visible Saints called out and distinguished from the wicked ignorant and untoward multitude by their free consents and professed subjection to Christ and his Laws of Worship and Government Let these daring men calumniate all Gospel-administrations with the term of mediate stuff and think by their high swelling words of vanity all mediate call's are razed out in the full as their phrase is the Scripture will stand and the means of the new Testament worship and order will stand immutable to the Lord his appearing in glory at his second coming according to the charge of Paul to Timothy 1 Ep. Chap. 6. ver 13 14. And as the command of Christ for Church-order is perpetual so the call of God by the Church is spiritual The The Churches call Spiritual holy Ghost in the Scripture lays down spiritual Rules 1 Tim. 3. He confers spiritual gifts according to his Rules and the Church a spiritual Corporation gives the outward call where they finde such spiritual characters and qualifications God owns this choice while the Quakers with carnal Parishioners dis-own it who will have the worst of it in conclusion the day shall declare 19. Head of their Scripture-contradiction Concerning Immediate Teaching Section 47. IHad noted how they pretended to be immediately taught The teaching of God saith one is immediate in the least degree contrary to Dan. 9. 1. 1 Tim 4. 14. R. F. answereth * Page 22. We do not pretend so to be but we witness that we are so taught and according to the promise of the Lord. Rep. 1. But who will believe him and his fellows when the witness is of themselves from themselves and without proof They that flee to an experience and a promise for proof must first shew the promise and then the performance of it to themselves I am yet to learn the promise of the Immediate Teachings of God to be given to all that are to teach others of which is the question The promise John 6. 45. They shall all be taught of God concerneth all John 6. 45. vindicated All Believers not immediately taught that have truly believed do or shall so believe all the children of Gods election all the children of the Church-Catholique and of the new Jerusalem Isa 54. 13. which teaching if God had intended to be given immediately i. e. without any medium means or instrument then would he not have sent Preachers abroad for them to hear thereby to be taught and drawn to believing 2. Had all that the Lord sent forth as Gospel-dispensers immediate teaching we grant Paul had it more immediately Apostles immediately taught more fully and more at once then the rest of the Apostles Gal. 1. 12. and 2. 6. will R. F. and his Brethren witness the same immediate teaching with Paul and the utmost height of his revelation that nothing can be added to them We grant the rest of the Apostles had the immediate teaching and ducture of the Spirit in their preaching and writing But are all Apostles 1 Cor. 12. 28. compared with Ephes 4. 11. There was a second sort of the Ministers of Christ who were called Evangelists assistants to the Apostles these had their light and knowledge by mediate Evangelists taught mediately ways Timothy is instructed of Paul 2 Tim. 2. 2. and 3. 10 14. as taught out of the Scriptures by his mother and grandmother from his childehood 2 Tim. 1. 5. with Chap. 3. 13. Apollos was instructed * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the way of the Lord by the Scriptures Acts 18. 24 25. and had the way of God more perfectly expounded to him by Aquila and Priscilla ver 26. These Evangelists were of too low a form for R. F. and men and women too of his way There was a third Some prophets immediately inspired sort called Prophets some of which were immediately taught and inspired with knowledge of things to come some of these men as Agabus Acts 11. 28. and 21. 10. some women as Philips four daughters which did prophesie Acts 21. 9. I do not finde that Quaking men and women pretend to this kinde of immediate teaching received about things to come Other Prophets there were Some prophets mediately taught who were mediately taught as they at Corinth and elsewhere who did out of the old Testament expound give the sense of the Prophets writings and raise Doctrines confirming them by edifying testimonies and reasons out of Scripture to edifying use and benefit of Believers principally and Churches 1 Cor. 14. 3. compared with ver 22. latter part These I cannot call men quite out of office as the word Office is largely taken Rom. 12. 4. Every member hath an office that is work and employment in the body mystical as natural but as the word is taken strictly they were and may be persons out of office i. e neither Apostles nor Evangelists nor Prophets foretelling things future nor Pastors and teaching Elders As they were not Apostles Distinguisht 1. from extraordinary officers nor Evangelists that is plain enough so First you will finde them distinguisht from the Prophets immediately inspired two ways 1. These might be taken off by one that had a revelation They might have a Doctrine ver 26. who had not a Revelation 1 Cor. 14. 26. 29. opened which coming immediately for time and maner when the other was speaking was to take place and be heard while the Prophet who onely hath a Doctrine or truth collected from Scripture is to give place and hold his peace This onely for order sake not but that the doctrine from Scripture was as infallible as the Revelation and the immediate Revelation was to pass the trial as the doctrine verse 29. and 32. 2. In so much as women are excluded from this kinde of prophesie by two or three at a time verse 29. with ver 34. But if it had been extraordinary predictions of things to come they i. e. women might have delivered their message Secondly you will finde these gifted brethren endued 2. From ordinary onely with a gift of scripture-exposition and application distinguisht from Pastors and Teachers in peculiar office As two or three might exercise at a time for which a liberty is granted ver 29. Now if they had been Pastors and Teachers in office strictly there was no question but they might have preached at all seasons when the Church met together and a necessity is laid upon them in season and out of season a liberty onely is granted to these Prophets and that liberry is limited also as before Would R. F. or his Fellowes be content with this low Form among gifted brethren in a Church who have received their gift by reading and study of the Scriptures together with conference and observation of their own and others experiences which being sanctified and blessed by the Spirit of God helps men forth to teach others till they be called to office or whether ever they be chosen to office
a covenant of works His Doctrine is b Ib. 175. That there is no certain ordination from eternity upon any soul particularly which is yet to be born but onely a common universal foreseeing of grace which will suit with the light in every man held out by Quakers as the beginning of Christ and the good use of that light as that grace foreseen He jerks at c Ib. page 182 our feeding upon bread and cup of Christ and so doth R. F. In many other things they are agreed He hath stampt a name upon his book of Election d Ib. page 195 The longer the better liked the more sought the more found which I hope will among those that shall be saved never prove true but the contrary The longer the more loathed the more sought and searched the more detected and the more found the more rejected notwithstanding all his Teutonick Sublimations There is a Dialogue between Launcher and Love-well printed with J. Behme's two Letters which is said to be none of his but it harmonizeth with his Doctrine and the Quakers who build up a kingdom of works upon as sandy a foundation A passage most notorious is this * Dialogue between Launcher and Lovewel p 89 Christ hath his deserving and I shall have mine written in opposition to the application of Christ and of his merits by faith and another is like hereunto a Ib. page 112 He hits the nail on the head who perceiveth that all his wen-lacing is that men believe to become as Adam was before the fall Not Christ as a Redeemer then but the improvement of what Talent men have and trusting thereunto in the mutability of their own wills must bring them unto life if they will have it so Such kinde of stuff or worse if worse may be these men have learned haply at home from Will. Erbury of late in his Call to the Churches which book was brought me by the same She-disciple that brought R. F. his Answer before who gave it out that he was the fore-runner to the Quakers as John Baptist was to Christ it seems then he was to decrease as they were to increase but I am of the minde though he hath by his packet of Letters and pamphlets helpt towards their increase yet they shall decrease and consume away with the last piece of Antichrists skin and bones He denies it * Call to the Churches by W Erbury page 4. to be Gospel that few shall be saved and expostulates the matter in these terms What Gospel or glad tidings is it to tell the world that none shall be saved but the Elect and Believers He calls Christ a Legal Teacher and saith if you will believe him The Gospel he taught was but in part that which was proper onely to the Jewish Church not that to be preached to the world And * Ib. page 6. the gospel which the Apostles preached to the world 't was not that which they wrote to the Churches nor yet what they read in the Scriptures of the Prophets But the Gospel was a mystery which in the light of God they could manifest to men and make all men see themselves in God that 's in Christ and * Ib. page 9. God in our flesh as in Christs that is according to the Familistical conceit God dwelling as much and after the same way in our flesh as in Christs For the mystery of faith was more saith he then men imagine and it may be more then Paul wrote to the Romans and Churches of Galatia Here are sweet suggestions to set people a quaking indeed among the devils and to look from the Scripture for another Gospel though there be no other then that which Paul preached and wrote to the Galatians cap. 1. 6 7. in their own hearts and to lay down their lives in another way for the brethren as the fickle woman that brought me the book told me she had thereby learned then the Apostle intended 1 John 3. 16. viz. to die to the use of all our Gospel-ordinances for any of which he saith * Ib. page 19. we have not so much as Scripture As true as that * Ib. page 37. Christs coming again promised Acts 1. 11. was nothing but his coming in Spirit and Power in the Saints and in their flesh when they are most confused and dark Such kinde of cloudy interpretations in Scripture these men have drunk down no coming of Christ in body again is owned by many of them Christ had a body onely while he was upon the earth which W. E. intimateth in his marginal note * Ib. page 39. and inferreth Because the days of his flesh was when he was on earth therefore his being now in heaven is all in the Spirit for he is far above all heavens whereas the Apostle Heb. 5. 7. useth the phrase of days of his flesh to hold forth his state of infirmity and humiliation and not to deny his now being in Heaven in a true body glorified which Heaven where he is is far above all these heavens of air and sky visible to our eyes at present as his person which is not his manhood though the manhood is-united to his person is far above i. e. in dignity and immensity the Heavens as yet invisible to us and with the Godhead is not contained in the Heaven of Heavens But this of W. E. is like the notion and apprehension of J. Nayler who when he was asked by Justice Pearson Is Christ in thee as man answered Christ filleth all places and is not Sauls Errand to Damascus page 32. divided separate God and man and he is no more Christ whereas in Christ God-man his two natures are to be distinguished although his person is not divided Some strengthning to their fort of Babel our Quakers have received from the followers of Pelagius and Arminius who call Nature Grace as these magnifie Natures light and call it Christ within them who call the Notions of the Godhead the Elements and first Rudiments of Salvation as these call them the first Principles of Religion and the Corner-stone How come they to lead men from the Scriptures to the Creatures but that some had said before them Christ was and is preached in the Sun Moon and Stars And again how come they to say We cannot see how the Gospel of Christ is preached to every creature under heaven if it be not the Principle of light in the conscience if they were not acted by the same spirit Or how say they produce one Scripture that speaks of a natural light if they had not read or heard of some Arminian dictate to this purpose viz. The Scripture knows not the word natural in any such sense or signification wherein it should express or distinguish the unregenerate state of a man from the regenerate How do they jump in one minde concerning Peters being out of the state of justification when he denied his Master and about
