and pastors in the church ; and i do not find any command or practice in all the scripture for you to decline a fair dispute with men , suppose hereticks or false teachers , unless ye have first dealt with them , in order to convince them : and even ye ought not to reject an heretick , till after the first and second admonition , according to scripture , but ye never as yet gave me your first : and he who is an heretick , is self condemned , which i bless god , i am not ; and ye pretend not to that spiritual discerning , whereby ye can know me to be such . it is not always one , nor divers errors or mistakes in judgment , that maketh men worthy of that odious name of heretick . the apostle john , and all the other apostles had the infallible spirit of truth , and that gave them a discerning infallibly to judge both doctrins and spirits ; but this ye neither have , nor lay claim to : and yet we find that the apostles did not shun to discourse and debate with men of ill principles , as occasion and season required . and christ also did unweariedly reason with opposers of all sorts , jews , pharisees , sadducees , &c. and paul disputed daily in the school of cyrannus , with them that opposed , and with epicureans and libertines , and others at athens , and went into the jews synagogues , and reasoned with them ; and did not excuse themselves with your silly evasion , that these men were false teachers , and therefore ought not to be disputed with . the scripture commandeth , that in meekness we should instruct them that oppose themselves , if god peradventure may give them repentance . and though this is not the work of all private christians , who have not a publick gift of teaching , and are not called to that work , yet this is no defence unto you , who pretend to be publick teachers . and if it be so , that false teachers are on no account to be received into houses , ye little consider how this weapon may ere long be turned against your selves : for my hope is , that in due time , many people , both in boston and new-england , shall have their eyes opened by the spirit of the lord , which ye blaspheme , to see your sort to be these false teachers , who bring not the doctrin of christ and the apostles , and the houses ye preach in , not being your houses , but the houses of the people , they shall not any more receive you into them , and this warrantably enough , according to your own words . but seeing ye are so unwilling that any called a quaker , should come into your houses , why should ye receive their goods ? to wit , their kettles , pewter , houshold-stuff , corn and cattel , as some , yea , many of your brethren have done , and used them as your own , though unjustly taken away from the true owners , because they would not give you maintenance . a rare and unparalled practice , no where to be traced in all the scripture , nay , not by false prophets and teachers , in like manner as ye have done . and when our honest friends have expostulated with you , why ye crave wages of them , who do not hear you ; ye have oft told them , the door is open , and have invited them to come ; yea , and some have been fined for not coming to your houses , some call churches ; but now , by your words , no quaker ( because , as ye suppose , he bringeth not the true doctrin ) is to be received into your houses ; and if this be not a contradiction , and a piece of confusion , like most of your work , let the impartial judge . and your citing places of scripture so frequently , contrary to the very intention and end of them , as i have sufficiently proved in this treatise , i know not to what other thing i can better compare it , than to turkish pirats at sea , who hang out an english flag or colours , on purpose to deceive the unwary mariners . and as i look upon you , the four preachers at boston , above-named , to be more particularly concerned in this treatise , so i do not except any others , either in new-england or any where else , who hold the same principles with you , but i do reckon them obliged , either to confess to the truth , upon real conviction ; or if otherwise , to produce their reasons against that which we believe to be the truth . i remain your real well-wisher and friend , the 21 st of the 7 th month , 1688. g. k. postscript . ye shall find the twelve particular doctrins which i charged upon you and your brethren , to be false , proved to be so in distinct heads , as followeth ; the first , tenth , eleventh and twelfth articles , in cap. 1 , 2 , 3 , 4. of this treatise ; the second and fourth , cap. 5. the third , fifth and sixth , cap. 6. the seventh in cap. 7. the eighth and ninth , in cap. 8. and the 9th cap. treateth of your visible church , and church-government ; and the 10th of your sacraments and sabbath-day . there are many other things in your said confession and catechism , contrary to the truth and doctrin of the holy scriptures , which i have passed by at present , but these i have here examined , and proved to be contrary to the holy scriptures , being the principal , and some of them fundamental , i did find my mind most concerned in ; the which being overturned , the other errors that are built upon them shall fall with them . a brief answer to some gross abuses , lies and slanders , published some years ago , by increase mather , late teacher of a church at boston in new-england , in his book , called , an essay for the recording of illustrious providences , &c. and by nath. morton , in his book , called , new-england's memorial . the said increase mather , in the eleventh chapter of his book , called , an essay , &c. relateth a long story of three mad quakers , called , thomas cases crew , one of them being a man called denham , and two women , who went down to south-hold , and they met with samuel banks of fairfield , the most blasphemous villain , as they call him , that ever was known in these parts , and some other inhabitants of that town on long-island , where they fell a dancing and singing