thou hast set up a few Prophets at Devon-shire House c. G. F. said the Man in the Male and the Man in the Female may speak and so interpret Scriptures in your Meetings c. Thou playest the Hypocrite John if thou wouldst not juggle and play Legerdemanin c. Crook These are invented Forgeries Falshood Perversion and Reviling c. Haworth p. 24. Are not the Scriptures and Christ mightily obliged to you Infallible Doctors that will condigne to own such Fragments and a Book patch'd up of so many Scraps to help a little when the Church had lost the Life of the Spirit c. John Crook replyed to one that charged him with it at Hartford that if these were his Words it was not his Judgment Crook These are light scoffing Words for which thou must come to Judgment notwithstanding thou wouldst father them upon me but I deny thy Slanders c. Thou hast heard me several times with many Professors in Hartford besides Friends is it probable I should ever speak such Unsavoury Words and they should escape the Press 14 or 15 Years and that W. H. and his Followers should after this go to hear such a man as I. Crook that as thou sayest speaks so scornfully of the Scriptures as to call them Scraps that it should never be printed till W. H. falling out with the Quakers undertook it I remember about 14 or 15 Yearssince or there abouts that I spake something of Eusebius's History touching the Dispersion Gathering together of the Scriptures possibly I might say to the man he speaks of repeating my Words wrong and yet justifying his own Repetition to put an End to his Contention that these were not my Words for it is not my Judgment and this is to say no more then thy self implies by the Word If they were my Words which argues my questioning whether they were so or no. Now what Fault is this that it must be proclaimed in print The worst that can be made of it supposing it true as it is not amounts but to this viz. Iohn Crook's Meaning was better then his Words then with the Younger Brother in the Gospel Iohn Crook is to be justified rather then those Hypocrites who like the Elder Brother say I go Sir but went not and then such now that exhort their Hearers to follow Christ fully and obey the Scriptures constantly but withal tell them it is impossible to do either in this World Therefore I would advise every well-meaning Abimelech to take heed that at any time his Meaning be not better then his Words for if W. H. hear of it as Doeg to Saul he will tell it to the World if possible to do thee a Mischief although it be 14 or 15 Years after But William how much Esteem soever thou pretendst to have of the Scriptures methinks thou shouldst not have so little for Christ as to name and prefer them before him this is no Sign that thou art an Infallible Doctor as thou scoffingly speakst of the Quakers Haworth p. 25. The Quakers never do confess Sin there is no more worth in the Blood of Christ in the Quakers Account then in other common Blood c. I find W. Bayly and J. Crook Brethren in Iniquity more Ignorant then School-Boyes Jesuit-like c. O horrid Blasphemy c. Crook The Cause of all this is from his own Words viz. The Heathen saw in the Deity a Vengeance ready to punish he saith W. B. applies this Sight in the Deity to the Light that was in their Consciences believing the Light to be God c Consider Reader 1 st Whether the Heathen could see what was in the Deity without some Light coming from the Deity to discover it 2 dly It 's called something of God in them Rom. 1.19 or that which may be known of God in them 3 dly That of God is called the Truth ver 18. 4 thly The Scripture calls the Knowledge of This the Knowledge of God ver 21. These things rightly considered what cause hath this man for all his Slanderous Terms Haworth p. 28. Thou dost make the Faith of Pharisees as good as the Faith of any of the Godly in the Nation c. Ah John what meanst thou to turn the Scoffer like Julian c. Ah Joh. Crook thou art levened in thy Mind with Hellish Socinianism c. And whatever thou pretendest it 's but to blind the People c. p. 29. Thou discoverst thy self to be a Papist c. How sad is is that every Truth must be struck at by a new Sort of Papists c Crook Besides his Falshoods and Slanders take Notice it 's W. H's Faith I have now to deal withal who thinks himself to be as Godly a man as any in the Nation as himself saith c. Haworth p. 30. Enough if thou wast but real in thy Expressions c. What a Knave is he c. There is no End of thy Dissembling it is a professed Trade thou drivest as the Mountebancks up and down the Country c. Crook When enough is said by me then my Reality is questioned and the Slander of a Knave fixed upon me and when I speak more then he would have me then he brands me with Papism and Hellish Socinianism Mountebank c. But let our Hearers judge who can best tell our Trade and yours what Sallery and other yearly Charges they are at to maintain such Physicians as keep them alwayes in Cure and put their Texts as Medicines to Sale yet tell their Patients it is impossible to make them whole c. Haworth p 30. Thou mistrusts God John c. and hear the Old Fox bark Christ being within there is Iustification c. Crook Contradiction is the Companion of Falshood for in the same page he himself saith that by Faith Christ dwelt in our Hearts and now scoffs at these Words viz. Christ being within there is Justification c. Haworth p. 32. This is John Crook 's Application of the Spirit deny Penington 's Divinity if thou darest c. When John Crook prayeth or preacheth it is Christ prayeth and preacheth not John Crook and that Christ and he are both one Person such Monsters have been amongst the Quakers c. p. 33. Crook When he can gather nothing out of my Books to asperse me withal then he perverteth others words and fathers that Perversion upon me but let I. Penington interpret his own words who best knows his own Meaning and then they will speak as plain as mine which W. H. cofesseth to be true See I. Penington's late Book entituled The Flesh and Blood of Christ This man acknowledgeth that such Doctrine is not now nor never was preached among Right Quakers but by such as have been Monsters amongst the Quakers but let him hear Dr. Sibbs Soul Conflict p. 219. It is Sacriligious Liberty that will acknowledge no Dependence upon God we are wise in his Wisdom and strong in his Strength who
