words will suffice to express it but the Papists and School-men having missed of the thing which the Scripture drives at and apprehended somewhat else in the wise imagining part have brought forth many phrases of their own invention to express their apprehensions by which we confess we have no unity with but are content with feeling the thing which the Scripture speaks of and with the words whereby the Scriptures express it Now whereas they call this a fundamental we do not find it so called in Scripture nor do we find the Disciples themselves understanding therein but knew not the Father John 14.8 9. and Christ going about to inform them does not tell them of another distinct being or person but hast thou not seen me and believest thou not that I am in the Father and the Father in me vers 10. And so the believers at Ephesus had not so much as heard that there was an holy Ghost Acts 19.2 So that if ye will make this a fundamental truth yet it is such a fundamental as true faith did stand without both in believers afore Christs death and in believers after This is the great fundamental that God is light and in him is no darkness at all 1 John 1.5 and the great work of the Ministry is to shew men where this light is and to turn men from the darkness wherein is the power of Satan unto this light wherein is the power of God Acts 26.18 And he that comes into this light and into this power is owned in the light and in the power wherein is the life of all the Saints and the true fellowship both with the Father the Son one with another 1 John 1.3 and 7. And the true trial of Spirits is not by an assent to Doctrines which the hypocrite may assent to on the one hand and the true believer may startle at on the other hand but by feeling of them in the inward vertue of the light in the Spirit and in the power This was the Apostles way of trial 1 Cor. 4.19 20. I will know not the speech of them which are puffed up but the power for the kingdome of God is not in word but in power A man may speak high words concerning the kingdome and get all the Doctrines about it and yet be a stranger to it and quite ignorant of the power and another may want divers Doctrines concerning it perhaps some of those which men call fundamentals and yet be a Citizen of it and in the power But now under the Antichristian Apostacy men wanting the feeling of the life and power wherein the true judgment is they own or disown one another upon an assent or dissent to such and such Doctrines and so fall into this great error of owning many whom Christ disowns and of disowning many whom Christ owns and if they find persons not assenting to or dissenting from any of those things which they call fundamentals then they think they may lawfully excommunicate and persecute them So by this mistake they cut off that which is green they persecute that wherein is the living sap and cherish the dry and withered That which is most tender towards God and most growing in the inward sensibleness which causeth it to startle at that which others can easily swallow lies most open to suffering by this kind of trial 2. Concerning the Person of Christ They believe that Christ is the eternal light life wisdome and power of God which was manifested in that body of flesh which he took of the virgin that he is the King Priest and Prophet of his people and saveth them from their sins by laying down his life for them and imputing his righteousness to them yet not without revealing and bringing forth the same righteousness in them which he wrought for them And by experience they know that there is no being saved by a belief of his death for them and of his resurrection ascention intercession c. without being brought unto a true fellowship with him in his death and without feeling his immortal seed of life raised and living in them And so they disown that faith in Christs death which is only received and entertained from the relation of the letter of the Scriptures and stands not in the living power and sensible experience of the begotten of God in the heart Now they distinguish according to the Scriptures between that which is called the Christ and the bodily garment which he took The one was flesh the other Spirit The flesh profiteth nothing saith he the Spirit quickneth and he that eateth me shall live by me even as I live by the Father John 6.57 and 63. This is the Manna it self the true treasure the other but the visible or earthen vessel which held it The body of flesh was but the vail Heb. 10.20 The eternal life was the substance vailed The one he did partake of as the rest of the Children did the other was he which did partake thereof Heb. 2.14 The one was the body which was prepared for the life for it to appear in and be made manifest Heb. 10.5 The other was the life or light it self for whom the body was prepared who took it up appeared in it to do the will Psal 40.7 8. and was made manifest to those eyes which were able to see through the vail wherewith it was covered John 1.14 Now is not this sound according to the Scriptures and is it not a good way to know this by unity with it by feeling a measure of the same life made manifest in our mortal flesh 2 Cor. 4.11 This we confess is our way of understanding these things and likewise of understanding the Scriptures which speak of these things And we have found it a far surer kind of knowledg namely to understand the Scriptures by experience of that whereof the Scripture speaks than to guess at the things the Scripture speak of by considering and scanning in the earthly part what the Scriptures speak of them Such a kind of knowledge as this a wise man may attain to a great measure of but the other is peculiar to him who is begotten of God whose knowledge is true and certain though it seem never so different from his who hath attained what he hath by the search of his wisdome 3. Concerning the holy Scriptures being a perfect rule of faith and life The new covenant is the covenant of the Gospel which is a living covenant a spiritual covenant an inward covenant and the law or rule of it cannot be written outwardly Read the tenour of the new covenant Heb. 8.10 I will put my laws into their mind and write them in their hearts If God himself should take the same laws and write them outwardly yet so written they are not the new covenant at most they would be but an outward draught of laws written in the new covenant And mark this is one difference given between the new covenant and the old
the laws of the one were written outwardly in tables of stone the laws of the other were to be written in the heart That is the book wherein the laws of the new covenant were promised to be written and there they are to be read So that he that will read and obey the Laws of the covenant of life must look for them in that book wherein God hath promised to write them for though in other books he may read some outward descriptions of the thing yet here alone can he read the thing it self Christ is the way the truth and the life What is a Christians rule is not the way of God his rule is not Gods truth his rule and is not the truth in Jesus where it is taught and to be heard and to be received even as it is in Jesus Ephes 4.21 Is not he the King the Priest the Prophet the Sacrifice the Altar the way to God the truth of God the life it self the living path out of Death yea all in all to the believer whose eye is opened to behold him The Scriptures testifie of Christ but they are not Christ they also testifie of truth and are a true testimony but the truth it self is in Jesus who by his living spirit writes it in the heart which he hath made living And so a Christians life is in the Spirit if we live in the Spirit let us also walk in the Spirit Gal. 5.25 The whole life and course of a Christian is in the volumn of that book as the Lord opens the leaves of it in him The gift of God the measure of faith given him by God that 's his rule that 's his rule of knowledge of prophesying of obedience Heb. 11. Rom. 1.4 and 12.6 if he keep there if he walk according to the proportion of it he errs not but out of the faith in the the error in all he knows in all he believes in all he does The new Creature that which God hath new created in the heart in which life breaths and nothing but life breaths which is taught by God and true to God from its very infancy that 's his rule whereby he is to walk the Apostle expresly calls it so Gal. 6.15 16. That which is begotten by God is a Son and the Son as he is begotten by the breath of the Spirit so he is preserved and led by the same breath and such as are so led are Sons and none else for it is not reading of Scriptures and gathering rules out thence that makes a Son but the receiving of the spirit and the being led by the Spirit Rom. 8.14 15. And being the whole worship of the Gospel is in the Spirit there is a necessity of receiving that in the first place and then in it the soul learns to know and wait for its breathings and movings and follows on towards the Lord in them The Spirit cannot be with-held from breathing on that which he hath begotten and that breath is a guide a rule a way to that which it breatheth upon Now this is most manifest even from the Scriptures themselves they expresly calling Christ the way the truth c. the new creature the rule the faith grace or gift given to be the rule testifying the heart to be that which God hath chosen to write his laws in but where do they call themselves a perfect rule of faith and obedience They are they saith Christ which testifie of me and ye will not come to me that ye might have life Iâ—â— 5.39 40. Life cannot be received from the Scriptures but only from Christ the fountain thereof no more can the Scriptures give the rule but point to the fountain of the same life where alone the rule of life as the life it self can be received The Scriptures cannot ingraft into Christ nor give a living rule to him that is ingrafted but he that hath heard the Testimony of the Scriptures concerning Christ and hath come to him must abide in him and wait on him for the writing of the law of the Spirit of life in his heart and this will be his rule from the law of sin and death even unto the land of life Now if men have mistaken in the night of darkness and put the Scriptures out of their place even into the place of the Spirit and so have become Ministers not of the Spirit but of the letter whereas the Apostles were made able Ministers of the new Testament not of the letter but of the Spirit 2 Cor. 3.6 Let