be the Lord they are all for ought I know or can hear cast forth as corrupt and unprofitable members and the Lord complaining by the Prophet Zephany maketh complaint against the Princes and Judges as well as the Prophets and Priests saying Her Princes are roaring Lyons her Judges are ravening Wolves and yet the Lord calleth them Princes and Judges for the wickednesse of the person doth not disanul his office being lawfully called thereunto neither in Magistrates nor Ministers untill they be degraded from that office You farther object in your paper That the Apostles did take only that which was freely given them I answer That our Ministers do take nothing but what was and is freely given either by their ancestors or otherwayes and who ever payeth the Ministers Tâ—thes payeth nothing of his own but that which was freely given for no man in buying any Land or leasing any Land doth buy the Tithes because by Law they cannot be sold You farther object That the Apostles did work with their hands to maintain themselves because they would not be chargeable to others I answer That the Apostle Paul and Barnabas did work but the rest did not as appeareth by the Apostles words Or I only and Barnabas have not we power to forbear working by which the Apostle plainly sheweth that the rest did forbear working and they had power to forbear working but that the Apostle did because of the poverty of the Church of Corinth and because he would give no offence to any He became as a Jew to the Jew to them that are without Law as without Law he became made all things to all men that he might by all means save some to that end he caused Timothy to be Circumcised that he might gain the Jews Now why do not you Quakers follow the Apostle in that as well as in your Teachers working which I think is very seldome Besides as I said before the Apostles had extraordinary Gifts as well as an extraordinary Call and were able to Preach without Study but the Apostle writing to Timothy commandeth him to meditate upon those things Give thy self wholly to them that thy profiting may appear to all and do you Quakers think that you are more able to preach without Study than Timothy was and that you can work on your ordinary Callings and preach too when Paul commandeth Timothy the contrary And now I answer your sixth Ground against the lawfulnesse of our Ministers and that is you say because they teach that none can be perfectly freed from sin while they live here For answer to which I say that you Quakers neither know nor understand what our Ministers preach wherefore that you may know and be better instructed I shall by the assistance of Almighty God shew you what our Ministers do preach and hold concerning this great point in controversie of being perfectly freed from sin and that according to what I do believe concerning the same according to that measure of light within me according to the Scriptures And I pray God to open your eyes that you may be able both to see and believe the same without which there is no salvation Wherefore know you that our Ministers do both Preach and Write that all and every one that doth by a true and lively Faith believe on the Lord Jesus Christ for Life and Salvation are perfectly freed from all sin here by Justification and that alone by the blood of Christ and are made perfectly righteous by the righteousnesse of Christ imputed and that all those who are so justified by the blood and righteousnesse of Christ are truly sanctified by the spirit of Christ Which Sanctification is perfecting all our life here and perfected at the end of our lives according to that of the Apostle Having therefore these promises dearly beloved let us clense our selves from all filthinesse of the flesh and spirit perfecting holinesse in the fear of God not perfected but is alwaies a doing Now that I may prove these two points and explain them I shall first shew you by the Scriptures that we are made perfectly free from sin and made perfectly righteous by the blood and righteousnesse of Christ for as Adam in the estate of innocency was not only without sin but made in an estate of righteousnesse being made in the Image of God which as the Apostle saith consisteth in knowledge and righteousnesse and holinesse so all that are saved are by Christ the second Adam made perfectly free from all sin by his death resurrection and intercession and made perperfectly righteous by his righteousnesse Wherefore I shall plainly prove both these to be by Justification in and by Christ alone according to that of the Apostle being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ And be it known unto you therefore men and brethren that through this man is preached unto you the forgivenesse of sins and by him all that believe are justified from all things from which ye could not be justified by the Law of Moses but to him that worketh not but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly his faith is counted unto him for righteousnesse Even as David also describeth the blessednesse of the man unto whom God imputeth righteousnesse without works saying Blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven and whose sins are covered Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin All things are of God who hath reconciled us to himselfe by Jesus Christ and hath given to us the ministery of reconciliation To wit That God was in Christ reconciling the world unto himself not imputing their trespasses unto them for he hath made him to be sin for us who knew no sin that we might be made the righteousnesse of God in him and