being made void by the traditions of men, superstition, human inventions, will-worship, may defile and contaminate the service of God; yea, and greater abominations may men possessing Moses' chair by succession do. Now that the temple of God hath been thus made a den of thieves, that the abomination of desolation hath been set up in the holy place, is evident from the Jewish and Christian church; for in the one it was clearly so, when the government of it was devolved to the scribes and Pharisees, and in the other, when the man of sin had exalted himself in the midst thereof. Now suppose a man, living in the midst and height of such a sad apostacy, when a universal darkness had spread itself over the face of the church, if the Lord be pleased to reveal unto him out of his word some points of faith, then either not all known, or generally disbelieved, yet a right belief whereof is necessary to salvation; and farther, out of the same word shall discover unto him the wickedness of that apostacy, and the means to remove it, I demand, Whether that man, without expecting any call from the fomenters and maintainers of those errors, with which the church at that time is only not destroyed, may not preach, publish, and publicly declare the said truths to others (the knowledge of them being so necessary for the good of their souls), and conclude himself thereunto called of God, by virtue of the forenamed, and other the like rules? Truly for my part (under correction) I conceive he may, nay, he ought, neither is any other outward call requisite to constitute him a preacher of the gospel, than the consent of God's people to be instructed by him. For instance; suppose that God should reveal the truth of the gospel to a mere layman (as they say) in Italy, so that he be fully convinced thereof; what shall he now do? abstain from publishing it, though he be persuaded in conscience that a great door of utterance might be granted unto him, only because some heretical, simonical, wicked, antichristian prelate, hath not ordained him minister; who yet would not do it, unless he will subscribe to those errors and heresies which he is persuaded to be such? Truly I think by so abstaining, he should sin against the law of charity, in seeing (not the ox or ass of his brother falling into the pit, but) their precious souls sinking to everlasting damnation,

a Ezek. xxii. 27, 28. viii. 13.

and not preventing it when he might; and were he indeed truly angry with his whole nation, he might have the advantage of an Italian revenge.

Moreover, he should sin against the precept of Christ, by hiding his light under a bushel, and napkining up his talent, an increase whereof will be required of him at the last day. Now with this I was always so well satisfied, that I ever deemed all curious disquisition after the outward vocation of our first reformers, Luther, Calvin, &c. altogether needless; the case in their days being exactly that which I have laid down.

Come we now to the third and last way, whereby men not partakers of any outward ordinary vocation, may yet receive a sufficient warrant for the preaching and publishing of the gospel, and that by some outward act of providence guiding them thereunto; for example, put case a Christian man, should by any chance of providence be cast by shipwreck or otherwise, upon the country of some barbarous people, that never heard of the name of Christ, and there by his goodness that brought him thither, be received amongst them, into civil human society; may he not, nay, ought he not, to preach Christ unto them? and if God give a blessing to his endeavours, may he not become a pastor to the converted souls? None I hope makes any doubt of it; and in the primitive times, nothing was more frequent than such examples; thus were the Indians and the Moors turned to the faith, as you may see in Eusebius: yea, great was the liberty which in the first church was used in this kind, presently after the supernatural gift of tongues ceased amongst men.

CHAP. VIII.

Of the liberty and duty of gifted uncalled Christians, in the exercise of divers acts of God's worship.

AND thus have I declared what I conceive, concerning extraordinary calling to the public teaching of the word, in what cases only it useth to take place; whence I conclude, that whosoever pretends unto it, not warranted by an evidence of one of those three ways that God taketh in such proceedings, is but a pretender, an impostor, and ought accordingly to be rejected of all God's people in other cases, not to disuse what outward ordinary occasion from them who are intrusted by commission from God with that power, doth confer upon persons so called, we must needs grant it a negative voice, in the admission of any to the public preaching of the gospel; if they come not in at that door, they do climb over the wall, if they make any entrance at all. It remains then, to shut up all, that it be declared, what private Christians, living in a pure, orthodox, well ordered church may do, and how far they may interest themselves, in holy soulconcerning affairs, both in respect of their own particular, and of their brethren in the midst of whom they live: in which determination, because it concerneth men of low degree, and those that comparatively may be said to be unlearned, I shall labour to express the conceivings of my mind, in as familiar, plain observations as I can; only thus much I desire may be premised, that the principles and rules of that church government, from which, in the following assertions, I desire not to wander, is of that (to which I do, and always in my poor judgment have adhered, since by God's assistance I had engaged myself to the study of his word) which commonly is called presbyterial, or synodical, in opposition to prelatical or diocesan on the one side; and that which is commonly called independent or congregational on the other.

