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exhorted the church of Antioch, yea, he exhorted them all, that with purpose of heart they would cleave unto the Lord. Acts xi.

And the brethren wrote, exhorting to receive Apollos, who when he was come into Achaiah, helped them much who had believed through grace. Here you may see it was the practice of the church of Christ to exhort, and did help them which believed through grace. Acts xviii. And you may see in Acts xx. how the apostle had given the church of Macedonia much exhortation, and this exhortation was in the spirit and power of Christ; for Christ gave to his disciples power and authority over all devils, &c. Luke ix.

And the apostles exhorted the Thessalonians to exhort. 2 Thess. iii. and in Thess. iv. 1. and said, 'We beseech you brethren, and exhort you by the name of the Lord Jesus, that as you have received of us, how ye ought to walk and please God.' And said, moreover, Ye know how that we exhorted, and comforted, and charged every one of you, &c. that ye walk worthy of God, who hath called you unto his kingdom and glory. 1 Thess. ii. Wherefore comfort yourselves together, and exhort and edify one another, even as ye also do. And we exhort you, brethren, warn them that are unruly, and comfort the feeble minded, and support the weak, and be patient towards all men.' Here you may see the church hath authority, both to support, and comfort, and exhort, and warn the unruly. 1 Thess. v.

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And you may see how the apostles did command and exhort such as walk disorderly, in 2 Thess. iii. And the apostle did exhort, saying, 'Save yourselves from this untoward generation.' Acts xx. 40. And the apostle exhorted the mariners that were in the ship, Be of good cheer, for there shall be no loss of any man's life; I believe in God, and that it shall be even as it was told me,' to wit, by the Lord. Acts xxvii. And the apostle saith to Timothy, 'Give attendance to reading, to exhortation, to doctrine; neglect not the gift that is in thee;' and bid Timothy, teach and exhort, and to be an example to the believers in word, conversation, faith, charity, and purity. 1 Tim. ii. 4. 6.

And the apostle exhorts Timothy, 'Preach the word in season, and out of season, reprove, rebuke, exhort with all long-suffering and doctrine. The time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but turn their ears away from the truth, and heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears.' And therefore ye see the church's authority to exhort, rebuke, and reprove such. Tim. ii. 4. But the apostle saith to Timothy, Rebuke not an elder, but entreat him as a father, and the elder women as mothers,' &c. 1 Tim. v.

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And the apostle saith to Titus, in chap. 2. Exhort, rebuke, with all authority, and exhort servants to be obedient to their own masters, &c. that they may adorn the doctrine of God in all things.' And the

apostle exhorted Titus, to set in order the things that are wanting in Crete, and ordain elders in every city, as I had appointed thee.' And they were to be such as were able, by sound doctrine, both to exhort, and convince gainsayers. And the apostle exhorted Titus, ' to rebuke sharply the unruly, and vain talkers and deceivers.' Tit. i. And Titus received the apostle's exhortation, when they sent him to the Corinthians. 2 Cor. 8. And the apostle said, 'A man that is a heretic, after the first and second admonition, reject.'

And the apostle saith, 'Let us consider one another, to provoke one another unto good works, not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is, but exhorting one another, and so much the more as ye see the day approach,' to wit, of Christ Jesus. Heb. x. 24, 25. And the apostle said, 'I beseech you brethren, suffer ye the word of exhortation,' &c. Heb. xiii. And the apostle saith to the Colossians, Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another,' &c. Col. iii. So here you may see the church of Christ, from his word dwelling in them, were able to teach and admonish one another from the word of wisdom in them. So it seems then, they did not set a priest over them, that he might be always teaching of them, and they might be always paying of him. And the apostle saith to the Romans, Rom. xv. 14. 'I myself also am persuaded of you my brethren, that ye are full of goodness, and filled with all knowledge, able also to admonish one another.'

So here you may see the church of the Romans were able to admonish one another then, without setting up of colleges to make priests to admonish them; and therefore, as the apostle saith to the Philippians, in chap. ii. that ye may be blameless and harmless, the sons of God, without rebuke, in the midst of a crooked generation, among whom ye shine as lights in the world, holding forth the word of life.' And the apostle saith, 'I have sent Tychicus unto you, (the Ephesians,) that he might know your affairs, and might comfort your hearts.' Ephes. vi. Here the churches knew, and made known the affairs one unto another in the Lord.

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And Jude exhorted the church in his General Epistle, that they should earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered to the saints or sanctified ones, which faith Christ is the author and finisher of. And now, had all Christendom contended for this faith or belief, then they would not have made so many faiths or beliefs to kill and destroy one another about, had they kept in Christ's saving faith, which saves and doth not destroy, and with that shield of faith ye do not war with flesh and blood to destroy it.

And the Lord sent Jeremiah to admonish the children of Israel, that they should not go into Egypt; but they disobeyed the word of the Lord

unto Jeremiah, and went into Egypt; therefore Jeremiah told them, 'they should die in the land of Egypt, and should be consumed.' Jer. xlii. 43, 44. Here you may see what became of them that disobeyed the admonishment of the Lord and his prophet; and therefore Solomon saith, Better is a poor and a wise child, than an old and foolish king, who will no more be admonished, or knoweth not to be admonished.' Eccles. iv. And Solomon saith, 'The words of the wise are as goads, and as nails fastened by the masters of assemblies, &c. by these my son be admonished.' Eccles. xii. So it is good for all to receive the exhortations and admonishments from the power and spirit of Christ. And Christ bade John write unto the church of Thyatira, that he had a few things against them, because they suffered Jezabel to teach,' &c. Rev. ii. And so you may see this church came under reproof, because they did not make use of their power and authority, in the spirit of Christ to judge Jezabel's spirit; and therefore the church of Christ now, is not to suffer Jezabel's spirit, lest they come under the same reproof, if they suffer that Jezabel's spirit to teach, now as then. And here you may see how that Christ hath given his church power and authority in his holy spirit to admonish, exhort, judge, reprove, and rebuke in his power and spirit.