deny Water-baptism altogether but the Experience of Christs blessing Infant-Baptism and the un-warrantableness of Rebaptization keeps him from these extremities If you be tempted to absent your selves from the Lords Table or leave Church-fellowship the Promise and Experience of the Love of God in the use of these Ordinances aws and keeps you in order When Christ until his second Coming in the clouds and visible Glory is lookt at as spiritually present with his own Institutions they are neither trusted to nor neglected Sometime you have been tempted to go hear known Seducers but an establisht heart will not step out of doors unless he hath the more special call to bear witness against them and to strengthen others Lastly Let your hearts be establisht with Gospel-grace and it will produce a well-ordered conversation to the end of your days it will make patient in affliction joyful in suffering even under darkness and in desertion the heart is willing to wait and is made ready for Heaven for it stirs up to watchfulness to have grace in exercise and the soul in preparation for death and then it cannot want boldness at the day of Christs appearing Why then my Brethren dearly Beloved and longed after my joy and crown so stand fast in the Lord my dearly Beloved see that none of you fail of the grace of God Be not as reeds shaken with the wind but as unshaken rocks and pillars in your profession Prize and press after more of heart-establishing grace to this end Hold fast the purity of Doctrine about Justification Election Redemption the Covenant of Grace and the whole pattern of sound and wholesom words in the Scriptures and in the Churches Confessions of Faith consonant to the Scriptures Be active in faith upon the Author and Finisher of your Salvation Be obedient to the Spirit who witnesseth and sealeth the Truth and sheds abroad the Love of God in your hearts Make much of your Experiences built upon and backt with promises cry not woe unto them as some upon their revolting to Quakerism have done Set before you the example of stable Christians as so many Jerome's standing like old well-rooted Oaks and breaking the winds of Doctrines and Oppositions which assault them on every side Decline infectious company cease to hear the instruction that causeth to erre from the words of knowledge Beware of a blinde-zealousaffecting of any man Take heed of curiosity and a itching desire of Novelty or of knowing any new way to Christ and Heaven Stand in the paths and enquire for the old and the good way that ye may walk therein Maintain a humble spirit daily abased in the sight and sense of heart sinfulness and instability The Lord will teach and root the humble Exercise a clear Conscience in profession and communion with the Saints and Churches The mystery of Faith is held in a pure Conscience when men put away a good Conscience or prefer a natural Conscience before a Conscience purified by Faith they make shipwrack of the doctrine of Faith Let Gods power be lookt after in and with Gods own Form The Kingdom of God may be among men when 't is not within their hearts so Luke 17. 21. Christ speaketh to the Pharisees enemies of his Gospel The kingdom of God is among 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in medio vestri Bez. you i. e. was preached in the midst of his enemies and working upon others hearts while they were not aware of it They madly wrest the reading of the words within you who apply it to a Kingdom of Grace begun in the enemies of Christ by the light in every man and would thereupon have all Christs outward Forms and positive Institutions laid aside But what God hath joyned together power and form where and to whom he pleaseth do not you separate You have not hitherto been like these sheep which eat no grass more greedily then that which rots them If our new Teachers and their disciples boast of an astonishing Power coming along with their doctrine remember 2 Cor. 6. 7. The word of Truth and the Power of God whereby Christs Ministers are approved do go together If power goes forth with a word of falshood 't is Antichrists power which is after the working of Satan not the Lords It will be sad with any Church-member under Gods institution and form to fall short of his 2 Thes 2. 9. power But while you use his Ordinances in Faith of a promise of Christs power annexed to them you are and shall be more wrought up to and brought under the power promised And that I may be partaker of the Gospel-power as Priviledges with you yea that this Reply as weak as it is may be accompanied according to the truth of it with the mighty power of the Lord Let it be your prayer as it is and shall be mine who am through grace Your Loving Brother and Faithful Pastor JOHN STALHAM To all Honest Godly Conscientious and Judicious Readers BELOVED AS Honest Godly and Conscientious you are invited by Richard Farnworth in his Epistle before his pretended Vindication of the Scriptures in Answer to a piece I put forth in Scotland to the reading of all the Quakers Pamphlets with mine which I referred to in the Margent and of his Answer thereunto if any of you can finde the leisure Now it is my request that such as have met with his reviling Vindication would in honesty do me the favor yea the right so far as to bestow a few spare hours in the perusal of this my Reply and attending Truth as it is after godliness exercise in your reading a good conscience according to a renewed principle joyned with the diligent search of the Scriptures And As you are judicious and grown up to mature and manly knowledge I speak as to wise men judge ye what I wrote before and now write again Many Charges my adversary casteth upon me in his Epistle as so many fiery darts I list not to recriminate but have undertaken to make good my Collection of the Contradictions at first found among this sort and Sect of men Judge ye whether I have wronged any mans books or mixed my deceit with them Judge ye whether I have violated any of Gods Precepts or Truths and taught men so Judge ye which of us twain is given over to lie slander and falsly accuse Judge ye whether I have discovered a spirit of envy against them and the Truth I know the Scripture saith the spirit that dwelleth in us i. e. Believers so far as unregenerate lusteth to envy yet I can appeal to the Searcher of hearts that I found none of this stirring in my bearing witness against these mens doctrine What I see of the truth and of Christ in any I love I wish there was not to be seen in this Sect that which is to be pitied not envied Judge ye who is the Antichrist the Deceiver whether I deserve his Anathema
the Exposition of Rom 7. from ver 14. to the end of the Chapter understanding it of a man unregenerate in conflict with a natural conscience and not simply of one regenerate in combat with corruption of nature in every faculty of the soul How far the spirit of Antichrist works in these men God will yet farther discover and what Jesuitical Plots and Designs there are carried on by some of them unwittingly by others as wickedly as wittingly the day shall declare it And if any will take the pains to compare their Pamphlets with the Charge which Dr. Willet drew up about forty years Supplement to Synopsis Papismi by-past against the Papists he shall finde that Quakerism is built upon the Tetrastylon or four-fold Pillar of Papistry viz. 1. Sarcasms slanders railings and forgeries 2. Flat blasphemies and contradictions to Scripture 3. Loose arguments weak solutions c. 4. Repugnant opinions and contradictions among themselves in all leaving the consciences of people upon the Rack or full of doubts and uncertainties For the undermining of which Pillars the learned and unlearned the simple and judicious are alarum'd First to a more assiduous and studious reading of the Scriptures Get you Bibles 't is your Souls physick said Chrysostom of old to the people his hearers There is no greater torment to the devils then to see men busied about the Scriptures said * Orig. another before him But because it is as much pleasure to the devils to see men abuse and wrest the Scriptures ye are called Beloved Secondly to the owning of them in their just Authority above all Testimonies of ancient Writers and modern Authors who were but men subject to infirmities in the head as heart Above the Churches Testimony which gives no authority to the Scriptures but onely declare what is intrinsecally stamped upon them Above the testimony of your own hearts and consciences which must receive a true judgement from the right understanding and application of the Scripture bove all visions and revelations which if false draw from the voice of Scripture if true they send you thither as to your Rule and a more standing Rule and above all the Pamphlets of the Quakers now swelled to above two volumes Thirdly to a dependence upon the Spirit speaking in the Scriptures to seal up their Authority to you and to give the efficacy of what you read and hear Gods Spirit breathes in good mens books much more in his own and is there as to seal up the truth of his Word so to stamp the goodness of every truth upon our hearts As for this Reply what you finde therein agreeable to the Spirit of God his language of plain and naked Scripture-truth receive in the love of it and give God the glory I onely intreat as * Tantum oro ut cum petitis etiam Tertulliani peccatoris memineritis Tert. lib. de Bap. one before me of his Readers that in your prayers which should usher in all our other work or recreation and that of reading books you would remember him also who though he hath obtained mercy to be faithful yet hath cause enough to subscribe himself The sinful JOHN STALHAM The Heads of their Contradictions 1. To the Scriptures 1 Concerning THe Scriptures 2 Concerning The Trinity 3 Concerning The Light within 4 Concerning The Law 5 Concerning Sin 6 Concerning Justification 7 Concerning Regeneration 8 Concerning Sanctification and its Perfection 9 Concerning Christian warfare 10 Concerning Repentance 11 Concerning The means of Grace 12 Concerning Baptism 13 Concerning Lords Supper 14 Concerning Prayer 15 Concerning Singing 16 Concerning Elders and Ordination 17 Concerning Ministers maintenance 18 Concerning Immediate Calling 19 Concerning Immediate Teaching 20 Concerning Questions 21 Concerning Civil Honor. 22 Concerning Swearing 2. To themselves 1 Concerning THe Scriptures 2 Concerning Hearing the Word 3 Concerning The Light within 4 Concerning Sin 5 Concerning Christ 6 Concerning Justification 7 Concerning Immediate Teaching 8 Concerning Perfection 9 Concerning Quaking and Trembling 10 Concerning Growth in Grace 11 Concerning Forms of Religion 12 Concerning Fruits of the Spirit 13 Concerning Ordinances 14 Concerning Speech and Silence 15 Concerning Elders 16 Concerning Conscience and Laws THE Reviler rebuked OR A Reply to R. FARNWORTH HIS INTRODUCTION BEfore I can fall upon the Subject of the Controversies between me and my Antagonist I must touch at his Introduction wherein he mentioneth his receiving of my Book renews his charge against me gives a seeming proof of his charge and concludes with a Thundering Anathema 1. What he received A Printed Paper as he calls it slightingly that came out of Scotland into York and Yorkshire in England published by one John Stalham Preacher of the Gospel at Edinburgh That little piece of three sheets and a half J. S. owneth as published by him and that he called himself Preacher of the Gospel at Edinburgh for the present as was inserted it was because for some time he had been and then continued preaching of the fulness of the blessing of the Gospel of Christ to his Auditors from Rom. 15. 29. with other Scriptures And for as much as that great truth of the Gospel was openly opposed by one of the Sect called Quakers touching the justification of a believing sinner he was called to enquire after the opinions of the said Sect and to draw up his collections from divers of their Pamphlets which he referred unto several Heads of their Scripture and Self-contradictions wherein he is Secondly Charged by R. F. to have manifested himself and his subtile serpentine Spirit by his lies and slanders for all his glosses and covers to be a minister of deceit and so of Antichrist of all this or any part of it J. S. is no ways conscious nor of his falsly accusing the people of the Lord suppose any people of the Lord be fallen into the errors and opinions of the Quakers as he is charitably jealous some are surprized therewith nor of shewing forth a bitter spirit of envy against them and the truth The Lord knows he loveth all the people of the Lord for the Truths sake that dwelleth in them and pitieth those who are over-run with these errors as with a running Itch or sore as he himself would be loved and pitied who is not absolutely free of error although the particular fruit is not in these matters of difference visible to him yet the root of all error as of all sin is in him and seen by him not throughly in all degrees mortified As for any of his painted and deckt Notions Implications and Contra-distinctions his gilded coloured borrowed and form'd up imagined Expressions he thinketh R. F. had a minde to please himself and some of his Readers with seeming shadows of Rhetorick which J. S. never affected but clothed all he wrote with a familiar home-spun stile as he shall this Reply Thirdly The seeming proof of the Charge is That with the Light John 8. 12. John 1. 9. R. F. thinketh J. S.
