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RIGHT REFORMATION r
OR," I
THE REFORMATION OF THE CHURCH
OF TUE
NEW TESTAMENT,
REPRESENTED IJ^'GGSPEL LIGHT.
In a Sermon Preached
TO THE
HONOURABLE HOUSE OF COMMONS,
On WEDNESDAY, Nov. 25, 1646.
TOGETHER WITH A REPLY TO THE CHIEF CONTRADICTIONS
OF MASTER LOVE's SERMON, PKEACHED THE SAME DAY.

All Published for the Good of the Faithful, at their Desire.

By WILLIAM DELL,
OINISTBB OP THE GOSPEL, ATTENDING ON HIS EXCELLENCY SIR THOMAS
FAIRFAX.

And there was much murmuring among the People concernin^him ;;^ for some
said. He is a good man : others said. Nay ; but he deceiveth the People. — John
rii. 12. , .
And these things will they do unto you, because they have not known th»
Father, norme.-r-JouN xvi. 3.
Credo me iheologum e^se chrislianum, et in regno veritatis vivere ; ideo men
debitorem esse, non modo afiirmaudse veritatis, sed etiam asserendse, et defen-
dendsB, seu per sanguinem, seu per mortem. — Luth.

Printed from the Quarto Edition of 1651.

LONDON:

PUBLISHED BY E. HUNTINGTON, 55, HIGH STEEET,
BLOOMSBUEY. 1817.

Ks

Innes, Printer, 61, Wells Street, Oxford Street, Lotim-

TO THE
HONOURABLE THE COMMONS
ASSEMBLED IN PARLIAMENT.

Honourable and Worthy,
As the Lord represented these truths to you
before, in the ministry of the word, so now again
he, offers them to your second consideration in this
printed book, because he hath a mind you should
take notice of them. And I must needs say, it
is the Lbrd's voice to you; and I hope he will
move your hearts to regard it, though satan hath
mightily bestirred himself, by casting an ill vizard
upon the truth, to make you dislike it. But if
you like Christ the worse for a face spit on and
buffeted, you may, want a Saviour; and if you
like the truth of Christ the worse for a scratched
face, you may make your dwelling place with
error and human doctrines, which are all one.
Micaiah had no sooner delivered the truth of God,
but there was a^ false prophet to smite him on the
face. The Lord no sooner prepares instruments
to reveal his truth, but satan hath his instruments
ready to turn the truth of God into a lie. And
this God. ijiffers to be done, to exercise your skill
a2

and wisdom, that you might learn not to be of
fended at the truth with the world, but to receive
and love the truth, notwithstanding all the indig
nities and reproaches of men. When you read
what you have heard, you must needs acknow
ledge it to' be the mind of God, if you have re
ceived the anointing of the Spirit; and the truth
herein contained, shall prevail with all that belong
to God. For my part, I am not careful touching
the success of it ; I can trust God with that, whose
word it is. For, as' the doctrine of the world hath
the weak power of the world to carry on that ; so
the doctrine of Jesus Christ hath the mighty power
of God to carry on that; and the power of God
in the world shall as soon be made void, as the
true doctrine of the gospel, though called error,
heresy, and schism, and have all the misguises of
hell put upon it. '^The truth you then heard de
livered, and may here read again, shall carry all
opposition, and opposers before it, and none shall
be able to stand against it, that engage against it :
and of this, both yourselves and this generation
shall be witnesses.
If any think that I gave too much power to
Christ, in the reforming of the church, his own
body; let them consider again, that too much
cannot be given to Christ in God's kingdom, seeing
he is all in all in it. Neither is that exaltation
the gospel gives to Christ in this business, any
diminution to yourselves; neither by making
Christ all in the kingdora of God, are you made

ever the less in the kingdoms of this world : but
whatever power the word of God hath given you,
I will deny you none of it;- nay, I will be amoilg
the first that shall attribute it to you^ And do
desire you would no more any of you be displeased
for attributing the reformation of the church to
Christ alone, than the redemption, justification, sanc
tification, or glorification of it to Christ alone : the
former being every whitas great and glorious a work
of Christ, as the latter. I do most willingly allow
you your thrones in the kingdoms of this world :
but only desire to reserve to Christ, his own throne;
in the kingdom of God,
; There are those indeed, that would lift you up
to this throne, not because they would have you
sit there, but place them there : they would as
cribe to you the power only due to the Son, of
God, not because they would have you use it, but
would use it themselves ; they would derive power
from you to do that, which they say you cannot
do ; and the power they attribute to you in the
things of God, they say -ts not well in your hands,
but in theirs. ,
And here I would desire you to take notice of
the working of the mystery of iniquity, from
the head to the very little toes of the man of sin.
At first you know the pope interested himself in
the emperor, and powers of the world, for his own
advantage and support no doubt, rather than for
theirs; after, the prelates successively said to
Avorldly kings. Lend us your power, and we will

lend you ours. Let our spiritual power deal in
temporal things, and your temporal power shall
deal in spiritual things : and still the clergy-power,
which called itself spiritual, so linkt itself with
the temporal, that tbe power that was not of God
might be upheld by the power that was of God ;
and having got this advantage, they cried. Destroy
one, destroy both ; and so the prelates were wont
to-say, No bishop, no king. And their successors
in the kingdom of antichrist still cry. No minister,
no magistrate ; and so still mingle interests and
powers with the civil magistrate, that under the ma
gistrate, the power of God, they might cunningly
shroud that power, that is not of God. And thus
they still, under the name of the magistrate, seek
themselves ; and the drawing off that power that is
only his, from hira to themselves, to whom it doth
not belong ; being, in the mean time, really against
magistracy, further than it is serviceable to their
own ends : whereas, we reckon magistracy, not
less magistracy, no less the ordinance of God,
though we suffer under it, and by it.
This clergy-antichristian power, wherever it is,
will still sit upon the power of the nation; the
power of antichrist, so domineering over the powers
ofthe world, that none but the power of Christ can
cast it off. That will still be uppermost, what
power soever is supreme. Besides all the ex
perience of former ages, which is the greatest
wondef in the world that men consider not, God
gives you sparklings enough of it in this age;

some preaching. That the government of the
church (which they make outward and visible, and
over men's estates, bodies, and lives) belongs not
to king nor parliament, but to the ministers and
their elders : and better it is there should be no
government at all, say they, than not in their hands
by whom it should be. And here lies the mys
tery of iniquity in this, that they make the whole
kingdoiii. a church, and then require a power,
authority, and jurisdiction, in their church-king
dom, which the raagistrate is not to deal withal,
but themselves. Whereas we acknowledge the
whole povver of the kingdom to belong to
the magistrate, and only give unto Christ the
power of his own kingdom, which is not of the
world, but spiritual and heavenly.
And here; also, fully to deliver myself from mis
apprehensions, I understand not by the church of
Christ, any company of men whatsoever, who
Under the notion of a church or. saints, or ariy
other title, may plead privilege or exemption of
their lives, liberties, or estates, from the power of
the civil magistrate ; for that were to justify the
papal, prelatical, or any other government of a
newer name, which under pretence of Jus divinum,
shall set up and exercise an outward and visible
power and jurisdiction, free and exempted from the
authority and power of the civil magistrate ; which
I utterly both deny and detest, as antichristian.
And therefore, 1 humbly .represent, how preju-
<licial this may prove, to you in the end, to suffer a

generation of men in the kingdom, under the name
eithei; of church or clergy, whose power, prefer
ment, and interest, ,is, different and eccentrical
from the power, welfare, and interest of the king
dom ; and what a balance they may prove against
the state where they live, in turning and tumul
tuous times, as they theinselves know, so, I hope,
you clearly perceive it, as well as they. How they
already dare lift up the head against you, who
sees not? How do they manifest their discontents
against you, in pamphlets and pulpits, in their
sermons and prayers, because you have not settled
the government they have studied out for you, as
Jus divinum, and the certain and unchangeable
mind of God ; though they can neither make it
out to yourselves, nor to any body else, by the
word, that it is so. And how do they labour to
instil into the people their own discontents, per
suading them you have done nothing at all, be
cause you have not done all that ever they would
have you do, though you can see neither scripture
nor reason for it: and for this cause, rei;idering
you every where odious to the people. Many
other things besides do they scramble up, and use
against you, which they conceive may make for
your <lisadvantage, and disinterest in the people :
because they think, they shall never get much
higher, except they make you a little lower; for
they must, according to the law of antichrist,
set their feet"on your power, to get up to their own.
Some discoveries of this spirit you niight see in

9
Mr. Love's sermon, telling you before your faces
and before the people, that some called you a
mongrel parliament. Indeed the King, as I un
derstand, called the parliament at Oxford so ; but
Mr. Love was the first, for ought I can learn, that
ever named you so, and I wish he may be the last,
but any doctrine is orthodox out of a man's
mouth of his order ; further threatening you with
a discerning people, to look into your actions, and
to spy out your boundless privileges; as if you
must do justice, not out of the love of righteous
ness, but out of fear of Mr. Love's discerning
people. Telling you also, the clergy had done as
much service for you in their pulpits, as your
regiments in the field; that by this means he might
mind you, what they can do against you, as well
as for you, if you be not servants to their designs;
for they that have heretofore been for you, can 'if
they please turn to others against you, who shgrll
, be more for themselves. And in many other things
flying out against your worthy commanders in
the army, upon suspicions ofhis own; and against
the articles at Oxford, &c. ; for it is no proper
presbyterial doctrine, that does not at least meddle
with the affairs of the state, which in time they
may hopefully come to order. In these and divers
other things, he took his full swing, all of thein
no doubt deeply appertaining to the mystery of
the gospel.
The other things he spake, to the disadvantage
of the ignorant and weak, and neither to: the

