<h2><SPAN name="link2HCH0036" id="link2HCH0036"></SPAN> CHAPTER XXXVI.<br/>OF THE WORD OF GOD, AND OF PROPHETS </h2>
<h3><SPAN name="link2H_4_0500" id="link2H_4_0500"></SPAN> Word What </h3>
<p>When there is mention of the Word of God, or of Man, it doth not signifie
a part of Speech, such as Grammarians call a Nown, or a Verb, or any
simple voice, without a contexture with other words to make it
significative; but a perfect Speech or Discourse, whereby the speaker
Affirmeth, Denieth, Commandeth, Promiseth, Threateneth, Wisheth, or
Interrogateth. In which sense it is not Vocabulum, that signifies a Word;
but Sermo, (in Greek Logos) that is some Speech, Discourse, or Saying.</p>
<h3><SPAN name="link2H_4_0501" id="link2H_4_0501"></SPAN> The Words Spoken By God And Concerning God, Both Are Called Gods Word In Scripture </h3>
<p>Again, if we say the Word of God, or of Man, it may bee understood
sometimes of the Speaker, (as the words that God hath spoken, or that a
Man hath spoken): In which sense, when we say, the Gospel of St. Matthew,
we understand St. Matthew to be the Writer of it: and sometimes of the
Subject: In which sense, when we read in the Bible, “The words of the days
of the Kings of Israel, or Judah,” ’tis meant, that the acts that were
done in those days, were the Subject of those Words; And in the Greek,
which (in the Scripture) retaineth many Hebraismes, by the Word of God is
oftentimes meant, not that which is spoken by God, but concerning God, and
his government; that is to say, the Doctrine of Religion: Insomuch, as it
is all one, to say Logos Theou, and Theologia; which is, that Doctrine
which wee usually call Divinity, as is manifest by the places following
(Acts 13.46.) “Then Paul and Barnabas waxed bold, and said, It was
necessary that the Word of God should first have been spoken to you, but
seeing you put it from you, and judge your selves unworthy of everlasting
life, loe, we turn to the Gentiles.” That which is here called the Word of
god, was the Doctrine of Christian Religion; as it appears evidently by
that which goes before. And (Acts 5.20.) where it is said to the Apostles
by an Angel, “Go stand and speak in the Temple, all the Words of this
life;” by the Words of this life, is meant, the Doctrine of the Gospel; as
is evident by what they did in the Temple, and is expressed in the last
verse of the same Chap. “Daily in the Temple, and in every house they
ceased not to teach and preach Christ Jesus:” In which place it is
manifest, that Jesus Christ was the subject of this Word of Life; or
(which is all one) the subject of the Words of this Life Eternall, that
our saviour offered them. So (Acts 15.7.) the Word of God, is called the
Word of the Gospel, because it containeth the Doctrine of the Kingdome of
Christ; and the same Word (Rom. 10.8,9.) is called the Word of Faith; that
is, as is there expressed, the Doctrine of Christ come, and raised from
the dead. Also (Mat. 13. 19.) “When any one heareth the Word of the
Kingdome;” that is, the Doctrine of the Kingdome taught by Christ. Again,
the same Word, is said (Acts 12. 24.) “to grow and to be multiplied;”
which to understand of the Evangelicall Doctrine is easie, but of the
Voice, or Speech of God, hard and strange. In the same sense the Doctrine
of Devils, signifieth not the Words of any Devill, but the Doctrine of
Heathen men concerning Daemons, and those Phantasms which they worshipped
as Gods. (1 Tim. 4.1.)</p>
<p>Considering these two significations of the WORD OF GOD, as it is taken in
Scripture, it is manifest in this later sense (where it is taken for the
Doctrine of the Christian Religion,) that the whole scripture is the Word
of God: but in the former sense not so. For example, though these words,
“I am the Lord thy God, &c.” to the end of the Ten Commandements, were
spoken by God to Moses; yet the Preface, “God spake these words and said,”
is to be understood for the Words of him that wrote the holy History. The
Word of God, as it is taken for that which he hath spoken, is understood
sometimes Properly, sometimes Metaphorically. Properly, as the words, he
hath spoken to his Prophets; Metaphorically, for his Wisdome, Power, and
eternall Decree, in making the world; in which sense, those Fiats, “Let
there be light,” “Let there be a firmament,” “Let us make man,” &c.
