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<DATE>2009-07-07</DATE>
<RESPSTMT>
<NAME>Zev Berger</NAME>
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<TEXT LANG="eng">
<FRONT>
<DIV1 TYPE="title page">
<PB REF="1" MS="y">
<P>A SOBER WORD To A SERIOUS PEOPLE: Or, A MODERATE DISCOURSE RESPECTING As well <HI>The SEEKERS,</HI> (&s;o called) As <HI>The Pre&s;ent Churches.</HI> Wherein the Difference between them touching Vi&s;ible Admini&s;trations, is Di&s;covered and Di&s;cu&s;&s;ed: And may &s;erve as <HI>A Plea for the Nations Mini&s;tery.</HI></P>
<P>By a lover of Truth and Peace.</P>
<Q><P><BIBL><HI>PSAL. 22.30.</HI></BIBL> A &s;eed &s;hall &s;erve him: it &s;hall be counted to the Lord for a generation. <BIBL><HI>24. 6.</HI></BIBL> This is the generation of them that <HI>&s;eek</HI> him, that <HI>&s;eek</HI> thy face, O Jacob. <BIBL><HI>14 7.</HI></BIBL> Oh that the &s;alvation of I&s;rael were come out of Sion! When the Lord bring|eth back the capivity of his people, Jacob &s;hall rejoyce, and I&s;rael &s;hall be glad.</P></Q>
<P><HI>London,</HI> Printed by <HI>J. Cottrel,</HI> for <HI>James Noell,</HI> in Fo&s;ter-line; and are to be fold by <HI>Giles Calvert,</HI> at the black Spread-Eagle neer the We&s;t-end of Pauls. 1651.</P>
</DIV1>
<DIV1 TYPE="to the reader">
<PB REF="2">
<PB REF="2">
<HEAD>To the Reader.</HEAD>
<OPENER><SALUTE>COURTEOUS READER,</SALUTE></OPENER>
<P>_THou art here pre&s;ented with a brief Di&s;cour&s;e touching a Subject which hath not where|with to <HI>commend</HI> it &s;elf, and therefore &s;ubjects it &s;elf to thy Ingenuity and Candor in its peru&s;al, (if it be thought by thee worthy thereof.) To invite or court thee thereunto, would be very unbe&s;eeming thee to whom it's directed, con&s;idering thee both <HI>&s;ober</HI> and <HI>&s;e|rious;</HI> and to me it's no le&s;s un&s;utable, if thou knewe&s;t my Genius. Thou art therfore left free, either to entertain it, or pa&s;s it by, as thou plea|&s;e&s;t; and it's as freely &s;ubmitted to thy Cen&s;ure.</P>
<P>But con&s;idering it's po&s;&s;ible that &s;ome may be&s;tow time upon it, for their &s;akes I have been
<PB REF="3">
prevailed with to &s;ay a little by way of Preface, touching the <HI>nature</HI> and <HI>end</HI> thereof, both which when thou clearly under&s;tande&s;t, thou wilt with the le&s;s prejudice attempt the reading and examining of it, when it &s;hall be freed in thy judgement from &s;uch a&s;per&s;ions as &s;ome may ra&s;hly (yet too plentifully) be&s;tow upon it.</P>
<P>Be thou therefore hereby a&s;&s;ured, that thou art not troubled with this Di&s;cour&s;e out of any de&s;igne either to weaken thy pre&s;ent confi|dence which thou ha&s;t in God, or to &s;tartle thee touching thy pre&s;ent Practice in things pertain|ing to God, nor out of any Irreligious, Athe|i&s;tical, or Self-ended intere&s;t, to tempt thee to ca&s;t off all Ordinances of Wor&s;hip and Service of God, which thou at pre&s;ent art per&s;waded thou ought&s;t to be found exerci&s;ed in; but to give thee an account touching a Sort of people which &s;ome are plea&s;ed to call SEEKERS; of whom, &s;everal men, in &s;everal books, have &s;po|ken &s;everal things, &s;hewing the dangerou&s;ne&s;s of their Opinion, and the dreadfulne&s;s of its tendency; and under that term of <HI>Seekers,</HI> com|prehend all tho&s;e which differ from them&s;elves touching the pre&s;ent exerci&s;e of Vi&s;ible Admi|ni&s;trations. How great their mi&s;take hath been
<PB REF="3">
and is, thou may&s;t finde herein; the rectifying whereof, is one End of this Work, by laying down &s;omewhat po&s;itively touching what they believe and practi&s;e, and &s;omewhat privatively touching &s;uch things as they &s;ee not ground to practi&s;e. The&s;e are reduced and abridged un|der two Heads, The
<LIST>
<ITEM>Pre&s;ent Churches,</ITEM>
<ITEM>and Pre&s;ent Mini&s;tery,</ITEM>
</LIST>
and compared with the Primitive Patterns of each, as they are laid down in the Scriptures, and accordingly applied, with &s;ome Con&s;i|derations had touching certain Objections de|pending thereupon. Under which general Heads, thou ha&s;t the &s;um of what thou wilt here be troubled with, (and perhaps thou may&s;t judge it worthy thy trouble.)</P>
<P>As touching the End, to give thee &s;ome ac|count as well what it is, as what it is not, be plea&s;ed to know, that having ob&s;erved many per&s;ons of an enquiring &s;pirit un&s;atisfied with their pre&s;ent Practice, as not &s;eeing &s;ufficient ground for it; yet impatient and re&s;tle&s;s in their &s;pirits, have made out after this people (&s;o di|&s;tingui&s;hed as before:) but finding them very
<PB REF="4">
incon&s;iderable both for quantity and quality, and nothing extant which in any mea&s;ure might be a &s;tay to them, by laying a ground for their dependance &amp; further waiting upon God, have waxed weary, and almo&s;t fainted in their minds, and at the be&s;t have returned to that condition from whence at fir&s;t they thought them&s;elves happie they were e&s;caped, u&s;ing &s;uch expre&s;|&s;ions as the&s;e: <HI>Come, let us go back to</HI> Egypt <HI>for Bread: it's better take it at the mouth of Ravens, then &s;tarve.</HI> Which expre&s;&s;ions have been very &s;adly uttered by &s;ome: mean while, the God which had led them by the hand out of <HI>Egypt,</HI> and brought them thorow the <HI>Red-&s;ea,</HI> cannot be tru&s;ted, nor depended on, nor waited for, while they are in the wilderne&s;s.</P>
<P>The&s;e Con&s;iderations, on their part, have moved me to bethink me of my duty to my God, and whether I were not obliged, in thank|fulne&s;s to him, who had betru&s;ted me with the knowledge of his plea&s;ure in any mea&s;ure touching this particular, to impart it to others, that they might al&s;o have the opportunity of con&s;idering what hath been a &s;tay to my own &s;pirit, and perhaps may prove forcible to pre|vent from further &s;traying &s;uch who are upon rhe like enquiry.</P>
<P><PB REF="4">I have likewi&s;e ob&s;erved how much it hath offended and grieved divers good per&s;ons who are them&s;elves under the practice and exerci&s;e of &s;uch Admini&s;trations as this Di&s;cour&s;e treats of, becau&s;e the SEEKER'S (as they are called) do not joyn i&s;&s;ue in the practi&s;e thereof; expre&s;&s;ing this offence and trouble of theirs, by writing and otherwi&s;e; which I have great cau&s;e to hope will by this occa&s;ion be abated, or at lea&s;t moderated, when they &s;hall perceive that there is a rea&s;on to be rendered for that which they have judged unrea&s;onable.</P>
<P>In the con&s;ideration of which, I cannot but think it's po&s;&s;ible that Thou, <HI>Reader,</HI> may&s;t finde thy &s;elf to have drunk too deep of the cup of my former, and thy pre&s;ent Errour, in that both thou and I have taken up our Practices upon other mens Principles, or at lea&s;t upon too ea&s;ie &amp; too &s;light a &s;earch; touching which, if they were to begin again, we &s;hould judge it nece&s;&s;ary to put a pau&s;e, and to make more di|ligent enquiry after the minde of God in the Scriptures. To which &s;ome per&s;ons are reduced, (and that in mercy) &s;earching and &s;eeking after tho&s;e things <HI>now,</HI> which long &s;ince they pre&s;u|med they had attained. To the exerci&s;e where|of,
<PB REF="5">
thou art al&s;o invited, <HI>viz.</HI> to prove thy own works, that &s;o <HI>thy rejoycing may be in thy &s;elf, and not in another.</HI></P>
<P>And if, in examining this Work, thou finde&s;t many things weak and ami&s;s, I &s;hall not wonder at it (I pretend not to Perfection:) Put thy Cha|racter upon them, &amp; let them pa&s;s for dro&s;s, and write them <HI>mine.</HI> But if thou finde&s;t Gold (I mean Truth) that will abide the fire of trial; &s;ay that's God's; 'tis none of mine; and let not that pa&s;s. I expect thy Cen&s;ure; I &s;hall hearken for it: and I hope thy Reproofs &s;hall be as wel|come as the &s;miting of the <HI>righteous</HI> was to <HI>Da|vid,</HI> P&s;al. 141.5: and for ought thou knowe&s;t, if thou &s;ende&s;t me back to the &s;earching of the Scriptures, which mu&s;t be the Standard &amp; Rule of trial, I may truly be enabled to &s;ay, <HI>It &s;hall be a kindne&s;s to me, an excellent oil which &s;hal not break my head.</HI> But if thou &s;halt be found <HI>reproaching</HI> in &s;tead of <HI>reproving,</HI> and <HI>wounding</HI> in &s;tead of <HI>&s;miting,</HI> I hope my God will teach me to &s;ay, as he did al&s;o, <HI>ver&s;.</HI> 3. <HI>Set a watch, O Lord, before my mouth, and keep the door of my lips.</HI></P>
</DIV1>
<DIV1 TYPE="errata">
<HEAD><HI>Reader,</HI> thou art de&s;ired to correct the&s;e <HI>Errata</HI> with thy Pen.</HEAD>
<P>Pag. 2. lin. 37. for 26. 5, read 46. 5. p. ibid. l. 17. adde <HI>the.</HI> p. 5. l. 1. for <HI>the&s;e,</HI> read <HI>the.</HI> p. 7. l. 31. for <HI>certain numbers,</HI> read <HI>a certain number.</HI> p. 20. l. 12. for <HI>ca&s;t,</HI> r. <HI>co&s;t.</HI> p. 25. l. 9. for 12. 8. r. 21. 8. p. ibid. l. 33. for <HI>Tran&s;lations,</HI> r. <HI>Tran&s;lators.</HI> p. 33. l. 2. for <HI>per&s;on,</HI> r. <HI>per&s;ons.</HI> p. 36. l. 7. for <HI>had,</HI> r. <HI>was.</HI> p. 39. l. 12. adde <HI>of.</HI> p. 47. l. 24. for 2 <HI>Cor.</HI> 4.5. r. 1 <HI>Cor.</HI> 2.4, 5. p. 48. l. 15, for <HI>particular,</HI> r. <HI>peculiar.</HI> p. 57. l. 25. for 10. 25. r. 11. 25.</P>
</DIV1>
</FRONT>
<BODY>
<DIV1 TYPE="text">
<PB N="1" REF="5">
<HEAD>A SOBER WORD TO A SERIOUS PEOPLE.</HEAD>
<P>_AMong&s;t tho&s;e many Di&s;cour&s;es which have offered them&s;elves to Publike View, in the&s;e di&s;cour&s;ing Times, there have not been want|ing &s;everal that have a&s;&s;erted the Saints pri|viledges in their enjoyment of Ordinances; Some Moderately, Others more Smartly, and with le&s;s Moderation, (though with no le&s;s Confidence.) The Entertainment the&s;e Di&s;cour&s;es have met with (I am apt to be|lieve) hath been as various.</P>
<P>That which I have ob&s;erved in them, is, that they have frequently taken notice of &s;ome that differ from them, calling them <HI>Seekers:</HI> Touching whom, many things are &s;aid, by way of An&s;wer to &s;everal Objections which are &s;aid to be theirs; though it be not &s;o demon|&s;trable from any thing yet extant, which they (if any &s;uch there be) have owned as theirs. Neverthele&s;s, in the &s;erious peru&s;al of tho&s;e very Objections, and their &s;everal An&s;wers, which are exhibited to Publike view, there doth &s;eem to lie &s;omething not &s;o clear, on the An&s;werers part, as is imagined, and as were to be wi&s;hed.</P>
<P>To &s;hew, in all things, where this Shortne&s;s doth (&s;eem at lea&s;t to) lie, would require more time then is alotted to me, in re&s;pect of other employments: I &s;hall therefore abbreviate many things, and,
<PB N="2" REF="6" MS="y">
as briefly as I can, &s;hall endeavour to &s;hew where I have ob&s;erved the main difference to be placed.</P>
<P>The <HI>Seekers,</HI> I do finde, are charged with this, That they are a people who deny all Ordinances; and the Evil of that Evil is laid down and aggravated, by &s;everal Per&s;ons, in &s;everal Books; and in the la&s;t, mo&s;t of all.</P>
<P>The&s;e are again di&s;tingui&s;hed into &s;uch as are <HI>again&s;t</HI> all Ordi|nances, or that &s;ee not &s;ufficient ground for the pre&s;ent practice of Or|dinances; or &s;uch as are <HI>above</HI> and beyond Ordinances.</P>
<P>For the former, tho&s;e which are again&s;t, <HI>i. e.</HI> contrary to them, they are very <HI>improperly</HI> called <HI>Seekers.</HI></P>
<P>For the later, they which are above and beyond them; the&s;e are &s;o far from <HI>Seeking,</HI> that they are rather Po&s;&s;e&s;&s;ors, Enjoyers, and At|tainers, then Seekers, properly &s;o called.</P>
<P>The third &s;ort are &s;uch, as, not &s;eeing a &s;ufficient ground for the pra|ctice of Ordinances, are &s;aid to &s;eek them. And is it not their Mercy, that mo&s;t High &s;hould give them a heart to &s;eek him, for wi&s;dom, and coun&s;el, and directions, touching tho&s;e things they &s;ee not &s;ufficient ground for the pre&s;ent practi&s;e of? And is it not according to the A|po&s;tle's Rule? <HI>If any man want wi&s;dom,</HI> he &s;hould <HI>ask,</HI> or &s;eek it, <HI>of God; who giveth liberally, and upbraideth not.</HI></P>
<P>In a good &s;ence, it is a good thing to be a Seeker: In a bad &s;ence, it's not to be applied to them, which &s;eek the Lord in &s;incerity, for wi&s;|dom, how to walk before him.</P>
<P>Of this &s;ort of Per&s;ons, and this &s;ort of Seeking, this pre&s;ent Di&s;cour&s;e onely treats.</P>
<P>And touching them, it may be ob&s;erved, that the&s;e (<HI>Seekers</HI> &s;o called) are not alike un&s;atisfied concerning the practi&s;e of all Ordi|nances. There are onely &s;ome, wherein they &s;ee not &s;ufficient ground for their pre&s;ent practi&s;e. There are others, which they them&s;elves do practi&s;e: <HI>Viz.</HI></P>
<P>Fir&s;t, They believe, that it is an appointment from the Lord Je&s;us, and that wherein they ought to excerci&s;e them&s;elves, in &s;earching the Te&s;timonies of the Holy Writings of Truth, concerning the minde of God touching things to be believed and practi&s;ed: So did the Eunuch, and God met him therein, <HI>Act.</HI> 8.28. to the 25. according to <HI>I&s;a.</HI> 46.5.</P>
<P>Secondly, They judge the &s;ame touching Prayer, and di&s;tributing
<PB N="3" REF="6">
to the nece&s;&s;ity of tho&s;e that want; according to <HI>Act.</HI> 10.1, 2, <HI>&amp;c.</HI> hoping to enjoy God, both in the former and latter duties and Or|dinances of his.</P>
<P>This is not onely practi&s;ed per&s;onally, and privately, but, as occa|&s;ion offers, by coming together into &s;ome place on the Fir&s;t-dayes, and at other times, as their hearts are drawn forth, and opportunity is offered.</P>
<P>Their ends in &s;o doing, and grounds for &s;o doing, are the&s;e:</P>
<P>Fir&s;t, That they may be In&s;truments in the hand of the Lord, to &s;tir up the grace of God in one another, by mutual conference, and communication of experiences: according to <HI>Mal.</HI> 3.16. <HI>Heb.</HI> 10.22, 23, 24, 25.</P>
<P>Secondly, That they may poure out their complaints to the God and Father of Spirits, for the further revelation of him&s;elf: accor|ding to <HI>Act.</HI> 1.4, 16, 17, 20. <HI>Ezek.</HI> 36.37. <HI>Jam.</HI> 5.6.</P>
<P>Thridly, That they may keep alive, and hold out in their mea&s;ure their witne&s;s and te&s;timony again&s;t the fal&s;e, and waite for the manife&s;tation of the true Lord Je&s;us, in his pure Ordinances of Mi|ni&s;tery and Wor&s;hip: according to <HI>Daniel</HI> 3.16, 17, 18. <HI>Dan.</HI> 6.10. <HI>P&s;al.</HI> 137, thorowout.</P>
<P>Expre&s;&s;ing their deep &s;ence of the want of what they enjoy not, behaving them&s;elves as per&s;ons having neither power or gift to go one before another, by way of Eminency or Authority; but as Sheep unfolded, and as Souldiers unrallied, waiting for a time of gathering, and re&s;titution to the knowledge of what as yet they under|&s;tand not: and the attainment of this, is the end of their &s;eeking; and to this they &s;tirre up and provoke one another; and herein they de&s;ire to be found, hoping firmely to the end: according to the fir&s;t of <HI>Pet.</HI> 1.13.</P>
<P>Owning nor acknowledging no other vi&s;ibe Teacher, but the Word and Works of God; on whom they wait for the Grace which is to be brought at the Revelation of Je&s;us Chri&s;t. By which it doth appear, that though they come not up to the full of what others &s;ay they enjoy, in re&s;pect of Mini&s;tery, and Wor&s;hip; yet they are not again&s;t them, or beyond, or above them: But comparing &s;uch as &s;ay they are, and have &s;uch, by the Scriptures of Truth declare them&s;elves to be <HI>de&s;irers</HI> (though not <HI>di&s;cerners</HI>) of them. Such who though they cannot &s;ay they &s;ing the Songs of <HI>Sion,</HI> yet do hang
<PB N="4" REF="7">
their Harpes upon the Willowes, and weep at the remembrance of her; to &s;ee how like a Plowed field &s;he lies, and how her Stones lie covered over with Rubbi&s;h.</P>
<P>Tho&s;e other Ordinances, wherein they do not &s;ee &s;ufficient ground for their Practice, may be comprehended in the&s;e two: The pre&s;ent Churches, and the pre&s;ent Mini&s;tery.</P>
<P>The&s;e two were the Grand, and Capital, and Comprehen&s;ive In&s;ti|tutions, and appointments of the Lord Je&s;us; unto which, He gave gifts, for the perfecting of the Saints: But whether the pre&s;ent Mini&s;tery, and the pre&s;ent Churches, be tho&s;e Ordinances of His, which He then in&s;tituted and appointed, and not rather &s;omething like them, or in&s;tead of them, is the matter in Que&s;tion.</P>
<P>The per&s;ons called by the name of <HI>Seekers,</HI> having compared them with the Word of God, and not finding them to conform there|unto, dare not joyne i&s;&s;ue in the pre&s;ent practice of them: which of it &s;elf is ground &s;ufficient: yet that it may appear that this ground and rea&s;on is not without Rea&s;on, &s;omewhat is to be added, by way of Demon&s;tration and Evidence.</P>
<P>There have not been wanting tho&s;e which have taken paines to prove the Affirmative, and to reprove the Negative &s;harply: It's ne|ce&s;&s;ary to con&s;ider of tho&s;e proofes &s;eriou&s;ly, and endeavour to ap|ply tho&s;e reproofes as profitably as may be; to &s;tate the matter in que&s;tion as fairely, and truely, as the pre&s;ent Capacity is abilitated, and can extend to.</P>
<P>Fir&s;t, I finde it's mo&s;t generally taken for granted, that Di&s;ciples, <HI>qu&acirc;</HI> Di&s;ciples, or, as others &s;ay, Di&s;ciples able to preach the Go&s;pel, have power, and are commanded to Baptize, <HI>Matth.</HI> 28.19. and upon this ground it's practi&s;ed; and this is all the Mini&s;tery that I can finde is acknowledged by &s;ome.</P>
<P>Secondly, that Believers may incorporate them&s;elves, and become a Church, is by others affirmed, from <HI>Joh.</HI> 1.12. That being made &s;ons by believing, they have <HI>power to become the &s;ons of God</HI> in &s;tate; which, I &s;uppo&s;e, is meant, that Believers have power to e&s;tate them|&s;elves into vi&s;ible Son&s;hip; or el&s;e I know not what to make of the di&s;tinction.</P>
<P>Others expre&s;s the &s;ame thing with other words, much different; proving a Church, and Mini&s;tery, upon other Principles and Grounds.</P>
<P>From all which, as I differ in the Matter, &s;o I &s;hall in the Method;
<PB N="5" REF="7">
de&s;iring to lay down &s;omething Po&s;itively, from the&s;e Scriptures; &s;ub|mitting to the judgement and cen&s;ure thereof: judging it mo&s;t pro|fitable, rather then to take notice of the &s;everal Objections I have &s;een, with the An&s;wers to them: Knowing well, that Truth is truely evidencing and convincing: and if this &s;hall approve it &s;elf &s;o, it will &s;ave labour of an&s;wering tho&s;e Objections; though &s;omething will be &s;poken to them al&s;o, in their place.</P>
<P>Our ble&s;&s;ed Lord and Saviour Je&s;us Chri&s;t, who him&s;elf was the Great Apo&s;tle of his Father, as well as <HI>the High-prie&s;t of our pro|fe&s;&s;ion,</HI> Heb. 3.1, whil&s;t he was to perform his Father's work,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Rom. 15.8</NOTE> who&s;e Me&s;&s;enger or Apo&s;tle he was, as being &s;et apart and &s;ent forth for that purpo&s;e, <HI>Joh.</HI> 6.38, 39, 40. <HI>Joh.</HI> 12.49. <HI>and &s;pake and acted ac|cording to the commandment he had received from the Father:</HI> In the performance of which Mini&s;tration or Service, he was plea&s;ed <HI>to &s;ingle out &s;ome certain per&s;ons from among&s;t others,</HI> whom he appointed and authorized to wait upon him in that Mini&s;tration or Ser|vice: Tho&s;e he termed <HI>Di&s;ciples,</HI> or Apo&s;tles. <HI>Matth.</HI> 10.1, <HI>When he had called to him his Di&s;ciples, he gave them power,</HI> &amp;c. <HI>Now the names of the twelve Apo&s;tles were the&s;e,</HI> &amp;c. <HI>The&s;e twelve Je&s;us &s;ent forth, and commanded them, &s;aying, Go not into the way of the Gentiles; but go rather to the lo&s;t &s;heep of the hou&s;e of I&s;rael: and as ye go, preach;</HI> <GAP DESC="foreign"> Ver&s;. 16. <HI>Behold, I &s;end you forth,</HI> &amp;c. <GAP DESC="foreign">. The&s;e twelve were &s;uch as he <HI>ordained from among&s;t others.</HI> Mar. 3.13, <HI>He went up into a mountain, and called to him whom he would, and they came unto him. And he ordained twelve, that they &s;hould be with him, and that he might &s;end them forth to preach.</HI> Luke 6.13, <HI>And when it was day, he called to him his Di&s;ciples, and of them he cho&s;e twelve, whom he al&s;o named A|po&s;tles.</HI> The&s;e Di&s;ciples were not meerly &s;uch as were followers of Chri&s;t, and had learnt of him, as Scholars; but &s;uch as him&s;elf, <HI>out of others,</HI> had Cho&s;en, Called, and Ordained, that they &s;hould be with him, and that he might &s;end them forth to preach; which ac|cordingly he did, and named them <HI>Apo&s;tles,</HI> as <HI>Matth.</HI> 10. and <HI>Luke</HI> 6. doth evidence. And what Commi&s;&s;ion he had, the &s;ame he gave to them. As he &s;aith of him&s;elf, <HI>I am not &s;ent, but to the lo&s;t &s;heep of the hou&s;e of I&s;rael:</HI> &s;o he commanded them not to go to the Gentiles, nor into the way of Samaria; but to the lo&s;t &s;heep of the hou&s;e of I&s;rael, <HI>Matth.</HI> 10.5.</P>