ID
truth's disadvantage nor mine, I shall clear in i-
short reply, set after the discourse ; and so shall
trouble you no farther with any such stuff, but
only with a smart expression from one, it seems,
of some note in the assembly^ who said, If the
parliament approved Mr. Dell's sermon, it were no
blasphemy to say, they were no parliament. So
that it seems you shall be no longer a parliament
than you approve what the assembly approves ; but
the kingdom hopes you are built upon, a better
foundation. And to him who hath been so bold
with you, I shall only crave leave to reply in your
presence. If the assembly, which I hope they will
not, should Condemn that doctrine of the gospel
for the substance of it, delivered then by Mr. Dell 5
it will be no blasphemy to say, they are the enemiea
of the truth of Christ : and, I hope, the last prop
of antichrist in the kingdom.
For yourselves, Honourable and Worthy, I be
seech you consider, that God " is wonderful in
counsel, and excellent in working;" and that all
power is given to Christ, in heaven and in earth,
that he might give free passage to the gospel.
And therefore take heed, after God hath blest your
power and forces in the field, and subdued that
malignant power that was against you, and hath
given you a little peace and quietness in the king
dom ; you do not now begin your affairs with dis
countenancing, disrelishing, much less condemn
ing, the faithful and true word of God, witnessed
in the scriptures, and confest to by the faithful

li
and martyrs of Christ, in all ages ; and with the
setting off from you, that ministry that hath most
of the Spirit in it, lest the Lord withdraw his
presence from you, and your latter end be not
answerable to your beginnings.
It might be easily shewed unto you, how
many great and wise kings and magistrates, acting
according to human wisdom and prudence, and
despising or neglecting the wisdom of the word,
have with all their own wisdom, prudence, and
designs, destroyed themselves, and their kingdoms.
For it is written, " He taketh the wise in their own
craftiness:" and again, "The Lord knoweth the
thoughts of men, that they are vain."
And therefore renounce the wisdom of the
world, with all its fleshly counsels, and cleave
close to the true, faithful, and sincere doctrine of
the gospel ;^ and then, though you have many
enemies and kingdoms against you, you shall not
be moved, but God will yet establish you, in all
the shakings of the world, and your eneraies shall
be as a thing of nought. I shall no longer detain
you, but only desire this, in the behalf of the faith
ful, God's peculiar portion in the kingdom, that
you would not suffer us to be oppressed by our
adversaries, who would use your power against us,
not for you, but for theraselves : neither would
suffer them, thus publicly and shamelessly to call
us sectaries and heretics, who do believe and pro
fess the truth of the gospel in sincerity and sim
plicity of heart, according to what we have re-

12
ceived from God ; but that you would suffer, yea,
procure us to live quietly and safely under you, in
the faith and practice of the gospel, we in all
things obeying you, as becomes christians.
The remainder is to assure you. That there 'v
no man shall serve the state more sincerely, ac
cording to his place and calling; nor in inore
faithfulness and humility tender the truth of God,
either to yourselves or the kingdora, as occasion
serves, according to the measure of the gift of
Christ, than Your Servant in the Gospel, W. DELL.

TO THE READER.

Christian Reader,
The times we live in, are dangerous times;
it is dangerous to conceal the truth, and dangerous
to publish the truth : if we publisli the truth God
hath taught us, and that we have heard and learned
from the Father, we fall into the hands of men ;
if we conceal it, we fall into the hands of God.
And therefore in this case, in a contrary choice to
David, I reckon it much better to fall into the
hands of men, than into the hands of God ; seeing
the wrath of men can but reach the body, but the
wrath of God, body and soul; I shall therefore
willingly confess Christ amidst an adulterous and
sinful generation, not doubting but Christ will
confess rae before his Father, and before his angels.
And for the reproaches of men, it is best con
quering them, as Luther was wont to say, Silendo
et contemnendo, ' by silence and contempt of them,'
seeing a man may as easily restrain satan himself,
in his various workings, as stop the mouths of his
instruraents. And therefore it is good for us
christians, to do the work of God, without so
much as taking notice of such men : and if some-

14
times we are sensible of these things, because
we are flesh, yet as we are christians, we are above
them in the Spirit, and see already in certain
faith and hope, all evils and enemies under our
feet. And therefore for Mr. Love, and other
men of the same mould and metal, I am resolved
neither now.Jior hereafter, to take them into any
more consideration than the business itself neces
sarily requires : and where they may be omitted,
without prejudice to the truth, to let them quite
alone ; being every day through the use of afflic
tion enabled to patience, and through patience
brought to experience, and so to a proportionable
measure of hope : and this carries me above the
shame of the world, in the strength of the love
of God.
For the doctrine contained in this discourse,
thou shalt not find it new light, as some men
slanderously affirm, but the ancient light, that
sprang forth in the first morning of the gospel,
but was since obscured by the new darkness of
antichrist, which th^se men love better than that
old light, and will by no means exchange the one
for the other. But this light, that nowiafter a long
night breaks forth again in. some of its first glory,
let these men set their hearts at rest, for they
shall never be able to obscure it again ; and the
fire of .the Spirit that God hath kindled in the
kingdom, they shall never be able to quench with
any fire, either of earth or hell. And therefore
we fear them not, though they breathe forth

15
tlireatenings now, and ere long are like to breathe
forth blood : for by all their subtle and industrious
actings, in the end they shall not work the truth's
ruin, but their own. And these as well as their
forefathers, of the same race and lineage, in whose
stead they are now risen up, shall in due time be
come a reproach and a shame, and their name
shall be for a curse to all God's chosen.
Reader, It is my earnest desire, that the Lord
would deliver thee from this new form of the
mystery of iniquity, which in every age puts on
a several form, when the old one is discovered by
the light of the word. And in this present age
it is become so exceeding cunning, and so fur
nished with all deceivableness of unrighteousness,
under the form of righteousness, that it seems to
be the last and subtilest work of antichrist that is
now in hand; and he that prevails in this en
counter, hath antichrist under his feet for ever ;
but none are like to prevail here, but the faithful
and elect alone.
And therefore, " Hold fast that which thou
hast, that no man take thy crown ;" and consider
Christ's encourageraent to this work in the fol
lowing verse : " Him that overcometh will I make
a pillar in the temple of my God, and he shall go
no more out. And I will write upon him the
name of my God, and the name of the city of
my God, which is new Jerusalem, which cometh
down out of heaven from my God, and I will
write, upon him my new name."

16
Christian Reader, I commit thee, and the word
now offered to thee in this discourse, to God, and
his powerful blessing, and wonderful working;
Remaining, Thine in the difficult and despised service bf
Jesus Christ in the Gospel. W. DELL.

RIGHT REFORMATION:
OR,
THE REFORMATION OF THE CHURCH
Of THE
NEW TESTAMENT,
EEPRESENTED IN GOSPEL LIGHT.
 ¦» ? *
Heb. IX. 10. — " Until the time of reformation."
"The natural man," saith Paul, " knows not
the things of the Spirit, neither can he, for they
are spiritually discerned." Now a man that is not
born of God and his Spirit, with all his parts,
abili4;ies, reason, wisdom, prudence, learning, is
but a natural man still, and so hath no right know
ledge of the things of God and his Spirit.
And hence it hath come to pass that the things
of God and his Spirit have been so grossly and
dangerously mistaken by the world, and the carnal
church. For all the spiritual things of God they
have understood carnally ; and have apprehended
the whole scriptures, not according to God's mind,
but according to their own; not according to the
sense of the Spirit, but according to the sense of
the flesh. And thus was antichrist's kingdora first
set up, and thus it hath been kept up and con
tinued ; even by the carnal understanding of the
scriptures. For they have understood the church,
the kingdom of God in the world, carnally;
B

18
the rock on -which it is built, carnally* the
door of this kingdora, carnally : the laws of it,
carnally; the liberties of it, carnally; the power,
authority, government, glory, officers,. &c. all car
nally. And to this very day, which of the things
of God doth not the carnal church understand
carnally? Faitli, hope, love, it understands car
nally ; redemption, adoption, justification, sanc
tification, glorification, union with Christ, com
munion of the Spirit, access to the Father, together
with Christ the head, and the church the body, in
their joint unitfn and offices, and all other things,
they understand carnally, and have a fleshly sense
and apprehension of them.
And as they understand all other things of God's
kingdora carnally ; so also the reformation of it.
And there are not greater and grosser mistakes about
any of the things of God, than about this ; men
imagining the reformation of the church, which
is altogether a spiritual and heavenly kingdom,
after the manner of the reformation of worldly
states and commonwealths, which only stands in
outward things, and is brought to pass by human
counsels and human power.
Now because this is not only a gjoss, but a
general error, in all sorts of people, both of high
and of low degree ; I shall endeavour, at this time,
according to the good hand of God with me, to
represent in some gospel light to this honourable
and christiau auditory, the true reformation of the
church of the New Testaraent : and blessed is he

19
who shall not be offended at it. For this purpose
I made choice of the, words now read ; " Until the
time of reformation."
For the better understanding of which, we must
read the context. " The first tabernacle was a
figure for the time then present, in which were
offered both -gifts and sacrifices, that coujd not
make him that did the service perfect as pertaining'
to the conscience ; which stood only in meats and
drinks, and divers washings, and carnal ordinances,"
it should be righteousnesses or justifications ofthe
flesh, Simit'!fiatri (rapKdt, " imposed on thera, ^^x/"
icaipa Siopeainas, Until the tirac of reforraation."
In which words the Apostle shews the imper
fection pf the worship of the old law, because it
stood in outward rites, ceremonies, duties, per-
fornmnces, and sp could not make him that used
tkem, and was busied in them, perfect as pertain
ing to his conscience ; and therefore God did not
simply and absolutely impose these things on the
church, to continue fof ever, but pnly until the
time wherein all things were to be reformed, not
only evil things, butimpeifect. And then, all that
outward religion was to be abolished.
Now if the law of Moses could not m&ke men
perfect, as pertaining to the conscience, much less
can any new laws invented now. Anid if any such^
laws should be iraposed on the people of God now,
the gospel hath the sarae strength in itself tg
malce them voijl, as the former; and^also the saipe
ground from thein, because ali 5wch l^w§ and
B 2

20
ordinances devised by men, cannot make them that
obey and practise them, perfect as pertaining to
the conscience : and therefore are all to be at an
end, when the time of reformation comes.
Question. Now if you ask rae, when this time
of reformation was,
I answer: It was when Christ came; not a ser
vant, as Moses, but the Son out of the bosom of
the Father, the great prophet of the New Testa
ment, whose doctrine w^s not letter as Moses' was,
but spirit and life. And now ' when Christ, the
minister of the New Testament, came with the
ministration of the Spirit, now was the tirae of
reformation. In the time of the law there were outward
duties, and performances, and ceremonies, and
sacrifices, and strict laws to enjoin the obserJV%tion
of these things, carrying along with them the
severity of death ; and yet notwithstanding all
this, there was no true reforraation ; but under all
that outward religion, raen were inwardly as cor
rupt and wicked as the very heathen. For all their
circumcision in the flesh, they were uncircumcised
in heart ; for all their outward washing, they were
inwardly unclean ; for all their blood of bulls and
goats, their sins remaihed in their natures and con
sciences ; for all their strict forcing of raen, to the
duties of the outward worship of God, the people
still reraained far from God, even in all those
duties. So that notwithstanding the outward
worship of Moses' law, the people remained in-