them not be offended at the Spirit of God for teaching us otherwise nor at us for learning as the Spirit of God hath taught us the Scriptures also testifying that this is the rule but no where setting up themselves for the rule And it is the same Spirit which would now fix men in the Scriptures to keep men from Christ the living rule and only way to life eternal as formerly kept men by traditions from the Scriptures though it is hard for them who are intangled in this deceit to see it Now for the proof of these things thus barely here charged the reader is referred to Mr. Norton's as they stile him Tractate against the Quakers Concerning the validity whereof I refer the Reader to Francis Howgils Answer thereto wishing him to read both in the fear and dread of the Almighty waiting for his counsel to guide him in the true discerning which of them savours of mans wisdome and which of them writes from acquaintance with the truth it self In which Answer of his he recites such errors of that Norton as would make a great sound against the Quakers if any such could justly be charged upon them I shall mention only two or three of them viz That God is a distinct Subsistence from the Son and Spirit and That the Son is a distinct Subsistence from the Father and the Spirit and because it is said the Father shall give you another Comforter this another he saith is intelligible of the Essence Are there then three distinct infinite Essences or Beings That the Spirit of God without the Letter is no Spirit He was before the Letter he was never limited to the Letter he will be after the Letter and he is what he is without the Letter That Christs words John 17.21 give an uncertain sound where have any of the Quakers cast such a blemish upon any portion of Scripture Surely this man had more need to seek to have his own vessel cleansed than to accuse others of Errors or Blasphemy And if he have no other way to overthrow them than by maintaining such kind of things as these against them he will never get victory over them any other wayes than by the outward sword but by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of his testimony and not loving their lives unto the death they will easily overcome all such kind of Champions 4. The fourth and last instance which they give of the
destructiveness of their Doctrine to the fundamental Truths of Religion is That opinion of theirs of being perfectly pure and without sin which say they tends to overthrow the whole Gospel and the very vitals of Christianity for they that have no sin have no need of Christ or of his satisfaction or blood to cleanse them nor of Faith Repentance c. Answ That the Lord God is able perfectly to redeem from sin in this life that he can cast out the strong man cleanse the house and make it fit for himself to dwell in that he can finish transgression and sin in the heart and bring in everlasting righteousness that he can tread down Satan under the feet of his Saints and make them more than Conquerors over him this they confess they steadily believe But that every one that is turned to the light of the Spirit of Christ in his heart is presently advanced to this state they never held forth but that the way is long the travail hard the enemies and difficulties many and that there is need of much Faith hope patience repentance watchfulness against temptations c. before the life in them arive at such a pitch Yet for all this saith Christ to his Disciples Be ye perfect directing them to aim at such a thing and the Apostle saith Let us go on unto perfection and Christ gave a Ministry for the perfecting of the Saints and they do not doubt but that he that begins the work can perfect it even in this life and so deliver them out of the hands of sin Satan and all their spiritual enemies as that they may serve God without fear of them any more in holiness and righteousness before him all the dayes of their lives Now how is this Doctrine or how is this People because of their believing and holding forth this Doctrine guilty of all this great and heavy charge that is laid upon them here as that they have no need of Christ his satisfaction his blood nor of faith repentance growing in grace Gods Word and Ordinances nor of watchfulness and prayer c. Let us consider the thing a litttle further First The Doctrine of Perfection if it should be granted to deny all this yet cannot be supposed to deny the need thereof until the state of Perfection be attained Nay they that truly believe that such a state is attainable cannot deny the use of those things which are proper to lead to that state but will conscientiously apply themselves thereto and press all others thereto who desire to attain that state And they that have either heard them speak or read their Writings with any equality of mind may abundantly testifie for them against the unrighteousness and injury of this charge Their life lies in Christ their peace in his satisfaction for them and in a sensible feeling of his blood sprinkled in their consciences to cleanse them from sin and by that faith which is Gods gift they feel and wait further to feel the righteousness of Christ imputed to them for justification And as for being perfectly just in themselves it is a very unrighteous charge upon them for their justice and righteousness is in Christ for ever and not of themselves but in the denyal and crucifying of self are they made partakers of it which is bestowed by the free grace mercy and power of him who hath mercy on them and not by any willing or running of theirs And as for Repentance they feel the need of it and find a godly sorrow wrought in them and a bitter mourning over him whom they once pierced and still pierce so far as they hearken to the Tempter and follow the motions and lusts of the transgressing nature And they do both watch and pray against sin and feel what a bitter thing it is to have the watch so slackened whereby the temptation prevails which would lead to sin And as for purifying themselves dayly and putting off the old man and putting on the new it is that which their hearts delight to be continually exercised about and all this with an hope that it may be effected that the vessel may be made holy to the Lord a fit spiritual Temple for him to dwell in that he may display his life glory power and pure presence in them But if the belief that this may be attained in the way wherein God leadeth them towards it and an hope to attain it with an acknowledgment of it so far as it is attained I say if this make them guilty of so great a charge then they are indeed guilty for they cannot but believe it wait for it hope for it and acknowledge it so far as they feel it wrought in them But how can this possibly make them guilty of denying these things seeing the exercise of these things not only standeth with but is increased by such a belief and hope Secondly The state of Perfection it self doth not exclude these things in such a way as this charge seems to intimate For in the state of perfection the blood is not laid aside as useless but remains to keep pure for ever It is the blood of the everlasting Covenant Heb. 13.20 both the Covenant and the Blood last for ever and are useful even to them that are perfect And there is need and use of the Faith in the Blood to believe the preservation As the Covenant it self lasts so that which lets into and keeps in the Covenant lasts also That which unites and ties the soul to Christ the life abides in the soul for ever even as the union it self abides And there is a growing in the life even where the heart is purified from sin even as Christ did grow and wax strong in spirit for a state of perfection doth not exclude degrees And so there is also need of watching against temptations in a perfect state for Adam was perfect and yet he needed a watch and Christ was perfectly pure and without sin and yet he did both watch and pray So that if any were brought to the state of a perfect man even unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ which the Ministry was given to bring all the Saints unto Eph. 4.11 12 13. if any were taught and enabled so to walke in the light as to be cleansed by the blood from all sin and to have such fellowship with the Father and the Son as might make their joy full 1 Joh. 1.3 4 7. If any were brought to that state of glory as to be chast Virgins 2. Cor. 11.2 without spot or wrinkle of the flesh but holy and without blemish Ephes 5.27 If any should be made perfect in every good work to do his will which was a thing the Apostle prayed for Heb. 13.21 If any should have so put off the old man and have put on the wedding garment as to be made ready and fit to be marryed to the Lamb Rev. 19.7 Yet this would not exclude faith
alwayes to last but is one of the fashions of this world which is to pass away how long a time soever it hath had and God may call his people from it at his pleasure and if he call from it they must leave it off though the earthly nature and powers be never so angry thereat The Lord hath let man have a long day wherein man hath been lifted up and appeared great by receiving that honour which is of the earth not of the faith but at length the Lord will bring forth his day wherein he will be great and have every knee bow to him and every tongue confess to him and then man shall be little and his honour fall and the Lord alone be exalted Isa 2.17 2. Doth not the image of God grow up into the likeness of God Doth God respect mens persons Did Christ regard any mans person Did not James say If ye have respect to persons ye commit sin and are convinced of the law as transgressors James 2.9 Of what law Of the law of faith which exalteth the new birth and layeth flat the creature in its transgressing nature estate and honour For saith Christ who received not honour from men nor gave honour to men how can ye believe which receive honour one of another John 5.44 That which receiveth earthly honour is of the earth and cannot believe and that which giveth earthly honour is of the earth and so not of the faith The faith is a denying of the earth a taking up of the cross to the earthly honour which is as a block in the way of faith How can ye believe when ye cherish that part in you which is against the faith The immortal seed of life in the day of the Gospel grows up out of the earth leaving it with its customes fashions honours yea and its nature and worships too behind it So that look into the ground of the thing with the eye which seeth over the transgressing