<P><PB N="6" REF="8">Be&s;ides the&s;e, he likewi&s;e &s;ent forth the Seventy, with like Power and Commi&s;&s;ion to preach the Go&s;pel, and to confirm it by Miracles, as Him&s;elf and the Apo&s;tles al&s;o did. But in a more e&s;pecial man|ner did the Twelve conver&s;e with him, upon all occa&s;ions, as his a&s;&s;i|dual attendants, or hou&s;hold-&s;ervants. During the time of his Ad|mini&s;tration upon earth, and when he was about to fini&s;h the work which the Father &s;ent him to do; &s;o far as concerned his per&s;onal pre&s;ence, he delegated that power the Father had committed to him, into the hands of them, tho&s;e very per&s;ons whom before he had ordain|ed to be with him, <HI>Matth.</HI> 28.18, 19, 20.</P>
<P>Now the time approaching wherein the Mo&s;aical Di&s;pen&s;ation was to expire, and the Chri&s;tian Church and its Wor&s;hips to be in|troduced in the &s;tead thereof, our Lord Je&s;us (having fulfilled all righteou&s;ne&s;s as touching the Law) gives commandment that the Go&s;pel be preached to <HI>all Nations, baptizing them in the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the holy Spirit.</HI></P>
<P>Touching the per&s;ons to whom Chri&s;t did delegate the power and authority of Preaching and Baptizing, much is written, as hath been hinted before.</P>
<P>Some &s;ay, To Believers, as Believers.</P>
<P>Some &s;ay, To Di&s;ciples, as Di&s;ciples.</P>
<P>Some &s;ay, To Preaching Di&s;ciples.</P>
<P>Some &s;ay, To Di&s;ciples able to preach the Go&s;pel, &s;o as to bring over &s;ouls to believe and be baptized.</P>
<P>Others &s;peak in other expre&s;&s;ions. It is too much to follow them in all.</P>
<P>There be four things I &s;hall de&s;ire may be enquired into; the di&s;|cu&s;&s;ion whereof, will take in mo&s;t of the Scripture which any way give light to the under&s;tanding of this Subject; and which may oc|ca&s;ionally an&s;wer many Objections which otherwi&s;e require particu|lar di&s;cu&s;&s;ion. I &s;hall propound them by way of Que&s;tion.</P>
<P><MILESTONE N="1"> Fir&s;t, Whether Chri&s;t did not commit the Preaching of the Word, and admini&s;tration of Bapti&s;me, to a Mini&s;tery.</P>
<P><MILESTONE N="2"> Secondly, What the nature and end of that Mini&s;tery was, which the Lord Je&s;us appointed to &s;ucceed him.</P>
<P><MILESTONE N="3"> Thirdly, Whether there be any pattern of any vi&s;ible Congrega|ted Church under the Go&s;pel, without or before a Mini&s;tery or Bapti&s;me.</P>
<P><PB N="7" REF="8">Fourthly, Whether the pre&s;ent Mini&s;tery, and pre&s;ent Churches,<MILESTONE N="4"> may be acknowledged the Mini&s;ters and Churches of Chri&s;t, accor|ding to the fir&s;t Pattern.</P>
<P>To the fir&s;t of the&s;e:</P>
<P>That Power and Authority, to Preach and Baptize, was commit|ted to the Apo&s;tels, or to the Eleven Di&s;ciples, as to a Mini&s;tery, might be demon&s;trated,</P>
<P>Fir&s;t, From the Equity of it; which appears in the Re&s;pect or Care which the mo&s;t High was plea&s;ed to manife&s;t in the fir&s;t order|ing or di&s;po&s;ing of the Admini&s;trations of the Jewi&s;h Church; which he committed to the hands of &s;ome cho&s;en and peculiar per&s;ons, di&s;tingui&s;hed from others of the people to whom the like power was not committed; as to <HI>Aaron</HI> and his Sons <HI>Exod.</HI> 28.1, 2. And by then &s;ignal of his di&s;plea&s;ure manife&s;ted again&s;t tho&s;e who would not ac|knowledge it <HI>Num.</HI> 1 6. but confederated in the Con&s;piracy of <HI>Korah.</HI></P>
<P>Now if the Lord took &s;uch care to &s;et in order, and keep right that hou&s;e whereof <HI>Mo&s;es</HI> had the management, <HI>(viz.)</HI> the Jewi&s;h Church, (and therefore called <HI>Mo&s;es</HI> his Hou&s;e) and to e&s;tabli&s;h its Mini&s;tery; is it not as equal that the Lord Je&s;us &s;hould take the like care for his Hou&s;e <HI>(viz.)</HI> the Chri&s;tian Church, and provide for its Mini&s;tery; and that as the former, &s;o the later, &s;hould con&s;i&s;t of per&s;ons peculiarly &s;et apart and appointed thereunto?</P>
<P>This &s;ort of rea&s;oning from the Old to the New, and from the Former to the Latter Di&s;pen&s;ations, the Apo&s;tle doth u&s;e, by way of Equity, many times, to prove the matter whereabouts he was rea&s;on|ing. <HI>Doth God take care for Oxen?</HI> If &s;o, then it is as equal, at lea&s;t, that he &s;hould take care for &s;uch as labour, and tread out the Corn under the Go&s;pel. But if this have not weight enough to prove the matter in que&s;tion; Secondly, it may be evidenced from Scriptures that are direct, as to this purpo&s;e.</P>
<P>That it was committed to certaine numbers of per&s;ons, who, from among many others, were appointed and &s;et apart for this work, appeares from the Scriptures afore mentioned, <HI>Mark.</HI> 13. He called to him <HI>whom he would,</HI> and they came unto him, <HI>and he ordained twelve,</HI> that they might be with him, and that he might &s;end them forth to preach: of them which came unto him, he ordain|ed twelve And &s;omewhat more plain doth <HI>Luke</HI> relate this action, <HI>Luk.</HI> 6.13, <HI>He called to him his Di&s;ciples, and of them he
<PB N="8" REF="9">
cho&s;e twelve; whom al&s;o he named Apo&s;tles,</HI> or Me&s;&s;engers, or men &s;ent out. Now though this &s;eeme to relate to them onely as to Preaching, yet it is to be con&s;idered, that to the&s;e very &s;ame indi|vidual per&s;ons (thus cho&s;en, and called, and &s;et apart from others) was the Commi&s;&s;ion given to Preach and Baptize, <HI>Matth.</HI> 28.16, 18, 19. <HI>The eleven Di&s;ciples went away into</HI> Galilee, <HI>and Je&s;us came and &s;pake unto them, &s;aying,</HI> &amp;c. <HI>Act.</HI> 10.41, 42, <HI>Not to all the people, but unto Witne&s;&s;es cho&s;en before of God, even to us: and he commanded us to Preach unto the people,</HI> &amp;c. Now that they were ordained and appointed to &s;erve as a Mini&s;tery, it appears from the fir&s;t Chapter of the <HI>Acts,</HI> the &s;econd Ver&s;e, com|pared with ver&s;. 17 and 25. <HI>&V;ntil the day in which he was taken up, after that he through the Spirit had given commandment to the Apo&s;tles whom he had cho&s;en.</HI> And in ver&s;. 17, &s;peaking of <HI>Judas,</HI> (&s;aith) <HI>He was numbred with us, and had obtained part of this Mini&s;tery.</HI> And in ver&s;. 25, it is &s;aid of <HI>Matthias, That he may take part of this Mini&s;tery and Apostle&s;hip, from which Judas by tran&s;gre&s;&s;ion fell away. And the lot fell upon Matthias, and he was numbred with the eleven Apo&s;tles,</HI> or Me&s;&s;engers, or men who were &s;ent out to preach, and baptize the Nations.</P>
<P>To the &s;econd:</P>
<P>What the nature of that Mini&s;tery was which the Lord Je&s;us ap|pointed to &s;ucceed him in this &s;ervice.</P>
<P>Be&s;ides what hath been &s;poken already, the Scripture doth de|clare what plentiful provi&s;ion the Lord of the Harve&s;t, made in point of a Mini&s;tery. In <HI>Ephe&s;.</HI> 4.11, 12, 13, you have the Go&s;pel-Mini&s;tery expre&s;&s;ed, both in their Names and Numbers, their Nature and End, in reference to their U&s;e and Duration in the &s;ame Order and Degree which the God of Order hath placed them in.</P>
<P>For their Name and Number, the reading of the eleventh Ver&s;e de|clares both.</P>
<P>For their nature and u&s;e, it's laid down either more generally, in this term, <HI>for the work of the Mini&s;tery;</HI> or more particularly, in the&s;e two Termes, <HI>(Viz.)</HI>
<LIST>
<ITEM><HI>For the perfecting of the Saints.</HI></ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>For the edifying the body of Chri&s;t.</HI></ITEM>
</LIST></P>
<P>The duration of this Mini&s;tery, was to be till we all came to the Unity of the Faith; even all this whole Mini&s;tery, &s;o numbered, and
<PB N="9" REF="9">
named as before; who were all, as well as any, the fruit of Chri&s;t's A&s;cen&s;ion.</P>
<P>The Gifts given to men for the work of the Mini&s;tery, tho&s;e were to abide (as to In&s;titution) one as well as another, one as long as another, the one without the other not being perfect; as in another ca&s;e it's &s;aid, <HI>Heb.</HI> 11.40. As the&s;e were given to conti|nue till we all came to the Unity of the Faith, <HI>Ephe&s;.</HI> 4.13, &s;o they were &s;et in the Churches by Ordinance and e&s;tabli&s;hment, 1 <HI>Cor.</HI> 12.28, as that which was to continue.</P>
<P>But to return to the nature and u&s;e of this Mini&s;tery; <HI>(Viz.)</HI>
<LIST>
<ITEM><HI>To perfect the Saints.</HI></ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>To edifie the body of Chri&s;t.</HI></ITEM>
</LIST></P>
<P>The Word which is here u&s;ed, <HI>To perfect the Saints;</HI> will be read properly, <HI>to perfect</HI> the number <HI>of the Saints,</HI> as well as their graces; <GAP DESC="foreign">, <HI>Ad coagmentationem Sanctorum,</HI> ver&s;. 12.&mdash;until there be not one Saint or Elect more to be added to the number. It comes of <GAP DESC="foreign"> <HI>and <GAP DESC="foreign">, quod propri&egrave; de numero dici|tur;</HI> Or from the the Verbe <GAP DESC="foreign">, <HI>perfectum reddo, vel omnibus numeris ab&s;olutum reddere.</HI> The Tran&s;lators have rendered it &s;everally in &s;everal places, <HI>(Viz.)</HI> to prepare, <HI>Heb.</HI> 10.5, <HI>A body ha&s;t thou prepared me.</HI> Rom. 9.22, <HI>Adapta ad interitum: Fitted to de&s;truction.</HI> To re&s;tore or put in joint: <HI>Luxata membra in locum re&s;tituere;</HI> And &s;o it is u&s;ed in <HI>Gal.</HI> 6.1, <HI>Ye which are &s;pi|titual, re&s;tore &s;uch a one with the &s;pirit of meekne&s;s.</HI> 1 Cor. 1.10, <HI>Be ye perfectly knit together in the &s;ame minde. Sitis com|pacti, vel coadunati.</HI> If &s;ome one member of a true Church &s;hould be overtaken with a fault, and in that &s;ence be out of joint, the re&s;t which are &s;piritual &s;hould re&s;tore, <HI>i. e.</HI> put &s;uch a bone in joint againe. But if many members &s;hould do the like, and the whole prove di&s;lo|cated and disjointed, Who &s;hall re&s;tore them to their former order againe, but the hand of that Mini&s;tery by which they were adapted, and fitted, and fir&s;t knit together? For, they were not onely given for this end, that they might <HI>perfect the</HI> number of the <HI>Saints,</HI> by fitting and preparing them, and puting them in joynt; and this act rendered as tran&s;ient, to pa&s;s away in the very acting, or once doing: but they are &s;aid to be <HI>&s;et</HI> in the Church, <HI>i. e. &s;tatuit, aut determi|navit,</HI> the word is of <GAP DESC="foreign">, 1 <HI>Pet.</HI> 2.6, <HI>Statuo in Sione lapidem; Behold I lay,</HI> i. e. <HI>&s;et,</HI> or <HI>appoint</HI> by an irrevocable decree, <HI>in</HI> Sion <HI>a
<PB N="10" REF="10">
chiefe corner-&s;tone.</HI> Act. 13.47, <HI>Con&s;tituite,</HI> &amp;c. <HI>I have &s;et</HI> or appointed <HI>thee to be a light to the Gentiles.</HI> Act. 1.7, <HI>It is not for you to know the times or the &s;ea&s;ons which the Father hath put in his own power.</HI> Now the&s;e are not tran&s;ient, but abi|ding things: &s;o the Mini&s;tery, which is for <HI>the perfecting of the Saints,</HI> in the &s;ence above expre&s;&s;ed, was in like nature not onely given for that end, but fixed and e&s;tabli&s;hed <HI>by appointment</HI> for the &s;ame purpo&s;e.</P>
<P>The other branch of this Mini&s;tery was, <HI>To edifie the body of Chri&s;t, and to build upon the foundation of the Apo&s;tles and Prophets, Je&s;us Chri&s;t him&s;elf being the chiefe corner-&s;tone.</HI></P>
<P>Now to apply what hath been &s;poken to the Mini&s;tery which Chri&s;t gave for this work, as it con&s;i&s;ts of two branches, <HI>(Viz.)</HI>
<LIST>
<ITEM><HI>Perfecting.</HI></ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Edifying.</HI></ITEM>
</LIST></P>
<P>The&s;e workes are appropriate to two parts of the Mini&s;tery: The fir&s;t are called Apo&s;tles, Prophets, Evangeli&s;ts; and precede the Church,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Matth. 28.19. Mat 16.15 Ephe&s;. 2.20, 21, 22.</NOTE> or are before it, having the whole world for their Circuit, dealing with them as with the World, with the Nations as with the Nations; Di&s;cipling them, preparing and fitting them; felling, hew|ing, and &s;quaring tho&s;e &s;tones and that timber, that it might be made meet for the building; as al&s;o laying the foundation, even them&s;elves, next and in order to the Lord Je&s;us, acknowledging him to be <HI>the chiefe corner-&s;tone</HI> of the building, and the building it &s;elf to be Gods, 1 <HI>Cor.</HI> 3.9, 10, but them&s;elves labourers therein, and wi&s;e Ma&s;ter-builders thereon.</P>
<P>The &s;econd are &s;uch as being part of the number of tho&s;e which have been &s;o gathered out of the World, and placed into the build|ing by the former Ma&s;ter-builders, and by them al&s;o appointed to edifie the body, <HI>i. e.</HI> to carry on the building, keeping to the foundation; furni&s;hing them with Rule, and Square, and Com|pa&s;s, and Line, and Plummet, and whatever was nece&s;&s;ary to com|pleat this work, or make the Man of God perfect. All which are comprehended in the holy Scriptures, and more collectively in the Epi&s;tles of <HI>Paul</HI> to <HI>Timothy</HI> and <HI>Titus.</HI></P>
<P>And this Mini&s;tery are called Pa&s;tors and Teachers who are to feed the Church, as the former were to breed it; the&s;e to carry on the building, as the other to lay the foundation; the&s;e to be re&s;ident
<PB N="11" REF="10">
where they were cho&s;en, as tho&s;e to pa&s;s on, and prepare, and fit more materials for the perfecting of the great building, the whole Hou&s;e of God.</P>
<P>Now fora&s;much as the number of the Saints are to be per|fected, and then to be edified, and this to be done by a Mini|&s;tery, con&s;i&s;ting of Apo&s;tles, Prophets, Evangeli&s;ts, Pa&s;tors and Teachers; and fora&s;much as this is made the work of the Mini|&s;tery &s;o named and numbered as before, to be accompli&s;ht not by any one without the other of them; not by the Mini&s;tery of the Apo&s;tles alone, or Prophets onely, or Evangeli&s;ts onely; much le&s;&s;e by the Mini&s;tery of Pa&s;tors and Teachers onely: but by the&s;e to|gether, as making up the Mini&s;tery which Chri&s;t a&s;cending on high gave, and by Ordinance or appointment &s;et and con&s;tituted in the Church. <HI>And</HI> &s;eeing the number of the Saints is not perfected, but rather, as that Scripture &s;aith, <HI>The whole world lieth in wicked|ne&s;s,</HI> or in that wicked one, and that there are &s;till Nations, and Kind|reds, and Tongues, and People to whom the Go&s;pel may be preach|ed, and among&s;t whom Di&s;ciples may be made, and Churches formed and built upon the true foundation: Hence I conclude with my &s;elf (and refer it to the judgment of him that reads it) in an&s;wer to the Que&s;tion, That the Mini&s;tery which the Lord Je&s;us appointed to &s;ucceed him, was for nature and end a breeding and feeding Mini&s;tery: The one, to prepare the Saints, and to gather them into a Church, as will be endeavoured to be proved in its proper place; the other, to build on upon the fir&s;t foundation, being fir&s;t gathered and &s;et thereon.</P>
<P>And that the&s;e are both alike for their end and duration or continu|ance, appeares,</P>
<P>Fir&s;t, Becau&s;e they together make up but one Mini&s;tery.</P>
<P>Secondly, Becau&s;e they all being the fruits of one Purcha&s;e, the &s;ame nece&s;&s;ity remains for the one as for the other: &s;o long as any Saints are to be gathered, as well as any to be edified, the&s;e are to continue; and that is, <HI>till we all come to the unity of the Faith,</HI> &amp;c. the Elect of God &s;tanding in as much need of the one, in&s;trumentally to enlighten and convert them, as of the other, to edifie and &s;trengthen them, being converted. For as God, when he gave one, gave the other al&s;o; &s;o the Saints may &s;ee a nece&s;&s;ity for the continuation of the one, as well as of the other: the former, namely, Apo&s;tles, Prophets,
<PB N="12" REF="11">
Evangeli&s;ts, having been &s;ome &s;pace of time without the later, as ap|pears by <HI>Acts</HI> 14.23. but the later, I conceive, have never been in truth without the former, (at lea&s;t, I know not where, or when, and &s;hould be willing to be informed) fora&s;much as the Foundation mu&s;t precede the building up of the Super&s;tructure; and the Pa&s;toral feeding the Lambs of the Lord Je&s;us, mu&s;t needs pre&s;uppo&s;e a Mini|&s;terial Breeding to have preceded, in tho&s;e pure and orderly In&s;titu|tions.</P>
<P>The third and fourth Que&s;tions I &s;hall an&s;wer together.</P>
<P><NOTE PLACE="marg">Que&s;t.</NOTE>Whether there be any Pattern of any Vi&s;ible congregated Church under the Go&s;pel, without or before a Mini&s;tery or Bapti&s;m: Or, Whether the pre&s;ent Mini&s;tery, or pre&s;ent Churches, may be acknow|ledged the Mini&s;tery and Churches of Chri&s;t, according to the fir&s;t Pattern.</P>
<P>To the fir&s;t part of the Que&s;tion, this will be an&s;wered:</P>
<P><NOTE PLACE="marg">An&s;w.</NOTE>That it doth not appear in Scripture, that any of the fir&s;t Churches were gathered into their Vi&s;ible Order, without a Mini&s;tery preceding or before Bapti&s;m. If it be otherwi&s;e, it's hoped it will be &s;hewed where and when. If it be not to be &s;hewed, How deeply are they concerned, who &s;et up &s;uch Churches, whereof there is no Pattern in the Word of God!</P>
<P>I know it is ordinarily &s;aid, and accordingly practi&s;ed, that a com|pany of Believers may, by mutual con&s;ent or agreement, become a Church, and appoint one to baptize the re&s;t; and accordingly chu&s;e their own Officers, and proceed to other Admini&s;trations; and this in the Name of Chri&s;t. And &s;uch a Company of Believers are ac|counted, by them&s;elves and &s;ome others, a true Vi&s;ible Church.</P>
<P>Others &s;ay the &s;ame thing, in other words.</P>
<P>Now I would argue the ca&s;e a little touching Believers con&s;enting to become a Church, &s;o far as may help to clear the Que&s;tion in hand.</P>
<P>When a per&s;on de&s;ires to joyn him&s;elf to &s;ome one of the pre&s;ent Churches, though the per&s;on be never &s;o de&s;irous in him&s;elf to be added, yet he can but propound his de&s;ire of joyning and being ad|mitted. This Church con&s;iders and judges of this per&s;on's Faith, and fitne&s;s for Fellow&s;hip, and that in the Name of the Lord; and mu&s;t declare the Lord's con&s;ent, in the Church's, to the receiving &s;uch a Per&s;on into &s;uch a Fellow&s;hip, before he can be admitted.</P>
<P><PB N="13" REF="11">The per&s;on's willingne&s;s in him&s;elf to be joyned, makes him not a Member of &s;uch a Fellow&s;hip; he cannot give his own con&s;ent, and the Church's too: but as he is willing to manife&s;t his readine&s;s to be admitted; &s;o the Church judging of his profe&s;&s;ion of Faith, and fitne&s;s, manife&s;ts her con&s;ent, by receiving him in the Name of the Lord Je&s;us, either by Bapti&s;m, or without, according as they have faith in that Particular; I mean that Fellow&s;hip or Society which &s;o admits him.</P>
<P>Now if this be the Method or Ordinary way of proceeding in a Church after it is gathered, Is not the gathering of that Church, in its fir&s;t beginning, to be &s;uppo&s;ed equivalent hereunto; fora&s;much as the &s;ame relation wherein one &s;ingle believer doth &s;tand with refe|rence to a true Church rightly con&s;tituted, &s;o do a Company of Be|lievers &s;tand in relation to Chri&s;t, in their fir&s;t congregating into the Vi&s;ible Order of a Church-e&s;tate:</P>
<P>Which may be thus demon&s;trated:</P>
<P>Chri&s;t is the <HI>Bridegroom;</HI></P>
<P>The Church is the <HI>Bride, the Lamb's wife.</HI></P>
<P>A company of Believers are &s;uppo&s;ed to be made willing, by the power of Light and Love, to be married to Chri&s;t, and to put on that Conjugal-Yoke of vi&s;ible Church&s;hip, wherein they may manife&s;t their obedience to him, &s;ubjecting them&s;elves to &s;uch Ordinances and Appointments of his, as are commanded touching that parti|cular.</P>
<P>But to whom &s;hall they make manife&s;t this their willingne&s;s? Who &s;hall &s;upply the room of the Bridegroom? Or who is the Bride|groom's friend, that can Mini&s;terially declare Chri&s;t's acceptance of the&s;e Believers to become his Church, his Wife, and he to become their Bridegroom, their Husband, their Lord, their Law-giver; giving them power to &s;it upon Thrones for him, to open and &s;hut a door for him, to binde and to loo&s;e in his Name and Power?</P>
<P>Believers, I conceive, can no more in this ca&s;e give their own con|&s;ents and Chri&s;t's too, then a particular believer that would be joyned to a Vi&s;ible Church, can give his own con&s;ent and the Churches too.</P>
<P>Therefore, as the true Church doth Mini&s;terially contain in her &s;elf the &s;tate of power to binde and loo&s;e, to open and &s;hut, in Chri&s;t's Name, to &s;ignifie his con&s;ent, and in his Name to receive or not re|ceive the per&s;on who pretends to, or a&s;&s;ays to be joyned to her: &s;o is
<PB N="14" REF="12">
it &s;eriou&s;ly to be con&s;idered, who did at fir&s;t Mini&s;terially &s;upply the room of the Bridegroom, who did at fir&s;t judge of the&s;e Believers fitne&s;s, or who did in Chri&s;t's Name accept of them, as they do in Chri&s;t's Name accept of others that de&s;ire to joyn to them.</P>
<P>That the true Vi&s;ible Church is the Spou&s;e, the Bride, the Wife of the Lord Je&s;us, the&s;e Scriptures, among others, witne&s;s: <HI>Cant.</HI> 4.8. <HI>Eph.</HI> 5.32. <HI>Rev.</HI> 21.9.</P>