by one offering he hath made perfect or hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified You see the Apostle doth make our perfection to be by that which Christ alone hath suffered and done for us and not by what we work or do But I know this is a strange new doctrine unto you and hard for you to believe because you dote so much upon a Light within you and Righteousnesse within you wherefore I shall endevour to make this doctrine appear plain unto you if you will not shut your eyes against the Light or that the God of this world hath not blinded your mindes lest the light of the glorious Gospel of Christ should shine unto you Werefore minde what I shall write from the Scriptures First I shall shew how this perfection by Christ was typed out in the time of the Law as in the scape-Goat the Lord commanded saying Aaron shall lay both his hands upon the head of the live Goat and confesse over him all the iniquities of the children of Israel and all their transgressions in all their sins putting them upon the head of the
salvation he hath covered me with the robe of righteousnesse And as this righteousnesse was typified prophesied of and promised in the Old Testament so did Christ accomplish the same for saith Christ It becometh us to fulfill all righteousnesse wherefore the Apostle Paul saith But of him are ye in Christ Jesus not in your selves who of God is made unto us wisdome and righteousnesse and sanctification and redemption He is made wisdome for our folly he is made righteousnesse for our unrighteousnesse and sanctification for the corruption of our conception birth and conversation and redemption for our bondage the same Apostle also to the Romans saith But now the righteousnesse of God without the Law is manifested being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets even the righteousnesse of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe for all have sinned and come short of the glory of God being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Jesus Christ The Apostle calleth it the righteousnesse of God because wrought by him that is God to shew the worth virtue and excellency of the same also the Apostle saith For if by one mans offence death reigned by one much more they which receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousnesse shall reign in life by one Jesus Christ Therefore as by one mans disobedience many were made sinners so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous Minde the Apostle saith as and so that is as by Adams sin or disobedience we were made sinners so by Christs obedience we are made rigteous this is the wedding garment without which we have no acceptance but are abominable and filthy in Gods sight as Christ saith to the Church of Laodicea Thou saist I am rich and increased with goods and have need of nothing and do not you Quakers say the same in effect for they thought they were rich by doing good works and had need of nothing do not you Quakers say you are so perfect by what you do and suffer that you have no need of any teaching or exhortation reproof or admonition But what said Christ to them and take it home to your selves And knowest not that thou art poor and wretched and miserable blinde naked because they were destitute of the true wisdome righteousness of Christ hasted to a wisdome righteousness in themselves But Christ saith I councel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire that thou maist be rich white raiment that thou maist be cloathed and that the shame of thy nakednesse do not appear which is the merits and obedience of Christ to put him on as the Apostle saith this is that righteousnesse that Christ said Except your righteousnesse shall exceed the rigteousnesse of the Scribes and Pharisees ye shall in no case enter into the Kingdome of Heaven The Pharisees thought themselves the only righteous people in the world as you do for said the Pharisee I thank God I am not as other men nor as this poor Publican for I do many good works like those Hypocrites spoken of by the Prophet Esay Stand farther off for I am holier than thee But they were ignorant of the righteousnesse of Christ as the Jewes were who went about to establish a righteousnesse of their own works for saith the Apostle They being ignorant of Gods righteousnesse and going about to establish their own righteousnesse have not submitted themselves unto the righteousnesse of God Again What shall we say then that the Gentiles which followed not after righteousnesse have attained to righteousnesse even the righteousnesse which is of faith But Israel which followed after the law of rigteousnesse hath not attained to the law of righteousness Wherefore because they sought it not by faith and this the Apostle knew by himself as may appear by his own words Touching the righteousnesse of the Law blamelesse But he was an enemy to this righteousnesse of Christ because he was ignorant of the same and are not you Quakers ignorant of this rigteousnesse Faith for some of your Speakers have said to me when I have spoken the same things among you that here with Hold thy peace and speak no more thy dirty puddle thy stinking stuff and some of you in your printed Pamphlets have written against this Doctrine of Justification by faith But may I not justly return the same unto you hold your peace and speak no more nor write no more your dirty dungy righteousnesse For if the Apostle Paul counted all his righteousnesse to be but dung in comparison of the righteousnesse which is of God by Faith well may I count and call yours so for while