state and over all things which have sprung up from the transgressing part and which please that part which is out of the faith out of the life and power drawn from God into the earth and it wil be manifest that earthly honour hath its root foundation and service there but falleth off like a shackle from mans spirit as the life riseth in him and as he is redeemed out of the earth Now as for Abrahams and Jacobs bowings c. Those things had their season under the law which made nothing perfect as other things had but now God calleth every man to bow to the Son and will not permit so much as bowing to an Angel who is far more honourable than any Magistrate And the Son calleth to honour the Father and to seek the honour which cometh from God only and he that will be his Disciple must take up his cross to the earthly part and follow him who neither gave earthly honour nor received earthly honour but condemned it John 5.44 Therefore let men consider the ground of the thing and the different state between Jews under the law and Christians under the Gospel and not think the bringing of instances from them of old time can dispence with us in following Christ according to the law of faith who gave us this pattern of not receiving or giving honour to mens persons and let not the weight of our plea it having so great impression on our hearts be despised by any that pretend relation to our Lord and Master which I shall briefly thus recite 1. It is the single and sincere desire of our hearts to give all the honour and obedience to Magistrates which is due unto them according to the Scriptures 2. It is manifest that we are careful of observing all just laws and patient in suffering through unjust laws or where the Magistrate doth persecute us without or against law 3. This kind of honour of pulling off the hat and bowing to the person we do not find commanded in Scripture but we find Christs command against it who saith follow me who both denyed to receive it and did not give it but condemned it And we find its rise to be from the earthly part and to the earthly part it is given which it pleaseth being given to it or is offended at being denyed it and this part we are taught by the Lord to crucifie in our selves and not to cherish in others 4. The bowing of persons under the law which was an earthly state wherein many things were permitted which are not permitted under the Gospel doth not bind Christians under the Gospel nor doth not limit the Spirit of God from taking of any one or more or all of his people from giving that which the earthly part calleth honour to that which is of the earth 5. We do appeal to the Lord our God who is our judge and law-giver that he hath laid this upon our Spirits and hath smitten several of us when there hath arisen so much as a desire in us to please men in this particular and in the fear of his name and in obedience to him do we forbear it and not either in contempt of authority or of the persons in authority 6. We find by much experience that the forbearing of this is a service to our Lord and Master and an hurt to his enemy It offendeth the passionate it offendeth the rough it offendeth the proud and lofty that spirit is soon touched and stirred by it but that which is low that which is meek that which is humble that which is gentle that is easily drawn from valuing and minding of it and findeth an advantage therein And of a truth the earthly spirit knows and feels that God is taking the honour from it and giving it to the meek and humble which makes it muster up its forces and arguments to hold it as long as it can Now what moderate man much more any Christian could not forgo the putting off of an hat or bowing of the knee upon so solemn and weighty an account as this If this were thine own case wouldst thou be forced imprisoned fined or have this made an argument against thee to banish thee or put thee to death Thou dost not know how the Lord may visit thee by his Spirit and what he may require of thee He may call thee also to give forth thy testimony and to fight under the banner of his Spirit against all the fashions customes honours yea and worships of this World That which is born of God is not of this World and as it groweth up in any earthen vessel so it draweth the vessel also more and more out of this World Ye are not of the World but called out of the World therefore the World hates you That which can please the World that which can bow to it and honour it that the World loves but the immortal seed which cannot bow but testifies against the Worlds honours that they are not of the Father
lead them on fast enough and give them light fast enough for he taketh care of such and knoweth what light and what practises are most proper for them but for men to walk on faster than the Lord holds forth light to them this overturns them raising up a wrong thing in them and the true birth hereby comes to suffer to shrink and be driven back And O how sweet and pleasant is it to the truly spiritual eye to see several sorts of believers several forms of Christians in the School of Christ every one learning their own lesson performing their own peculiar service and knowing owning and loving one another in their several places and different performances to their master to whom they are to give an account and not to quarrel with one another about their different practises Rom. 14.4 For this is the true ground of love and unity Not that such a man walks and does just as I do but because I feel the same spirit of life in him and in that he walks in his rank in his own order in his proper way and place of subjection to that And this is far more pleasing to me than if he walked just in that track wherein I walk nay so far as I am spiritual I cannot so much as desire that he should do so until he be particularly led thereto by the same spirit which led me And he that knows what it is to receive any truths from the spirit and to be led into practises by the spirit and how prone the fleshly part is to make hast and how dangerous that hast is will not be forward to press his knowledge or practises upon others but rather wait patiently till the Lord fit them for the receiving thereof and fear least they should receive and practise too soon even in that part which cannot serve the Lord. And this I can truly say concerning my self I never found my Spirit forward to draw any either to any thing I believed to be true or to any practise or way of worship I observed or walked in but desired that the power and leadings of life might go before them and was afraid lest men should receive things from my hand and not from the Lords Yea and this I very well remember that when I walked in the way of Independency as it hath been commonly called I had more unity with more love towards such as were single hearted in other wayes and practises of worship whose spirits I had some feeling of in the true simplicity and in the life than with diverse of such who were very knowing and zealous in that way of Independency in whom a wrong thing in the mean time had got up which had caused them to swerve from the life and from the simplicity So that the true Church Government being in the spirit and over the conscience as in the sight of God the great care must be to keep it within its bounds that nothing else govern but the Spirit and that the government be extended only unto that which is to be governed First care must be had that nothing govern in the Church of Christ but the Spirit of Christ that nothing else teach nothing else exhort nothing else admonish and reprove nothing else cut off and cast out Every Minister in the Church is to watch over his own Spirit that it intrude not into the work of God that it take not upon it to be the teacher the exhorter the reprover c. And every member is to wait in that measure of the Spirit which he hath received to feel the goings forth of the Spirit in him that teacheth and governeth and so to subject not to man but to the Lord to receive from the Lord to obey the Lord. Not to know any Minister according to the flesh but to receive and submit to what comes from the Spirit in the Spirit Not to know Paul or Apollo or Cephas but the Spirit ministring in them Paul may erre Apollo may erre Peter may erre and did erre when he compelled the Gentiles to live as the Jews Gal. 2.14 for which Paul withstood him to the face vers 11. and Barnabas also did erre vers 13. but the Spirit cannot erre and he that keeps to the measure of the Spirit in himself cannot let in any of their errors if they should erre but is preserved For the least measure of the Spirit is true and gives true judgment but he that receiveth never so great a measure of the Spirit yet if he keep not low therein but lifteth up himself because thereof above his brethren may easily erre himself and draw aside others into his error Secondly Care must be had that the conscience be kept tender that nothing be received but according to the light in the conscience The conscience is the seat of faith and if it be not kept close to the light which God lighteth there faith is soon made shipwrack of Christianity is begun in the Spirit which keepeth out the fleshly part with all its fleshly wisdome and reasonings about spiritual things and as the beginning is in the anointing so must the progress be As the Spirit begins in the conscience by convincing that by perswading that by setting up his light there and leading the soul by that light so that light must still be eyed and according to its growth and manifestation in the conscience so must the soul stand still or go on The great error of the ages of the Apostasie hath been to set up an outward order and uniformity and to make mens consciences bend thereto either by arguments of wisdom or by force but the property of the true Church Government is to leave the conscience to its full liberty in the Lord to preserve it single and entire for the Lord to exercise and to seek unity in the light and in the spirit walking sweetly and harmoniously together in the midst of different practises Yea and he that hath faith and can see beyond another yet can have it to himself and not disturb his brother with it but can descend and walk with him according to his measure and if his brother have any heavy burthen upon him he can lend him his shoulder and bear part of his burthen with him O how sweet and lovely is it to see brethren dwell together in unity to see the true image of God raised in persons and they knowing and loving one another in that image and bearing with one another through love and helping one another under their temptations and distresses of spirit which every one must expect to meet with If thou art a Christian indeed and in truth preserve thy conscience pure and tender towards God do not defile it with such religious practises duties ordinances c. as thou dost not feel the Spirit leading thee into for all such are Idols and exceedingly pollute thee And be tender also of thy brothers conscience and be not an instrument to draw him
