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<DATE>2008-02-08</DATE>
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<NAME>John Pas</NAME>
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<STC T="W">G106</STC>
<STC T="T">669.f.16[57]</STC>
<BIBNO T="umi">99870219</BIBNO>
<VID>163210</VID>
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<HEAD>A Gagge for Lay-Preachers.</HEAD>
<P>_WHEREAS Illiterate men or &s;uch as can but read the Engli&s;h Bible, in contempt of a
learned and &s;etled Mini&s;try, according to the variety of Sects, undertake publikely to preach
the word of God, and exerci&s;e other Mini&s;teriall Acts among&s;tus, and pretend to receive coun|tenance,
or at lea&s;t connivance, from the higher Powers for &s;o doing; It is to be con&s;idered
that (what licence &s;oever they may a&s;&s;ume unto them&s;elves) they want both <HI>Power</HI> and <HI>Authori|ty</HI>
&s;o much as to preach the word.</P>
<P>For Power or Ability,<NOTE PLACE="marg">I.</NOTE> 1 The word of God not being to be known by it &s;elfe, &s;uch men are
not able without other Principles to di&s;cern and di&s;tingui&s;h it from other writings. 2. God ha|ving
declared him&s;elfe in Hebrew and Greek, but not in Engli&s;h that wee know of; nor no
Tran&s;lation of holy Scripture by men &s;ubject to errour (however it render the &s;ence) being the
word of God; nor the Truth of a Tran&s;lation being to be known but by recour&s;e to original
Tongues and Copies, our Tran&s;lation e&s;pecially being the work of men otherwi&s;e condemned as
Antichri&s;tian; without skill in languages they cannot &s;o much as under&s;tand his word. 3. Though
they were expert in the languages, As we di&s;tingui&s;h betwixt Principal and Acce&s;&s;ory parts in the
holy Scriptures the main of the Go&s;pel belonging unto all men taking up little room, and the grea|te&s;t
part even of the New Te&s;tament bearing reference to Particulars, as Romanes, Corinthians, &amp;c. unto whom we are nothing a|kinne,
and not importing lawes but Judgements or reports of Judgements and practi&s;e in particular Ca&s;es (legally binding us Engli&s;hmen
no more then Judiciall or Ceremoniall lawes given to the I&s;raelites) they cannot conceive or explicate the &s;ence thereof as it was intended,
without skill in the Hi&s;tories and Antiquities of tho&s;e Nations. 4. Nor la&s;tly could they under&s;tand thus much of Scripture, can they
Apply and bring home the&s;e Pre&s;idents to rule our collaterall Ca&s;es (which is the proper u&s;e we are to make thereof) without Logick
and Di&s;cour&s;e to make the Parallel, which Explication and Application wee call Preaching. So that for want of Arts and Tongues and o|ther
humane Learning, the People cannot approach the mount of Divinity as it &s;tands expo&s;ed unto all men in the prime Revelations,
the holy Scriptures; nor much le&s;&s;e bring us my&s;teries from thence, but borrow the light which they have thereof more remotely from
the Learned. And for private Spirits, or new revelations of the will God not having his Probat by miracles, or any other Go&s;pel
then is derived from the&s;e writings (which &s;ome well &s;poken under the name of gifted men to &s;alve the matter by an extraordinary
manner without learning boa&s;t of) we pa&s;&s;e not.</P>
<P>And how then can wee conceive the&s;e are the men entru&s;ted with the mini&s;try of the Go&s;pel?<NOTE PLACE="marg">II.</NOTE> where choyce is to be had, men
(while they are Rea&s;onable) delegate not uncapable &s;ubjects; e&s;pecially to a work whereto all the reverence that can be u&s;ed (in chu&s;ing
and rai&s;ing Per&s;ons, in regard of his Maje&s;ty with, or for, whom they are to deal) is too little: And certainly God &s;ees &s;uch as he im|ployes
qualified. Yet per&s;onall &s;ufficiency is not enough without a Politicall ordination; &s;uppo&s;ing the&s;e men had Ability, for Autho|rity
or commi&s;&s;ion either from God or men to put that Faculty in office (which even in handicrafts for freedome in Trade is &s;tood up|on)
they are &s;till to &s;eek, and have no more to &s;hew for Preaching then for further Judging or Ruling their Brethren, when (upon in&s;i|nuation
with the multitude) they &s;hall dare to declare them&s;elves. <HI>Corah's</HI> &s;inne <HI>Numb.</HI> 16. being the bottome of it. Wherefore &s;uch <HI>lay
Ideots mu&s;t keep their di&s;tance, and leave the di&s;pen&s;ation of the&s;e &s;acred ordinances unto their Spirituall Guides</HI> (men of nearer acce&s;&s;e and
intimacy with the minde of Chri&s;t &s;eparated to that work) <HI>unto whom they properly belong.</HI> And however the&s;e men carry the matter,
wee cannot &s;u&s;pect that the higher Powers are our Adver&s;aries herein; who though they have &s;een cau&s;e to reject the corrupt order that
was e&s;tabli&s;hed in the Church, have rea&s;on to be jealous of the Peoples motions; and though they have been willing to trie the &s;pirits, in|tend
not &s;urely upon that &s;core (without all regard either of learning or mode&s;ty) to let loo&s;e &s;uch incoherent tongues to advance confu&s;ion,
and trie the ma&s;tery among&s;t them&s;elves; or to believe any Spirit but according to its qualifications, and the evidence men &s;hall make
thereof.</P>
<P>If it bee objected,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Object. I.</NOTE> That the holy Scriptures were written to Per&s;ons of ordinary Capacity and Literature. Wee mu&s;t con&s;ider.