after their diabolical manner ; and how at that time they proselyted one , called thomas harris ( belonging to boston ) to be of their way , and how after some short time , the said harris was found dead by the sea-side , with three holes like stabs in his throat , and no tongue in his head. and two other stories he subjoyneth , concerning these of the same crew , or company , called the singing and dancing quakers ; the last hath in it a relation , how the said jonathan denham ( alias singleterry ) and one mary rosse , did many frentick and diabolical tricks ; and among others , that he sacrificed a dog at plymouth-colony in new-england . and all these stories he doth relate , on purpose to abuse that honest and sober people , called quakers , without making any distinction , nor giving the least information to the world , how that the body of people called quakers , do not in the least own these ungodly and wicked people , mentioned by him , called thomas cases crew , nor any others of that sort , but have all along declared against them , and shewed the greatest dislike and abhorrency of their spirit and ways , that is possible , and all their mad and frentick tricks and freaks of singing and dancing , or any others of all kinds : and the people called quakers have suffered more abuses and insolencies , by that ungodly and wicked crew of thomas case , and others of that spirit , than any other people in these countries , whereof many sober people that do not profess themselves to be quakers , can bear witness both in long-island , and in road-island , and also at newer-sinks in east-jersey , how for many years they have molested them , frequently at their meetings , and more especially at our friends general meetings at oyster-bay , and rhoad-island , and divers other places . and when the said jonathan denham , and mary rosse were whipt by the order of the magistrates of plymouth , there were some of the honest people called quakers , present , who openly declared before the people , that the quakers did not at all own them to be of their society ; and did declare their loathing and abhorrency of their practices , and that they could not own them to be sufferers for christ's sake : and though they assume to themselves the name of quakers , and call themselves the new quakers , yet that will not follow , that they are of the society of that sober and honest people : for it is not the name or profession , that is the sign , or mark of distinction owned by that people , who own none to be of their society or fellowship , unless they walk in the truth , as well as profess it ; and the truth leads into all sobriety and gravity in all things , but into none of these mad gestures , and ungodly singings and dancings , under the pretence of raptures of heavenly joy. for although we own singing with the holy spirit , and with understanding and discretion , and giving thanks unto god , according to the scriptures , and the example of the primitive christians , yet the singing of such ungodly persons we never did , nor can own ; and we believe that weeping and howling , and bitter mourning is more proper for them . and for dancing , it was never a thing owned by that people , nor is at this day ; only thomas case and his crew lately , or of late years , have run into that , and other mad practices , by satan's instigation , nor does that crew or company of thomas case , nor himself agree in professed principles , with the people called quakers , unless it be in some general things , common to all sorts : for they are plain ranters and libertines , and upon due search and examination , their chief principle doth agree with the presbyterian and independent confession of faith , rather than with the quakers . for these ranting crew of case's followers , and himself , do say , that whatever they do , they are constrained to do it , and cannot do otherwise . and is not this the same that your confession of faith saith , that god hath fore-ordained infallibly , and unchangably whatever cometh to pass , without making any distinction ? and this increase mather hath exactly followed , and imitated the practice and example of the ancient , malicious and persecuting heathens , who , when any unlucky thing happened to be said or done , by any called christians , although they were no christians , but only assumed the name on purpose to deceive , these malicious heathens did throw it all upon the christians , without making any distinction . and the like concerning these rusticks , that rose up in war against their lawful princes in germany , and the mad crew that followed john of leiden ; the adversaries of truth did impute all this as the proper effect of the reformation . and thus also in old england , the ungodly sayings and practices of ranters and libertines ▪ have been odiously cast upon the people called quakers ; whereas it is well known that the people called quakers , have always with great zeal , opposed the ranters and libertines , both in their principles and practices , and have shewed their zeal against them , both in disputing and printing against them , more than any people have done ; and have been a great occasion and means of suppressing that evil spirit in them , so that little of it hath for many years openly appeared in old england ; and the same ranting spirit is greatly decaying of late years , in these american parts , and we hope ere long it shall be quite gone . and let the impartial judge , whether it can be any other thing but malice , as well as rashness ( as he hath shewed his rashness and folly in some other passages of his life , if not malice , that hath occasioned him for some time past to abscond , and depart from the place , where he preached at boston ) in this increase mather , to charge the crimes of the guilty upon the innocent , without distinction , when it is notoriously known , both in new-england , and in all other places , where the people called quakers live , that they never did own any of these