(Gen. 1.) are the Word of God. And in the same sense it is said (John
1.3.) “All things were made by it, and without it was nothing made that
was made; And (Heb. 1.3.) “He upholdeth all things by the word of his
Power;” that is, by the Power of his Word; that is, by his Power; and
(Heb. 11.3.) “The worlds were framed by the Word of God;” and many other
places to the same sense: As also amongst the Latines, the name of Fate,
which signifieth properly The Word Spoken, is taken in the same sense.</p>
<h3><SPAN name="link2H_4_0502" id="link2H_4_0502"></SPAN> Secondly, For The Effect Of His Word </h3>
<p>Secondly, for the effect of his Word; that is to say, for the thing it
self, which by his Word is Affirmed, Commanded, Threatned, or Promised; as
(Psalm 105.19.) where Joseph is said to have been kept in prison, “till
his Word was come;” that is, till that was come to passe which he had
(Gen. 40.13.) foretold to Pharaohs Butler, concerning his being restored
to his office: for there by His Word Was Come, is meant, the thing it self
was come to passe. So also (1 King. 18.36.) Elijah saith to God, “I have
done all these thy Words,” in stead of “I have done all these things at
thy Word,” or commandement: and (Jer. 17.15.) “Where is the Word of the
Lord,” is put for, “Where is the Evill he threatened:” And (Ezek. 12.28.)
“There shall none of my Words be prolonged any more:” by “Words” are
understood those Things, which God promised to his people. And in the New
Testament (Mat. 24.35.) “heaven and earth shal pass away, but my Words
shall not pass away;” that is, there is nothing that I have promised or
foretold, that shall not come to passe. And in this sense it is, that St.
John the Evangelist, and, I think, St. John onely calleth our Saviour
himself as in the flesh “the Word of God (as Joh. 1.14.) the Word was made
Flesh;” that is to say, the Word, or Promise that Christ should come into
the world, “who in the beginning was with God;” that is to say, it was in
the purpose of God the Father, to send God the Son into the world, to
enlighten men in the way of Eternall life, but it was not till then put in
execution, and actually incarnate; So that our Saviour is there called
“the Word,” not because he was the promise, but the thing promised. They
that taking occasion from this place, doe commonly call him the Verbe of
God, do but render the text more obscure. They might as well term him the
Nown of God: for as by Nown, so also by Verbe, men understand nothing but
a part of speech, a voice, a sound, that neither affirms, nor denies, nor
commands, nor promiseth, nor is any substance corporeall, or spirituall;
and therefore it cannot be said to bee either God, or Man; whereas our
Saviour is both. And this Word which St. John in his Gospel saith was with
God, is (in his 1 Epistle, verse 1.) called “the Word of Life;” and (verse
2.) “The eternall life, which was with the Father:” so that he can be in
no other sense called the Word, then in that, wherein he is called
Eternall life; that is, “he that hath procured us Eternall life,” by his
comming in the flesh. So also (Apocalypse 19.13.) the Apostle speaking of
Christ, clothed in a garment dipt in bloud, saith; his name is “the Word
of God;” which is to be understood, as if he had said his name had been,
“He that was come according to the purpose of God from the beginning, and
according to his Word and promises delivered by the Prophets.” So that
there is nothing here of the Incarnation of a Word, but of the Incarnation
of God the Son, therefore called the Word, because his Incarnation was the
Performance of the Promise; In like manner as the Holy Ghost is called The
Promise. (Acts 1.4. Luke 24.49.)</p>
<h3><SPAN name="link2H_4_0503" id="link2H_4_0503"></SPAN> Thirdly, For The Words Of Reason And Equity </h3>
<p>There are also places of the Scripture, where, by the Word of God, is
signified such Words as are consonant to reason, and equity, though spoken
sometimes neither by prophet, nor by a holy man. For Pharaoh Necho was an
Idolator; yet his Words to the good King Josiah, in which he advised him
by Messengers, not to oppose him in his march against Carchemish, are said
to have proceeded from the mouth of God; and that Josiah not hearkning to
them, was slain in the battle; as is to be read 2 Chron. 35. vers.