to him Gen. 3. when he had sinned c. Distinguish between the Immediate Voice of God and Revelation here if thou canst else all thy Labour to undervalue the true Light is in vain Could Adam see a Way of Deliverance without Light And is not God that spoke to Adam Light and doth not his Voice reveal what reveals then if not God by his Voice who shewed Adam his Nakedness and who shews unto man his Thoughts Amos 4.13 Doth not one man reveal or declare his Mind to another when he speaks to him if not what doth it signifie consider it and then see thy Perversion of John's words chapter 3.6 as if he spoke of a common Light and called it Flesh and then look back into thy own Confusion about it saying It teacheth the Things contained in the Law and yet counts it Impure as I have shewed already this is your Wild-Goose Chase ye like not to hear of but as I told you last time your Folly must be made manifest as Jannes and Jambres's was that withstood Moses In page 149. thou sayest I scarce know one Gospel-Truth but this common Light contradicteth c. And yet confessest It works a Change in the Life and Conversation I thought that work had not been contradictory to the Gospel which was to be adorned with a Blameless and Holy Conversation in the Apostles Dayes who said God was Light and Christ who gives Light to all as thou sayest But why W. Dimsdale dost thou teach People to deny the great progress they have made by doing Good and abstaining from Evil which is of use in its Place as thou hast said p. 154. And to deny all they think is of Christ in them c. Is not this well-pleasing to the Devil and wicked men thinkest thou Reader and then he saith I know thou wilt count it a notorious Lye Thou mightest have said Notorious Wickedness for it is Wickedness much to be taken notice of to deny all that I think is of Christ in me as thou would have me do in point of Justification is it not God that justifieth and did not Paul think he had the Spirit of God 1 Cor. 7.40 and did not that Spirit justifie them 1 Cor. 6.11 and bear witness with their Spirits that they were the Children of God is this nothing to Justification to have God's Spirit witness for me and is not God Light and his Spirit too must I deny all this now let the wise in Heart judge if this be not to deny God and Christ Jesus and the Spirit and in the same page sayest viz. But apply thy self to the Glass of the Law for by the Law is the Knowledge of Sin So here I must deny all that I think is of Christ in me the Light Life and Peace within me as he saith and apply my self to the Glasse of the Law c. O strange Doctrine where are ye now ye Babylonians who have so much cryed out against the Quakers for bringing People to the Bondage of the Law and Covenant of Works What! are you now come to be Teachers of the Law not knowing what ye say nor whereof ye affirm 1 Tim. 1.5,6,7 But the Quakers know what they say and do affirm with John that great Prophet that That was the True Light that lighteth every man that cometh into the World John 1.9 though you say It s Corrupt Nature Fallen Blind Nature and Impure Flesh and an Unsound Thing I never heard any Man of God call it by such Vilifying Names as ye do such Confused Doctrine as I have not heard of but from you like that again in pag. 156. where thou sayest Our State is sure and certain on God's part his Foundation is sure yet as to us its brittle and very uncertain c. What! have you a little Fear then that you may lose your Salvation now if you have you are brittle indeed for you seem very contrary in Judgment sometimes as witness the Tenure of both your Books But thou sayest in the same page The one Half of your selves warring against the other viz. the Flesh against the Spirit VVhere do you find the Spirit called Half a Man's Self You having denyed the true Light and called it Flesh and Corrupt Nature c. this must go with that Half that wars against the Spirit so Flesh and the Light being denyed by you ye will be left as bare and naked in the dark as indeed your Confused Brittle Work hath rendred you in the Eyes of such as fear the Lord. And in pag. 157. thou sayest again viz. That all men are lighted by a Light that is true in its Kind by Jesus Christ as he was the Creator of all things I deny not But now mark the Kind of this true Light as these men have interpreted and affirmed It is True in its Kind then True Corrupt Unsound Light True Fallen Blind Nature and Flesh For these are the Kinds and Denominations you have placed on the True Light that lighteth every man that cometh into the World John 1.9 And you shall never get from under the Guilt of Blasphemy against God without speedy Repentance and Acknowledgment of your Evil herein as publickly as you have spread these your Errors The Lord hath spoken it And as for all thy Arguments for being a Quaker and W. H's digging deep to bring forth this Lying Wonder it s all in vain as I have shewed at the beginning of this