Chapter XXVII: Part III: The Present testimony stated and vindicated in its principal heads (16)

Hitherto the negative heads of sufferings have been vindicated: now follow the positive, sounded upon positive duties, for doing, and not denying, and not promising and engaging to relinquish which, many have suffered severely. The first, both in order of nature and of time, that which was first and last, and frequently, most constantly, most universally, and most signally sealed by sufferings, was that which is the clearest of all, being in some respect the testimony of all ages, and which clears all the rest, being the rise and the root, cause and occasion of all the rest; to wit, the necessary duty of hearing the gospel, and following the pure and powerful faithfully dispensed ordinances of Christ, banished out of the churches to private houses, and persecuted out of the houses to the open fields, and there pursued and opposed, and sought to be suppressed, by all the fury and force, rigour and rage, cruelty and craft, policy and power, that ever wicked men, maddened into a monstrous malice against the mediator Christ, and the coming of his kingdom, could contrive or exert; yet still followed and frequented, owned and adhered to by the lovers of Christ, and serious seekers of God, even when for the same they were killed all day long, and counted as sheep for the slaughter, and continually oppressed, harrassed, hunted, and cruelly handled, dragged to prisons, banished and sold for slaves, tortured, and murdered. And after, by their fraudulent favours of ensnaring indulgencies and indemnities, and a continued tract of impositions and exactions, and many oaths and bonds, they had prevailed with many, and even the most part both of ministers and professors, to abandon that necessary duty; and even when it was declared criminal by act of parliament, and interdicted under pain of death, to be found at any field meetings: they nevertheless persisted in an undaunted endeavour, to keep up the standard of Christ, in following the word of the Lord wherever they could have it faithfully preached, though at the greatest of hazards: And so much the more that it was prosecuted by the rage of enemies, and the reproach and obloquies of pretended friends, that had turned their back on the testimony, and preferred their own ease and interests to the cause of Christ; and with the greater fervour, that the labourers in that work were few, and like to faint under so many difficulties. What the first occasion was that constrained them to go to the fields, is declared at length in the historical deduction of the testimony of the sixth Period: to wit, Finding themselves bound in duty, to testify their adherence to, and continuance in their covenanted profession, their abhorrence of abjured prelacy, and their love and zeal to keep Christ and his gospel in the land, after they had undergone and endured many hazards and hardships, oppressions and persecutions, for meeting in the houses where they were so easily attrapped, and with such difficulty could escape the hands of these cruel men; they were forced to take the fields, though with the unavoidable inconveniences of all weathers, without a shelter: yet proposing the advantages, both of conveniency for meeting in great numbers, and of secrecy in the remote recesses of wild muirs and mountains, and of safety, in betaking themselves to inaccessible natural strengths, safest either for flight or resistance; and withal, having occasion there to give a testimony for the reformation with greater freedom. And to this very day, though many have a pretended liberty to meet in houses, under the security of a man's promise, whose principle is to keep no faith to heretics, and under the shelter and shadow of an Antichristian toleration; yet there is a poor people that are out of the compass of this favour, whom all these forementioned reasons do yet oblige to keep the fields, that is both for conveniency, secrecy, and safety; they dare not trust those who are still thirsting insatiably after their blood, nor give them such advantages as they are seeking, to prey upon them, by shutting themselves within houses; and moreover, they take themselves to be called indispensibly, in the present circumstances, to be as public, or more than ever, in their testimony for the preached gospel, even in the open fields. Now this would be a little cleared; and to essay the same, I would offer, 1st, Some concessions, 2dly, Some postulata, or supposed grounds. 3dly, Some more special considerations, which will conduce to clear the case.

First, That we may more distinctly understand what is the duty here pleaded for, and what is that which these people suffer for here vindicated; let these concessions be premised,

1. Now under the evangelical dispensation, there is no place more sacred than another, to which the worship of God is astricted, and which he hath chosen for his house and habitation, whither he will have his people to resort and attend, as under the legal and typical dispensation was ordered; there was a place where the Lord caused his name to dwell, Deut. xii. 5, 11. But now, "neither in the mountain, nor at Jerusalem, the Father will be worshipped; but every where, and any where, in spirit and in truth," John iv. 21, 23, 24. And the apostle wills, "that men pray every where, lifting up holy hands, without wrath and doubting," 1 Tim. ii. 8. We abhor therefore the English and popish superstition of consecrated places, and assert that all are alike in this respect, houses or fields.

