were that this Baptisme should last but while the coming of the Holy Ghost then did not Peter know Christs meaning for he obeyed that command of Christ baptizing them after they had received the Holy Ghost But as you are ignorant of the Covenant of Grace so are you ignorant of the Signes or Seals of the Covenant for when God made a Covenant with Abraham he gave Circumcision for a signe or seal of that Covenant And ye shall Circumcise the flesh of your fore-skin and it shall be a token of the Covenant between me and you Also the Apostle saith that He received the signe of Circumcision a seal of the righteousnesse of the Faith which he had yet being nncircumcised Now as Circumcision was a sign and seal in the time of the Law before Christ his coming in the flesh so hath Christ ordained Baptisme a sign and seal of the righteousnesse of Faith in the time of the New Testament to the end of the world according to that of the Apostle Peter in the dayes of Noah while the Ark was a preparing wherein few that is eight soules were saved by Water The like figure whereunto even Baptisme doth now save us that is it is a sign or seal of Salvation by the resurrection of Jesus Christ who is gone into Heaven and is on the right hand of God Minde he saith Baptisme doth now save us I never read of a Light within us that saveth us Also the Apostle John saith that as there are three that bear record in Heaven the Father the Word and the Holy Ghost so there are three that bear witnesse in Earth the Spirit and the Water and the Blood and these three agree in one Now by Water can be meant no other thing than the Water in Baptisme that as Water doth wash away the filth of the Body so doth the Water in Baptisme witnesse that Christ by his Blood hath washed away the filthinesse of sin but one of your Teachers asked me if I were so Ignorant to believe that the Water in the Thames or any other Water could do a mans Soul any good To which I answer that Water simply considered in it self it hath no such vertue but consider it in relation unto Gods Ordinance used according to his command and appointment it is profitable to the Soul But you speak and believe like Naaman the Assyrian who coming to the Prophet Elisha to be cleansed of his Leprosie when the Prophet sent him word to only go and wash himself in the waters of Jordan seven times he was in a great rage saying Are not the Waters of Damascus better then all the Waters of Israel he considered not that Gods command doth give vertue and efficacy to the thing for which it was appointed and this cleansing of Naamans Leprosie by the Water of Jordan was an emblem or type of our Baptisme we know God did make the Walls of Jericho fall by the blowing of Rams hornes because he had commanded and appointed so it is a great sin to disobey Gods command although the thing commanded seem never so smal and contrary to our sense and reason We know what the Lord did unto Moses because his Son was not Circumcised according to Gods command And it came to passe by the way in the Inne that the Lord met him and sought to kill him Now if the Lord would not bear with Moses his neglect of Circumcising his Son how do you Quakers think to escape Gods displeasure who not only neglect Gods Ordinance of Baptisme but also teach that it is abolished and uselesse and make a meer mock at Water-baptisme but the Apostles of Christ did highly esteem of that Ordinance of Baptisme I Christ himself did not only command it but honoured it in being Baptized himselfe who had no need of it for himself but that he might be an example unto us for saith he Thus it becometh us to fulfill all righteousnesse Minde Christ calleth it righteousnesse Also God the Father did highly honour Baptisme in that he opened Heaven at the Baptisme of Christ and sent the Spirit descending like Dove and lighting upon him and a voice from Heaven saying This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased And as God the Father Christ his Son and the Apostles did honour this Ordinance of Baptisme so did the Ministers of the Gospel since the Apostles dayes highly esteem the same I shall alledge what Calvin writeth concerning Baptisme I hope you do 〈◊〉 count him a Popish Father in his 23. Sermon on Gal. 3. 17. his words are these And in good sooth all of us professe the Gospel and yet we shall finde a number of people that know not the true use of Baptisme nor whereto it availeth nor to what end it is ordained but such shall pay dearly for taking such a pledge at Gods hands he will shew them that it is too costly a thing to be abused for as much as it is said to be a Seal whereby we are assured of the benefits of Christ his Death and Resurrection that whereas many have lived some twenty some forty some fifty years in the world without knowledge to what end they were Baptized it were better for them that they had been born dead and to have been sunk a hundred times in the earth than so to have unhallowed so holy a thing And therefore let us bethink our selves the better and learn that although there be but a little water cast upon our heads yet notwithstanding it is not a vain figure for the Heavens are opened upon us and God speaks in it as it were from Heaven and Christ is there present with his blood as witnesses of the usage and operation of the Sacrament