Treatise for he nor thee nor any other can never prove nor manifest that thou wast ever such a Quaker as he hath affirmed though as I said I believe thou wast convinced of some Sins as thou acknowledged and wast kept from stealing Herrings and doing wrong to thy Neighbour c. but not went farther then most of them c. nor was fully of their Way Spirit Faith and Principle and so in striving against the Truth you do but manifest to the World your Ignorance Error Confusion Enmity and Blindness and so the farther ye stretch your selves upon this Bed the shorter it will be and the more your Nakedness will appear and your Covering will be too narrow And though you and all wicked men call the Quakers Principle Rotten Unsound Gross and Damnable c. yet we can bless the Lord for its Soundness and its Sound Doctrine for it was the first and will be the last upon the Earth and it will not only keep from Stealing and Wronging of Neighbours but it will teach to Love Enemies and forgive them that trespass against us and what else the Lord doth require of us And it s so sound and durable that it will last and be exalted established and magnified and stand when all your airy Smoke of Enmity Opposition Confusion and Darkness shall come to an end and be swept from off the Face of the Earth The Lord God who breathed into Man the Breath of Life hath spoken it Through WILLIAM BAYLY The 9th Moneth 1674. Postscript
Case only deny their Merit to justifie without Christ 5. When thou findest me pleading the Necessity of good Works in justified Persons it is only according to that ancient Maxim non propter sed secundum i. e. not for them as meritours but according to them as that which God hath joyned together and no man ought to put them assunder 6. When thou observest me opposing my Adversary's Imputation of Righteousness it is not because I deny imputed Righteousness but his Application of it to the Ungodly while in their Ungodliness contrary to 1 John 3.7 Little Children let no Man deceive you he that doth Righteousness is righteous even as Christ is righteous 7. When thou findest me affirming in Contradiction to my Adversary that if the first rising to Evil be the Sin of unconsenting Persons that judges and denies them then I say it 's no matter who consents or who denies if he that denies sinneth as well as he that consents and yet I do not deny inward motions to Sin to be evil in themselves Lastly I desire the Reader to observe throughout this whole Book this Agreement between my Adversary and I viz. That the true Knowledge of the Doctrines in Controversie must be inwardly taught by the Spirit as he saith p. 66. And both in our Preachings and Writings saith he we are for an experimental spiritual Knowledge of Christ c. So that when either of us speak of Christ thou art to understand it of a spiritual and experimental Knowledge of Christ and the like thou art to understand of Faith Justification c. they must be all inwardly taught by the Spirit that our Knowledge may be experimental and spiritual else it is but dogmatical and historical which saith my Adversary p. 66. is not sufficient for Salvation These Things being diligently observed may both help the Reader and in a great measure put an End to all Contention between us and our Adversaries John Crook A Brief REIOYNDER TO VVilliam Haworth's EPISTLE John Crook PAssing by many Impertinencies and Reflections besides what is here animadverted upon under the following Heads I have for brevity sake returned this Rejoynder c. W. Haworth That Meeting was beneficial to us by Reason of a Concession from thee at that time viz. That the New Creature was an higher thing then the Light within and you did but point out People to the Light in order to the New Creature Epist pag. 2. Crook If by a higher Thing thou intendst a further State then a bare having of the Light or then the first believing in it if so then I affirm the same still and the End of our directing People to the Light is that they might be new-born Babes and Children of Light by believing in it otherwise the bare believing that there is such a Light and that they have it will not be sufficient for them except they be regenerated by it I hope when you meet with this it will be as beneficial as that Meeting thou speakest of But then William thou must repent of calling the Light a rotten corrupt and unsound Thing and of saying thou scarce knowest one Gospel truth but it contradicts pag. 149. and pag. ibid. Haworth I have heard thee my self say He brought his Son out of Egypt i. e. out of the Egyptian-darkness of our hearts Doth not this take off from the History Epist p. 7. Crook No more then those words Hebr. 6. Seeing they crucified again to themselves the Son of God c. do take off from the History of his being crucified without the Gates of outward Jerusalem Rev. 11.8 there is inward or spiritual Egypt and Sodom spoken of where also our Lord was crucified And is there not Darkness in that Egypt Oh William the Reason why thou art such a Stranger to these things is because Nullum elimentum in suo loco gravescitur He that is in Union with thick Darkness feels not the Misery and Pain of it Haworth That Work of the Spirit in our Hearts is not God's Son c. Crook Thou speakest indiffinitely as if the Work of the Spirit in our hearts was in no sense in Scripture called God's Son contrary to the Apostle's Testimony Gal. 1.16 When it pleased God to reveal his Son in me Was not this the Work of the Spirit in the Apostle's heart c Haworth But this is not so bad as to say the Only-begotten Son begotten in us c. Crook Thou misrepresentest my words spoken about twelve years