thou livest and art dead And unto the Angel of the Church of the Laodiceans I know thy works that thou art neither cold nor hot but luke-warm The worst of all tempers in Religion Now minde that Christ doth commend what ever was good in any of these Churches and reproveth them for their evill but calleth them Churches and the Ministers Angels But you Quakers will take no notice of any good that is in any of our Churches or Ministers but are like the Crow or Raven that love to feed upon Carren so your only delight is to revile against our Ministers and Churches and to publish any fault you can finde in them but I never read in any of your books one word of commendation of any Minister or Church but your selves neither did I ever hear any of you Quakers speak in the praise or commendation of any Minister or any Church or people but your selves but railing and reviling I have heard more than enough of But surely you Quakers have no love to any but your selves for the Apostle saith That Love covereth a multitude of faults and that Charity or Love suffereth long and is kinde envieth not vanteth not it selfe is not puffed up thinketh not evill beareth all things believeth all things hopeth all things But you Quakers vant your selves are puffed up with spiritual pride think speak evil of all persons that are not of your minde calling them Reprobates Heathens and Dogs and that you are the only Church of Christ being pure from sin and so do not only condemn all other Churches now in being but all that ever have been I the famous Churches of Asia Corinth Galatia and Thessalonica who were the first Churches and were as Brightman in his book called A Revelation of the Apocalips the best and the purest Churches for after the Apostles dayes greater corruptions sprang up in the Church Now if there were such corruptions in the Church in the first and purest times shall we think to have the Churches in our times free from all corruptions I do not write these things to plead for sin and corruption I rather desire to mourn and be humbled for them But I write these things to shew you your great mistake in that you say there can be no true Church nor Ministers where such fruits are but beware of condemning the generation of the Just because of miscarriage of some persons that live in the Church or because of the faults and infirmities of the godly men in the Church remember what a curse Ham brought upon himself for uncovering his Fathers nakednesse and what a blessing Shem and Japhet brought upon themselves for covering their Fathers nakednesse But above all take heed of slandering and belying our Ministers and Churches by accusing them falsely a sin that is too frequent among you it is better to erre in over much charity then in sensoriousnesse and rash judging But that I may the better rectifie your judgements and all other that separate from our Churches I shall endevour to shew you your mistake in and about the perfection of the Church of Christ which I conceive is because you do not distinguish between the outward visible Church of Christ and the invisible Church the mystical body of Christ Now I say that the invisible Church is perfect in Christ because all the members of that Church are members of the body of Christ being joyned in one Spirit and to such the Apostle Peter doth speak unto Peter an Apostle of Jesus Christ to the strangers scattered throughout Pontius Galatia Cappadocia Asia and Bithynia Elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father through sanctification of the Spirit unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ Also the Apostle to the Hebrews saith But ye are come unto Mount Sion and unto the City of the living God and unto the heavenly Jerusalem and to an innumerable company of Angels to the General Assembly and Church of the first born which are written in Heaven and to God the judge of all and to the sprinkling of just men made perfect and to Jesus the mediator of the new Covenant and to the blood of Sprinkling that speaketh better things than the blood of Abel Now minde the Apostle saith they are elected or chosen the Church of the first born which are written in Heaven but when Jesus Christ speaketh of the visible external Church he saith Many are called but few are chosen that is many called to the profession of the Gospel of Christ but few of those are elected and chosen to Life and Salvation Also Christ saith The Kingdome of Heaven is likned unto ten Virgins which took their Lamps and went forth to meet the Bridegroom and five of them were wise and five were foolish Minde They were all Virgins and they all had Lamps that is they all had the outward external profession of the Gospel but the wise Virgins only had the oyle of Grace Also Christ saith The Kingdome of Heaven is like unto a Net that was cast into the Sea and gathered of every kinde good and bad Now by the Kingdome of Heaven is not meant the Kingdome of Glory but the Chruch visible here on earth in which there are good and bad But you say that our Ministers are no true Teachers because they profit not the People to which I have answered in part before where I shewed that the Prophet Esai profited not the People of Israel and yet was a true Prophet But I do deny what you speak to be true and say that our Ministers do profit the People what ever you say to the contrary because a blind man cannot see the Sun therefore doth not the Sun shine because you Quakers who are blinded with error and cannot see that our Ministers doth profit the People do they not therefore profit the People I shall shew you what I see and know of a truth of their profiting the People I have known several Ministes who have come to Parishes to Preach where the People have been generally Ignorant Profane and Superstitious and God hath so blessed the labours of the Ministers among those People that they have been generally reformed from their Ignorance Profanenesse and Superstition and is it not profitable to People that were Ignorant to be instructed for those that were Profane to be morally civil for those that were Superstitious to be brought off from their Superstition and many that have been not only convinced of their sins but truly and really brought to believe and repent of their sins and many that have been in great horrour and trouble of conscience even ready to despair have been by their meanes as instruments raised up and have received true spiritual comfort and are not such profitable Ministers Also they do by their Preaching strengthen and confirm the Faith of Believers for it is the work of a Minister of Christ not only to convert