G. F.

Concerning such as cry against Orders.

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GOD is a God of order, and not of confusion; and the apostle saith to the church of Christ, Let all things be done decently, and in order.' Mark, all things in the church of Christ. So then there is nothing to be done indecently, out of the order of the peaceable truth; for God is not the author of confusion, or tumults, or unquietness, but of peace in all the churches of the saints. And therefore, if God be not the author of such confusion, tumults, and unquietness, but of peace in all the churches of the saints; then confused, tumultuous, unquiet, and indecent, and disorderly spirits, with the power and spirit of God, they must be admonished to the peaceable spirit of God in them, and with it judge out the contrary, else the church of Christ, in its power and peaceable spirit, can have no unity with them, but with the spirit and power of Christ, judge that indecent, confused, tumultuous, unquiet, disorderly spirit. For God, as I said before, is a God of order; but the devil, which is the world's god, hath made the world like a wilderness, which lies in wickedness; and this devil or satan, in whom there is no truth, the power of death, and darkness, and confusion, got into Adam and Eve by their disobedience, and rules in the hearts of the disobe

dient, where all tumults, disquietness, confusion, and disorders are; for who went and go into disobedience from God, they went and are gone from his image, from the innocency and simplicity, and his power and spirit within, and so go out from his power, spirit, and image, in which his holy order is, and out of simplicity and innocency, into subtilty and craft: for the devil, that abode not in the truth, and his followers, that disobey God and his truth, which follow the devil, in whom there is no truth, there is no order amongst them, but confusion. Truth hath an order for all things that God did make by Jesus Christ, who upholds all things by his word and power. So, with his word and power he keeps all things in their places, and in their order, in their times, and in their seasons; the summer and the winter, the night and the day, the sun, moon, and the stars, all things are kept in order by the word of God and his power; and the earth is the Lord's, and the fulness thereof, and the sea, and the fulness therein.

So both the earth and the sea, and all things therein, are kept in their order by the word and power of God, by which they were made, by which they were upheld. So all the works of the Lord praise him, and so do all men and women that are in the truth, which makes them free from him that abode not in the truth, in whom there is no truth. So all God's free people or children, (that are made free indeed by the truth,) are in the order of the truth, and in the order of the spirit of God, and in the order of the gospel, and are in the order of the light, the life in Christ, and are over the foul spirit of disorder, in the land of death and darkness; as the scripture saith, a land of darkness, as darkness itself, and of the shadow of death, without any order,' mark, without any order, 'where the light is as darkness.'

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This spirit may cry out against orders, whose habitation is darkness, without any order; but as the Lord saith, Who offers up praise, glorifies me, and he that orders his conversation aright, shall see the salvation of God.' Now here is a particular order for every man and woman to observe; for the steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord, and he delights in his way.' Psalm xxxvii. The Lord hath sworn, and will not repent,' speaking of Christ, 'thou art a priest for ever, after the order of Melchizedeck.' Psalm cx. Heb. v. And Christ is not called after the order of Aaron. Heb. vii. Here you may see, Melchizedeck the priest was not made without an order, and Aaron's priesthood was made by an order of God, according to his rod's budding in the tabernacle. And Christ was not a priest made without an order, which is after the order of Melchizedeck; and his royal priesthood, who offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God, are in his spiritual order, and in the order of the spirit of God.

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And Isaiah saith, chap. ix. Unto us a child is born, unto us a son is

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given, and the government shall be upon his shoulders.' So here, Christ bears up his government, and of the increase of his government and peace, there shall be no end;' for Christ orders it, and establishes it, &c. So Christ's government is a peaceable government, and there is no strife in it; and Christ's government is peaceable in his power, light, and spirit. And the apostle, after he had exhorted the Corinthians of many things, said, 'The rest I will set in order when I come;' and this was by the power and spirit of Christ. And the apostle saith to Titus, 'I left thee in Crete, that thou shouldst set in order the things that be wanting, and that thou ordain elders in every city, as I have appointed thee.' And in the 2d chap. ye may see how he speaks of the qualifications of the aged men, and the aged women, that were to be teachers of good things, and of the younger, &c. Now here you may see the apostle was for good order, and established good order in the church of Christ, and encouraged Titus to set in order, and ordain elders in every city in Crete, which were wanting, so that all the church of Christ might be kept in the order of the power and spirit of Christ.

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And the apostles saith to the Colossians, Though I be absent in the flesh, yet I am with you in the spirit, joying and beholding your order, and the steadfastness of your faith in Christ; and as you therefore have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him.' Now here you may see, the church of Christ had a spiritual order, though the apostle was absent in the flesh from them, yet he was present with them in his spirit, with which spirit he rejoiced, and beheld their spiritual order; so in this spiritual order must all God's people live, though they be absent in body one from another, yet in the spirit they may rejoice, beholding the spiritual order that is in the church of Christ, and the steadfastness of one another's faith in Christ Jesus, who is the author and finisher of it.

G. F.

Concerning meeting in Houses, Ships, Streets, Mountains, and High-Ways. And in what places the Prophet Jeremiah, Christ, and the Apostles taught or preached in, may be seen in this book.

And how Christ and the Apostles were haled out of their meetings, when, or while they were speaking. John xviii. 1. Matt. xxvi. 47. Mark xvi. 17. Acts iv. 2, 3. and Chap. v. 24, 25, 26, 27. By G. F.

HERE you may see, how Christ and his apostles, and John Baptist, were not tied to places to preach in; for Christ sent his apostles into all nations to preach the gospel, and to every creature under heaven.

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