since for I â—sed the word Only-begotten only in Opposition to any other Power besides the Lord 's own Arm to form and reveal his Son in the hearts of his Children as thy Friend thou speakest of if yet alive may remember Haworth I have been an hundred times hurried into your Way and Opinions like a Child tossed to and fro with every Wind of Doctrine but I am brought now to a consistency and fixedness Epist p. 12 c. Crook Or Way is the Light and they that walk in it are out of all Hurries and Tossings and for Opinions thou art no now hurried amongst them and tossed one while upon Absurdity and another while upon Self-contradiction and for the consistency and fixedness thou speakest of I refer the Reader to thy Confusions and Contradictions as collected under that Title Page for his further conviction and Information Haworth Thou art the dearer to us John that thou hast been once a Stone in Christ's Building Epist p 12 c. Crook Doth thy calling me Mountebank Jugler Jesuit Ape Equivocator covering my Poyson with gilded words c. manifest a comparative degree of Dearness to thee What then is thy positive And if a Stone once in Christ's Building be thus called what Names wilt thou give to those Stones yet unhewn And if to hold a total falling away from Grace be Arminianism and Jesuitism as thou sayst Epist p. 2. then I having been once a Stone in Christ's Building must needs be safe at last And if I am indeed so dear to you shew it to the World by thy Recantation for thy Abâ—sing of me by Revilings c. Haworth Some of old pretended they were sent to preach the Everlasting Gospel in opposition to the old Gospel In the Revelations some are spoken of that talked of the Depths which John adds Satan to This hath been my Temptation and am confident is thine now Epist p 12 c. Crook We may in our time without Antiquity find out many preaching another or new Gospel that yet pretend highly to the Old like those false Teachers that were so stiff for outward things in opposition to that Spirit the Galatians that began well began in and doubtless this is one of the Depths of Satan to draw the Mind from the Light of the Spirit within And I do believe thee that as it was so it is still thy Temptation to oppose the Everlasting Gospel under colour that thou knowest not one Gospel-truth but the
sayest it is a working Faith and if it were not so it must needs be a dead Faith And the Apostle Paul speaks not of a bare believing excluding its operative Nature no more then the Apostle James doth of Works excluding believing but both agree that Justification is by a living working Faith When the Apostle excludeth Works from Justification he excludeth them only under the Notion or Conceit of Merit in which Sense the Jews urged the Necessity of them in that Business There is no Opposition between Grace and Works but a clear Consistency except or unless by Works we understand Merit And to say it receives no Efficacy from its being accompanied with Works is little less in plain English then to say if it did not work it would be as efficacious to Justification which is both contrary to Scripture and this received Doctrine viz. Where Christ removes the Guilt of Sin he also removes the Filth of Sin Justification and Sanctification being inseparable Companions and Justification is never without Sanctification for no Persons are the Subjects of Gospel Justification as ungodly or as in their sins but as being sanctified and the Filth of Sin removed so then justified not in Sin but in the Truth and Righteousness of Christ they being washed c. according to 1 Cor. 6.11 And such were some of you but ye are washed but ye are sanctified but ye are justified in the Name of the Lord Jesus and BY THE SPIRIT of our God according to this Maxim that without Likeness of Disposition there can be no Likeing of each other Haworth Enough if thou wast real in thy Expressions p. 29. c. Crook That the Reader may bear witness to W. H's Acknowledgment that what I have said is enough I shall set down my Words and abide by them to save further dispute about this Point viz. I know and believe Salvation by the imputed reckoned and real everlasting Righteousness of Jesus Christ brought nigh Which Confession of mine he acknowledgeth to be enough if real c. Haworth I had thought that Faith had been the Substance of things hoped for that by Faith Christ dwelt in our Hearts p. 30. c. Crook This he speaks of the imputed Righteousness of Christ brought nigh which is a large Confession to the Inherentness or Indwelling of Christ and consequently his Righteousness in the Hearts of true Believers and that which he calls the Substance of things hoped for he saith is in their Hearts also Now if all these things be so nigh what is the Cause that W. H. and I are so far assunder Haworth This is true plainly understood as spoken pag. 31. c. Crook These are my Words he confesseth unto speaking of the Imputed Righteousness of Christ which in the Fulness of time was manifest in and by him and in due time made mine by the Work and Application of his Spirit in my Inward Parts This is true saith W. H. So that I need take no further Notice of his Cavils against it seeing he hath so fully confessed to the Truth of it Haworth If this Him was to be understood of the true Christ we need not one Word further p. 32. c. Crook My Words are viz And God is well pleased or satisfied in and with Him in whom I am accepted c. Now I do declare it is the true Christ that I intended by Him so that it is needless for me to reply one Word further as himself confesseth Haworth Christ of himself and his Merit is not sufficient unless something