you pretend to be the only friends of Christ you are his greatest enemies I Traitors to Christ and his Gospel Traitors to his Church and Children and Traitors to your Bodies and Soules seeming great friends to all these but betraying every one of these with a Judas his kisse because you are enemies to this perfect righteousnesse of Christ by faith by which alone we are justified and saved But you maintain a perfection within you by the Spirit saying that you are freed from all corruption of sin Wherefore having at large proved that all believers are perfect by Justification I shall now prove that all those who are perfectly Justified are not perfectly freed from all sin and corruption in themselves and then I shall answer your objections against both And to make this appear to be true according to the Scriptures I shall first lay down this proposition That all Believers are Justified by the blood and righteousnesse of Christ are sanctified by the Spirit of Christ which Spirit of Christ doth remain and abide in them together with the body of sin which I shall plainly prove to that end know that this body of sin is sometimes in Scripture called Flesh sometimes Concupisence Now you do deny that there is both Flesh and Spirit in one person which is the thing that I undertake to prove by the Scripture Wherefore minde what Christ saith to his Disciples The Spirit is willing but the Flesh is weak The Apostle Paul saith It is no more I that do it but sin that dwelleth in me and after that When I would do good evill is present with me and yet in the next verse I delight in the Law of God after the inward man But saith he I see another Law in my members warring against the Law of my minde Now dare you say the Apostle had not the Spirit of Christ at that time seeing he saith he delighted in the Law of God which none can do that have not the Spirit of God Besides consider what a grosse error and absurdity will follow by denying the same which is this that if Paul had not the Spirit at that time then was not the Spirit the author
believe in Charity that they are honest hearted and strict in their lives and yet through ignorance and the fair shews and pretences of a strict holy life are seduced and drawn away but I hope not so far gone but that they may be reclaimed and brought back to the truth To that end I desire them seriously to examine what I have written by the Scriptture rule and if they can shew me my error by that and that their religion is more agreeable thereunto I shall lay down all my weapons and joyn with them for I strive not for victory but for truth but if they cannot I hope they will remember from whence they are faln and repent and do their first works but if any of them are so obstinate that they will go on in their delusions my soul shall mourn for them in secret but I hope better things at least of some The fifth reason why I writ and published this was to strengthen such as are wavering through ignorance and weakness For I observe that when the Quakers come into a Parish to vent their errors many ignorant people are ready to hearken to their errors and be taken with their pretended shews of zeal and holiness and when they see none to oppose them nor answer them they are ready to think and say it it is because they are unanswerable which I have heard some say in the place where I live the which did move me to enter into disputation with them several times until they gave over their meetings there and what I have written is the same that was spoken in reasoning with them more inlarged and I hope the reading hereof may be a means to stablish and settle some that are wavering and keep them from those baits and snares which are laid to draw and catch them by these seducers The sixth reason was to clear my self from those lies and slanders raised by some Quakers as that they laid me in the dirt and that because I was not able to answer them I was a great persecutor of them the truth of which I refer to the impartial Reader to judge and some of them have reported that I am faln from those Principles that I formerly held and and published in a Treatise of the grounds of Religion called The Christians Profession the truth of which I refer to those that have read the same that shal read this And although I know it is their usal manner to revile and slander all that oppose them in their wild opinions yet I see too many are apt to believe what they say because of their pretended shew of holiness and some think them so perfect that they cannot erre wherefore lest my silence should be taken for a confession of being guilty I thought it necessary to publish this to clear clear my innocencie for if a man be bound by the law to pleasure the good name and credit of his neighbour surely he is bound by the same law to preserve his own Lastly the reasons moving me to publish this in print was first the desire and request of several friends to whom I was ingaged to grant their desires in what might be for their and the publick good 2. Because if I had onely sent a written Coppy to the Quakers they would have kept it from the knowledge of such whom they feared might be drawn away from them would have rais'd several fals reports I could not have had so many of my friends who are Quakers have had the sight thereof because I could not have gotten so many written Coppies because of the largeness thereof so that it would have been like the Tallent hid in the earth 3. Because I conceive it may be more profitable by being in many hands then in a few Although I know I shall thereby incur the revilings of