2. In the constitute state of the church, or wherever it can be obtained, order, decency, and conveniency doth require that there be appointed places, sequestrate and appropriate for the meetings of the Lord's people, according to that general rule, "Let all things be done decently and in order," 1 Cor. xiv. last verse. And, in that case private conventicles, set up in a schismatical competition with public churches, are not to be allowed. But even then private meetings for prayer and conference, are necessary, lawful, and laudable. But now the church is broken by a crew of schismatical intruders, who have occupied the places of public assemblies: and thrust out the Lord's ministers: It is these we scar at, and not the place.

3. Suppose a magistrate should interdict and discharge the public place of worship, and restrain from the churches, but leave all other places free to meet in: or if he should prohibit the houses, but leave freedom for the fields, or discharge the fields, and give liberty in houses; in that case we would not contend for the place out of contempt: though it were duty then to witness against such a sacrilegious injury done to the church, in taking away their meeting places; yet it were inexpedient to stickle and strive for one spot, if we might have another; then when only excluded out of a place, and not included or concluded and restricted to other places, nor otherwise robbed of the church's privileges, we might go to houses when shut out of churches, and go to fields when shut out of houses, and back again to houses when discharged thence. But this is not our case, for we are either interdicted of all places: or if allowed any, it is under such confinements as are inconsistent with the freedom of the gospel: and besides, we have to do with one from whom we can take no orders, to determine our meetings; nor can we acknowledge our liberty to depend on his authority, or favour which we cannot own nor trust, nor accept of any protection from him. Neither is it the place of fields or houses that we contend for; nor is it that which he mainly opposes: but it is the freedom of the gospel faithfully preached, that we are seeking to suppress. The contest betwixt him and us, is the service of God in the gospel of his Son; that we profess, without owning him for the liberty of its exercise: and therefore as an enemy to the matter and object of these religious exercises, which are the eye-sore of antichrist, he prosecutes with such rage the manner and circumstances thereof.

4. Even in this case, when we are persecuted in one place, we flee unto another, as the Lord allows and directs, Matth. x. 23, And if occasionally we find a house, either public, or a church or a private dwelling house that may be safe or convenient, or capacious of the numbers gathered, we think it indifferent to meet there, or in the field; but, in the present circumstances, it is more for the conveniency of the people, and more congruous for the day's testimony, to keep the fields in their meetings, even though it irritate the incensed enemies. Which that it may appear.

Secondly, I shall offer some postulata or hypothesis to be considered, or endeavour to make them good, and infer from them the necessity and expediency of field meetings at this time in these circumstances: which consequently vindicate the sufferings that have been thereupon stated formerly, and are still continued.

1. It is necessary at all times that Christians should meet together, whether they have ministers or not, and whether the magistrate allow it or not. The authority of God, their necessity, duty, and interest, makes it indispensible in all cases. It is necessary for the mutual help, "two are better than one, for if they fall, the one will lift up his fellow," Eccl. iv. 9, 10. It is necessary for cherishing mutual love, which is the new commandment, and badge of all Christ's disciples, John xiii. 34, 35. a principle which they are all taught of God, 1 Thess. iv. 9. It is necessary for nourishing union to communicate together, in order to their being of one mind, and one mouth, and that they receive one another, Rom. xv. 5, 6, 7. 1 Cor. i. 10. Standing fast in one spirit, striving together for the faith of the gospel, Phil. 1. 27. It is necessary for serving one another in love, Gal. v. 13. bearing one another's burdens, and so fulfilling the law of Christ, Gal. vi. 2. submitting to one another, Eph. v. 21. 1 Pet. v. 5. teaching and admonishing one another, Col. iii. 16. comforting one another, 1 Thess. iv. last verse, edifying one another, 1 Thess. v. 11. exhorting one another, Heb. iii. 13. It is necessary for considering one another, and provoking unto love, and to good works; and for this end, they must not forsake the assembling of themselves together, as the manner of some is, for that were to sin wilfully, Heb. x. 24, 25, 26. Must these things depend on the magistrate's allowance? Or can they be done without meeting together in private or public? The same reasons do alike conclude for the necessity of both. If then there must be meetings for these ends necessary at all times, then when they cannot do it within doors, they must do it without. 2. There is a necessity for meeting for preaching and hearing the gospel; the enjoyment whereof hath always been the greatest design and desire of saints, who could not live without it; therefore they loved the place where the Lord's honour dwelt, Psal. xxvii. 8. This was the one thing they desired of the Lord, and that they would seek after, to behold the beauty of the Lord, Psal. xxvii. 4. For this they panted, and their soul thirsted, Psal. xlii. 1, 2. without which every land is but a thirsty land, where there is no water, where they cannot see the power and glory of God, as they have seen it in the sanctuary, Psal. lxiii. 1, 2. O how amiable are his tabernacles? "One day in his courts is better than a thousand elsewhere," Psal. lxxxi. 