_Maintenance_ brings._] But lastly, As to the _Abuses_ of this Kind
of Maintenance, indeed he that would go through them all, though he
did it passingly, might make of it alone a huge Volume, they are so
great and numerous. For this Abuse, as others, crept in with the
_Apostasy_, there being nothing of this in the Primitive Times: Then
the Ministers claimed no _Tithes_, neither sought they a stinted or
forced Maintenance; but such as wanted had their Necessity supplied by
the Church, and others wrought with their Hands. But the Persecutions
being over, and the Emperors and Princes coming under the Name of
_Christians_, the Zeal of those great Men was quickly abused by the
_Covetousness_ of the _Clergy_, who soon learned to change their
Cottages with the Palaces of Princes, and rested not until by Degrees
some of them came to be Princes themselves, nothing inferior to them
in Splendor, Luxury, and Magnificence; a Method of living that honest
_Peter_ and _John_ the _Fisherman_, and _Paul_ the _Tent-maker_ never
coveted; and perhaps as little imagined that Men pretending to be
their Successors should have arrived to these Things. And so soon as
the Bishops were thus seated and constituted, forgetting the Life and
Work of a Christian, they went usually by the Ears together about
the Precedency and Revenues, each coveting the chiefest and fattest
Benefice. [Sidenote: _The _Protestants_ having forsaken the Pope,
yet would not forsake the rich Popish Revenues._] It is also to be
regretted to think how soon this Mischief crept in among _Protestants_,
who had scarce well appeared when the _Clergy_ among them began to
speak at the old Rate, and shew that though they had forsaken the
Bishop of _Rome_, they were not resolved to part with their old
_Benefices_; and therefore so soon as any Princes or States shook off
the _Pope_’s Authority, and so demolished the _Abbies_, _Nunneries_,
and other _Monuments of Superstition_, the reformed _Clergy_ began
presently to cry out to the Magistrates to beware of meddling with the
Church’s _Patrimony_, severely exclaiming against making a lawful Use
of those vast Revenues that had been superstitiously bestowed upon the
Church, so called, to the Good and Benefit of the Commonwealth, as no
less than _Sacrilege_.
[Sidenote: 1. _The _Clergy_’s Covetousness._] But by keeping up of this
Kind of Maintenance for the _Ministry_ and _Clergymen_, so called,
there is first a Bait laid for _Covetousness_, _which is Idolatry_,
and of all Things most hurtful; so that for _Covetousness_ Sake,
many, being led by the Desire of _filthy Lucre_, do apply themselves
to be Ministers, that they may get a Livelihood by it. If a Man have
several Children, he will allot one of them to be a Minister; which if
he can get it to be, he reckons it as good as a Patrimony: So that a
fat Benefice hath always many Expectants; and then what Bribing, what
Courting, what Industry, and shameful Actions are used to acquire these
Things, is too openly known, and needs not to be proved.
[Sidenote: _The greedy _Kirk_, a Proverb._] The Scandal that by these
Means is raised among Christians is so manifest, that it is become a
Proverb, that _the_ Kirk _is always_ greedy. Whereby the Gift and Grace
of God being neglected, they have for the most Part no other Motive or
Rule in applying themselves to one Church more than another but the
greater Benefice. For though they hypocritically pretend, at their
accepting of and entering into their Church, that they have nothing
before them but the _Glory of God_ and the _Salvation of Souls_; yet if
a richer Benefice offer itself, they presently find it more for God’s
Glory to remove from the first, and go thither. And thus they make no
Difficulty often to change, while notwithstanding they accuse us that
we allow Ministers to go from Place to Place, and not to be tied to one
Place; but we allow this not for the gaining of Money, but as moved of
God. For if a Minister be called to minister in a particular Place, he
ought not to leave it, except God call him from it, and then he ought
to obey: For we make _the Will of God inwardly revealed_, and _not_ the
_Love of Money_ and more _Gain_, the _Ground_ of _removing_.