Let us think well upon these things and let them be well rooted in your hearts by which you and all others may see what an esteem Calvin had of Baptisme Also in his fourth book of Institutions chap. 11. concerning Baptism his words are these Baptisme is a token and proof of our cleansing or to expresse my minde better it is like a sealed Charter whereby God confirmeth unto us that all our sins are cancelled and abolished that they may never be rehearsed nor imputed Also Beza in his Annotations upon the fifth chapter to the Ephesians ver 26 27 Christ loved the Church and gave himselfe for it that he might sanctifie it and clense it by the washing of water through the word that he might make it unto himself a glorious Church not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing o Baptisme is a token that God hath consecrated the Church to himselfe and made it holy by his word that is his promise of free Justification and Sanctification in Christ p because it is covered and clad with Christ his justice and holinesse I have written what these two eminent Ministers did believe and maintain concerning Baptisme who lived in the Church of
but also to strengthen and confirm those that are converted that they may grow in Grace and in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ though you Quakers say you are so perfect that you cannot grow in knowledge nor grace Also know that were it not for our publick Ministers people would in time grow Atheistical and become like Savage bruitish Heathens as for those sins which you say do abound among Teachers and People I say it is no new thing for you Quakers to accuse revile and slander all men that are contrary to your judgement But if such sins did abound among us that doth not prove our Ministers to be no true Ministers nor our Churches to be no true Churches for I have proved that there hath been as great sins in the first age of the Church as in Corinth Galatia Thessalonica and the Churches of Asia and yet they were all true Churches and the Ministers true Ministers but for your selves you are like the Pharisees that could finde faults in others but could see none in themselves And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy Brothers eye but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye which bringeth me to the tryal aud examination of the perfection among you Quakers that it may appear whether you be the innocent Lambes of Christ the holy Seed the Called the chosen of the Lord the Witnesses the Saints the children of the Light the perfect ones for so you write in your Paper but it had been better if it had been written or spoken by others than by your selfe but you follow your Fathers the Pharisees who praised themselves and your Fathers the Papists who say they are the only true Church which cannot erre as you Quakers say of your selves Wherefore I shall now endevour to examine your perfection whether you have that perfection which the Scripture doth hold forth and teach I have at large proved the perfection which our Ministers teach to be by Faith alone in believing what Christ hath suffered and done for us Also I have proved that there is no perfection in our selves that is to say no man is able perfectly to keep and fulfill the whole Law in thought word and deed but you Quakers say that Christ hath abolished the Law an old Antinomian error which hath been often confuted wherefore I shall not trouble my self about it but I shall exaamine whether you Quakers do perfectly keep and obey the commands of Christ and his Apostles and whether you walk according to the example of Christ and his Apostles Now Jesus Christ hath given forth several commands which you Quakers do not obey but teach men that they ought not to be obeyed now Christ saith that whosoever shall break one of these least Commandements and shall teach men so he shall be called the least in the Kingdome of Heaven that is none at all Now if Christ threaten such as teach men to break one of the least of the commands of the Moral Law how do you think to escape that teach men to break his commands which he gave forth with his own mouth in the time of the Gospel and that neer the time of his Suffering and Ascension but you will say this is a false accusation wherefore it remaineth on my part to 〈◊〉 it And to that end I shall first begin with that 〈…〉 which Christ gave to his eleven Disciples And Jesus came and spake unto them saying all power is given unto me in Heaven and in earth Go ye therefore and teach all Nations baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you and lo I am with you alway unto the end of the world Now I do affirm that this command of Christ was given by him not to the Disciples only but in them to all the Ministers of the Gospel that shall succeed them unto the end of the world and that this command of baptizing in the name of the Father Son and Holy Ghost is the baptizing with Water which ordinance is to continue unto the end of the world or Christ his second coming Now you Quakers do deny the observing of this command of Christ and teach men not to obey the same but say it was a command that was to continue only for a time untill the coming of the Holy Ghost this several of your Teachers have affirmed unto me at several times and Jona Dell in his book called A