21
wardly corrupt, filthy, and unclean, and without
any true reformation before God ; till Christ, who
was God in the flesh, came with the ministration
of the Spirit, and then indeed was the time of
reformation. " Until the time of reformation."
The thing then the Spirit would have us take
notice of in these words, is this. That the time of
the gospel is the time of reformation. Whenever
the gospel is preached in the spirit and power of
it, that is the time of reformation. For our more
orderly proceeding in this point, we will observe
this method.
1. Shew what true gospel reforraation is, and
how it is qualified ; that so you raay the better
distinguish it from political and ecclesiastical
reformation. Now both these I join together,
because the carnal church hath always interested
and mingled itself with the power of the world,
as being able to do nothing without it.
2. I will endeavour to shew, to whose hands
the work of gospel reformation is comraitted.
3. By what means he, to whose hands it is com
mitted, brings it about.
4. The advantages of such a reformation where
it is wrought.
5. The use.
The first general. What true gospel reformation
is, and how qualified.
1. What it is. It is the mortifying, destroying,
and utter abolishing out of the faithful and elect,
all that sin, corruption, lust, evil, that did ^ow

in Upon them, through the fall 6f Adam. Or, it
is the taking awky knd destroyifig the body of
sin out bf the faithful and elect, by the presence
kiid operation of the righteousness of God, dwellihg
in their hearts by faith. This is true gospel refor
mation, and besides this I know no other. This
the evangelical prophet Isaiah describeth, chap. i.
27, " 2ion shall be redeemed with judgment, and
her converts with righteousness.''
Now Christ dwelling in our hearts by faith, as
he discovers, reproves, condemns, and destroys sin,
so he is called judgment; and thus is judgment to
be understood in the gospel sense, and not terribly,
as in the sense of the law. And this judgment
shall at last break forth into victory ; that is, though
Christ in us hath to do with mariy strong corrup
tions, arid lusts in the soul, yet at last he prevails
against them all, and judgment breaks forth into
victory : because Christ, the judgment of God in
the soul, raust needs in the end prevail against
every sin of man.
Agaih, Christ the righteousness of God, as he
makes us righteous with his own righteousness,
and makes us the righteousness of God in hira ;
so he is called righteousness, not in himself only,
but in us; he is "The Lord our righteousness':"
and by this judgment and righteousness is Zion,
and her converts, redeemed and reformed. And
so triie gospel reformation is the destruction of
sin out of the faithful, by the presence of righ
teousness.

23
And therefore you see how .grossly they are
mistaken, who take gospel refonnaation to he the
making of certain laws and constitutions by the
saci'eid power or clergy, for external conformity in
outward duties of outward worship and govern
ment, and to have these confirmed by civil sanc
tion, and enforced upon men by secular power ;
when ia the mean time, ail tbat inward cor-
.ruption and sin they brought with them into the
world, remain's in their hearts and natures as it did
before. After this manner the old prelates re
formed, who were wont to say to the kings. We
will sl.udy out the faith, and you shall nuaintain
.it;, and the faith they studied and brought to the
kings, the kings must maintain, and not question
but that it was Jureddvino. And thus you see in
general what gospel nefoj'ma tion is, and that it is
a clear different thing from civil ecclesiastical
reformation. 2. Now, in the ne,xt place, let us see bow this
igtosipel rieformation is qualified, whereby tbe dif-
fejrence between this and the other will appear yet
more clearly.
Fu'st, then, it is a spiritual reformataon. For as
tbe kingdom of Christ is a spiritual kingdom, so
ail the things that belong to it are spiritual things,
,and so the reformation of it. A caroal reformation
is not suitable to a spiiitual kingdom. And spiri
tual it is, because it proceeds from tbe Spirit,, and
stands in spiritual things, as you shall see more
fully anon.

24
But now the reformation of the civil and eccle
siastical state is but a carnal reformation, wroughtj
by the power of flesh and blood, and stands in out-
.ward and fleshly things, as you shall presently
see. Secondly, it is an inward reformation. For as
the kingdom of God is'an inward kingdom, " The
kingdom of God is within you;" So the refor
mation that belongs to it is an inward reformation.
This true gospel reformation lays hold upon the
heart and soul, and inner man, and changes, and
alters, and renews, and reforms that ; and when the
heart is reformed, all is reformed. And therefore
this gospel reformation doth not much busy and
trouble itself about outward forms, or external
conformity, but only minds the reforming of the
heart ; and when the heart is right with God, the
outward form cannot be amiss. And therefore
saith Christ, touching the worship of the New
Testament, " God is a Spirit, and they that
worship him must worship him in spirit and in
truth ;" but speaks not one word of any outward
form. So that God in this gospel reformation aims
at nothing but the heart, according to the tenour
of the new covenant. " This shall be the covenant
that I will make with them after those days, saith
the Lord ; I will put my law in their inward parts,
and write it in their hearts " so that they shall not
only have the word of the letter in their books,
but the living word of God in their hearts. And
God intending to reform the church, begins with

26
their hearts, and intending td reform their hearts,
puts his word there ; and that living word put into
the heart, reforras it indeed.
But now civil ecclesiastical reformation is only
outward, and busies itself in reforming the out
ward man, in outward things ; and so is very in
dustrious and elaborate about outward forms, and
outward orders, and outward government, and out-
vyard confession, and outward practice, and thinks
if these be put into some handsomeness and con
formity, they have brought about an excellent
reformation ; though the heart in the mean tirae
remain as sinful, vile, and corrupt as ever, and so
altogether unreformed. And so this reformation
is like that reformation of the scribes and pharisees,
notorious hypocrites, who made cleah only the
outside of the cup or platter ; leaving them all
filthy and unclean within : and whited over
sepulchres, to make them beautiful outwardly,
when inwardly they were full of rottenness and
corruption. Matt, xxiii. 25. So civil ecclesiastical
reformation makes aman clean outwardly, with an
outward confession of faith, &c. when inwardly
he is all filthy through unbelief; ahd whites him
over with a few handsome forms of worship,, when
inwardly he is fuU'of ignorance of God, and
atheism. Object. Now if any ask, But must there be no
change of outward things, in the reformation of
the gospel ? . .
Answ. I answer, Yes;' an outward change that

2«l
flows from an inward ; but not an outward Change
without an inward, much less an outward change
to enforce an inward.
Thirdly, It is a thorough reformation, fbr it
reforms the whole man ; it reforms not the soul
only, but the body too, and the very spirit of the
mind. The spirit as it animates, and quickens,
and acts the bod}^, is called the soul ; as it is in
itself, in its own nature and essence, so it is called
the spirit of the mind. And this gospel refoir-
mation reforms all ; that is, both inward and out
ward, and outward and inward man ; yea, the
inwardest of the inward man ; and not only the
operations ofthe soul in the body, but ofthe soul
in itself.
But civil ecclesiastical reformation reforms <by
halves, it reaches the body, and orders that, but
attains not to the soul, much less to the spirit rf
the mind.
Again, Gospel reformation reforms sin wholly,
as well as the man ; it reforms all sin whatsoever,
" I will turn my hand upon thee," saith God by this
gospel reformation, " and will purely purge away
thy dtoss, and take away ali thy tir " It reforms
a man not only of outward sins, but of inward.
It reforms him of those sins that seldom come forth
into the view of the world, as atheism, ignorance
of God, pride, vain glory, self seeking, hyppwisy,
carnal mindedness, and all the evil desires of the
flesh, and of the mind. Yea, it doth not only
tefonn all evil things in us, but all imperfect

27
things; doing aWay impei-fect things by the
coming of perfect things ; doing away our own
strength by the coming in of God's strength ; and
our own wisdom and righteousness, by the coming
in of God's wisdom and righteousness.
But now, civil ecclesiastical reformation reforms
sin by the halves, as well as the man; and st)
only reforms outward and gross sins, such as run
into the eyes of the world; which are the least by
a thousand tiraes, of the evils that a man hath and
acts; but the greatest part of sin it still leaves
within as it was.
Fourthly, It is a powerful and mighty refor
mation : it is wrought in a man by the very power
of God, even by the right-hand of his righteous
ness. And so no Sin, * lust, coiTuption, thoug'h
never so mighty, is able to resist this Work of God
by thegospel; but^t makes the whole body t>f sin,
and the Avhble kingdom^of the devil, fly in pieces
before it. The power of God in Creating and
redeeming the elect, may as well be resisted as the
power of God in r^onnrtig them ; for it is a
power abt)ve all "po^&r that God puts forth imXiis
work, and so is not ^o be made void by any crea
ture. In every stroloe of this wotk, the power df
the Lord God Almighty is put forth; as fevery
rightly reformed christian k^o^vs. And if tbe love
of God had not ^ut forth this power in the soul,
a christian had never 'been reformed, no nbt from
one sfiti.
Now the power of this ' refbrmatidfl, em'inehfl'y-

^8 '
appears in that it changeth the very natures of
men: it finds them lions, it makes them lambs;
it finds them wolves, it makes them sheep ; '^ it
finds them birds of prey, it makes them doves;
it finds them trees of the forest, if makes therh
apple trees ; in a word, it finds them flesh, it makes
thera spirit; it finds them sin, it makes them righ
teousness. Mighty indeed is the power of this
reformation. But now, as this gospel reformation is mighty,
so civil ecclesiastical reforraation is weak : for as
the forraer hath the power of God engaged in it,
so this latter hath only the power of man, and so
can do no such works as the former. I appeal to
all that are spiritual, what heart or nature was ever
changed by this sort of reformation ? For there
is that corruption in the heart of every man, that
is able to stand out against all the reformation that
all the powers in the world can undertake. And
so, the reformation managed by the mightiest and
severest power of man, is weak as water in this
business of changing natures ; and can only change
some outward forms and postures, and the like,
leaving in the raean tirae a man's nature the same
as it was before. It only puts sheep's cloathing
upon men, which is easily done, but still leaves
them wolves underneath.
Fifthly, It is a constant reformation ; a refor
mation which being once begun, is never inter
mitted again, till all be perfected. For as long
as God's nature dwells in ours, it will ever b«