21,22,23. It is true, that as the same History is related in the first
book of Esdras, not Pharaoh, but Jeremiah spake these words to Josiah,
from the mouth of the Lord. But wee are to give credit to the Canonicall
Scripture, whatsoever be written in the Apocrypha.</p>
<p>The Word of God, is then also to be taken for the Dictates of reason, and
equity, when the same is said in the Scriptures to bee written in mans
heart; as Psalm 36.31. Jerem. 31.33. Deut.30.11, 14. and many other like
places.</p>
<h3><SPAN name="link2H_4_0504" id="link2H_4_0504"></SPAN> Divers Acceptions Of The Word Prophet </h3>
<p>The name of PROPHET, signifieth in Scripture sometimes Prolocutor; that
is, he that speaketh from God to Man, or from man to God: And sometimes
Praedictor, or a foreteller of things to come; And sometimes one that
speaketh incoherently, as men that are distracted. It is most frequently
used in the sense of speaking from God to the People. So Moses, Samuel,
Elijah, Isaiah, Jeremiah, and others were Prophets. And in this sense the
High Priest was a Prophet, for he only went into the Sanctum Sanctorum, to
enquire of God; and was to declare his answer to the people. And therefore
when Caiphas said, it was expedient that one man should die for the
people, St. John saith (chap. 11.51.) that “He spake not this of himselfe,
but being High Priest that year, he prophesied that one man should dye for
the nation.” Also they that in Christian Congregations taught the people,
(1 Cor. 14.3.) are said to Prophecy. In the like sense it is, that God
saith to Moses (Exod. 4.16.) concerning Aaron, “He shall be thy Spokes-man
to the People; and he shall be to thee a mouth, and thou shalt be to him
in stead of God;” that which here is Spokesman, is (chap.7.1.) interpreted
Prophet; “See (saith God) I have made thee a God to Pharaoh, and Aaron thy
Brother shall be thy Prophet.” In the sense of speaking from man to God,
Abraham is called a Prophet (Genes. 20.7.) where God in a Dream speaketh
to Abimelech in this manner, “Now therefore restore the man his wife, for
he is a Prophet, and shall pray for thee;” whereby may be also gathered,
that the name of Prophet may be given, not unproperly to them that in
Christian Churches, have a Calling to say publique prayers for the
Congregation. In the same sense, the Prophets that came down from the High
place (or Hill of God) with a Psaltery, and a Tabret, and a Pipe, and a
Harp (1 Sam. 10.5,6.) and (vers. 10.) Saul amongst them, are said to
Prophecy, in that they praised God, in that manner publiquely. In the like
sense, is Miriam (Exod. 15.20.) called a Prophetesse. So is it also to be
taken (1 Cor. 11.4,5.) where St. Paul saith, “Every man that prayeth or
prophecyeth with his head covered, &c. and every woman that prayeth or
prophecyeth with her head uncovered: For Prophecy in that place,
signifieth no more, but praising God in Psalmes, and Holy Songs; which
women might doe in the Church, though it were not lawfull for them to
speak to the Congregation. And in this signification it is, that the Poets
of the Heathen, that composed Hymnes and other sorts of Poems in the honor
of their Gods, were called Vates (Prophets) as is well enough known by all
that are versed in the Books of the Gentiles, and as is evident (Tit.
