mystery of his death (though ignorant of the history) if they suffer his seed and light (enlightening their hearts) to take place (in which light, communion with the Father and Son is enjoyed) so as of wicked men to become holy, and lovers of that power, by whose inward and secret touches they feel themselves turned from the evil to the good, and learn to do to others as they would be done by; in which Christ himself affirms all to be included. As they then have falsely and erroneously taught, who have denied Christ to have died for all men; so neither have they sufficiently taught the truth, who affirming him to have died for all, have added the absolute necessity of the outward knowledge thereof, in order to the obtaining its saving effect; among whom the Remonstrants of Holland have been chiefly wanting, and many other assertors of universal redemption, in that they have not placed the extent of this salvation in that divine and evangelical principle of light and life, wherewith Christ hath enlightened every man that comes into the world, which is excellently and evidently held forth in these scriptures, Gen. vi. 3. Deut. xxx. 14. John, i. 7, 8, 9. Rom. x. 8. Tit. ii. 11. THE SEVENTH PROPOSITION. Concerning JUSTIFICATION. As many as resist not this light, but receive the same, in them is produced a holy, pure, and spiritual birth, bringing forth holiness, righteousness, purity, and all these other blessed fruits which are acceptable to God; by which holy birth (to wit, Jesus Christ formed within us, and working his works in us) as we are sanctified, so are we justified in the sight of 1 Cor.vi.11. God, according to the Apostle's words, But ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God. Therefore it is not by our works wrought in our will, nor yet by good as works, considered of themselves, but by Christ, who is both the gift and the giver, and the cause producing the effects in us; who, as he hath reconciled us while we were enemies, doth also in his wisdom save us, and justify us after this manner, as saith the same Apostle elsewhere, According Tit, iii. 5. to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and the renewing of the Holy Ghost. THE EIGHTH PROPOSITION. Concerning PERFECTION. 2.18. IN whom this holy and pure birth is fully brought Rom. vi. 14; forth, the body of death and sin comes to be crucified viii. 13; vi. and removed, and their hearts united and subjected 1 John iii. 6. unto the truth, so as not to obey any suggestion or temptation of the evil one, but to be free from actual sinning, and transgressing of the law of God, and in that respect perfect. Yet doth this perfection still admit of a growth; and there remaineth a possibility of sinning, where the mind doth not most diligently and watchfully attend unto the Lord. THE NINTH PROPOSITION. Concerning PERSEVERANCE, and the Possibility of ALTHOUGH this gift, and inward grace of God, be 5, 6. fall away. Yet such an increase and stability in the truth may in this life be attained, from which there cannot be a total apostacy. Mat. x. 8. THE TENTH PROPOSITION. Concerning the MINISTRY. As by this gift, or light of God, all true knowledge in things spiritual is received and revealed; so by the same, as it is manifested and received in the heart, by the strength and power thereof, every true minister of the gospel is ordained, prepared, and supplied in the work of the ministry: and by the leading, moving, and drawing hereof, ought every evangelist and Christian pastor to be led and ordered in his labour and work of the gospel, both as to the place where, as to the persons to whom, and as to the times when he is to minister. Moreover, those who have this authority may and ought to preach the gospel, though without human commission or literature; as on the other hand, those who want the authority of this divine gift, however learned or authorized by the commissions of men and churches, are to be esteemed but as deceivers, and not true ministers of the gospel. Also, who have received this holy and unspotted gift, as they have freely received, so are they freely to give, without hire or bargaining, far less to use it, as a trade to get money by it: yet if God hath called any from their employments, or trades, by which they acquire their livelihood, it may be lawful for such (according to the liberty which they feel given them in the Lord) to receive such temporals (to wit, what may be needful to them for meat and clothing) as are freely given them by those to whom they have communicated spirituals. THE ELEVENTH PROPOSITION. Concerning WORSHIP. ALL true and acceptable worship to God is offered in the inward and immediate moving and drawing of his own Spirit, which is neither limited to places, times, or persons; for though we be to worship him always, in that we are to fear before him, yet as to the outward signification thereof in prayers, praises, or preachings, we ought not to do it where and when we will, but where and, when we are moved thereunto by the secret inspirations of his Spirit in our hearts, which God heareth and accepteth of, and is never wanting to move us thereunto, when need is, of which he himself is the alone proper judge. All other worship then, both praises, prayers, and preachings, which man sets about in his own will, and at his own appointment, which he can both begin and end at his pleasure, do or leave undone as himself sees meet, whether they be a prescribed form, as a liturgy, or prayers conceived extemporarily by the natural strength and faculty of the mind, they are all Ezek. xiii. but superstitions, will-worship, and abominable ido- Mat. x. 20. latry in the sight of God; which are to be denied, xviii. 5. rejected, and separated from, in this day of his spiri- 20 tual arising: however it might have pleased him Jude 19. (who winked at the times of ignorance, with respect 23. to the simplicity and integrity of some, and of his own innocent seed, which lay as it were buried in the hearts of men, under the mass of superstition) to blow upon the dead and dry bones, and to raise some breathings, and answer them, and that until the day should more clearly dawn and break forth. Acts ii. 4; John iii, 6; and iv. 21. Acts xvii. 21. THE TWELFTH PROPOSITION. Concerning BAPTISM. Eph. iv. 5. As there is one Lord and one faith, so there is one 1Pet. iii. baptism; which is not the putting away of the filth of Rom. vi. 4. the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience before Gal. iii. 27. God, by the resurrection of Jesus Christ. And this John iii. 30. baptism is a pure and spiritual thing, to wit, the bap Col. ii. 12. tism of the spirit and fire, by which we are buried 1 Cor. i. 17. with him, that being washed and purged from our sins, we may walk in newness of life; of which the baptism of John was a figure, which was commanded for a time, and not to continue for ever. As to the baptism of infants, it is a mere human tradition, for which neither precept nor practice is to be found in all the scripture. 17. 33, 35. 8. THE THIRTEENTH PROPOSITION. Concerning the COMMUNION, or PARTICIPATION of the BODY and BLOOD of CHRIST. 1 Cor. x. 16, THE Communion of the body and blood of Christ is inward and spiritual, which is the participation of John vi. 32, his flesh and blood, by which the inward man is daily 1 Cor. v. 8, nourished in the hearts of those in whom Christ dwells; of which things the breaking of bread by Christ with his disciples was a figure, which they even used in the church for a time, who had received Acts xv. 20. the substance, for the cause of the weak; even as abJohn xii. staining from things strangled, and from blood; the 13. James v. 14. washing one another's feet, and the anointing of the sick with oil; all which are commanded with no less authority and solemnity than the former; yet seeing they are but the shadows of better things, they cease in such as have obtained the substance. |