house as Moses and if such a course had been necessary for the preservation of his Church surely he would not have with-held it But Christ overcomes the Devils kingdom by his spirit by that he wins souls and gathers into and builds up his Church and by that he is able to defend them By his spirit he preacheth the truth and soweth the seed of the kingdome and by his spirit he upholds and maintains it This is his way of overcoming all the mists of darknesse and false doctrines and not a Magistrates sword The weapons of our warfare saith the Apostle are not carnal but mighty through God to the pulling downe of strong holds 2 Cor. 10.4 Are there strong holds of darkness are there false doctrines broached against the truths of Christ Who are the warriers against these Are they the civil state the Magistrate the earthly powers or are they the Ministers and servants of Christ And what are the weapons that are mighty to overthrow these Are they Stocks Whips Prisons cutting off of ears banishment death or are they of a spiritual nature The spiritual weapons are sanctified by God to this end and are mighty through him able to effect it throughly whereas the carnal weapons are weak and unsanctified and can reach only the carnal part but the strong hold remains untouched by these And it is only the carnal part which desires to have the use of such carnal weapons in the Church the spiritual man would conquer by his own weapon or not at all Christ came not to destroy mens lives nor never gave order to have men killed about his truths If his People be disobedient and broach doctrines never so contrary and destructive to his kingdom he hath a spiritual way of fighting with them now and hath appointed his servants to have his mighty spiritual weapons in a readinesse for the revenging every disobedience 2 Cor. 10.6 and he hath likewise a time of dealing with them hereafter but he hath no where appointed that his subjects if they could get the command of the sword in a Nation or Country should kill such Abundance of blood hath been shed upon this pretence which the Lord will make inquisition for it would at length be seriously inquired into what truth there is in this bloody doctrine for under this cover all the persecutions and sheddings of the Saints blood shelter themselves O consider at length how cruel and bloody men have made the Gospel of peace by this principle and what an advantage it gives to the carnal part in those that are persecuted if once they can get the command of the outward sword to forget their own sufferings and suddainly turn persecutors of such as differ from them though upon as weighty grounds if not more weighty than they differed from others upon But this they that are uppermost will not yield to that the grounds of such as differ from them are sufficient even as those that they differed from would not yield that their grounds were sufficient Thus still they whose arguments go forth under the shelter or by the command of the present authority they are looked upon as most weighty and the others cause is trampled upon though never so just innocent upright and weighty in it self and the meek of the earth the humble-hearted the tender-conscienced towards God they are still made the offenders and sufferers and their enemies are still made their Judges I do think these of New-England would have once thought it hard measure that the Conformists whom they differed from should have been the Judges whether their grounds were sufficient or no and yet they ever since they have had the power in their hands have taken upon them to be the judges of the sufficiency of the grounds of such as differ from them and have as freely condemned all that differed from them and been as sore a curb upon the tender conscience as ever the Bishops were So that it is plain that which they sought was their own liberty they did not like to be oppressed and inthralled contrary to their judgments but not the liberty of the tender conscience towards God but rather the yoaking inthralling of it to their judgments and arguments and interpretations of Scripture which he that differs from must be an offender with them even as they were once accounted offenders for differing from the Conformists and so are all become transgressors of the Law of God in doing that to others which they would not that others should do to them 2. It is requisite also to make manifest that the Doctrine of this sort of people is destructive to the fundamental truths of Religion For if it be not so then they are injured and mis-represented and both their banishment and death and all other punishments inflicted upon them on this account will prove to have been unjust There are four instances given or four particular fundamentals mentioned to which their Doctrines are said to be destructive First the sacred Trinity Secondly the person of Christ Thirdly the holy Scriptures as a perfect rule of faith and life Fourthly the doctrine of perfection Now for the making the thing clear and manifest to every sober mind it is requisite first to consider what the Quakers hold in these several particulars and then whether that which they hold in these respects be contrary to the truth of these things as they are plainly related in the Scriptures for if that which they hold be according to the naked voyce and proper intent of the Scriptures then they are not to be blamed but the blame will light on their accusers who might easily be found guilty of injuring both them and the Scriptures both in these and many other things were they not Judges 1. Concerning the sacred Trinity They generally both in their speakings and in their writings set their seal to the truth of that Scripture 1 John 5.7 That there are three that bear record in heaven the Father the Word and the holy Spirit That these three are distinct as three several beings or persons this they read not but in the same place they read that they are one And thus they believe their being to be one their life one their light one their wisdome one their power one and he that knoweth and seeth any one of them knoweth and seeth them all according to that saying of Christs to Philip He that hath seen me hath seen the Father John 14.9 Three there are and yet one thus they have read in the Scripture and this they testifie they have had truly opened to them by that very Spirit which gave forth the Scriptures in so much as they certainly know it to be true and own the thing from their very hearts But as for this title of Sacred Trinity they find it not in Scripture and they look upon Scripture-words as fittest to express Scripture-things by And surely if a man mean the same thing as the Scripture means the same
in the blood or prayer or watchfulness to keep the garment pure c. nor growth in the life And this we are not ashamed to profess that we are pressing after and some have already attained very far even to be made perfect as pertaining to the conscience being so ingrafted into Christ the power of God so planted into the likeness of his death and resurrection so encompassed with the walls and bulwarks of salvation as that they feel no condemnation for sin but a continual justification of the life being taught led and inabled to walk not after the flesh but after the Spirit Rom. 8.1 From what they bave said concerning this opinion of perfection as they call it they draw an argument against their other doctrines in these words Such fundamentals of Christianity are overthrown by this one opinion of theirs and how more by all their other doctrines Ans To which I shall say this if their grounds and proofs against any other doctrines of the Quakers be no more weighty and demonstrative then those they have here brought forth against the doctrine of perfection they may spare entertaining prejudices against them and condemning them and in the first place weigh them in a more equall ballance than they have done this And I dare appeal to any naked unbyassed spirit who shall fairly consider what is above written whether the doctrine of perfection be such an hideous error as they have represented it Nay whether it be not a precious truth of the Gospel of Christ and a great incouragement to him who shall follow the command of Christ who saith be ye perfect to believe that in the way of faith and obedience he may be wrought up to such an estate by the free grace mercy love and power of God Yea let me add this word more he that feeleth the everlasting arme working one sin out of his heart cannot but believe that the same arme can work out all and pluck up every plant which the heavenly father hath not planted which hope and beliefe causeth him with joy to follow this arme through the regeneration But if I did believe there were no perfecting the worke of redemption in this life but I must still in part be a slave to Satan still crying out of the body of sin and death and never have my heart purified for the holy one to inhabit in but remaine in part unconverted unchanged unregenerated unsanctified Oh how heavily should I go on I am sure it would be as a weight upon my spirit in resisting of sin and Satan This is not the glad tidings of the everlasting Gospel but sad news from the borders of death whith would keep the creature not only in the bonds of death but without hope of deliverance in this life and refer the hope to that day wherein there is no more working out of redemption but the eternall judgement of the tree as it fals Now having after this manner proved that the doctrines of the Quakers are destructive to the fundamental truths of religion they lay down their argument whereupon they conclude that it is lawful for them nay their duty to put them to death in these words Now the commandement of God is plain that he that presumes to speak lies in the name of the Lord and turns people out of the way which the Lord hath commanded to walk in such an one must not live but be put to death Zech. 13.3 Deut. 13.6 and 18.20 Answ 1. By what hath been said against