1.12.) where St. Paul saith of the Cretians, that a Prophet of their owne
said, they were Liars; not that St. Paul held their Poets for Prophets,
but acknowledgeth that the word Prophet was commonly used to signifie them
that celebrated the honour of God in Verse</p>
<h3><SPAN name="link2H_4_0505" id="link2H_4_0505"></SPAN> Praediction Of Future Contingents, Not Alwaies Prophecy </h3>
<p>When by Prophecy is meant Praediction, or foretelling of future
Contingents; not only they were Prophets, who were Gods Spokesmen, and
foretold those things to others, which God had foretold to them; but also
all those Imposters, that pretend by the helpe of familiar spirits, or by
superstitious divination of events past, from false causes, to foretell
the like events in time to come: of which (as I have declared already in
the 12. chapter of this Discourse) there be many kinds, who gain in the
opinion of the common sort of men, a greater reputation of Prophecy, by
one casuall event that may bee but wrested to their purpose, than can be
lost again by never so many failings. Prophecy is not an art, nor (when it
is taken for Praediction) a constant Vocation; but an extraordinary, and
temporary Employment from God, most often of Good men, but sometimes also
of the Wicked. The woman of Endor, who is said to have had a familiar
spirit, and thereby to have raised a Phantasme of Samuel, and foretold
Saul his death, was not therefore a Prophetesse; for neither had she any
science, whereby she could raise such a Phantasme; nor does it appear that
God commanded the raising of it; but onely guided that Imposture to be a
means of Sauls terror and discouragement; and by consequent, of the
discomfiture, by which he fell. And for Incoherent Speech, it was amongst
the Gentiles taken for one sort of Prophecy, because the Prophets of their
Oracles, intoxicated with a spirit, or vapour from the cave of the Pythian
Oracle at Delphi, were for the time really mad, and spake like mad-men; of
whose loose words a sense might be made to fit any event, in such sort, as
all bodies are said to be made of Materia prima. In the Scripture I find
it also so taken (1 Sam. 18. 10.) in these words, “And the Evill spirit
came upon Saul, and he Prophecyed in the midst of the house.”</p>
<h3><SPAN name="link2H_4_0506" id="link2H_4_0506"></SPAN> The Manner How God Hath Spoken To The Prophets </h3>
<p>And although there be so many significations in Scripture of the word
Prophet; yet is that the most frequent, in which it is taken for him, to
whom God speaketh immediately, that which the Prophet is to say from him,
to some other man, or to the people. And hereupon a question may be asked,
in what manner God speaketh to such a Prophet. Can it (may some say) be
properly said, that God hath voice and language, when it cannot be
properly said, he hath a tongue, or other organs, as a man? The Prophet
David argueth thus, “Shall he that made the eye, not see? or he that made
the ear, not hear?” But this may be spoken, not (as usually) to signifie
Gods nature, but to signifie our intention to honor him. For to See, and
Hear, are Honorable Attributes, and may be given to God, to declare (as
far as our capacity can conceive) his Almighty power. But if it were to be
taken in the strict, and proper sense, one might argue from his making of
all parts of mans body, that he had also the same use of them which we
have; which would be many of them so uncomely, as it would be the greatest
contumely in the world to ascribe them to him. Therefore we are to
interpret Gods speaking to men immediately, for that way (whatsoever it
be), by which God makes them understand his will: And the wayes whereby he
doth this, are many; and to be sought onely in the Holy Scripture: where
though many times it be said, that God spake to this, and that person,
without declaring in what manner; yet there be again many places, that
deliver also the signes by which they were to acknowledge his presence,
and commandement; and by these may be understood, how he spake to many of
the rest.</p>
<h3><SPAN name="link2H_4_0507" id="link2H_4_0507"></SPAN> To The Extraordinary Prophets Of The Old Testament He Spake By Dreams, Or Visions </h3>
<p>In what manner God spake to Adam, and Eve, and Cain, and Noah, is not
expressed; nor how he spake to Abraham, till such time as he came out of
his own countrey to Sichem in the land of Canaan; and then (Gen. 12.7.)
God is said to have Appeared to him. So there is one way, whereby God made
his presence manifest; that is, by an Apparition, or Vision. And again,
(Gen. 15.1.) The Word of the Lord came to Abraham in a Vision; that is to
say, somewhat, as a sign of Gods presence, appeared as Gods Messenger, to
speak to him. Again, the Lord appeared to Abraham (Gen. 18. 1.) by an
apparition of three Angels; and to Abimelech (Gen. 20. 3.) in a dream: To
Lot (Gen. 19. 1.) by an apparition of Two Angels: And to Hagar (Gen. 21.
17.) by the apparition of one Angel: And to Abraham again (Gen. 22. 11.)
by the apparition of a voice from heaven: And (Gen. 26. 24.) to Isaac in
the night; (that is, in his sleep, or by dream): And to Jacob (Gen. 18.