voice from the Temple saith that Baptism and the Lords Supper were but ceremonies that were to last but for a time Wherefore I shall prove that this command of Christ to his Disciples was to continue in the Church untill his second coming and was not to cease at the coming of the the Holy Ghost as you say it is Now Minde the words and they do plainly prove it for Christ saith I am with you alway even unto the end of the world Now the Apostles did not live alway unto the end of the world but some of your company say by the end of the world Christ doth not mean the time of dissolving of all things in the world or Christ his second coming but till the world was ended in them and that was when they were perfect but consider what an absurd interpretation this is for if that be the meaning then it must needs follow that Christ left the Apostles when the world was ended in them but I would know where you finde the end of the world in Scripture to be taken for the end of the world in a Man but while you go about to defend one error you run into many but I shall shew from the Scripture that this ordinance of Water-Baptisme was practised in the Church after the sending of the Holy Ghost and after the Holy Ghost was received by many In the Acts of the Apostles we read that the Apostles were all filled with the Holy Ghost Surely no Quaker ever had such a measure of the Spirit and yet the Apostles after that baptized with Water as we may read in several places in the Acts to instance one which may serve in stead of many the Apostle Peter being sent for by Cornelius by the Lords own appointment and coming into Cornelius's house preached the Gospel unto him and many other Gentiles And to him give all the Prophets witnesse that through his name whosoever believeth in him shall receive remission of sins While Peter yet spake these words the Holy Ghost fell on all them which heard the word Minde Peters Preaching is called the Word Then answered Peter Can any man forbid Minde Water that these should not be Baptized which have received the Holy Ghost as well as we And he commanded them to be baptized in the name of the Lord. Now can you tell how to deny this practice of the Apostle Peter if Christ his meaning
before Christs coming in the flesh than we Christians in the dayes of the Gospel since his coming for to be out of the pale of the Church was counted an unholy unclean condition I they were counted Doggs by Christs own words It is not lawful to give Childrens bread unto Doggs and without are Doggs and if the children of the Church of the Jews were externally holy by being visible members of the Church and Christians children unholy because no visible members of the Church Are not our children in a worse condition than theirs and so we have lesse priviledge than they now the Scripture declareth that the Church and People of God in the dayes of the Gospel have far greater priviledges than the Church of the Jews and this Christ himself sheweth where he saith Verily I say unto you among them which are born of women arose there not a greater then John Baptist notwithstanding the least in the kingdome of Heaven is greater than he whereby Christ would teach us that John the Baptist was the greatest among all the Prophets that went before him because he had the presence of Christ pointing at him Behold the Lamb of God that taketh away the sins of the world and yet the least believer in the Kingdome of Grace is greater than he because Christ had not then actually suffered for sin nor was not risen from the dead but the least believer doth now by Faith see Christ hath actually taken away sin by his Death and Suffering and is risen again for our Justification Also Christ saith Blessed are your eyes for they see and your eares for they hear for verily I say unto you that many Prophets and righteous men have desired to see those things which you see and have not seen them and to hear those things which you hear and have not heard them And are not these great priviledges Also the Apostle writing to the Hebrews in the eleventh Chapter writeth a Catalogue of the faithfull and in the end concludeth And all these having obtained a good report through Faith received not the Promise God having promised some better thing for us that they without us should not be made perfect The Apostle Peter also testifieth the same Teaching what or what manner of time the Spirit of Christ which was in them did signifie when it testified before hand the Sufferings of Christ Minde and the glory that should follow unto whom it was revealed that not unto themselves but unto us they did minister the things which are nâ—w reported unto you of which Salvation the Prophets have inquired and searched diligently who prophesied of the grace that should come unto you By which Texts of Scripture ye may plainly see that the Church and people of God in these times of the Gospel have greater priviledges then the Church of the Jews and therefore our Children as well as theirs have the priviledge of being outward visible Members of the Church which is only by Baptism But you Antibaptists and the Anabaptists say that although Believers have now greater priviledges then the Jews yet it doth not follow that our Children are to be admitted visible Members of the Church because there is no