is proved to be God but while he can and doth go to the bottom of all things in and concerning God his revealing is ad placitum when to whom in what measure and in what way he pleaseth Although the Spirit knoweth all things infinitely and therefore God revealeth what he revealeth of the things of grace and glory by his Spirit yet to some he revealeth nothing immediately to others he revealeth but some things or but something of every thing needful to consolation sanctification and salvation as they are capable of it 3. As deep things as the Spirit hath revealed they are all in the Scripture It is one way of the Spirits revelation to give forth deep mysteries in writing and that as mysteriously Section 2. as if it were by Hieroglyphicks Stenography or Characters The Spirit revealeth by Paul to the Romanes cap. 9. and 10. and 11. deeper things then Paul can fathom which makes him cry out cap. 11. 33. O the depth And the last piece of Scripture which God hath left us is the Revelation of Jesus Christ which God gave unto him to shew unto his servants and he sent and signified it by his Angel unto his servant John that he should write it to the Churches and leave it with the rest of Scripture as a compleat and sufficient Rule not to be added unto nor to be substracted from unless therefore R. F. will be lyable to the plagues threatned Rev. 22. 18 19. he must not bring in his un-written Revelations no though they were un-written Verities as any part of the Rule to be added unto the words of Gods book And from all that hath been replyed to him in this Section I conclude He that denieth the Scriptures to be our Rule denies them to be the Scriptures of God and he that denies them or some of them to be a standing Rule denies them or some of them to be no Rule as if sometimes they were a Rule sometime not And he that denies them to be a more standing Rule denieth the scope and sense of Christs words in Luke 16. 31. and other places But such a Denial we have from R. F. in the name of others of his judgement Therefore thus far in stead of vindicating the Scriptures he with his fellows have contradicted them Section 2. IN my second Section of their Contradictions to the Scriptures themselves and their Authority I had quoted Francis Howgil in his own phrase The Scripture is other mens Words contrary to 2 Tim. 3. 16. R. F. * Page 5. tells me that by a piece of Logick I would raise a false accusation against F. H. and make a false conclusion to wrest the Scriptures to serve my own turn but cannot The Scriptures not mans word but Gods Rep. 1. He denies not but the words I quoted are the words of F. Howgil 2. How doth my Logick make either the Accusation or Conclusion false The word of Scripture is Gods I said as is the Inspiration and because it was given by Inspiration therefore it is and is known or proved to be his Word as thus I make it out further and more plainly That which is given by Inspiration of God is not one mans word or anothers but Gods word But all the Scripture was given by Inspiration of God Therefore all the Scripture is Gods word and not one mans word or anothers What an under-valuing Expression then is that of F. H. to call the Scripture other mens words And what Chop-logick have we from R. F. Holy men of God spoke as they were moved and spiritual men spoke forth those words therefore they were words spoken by the men of God this is idem per idem a proof of the same thing by the same a delighting to hear himself speak and a tyring of his Reader before he hath read five pages of his book 3. Why will R. F. yield one part of the Argument and not the other He yieldeth the Scripture to be given of God and by the Spirit the Spirit of truth why then yields he not the Scriptures to be the word of God but that he will continue to contradict the Scripture and himself also while he joyneth in confederacy with F. H. and speaks disdainfully of the words of God as the words of men this man and that Grant we that both of them F. H. and R. F. sometime alleviate that harsh expression as if not used in opposition to God but to us The Scriptures are others mens words that spoke them freely saith the one And They were spoken by the holy men of God other men that were holy and spoke them freely and not by you that are sinful and preach for hire saith the other yet will they not confess they were spoken by God and are the very word of God nay R. F. page 4. * Line 18 and 21. had before set the visions of Ananias and Paul in a comparative Opposition to the words of Moses and the Prophets and preferring the former before the latter viz. the Scriptures these being but the words of other men and the words of others what is this but to sow seeds in mens hearts of alienation from the Scriptures which the yong man should take heed to and cleanse his ways by in youth which children shouldbe trained up in from their childhood and which are not to be despised or forgotten when they are old Such a contradicting scope hath all R. F. his pains taken pag. 6. to prove the Scriptures are other mens words and not mine or theirs in Scotland I would ask him what did the Preacher Eccl. 1. speak his own words or Gods but that he prevents the question by telling us * Page 6. King Lemuel was a man and his mother who taught him the words he penned down Prov. 31. was a woman And the Song of songs was Solomons and he was a man Cant. 1. What followeth from hence therefore Solomons words are not Gods words it better followeth from R. F. his reason viz. he was a man and not God then that the Scriptures are not ours for we are men as they were that penned them and although we were not the Pen-men we are the Readers and God onely is the Author of the Scriptures which in a way of disparagement R. F. calls a Printed Bible and reasoneth vainly against our use of the Scriptures because neither did Jeremiah nor any Prophet or any Apostle ever stand with a Printed Bible in his hand and say Hear the word of the Lord Then the word of the Lord was declared and spoken without Printed Bibles and before Printing was invented Rep. 1. They had a written Bible or Volume and did many Scripture to be read and preached from times speak out of that as always according to it Exodus 34. 28. with cap. 35. 1. Moses speaks what was written on the mount upon the Tables of stone And Deuter. 31. 19. Write ye this song for you and teach it
the children of Israel verse 22. Moses therefore wrote this song the same day and taught it them When Jeremy could not go into the house of the Lord he sends Baruch his Scribe to read what was written from his mouth even the words of the Lord in the ears of the people c. Jer. 36. 4 6. * See also Jeremiah 28. 1. Paul had his Tertius to write the Epistle to the Romans cap. 16. 22. and he ordereth the Epistle to the Colossians to be read amongst them and that they cause it to be read also in the Church of the Laodiceans Col. 4. 16. and read it was as the word of the Lord unto them yea God hath so honored his written Bible that he hath ordered as well the Copies as the Autographum or the Pen-mans own hand-writing to be his Scripture also Those Proverbs of Solomon which the men of Hezekiah copied out Prov. 25. 1. are as authentique as any of the rest so was the Copy which the King wrote out according to Gods command Deut. 17. 18. 2. Printing was a rare Invention and the gift of God Printing invented betwixt the 1440 1450 year of our Lord. See Mr. Fox vol. 1. p. 927. above two hundred years ago The benefit is sufficiently noted by Mr. Fox Hereby Tongues are known Knowledge groweth Judgement increaseth Books are dispersed the Scripture is seen the Doctors be read Stories are opened Times compared Truth discerned Falshood detected and with the finger pointed And by the printing of the Bible the doctrine of the Gospel hath sounded The benefit of Printing and of printed Bibles to all nations and that with great expedition So many Printing-presses of the Bible so many Clock-houses against the high Towers of Antichrist none but Papists have envied Gods people and Christs Preachers a Printed Bible Who were they that obstructed what they could the printing of it in English in King Henry the 8. days but the Popish Prelates and their creatures The Popish Vicar of Croyden Caiaphas-like prophesied Either we must root out Printing or Printing will root out us Every good Christian have been glad of a piece of a Printed Bible when it came first out in our Mother-language 3. The later this Mercy hath been vouchsafed to have Printed Bibles the greater Gods favor to his people and the greater their Ingratitude who slight the Mercy the greater their pride who would rather have their own Scriblings in print then the Scriptures of God who prefix to their writings as these Quakers so called in many of their Pamphlets This is the word of the Lord but are against such a Title to a Printed Bible or such a Preface before a Sermon from a Bible-Text as this Hear the word of the Lord. 4. If the printed Bible be according to the Original Copy or a true Extract or faithful Translation of Scripture it is as warrantable to preach out of it as out of a written one for Printing is one kinde of writing what is first written by a pen is after written by a stamp The Press is but an handmaid to Orthography or right-writing and a Midwife to help forth the conceptions of the Minde formed at first by the pen. But saith R. F. * Page 6. if Printing had not been invented what would you hâ—ve preached by that knows not the word of Life which was before Writing or Printing was Rep. 1. The written Copies were before those printed and by the former onely Gods servants preached till the latter came forth and according to those Copies and Volumes of Gods book would I have preached 2. Those Copies would have taught me as now they do that which R. F. hath not learnt by the printed although he might learn it namely to distinguish between the Essential word of Life Christ the Son of God and the The word of God essential scriptural Scriptural word 3. As the Essential word was before the Scriptural so he was before Visions and Revelations were given to men yea before there was a holy man to receive them or a world for holy men or others to inhabit Lastly As no true prophet or preacher ever rejected a written or a printed Bible truely so and so called no more hath he denied it the Title of the word of the Lord. Never did the Lord send such an ignorant prophet like J. P. at Coggeshall to turn to the nineteenth chapter of the Revelation and tell the people because ver 13. Christs name is called The word of God therefore the Bible and Scriptures he pluckt out of his pocket and held in his hand was not the word of God But though false prophets pervert the Printed Bible and use that Sword of God to cut its own throat Gods faithful Messengers and Interpreters know how to handle it dexterously and faithfully What is the chaff to the wheat saith the Lord Jer. 23. 28. What are mans words our own or other mens words to the Lords What is a false Interpretation or Application of Scripture to the true Section 3. IN answer to the third Section R. F. owneth John Lawsons words which I had noted viz. Wâ— have nothing to try men by but the Letter the Bible or written word which is natural and carnal with his own words Your Tryer is a Chapter or Verse of the Scriptures declaration and now upbraideth us for having no better way to try mens Doctrine and Spirits by then the Letter Rep. By the Letter or writing of the Spirit of God which The Scriptures the tryer of Doctrine is the Law and the Testimony we do know what is the Doctrine of the Spirit The Spirit gives his sense and minde by letters and words of Scripture all along take one place with another And when men speak according to that word of Scripture Law and Testimony Isaiah 8. 20. which cannot Isaiah 8. 20â— cleared be but when they take the word in and with its true sense then they bring not mans Doctrine but Gods but if they speak not according to that word it is not because there is not light sufficient in the Scripture-word but because there is no light in them that handle it and speak of it their hearts are dark their judgements blinde and ignorant and they bring not the Spirits Doctrine but their own As for instance R. F. if you will believe him without tryal saith for himself and his fellows We speak according to it viz. the Law and the Testimony and therefore there is light in us But fearing he should not be believed upon his own testimony he brings a verse of Scripture for it 2 Cor. 2 Cor. 4. 6 vindicated 4. 6. where 1. He allows that in himself which he condemns in us viz. to make a Chapter or Verse of the Scripture the tryer 2. He sets that Scripture in opposition to Isaiah 8. 20. and while he pretendeth to speak according to Law and Testimony he perverts the testimony given by