<P>That the con&s;ent between Chri&s;t and his Church, at fir&s;t, was acted Mini&s;terially, by &s;uch as him&s;elf had de&s;igned for that purpo&s;e, <HI>viz.</HI> to accept of the believers con&s;ent on their part, and to e&s;pou&s;e them to Chri&s;t; and that this was effected by that Mini&s;tery which was wont to precede and go before the Church and its feeding Mini&s;tery, appears from the con&s;ideration of the&s;e Scriptures: 1 <HI>Cor.</HI> 4.15. <HI>For in Chri&s;t Je&s;us have I begotten you through the Go&s;pel.</HI> 2 Cor. 5.29. <HI>We pray you in Chri&s;t's &s;tead, be ye reconciled to God.</HI></P>
<P>And as this Mini&s;tery was thus in&s;trumental towards their per|&s;onal conver&s;ion, &s;o was it al&s;o touching their Vi&s;ible Admi&s;&s;ion in|to their E&s;pou&s;ed, <HI>i. e.</HI> Church-e&s;tate: For not onely did they in Chri&s;t's &s;tead be&s;eech them to be reconciled to God, but al&s;o did re|ceive them, being &s;o reconciled. 2 <HI>Cor.</HI> 11.2, the Apo&s;tle <HI>Paul</HI> te|&s;tifieth touching the Church of <HI>Corinth,</HI> that he did <HI>e&s;pou&s;e</HI> that Church <HI>to one husband, that he might pre&s;ent it a cha&s;te Virgin to Chri&s;t.</HI> And of the Churches of <HI>Macedonia</HI> it is &s;aid, in 2 <HI>Cor.</HI> 8.5. that they <HI>gave their own &s;elves fir&s;t unto the Lord and unto us by the will of God.</HI></P>
<P>All that this Di&s;cour&s;e intends, is but to put per&s;ons (who&s;e &s;pirits can bear it) upon the con&s;ideration how they became a Church at fir&s;t, And whether that the practice of the pre&s;ent Churches doth not ju&s;tly occa&s;ion that enquiry; fora&s;much as the rea&s;on is the &s;ame, that the fir&s;t Beginners of a Church have as much nece&s;&s;ity of &s;ome per|&s;on or per&s;ons Mini&s;terially deputed by Chri&s;t to try and to accept of them, as well as for them afterwards to try, and judge, and accept of others in the Name and Authority of Chri&s;t, who de&s;ire to be added to them.</P>
<P>The con&s;ideration of which, may &s;erve for An&s;wer to that part of the Que&s;tion, which concerns the pre&s;ent Churches:</P>
<P>That fora&s;much as it is not demon&s;trable that the pre&s;ent Churches
<PB N="15" REF="12">
have been &s;o con&s;tituted by per&s;ons Mini&s;terially deputed on Chri&s;t's part, to whom they might give up them&s;elves Vi&s;ibly (as well as unto the Lord) and by whom they might Vi&s;ibly and Mini&s;terially have the Lord's con&s;ent manife&s;ted to them, (as they them&s;elves now mani|fe&s;t it to tho&s;e which would be added to them;) but that they reckon it &s;ufficient to be made free and willing in them&s;elves, and without any Vi&s;ible or Mini&s;terial Authority to try and judge one another, and to accept of one another in Chri&s;t's Name and &s;tead, and &s;o become a Church, contrary to their own after-practice towards others; Seems to be altogether without pre&s;ident from the Word of God, and con|&s;equently, are not to be acknowledged for the true Vi&s;ible con&s;tituted Churches of Chri&s;t according to the Primitive Pattern.</P>
<P>To the &s;econd branch of the Que&s;tion touching the pre&s;ent Mini|&s;tery,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Que&s;t.</NOTE> Whether they are to be acknowledged the Mini&s;tery of Chri&s;t according to the fir&s;t Pattern;</P>
<P>Be&s;ides what hath been &s;poken already, it may be further added,<NOTE PLACE="marg">An&s;w.</NOTE></P>
<P>That a Mini&s;tery of Je&s;us Chri&s;t may be con&s;idered Immediately or Mediately &s;uch; either as coming of that Apo&s;tolical Race who had their call immediately from Chri&s;t, as the fir&s;t Me&s;&s;engers had, <HI>Matth.</HI> 10.1, 2. <HI>Matth.</HI> 28.16, 18, 19, <HI>&amp;c. Gal.</HI> 1.1, 12, <HI>Paul an Apo&s;tle,</HI> (or a Me&s;&s;enger, or a man &s;ent out,) <HI>not of men neither by man, but by Je&s;us Chri&s;t, and God the Father.</HI></P>
<P>And the&s;e in the Scriptures are properly called Mini&s;ters of Je&s;us Chri&s;t: 1 <HI>Cor.</HI> 4.1, <HI>Let a man &s;o account of us, as of the Mini|&s;ters of Chri&s;t, and Stewards of the My&s;teries of God.</HI></P>
<P>Now for a man to be a Mini&s;ter of Chri&s;t in this &s;ence, requires to have an immediate call and &s;ending forth, with gifts &s;utable to &s;uch a Mini&s;tery: <HI>Mark.</HI> 16.15, 20, <HI>Go ye forth into all the world, and preach the Go&s;pel to every Creature. And they went forth and preached everywhere, the Lord working with them, and confir|ming the word with &s;ignes following.</HI> Act. 1.4 5, 8, <HI>And being a&s;&s;embled with them,</HI> (i.e. <HI>the Apo&s;tles whom he had cho&s;en,</HI> Ver&s;. 2.) <HI>commanded them that they &s;hould not depart from</HI> Hieru&s;a|lem, <HI>but wait for the promi&s;e of the Father,</HI> Ver&s;. 4. For, <HI>ye &s;hall be Baptized with the holy Spirit not many dayes hence.</HI> Ver&s;. 5, <HI>Ye &s;hall receive power after that the holy Spirit is come upon you, and ye &s;hall be Witne&s;&s;es unto me,</HI> &amp;c. Ver&s;. 8. Which was accor|dingly performed on God's part; for they did receive the promi&s;e of
<PB N="16" REF="13">
the Father, <HI>Act.</HI> 2.1, 2, 3, and did perform their part, in the &s;ub&s;e|quent part of the Chapter and Hi&s;tory of the <HI>Acts.</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Act. 14.23 Act. 6.3, 5, 6, 8, 10. Tit. 1.5.</NOTE></P>
<P>Secondly, There is a Mini&s;tery of Chri&s;t which is not &s;o immediate, but more mediate; and they were &s;uch, as whom the Apo&s;tles, in the behalf, and by the &s;uffrage or the election of the Churches, did or|dain; and to whom they did delegate the power and authority of Je&s;us Chri&s;t, for the work of the Mini&s;tery in the Churches: And in his Name and power, &s;uch gifts were be&s;towed as might fit tho&s;e per&s;ons for the work whereunto they were cho&s;en and ordained, <HI>Act.</HI> 6.6. 2 <HI>Tim.</HI> 1.6.</P>
<P>The&s;e, though it be not to be denied but they are to be accounted the Mini&s;ters of Chri&s;t, becau&s;e they are indeed his by appointment and in&s;titution; yet they are &s;uch more mediately, and the Churches more immediately; who&s;e al&s;o they are, and out of whom, and for who&s;e &s;ake, they were immediately cho&s;en and appointed, while the other Mini&s;tery were to travel abroad, and to fulfill their Mini&s;tery towards the World; for which work they were Commi&s;&s;ioned, <HI>Mar.</HI> 16.15. <HI>Go ye into all the World, and preach the Go&s;pel to every creature.</HI></P>
<P>This di&s;tinction is grounded upon the&s;e Scriptures: 1 <HI>Cor.</HI> 4.1. <HI>Let a man &s;o account of us, as of the Mini&s;ters of Chri&s;t, and Stewards of the My&s;teries of God.</HI> 2 Cor. 8.23, <HI>If any enquire of</HI> the&s;e, <HI>they are the Apo&s;tles of the Churches,</HI> or, as we have it tran&s;lated, <HI>they are the Me&s;&s;engers of the Churches, and the Glory of Chri&s;t.</HI> Philip. 2.25, <HI>I &s;uppo&s;e it nece&s;&s;ary to &s;end to you</HI> Epaphroditus <HI>my brother, but your Apo&s;tle.</HI></P>
<P>If a per&s;on do entitle him&s;elf a Mini&s;ter of Chri&s;t, he mu&s;t pro|fe&s;s him&s;elf to be &s;o, under one of the&s;e two con&s;iderations.</P>
<P>If he be one of the fir&s;t &s;ort, his Call mu&s;t be immediate, (from the Bridegroom the Lord Je&s;us) and his gifts and qualifications mu&s;t be &s;utable to his work; a powerful enabling to go forth to the World.</P>
<P>If he be one of the later &s;ort, his Call mu&s;t be from the Bridegroom's friends, the Apo&s;tles, or an Apo&s;tolical Mini&s;tery, <HI>Act.</HI> 14.23. compared with <HI>ver&s;.</HI> 14 of the &s;ame Chapter: <HI>When</HI> the Apo&s;tles Barnabas <HI>and</HI> Paul&mdash;<HI>Ver&s;.</HI> 23, <HI>when they,</HI> i. e. the Apo&s;tles, <HI>had or|dained them Elders in every Church.</HI> Tit. 1.5, <HI>For this cau&s;e I left thee in</HI> Cret, <HI>that thou &s;hould&s;t &s;et in order the things that are wanting, and ordaine Elders in every City, as I had appoin|ted
<PB N="17" REF="13">
thee.</HI> Or el&s;e the call of this later &s;ort mu&s;t be from the Bride her &s;elf, in who&s;e cu&s;tody was left the power of all Admini&s;trations: 1 <HI>Cor.</HI> 11.2. <HI>I prai&s;e you, brethren, that you keep the Ordinances as I delivered them to you.</HI></P>
<P>And &s;utable to this Call (whether it be by the Bridegroom's friends or by the Bride her &s;elf) mu&s;t be the gifts be&s;towed.</P>
<P>If <HI>Paul</HI> do lay hands on <HI>Timothy,</HI> and &s;eparate him to the work of the Mini&s;tery, the Lord confers upon him, thereby, &s;ome gift which he had not before, and &s;uch a gift to which he is to give attendance. <HI>Wherefore I put thee in remembrance that thou &s;tir up the gift of God which is in thee, by the putting on of my hands,</HI> 2 Tim. 1.6.</P>
<P>If the Church by her Presbytery (for &s;o &s;ome will have that place to be under&s;tood) do lay hands on <HI>Timothy,</HI> it is not an empty and bare Ceremony, but &s;uch an action as wherein God appears; con|ferring by way of gift &s;omewhat which was not before: and this likewi&s;e is to be attended to. <HI>Neglect not the gift that is in thee, which was given thee by Prophecie, with the laying on of the hands of the Presbytery.</HI></P>
<P>Now the Mini&s;tery of the&s;e times being compared and con&s;idered, will appear neither called nor qualified according to the Primitive Patterns.</P>
<P>Friends of the Bridegroom in the fir&s;t &s;ence, they are not, as being im|mediately &s;ent out from him with an Apo&s;tolical Mi&s;&s;ion or Emba&s;&s;age, furni&s;hed to wooe and win the Nations, to repre&s;ent the per&s;on of the Bridegroom, and to be as in his &s;tead, be&s;eeching men to be friends with God, intreating them to be reconciled to him. Their want of the heavenly Furniture of power from on high for this work of the Mini|&s;tery, doth evidence the truth hereof.</P>
<P>Secondly, Nor are they called and &s;ent out by the friends of the Bridegroom; either by Apo&s;tles, Evangeli&s;ts, or Prophets, who had their Call and Mi&s;&s;ion from Chri&s;t: Fora&s;much as they acknowledge no &s;uch Mini&s;tery now extant, but &s;ay it was temporary, and extraor|dinary; though it be not demon&s;trable from Scripture, when the En|tail was cut off, or &s;uch a Mini&s;tery to cea&s;e, according to de&s;ignation or appointment.</P>
<P>Thirdly, Nor is it &s;o evident as it is imagined, that they have a true Vi&s;ible Call from the Bride her &s;elf, a true Vi&s;ible Con&s;tituted Church of Chri&s;t, who hath been her &s;elf fir&s;t e&s;pou&s;ed to him vi&s;ibly and Mi|ni&s;terially,
<PB N="18" REF="14">
by &s;ome per&s;on or per&s;ons hereunto deputed and de&s;igned, as the Church of <HI>Corinth</HI> was, 2 <HI>Cor.</HI> 11.2. according to the fir&s;t e&s;tabli&s;hed vi&s;ible Order (by Faith and Bapti&s;m.)</P>
<P>But from a Company of well-minded people, who, reading the Scriptures, and ob&s;erving what is &s;poken touching the Mini&s;tery its u&s;efulne&s;s and nece&s;&s;ity, judge it al&s;o nece&s;&s;ary, lawful, and expe|dient to chu&s;e out from among them&s;elves, or others, &s;ome &s;uch per|&s;on as they be&s;t approve of, to go before them, and admini&s;ter to them; and this is accounted a true Call to the Mini&s;tery. Whereas it would be fir&s;t enquired, Where the Scripture doth in any place give power to a people, how holy, how godly &s;oever, to give a true vi&s;ible Call to the Mini&s;tery; them&s;elves not fir&s;t being vi&s;ibly and Mini&s;te|rially a con&s;tituted Church of Chri&s;t, and &s;o his Spou&s;e, his Wife, ac|cording to the Primitive Pattern. Who&s;e power, how far it extends, after &s;he is e&s;pou&s;ed, I di&s;pute not; but &s;eriou&s;ly enquire after the actions of power which are performed by any people, before they are vi&s;ibly e&s;pou&s;ed, and con&s;equently impowered thereunto.</P>
<P>Hence I conceive it is, that this being practi&s;ed, (the one giving, the other accepting the Call of the Mini&s;tery, without que&s;tioning the Power of either) it may without offence be &s;aid, that a Powerle&s;s People give Call to a Giftle&s;s Mini&s;tery, (for, as they have not power, &s;o they confer not any;) who, for lack of Gifts, &s;tudy to acquire Arts; wherein al&s;o having attained, they therein exerci&s;e them&s;elves, (the wi&s;dom of God &s;uffering it to be &s;o) that they &s;hould &s;tyle them|&s;elves <HI>Ma&s;ters of Arts.</HI> But <HI>in the beginning it was not &s;o.</HI> For when the <HI>gifts of God</HI> could not be bought nor &s;old, and con&s;equent|ly not appropriated to the gain or profit of the Po&s;&s;e&s;&s;or; then mu&s;t Humane Arts be invented, (which darken the Sun and the Air) and the gifts of God exploded, and called <HI>extraordinary,</HI> becau&s;e they too much re&s;emble the heavenly Manna of old, a food which pro|ved too dry for the growing intere&s;t of that time: which the mo&s;t High beholding, withheld, and &s;uffered not that ble&s;&s;ed and heavenly dew to fall; But contrariwi&s;e, &s;uffered them to grow drunk with Wine, to erre in Vi&s;ion, to &s;tumble in Judgement, to &s;urfeit of (their Quails) their Humane Arts of their own inventing, under which they have laboured many hundred yeers, fulfilling that Scripture, <HI>I&s;ai.</HI> 28.7, 8. and &s;o it may be, until the time, the full time, is come, that that great Angel &s;hall yet once again enlighten the earth, <HI>Rev.</HI>
<PB N="19" REF="14">
18.1. and the <HI>ancient Go&s;pel</HI> be preacht again to <HI>kindreds, nati|ons, tongues, and people,</HI> Rev. 14.6. Rev. 10. <HI>ult.</HI> Then may we expect and hope, that this Artificial Mini&s;tery, and its Artificial Teaching, the mo&s;t High will <HI>con&s;ume with the breath of his mouth, and with the brightne&s;s of his coming.</HI></P>
<P><HI>The zeal of the Lord</HI> can <HI>perform this:</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">I&s;a. 37.32. I&s;a. 28.16. <HI>Object.</HI></NOTE> onely <HI>he that believeth maketh not ha&s;te.</HI></P>
<P><HI>Objection</HI> 1. Chri&s;t gave his Commi&s;&s;ion to his Di&s;ciples, in the name of Di&s;ciples; intimating, that they, as &s;uch, might both preach and baptize, <HI>Matth.</HI> 28.18.</P>
<P N="2">2. The Di&s;pciles of Chri&s;t did baptize before they were called and &s;ent out, even while they were Di&s;ciples, <HI>Joh.</HI> 3.22, 24. even be|fore <HI>John</HI> was ca&s;t into pri&s;on; and many of the Di&s;ciples were not &s;o much as called then, <HI>Matth.</HI> 4.12, 18, 21. Therefore, Di&s;ciples, as Di&s;ciples may baptize.</P>
<P><HI>An&s;wer.</HI> What hath been already alleadged in this ca&s;e,<NOTE PLACE="marg">An&s;w.</NOTE> might &s;uffice for an&s;wer to the fir&s;t branch of this Objection; e&s;pecially, if there be added this Con&s;ideration:</P>
<P>That the nature of their Employment, at the time when Chri&s;t was to leave the world and them, was far different from what it had been all the while he had been with them: For, with re&s;pect to the Lord Je&s;us, who&s;e they were, and whom they &s;erved, &s;o long as he was with them in the fle&s;h, they were his Di&s;ciples and Scholars: but now he was to go away from them, and to delegate his power to them, which the Father had given unto him after his Re&s;urrection: <HI>Matth.</HI> 28.18, 19. <HI>All power is given me in heaven and earth: Go ye therefore and teach all nations, baptizing them,</HI> &amp;c. <HI>Joh.</HI> 17.18, <HI>As thou ha&s;t &s;ent me into the world even &s;o have I &s;ent them into the world.</HI> They were to be left Mini&s;terially in his &s;tead, 2 Cor. 5.20, <HI>We, in Chri&s;t's &s;tead, be&s;eech you to be reconciled to God.</HI> Now they were no longer to be reckoned Di&s;ciples or Scholars, but Teachers, In&s;tructers, <HI>Ma&s;ter-builders,</HI> 1 Cor. 3.10. And therefore, with re&s;pect to Chri&s;t, though they might be called Di&s;ci|ples, &s;o long as he was with them; yet with re&s;pect to the Power and Commi&s;&s;ion given unto them by Chri&s;t, they were called Apo&s;tles, by way of di&s;tinction from other Di&s;ciples or Believers. <HI>Acts</HI> 1.2, <HI>Acts</HI> 2.42, their Doctrine was called <HI>The Apo&s;tles doctrine:</HI> and their Mini&s;tery was not called Di&s;ciple&s;hip, but <HI>Apo&s;tle&s;hip, Act.</HI> 1.24, 25, 26.</P>
<P><PB N="20" REF="15">To the &s;econd branch of this Objection, That the Di&s;ciples of Chri&s;t did baptize before they were called Apo&s;tles, or &s;ent out to preach:</P>
<P>Fir&s;t, I an&s;wer, that it's not &s;o &s;afe concluding from a con&s;equence, as that becau&s;e <HI>Matthew</HI> relates a pa&s;&s;age touching <HI>John</HI>'s being put into pri&s;on, before he mentions the calling of the Di&s;ciples or A|po&s;tles, that therefore they were not called till after <HI>John</HI> was in pri|&s;on, and con&s;equently did baptize before they were Apo&s;tles: For|a&s;much as it's very apparent, the Evangeli&s;ts do not ob&s;erve the &s;ame method or order in the placing and relating the Hi&s;tories of the Go|&s;pel; &s;ome putting that before, which another puts after: which hath ca&s;t no &s;mall trouble to tho&s;e who have attempted to Harmonize the Go&s;pel.</P>
<P>Secondly, Admit it be as it is objected, and that they did Baptize while they were Di&s;ciples, the Bapti&s;me is not reckoned theirs, but Chri&s;ts: It's &s;aid <HI>he made and baptized more di&s;ciples then John, Joh.</HI> 4.1. <HI>Joh.</HI> 3.22. He baptized Authoritatively, they In&s;trumen|tally: He made and baptized.</P>
<P>He that Mini&s;terially doth baptize another by vertue of Authori|ty to him given, hath likewi&s;e Power and Authority to judge of the fitne&s;s of the per&s;on whom he baptizeth: &s;o did <HI>John</HI> by tho&s;e whom he baptized, <HI>Matth.</HI> 3.7, 8, 9. So did <HI>Philip</HI> by the Eunuch, <HI>Act.</HI> 8.37. So did <HI>Peter</HI> by <HI>Cornelius</HI> and his Friends, <HI>Act.</HI> 10.46, 47, 48; by who&s;e Commi&s;&s;ion, at lea&s;t, if not by his hand, they were baptized. So here the Di&s;ciples were &s;aid to baptize, <HI>Joh.</HI> 4, but Je&s;us was with them: Joh. 3.22, <HI>After the&s;e things came Je&s;us and his Di&s;ciples into the Land of Judea, and there he tarried with them, and baptized.</HI></P>
<P>The per&s;ons then which were baptized by his Authority and Com|mi&s;&s;ion, he being with them while they were baptized, mu&s;t needs have their fitne&s;s for admittance to be judged of by him, and &s;o the Bapti&s;m mu&s;t be &s;aid to be his: He may be &s;aid to baptize, becau&s;e 'twas done in his pre&s;ence, and by his Authority; they onely have this &s;hare in the Work, that they are u&s;ed In&s;trumentally to do that which their Lord and Ma&s;ter did Authoritively.</P>
<P>Thirdly, If it may be granted (as I &s;uppo&s;e it may not) that the Di&s;ciples did Baptize, in the fourth of <HI>John,</HI> by Warrant and Com|mi&s;&s;ion from Chri&s;t, given to them apart from him&s;elf; yet I &s;uppo&s;e
<PB N="21" REF="15">
their example therein is not to be drawn into practice by believers now, fora&s;much as Chri&s;t him&s;elf was a member of the Jewi&s;h Church both living and dying, (as it may be ea&s;ily proved, if de&s;ired) and a Mini&s;ter of that Church: <HI>Rom.</HI> 15.8, <HI>Now I &s;ay, that Ie&s;us Chri&s;t was a Mini&s;ter of the Circumci&s;ion for the truth of God, to confirme the promi&s;es made unto the Fathers.</HI> So were his Di&s;ciples likewi&s;e members of the &s;ame Church, and &s;ub&s;ervient to their Lord and Ma&s;ter in that Mini&s;tration; as hath been proved at large in the former part of this Di&s;cour&s;e.</P>
<P>Now what Chri&s;t did perform among them by him&s;elf, or by his Di&s;ciples Mini&s;terially, would not be Warrant to the&s;e Gentiles for their Practice of the &s;ame, had he not after his Re&s;urrection and re|ceiving Power from on high, given Power and Command to the Apo&s;tles to teach the Nations what&s;oever he had Commanded them.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Matth. 8.19, 20.</NOTE></P>
<P>Now unle&s;s it can be &s;hewed, where and when the Lord Je&s;us, or the Apo&s;tles, did ever teach Believers, or Di&s;ciples, as Di&s;ciples, to Baptize one another, &s;ince his Re&s;urrection and his taking po&s;&s;e&s;&s;ion of all Power to him&s;elf, and commanding the Apo&s;tles to deliver that to the Gentiles to be by them ob&s;erved, which he had formerly taught the Di&s;ciples to ob&s;erve them&s;elves: I &s;ay, unle&s;s it can be found in Precept or Practice &s;ince that time, I conceive the former Practice of the Di&s;ciples, in the fourth of <HI>Iohn,</HI> (if it were every way as the Ob|jection &s;peaks) baptizing the members of their own Church, in the pre&s;ence and by the Authority of their Lord, he being the Mini&s;ter of the Circumci&s;ion for the Truth of God; will not prove a &s;uffici|ent ground for the Practice of &s;uch Di&s;ciples, as is pleaded for by this Objection.</P>
<P><HI>Obj.</HI> 2. Di&s;ciples that are able to Preach the Go&s;pel, may Baptize,<NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Obj.</HI> 2.</NOTE> as appears by the Practice of the &s;cattered Di&s;ciples upon the Per|&s;ecution of <HI>Stephen,</HI> in <HI>Acts</HI> 8. and in <HI>Act.</HI> 11.19, 20, <HI>Now they that were &s;cattered abroad upon the per&s;ecution which aro&s;e about Stephen, travelled as far as Phenice, and Cyprus, and An|tioch, preaching the Word to none but to the Iews onely.</HI> Doth not this give &s;ufficient ground for gifted men, if able to Preach, that they may Baptize al&s;o?</P>
<P>I &s;hall an&s;wer to the la&s;t branch of this Objection fir&s;t.</P>
<P>Gifted men,<NOTE PLACE="marg">An&s;w.</NOTE> as they are generally under&s;tood to be of parts
<PB N="22" REF="16">