[Sidenote: 2. _The _Clergy_’s Luxury._] _Secondly_, From this Abuse
hath proceeded that _Luxury_ and _Idleness_ that most of the _Clergy_
live in, even among _Protestants_ as well as _Papists_, to the great
Scandal of Christianity. For not having lawful Trades to work with
their Hands, and being so superfluously and sumptuously provided for,
they live in _Idleness_ and _Luxury_; and there doth more _Pride_,
_Vanity_, and _worldly Glory_ appear in their _Wives_ and _Children_
than in most others, which is open and evident to all.
[Sidenote: 3. _The _Clergy_’s Cruelty._] _Thirdly_, They become hereby
so _glued_ to the _Love_ of _Money_, that there is none like them in
_Malice_, _Rage_, and _Cruelty_. If they be denied their Hire, they
rage like drunken Men, fret, fume, and as it were go mad. A Man may
sooner satisfy the severest Creditor than them; the general Voice of
the Poor doth confirm this. For indeed they are far more exact in
taking up the Tithes of _Sheep_, _Geese_, _Swine_, and _Eggs_, &c.
and look more narrowly to it than to the Members of their Flock: They
will not miss the least Mite; and the poorest Widow cannot escape
their avaricious Hands. [Sidenote: _Poor _Widow’s Mite_ cannot escape
the Priest’s _greedy Hands.] Twenty Lies they will hear unreproved;
and as many Oaths a Man may swear in their Hearing without offending
them; and greater Evils than all this they can overlook. But if thou
owest them aught, and refusest to pay it, then nothing but War will
they thunder against thee, and they will stigmatize thee with the
horrible Title of _Sacrilege_, and send thee to Hell without Mercy, as
if thou hadst committed the Sin against the Holy Ghost. Of all People
we can best bear Witness to this; [Sidenote: _The Work of _Antichrist_
is Fury, Envy, Malice._] for God having shewn us this corrupt and
Antichristian Ministry, and called us out from it, and gathered us unto
his own Power and Life, to be a _separate People_, so that we dare
not join with, nor hear these Antichristian Hirelings, neither yet
put into their Mouths, or feed them. Oh! what Malice, Envy, and Fury
hath this raised in their Hearts against us! That though we get none
of their Wares, neither will buy them, as knowing them to be naught,
yet will they force us to give them Money: And because we cannot for
Conscience Sake do it, our Sufferings have upon that Account been
unutterable. Yea, to give Account of their Cruelty, and several Sorts
of Inhumanity used against us, would make no small History. These
avaricious Hirelings have come to that Degree of Malice and Rage, that
several poor labouring Men have been carried hundreds of Miles from
their own Dwellings, and shut up in Prison, some two, some three, yea,
some seven Years together, for the Value of one Pound Sterling, and
less. [Sidenote: _A Widow for the Tithe of _Geese_ about four Years
in Prison._] I know myself a poor Widow, that for the Tithes of her
_Geese_, which amounted not to five Shillings, was about four Years
kept in Prison, thirty Miles from her House. Yea, they by Violence
for this Cause have plundered of Men’s Goods the Hundred-fold, and
prejudiced much more; yea, Hundreds have hereby spilt their innocent
Blood; by dying in the _filthy noisome Holes_ and _Prisons_. [Sidenote:
_Some lost their Lives in nasty Holes, some wounded by the Priests_,
&c.] And some of the _Priests_ have been so enraged, that Goods thus
ravished could not satisfy them; but they must also satisfy their Fury
by beating, knocking, and wounding with their Hands innocent Men and
Women, for refusing (for Conscience Sake) to put into their Mouths.
The only Way then soundly to reform and remove all these Abuses,
and take away the Ground and Occasion of them, is, to take away all
_stinted_ and _forced Maintenance_ and _Stipends_. [Sidenote: _Whoso
heap _Teachers_ to themselves, let them provide their Stipend._] As
whoever call or appoint Teachers to themselves, let them accordingly
entertain them: And for such as are called and moved to the _Ministry_
by the Spirit of God, those that receive them, and taste of the Good of
their _Ministry_, will no Doubt provide Things needful for them, and
there will be no Need of a Law to force a Hire for them: For he that
sends them, will take care for them; and they also, _having Food and
Raiment_, will _therewith be content_.