wrought by the Light in us doth joyn its Merit with him pag. 33. c. Crook This is scoffingly spoken in Contempt not only of what I have said but also of the Works of the Spirit as appears by his own Words viz. Thou wouldst have the Works that are wrought by the Spirit have some Share in Acceptation What would this man say if he durst speak plainly as if the Spirit in its working did lessen the worth and sufficiency of Christ or as if W. H. contemned that Ancient Orthodox Saying viz. It is not propter but secundum i. e. We are accepted not for nor yet without where there is a Capacity but according to GOOD WORKS But this man would make the works of the Spirit and the work of Christ to be like Israel and Amalek No Acceptation of an Israelite by the Merit of Christ unless the Works of the Spirit like the Name of Amalek be quite blotted out from having any thing to do with it Haworth What the Lord doth is really done c. Crook I Oppose Reallity to thy Imagination not to any Act of God for in the New Creation as well as the Old God saith Let it be so and it is so But I am jealous thou and others imagine that to be so which is not so in this great Case Therefore do not deceive thy self and others by calling the strength of Imagination Reality and a confident Presumption a Living Faith Haworth But indeed this Righteousness is not at a Distance from us but put upon us by the Father's Gift Ye have put on Christ Gal. 3.27 It is the best Robe put upon us c. And all that Righteousness that is within us of Sanctification is but the Fruit of this it was merited and purchased for us by this p. 34 c. Crook I have spoken to this Subject under Title Contradiction and Confusion The Words he so wars against are these viz. Thou believest to be saved by a Righteousness wholely without thee Reckoned but not Real which Righteousness Christ wrought One Thousand Six Hundred Years since not that we undervalue that Righteousness nay cursed is he that so doth really no nearer to thee then the Place where he personally lived and dyed Now I desire the Reader to consider if his Proof consutes this viz. Gal. 3.27 For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ this is that Righteousness that is imputed to us and procures the Discharge from our Sins or Debts by W. Haworth's own Acknowledgement This being Baptized into Christ is explained by the same Apostle Rom. 6.3,4,5,6 Know ye not that so many of us as were baptized into Christ were baptized into his Death therefore we are buryed with him by baptism into Death that like as Christ was raised from the Dead by the Glory of the Father even so we also should walk in Newness of Life for if we have been planted together in the Likeness of his Death we shall be also in the Likeness of his Resurrection knowing this that our Old Man is crucified with him that the Body of Sin might be destroyed that henceforth we should not serve Sin And this Phrase We have put on Christ is also expounded by the same Apostle Rom. 13.12,13,14 And let us put on the Armour of Light so that we walk honestly as in the Day time not in Gluttonny and Drunkenness neither in
if Good they ought to be consented to Evil the Quakers deny them to be c. Crook By the same Argument the Temptations of the Devil must needs be our Sin though not consented to which thy self denyes for he is either Good Evil or Indifferent bâ—t thou wilt not say He is a Good Devil nor yet an Indifferent One therefore he must needs be an Evil One and so are his Temptations I have already acknowledged That in a strict Sense as in themselves they are Evil yet not my Evil so as to damn or condemn me except I consent to them no more then Christ will save me except he be my Christ by being received into my Heart by a Lively Faith c. Thus I have Answered thy Arguments now a few words to some Passages to the same purpose in pag. 59. Haworth I grant that in case we yield not to Satan we are not guilty p. 59. Crook This is to fancy that there is something worse then the Devil for although we consent not to Motions to Evil yet we are guilty sayest thou but if we do the like to Satan we are not guilty according to thy Judgment Haworth May I not say it s casier to resist the Devil or Tempter then these viz. Motions to Evil these are so near close and continued p. 59. Crook This doth not only make the Effect of Evil worse then the Cause but also supposeth that when Christ conquered the Devil he did not overcome the worst Enemy of God and Mankind And further as if the Devil was at a distance and as unconcerned when these work strongest but if bare Motions to Evil be worse then the Devil and the Sin of those that consent not but judge and deny them then it s no matter who consents or who denyes if he that denyes sins as well as he that consents But supposing thou art one of those that regard more who speaks then what is said I shall conclude this in the words of a Doctor of your own and I could wish the Professors of our Dayes were of no worse Spirit and Temper viz. Dr. Priston pag. 222. of Man's Vprightness c. saith he â—t is not the having Impurities in the Heart that makes the Heart imperfect but it is the suffering of them to be mingled even with the inward Frame of the Heart And again in the same page on Mat. 5. where it is said That which comes from within the man as Adultery Fornication c. they defile the man The Meaning saith he is this When Sin riseth in a man from day to day if he cherisheth Sin and entertaineth it and suffereth Sin to dwell and abide in his heart quietly without Disturbance if he suffers them to be sudden in as it were now they defile the Heart but if Sins arise in the