and abilities; the&s;e, without a true Power and Authority, may not by vertue of their gifts Baptize: For it is not to be doubted but there were many gifted men among the followers of Chri&s;t, when he gave to his eleven Di&s;ciples Commi&s;&s;ion to Teach and Baptize the Nations. For we read of the &s;eventy Di&s;ciples, <HI>Luk.</HI> 10.16, how that Chri&s;t &s;ent them forth to Preach, and what &s;ucce&s;s they returned with, <HI>Ver&s;.</HI> 17, 18 19, 20. Yet to none of the&s;e, but to the eleven onely, was the Command of Teaching and Baptizing the Nations given, &s;o far as appears to us in the Scripture, <HI>Matth.</HI> 28.19. <HI>Mark.</HI> 16.15. Therefore neither believers onely, nor gifted men, though able to preach to the ca&s;ting down Sathan like Lightning from Heaven,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Luk. 10.18, 19.</NOTE> without a true and lawful Authority, Appointing, and De&s;igning to this Work, may warrantably do it.</P>
<P>To the other branch, That Di&s;ciples able to Preach the Go&s;pel may Baptize, from <HI>Act.</HI> 8.1, 12. <HI>Chap.</HI> 11.19, 20.</P>
<P>Fir&s;t, I di&s;tingui&s;h between Preaching, and Publi&s;hing or Decla|ring: Fora&s;much as though he that doth Preach, doth Publi&s;h the thing he Preacheth; yet one may publi&s;h a thing which he may not be &s;aid to Preach, as will appear by this familiar example:</P>
<P>An Herauld, or Crier, who is inve&s;ted with Authority to declare or publi&s;h &s;ome bu&s;ine&s;s at &s;ome publike place, he mu&s;t be under&s;tood to expre&s;s him&s;elf by words, to utter and &s;peak the thing he pub|li&s;hes or proclaimes: there may be at the &s;ame time many a per&s;on pre&s;ent, who hearing and under&s;tanding the matter &s;o proclaimed, may divulge and repeat what they have both heard and &s;een; and &s;o may be &s;aid truely to declare, but not to proclaim the thing: though the former in proclaiming the matter, u&s;ed utterance and expre&s;&s;ion; yet the later by uttering and expre&s;&s;ing the matter, are not Proclaim|ers of it <HI>authoritat&egrave;,</HI> but ob&s;ervers, and relaters onely of what they have &s;een and heard.</P>
<P>Let this circumlocution be taken in good part; for it means well, and may give &s;ome help to the under&s;tanding of what follows.</P>
<P>When our Lord Je&s;us was to leave the world, and to &s;end his Am|ba&s;&s;adours forth into the world, in his Name and &s;tead, he command|ed them to <HI>preach the Go&s;pel to every creature,</HI> Mark 16.15. <GAP DESC="foreign">, <HI>Predicate Evangelium.</HI></P>
<P>The word which our Lord Je&s;us u&s;eth in this Commi&s;&s;ion, is a word of Power and Authority; it comes of <GAP DESC="foreign">, <HI>praeco;</HI> &s;ignifying an
<PB N="23" REF="16">
Herauld, or Cryer: <GAP DESC="foreign">, to publi&s;h as an Herauld, to deliver in open place, in the hearing of a multitude, that many may take notice of it. <HI>Matth.</HI> 10.27, <HI>Preach ye upon the hou&s;e tops.</HI> Luke 12.3, <HI>That which ye have &s;poken in the ear, and in clo&s;ets, &s;hall be pro|claimed upon the hou&s;e tops.</HI> 1 Tim. 2.7, <HI>Whereunto I am or|dained a Preacher and an Apo&s;tle;</HI> <GAP DESC="foreign"> or Cryer, an Herauld or Proclaimer, 2 <HI>Tim.</HI> 1.11. <HI>Maxim&acirc; cum maje&s;tate &s;umm&acirc; con|&s;tanti&acirc;, &amp; animi libertate, clari&s;&s;im&egrave; ac aperti&s;&s;im&egrave; denunciare.</HI> 2 Tim. 4.2, <HI>Preach the Word.</HI> Rom. 16.25. <HI>According to my Go|&s;pel, and the preaching of Je&s;us Chri&s;t;</HI> <GAP DESC="foreign">. 1 Cor. 1.21, 23, Gal. 2.2. <HI>I communicated to them that Go&s;pel which I preach among the Gentiles; <GAP DESC="foreign">, quod praedico in Gentibus.</HI> Rom. 10.8, <HI>That is the word of faith which we preach.</HI> Rom. 10.15, <GAP DESC="foreign">; <HI>Quomodo ver&ograve; praedicabunt, ni&s;i mittantur? How &s;hall they preach, except they be &s;ent?</HI></P>
<P>Many might be the Scriptures which might be brought, to prove that the fir&s;t Me&s;&s;engers were as &s;o many Amba&s;&s;adours, Heraulds, Proclaimers, Cryers, who with Maje&s;tie and Authority were &s;ent out to preach the Go&s;pel, as being de&s;igned of God, and &s;et apart and commi&s;&s;ioned by the Lord Je&s;us Chri&s;t thereunto: and the&s;e are &s;aid, <HI>eminent&egrave;r,</HI> to preach. When they publi&s;hed the Go&s;pel, they did it <HI>cum authoritate,</HI> by vertue of their Office, Calling, or De|putation thereunto.</P>
<P>Be&s;ides the&s;e, (&s;o abundantly overflowing was the grace of God, that) the beholders of it were &s;o filled with joy and admiration, that where-ever they came, they could not chu&s;e but be telling what things they had heard and &s;een, and what had been done of them. Which notification of theirs, had many times this ble&s;&s;ed effect, that it made the per&s;ons to whom this &s;trangue (though good) news came, ei|ther to believe it, or to be enquirers after it, or de&s;irers of it: like that of old; <HI>O thou faire&s;t among women, whither is thy Beloved gone, that we may &s;eek him with thee?</HI> Cant. 5.9. and 6.1. or that of the woman of <HI>Samaria,</HI> Joh. 4.29, <HI>Come, &s;ee a man that told me all things whatever I did. Is not this the Chri&s;t?</HI> Joh. 4.39, 40, 41, 42, <HI>And many of the Samaritans believed on him, for the &s;aying of the woman which te&s;tified; He told me all that ever I did. And many more believed, becau&s;e of his own word.</HI> And
<PB N="24" REF="17">
&s;uch was that of <HI>Mary Magdalene,</HI> who being &s;o filled with the good news of her Lord's Re&s;urrection, that &s;he ran and told the Di&s;ciples.</P>
<P>In <HI>Luke</HI> 1.19. and 2.10, when the word <HI>Evangello</HI> is ap|plied to the Angel, it is rendered to &s;hew or declare good news. But in <HI>Luke</HI> 4.18, when it's applied to Chri&s;t, it's rendered to preach the Go&s;pel.</P>
<P>In <HI>Acts</HI> 21.26, <HI>Paul</HI> is &s;aid to enter into the Temple, to <HI>&s;igni|fie</HI> or <HI>declare</HI> the accompli&s;hment of the days of Purification: the word is <GAP DESC="foreign">, i. e. <HI>annuntio.</HI> Which word is rendered, <HI>Luke</HI> 9.60, <HI>But go thou and preach the kingdom of God:</HI> An|nuntia regnum Dei: of <HI>Diang&eacute;llo.</HI></P>
<P>In <HI>Luke</HI> 8.1, it's &s;aid of Chri&s;t, He went <HI>preaching</HI> and evan|gelizing, or &s;hewing the glad tidings of the Kingdom. And in 1 <HI>The&s;&s;.</HI> 3.6, <HI>But when Timotheus came from you unto us, and</HI> brought us good tidings <HI>of your faith and charity,</HI> &amp;c. <GAP DESC="foreign">.</P>
<P><HI>Rev.</HI> 10.7, <HI>As he hath declared to his &s;ervants the Pro|phets:</HI> <GAP DESC="foreign">.</P>
<P>To apply what hath been &s;aid, to the Scriptures propounded touching the preaching of the &s;cattered Di&s;ciples, <HI>Acts</HI> 8. and <HI>Acts</HI> 11.</P>
<P>Fir&s;t, they are not &s;aid to <HI>preach, viz.</HI> to Proclaim, to Cry, ac|cording to the &s;ignification of that word which was u&s;ed by Chri&s;t when fir&s;t he gave the Commi&s;&s;ion, <HI>Mark</HI> 16.15. <GAP DESC="foreign">. It is not &s;aid (as here, Chri&s;t commanded) that they Preached the Go&s;pel; but, that they Evangelized; <HI>Evangelizantes verbum.</HI> Which word, though it be frequently tran&s;lated <HI>preach|ed,</HI> which it may well bear when it is applied to &s;uch as had power, that is, authority to preach the Evangel; yet it is di&s;tingui&s;hed as a thing differing from preaching, when Evangelizing and Preaching come together. <HI>Luk.</HI> 8.1, it's &s;aid of Chri&s;t, <HI>He went thorow every city and village, Praedicans &amp; Evangelizans regnum Dei.</HI> They do not &s;ay in the Engli&s;h, <HI>Preaching and preaching the kingdom of God;</HI> but, <HI>Preaching and &s;hewing the glad tidings of the king|dom of God.</HI> Which later expre&s;&s;ion, &s;hews the true proper mean|ing of <HI>Evangelizing,</HI> &s;hewing or declaring glad tidings, whether by Preaching or otherwi&s;e.</P>
<P><PB N="25" REF="17">Of <HI>Philip</HI> it's &s;aid, not onely that he <HI>evangelized,</HI> but it's al&s;o &s;aid of him, that he <HI>preached Chri&s;t</HI> to them of <HI>Samaria;</HI> <GAP DESC="foreign">, <HI>Acts</HI> 8.5. and he baptized them al&s;o, <HI>ver&s;.</HI> 12; which is not &s;aid of any of the other Di&s;ciples which were of this di&s;per&s;ion, either in the eighth or eleventh Chapter.</P>
<P>And not without &s;ome rea&s;on may this di&s;tinction be between <HI>Phi|lip</HI> and the re&s;t of the di&s;per&s;ion, fora&s;much as he was one of tho&s;e who was admitted into the &s;ervice of the Church by laying on of hands, <HI>Acts</HI> 6.5, 6. and was al&s;o an Evangeli&s;t, <HI>Act.</HI> 12.8. and con|&s;equently one of tho&s;e the Apo&s;tle numbers up, in <HI>Ephe&s;.</HI> 4.11, which Chri&s;t gave <HI>for the work of the Mini&s;tery.</HI> Wherefore, not with|out rea&s;on may it be ob&s;erved, that of him onely it is &s;aid, He <HI>preach|ed and baptized;</HI> of the re&s;t onely, They <HI>evangelized.</HI></P>
<P>Secondly, The Di&s;ciples in <HI>Acts</HI> 11.19, 20, 'tis &s;aid, They <HI>&s;pake the word to none but to the Jews onely; <GAP DESC="foreign">, Nemini loquentes verbum.</HI> So ver&s;. 20, <HI>Loquebantur ad Graecos, They &s;pake unto the Graecians.</HI> The &s;ame word is u&s;ed in <HI>Ephe&s;.</HI> 4.25, <HI>Loquimini qui&s;que veritatem proximo &s;uo: Speak every man truth with his neighbour.</HI></P>
<P>Thirdly, Where they are &s;aid, in the next words, to <HI>evangelize the Lord Je&s;us,</HI> which is tran&s;lated <HI>preach,</HI> both here, and frequent|ly el&s;ewhere; it is a word which &s;ignifieth to publi&s;h or declare good, being compounded of <GAP DESC="foreign"> <HI>bene,</HI> and <GAP DESC="foreign"> <HI>Annuntiatio.</HI></P>
<P>It is &s;aid of <HI>Mary Magdalene,</HI> Joh. 20.18, &s;he did <HI>declare</HI> (or <GAP DESC="foreign">) to the Di&s;ciples. So it is recorded of her, <HI>Mark</HI> 16.10, <HI>Illa profecto annunciavit iis qui cum ip&s;o fuerant:</HI> <GAP DESC="foreign">: She did <HI>&s;hew,</HI> or <HI>declare,</HI> or <HI>tell them that had been with him,</HI> &amp;c. Matth. 28.10, <GAP DESC="foreign">, <HI>Annuntiate fratribus meis: Shew my brethren,</HI> or, declare to my brethren, <HI>that they go into Ga|lilee.</HI></P>
<P>Who would not conclude from the&s;e Scriptures, that <HI>Mary Mag|dalene</HI> was a true Preacher of the Re&s;urrection of Chri&s;t, and did truely evangelize the tidings thereof? Yet the Tran&s;lations render it, that &s;he <HI>told the di&s;ci&s;ples;</HI> and, <HI>Go, tell my di&s;ciples:</HI> whenas, if it be well con&s;idered, it might as truely have been &s;aid of <HI>Mary,</HI> that &s;he <HI>preached</HI> the Lord Je&s;us and the Re&s;urrection, as it is &s;aid of tho&s;e Di&s;ciples in <HI>Acts</HI> 11.19, of whom it may be thus &s;aid: That having by the providence of God been &s;cattered, by means of
<PB N="26" REF="18">
<HI>Stephen</HI>'s per&s;ecution, they could not but &s;peak the things which they had heard and &s;een, <HI>Acts</HI> 4.20. And in 1 <HI>Joh.</HI> 1.2, 3, the two words are expre&s;&s;ed which the Apo&s;tles u&s;e in <HI>Acts</HI> 4.19, 20, touching the&s;e Di&s;ciples: <HI>We cannot but &s;peak, <GAP DESC="foreign">, and &s;hew unto you,</HI> <GAP DESC="foreign">. And <HI>ver&s;.</HI> 3, it's rendered in Engli&s;h, <HI>We declare unto you.</HI></P>
<P>So it might fall out with the&s;e Di&s;ciples in their di&s;per&s;ion, that the glory which they had &s;een, they could not but tell it, and declare it, and &s;peak it everywhere, as they went: and where&s;oever the tidings of it came, it was news, and, in re&s;pect of the Subject of it, it was good news; it was <HI>Go&s;pel,</HI> or glad tidings.</P>
<P>But as the tidings hereof was &s;trange and rare to the Gentiles, to whom it thus unexpectedly came: &s;o the tidings of their receiving it by this means, and upon this occa&s;ion, was as &s;trange to the Church at Jeru&s;alem; who, upon the hearing of it, &s;ent <HI>Peter</HI> and <HI>John</HI> to Samaria, and <HI>Barnabas</HI> to Antioch. Which &s;eems to me a thing needle&s;s, if, in the Church's account, the Di&s;ciples Mini&s;tery had been e&s;teemed &s;ufficient for this work.</P>
<P>But le&s;t it &s;hould be thought this di&s;tinction may not be &s;ufficiently grounded upon the Word of Truth, but may &s;avour of a Critical Curio&s;ity; I &s;hall &s;ubmit what hath been &s;poken, to the examination and cen&s;ure of an Impartial Judgement.</P>
<P>In the mean time, while that which hath been &s;poken lies under Examination, that which remains to be &s;poken, may &s;erve to an&s;wer the Objection.</P>
<P>Therefore I propo&s;e in the &s;econd place,</P>
<P N="2">2. If it might be &s;uppo&s;ed or admitted, that the &s;cattered Di&s;ci|ples mentioned in the eighth and eleventh of the <HI>Acts,</HI> did as truely preach, as they were truely &s;cattered; yet it's not &s;aid that they did Baptize, as the Brethren do who urge this Scripture for their practice; <HI>Philip</HI> onely excepted, who is al&s;o called an Evangeli&s;t, <HI>Acts</HI> 21. which is a part of the gift given by Chri&s;t, for the work of the Mi|ni&s;tery, <HI>Eph.</HI> 4.11, 12.</P>
<P>Admit they did both Preach and Baptize, yet it mu&s;t be remem|bred that they were Di&s;ciples who them&s;elves were Baptized: For they were members of the true Church at Hieru&s;alem, and &s;cattered from thence, <HI>Act.</HI> 8.1, 2. <HI>Act.</HI> 11.19.</P>
<P><PB N="27" REF="18">If the Brethren urging the&s;e for a pattern of Imitation for Preach|ing and Baptizing, will be mea&s;ured by this pattern,</P>
<P>It mu&s;t be then &s;uppo&s;ed,</P>
<P>Fir&s;t, That they be members of a truly-con&s;tituted vi&s;ible Church, as the&s;e of the Di&s;per&s;ion were, <HI>Act.</HI> 8.1, 2.</P>
<P>Secondly, That they are gifted with the knowledge of Fundamen|tals of wor&s;hip, and with tho&s;e gifts of the Holy Spirit, (now called extraordinary gifts) with which that Church was endued, and the&s;e &s;cattered members among&s;t others might not want their &s;hare, con|&s;idering that in <HI>Act.</HI> 2.3, 4, it's &s;aid, <HI>that there appeared cloven tongues, like as of fire, and &s;ate upon each of them. And they were all filled with the holy Spirit, and began to &s;peak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.</HI></P>
<P>But le&s;t it &s;hould be &s;aid, This was onely the pouring out of the holy Spirit upon the Apo&s;tles, according to the promi&s;e of the Fa|ther, <HI>Act.</HI> 1.4, 8; or if it do extend it &s;elf to all pre&s;ent, it could be but to the hundred and twenty who continued together with one accord, waiting for the promi&s;e of the Father: And whereas there was a great and plentiful increa&s;e and addition of Believers and Di&s;ciples to this fir&s;t number, as appears, <HI>Act.</HI> 2.41.47; there|fore it's &s;aid, after this great increa&s;e and plentiful addition of Di&s;ciples, in the fourth Chapter of the <HI>Acts,</HI> that when the Apo|&s;tles <HI>Peter</HI> and <HI>John</HI> had been examined and threatned by the high-Prie&s;t and his accomplices, <HI>Act.</HI> 4.6, it's &s;aid in <HI>Ver&s;.</HI> 23, <HI>They re|turned to their owne company, and reported all that the chiefe Prie&s;ts and Elders had &s;aid of them. And when they heard that, they lift up their voyce with one accord, and &s;aid, Lord, thou art the God,</HI> &amp;c.</P>
<P>The <HI>Company</HI> lift up their voyce, as well as <HI>Peter</HI> and <HI>John:</HI> for it was done by them all with one accord. And in <HI>Ver&s;.</HI> 30, 31, <HI>when they had prayed, the place was &s;haken where they were a&s;&s;embled together, and they were all filled with the holy Spi|rit, and &s;pake the word of God with boldne&s;s.</HI></P>
<P>Thirdly, That they go forth with a power and pre&s;ence of Je&s;us Chri&s;t to the World, as Chri&s;t had promi&s;ed to afford to tho&s;e fir&s;t Me&s;&s;engers, <HI>Matth.</HI> 28.20, <HI>Lo, I am with you;</HI> and accordingly did accompany their Me&s;&s;age for it's confirmation, <HI>Mar.</HI> 16.20, <HI>The Lord working with them, confirming the Word with Signes fol|lowing.</HI>
<PB N="28" REF="19">
Which he al&s;o did manife&s;t to <HI>Philip, Act.</HI> 8.5, 6, 7, who confirmed his word by the miracles which he did: which is not &s;aid of the re&s;t of the Di&s;per&s;ion who Evangelized, or (as we read it) Preached the Word. To all which this may againe be remem|bred,</P>
<P>That no per&s;on did ever go forth, and Preach to the World the Go&s;pel of Chri&s;t &s;incerely, in the Term that here is u&s;ed, <HI>(viz.)</HI> <GAP DESC="foreign">, but was enabled to confirm that Word by the vi&s;ible pre&s;ence of the Lord Je&s;us, <HI>viz.</HI> by Signes and Miracles: according to <HI>Matth.</HI> 28.20. <HI>Mark.</HI> 16. to the end.</P>
<P>And on the contrary, I read not that any which did Evangelize the Lord Je&s;us to the World, either upon occa&s;ion of their di&s;per&s;ion, or otherwi&s;e, were &s;o enabled to confirm their Doctrine; the Apo|&s;tles onely excepted, who did Preach as well as Evangelize; or ra|ther, did indeed preach the Evangel: according to that which is &s;poken of Chri&s;t him&s;elf, <HI>Luk.</HI> 8.1. And the&s;e, as they did preach by Command and Authority: &s;o they were enabled to confirm that Au|thority, by a vi&s;ible pre&s;ence of Chri&s;t with them. <HI>&V;t &s;upra.</HI></P>
<P>The Brethren therefore who urge the&s;e Scriptures for their War|rant for Preaching and Baptizing one another, being mea&s;ured by this pattern, I conceive their di&s;parity will be apparent, if it be but friendly and candidly con&s;idered; and may &s;omewhat abate the di&s;|plea&s;ure which &s;eems to be taken again&s;t tho&s;e who cannot practi&s;e as they do, for the Rea&s;ons before alleadged.</P>
<P><NOTE PLACE="marg">Object.</NOTE><HI>Object. Paul</HI> &s;aith of him&s;elf, that Chri&s;t &s;ent him not to Bap|tize, but to Preach the Go&s;pel; Intimating, that to Baptize, is infe|riour to preaching: Therefore they which may do the greater, may do the le&s;s.</P>
<P><NOTE PLACE="marg">An&s;w.</NOTE><HI>An&s;w.</HI> That the Apo&s;tle <HI>Paul</HI> did Baptize as well as Preach, is evident from the &s;ame Scripture, 1 <HI>Cor.</HI> 1. where he &s;aith, <HI>he baptized Cri&s;pus and Gaius, and the hou&s;hold of Stephanus:</HI> (and this he did not without Authority) the &s;peech therefore of the Apo&s;tle in &s;aying, <HI>Chri&s;t &s;ent me not to Baptize, but to Preach,</HI> is rather to be taken Comparatively, then Po&s;itively; not &s;o much to Baptize, as to Preach: according to that &s;aying in <HI>Joh.</HI> 6.27, <HI>Labour not for the me at that peri&s;heth, but for the meat which endureth unto everlasting life.</HI> Which expre&s;&s;ion if it were Po&s;itive, that men were not to labour for the meat which peri&s;heth, how &s;hould that
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be under&s;tood of the Apo&s;tle, which exhorts to labour? <HI>Ephe&s;.</HI> 1.4, 28. 2 <HI>The&s;.</HI> 3.10, <HI>This we commanded you that if any man would not work, he &s;hould not eat.</HI> Be&s;ides the example of him&s;elf, <HI>Act.</HI> 20.34, 35. Nor may it be therefore urged, that becau&s;e the Apo&s;tle u&s;eth this &s;peech comparatively, that therefore Bapti&s;me mu&s;t be an Ordinance or Appointment of the Lord Je&s;us inferiour to Preaching: for it would be inquired, Where this di&s;tinction of Superiority and in|feriority, hath it's ri&s;e and foundation among the In&s;titutions of Chri&s;t; and particularly between the&s;e two, <HI>viz.</HI> Preaching and Bap|tizing: the rather, con&s;idering, that to whom, and at what time he gave the command touching Preaching; to them, and at that time, he gave the other touching Baptizing, <HI>Matth.</HI> 28.18, 19, 20. From whence this Conclu&s;ion hath been drawn (formerly, and as I con|ceive according to truth) That they which have power and authori|ty to Preach, have likewi&s;e power and authority to Baptize: Not from this Rea&s;on, becau&s;e that having power to do the greater, <HI>viz.</HI> Preaching; therefore they have power to do the le&s;s, <HI>viz.</HI> Bapti|zing: for this is a di&s;tinction made by &s;ome men, but not counte|nanced by the holy Scripture: But rather, in a&s;much as the Lord Je&s;us did at one and the &s;ame time, to one and the &s;elf-&s;ame per&s;ons, give command that they &s;hould both preach and baptize, and that by vertue of the power given to him; thence it follows mo&s;t evident|ly, that to them to whom power was given to Preach, to them al&s;o was authority given to Baptize: el&s;e the Apo&s;tle <HI>Paul</HI> had wanted authority for the baptizing of them he did baptize, or that he had no other then this, <HI>viz.</HI> that becau&s;e he might do the greater, which was to preach, therefore he might do the le&s;s, which was to Baptize. Which Conclu&s;ion, as it is not clear, &s;o it is not &s;afe, becau&s;e it is not found in Scripture. To which may be added the&s;e few words, which offer them&s;elves rather for a friendly trial, then for a po&s;itive a&s;&s;ertion:</P>
<P>The Apo&s;tle <HI>Paul</HI> witne&s;&s;eth of him&s;elf, that he was <HI>one of the lea&s;t of the Apo&s;tles,</HI> and was as <HI>one born out of due time,</HI> 1 <HI>Cor.</HI> 15.8, 9.</P>
<P>Now it is to be ob&s;erved, that to the Eleven was the command given to baptize the Nations, in expre&s;s termes, <HI>Matth.</HI> 28.</P>
<P>We do not read that the &s;ame command was in &s;o many words laid upon him, when he was called and &s;ent forth by the Lord Je&s;us. In that he did baprize any one, it was not of his own head; for he
