TAOTRA Section One

Title - Preface - Sec. 1 - Sec. 2 - Sec. 3 - Sec. 4 - Sec. 5 - Sec. 6 - Sec. 7 - Sec. 8 - Conclusion

SECTION First.

The Introduction and Method of this Treatise.

After that the Lord God in his own appointed time had seem meet, to put an end to the Dispensation of the Law, which was delivered to the Children of Israel by the Ministry of Moses, through and by whom he did communicate unto them in the Wilderness from Mount Sinai, divers Commandments, Ordinances, Appointments and Observations, according as they are testified in the Writings of the Law, it pleased him to send his own Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, in the Fulness of Time, who having perfectly fulfilled the Law, and the Righteousness thereof, gave witness to the Dispensation of the Gospel; and having approved himself, and the Excellency of his Doctrine by many Great and Wonderful Signs and Miracles, he sealed it with his Blood, and triumphing over Death (of which it was impossible for him to he held) he cherished and encouraged his despised Witnesses, who had believed in him, in that he appeared to them after he was raised from the dead, comforting them with the Hope and Assurance of the pouring forth of his Spirit, by which they were to be led and ordered in all things, in and by which he was to be with them to the End of the World, not suffering the Gates of Hell to prevail against them, by which Spirit come upon them, they being filled, were emboldened to preach the Gospel without Fear; and in a short time Thousands were added to the Church, and the Multitude of them that believed were of One Heart and of One Soul, and great Love and Zeal prevailed, and there was nothing lacking for a season.

But all that was caught in the Net, did not prove Good and Wholsom Fish; some were again to be cast in that Ocean from whence they were drawn; of those many that were called, all {Page 10} proved not chosen Vessels, fit for the Master’s Use; and of all that were brought into the great Supper and Marriage of the King’s Son, there were that were found without the Wedding Garment; some made a Shew for a Season, and afterwards fell away; there were that drew back; there were that made Shipwrack of Faith, and of a Good Conscience; there were not only such as did backslide themselves, but sought to draw others into the same Perdition with themselves, seeking to overturn their Faith also; yea, there were that brought in damnable Heresies, even denying the Lord that bought them, and also of those Members that became not wholly corrupt (for some were never again restored by repentance) there were that were weak and sickly, and young; some were to be fed with Milk, and not with strong Meat; some were to be purged, when the old Leaven received any place; and some to be cut off for a season, to be shut out, as it were, of the Camp for a time, until their Leprosie were healed, and then to be received in again.

Moreover, as to Outwards, there was the Care of the Poor, of the Widdow, of the Fatherless, of the Strangers, &c. therefore the Lord Jesus Christ, who is the Head of the body, the Church (for the Church is the Body of Christ, and the Saints are the several Members of the Body) knowing in his infinite Wisdom what was needful for the good ordering and disposing all things in their proper Place, and for preserving and keeping all things in the right Station, did in the Dispensation and Communication of his Holy Spirit minister unto every Member A Measure of the same Spirit, yet diverse according to operation, for the Edification of the Body, some Apostles, some Teachers, some Pastors, some Elders there are Old Men, there are Young Men, there are Babes; for all are not Apostles, neither are all Elders, neither are all Babes, yet are all Members, and as such all have a Sense and Feeling of the Life of the Body, which from the Head flows unto the Body, as the Oyntment of Aaron’s Beard unto the Skirts of his Garment; and every Member has its place and Station in the Body, so long as it keeps in the Life of the Body; and all have need one of another; {Page 11} yet is no Member to assume another Place in the Body then God has given it, nor yet to grudge or repine its Fellow member’s Place, but to be content with its own; for the Uncomely Parts are no less needful then the Comely, and the less Honourable then the more Honourable; which the Apostle Paul holds forth in 1 Cor 12. from Vers. 13 to 30.

Now the Ground of all Schism, Divisions or Rents in Body, is, whenas any member assumes another Place then is allotted it, or being gone from the Life and Unity of the Body, and loosing the Sense of it, lets in the Murmurer, the Eye that watches for Evil, and not in holy Care over its Fellow-members; and then, instead of coming down to Judgement in it self, will stand up and judge its Fellow-members, yea, the whole Body, or those whom God has set in a more honourable and eminent Place in the Body then it self; such suffer not the Word of Exhortation, And Term The Reproofs of Instruction (which is the Way of Life) Imposition and Oppression, and are not aware now far they are in the things they condemn others for, while they spare not to reprove and revile all their Fellow-members, yet if they be but admonished themselves, they cry out as if their great Charter of Gospel-Liberty were broken.

Now, though such, and the Spirit by which they are acted be sufficiently seen and felt by thousands, whose Hearts God has so established as they are out of Danger of being intangled in that snare, and who have Power and Strength in themselves, to judge that spirit, even in its most subtil Appearances; yet there are who cannot so well withstand the Subtilty and seeming sincerity, some such pretend to, though in measure they have a sight of them; and others, that cannot so righty distinguish betwixt the Precious and the Vile; and some there are, that through Weakness, and want of true Discerning, may be deceived, and the simplicity in them betrayed for a season, as it is written, With Fair Speeches and Smooth words they deceive the Hearts of the Simple.

Therefore having, according to my measure, received an Opening in my Understanding as to these things from the Light {Page 12} of the Lord, and having been for some time under the weighty Sense of them, I find at this instant a Freedom to commit them to writing, for the more Universal Benefit and Edification of the Church of CHRIST.

Now, for the more plain and clear opening and understanding of these things, it is fit to sum up this Treatise in these following general Heads, to be considered of:

First, From whence the Ground and Cause of this Controversie is, the Rice and Root of it.

Secondly, Whether there be now any Order and Government in the Church of Christ?

Thirdly, What is the Order and Government which we plead for, in what cases, and how far it may extend, in whom the Power decisive is, and how it differeth; and is wholly another then the Oppressing and Persecuting Principality of the Church of Rome, and other Antichrisitian Assemblies.