express command nor example for baptizing Children To which I answer that whatsoever may be proved from the Scripture by consequence to be the scope and meaning of the Scripture it is sufficient proof and that is already made good But seeing you do both stand to have express word of Command or express Example I shall desire you or either of you to shew me one command or example in Scripture for the baptizing of those that are grown up whose Parents one or both were Christians by professing the Gospel of Christ Now if you have no rule nor example in Scripture as I am sure you have not why do you condemn another when you Anabaptists are more guilty in that you baptise those that are of years whose Parents profess the Gospel of Christ and were formerly baptised in the name of Christ Unless you count all those that profess the Gospel of Christ to be Heathens that are not of your Churches which is a most uncharitable opinion But you farther object that the Apostles baptibaptized none but such as did beleive and make a profession of their Faith To which I answer that it is more then you can prove seeing the Apostle baptized Housholds and it is more then you can tell there were no Children in those Housholds unlesse you know it by revelation Secondly I say that those whom the Apostles baptized who were of years were such as were converted from Judaisme or Heathens and neither they nor their Parents ever professed the Gospel of Christ and did any of you or any other know any of our Ministers baptize any Jews Turks or Indians not professing the Gospel they have baptized some that have come from those parts after they have been converted and made a profession of their Faith according to the example of the Apostle Thirdly I answer that elect Infants may have the root or habit of Faith though not the act of Faith if you believe Christs words For Christ called a little Child unto him and set him in the midst of them and said who so shall receive one such little Child in my name receiveth me but whoso shall offend one of these little ones mind which believe in me By which words it doth appear that elect Infants may have the seeds of grace in their hearts we read that some have been sanctified from the womb and that must be by the Spirit for so the Text saith speaking of John Baptist And he shall be filled with the Holy Ghost mind even from his Mothers womb It is the opinion of many ancient and modern Ministers that elect Infants do ordinarily recieve the Spirit in or at their Baptism as Christ at his Baptism had the Holy Ghost descending like a Dove and lightning upon him Now Christ was full of the Holy Ghost before for in him dwelleth all the fulnesse of the God-head bodily And therefore the descending of the Holy Ghost at that time was to teach us to have a high esteem of that ordinance as most of our protestant Ministers do hold and teach and as Dr. Burges doth at large prove in his Book called Baptismal Regeneration Where this point of elect Infants ordinarily receiving the Spirit or seal of the Spirit in their Baptism is fully handled with all objections against it answered and I do the more press this point because the Baptism of Infants is so much slighted neglected and contemned by many in our days For I suppose that elect Infants being meer patients in the work of Regeneration are as capable of the Spirits sealing or applying the blood of Christ for the remission of their sins as those that are of Age for if there were a power in Adam by hâ—s sin
you went out from us And the Apostle Paul saith Antichrist sitteth in the Temple of God Now the thing that I am to prove is that you do deny the end of Christs coming in the flesh and to that end I shall first shew what was the end of Christs coming in the flesh The Apostle Paul to the Romans saith Through the Redemption that is in Christ Jesus Whom God hath set forth or sent to be a propitiation through faith in his Blood To declare their righteousness for the remission of sins To declare I say at this time his righteousness that he might be just and the Justifier of them which beleive in Jesus Where the Apostle sheweth that the end of God his sending Jesus Christ was that he might be a propitiation through faith in his blood to declare Christ his righteousnesse for the remission of sins that he might be just and the Justifier of all them that beleive in Jesus Now you deny this for E. B. saith that our Ministers tell people a Lie and why they tell him that Christ is his righteousnesse to justifie him which he denyeth for you teach that Christ did come to send a light into every man and by hearkning and obeying that light he shall be saved which is the old Popish Antichristian Doctrine Also the Apostle to the Hebrews saith to Christ Loe I come in the Volume of the Book it is written of me to do thy will O God By the which will we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all For by one offering he hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified Having therefore bretheren boldnesse to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus By a new and living way which he hath consecrated for us through the vail that is his flesh By which words it is plain that the end of Christs coming in the flesh was to do the will of God by the which will