1, 10. No gladness to them like that of going to the house of the Lord, Psal. cxxii. 1. A christian cannot possibly live without gospel ordinances, no more than children can want the breasts, or the poor and needy want water when their tongue faileth for thirst; they are promised it in high places, and in the wilderness, when they can get it in no where else, Isa. lxi. 17, 18. There is an innate desire in the saints after it, as new born babes they desire the sincere milk of the word, 1 Pet. ii. 2. So that any that is offended with them for this, must be offended with them for being christians, for as such they must have the gospel, cost what it will. It is the greatest desire of the spouse of Christ, to know where he feeds and where to find the Shepherd's tents, where they may rest at noon, Cant. i. 7, 8. And not only in their esteem is it necessary: but in itself, the church cannot bear the want of it, for where there is no vision, the word of the Lord is then very precious, 1 Sam. iii. 1. No wonder then that the Lord's people make such ado of it, in a famine of it, that they go from sea to sea to seek it, Amos viii. 11, 12. and that they are content to have it at any rate; though with the peril of their lives, because of the sword of the wilderness, Lam. v. 9. Seeing they cannot live without it. Would men be hindered, by law, from seeking their natural food? Nay, they would fight for it before they wanted it, against any that opposed them. If then they cannot get it with peace, they must have it with trouble: and if they cannot get it in houses, they must have it wherever it is to be found, with freedom, and the favour of God.

3. It is necessary that the meetings be as public, as they can be with conveniency and prudence; yea, simple hazard should no more hinder their publicness and solemnity, than their being at all. Especially, in an evil time, when wickedness is encouraged and established, and conformity thereto pressed, truth banished, and a witness for Christ suppressed, corruption in doctrine, worship, discipline, and government connived at, countenanced, and advanced, the word of God is become a reproach, and men have no delight in it, apostasy is become universal, and both magistrates and ministers generally turned promoters of it, which is the true description of our times: then the meetings of the Lord's people, that endeavour to keep clean garments, should be more frequent, public, and avowed. The reasons are, 1. Then the call of God, by his word and works, is more clamant, for public and solemn humiliation, in order to avert public imminent judgments, and impendent strokes from God. It is not enough to reform ourselves privately and personally, and to keep ourselves pure from such courses, by an abstraction and withdrawing from them, as is proved, Head 1. (where this is improved as an argument against hearing the curates) Nor is it enough to admonish, exhort, reprove, and testify against such as are involved in these courses, but it is necessary, for them that would be approven, to adhere to the truth, and serve God after the right manner, and to mourn, sigh, and cry for all the abominations of the time, so as to get the 'mark of mourners on their foreheads,' Ezek. ix. 4. and they that do so, will be found 'on the mountains like doves in the valleys, all of them mourning, every one for his iniquity,' Ezek. vii. 16. and not only to be humbled every family apart, but there must be a great mourning, as the mourning of Hadadrimmon in the valley of Megiddon,' Zech. xii. 11. to the end. That is a solemn public mourning there promised. There must be a 'gathering themselves together, though a nation not desired, before the decree bring forth, before the day pass as the chaff, and the fierce anger of the Lord come upon them, if they would have any possibility of their hiding,' Zep. ii. 1, 2, 3. 'The trumpet then must be blown in Zion, to sanctify a fast, to call a solemn assembly, gather the people, sanctify the congregation assemble the elders, gather the children,'----Joel ii. 15, 16. As was exemplified in Ezra's time, when there were great congregations of people assembled publicly, weeping very sore, then there was hope in Israel, Ezra x. 1, 2. and when that messenger of the Lord came up from Gilgal to the people of Israel, and reproved them for their defections and compliance with the Canaanites, they had such a solemn day of humiliation, that the place of their meeting got a name from it, they called the name of that place Bochim, that is, weepers, Judg. ii. 4, 5. 'And when the ark was at Kirjathjearim all the house of Israel lamented after the Lord----and they gathered together at Mizpeth, and drew water, and poured it out before the Lord,' 2 Sam. vii. 2. 6. I shewed before, that there is reason to fear that the sins of a few, especially of magistrates and ministers, will bring wrath upon the whole body of the people, as is plain from these scriptures, Lev. x. 6. Isa. xliii. 27, 28. Lam. iv. 13. Micah iii. 11, 21. shewing the sins of ministers may procure universal destruction. And 2 Sam. xxiv. 25. 