and holding it awry with dejected countenances which as I said before is usuall among you Quakers Now to shew you your error in these things mind what the Lord saith by the Prophet Isaiah concerning the Hypocriticall Jews in his time to bow down the head as a bulrush and Christ doth describe the hypocrites in his time by the same saying they are of a sad countenance for they disfigure their faces Now consider how contrary these practises are to what the Scripture holds forth in the dayes of the Gospel the Prophet Isaiah prophesiing of Christs coming in the flesh saith Sing unto the Lord a new song and his prayses from the end of the earth ye that go down to the Sea and all that is therein the â—sles and the Inhabitants thereof By the Isles some Interpreters do understand our Islands of Britain And fear not I have redeemed thee I have called thee by my Name thou art mine Therefore the redeemed of the Lord shall return and come with singing unto Sion and mind everlasting joy shall be upon their head they shall obtain gladness and joy and sorrow and mourning shall flee away I even I am he that comforteth you who art thou that thou shouldest be afraid How beautiful are the feet of him that bringeth good tidings that publisheth peace that bringeth good tidings of good that publisheth salvation thy watch-men shall lift up the voice With the voice together shall they sing break forth into joy sing together mind The Ministers of the Gospel their feet are beautifull they bring good tidings of peace and salvation they shall lift up the voyce with the voice together with the people shall they sing contrary to the practice of your teachers or praters who revile against singing But the Prophet David prophesiing of Christs Kingdom saith The voice of rejoycing and salvation is in the Tabernacles of the the righteous and this salvation made the Virgin Mary to sing My soul doth magnifie the Lord and my spirit hath rejoyced in God my Saviour and this salvation caused the heavenly Host to sing Gods prayses saying Glory to God in the highest and on earth peace good will towards men And Christ said to his Disciples Rejoyce that your names are written in heaven and the Apostle Paul saith The Kingdom of God is not meat and drink but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Ghost The Apostle did not place the Kingdome of God in meat and drink nor apparel as you Quakers do And the same Apostle exhorteth the Philippians to rejoyce in the Lord and to rejoyce in Christ Jesus and rejoyce in the Lord alway and again I say rejoyce and he commendeth the Thessalonians that they received the word in much affliction with joy of the Holy Ghost and exhorteth them to rejoyce evermore and this joy of the soul though it be inward in the heart yet it is manifested in the countenance an outward gesture as Salomon the wise saith A merry heart maketh a chearful countenance and a sad heart a dejected countenance aâ—â— example we have in Cain having a guilty conscience it is said his countenance fell and the Lord said unto Cain Why art thou worth and why is thy countenance fallen The Lord would have Cain know that his countenance did discover the guilt of his inward part his soul I cannot believe that those who have true inward peace and joy can have such heavie dejected countenances as most of you Quakers generally have I can know you by your countenances though I never saw you before nor heard you speak and I wonder not that you are generally of such heavie dejected countenances because you do not believe that you are justified by faith but by what you do act and work or by what is acted and wrought in you Now the Apostle saith Being justified by faith we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ by whom also we access by Faith into this grace wherein we stand and rejoyce in hope of the glory of God and hope maketh not ashamed because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts and not onely so but we also joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ by whom we have now received the Attonement Oh that the Lord would by his Spirit perswade your hearts to believe this Doctrine of Iustification by faith alone and then I doubt not but you would soon change your countenances And yet I know the natural constitution of the body doth much prevail with many for those that are of a melancholy constitution cannot so well express the joy and comfort in the heart as those that are of another temper and it is my charity to believe that most of you Quakers are of that melancholy temper which doth much help forward your Quaking fits and your dejected countenances But if your hearts were well grounded in the Doctrine of Justification by free grace it would bring you some of your quaking fits and would make you strive to express the peace and joy of your hearts by your countenances for I believe it is a sin to walk so heavily with such dejected countenances because I conceive it bringeth dishonour to God that his people should walk so as if God had never sent a Christ to save them and redeem them and purchased heaven for them is he not gone to prepare a place for them It is for wicked men who have not tasted nor seen the goodnesse of the Lord in the Land of the Living whose portion is only in this Life so to walk Also it is a sin because it is a means to hinder others from coming into the society and company of the godly for will not they think and say Surely these are none of Gods children that look as though they never had any joy or comfort in all their lives I have heard some persons say when they have come to the Quakers meetings to hear them and seeing in what posture they sit hanging down their heads sighing and groaning I will never be of this Religion for these people look like a company of condemned persons that were going to be executed liker then Christians that hoped to be saved by Christ Wherefore I conclude this particular that this your practice of Quaking and dejected carriage is a sin and therefore you are not perfect And so I come to the tenth and the last which I shall trouble you and my self with The tenth perticular practise much used by you Quakers is Lying now that ling is a sin I need not trouble my self to prove I hope you will all confess it I wish I could convince you that you are guilty thereof which I hope I shall plainly prove and first Do not you say that you are perfect free from all sin which I have already proved to be false therefore you maintain a lie nay you do make God a lier