them it is not manifest that they have spoken lies in the name of the Lord. Nay if they themselves who thus charge them could but soberly and mildly with a Christian spirit weigh the thing would it not rather appear that they in thus falsly charging them and managing such untrue and unrighteous arguments against them have spoken lies both concerning them and against the Lord and his truth And as for turning men out of the way that cannot be justly charged on them who turn men to Christ the living way and deliver the same message the Apostles did that God is light and in him is no darkness at all who point them to that place where God hath said this light is to be found which is the heart where God writes the new Covenant and the Laws thereof Heb. 8. where the word of faith is nigh Rom. 10. surely they that direct hither do not turne men out of the way But they that point men to guess at the meanings of Scriptures and to gather knowledge and form rules to themselves out of it by their own natural wit and understanding which can never reach the mysteries of the kingdome of God and which God hides the true knowledge of the Scriptures from these are those that turn men out of the way For they that rightly understand the Scriptures must first receive a measure of the spirit to understand it with even as they that wrote any part thereof did first receive a measure of the spirit to write it by 2. It is not manifest by these places quoted that the Governours of New-England have received authority from the Lord to put the Quakers to death if their doctrines were such as they accuse them to be That of Deut. 13.6 is a manifest case concerning one that should tempt to the following of other Gods of the Gods of the people round about nigh or far off in such a case the offender was to be stoned to death v. 10. but is this appliable to cases of doctrine That of Deut. 18.20 gives a clear note how the Prophet may be known that speaks a lie in the name of the Lord and what kind of lie it is for which he is to be put to death ver 22. but it doth not say that every man in the common-wealth of Israel that holdeth any doctrine contrary to what some of them might call the fundamental doctrines of the Law should be put to death That of Zech. 13.3 is a prophesy not a command and is not to be understood in mans wisdome nor to be fulfilled in mans will It were better to wait for the true openings of prophesies in the spirit than to let the carnal part loose to gather somewhat out of them for the satisfying of the flesh and making its thirst after the blood of Gods lambs appear more plausible I would but put this question to your consciences in the sight of God whether in a conscientious submission to the will of God in this scripture ye put them to death or whether from this scripture ye seek a shelter and cover for the thing having already done it or fully purposed to do it So that the case is not here the same with any of the cases mentioned in those scriptures for if some of their doctrines were lies which ye have been very far from proving yet it was not for such kind of lies that death was appointed in the common-wealth of Israel And yet
upon pain of death yet if the Lord require them either to stay or return they know whom to fear and obey which delivers them from the fear of them who can only torture and kill the body and they had rather die in obedience to the Lord than feel the weight of his hand upon their souls for their disobedience It is not in this case as it is in ordinary banishment upon civil accounts where it is in mens will and power to abstain from the place from which they are banished but they must fulfil the will of their Lord not at all regarding what befals them therein 4. The fourth Ground or Consideration to justifie their Law of Banishment and Death against the Quakers is drawn from their right and propriety which every man hath in his own house and land and from the unreasonableness and injuriousness of anothers intruding and entring into it having no authority thereto yea and when the owner doth expresly prohibit and forbid the same And that if any presume to enter thus without legal authority he might justly be impleaded as a thief or usurper and if in case of violent assault he should be killed his blood would be upon his own head Whereupon it is argued thus that if private persons may in such case shed the blood of such intruders may not the like be granted to them that are the publick Keepers and Guardians of the Common-wealth have not they as much power to take away the lives of such as contrary to prohibition shall invade or intrude into their publick possessions or territories And that the Quakers do thus invade and intrude without authority they urge thus For who can believe that Quakers are Constables to intrude themselves invade and enter whether the Colony will or no yea contrary to their express prohibition If in such violent and bold attempts they lose their lives they may thank themselves as the blamable cause and authors of their own death Answ It is no invasion nor intrusion for any Messengers and Servants of the Lord to enter into any part of his earth at his command upon his errand and about his work And if any should be so sent to the house of a particular person to deliver a message from the Lord and the owner of the house instead of hearing and considering his message in meekness and fear whether it were of God or no should be rough and violent with him and command him off before he had delivered his message and either upon his not immediate going off or his return with another message for the Lord if he please may send him again should fall upon him and kill him upon whose head would this mans blood light 2. If men will needs have it go for an invasion it is an invasion of a spiritual nature and the defence from it cannot be by carnal weapons Killing of mens persons is not the way to suppress either truth or error How have the Papists been able to defend their Kingdome or suppress the truth by their bloody weapons They may prevail in their Territories against mens persons for a season but the truth will have a time of dominion and will in the mean time be getting ground in mens minds and consciences by the sufferings of the Witnesses to it Nay my friends if ye will defend your selves from this invasion ye must get better weapons 3. Is this your rule concerning any that shall come in the name of the Lord that if they be not Constables or other earthly-Officers ye will banish them and put them to death Is the Lord of heaven and earth limited to send none but Constables among you Well ye may judge by your Law while your day lasts but the Lord in his day will clear his Servants and Messengers though they have not been Constables and lay it upon the head of them who have unrighteously shed it 5. The fifth Ground or Consideration whereby they justifie their Law of Banishment and Death against the Quakers is this Corruption of mind and judgement is a great infection and defilement and it is the Lords Command that such corrupt persons be not received into the house which plainly enough implies that the houshoulder hath power enough to keep them out and that it was not in their power to come if they pleased whether the housholder would or no. And if the father of the Family must keep them out of his house the Father of the Common-wealth must keep them out of his jurisdiction they being nursing Fathers and nursing Mothers by the account of God So that what an housholder may do against persons that are infected with the plague or pestilence who may kill them if otherwise he cannot keep them out of his house a Magistrate may do the like for his Subjects And if Sheep and Lambs cannot be preserved from the danger of Wolves but the Wolves will break in amongst them it is easie to see what the Shepheard or Keeper of the Sheep may lawfully do in such a case Answ It is granted that Corruption of mind and judgment is defiling and infectious and therefore every heart that knows the pretiousness of truth is to wait on the Lord in his fear in the use of those means which he hath appointed for preservation from it but that killing the persons is one of the means God hath appointed this is still the thing in controversie and is still denyed to be either proper in it self or sanctified by God to this end The Apostle sayes there must be Hereticks that they which are approved may be made manifest 1 Cor. 11.19 but he doth not say hereafter when there are Christians Magistrates they must banish or cut off the Hereticks as fast as they spring up but God hath use of these things for the exercising of the spirits of his people and the truth gains by overcoming them in the faith and power of the spirit And so as touching Wolves the Apostle Paul called the Elders of the Church of Ephesus and told them that after his departure grievous Wolves should enter in among them not sparing the flock Acts 20.28 29 31. The Lord hath put into the hands of his Shepherd a sword which will pierce to the heart of the Wolf he standing faithful in the power of God in the life of righteousness need not fear any Wolf but by the power of the spirit and presence of the truth shall be able to preserve the consciences of his flock pure to God What kind of Shepherd is he that cannot defend his flock without the Magistrates sword but take away that the Wolf breaks in preys upon his sheep Surely the true Shepherd who knows the vertue of the sword God hath put into his hand will never call to the Magistrate for his sword of another nature which cannot touch the Wolf the Heretick the Seducer but only flesh and blood with which the Ministers of Christ never wrestled nor fought And this is