§. XXXIII. [Sidenote: _The Difference between the Ministry of the
_Quakers_ and their _Adversaries.] The Sum then of what is said
is, That _the_ Ministry _that we have pleaded for, and which also
the Lord hath raised up among us is, in all its Parts, like the
true _Ministry_ of the Apostles and primitive Church_. _Whereas the
_Ministry_ our Adversaries seek to uphold and plead for, as it doth in
all in Parts differ from them, so, on the other Hand, it is very like
the false Prophets and Teachers testified against and condemned in the
Scripture_, as may be thus briefly illustrated.
[Sidenote: _The true Ministers _Call.] I. The Ministry and Ministers
we plead for, _are such as are immediately called and sent forth by
Christ and his Spirit unto the Work of the_ Ministry: So were the holy
Apostles and Prophets, as appears by these Places, _Matt._ x. 1. 5.
_Ephes._ iv. 11. _Heb._ v. 4.
1. But the Ministry and Ministers our Opposers plead for, _are such as
have no immediate Call from Christ; to whom the Leading and Motion of
the Spirit is not reckoned necessary; but who are called, sent forth,
and ordained by wicked and ungodly Men_: Such were of old the false
Prophets and Teachers, as appears by these Places, _Jer._ xiv. 14, 15.
_item._ Chap. xxiii. 21. and xxvii. 15.
[Sidenote: _True Ministers _Guide.] II. The Ministers we plead for,
_are such as are actuated and led by God’s Spirit, and by the Power and
Operation of his Grace in their Hearts, are in some Measure converted
and regenerate, and so are good, holy, and gracious Men_: Such were the
holy Prophets and Apostles, as appears from 1 _Tim._ iii. 2, 3, 4, 5,
6. _Tit._ i. 7, 8, 9.
2. But the Ministers our Adversaries plead for, _are such to whom the
Grace of God is no needful Qualification; and so may be true Ministers,
according to them, though they be ungodly, unholy, and profligate Men_:
Such were the false Prophets and Apostles, as appears from _Mic._ iii.
5. 11. 1 _Tim._ vi. 5, 6, 7, 8, &c. 2 _Tim._ iii. 2. 2. _Pet._ ii. 1,
2, 3.
[Sidenote: _True Ministers_ Work.] III. The Ministers we plead for,
_are such as act, move, and labour in the Work of the Ministry, not
from their own mere natural Strength and Ability, but as they are
actuated, moved, supported, assisted and influenced by the Spirit of
God, and minister according to the Gift received, as good Stewards of
the manifold Grace of God_: Such were the holy Prophets and Apostles,
1 _Pet._ iv. 10, 11. 1 _Cor._ i. 17. ii. 3, 4, 5. 13. _Acts_ ii. 4.
_Matt._ x. 20. _Mark_ xiii. 11. _Luke_ xii. 12. 1 _Cor._ xiii. 2.
3. But the Ministers our Adversaries plead for, _are such as wait
not for, nor expect, nor need the Spirit of God to actuate and move
them in the Work of the Ministry; but what they do they do from their
own mere natural Strength and Ability, and what they have gathered
and stolen from the Letter of the Scripture, and other Books, and so
speak it forth in the Strength of their own Wisdom and Eloquence,
and not in the Evidence and Demonstration of the Spirit and Power_:
Such were the false Prophets and Apostles, as appears, _Jer._ xxiii.
30, 31, 32, 34, &c. 1 _Cor._ iv. 18. _Jude_ 16. [Sidenote: _True
Ministers _Humility.] IV. The Ministers we plead for, _are such as,
being holy and humble, contend not for Precedency and Priority, but
rather strive to prefer one another, and serve one another in Love;
neither desire to be distinguished from the rest by their Garments and
large Phylacteries, nor seek the Greetings in the Market-places, nor
uppermost Places at Feasts, nor the chief Seats in the Synagogues; nor
yet to be called of Men _Master_, &c._ Such were the holy Prophets and
Apostles, as appears from _Matt._ xxiii. 8, 9, 10. and xx. 25, 26, 27.