some and the mocks and scoffs of others and the sensour and judgeing of many all of which I am contented to pass through so that my poor labour may be profitable to any And I know some will Object That I spent more time then I needed in regard I have written not onely against the Quakers but the Anabaptists also who write nothing to me I Answer That they do so nearly joyn together in some things as that I could not Answer the one without the other For the Quakers both in their Printed books and in their Disputations doe make the Baptism of Infants their great objection against our Ministers and Churches also the Quakers and Anabaptists are both of opinion in denying the lawfulness of singing Psalms and some Anabaptists agree with the Quakers in hearkning to Revelations and impulses of the Spirit and in hearkning to a light within them in things contrary to the light of Scripture and they agree in opposing our Ministers and Churches with great eagerness although in many other things they disagree and oppose and are contrary to one another Like Sampsons Foxes whose heads were all contrary one to the other but they were tied together by the tails with a fire-brand to set the corn on fire Even so do those Quakers and Anabaptists seem contrary one to the other and oppose each other and yet they knit and unite together to set the Church on fire by their fierce and fiery opposing our Churches and Ministers witness the severall books written and published by the Anabaptists against our Ministers and their maintenance as John Can his book called The first and second voice from the Temple and several others cmpared with Jona Dell his book called A voice from the Temple and several others by which it appears that they agree in one in opposing our Ministers because they knew if they could destroy the Ministery it were an easie matter to perswade people to any Religion as a man that hath lost his guide in a wilderness may easily lose his way Also who knoweth not that the Anabaptists were the first Original from whence the Quakers came for most of the Quakers were first Anabaptists as Mr. Baxtar hath at large proved wherefore considering how these agree in several opinions practices I have by the way as I found occasion written against their errors not their persons Also some will Object against my writing against the Quakers because they say they are a people that live very strict holy lives 1. I Answer That for their strict holy lives I refer the Reader to those ten Particulars I have proved against them 2. I Answer That the holyness of a Christian life doth not consist in Negatives only but in Affirmatives as well as Negatives now that they doe live in the neglect and contempt of many Christian Duties commanded by Christ and his Apostles is plain by what I have written 3. I Answer That the living a strict moral life only doth not prove them nor manifest them nor any other to be Christians for many heathens have done as much as Histories relate and many Papists have walked with as
Goat and shall send him away by the hand of a fit man into the wildernesse And the Goat shall bear upon him all their iniquities into a land not inhabited and he shall let go the Goat in the Wildernesse Now minde how this type was to set forth Christs taking away all our sins that believe on him as may appear by the Prophets prophecying of the same as the Evangelical Prophet Esay Surely he hath born our griefs and carried our sorrowes yet we did esteem him stricken smitten of God and afflicted But he was wounded for our iniquities the chastisements of our peace was upon him and with his stripes we are healed All we like Sheep have gone astray we have turned every one to his own way Minde And the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all Also the Prophet Daniel plainly shewed this Seventy weeks are determined upon thy people and upon thy holy City to finish the transgression and to make an end of Sins and to make reconciliation for Iniquity and to bring in everlasting Righteousness And after threescore and two weeks shall Messias be cut off but not for himself Minde who it is that maketh an end of sin and bringeth everlasting righteousnesse namely Christ the Messias this the Prophet Zachariah prophecyeth of saying I will bring forth my servant the Branch for hehold the stone that I have laid before Joshuah upon one stone shall be seven eyes Behold I will engrave the graving thereof saith the Lord of Hosts and I will remove the iniquity of the Land in one day What day surely that day when Christ suffered when he said It is finished according to that of the Apostle to the Colossians And you being dead in your sins hath he quickned together with him having forgiven you all trespasses Blotting out the hand writing of Ordinances that were against us which was contrary to us and took it out of the way nailing it to his Crosse And the Apostle saith to the Colossians Though you were sometime alienated and enemies in your mindes by wicked workes yet now hath he reconciled In the body of his flesh through death to present you holy and unblameable and unreproveable in his sight whom we preach that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus not in your selves or by any thing you work suffer or do but by what Christ suffered and did in the body of his flesh even by that one offering saith the Author to the Hebrews hath he perfected for ever hereunto agreeth that of the Apostle to the Ephesians That Christ loved the Church and gave himself for it that he might sanctifie and clense it with the washing of water