The Peoples Plea for the Exercise of Prophecy, Title page – Preface
THE PEOPLES PLEA FOR THE EXERCISE of Propheſie.
Againſt Mr. Iohn Yates his Monopolie.
By Iohn Robinſon.
1. COR. 14.1.
Follow after charity, and deſire ſpirituall gifes, but rather that yee may propheſie.
Printed in the yeare 1618.
TO MY CHRISTIAN FRIENDS IN NORwich, and theerabouts, Grace and ſalvation from the God and giver thereof.
THat loving and thankfull remembrance, in which I alwaies hauehave you (my Chriſtian friends) provoketh me as continually to commend unto God your welfare, ſo to reioyce greatly when I underſtand thereof, and ſpecially that your ſoules doe proſper. And as the proſperity of the ſoule is principally furthered by the zealous preaching of the Goſpell, ſo hath it been matter of unfained reioycing unto me, to heare how God hath of late ſtirred up amongſt you, divers inſtruments, whoſe zealous indevours hee hath uſed that way, and covering in mercy what is evill (of ignorance & infirmity on their parts (I hope) in their enterance, & miniſtrations, doth bleſſe what is of himſelfe, to the good of his choſen. But as it falleth out in nature, that the pure waters draw of the tainture of the ſoyl through which they run; ſo with you it ſeemes, the pure truths of the Goſpell hauehave ſuffered by ſome, too great mixture with ſundry Popish errours about the Church and miniſtery, in and by which they are propounded: and this more eſpecially by M. Yates, a man of good gifts in himſelfe, and note amongſt you: pleading the cauſe of the Whoore of Babylon, the Church of Rome, as Chriſts wife, and of Antichriſts cleargie, as of Chriſts miniſtery. And as this clergies exaltation is not a little furthered by uſurpatiō on the peoples liberty, which it ſwalloweth up, and thereby ſwelleth aboue proportion, ſo in all his pleading for the one, hee doth neceſſarily implead the other; and as in other things, ſo ſpecially in the exerciſe of Propheſie, or teaching in the church by an ordinary gift; in which every one that is able bringeth his shot in due time and order, for a ioynt feaſt of that heavenly repaſt, the word of God.
The Arguments in his writing (ſent unto me by W. E. with his conſent, and that before the Magiſtrate) I hauehave ſet down word for word, and anſwered: and therewith confirmed what I hauehave elſe where published in iuſtification of this exerciſe againſt his exceptions and anſwers: which, In the Iuſtification of Separation.being ſcattered here and there in his large diſcourſe, and divers of them divers times repeated, I hauehave collected, contracted, and ſet in orderly oppſition to their contrary Arguments: and that without any the leaſt wrong (to my knowledge) unto him or his cauſe; as having left out nothing in his writing, which might ſeeme to bring advantage to his purpoſe.
Now if any shall aske me, why I hauehave not rather anſwered M. Hall his large and learned volume againſt me, and the generall cauſe which I profeſſe, my reaſons are, Firſt, becauſe it is a large volume ſo full farced by him, as it ſeemes, that he might prevent further anſwer. Secondly, his treatiſe is as much (and more immediately) againſt the Reformiſts, and their cauſe in the maine, as againſt us and ours. Thirdly, the truth requireth not that perſons, but things be anſwered: and thing in it know I none not anſwerd in my Defence againſt M. Bernard. Laſtly, I doe put as great difference between him and M. Yates, as between a word-wiſe Oratour, both labouring more, and being better able to feed his Reader with the leaues of words, & flowers of Rhetorick, then with the fruits of knowledge, as alſo ſtriving rather to oppreſſe the perſon of his adverſary with falſe and proud reproches, then to convince his tenet by ſound Arguments: and between a man ſincerely zealous for the truth, and by his ſimple & ſolid dealing by the Scriptures, as M. Yates doth, giving teſtimony of his unfained louelove thereof. Which truth, my prayer to God is, that he, with my ſelfe, and all other ſo ſeeking it, may find, and therein accord in all things.
And for you (my Chriſtian friends) towards whom for your perſons, I am minded even as when I lived with you, be you admonished by me (which I alſo entreat at the hands of the Lord on your behalfe) that you carefully beware, leſt in any thing you fall from your ſtedfaſtneſſe; but, on the contrary, grow in grace, and in the knowledge and obedience of the Lord Ieſus in his whole revealed will. And let me the more earneſtly exhort you hereunto, by how much the contrary evill is the more both dangerous & common. A man may fall forward, and in ſo doing, endanger his hands and face: but in falling backward, the danger is farre greater, as wee ſee in old Eli, of whom we read, that he fell backward, and his necke brake, and he died, 1. Sam. 4.18. And how common a thing it is for men amongſt you, and the whole land thorough, in their declining age, to decline in grace, wofull experience teacheth: there being few old Diſciples to be found, vvho in their age do hold the ſame temper of zeale and goodneſſe which they had upon them in their yonger times: this being one maine reaſon thereof, That the meanes amongſt you are farre more for converſion then preſervation: and for birth, then nourishment: Whereas they (by the Lords gracious diſpenſation in the orderly ſtate of things) who are planted in the houſe of the Lord, in the Courts of our God, shall flourish, yea shall ſprout in old age, and are fat and greene, to shew that the Lord is iuſt, and with him is none unrighteouſneſſe. Pſalm. 92. Of this grace he vvho is the Authour and finisher of our faith, make both you and us partakers alwayes Amen.
Iohn Robinſon.