4. But the Ministers our Adversaries plead for, _are such as strive
and contend for Superiority, and claim Precedency over one another;
affecting and ambitiously seeking after the fore-mentioned Things_:
Such were the false Prophets and Apostles in Time past, _Matt._ xxiii.
5, 6, 7.
[Sidenote: _True Ministers _Free Gift.] V. The Ministers we plead
for, _are such as having freely received, freely give; who covet no
Man’s Silver, Gold, or Garments; who seek no Man’s Goods, but seek
them, and the Salvation of their Souls: Whose Hands supply their
own Necessities, working honestly for Bread to themselves and their
Families. And if at any Time they be called of God, so as the Work of
the Lord hinder them from the use of their Trades, take what is freely
given them by such to whom they have communicated Spirituals; and
having Food and Raiment, are therewith content_: Such were the holy
Prophets and Apostles, as appears from _Matt._ x. 8. _Acts_ xx. 33, 34,
35. 1 _Tim._ vi. 8.
5. But the Ministers our Adversaries plead for, _are such as not having
freely received, will not freely give; but are covetous, doing that
which they ought not, for filthy Lucre’s Sake; as to preach for Hire,
and divine for Money, and look for their Gain from their Quarter, and
prepare War against such as put not into their Mouths, _&c._ Greedy
Dogs, which can never have enough. Shepherds who feed themselves, and
not the Flock; eating the Fat, and clothing themselves with the Wool;
making Merchandize of Souls; and following the Way of Balaam, that
loved the Wages of Unrighteousness_: Such were the false Prophets and
Apostles, _Isa._ lvi. 11. _Ezek._ xxxiv. 2, 3. 8. _Mic._ iii. 5. 11.
_Tit._ i. 10, 11. 2 _Pet._ ii. 1, 2, 3. 14, 15.
[Sidenote: _The Ministers _Life_ and _Qualification.] And in a
Word, We are for a holy, spiritual, pure and living _Ministry_, where
the _Ministers_ are both called, qualified and ordered, actuated and
influenced in all the _Steps_ of their _Ministry_ by the Spirit of God;
which being wanting, _we judge_ they cease to be the _Ministers of
Christ_.
But they, judging this _Life_, _Grace_, and _Spirit_ no essential Part
of their _Ministry_, are therefore for the upholding of an human,
carnal, dry, barren, fruitless and dead _Ministry_; of which, alas!
we have seen the Fruits in the most Part of their _Churches_: Of whom
that Saying of the Lord is certainly verified, _Jer._ xxiii. 32.--_I
sent them not, nor commanded them, therefore they shall not profit this
People at all, saith the LORD._
PROPOSITION XI.
Concerning WORSHIP.
[Sidenote: _What the true Worship is, that is acceptable to God._] _All
true and acceptable _Worship_ to God is offered in the inward and
immediate Moving and Drawing of his own Spirit, which is neither
limited to Places, Times, nor Persons. For though we are to worship
him always, and continually to fear before him_; [Sidenote: _How to
be performed._] _yet as to the outward Signification thereof, in
_Prayers_, _Praises_, or _Preachings_, we ought not to do it in our
own _Will_, _where_ and _when_ we will; but _where_ and _when_ we
are moved thereunto by the Stirring and secret Inspiration of the
Spirit of God in our Hearts; which God heareth and accepteth of,
and is never wanting to move as thereunto, when Need is; of which
he himself is the alone proper Judge. All other _Worship_ then,
both _Praises_, _Prayers_ or _Preachings_, which Man sets about
in his own Will, and at his own Appointment, which he can both
begin and end at his Pleasure, do or leave undone as himself seeth
meet, whether they be a _prescribed Form_, as a _Liturgy_, &c. or
_Prayers_ conceived _extempore_ by the natural Strength and Faculty
of the Mind, they are all but _Superstition_, _Will-worship_,
and _abominable Idolatry_ in the Sight of God, which are now to
be denied and rejected, and separated from, in this Day of his
spiritual Arising_: [Sidenote: _Superstition and Will-worship,
Idolatry._] _However it might have pleased him (_who winked at the
Times of Ignorance_, with a Respect to the Simplicity and Integrity
of some, and of his own innocent _Seed_, which lay as it were
buried in the _Hearts_ of Men under that Mass of _Superstition_)
_to blow upon the dead and dry Bones_, and to raise some Breathings
of his own, and answer them; and that until the _Day_ should more
clearly _dawn_ and _break forth.