Heart and he continually resist them he continually cast them forth he continually cleanseth and purifieth himself from them such a man is not defiled with them nor is his Mind defiled nor his Conscience defiled but notwithstanding this continual Ebullition of Evils that I may so call it saith he he is a Man of a Pure Heart and Perfect with God c. Agreeable to this are the Words of Dr. Taylor cap. 6. Of Original Sin he saith A vicious Nature or a natural Improbity when it is not consented to is not a Sin but an ill Disposition c. Sin is contrary to Virtue its Sin to Consent but Virtue to Resist I have been the larger upon this Subject because if Motions to Evil in Unconsenting Persons be not sinful then Perfection is attainable in this Life And the contrary Doctrine that pleads for a necessity of Sinning while we are here in this Life falls to the ground with that Opinion which damneth Infants that dye in the Womb or soon after they are born both which may be razed out of such Professors Creed as sorraign unknown to Christ and his Apostles and to the true Church some Centuries after their decease For as one saith God haâ—h not made Necessities of Sinning for whatever he hath made necessary is as innocent as what he hath commanded it is his own Work and therefore he hateth nothing that he hath made and therefore he hath not made Sin John Crook William Haworth's Scoffs Falshoods and Slanders Haworth FAlse Prophets as thou and others c. who would not think John but thou art beheaded c Epistle pag. 6. Crook I bless God I have obtained Mercy to part with that Wisdom which is from below for that which is from above and if thou in this Sense hadst been beheaded thou wouldst not have scoffed at my words that were spoken only by way of Allusion not exclusive of the Outward Sufferings of the Martyrs yet I have no Ground to believe as thou dost that by beheading is meant cutting off that Outward Member of the Body no more then that plucking out the Eye and cutting off the Hand which Christ speaks of is meant of dis-membring the Outward Body Haworth Thou saidst David was out of Covenant when under his Temptations c. Ep. p. 2. Crook I said While David's Murder and Adultery was unrepented of at the same moment of time he could not be in the same Sense both in a saved and condemned Estate Haworth O cease John cease perverting the Right Wayes of God pleading for Nature in Opposition to the Grace of God c. Crook This is falshood for the Light I plead for is supernatural and Experience proves it inasmuch as it checks and reproves for consenting to the Inclinations of the corrupt Nature I never believed or affirmed otherwise Haworth This Spirit hath carryed you forth most especially in Reviling and Opposing the best People in the World the Godly in this Nation c. Ep. p. 4. Crook This is false for it is not the Good in any that we oppose but what God first shewed us to be Evil in our own Particulars and then required us to shew it to others also that were guilty of the same and we durst not but be plain and faithful therein Haworth Turning the God man into the Reason Conscience or Soul of Man making them all one and God the Spirit the same with this that is in every Murderer Robber c. goes with the Damned to Hell remains with them there c. Epist pag. 6. Crook This is false for it cannot be proved that ever I either said or writ so Haworth O John how hath Pride and itch to be a Teacher of Allegorical Mysteries transported thee to be accented a profound Doctor Ep. p. 8. Crook This is both false and rash Judgment Haworth If thou wouldst return John it would be better with thee then it is now Crook This is false for when I was in your Way it was worse with me and I am sure few either Pastors or People are better but many worse then those I walked with Haworth And knowing how frequently you
PAssing by the Multitude of Lyes and False Doctrines Perversions and Slanders for Brevity's sake I insert a few of your plain Contradictions and Absurdities that the Reader may see how you are confounded about the Light through your Envy and dark Imaginations Pag. 113. All the Light that every man has as he cometh into the World is but Flesh Pag. 150. Contra. But the Common Light worketh a Change in Life and Conversation c. Pag. 149. I scarce know one Gospel-truth but this common Light contradicteth Pag. 111. Christ as a Creator is the Root and Fountain of this that every one hath c. Pag. 161. I do now say it is a Rotten Corrupt and Unsound Thing or Principle as to the leading or guiding into the Knowledge of the Gospel Pag. 109. This Light is greatly helped and increased by the Consideration of the Works of Creation more by the reading of the Scriptures hearing the Word preached and Converse with Christians and let it be noted that the Quakers had the Improvement of the Light this way though they will not acknowledge it in India we hear but of little Improvement of it Many that live not up to this Light will be very inexcusably condemned And those that walk according to it doing some things contained in the Law do shame judge and condemn those that pretend to Christianity and yet live not in Righteousness and Sobriety Answ I think now the Reader may see thee W. H. sufficiently judged and condemned out of thy own Mouth who hast so much abused this Good Light and them that live according to it and therefore pretend no longer to Christianity but let Shame cover thee till thou hast learned Righteousness and Sobriety as thou hast said Pag. 136. Following the Dictates of Nature is not the Yoke of Christ for it leads into the Covenant of Works which is a heavy Yoke to work for Life and