by the word thaâ—â—e might present it to himself a glorious Church not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing By these Scriptures I hope you may see how our perfection is in and by Christ By what he did our sins are perfectly abolished not out of us as the Papists and you Quakers hold but fully satisfied for by Christ God having received an attonement for them by Christ This also was typed by the brazen Serpent that Moses by the Lords appointment caused to be put upon a pole and any man that was bitten with a Serpent when he beheld or looked upon the Serpent was healed and this was prophecyed by the Prophet Malachi saying The Son of righteousnesse shall arise with healing in his wings alluding to the wings of the Cherubims that covered the Mercy-seat upon the Ark which Ark was also a lively type of Christ This the Lord also promised by his Prophet I saiah saying I have seen his waies and I will heal him I create the fruit of the lips peace peace to him that is far off and to him that is near saith the Lord and I will heal him This the Lord also promised by the Prophet Jermiah In those dayes and at that time saith the Lord the Iniquity of Israel shall be sought for and there shall be none ad the sins of Judah and they shall not be found for I will pardon them This also is set forth by several other metaphorical prophesies and promises as that the Lord will not remember their sins that he will cast them into the depth of the Sea to cast them behinde his back to wipe it away like a cloud and this John Baptist pointed at Christ saying Behold the Lamb of God that taketh away the sin of the world And as Moses lifted up the Serpent in the wildernesse even so must the Son of man be lifted up that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have eternall life for God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have eternall life by whom we have redemption through his blood even the forgivenesse of sins And the blood of Jesus Christ cleanseth us from all sin This is the perfection from sin by Justification which our Ministers teach and not a perfection inherent in us as your Quakers Papists Catharists and Familists teach and as they teach a perfection from sin by Christ alone so do they teach and so do I believe that Christ hath wrought perfect righteousnesse for all the elect according to the Scriptures For it is not sufficient to bring us to Heaven to be freed from sin for a Horse hath no sin but there must be perfect righteousnesse without which no man can enter into Heaven for as I said before Adam was not only made without sin but was made righteous and we must be restored to an estate of righteousnesse by Christ the second Adam and this was typed by the two Tables being put into the Ark and there to be kept to shew that Christ the true Ark kept and fulfilled the Law and this the Prophet David prophesieth of Christ Then said I lo I come in the volume of the book it is written of me I delight to do thy will O God yea thy Law is within my heart I have preached righteousnesse in the great Congregation I have not hid thy righteousnesse within my heart This also is plainly set forth in the prophesie of Zachariah saying Take away the filthy garments from him and unto him he said Behold I have caused thine iniquity to passe from thee and I will cloath thee with change of rayment for behold I will bring forth my servant the Branch Minde that his iniquity was not only to passe but be cloathed with change of rayment which is the righteousnesse of Christ called the Branch and surely shall one say In the Lord have I rigteousnesse in the Lord shall all the seed of Israel be justified This is that the Church rejoyceth in saying I will greatly rejoyce in the Lord my soul shall be joyfull in my God for he hath cloathed me with the garments of
the Apostle What doth it profit though a man say he hath Faith and have not Works shew me thy Faith without thy Works and I will shew thee my Faith by my Works according to Christs own words Let your light so shine before men that they may see you good works and glorifie your father which is in Heaven Also the Apostle Paul writing to Titus I will that thou affirm constantly that they which have believed in God might be carefull to maintain good works these things are good and profitable unto men as the Prophet David saith My goodnesse extendeth not to thee but to the Saints that are in the earth So that there is a necessity of good works though not for our Justification namely Gods glory it being the end of our Creation and Redemption and the good and benefit of others for we were not made for our selves but for the good and benefit one of another Also good works the fruits of Faith I conceive are necessary and profitable for those that do them in Faith to evidence aud manifest the truth of their Faith unto themselves though Doctor Crips and several others were of a contrary opinion for although it be true which Christ saith By this shall all men know that ye are my Disciples if ye have love one to another yet it is also true which the Apostle John saith We know that we are translated from death to life because we love the brethren He that loveth not his brother abideth in death also in that prayer which Christ taught his Disciples Forgive us our debts as we also forgive our debtors Now when God hath given us a heart to forgive the wrongs and injuries of men against us it is a good sign of Gods forgiving of us and this the Disciples of Christ doth evidence when Christ said unto them If thy Brother trespasse against thee seven times a