Heb. vi. 4,

5, 6.

such may fall from it, and turn it to wantonness, 1.Tim.i.6. making shipwreck of faith; and after having tasted of the heavenly gift, and been made partakers of the Holy Ghost, again fall away. Yet such an increase and stability in the truth may in this life be attained, from which there cannot be a total apostacy.

THE TENTH PROPOSITION.

Concerning the Ministry.

As by this gift, or light of God, all true knowledge in things spiritual is received and revealed; so by the same, as it is manifested and received in the heart by the strength and power thereof, every true minister of the gospel is ordained, prepared and supplied in the work of the ministry and by the leading, moving, and drawing hereof, ought every evangelist and Christian pastor to be led and ordered in his labour and work of the gospel, both as to the place where, as to the persons to whom, and as to the times when he is to minister. Moreover, those who have this authority may and ought to preach the gospel, though without human commission or literature; as on the other hand, those who want the authority of this divine gift, however learned or authorized by the commissions of men and churches, are to be esteemed but as deceivers, and not true ministers of the gospel. Also, who have received this holy and unspotted gift, as they have freely received, so are Mat. x. 8. they freely to give, without hire or bargaining, far less to use it as a trade to get money by it: yet if God hath called any from their employments, or trades, by which they acquire their livelihood, it may be lawful for such (according to the liberty which they feel given them in the Lord) to receive such temporals (to wit, what may be needful to them for meat and clothing) as are freely given

f

them by those to whom they have communicated
spirituals.

THE ELEVENTH PROPOSITION.

Concerning Worship.

All true and acceptable worship to God is offered in the inward and immediate moving and drawing of his own Spirit, which is neither limited to places, times, or persons; for though we be to worship him always, in that we are to fear before him, yet as to the outward signification thereof in prayers, praises, or preachings, we ought not to do it where and when we will, but where and when we are moved thereunto by the secret inspirations of his Spirit in our hearts, which God heareth and accepteth of, and is never wanting to move us thereunto, when need is, of which he himself is the alone proper judge. All other worship then, both praises, prayers, and preachings, which man sets about in his own will, and at his own appointment, which he can both begin and end at his pleasure, do or leave undone as himself sees meet, whether they be a prescribed form, as a liturgy, or prayers conceived extemporarily, by Ezek. 18. the natural strength and faculty of the mind, they Acts ii. 4. are all but superstitions, will-worship, and abomi- & xviii. 5. nable idolatry in the sight of God; which are to & iv. 21. be denied, rejected, and separated from, in this Jude xix. day of his spiritual arising: however it might have 23. pleased him (who winked at the times of ignorance, with 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 the mass of superstition) to blow upon the dead and dry bones, and to raise some breathings, and answer them, and that until the day should more clearly dawn and break forth.

Mat. x. 20.

John iii. 6.

Acts xvii.

Eph. iv. 5. 1 Pet.iii.21

THE TWELFTH PROPOSITION.

Concerning Baptism.

As there is one Lord and one faith, so there is Rom. vi. 4. one baptism; which is not the putting away of the filth Gal. iii. 27. of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience beJohn iii.30. fore God, by the resurrection of Jesus Christ. And

Col. ii. 12.

this baptism is a pure and spiritual thing, to wit,

the baptism of the spirit and fire, by which we are buried with him, that being washed and purged 1Cor. i. 17. from our sins, we may walk in newness of life; of which the baptism of John was a figure, which was commanded for a time, and not to continue for ever. As to the baptism of infants, it is a mere human tradition, for which neither precept nor practice is to be found in all the scripture.

1 Cor. x

16. 17.

John vi.

1 Cor. v. 8.

THE THIRTEENTH PROPOSITION.
Concerning the Communion, or Participation of the
Body and Blood of Christ.

The communion of the body and blood of Christ is inward and spiritual, which is the participation of his flesh and blood, by which the inward man 32, 33, 35. is daily nourished in the hearts of those in whom Christ dwells; of which things the breaking of bread by Christ with his disciples was a figure, which they even used in the church for a time, who had received the substance, for the cause Acts xv.20. of the weak; even as abstaining from things stranJohn xiii. gled and from blood; the washing one another's feet; James v.14 and the anointing of the sick with oil; all which

14.

are commanded with no less authority and solemnity than the former; yet seeing they are but the shadows of better things, they cease in such as have obtained the substance.

THE FOURTEENTH PROPOSITION.

Concerning the Power of the Civil Magistrate, in matters purely Religious, and pertaining to the Conscience.

55, 56.

Tit. iii 10.

Since God hath assumed to himself the power and dominion of the conscience, who alone can rightly instruct and govern it, therefore it is not Luke ix. lawful for any whatsoever, by virtue of any author- Mat. vii. ity or principality they bear in the government of 12. 29. this world, to force the consciences of others; and therefore all killing, banishing, fining, imprisoning, and other such things, which men are afflicted with, for the alone exercise of their conscience, or difference in worship or opinion, proceedeth from the spirit of Cain, the murderer, and is contrary to the truth; provided always, that no man, under the pretence of conscience, prejudice his neighbour in his life or estate; or do any thing destructive to, or inconsistent with human society; in which case the law is for the transgressor, and justice to be administered upon all, without respect of persons.

THE FIFTEENTH PROPOSITION.

Concerning Salutations and Recreations, &c.

Seeing the chief end of all religion is to redeem man from the spirit and vain conversation of this world, and to lead into inward communion with God, before whom, if we fear always, we are accounted happy; therefore all the vain customs and habits thereof, both in word and deed, are to be rejected and forsaken by those who come to this fear; such as the taking off the hat to a man, the bowings and cringings of the body, and such

other salutations of that kind, with all the foolish and superstitious formalities attending them; all which man has invented in his degenerate state, to feed his pride in the vain pomp and glory of this world; as also the unprofitable plays, frivolous recreations, sportings and gamings, which are invented to pass away the precious time, and divert the mind from the witness of God in the heart, and from the living sense of his fear, and from that evangelical Spirit wherewith Christians ought to be leavened, and which leads into sobriety, gravity, and godly fear; in which, as we abide, the blessing of the Lord is felt to attend us in those actions in which we are necessarily engaged, in order to the taking care for the sustenance of the outward man.