29
reforming our nature to itself, till it be altogether
like/it. As^long as the Spirit of God dwells in
the flesh, it will still be reforming the flesh to the
Spirit, till the whole body of sin be destroyed, and
the natural pan be made spiritual. So that the
whole timajpf Ithis life that is lived in faith, that
is, in union with Christ, is a time of continual
reformation ; and a christian is daily washing,
cleansing, and purifying hiraself, till he purify
himself even as Christ is pure, 1 John iii. 3.
But now civil ecclesiastical reformation at first
makes a great noise and tumult in the world, and
after lies as still as a stone. For such reformation
reforras states and kingdoms to men's own profit,
honour, power, advantages; and so to themselves,
rather than to Christ. ' And when men have once
attained to their own ends, their activity ceases.
Again, it brings men to certain outward orders
and conformities, and then runs round as in a mill,
and goes no further.
Again, it reforms for a time, and not constantly,
because the outward power being taken away,
nature returns to its own course again. For state
ecclesiastical reformation only changes some out
ward works, leaving the nature the selfsame that
it waS) as you have heard. Now where the works
are contrary to nature, nature by degrees returns
to itself again, and puts an end to those works;
and so there is an end of that reformation.
And thus you see what gospel reformation is,
and how qualified, whereby you see it clearly

$0
differenced from civil ecclesiasti^l reformation.
And, bb, that that prophecy mighti here be ful
filled ! " The eyes of them that see shall not be
dim, and the ears of them that hear sh^H hearken,"
Isai. xxxii. 3. ' *
The second general. To whose Whose hand this
w^ork of reformation is committed.
Now that is only to Jesus Christ, the great and
only magistrate in the kingdpm pf God; and who
only is to do all that is done, in the church of
God: he is the Dorainus fac totuin, as they say.
If the church be to be redeemed, Christ must
redeem it ; if it be to be governed, Christ must
govern it; if it be to be protected, Christ must
protect it ; if it be to be saved, Christ must save
it. All tha^ is to be done in the church of God,
Christ only is to do it, and so among other things
to reform it ; that is, to wash it, sanctify it, purify
it. Christ then is the only reformer of the church
of God, For,
First, God hath comraitted the care of the
church's reformation to Christ only, and to nobody
else ; and this is a thousand times better for the
church, than if he had coramitted it to all the
princes and magistrates in the world. " AH things
are given to me of my Father," saith Christ;
and the church above all other things, " Thine
they were, and thou gavest them me." Thine they
were by election, and thou gavest them me, that I
might redeem them,, and reform them, and present

31
tlieni to thee again without spot. So that the
Father hath committed the care of the reformation
of the church to Christ. And,
Secondly, Christ hath taken this care upon him
self out of obedience to his Father, and love to his
church. 1. Out of obedience to his Father : for he saith,
" I came not to do my own will, but the will of
him that sent me : and this is the will of him that
sent me, that of all that he hath given me I
should lose none." And so Christ reforras all,
that he niight lose none, out of obedience to his
Father. , 2. Out of love to his church he takes this care
?ind charge on him. For such is the love of Christ
to the church, every where so gloriously discovered
in the gospel, that he doth not only give himself
for us, to redeem us; but also gives himself to us,
, to reform us. Christ dying for us, is our re
demption ; Christ dwelling and living in us, is our
reformation. Thirdly, this work of reformation is only suitable
to, and convenient for, Christ the head, as having
so near and dear interest in the church his body.
And so he is full of love, and bowels, and tender
compassions to the church. He will not deal
roughly, ruggedly, and boisterously with the
saints ; he will not grieve them, aud vex them,
and oppress them, and crush thera in pieces; but
he being their head, will deal raeekly and gently
with them : "He will not break the bruised reed,

32
nor quench the smoking flax." When he is
reforming the sins and corruptions of the faithful,
he deals with thera in the very love and goodness
of God, and will not put them to more sorrow
than needs must; and when he must needs put
them to sorrow in the flesh, for flesh cannot choose
but mourn to part with itself utterly in this re
formation, yet he is present with the comforts of
his Spirit; and when he hath smitten them, is
ready to heal them ; and to bind thera up, as sopn
as he hath broken them. He deals with every
christian in this reformation, as tenderly as a man
doth with one of his own members, that is in
grief and anguish ; he regards and handles hira as
his own body, as his own flesh. And so the re
formation of Christ is altogether for edification,
and not at all for destruction : for it is his own
body he reforras, and so doth it with the love of
the head.
But when strangers, whose the church is not,
set upon reforming it, what havock do they make
ofthe church bf God! how do they wound, and
threaten, and punish, and destroy it, and have no
regard at all to the weak, infirm, sorrowful saints,
that are wrestUng with many doubts, fears, agonies,
corruptions, temptations, till they are overtaken
with the very shadow of death ! How do they
persecute them that are already smitten, and grieve
them more that are already wounded ! And so
you see, that he only that hath an interest in the
church, as being the head of the church, is only fit

33
to reform it; whereas the reformation of strangers,
hath more cruelty in it than love, and more de-
truction than edification.
Fourthly, Christ is only able for this work : for
the reformation of the church is as great a work
as the redemption of it; and he only that could
do the one, can do the other. Christ must die to
redeem' the church, and he must live to reform it,
and so as the government of the church only lies
upon his shoulders who is the head, so the refor
mation of it only lies upon his hands, and his
Iiands only are sufficient for it. If all the angels
of heaven should undertake the work of refor
mation, they would sink under it; how much
• rnore the powers of the world ?
For the taking away, transgression for us, and
from us, which is the only reformation of the
New Testament, is a work agreeable to none but
the Son of God ; as it is written, " His name
shall be called Jesus, for he shall save his people
from their sins :" -wdiere you have, both the re
former, Christ; and the reformation, " shall save
his people from their sins." Now he must needs
be the righteousness of God, that must save
people from sin. And he must needs be God
in the flesh, that must reform the flesh ; none else
can do it.
Tb conclude this : none but the power of God,
and wisdom of God, and the righteousness of God,
which is Jesus Christ, can reform the church,
which is the kingdom of God. And the power.

34
•wisdom, and righteousness of men have no place
at all here, except they will turn the power, wis
dom, and righteousness of God out of his office;
for so speaks the Spirit by the prophet Isaiah,
" The loftiness of man shall be bowed^down, and
the haughtiness of men shall be made low ; and
the Lord alone shall be exalted." Now what is the
loftiness and haughtiness of men, but the power,
wisdom, and righteousness of men ; and all this,
saith the Lord, shall be bowed down and laid
low ; and the Lord alone shall be exalted, that is,
Christ alone, who is the power, wisdom, and
righteousness of God ; and that in the day of the
church's reformation, as well as in the day of the
church's redemption. And thus you see, thatChrist
is the reforraer of the church his body, which is the
city and kingdom of God. And therefore the
reforraation of the church is certain ; for Christ
will as surely reform it, as he hath redeemed it ;
arid all that the Father hath given him he hath
redeemed ; and all that he hath redeemed he will
reform, that he may make them fit to present to
God : that so all that the Son hath received from
the Father, having redeemed and reformed them,
he may give them back to the Father again.
So that I doubt not of the church's reformation,
because it is Christ's own work, and he hath un
dertaken the doing of it. And as none of the
powers of the- earth could help him to reform the
church, so none of the powers of hell shall be
able to hinder him ; but as many as he hath re-

36
deemed unto God by his blood, in his due time
he will reform them all by his Spirit, as belonging
to his care and charge. And therefore let us look
to Christ for the reformation of his churcb, that
is, of his faithful people : the rest of the world
that lies in wickedness, he lets remain in wicked
ness, as not belonging to his care and charge.
This reformation is the work of Christ's care and
love : and he being faithful in this business, I am
at rest and quiet, seeing Christ is as able for the
reformation of the church, as for the redemption
of it.
And therefore. Honourable and Beloved, I say
to you touching this work of the reformation of
the spiritual temple of the New Testament, as God
once said to David touching the building of the
material temple of the Old Testament, 1 Kings,
viii. 18, " Whereas it was in thine heart," saith
God, " to build an house unto my name, thou
didst well that'it was in thine heart. Nevertheless,
thou shalt not build the house ; but thy son that
shall come forth out of thy loins, he shall build
an house unto my name." And elsewhere he
renders the reason of it, why David should not,
and Solomon should, build this house ; " Because,"
saith he, " thou hast been a man of war, and
hast shed much blood:" but Solomon, he shall
live and flourish in peace, and he shall do it.
So say I to you, touching this work of refor
mation ; you did well, in that it was in your hearts
to reform the kingdom of God, and the spiritual

66
church, which is Christ's own dear body. Never
theless you shall not reform it, for you have been
men of war; that is, you have managed a great
and mighty war against great and raighty enemies,
and have shed much blood: for the Lord hath
given you the necks of your enemies, and hath
subdued them under you that rose up against ybu,.
and you have trod them down as mire in the
streets. And therefore you shall not do this work, having
been men of war; but Christ the Prince of
peace, he shall reform the church of God: for
this is not a work of men of war, but of the
Prince of peace, seeing this is not a work of hu
man might or strength, but of the Spirit. So that
you did well, that you thought to reform the
church : but when you shall understand, that the
reformation of the church is as great a work as
the redemption of it, you will acknowledge the
work is too great for you, and that it belongs
only unto Christ, seeing the Father hath com
mitted the care of this work only to him; and
he hath taken this care and charge upon himself,
and it is only suitable to him, as being the head
of the church : and he only is able for it, as being
the Son of God, and equal to God."
The third general. By what means Christ
brings this reformation about.
And that is, by these two, and them only : to
wit, the word, and the Spirit.
The first means whereby Christ reforras the

87 .
church, is the word. By this Christ dpth all that
ever he doth in his kingdom : by this he calls and
r^'ects, by this he binds and looseth,*by this he
comforts and terrifies, by this he enlightens and
makes blind, by this he kills and quickens, by this
he saves and damns ; and all that ever he doth in
this kingdom, he doth by his word, and without
this he doth nothing of all that he doth. Christ
doth all in his kingdom by ,the word only ; but
antichrist doth all things without the word, even
by the decrees and constitutions of men.
Now as Christ doth all other things in the church
by the word, so he reforms too : " Now are ye
clean through the word that I have spoken to you."
All the powers in the world cahnot reform the
church as the word of God can do; for this " is
quick and powerful, and sharper than a two-edged
sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of
soul and spirit, and bf the joints and marrow, and
is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the
heart ;" and doth change, and renew, and reform
all. And therefore Christ, when he comes to re
form the church, comes with no worldly power or
weapons, but only with the word in his raouth ;
yea, though God set him king upon his holy hill
of Sion, yet he reforms not by outward power,
but by preaching : saying, " I will publish the
decree whereof the Lord hath said unto me, Thou
art my Son, this day have I begotten thee." And
again, " The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, for
he hath anointed me to preach the gospel." And