perswasion and satisfaction with our selves and here is the ground of mens believing what we speak from and according to what is written Will R. F. or any say If our trust must be in the Lord we are not then to ground our faith on the Scriptures I must tell him from Christ that the not grounding a mans faith upon the Scriptures is an evidence that he grounds it not upon the Lord the very Scriptures will accuse such to be unbelievers for thus our Lord reasoneth against the Jews John 5. 45 46. There is one that accuseth you even Moses in whom ye trust For had ye believed Moses ye would have believed me for he wrote of me Section 6. I Had charged them with putting figurative Glosses upon plain Scripture R. F. pag. 7. shuffles in here and there a line or two for answer but nothing to the purpose onely in way of shift he hath these two subterfuges 1 In quoting John 1. 1 2 3. he addeth this is plain Scripture without figurative gloss the glosses are thy own Rep. 1. As plain Scripture as it is it is alledged by him to set all the rest of Scripture aside from being Gods word For what if by the Scripture-letter the world was not made but by Christ the Eternal Essential Word of which John speaks hath it not been sufficiently shewed in what sense the Scripture-letter is and is truly called the word of God 2. By his unreasonable reasoning he doth altogether hide and conceal from the Reader of his book what instance I gave in mine of their figurative gloss upon plain Scripture viz. 1 Cor 14. 34 35. By woman is meant the weak 1 Cor. 14. 34 35. vindicated with 1 Tim. 2. 11 c. corrupt part and by man the Spirit in either sex and by the Husband is meant Christ contrary to the true sense of the Apostle given by the same Apostle not onely in his reasons upon the place but in that first Epistle to Timothy 2. 11 12 13 14. This Gloss is theirs and yet unreasonably he calls it mine the fancy mine and the meaning 's mine which he denieth whereas I gave none but the Apostles own Hence I argue He who sets Paul against Paul or owns not Paul's plain exposition of himself but puts figurative glosses upon the Text contradicts the Scripture but thus doth R. F. with others He that would be further satisfied about his egregious glossings this way may read his Pamphlet of a sheet * Entit led A woman forbidden to speak in Church printed 1654. by it self A taste whereof whosoever meets not with that sheet may take as followeth a page 3. The woman or wisdom of the flesh is forbidden to speak in the Church b page 5. The Apostle saith Let your women keep silence in the Church he doth not say Let the Spirit of God keep silence in the Temple c page 7. It is carnality that is forbidden to intermingle with Spirituality If this be not to play with Scripture and grieve the Spirit that spake it I know not what doth A second subterfuge is in citing that Scripture I will pour out my spirit and your sons and your daughters shall prophesie and such may speak of the things of God Rep. 1. Who denies but they may speak according to their gift place and call but women endued but with an ordinary gift are set by and not allowed either the office of teaching or the liberty of a gifted-brothers place to speak to edification c. had they the gift as eminently as some Brethren have or so much as to ask a question for their own learning in the publick meeting place of a Church in order and every place and meeting of such a Church hath a publickness in it because they are commanded to be under obedience it becomes not their sex 't is usurping of the males authority they were the latter sex in creation the first in the transgression and are easily led into deceit as Eve was all which are the Apostles reasons 1 Cor. 14. 1 Tim. 2. and the holy Spirits not mine who dare contradict them and their true sense and scope dare contradict the Spirit to his face 2 Pauls limiting-order issued out from Heaven teacheth us how to understand Peter Act. 2. 17 18. taken out Act. 2. 17 18. opened of Joels prophecy viz. partly as allusions to the old Testament-times when God by dreams and visions by prophecies or predictions of future things revealed his minde in those ages past to a few and so the pouring out of the Spirit c. notes a large and abundant measure of saving grace in ordinary given to some of Gods servants of all sorts and sexes in all nations where the Gospel comes far excelling the ordinary measures of Saints before Christs ascension partly that some of Gods servants women as men daughters as sons should have a prophetical instinct of foretelling things to come which ever hath been a gift more then ordinary and out of a Church-order and course as Acts 21. 9. Philips four daughters and virgins were inspired withall or if any say why might not their gift of prophecy be the gift of explication and application of the Scripture to the profit of the hearer though it is not so probable yet then I say they were subject to the Apostles Rule aforesaid and were kept free from disorderly extravagancies 3 That standing Rule and order of Paul 1 Cor. 14. 34 35. leads us to the understanding of ver 31. ye may all prophesie c. i. e. as all called to the office of Pastor and Teacher 2 Cor. 14 31 vindicated must teach exhort c. so all the brethren gifted with the abilities of prophesying or speaking to edification exhortation and comfort may prophesie the exception of women breaks not the Rule for men but rather confirms the liberty to the brethren and to all of them so gifted which are but a few when the number is cast up in every Church And again what that meaneth Thou shalt not muzzle the 1 Tim. 5 18. cleared Ox that treadeth out the corn c. which the Apostle applyeth to the laboring Elders not to women as R. F. ver 17 of 1 Tim. 5. and at the end of the 18 verse there 's light given to the beginning of it for the laborer is worthy of his reward which words are a reason of the Prohibition and the Prohibition is not to open womens mouths in publick for himself Chap. 2. had stopt them by the injunction of silence but to beware of discouraging their preaching Elders and laboring Pastors and Teachers by abridging them of their honorable maintenance yea that Canon of the Apostle above mentioned is the Key to open all those Scriptures which R. F. produceth in his sheet aforesaid concerning Phebe Priscilla Mary Tryphena and Tryphosa Persis Rom. 16. and those women Philip. 4. Rom. 16 1 2. and ver 6 12. Phil. 4
3. vindicated which labored with him in the Gospel for all these were employed not contrary to his order unto the Church at Corinth in publick preaching or so much as acting by their votes and suffrages in Church affairs but either in succoring Paul and others or in messages or in working out Pauls liberty mean while hazarding their own lives or in composing differences or in entertainment of strangers or in some other Christian-gospel-service sutable to their sex gifts and graces And as for that which R. F. collecteth from 1 Cor. 16. 19. that if Priscilla be not permitted to speak in the Church and the Church be in her house she must not speak but go out of her house Sure it is that as she 1 Cor. 16. 19. vindicated and her husband Aquila had taken up a house at Corinth Act. 18. 3. so they had a godly family like a little Church for knowledge piety and good order but the order of a godly family is after one way and the order of a ministerial Church is after another way Besides the Church at Corinth did ordinarily meet in Gaius's house therefore he is called Pauls Host and of the whole Church Rom. 16. 23. and Paul at other times wrought with his hands at Aquilas house Act. 18. 3. and in some one place compare 1 Cor. 14. 23. with chap. 11. 20. or other where that order was observed which was given to the Church ministerial and where Priscilla her self must not speak in the case in controversie with R. F. though haply she was more eminent in grace and gifts then her husband Aquila and upon that account her name may for once Rom. 16. 3. be set before his Lastly as for her own house it is not said the whole Church met there as at Gaius's house but it may well be collected those of her family were part of the whole and so the name Church is given to it and speak there she might to teach her family and with her husband to instruct an Apollos in the way of God more perfectly Act. 18. 26. without going out of her house or out of her place Will J. Nayler notwithstanding all this persist in his bold opinion that Pauls words of a womans keeping silence in the Church must not be taken in the Letter and will R. F. defend him with his own glosses I must leave them to the Lords rebuke for being wise in their own conceit and proceed to the close of this Paragraph in my book where I had given another instance of their new gloss upon 2 Pet. 1. 19. 2 Pet. 1. 19. vindicated affirming the sure word of prophecy there spoken of to be the Prophecy and Spirit of Prophecy within them and not the outward Prophecy or declaration of Gods minde in the Scriptures R. F. * page 7. hath nothing to say but this the sure word of prophecy we witness to and do not to it say No and then falls upon me with reproachful language as his maners serve him But how doth he witness it If by the word of Prophecy he means as Peter interprets it ver 20. the prophecy of the Scripture then he contradicts his fellow J. N. and doth not say no where his fellow saith no if he witnesseth onely the prophecy within or the light * Discovery of the man of sin by J. Naylar pag. 30. as J. N. glosseth till the day dawn c. which is not without nor in books then he with Nayler contradicts Peter and the holy Ghost moving him to write of a more sure word of prophecy of Scripture then the voice on the mount To clear this further As Peter v. 20. expounds v. 19. calling the more sure word of prophecy the prophecy of Scripture or Scripture-prophecy not heart-prophecy or breast-prophecy arising and residing onely in the minde but written down in books so this written-prophecy he sets in opposition to cunningly devised fables which ver 16. he professeth against in which fables there was no sureness or certainty at all and then he lays it in the ballance of comparison with his and others making known the Lords power and coming on the mount Peter James and John Mat 17 1 c. were ear-witnesses of a voice from heaven concerning Christ and eye-witnesses which is ten times more then onely to take a thing by the report of the ear of Christs majesty honor and glory this Transfiguration of our Lord Jesus they preached of to the scattered Jews as others yet notwithstanding their preaching of what they had heard and seen and the certainty of the voice they heard and the glory they saw We saith Peter including James and John with himself and the believing Jews whom he wrote unto who honored the writings of Moses and the Prophets as infallible have a more sure word of prophecy or of the Prophets writings whereunto ye do well that ye take heed hereby commending them for their respect to the Scriptures and encouraging them to be intent thereunto as unto a light shining in a dark place the Scripture-word being a lamp unto the feet and a light unto the path of Saints amidst Psal 119. 105. all the darkness of the heart of the world or of the Church until the day dawn and day-star arise in our hearts i. e. until by the study of the Scriptures more light be cleared up and Christ make himself more manifest to us and within us But lest any should stumble at the Apostles assertion which comparing ver 19 20. as before is to this effect that all or any part of the Scripture is a more sure word then what is spoken in the air and but to the ear the Apostle preventingly addeth ver 20. Knowing this first let this be laid as for a fundamental truth in your mindes that no prophecy of the Scripture whereof we speak 2 Pet. 1. 19. with v. 20 21. more cleared is of any private interpretation Were it so that every man might as his private minde leads him interpret Scripture the authority and certainty of it would vanish as the light Scripture to be interpreted by Scripture and truth of it would be eclipsed it would be far from being a more sure word men might that way turn the Gospel into a Fable and make the Scriptures as Antichristian Popelings do a nose of wax well how proves the Apostle that no Scripture is of any private interpretation why verse 21. For or because the Prophecy came not in old time or at 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 any time by the will of man but holy men of God spake it as they were moved by the holy Ghost As was the Genesis such is the Analysis as was the composition such is the resolution and meaning of it from the same Spirit the publique Spirit of the Saints and of the Scriptures the holy Spirit of God composed the word of Prophecy not mans will but Gods digested it his Spirit indited it and