First then, a diligent searching of the Scriptures, with fervent prayers to Almighty God, for the taking away that veil of ignorance, which by nature is before their eyes, that they

may come to a saving knowledge in, and a right understanding of them, is not only lawful and convenient for all men professing the name of Christ, but also absolutely necessary because commanded, yea indeed commanded because the end so to be attained is absolutely necessary to salvation. To confirm this, I need not multiply precepts out of the Old or New Testament, such as that of Isa. viii. 20. To the law and to the testimony,' and that of John v. 39. Search the Scriptures,' which are innumerable; nor yet heap up motives unto it, such as are the description of the heavenly country, whither we are going, in them is contained; John xiv. 2. 2 Cor. v. 1. Rev. xxii. 1, &c. the way by which we are to travel laid down; John v. 39. xiv. 5, 6. Jesus Christ, whom we must labour to be like, painted out; Gal. iii. 1. and the back-parts of God discovered; Deut. xxix. 29. by them only true spiritual wisdom is conveyed to our souls; Jer. viii. 9. whereby we may become even wiser than our teachers; Psal. cxix. in them all comfort and consolation is to be had, in the time of danger and trouble; Psal. cxix. 54. 71, 72. in brief, the knowledge of Christ, which is life eternal; John xvii. 3. yea, all that can be said in this kind comes infinitely short of those treasures of wisdom, riches, and goodness, which are contained in them; The law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul; the testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple;' Psal. xix. 7. but this duty of the people is clear and confessed; the objections of the Papists against it being, for the most part, so many blasphemies against the holy word of God; they accuse it of difficulty, which God affirms to make wise the simple;' of obscurity, which 'openeth the eyes of the blind;' to be a dead letter, a nose of wax, which is quick and powerful, piercing to the dividing asunder of the soul and spirit;' to be weak and insufficient, which is able to make the man of God perfect and wise unto salvation;' yea, that word which the apostle affirmeth to be 'profitable for reproof,' is not in any thing more full, than in reproving of this blasphemy.

Secondly, They may not only (as before) search the Scriptures, but also examine, and try by them the doctrine that publicly is taught unto them; the people of God must not be like children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every

wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive;' Eph. iv. 14. all is not presently gospel, that is spoken in the pulpit; it is not long since, that altar-worship, Arminianism, popery, superstition, &c. were freely preached in this kingdom; now what shall the people of God do in such a case? yield to every breath, to every puff of false doctrine? or rather try it by the word of God, and if it be not agreeable thereunto, cast it out like salt that hath lost its savour: must not the people take care that they be not seduced? must they not 'beware of false prophets, which come unto them in sheep's clothing, but inwardly are ravening wolves?' and how shall they do this? what way remains, but a trying their doctrine by the rule? In these evil days wherein we live, I hear many daily complaining, that there is such difference, and contrariety among preachers, they know not what to do, nor scarce what to believe my answer is, Do but your own duty, and this trouble is at an end; is there any contrariety in the book of God? pin not your faith upon men's opinions, the Bible is the touchstone: that there is such diversity amongst teachers is their fault, who should think all the same thing; but that this is so troublesome to you, is your own fault, for neglecting your duty of trying all things by the word. Alas, you are in a miserable condition, if you have all this while relied on the authority of men in heavenly things he that builds his faith upon preachers, though they preach nothing but truth, and he pretend to believe it, hath indeed no faith at all, but a wavering opinion, built upon a rotten foundation. Whatever then is taught you, you must go with it to the law and to the testimony, if they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them;' Isa. viii. 20. Yea, the Bereans are highly extolled for searching whether the doctrine concerning our Saviour, preached by St. Paul, were so or no, Acts xvii. 11. agreeably to the precept of the same preacher, 1 Thess. v. 21. 'Make trial of all things, and hold fast that which is good;' as also to that of St. John, 1 Epist. iv. 1. Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they be of God, because many false spirits are gone out into the world;' prophets then must be tried, before they be trusted: now the reason of this holds still. There are many false teachers

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