day and seven times a day return saying I repent thou shalt forgive him and the Apostles said unto the Lord Increase our Faith The Apostles apprehended that they had need to have their Faith increased to believe the forgivenesse of their sins that so they might forgive their Brother so many trespasses against them for if a man have no apprehension of Gods mercy in forgiving his sins he can have no true seeling bowels of mercy to forgive others But having by Faith apprehended the free love and favour of God in Christ in forgiving our sins our hearts are so warmed and inflamed in the same that we cannot but forgive others for as the Apostle saith The love of Christ constraineth us and ye your selves are taught of God to love one another Now I hope by this you will be convinced that this doctrine of being Justified and Saved only by the righteousnesse of Christ is no doctrine of carnal liberty to sin and to live idly without doing good works but contrary that it is the only ground and foundation of all good works But because I have often heard some of your Teachers say that a man is saved by the hearkning to the light within him and obeying the same which is a doctrine I have heard taught in the open street in Branford Market by Benjamin Wallis one of the Quakers teachers Wherefore I shall endevour to cleer that to your understandings if you will not shut the eyes of your understanding against the truth Now that there is a light in every man which is a false light by nature teaching him that by doing and obeying the Law of God he shall be saved I deny not but that this light is Christ that I deny but say it is the light that is naturally in every man since the fall of Adam For as Adam did lose the estate of Innocency by disobeying Gods Commandement in eating of the fruit of the tree of Knowledge of good and evill so did he naturally think that by obeying or doing he should recover himself again and therefore The Lord placed at the East end of the garden of Eden Cherubims and a flaming Sword which turned every way to keep the way of the tree of life knowing that Adam naturally did think to recover his estate by eatâ—ng of the tree of Life as he lost it by eating of the tree of Knowledge of good and evil and this is natural to all the Sons and Daughters of Adam to believe that they shall come to an estate of blessednesse and happinesse by what they do and therefore the Lord when he gave the Law of the Ten Commandements gave it with Thunder and Lightning and Fire so that the Children of Israel were afraid and desired Moses that he should go neer and here all that the Lord our God shall say and speak thou unto us all that the Lord our God shall speak unto thee and we will hear it and do it and the Lord said I heard the voice of the words of this people they have well spoken all that they have said Now Moses was to stand between God and the people in which Moses was a type of Christ The Lord your God shall raise up a Prophet among your selves like unto me him you shall hear which was Christ for God never gave the Law to that end that men should be Justified and Saved by it but that it might be the ministery of condemnation to drive them unto Christ for the Law is a School-master to drive us to Christ and so long as we live to shew us ous sins and be a rule of obedience unto us and yet the veil of Moses Law is still upon the hearts of the Jews and many of the Gentiles unto this day for as the Apostle saith The Jews which followed after the Law of righteousnesse have not attained to the Law of righteousnesse Wherefore because they sought it not by Faith but as it were by the works of the Law and thus you may see the natural light in many others did lead them and teach them this way of doing or working for life and Salvation The young man in the Gospel that came unto Christ said Good Master what good thing shall I do that I may inherit eternal life Christ answereth him according to his question and saith If thou wilt enter into life keep the Commandements and asking which Commandement said all this have I kept from my youth up what lack I yet and then Christ sets him such a task that he knew he would not do If thou wilt be perfect go and sell that thou hast and give to the poor and he went away sorrowfull Now the end of Christs words was to convince him of the impossibility of attaining eternal life by doing Also the Jews that came unto Christ at Capernaum said Minde What shall we do that we might work the works of God and Christ answered them plainly This is the work of God That ye believe on him whom he hath sent
abroad if the reading of other books beside the Scriptures be not necessary unless you believe what some of your fellow Quakers have said that James Naylors books are of as Divine authority as the Scriptures because he is inspired by the same Spirit the Prophets and Apostles were when they writ the Scripture in which you are like your Fathers the Familists for such like Titles and Stiles I have read in their books written by H. N. and have heard some Familists call them his Gospels and that they 〈◊〉 of equal authority with the Gospels of Jesus 〈…〉 such blasphemous Familists and Quakers errors good Lord deliver us And the Lord open your eyes that you may see your errors that you have patched up your new Religion with the old errors of the Papists Arminians Anabaptists Antinomians and Familists and the Lord give you hearts to repent and do your first works A POST-SCRIPT Courteous Reader SInce the writing the foregoing answer to the Quakers I had some conference with a woman Quaker one of