38
again, " The Redeemer shall come to Zion :" and
then follows the covenant of God with the
Redeemer, " My word shall never depart out of
thy mouth," Isai. lix. 20, 21. And in Psal. xiv.
the church saith by the Spirit to Christ, " Ride on
prosperously in the word of truth, meekness; and
righteousness ;" which is the word of the gospel.
And so Christ, when the tirae of reformation was
corae, went up and down preaching the word.
And thus he brought to pass the glorious refor
mation of the New Testament, by preaching the
gospel of the kingdom, and nothing else.
And when he was to leave the world, he sent
his disciples to carry on the work of reformation,
as he himself had begun it; as he saith, "As my
Father sent me, so send I you ;" not with the
power of the world, but with the power of the
word : and so he bid thera " Go teach all nations,
and preach the gospel to every creature ;" and by
teaching and preaching to the world, to reform, the
world : and so accordingly they did, Mar. xvi. 20.
" They went forth, and preached every where, the
Lord working with them." So that X]!hrist sent
them not forth with any power of swords, or guns,
or prisons to reform the world, or with any power
of states, or armies ; but sent forth poor, illiterate,
mechanic men, and only armed them with the
power of the word; and behold, what wonders
they wrought by that power alone ! They turned
the world upside down ; they changed the man
ners, customs, religion, worship, lives, and natures

39
of men ¦ they carried all oppositions and difficulliies
before them; they won ma,ny inmost kingdoms
unto Christ, and brought them into willing sub
jection and obedience to him : and all this they
did, I say, not with any earthly or secular power^
but by the ministry of the gospel alone, Christ's
great and only instrument for the conquering,
subduing, and reforming of the nations., And so
the power appeared to be God's only, and npt the
creatures. And thus you see how the word is on©
means Christ useth for reformation. ^
And this word only works a right reformation :
for this reforms truly and indeed, all other power
reforms but in appearance. So that there is no
true reformation of any thing but what is wrought
by the word : but whatever evil is reforraed, and
not by the power of the word, it is not truly re-
fprmed; it is only reforraed in the flesh, and not
in the spirit : it is oilly suspended in the outward
operation of it, but the seed and nature of it still
remains in the heart, to grow up and work again,
as opportunity serves. And therefore whatever
evil or corruptiopi is reformed in thee, see it be
reformed by the power of the word : if the word
hath killed it in thee, it is killed indeed ; if not, it
is alive in thee, though it seem to be dead. The
outward power of the world may set up an iraage
pf reformation, but it is the word only can wprk
true refpraiation. And therefore let us learn tp
rely on th? wor4; for the ,re|»rra^tion of the
chureh.

40
For this is much for the honour of the word,
which God hath magnified above all his name,
when we can neglect the power bf the world, and
leave the whole work of reformation to the power,
working, and efficacy of the word alone, which is
almighty, and able to bring off the heart from all
things to God. As, on the contrary, it is a great
dishonour to Qod and his word, when men dare
not rely on the word alone to reform the church,
though it be stronger than raen and angels, and
all the creatures; but will needs be calling in the
power of the world, and rest and rely on that, for
this work, as if the power of the word were not
sufficient. But let such men know, that Jf the
power of the word will not reform men, all the
power of the world will never do it. And there
fore well said Luther, Pr^dicare, annuntiare, scri-
bere volo; neminem autem vi adigam. 'I will
preach, and teach, and write; 'but I will constrain
nobody.' - v
O therefore that our civil and ecclesiastical
powers would so much honour Christ's word, as
to trust the reforraation of his kingdom with it ;
and that, as it is sufficient to reform the church,
so you would be pleased to think it sufficient ; and
thus shall you give Christ and his word due honour,
as well as declare your own faith; '
And if you would commit this work to the
power of the word, to which only it belongs, you
should soon see what- the word would do. There
is no such glorious sight under heaven as to see

4L
the word, in the spirit and power of it, come in
to an unreformed world, and to -observe the
changes and alterations it makes there. And thus
you see that one means that Christ useth for the
reformation of his^ church, is the word.
But here I must further declare to you that
this word by which Christ reforms the church, is
not the word of the law ; " For the law made
nothing perfect," but the word ofthe gospel; this,
this is the only word, that works reformation.
For, '¦
1. This word works faith; and therefore it is
called the word of faith, -'because faith comes by
hearing of this word, Rora. x. 8 — 17. Now as
the word works faith, so faith apprehends the
word, even that Word that was with God and was
God ; this living and eternal Word dwells in our
hearts by faith, as the apostle saith, " that Christ
may dwell in your hearts by faith." And this
word dwelling in us by faith, changeth us into
its own likeness, as fire changeth the iron into its
own likeness, and takes us up into all its own
virtues. And so the word dwelling in the flesh,
reforms the flesh, and it dwells in us through faith,
and faith is wrought by the gospel.
So that the word whereby Christ reforms, is not
the word without us, as the word of the law is ;
but the word within us, as it is' written, "The
word is nigh thee, even in thy mouth, and in thy
heart ; and this is the word of faith." If thou live
under the word many years, and if it come not

4^
into thy heart, it will never change thee, nor re
form thee; and therefore the reforming word is
the word within us, and the word within us is the
word of faith.
2. The gospel reforms, because it doth 'not only
reveal Christus righteousness, as it is written, " The
righteousness of God is revealed from faith to
faith ;" but also it communicates it to us ; and
therefore it is called the word of righteousness,
because it works righteousness. So that Christ,
the righteousness pf God, is conveyed to us through
this word of righteousness. And when the righ
teousness of God, revealed in the gospel, comes
and dwells in us, what reformation of sin doth this
work. All sin perisheth at the rebuke of his
countenance; for the righteousness of God will
endure no sin in us : and so the gospel reforms by
working righteousness in us.
3. The gospel reforms because it shews us
Christ ; and by shewing us him, it changeth us
iuto his image. The more we see Christ in the
gospel, the more are we made like unto him ; that
as we have borne the iraage of the earthly, so we
m^y bear the image of the heavenly Adam.
2. Yea, the gospel shews us God in Christ in
all his glory, and changeth us into that glory of
God which is shewn us ; " We all," saith Paul,
" with open face beholding as in a glass," and this
glass is the gospel, /' the glory of the Lord, are
changed into the same image from glory to glory,
even as by the Spirit of the Lord :" so that th^

43
gospel by shewing us God, changeth us into the
image of God; and God through the gospel,
ariseth on us, till his glory be seen upon us. Aud
thus you see the grounds of 'the gospel's refor
mation. So that now the word of the gospel, is the only
reforming word : and if there be never so much
preaching, if it be but legal, it will reform nobody
aright; because there can be no working faith,
nor communicating righteousness, nor changing
men into God's iraage, and so there can be no true
reformation. And thus much for the first means
of reformation which Christ useth, which is the
word, and this word the gospel.
2. Means the Spirit. For the Spirit accom
panies the word in the rainistry of the gospel ; and
therefore the gospel is called the rainistration of
I the Spirit, that is, the word and Spirit in union
and operation. In the law, there was the letter
without the Spirit, and so that could do nothing :
but in the gospel, the word and the Spirit are
always joined : and therefore, saith Christ, " The
words that I speak are spirit and life," that is,
they come from the Spirit, and carry spirit with
them. And this Spirit that is present in the word
of the gospel, and works in it, and is given by it,
reforms mightily ; and therefore it is called the
spirit of judgment and burning ; and the Lord
looking to this time of reformation, proraised long
before to pour out his Spirit upon all flesh, and so
to reform all flesh.

44
Now the Spirit poured forth upon the flesh,
reforms it two ways. 1. By taking away all evils
out of the flesh, 2. By changing the flesh into
its own likeness.
First, The Spirit poured forth upon the flesh,
reforms it all by taking all evil out of the flesh :
as, 1. All sin and corruption ; saith Paul, " If you
mortify the deeds of the flesh by the Spirit, ye
shall live ;" the deeds of the flesh are not to be
mortified by any power, but by the Spirit ; all
pride and envy, and lust, and covetousness, and
carnal mindedness, and all other evils of the flesh,
are reforraed by the presence of the Spirit in it,
and no other way.
2. The Spirit reforms not only all sins in the
church, but all errors, and heresies, and false
doctrines, as is evident by that of Paul, I Cor. iii.
12. " If any man build upon this foundation
gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, stubble ;
every man's work shall be made manifest, for the
day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed
by fire ; and the fire shall try every raan's work of
what sort it is," &c.
So that a raan may lay Christ for a foundation,
and yet build wood, hay, and stubble uppn him,
that is, huraan doctrines and the inventions of
men, and false and wicked opinions.
2. The destruction of this hay, wood, and stub
ble, that is, error, heresy, and huraan doctrines,
in the church of God, that is, the people built on

45
Christ, shall not be by laws of states, or constitu
tions of councils, butby theHoly Spirit, whichis
as fire.
The Spirit shall come into the saints, and burn
up all that corrupt and false doctrine that will not
endure the Spirit; and error shall never be de
stroyed, but by the Spirit of truth. So that the
Spirit reforras all error, as well as all corruptions
in the faithful.
Secondly, The Spirit doth not only reform the
flesh by taking away all evil out of it, whether
corruptions or errors;, but also it changeth the
flesh into its own likeness. For the Spirit is as
fire, that changeth ever}' thing into itself; and so
doth the Spirit in the flesh make the flesh spiri
tual : like heavenly fire, it changeth men into its
own likeness, and makes them spiritual, heavenly,
holy, meek, good, loving, &c. And thus the Spirit
reforms indeed. When the Spirit is poured forth
upon a man, how wonderfully doth it reforra hira !
This works a change in hira in good earnest ; and
no raan is ever truly reformed, till he receive the
Spirit. And thus you see the means that Christ useth to
work this reformation, and these are the only
means. Object. Yea, but I hope you will allow secular
power too: May not the spiritual church of
Christ be reformed with worldly and secular
power ?