hath spoken all his sense under the words which he directed holy men to express his minde by and therefore without going forth of Scripture to any private spirit the true and sure interpretation of Scripture may be obtained which if first we know and be perswaded of we may confidently be perswaded still to take heed thereunto as unto a more sure word and as a help in all our darknesses c. But J. Nayler thinks this a blinde absurdity For saith Discovery c. pag. 30. he if the Testimony of the old Prophets was a more sure word then that which Peter heard from the mouth of God then it must needs follow that the Testimony of the old Prophets who spoke but darkly of Christ and did not see his day must be a more sure Testimony then the Apostles who were eye-witnesses and the words of Books a more sure word then the voice that came from heaven which was the immediate voice of God Rep. All this grant but the testimony of Prophetical Writings to be Gods and the words of Scripture-books to be Gods books and his words may and doth follow without any absurdity at all For 1. Although the Apostles preaching was as infallibly true as the Prophets writings in themselves yet as to men and as to the Jew first and then to the Gentile and in respect of our capacity our reception and retention of truth the word of the Prophets writings was and is still more sure yea the Apostles writings such as the holy Spirit moved them to write and hath ordered to be the Scripture of the New Testament are in the forenamed respect a more sure word then their preachings hence it is that Paul perswaded the Jews Acts 28. 23. both out of the law of Moses and out of the Prophets 2. Although Gods immediate voice from heaven hath as infallible certainty as when he orders his minde to be written yet in respect of our frailty and the above-mentioned cases his written word is more sure to us and we have it so left upon record for our constant use Let not then J. Nayler * Discovery c. as above pag. 30. mislead the simple with great swelling words of vanity concerning our blindness about the Spirit of prophecy as the sure word and testimony of Jesus excluding thereby the Spirit from the Scriptures and the Scriptures from being the word of Prophecy and the sure Testimony of Jesus For Jesus Christ appointed John to write because the words he sent and signified to him by the Angel were true and faithful And when the Angel observed what John was about viz. to worship him Rev. 19. 10. he forbad Rev. 19 10. vindicated him upon two Reasons 1. He was his fellow-servant and of the brethren that have the testimony of Jesus 2. The Testimony of Jesus is the Spirit of Prophecy And John having the Testimony of Jesus as well as the Angel though not so immediately he had the Spirit of Prophecy so have all they who have the true sense of Scripture and of Johns Revelation though they received it not by the Angel as John did because the Spirit was with John as with others when he wrote and he that hath an Rev. 3. last ear is commanded to hear what the Spirit saith unto the Churches in that written word with the rest of the Scripture The Testimony of Jesus immediately given and received is hath in it and carrieth with it the Spirit of Prophecy as that Testimony which is immediately given and received All they that call off from the mediate Testimony may boast of the immediate but do not discover it Let not J. Nayler * Sauls errand to Damascus pag. 33. again upbraid us with his ignorant question Where readest thou in the Scriptures of a written Word It is no more then if he had said Where readest thou in the Scriptures of the Scriptures Let not J. Parnel * Christ exalted c. p 3. further revile us with doting upon the Scriptures without with our dark mindes when as God hath appointed the voices of the Prophets which are read * Acts 13 27. and preached upon with the voices of the Apostles every Sabbath day as a light shining in a dark place and as a more sure word for our daily use then his immediate voice from heaven Let him not heap up Scriptures to press the Scriptures to death Let him not make the world believe we would take the Authority from Christ because we own Christs Authority in the Scriptures and acknowledge them as instrumental unto Christs saving enlightning of us guiding quickning ruling of us Let him beware of despising Scripture lest he sin more wilfully after his first conviction by the Scripture He that would set Christ upon his throne as he pretends to do must not take the Scepter the Scriptures and what is preached faithfully from thence out of his hand This doth J. Parnel with R. F. and that generation of men who have learned as they imagine beyond the Scripture-Light and need neither man nor Scripture to teach them Yet I will unteach their misinterpretations of Scripture as they fall in my way that people may not further be deluded but undeceived In that one sheet of Paper * Christ exalted c. J. Parnel hath put the Conceptions and Imaginations of his own heart upon ten places of Scripture as he hath disparaged all the Scripture at once in more then one passage Christ he saith Page 1. was that Lamp to Davids feet Psalm 119. 105. Psal 119. 105 vindicated and that Light unto his paths Christ indeed gave that word to David which was his Lamp and Light but David speaks not there of Christs Person but of his Doctrine which the holy Ghost by his pen giveth several titles unto throughout the Psalm The word which David speaks of is called and was as called the Law of the Lord his Precepts or Commandments Statutes Testimonies and Judgements Christs person is not the Law of the Lord c. besides what ver 105. is in the singular number thy word is ver 103 57 139. in the plural number thy words Christs person is not two or many but one David therefore is commending that which J. P. is disparaging the written and declarative word of God Again Page 2. he applieth Jer. 20. 9. and 23. 29. in the like maner to Christs person when as the Section 6. Jer. 20. 9. and 23. 19. vindicated Prophet speaks of Christs Doctrine His word or message of Doctrine which God gave me to deliver was in my heart as a burning fire c. which I could no longer forbear from declaring it And Is not my word like as a fire saith the Lord and like a hammer that breaketh the rock in pieces By Gods word here is meant Gods saithful Doctrine which must be spoken faithfully ver 28. then it hath the power of a purging fire and of a battering hammer
so exprest by John onely thus The word was God it 's granted he was and is so what then Must I needs be ignorant of the Scriptures because I confound not Father and Son together as R. F. doth in that expession of his and what follows As God is the light and the word so also is Christ John 8. 12. Rev. 19. 13. and the Father and the Son are one Rep. How are they one not in person but in nature and essence The Father is not the Son the Father is not the Word nor ever so called Let R. F. learn to distinguish their persons as clearly as he would be far from dividing their essence But what if God be light and Christ be the true light and very God with the Father in essence and Christ be also the word of God and so called in that as the word is the image of the minde so Christ in his person is the express image of the Fathers person Heb. 1. 3. Must the light in every man which G. F. or R. F. speak from be the word of God and so called in that sense as Christ is the word of God and so called not to mention how such a conceit borders upon blasphemy this kinde of reasoning is as good and true as that of R. F. Because I preach publiquely therefore I am a Priest or because I preacht at Edenburgh in Scotland for a while therefore I am a Scotch Priest as he every where calls me at his pleasure and from his blinde mistakes But to undeceive the simple let me close this Section Superadded Conclusions with a few brief Corollaries 1. The beams of Christs God-head shine upon every man though not one man in the world knows him to be God till he findes him in the Scripture 2. The beams of his Mediatorship shine upon such as have the Scripture though few there be that finde that narrow gate and straight way to life and salvation 3. The light given to every man is not Christ in person or as Mediator let people learn to distinguish between him and his gifts and between the gifts which he bestoweth as God and those which he confers as Mediator 4. The light given to every man is the law written in the hearts of all and may in some sense be called the word Rom. 2. 15. of God not Christ-Mediator nor Christ-God because it is a piece of the declaration of Gods will made perfectly known to Adam before the fall 5. The Scriptures are a perfect declaration of the will of God both in the Legal and in the Gospel-part and are both truly and more eminently then the Law first written in the heart called as they are the word of God God giving out his minde to the full by what is written in the sacred Text. 6. The Lord Christ the Eternal Son and Essential Word of the Father is more in the Scriptures then in every man or any man As he is God all men live and move and have their being in him As he is Mediator he is in his Church mystical yet is he more in the Scriptures then in his Saints 7. They have not Christ Mediator in them nor abide in his Doctrine who abide not in the Doctrine of the Scriptures 8. They that speak from the Scriptures rightly understood speak more from Christ then such who speak from the light within them and have no fellowship with the Scriptures and with them that abide by Scripture-light and Doctrine Let R. F. and the men of his fellowship ponder what I say and the Lord give all his understanding in all things Section 11. I Had discovered pag. 8. of my book in this Section how they send people to read the Scriptures in the Creatures as if the Creatures taught us more then the Scriptures contrary to Psalm 19. and to Solomon in his Ecclesiastes and to Paul 1 Cor. 1. 21. R. F. * Page 9. in answer tells me That book * George Fox his Parables The Scripture a more excellent teacher then the Creatures shall witness for the truth against thee and thy generation Rep. If I were of the generation of Ranters he might have cause to write as he doth for as I hinted in my Epistle before my former piece Some of them viz. Quakers may haply be raised up against such viz. Ranters who have to their utmost extinguisht all common light of nature and would level all with sin and hell And G. F. in his Parables bends himself against men of this hell-begotten brood But as I own the light of Nature which Ranters endeavor to put out and the Light of Scripture which the men called Quakers with Ranters would eclipse so I acknowledge there is much in the Creatures to be learnt by way of allusion but to prefer that knowledge above the Scripture as is the scope of G. F. I am averse and abhorrent in the case And R. F. hath nothing more to say for G. F. onely for his own security he shifts from the Creatures viz. the Heavens and the Earth and things contained therein as parts of the first Creation of which G. F. gave his dictates to those that are in Christ new Creatures who are Epistles written in one anothers hearts seen and read in one another that are such Creatures 2 Cor. 3. Rep. Who sees not the mans evasion here is blinded with prejudice or gross ignorance for 1. The Apostle 2 Cor. 3. 1 2. speaks not of what is 2 Cor. 3 2. vindicated written in the hearts of all men who have stony hearts but in the hearts of Saints whose hearts are fleshy or soft v. 3. 2. He sets not forth those Epistles as Rules equal with Scripture much less to be preferred above the Scripture Pauls plain meaning is no more but this that the efficacious and cleared grace of the Gospel stampt and printed upon the Corinthians hearts and made visible and legible in their conversations was a sufficient Testimonial for his Apostleship and faithfulness and far better then Epistles of commendation to and fro which one Church by Ink and Paper might send to another concerning him or others what 's this to the question in hand concerning the doctrine of the Gospel and its knowledge to be had by the Sun Moon and Stars fire water air and earth c. which G. F. had instanced in 3. What if new creatures be seen and read in one another that are such Creatures Sun Moon and Stars c. are not such creatures nor are these the Epistles which the Apostle speaks of R. F. next to his evasion falls upon clamor and would fasten the imputation of ignorance of those Epistles and of lying upon me Rep. If it be enough for him to say it here and every where without proof I cannot be innocent but 1. In the case of Epistles recommendatory such as Paul had at Corinth whether I know what they are or no let those whom the Lord hath effectually
Scripture-contradiction in this very particular To those two Arguments I produced from Acts 2. and 1 Cor. 7. mentioned in the beginning of this Section he saith little or nothing nothing at all to the latter and little to the former and that as falsly as weakly according to his wonted language But thou perverts the Scripture Acts 2. 38 39. saying Be baptized every one of you you and your children Here thou art a lyar it doth not command Children to be baptized with water neither did they ever so baptize them that thou canst prove by one plain Scripture Rep. 1. He attends not my reason which I must repeat for help to his memory or others understanding The Command there reacheth as far as the Promise the Promise extends it self to Children not to all but to their children To you and to your children is the Promise made and therefore the Command Be baptized every one of you is made to the Parent and concerning the Childe and Children also of such Parents as gladly receive the word of Promise for them and theirs as it is said they did ver 41. And although it is not there plainly exprest the Children and Infants were baptized yet the Promise is plain enough and the Precept is explained and enforced by the Promise which had been of far less force to the Jew and Proselyte also if their Children formerly circumcised upon their Parents taking hold of the Covenant Isa 56. 6. had been excluded and left un-baptized and why may not the yongest be included with the eldest among those three thousand souls according to Scripture-phrase elsewhere Gen. 46. 26 27. 2. Why should R. F. if he were not unreasonable tye me or himself to one plain Scripture That which one place giveth not forth so plainly another compared with it may explain that and its self also Let him consult Ephes 5. 26. opened Ephes 5. 