12.) in a dream; that is to say (as are the words of the text) “Jacob
dreamed that he saw a ladder, &c.” And (Gen. 32. 1.) in a Vision of
Angels: And to Moses (Exod. 3.2.) in the apparition of a flame of fire out
of the midst of a bush: And after the time of Moses, (where the manner how
God spake immediately to man in the Old Testament, is expressed) hee spake
alwaies by a Vision, or by a Dream; as to Gideon, Samuel, Eliah, Elisha,
Isaiah, Ezekiel, and the rest of the Prophets; and often in the New
Testament, as to Joseph, to St. Peter, to St. Paul, and to St. John the
Evangelist in the Apocalypse.</p>
<p>Onely to Moses hee spake in a more extraordinary manner in Mount Sinai,
and in the Tabernacle; and to the High Priest in the Tabernacle, and in
the Sanctum Sanctorum of the Temple. But Moses, and after him the High
Priests were Prophets of a more eminent place, and degree in Gods favour;
And God himself in express words declareth, that to other Prophets hee
spake in Dreams and Visions, but to his servant Moses, in such manner as a
man speaketh to his friend. The words are these (Numb. 12. 6,7,8.) “If
there be a Prophet among you, I the Lord will make my self known to him in
a Vision, and will speak unto him in a Dream. My servant Moses is not so,
who is faithfull in all my house; with him I will speak mouth to mouth,
even apparently, not in dark speeches; and the similitude of the Lord
shall he behold.” And (Exod. 33. 11.) “The Lord spake to Moses face to
face, as a man speaketh to his friend.” And yet this speaking of God to
Moses, was by mediation of an Angel, or Angels, as appears expressely,
Acts 7. ver. 35. and 53. and Gal. 3. 19. and was therefore a Vision,
though a more cleer Vision than was given to other Prophets. And
conformable hereunto, where God saith (Deut. 13. 1.) “If there arise
amongst you a Prophet, or Dreamer of Dreams,” the later word is but the
interpretation of the former. And (Joel 2. 28.) “Your sons and your
daughters shall Prophecy; your old men shall dream Dreams, and your young
men shall see Visions:” where again, the word Prophecy is expounded by
Dream, and Vision. And in the same manner it was, that God spake to
Solomon, promising him Wisdome, Riches, and Honor; for the text saith, (1
Kings 3. 15.) “And Solomon awoak, and behold it was a Dream:” So that
generally the Prophets extraordinary in the old Testament took notice of
the Word of God no otherwise, than from their Dreams, or Visions, that is
to say, from the imaginations which they had in their sleep, or in an
Extasie; which imaginations in every true Prophet were supernaturall; but
in false Prophets were either naturall, or feigned.</p>
<p>The same Prophets were neverthelesse said to speak by the Spirit; as
(Zach. 7. 12.) where the Prophet speaking of the Jewes, saith, “They made
their hearths hard as Adamant, lest they should hear the law, and the
words which the Lord of Hosts hath sent in his Spirit by the former
Prophets.” By which it is manifest, that speaking by the Spirit, or
Inspiration, was not a particular manner of Gods speaking, different from
Vision, when they that were said to speak by the Spirit, were
extraordinary Prophets, such as for every new message, were to have a
particular Commission, or (which is all one) a new Dream, or Vision.</p>
<p>To Prophets Of Perpetuall Calling, And Supreme, God Spake In The Old
Testament From The Mercy Seat, In A Manner Not Expressed In The Scripture.
Of Prophets, that were so by a perpetuall Calling in the Old Testament,
some were Supreme, and some Subordinate: Supreme were first Moses; and
after him the High Priest, every one for his time, as long as the
Priesthood was Royall; and after the people of the Jews, had rejected God,
that he should no more reign over them, those Kings which submitted
themselves to Gods government, were also his chief Prophets; and the High
Priests office became Ministeriall. And when God was to be consulted, they
put on the holy vestments, and enquired of the Lord, as the King commanded
them, and were deprived of their office, when the King thought fit. For
King Saul (1 Sam. 13. 9.) commanded the burnt offering to be brought, and
(1 Sam. 14. 18.) he commands the Priest to bring the Ark neer him; and
(ver. 19.) again to let it alone, because he saw an advantage upon his
enemies. And in the same chapter Saul asketh counsell of God. In like
manner King David, after his being anointed, though before he had
possession of the Kingdome, is said to “enquire of the Lord” (1 Sam. 23.
