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Show I'm-3. OF A CHRISTIAN Chapgo. were thofe Seventy,whom God by putting upon them Mofes fpirit,in- ought not to follow. Seeing therefore fuch marks are fct out [Dam clined to aid Mofes in the Adminiflration of the Kingdome : and in this fenfe the Spirit ofGod is faid[ I 54711.1 6. 13, 14.. ]pr€fently up- Spirit by: and feeing there is fo much Prophecyingm the Old Te- on the anointing of David, to have come upon Davrd, and left Saul, God giving his graces to him he chofe to govern his people, and t1- phets; and fo much greater anumber ordinarily of falfe Prophets, king them away from him, he rejeéted.So that by the Spirit is meant ,.,. r Hf» r ,_ fiament; and fo much Preaching in the New Tei'tament againit Prothen oftrue; every one is to beware of obeying their direétions , at Michaiah. And a little before the time ofthe Ca tivit ,the Prophets were generally lyars. The Prophet; ( faith the Bord y Ieremy,cha. that God manifefied by the Lots which Saul caufed to be drawn [1 Sam. 14.43.] the fault that Jonathan had committed, in eating a l‘eemeth to be, that God difcovered[ Itflma 7.16, drt. ]the_ crime of Achan. And thefe are the wayes whereby God declared his Will in the Old Tefiament. All which ways he ufed alfo in the New Tefl'ament. To the Virgin Mary, by a‘ Vifion ofan Angel: To qucph in a Dream:again to Pay/in the way to Damafcus in a Vilion ofour Saviour : and to Peter in the Vifion of a {beet let down from heaven, with divers forts offleih , of clean, and unclean beafts'7 and in pri" on, by Vilion ofan Angel : And to all the Apofiles, and, Writers ofthe New Teitament,by the graces of his Spirit-,and to the Apoflles again ( at the choofmg or Matthias in the place of] udas Ifcariot ') by lot. '1'") "M" Seein then all Prophecy fuppofeth Vilion,or Dream, (which two, ""19"" £0 9"" when t my be naturall, are the fame,) or fomc efpeciall gitt of God,1‘o Emigifl'?‘ rarely oblerved in menkind, as to be admired where ohlerved -, And four hundred Prophets, they were all falfe Impol'tors, but onely one 14.. verfe 14.) prophecy Lies in my fittmtJféflt them 7102, neither have I tammahded them, norfpahc tmto them , they prophecy to 702m fill/é V1.firm, A thing of naught; andthe demt of their heart. In f0 much as God commanded the People by the mouth ofthe Prophet Ieremiah [chap 23. 16.] notto obey them. That [213th theLord afHaflt, hear/em not unto the word: afthe Prophets, that prophecy "you. They maheyatt wit], theyfpmk a Vz'fitm of their own heart, and net wt of the mouth of the Lord. Seeing then there was in the time ofthe Old Teflament,fuch quarAll prophecy rclls amongfi the Vifionary Prophets , one contefling with another, but of the so. and asking, When departed the Spirit from me, to go to thee r as veraign Pro~ between Michaiah, and the red ofthe four hundred, and fuch giving Phet 1'! to be ofthe Lye to one another, ( as in Ierem. 14.14.] and fuch controver- ""4de by hes in the New 'l‘eftament at this day , amongfi the Spirituall Pro- m" "51.96?" Rhets : Every man then was, and now is bound to make ufe of his aturall Reaion, to apply to all Prophecy thofe Rules which God hath given us, to difcern the true from the falfe. Ofwhich Rules in the Old Tefiament, one was, conformable doétrine to that wliich feeing as Well fucn "tits, as the molt extraordinary Dreams,and Vin- totes the Soveraign Prophet had taught them, and the other the mi- pmfim, Cal- ons, may proceed from God, not onely by his lupernaturall, and im- raculous power ot foretelling what God would bring to pafle as I have already ihewn out ofDmt. 13. I.(;"[. And in the Neijefianient there was but one onely mark; and that was the preaching of WWW J. 13 . 1, &c.] to know a Prophet by«, and [r Iohn 4.1360 :l to know a azj'o make [2} red by inch as he had put in Authority over his people. So wee read if i il chalk-35, their own perill. And firththat there were many more falfe then true Prophets, appears by this, that when Ahab [ I 10'th I 2 . jconfulted honey-comb, contrary to the oath taken by the pe0ple.And [It/h. 18. 1 0.]God divided the land ofCanaan amongfl the Ifraelite,by the [on that Ioflma didmfl heft/re the Lom' r. Shzloh. In the fame manner it t COMMON-WEALTH. Inclination to Gods fe rvice; and nor any fupernaturall Revelation. Godj'nmmm, God fpake alfo many times by thevevent of I_.ots-7 which were ordeLott. «f i ‘l l p47;.3. Iiug. mediate, but alto by his naturall operation, and by mediation of lecond caufes-,tliere is need of Reafon andjudgment to difcern between naturall, and fupernaturall Gifts,and between naturalltmd fupernatn- tall Vifions, or Dreams. And coniequently men had need to be very circumfpec't, and wary, in obeying the voice ofman , that PI‘L‘IcmllIlg himfelfto be a Prophet, requires us to obey God in that way , whzt n he in Gods name telleth us to be the way to happinelie. For he thit pretends to teach menthe way offo great felicity, pretends to govern them; that is to fay, to rule, and reign over theni; which is a thihga‘! it all men naturally defire, and is therefore worthv to be frilpeetcd or Ambition and Impofture; and confequently, ought to be examined. and tryed by every man, before hee yeeld them obedence : Unidli he have yeelded it them already, in'the inflitutiOn of a Connnon- wealth, as when the Prophet is the Civill Soveraign, or by the Owl this Doc‘trme, Th .1 lz'fm‘ 13‘ the Chri/l, thatis,the Kino ofthe jews promned in the Old 'I‘eflament. Whofoever denyedbthat Article) he was . talle Prophet, whatfoever miracles he miOht feem to workf and he tnat taught it was a true Prophet. :riie tal/ie l'rophetsdailth thus,Herehy ltmtvye'the Spirit pm I M! wufe/jet/I mitt . fm Chrijf If come In thefle/h ofGod. Every it afGad~ that 15,15 approved and allowed as a Prophet of God: not thzit he is a C:odly 3:121? (Em otghe Iklepc‘tdor this,that he confefleth,profefleth, orbprea- (Jod 1{)emusto ) ‘L‘ftflc vault, but for that heis a Prophet avowed.For "maflfififlwmmwwwmwmmMo Soveraign Authorized. And if this examination of Prophets , and Spirits, were not allowed to every one ofthe people , it had hctn m I," "inch "()(filer0{c> to fet out the marks,by which every man might be .ith. "m I; the 5 1r' to 'fiinguilh between thofe, whom they ought,andthofe whom they For St. FohnE 2, Cecl. ] lpeaking expreilely ofthe means to examine I Epifi. 4: Spirits whether they be or bothor not 5 after he had told them that therebwould f E y Aaa am; and as he foretold Saul of his death,by (WI/,6] cth "Sibappim . Againin the next verfe, .1511")! Spirit that efw ‘C Irtfl L5 tame m theflcfl), t; not of'Chri/LAr/‘rl P 1' 0f Antithnfl. So that the Rule is perfeét on both 01.5"" Gg 3 fidCS |