26. There is plain mention of water and washing of water by whom by Christ He that sanctifies and cleanseth the soul Whom doth he sanctifie and cleanse or whose souls His Church his mystical body ver 23. How By water and the word both which are the outward means by which he applies his Blood and Spirit to all that he cleanseth The water distinguisht here from the grace of sanctifying and cleansing can be no other then Baptismal-water The word * Greek 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in this place distinguisht from Christ himself can be no other then the Scripture-command for the use of water and the Scripture-promise for the blessing of water to the ends he hath appointed it in Baptism The Scripture-promise we have found belongeth to Children and the Scripture-command for the use of water to all that have the Promise and to all that are of Christs mystical body Now some Children will be found to belong to his body the Church I hope R. F. will think if he doth not others will believe the Scripture is plain enough for that Luke 18. 15 16 17. In one Verse we read of Infants in another of little Children whom Christ owned as belonging to the Kingdom of God The Kingdom of God and the true Church that is in God the Father and in the Lord Jesus 1 Thes 1. 1. differ not an hairs-breadth of some of that age or non-age we may call it of yong ones and little ones is Christs body made up in part yea he is so far from setting all Infants by and shutting them out that he professeth with vehemency ver 17. Verily whosoever shall not receive the Kingdom of God as a little Childe shall in no wise enter therein Let R. F. be humblypassively capable of what a little Childe is capable and he may enter with Christs little ones into the knowledge of this mystery and benefit of Infant-baptism Thirdly I shall prove the sprinkling of Infants or application A sprinkling Baptism warrantable by Scrâ—pture 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of water to them or others that way by plain and sound consequence from Scripture 1. Although the word Bapto signifieth to dip the word Baptizo signifieth to wash diverse ways The Jews had diverse Baptisms as the words are Heb. 9. 10. * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 translated diverse washings Some by sprinkling or putting water upon persons or things to which Ezek. 36. 25. and Heb. 10. 22. alludeth Some civil or superstitious as Mark 7. 4. washing of vessels tables or beds which way was by casting water upon them as by dipping some things into the water so that the command for baptizing is a command for sprinkling as for dipping as the word is used 1 Cor. 10. 2. They were all baptized in the cloud and in the sea some might be more drencht or wet then others but they whether yong or old whether more or less washed or moistned with water were all baptized It is not the quantity but the quality and use of water that was then and is now significative in Baptism The general end and use of water is washing the effect whereof is cleansing and such is the use and force of the word as before hence I reason That action which fully representeth the main end and use of Baptismal-water is lawful and sufficient But sprinkling pouring or putting water upon the body doth represent this main end and use c. For the main general end and use of Water-baptism is to signifie spiritual washing and cleansing of the soul from sin Acts 22. 16. Arise and be baptized and wash away thy sins and this is done significatively by a sprinkling-Baptism of yong or old as well as by a dipping 2. When John baptized Christ and Philip the Eunuch their going down to the water was one action and the baptizing another I stand not convinced by any plain or forcible Scripture-phrase or by any circumstance in Scripture-history that there was any other action or rite of baptizing when it came to that then sprinkling or casting water upon the person baptized 3. Sprinkling or putting water upon the baptized is the more ready and easie action and Christ hath not burthened his Church in the New Testament with painful Ceremonies Dipping and plunging is either of the whole body or of a part onely if but of a part it is hazardous and troublesom not onely to Infants but to persons of years Once upon a time I asked a neighbor of mine who was for Dipping how Paul dipped the Jaylor his answer was He took him plum up from the ground and put him into the water By the way I told him there had need be good store of strength in all Administrators of Baptism in this maner and little Paul might not be strong enough for the service if Silas was I asked again whether there was a pond or river in the yard betwixt the prison and the Jaylors proper lodgings and was answered there might be a brook running through the yard These are strange conjectures which men will assume and fancy to themselves
that in Chap. 17. or after his distinct consecrating words of blessing and thanksgiving and his giving and their taking of the bread and wine at the end of the whole action for John 18. 1. compared with Mat. 26. 30. the prayer after the Sermon ended and the * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Hymn sung by them all they go forth over the Brook Kedron into a Garden in Gethsemane near to the Mount of Olives It appeareth by what is said it was a distinct Supper from the rest attended with solemn Speeches Prayers and Praises in prose and in a Song If all the Quakers drink in James Naylers Doctrine they will then take up Prayer and Thanks at meals which many have laid down they will be frequent in singing Hymns even as oft as they eat and drink it must be done if they will believe what he saith the lord hath revealed unto him But some will be wiser I hope then some other and hear reason as it divinely lyeth in the Scripture The Scripture calleth the instituted bread and wine this bread and this cup and this cup of the Lord 1 Cor. 11. 26 27. And this bread it calls Christs body and this cup the cup of the new Testament and the wine Christs blood Will J. N. or any of his friends be so profane as to call every piece of bread he eateth and every draught of drink with such an Emphasis and such a title Will he make no meals of any thing but of bread and drink or will he have all his own and Believers drink to be of the fruit of the vine Thus the Scripture describeth the Lords Supper to consist for the outward matter of bread and wine as I have before proved for R. F. his conviction The Scripture neither from Christs mouth nor Pauls pen saith As oft as ye eat and drink it is the Lords Supper but as oft as ye do this eat of this bread drink of this cup ye do shew the Lords death till he come What boldness is it to make that temporary and of short continuance which the Apostle saith is to be held up till he cometh 1 Cor. 11. 26. And such a coming he speaks of there as in other of his Epistles but especially consult 1 Thess 5. 2. 2 Thess 2. 1 2. Secondly You will finde him suggesting to the lost bewildred soul * Love to the lost pag. 43. That the Church at Jerusalem did continue in the Apostles doctrine c. and breaking bread from house to house did eat their meat with gladness c. What then If their breaking bread and eating meat be confounded that in ver 42. with that in ver 46. here was confusion in the Churches greatest purity which J. N. denieth If bread and wine was distinctly used after the Lords institution and apart from their civil repasts and meals then he hath nothing makes for his transfigured Supper from this Scripture But ver 42. speaks of Church-ordinances by themselves Acts 2. 42. 46. cleared and ver 46. of Family-repast as distinct from the other and the latter words explain but the former their breaking bread domatim or at home is said to be eating meat which was not the Lords Supper J. Nayler reads it daily breaking bread from house to house but 't is not so read or to be read though 't is a truth to be supposed they did daily take their ordinary repasts more then once a day but they continuing daily with one accord in the Temple c. There is nothing of certain ground for daily use of the Lords Supper but Acts 20. 7. will shew us the primitive practise of assembling every first day of the week for that breaking of bread at the Lords Table and so Tremelius out of the Syriack hath it 1 Cor. 11. 20. When ye come together In die Domini nostri on our Lords day ye do not eat and drink as is meet And if it be read after the Greek as we read it When ye come together into one place c. it sheweth the eating and drinking of the Lords Supper was and should be by the Churches respectively as that at Corinth for one in some one place together and civil ordinary meals should be as they were at Jerusalem at first in their own houses 1 Cor. 11. 34. Thirdly saith J. N. * pag as above In their eating and drinking at all seasons they were to do it to the Lord and therein to have communion with his Body and his Blood and for that end were to keep themselves pure from all pollution It is a truth nor they nor we are to sin in any action but whether we eat or drink c. do all to the Lord and his glory we are not to feed without fear we are to keep from all excess do all in a mortified way think and speak of Christ at dinner and supper but this must not nullifie or make void the peculiar Ordinance of the Lords Supper but rather we must frequently observe it as a solemn help to purity and mortification influential into our whole conversation Communion with Christ and his Body and Blood is to be perpetually held up in all our actions natural civil and sacred by faith and the communion of his Spirit but the communion with him in the use of the memorative signs of his body and his blood viz. bread and wine solemnly set apart by his special appointment for that end is yet an advancing work distinct by it self from other actions of ordinary communion Fourthly J. Nayler in the place aforesaid presumeth when the Christians were to eat with Gentiles-unbelieving they were to partake of the Table of the Lord as is plain 1 Cor. 10. which is neither plain nor true understood of the same time place and company as this man holds it forth for their eating with the Infidels was at best when there was no meat offered to idols or no knowledge of it no scruple made about it but a civil correspondence and there was more then Bread and Wine the onely outward materials at the Lords Table even whatsoever was sold in the shambles ver 25. Besides the place and company where and with whom they did eat and drink at the Lords Table was in some one Meeting-house or other as the house of Gaius Rom. 16. 23. for one where the whole Church and onely the Church did participate It is to no purpose what he saith afterwards * Page 44. Whether they eat or drank they were to do it to the Lord as at his Table for every like is not the same and although different actions meet in the same general ultimate end yet there are special subordinate ends to each of them Fifthly he addes There is no other thing can keep from feeding in the lust and eating to the lust but to eat in remembrance of Christs death til he come c. And I subjoyn It is not our eating every day in fear
end all the larger Schools of the Prophets might become little Churches and all the Churches of the Saints might become little Schools of the Prophets that Universities might emulate the Churches for their holiness and Churches might emulate the Universities for their knowledge in the Scriptures If yet R. F. be not convinced nor contented but will proceed to say as he doth * Page 22. thou that denies immediate teachings and saith the Spirit is in the Letter and given by it thou may well accuse us falsly that so lyes against God and his Spirit I Reply 1. He speaks he knows not what for the asserting of ordinary mediate teachings of them that are to teach others doth not exclude the other where God is pleased to give them but so to cry up what is immediate as to shut out mediate by ministerial instruments and by the Scriptures is contradictory to the minde of God therein and to the constant series and course of his dispensation from the Primitive times downwards Little doth he or others that de-cry study and industry and mediate ways of preparation for the work of the Ministery either consider what is written 2 Tim. 2. 2. The things that thou hast heard of me the same commit thou to faithful men who shall be able to teach others also or know what dependencies we have upon the Lord both in our studies and after all our travels having learnt a little both to prepare as if no assistance should be given and so depend upon him that called us and useth us in our delivery as if we had not studied nor prepared Little doth he know how far we can trust the Lord when we have no time for study or what more immediate assistance we have after the less or greater use of the means upon occasion 2. Less doth he know of the immediate teachings of God whatever are his janglings about it who thinks it a lye against God and his Spirit to say the Spirit is in the Letter of the Scripture and is given by it Never did any that were most immediately taught call off not people onely but teachers also from the Scriptures which carry Spirit Light and Life with them for their own interpretation Never did any but God-slayers and Spirit-wounders go about to separate the Words of God and his Breath one from the other but of that passage and string which he harps so oft upon some account hath been given Sect. 1. and more shall follow in its due place * Part 2. Sect 8. 