we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all And by that one offering he hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified But you deny that we are sanctified and perfected for ever by Christ his doing the will of God and through the offering of his body once for all and that we have boldnesse to enter into the holyest by the blood of Jesus a new and living way which he hath consecrated for us through his flesh But you teach that you are sanctified and perfected by hearkning to a light within you and obeying the same by which you deny the end of Christs coming in the flesh and are of the Spirit of Antichrist Also you do some of you deny that Christ rose from the dead with his Body but his Spirit rose and deny that he ascended into Heaven with a Body and there remaineth with a Body by which you deny the Scripture and deny Christ 〈◊〉 Mediatorship For the Apostle saith There is one God and one Mediator between God and men mind The Man Christ Jesus Now if Christ have no Body how is he a Man Do not you make Christ a monster if he be a Man without a body what a Mediator do ye make And great is the Mystery of godliness God was manifest in the flesh received up into glory according to that Scripture in the Acts Ye men of Galilee why stand ye gazing up into Heaven this same Jesus which is taken up from you into Heaven shall so come in like manner as you have seen him go into Heaven and that he shall so come Christ himself hath declared and they shall see the Son of Man coming in the Clouds of heaven with power and great glory Now those that deny these Articles of our Faith are not they of the spirit of Antichrist for they do invent a fantastical Christ in their brains But you say you have a Christ within you and by that Christ within you you shall be saved Christ in you the hope of Glory To which I answer that I deny that you or any man have a Christ within you you cannot have the body of Christ within you because the Heaven must contain it untill his second coming unless you be of the Papists opinion that say they receive Christs body into their mouths and then must Christ have many bodies or his body must be torn into many pieces Wherefore that I may if it may please God shew you your ignorance even in this particular I shall shew you how I do believe Christ is in every true Christian and that is by his Spirit These things have spoken unto you being yet present with you But the comforter which is the Holy Ghost whom the Father will send in my name But now I go my way to him that sent me and it is expedient for you that I go away For if I go not away the comforter will not come unto you but if I depart I will send him unto you By which Christ sheweth that he must depart and go to the Father and that he must there abide But his Father should send that Comforter his Spirit which should abide in them But how doth Christ by his Spirit abide in a Christian Answ Not essentially as the Familists hold and aver to many Quakers but operatively by the operation and working of the same Because ye are Sons God hath sent the Spirit of his Son into your hearts whereby you cry Abba Father In whom after ye believed ye were sealed with the holy Spirit of promise which is the earnest of our Inheritance to be strengthned by his Spirit in the Inner man that Christ may dwell in your hearts by Faith By which Scriptures and many more we may see how Christ is in us by his Spirit of Adoption by his Spirit sealing the promises of the Gospel by strengthning us in the inner man and Christ dwelleth in our hearts by faith and as Christ is said to be in us by his Spirit and by faith so we are said to be in Christ and to dwell in Christ which is by faith If any man be in Christ for ye are all one in Christ but of him ye are in Christ Jesus That we may present every one perfect in Christ Jesus And that Prayer of Christ That they all may be one as thou Father art in me and I in thee that they all may be one in us I in them and thou in me that they may he made perfect in one And as Christ is said to be in us by his Spirit and by faith and we are said to be in him by faith and by the Spirit because the same Spirit that dwells in Christ doth act and work in us So also we are said to be in Christ by Love and Christ to be in us by Love as Christ teacheth that the Love wherewith thou hast loved me may be in them
the Scriptures They did not hearken to a light within them to see whether they were true But if you Quakers had such an infallible spirit that you cannot erre as you say you have then all that you speak and write musts need be truth and then we need not examine them by the Scriptures to see whether you write and speak the truth But I am not of that implicit faith to beleive what you write without examining the same by the Scriptures and by them I find you have a falable lying spirit that leadeth you into error but seeing you say you are so infallible that you cannot erre give me leave to examine some of your Books in Print Besides what I have already examined and proved many gross errors in them therefore not written by an infallible spirit so as that you cannot erre I shall examine some particulars in your new Primer made by George Fox the younger and some others in which there is as many errors as Pages I shall mention some few particulars by which we