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Thou giv'st an hint, as if of them that went
Beyond the Seas, some by G. F. were sent.
How prov'st thou that? I Proof thereof demand:
Thy proofless Affirmation will not stand,
Much less dark Hints. Come, name the man that went
A preaching at G. F's commandment,
Without an inward Motion from the Lord,
To sound abroad his everlasting Word.
I solemnly profess, I do not know
One Friend amongst us all, that e'er did so.
Thou sayst, The Church hath cry'd once and agen
'Gainst Black-Coats, for their being sent of men.
Thou Envy-blinded art, and much unlearn'd
In Truth, nor hast thou Right from Wrong discern'd.
See'st thou no odds? Put'st thou no difference then
'Twixt those that run, as only sent by men,
Who neither waited for, nor yet believ'd
The Spirit's motion was to be receiv'd,
And did their Mission too from such men take,
As have against the Spirit's sending spake:
And them that await she, and in Truth rejoyce
At hearing, in themselues, the Spirit's Voice
Giving a certain Echo to the sound
Of the same Voice, when in another found?
Hast thou not read, how, in the purest state
Of Christian Faith, (as Scripture doth relate)
The blest Apostles sometimes others sent,
And sometimes also, sent by others, went?
How oft did Paul send Timothy and Titus,
Beloved Tychicus, Epaphroditus,
Onesimus, Erastus, and some others,
True Gospel-Preachers, and beloved Brothers?
Was this like Black-Coats sending? Blush for shame,
That e'er thy Envy did thy Black-Coats name.
Canst thou imagin, they who thus were sent,
On the meer Motion of th'Apostle went?
No: They, no question, in themselves did find
The same good Motion stirring up their Mind.
With what the good Apostle did advise,
The holy Ghost in them did harmonize.
Titus his case so clearly is exprest,
That it may serve to open all the rest.
Him Paul to Corinth had desir'd to go;
He thereunto a Readiness doth show:
But why? God put it in his heart to do
What the Apostle did exhort him to.
Peter and John, Luke tells us, being sent
By the Apostles, to Samaria went.
The Church too, after Stephen's fatal Stroke,
Sent Barnabas as far as Antiock.
Examples of this kind are many found,
The holy Scriptures do therewith abound.
One Instance more is in my mind to give,
Of some that in the purest Age did live,
Ev'n holy Barnabas and blessed Saul,
(Whose Christian Name was after called Paul)
That these were sent by Simon, and the rest,
In Scripture positively is exprest:
Yet in the very words that follow next,
It is recorded in the holy Text,
That they were by the holy Ghost sent forth:
Whence plainly follows, (and indeed 'tis worth
Our Observation) that what those men did
Is to the holy Ghost attributed.
And there's great Reason that it should be so,
Since what they did, did from the Spirit flow,
Yet, think I, not the other two did go
Without a Motion, in themselves, thereto.
Beyond the Seas, some by G. F. were sent.
How prov'st thou that? I Proof thereof demand:
Thy proofless Affirmation will not stand,
Much less dark Hints. Come, name the man that went
A preaching at G. F's commandment,
Without an inward Motion from the Lord,
To sound abroad his everlasting Word.
I solemnly profess, I do not know
One Friend amongst us all, that e'er did so.
Thou sayst, The Church hath cry'd once and agen
'Gainst Black-Coats, for their being sent of men.
Thou Envy-blinded art, and much unlearn'd
In Truth, nor hast thou Right from Wrong discern'd.
16
'Twixt those that run, as only sent by men,
Who neither waited for, nor yet believ'd
The Spirit's motion was to be receiv'd,
And did their Mission too from such men take,
As have against the Spirit's sending spake:
And them that await she, and in Truth rejoyce
At hearing, in themselues, the Spirit's Voice
Giving a certain Echo to the sound
Of the same Voice, when in another found?
Hast thou not read, how, in the purest state
Of Christian Faith, (as Scripture doth relate)
The blest Apostles sometimes others sent,
And sometimes also, sent by others, went?
How oft did Paul send Timothy and Titus,
Beloved Tychicus, Epaphroditus,
Onesimus, Erastus, and some others,
True Gospel-Preachers, and beloved Brothers?
Was this like Black-Coats sending? Blush for shame,
That e'er thy Envy did thy Black-Coats name.
Canst thou imagin, they who thus were sent,
On the meer Motion of th'Apostle went?
No: They, no question, in themselves did find
The same good Motion stirring up their Mind.
With what the good Apostle did advise,
The holy Ghost in them did harmonize.
Titus his case so clearly is exprest,
That it may serve to open all the rest.
Him Paul to Corinth had desir'd to go;
He thereunto a Readiness doth show:
But why? God put it in his heart to do
What the Apostle did exhort him to.
Peter and John, Luke tells us, being sent
By the Apostles, to Samaria went.
The Church too, after Stephen's fatal Stroke,
Sent Barnabas as far as Antiock.
Examples of this kind are many found,
The holy Scriptures do therewith abound.
17
Of some that in the purest Age did live,
Ev'n holy Barnabas and blessed Saul,
(Whose Christian Name was after called Paul)
That these were sent by Simon, and the rest,
In Scripture positively is exprest:
Yet in the very words that follow next,
It is recorded in the holy Text,
That they were by the holy Ghost sent forth:
Whence plainly follows, (and indeed 'tis worth
Our Observation) that what those men did
Is to the holy Ghost attributed.
And there's great Reason that it should be so,
Since what they did, did from the Spirit flow,
Yet, think I, not the other two did go
Without a Motion, in themselves, thereto.
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