46
Answ. I answer, by no means; and that for
these causes.
1. Forcible reformation is unbeseeming the
gospel : for the gospel is the gospel of peace, and
not of force and fury. Civil ecclesiastical reform-^
ation, reforms by breathing out threatenings,
punishments, prisons, fire, aud death ; but the
gospel by preaching peace.* And therefore it is
most unbeseeming the gospel to do any thing
rashly and violently, for the advancement thereof;
for the gospel of peace is not to be advanced by
violence ; and therefore violent reformers live in
* Though the truth carries its evidence in itself, and the
word of God is greater than all the testimonies of men, yet for
their sakes that are weak, I have inserted the judgments of
some godly men (as I have accidentally met with them) who
have spoken of these things in the Spirit ; that so you may
see the truth, though it Ijath but few followers, yet it hath
some. Melancton on Psal. ex. 3. — Habebis populum, non
toactum gladio, sed verbo collectum, et laeto corde ampleo-
tentera evangelium, et te sponte celebrantem. Discernit igitur
erailesiam ab imperiis mundanis, et externam servitutem a cul
tibus cordis, accensis voce evangelii et a spiritu sancto. Ag,
Religio cogi non vult, doceri expetit. Immanitate non stabi-
litur, sed evertitur. — Polan. This Charles, to whom Leo gave
the title of the most christian king, was a great conqueror, and
overcame many nations with the sword: and as the Turk
compdleth to his faith, so he compelleth with violence to the
faith of Christ; but, alas, the true faith of Christ, whereunto
the Holy Ghost draws men's hearts, through the preaching the
word of truth, he knew not, &c. — Tindal. Fides, sua sponte,
non coacte agere vult. — Luth. Christus non voluit vi et igne

47
contradiction to the gospel of peace, and cannot
be truly reckoned christians, but enemies to Chris
tianity ; since Christianity doth all by the power of
the anointing, but anti Christianity doth all by the
power of the world.
2, Forcible reformation is unsuitable to Christ's
kingdom ; for Christ's kingdom stands in the Spi
rit ; and the force of flesh and blood can contribute
nothing to this. '
2. Again, 'the faithful, the subjects of this
kingdom, are a spiritual people, and so they are
without tbe reach of any outward force. You
cogere homines ad fidem. — Luth. Haereticos comburere, est
contra voluntatem spiritus. — Luth. He hath given in the
church the sword of the Spirit to inforce with, and not the
sword of the magistrate. Prorsus diversa ratio est regni Christi
et mundi. Mundani magistratus quae volunt imperant, et sub-
diti coguntur obedientiam praestare. At in Regno Christi,
quod non est mundana aut pontificia dominatio, sed spirituale
regnum, nihil simile geritur, sed qui vis alterius judex, et qui-
libet alteri subjectus est. At tyranni et animicidae illi, nihil
morantes vocem Christi, regnum meum non est de hoc raundo,
ex ecelesia, politiam civilem, seu potius pontificium imperium
constituerunt. — Luth. Quare ipsam sedem bestiae nego, nihil
moratus sit ne bonus vel mains, qui in ea sedet. Sedes inquam
quae sit super omnes sedes, nulla est in ecelesia super terrara
jure divino, sf d omnes sunt aequales, quia una fides, unum bap
tisma, unus Christus, &c. — -Luth.
Where there is no worldly superiority over one another,
there is no worldly compulsion of one another. In the natural
body, there is no convocation of many members to govern one,
or of more members to govern fewer, but the foot performs its
office without being under the authoritative power of the

48
may as well go about to bring the angels of heaven
und^r an outward and secular power, as the faith
ful, who being born of the Spirit, are more spi
ritual than they. And what hath flesh and blood
to do with them that are born of the Spirit, in the
things of the Spirit? And therefore touching this
kingdom which -is spiritual, and beyond not only
the power, but the cognizance of the world, God
hath said, " There shall be none to kill nor to hurt
in all ray holy mountain," Isai. xi. 9. And again,
"Violence shall no more be heard in thy streets,
wasting nor destruction within thy borders," Isai.
Ix. 18.
3. As they are a spiritual people, so also a
willing people ; and what needs outward power to
hands; yea each member performs its office aright, without
being in subordination to another, by the guidance of that
head to wliich it is united, and of that spirit that dwells in it ;
each member having an immediate influence of the head upon
itself, though it may outwardly seem to be further from the head
than another member. And thus it is in believers and con
gregations. — ^Quid autem vi et coactione opus vobis est, qui
hujusmodi certamen decertatus, in quo cogi nemo debet? —
Ulrichus ab Hutten, to the Council of Priests.
What need you the power of the ¦ magistrate to defend the
truth, who have so many scriptures to defend it 1 the^ruth of
God being to be defended by the word of God, and not by
the power of men. — Idem. I could produce many more testi
monies; but these are sufficient to shew, that I am not alone jn
this point, against forcible reformation ; but have the armory
of David to defend it withal, on which there hang a thousand
bucklers, all shields of mighty men.

49
force a people made willing.by the Spirit? " Thy
people shall be willing in the day of thy power,"
Ps. ex. 3. The very day of Christ's power is not
to force men against their, wills, but to make
them willing. The Spirit of God, that brings
them to this kingdom, makes them willing to
obey God there, and gives them pleasure in that
obedience, by shedding abroad the love of God
in their hearts. They that are not a willing
people, ^(belong not to Christ's kingdom, but to
the world.
Thirdly, By this forciable reformation, human
institution is set up ; for the power of the world
reforms by the prudence of the world : and raen
neter use human power in the church, but they
first make human laws in it ; and human laws are
the rule of human power. And so by this means,
the authority of raen is made to have power, " not
in the things of men, but in the things of God ;
which is the great dishonour of God, and his
authority. Fourthly, It brings men into blind obedience,
and makes; them to obey what is commanded on
pain of punishment, though they know not whe
ther it be right or wrong ; with the word, or
against the word : so that a man shall say, That
which I do I am constrained to do, and therefore
I do it because I am constrained.
I read in Frith's Answer to the Bishop of Ro^
Chester, that a youth being present at his father's
burning, the officers seeing.him, resolved .to exa-
D

60
mine him also, to try if they might find him
a sectary or an heretic: but the youth dismayed
at the sad sight of his father's death, and fearing the
like end himself, being asked of one of them, How
he believed ? Answered, Sir, I believe even as it
pleaseth you. And so, the more outward and
violent power is used upon men, the more of this
kind of faith and obedience you shall have. When
men shall see prisons, and banishments, and loss of
goods, and death,, wal king up and down the king
dom for the reformation ofthe church, you shall at
last have men to say. Sirs, we will believe and do,
even as it pleaseth you : We will believe as the
state pleaseth, or we will believe as the council
pleaseth ; and let them make what confession they
will, we had rather believe thera, than endure
thera. And thus by fear and punishment, may
men be brought to say and do, that which they
neither believe nor understand : and how accept
able such popish faith and obedience is unto God,
all spiritual christians know, and every man's con
science, methinks, should be convinced.
, Fifthly, It makes men hypocrites and not saints;
for it forceth the body, and leaves the heart as it
was; for the heart cannot be forced by outward
power, but by the inward efficacy of the truth.
Now the hearts of men being corrupt, what are
all outward duties they are forced to, but so much
hypocrisy? So that forcible reformation makes
only hypocrites and gilded sepulchres, putting a
form of godliness upon the outward man, when

61
there is no power of godliness in the inner man,
but a power of ungodliness.
That reformation, with which the uncleanness
of the heart stands, is none of Christ's reformation.
What is the reformation of the outward man, when
the heart is full of atheism, ignorance of God,
adultery, pride, murder, &c. and all the corruptions
of nature? Call you this a reformation of the
church of Christ ? This reformation makes none
saints, but all hypocrites, forcing men's actions
contrary to their natures.
Sixthly, It causes disturbances and tumults in
the world. When men are forced by outward
power to act against their inward principles, in
the things of God, what disturbances and tumults
this hath bred in states and kingdoras who knows
not? So that they that lay hold on the power of
men, and go about to reform hearts and con
sciences by outward violence, are never the cause
of reformation, but always of tumult: and this
renders the cause of the gospel grievous and
odious to the world, rather than comraends it.
And therefore, let all that love the gospel of
Christ, abstain from outward violence ; for they
that use the sword, in this kind, shall in the end
perish by the sword. A man when he sins not
against the state, may justly stand for his state-
freedom ; and to deprive a man of his state liberties
for the kingdom of Christ's sake, as it causeth dis
turbances in, the world, so let any man shew me
any such thing in the gospel. d2

52
Seventhly, Christ useth no such outward force
himself, for he is meek and lowly in spirit; and
not boisterous and furious in the flesh. And it
was foretold of him, that he should not " strive,
nor cry, nor lift up his voice in the streets," to call
in outward and secular aid and power. He never
used the power of the world, but did all by the
power of the word; even his very punishments
and destructions he executes by the word : " He
shall smite 'the earth with the rod of his mouth,
and with the breath of his lips he shall slay the
wicked.^' And antichrist himself, his greatest
enemy, he destroys " by the spirit of his mouth,
and the brightness of his coming."
2. Neither did Christ comniand his apostles to
use any such outvi^ard power, but he sent his dis
ciples to preach, and bid them say, into what
house soever they entered, " Peace be to this
house;" and if raen would not receive peace, and
the doctrine of peace, not tb force them, but to
depart thence, and to shake off the dust of their
feet, as a witness against them, that they had
been there, according to the will of Christ and
the Father, and offered them mercy and salvation,
which they refused. And this is all that the
ministers of the gospel oan do to any that refuse
their doctrine ; and not to go presently to the
secular magistrate to ask power to punish them,
or imprison them, or sell their goods, as is now
practised in some parts of the kingdom, even upon
the saints : And if men be wicked, is it not misery