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
and I in them and we have known and beleived the Love that God hath to us God is Love and he that dwelleth in Love dwelleth in God and God in him And that I may make it more plain I will set this forth by a similitude We know that the Sun doth shine and give light and heat by its beams or operation and we do say the Sun shineth into such a house or room and the Sun doth warm such a place and such a creature Now the body of the Sun remaineth in the Firmament but its beams and light and heat are in several places here below So in like manner Christ his body is in Heaven but he sendeth abroad his light and heat several operations and workings of his Spirit in the hearts of his people and this Metaphor of the Sun is often used in Scripture wherefore I shall alleadge some of those Scriptures because they do fitly serve to illustrate this truth The Prophet Malachy prophesieth of Christ saying but unto you that fear my name shall the Sun of righteousness arise with healing in his wings And as it is the property of the Sun to give light and warmth or heat and to expel mists and fogs that do infect the Air and to compleat and enliven things that seem to be dead in the Winter so is Christ to his Church and people here on earth though he be in Heaven he is the light of his Church as the Prophet Isaiah saith Arise shine for thy light is come and the Glory of the Lord is risen upon thee And the Gentiles shall come to thy light and Kings to the brightness of thy rising And this Sun of righteousnesse is said to expel the of his people as a thick cloud is expelled by the Sun And the Lord is said to be a Sun to his people that is in Christ for out of Christ he is a consuming fire Object But you say that Christ doth enlighten every man as the Sun giveth light to all and by hearkning too and obeying that light all may be saved I have answered this before but for a farther answer Answ That I confesse Christ doth enlighten every man that cometh into the world in some sense for as the Sun in the Heaven doth give light and heat unto all so doth Christ as the Creator give a common light of nature He maketh his Sun so shine or rise upon the evil and the good All that common light of Knowledge and understanding that wicked men have and all outward blessings come from Christ In him saith the Apostle we live move and have our being but that Christ doth give a spiritual light of grace unto all that are born that I deny For we are all born blind and dark in regard of spiritual light so saith the Apostle ye were once darkness and St. John saith That the light shineth in darkness and the darkness comprehended it not as the Sun shining on a man that is born blind he receiveth no light from the Sun and every man that hath this spiritual light hath it or receiveth it from God in and through Christ as the Apostle Paul saith For God who commanded light to shine out of Darkness hath shined in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the Glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ This light is a free gift and we were not born with it If we were what need Christ have dyed for our sins Or what use is there of his intercession if all men have a light within them by hearkning to which and obeying it they may be saved I have taken this by the way because it is one of your cheif grounds upon which you build your religion But it is a sandy one that hath no foundation on Christ or the Scriptures For you do not make the Scriptures to be the rule of your faith and practise but some revelations or impulse of Spirit And therefore you object against what is spoken or written by reading or study or reading other mens works which is the last of your objections that I know of with answering of which I shall conclude For Answer I say that your slighting of reading and studying the Scripture and reading of the writings of godly Ministers and others that have written on them is a chief cause of all your errors For Christ exhorteth all to search the Scriptures and that cannot be without reading them And the Apostle Paul exhorteth Timothy To give attendance to reading and to meditate upon these things and give thy self wholly to them Surely Paul knew Timothy was no Quaker for some of you Quakers have said that they may not read the Scriptures But the Apostle commendeth Timothy That from a Child thou hast known the holy Scriptures which are able to make thee wise unto Salvation If he had not been a Reader of Scriptures he had not known them for although many read the Scriptures that never knew the will and mind of God revealed in them yet ordinarily none knoweth the Scripture but those that have read them or heard them read or preached upon and as faith cometh by hearing so by reading some have been converted if we may believe their own testimony in History which bringeth me to the second part of your objection The reading of other mens Books or writings To which I say that the Apostle Paul though a man indued with extraordinary gifts of revelations Yet he did read other mens Books or writings as you may see by his writing to Timothy When thou comest bring with thee the books but especially the parchments Now if the Apostle did not read them what need he to have sent for them but that the Apostle did read other books besides the Scripture is plain for the Apostle writeth of Jannes and Jambres withstanding Moses and he must read it in some other book or writing then the Scripture for there is no such thing there Also the Apostle to Titus doth alledge what one of the Cretians own Prophets said which he had read in some of their books and the Apostle Jude saith that Michael the Arch-angel strove with the Devil and disputed about the body of Moses and Enoch also the seventh from Adam prophecied of such men saying Behold the Lord cometh with thousands of his Angels Now we read of none of these in the Scripture and therefore the Apostle did read them in some other books or writings and will you say the Apostles did not bost in other mens lines as you say of us surely if the Apostles made use of other mens writings much more may we and to what end hath God given gifts unto men if they may not improve them by writing for sometimes they have not opportunitie to exercise them otherwise unless you would have them hide their Talents and to what end doe you Quakers write so many books and spread 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