2. Kings xxi. 11. Jer. xv. 4. proving the sins of magistrates may procure it: and Numb. iii. 14, 15. Josh. xxii. 17, 18. Demonstrating that the sins of a party of the people may draw wrath upon the whole. Now, the only way the scripture points out to evite and avert such public judgments is to make our resentment of these indignities done to our God, our mourning over them, and our witness against them, as public as the sins are, at least as public as we can get them, by a public pleading for truth, Isa. lix. 4. For the defect whereof he hides his face, and wonders that there is no man, no intercessor, ver. 16. that is, none to plead with God, in behalf of his borne down truths; there must be in order to this, a public seeking of truth, which if there be any found making conscience of, the Lord makes a gracious overture to pardon the city, Jer. v. 1. We cannot think there were no mourners in secret there, but there was no public meetings for it, and public owning the duty of that day: There must be valour for the truth upon the earth, Jer. ix. 3, a public and resolute owning of truth: there must be a making up the hedge, and standing in the gap for the land, that the Lord should not destroy it, Ezek. xxii. 30. a public testimony in opposition to defection: there must be a pleading with our mother, Hos. ii. 2. which is spoken to private persons in the plural number, commanding all that would consult their own safety, publicly to condemn the sins of the whole nation, that they may escape the public punishment thereof, as it is expounded in Pool's Synop. Critic. in locum. By this means we must endeavour to avert the wrath and anger of God, which must certainly be expected to go out against the land, which hath all the procuring causes, all the symptoms, prognostics, and evidences of a land devoted to destruction, that ever a land had. If then there must be such public mourning, and such solemn gathering for it, such public pleading for truth, seeking for truth, valour for truth, making up the hedge, and pleading with our mother, there must of necessity be public meetings for it: for these things cannot be done in private, but must be done by way of testimony. Which I make a second reason, The nature and end of meeting for gospel ordinances is for a public testimony for Christ and his truths and interest, against sin and all dishonours done to the Son of God. So that the only end, is not only to bring to Christ, and build up souls in Christ, but it is to testify also for the glory of Christ, whether souls be brought in and built up or not. The preached gospel is not only the testimony of Christ, 1 Cor. i. 6. but a testimony for Christ; in which sense, the testimony of Jesus is said to be the spirit of prophecy, Rev. xix. 10. so called, Durham expounds it, for its bearing witness to Christ; in which respect ministers are often called witnesses. It is also the testimony of Israel (not only given to Israel, but given by Israel) unto which the tribes go up, the tribes of the Lord, Psal. cxxii. 4. Whensoever therefore, or howsoever the testimony of the church is contradicted, that is not a lawful meeting of the tribes of the Lord. It is also the testimony of the preachers for Christ, against them that will not receive them, Mark vi. 11. And a witness unto all nations to whom they preach, Matth. xxiv. 14. And of all the witnesses that hold it, and suffer for it, Rev. vi. 9. And the same which is the word of Christ's testimony, is the word of theirs, Rev. xii. 11. by which they overcome, and for which they love not their lives. Wherever then the gospel is preached, it must be a testimony except it be public, at least as public as can be, as we find all Christ's witnesses were in the Old and New Testaments. 3. The motive or principle prompting the Lord's people to a frequenting of gospel ordinances, is a public spirit, stirring up to a public generation work, whereof this is the scope, to promote the kingdom or Christ, and not only to obey the Lord's command enjoining the duty, to enjoy the Lord, the end thereof, to edify their own souls; but to partake in, and promote this great work of the day, for the glory of God, and the church's good. For the gospel is not only a banner of love over his friends, but Christ's standard of war against his enemies, Isa. lix. 19. under which all that countenance it, are called to lift themselves as his soldiers, called, and chosen, and faithful: and it is required of his soldiers that they be valiant for the truth upon the earth, discovering a gallant greatness and generosity of a public spirit, having their designs and desires not limited to their own interests, even spiritual, but aiming at no less than Christ's public glory, the church's public good, the saints public comfort, having a public concern for all Christ's interests, public sympathy for all Christ's friends, and a public declared opposition to all Christ's enemies: this is a public spirit, the true spirit of all Christ's zealous lovers and votaries; which, when he is a missing, will prompt them to go about the city, in the streets, and in the broad ways, to seek him whom their soul loveth, Cant. iii. 2. and not only in their beds, or secret corners, but they must go to the streets, and to the fields, and avow their seeking of Christ, even though the watchmen should smite them, and the keepers of the walls take their vails from them, Cant. v- Which obliges them to take him into their own cottages, and entertain him in their hearts, and give him a throne there, but also to endeavour to enlarge his dwelling, and propagate his courtly residence through the world, that the kingdoms of the earth may become the kingdoms of the Lord; and if they cannot get that done, yet that he may have the throne in their mother's house, and take up his abode in the church, or nation they belong to, that there his ordinances be established in purity, peace, plenty, and power, according to his own order; and if that cannot be, but that their mother play the harlot, and he be provoked to give up house with her, and, by her children's treachery, the usurping enemy be invited into his place and habitation, and take violent possession of it, and enact his extrusion and expulsion by law; yet they will endeavour to secure a place for him among the remnant, that he may get a lodging among the afflicted and poor 'people that trust in the name of the Lord----that they may feed and ly down, and none make them afraid, Zeph. iii. 12, 13. that the poor of the flock that wait on him, may know that it is the word of the Lord,' Zech. xi. 11. they will lay out themselves to strengthen their hands. This is the work of the public spirited lovers of the gospel, which hath been, and yet is the great work of this our day, to carry the gospel, and follow it, and keep it up, through the land, as the standard of Christ, against all opposition, from mountain to hill, when now Zion hath been labouring to bring forth as a woman in travail, and made to go forth out of the city, and to dwell in the field, Mic. iv. 10. Therefore, seeing it is the public work of the day, and all its followers must have such a public spirit, it follows that the meetings to promote it must be as public as is possible. 