§. I. The _Duty of Man_ towards God lieth chiefly in these two
Generals. 1. _In an holy Conformity to the pure Law and Light of God,
so as both to forsake the Evil, and be found in the Practice of those
perpetual and moral Precepts of Righteousness and Equity._ And 2.
_In rendering that Reverence, Honour and Adoration to God, that he
requires and demands of us_; which is comprehended under _Worship_.
Of the _former_ we have already spoken, as also of the different
Relations of _Christians_, as they are distinguished by the several
Measures of Grace received, and given to every one; and in that
Respect have their several Offices in the _Body of Christ_, which is
the _Church_. Now I come to speak of _Worship_, or of those Acts,
whether private or publick, general or particular, whereby Man renders
to God that Part of his Duty which relates immediately to him: And
as _Obedience is better than Sacrifice_, so neither is any Sacrifice
_acceptable_, but that which is done according to the Will of him to
whom it is _offered_. But Men, finding it easier to _sacrifice_ in
their own Wills, than obey God’s Will, have heaped up _Sacrifices_
without _Obedience_; [Sidenote: True _Worship and Duty to God-wards
corrupted._] and thinking to deceive God, as they do one another,
give him a Shew of Reverence, Honour and Worship, while they are both
inwardly estranged and alienated from his holy and righteous Life, and
wholly Strangers to the pure Breathings of his Spirit, in which the
acceptable Sacrifice and Worship is only offered up. Hence it is, that
there is not any Thing relating to Man’s Duty towards God, which among
all Sorts of People hath been more vitiated, and in which the Devil
hath more prevailed, than in abusing Man’s Mind concerning this Thing:
And as among many others, so among those called _Christians_, nothing
hath been more out of Order, and more corrupted, as some _Papists_
and all _Protestants_, do acknowledge. As I freely approve whatsoever
the _Protestants_ have reformed from _Papists_ in this Respect; so I
meddle not at this Time with their Controversies about it: [Sidenote:
_The _Popish Mass (Idolatry)_ denied, with all their_ Trumpery.]
Only it suffices me with them to deny, as no Part of the true Worship
of God, that abominable Superstition and Idolatry the _Popish Mass_,
the _Adoration of Saints and Angels_, the _Veneration of Relicks_,
the _Visitation of Sepulchres_, and all those other superstitious
Ceremonies, _Confraternities_, and _endless Pilgrimages_ of the
_Romish Synagogue_. Which all may suffice to evince to _Protestants_,
that _Antichrist_ hath wrought more in this than in any other Part of
the _Christian Religion_; [Sidenote: _If_ Protestants _have made a_
perfect Reformation.] and so it concerns them narrowly to consider,
whether herein they have made a clear and perfect Reformation; as to
which stands the Controversy betwixt them and us. For we find many of
the Branches lopt off by them, but the Root yet remaining; to wit, a
_Worship_ acted in and from Man’s Will and Spirit, and not by and from
the Spirit of God: For the true _Christian_ and _Spiritual Worship
of God_ hath been so early lost, and Man’s Wisdom and Will hath so
quickly and throughly mixed itself herein, that both the _Apostasy_
in this Respect hath been greatest, and the _Reformation_ herefrom,
as to the evil Root, most difficult. Therefore let not the _Reader_
suddenly stumble at the Account of our _Proposition_ in this Matter,
but patiently hear us explain ourselves in this Respect, and I hope
(by the Assistance of God) to make it appear, that though our Manner
of Speaking and Doctrine seem most singular and different from all
other Sorts of _Christians_; yet it is most according to the purest
_Christian Religion_, and indeed most needful to be observed and
followed. And that there be no Ground of Mistake (for that I was
necessitated to speak in few Words, and therefore more obscurely and
dubiously in the _Proposition_ itself) it is fit in the first Place to
declare and explain our Sense, and clear the _State of the Controversy_.