people , from the first instant , that they appeared in any of these practices . and seeing ye of the presbyterian and independent churches of new-england , cannot but acknowledge , that too many unlucky and unchristian practices have fallen out , and have been committed by your church-members , as whoredom , drunkenness , and and the like , &c. yet if when upon your first discovery of these things , ye have disowned them , and sufficiently cleared your selves of them , we are more men , and more reasonable than to charge these things upon you : and when judas betrayed christ his lord and master , though he was one of the twelve , and numbred among them , should therefore this great crime of judas be cast upon the eleven that were innocent ? or when david committed these two great sins of murder and adultery , should this be cast upon the faithful people of god in that day , who were in society formerly with him ? or should the crime of the incestuous person at corinth , because of him , be cast upon all other christians ? if this be not equal , ( as all sober men will say , it is not equal ) it is no more equal , but abominably unjust , to throw the crimes of thomas case , or his crew , upon the honest people called quakers , of whose society and spirit they are not . and the said increase mather may with the same impudence , charge all the abominable heresies of the manichees , nicolaitans , ebionites , and all others upon the christians , because all went under that general name of christians in these days . and these of case's crew , they call themselves christians , and so doth increase mather , doth it therefore follow , that their crimes on that only account should be charged upon him ? let him see how he can answer to these things , or any of his brethren , or kindred for him , in his absence . it wanteth to be inserted in his book , that what hath befallen him of late , is a remarkable judgment of god upon him , for his injustice to the quakers , and his unjust charging the innocent with the crimes of the guilty . nor is his last story , concerning one robert churchman , living at balsham in cambridge-shire in old england , related by h. moor , of any more weight or validity , to discredit the religion or profession of the people called quakers , than the former . why ? the said churchman had only some inclination to be a quaker , ( but we do not find in all the relation , that ever he was a professed quaker , and owned by that people ) and some whimsies , or fancies did take him in the head for some time , that he supposed he was inspired with the spirit of god , and that the spirit of god did speak in him ; and at last , it appeared that it was not really so , but that the man was under some mistake , or delusion , or suppose a real possession of the devil , or was mad : what can all this say in the least , to discredit the quaker's religion , or principle ? have there not been mad people , and whimsical , both of the presbyterian and independent churches ? yea , doth not increase mather relate how , that ann cole of hartford in new england , that was esteemed a godly and gracious woman , and i suppose a member of some independent church , or presbyterian , otherwise it is not like he would have so commended her , that she was really bodily possessed with the devil ( see his fifth chapter ) but this doth not infer , that either the presbyterian , or independent profession of religion , by increase mather his own judgment , is of the devil ; yea , and some belonging to their churches in new-england , have very lately been convicted of witchcraft at boston . it cannot be denied , but that madness , and melancholy whimsies and fancies , may befall some of all professions , called christians , the causes of which are best known unto the lord. but it is altogether unmanly , and inhuman , as well as unchristian , to charge these things upon the whole profession . we have always asserted it , that it is one thing to profess to be led by the spirit of god , and another thing to be really and in deed led by it . we are not ignorant how many have both said and done very bad things , under a pretence of being led by the spirit of god , and of having the spirit to be their rule ; and yet this is no argument against the leading and rule of the spirit of god , no more than it is an argument against the scripture , that many have done bad things , and pretended they have had the scripture to be their rule in what they did ; as in the late wars in old england and scotland , when they rose up against the lawful authority , wherein many both presbyterians and independents were concerned , they all did pretend they had the scripture to be their rule in what they did ; and yet surely , the scripture was no rule nor warrant unto them in these bad practices . the leadings of the true spirit of god are known , both by the first motions , and also by the effects and fruits that follow after ; and that is to deny all vngodliness and vnrighteousness , and to live soberly , and godly , and righteously in this present world , and to follow , and be found in doing whatsoever things are true , honest , just , pure , virtuous , and praise worthy , and of good report among these who have a spiritual ability to judge of things that differ , as too many have not . and we are well assured , that the spirit of god never teacheth , nor leadeth any to think , say , or do what is contrary to the declared will of god in the holy scriptures , nor to that holy and righteous law , that is writ by the finger of god upon the hearts of men universally , which is the substance of the decalogue that god writ upon the two tables of stone . and we readily grant , that whoever pretend to follow the spirit of god , to be their inward guide and rule , should be very cautious and wary , lest the evil spirit that doth , and can transform himself into many likenesses , but always short of the truth ; step in and deceive . but there is a most safe and sure way for