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had <HI>the minde of Chri&s;t,</HI> 1 Cor. 2.16; who gave to his Amba&s;&s;a|dours or Me&s;&s;engers not onely power to <HI>preach,</HI> but authority to <HI>ba|ptize</HI> al&s;o, <HI>Matth.</HI> 28.19. And in that he was not more frequent in baptizing, or baptized no more, he was not thereunto &s;o e&s;peci|ally &s;ent as the former, who had the command in expre&s;s words. He had it onely in Authority, and therefore upon occa&s;ion did exerci&s;e and perform it: They had it not onely in Authority, but al&s;o in Com|mand; therefore they mu&s;t perform it, and might not omit it, they being &s;ent in an e&s;pecial manner thereunto.</P>
<P>This kinde of rea&s;oning the Apo&s;tle gives occa&s;ion for in another ca&s;e, touching the exerci&s;e of his Mini&s;tery; whereas he te&s;tifieth of him&s;elf, in a e&s;pecial manner that he was an <HI>Apo&s;tle of the Gentiles,</HI> and therein did <HI>magnifie</HI> his <HI>office,</HI> Rom. 11.13; and that unto <HI>Peter</HI> was committed the <HI>Apo&s;tle&s;hip of the Circumci&s;ion,</HI> Gal. 2. 7, 8, 9, as unto him the <HI>Go&s;pel of &V;ncircumci&s;ion.</HI> And this di&s;tribution was very eminent; yet not &s;o, but that <HI>Peter</HI> might preach to the Gentiles, as <HI>Paul</HI> al&s;o did to the Jews, as appeareth by his frequent preaching in the Synagogues, <HI>Act.</HI> 13. <HI>ult.</HI> &amp;c.</P>
<P>Whence may be concluded, Though the Apo&s;tle <HI>Paul</HI> had a par|ticular Mi&s;&s;ion to the Gentiles, who&s;e Amba&s;&s;adour or Apo&s;tle he particularly was; yet he al&s;o might preach to the Jews, where-ever they were, and that without &s;in; which accordingly he did, (as many places te&s;tifie.) So, although the &s;ame Apo&s;tle, when he was at fir&s;t called, had not an expre&s;s Command touching Bapti&s;m, as the Eleven had, (in &s;o many words;) yet neverthele&s;s he wanted not &s;ufficient Authority for to baptize tho&s;e whom he did baptize, without degra|ding this Ordinance, and making of it inferiour to Preaching, as this Objection would infer from the Apo&s;tle's &s;peech, when he &s;aith, <HI>Chri&s;t &s;ent me not to baptize, but to evangelize.</HI> Which inference being inforced as a con&s;equence, needs a proof from Scripture, before it can impo&s;e belief upon any per&s;on.</P>
<P><NOTE PLACE="marg">Object.</NOTE><HI>Object.</HI> When Chri&s;t gave power and authority to the eleven Di&s;ciples to <HI>teach all nations, baptizing them in the Name of the Father, Son and holy Spirit,</HI> he added, <HI>Matth.</HI> 28.20, <HI>Lo, I am with you all the days, even unto the end of the world.</HI> How is this Scripture fulfilled, if there be not a Mini&s;tery continued to the end of the world?</P>
<P><NOTE PLACE="marg">An&s;w.</NOTE><HI>An&s;w.</HI> This command of Chri&s;t to his Apo&s;tles, and this promi&s;e
<PB N="31" REF="20">
of his pre&s;ence with them to the end of the world, mu&s;t be con&s;i|dered as being made to tho&s;e eleven individual per&s;ons, or el&s;e with &s;uch others as were to &s;ucceed them in that work of Mini&s;tery, teach|ing the Nations, baptizing them in the Name of the Father, Son and holy Spirit, teaching them to ob&s;erve all things what&s;oever Chri&s;t had commanded them.</P>
<P>Fir&s;t, If it re&s;pecteth the Eleven onely, then there mu&s;t be another under&s;tanding of tho&s;e words, <HI>The end of the world,</HI> then is mo&s;t commonly received: for, according to the common acceptation of <HI>the end of the world,</HI> taking it for the utmo&s;t and extreme&s;t part of time, &s;o it could not be applied to the Apo&s;tles per&s;onally; who lived not to &s;ee the end of the world in that &s;ence; according to that Scripture, <HI>Zech.</HI> 1.5, <HI>Your fathers, where are they? the Pro|phets, do they live forever?</HI></P>
<P>Secondly, If it re&s;pect a Succe&s;&s;ion of Mini&s;tery, it mu&s;t be either an Apo&s;tolical National Mini&s;tery, for breeding the Church; or a Pa&s;toral Congregational Mini&s;tery for feeding the Church; or both.</P>
<P>Now that this Succe&s;&s;ion of Mini&s;tery, in both or either of the&s;e kindes, is not &s;o vi&s;ible (as it's commonly judged) hath been already proved, and needs not again be repeated.</P>
<P>Nor doth it hence follow, that any imputation of unfaithfulne&s;s &s;hould be fixed upon the mo&s;t righteous God; as if he mu&s;t needs be rendered unrighteous, unle&s;s there be a continuation of Mini&s;tery, either Apo&s;tolical or Pa&s;toral, becau&s;e that he hath &s;aid, that they, teaching the Nations to ob&s;erve what&s;oever he had commanded, <HI>&amp;c.</HI> lo, he was with them <HI>all the days, to the end of the world.</HI></P>
<P>And that this may the more clearly appear, con&s;ider what is &s;poken touching <HI>Eli</HI> and his hou&s;e, in 2 <HI>Sam.</HI> 2.30, to the end. <HI>I &s;aid that thy hou&s;e, and the hou&s;e of thy father, &s;hould walk be|fore me for ever; i. e.</HI> in the Prie&s;thood, <HI>Exod.</HI> 28.1, 41, 43. <HI>Exod.</HI> 40.13, 14, 15. <HI>But now the Lord &s;aith, Be it far from me: for them that honour me, I will honour; and they that de|&s;pi&s;e me, &s;hall be lightly e&s;teemed.</HI></P>
<P>God had promi&s;ed <HI>Aaron,</HI> and his &s;eed after him, and that by a Statute for ever, the execution of the Prie&s;ts office, <HI>Exod.</HI> 40.15: yet there was implied in this promi&s;e this condition, that they &s;hould continue to honour God in that Admini&s;tration. And though this
<PB N="32" REF="21">
was not expre&s;t, it was ever under&s;tood, as is evident, <HI>de facto,</HI> in the ca&s;e of <HI>Nadab</HI> and <HI>Abihu,</HI> Levit. 10. who, for offering with &s;trange fire which the Lord commanded them not, were devoured by fire from the Lord.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Levit. 10.3.</NOTE> <HI>And Mo&s;es &s;aid, This is that the Lord &s;aid, I will be &s;anctified in all them that come nigh me, and before all the people will I be glorified. And Aaron held his peace.</HI></P>
<P>The like manner of God's proceedings doth appear, in expre&s;s terms, in the ca&s;e of <HI>Eli</HI> and his &s;ons, in the place before alleadged; though God had &s;aid, touching him and his father's hou&s;e, that they &s;hould walk before him for ever, 1 <HI>Sam.</HI> 2.30. and yet doth there &s;ay, <HI>Behold I will cut off thine arm, and the arm of thy fathers hou&s;e. And the man of thine which I &s;hall not cut off from my altar, &s;hall be to con&s;ume thine eyes, and to grieve thy heart. And he that is left in thy hou&s;e, &s;hall &s;ay, Put me, I pray thee, in|to one of the Prie&s;ts offices that I may eat a piece of bread.</HI> Which was accordingly fulfilled in the next Chapter, and in 1 <HI>Kings</HI> 2.27.</P>
<P>The Lord gives the rea&s;on of this &s;eeming-contradiction, why he &s;hould &s;ay of <HI>Eli,</HI> and of his father's hou&s;e, that they &s;hould walk before him in the Prie&s;thood for ever; and yet doth al&s;o declare and accordingly accompli&s;h, that the Continuation or Succe&s;&s;ion &s;hall be cut off; as it was from the po&s;terity of <HI>Eli,</HI> and likewi&s;e from the line of <HI>Aaron,</HI> before the time of the expiration of the Mo&s;aical di&s;|pen&s;ation. The rea&s;on of this the Lord expre&s;&s;eth, in the&s;e words: <HI>But now be it far from me: for, them that honour me, I will ho|nour; and they that de&s;pi&s;e me, &s;hall be lightly e&s;teemed.</HI></P>
<P>Though, with re&s;pect to the Eternal condition of believers, <HI>the foundation of God &s;tands &s;ure, having this &s;eal, The Lord knows who are his,</HI> 2 Tim. 2.19. and that <HI>there is no condemnation to them that are in Chri&s;t Je&s;us,</HI> Rom. 8.1. and though <HI>neither life, nor death, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor any other creature, &s;hall be able to &s;eparate</HI> a believer <HI>from the love of God which is in Chri&s;t Je&s;us,</HI> Rom. 8. <HI>ult.</HI> fora&s;much as the <HI>Father which gave them</HI> to Chri&s;t, <HI>is greater then all, and none &s;hall be able to pluck them out of the Fathers hands,</HI> Joh. 10.28, 29. nay, <HI>&s;in</HI> it &s;elf <HI>&s;hall not</HI> be able to <HI>have dominion over</HI> them, <HI>Rom.</HI> 6.14. <HI>Rom.</HI> 7.25, 26. Yet, with re&s;pect to any External condition which may befal them, how eminently-glorious &s;oever it may be, and
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what promi&s;e &s;oever may be made unto it, yet the Equity of this con|dition is implied, if not expre&s;&s;ed, that the per&s;on to whom &s;uch pro|mi&s;e of External ble&s;&s;ing or pre&s;ence is made, are engaged to walk with God, to be found honouring of God, <HI>&amp;c.</HI></P>
<P>Upon this is the Entail to be reckoned; and God no longer can in faith be expected to perform his part, then &s;uch a per&s;on or people are found faithful with God on their part.</P>
<P><HI>He that honours me, I will honour; and they that de&s;pi&s;e me, &s;hall be lightly e&s;teemed,</HI> 1 Sam. 2.30, 31, &amp;c. 1 Chron. 28.7, 9, <HI>If thou &s;eek him, he will be found of thee; but if thou for&s;ake him, he will ca&s;t thee off for ever.</HI> Which <HI>for&s;aking</HI> and <HI>ca&s;ting off,</HI> are expounded in <HI>P&s;al.</HI> 89.30, 31, 32, 33, 34: <HI>If his children for&s;ake my law, and walk not in my judgements, I will vi&s;it their tran&s;gre&s;&s;ions with the rod, and their iniquity with &s;tripes: neverthele&s;s my loving kindne&s;s will I not utterly take from him, nor &s;uffer my faithfulne&s;s to fail.</HI> And in 2 <HI>Chron.</HI> 7.16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, may be &s;een at large the Covenant God made with <HI>Solomon</HI> touching the Temple and its continuance. <HI>For now have I cho&s;en and &s;anctified this hou&s;e, that my Name may be there for ever: and my eyes and my heart &s;hall be there per|petually. And as for thee, if thou wilt walk before me as David thy father walked, and do according to all I command thee; then I will e&s;tabli&s;h the throne of thy kingdom, according as I have co|venanted with David thy father. But if ye turn away and for&s;ake my &s;tatutes and my commandments which I have &s;et before you, and go and &s;erve other gods, and wor&s;hip them; then I will pluck them up by the roots, and this hou&s;e will I ca&s;t out of my &s;ight, and make it to be a Proverb, and a by-word among all nations.</HI></P>
<P>The &s;ame thing is declared by the Lord to <HI>A&s;a,</HI> in 2 <HI>Chron.</HI> 15.2, <HI>Hear ye me, A&s;a, and all Judah and Benjamin; the Lord is with you, while ye be with him: if ye &s;eek him he will be found of you; but if you for &s;ake him, he will for&s;ake you.</HI></P>
<P>Which thing the Lord did accompli&s;h to a tittle, as to their exter|nal enjoyments, both as concerning their Land, their Temple, and all their outward glory.</P>
<P>Now from the preceding pa&s;&s;ages of the Scripture, it doth ap|pear, that the Lord, when he made any promi&s;e of an external concern|ment or con&s;ideration, it did alwayes import that man was bound as
<PB N="34" REF="22">
well on his part, to a holy, and faithful, and obedient walking with God, as he was to expect a faithful performance on Gods part, of the thing promi&s;ed; and that a neglect on mans part did nece&s;&s;arily infer a di&s;obligement on Gods part. <HI>The Lord is with you while you are with him: but if you for&s;ake him he will for&s;ake you,</HI> 2 Chron. 15.2. Or as to <HI>Eli, He that honoureth me, I will ho|nour; but he that di&s;pi&s;eth me, &s;hall be lightly e&s;teemed,</HI> 1 Sam. 2.30. Nor doth it &s;eem to have been his minde of Old onely, as under that di&s;pen&s;ation; but in the very place mentioned, <HI>Matth.</HI> 28. <HI>ver&s;.</HI> the la&s;t, be&s;ides the equity of the thing, that very Scripture holds forth no le&s;s then what hath been already propounded. For there, as he promi&s;eth <HI>to be with them all the dayes, to the end of the world;</HI> &s;o he commanded <HI>that they &s;hould continue teaching the nations to ob&s;erve all things what&s;oever he had commanded them.</HI> For he &s;aith not, <HI>Teach the nations to ob&s;erve all things,</HI> but <HI>teaching;</HI> which being a Participle of the pre&s;ent ten&s;e, &s;ignifieth the doing, and continuance in doing the thing which is commanded, and whereunto the promi&s;e of his pre&s;ence is annexed. So that if Chri&s;t did promi&s;e his pre&s;ence with a Mini&s;tery to the end of the world, it was with them, <HI>teaching the nations to ob&s;erve all things what&s;oever he had commanded them</HI> or with &s;uch a Mini&s;tery as did <HI>teach and bap|tize the nations,</HI> and continue <HI>teaching them to ob&s;erve all things what&s;oever he had commanded them.</HI> But if that Mini&s;tery, in &s;tead of <HI>teaching the nations what&s;oever Chri&s;t commanded,</HI> &s;hould either cea&s;e <HI>to teach the nations</HI> at all, or teach them that which Chri&s;t commanded them not; or &s;hould teach them to ob&s;erve the precepts of men, in &s;tead of the commandments of Chri&s;t; the continuance of the pre&s;ence of Chri&s;t with &s;uch a Mini&s;tery is not to be concluded upon, as if it were entailed upon it by this Scripture: But rather that equity of God held forth in the former Scriptures, is to take place here: <HI>Him that honoureth me, I will honour: but he that di&s;pi&s;eth me, &s;hall be lightly e&s;teeemed.</HI></P>
<P>And this is not onely true with re&s;pect to the Nations Mini&s;tery, or the Mini&s;tery appointed by Chri&s;t <HI>to teach and baptize the nations;</HI> but al&s;o touching the Mini&s;tery in the Churches: That if they al&s;o continue not in the Doctrine of Chri&s;t, or &s;hall not continue <HI>teach|ing to ob&s;erve all things, what Chri&s;t hath commanded them,</HI> His pre&s;ence is not obliged to to be with them neither, <HI>Rev.</HI> 2. <HI>ver&s;.</HI> 1,
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compared with the fifth: the truth of this to be extended both to Church and Mini&s;tery, as of old to the Prie&s;thood and the Temple; and no unrighteou&s;ne&s;s to be fixed upon God, neither then nor now, for &s;uffering them to be eclip&s;ed or di&s;continued. Fora&s;much as they cea&s;ed to honour God, no wonder if God cea&s;e to honour them with his pre&s;ence: and when they began to di&s;pi&s;e him he al&s;o light|ly e&s;teemed of them. And this hath been the condition of the Chri&s;tian Churches and Mini&s;tery; and &s;o it's like to be, until the day of the Re&s;tauration.</P>
<P>It's al&s;o to be remembred, that a people, by their mi&s;u&s;ing of a mercy or ble&s;&s;ing, may draw upon them&s;elves a di&s;continuance of that ble&s;&s;iing or mercy for a &s;ea&s;on; which may not extend &s;o far as to an annihilation or extirpation thereof, but that it may have its po&s;&s;ibility of re&s;tauration, and in due time its real accompli&s;hment.</P>
<P>It's &s;aid, touching the Land of <HI>Canaan, Gen.</HI> 17.8, <HI>I will give to thee and thy &s;eed after thee, the land of thy &s;ojourning, all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting po&s;&s;e&s;&s;ion,</HI> Gen. 48.4.</P>
<P>Yet it is not unknown how this promi&s;e, which &s;eemes to be made to them ab&s;olutely, hath by their &s;innings and tran&s;gre&s;&s;ions again&s;t God, at all times not been performed; but that people have been &s;pewed out, even by their own Land; according as it was intimated to them by <HI>Mo&s;es, Levit.</HI> 18.28, <HI>That the land &s;pew not you out al&s;o when you defile it, as it &s;pewed out the nations that were be|fore you,</HI> Levit. 20.22. Which thing he al&s;o accompli&s;hed according to his word by <HI>Ieremiah, Chap.</HI> 7.15, 16, 19, and many other places: which had its particular fulfilling; in their &s;everal Captivities under <HI>Ho&s;hea, Salmane&s;er,</HI> and <HI>Zedekiah.</HI> But though they were depri|ved of their po&s;&s;e&s;&s;ions for a time, yet not of their right of inheritance; that was theirs &s;till; and accordingly, after their land had fulfilled her Sabbaths, and they had continued in their bani&s;hed condition accor|ding to their time appointed, &s;eventy years; they were returned into their own land (as it is called) according to the Word of the Lord.</P>
<P>So was it touching their Temple-&s;tate; God had &s;aid, 2 <HI>King.</HI> 9.3, <HI>I have hallowed this hou&s;e which thou ha&s;t built, to put my Name there for ever: and mine eyes and my heart &s;hall be there perpetu|ally,</HI> 2 <HI>Chron.</HI> 7.16.</P>
<P>Now as the extent or duration of this Temple, and its wor&s;hip, was to expire in the fulne&s;s of time, as all other legal Mini&s;trations were,
<PB N="36" REF="23">
in the appearing of the Lord Je&s;us, and the &s;ub&s;tituting of the Chri|&s;tian Church and Mini&s;tery; yet before this time was fully come wherein the Veil of the Temple was to be rent, and <HI>Mo&s;es</HI> to be bu|ried, as to his Admini&s;tration; I &s;ay, Before this time was accom|pli&s;hed, this Temple and its Wor&s;hip fell under a Di&s;continuance and Di&s;u&s;e, by rea&s;on of the &s;ins of the Prie&s;ts and People; according as the Lord had &s;aid, in 2 <HI>Chron.</HI> 7.19, 20, 21, 22, and had according|ly effected in proce&s;s of time, as appears in the Captivity by <HI>Zede|kiah,</HI> and in the <HI>Lamentations,</HI> Chap. 2.6, 7. <HI>He hath violently taken away his tabernacle as a garden; he hath de&s;troyed his palaces of the a&s;&s;embly: the Lord hath cau&s;ed the &s;olemn fea&s;ts and &s;abbaths to be forgotten in Sion, and de&s;pi&s;ed in the indigna|tion of his anger the king and the prie&s;ts: the Lord hath ca&s;t off his altar, he hath abhorred his &s;anctuary, he hath given up into the hand of the enemy the walls of her palaces: they have made a noi&s;e in the hou&s;e of the Lord, as in the day of a &s;olemn fea&s;t.</HI></P>
<P>Notwith&s;tanding which dealing of his towards them, he cau&s;ed them to return at the time appointed, to build their walls, and to re|&s;tore their Wor&s;hip, according to the Word which he had &s;poken by his holy Prophets, becau&s;e as yet the full time was not come, where|in the Entail was to be cut off from this people.</P>
<P>That which I would have ob&s;erved in this Circumlocution, is this: <HI>Viz.</HI></P>
<P>Fir&s;t, That although God had promi&s;ed that his eyes and his heart &s;hould be upon that hou&s;e which <HI>Solomon</HI> had built, perpetual|ly; yet that time was a prefixt and limited time.</P>
<P>Secondly, That before the time limited wherein there was to be a ce&s;&s;ation of the Temple and Temple-Wor&s;hip, there was a Di&s;|continuance, as to the enjoyment and exerci&s;e of it, which befel that people through their tran&s;gre&s;&s;ions and &s;in; in&s;omuch that it may be &s;aid, They &s;inned them&s;elves into a difu&s;e of their Mercy; which be|fel them for a time, during their Captivity, till their re&s;toration.</P>
<P>Thirdly, That whereas it was by divine intendment, that at the time appointed the daily &s;acrifice &s;hould cea&s;e, the Temple-work and Wor&s;hip &s;hould be at an end, of which expiration God him&s;elf would be the author and procurer; yet the&s;e people beforehand, by their &s;ins, procured them&s;elves a Separation, Bani&s;hment, and Capti|vity,
<PB N="37" REF="23">
for the &s;pace of &s;eventy yeers; though then, at the end thereof, God graciou&s;ly returned their Captivity.</P>
<P>So would I that it were con&s;idered touching the promi&s;e of our Lord Je&s;us to the Apo&s;tles, or to the Chri&s;tian Mini&s;tery, <HI>Lo, I am with you all the days unto the end of the world:</HI></P>
<P>Fir&s;t, That there is a time limited for the continuation of his pre|&s;ence with them as a Mini&s;tery, at which time there is to be a ce&s;&s;a|tion thereof, as to a Mini&s;tery, when the work for which the Mini|&s;tery was given, is fulfilled, according to <HI>Eph.</HI> 4.11, 12.13, 14. and this according to divine purpo&s;e, and fore-appointment of God, <HI>Till we all come to the unity of the faith,</HI> &amp;c.</P>
<P>Secondly, That it's po&s;&s;ible for the Succe&s;&s;ors of the Apo&s;tles, in the work of their Mini&s;tery, to make <HI>&s;hipwrack of faith and a good con&s;cience,</HI> to prove fal&s;e Teachers, and <HI>privily</HI> to <HI>bring in damna|ble doctrines,</HI> and <HI>through covetou&s;ne&s;s to make merchandice of</HI> men; proving &s;pots and blemi&s;hes, &s;porting them&s;elves with their own deceivings; <HI>having eyes full of adultery, that cannot cea&s;e from &s;in;</HI> beguiling un&s;table &s;ouls, exerci&s;ed with covetous practices; <HI>cur&s;ed children,</HI> which have for&s;aken the right way, and gone a&s;tray, <HI>following the way of Balaam the &s;on of Bo&s;or, who loved the wages of unrighteou&s;ne&s;s.</HI></P>
<P>Nay, all this the holy Apo&s;tles of our Lord did foretel &s;hould be, as may particularly be in&s;tanced in the Epi&s;tles of <HI>Paul Peter, Jude;</HI> and this iniquity began to work in a My&s;tery before the Apo&s;tles left the earth, and afterwards mightily prevailed, as the Hi&s;tory of time will evidence; and mo&s;t eminently, that learned Di&s;cour&s;e of Ma&s;ter <HI>Mede,</HI> called <HI>The Apo&s;tacie of the la&s;t times,</HI> and <HI>Clappam</HI>'s Brief upon the Bible; and became as that Scripture &s;aith, <HI>I&s;a.</HI> 28.8, <HI>The prie&s;ts and the prophets erred through &s;trong drink; they are &s;wallowed up of wine; they are out of the way through &s;trong drink. They erre in vi&s;ion, they &s;tumble in judgement: for all tables are full of vomit and filthine&s;s; there is no place clean.</HI></P>