§. II. [Sidenote: I.] [Sidenote: _What _Worship_ here is spoken of._]
And first, let it be considered, that what is here affirmed, is spoken
of the _Worship of God_ in these _Gospel-times_, and not of the Worship
that was under or before the _Law_: For the particular Commands of
God to Men _then_, are not sufficient to authorize us _now_ to do
the same Things; else we might be supposed at present acceptably to
offer Sacrifice as they did, which all acknowledge to be ceased. So
that what might have been both commendable and acceptable under the
_Law_, may justly now be charged with Superstition, yea, and Idolatry.
So that impertinently, in this Respect, doth _Arnoldus_ rage against
this Proposition, [_Exercit. Theolog._ Sect. 44.] saying; _That I deny
all publick Worship, and that according to me, such as in _Enoch_’s
Time publickly began to call upon the Name of the Lord; and such
as at the Command of God went thrice up to _Jerusalem_ to worship;
and that _Anna_, _Simeon_, _Mary_, &c. were Idolaters, because they
used the publick Worship of those Times_; such a Consequence is most
impertinent; and no less foolish and absurd, than if I should infer
from _Paul_’s expostulating with the _Galatians_ for their returning
to the _Jewish Ceremonies_, that he therefore condemned _Moses_ and
all the _Prophets_ as foolish and ignorant, because they used those
Things: The forward Man, not heeding the different Dispensation of
Times, ran into this Impertinency. [Sidenote: _Ceremonies under the Law
were not essential to true_ Worship.] Though a spiritual Worship might
have been, and no Doubt was practised by many under the _Law_ in great
Simplicity; yet will it not follow, that it were no Superstition to use
all those _Ceremonies_ that they used, which were by God dispensed to
the _Jews_, not as being essential to _true Worship_, or necessary as
of themselves for transmitting and entertaining an _holy Fellowship_
betwixt him and his People; but in Condescension to them, who were
inclinable to Idolatry. Albeit then in this, as in most other Things,
the Substance was enjoyed under the _Law_ by such as were spiritual
indeed; yet was it veiled and surrounded with many _Rites_ and
_Ceremonies_, which it is no Ways lawful for us to use now under the
_Gospel_.
§. III. [Sidenote: II.] [Sidenote: True Worship _is not limited to
Place or Person._] _Secondly_, Albeit I say, that this _Worship_ is
neither limited to Times, Places nor Persons; yet I would not be
understood, as if I intended the putting away of all set Times and
Places to worship: God forbid I should think of such an Opinion.
Nay, we are none of those that _forsake the Assembling of ourselves_
together; but have even certain Times and Places, in which we carefully
meet together (nor can we be driven therefrom by the Threats and
Persecutions of Men) to _wait upon God_, and _worship him_. [Sidenote:
_Necessity of Meetings._] To _meet together_ we think necessary for the
People of God; because, so long as we are clothed with this outward
Tabernacle, there is a Necessity to the entertaining of a joint and
visible Fellowship, and bearing of an outward Testimony for God, and
seeing of the Faces of one another, that we concur with our Persons as
well as Spirits: To be accompanied with that inward Love and Unity of
Spirit, doth greatly tend to encourage and refresh the Saints.
[Sidenote: 1. Will-worship _doth limit the Spirit of God._] But the
_Limitation_ we condemn is, that whereas the Spirit of God should be
the immediate Actor, Mover, Persuader and Influencer of Man in the
particular Acts of Worship, when the Saints are met together, this
Spirit is _limited_ in its Operations, by setting up a particular Man
or Men to preach and pray in Man’s Will; and all the rest are excluded
from so much as believing that they are to wait for God’s Spirit to
move them in such Things: And so they neglecting that in themselves
which should quicken them, and not waiting to feel the pure Breathings
of God’s Spirit, so as to obey them, are led merely to depend upon the
Preacher, and hear what he will say.