3. Least of all doth he understand of our Gospel-wideeffectual doors opened both for sending and going about our work when he clamors thou ran as the false prophets did or how far the Lord hath taught us to profit the people and what seals he hath set to our ministerial labors when he judgeth and concludeth and so doth not profit the people at all Men blinded with malice let fly at all adventures let R. F. look to his heart for out of that in his heart doth he write be it good be it evil 20 Head of their Scripture-contradiction Concerning Questions Section 48. I Am very well contented to read a Recantation about Questions if it prove so practically that they will as well allow of our questioning them as they expect we should attend or answer any of their Queries In Scotland as I said Questions were cryed down as of the Devil and as so many snares R. F. owneth Questions in their place he saith * Page 23. But such as are of the Devil we deny Agreed thus far But to hold our agreement we had need know what are the Questions that are set in due place or what is the due place for Questions and what are the Questions that are of the Devil what not I gave forth some information in my former Collection touching the persons questioning and questioned the principle and end maner as matter of the Question In Reply to R. F. 1. As to owning Questions in their place I must tell Fit place for Questions and Answers him if he be a member of a Family it is a fit place for superiors to ask and inferiors to answer Questions and also for wives lovingly to ask Questions as the Apostle saith of their husbands at home whatsoever tropical gloss R. F. would put upon the words 1 Cor. 14. 35. as for children and servants humbly and dutifully to propound their doubts and desire resolution of their parents and governors Exod. 12. 26. And it suteth my place of a Replicant to ask him whether he and others of his way do own catechizing and instructing by way of Question and answer in the Family Again I must tell him it is a fit place for him and his fraternity to answer to the Questions of Magistrates but I have known some of them refuse to answer unto such things as have been propounded in the pursuit of truth and peace It was also a fit place for one of them to have answered when he had asked a godly Pastor of a Church in Suffolk Art thou for trembling and the Minister had told him he would answer him that Question if he would answer him another to which proposal he made a promise but performed it not for when the Minister had told him he did own trembllng but withal added to this effect I read of Moses trembling at the foot of mount Sinai and of Sauls trembling when the Devil appeared in the shape of Samuel and of the Devils trembling and of the Saints working out their Salvation with fear and trembling the Question was which of these sorts of trembling he owned at which the man turn'd his back and went his way discontented and speechless as if he had been strangled as sometime Christ put the Sadduces to silence Mat. 22. 34. the Greek word is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as much as haltered alluding to beasts that have bits or halters put in their mouths or muzzles upon their chaps to keep them from biting or doing mischief I asked J. Parnel once whether he was not bred and educated among ignorant Papists but could have no answer it is fit that Question should be answered by some but it was a silencing Question to him If I should ask R. F. as I have reason so to do whether he be not employed with some others by Satans Engineers as a cane for some Jesuit or Socinian to blow through and fly-blow the truths of God about the Scriptures the Spirit the Ministery of Christ c. It is a dubious case whether he will candidly answer to it or what he meant by his answer to his late masters Question Art thou Christ whereto he said I am how he can without blasphemy make it out Or if I should ask him whether he writes any Scripture truth in love of the Scripture or onely to catch and cavil I doubt whether I should not have some of his old ware vended for all his pack is
brings all that is in the Letter to remembrance for to what end doth he bring it to remembrance not onely for explication of Scripture by Scripture but for consolation of our spirits by the good words of the Spirit of God When heaviness makes the heart to stoop a good word seasonably remembred as spoken makes it glad and he that slights the turning over of the sacred Pages of the Bible after he hath got his evidence within may be glad of crums one day after his high Feastings and well if seeking the Spirit where he lost him his comforts return at last upon him Many lose the Spirits comforts by slighting his Love-letters in the Scriptures where the Spirit is and whereby he giveth forth himself Such a passage I had in my former piece That the Spirit is in the Letter and given by it which R. F. hath excepted against once and again heretofore but now in its due place where it was spoken he lets it pass I promised in the first part of this Reply to clear it further for his conviction if it may be or for the Saints edification First The Spirit is in the Letter or the whole Scripture for so these men comprehensively use the term Letter How the Spirit is in the Scripture-Letter 1. As he owneth what he dictated to his Secretaries the Pen-men of Scripture He is in all their writings with the subscription of his own hand as it were they spake and wrote as they were moved and inspired by the Holy Ghost Rev. 1. 10. John is in the Spirit viz. he is rapt up by the Spirit and the Spirits impulse is more then ordinarily upon him when he is commanded to write and of all that John writeth the Spirit beareth Testimony that it is himself that speaks it Rev. 3. 22. He that hath an ear let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the Churches what wretched men are they who will not suffer the Spirit to be where he speaketh 2. If the Spirit was in the Pen-men he is more in the matter and contents of the Scripture penned down None will deny but he was in the Pen-men more then ordinarily when they wrote from his mouth or inspiration and therefore he is in what they wrote much more for the word written is of greater Authority and Spirit then the Writer or Secretary They were holy men of God who wrote but that which is written is the holy Truth of God They were imperfectly holy but Gods word as written from the Spirit is perfect in all degrees of holiness 3. The Spirit is where there is with perfect holiness perfect Truth and Majesty in the Matter and in the very Stile and where is sweet Harmony in all the parts put together In the Scripture-letter there is not one Iota or Tittle that shall fall to the ground to eclipse the Glory Truth and Majesty or spoil the Harmony of it Secondly the Spirit is given by it in this sense How given by it 1. As his minde is given out by it whether the words be proper or figurative the Spirit hath his proper intendment scope and sense in the whole Letter and in every part of what is written and as by his words he makes known his minde he is where his words are 2. As his work is given by it even what work he pleaseth See second part Section 10. of Conviction Instruction in Righteousness Consolation c. If the Scripture convinceth gainsayers and sinners evil livers if it instructeth the ignorant comforteth the feeble-minded it is as the Spirit gives out himself thereby He is there indeed as a free Agent ad placitum not tyed to work or manifest himself or put forth his power and grace but as the wind bloweth where it listeth so he worketh where when and upon whom he pleaseth 3. As the Promises of the Scripture are his Chariot to convey him whither he pleaseth to go into the hearts of the Elect that they may believe and after they have believed that they may be established Thus according to his promise he will fill a Believers sails of endeavor in reading meditating c. with gales of grace and advances towards glory To conclude that the Spirit is in the Letter and given by it daily experience doth demonstrate For such as forsake the Scriptures authority and own not the Spirits dwelling in the Letter as truly as in the heart they lose their faith of the Spirits presence with them in the reading and meditation of it and losing this faith they run to other Doctrines and Gospels The spirit of error is in all mens doctrines which have not the Spirit in them that breatheth in the Scriptures We may easily discern whether R. F. his spirit be not in his writings and whether much of the spirit of Error not conveyed and given out by his and other mens Pamphlets of the same stamp And shall the spirit of Satan the father of lyes be in Seducers books and not the Spirit of God and of the Father of truth be in and go along according to his free mercy with his own blessed Books of the Scripture Yes verily and James Naylers words import as much when he saith * Few words by J. N. p. 11. That the Spirit opens and brings all that is spoken in Scripture to remembrance which if R. F. denies he contradicts his fellow if he grants it a truth he must recant his frequent descants upon that which I asserted and judge himself as erring because he knew not the Scriptures and the Spirit and power of God dwelling in them and acting by them Section 9. WHat answereth R. F. to this Section where I evidenced another of their Self-contradictions concerning the Scripture which was this He that believeth is born of God without Scripture and yet Let all see if we do not set the Scripture in the heart of every one Why this is his answer * Page 25. 1. So saith the Scripture 1 John 5. And that the word of God is nigh in the heart is witnessed Rom. 10. 8. And he that believes and is born of God knows the seed of God within him 1 John 3. 9. Rep. Do any of these Scriptures bear witness against themselves or say That he that believeth is born of God without Scripture yet dare R. F. put it forth in the front of his answer So saith the Scripture The Scripture saith the full truth He that believeth is born of God but the Pamphlet I quoted * Answer to 7 Priests p. 13 said more then the Scripture that the believer was born of God without the Scripture and R. F. pretends to answer to what their Pamphlets hold forth but cannot in his answers salve his own nor his fellows contradictions Ans 2. He is not born of the Letter as thou wouldst have him yet he is begotten by the immortal word which endureth for ever which the Letter declares of and that doth not contradict
of deceit we deny but a form of sound words the Scripture doth justifie being spoken by the Spirit of truth which we own and now the time is come that deceivers and such as you are cannot endure sound Doctrine but utters your folly to make your selves manifest and what generation you are of even of him whose coming is after the working of Satan with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish 2 Thes 2. 2 Pet. 2. Rep. I leave all this with the former to the judgement of the intelligent Reader and of the righteous Lord onely I advertise that he may refer in these words to Section 26. as to this in hand and then by our forms of deceit he meaneth our putting off the Hat and against that we must set their putting off the Hat-band and by their form of sound words he must be construed of Thou and Thee and I still leave it to the Lords judgement where deceit is harbored and acted where Humility and Love is lodged and at what Sign it dwells good men may in time understand by Scripture-marks this for one 1 Cor. 11. 16. If any man seem to be contentious we have no such custom neither the Churches of God 13. Head of Contradiction to themselves Concerning Ordinances Section 29. I Noted here what they pretend to own viz. Praying in families with reading and instructing of Children and teaching according to the Apostles Doctrine but contradict it in their giving over the course of Family-prayer ordinarily Morning and Evening and at Meals nor do I hear they teach Children but what leads them to an imitation of their new forms R. F. * Page 30. as before asketh me touching that which they say they own And art thou offended at this Rep. 1. I am not offended at the practice pretended but at the bare pretence of the practice viz. at saying and not doing and at back-slidings from the old and good ways of the Lord. 2. I am offended at R. F. his denying as before our raising Points Reasons Vses Motives and Tryals from the words of Scripture and yet justifying their teaching according to the Apostles Doctrine for sure if all they reach be according thereunto it will go near to fall under some of those heads viz. of Motives Tryals Points Reasons or Vses and if they so teach one another in their families why do they condemn us for teaching after that maner in the publique assemblies 3. I am offended at R. F. his subtilty or ignorant simplicity all along that he puts off his Reader with answer to one part of the Contradiction but not to the other as in what followeth I observed they pretend to own all that is Gods Baptism the Lords Supper Church-fellowship Sabbaths c. but as I said 't is in a sense contradictious to the light that ever they had have or can have truly from Scripture This man speaks not to the latter part of the charge but onely to the former We do own that which is Gods free love and mercy to us and all that is Gods as Baptism the Lords Supper Church-fellowship Sabbath Rep. Here are fair words but what the sense and meaning of them is and how contradictious to Scripture and the ordinary use of the terms and phrases we may gather from what hath passed before See Part 1. Sect. 3. 8. 