<P>And this will be found to have been the condition of the Mini&s;tery &s;oon after the Apo&s;tles time, and &s;o forward ever &s;ince that pretended Vicar of Chri&s;t that fal&s;e Vice-Chri&s;t, hath, <HI>as God,</HI> &s;et him&s;elf <HI>in the temple of God,</HI> and hath &s;ent forth his Angels, Me&s;&s;engers, or Apo|&s;tles, <HI>viz.</HI> Nuntio's Cardinals Legats, and what not? whereby he hath darkened the coun&s;el of God, by feigned and devi&s;ed words and Mi|ni&s;teries.</P>
<P><PB N="38" REF="24">From which we may expect to be delivered, when the mo&s;t High &s;hall &s;end his great Angel to enlighten the earth with his glory. The fields being now grown almo&s;t <HI>white to the harve&s;t,</HI> the <HI>Lord of the harve&s;t</HI> will, in mercy to the ignorance of his poor people, <HI>thru&s;t forth labourers into the harve&s;t.</HI></P>
<P><HI>Oh turn again our Captivity</HI> (al&s;o) <HI>as the rivers of the &s;outh,</HI> who are fallen under a di&s;u&s;e of our mercy, our fir&s;t Mini&s;tery, which our Lord, a&s;cending on high, <HI>gave,</HI> as <HI>gifts to men, for the perfect|ing</HI> the number <HI>of the Saints,</HI> and <HI>edifying the body of Chri&s;t:</HI> which though di&s;continued, becau&s;e of our and our forefathers &s;ins, yet may be re&s;tored to us again, when we are brought to &s;ee a want of them, and can cry unto God for them. <HI>I&s;ai.</HI> 30.18, 19, 20, <HI>The Lord is a God of judgement: ble&s;&s;ed are all they that wait for him. And though the Lord give you the bread of adver&s;ity, and the water of affliction, yet &s;hall not thy teachers be removed into a corner any more: but thine eyes &s;hall &s;ee thy teachers.</HI></P>
<P>But, <HI>whom &s;hall he teach knowledge, and whom &s;hall he cau&s;e to under&s;tand doctrine? Them that are weaned from the milk, and drawn from the bre&s;ts,</HI> I&s;a. 28.9.</P>
<P>Therefore, as in the former times there hath been a di&s;continuance of the true Mini&s;tery for a long &s;ea&s;on, by rea&s;on of tran&s;gre&s;&s;ion; yet may there be a glorious re&s;toration thereof al&s;o, in God's due time. For as the Apo&s;tacie began at the Mini&s;tery, both in the for|mer and later times; as is witne&s;&s;ed by the Apo&s;tle, 2 <HI>Pet.</HI> 2, <HI>There were fal&s;e prophets among the people, even as there &s;hall be fal&s;e teachers among you, who &s;hall privily bring in damnable here|&s;ies, even denying the Lord that bought them, and bring upon them&s;elves &s;wift damnation.</HI> And yet from the former, the Lord in his good plea&s;ure &s;et his people of old free. For the&s;e rea&s;ons, why may it not al&s;o be hoped, that in due time he will again return in mercy, and vi&s;it the dark corners of the earth, cau&s;ing the people that <HI>&s;it in darkne&s;s and in the &s;hadow of death,</HI> to hear the joyful &s;ound, that they may walk in the light of his countenance?</P>
<P>The rather, con&s;idering that the Mini&s;tery was given to continue till the number of the Saints were perfected, <HI>Eph.</HI> 4.12. or, as the former Tran&s;lation renders it, <HI>For the gathering together of the Saints.</HI></P>
<P>Now if the number of the Saints be not perfected, nor their ga|thering
<PB N="39" REF="24">
together compleated, How is the end for which Chri&s;t a&s;cend|ed, and for which he gave gifts to men, accompli&s;hed, if <HI>the work of the Mini&s;tery</HI> be not again re&s;tored unto its pri&s;tine and primitive Con&s;titution? as well to re&s;pect the Nations which are <HI>without,</HI> viz. <HI>the out-ca&s;ts of I&s;rael,</HI> together with tho&s;e wor&s;hippers of the Sun and Moon, the Moors and Indians, and the people that know not God, nor have ever heard the &s;ound of him, nor of the &s;alvation which through Chri&s;t Je&s;us he holds forth to Mankinde; as well as that &s;ort of Mini&s;tery which it's &s;uppo&s;ed is found among good peo|ple, who judge they are in Church-e&s;tate already, though indeed they are both but the fruit of the &s;ame a&s;cen&s;ion; and both re&s;pect the &s;ame end, Mini&s;tery, and duration or continuance: For as the Saints (al|ready &s;uch) are not come to a perfect man in Chri&s;t, and therefore have need of an edifying feeding Mini&s;tery; &s;o the number of them which are to be gathered, are likewi&s;e not compleated, and therefore need a gathering and breeding Mini&s;tery: the one, without the other, be|ing not perfect; e&s;pecially, the later not without the former.</P>
<P>Fora&s;much as the Mini&s;tery for the World, as it was fir&s;t given, namely, to the Apo&s;tles, in the&s;e words; <HI>Go ye into all the world,</HI> or <HI>Teach all nations:</HI> &s;o it was comprehen&s;ive, and took in the later, and &s;tood &s;ometimes without it, they holding out the bre&s;t of con&s;o|lation and confirmation to tho&s;e to whom they had been (as a womb) parental or in&s;trumental in conver&s;ion. Therefore, in a return of mercy, as in point of Mini&s;tery, it would be con&s;idered, Whether the fir&s;t Apo&s;tolical and National Mini&s;tery be not again to be looked for, hoped for, and longed for, and prayed for, and that by way of eminency; not onely for <HI>Sion</HI>'s &s;ake, and for <HI>Jeru&s;alem</HI>'s &s;ake, but al&s;o for the Nations &s;akes, the Kindreds, Tongues, Peoples, tho&s;e who know not God; con&s;idering that there is a time wherein <HI>John,</HI> ha|ving eaten the book, was to prophe&s;ie <HI>again, before many people, and nations, and tongues, and kings,</HI> Rev. 10. <HI>ult.</HI> And the Angel which he &s;aw flying in the mid&s;t of heaven, was to <HI>preach the ancient Go&s;pel to every nation, kindred, tongue, and people.</HI> And this was to follow Antichri&s;t's univer&s;al over-&s;preading of the earth: for af|ter he had prevailed &s;o far, as to cau&s;e all, both &s;mall and great, rich and poor, bond and free, to receive his mark; and that no man might buy or &s;ell but he that had received the mark; and that <HI>all the world wondered after the Bea&s;t,</HI> Rev. 13.3, 16, 17. after this great
<PB N="40" REF="25">
power and prevalencie of Antichri&s;t then &s;hould the <HI>ancient Go&s;pel be preached to every nation, kinred, tongue, and people, that dwell up|on the earth,</HI> Rev. 14.6. and then &s;hould follow the fall of <HI>Babylon,</HI> v 8; there followed <HI>another Angel &s;aying, Babylon is fallen, is fallen;</HI> and this &s;hould be that Angel, <HI>Rev.</HI> 18.1, 2, which &s;hould <HI>come down from heaven with great power, and enlighten the earth with his glory,</HI> and &s;hould <HI>cry mightily with a &s;trong voice, &s;aying, Baby|lon the great is fallen;</HI> according to that of the Apo&s;tle, 2 <HI>The&s;&s;.</HI> 2.8, <HI>Then &s;hall that wicked be revealed, whom God &s;hall con|&s;ume with the &s;pirit of his mouth, and de&s;troy with the bright|ne&s;s of his coming.</HI></P>
<P>And whether this be not that Mini&s;tery which the Lord will &s;end forth, to gather his cho&s;en ones from the four corners of the windes, <HI>Mar.</HI> 13. fora&s;much as after that the fal&s;e Chri&s;ts and fal&s;e Prophets &s;hall ari&s;e, and &s;hall &s;hew their &s;educing &s;ignes and wonders to <HI>de|ceive, if it were po&s;&s;ible, the very elect,</HI> ver&s;. 22. and that <HI>great tribulation</HI> &s;hall happen; <HI>the &s;un darkned, and the moon not give her light: Then &s;hall the Son of man come in the clouds, with great power and glory, and &s;hall &s;end his Angels,</HI> or Me&s;&s;engers, <HI>and &s;hall gather together his elect from the utmo&s;t parts of the earth.</HI></P>
<P>From all which, it were to be de&s;ired that the Lord would &s;tir up the hearts of his people to cry mightily to him, and give him no re&s;t, till he accompli&s;h the work of gathering together his number out of all Nations, Kindreds, Tongues, and Peoples; <HI>the utmo&s;t parts of the Heathen</HI> being given to Chri&s;t as his peculiar <HI>inheritance,</HI> P&s;al. 2.8. and becau&s;e <HI>from the ri&s;ing of the &s;un, to the going down of the &s;ame,</HI> God's <HI>name &s;hall be great among the Gentiles,</HI> Mal. 1.11.</P>
<P><NOTE PLACE="marg">Object.</NOTE><HI>Object.</HI> If this be true which hath been &s;poken, then we mu&s;t expect more Apo&s;tles; but it is &s;aid in 1 <HI>Cor.</HI> 4.9, that tho&s;e were the <HI>la&s;t Apo&s;tles:</HI> Therefore there can be no ground to expect any more.</P>
<P><NOTE PLACE="marg">An&s;w.</NOTE><HI>An&s;w.</HI> 1. That Scripture concludes not again&s;t what hath been &s;poken, as will appear, when it is examined.</P>
<P>The word which is rendered there <HI>la&s;t,</HI> <GAP DESC="foreign">, is, in <HI>Luke</HI> 14.9, taken for the <HI>lowe&s;t</HI> or <HI>meane&s;t. <GAP DESC="foreign">, When thou art bid|den of any man to a wedding, go &s;it down in the</HI> lowe&s;t room. And
<PB N="41" REF="25">
this &s;ignification of the word, may very well agree with that which is the Argument of this Chapter, 1 <HI>Cor.</HI> 4.9, and &s;o it &s;eems to be carried. <HI>I think God hath &s;et forth us the Apo&s;tles la&s;t,</HI> (i. e. lowe&s;t, or vile&s;t) <HI>as it were men appointed to death. For we are made a &s;pectacle unto the world, to Angels, and men. We are fooles for Chri&s;ts &s;ake, but ye are wi&s;e. We are made the filth of the world, and the off-&s;couring of all things to this day.</HI></P>
<P>Let it be con&s;idered whether all the&s;e &s;everal expre&s;&s;ions do not more properly agree to the word, as it is rendered the <HI>lowe&s;t</HI> or <HI>ba&s;e&s;t,</HI> then to the word <HI>la&s;t Apo&s;tles.</HI></P>
<P>Secondly, If the word he to be taken for the <HI>la&s;t,</HI> yet it doth not nece&s;&s;arily inforce it &s;elf to be under&s;tood of the la&s;t of what &s;hall be, but the la&s;t of what hath been: therefore it is rendred <HI>novi&s;&s;imus,</HI> the newe&s;t, as our Engli&s;h Dialect will infer: the la&s;t gar|ment, or newe&s;t garment, are Synonimaes. In 2 <HI>Pet.</HI> 2.20, it's rendered not <HI>la&s;t,</HI> but <HI>later.</HI> And 1 <HI>Pet.</HI> 1.20, &s;peaking of Chri&s;t, it's &s;aid, <HI>He was made manife&s;t in the la&s;t dayes.</HI> Heb. 1.2, it's &s;aid, <HI>In the&s;e la&s;t dayes God hath &s;poken unto us by his Sonne.</HI></P>
<P>Which <HI>la&s;t dayes</HI> may not be &s;o under&s;tood, as if they were &s;o the la&s;t, that there were no more dayes to &s;ucceed them; for there hath been &s;ixteen hundred years of dayes &s;ince that time, pa&s;t and gone: neither may I conceive tho&s;e Apo&s;tles were the la&s;t, or &s;o the la&s;t Apo&s;tles, that there &s;hould no more come after them; under|&s;tanding them to be Me&s;&s;engers &s;ent forth, as the term Apo&s;tle imports: for then I would inquire, By whom &s;hould <HI>the out ca&s;ts of I&s;rael</HI> be gathered, or the Nations converted to the faith of Chri&s;t? <HI>Jer.</HI> 32.37, 38. <HI>Jer.</HI> 23.3. <HI>Mar.</HI> 13.10. <HI>Matth.</HI> 24.14.</P>
<P>If there be any Nations of the World, Kindreds, Tongues, and People, to whom the Go&s;pel hath not been &s;ent; it mu&s;t be done to fulfill the Word of the Lord. And by whom &s;hall it be done, but by &s;uch Me&s;&s;engers which &s;hall be endued with like power of Evidence and Demon&s;tration, both of Tongues and Gifts, as the fir&s;t Me&s;&s;engers or Apo&s;tles had, to preach to the Nations in their proper Language? Therefore this Scripture, rightly under&s;tood, is not of force again&s;t what hath been &s;aid.</P>
<P><HI>Object.</HI> The Scriptures of the Apo&s;tles,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Object.</NOTE> they may in a &s;ence be called the Apo&s;tles: And as the Apo&s;tle &s;pake to the <HI>Corinthians,
<PB N="42" REF="26">
If I be not an Apo&s;tle to others, yet I am one to you;</HI> &s;o of their Writings, If they be not Apo&s;tles to others to whom they are not come, yet they are &s;o to them to whom they are come.</P>
<P><NOTE PLACE="marg">An&s;w.</NOTE><HI>An&s;.</HI> Their Writings may be called Apo&s;tles in a figure, as <HI>I&s;aiah</HI> was a Prophet to the Eunuch, into who&s;e hands his Prophecie came, <HI>Act.</HI> 8.30; but as he needed one to guide him to under&s;tand that Prophet, &s;o do we &s;tand in need of a guide to under&s;tand the Apo|&s;tles in their writings.</P>
<P>And that God who was plea&s;ed to &s;end his Me&s;&s;enger to the Eu|nuch, to in&s;truct him, and to cau&s;e him to under&s;tand what he read, may in his due time &s;end out his Me&s;&s;engers againe, in the Power and Spirit of the former, to open to us not onely <HI>Mo&s;es,</HI> but Chri&s;t and his Apo&s;tles; who&s;e writings, we have but &s;een them as he who <HI>&s;aw men walking like trees,</HI> or as the Eunuch did the Prophecie of <HI>I&s;aiah</HI> before it was expounded.</P>
<P>If it were but in the heart of Gods People to mi&s;tru&s;t their own under&s;tanding, and but to &s;ee need to cry out to the Lord to re&s;tore the ancient Go&s;pel, and to &s;end out tho&s;e Me&s;&s;engers which are to Preach to the World his fear and wor&s;hip, according to <HI>Rev.</HI> 14.6, 7, to di&s;cover <HI>Babylon,</HI> and mightily to call out his People from thence, and to lead to <HI>Sion;</HI> it would not be long before &s;ome great thing might be accompli&s;hed. But while we are apt to think we can do the&s;e things of our &s;elves, without any farther help, no marvel that as yet deliverance comes not. Oh if the Lord of the harve&s;t mu&s;t be &s;ought to finde labourers, and to thru&s;t them forth; and if he will be enqui|red of for this to do it; why do the Lords remembrancers keep &s;ilence, and give him any re&s;t, <HI>till he make Hieru&s;alem a prai&s;e in the earth, till he build up Sion, and gather her &s;tones out of the rubbi&s;h of Babylons confu&s;ions!</HI></P>
<P><NOTE PLACE="marg">Object.</NOTE><HI>Object.</HI> But whatever may be pretended for a nece&s;&s;ity of a Mi|ni&s;tery to the World, yet <HI>Paul</HI> took care for the Ordinances and Mini&s;tery of the Churches, when he gave <HI>Timothy</HI> in&s;tructions how to behave him&s;elf in the Church of the living God; and gave him a command to commit that which he had taught him, to faithful men, who might be able to teach others al&s;o, 2 <HI>Tim.</HI> 1.2.</P>
<P><NOTE PLACE="marg">An&s;w.</NOTE><HI>An&s;w.</HI> It is mo&s;t certaine he did &s;o; and by this place and many others, appeares the plentiful provi&s;ion the Lord made for the Chur|ches in point of Ordinances, &s;o far as concerned the rules and laws of
<PB N="43" REF="26">
Wor&s;hip, <HI>Act.</HI> 20. from <HI>Ver&s;.</HI> 17, to the 32. 1 <HI>Cor.</HI> 11.2, 23. 1 <HI>Cor.</HI> 7.17. 1 <HI>Cor.</HI> 14.37. 2 <HI>Tim.</HI> 2.1, 2, and almo&s;t thorow|out tho&s;e Epi&s;tles.</P>
<P>But though he were faithful in appointing the rules for Wor&s;hip, and giving Laws thereof, and committing the &s;ame to <HI>Timothy,</HI> and by him to faithful men, that they &s;hould teach others al&s;o; yet how treacherous they would in after-times prove to tho&s;e Rules and Laws of Wor&s;hip, is likewi&s;e Prophe&s;ied of, and foretold, which &s;hould be|fal the Chri&s;tian Churches, <HI>Act.</HI> 20.29, 30. 2 <HI>Tim.</HI> 4.3, 4. 2 <HI>Pet.</HI> 2. <HI>Jud.</HI> 17.18: and this Apo&s;tacy was actually begun in the Apo&s;tles dayes, 2 <HI>The&s;&s;.</HI> 2.7. 1 <HI>Joh.</HI> 2.18. 1 <HI>Joh.</HI> 4.1, and in the dayes of the fir&s;t Churches, <HI>Rev. Chap.</HI> 2. and 3. which Apo&s;tacy was grown to be univer&s;al, in <HI>Chap.</HI> 13. <HI>ult.</HI> And how univer&s;al it was, they that will take pains to compare the Hi&s;tory of times, may finde, to their a&s;toni&s;hment.</P>
<P><HI>Object.</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Object.</NOTE> But &s;uppo&s;e the Apo&s;tacy were every way &s;uch as hath been &s;poken, May not the People of the Lord, who are the Saints of the mo&s;t High, the Kings and Prie&s;ts of God, <HI>Rev.</HI> 1.6. <HI>Rev.</HI> 5.10, may not Believers now being Kings by Je&s;us Chri&s;t, re&s;tore the Wor|&s;hip, and &s;et up the Ordinances of Chri&s;t, as well as <HI>Jo&s;iah</HI> the King did, who &s;et up and repaired what the former evill Kings had broken down and de&s;troyed? 2 <HI>King.</HI> 22.</P>
<P><HI>An&s;w.</HI> The building the Hou&s;e,<NOTE PLACE="marg">An&s;w.</NOTE> and appointing the Laws and Or|der of the Hou&s;e of God, was by him committed, Fir&s;t to <HI>Mo&s;es, Exod.</HI> 39.32, 42, 43, who was Prince of the People, the fir&s;t Kingly Magi&s;trate and he who received from the Lord the pattern of his Hou&s;e, and the Laws thereof; and he was a Type of Chri&s;t. Next to him, <HI>Jo&s;huah</HI> renewed the Covenant of the Lord with the People, at the Commandment of the Lord, <HI>Jo&s;h.</HI> 5. from the &s;econd <HI>ver&s;e</HI> to the ninth. <HI>Jo&s;h.</HI> 24.25, 26, 27. This <HI>Jo&s;huah</HI> was a Type of Je&s;us, and called by that name, <HI>Act.</HI> 7.45. <HI>Heb.</HI> 4.8.</P>
<P>When the Tabernacle cea&s;ed, and the Temple came in the roome of it, the Lord gave King <HI>David</HI> the pattern thereof; and he to <HI>Solomon,</HI> 1 <HI>Chron.</HI> 28. from <HI>ver&s;e</HI> 11, to 21; and they were both Types of Chri&s;t, as Kings.</P>
<P>Now as to the King it was given to build at fir&s;t, and to appoint the Laws of the Hou&s;e at fir&s;t; &s;o to the Kings was it appointed to repaire the breaches, when any were. The People of <HI>I&s;rael</HI> were a
<PB N="44" REF="27">
Royal Prie&s;thood, <HI>Exod.</HI> 19.6, yet they might not meddle with the Prie&s;ts Office, <HI>Numb.</HI> 16.9, 10. They were a Kingly People, an an|ointed Nation, 1 <HI>Chron.</HI> 16.22. <HI>P&s;al.</HI> 105.15; yet they did not all raign as Kings, nor did the People &s;et about the re&s;toring or repai|ring what was ami&s;&s;e, till &s;uch to whom it was by order appointed to be their head, did &s;et upon the work. Neither in the Tabernacle without <HI>Mo&s;es,</HI> nor in the Circumci&s;ion of tho&s;e who were born in the wilderne&s;s, without <HI>Jo&s;hua;</HI> nor in the Temple, without <HI>David</HI> or <HI>Solomon;</HI> nor in the repairing the Temple, without their Kings, as <HI>Jo&s;iah, Hezekiah,</HI> &amp;c. nor in the coming out of Babylon, without <HI>Zerubbabel.</HI></P>
<P>Declaring plainly, that to them to whom at fir&s;t was given the power of building the Hou&s;e, and appointing the Laws thereof, to them did appertain the right of repairing the breach, and re&s;toring the Laws; which were &s;uch per&s;ons as did type out the Lord Je&s;us, who, as at fir&s;t he became the <HI>corner-&s;tone</HI> of the building, and did by his Me&s;&s;engers, his Apo&s;tles and Mini&s;ters, with whom he mani|fe&s;ted his vi&s;ible pre&s;ence, (<HI>Matth.</HI> 28, 19, 20. <HI>Mark</HI> 16. <HI>ult. Joh.</HI> 15. the la&s;t words of ver&s;. 5.) lay the foundation, and build the &s;uper&s;tructure, according to <HI>Eph.</HI> 2.20. <HI>Eph.</HI> 4.12: &s;o to the &s;ame Lord Je&s;us Chri&s;t, by his Mini&s;tery, accompanied with his Power and Pre&s;ence, doth it of right belong to be the <HI>Repairer of the breaches</HI> which Antichri&s;t hath made in the Chri&s;tian Church, and the <HI>Re&s;torer of paths to walk in;</HI> as of old was typed out in the Temple-&s;tate, in the examples before alleadged.</P>
<P>Once the Lord Je&s;us taught the people by him&s;elf, from the days of his entering upon the work of the Mini&s;tery, <HI>Luke</HI> 4.18, till the time of fini&s;hing of that Mini&s;tration. Afterward, he performed it by his Apo&s;tles, whom he had cho&s;en, ordained, and &s;ent out for that purpo&s;e; together with tho&s;e other gifts of Mini&s;tery, which, as the fruit of his a&s;cen&s;ion to his Father, he gave for that end, to <HI>perfect,</HI> i. e. to <HI>gather</HI> and <HI>edifie</HI> his Body the Church; until they &s;hould <HI>all come in the unity of the faith,</HI> and of the knowledge of the Son of God, <HI>to a perfect man,</HI> &amp;c.</P>
<P>He did not leave it upon his people promi&s;cuou&s;ly, to be equally and alike gifted for that work. Compare <HI>Ephe&s;.</HI> 4.11, 12, with 1 <HI>Cor.</HI> 12.29.</P>
<P>Therefore there doth remain an Order to be ob&s;erved in the exer|ci&s;e
<PB N="45" REF="27">
of the Mini&s;tery; and the Di&s;order thereof is to be bewailed; and Je&s;us Chri&s;t, to whom all power is given of the Father, and by whom at fir&s;t it was derived and delegated to cho&s;en men, <HI>Acts</HI> 10.40, 41, 42, to be waited upon for re&s;toration thereof; in who&s;e hand the power is, and without whom, <HI>we can do nothing,</HI> Joh. 15.5.</P>
<P>That he &s;hould do it by &s;uch in&s;truments as he plea&s;eth, furni&s;hed with &s;uch power and authority, and with &s;uch a pre&s;ence of Chri&s;t, as may demon&s;trate them to be &s;ent of God for that work or &s;ervice, by the Divine light and heat of the fire of the Spirit of God, <HI>Act.</HI> 2. furni&s;hing them with the true knowledge of the mind of God concer|ning the Fundamentals of
<LIST>
<ITEM>Doctrine,</ITEM>
<ITEM>Wor&s;hip;</ITEM>
</LIST>
together with true power to evince the truth thereof again&s;t all gain|&s;ayers, of whom the world was never more full; whether we re&s;pect
<LIST>
<ITEM>Jews,</ITEM>
<ITEM>or Infidels,</ITEM>
<ITEM>or Fal&s;e Chri&s;tians.</ITEM>
</LIST></P>
<P>To be furni&s;hed with ability to &s;hew to all Kindreds, Nations, Tongues, and Peoples, the glory of the My&s;tery of the <HI>ancient Go&s;pel,</HI> which once was declared and received, but from which there hath been &s;o deep a <HI>falling away;</HI> according as was foretold, 2 <HI>The&s;&s;.</HI> 2.7. 1 <HI>Tim.</HI> 3.16. 1 <HI>Tim.</HI> 4.1, 2, 3, and accordingly effected, through the power of the Bea&s;t, <HI>Rev.</HI> 13. <HI>ult.</HI></P>