of Moses and the Prophets was not the law of the Children of the new covenant as such not in the time of the old covenant The law of Moses was the rule of their outward state it was the rule of the outward Israel but not the rule of the inward Israel no not then in those dayes In Deut. 29.1 Moses makes a Covenant with Israel by express command from God besides the former covenant which he made with them in Horeb. And he saith the commandment of this Covenant is not to be looked for where the other was written but in another place in a place neerer to them even in ther mouth and in their heart there they were to read hear and receive the commandment of this covenant For this commandement which I command thee this day it is not hidden from thee neither is it far off Deut. 30.11 it not in heaven ve 12. neither is it beyond the sea ver 13. but the word is very nigh unto thee in thy mouth and in thy heart that thou mayst do it ver 14. and this was the way of life then ver 15. see saith Moses I have set before thee this day life and good and death and evil Here thy eternal happiness depends obey this word and live disobey it and die And if they had kept to this word they would also have walked in obedience to the Law but neglecting this they could never keep the Law but still came under the curse of it and missed of the blessings They thought to please God with sacrifices and oyle and incense and observing new Moons and Sabbaths wherein the Lord still rejected them for want of their obedience to this word and the Prophets still guide them to this word bidding them circumcise their hearts which alone can be done by this word and wash away the evil of their doings which alone can be done by this water Yea after much contest between the Lord and them when they seemed very desirous to please the Lord with what he should require whether burnt offerings calves rams or oyl in great plenty the Prophet laies by all that and points them to the obedience of this word as the way to please God and as the only thing that he required of them He hath shewed thee O man what is good and what doth the Lord require of thee but to do justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with thy God Micah 6.8 All this is written in thy heart man read there obey that word that is the thing that God requires So Davids Law was the word written in his heart he saw through sacrifices and burnt offerings to the inward writing and this made him wiser than all his teachers who were busied about the outward The outward Law was but a shadow of good things to come it made nothing perfect but David knew a perfect law The Law of the Lord is perfect converting the soul Psal 19.7 3. The Scriptures of the New-Testament never call themseves the rule but they call another thing the rule they call the writings of Gods spirit in the hearts of his people the Laws of the new Covenant Heb. 8.10 they call Christ the way the truth the life John 14.6 the way is the rule the truth is the rule the life is the rule they call the new creature the rule walking according to which the peace and mercy is received and injoyed Gal. 6.16 they refer to the comforter as the guide into all truth John 16.13 yea as the compass of all truth wherein the believer is to have his whole life and course Gal. 5.25 live in the spirit walke in the spirit follow the spirit keep within that compass and ye connot err A man may err in understanding and interpreting of Scriptures but he that hath received the spirit knoweth the spirit followeth the spirit keepeth to the spirit so far as he doth so cannot possibly err So saith Iohn writing concerning seducers warning against them 1 Iohn 2.26 Ye have received an anointing which teacheth you of all things keep to the teachings of that in every thing and ye are safe But may we not be deceived Nay the annointing keeps from all the deceit in the heart and from all the deceits of seducers it is truth and no lie ver 27. and it leads into all truth and our of every lie And this will teach you to abide in him In whom in the word which was from the beginning which is ingrafted into the heart of the believer and into which the heart of the believer is ingrafted and so he truly is in the vine and the sap of the vine runs up into him which makes him fruitful to God he abiding in the word which he hath heard from the beginning and the word which was from the beginning abiding in him ver 24. And the Apostle Paul saith expresly that the righteousness of faith cometh by the hearing of this word making the same word the rule to the children of the new covenant now as Moses said was the commandement of God to them then quoting this place of Moses for it Rom. 10 6. c. So that Paul indeed taught nothing but Moses and the Prophets pointing to the very same word and commandement of eternal life as Moses had done That is the word of faith which we preach that word which Moses taught which he said was nigh in the heart and in the mouth no man need ascend up to heaven or go down to the deep or seek any where else for it that 's the very thing we point you to that 's the word of faith that 's the commandement of life And with what zeal would Paul were he now alive in the body declare against such who should over-look or deny this word and set up his writing with the writings of the rest of the Apostles for a rule instead thereof yea I could shew yet further how the spirit of prophecy or testimony of Jesus or living appearance of God in the heart hath been a rule to the witnesses against Antichrists deceit all along the night of Apostacy Rev. 11.3 and 19.10 though they themselves being in the night distinctly knew not what was their rule but by a secret breath of life were quickned guided preserved and in it accepted but these things will open of themselves as the mist is expelled and the vail rent which hath over-spread all Nations and covered professors generally in this night of Antichristian darkness and universal apostacy from the living power 2. Consider whether the Scripture be your rule or no that is whether in singleness of heart ye wait on the Lord to open the Scriptures to you by his spirit and to keep out your carnal reason from thence which cannot understand them but will be wresting them and making them speak as it would have them or whether ye take scope to search into them with that part which ever was shut out from the right knowledge of
ruined by any appearance of God nay nor by any appearance of the powers of darkness against God for the gates of Hell cannot prevail against the true Church And there is great advantage of errors heresies to the true Church for the life grows and gets ground by a fair tryal overcoming of them and the approved are thereby made manifest 1 Cor. 11.19 Now what kind of Church is yours which is in such danger of being ruined by that whereby the true Church was advantaged So that to plead that either you must suffer your Religion your souls your liberties to be made a prey of or take this course to defend them is very inconsequent and a strong argument against you that yours is not the truth which needs such a defence as the truth hath not been used to have but hath grown up been preserved and thriven not only without it but against the strength and force of it So likewise those considerations of the Shepherds defending the flock from Wolves and of the keeper of the vineyards maintaining the hedg against wild beasts c. are not proper to the thing in hand for the spiritual sheep the soul the liberty of the Church the true Religion the true vineyard are not outward nor to be defended after an outward manner but the defence is according to the nature of the thing which is to be defended To trust or look after an outward power for defending these is to betray the faith which is the sheild Therefore let them consider whether in looking out too much at these they have not lost the true weapon and the sight of the true thing which is to be defended which the arme of the Lord alone gathers and the arme of the Lord alone preserves This argument is yet further pressed from the present state of your own people too many of them being perillously disposed as ye say to receive their doctrine being already too much disaffected if not enemies to order c. Answ Alas alas have you had your order your Church government so long up and are the multitude among you yet so ready to be shaken Behold what a weak unstable settlement ye have attained to all this time by your outward force But search honestly and see who they are that are so ready to be shaken Are they the discontented and unconscionable multitude as ye speak or are they the most simple hearted most conscientious and zealous towards God amongst you for it is experienced here in Old England that the ground they gain is not upon the unconscionable but the conscientious If it be these that are somewhat touched with the sence of their doctrine it may make you fear that there is more of God therein than you are aware of Therefore do not proceed to argue thus violently against a thing before ye have tryed it but come to a deep serious inward consideration of the thing between God and your own souls not in the pride loftiness and self willedness but in the honesty humility and meekness of your Spirits and then perhaps ye may see beauty and the life of your souls in that which ye now so revile and persecute And though ye matter not how ye imagine and speak all manner of evil falsely against us yet do not also wrong the best among your selves by tearming them discontented and unconscionable because their Spirits are not hardened by your form but yet retain some tenderness towards God his truths and people But why do ye charge following the light within so deeply as to be a giving up of mens selves to their own inclinations and that it immediately canonizeth them for Saints dischargeth them from subjection both Civil and Sacred and from the Scriptures as the rule of life and by vertue of this their Saint-ship intitles them to the estates and dignities of all who are not of their minds c. Answ Surely if ye were guided by the light within ye would be preserved from such kind of injuriousness both to persons and principles Are your tongues and pens your own at liberty to speak and write any thing that will make for your advantage how manifestly false soever If it were but a natural light yet being of God it would not deserve this deep blame Have ye ever tryed it as we have done if not why do ye speak so against it before ye have tryed it We can upon much experience testifie that it is against our inclinations that it discovers them calls from them and is a daily cross to them upon following whereof we feel the bitter dying of the earthly part and the inclinations thereof pining away And from true subjection to that which truly is of God it never discharges but leads to obedience to what is lawfully commmanded by authority to patient suffering under what is unlawfully inflicted And as for the Scriptures it opens them in the life which gave them forth it fulfils them in us it makes them our own it makes us able to set our seal to the truth of them in the sight of God and to receive that for the rule which the Scriptures say is the rule the living word Christ the living way the word in the mouth and in the heart