4. The interest and privilege of the gospel, to have it in freedom, purity, power, and plenty, is the public concern of all the Lord's people, preferable to all other interests; and therefore more publicly, peremptorily, and zealously to be contended for, than any other interest whatsoever. It is the glory of the land. 1 Sam. iv. 21. without which, Ichabod may be the name of every thing; and every land, though never so pleasant, will be but a dry and parched land, where no water is, in the esteem of them that have seen the Lord's glory and power in the sanctuary, Psal. lxiii. 1. Whereas its name is Hephzibah and Beulah, Isa. lxii. 4. and Jehovah-Shammah, Ezek. xlviii. ult. where God is enjoyed in his gospel-ordinances; and the want and reproach of the solemn assemblies, is a matter of the saddest mourning of the Lord's people, Zeph. iii. 18. Therefore, while the ark abode in Kirjath jearim, the time was thought very long, and all the house of Israel lamented after the Lord, 1 Sam. vii. 2. then they heard of it at Ephratah, and found it in the fields of the wood, Psal. cxxxii. 6. But it hath been longer than twenty years in our fields of the woods, and therefore we should be lamenting after it with a greater concernedness; especially remembering, how we were privileged with the gospel, which was sometimes times publicly embraced and countenanced by authority, and ensured to us by laws, statutes, declarations, proclamations, oaths, vows, and covenant-engagements, whereby the land was dedicated and devoted unto the Son of God, whose conquest it was. And now are not all the people of God obliged to do what they can, to hinder the recalling of this dedication, and the giving up of the land as an offering unto satan and antichrist? And how shall this be, but by a public contending, for this privilege, and a resolving they shall sooner bereave us of our hearts blood, than of the gospel in its freedom and purity? But this we cannot contend for publicly, if our meetings be not public. 5. The nature and business of the gospel ministry is such, that it obliges them that exercise it to endeavour all publicness, without which they cannot discharge the extent of their instructions: their very names and titles do insinuate so much. They are witnesses for Christ, and therefore their testimonies should be public, though their lot oftentimes be to witness in sackcloth. They are heralds, and therefore they should proclaim their master's will, though their lot be often to be a voice crying in the wilderness, as John the Baptist was in his field preachings. They are ambassadors, and therefore they should maintain their master's majesty in the public port of his ambassadors, and be wholly taken up about their sovereign's business. They are watchmen, and therefore they should keep and maintain their post their master has placed them at. Nay, they are lights and candles, and therefore cannot be hid, Matth. v. 14, 15. The commands and instructions given them, infer the necessity of this. They must cry aloud, and spare not, and lift up their voice like a trumpet and shew the Lord's people their transgressions and sins, Isa. lviii. 1. They are watchmen upon Jerusalem's walls which must not hold their peace day nor night, nor keep silence, nor give the Lord rest, till he establish, and till he make Jerusalem a praise in the earth, Isa. lxii. 6, 7. They are watchmen, that must command all to hearken to the sound of the trumpet, Jer. vi. 17. They must be valiant for the truth upon the earth, Jer. ix. 3. They must say, Thus saith the Lord even to a rebellious nation, whether they will hear or forbear, and not be afraid of them, Ezek. ii. 5, 6. They must cause the people to know their abominations, Ezek. 16. 2. and the abominations of their fathers, Ezek. xx. 4. And what their master tells them in darkness, that they must speak in the light, and what they hear in the ear, that they must preach upon the house tops, Matth. x. 27. These things cannot be done in a clandestine way; and therefore now, when there is no much necessity, it is the duty of all faithful ministers, to be laying out themselves to the utmost in their pastoral function, for the suppressing of all the evils of the time, notwithstanding of any prohibition to the contrary, in the most public manner, according to the examples of all the faithful servants of the Lord, both in the Old and New Testaments; though it be most impiously and tyrannically interdicted, yet the laws of God stand unrepealed; and therefore all who have a trumpet and a mouth, should set the trumpet to their mouth, and sound a certain sound; not in secret, for that will not alarm the people, but in the most public manner they can have access to; and it is the duty of all to come and hear, and obey their warnings and witnessings, command who will the contrary. It was for mocking, despising his words, and misusing his prophets, that the wrath of the Lord arose against his people, the Jews, until there was no remedy, 2 Chron. xxxvi. 16. Therefore from all that is said, it must be concluded, that meetings for gospel ordinances must be as public as can be: and if so, then that they should be in houses, safety will not permit to us; to go to the streets or market places, neither safety nor prudence will admit; therefore we must go to the fields with it, cost what it will.