53
enougli for them to refuse eternal life, except also
they inflict on them temporal death? Is it not
misery enough for men to refuse the good things
of heaven, except they also deprive them of the,
good things of this present life? And yet as
Luther said of the clergy, Quandb non invocat bra-
chium seculare, et morte utraque terret mundum?
' When doth it not call upon the secular power,
and terrify the world with both deaths?' Surely,
Christ and the word approve not these ways.
For, Matt, xviii. Christ imposeth no other punish-,
ment on them that would not hear the church,
than that he should be reckoned as a heathen ;
and Paul, Titus iii. teacheth us, after once and
twice admonition, to avoid an heretic, but not
to imprison hira, or kill him,' or banish him; and
again, they that do these things, shall not inherit
the kingdom of God. And again, " He that be
lieveth not shall be danmed ;" but not one word of
outward or corporal punishment, in all the gospel.
3. Yea, Christ reproveth his disciples for dis
covering syuch a spirit of tyranny, as to punish
men for not receiving him, when the apostles of
a prelarical and antichristian spirir in that parti
cular, desired fire to come down from heaven upon
them that would not receive him; Christ did
severely rebuke them, saying, " Ye know not of
what spirit ye are ;" not of Christ's spirit, which is
meek, but' of satan's, who was a murderer from
the beginning, and of anrichrist's, his first ber
gotten in the world. And he adds, " The Son

54
of Man came not to destroy merfs lives, but to
save thera ;" and therefore to go about to turn the
gospel, not to save men's lives, but to destroy them,
and so to change Christ himself, from a saviour
into a destroyer, this is antichrist triuraphant.
All these things shew that worldly power hath no
place at all in the reformation of the gospel.
Now I should have proceeded here to answer
some objections, as namely :
Object. l.,Thatof Lukexiv. " Compel them to
corae in :" this, I forgetting, named not.
Object. 2. May a christian then live as he list?
Answ. No, by no means ; for he hath the word
and Spirit in him, to keep him from living as he
list ; and he knows that no man in God's kingdom
may live as he wills, but as God wills.
Object. 3. But would you baveno law?
Answ. No laws in God's kingdom, but God's
laws; and these are a thousand times better than
all the laws of men ; and they are these three :
The law bf a new nature. The law of the spirit
bf life that is in Christ. The law of loye.
Object. 4. But would you have no government?
Answ. Yes, but the government of Christ the
head, and the Holy Ghost the Spirit, in and over
the church the body. They that would govern
the faithful, the raembers of Christ's own body,
make themselves the head of those members ; and
so antichrist may as well be found in a combi
nation of men, as in any one single person.
Object. 5. But would you have no order ?

S5
Answ. Yes, the best that is ; even such an order
as is in the body of Christ, where every member
is placed by Christ, and none by itself The
order of the spiritual church is a spiritual order,
and not a carnal.
Object. 6. But would you have sin suffered?
Answ. No, but more truly and thoroughly
destroyed than any power of the world can destroy
it ; even " by the Spirit of Judgment and burning."
Object. 7. But would you have sinners suf
fered ?
Answ. No, but punished more severely than any
powers of the world can punish them : for, " He
shall smite the earth with the rod of his mouth,
and with the breath of his lips he shall slay the
wicked." And as fpr those that are outwardly
wicked, the magistrate is to keep them in order,
for the quiet of the state ; he having power over
their persons, estates, and lives.
I should also have proceeded to the next thing,
The advantages of such a gospel reformation where
it is wrought ; together with the uses. But be
cause I would not be over long, I pass by these
things, and so proceed no further in this discourse.
But now being brought hither by an unex-
pecte(^ providence, I shall crave liberty to speak
a few words to you, in the behalf of two king
doms, that is, this kingdom, and God's,
J. That which I have to request of you for this
kingdom, is, that ypu would regard the oppression

56
of the poor, and the sighing of the needy. Never
was there more injustice and oppression in the
nation than now ; I have seen many oppressed and
crushed, and none to help them. I beseech you
consider this with all your hearts; for many who
derive power from you, are great oppressors.
And therefore I require you in the name of God,
to discharge the trust that God hath put into your
hands; and so " to defend the poor and fatherless,
to do justice to the afflicted and needy ; to deliver
the poor and needy, and to rid thera out of the
hands of the wicked." This is your business, dis
charge your duty : if you will not, then hear what
the Lord saith, Ps. xii. 5; " For the oppression of
the poor, for the sighing of the needy, now will
I arise, saith the Lord:" and God's rising in this
case, would prove your ruin. If you will not do
God's work in the kingdom, which he hath called
you to, he will do it himself without you ; as it is
written, " He shall deliver the needy when he
crieth, the poor also, and him that hath no helper.
He shall savetheir souls from deceit and violence;"
the common evils of the times. And this is all
that I have to say for this kingdom.
2. I have a few more things to say touching
God's kingdora; and the first is this :
1 . That as Christ's kingdom, and the kingiSoms ofl
the world are distinct, so you would be pleased to
keep them so ; and not mingle them together your
selves, nor suffer others to do it, to the great pre
judice and disturbance of both.

57
¦ 2. That you would be pleased to think that
Christ's kingdom, which is not of this worid, hath
sufficient power in itself to mahage all the affairs
of it, without standing in need of any aid or help
from the worid ; seeing the power of man is of no
place or use in the kingdom of God, which is not
a temporal, or an ecclesiastical dominion, but a
spiritual. 3. That you would' suffer the little stone of
Christ's kingdom, to be hewn out of the mountain
of the Roman nronarchy, whereof this kingdom is
a part, without hands, even by the power and
efficacy of the word and Spirit ; seeing the hands
of men cannot help, but hinder this work, which is
to be done without hands. And that your raight
and your power, would please to let God do this
work of his, without might and without power,
and by his Spirit only.
4. That you would be pleased to suffer the
assembling of the saints, both publicly and pri
vately, as occasion serves, seeing this can be no
prejudice to the state, but a great advantage ; in
asmuch as they meet peaceably, and make no
tumults, and in their assembling pray for the peace
and welfare of this divided and distracted king
dom. And also, that you take heed of scattering
those churches, that meet in the narae and Spirit
of Jesus Christ, which are Christ's own gatherings
together, lest Christ so scatter you abroad, that
you never be gathered together again.
5. That you take heed you do nothing to the

58
prejudice of the faithful, God's own people ; as he
bath warned you by the Spirit, saying, " Touch not
mine anointed, and do my prophets no harm."
This place hath been miserably raistaken ; for the
kings of the earth and the clergy have shared it
between themselves, whereas indeed it belongs tp
neither ; for God's anointed are the faithful, that
are anointed with the Spirit, the oil of God, and
so are anointed as Christ was anointed. And these
anointed ones, are the Lord's prophets; and the
Lord hath no prophets, but such as are anointed
With the Spirit. Thus Christ was made the Lord's
prophet, " The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, for
he hath anointed rae to preach the gospel:" and
thus are all his brethren made prophets, being
fellows with him in hi§ unction. And there
fore take heed how you meddle with the Lord's
anointed ones, and with the Lord's prophets ; for_as
it is said, " He suffered no man to do them wrong,
yea, he even reproved kings for their sakes," say
ing, " Touch not," &c. So the Lord hath still the
same care of the same people, and will suffer no
man to do them wrong, but will reprove kings and
parliaments, and kingdoms, and cities, and coun-,
ties, and coraraittees, he will reprove them all for
their sakes, and say, " Touch not mine anointed,
and do my prophets no harm :" for they that are
anointed with the Spirit, are the flesh of Christ,
and the prophets of God, and therefore touch them
and harm them at your own peril. It grieves me
to see the rest of the kingdom, touching these

59
anointed ones of God, and doing harm to these
bis prophets, abusing, and spoiling, and imprison
ing them : it would grieve me much more if I
should see you doing the same ; for this would
bring you, as well as the kingdom, under God's own
reproof. And the reproof of God who can en
dure? 6. And lastly, Take heed you do not hinder the
free passage of the gospel. When God hath put
his Spirit into the hearts of raen, take heed how
you resist the word in those men's mouths ; for the
word of God, in the meanest instruraent, can
never be resisted, but will carry all before it. The
honour, power, dignity, authority, nobility, ma
gistracy of the kingdom, if they should once
stand up to hinder the word of God, the word of
God would carry them all before it. And thercr
fore it grieves me to see how the city, country,
counties, towns, villages, do all rise up for the
most part against the rainistration of the Spirit;
for this is a certain sign of the undoing of thera all.
God will suffer and endure any sin long, but only
the contempt and opposition of the gospel: but
when men once rise up against the gospel, in the
spirit and power of it, they are sure to be undone
by it, and to be shattered all in pieces ; for this
brings swift vengeance.
And therefore when I see the generality of the
people of all sorts, rise up against the ministration
of the Spirit, which God hath now in these days
of ours,' set up even in every county for salvation

60
ito his people, but for a stone of stumbling and
a rock of offence to the rest, I am then exceed
ingly distressed, ahd pained at the very heart, for
thee, O England, and for all thy cities, and tpwns,
and inhabitants ; for thou that dasheth against the
Spirit in the gospel, how shalt thou be dashed in
pieces thyself, and there shall be no healing for
thee. I could hope for peace again and good days,
suddenly in this kingdom, but for this sin of the
contempt and opposing the gospel, and this makes
my hopes even at an end ; and the day of my fear
is come forth upon me.
But O you honourable and beloved christians,
let not your soul enter into those men's secrets,
neither yet walk in their open and public ways ;
for ruin and destruction are in their paths, and the
way of peace they shall never know, seeing God
is about to enter into controversy with all flesh,
for their rising up against the ministration of the
Spirit. And therefore be wnse here I beseech you,
that in the shattering of the nation, if there be no
remedy, you may be kept together as a blessed
remnant, and a hopeful seed of the following
generation. To conclude, Honourable and Worthy, we will
be willingly contented to do and suffer all things
with you ; we will chearfully run through honour
and dishonour with you; fame and infamy, gain
and loss, trouble and quietness, Avar and peace, life
and death : and do desire to reserve nothing to

' 61
ourselves. Nisi unicum verbum Domini, * But
only the word of God,' in its own purity and
liberty, to preach it, and to publish it, and to pro
fess it, and to practise it, for the glory of God and
his only begotten Son, and for the good bf his
kingdom, and this kingdom.
And thus much unto you from the Lord.