1. All Water-Baptism is dis-owned by them and he that saith he owneth Scripture-Baptism which comprehends the sign and the thing signified and doth dis-own all Water-Baptism he doth wittingly or unwittingly contradict himself 2. The Lords instituted Bread and Wine Supper they deny as was shewed Part 1. Sect. 39. contrary to the Scripture And he that saith he owneth all that is Gods and dis-owneth Bread and Wine as instituted by Jesus Christ to be used by the Churches as the outward visible sign and memorial of the Lords death to his second coming is beside himself as well as without his Book 3. All forms of Church-fellowship but their own they deny and that can be no true Church-fellowship of theirs which dis-own the Scriptures from being the word of God and rule of their fellowship and of their Church 4. As for a day of Rest one day in seven it was a mercy The Sabbath a mercy and a duty of God to Israel of old that he made known unto them his holy Sabbath Nehem. 9. 14. and I think it is a mercy still and a pledge of love that Gods holy Sabbath exchanged since Christs resurrection from the seventh to the first day of the week hath not ceased in any Age for the standing Rule and Law of the fourth Commandment obligeth to one day in seven whether the last or the first of the seven it is a mercy we have either but doth R. F. and his fellows own the outward part or rest of the Sabbath according to Gods command not that I finde in any of their writings hear one for all * Several papers pag. 19. The worlds Sabbath is without them and they have no rest but in a form without The Saints Sabbath is within where Christ is come to give them rest and they are ceased from their own works 5. It is the mercy and love of God to give a heart to look more into the inside of Ordinances then upon the outside but he that is unfaithful in the least is unjust also in much and he that breaks the least of God Commandments as to the outward part of an Ordinance and teach men so shall be called or reckoned the least in the kingdom of heaven 14. Head of their Self-contradiction Concerning Speech and Silence Section 30. THey sit silent for an hour or half or quarter and when others in though not of their company speak freely they check it as I observed with this or the like saying In the multitude of words there cannot want sin and yet they are in their Letters and Pamphlets full of tautologies c. R. F. passeth this Section over with deep silence but in this Pamphlet he hath verified the charge 1. Of multiloquious needless repetitions where he thinks Sect. 31 32. to vindicate the Scriptures by frequent and impertinent quotation of them And 2. Of Silence in many passages where it was necessary he should have vindicated himself and his Brethren from their own Contradictions 15. Head of their Self-contradiction Concerning Elders Section 31. THis Section also he lets pass as having nothing to say where I noted J. Naylers interfering viz. The ordaining of Elders was not by man and yet it was by the Spirit of God in the Apostles the Spirit made use of them then as he did of the Brethrens and Churches suffrages and prayers To grant an use was made of men in the call of Elders and yet to deny the Call was given of God by man is to speak Daggers and Contradictions as all along I have cleared it in fore-mentioned instances 16. Head of their Self-contradiction
Baptism With water proved 176. 183 Of Infants vindicated 178 Sprinkling lawful 180 One Baptism consisting of two parts 178 182 Bible To be read and preached upon 20 See Scriptures C. Call To the Ministery how lawful 211 Inward to be tried by the outward fruits 214 The Churches call spiritual 215 Some may counterfeit an Immediate call 211 Some mediate calls good 213 214 Some bad ibid. Christ Exalted by the Scriptures and the Scriptures by Christ 43 44 Christ above his gifts 59 His Godhead asserted and cleared 54 How he leads out of the fall 86 How he was made sin or a sinner 132 As Mediator not in natural men 262 276 When and how in the soul 264 His condemning sin in the flesh beyond conscience-condemnation 266 A Savior according to Scripture 283 Commandment How the general includes particular persons 106 What is a command in the Spirit 109 Saints experiences about a command 110 What is a Gospel-command 111 Communion Of Saints on earth with Saints in heaven 146 Conviction By the Spirit beyond that of a natural conscience 266 Conscience If but natural and not renewed gives no saving testimony 269 Covenant Of works and of grace what 90 Of works in Adam 97 Differences of the Covenant of works and of grace 90 Covenant of grace one for the substance 91 Two for maner of administration 93 Old and new what 8 The reason of the change 94 E. Elders Their Ordination by man though not of man 207 F. Forms Of Religion 291 Of Speech 292 Fruits Of the Spirit 293 Of the flesh ibid. G. God How God is Light 68 His Essence not mixed with created Beings 236 Gospel Gospel-Light above natural reach 75 Grace Given by means 173 H. Hearing Of the word 173 Holy Ghost A person one of the Three in the Godhead See Spirit 49 c. 207 Honor Civil due to Superiors and to all men 231 ibid. Gestures of honor some bad and idolatrous 233 Some civil and but good maners ibid. The denial hereof what it argues 292 I. Imputation Gods imputation of righteousness his covering of our sin 130 A constant act of Gods free favor 131 The doctrine of it no pleading for sin 123 c. Justification The material cause not the new-birth 119 Not sanctification 132 Its difference from sanctification 126 God justifieth sinful persons believing 120 121 How justified by faith ibid. Defilements of sin remain in a pardoned soul 125 Peter in his falls not out of a state of justification 128 Perfect at first believing 135 L. Law How set up in stead of Gospel 12 Levitical Law way Typical Gospel 89 Law-Levitical no Covenant of works 95 Law-moral positions concerning it 97 How subservient to the Covenant of grace 98 How inservient to the Covenant of works ibid. Gods Law above the conscience 307 Letter What in a large or in a strict sense 4 5 The Spirits Letter is Gods written word 9 How denied 244 Light Of the Godhead in every man not redemption-light 52 Strange notions of the Light in every man 53 How light without Scripture is no light 64 The Light-giver not to be confounded with the light-given 59 84 Light in every man no Teacher of saving truths 60 Not Gospel-light 75 Not the light of Saints as such 61 261 Much less equal with Christs person 59 Not supernatural 61 Not above but beneath the Scripture-light 66 Not a part of the New-creature 77 Not the Corner-stone 80 Nor the first principle of Christian Religion 82 Leads not out of the fall 83 Obeyed gives no saving excuse or testimony in the conscience 269 Creature and Scripture-light compared 76 Not to be confounded 275 Mysterious absurdities 263 How the least degree of light is perfect 274 How counterfeit ibid. True conclusions about light 69 Lords Supper The visible outward part no carnal invention 185 Bread and wine the outward matter 186 The Institution spiritual 188 The benefit great 190 A strange trans-mutation by 192 James Nayler His reasons broken 193 Antidotes against the dissolution of the Lords Supper 200 M. Magistrates Their forbearance 308 Means of grace attended with a promise of blessing 174 N. Nakedness No Commission for going naked in these times 291 O. Oaths see Swearing Ordinances How owned or disowned 302 P. Perfection Of holiness but comparative 162 164 Not absolute in all degrees till death 143 144 How denied how not 141 158 161 This life a time onely of pressing after it 290 Person What it is 48 What a person in the Godhead is ibid. How distinguished 49 Prayer Publique not forbidden 201 Gods Spirit is there 204 Preaching By Doctrine Reason and Vse c. justified 72 293 How free and consistent with taking Wages 209 Printing When invented 21 The benefit of printed Bibles ibid. Promise Of grace and leading out of the fall none annexed to the good use of natural light 87 Yet the light of a promise helps to lead out of the fall 86 Prophets Some immediately inspired some mediately taught 217 They studied the Scriptures 218 Some distinguisht from men in office 217 Psalms Not sung without some kinde of meeter 205 Q. Quaking From visible manifestations of Gods majesty how and by whom imitable 287 See Trembling Questions Their fit place 223 Which are of the devil 224 R. Reconciliation Of the person perfect before the heart is perfectly sanctified and how 134 135 Regeneration By the Scripture-promise 132 257 Remorse What. 171 Repentance How decryed 171 Righteousness What our own 145 329 What the Quaking Papists mean by Christs righteousness 278 S. Sabbath A mercy as a duty 303 Saints Their light beneath Scripture-light for the degree 271 Their highest degree of light and grace not here attained 272 Experimentally imperfect 148 Scriptures The word of truth 1 To all 2 The word of God and truly so called 3 40 In what sence 25 The witness of God 4 The Letter of God and the Scripture of God all one Ib. A standing Rule 7 A more standing Rule then visions and revelations 13 15 37 38. Not mans word or other mens words 18 The Touch-stone of Doctrine 23 253 And Judge of controversies 258 Not carnal 24 The Spirits sword 26 Powerful 153 The ground of the Saints acting 26 31 And how 27 Interpretation by Scripture 37 A Voice a Light a Rule a Guide 43 44 Scripture-light above the light of nature 66 74 76 Its further preeminence 271 281 Scripture-light Salvation-light 73 Its fulness 284 It magnifies Christ above it self ibid A more excellent Teacher then the creatures 70 To be studied 218 220 Who deny them 244 Gods mouth is in the Letter 247 252 Sin Visible in and to the Saint 112 Groaned under all the life time by true Saints ibid in what respect 113 Sin and purity dwell in one soul not as one 118 Sin confessed is not pleaded for 125 It dwelleth and acteth in the Saints 138 It continueth in them they continue not in it 151 No heart perfectly pure form it 158 159 160
Singing See Psalms Spirit of God How in the Scripture-Letter 4 254 How proceeding from the Letter how not 5 How given by it 6 10 255 Leads to the Scripture-Rule and and by it 9 10 His Prerogative above the Scripture 31 Swearing By creatures forbidden 235 By God commanded ibid. Not in ordinary speech 237 Oaths lawful 238 Vnlawful 239 By a book unlawful ibid. Upon a book superstitious 240 T. Teaching All Believers not immediately taught 216 Who were or were not immediately taught in the Apostles days 217 220 They that pretend to immediate Teaching have had it by men and means 279 280 Transubstantiation A blinde dotage 189 Trembling True at and by the word or Scripture rightly understood 6 286 Trinity A Trinity of Persons in the Godhead proved 46 W. Warfare Saints not out of it till out of their bodies 167 Woman A woman not to speak in the Church 33 Word of God Essential or spiritual 22 25 Language of the Spirit and Word of the Scripture all one 292 Scriptures vindicated and explained  Psalm page Ps 119. 105 40 Proverbs Cap. Verse  20 9 158 22 20 21 32 Eccles 7 20 166 Isaiah 8 20 23 24 64 65 20 2 291 30 20 42 48 16 17 30 Jeremiah 5 31 42 20 9 41 23 29 Ibid. Daniel 9 1 219 Matthew 5 8 158  34 to 36 235  37 237  48 228 6 5 201  6 202 11 27 14 23 8 10 245 28 19 47  19 20 177 Luke 16 29 7 17 21 Ep. to Ch. 22 32 129 John 1 1 25 1 1 to 14 54 to 58 1 9 53 55 261 5 44 232 6 45 216 8 12 53 260 15 5 42 16 13 10 Acts 2 17 18 34  38 39 179  42 46 195 13 2 46 208  39 122 20 28 160 207  34 209  35 210 Romans 1 18 19 274 2 4 170  12 63  15 16 269  29 268 3 3 2  21 92 5 12 63  13 99 6 14 11 7 9 10 110  14 to the end 113  17 138  23 25 139  25 12 115 8 1 115  2 168 8 3 266  3 4 144  4 145  10 139 140  14 9  26 149  37 169 10 8 41  18 82 12 3 62 14 17 190 16 1 2 6 12 35 1 Cor. 1 15 16 108  21 72 2 6 162 164  9   10 17 6 11 156 9 14 209 11 1 11  26 191 198  29 197 12 7 30  12 13 178 14 14 15 202  26 29 217  31 34  34 35 33 16 19 35 2 Cor. 3 2 71  6 5  16 with 14 13 17 9 4 6 23   24 263 5 21 132 11 7 209  9 208 12 7 c. App. 2 13 11 164 Gal. 1 1 211  16 263 2 17 18 19 123  20 21 124 3 19 104  20 89  21 99  27 178 5 17 138 6 17 44 Ephes 1 17 15 2 17 18   20 81 3 17  4 4 5  5 1 9  26 179 6 2 106  17 25 Phil. 2 5 226 2 12 286 3 12 161  15 16 162 4 3 35  13 42 Col. 1 23 82  27 264  27 28 62 2 17 89 1 Tim. 2 11 33 5 18 35  24 267 Titus 2 11 75 Heb. 4 12 41   152  12 13 154  15 153 5 7 Ep. to R. 11 6 1 162  16 238 7 16 24 8 7 94 10 14 135 12 1 116  23 146 to 150 13 8 277 1 9 10 234 5 12 237 240 1 Pet. 1 13 16  15 156  22 160  23 with 25 28 4 7 App. 2 2 Pet. 1 16 19 15  19 36  20 21 37 219  21 248 1 John 1 5 68   77  8 78 2 27 41  29 142 3 3 117  5 156  6 78   79 165  10 142 4 4 169  17 164 5 7 45 46  10 245  12 73  18  Rev. 19 10 39 20 12 45 FINIS ERRATA sic emendanda in the Book PAge 4. Line 8. read the two witnesses p. 9. l. 35 r. is to make p. 21. l. 15 r. Blockhouses p. 33. l. 26. r. he may p. 39. l. 31. for immediately r. mediately p. 41. Marg. r. Jer 23. 29. p. 55. l. 21. r. re-assumeth p. 58. l. 2. r. arbitrement p. 60. l. 21. r. Rom. 1. 18. p. 91. l. 2. dele is the old p. 100. l. 24. dele to be p. 103. Marg. r. Gen. 3. last p. 106. l. 8. r. the word of p. 117. f. 28. for now r. know p. 120. l. 11. for form r. from p. 124. l. 34. for that r. but. p. 134. l. 4. the parenthesis to end at Book p. 137. l. ult dele his p. 138. Marg. r. Gal. 5. 17. p. 209. l. 26. r. Acts 20. 34. p. 215. l. 23. for to r. till p. 221. l. 2. for we are r. were p. 238. l. 13. dele to them p. 245. l. 11. r. we should p. 256. l. 1. r. be not p. 258. l. 32. for that r. the. In the Epistles Epist Ded. for debate r. debase Epist to the Reader for Bellarmine r. Bellarmine p. 9. l. 9. for professed r. possessed Julii 18. 1656. Imprimatur JOSEPH CARYL