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Show c hriflians exhorted to difcern the voice of their Beloved. teferved to himfelf judicium [~<prtmum & authoritativum, the fupremeand authoritative Judgment concerning Truth. S? that no private Chrillian, no Church under Heaven can judg <tu'l'oxegc1oe.<· xfJs '!) ''f<o9t7lxf1s, fo as by its determinatiO}l to make an hair white or black any one Propofition true or falfe. And though God hath refe:ved to the Elders of his Church judicium minijle· rjale, a power to expound, and declare the will of God univer~ally according to his Word, and to make regrtla; regulatM,. determiUationsaccording to the Word of God; yet God hath gtven to eve· r.y believer judicium privRtwn, a power and priviledg as to himfelf to jndg concerning the voice of Chrill : 0 let us not be unthankful to ChrHI for his great priviledg, but difcern concerning the voices we hear, whether they be indeed the voices ofChrill or no? Let us do this : r. Concerning the voict of Chrift in publick Ordinancu. It was· prophefied of old by Chrill himfelf that many !hould come in his name, and fay, Lo bm is Chri{t-: Lo thm is Chrifl! one fbould fay this is truth,another that is truth. It is a.Prophefie bath Iince that tlme been fulfilled every day ; and is this day fulfilled. You had need llir up your fpiritual faculty, Chrillians,that you may be able to fay in this confufion of Preachers Vows, which is the voice •f ypur bdoveJ. You will fay you are .weak, an4 how !hall you know it? r. I anfwer, r . As the Prophet lfaiah faid of old, 'lqthe Law 411d to the Te/limony: If the voice agreet,h not with> that,there is nothing of your beloved, no light in: it; it is the fame that Chrill faid, 'john 5· 40. Seach the Scriptures, &c. It is that which the Bmansdid Allst7. when Paul himfelf was the Preacher. Trull no mans voice In a Pulpit, let him be what he will, I fay,trul) him not. You have your Biblu, fl•rcb the Scriptures, they are nigh you, In your mouth : Do you hear any dictate to you. fame Pro· pofition to be believed, or fomething to be done, believe him not tiU you find· in -the holy Scriptures that God hath fo!Jlcwhere·· commanded you to btlieve, or to do this thicg. which he ur~th · upon you. Certain it is that the Scriptur.e -is perfect, and able to make you wife to Salvotion;pfrfdl, throughly furni!hed unto all good works, 2 . 'lim. 3, 151 17, If his dodrine agreeth not with · the Scripture, there is no light in it, it is·the Preachers·own vain voice, it . is. not your Beloveds voice. But here are two Ob· jections: · ch~iflians exhorted to difcern the vo.ice of their Beloved. 183 Firll then ( will fame Chrillians fay ) Though the Scripture Obj 2. contains all doctrines neceffary to Salvation, yet furely we mull hot look to find a\ exprefs Scripture for every adion, which yet is our dnty to do. " This is indeed what fame would make the world believe they Sol. hold who are zealous in this great point concerning the fuf!ici· enc/of the Scriptures : But if. they mean by _e~prefs Scriptu~e the letter ofit, I know none, fatth he; But thts ts that whtch ts faid, · 1 , That the Lord doth fet up his candle in every mans Soul,~ro. 20.27, 'The ffiirit of~ man iJ the ca.ndle of the Lord; he hath g~ven unto man a lit.ht of nature, by whtch the Heathen dtd the th111~s contained in the Law : thefe things a Chrillian ought to do, though he hath not an exprefs letter in Scripture for the thing, or .: at leal! cannot find it. 2. The Lord hath given unto us his holy Scriptures ; the Candle of the Lord hath burnt dim ever Iince the fall, God hath by his Scriptures redificd the light of it: hence we fay, that.we are bound not to do thofe things which the Scripture forbtds, though our rtafon ( which Iince the fall is corrupted) dictates the contrary to us. And we are bound to do many things commanded us in the Word, which the light ofNature will not thew us. Such is the fandifying of one day in Seven, &c. 3· T hirdly we fay, 'That the Scriptures reveal the mind ofG•a to •. m, ~"d e[peciaUy ilt matter! concerning the worfbip ofG~d and the a(· , fairJ of the Go[pel·Church,not only in the prece~tJ of. Smptt.r~, butm the E"amplu ufChr!ft and his Apo(llesand .Pr~mtttv~CbriflzanJ,The Reafon is becaufe tt was one end of Chnlls comtng to fer us an Example: and the very end of Chrifls fendin~ his Apoft~es was, that they might be Lights to the world : and 11 was Chnlls way in the Gofpel to teach us rather by Example rhan Precept, efpecially in matters of hi& Church; and tile Apollle btd~ ~s do what we have heard, and feen in him, and to be followers of~htm, &c •. 4· Fourthly, we fay, That although the holy Scriptures conwn not in them particular Rules f or every a {lion of our. livu,yet tbey con· tain general Rules for every allion.: and the Chrt!ltan ought to d~ nothing for which he bath not e1ther a pattlcular or a general r"le, we therefore cannot own any thing as the voice of our Beloved, for which we do not fee either the exprefs letter ofScript.ure, or fon:e general rule, from whence we may 'onclude that thts or that IS |