2.) whether he should fight against the Philistines at Keilah; and (verse
10.) David commandeth the Priest to bring him the Ephod, to enquire
whether he should stay in Keilah, or not. And King Solomon (1 Kings 2.
27.) took the Priesthood from Abiathar, and gave it (verse 35.) to Zadoc.
Therefore Moses, and the High Priests, and the pious Kings, who enquired
of God on all extraordinary occasions, how they were to carry themselves,
or what event they were to have, were all Soveraign Prophets. But in what
manner God spake unto them, is not manifest. To say that when Moses went
up to God in Mount Sinai, it was a Dream, or Vision, such as other
Prophets had, is contrary to that distinction which God made between
Moses, and other Prophets, Numb. 12. 6,7,8. To say God spake or appeared
as he is in his own nature, is to deny his Infinitenesse, Invisibility,
Incomprehensibility. To say he spake by Inspiration, or Infusion of the
Holy Spirit, as the Holy Spirit signifieth the Deity, is to make Moses
equall with Christ, in whom onely the Godhead (as St. Paul speaketh Col.
2.9.) dwelleth bodily. And lastly, to say he spake by the Holy Spirit, as
it signifieth the graces, or gifts of the Holy Spirit, is to attribute
nothing to him supernaturall. For God disposeth men to Piety, Justice,
Mercy, Truth, Faith, and all manner of Vertue, both Morall, and
Intellectuall, by doctrine, example, and by severall occasions, naturall,
and ordinary.</p>
<p>And as these ways cannot be applyed to God, in his speaking to Moses, at
Mount Sinai; so also, they cannot be applyed to him, in his speaking to
the High Priests, from the Mercy-Seat. Therefore in what manner God spake
to those Soveraign Prophets of the Old Testament, whose office it was to
enquire of him, is not intelligible. In the time of the New Testament,
there was no Soveraign Prophet, but our Saviour; who was both God that
spake, and the Prophet to whom he spake.</p>
<p>To Prophets Of Perpetuall Calling, But Subordinate, God Spake By The
Spirit. To subordinate Prophets of perpetuall Calling, I find not any
place that proveth God spake to them supernaturally; but onely in such
manner, as naturally he inclineth men to Piety, to Beleef, to
Righteousnesse, and to other vertues all other Christian Men. Which way,
though it consist in Constitution, Instruction, Education, and the
occasions and invitements men have to Christian vertues; yet it is truly
attributed to the operation of the Spirit of God, or Holy Spirit (which we
in our language call the Holy Ghost): For there is no good inclination,
that is not of the operation of God. But these operations are not alwaies
supernaturall. When therefore a Prophet is said to speak in the Spirit, or
by the Spirit of God, we are to understand no more, but that he speaks
according to Gods will, declared by the supreme Prophet. For the most
common acceptation of the word Spirit, is in the signification of a mans
intention, mind, or disposition.</p>
<p>In the time of Moses, there were seventy men besides himself, that
Prophecyed in the Campe of the Israelites. In what manner God spake to
them, is declared in the 11 of Numbers, verse 25. “The Lord came down in a
cloud, and spake unto Moses, and took of the Spirit that was upon him, and
gave it to the seventy Elders. And it came to passe, when the Spirit
rested upon them, they Prophecyed, and did not cease,” By which it is
manifest, first, that their Prophecying to the people, was subservient,
and subordinate to the Prophecying of Moses; for that God took of the
Spirit of Moses, to put upon them; so that they Prophecyed as Moses would
have them: otherwise they had not been suffered to Prophecy at all. For
there was (verse 27.) a complaint made against them to Moses; and Joshua
would have Moses to have forbidden them; which he did not, but said to
Joshua, Bee not jealous in my behalf. Secondly, that the Spirit of God in
that place, signifieth nothing but the Mind and Disposition to obey, and
assist Moses in the administration of the Government. For if it were meant
they had the substantial Spirit of God; that is, the Divine nature,
inspired into them, then they had it in no lesse manner than Christ