may discern what the rest are of the said Primer Children such are Deceivers who tell you that the way to come to know the truth is by the Scriptures Now if this be a true Doctrine then was Christ and his Apostles Deceivers for they taught the same Christ exhorteth to Search the Scriptures for in them ye think ye have eternal life and they are they that testifie of me Now if the Scriptures testifie of Christ then the reading of the Scriptures is a means to know the truth unless you deny that Christ is the truth if you do he affirmeth it saying I am the truth It was a true saying of a good man that The whole Scriptures are the swadling band that foulds the Child Jesus Also Christ saith to the Saduces ye erre not knowing the Scriptures Then by consequence the way to avoyd error and to know the truth is by the knowledge of the Scriptures and therefore Christ would have all to search the Scriptures And the Apostle Paul said that Timothy had known the Scriptures from a Child which are able to make thee wise unto salvation and that is by knowing the truth And the Apostle Peter saith We have a more sure word of prophesie whereunto you do well that ye take heed But you are enemies to the reading the Scriptures or expounding them Pag 15 Of the said Primer Children such are no Ministers of Gods word who tell you the Scriptures are the word of God Now if this be an infallible truth then I say the Prophets and Apostles were fallible and were no Ministers of Gods word for the Prophets Isaiah Jeremiah Ezekiel and most of the small Prophets said that The word of the Lord came unto them and they spake the word of the Lord. I beleive you may find what the Prophets preached called the word of the Lord or God above a hundred times and in the 20. of Exodus God spake all these words and what God spake is Gods word and what Christ spake and preached is the word of God unlesse you deny Christ to be God Also the Apostle James exhorteth Be ye doers of the Word and if any be hearers of the word and not doers c. And do you think the Apostle meaneth the word of man or the word of God Also the Apostle Peter saith We have a more sure word of prophesie whereunto ye do well that ye take heed And if the Apostles call the Scripture the word surely they are Gods word and by the word of Prophesie can be meant no other word I marvel that you Quakers who pretend to an infallible Spirit to know all things do not know that as Christ is called the eternal word of God so are the Scriptures written called the revealed will or word of God or his word revealed As when we write our mind or cause another to write our will or mind to another we are properly said to send word or what is so written to be our word Pag. 33. Of the said Primer That by the blood of Jesus Christ cleansing you from all sin is meant the life of Christ Now I would know where you ever read in Scripture that we are cleansed from all sin by the life of Christ or whether the blood of Christ were ever taken for the life of Christ in Scripture I would fain know your meaning of this dark mystical expression Whether you do believe that the blood which Christ shed upon the Crosse when he suffered without the Gates of Jerusalem be that blood that cleanseth from all sin I know partly your meaning by what I have heard from several of your company and read in several of your Books wherefore that I may shew you what I beleive concerning the same according to the Scriptures mind the Apostle saith Without shadding of blood is no remission And he appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself and in the body of his flesh through death to present you holy and unblamable and unreprovable in his sight And having made peace by the blood of his crosse But I fear you are strangers to this blood of Christ and it is a mystery hid from your eyes who pretend to know all mysteries but they are mysteries of iniquity while you count the blood of the covenant an unholy thing And as you are strangers to this blood of Christ that cleanseth from all sin so I fear you are Ignorant of the life of Christ For I would know whether by the life of Christ you mean the life that Christ lived in the dayes of his converse on earth from the time of his Birth to the time of his suffering death on the crosse or the life he now liveth in heaven or whether by the life of Christ you do not understand the life of a leigned Christ in you or a life imitating Christ his Life I know by what I have heard from the mouths of several and read in several of your books that you are strangers to the true life of Christ mentioned in Scripture and is a mystery hid from your eyes But mind what the Scriptures saith For if when we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son much more being reconciled we shall be saved by his life Wherefore he is able to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them By which texts of Scripture you may see that we are justified or saved by Christ his life living now in heaven to make intercession for us But I never did read in the Scripture that our sins are washed away and that we are saved by what Christ wrought in us nor by imitating the life of Christ and yet I say that all those who are saved by the blood and the life of Christ have faith wrought in their hearts by the Spirit of Christ