ye are under it And in the same Page viz. To the Law in my Conscience I have been faithful in order to drive me to Christ the Mediator Pag. 46. Now the Righteousness of Christ is not in our Minds at all but in his own Person Pag. 66. Dost not thou know that the Independant Presbyterian and Anabaptist Party are both in their Preaching and Writings for an Experimental Spiritual Knowledge of Christ and that they do generally assert that a bare Dogmatical and Historical Knowledge of Jesus of Nizareth is not sufficient for Salvation without the Truths be inwardly taught by the Spirit c Pag. 36. I give the Reason why the Gifts and Virtues that God's Spirit works in us are our Righteousness in Contradistinction to the Righteousness of Christ whereby we are justified c. Pag. 35. So we have Two Righteousnesses by the Second Adam Jesus Christ the one to take away the Guilt of Sin that is the Righteousness I am pleading for and the other to take away the Reigning Power of Sin sanâ—…ifying of us and renewing of us into the Image of Christ in some degree c. Yet pag. 46. Now the Righteousness of Christ is not in our Minds at all but in his own Person Now Reader consider what great Confusion these poor dark men run themselves into through their Opposing the true Light which lighteth every man that cometh into the World John 1.9 didst thou ever read before that the Righteousness that we have by Christ which takes away the reigning Power of Sin sanctifying of us and renewing of us into the Image of Christ in some degree was in Contradistinction to that Righteousness which takes away the Guilt of Sin and that this Righteousness is not in our Minds at all but in his Person which he sayes is the Tree of Life the Rock of Eternity c. But W. H. didst thou witness what thy airy Tongue can sometimes talk of of Sanctifying and renewing into the Image of Christ c. thou wouldst leave off thy Lying Slandering Envying and Evil-speaking know a Bridle to thy Tongue without which thy Religion is vain Jam. 1.26,27 For thou bearest no Degree of the Image of Christ in these Confusions and Works of Darkness but of Cain Nimrod Esau and Ishmael the Envious Hunter and Scoffer and thy Reward from the Lord Jesus Christ will be according to thy Works notwithstanding thy Sheeps-Clothing Cover of thy Lip-Profession which will stand the Worker of Inquity in no stead in that Day And remember ye are Warned once more in Love to your Souls by one that loves the Lord Jesus Christ in Sincerity and cannot but exalt his pure and true Light and Righteousness and not put it under a Bushel or a Bed of fleshly Ease as many do who are selling a Birth-right and Blessing for a Mess of Pottage he that hath Ears let him hear but I esteem the Reproaches of Christ greater Riches then all the Treasures of Egypt in a Measure of whose Light and Innocent Life I remain a Friend to all People making war in the same only against the common Enemy of Mankind the Prince of Darkness which rules in the Hearts of the Children of Disobedience VVilliam Bayly An Answer to that Postscript of William Haworth's at the end of that Wicked Pamphlet entituled An Antidote c. William Haworth IT is pity that men professing to be Christ's Ministers should be so dark and envious as thou art against the Truth as it is in Jesus and also charge Lyes on the Innocent and in affirming that I said The Dictrine of Election was a devilish damnable and Blasphemous Doctrine It is strange men of thy Practice and Profession should be so notoriously wicked that ye care not what you affirm provided you can but possess peoples hearts with Prejudice against the Light and the Children of it Nay thou sayest If I dare come to the Tryal thou offerest at any time two substantial Witnesses to prove that I said in these words That the Doctrine of Election was a Devilish Damnable and Blasphemous Doctrine Oh Wickednes how gross is this that ever thou shouldst dare thus to belye thy own Conscience in this Matter and the Witnesses thou must bring to prove what thou sayest must be Lyars like thy self and also of the Devil even such Witnesses as were brought against Christ Jesus to charge him with Blasphemy such must thy Witnesses in this Matter be if thou bringest any and so they must be such it seems as will deny that any such thing was affirmed by thee viz. That God ordained Men to be Wicked before they were born And these Witnesses must needs for any thing I know be Jeremy Suaft and that other Man both of thy own Profession who were only in the hearing of what was said as I mentioned in mine to thee who I affirm were Ear-witnesses of the Discourse how that I owned the Doctrine of Election according to the Scriptures and also how thou affirmedst That God ordained people to be Wicked before they were born which I say is
needs be in the World not before they come into it And as in the 14th verse Death reigning from Adam to Moses even over them who had not sinned after the Similitude of Adam's Transgression c. This thou wilt needs have to be Infants in the Womb what gross Darkness is this How can Death reign over any until they come under the Dominion and Government of it and so be Transgressors of a known Law either in Thought Word or Deed It is Non sense and Ridiculous But Death hath reigned over many who have not sinned after the Similitude of Adam's Transgression for Death reigned over Drunkards Swearers Lyars Sodomites the Old Wicked World Whoremongers and many who are called by other Names which was not all a sinning after the Similitude of Adam's Transgression for he was no Sodomite Drunkard nor Swearer Whoremonger nor Adulterer that we read of And so