himself, in whom onely the Spirit of God dwelt bodily. It is meant
therefore of the Gift and Grace of God, that guided them to co-operate
with Moses; from whom their Spirit was derived. And it appeareth (verse
16.) that, they were such as Moses himself should appoint for Elders and
Officers of the People: For the words are, “Gather unto me seventy men,
whom thou knowest to be Elders and Officers of the people:” where, “thou
knowest,” is the same with “thou appointest,” or “hast appointed to be
such.” For we are told before (Exod. 18.) that Moses following the
counsell of Jethro his Father-in-law, did appoint Judges, and Officers
over the people, such as feared God; and of these, were those Seventy,
whom God by putting upon them Moses spirit, inclined to aid Moses in the
Administration of the Kingdome: and in this sense the Spirit of God is
said (1 Sam. 16. 13, 14.) presently upon the anointing of David, to have
come upon David, and left Saul; God giving his graces to him he chose to
govern his people, and taking them away from him, he rejected. So that by
the Spirit is meant Inclination to Gods service; and not any supernaturall
Revelation.</p>
<h3><SPAN name="link2H_4_0508" id="link2H_4_0508"></SPAN> God Sometimes Also Spake By Lots </h3>
<p>God spake also many times by the event of Lots; which were ordered by such
as he had put in Authority over his people. So wee read that God
manifested by the Lots which Saul caused to be drawn (1 Sam. 14. 43.) the
fault that Jonathan had committed, in eating a honey-comb, contrary to the
oath taken by the people. And (Josh. 18. 10.) God divided the land of
Canaan amongst the Israelite, by the “lots that Joshua did cast before the
Lord in Shiloh.” In the same manner it seemeth to be, that God discovered
(Joshua 7.16., &c.) the crime of Achan. And these are the wayes
whereby God declared his Will in the Old Testament.</p>
<p>All which ways he used also in the New Testament. To the Virgin Mary, by a
Vision of an Angel: To Joseph in a Dream: again to Paul in the way to
Damascus in a Vision of our Saviour: and to Peter in the Vision of a sheet
let down from heaven, with divers sorts of flesh, of clean and unclean,
beasts; and in prison, by Vision of an Angel: And to all the Apostles, and
Writers of the New Testament, by the graces of his Spirit; and to the
Apostles again (at the choosing of Matthias in the place of Judas
Iscariot) by lot.</p>
<h3><SPAN name="link2H_4_0509" id="link2H_4_0509"></SPAN> Every Man Ought To Examine The Probability Of A Pretended Prophets Calling </h3>
<p>Seeing then all Prophecy supposeth Vision, or Dream, (which two, when they
be naturall, are the same,) or some especiall gift of God, so rarely
observed in mankind, as to be admired where observed; and seeing as well
such gifts, as the most extraordinary Dreams, and Visions, may proceed
from God, not onely by his supernaturall, and immediate, but also by his
naturall operation, and by mediation of second causes; there is need of
Reason and Judgement to discern between naturall, and supernaturall Gifts,
and between naturall, and supernaturall Visions, or Dreams. And
consequently men had need to be very circumspect, and wary, in obeying the
voice of man, that pretending himself to be a Prophet, requires us to obey
God in that way, which he in Gods name telleth us to be the way to
happinesse. For he that pretends to teach men the way of so great
felicity, pretends to govern them; that is to say, to rule, and reign over
them; which is a thing, that all men naturally desire, and is therefore
worthy to be suspected of Ambition and Imposture; and consequently, ought
to be examined, and tryed by every man, before hee yeeld them obedience;
unlesse he have yeelded it them already, in the institution of a
Common-wealth; as when the Prophet is the Civill Soveraign, or by the
Civil Soveraign Authorized. And if this examination of Prophets, and
Spirits, were not allowed to every one of the people, it had been to no
purpose, to set out the marks, by which every man might be able, to
distinguish between those, whom they ought, and those whom they ought not
to follow. Seeing therefore such marks are set out (Deut. 13. 1,&c.)