4. Seeing then there must be meetings, and public meetings; and seeing we cannot, and dare not in conscience countenance the curates meetings, we must hear, own, embrace and follow such faithful ministers, as are clothed with Christ's commission, righteousness and salvation, and do keep the words of the Lord's patience, and the testimony of the church of Scotland in particular. This I think will not, or dare not be denied, by any that own the authority of Christ (which none can deny or instruct the contrary, but our ministers that ventured their lives in preaching in the fields, have had a certain seal to their ministry, and is sealed sensibly in the conviction of many, and confession of more) that Christ's ministers and witnesses, employed about the great gospel-message, clothed with his authority and under the obligation of his commands lying upon them, must preach, and the people must hear them, notwithstanding of all laws to the contrary. Divines grant that the magistrate can no more suspend from the exercise, than he can depose from the office of the ministry; for the one is a degree unto the other. See Apollon. de jure Magist. circa Sacra, Part 1. p. 334, &c. Rutherford's Due right of Presbyterians, p. 430, &c. For whether it be right in the sight of God, to hearken unto men more than unto God, the consciences of the greatest enemies may be appealed unto, Acts iv. 19. They must not cease, wherever they have a call and occasion, to teach and preach Jesus Christ, Acts v. last verse. Necessity is laid upon them; yea, wo unto them, if they preach not the gospel, 1 Cor. xi. 16. In all things they must approve themselves, as the ministers of God, in much patience, in afflictions, in necessities, &c. by honour and dishonour, by evil report and good report, as deceivers, and yet true, as unknown, and yet well known,----2 Cor. vi. 4. 8. 9. They must preach the word, be instant in season, and out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all long suffering and doctrine, 2 Tim. iv. 2. Dare any say then, that a magistrate's or tyrant's laws can exauctorate a minister? or silence him by his own proper elicite acts, as king or tyrant, or formally and immediately? Will mischiefs framed into a law warrant such iniquity? or an act of a king of clay rescind the mandates of the King of kings? or exempt people from obedience due thereunto? or will the bishops canons, who have no power from Christ, or the censures of them, that stand condemned themselves by the constitutions of the church, and acts of the general assemblies, have any weight in the case? And yet these are all that can be alledged, except odious and invidious calumnies, the ordinary lot of the most faithful, against the present preachers in the fields, which are sufficiently confuted in their late informatory vindication, and need not here be touched. Seeing therefore they have given up themselves unto Christ as his servants they must resolve to be employed for him to the uttermost of their power, and must not think of laying up their talent in a napkin; especially now when there is so great necessity, when defection is yet growing, covered, countenanced more and more, division nothing abated, but new oil cast daily into the flames of devouring contentions; the people generally drowned in the deluge of the times, snares and sins, and like to be overwhelmed in the inundation of black popery, now coming in at the opened sluice of this wicked toleration, with the congratulations of addressing ministers, when now the harvest is great, and the labourers are few; great then is the necessity, and double must the woe be that abideth such ministers, as are silent at such a time: and great and inexcusable is the sin of the people, if they do not come out, and countenance faithful ministers, the messengers of the Lord of hosts, from whom they should seek the law, Mal. ii. 7. especially when there are so many, that have so palpably betrayed their trust, and so few that are faithful in the necessary testimony of the day. Seeing then faithful ministers must preach, and people must hear, where can they meet with conveniency, and safety and freedom, except either under the shelter of this wicked toleration, which they dare not do, or else go to the fields?