Rom. 10. the law in the mind the law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus which is the word ingrafted into their hearts who are created anew in Christ And this is the honour which we give to the Scriptures namely to receive that which they testifie of to live and walk in that spirit which they call to us to live and walk in to take heed of painting the old nature and letting the old spirit live upon its imaginations which it gathers out of the Scriptures reading them in the oldness of the letter and not in the newness of the Spirit And we profess nakedly that we believe the truth of God not meerly because the Scripture hath said it for that which is out of the truth may thus believe but also because in coming to the thing and receiving the truth as it is in Jesus we have found it to be just as the Scriptures speak of it But what do ye speak as if following the light did intitle men to the estates and dignities of all who are not of their mind Nay the light teacheth not to covet not to desire earthly dignities or estates Let it be looked at over Old England which of us so much as mind these things Nay the Lord knows that the love of these things is daily rooted out of our hearts more and more and we are a people whom the World cannot charge with covetousness or love of the World wherewith all sorts of professors hitherto have been too justly chargeable O Rulers of New-England why do ye thus overturn the cause of the innocent if we were a bad people yet to lay things so notoriously false to our charge and to charge that principle in us with it which
that will rest upon the persecutors though they use never so much art to make the Lambs appear guilty and themselves guiltless Their Spirit Nature manner of fighting which is with Lamb-like weapons which hurt not flesh and blood their whole course and conversation and manner of suffering c. manifests them to be Lambs this is of much more force than a bare saying they are Lambs None of this is mentioned on their behalf but only that they say they are Lambs But let us see how fairly that is overthrown Against this that place John 5.31 is alledged If I bear witness of my self my witness is not true whereupon it is said thus Had not Christ been God the reason of the Jews had been good against him Answ Doth not the Spirit of God dwell in the Sons of God and doth not the spirit of God bear witness in them that they are his Children and is not this witness true Iohn saith We know that we are of God 1 Ioh. 5.19 Was not this witness true in John because John was not God Was not the Prophets testimony true that they were his Prophets and that God had sent them and that it was his message which they brought because they were not God Shall the spirit of God work wonders in the heart and shall he not testifie concerning his own work at his pleasure Ah friends how do ye understand Scriptures and raise inferences from it thus to condemn the generation of the righteous Search the Scriptures do not the Prophets still testifie that the Lord sent them and that it was his word which they spake though they themselves were not God but persons moved by the spirit of God who stirred in his servants under the Law but dwelleth resteth and abideth in his people under the Gospel and what he testifieth is true though fleshly wise Israel who seem to themselves very skilful in the Law and letter of the Scriptures could not receive his testimony either then or now Ah friends ye had need take heed and consider lest the bastardly birth in you hath taken up an habitation in the letter without knowing the mind of the spirit whose presence killeth the carnal part and shutteth out the wisdome of the flesh from medling with the Scriptures And whereas you seem to refer all to the tryal of the Scripture both station doctrine and practise surely if ye had done so in truth ye would have more patiently heard their testimony according to the Scriptures Every man pretendeth Scripture but none truly honour it but they who are guided by that spirit which it testifieth of And they who are not guided by that spirit walk not according to the Scriptures but according to reasonings of the fleshly part which windeth it self into the letter of the Scriptures that by some kind of conformity thereto it may avoid the dint of the spirit And this is the way of Antichrists revilings by getting the form crying up that winding his own fleshly spirit into that and sheltering it self under that Thus the Jews cryed up the Temple of the Lord the Sabbath the Law of Moses and writings of the Prophets and under this cover with great zeal persecuted Christ he was looked upon as a blasphemer as one against Gods Temple his Sabbath his Ordinances c. And since the daies of Christ the Antichristian spirit speaks great words of Christ his Death Resurrection Ascention Intercession c. and of Church-order and discipline that under this cover it may fight against the comforter the spirit of truth who alone can lead into truth and which is the proper way of Gods Ministration since Christs ascention And this hath been the way of opposing truth ever since and still is and here is the Antichrist he that holds these in the wrong part and by these fights against the true spirit But if there be any truth in this that ye are willing to be tryed by the Scriptures let it yet come to a fair tryal this way and let them have free liberty to manifest among you what they have to say from the Scriptures why your Church your Ministry your order and government your whole way of teaching and worship is not of God nor according to the Scriptures but an invention and imitation set up in the way of resemblance of what once was truly so If this cannot be made good against you ye will have much advantage of shaming them and of setling your people much firmer than by prisons whips cutting off of eares banishment and death which no mans heart seriously considering it in true soberness can possibly believe to be the proper engines of setling or preserving the Gospel of peace But that the Scripture is the rule of tryal under the Gospel I read not in Scripture but that the things of the spirit are to be known in by the spirit 1 Cor. 2.12 The Apostle John speaking of Antichrists seducers and erring spirits which were to be tryed doth not bid them try them by the words which he wrote or by the other Apostles words or by the Prophets words but by the anointing which keeping close to they need fear no seducers 1 John 2.26 27. The word which was in the beginning being received abode in and kept close to tries all words and spirits That which begets to God is the spirit the great gift which is given to him which is begotten is the spirit and this being given is to become the fountaine of life to the believer John 7.38 And in this spring of life he is to live and receive milk and knowledg and here he is to walk and here he is to try all other waters even by this water And this is more to a believer and more enableth him to try than all the words of truth that ever were written though he that hath this cannot despise or undervalue any thing that the spirit ever wrote but yet the spirit it self is more to him and more certain then any words concerning the spirit Men may make false glosses and mudd and make void the Scriptures by their reasonings and interpretations and traditional apprehensions but this water ever runs fresh clear no foul spirit can defile it Moses gave the Law which directed to and ended in Christ Christ in the flesh finished the work which the Father gave him to do and directed to the comforter to be the leader into all truth yea the spring of life to the believer and here the believer is safe but the Antichristian spirit ravening from this cries up the letter in the stead of this and doth not see how the letter points to and centers in this God hath made us able Ministers of the new Testament saith the Apostle not of the letter but of the spirit 2 Cor. 3.6 he overlooked the letter that was not the thing he was chiefly to minister but the spirit the power to turn men from darkness to light that they might feel him that is
parts of this distinction back upon you for if ye had not been very grosly ignorant ye could never have thus put darkness for light and light for darkness casting such odious reproaches upon the truth to make it appear what it was not had ye not been ignorant of the Scriptures ye would have known the movings of the life and spirit of it in others but through ignorance of the eternal power from your dark reasonings and conceivings about the letter ye are ready to call Christ Beelzebub not knowing the anointing in the members no more than the Scribes and Pharisees did in the head And had not your ignorance also been too much affected ye would have took more pains about the tryal and not have run into such mistakes all along both about them and their Doctrines as ye have done That Christ referred himself either to Pilates or the Jews tryal of him by Scriptures is a gross mistake at best The Jews did try him by Scriptures and according to their understanding therof found him a Sabbath breaker against Moses Law and that he could not be the Messiah Joh. 7.27 and 52. and chap. 12.34 but by their law ought to die John 19.7 There is no trying of the things of God by considering of Scriptures in the carnal mind in the wise reasoning part but in the Spirit which wrote the Scriptures in the understanding which God gives 1 John 5.20 in the wisdome which is bestowed on the babe who lives in the simplicity and pure innocency that is in Christ there the truth it self and also the Scriptures which testifie of it are clear Now Christ did not refer himself to them to be tryed by the Scriptures for he knew what was in man and he knew after what manner they would try him thereby but he bid them search the Scriptures which testified of him that so they might come to know and receive him John 5.39 40. and none knew him but those to whom the Father revealed him So the case of Pauls appealing to Cesar doth not prove that Cesar was a proper judge in cases of Conscience but he was at that time a proper defence against the malice of the Jews who most unconscionably persecuted Paul under a pretence of zeal for God and defence of their Church and Ordinances And were ye not in power but an equal Heathen Magistrate over us both the Quakers durst refer their cause to tryal that they have done you no injury no more than Paul did the Jews Indeed Paul preached that which was the end of the