my ancient friends whose name I forbear to mention about the said answer after which the said friend did write me a letter the Contents whereof were as followeth That my written paper is higher then Vanitie because as she saith I confessed that I was not led by the infallible Spirit therefore it must needs be flesh for the Spirit of God is infallible and cannot erre which she desireth I would consider by the light of Christ that convinceth me of sin and that lest I be found fighting against God wherefore she saith in love to thy soul I warn thee Wherefore lest the said woman or any other Quakers should say that I have not answered all their Objections I resolved to answer the said letter though the things objected in the said letter are in part answered before yet for a more full answer I desire the said friend and all other Quakers whether friends or enemies to mind and consider what I have written in answer to the said letter Having received thy letter I was moved to write an answer to shew thee thy error in misunderstanding and misreporting my words for I neither writ nor said that I was not led by the infallible Spirit but said that I doe not pretend to an infallible spirit so as that I cannot erre For I say that all the faithfull are led by the Spirit of Christ which Spirit is infallible but I say they are not so led by that Spirit that they cannot erre which is the thing you maintain but I deny And yet I say that all the Prophets and Apostles were led by the Spirit infallibly guiding them in writing the Scriptures so as that they could not erre and that all the faithful are led by the Spirit so as that they erre not in the foundation or fundamentals of Religion but in other things I say they are subject to erre and the best men that ever lived that that we read of in Scripture have erred Christ Jesus who was God and Man excepted and this I shall plainly prove by Scripture the Prophet David a man after Gods own heart and a Penman of holy Scripture said Lord who knoweth the errors of his life clense me from my secret sins Psal 19. 12. and he having a mind to build the Temple and spake his mind to the Prophet Nathan the Prophet said to the King Go do all that is in thine heart for the Lord is with thee they being both Prophets were both mistaken they were not infallible for that night the Word of the Lord came to Nathan to the contrary that David should not build the Lords House but his Son Solomon but you Quakers will say this was before Christ his coming in the flesh and before the fulness of the Spirit was sent wherefore mind what is written in Scripture after that time There arose a dissention and a disputation among the brethren about Circumcision and Paul and Barnabas with others were sent to Jerusalem to the Apostles and Elders to have their advice and there were great disputations between them about it no one pretending by an infallible Spirit to determine the same were not Paul and Barnabas led by an infallible Spirit what need they then to have gone to Jerusalem to the rest of the Apostles and Elders surely if they had been infallible they made a needless journey and the rest of the Apostles and Elders made a needless disputation Also there arose a doubt amongst the Corinthians about believing husbands having unbelieving wives and believing wives having unbelieving husbands and other things concerning which they wrote unto the Apostle Paul to determine the matter Was there never a man among them that had an infallible spirit so as that he could not erre surely then they were no Quakers for then they needed not to have sent to the Apostle to have the matter determined and the Apostle in his answer concerning some thing saith I speak this by permission and not by command and concerning Virgins I have no commandment from the Lord yet I give my judgement I suppose saith the Apostle but had he been a Quaker and of your opinion would he not have said why or what need you write unto me to know the lawfulness of these things are you not all led by an infallible spirit that cannot erre But the Apostle was so humble and modest that he said I suppose he would not say I am sure or I know certainly I having an infallible spirit I cannot erre No the Apostle confesseth of himself and others we know but in part But you Quakers say you have such an infallible spirit that you cannot erre But God resisteth the proud and hath promised to teach the humble also the Apostle saith If any man build upon this foundation gold silver precious stones wood hay stubble where the Apostle plainly proveth that Christians do sometimes build upon the foundation wood hay and stubble that is some things of their carnal spirits for there is some carnality in those that are in Christ for saith the Apostle I speak unto you as unto carnal even as unto babes in Christ now there being flesh as well as spirit and sence and reason as well as faith in every christian is it any wonder that they sometimes erre And therefore honest Luther saith That there being flesh as well as spirit and sence as well as faith in the best men that therefore sometimes that will fall from their tongues and their pens that savours of the flesh as well as of the spirit and of sence as well as of faith and therefore saith he All Christians should be like the clean beasts that chew the Cud and devide the Hoofe that is they should meditate and examine what they hear and read by the Scriptures and devide the truth from the error as those men of Barea did they searched the Scriptures to see whether those things which they heard were according to