every one , to be sure , that they are not deceived , and shall never be , in any matter of moment , and that is for every one to be faithful unto god in these moral duties , or any other things which they know infallibly , and are generally agreed upon by all christians , to be good things , for such have the promise of god , that they shall be preserved from being deceived . and whereas the said increase mather hath writ so many remarkable judgments of god , that have come upon notorious offenders , on purpose to record them in print ; and that he saith , cap. 11. we may not judge of men meerly by outward accidents , which befall them in this world , &c. and some lines after , he saith , nevertheless a judgment may be so circumstanced , as that the displeasure of heaven is plainly written upon it in legible characters : and in this he saith true , but he should have added , that such men who can read the same , must not be blind , but have the true eye opened in them , otherwise they will make a wrong construction of these things . there wants to be inserted , or added to his book the many signal and manifest judgments of god , that came upon the people of new-england in general , and upon divers particular persons , the main actors , for that horrible persecution they raised against that honest people called quakers , and putting to death four of the lord's servants , for which the name of these actors and abettors , are a stink over many places of the world : and of these judgments in general , the blasting of their wheat generally ever since they put our worthy friends to death at boston ; and the indian wars that soon after followed , whereby many english were destroyed ; and after that , but of late years , a dreadful visitation of the small-pox , called by some the black pock , that cut off very many , both at boston , and else-where , of which they were fore-warned by a woman that came from barbadoes , and went into some of their meetings , with her face all made black , for a sign of what was coming upon them , she being one of these people called quakers , and owned by them in that very testimony , which she declared , she was moved by the lord to come from barbadoes to bear among them , her name being margaret brewster ; to which may be added , the taking away their charter , and power ( which they so grosly abused , in turning the sword against the innocent ) one cause of which was their persecuting the quakers unto death ; and the manifest judgments of god that came upon divers particular persons , notorious persecutors of that innocent people , are very observable , as major adarton , who joyned in passing sentence of death against some of these servants of the lord who suffered death at boston , who not long after was killed with a cow ; and that horton , preacher at boston , a great persecutor , who dyed suddainly , as he was walking in his house after sermon , and captain davenport , another great persecutor , who was killed with lightning . and though the said increase mather doth relate the suddain deaths of both these men , he altogether omitteth these great circumstances , of their being great persecutors ; the which ommission , whether it was wilfully in him , or not , i shall not determine . but it is the more memorable , that the said major adarton , being warned before-hand , of the judgment of god , he made light of it , as i was informed by some in new-england , who had the relation of it , from some that did so warn him , being of that persecuted people . and also it is very memorable , how one of these persecuted servants of the lord , called quakers , did plainly fore-tell , that the house of governor indicot , a greater persecutor , should be left desolate , and become a dunghil ; as did accordingly come to pass ; and hath been observed by divers , to have been a real prophecy , divine justice and providence did so bring it about . there are many other instances and examples might be mentioned , some of which i refer to george bishop his book , called , new-england judged , to be there read and considered . i shall only add one passage more , which i was informed of , and had it writ from some of the people of barnstable , how that from an honest-man , a quaker , in the town of barnstable , were taken four cows , with some calves , the quaker's name being ralph jones , who is yet alive ; and these cattel were taken away by the preacher of that town , his son-in-law , who had married his daughter , and returned to the priest as a part of his wages . the priest sent to ralph jones , to tell him , he might have two of his cows returned to him , if he would send for them : but he never sent , and so the said priest used them , and disposed of them as his own , killed one of the calfs , and sent a part of it to his daughter , that lay in child-bed ; she no sooner did eat a little of the calf , but fell into a great trouble , and cryed , return home the man's cows , i hear a great noise of them ; and so dyed in that trouble . the priest alledged the quakers had bewitched his daughter , although it cannot be proved , that ever they had any business with her . but to what evil construction will not malice and hypocrisie , and covetousness bend a thing ? some time after the said preacher killed some of these cows , to be eat in his house , saying , he would try if the quakers could bewitch him ; and not long after he dyed , even before the flesh of these cows were all eat . the passage is so fresh in that town , that it is acknowledged by divers of the neighbours to be true : and as great havock was made upon this honest man , and upon many in sandwich , a neighbouring town , and in many other places , so much more might have been expected , had not their violence been restrained by the king 's granting an indulgence to all tender consciences . next , as to nath. morton , in his book , called new-england's memorial , pag. 157. he chargeth the quakers with corrupt and damnable doctrin in the following particulars . 