<P><HI>Que&s;t.</HI> Is not the Mini&s;tery of the Apo&s;tles as efficacious to po&s;|&s;e&s;s the Saints of the enjoyment of their Liberties purcha&s;ed by Chri&s;t,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Que&s;t.</NOTE> and to put them upon the doing their duties required of them, in our Times, as it was in theirs; &s;eeing that they, by their Mini&s;tery, were commanded to <HI>teach all nations to ob&s;erve what&s;oever Chri&s;t had commanded them?</HI> Matth. 28.19, 20. Rom. 10.6, 7, 8. 2 Tim. 2.2.</P>
<P><HI>An&s;w.</HI> The Mini&s;tery of the Apo&s;tles may be con&s;idered,<NOTE PLACE="marg">An&s;w.</NOTE> either in the <HI>word,</HI> or in the <HI>power</HI> of it, 1 <HI>The&s;&s;.</HI> 1.5. The <HI>word</HI> of their Mini&s;tery, without the <HI>power,</HI> is not efficacious to put per&s;ons upon their duty, <HI>Act.</HI> 2.11, 13. <HI>Act.</HI> 17.18.</P>
<P>The Power accompanying the Word, is either Outward or In|ward, or both Outward and Inward.</P>
<P><PB N="46" REF="28">The Outward power, was the external demon&s;tration of the Spirit, expre&s;&s;ed <HI>Acts</HI> 19.6. <HI>Rom.</HI> 15.18, 19. <HI>Heb.</HI> 2.4.</P>
<P>The Inward power, was that internal operation of the Spirit, ex|pre&s;&s;ed <HI>Acts</HI> 2.37. <HI>Acts</HI> 16.14.</P>
<P>Now if the <HI>word</HI> of the Apo&s;tles Mini&s;tery be accompanied with a <HI>power, and demon&s;tration of the Spirit,</HI> &s;utable to that demon|&s;tration and power will be the manife&s;tation of the obedience that follows it; according to <HI>Rom.</HI> 15.18, 19. 1 <HI>Cor.</HI> 2.4, 5.</P>
<P>If the <HI>demon&s;tration</HI> of the Spirit be vi&s;ible and outward, it di|rects to the Outward obedience, according to the Rules of that de|mon&s;tration. If it be accompanied with <HI>power,</HI> it not onely directs, but enables to obedience in that particular; according to <HI>Matth.</HI> 7.22, 23. <HI>Luke</HI> 10.17, 18, 19, 20.</P>
<P>If the <HI>demon&s;tration</HI> and <HI>power</HI> of the Spirit be onely Inward and Invi&s;ible, it [directs] and [enables] to the more Inward and In|vi&s;ible part of obedience, <HI>Gal.</HI> 5.22, 23, to believe, hope, joy, love; and to expre&s;s the fruits thereof, <HI>Gal.</HI> 5.26.</P>
<P>If the demon&s;tration and power of the Spirit which accompanieth the Word, be both Outward and Inward; then doth it direct and enable the &s;oul both Inwardly and Outwardly to be obedient, ac|cording to the Rules thereof, <HI>Rom.</HI> 15.18, 19. 1 <HI>Cor.</HI> 2.4, 5. 1 <HI>The&s;.</HI> 1.5.</P>
<P>Now it may &s;o come to pa&s;s, that the Word of the Lord, or the Mini&s;tery of the Apo&s;tles, may come in demon&s;tration and power up|on the outward man onely, and extend no further: it may convince [that] <HI>Acts</HI> 4.14, 16, and may bring that under obedience, <HI>Act.</HI> 8.12, 13. but it &s;eldome or never befals the Lord's people, to be convinced in the outward man onely; (I &s;ay <HI>onely.</HI>)</P>
<P>But it may, and certainly doth many times befal them, to finde and feel the inward power and demon&s;tration of the Spirit invi&s;ibly and inwardly, whenas they are deprived of the external Manife&s;tations of it, <HI>Matth.</HI> 16.15, 16, 17: when the &s;oul cannot, and what it cannot &s;ee, it may by the inward power of the Spirit believe, <HI>Heb.</HI> 11.1. when it cannot po&s;&s;e&s;s and enjoy, it may by the power of the &s;ame Spirit be helped to wait for, <HI>Rom.</HI> 8.24, 25. and when it knows not what to pray for as it ought, it may by the inward power of the &s;ame Spirit be enabled to &s;igh and groan to God, <HI>Rom.</HI> 8.26, 27.</P>
<P><PB N="47" REF="28">This did &s;eeme to be the condition of tho&s;e believers in the nine|teenth of the <HI>Acts,</HI> who though they believed through the inward power of the Spirit upon their hearts, yet they were ignorant of the external power and demon&s;tration of the Spirit; and con&s;equently, what they were further to know and do <HI>Act.</HI> 19.2, 6. <HI>Cornelius,</HI> who though the power of the Spirit had been great upon his heart, <HI>Act.</HI> 10.24, yet he was ignorant of that external demon&s;tration, and power which afterwards he received, <HI>Act.</HI> 10.44.</P>
<P>So <HI>Paul,</HI> though it plea&s;ed God to reveale him&s;elf to him, or in him, in the way, <HI>Gal.</HI> 1.16, and cau&s;ed him to pray in or by the Spirit, <HI>Act.</HI> 9.11, compared with <HI>Rom.</HI> 8.26 27; yet he remained ignorant of that external power and demon&s;tration of the Spirit, which afterward he received, when <HI>Ananias</HI> came unto him, and laid his hands upon him and opened his eyes, and told him what he &s;hould do, <HI>Act.</HI> 9.6, 17.</P>
<P>Sometimes the Word, or the Apo&s;tles Mini&s;tery, came both in word and power; both in the outward demon&s;tration, and inward operation: and then it made men obedient in word and deed, <HI>Rom.</HI> 15.16, 19. 1 <HI>The&s;&s;.</HI> 1.5. 1 <HI>Cor.</HI> 2.4 5.</P>
<P>The&s;e things being premi&s;ed, I conceive I may &s;ay in an&s;wer to your Que&s;tion,</P>
<P>That the word of the Go&s;pel, or Mini&s;tery of the Apo&s;tles, (as you call it) is &s;o far forth efficacious to put the Saints upon doing their duties, as it comes furni&s;hed with the demon&s;tration and power of the Spirit, 1 <HI>Cor.</HI> 1.1.5. 2 <HI>Cor.</HI> 4.5. 2 <HI>Cor.</HI> 3.6.</P>
<P>If the Spirit do demon&s;trate, and make evident to the Soule that part of the Word which concerns the Soul's hope, faith, joy, love, <HI>&amp;c.</HI> according as that Word is evidenced with demon|&s;tration and power of the Spirit to the Soule, &s;o far is that Soule not onely taught, but enabled to hope, believe, joy, love; and no farther.</P>
<P>So likewi&s;e for that part of the Word which requires outward obedience; &s;o far as the demon&s;tration and power of the Spirit comes, &s;o far are we taught and enabled outwardly to obey. Now the de|mon&s;tration of the Spirit is (as I conceive) the Spirits evidencing and making manife&s;t the true intent and minde of the Apo&s;tles in the Mini&s;tery, as it did evidence and make manife&s;t its own minde in their Admini&s;trations, when they did admini&s;ter.</P>
<P><PB N="48" REF="29">Now the Apo&s;tles they &s;pake by the Spirit, and had the minde of Chri&s;t. He therefore that will interpret their minde in their Mini&s;te|ry, which was none other but the minde of Chri&s;t, mu&s;t do it by the power, demon&s;tration, and evidence of the &s;ame Spirit by which they &s;pake, which was unerring and infallible. 1 <HI>Cor.</HI> 2.11, 12, 16, <HI>Who knows the minde of a man, but the &s;pirit of a man?</HI> &amp;c.</P>
<P>Again, though it might be &s;uppo&s;ed that there were a clear demon|&s;tration of the Spirit, yet, without the power of the &s;ame Spirit, be|lievers were not &s;ufficiently furni&s;hed to obedience, <HI>Luke</HI> 24.45, 49. <HI>Act.</HI> 1.2, 4. <HI>Acts</HI> 10.38.</P>
<P>This Power I take to be a power of Authority, as well as Ability, <HI>Matth.</HI> 28.18; and this Authority and Ability are both required, at lea&s;t in &s;ome of the branches of a believers obedience.</P>
<P>In particular, the bu&s;ine&s;s of the Mini&s;tery and the Admini&s;trations which are particular to a Church (I conceive) are &s;uch as unto which there is required, in whom&s;oever they may concern, a clear under|&s;tanding by the Spirit, &s;o as to be able to &s;ay, <HI>I have the minde of</HI> Chri&s;t, and, <HI>Thus &s;peaks the Lord, and not I.</HI> A true Power of Au|thority, as well as Ability, to do that work which they &s;ay (by the Spirit) is their duty to do, <HI>Luke</HI> 24.45 49. <HI>Acts</HI> 4.7. <HI>Matth.</HI> 9.6, 8. A clear evidence and manife&s;tation thereof, not onely in them&s;elves, but to manife&s;t to others, for their profit, 1 <HI>Cor.</HI> 12.7.</P>
<P>Now if there be &s;uch Believers, who not onely touching their own per&s;onal e&s;tate and condition, but al&s;o touching Vi&s;ible Admini|&s;trations of Publike Wor&s;hip, can &s;ay in truth, by the Spirit, <HI>We have the minde of Chri&s;t,</HI> and, <HI>This &s;peaks the Lord, and not we;</HI> and have al&s;o a true and lawful authority to act tho&s;e things they &s;ay they know; I &s;hall leave &s;uch per&s;ons to the trial of their &s;pirits, and not doubt but to be able to &s;ee that &s;pirit demon&s;trating it &s;elf to the world, either in them or others, to the prai&s;e and glory of the God and Father of &s;pirits.</P>
<P>In the mean time, I &s;hall conceive, that what&s;oever in the Word is required of believers to do per&s;onally, as believers, that ought to be endeavoured after by every one that is truely &s;o: But what&s;oever is relatively appropriated to per&s;ons, as &s;uch and &s;uch, due regard is to be had to God's Order and Di&s;pen&s;ation there, according to the limits and bounds he hath &s;et. Better it is to be fed of Ravens, or fa&s;t fourty
<PB N="49" REF="29">
days, then, di&s;tru&s;ting God's provi&s;ion, turn &s;tones into bread. Read 1 <HI>Sam.</HI> 13.11, 12, 13, a fair pretence: <HI>but he that belie|veth maketh not ha&s;te.</HI></P>
<P><HI>Que&s;t.</HI> Whether tho&s;e Signes and Wonders whereby God manife&s;ted his pre&s;ence with the Apo&s;tles,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Que&s;t.</NOTE> were not rather to con|firm their Word and Doctrine, then to bear witne&s;s to their per|&s;ons being &s;ent, <HI>Heb.</HI> 2.4.</P>
<P><HI>An&s;w.</HI> It is, in my under&s;tanding, a truth,<NOTE PLACE="marg">An&s;w.</NOTE> that tho&s;e Signes and Wonders were to confirm their Word and Doctrine, <HI>Mark</HI> 16.20. but the ca&s;e is evident, that the works which God wrought by them, were not onely to confirm their Word, but al&s;o to te&s;tifie of their Per&s;ons, that they were &s;ent of God. <HI>Joh.</HI> 5.36, <HI>The works which the Father hath given me to fini&s;h, the &s;ame works that I do, bear witne&s;s of me, that the Father hath &s;ent me:</HI> compared with <HI>Joh.</HI> 20.21, <HI>As my Father &s;ent forth me, &s;o I &s;end forth you,</HI> Joh. 17.18.</P>
<P>If the Father &s;ent forth Chri&s;t, and the works which Chri&s;t did te&s;tified of him, that he was &s;ent of God, <HI>Joh.</HI> 11.42; then Chri&s;t &s;ending forth his Di&s;ciples, as the Father &s;ent forth him, <HI>Acts</HI> 4.13, 14, 16, the works which they do, te&s;tifie of them, that they are &s;ent of Chri&s;t; as the works which he did, te&s;tified of him, that he was &s;ent of God. 2 <HI>Cor.</HI> 12.12, <HI>The &s;ignes of an Apo&s;tle were wrought among you,</HI> &amp;c.</P>
<P><HI>Que&s;t.</HI> Seeing gifts are <HI>given to profit withal,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Que&s;t.</NOTE> and talents to be improved; How, according to Rule and Order, may the Saints edifie one another, and improve their talents for the honour of Je|&s;us Chri&s;t, out of a Church-e&s;tate? 1 <HI>Cor.</HI> 12.7.</P>
<P><HI>An&s;w.</HI> Such as the gifts and talents be which are given,<NOTE PLACE="marg">An&s;w.</NOTE> &s;uch mu&s;t the improvement of them be for the honour of Chri&s;t.</P>
<P>I pray you con&s;ider the Scripture you have quoted, 1 <HI>Cor.</HI> 12. Where tho&s;e gifts of the Spirit which are there &s;poken of are to be found, there need not be any care taken how to improve them, out of a Church: for &s;urely then and there will be a glorious Church, where and when tho&s;e gifts of the Spirit are given to profit with. Where there is given by the Spirit, a word of Wi&s;|dom, a word of Knowledge, a gift of Faith, a gift of Healing, a
<PB N="50" REF="30">
gift of Miracles, a gift of Prophecie, a gift of di&s;cerning of Spi|rits, a gift of Tongues, and Interpretation of Tongues; when <HI>the manife&s;tation of the Spirit is given to every one to profit withal,</HI> as the Scripture expre&s;&s;eth; then there will be an Order|ly Admini&s;tration, and an Effectual Operation, to the honour of Je&s;us Chri&s;t.</P>
<P>In the mean time, I could de&s;ire the Lord's people to con&s;ider of that thing they call <HI>Gift,</HI> or <HI>Gifts,</HI> and try by what Name or Title they may be di&s;tingui&s;hed or called; Whether any of the&s;e before mentioned, or &s;ome other. If not the&s;e, but &s;ome other, I would con&s;ider what it is, Whether it be given to them to <HI>be|lieve,</HI> Phil. 1.29. to hope, joy, &s;uffer, pray, to di&s;tribute to the Lord's poor, to bear the burden of the afflicted, to mourn over the de&s;olations of <HI>the I&s;rael of God,</HI> to wait for the Day of Re|&s;toration, to long, to groan, in expectation for the Day of the Lord.</P>
<P>Now if the <HI>gifts</HI> you &s;peak of be of the fir&s;t kinde mentioned in 1 <HI>Cor.</HI> 12. they bring manife&s;tation enough with them, to direct to the improvement of them; and where-ever they are found, &s;ure|ly a Church of Chri&s;t is not far off.</P>
<P>If they be of the later &s;ort, I conceive the Spirit of the Lord (who&s;e gifts they are) is not wanting, to manife&s;t to &s;uch to whom they are given, how they in their mea&s;ure may be improved to the glory of him that is the author of them.</P>
<P>But yet a few words more particularly, to what I conceive may be the &s;cope of the Que&s;tion.</P>
<P>The Apo&s;tle (in 1 <HI>Cor.</HI> 10.6, 11.) &s;peaking of the Jews, and that which befel them, &s;aith, <HI>Tho&s;e things happened to them in types;</HI> and, <HI>What&s;oever was written before-time, was written for our learning.</HI> Now it is to be noted, that in their travelling condition, while they were in the wilderne&s;s, they were our Types, 1 <HI>Cor.</HI> 10.11. In their Temple-&s;tate, they were our Types; and what God &s;pake to them then, was as typing out the &s;tate which was to come after, 2 <HI>Cor.</HI> 6.16. In the &s;tate of their Captivity, they were the types of the Captivity of the pre&s;ent <HI>I&s;rael of God, Jer.</HI> 50. <HI>Revel.</HI> 11.8. <HI>Revel.</HI> 18.2, 4.
<PB N="51" REF="30">
Therefore, what is recorded of them, and what befel them, accor|ding to the Divine wi&s;dom of the mo&s;t holy God, is written for us, and for our learning, that we might fear with a holy fear.</P>
<P>Now it appears, by the te&s;timony of Divine Truth, that there were &s;ome parts of Wor&s;hip which the people were to perform to their God in the Temple at Jeru&s;alem, and not el&s;ewhere, <HI>Deut.</HI> 12.6, 7, 11, 13, 14. But there were &s;ome other parts of his Wor&s;hip which they might perform to him when they were at the greate&s;t di&s;tance from the Temple, even in the Land of their Captivity. When they were in their own Land, they were to perform their Temple-work and Temple-wor&s;hip at Jeru&s;alem, the place where God had cho&s;en to put his Name: But in ca&s;e the Lord &s;hould deliver them into the hands of their enemies, and they &s;hould be led captive into a &s;trange Land; ina&s;much as they could not come to Jeru&s;alem to wor&s;hip before the Lord there, yet if they did but <HI>remember</HI> the Lord <HI>in the land of their captivity,</HI> and did <HI>humble them&s;elves, and pray</HI> unto him <HI>looking towards his hou&s;e,</HI> he would <HI>hear in heaven,</HI> &amp;c.</P>
<P>That the Lord's I&s;rael might be put pa&s;t Temple-work and wor&s;hip, read 1 <HI>Kings</HI> 8.44, 46, 47, 48, 49, 50, 51. and yet in this their condition, when they could not come to Jeru&s;alem, if they did but look towards it, and repent, and pray, God would have mercy, hear, and forgive.</P>
<P>That the&s;e people were carried captive, appears, 2 <HI>Chron.</HI> 36.17, to the end of ver&s;. 21. Now the Sion of God became a <HI>plowed field.</HI> Now the ways of Sion mourned: none came to her &s;olemn A&s;&s;emblies; and, for their part, they could not &s;ing the &s;ongs of Jehovah in a &s;trange Land. Now the Lord had bro|ken his two &s;taves of Beauty and Bands, <HI>Zech.</HI> 11.9, 10, 14. Now was <HI>I&s;rael</HI> given up to the Robbers, <HI>I&s;a.</HI> 42.23, 24, 25.</P>
<P><HI>Que&s;t.</HI> Well:<NOTE PLACE="marg">Que&s;t,</NOTE> but what do the&s;e people do in the Land of their Captivity?</P>
<P><HI>An&s;w.</HI> They &s;eek the Lord by Fa&s;ting and Prayer,<NOTE PLACE="marg">An&s;w.</NOTE> looking to|wards his Hou&s;e; they hang their Harps upon the willows, and fall a mourning and weeping at the remembrance of Sion. Read the&s;e Scriptures: <HI>P&s;al.</HI> 137. <HI>Dan.</HI> 9.2, 3, 4. <HI>Dan.</HI> 6.10. <HI>Zech.</HI> 7.3, 5. <HI>Zech.</HI> 8.19, 21, 22. <HI>Ezra</HI> 8.23.</P>
<P><PB N="52" REF="31"><NOTE PLACE="marg">Que&s;t.</NOTE><HI>Que&s;t.</HI> But did the people ever pray together, during the time of their Captivity?</P>
<P><NOTE PLACE="marg">An&s;w.</NOTE><HI>An&s;w.</HI> Yea: be&s;ides what other places of Scripture may hold out for the clearing of it, without doubt it lies clear in the face of this Text, <HI>E&s;th.</HI> 4.3, 16. <HI>Go, [gather together] all the Jews which are in Shu&s;han, and fa&s;t ye for me.</HI></P>
<P>If ever this were the ca&s;e of this people, and they were herein, as well as in other things, Types in re&s;pect of what was to come, me|thinks we are taught to con&s;ider that which was afore-time written for our learning, according to <HI>Rom.</HI> 15.4. <HI>Rom.</HI> 11. That in the Chri&s;tian Church-&s;tate there is &s;omething &s;o peculiar to it, as that it may not el&s;ewhere be admini&s;tred; as the power of Binding and Loo&s;ing in the Name of the Lord Je&s;us, together with the Admini|&s;tration of &s;uch Ordinances as are peculiar to a Church; wherein the Primitive Churches were exerci&s;ed for their &s;ea&s;on, contending <HI>earne&s;tly for the faith once given to the Saints;</HI> the woman wearing her Brides attire, her goodly cloathing, <HI>Revel.</HI> 12.1. until the Dragon made war again&s;t her, and put her to flight, pur&s;uing her with floods of water; in which condition of hers, &s;he hath lien in the wilderne&s;s of the world, in the rubbi&s;h and confu&s;ion of Babel, <HI>among the pots,</HI> unpoli&s;hed, growing up as <HI>a lily among thorns,</HI> here one, and there another, like an Army routed, like Sheep unfolded, according to that Scripture, <HI>I &s;aw all I&s;rael &s;cat|tered upon the mountains, like &s;heep having no &s;hepherd,</HI> 1 King. 22.17.</P>
<P>Oh that we could read with affection tho&s;e pa&s;&s;ages, <HI>P&s;al.</HI> 80. and <HI>P&s;al.</HI> 81. Oh how is the <HI>Sion</HI> of the Lord <HI>become a plowed field</HI> indeed! How is the <HI>Vineyard</HI> of the Lord <HI>&s;poiled!</HI> Once it was not &s;o: but, at this day, how do the poor people of the Lord rend, and devour, and tear, and eat up one another! what &s;harp and bitter words! How great is <HI>the company of &s;pear-men!</HI> the mother eating up the children of a &s;pan long. Could this be, if the Veil were taken away, and our Bondage removed? What may be the rea&s;on Truth is &s;o mi&s;called, &s;o mi&s;taken? (one pre|tends to have it, and another to have it:) Is it not becau&s;e <HI>night is to us for a vi&s;ion?</HI> We &s;ay we &s;ee, and we think we &s;ee; but know not that we are as men that dream. The Builders are at
<PB N="53" REF="31">
oddes among them&s;elves, and the &s;tones in the building ri&s;e up one again&s;t another. Can Chri&s;t be thus divided? If that his true Mini&s;tery were on foot, would not that rectifie that great Confu|&s;ion which is among the Builders? Would not a Trowel be a Trowel, and Brick be Brick, and Mortar be Mortar? Would not the language of Truth be di&s;tinctly under&s;tood? Would he &s;uffer one of his own &s;ervants to throw down what another mo&s;t dear to him&s;elf hath been a building up; and a third to de&s;troy the work of them both? Oh how great is the de&s;olation, if we were but &s;en&s;ible of it, and affected with it! And when we think to mend our &s;elves, and to become <HI>Repairers of the breaches,</HI> behold, <HI>in &s;tead of a girdle, a rent; in &s;tead of well-&s;et hair, baldne&s;s.</HI> This, this is the condition of the Lord's people, to them that &s;ee it: and &s;urely, <HI>unle&s;s the Lord of ho&s;ts had left us a remnant, we had been like Sodom.</HI> But ble&s;&s;ed be the Lord our Rock, who hath given us <HI>the valley of Achor for a door of hope,</HI> Ho&s;. 2.15. <HI>Ier.</HI> 31.16, 17. <HI>Zeph.</HI> 3.8, 9, 17, 18.</P>
<P>Now the condition of the Lords I&s;rael being thus routed, thus &s;cattered; they ought to be afflicted deeply with this their de&s;olation and &s;cattering; yet not to mourn as men without hope, <HI>Jer.</HI> 31.15, 16, 17, but <HI>cry mightily unto the Lord, and give him no re&s;t,</HI> I&s;a. 62.1, 6, 7. Luk. 18.1, 7, 8. <HI>To beare one anothers burthens; To inquire of the Lord,</HI> and one of another, <HI>the way to Sion,</HI> Jer. 50.4, 5, 6. <HI>To inquire after the true Lord Je&s;us,</HI> Cant. 6.1. Thus, according to this order and pattern of a poor captivated people, ought the &s;cattered I&s;rael of Jehovah to go mourning, and weeping, and &s;eeking the Lord: and not to go about to build, and &s;et up wayes, by their own mi&s;taken, mi&s;called, and mi&s;under&s;tood gifts: But to wait upon the Lord, le&s;t it be to them <HI>in &s;tead of a girdle, a rent,</HI> I&s;a. 3.24.</P>
<P><HI>Que&s;t.</HI> Seeing God hath promi&s;ed,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Que&s;t.</NOTE> <HI>That from the ri&s;ing of the Sun to the going down of the &s;ame, his Name &s;hall be great among the Gentiles,</HI> Mal. 1.11; How &s;hall this Name of Chri&s;t be proclaimed, and made great among the Gentiles, in this de&s;olate and lo&s;t condition? according to <HI>Rom.</HI> 10.</P>
<P><HI>An&s;w.</HI> This Que&s;tion &s;eems to be like <HI>I&s;aac's</HI> Que&s;tion to his<NOTE PLACE="marg">An&s;w.</NOTE>