Death reigns over all Sinners be the Similitude of sinning what it will but answer me after what Similitude is the Child's sinning Is it after the Similitude or Likeness of Adam's sinning or the Similitude of any other And whereas thou queriest how it comes to pass that Death is inflicted upon Infants if they have no Sin I answer It cannot be for their Sin because they have none and the Reason why they dye is because they are Mortal and must dye sooner or later even Mankind as well as other living things on Earth but to the Innocent and True Believers in Christ Jesus this is no Sign of God's Displeasure but rather a Translation into a better State except thou reckons the State and Being in this Life to the Innocent and Regenerate better then that which is to come and many holy men have had great Joy at their Departure So that the Cause of the natural death cannot be as is foolishly imagined because Adam sinned for if he had not sinned he might have dyed as to his natural Life being of the Earth made of the Dust and it was said to him In the Day thou eatest thereof thou shalt dye mark in that Day yet he lived after his Fall many Years as to his natural Life but he dyed spiritually instantly upon his sinning even in that Day and at that time And as for those other Scriptures thou bringest Ephes 2.3 And were by Nature Children of Wrath as well as others Gal. 2.15 We who are Jews by Nature and not Sinners of the Gentiles these Scriptures speak of Children of Wrath and Jews by Nature and not Sinners of the Gentiles what is this to Infants in the Womb who are no Sinners neither can be Children of Wrath These Scriptures relate to a sinful state before Conversion whether young or old so that herein thou wrests and abusest the Scriptures and this is plain for me to see with that blessed Light of Christ Jesus thou art an Enemy to As I did so I do affirm Jesus Christ to be the true Light and Saviour who enlightneth every man that cometh into the World with a Measure of his own Light but W. H. is one that cannot endure this Light or the Reproof of it upon his Conscience but still would call it something otherwise then what it is and quotes Rom. 2.15 which speaks no such thing as that the Light within every man is nothing but the Law of Moses written in the Heart or another while No more then Nature as he calls it p. 17. whereas the Inward Law or Light within in all its Manifestations and Appearances alwayes came by Jesus Christ and contains in it not only the Substance of Moses's Law but Gospel-Virtue and Power the true Light that enlightneth every Man that cometh into the World by Virtue of which Divine Light and Power within the Gentiles obeyed the Lord spiritually and were accepted in so doing though they had not the Outward Law in the Letter and set the Letter aside What Law is that that is written in the hearts of People must it not needs be the Law of Christ inward in the Heart and Conscience and so of the Spirit of Life in Christ Jesus that makes free from the Law of Sin and Death and it was alwayes so that the Doers of this Law or Light within in the Heart and Conscience were justified Rom. 2.13 and thus was Abraham justified by Works James 2.21 when he had faithfully offered up his Isaac upon the Altar in Obedience to God it was a Good Work by which he was justified in the Sight of God who commanded and he believed and it was imputed to him for Righteousness the Word of his Faith by which he believed and knew the Will of God was the Light within we bear Testimony unto which was before Moses was or Abraham was he that hath an Ear to hear let him hear but this Man's Understanding is shallow sure who one while saith This Light in Man is nothing but the Law of Moses written in the Heart another while It is no more then Nature and what Nature But a Guilty Defiled Nature p. 17. Oh sad Confusion And must the Work of this Inward Light and Power of God be no more then Legal Righteousness and Regeneration Legal Righteousness and a man 's own Righteousness which is as great an Error as a man can utter It is true that by the bare Works of that Law of Moses never man was justified before the Lord or made Righteous for if that could have made the Comers thereunto perfect there had been no need of Faith in Christ the Light to have received Power but that could not do though great Strictness might be used in the outward Observance of those outward things and Shadows and through such outward Conformity they might appear Righteous before man yet this was but that outward Righteousness of the Scribes and Pharisees in like manner as now W. H. and such as he who seem to be very zealous for the Gospel and the Body of Jesus yet deny his Light and Power of God within with as much Violence as ever the Pharisees denyed Christ Jesu at Jerusalem to be the Son of God and they are in the Steps of the Pharisees in their own self Righteousness and Profession of the Gospel without the true Power of Godliness let the Heavenly Light which they so wickedly blaspheme be Judge in the Case even in their own Consciences and yet they will Hypocritically acknowledge Christ is All in all and all Power and Judgment is committed to the Son Christ Jesus and then they cry this down again and call it A natural Light and Darkness which judgeth mens Thoughts and Deeds of Darkness and thus would rob Christ both of his Authority and Judgment to escape Judgment for Sin Whilest they imagine this Light within to be a natural Light or Ignis fatuus or what they please a devilish wicked Project for if so then what need they care what they do when there is nothing to judge them but an Ignit fatuus or