1. that the holy scriptures were not for the enlightning of man , nor a setled and permanent rule of life . the which charge is false ; for we have granted , that the scriptures are a rule of life , & so we do still , & the best outward rule that can be found : but we say , they are not the only rule , nor , being compared with the inward rule of god's holy spirit , are they above it , but inferior and under it , and ought only to be used in subordination to it . and if the scripture were the only rule , as our adversaries say , then all poor heathens should have no rule , nor law , and consequently no sin , nor judgment , which is false . and we deny not , but the scriptures are a means of our enlightning , as god the father of lights , is pleased to cause his light to shine unto us in our hearts , in the serious and faithful hearing , reading and meditating on the scriptures , &c. but not otherwise , even as the air , or windows of a house , are means of letting in the sun 's light to us ; but if the sun shine not , neither the air nor window can give us light . 2. that they denyed the manhood of the lord jesus christ , and affirmed , that as man he is not in heaven . this is a notorious false charge , which they can never prove : and in this treatise in several places , i have given a large testimony to the man christ jesus in heaven ; and how he is the object and foundation of the christians faith , as the mystery of his coming in the flesh , death and sufferings , &c. is inwardly opened , revealed and applyed by the holy spirit in men's hearts . 3. that they deny the resurrection of the dead . this is also a most false charge , which they can never prove : but because we deny their carnal conceptions of the resurrection , and hold us to scripture-words , which is most safe , therefore they have so belyed us . and for the more satisfaction of the reader , i refer him to a little book called , the principles of truth , published by some noted men of the quakers , in which book it is expresly affirmed , that we ( to wit , the quakers ) believe , that the same body which is laid down , shall be raised up at the resurrection of the dead , as much as a natural body , can be the same with a spiritual body , on an earthly body can be the same with a heavenly body , according to the scriptures testimony ; it is sown natural , but raised spiritual , and the glory of the heavenly is one , and the glory of the earthly is another . and this may satisfie any sober enquirer : and paul writing concerning the resurrection of the dead , saith , that is not first which is spiritual , but that which is natural , ( or animal ) and afterwards that which is spiritual , 1 cor. 15.46 . and vers . 49. as we have born the image of the earthly , we shall also bear the image of the hevenly : he that readeth , let him understand . 4. that an absolute perfection in holiness , or grace is attainable in this life . 5. that they placed their justification upon their patience , and sufferings for their opinions , and on their righteous life ; both which are grosly false charges , and the contrary of which i have shewed in this treatise at length in their proper places . 6. they allowed not , nor practised any civil respect to magistrates , parents , &c. this also is grosly false , there are divers other ways sufficient whereby to shew both our civil and christian respect to magistrates and parents , &c. ( without either doffing the hat , or cringing ) and that both in words and gestures . there are only two other things which he chargeth , that we grant to be true , but deny them to be either damnable , or corrupt doctrin , but affirm them to be truly christian ; one is , that all men ought to attend to the light within them , to be the rule of their lives and actions . but if this be corrupt and damnable doctrin , he accuseth his own brethren , who in their confession of faith , say , that there are many sins that men commit against the law or light of nature , as they call it , which are the more hainous . and surely that is a light within them , and is e'en so far a rule of life , containing , as is commonly acknowledged the substance of the ten commandments ; see their answer to quest . 151. larger catechism . but we do not say , that that general illumination that is in all men , many of whom have not the scriptures , is a rule to oblige them to believe and receive these great mysteries of christianity , declared in the scriptures , which they who have not the scriptures , have not revealed unto them . the other is , that we deny the use of oaths : but this is no corrupt , but truly christian doctrin , which saith , swear not at all , mat. 5.34 . it is a marvelous thing , that these men have no other ways to oppugne the quakers , but by grose 〈…〉 lies , and false calumnies , and 〈◊〉 abuses , like unto the ways that ever the 〈◊〉 sort of the adversaries of truth have used against the true witnesses of it . it had been more manly , and seemingly christian , for increase mather and nath. morton , or any others of their sect or society , fairly to have stated the quakers principles , and then to have gone and refuted them by the best or strongest arguments they could find : but this none of them have done , nor did i ever see to this day any one writer , that did write against the quakers , that did fairly state their principles , but miserably belyed , and abused them , either by affirming things to be their principles , which were not , or by so unfairly representing and wresting the words of our honest friends , by their addings and diminishings , that they could not at all acknowledge them as such ; all which is a manifest evidence of the weakness & badness of their cause , as well as of that evil conscience that is in them , when they use such unlawful ways and means to defend themselves , or to oppugne others . notes, typically marginal, from the original text notes for div a47164-e22600 read and well consider ezekiel 9.3.4 . 1 cor. 5.2 .