5. It must be obtained also, that the ministers have a right to preach in this unfixed manner, wherever they have a call; their relation now, in this disturbed state of the church, being to be considered more extensively, than in its unsettled condition. For understanding which, we must distinguish a three or fourfold relation, that a minister of the gospel stands into. First, He is a minister of Christ, and steward of the mysteries of God, 1 Cor. iv. 1. having his commission from Christ as his master: and this relation he hath universally, wherever he is. Secondly, He is a minister of the catholic church, though not a catholic minister of it, which is his primary relation; for that is the church, in which ministers are set, 1 Cor. xii. 28. and to which they are given, Eph. iv. 11, 22. Thirdly, He is a minister of the particular church whereof he is a member; and so in Scotland, a minister is a minister of the church of Scotland, and is obliged to lay out himself for the good of that church. Fourthly, He is a minister of the particular congregation, whereunto he hath a fixed relation in a constitute case of the church: this last is not essential to a minister of Christ, but is subservient to the former relation; but when separated from such a relation, or when it is impossible to be held, he is still a minister of Christ, and his call to preach the gospel stands and binds. See Mr. Durham's digression on this particular, on Rev. chap. 2. pag. 89. &c. in quarto. For though he be not a catholic-officer, having an equal relation to all churches, as the Apostles were; nevertheless he may exercise ministerial acts authoritatively, upon occasions warrantably calling for the same, in other churches, as heralds of one king, having authority to charge in his name where-ever it be: especially in a broken state of the church, when all the restriction his ministerial relation is capable of, is only a tie and call to officiate in the service of that church whereof he is a member; and so he hath right to preach every where, as he is called for the edification of that church. The reasons are, 1. He hath power from Christ the master of the whole church; and therefore, wherever the master's authority is acknowledged, the servant's ministerial authority cannot be denied; at least in relation to that church, whereof he is a member as well as a minister. 2. He hath commission from Christ principally for the edification of Christ's body, as far as his ministry can reach, according to the second relation. 3. His relation to the whole church is principal, that which is fixed to a part is only subordinate, because it is a part of whole 4. His commission is indefinite to preach the gospel, which will suit as well in one place as in another. 5. The same great ends of the church's great good and edification, which warrants fixing of a minister to a particular charge in the church's peaceable state. 6. Else it would follow, that a faithful minister, standing in that relation to a disturbed and destroyed church, and all his gifts and graces were useless in that case, which notwithstanding are given for the good of the church. 7. Yea, by this, when his fixed relation cannot be kept, it would follow, that he ceased to be a minister, and his commission expired; so that he should stand in no other relation to Christ, than any private person so qualified, which were absurd: for by commission he is absolutely set apart for the work of the ministry, so long as Christ hath work for him, if he continue faithful. 8. This hath been the practice of all the propagators of the gospel from the beginning, and of our reformers in particular; without which they could never have propagated it so far: and it was never accounted the characteristic of apostles, to preach unfixedly; because in times of persecutions, pastors and doctors also might have preached wherever they came, as the officers of the church of Jerusalem did, when scattered upon the persecution of Stephen, Acts viii. 1. did go every where preaching the word, ver. 4. Since therefore they may and must preach, in this unfixed manner, they must in this broken state look upon all the godly in the nation, that will own and hear them, to be their congregation, and embrace them all, and consult their conveniency and universal advantage, in such a way as all equally may be admitted, and none excluded from the benefit of their ministry. And therefore they must go to the fields with it.