law and the overturning of the Jewish state and if their Priests and Rulers had had him to judge they would have made him as great an offender as ye now make the Quakers Now if your religion stand upon such a bottome as theirs did and not upon the rock in the faith and by the Spirit ye may well fear us it is not without a cause for this we certainly know that all professions of God and of Christ imitations and practises from the letter which stand in mans will and wisdome will not be able to abide the breath of this suffering seed who love the testimony of Jesus and service to his name above their lives And as for an erring conscience there lies the dispute whose conscience errs yours or theirs Ye say they have erred from the letter the Order and Ordinances of the Gospel they say ye have erred from the Spirit and therefore must needs have erred from the letter also and this they are ready to prove according to the Scriptures if ye dare stand to a fair tryal and also that ye are in a knowledge faith worship wisdome c. which stands in the will and carnal part and keeps the carnal part alive This deserves a meek and serious consideration in the fear of him who can destroy the soul and not such a bloody and fiery tryal as your proceedings and writings too much savour of 5. That a regular defence of the truth by the Godly Orthodox Magistrate and others respectively is not persecution Answ To bring the sword of the Magistrate into the work of Christs Spirit and power this is irregular and it doth execution irregularly cutting down the person and not the sin whereas the sword of the Spirit cuts down the sin that the person may be saved Christ came not to destroy mens lives but to save and if any man receive him not or speak against him he calls not for fire from Heaven or for a Magistrates sword but waits to be gratious and by the power of his Spirit having once convinced and gathered doth he defend his truths and people Let but the Magistrate stand still with his sword the Spirit of Christ will soon get the victory over error and a sweeter and better victory than the Magistrates sword can effect Truth sprang up without the Magistrates sword yea against it so it grew so it conquered The Magistrates sword here though never so favourable to truth doth more hurt than good putting the true sword out of its place and keeping down that tenderness of Spirit wherein the truth alone can spring That coercion was instituted for restraining of evil we grant this is the same with the first argument but he that appointed two kinds of coercion set each their limits which they are not to transgress See Answer to the first argument But whereas ye say that tares and ill weeds need no more than being let alone to overrun and spoil the corn That is directly contrary to Christ who said expresly let both grow together until the harvest Mat. 13.30 Sure he would not have his wheat in danger of being destroyed all the time till harvest but he judged that plucking up the tares would more indanger the wheat than letting them alone vers 29. Man may easily mistake and pluck up an ear of wheat instead of a tare and better it were to let many tares alone than pluck up one ear of wheat Ye have long been busied in New-England about plucking up of tares are ye sure ye never plucked up any wheat nay have ye not weeded out the wheat and left the tares standing Undertaking a work so directly contrary to Christs direction and so without the guidance of his Spirit ye might easily thus err Now what the tares are is afterwards expounded they are such persons which grow among the wheat but are not wheat but are to be gathered from the wheat with Christs sickle and bound up in bundles for the burning in the day of his harvest Your comparisons of a Gangreen and the like I wish ye knew how to apply The power of Gods truth in the Spirits of his people is no Gangreen but the form without the power is a Gangreen like Pharaoh's lean cattle soon eats up the fat And he who hath lost his own tenderness and freshness soon turns persecutor of such as remain tender and seek to preserve their freshness In the
authority But he was a servant he made use of the gift of the spirit of the power of life wherewith the Father filled him to minister and serve with He did never Lord it over the consciences of any of his disciples but did bear with them and pitty them in their infirmities what can ye not watch with me one hour The spirit said he is willing but the flesh is weak He did not hold forth to them what ever he knew to be truth requiring them to believe it but was content with them in their state and waited till their capacities were enlarged being still satisfied with the honesty and integrity of their hearts in their present state of weakness Nor did he strive to reign over the world or call for fire from heaven when they would not receive him or express indignation when they desired him to depart out of their coasts or pray for twelve Legions of Angels when they came to betray â—im and most unrighteously sought his life but the life he had received of his Father he gave up as a ransom for his disciples yea and for his enemies Mark he did not make use of what was given him to raise himself up above others to make his word to stand for a Law and be received but he waited till that was opened in his disciples and in people which was able to receive his testimony and he made use of his power of life and the fulness of the spirit to inable him the more abundantly to serve and to wait in patience for the fulfilling of the will of the Father And though Israel was not gathered by him yet was he meek and patient and at rest in the will of him that sent him and instead of reigning over all could serve all and give that life whose due it was to reign a ransom for many ver 28. His kingdom was not of this world nor did he seek any greatness or authority according to this world neither over the Jews nor over the Gentiles nor over his own disciples but he served all he sought the good of all the life in him which was to reign over all yet here served all suffered for all and from all and that was his way to his crown who having finished his course fulfilled his service perfected his sufferings is sit down on the right hand of the Majesty on high where now he reigns over all and is made a King by God in righteousness And this is the pattern which all his disciples are to walk by The more life they receive the more they are to minister the more they are to serve They must not lift up themselves by their gifts they must not hereupon Lord it over others or hold forth their knowledge or doctrines and think to make others bow thereto but wait in their service till the Lord make way into mens hearts and plant his truth there and upon him also must they wait for the watering and growth of it Quest But is there to be no greatness no authority among the disciples of Jesus or in the Church of Christ Is every one to do what he will to be subject to his own fancies and imaginations to the inventions of his own corrupt heart what a confused building will this be Sure this will not long remain a Zion but soon become a Babylon even an heap of disorder and confusion Answ There is to be no such kind of greatness no such kind of authority Yet there is both a greatness and authority suitable to the state of disciples suitable to that kind of kingdome whereof they are There are Laws there are Governments there are Governors there is ruling and there is subjection but all in the spirit all suitable to that which is to bo governed but no government of or according to the flesh As Christs kingdom is not of this world so the government of his Church and people is not according to this world but as that which gathers is his spirit and that which is gathered is spiritual so that which is governed is the spirits of his people and they are to be governed by his spirit and spiritually and not after a fleshly manner Thus Christ himself though he ministred to his disciples yet he also was their Lord and Master and in the spirit and life of the Father ruled over them and thus the Apostles and other ministers of Christ had likewise in the spirit the care of the Churches and authority in the Lord by his spirit to govern the spirits of his people not to govern after a fleshly manner by their own wills not to prescribe them in a Lordly way either what they should believe or practise but in the light and in the power of the spirit to make their way into every ones conscience in the sight of God ministring to every one in the spirit according to their capacity and growth and waiting patiently for God to convey the food and nourishment and to build their spirits up in the faith thereby The Spirit of the Prophets is subject to the Prophets Here is the government here is the law of rule and subjection in the life Every one feeling a measure of the Spirit in himself is thereby taught to own and subject to a greater measure of the same Spirit in another He that hath no measure of the Spirit of God he is not of God he is none of Christs and he that hath received a measure of the Spirit in the same spirit feeleth anothers measure and owneth it in its place and service and knoweth its moving and cannot quench it but giveth way to it with joy and delight When the Spirit moves in any one to speak the same spirit moves in the other to be subject and give way and so every one keeping to his own measure in the spirit here can be no disorder but true subjection of every spirit and where this is wanting it cannot be supplyed by any outward rule or order set up in the Church by common consent for that is fleshly and lets in the flesh and destroyes the true order rule and subjection The Apostles and Ministers of Christ come from Christ with a message of life and salvation with a testimony concerning the good will of God and his love to mankind pointing out the way from death to life from bondage to liberty from wrath and destruction to peace and salvation What they have seen what they have felt what they have tasted what they have handled what they have found redeem and deliver them that they declare abroad to others as they are moved as they are sent as they are guided and assisted Now that which they preach to is mens consciences in the sight of God They open the truth which they know they give their testimony in the moving leading and power of the Spirit and they leave it to the same spirit to demonstrate it to mens consciences as it pleaseth They are nothing they