<PB N="54" REF="32">
Father; <HI>My Father, where is the Lamb for the Sacrifice?</HI> and the An&s;wer may be the &s;ame that his was to his Son, <HI>God will provide him&s;elf a Lamb.</HI> I would intreate you to read the&s;e Scriptures, <HI>Mich.</HI> 2.7, 10. <HI>Mich.</HI> 3.5, 6, 7. <HI>Mich.</HI> 4. the whole Chapter; and that pa&s;&s;age mentioned in <HI>Rom.</HI> 10.15, being compared with <HI>I&s;a.</HI> 52.7, doth evidently declare, that there is yet a further &s;ending forth of the Me&s;&s;engers of Peace; when the Sion of God &s;hall awake and put on &s;trength, and Jeru&s;alem the holy City &s;hall put on beautiful garments. Read <HI>I&s;a.</HI> 52.1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, and judge whether this be not a Go&s;pel-Prophecie, part whereof is yet unfulfilled. And whether this be not the Apo|&s;tles &s;cope, in the tenth of the <HI>Romans, ver&s;.</HI> 14, 15, and the whole eleventh <HI>Chapter</HI> to the <HI>Romans.</HI> Onely while you &s;ay, How &s;hall this be? The wi&s;dome of Jehovah can bring this about, <HI>Zeph.</HI> 3.8, 9, 10, 12, 13, 14. When the time of the Lord is come, wherein that great Angel &s;hall lighten the earth with his glory, <HI>Rev</HI> 18.1, and wherein the Angel &s;hall flie in the mid&s;t of Heaven, having the ancient Go&s;pel to preach to them that dwell on the earth, to every nation, kindred, and tongue, and People, <HI>Rev.</HI> 14.6. When the Lord of the Harve&s;t &s;eeing the fields white to the Harve&s;t, &s;hall thru&s;t forth labourers into his Harve&s;t: when his Angels or Me&s;&s;engers &s;hall be &s;ent forth to ga|ther his elect from the four winds, from one end of Heaven to the other, <HI>The zeal of the Lord of Ho&s;ts &s;hall perform this,</HI> though we know not how.</P>
<P><NOTE PLACE="marg">Object.</NOTE><HI>Object.</HI> If there be not a Mini&s;tery in the World, What will become of the Faith of all &s;uch as believe in the Lord Je&s;us, dif|ferenced and di&s;hingui&s;hed under tho&s;e &s;everal profe&s;&s;ions, and known by tho&s;e &s;everal appellations whereby men have named them;<NOTE PLACE="marg">An&s;w.</NOTE> &s;eeing the Scripture witne&s;&s;eth, that men cannot believe with|out a Preacher? <HI>Rom.</HI> 10.41.</P>
<P><HI>An&s;w.</HI> This Objection grounds it &s;elf upon an ab&s;urdity that will &s;eem to follow upon the premi&s;es; <HI>viz.</HI> If what hath been alleadged, be true, touching the Mini&s;tery, How can this Scripture be true al&s;o, which &s;aith, <HI>How can they believe on him of whom they have not heard? And how &s;hall they hear without a Preacher?</HI></P>
<P><PB N="55" REF="32">To &s;olve which &s;eeming-contradiction, I de&s;ire the Reader to con&s;ider who that relative word <HI>they</HI> mu&s;t be applied to: And con&s;equently, what is the &s;cope of the Apo&s;tles argument in this place.</P>
<P>For the under&s;tanding of which, I conceive it will be nece&s;&s;ary to read the ninth, tenth, and eleventh Chapters together, and they will appear to be one continued Di&s;cour&s;e or Argument, whereby the Apo&s;tle <HI>Paul</HI> doth hold forth the &s;tate of the Jewes, (whom he calls his <HI>brethren,</HI> his <HI>kin&s;men according to the fle&s;h,</HI> Rom. 9.3.</P>
<P>Now concerning the&s;e, he begins all the three Chapters, and &s;hewes both their priviledges which they had by the Law, <HI>Chap.</HI> 9.4, 5.</P>
<P>Their rejection, through their non-&s;ubmi&s;&s;ion to the righteou&s;|ne&s;s of God, <HI>Chap.</HI> 10.3.</P>
<P>Their re&s;titution when the fulne&s;s of the Gentiles is come, in <HI>Chap.</HI> 11.25, to fulfil the My&s;tery of this di&s;pen&s;ation of God, by the appearing of the deliverer, who <HI>&s;hall turn away un|godline&s;s from Jacob,</HI> according to his Covenant, <HI>Ver&s;.</HI> 25, 26, 27. <HI>I&s;a.</HI> 59.20, 21.</P>
<P>The&s;e are that <HI>they</HI> which are mentioned in the 1, 2, 3, and 14 <HI>Ver&s;es</HI> of the tenth <HI>Chapter</HI> to the <HI>Romans;</HI> touching whom, the Apo&s;tle thus rea&s;ons:</P>
<P><HI>Brethren, my hearts de&s;ire and prayer to God for I&s;rael is, that they might be &s;aved. For I hear them record,</HI> &amp;c.</P>
<P><HI>Object.</HI> But, ble&s;&s;ed Apo&s;tle,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Object.</NOTE> what ground of Faith is there in this prayer, con&s;idering how they are rejected?</P>
<P><HI>An&s;w.</HI> The Scripture hath &s;aid, <HI>Who&s;oever believeth in him,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">An&s;w.</NOTE> <HI>&s;hall not be a&s;hamed: for there is no difference between the Iew and the Greek; for the &s;ame Lord over all, is rich unto all that call upon him: For who&s;oever &s;hall call upon the Name of the Lord, &s;hall be &s;aved.</HI> Therefore <HI>they, viz.</HI> the Jews, if <HI>they call upon the Name of the Lord,</HI> they <HI>&s;hall be &s;aved.</HI></P>
<P>Onely the Que&s;tion is, <HI>How</HI> they <HI>&s;hall call upon him in whom</HI> they <HI>have not believed? and how &s;hall</HI> they <HI>believe in him of whom</HI> they <HI>have not heard? and how &s;hall</HI> they <HI>hear without out a Preacher? and how &s;hall</HI> they <HI>Preach except</HI> they <HI>be &s;ent?</HI></P>
<P><PB N="56" REF="33">Therefore, till there be a &s;ending forth of Me&s;&s;engers, even to the Jews, <HI>quatenus</HI> Jews, as well as there hath been to the Gen|tiles, <HI>qu&acirc;</HI> &s;uch, no wonder if <HI>they</HI> believe not: For, <HI>how can</HI> they <HI>believe in him of whom</HI> they <HI>have not heard? and how can</HI> they <HI>hear without a Preacher? and how can</HI> they <HI>Preach ex|cept</HI> they <HI>be &s;ent?</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Object.</NOTE></P>
<P><HI>Object.</HI> But they have heard, though they have not obeyed; as appears,<NOTE PLACE="marg">An&s;w.</NOTE> <HI>Rom.</HI> 10.16, 18, 21.</P>
<P><HI>An&s;w.</HI> This may not be denied: for, Chri&s;t was &s;ent fir&s;t <HI>to the lost &s;heep of the hou&s;e of I&s;rael; And he</HI> accordingly <HI>came unto his own, and his own received him not.</HI> But the con&s;idera|tion hereof, makes the My&s;tery the greater.</P>
<P>Once God cho&s;e the family of <HI>Abraham</HI> before all the families of the earth, <HI>and in Judah was God known, and his Name fa|mous in I&s;rael. He dealt not &s;o with any other nation, neither had they the knowledge of his Law.</HI> Though afterwards, when the fulne&s;s of time was come, and the wall of partition broken down by the appearing of our Lord Je&s;us, then the My&s;tery of Chri&s;t which in other ages was not made manife&s;t, was revealed to his holy Apo&s;tles and Prophets,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Eph. 3.5, 6</NOTE> by the Spirit; which My&s;tery was, <HI>That the Gentiles &s;hould be fellow-heirs, and of the &s;ame body, and partakers of his promi&s;e in Chri&s;t by the Go&s;pel.</HI></P>
<P>And the Jewes, to whom the Go&s;pel fir&s;t was preached, having put it from them, <HI>Act.</HI> 13. <HI>ult.</HI> and reckoned them&s;elves unwor|thy of that &s;alvation, became the onely nation of all the world, who were by the ju&s;t hand of God concluded under blindne&s;s, and hardne&s;s, (in part) and &s;o are to continue &s;uch a proportion of time as was fore-appointed and decreed, <HI>Rom.</HI> 10.8, 9, 10, 25. At the expiration and determination of which time, there is to be a reve|lation of the My&s;tery of their breaking off, and ingrafting in again, <HI>Rom.</HI> 11.2<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="UOM" EXTENT="1 letter">. and that to be done when <HI>the deliverer &s;hall come out of Sion, and &s;hall turn away ungodline&s;s from Iacob.</HI></P>
<P>For as in times pa&s;t the Gentiles believed not, having not that opportunity of the knowledge of God as the Jews had; yet at length obtained mercy, through their unbelief: Even &s;o have <HI>the&s;e</HI> al&s;o now not believed, that through their mercy <HI>they</HI> might obtain mercy.</P>
<P><PB N="57" REF="33"><HI>Object.</HI> But how is this to be effected?<NOTE PLACE="marg">Object.</NOTE></P>
<P><HI>An&s;w.</HI> By means of the preaching of tho&s;e whom God in his holy and ble&s;&s;ed time will &s;end out for this work: For,<NOTE PLACE="marg">An&s;w.</NOTE> <HI>how &s;hall</HI> they <HI>call on him of whom</HI> they <HI>have not heard?</HI> (as the natural Jews have not, though their forefathers &s;ome of them did, and for their di&s;obedience were rejected.) <HI>And how &s;hall they hear with|out a preacher? and how &s;hall they preach except they be &s;ent? As it is written, How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of them which preach the Go&s;pel!</HI></P>
<P>Which pa&s;&s;age of Scripture, however it hath been applied to that publication of the Go&s;pel which hath had its cour&s;e among the Gentiles, yet the Apo&s;tle here makes a &s;pecial application thereof to the &s;ending forth of that Mini&s;tery which is to accompli&s;h this work; fora&s;much as that which is to accompany its admini&s;tration, is &s;omething which hath not as yet been performed, and which hath a peculiar fulfilling in the Calling of the Jews; as almo&s;t the whole Chapter from whence the Apo&s;tle fetcheth this pa&s;&s;age, will evince, if the Scripture it &s;elf be examined, <HI>I&s;ai.</HI> 52.7. Read ver&s;. 1, 2, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10.</P>
<P>Well might the Apo&s;tle therefore &s;ay,<NOTE PLACE="marg">I&s;a. 25.7.</NOTE> <HI>How can they hear without a preacher?</HI> fora&s;much as the time neither then was, nor appears yet to be come, wherein tho&s;e Me&s;&s;engers that are appoint|ed to bring them that <HI>glad tidings,</HI> after their long Captivity in blindne&s;s and hardne&s;s, under which they for a time were to con|tinue, to fulfil the Word of the Lord, <HI>Rom.</HI> <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="UOM" EXTENT="2 letters">.2<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="UOM" EXTENT="1 letter">. But when the full time is accompli&s;hed, and that the <HI>Deliverer is come</HI> (to Si|on) or <HI>out of Sion;</HI> Oh then <HI>how beautiful upon the mountains</HI> will be <HI>the feet of</HI> the Apo&s;tles or Me&s;&s;engers to whom &s;hall be revealed this My&s;tery, which hath been &s;o long hid, but &s;hall then be made manife&s;t; and by whom the glad tidings thereof &s;hall be publi&s;hed among tho&s;e, who, till this time, have not heard thereof, and con&s;equently could not believe!</P>
<P>Not as if no man, Jew or Gentile, could hear of God and Chri&s;t, and things of heaven, &s;o as to believe to &s;alvation, without a &s;pecial &s;ending of &s;ome per&s;on or per&s;ons to preach unto them as a Mini&s;ter, <HI>viz.</HI> an Apo&s;tle, Prophet, or Pa&s;tor; but that it could not be expected that the Nation of the Jews, who through their
<PB N="58" REF="34">
unbelief had been broken off, that <HI>they</HI> &s;hould be re&s;tored again, and become one &s;heepfold with the Gentiles through believing; and the My&s;tery hereof, be accompli&s;hed and revealed without a Preacher, <HI>i. e.</HI> tho&s;e Me&s;&s;engers who&s;e feet were to be beautiful in publi&s;hing the glad tidings thereof, and which &s;hould have its accompli&s;hment in its &s;ea&s;on.</P>
<P>Secondly, And that this may the more manife&s;tly appear to re|late to a &s;pecial &s;ending of &s;uch as hath been &s;poken of, the phra&s;e of &s;peech u&s;ed in the fifteenth Ver&s;e of the tenth Chapter to the <HI>Romanes,</HI> may &s;omewhat help to evince.</P>
<P>Where it may be ob&s;erved, that the two e&s;pecial phra&s;es of &s;peech which import</P>
<P>Authoritative
<LIST>
<ITEM>Sending, <GAP DESC="foreign">,</ITEM>
<ITEM>Preaching, <GAP DESC="foreign">,</ITEM>
</LIST>
are u&s;ed both for the &s;ending and preaching of tho&s;e Me&s;&s;engers which are there mentioned by the Apo&s;tle: whereas it will be found in the Scripture, that in the days of the fir&s;t Mini&s;tery (when it was on foot in the world) that Faith was not &s;o tied to a Mini&s;te|ry, or to one &s;o e&s;pecially &s;ent, (as this Scripture holds forth &s;end|ing in the terms of it) as that the Faith could not be true, where the Preaching and Sending was not &s;uch, <HI>i. e.</HI> Authorita|tive.</P>
<P>To &s;ay nothing of <HI>Cornelius</HI> that devout Souldier, and Cap|taine of the <HI>Italian band,</HI> of whom the ble&s;&s;ed Witne&s;s of Truth te&s;tifies, <HI>That he feared God with all his hou&s;e, and gave alms to the people, and prayed to God alwayes;</HI> who&s;e prayers and alms (the Angel te&s;tifieth) were <HI>come up for a memorial before God.</HI> Now <HI>God heareth not &s;inners,</HI> Joh. 9.31. And in the ninth of the <HI>Acts</HI> it's noted of <HI>Paul,</HI> after he had &s;een the Lord in the way, in the eleventh <HI>ver&s;. Behold he prayeth;</HI> which was an evidence of his conver&s;ion. Yet this <HI>Cornelius</HI> did, before any Mini&s;tery (that we read of) had made known the minde of the Lord unto him; as afterward it did in the conclu&s;ion of that Chap|ter. But I refer this to the exerci&s;e of a free minde to con&s;ider of.</P>
<P><NOTE PLACE="marg">Friendly and Chri&s;ti|an commu|nication.</NOTE>There be other ca&s;es be&s;ides this of <HI>Cornelius,</HI> which may give light to this thing.</P>
<P>The Faith of the <HI>Samaritans,</HI> who believed upon the report of
<PB N="59" REF="34">
the woman communicating to them her experiences touching the Me&s;&s;iah, owns it &s;elf to no &s;uch Mini&s;tery as the Objection im|ports and holds forth, as the &s;tory will ea&s;ily make appear when it is read, <HI>Ioh.</HI> 4. the Lord Je&s;us having &s;poken to her heart and &s;hewed her the corruption thereof, in telling her &s;he had had five husbands, and he whom &s;he now had was not her husband, (a thing which &s;he knew very well already) this extorts from her an acknowledgment that he was a Prophet, <HI>Ver&s;.</HI> 18. but more begot more; in conclu&s;ion, &s;he left the water-pot, and went into the City, and communicated her experience to the people thereof, (men and women) <HI>Come, &s;ee a man that told me all that ever I did: Is not this the Chri&s;t?</HI> The effect of which declaration of hers was &s;uch, as it not onely (if at all) prevailed with the peo|ple of that City to come to him, that by &s;eeing him they might be|lieve; but to believe, and &s;o come to &s;ee: as them&s;elves te&s;tifie, <HI>Ver&s;e</HI> 39, 40, 41, 42.</P>
<P>The Apo&s;tle mentions, as another meanes of conver&s;ion,</P>
<P>A gratious Conver&s;ation, 1 <HI>Cor.</HI> 7.16,<NOTE PLACE="marg">A holy and cha&s;te con|ver&s;ation.</NOTE> compared with the fir&s;t of <HI>Peter</HI> 3.1, <HI>For what knowe&s;t thou, O Wife, whether thou &s;halt &s;ave thy husband? <GAP DESC="foreign">. &mdash;Convertes ad fidem Chri&s;tianam.</HI> It is the &s;ame word which is u&s;ed in <HI>Matth.</HI> 1.21, <HI>Salvabit populum &s;uum &agrave; peccatis eorum: He &s;hall &s;ave his people from their &s;innes.</HI> Which &s;aving of the husband by the wife, the Apo&s;tle <HI>Peter,</HI> in 1 <HI>Pet.</HI> 3.1, 2, appropriates (in&s;tru|mentally) to her <HI>cha&s;te conver&s;ation. Likewi&s;e, ye wives, be in &s;ubjection to your own husbands, that if any obey not the Word, they al&s;o may without the Word be won by the conver&s;a|tion of the wives; while they behold your cha&s;t conver&s;ation with feare.</HI></P>
<P>I have ob&s;erved touching the conver&s;ion of <HI>Paul,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Immediate Revelation</NOTE> that it was effected by immediate revelation, <HI>Act.</HI> 9.6, 11, compared with <HI>Gal.</HI> 1.12, 16. <HI>Ephe&s;.</HI> 3.3. And though the Lord Je&s;us preacht unto him in the way, yet he did it by him&s;elf, without &s;uch in&s;tru|ments as at that time he had appointed and placed in the world for the working Faith and Conver&s;ion.</P>
<P>By all which it appeares, that however it is our duty to attend to &s;uch means as God hath appointed, when and where they way be
<PB N="60" REF="35">
injoyed; yet him&s;elf is not bound &s;o to work by them, as that he can|not work be&s;ides them, and without them, when he plea&s;eth; or that the Faith or Conver&s;ion which ownes not &s;uch a Mini&s;tery to have a &s;hare in it's working, mu&s;t therefore not be true, becau&s;e not &s;o wrought or effected as the Objection holds it forth.</P>
<P><NOTE PLACE="marg">Diligent &s;earching the Scrip|ture.</NOTE>To what hath been &s;poken, might be added the con&s;ideration of the Faith of tho&s;e men of <HI>Berea, Act.</HI> 17.11, 12, which at|tributes very much to their daily <HI>&s;earching the Scriptures, whe|ther the things they heard of Paul and Silas were &s;o;</HI> (and it's &s;aid) <HI>Therefore many of them believed.</HI> No doubt <HI>Paul</HI> and <HI>Silas</HI> preached to the&s;e, as they had before to tho&s;e of <HI>The&s;&s;aloni|ca, Ver&s;.</HI> 3, <HI>But the&s;e were more noble then the former, in that they &s;earched the Scriptures</HI> which <HI>Paul</HI> and <HI>Silas</HI> urged, to &s;ee <HI>whether the thing</HI> alleadged <HI>were &s;o: therefore many of them believed.</HI></P>
<P>As al&s;o the evangelizing of the &s;cattered brethren, and the ble&s;&s;ed &s;ucce&s;&s;e that en&s;ued thereupon: who though they were &s;o far from being Mini&s;terially &s;ent out, that they were &s;ent after, by the Churches at Jeru&s;alem, when tidings had come to their eares how the hand of the Lord was with them, <HI>Act.</HI> 1.19, 20, 21, 22; yet their labour of Love and work in that particular was accepted, <HI>and many were turned to the Lord thereby.</HI></P>
<P>By all which it doth appear, that although <HI>Faith came by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God;</HI> yet it doth not ap|pear that Faith cannot be true, or that none can be &s;aid to believe who have not &s;o heard, <HI>viz.</HI> By &s;uch a preaching and &s;ending as that Scripture in <HI>Rom.</HI> 10.14, 15, holds forth, and as this Objection would enforce: But on the contrary, rather, that although the Lord Je&s;us did in&s;titute and appoint &s;ome certaine per&s;ons, cho&s;en and deputed to the work of the Mini&s;tery, for the ends, and during the time mentioned in the fourth of the <HI>Ephe&s;ians,</HI> to which men were to give attendance, as to the meanes appointed of God for tho&s;e ends; yet he was not bound &s;o to work by tho&s;e in&s;truments, and by none other, as if that what&s;oever he wrought otherwi&s;e, or by other meanes, mu&s;t be invalidated, becau&s;e it was not &s;o effected; as the in&s;tances before alleadged, will with clearne&s;s, and no le&s;s comfort, evince.</P>
<P><PB N="63" REF="35">Therefore this con&s;ideration now pre&s;ented, will be &s;o far from weakning, that it will adde much comfort and &s;trength to the Faith of the mourners of <HI>Sion,</HI> and the waiters for the hope of <HI>I&s;rael;</HI> while they behold, that the mo&s;t High hath placed &s;uch foot&s;teps among&s;t his ble&s;&s;ed Oracles of Truth (the Scriptures) that may &s;tay from wandering, and pre&s;erve from fainting their wearied Spi|rits&punc; as in other things, &s;o al&s;o in this, <HI>that their Faith and Hope may be found in God,</HI> and they no way enforced to build upon the wi&s;dome of men, that would be e&s;teemed the Mini&s;ters and Me&s;&s;engers of Chri&s;t, in &s;tead of tho&s;e that once were &s;o.</P>
<P>And may &s;erve as a good help, till better do appear, to free the minde and &s;pirit of &s;ome that are &s;incere, from that Bull or Comination which hath taken hold of them; enforcing it &s;elf upon the Con&s;cience, not to dare to que&s;tion the pre&s;ent Mini&s;tery, le&s;t they be nece&s;&s;itated to que&s;tion their own Faith al&s;o; though this que&s;tioning extends it &s;elf no farther, then to try it by the rules of the Word; a thing &s;o frequently commanded by God him|&s;elf. And the impartial exerci&s;e whereof, though it might pre|vaile with &s;ome to &s;ee their pre&s;ent lo&s;s, and that they are not what they have taken them&s;elves to be, and abate much of the pre&s;ent con|fidence which mo&s;t men have; yet would it not at all take off the ground of their con&s;olation, nor the exerci&s;e of their gratious abili|ties in &s;earching the Scriptures as touching the pre&s;ent Truth, as the men of <HI>Berea</HI> did; nor of communicating their gratious experi|ences, as that good woman of <HI>Samaria</HI> did, or tho&s;e hone&s;t-heart|ed brethren of the di&s;per&s;ion; nor of holding forth a holy, harmle&s;s, and cha&s;te Conver&s;ation, winning and in&s;trumentally &s;a|ving tho&s;e who po&s;&s;ibly may not be won by the Word; them&s;elves mean while being found faithful witne&s;&s;es to Truth, &s;o far as they have attained, and waiters for that grace which is to be brought at the revelation of Je&s;us Chri&s;t.</P>
<P><PB N="62" REF="36"><NOTE PLACE="marg">2 The&s;&s;. 4.5.</NOTE> <HI>Now the Lord direct our hearts in|to the love of God, and into a patient waiting for Christ; fora&s;much as unto them that look for him, &s;hall he appear the &s;econd time without &s;in unto Salvati|on: therefore in patience, let us po&s;&s;e&s;s our &s;ouls, knowing that the time is com|ing, yea ha&s;tning, wherein the blinde &s;hall &s;ee, the lame &s;hall leap, and the &s;tamme|ring tongue be unloo&s;ed. In the mean time,</HI>
<Q>Let Brotherly love continue.</Q></P>
<TRAILER>FINIS.</TRAILER>
<PB REF="36">
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</TEXT>
</EEBO>
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