62

A REPLY

Mr. LOVE'S CONTRADICTIONS.

 o ?— 
SIR, Because I'would not wrong you in
any measure in what you said, I went to one who
took your notes in short hand, and he gave me
what I here set down for yours, which I well re
member are the things you then spake, for the
substance of them ; to which I give you this fol
lowing reply.
Mr. Love. ' Cast your eyes upon the begun
' reformation, though peradventure cried down
' with confidence, no such thing as the refor-
' mation of the church,' &c.
Reply. I taught indeed, that the kingdom of
Christ is a spiritual kingdom, and the reformation
of it is answerable ; and that Christ hiraself, who
is the Lord the Spirit, is the reformer of this spiri
tual kingdom, by his word and Spirit : but little
thought that any raan would have been so blind
or worse, as to have affirmed, the preaching of this
spiritual and glorious reformation was to preach
against all reformation. Is the reformation of
Jesus Christ, which he works by his word and

63
Spirit in all the faithful, and in all the churches of
the saints, no reformarion at all ? How durst you
affirm this, Mr. Love?
' As if all were encompassed within the narrow
* heart of man.'
Yet I said plainly enough, when the heart is re
formed, all is reformed; and gospel reformation,
though it begins in the inward man, ends, in the
outward. Did you, Sir, accuse rae rightly then, or
no? ' If this be so, rase out the first article of the
' covenant.' I had rather the whole covenant were rased out,
than the least truth contained in the word of God;
though I like the covenant well enough, according
to the true intention of it. Again, if the thing be
truly considered it will appear, that you are more
against the covenant than I : for the covenant
engages us to reform according to the word of
God; but you, it seems, would reform without,
yea, against the word, with outward and secular
power; which you will not suffer in the magis
trates hands neither, but will needs have it in your
own. ' If jthis doctrine be true, that gospel faforma-
' tion be only spiritual, then I wonder how Paul
' was so out, who said. When I corae I will set all
' things in order: surely, that was a church
' order.' But pray. What outward or secular power had
Paul, who suffered not only much from the worW,

64 . ¦
but raost from the false apostles, to set the church
in order ? Did Paul, think you, use any worldly
power to set the church in order; or only the
power of the word and Spirit? But these men
think, if the church be to be set in order by the
word and Spirit only, which were sufficient in
Paul's time, it is like to be out of order for them.
' To ci;y down all kind of gPvernment under
' heart government; and all reformation as carnal,
* because you have the civil magistrate's hand to
' it, is against that place of Paul, 1 Tim. ii. 2.
' "Pray for kings, and all that are in authority;
' that we raay lead a quiet and a peaceable life in
' all godliness and honesty.'"
Well argued now indeed. Babes and sucklings,
you shall come forth, and answer this master in
Israel. The sense of this place is evidently this : That
christians should pray for kings and governors,
that God would so incline their hearts, that whilst
we live in godliness under them, they would suffer
us to live in peace ; and not make us fare the worse
in the world, for our interest in the kingdom of
God. And what one drop can Mr. Love squeeze
out of this scripture, to cool the tip ofhis tongue?
For the meaning is not, that the magistrate should
enforce godliness, but protect us in godliness.
' To jostle out the magistrate's power, is to
* jostle out the first article of the covenant;' What
again ? ' and they that jostle out that, will jostle
* out you shortly.'

65
Good Sir, ascribe not your own work to our
hands. The jostling out of the magistrate, have
you not made it the chief part of your business
now for a long while together ? And are you not
still so diligently acting it every day, that now
you think your work is in some forwardness, and
you are pretty well able to deal with hini ? And
now because you would not be mis^usted your
selves, you publicly slander us with it. We see
clearly 'through all your slender disguises.
• ' Ezra was of another mind: " Whosoever will
' not do the law of thy God, and the law of the
* king, let judgraent be executed speedily upon
' him, whether it be unto death, or to banishment,
' or to confiscation of goods, or to imprisonment," '
Ezra vii. 26.
Well, Sir, will you stand to this place, and shall
this end the controversy ? Pray mark then ; This
was part of the decree of Artaxerxes, a king of
the nations, touching the Jews, for the rebuilding
of the material temple; that they should have
liberty to do it, and not be molested in the doing
of it, but should have what assistance the state
could afford. The decree was this : " I make a
decree, that all they of the people of Israel, and
of his priests and Levites, in my realm, which
are minded of their own free will to go up to Je
rusalem, go with thee: Forasmuch as thou art
sent of the king, and of his seven counsellors, to
enquire concerning Judah and Jerusalem, accord
ing to the law of thy God which is in thine hand,
E

66
See, I Artaxerxes the king, do make a decree to
all the treasurers which are beyond the river, that
whatsoever Ezra the priest shall require of you,
it be done speedily, unto an hundred talents of
silver." And then follows,^ " Whoever will not
dp the law of thy God, and the law of thy king,"
let hira be so and so punished, as you have
heard. J. Here then you see, that Artaxerxes made no
decree to enforce all the Jews, to go build; but as the
text saith, " those that were minded of their own
free will." See you not here, that even a king of
the nations thought it unreasonable to force any
man to go to build God's material house, against
his will ?
2. And secondly, you see how he gave thera no
laws how to build, but permitted them tp do it,
according to the law of their God that was in tlieir
Hands, 3. And thirdly, you see. How he deterred any
from hindering them from this work, upon pain
of death, banishment, &c.
Do you not perceive now by this time. How you
then deceived the people, by giving them the
letter of the word without the true sense of it, as
satan dealt with Christ in his temptations ? Such
sermons bring an hour of temptation upon the
people. This then is the force of the plape :
1. That the magistrate may niake a decree for
al^ that aj-e minded of their own fiee will, to build

67
the spiritual temple of Jesus Christ, and to gather
up into a 'communion of saints.
2. That he ought to permit this to be done, ac
cording to the law of our God that is in our hands,
or rather according to the law of the Spirit of life,
that is in our hearts ; and not to enforce upon us
any clergy constitutions.
3. And that he may deter you, and the rest of
the kingdom that are of the like mind with you,
from resisting and hindering this work, which
hath its authority from heaven. That so the saints,
the kingdom of Christ, raay pray for the magis
trate ; and Christ, the king of saints, may bless
the magistrate, and make him prosperous. And
pray now what is all this to your purpose ?
' If it was good in your hearts to think to reform,
* it is much better to do it'
Does not God say, It was well that David
thought to build a temple; and yet for all that
he should not build it ? And do you now dare to
blame this very thing? Canndt the scripture
itself be quiet for you ?
' You need not fear losing a party.'
Yea, but how if God be in that party ? What
then. Sir? Is it not better keeping a little, poor, de
spised party, that hath God in it; than a great and
numerous party, without God ?
Again, Did you preach before the Parliament,
to make or cast off parties? Doth this appertain
to the mystery of Christ and the Father ? Reader,
These men are so over busy in making and main
E 2

68
ring parties, that I rauch ffear they will, in the end,*
throw the kingdom into more misery and blood
than their predecessors have dohe.
' Reformation is_no forcing conscience, it raed-
' dies not with conscience, it restrains practice.
' If a Jesuit come frora Rome to kill a great person,
' he does it in conscience ; but I meddle not with
' his conscience, I restrain his practice.'
Does not your reformation meddle with con
science, Mr. Love ? Did ybu speak this of your
self at random, as the rest, or is this the sense of
your brethren ? And doth your reformation only
restrain outward practice? Then to tie up mad
dogs, and bears, and tigers, is your most excellent
reformation. You that will not meddle with the
consciences of men, it is no wonder you are
maliing so raany iron yokes for their necks, and
so many snares and fetters to hamper the outward
man, the proper subject, it seems, of your refor
mation. And thus taking upon yourselves the
reformation of the outward raan, > you do indeed
put the magistrate's "work to an end, aud then the
assembly may serve in the place of the House of
Commons; and Sion College in the place of the
Lord Mayor, Aldermen, and Common Council.
See you not yet, O ye powers of the world, how
the ecclesiastical powers would eat you out?
And for your Jesuit, Did you ever hear me say,
or hint. That the magistrate should not restrain
and punish outward wickedness? I wish therefore
you would unriddle yourselves, and tell truly, if

69 '
you dare, how far you would limit the magis
trate, and enlarge yourselves upon the outward
man. But certainly. If the magistrate's power hath
under it the whole outward man, as indeed it hath ;
and if Christ's power hath under it the whole in
ward man, as indeed it hath ; What place then, I
pray, is there left for your ecclesiastical power,'
when the outward and the inward man are dis
posed of before? Sure, when the magistrate takes
his own proper power to hiraself, and Christ his
own proper power tp hiraself, your power will be
found to have no place, either in the world's king
dom, or God's ; but you must find out some third
place for it ; for I will assign you none, lest you
prove too angry.
' The church of Thyatira raight think she had
' new light, and yet God saith, " I have a few
' things against thee, because thou sufferest the
' woman Jezebel, &c."
Truly Sir, when God shall make you a new
creature, you will be glad of new light ; for, " Be
hold," saith God, '"' I make all things new," even
the light as well as the creature : the old light will
serve the old raan well enough.
And for the Spirit's reproving the angel of the
church, for suffering false and erroneous teachers ;
doth this prove as you undertake, that the
angel of the church had or exercised, civil and
secular power in the church of Christ? You err,
not understanding the scripture; fox then any

70 I ,
thing is suffered in the church, when it is not re
proved and conderaned by the word ;< the Word of
truth, taught and' published in the church, will
suffer no error there: but you understand this
suffering, of outward and violent power. Do you
not remember that I said at the beginning, that
the carnal church understands the whole scriptures
carnally ?
' And now to hear such serraons preached, and
' books printed ; if it had been at Amsterdam, it
* had been no marvel : but at London, and at
' Westminster, &c.'
Truly such a sermon as mine might have been
preached at Amsterdam, or any where else where
the gospel hath free passage : and such a sermon
as yours might have been preached at Rome, or
any where else, where the precious word of God
is under restraint, and ecclesiastical power exalts
itself, both above the power of the word, and the
power of the nation. Your serraon savours as ill
to the faithful, as raine to the world.
Many other weak, passionate, inconsiderate,
erroneous things, fell from Mr. Love, neither worth
the troubling the Reader with, nor rayself; and
so they may perish and rot in their own grave, if
they will, for they shall never receive a resurrec
tion frora me.
And now at the close of all, I desire the Reader
to observe the difference between our enemies and
ourselves, in this great point of authority and
jurisdiction, which is this: That we exalt Jesus

71
Christ alone in the spiritual church ; and attribute
to the magistrate his full power>in the world : but
they exalt themselves in Christ's stead, in the
church; and set under their feet, the magis
trate's power in the world. ' And this is so evident,
that there is some operation of satan, more or less,
upon him that sees it not.

FINIS.

Prjesens male judicat aetas.

Judicium melius posteritatis erit.

Inne], Printer, 61, Wells Street, Oxford Street, London.

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