to know a Prophet by; and (1 John 4.1.&C) to know a Spirit by: and
seeing there is so much Prophecying in the Old Testament; and so much
Preaching in the New Testament against Prophets; and so much greater a
number ordinarily of false Prophets, then of true; every one is to beware
of obeying their directions, at their own perill. And first, that there
were many more false than true Prophets, appears by this, that when Ahab
(1 Kings 12.) consulted four hundred Prophets, they were all false
Imposters, but onely one Michaiah. And a little before the time of the
Captivity, the Prophets were generally lyars. “The Prophets” (saith the
Lord by Jerem. cha. 14. verse 14.) “prophecy Lies in my name. I sent them
not, neither have I commanded them, nor spake unto them, they prophecy to
you a false Vision, a thing of naught; and the deceit of their heart.” In
so much as God commanded the People by the mouth of the Prophet Jeremiah
(chap. 23. 16.) not to obey them. “Thus saith the Lord of Hosts, hearken
not unto the words of the Prophets, that prophecy to you. They make you
vain, they speak a Vision of their own heart, and not out of the mouth of
the Lord.”</p>
<h3><SPAN name="link2H_4_0510" id="link2H_4_0510"></SPAN> All Prophecy But Of The Soveraign Prophet Is To Be Examined By Every Subject </h3>
<p>Seeing then there was in the time of the Old Testament, such quarrells
amongst the Visionary Prophets, one contesting with another, and asking
When departed the Spirit from me, to go to thee? as between Michaiah, and
the rest of the four hundred; and such giving of the Lye to one another,
(as in Jerem. 14.14.) and such controversies in the New Testament at this
day, amongst the Spirituall Prophets: Every man then was, and now is bound
to make use of his Naturall Reason, to apply to all Prophecy those Rules
which God hath given us, to discern the true from the false. Of which
rules, in the Old Testament, one was, conformable doctrine to that which
Moses the Soveraign Prophet had taught them; and the other the miraculous
power of foretelling what God would bring to passe, as I have already
shown out of Deut. 13. 1. &c. and in the New Testament there was but
one onely mark; and that was the preaching of this Doctrine, That Jesus Is
The Christ, that is, the King of the Jews, promised in the Old Testament.
Whosoever denyed that Article, he was a false Prophet, whatsoever miracles
he might seem to work; and he that taught it was a true Prophet. For St.
John (1 Epist, 4. 2, &c) speaking expressely of the means to examine
Spirits, whether they be of God, or not; after he hath told them that
there would arise false Prophets, saith thus, “Hereby know ye the Spirit
of God. Every Spirit that confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in the
flesh, is of God;” that is, is approved and allowed as a Prophet of God:
not that he is a godly man, or one of the Elect, for this, that he
confesseth, professeth, or preacheth Jesus to be the Christ; but for that
he is a Prophet avowed. For God sometimes speaketh by Prophets, whose
persons he hath not accepted; as he did by Baalam; and as he foretold Saul
of his death, by the Witch of Endor. Again in the next verse, “Every
Spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the Flesh, is not
of Christ. And this is the Spirit of Antichrist.” So that the rule is
perfect on both sides; that he is a true Prophet, which preacheth the
Messiah already come, in the person of Jesus; and he a false one that
denyeth him come, and looketh for him in some future Imposter, that shall
take upon him that honour falsely, whom the Apostle there properly calleth
Antichrist. Every man therefore ought to consider who is the Soveraign
Prophet; that is to say, who it is, that is Gods Viceregent on earth; and
hath next under God, the Authority of Governing Christian men; and to
observe for a Rule, that Doctrine, which in the name of God, hee commanded
to bee taught; and thereby to examine and try out the truth of those
Doctrines, which pretended Prophets with miracles, or without, shall at
any time advance: and if they find it contrary to that Rule, to doe as
they did, that came to Moses, and complained that there were some that
Prophecyed in the Campe, whose Authority so to doe they doubted of; and
leave to the Soveraign, as they did to Moses to uphold, or to forbid them,
as hee should see cause; and if hee disavow them, then no more to obey
their voice; or if he approve them, then to obey them, as men to whom God
hath given a part of the Spirit of their Soveraigne. For when Christian
men, take not their Christian Soveraign, for Gods Prophet; they must
either take their owne Dreams, for the prophecy they mean to bee governed
by, and the tumour of their own hearts for the Spirit of God; or they must
suffer themselves to bee lead by some strange Prince; or by some of their
fellow subjects, that can bewitch them, by slander of the government, into
rebellion, without other miracle to confirm their calling, then sometimes
an extraordinary successe, and Impunity; and by this means destroying all
laws, both divine, and humane, reduce all Order, Government, and Society,
to the first Chaos of Violence, and Civill warre.</p>
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