1. That the&s;e men unto whom they were directed under&s;tood the Divinity, the Language, and all the Circum&s;tances of the&s;e Writings,
which made that ea&s;ie unto them, which without &s;tudy we cannot attain to. Secondly, They that were directly concern'd needed no &s;uch
help of Logick and Di&s;cour&s;e to Apply them, and make collaterall Inferences and Deductions as we do.</P>
<P>If it bee objected that the Holy Apo&s;tles,<NOTE PLACE="marg">II.</NOTE> the primitive Paterns of our Mini&s;try, were Illiterate men. It is to bee con&s;idered.
1. That all Illiterate men in tho&s;e dayes, were not Apo&s;tles; And though the twelve Apo&s;tles were &s;uch Illiterate men, Saint <HI>Paul</HI>
was not, nor <HI>Barnabas,</HI> nor <HI>Timothy,</HI> and <HI>Titus,</HI> whom <HI>Paul</HI> In&s;tituted: which &s;hews that unlearnedne&s;&s;e is no proper qualification
for an Apo&s;tle or Preacher of the Go&s;pel. Secondly, Witne&s;&s;es and Publi&s;hers of things which they had &s;een and heard (&s;uch as the
Apo&s;tles in a manner wholly were) needed no &s;uch learning as Expounders and Appliers of Antient and forreigne Writings. And
la&s;tly, though our Saviour took &s;uch Ignorant men, hee left them not &s;uch; hee took Fi&s;her-men, whom he made Fi&s;hers of Men (that
his Power and the Grace of God might bee &s;een in their weakne&s;&s;e.) Yet hee took time for it; Hee called Di&s;ciples, <HI>Matth.</HI> 4. but made
them not Apo&s;tles till <HI>Matth.</HI> 10. As wee take Servants or Apprentices, whom wee afterwards make free of our Trades. The&s;e
Teachers of the Times (wee deny not) may bee gifted men too, and gifted in &s;ome &s;ort for Preaching or Declaming roundly to the Peo|ple:
But we &s;ee they are not gifted like Apo&s;tles for Preaching of the Word of God as now it &s;tands (which is the onely thing which
&s;hould be&s;tead them.) 1. The Apo&s;tles under&s;tood that they taught the Word of God, and that they had Commi&s;&s;ion from God to
teach it. Secondly, As they were &s;ent to Preach, they were &s;upplied with Arts and Tongues, where they were requi&s;ite: And la&s;tly, they
had a further power of working Miracles, to witne&s;&s;e &s;uch their Mi&s;&s;ion and Authority unto others. In all which the&s;e men remain as
defective as other mortalls.</P>
<P>Wee do well indeed to be imitating the Apo&s;tles, but it mu&s;t be in the&s;e things wherein they are imitable; not &s;o much in their ex|traordinary
Office, or Supernaturall workings, (which are not in our power) as their Chri&s;tian purity and holine&s;&s;e, their diligence and
humility, not judgings of our &s;elves above that which is meet. Yet i<GAP DESC="illegible" EXTENT="1 letter"> nothing but their Spirit will &s;erve the turn (con&s;idering that God
now adayes works not ordinarily, but by means) one would think that Divines (&s;uch as with &s;ome rea&s;onable qualification upon their
Indu&s;try, by publike Ordination, orderly &s;ucceed the Apo&s;tles in their Charge of regulating and teaching others) might as well pretend
to the Spirit the Apo&s;tles wrought by, as tho&s;e men that &s;ee but with their eyes, and beleeve upon &s;uch grounds as they afford them, and
have nothing Apo&s;tolicall but their own Pre&s;umption and noy&s;e to &s;hew for it.</P>
<P>The Wife man gives good Advi&s;e, <HI>Prov. 26. 4, 5. An&s;wer not a fool according to his folly, le&s;t thou al&s;o bee like unto him.</HI> And again,
<HI>An&s;wer a fool according to his folly, le&s;t he be wi&s;e in his own conceit.</HI> And thus (I conceive) we may ob&s;erve the latter part thereof; In
&s;hewing the&s;e men the weakne&s;&s;e of their groundes in generall, and remon&s;trating what blinde Guides they are like to make, to take
down their conceits of them&s;elves, and keep them to their La&s;ts. To de&s;cend with them to their particular Debates, upon the&s;e grounds,
(they being no better Di&s;putants then Preachers) were the way (I am &s;ure) to tran&s;gre&s;&s;e the former part, to enter a Brawl, and make
our &s;elves like unto them. What&s;oever therefore their Provocations of Divines to Conference and Di&s;putations therein bee (till they
rectifie their Principles, and improve their Learning) they are to be e&s;teemed but as the extravagant workings of their Di&s;tempers; and
Indignities, as if a Carter &s;hould challenge an Officer of the Army at Cudgels, or dare our renowned Generall to Cuffes. Such weapons
being fitter (with their noy&s;e and du&s;t) to offend even Spectators, then decide differences; And &s;uch Challengers rather to bee kickt
then encountred.</P>
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