6. The Lord hath so signally owned, successfully countenanced, and singularly sealed field preaching in these unfixed exercises, that both ministers and people have been much encouraged against all opposition to prosecute them, as having experienced much of the Lord's power and presence in them, and of the breathings of the enlivening, enlarging, enlightening and strengthening influences of the Spirit of God upon them. The people are hereby called, in this case of defection, to seek after these waters that they have been so often refreshed by: for in this case of defection, God being pleased to seal with a palpable blessing on their souls, the word from ministers adhering to their principles, they may safely look on this as a call from God to hear them, and follow after them so owned of the Lord. And it being beyond all doubt, that the assemblies of the Lord's people to partake of pure ordinances, with full freedom of conscience in the fields, hath been signally owned and blessed of the Lord, and hath proven a mean to spread the knowledge of God beyond any thing that appeared in our best times; and in despite of this signal appearance of God, and envy at the good done in these meetings, all endeavours being used by wicked men to suppress utterly all these rendezvouzes of the Lord's militia, both by open force and cunning Midianitish wiles; ministers cannot but look upon it as their duty, and that the Lord hath been preaching from heaven, to all who would hear and understand it, that this way of preaching, even this way, was that wherein his soul took pleasure, and to which he hath been, and is calling all who would be co-workers with him this day, to help forward the interest of his crown and kingdom. Many hundreds of persecuted people can witness this, and all the martyrs have sealed it with their blood, and remembered it particularly on the scaffolds, that they found the Lord there, and that he did lead them thither, where he had made them to ride upon the high places of the earth, and to eat the increase of the fields, and to suck honey out of the rock, and that in their experience, under the Spirit's pouring out from on high, they found the wilderness to be a fruitful field, and, in their esteem, their feet were beautiful upon the mountains that brought good tidings, that published peace, that brought good tidings of good, that published salvation, that said unto Zion, Thy God reigneth. And all the ministers that followed this way, while they were faithful, and had but little strength, and kept his word, and did not deny his name, found that verified in their experience, which was said of Philadelphia, Rev. iii. 8. that they had an open door which no man could shut. The characters whereof, as they are expounded by Mr. Durham, were all verified in these meetings: where 1. The ministers had a door of utterance upon the one side opened to them; and the people's ears were opened to welcome the same, in love to edification, simplicity, and diligence on the other. 2. This had real changes following, many being made humble, serious, tender, fruitful, &c. 3. The devil raged and let himself to oppose, traduce, and some way to blast the ministry of the most faithful more than any others: just as when Paul had a greater door and effectual opened to him, there were many adversaries, 1 Cor. xvi. 9. 4. Yet the Lord hath been observedly defeating the devil and profanity in every place, where the gospel came, and made him fall like lightning from heaven, by the preaching of the word. 5. And the most experimental proof of all was, that hereby ground was gained upon the kingdom of the devil, and many prisoners brought off to Jesus Christ. And therefore seeing it is so, this must certainly be a call to them who are yet labouring in that work, which others have left off, to endeavour to keep this door open with all diligence, and reap the corn while it is ripe, and when the sun shines make hay, and with all watchfulness, lest the wicked one sow his tares, if they should fall remiss.

7. As for the circumstance of the place, of this unfixed manner of celebrating the solemn ordinances of the worship of God, in a time of persecution: this cannot be quarrelled at by any, but such as will quarrel at any thing. But even that is better warranted, than to be weakened with their quarrels. For before the law, mountain-worship was the first worship of the world, as Abram's Jehovah-jireh, Gen. xxii. 14. Jacob's Bethel, (or house of God in the open fields) Gen. xxviii. 17, 19. his Peniel, Gen. xxxii. 30. his El-Elohe Israel, Gen. xxxiii. ult. do witness: under the law, they heard of it at Ephratah, they found it in the fields of the wood, Psal. cxxxii. 6. After the law, field preaching was the first that we read of in the New Testament, both in John's preaching in the wilderness of Judea, being the voice of one crying in the wilderness, and the master-usher of Christ, Matth. iii. 1. 3. and in his ambassadors afterwards, who, on the Sabbath, went out to a river-side where prayer was wont to be made, as Lydia was converted at Paul's field preaching, Acts xvi. 13, 14. And chiefly the prince of preachers, Christ himself preached many a time by the sides of the mountains, and the sea-side: that preaching, Matth. v. was on a mountain, ver. 1. And this is the more to be considered, that our Lord had liberty of the synagogues to preach in, yet he frequently left them, and preached either in private houses, or in the fields; because of the opposition of his doctrine by the Jewish teachers, who had appointed that any who owned him should be excommunicate: and therefore, in the like case, as it is now, his servants may imitate their master: for though all Christ's actions are not imitable: such as these of his divine power, and the actions of his divine prerogative (as his taking of the ass without the owner's liberty) and the actings of his mediatory prerogative, which he did as Mediator; but all his gracious actions, and moral upon moral grounds, and relative upon the grounds of relative duties, are not only imitable, but the perfect pattern for imitation. Therefore that superstitious and ridiculous cavil, that such meetings in fields or houses are conventicles, gathering separate congregations, is not worth the taking notice of: for this would reflect upon Christ's and his apostles way of preaching, and the constant method of propagating the gospel in times of persecution, in all ages since, which hath always been by that way which they call keeping of conventicles. It is absurd to say, It is a gathering of separate congregations, it is only a searching or seeking after the Lord's sheep, that are made to wander through all the mountains, and upon every high hill, and his flock which is scattered by corrupt shepherds, and the cruelty of the beasts of the field, Ezek. xxxiv. 5, 6. and preaching to all who will come and hear the word of truth, in such places where they may get it done most safely, and may be most free from distraction and trouble of their enemies, who are waiting to find them out, that they may haul them to prisons, or kill them.